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AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas bill that would restrict insurance coverage for abortions was approved by the state’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Wednesday, a move critics called cruel and damaging to women’s health. The House measure would ban insurance coverage for abortions and require women who wanted coverage to purchase a supplemental plan for an abortion, the latest effort by the most-populous Republican-controlled state to place restrictions on the procedure. If enacted, the bill would take effect on Dec. 1 and make Texas the 11th state to restrict abortion coverage in private insurance plans written in the state. The Republican-dominated Senate has passed a similar bill, and Republican Governor Greg Abbott has shown support for the measures. The bill’s backers say it would protect abortion opponents from subsidizing the procedure. A Democratic critic decried it as forcing people to buy “rape insurance.” “It’s a question of economic freedom and freedom in general,” Republican Representative John Smithee, the bill’s sponsor, said in House debate on Tuesday ahead of the bill receiving preliminary approval. The Republican sponsor of the Senate bill, Brandon Creighton, has told local media supplemental coverage would cost $12 to $80 a year House Bill 214, which passed mostly on a party-line vote, does not offer exceptions for cases of rape or incest. Abortion rights groups are likely fight the measure in court if enacted. “Women and parents will be faced with the horrific decision of having to purchase ‘rape insurance’ to cover them if they are victimized,” Democratic Representative Chris Turner said in a statement. “This is not only ridiculous, but it is cruel.” Idaho, Kansas and Oklahoma are among the 10 other states that make abortion coverage a supplement on private plans. There are 25 states with restrictions on abortion coverage in plans set up by state exchanges as part of the Affordable Care Act under former Democratic President Barack Obama, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks such legislation. “It is surprising that Texas has not done this before,” said Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues manager for Guttmacher. The insurance measure is one of several bills concerning abortion before Texas lawmakers in a special session that runs through next week. The Senate has already approved bills that include requiring physicians to improve notification of complications that occur during abortions and another that prohibits local governments from having contracts with abortion providers and their affiliates. | 0 |
BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Monday jailed former Tianjin mayor Huang Xingguo for 12 years, after he took more than 40 million yuan ($6 million) in bribes to push through promotions and land approvals, a court in the northern province of Hebei said. Dozens of senior Chinese officials have been investigated or jailed since President Xi Jinping assumed power, vowing to root out corruption and warning that the problem threatens the ruling Communist Party s grip on power. Huang, who was also acting chief of the Communist Party in the northern port city, became its mayor in 2008, before being investigated on suspicion of corruption in September last year. He abused his power to obtain bribes of more than 40 million yuan ($6.04 million) in exchange for promotions and land approvals, the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People s Court said on its official microblog on China s Twitter-like Weibo. The corrupt behavior spanned Huang s political career of more than two decades spent in several Chinese cities, from previous posts in Ningbo and Taizhou in the coastal province of Zhejiang to his time in Tianjin, the statement added. It was not possible for Reuters to reach Huang for comment. In January, the Communist Party said it would prosecute Huang, 63, for graft, following its announcement last September of an initial investigation. Huang had made presumptuous comments on government policy and had damaged party unity, the investigation by the corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection (CCDI), showed. He was also found to have accepted gifts, traveled with an entourage and worked to further his career by buying support and giving jobs to friends. The court said its sentence took into account the guilt and remorse Huang expressed over his offences, besides his cooperative attitude and the evidence he gave investigators. Tianjin, about an hour southeast of Beijing, has ambitions to become a financial hub for northern China and is one of four areas designated a municipality, along with Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, giving it the same high status as a province. In 2015, a series of massive explosions at a chemicals warehouse in Tianjin killed about 170 people, provoking nationwide anger that it had been built close to people s homes. | 1 |
ROME/ANKARA (Reuters) - China is financing billions of dollars worth of Chinese-led projects in Iran, making deep inroads into the economy while European competitors struggle to find banks willing to fund their ambitions, Iranian government and industry officials said. Freed from crippling nuclear sanctions two years ago, Iran is drawing unprecedented Chinese funding for everything from railways to hospitals, they said. State-owned investment arm CITIC Group recently established a $10 billion credit line and China Development Bank is considering $15 billion more. They (Western firms) had better come quickly to Iran otherwise China will take over, said Ferial Mostofi, head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce s investment commission, speaking on the sidelines of an Iran-Italy investment meeting in Rome. The Chinese funding, by far the largest statement of investment intent of any country in Iran, is in stark contrast with the drought facing Western investors since U.S. President Donald Trump disavowed the 2015 pact agreed by major powers, raising the threat sanctions could be reimposed. Iranian officials say the deals are part of Beijing s $124 billion Belt and Road initiative, which aims to build new infrastructure - from highways and railways to ports and power plants - between China and Europe to pave the way for an expansion of trade. A source in China familiar with the CITIC credit line, which was agreed in September, called it an agreement of strategic intent . The source declined to give details on projects to be financed, but Iranian media reports have said they would include water management, energy, environment and transport projects. An Iranian central bank source said loans under the credit line would be primarily extended in euros and yuan. The China Development Bank signed a memorandum of understanding for $15 billion, Iranian state news agency IRNA said on Sept. 15. The bank itself declined to comment, in line with many foreign investors and banks, including from China, who were reluctant to discuss their activities in Iran for this story. The web sites of banks and companies often carry little or no information on their Iran operations. With a population of 80 million and a large, sophisticated middle class, Iran has the potential to be a regional economic powerhouse. But with the risk of sanctions hanging in the air, more and more foreign investors want Tehran to issue sovereign guarantees to protect them in case the projects are halted. Economic ties between Iran and Italy, its biggest European trade partner, have been affected. Italy s state-owned rail company, Ferrovie dello Stato, is a consultant in the building of a 415-km (260-mile) high-speed north-south rail line between Tehran to Isfahan via Qom by state-owned China Railway Engineering Corp. The Italian firm is separately contracted to build a line from Qom west to Arak, but it needs 1.2 billion euros in financing. Though backed by the state s export insurance agency, it says it needs a sovereign guarantee. We are finalizing the negotiations and we are optimistic about moving forward, said Riccardo Monti, chairman of Italferr, the state firm s engineering unit, adding that the financing should be finalised by March next year. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi s promise in Tehran last year to oil the wheels of trade with a 4 billion euro credit line from Italy s state investment vehicle is effectively dead, a source in Italy familiar with the matter said. Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) risked losing the confidence of its many U.S. bond-holders who could sell down their holdings if the credit line went ahead, the source said. A few European banks have deepened trade ties with Iran this year Austria s Oberbank (OBER.VI) inked a financing deal with Iran in September. South Korea has also proved a willing investor, with Seoul s Eximbank signing an 8 billion euros credit line for projects in Iran in August, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua. But China is the standout. Valerio de Molli, head of Italian think tank European House Ambrosetti, reckons China now accounts for more than double the EU s share of Iran s total trade. The time to act is now, otherwise opportunities nurtured so far will be lost, de Molli said. Iranian officials attending this week s meeting in Rome sought to goad European firms and their bankers into action by talking up the Chinese financing and investments. The train is going forward, said Fereidun Haghbin, director general of economic affairs at Iran s foreign ministry. The world is a lot greater than the United States. Some Iranian officials remain concerned that investment could become lop-sided and are looking at creative ways to maintain investment links with the West, however. The Iran chamber is encouraging Western firms to consider transferring technology as a way of earning equity in Iranian projects rather than focusing on capital. It was also seeking approval to set up a 2.5-billion-euro offshore fund, perhaps in Luxembourg, as an indirect way for foreigners to invest in Iran, especially small and medium-sized Iranian enterprises, Mostofi said. The fund would issue the financial guarantees that foreigners want in return for a fee, effectively stepping in where banks now fear to tread. Most of the fund s capital would come from Iran, Mostofi said. For now, however, big Western firms remain stuck. Italian power engineering firm Ansaldo Energia, controlled by state investor CDP and part-owned by Shanghai Electric Group (601727.SS), has been in Iran for 70 years. Its chairman, Giuseppe Zampini, told Reuters at the Rome conference there were many opportunities for new contracts but his hands were tied for now, partly because Ansaldo bonds were also in the hands of U.S. investors. My heart says that we are losing something, Zampini said. | 0 |
BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will likely ask a senior Goldman Sachs banker to coordinate economic policy across his administration, turning again to Wall Street for expertise in managing the world’s largest economy, a transition official said on Friday. Trump’s pick of Goldman President Gary Cohn, 56, to head the White House National Economic Council comes despite Trump’s past criticism of the financial sector’s power. Trump hammered Goldman and its Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein during the presidential campaign, releasing a television ad that called Blankfein part of a “global power structure” that had robbed America’s working class. The anti-Goldman message rankled some on Wall Street, although several alums of the bank had major roles in Trump’s campaign and are bound for senior administration posts. “That Trump is willing to take this step does suggest the political risk to the biggest banks may be diminishing,” said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at Cowen & Co. The NEC coordinates economic policy across agencies, a key role for Trump’s promise to jumpstart the economy after years of tepid growth. In a recent interview with CNBC, Cohn worried that an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve without corresponding action by other central banks could damage the U.S. economy. “I am concerned (about) how much U.S. rates can dislocate from the rest of the world, and I think that’s a big issue,” Cohn said. Former Harvard University President Larry Summers served as President Barack Obama’s first NEC director in 2009 and played a leading role in crafting the administration’s primary response to the financial crisis - a stimulus package that was later criticized for being inadequate to boost the economy. Cohn, who is also Goldman’s chief operating officer, hails from one of the most respected Wall Street establishments and would follow former Goldman executives Robert Rubin and Stephen Friedman in running the NEC. “I think Trump feels confident that the establishment will help him fix some of our problems,” said Jerry Braakman, chief investment officer of First American Trust. Cohn was widely seen as Blankfein’s heir apparent and his exit may give rise to a new group of leaders at the bank, most of whom have spent more than 20 years there. NBC reported earlier that Trump had offered Cohn the job. A Goldman Sachs spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Cohn is a former Goldman commodities trader from Ohio who joined the firm in 1990. He served in leadership roles in bond trading, eventually becoming co-president in 2006. According to Thomson Reuters data, he has $190 million worth of stock in Goldman. In 2010, Cohn testified before the federal commission examining the roots of the financial crisis, denying charges that Goldman had bet against its clients who held risky mortgage-backed securities. Cohn struggled with dyslexia as a child and bounced from school to school and has often talked of his unlikely path to Wall Street. One teacher told his parents if they were really lucky he might grow up to be a truck driver. He was known throughout Goldman for his direct and abrasive manner in dealing with colleagues, although he has become more polished in recent years, current and former executives said. Cohn would join at least two other former Goldman bankers in the Trump administration, including Treasury Secretary-designate Steven Mnuchin and White House adviser Steve Bannon. The abundance of Wall Street faces on his team exposes Trump to criticism he is veering away from pledges to protect American workers from powerful interests. “Gary Cohn’s bank helped cause the 2008 financial crisis (and) he shouldn’t have anything to do with America’s economic policies,” said Karl Frisch, executive director of Allied Progress, a left-leaning nonprofit group. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has invited all Republican senators to discuss healthcare over lunch at the White House on Wednesday, the day after the party’s push to overhaul Obamacare collapsed in the U.S. Senate, a White House official said on Tuesday. “There is movement on healthcare,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, and without providing further detail on developments. | 1 |
Earlier in the week, there were leaked draft executive orders circulating that would strike President Obama s executive order protections for LGBTQ federal workers. There were also rumors that Donald Trump would sign a sweeping, broadly worded religious freedom bill into law that would effectively legalize discrimination nationwide. However, Trump and his famously homophobic vice president, Mike Pence, ran into a road block: Trump s kids. Specifically, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his daughter Ivanka Trump.Jared and Ivanka have long been seen to be the reasonable, moderating influences that are needed to calm Trump s impulsive, erratic temperament. It appears that this is what happened here. Ivanka and Jared see all of the fear and the protests in the streets against Trump, and they feared that there would be even more national and international backlash against Trump s bigotry via executive order. Therefore, there was a complete reversal on these orders.Of course, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer outright lied when asked about it. He insisted that these orders were just a couple out of hundreds that were being considered. Then, of course, a statement was hastily rushed out, saying that the Trump administration is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community. Considering all of the virulently anti-LGBTQ people Trump has around him namely Mike Pence I don t believe that for so much as a second. If Ivanka and Jared can keep Trump s hands away from the LGBTQ community for the time being, though, all the better. Hopefully it will hold until 2018, and we manage to take Congress back, thus crippling the amount of damage Trump and Pence can do until they are out of office.While their reasons were political rather than noble, at this point, it s better than nothing.Featured image via Aaron P. Bernstein / Stringer/Getty Images | 1 |
DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration will unveil revised self-driving guidelines within the next few months, the head of the U.S. Transportation Department said on Monday, responding to automakers’ calls for regulations that will eliminate barriers and allow autonomous vehicles on the road. “The pressure is mounting for the federal government to do something” about autonomous vehicles, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said on Monday in Detroit. However, Chao told reporters the federal government should be careful before setting binding rules to govern autonomous vehicles. “We don’t want rules that impede future technological advances,” Chao said. Chao was not specific about what her department’s proposals would include, or how they would differ from policy guidance proposed by the Obama administration. Companies including Alphabet Inc’s self-driving car Waymo unit, General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co, Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL], Tesla Inc and other are aggressively pursuing automated vehicle technologies. “We need a more concrete regulatory framework,” Ken Washington, chief technology officer of Ford, said in Detroit. Automakers could use a clear set of rules to certify on their own that an autonomous vehicle is safe, as they can now with conventional vehicles, Washington said. Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr said at a forum in Washington he feels “quite confident” that the hardware and software will be ready by 2021 for self-driving cars. But other big issues loom. “Things like ethics,” Ford said, saying does the vehicle opt to save 10 pedestrians or the driver. Individual automakers cannot program separate ethics software for self-driving cars but must work together as an industry, Ford said. Ron Medford, Waymo’s director of safety, said in Detroit he expected autonomous cars would appear first in “managed fleet operations,” not as vehicles sold to individuals. Chao, in remarks prepared for delivery in Detroit, said the new rules would support industry innovation and aim to encourage “new entrants and ideas that deliver safer vehicles.” Automakers have met with Chao on several occasions in recent months and urged her to make changes to Obama-era automated vehicle rules. Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have also been working on a package of legislation to make it easier to get self-driving cars on the road. A U.S. Senate committee is also planning a new hearing this month on self-driving cars. The Obama guidelines called on automakers to voluntarily submit details of self-driving vehicle systems to regulators in a 15-point “safety assessment” and urge states to defer to the federal government on most vehicle regulations. Automakers have raised numerous concerns about the guidance, including that it requires them to turn over significant data, could delay testing by months and lead to states making the voluntary guidelines mandatory. | 1 |
BNI Store Oct 28 2016 BELGIUM: Iranian Muslim invader found guilty of drugging, repeatedly raping, and threatening to kill a 15-year-old Belgian schoolgirl, GETS NO JAIL TIME! An Iranian Muslim illegal alien migrant who threatened to kill a runaway schoolgirl if she screamed as he repeatedly raped her has been spared any jail in a shock sentencing. The 20-year-old Muslim whose identity is being protected ( why? ), was found guilty of drugging, raping, and threatening the young girl by the court in Tongeren, Belgium. But the typical Muslim pervert has been spared jail in a shock verdict – and got away with a suspended sentence. UK Express The harrowing incident happened in April 2014, after the young girl and a female friend ran away from their hometown of Bertem. When the friend decided to return home two days later, the 15-year-old carried on her journey – taking a bus from Hasselt to Genk on her own. There, after arriving at 11pm on April 20, she took up with a gang of other young people who were hanging around in the city centre, and was taken to one of their apartments where she was plied with alcohol and drugs. The young girl later fell asleep at the flat, but was woken up just hours later by the 20-year-old Iranian Muslim who repeatedly raped her. During the horrific sex attack, she was bitten by her abuser and nearly suffocated after he put his hands around her throat to stop her screaming. He threatened to kill her if she continued to call for help. The court heard that after the attack, she did not dare to ask for help any more and feared the rest of the group could burst in at any minute and rape her as well. “Rape is the most natural thing in the world,” and “women must obey men,” were just two of the defenses offered by some of the seven Muslim invaders recently arrested for a gang rape of an unconscious 17-year-old white girl in Ostend, Belgium However, despite the aggressive nature of the attack, the migrant has been spared jail. Handing him a suspended sentence, the judge also fined the Iranian £3,680 in compensation to the girl and her family. The sentencing comes just days after an Iraqi asylum seeker had his rape conviction overturned , after his defence lawyers claimed he did not know his 10-year-old victim did not want to be raped. | 1 |
The DNC Chair Tom Perez took his delusional and very nasty attitude on Fox Business this morning Maria Bartiromo let him have it with a dose of brutal truth about the direction the Dems are going in Your party has been hijacked by the extreme left, Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren. Things got off to a fairly normal start, with Bartiromo asking the DNC Chairman about his party s victories in Tuesday s elections .Then Bartiromo hit a nerve when she mentioned the accusations about Clinton fixing the primary.Perez shot back: Maria, I understand that when the Democrats win as they did across the board last night that you would like to focus on other things Then, after Perez touted Obamacare and Bartiromo said the health care system was imploding the two went back and forth, with Perez attempting to defend the Affordable Care Act and Bartiromo grilling him on whether he has spoken to Sanders since Brazile s revelations.BARTIROMO KEPT COMING BACK AT PEREZ WITH TRUTH BOMBS: Does somebody owe Bernie Sanders a phone call, since now we know what took place, and everything was rigged, and you were behind Hillary Clinton? she charged. Maria I don t know if this is a lecture or a Q&A, you tell me, Perez lamented. She then asked Perez about why the DNC did not turn their computers over to the FBI for an investigation, to which he replied: Maria, you re in a fictional wonderland right now. Perez tried to turn the conversation back to Tuesday s election results, claiming them as proof that voters embraced the Democrats vision.BEST LINE OF THE INTERVIEW: I haven t heard a vision! Bartiromo shouted back. Your party has been hijacked by the extreme left, Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren. READ MORE: MEDIAITE | 0 |
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and other officials will be called to testify next month to a congressional panel about the crisis over lead-contaminated water in the city of Flint, a congressional office said on Thursday. U.S. Representative Brenda Lawrence, a Democrat, requested the Feb. 3 hearing of the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week, said her communications director, Tracy Manzer. The invitation will be specifically for the governor and he cannot send a representative on his behalf, Manzer said. Susan Hedman, administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 5 office in Chicago, and Dan Wyant, former director of Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality, are among the other invitees. Wyant resigned in December over the growing crisis in Flint. Flint, a financially strapped city north of Detroit, switched water supplies in 2014 to save money. Complaints about the water began within a month of the change, but officials did not take steps to remedy the situation until October 2015 after tests showed elevated levels of lead in some tap water in the city and in some children. “The purpose of the hearing is to identify precisely what went wrong in the process and to ensure that those who were responsible are to be held accountable and that this never happens again,” Manzer said. Snyder, a Republican, has rejected calls from critics for his resignation over the crisis. He asked the Michigan state legislature this week to approve $28 million to assist Flint and said there would be additional funding requests. The Michigan House approved the funding unanimously on Wednesday and the bill was in the Senate on Thursday. The U.S. House committee can subpoena people to appear before it if they do not respond to invitations. (Story corrects headline and paragraphs 1, 2 to show governor will be called to testify but has not been called yet. Representative Lawrence’s spokeswoman corrected what she previously said.) | 1 |
White House Chief Strategist Stephen K. Bannon has long been a controversial figure. Prior to joining Donald Trump s campaign, he was the head of Breitbart News, a racist website that Bannon said was the platform for the alt-right. The alt-right, is, of course, nothing more than a rebranded name for white supremacists. Ever since Trump made Bannon his Chief Strategist, there have been calls for his removal from the White House. Now, in the wake of Trump s disgraceful response to the violent and murderous gathering of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virgnina, it is being reported that Bannon is finally being pushed out.Of course, Trump is a coward, though, so it will be public humiliation, like what was suffered by former Republican National Committee head turned White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, that will be the technique to get rid of Bannon. However, as is par for the course with this White House, Bannon aids and allies are saying that Bannon had already decided to leave Team Trump, and that it just hadn t been announced yet. From the New York Times:The president and senior White House officials were debating when and how to dismiss Mr. Bannon. The two administration officials cautioned that Mr. Trump is known to be averse to confrontation within his inner circle, and could decide to keep on Mr. Bannon for some time.As of Friday morning, the two men were still discussing Mr. Bannon s future, the officials said. A person close to Mr. Bannon insisted the parting of ways was his idea, and that he had submitted his resignation to the president on Aug. 7, to be announced at the start of this week, but it was delayed in the wake of the racial unrest in Charlottesville, Va.Methinks there s a lot of lying on both sides going on here. Trump has clearly been afraid of dismissing Bannon, for fear of the obvious ability of Bannon to turn all of the far-right media and thus crucial parts of his base against him, via the very influential far-right publications he holds such enormous sway over. On Bannon s part, he didn t want to go anywhere, because his stated goal has always been to, quote, destroy the administrative state. Either way, it s a good thing that the head of the modern white supremacist movement will be reportedly leaving the White House. Now, we just have to get rid of the rest of the Nazis, and we ll really be in business.Featured image via Mario Tama/Getty Images | 1 |
We Are Change
The president of the Iowa State University Bernie Sanders club was dragged off of the stage at a Hillary Clinton rally which he was invited to speak at by her campaign — after telling the crowd not to vote for her.
Sanders was in town holding the rally to drum up support for him formal rival on Saturday. Enthusiastic Sanders supporter Caleb Vanfosson was invited to open the event, but instead of echoing Sanders’ endorsement, the college sophomore laid down exactly why he will not vote for her.
“I got a call the other day asking me if I wanted to speak for Hillary, basically they wanted to use me like a puppet,” Van Fosson told Fox News . “Trump’s not any better, but Hillary Clinton is still terrible.”
His speech began in typical fashion, introducing himself and speaking about student debt.
“While the part time reality tv show star and full time bigot Donald Trump thinks that hard working immigrants is what’s wrong with our country,” Vanfosson said to laughter from the crowd, “hes failing to even talk about this issue.”
Bernie Sanders supporter and college student speaker calls out Hillary Clinton at her own rally, security pulls him off stage 11/5/2016 pic.twitter.com/EKMV15ZScd
— MicroTurkeyLeaks™ (@WDFx2EU8) November 5, 2016
“But unfortunately Hillary doesn’t really care about this issue either, the only thing she really cares about is pleasing her delegates — the delegates who won her the election,” he said. “The only people who can really trust Hillary are Goldman Sachs. CITIGroup can trust Hillary. The military industrial complex can trust Hillary. Her good friend Henry Kissinger can trust Hillary.”
Vanfosson’s words clearly resonated, as cheers and applause erupted from the crowd.
“She is so trapped in the world of the elite that she has completely lost grip of what it’s like to be an average person,” he continued.
A man then entered the room and began to walk purposefully towards the podium. When he reached Vanfosson, he grabbed him and
“She doesn’t care about us. Voting for a lesser of two evils, there’s no point,” he concluded, as he was grabbed and pushed off the stage.
The post Speaker at Sanders Rally Tells Crowd Not to Vote Clinton, Gets Dragged Off Stage appeared first on We Are Change .
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British banker took 60g of cocaine while torturing & killing prostitute, court... British banker took 60g of cocaine while torturing & killing prostitute, court told By 0 137
British banker Rurik Jutting took up to 60 grams of cocaine while torturing and killing a prostitute, a Hong Kong court has heard. He is also alleged to have harbored fantasies of returning to the UK to kidnap and abuse teenage girls.
The 30-year-old is on trial for the murder of two Indonesian women in his flat in the former British colony and finance hub.
In a video seen by authorities, Jutting is heard bragging about the massive amount of cocaine he had taken over the course of the three-day torture of his first victim, 23-year-old Sumarti Ningsih.
He told police he derived a “ sense of enjoyment he never had before ” from his actions and knew then that he would kill again.
Read more
Jutting, formerly a banker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch who studied at the University of Cambridge, has denied murder but admitted to manslaughter.
He was arrested in 2014 after the bodies of Ningsih and a second Indonesian woman, 26-year-old Seneng Mujiasih, were found in his apartment.
Interview tapes played in the courtroom reveal some of Jutting’s thought processes during the killings.
“ She was unlucky to be the person in my flat when I realized that physically hurting someone when under cocaine was something I gained satisfaction from, ” he said of his first victim.
Medical experts told the court that Jutting appeared to have built up a huge tolerance to cocaine and existed on a daily dose of wine, cocaine and Red Bull.
He also revealed his plans to return to the UK and abduct schoolgirls from an expensive boarding school in Buckinghamshire.
“ They would be, say, 15 years old and I would basically turn these three girls into my sex slaves, it would be good to psychologically play them off against each other, ” he told police.
The trial continues | 0 |
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese politicians and bankers believe Saudi Arabia intends to do to their country what it did to Qatar - corral Arab allies into enforcing an economic blockade unless its demands are met. Unlike Qatar, the world s biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas with a population of just 300,000, Lebanon has neither the natural nor financial resources to ride it out, and people there are worried. Up to 400,000 Lebanese work in the Gulf region, and remittances flowing back into the country, estimated at between $7-8 billion a year, are a vital source of cash to keep the economy afloat and the heavily-indebted government functioning. These are serious threats to the Lebanese economy which is already dire. If they cut the transfer of remittances, that will be a disaster, a senior Lebanese official told Reuters. Those threats came from Lebanon s former prime minister, Saad al-Hariri, who resigned on Nov. 4 in a shock broadcast from Riyadh that Lebanese political leaders have ascribed to pressure from the Saudis. Hariri, an ally of Saudi Arabia, on Sunday warned of possible Arab sanctions and a danger to the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese living in the Gulf. And he spelled out Saudi conditions for Lebanon to avoid sanctions: Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group that is Lebanon s main political power and part of the ruling coalition, must stop meddling in regional conflicts, particularly Yemen. According to a Lebanese source familiar with Saudi thinking, Hariri s interview gave an indication of what might be waiting for us if a real compromise is not reached. The playbook is there in Qatar. Hariri s resignation has thrust Lebanon to the center of an escalating rivalry between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi ite Iran. The non-confrontational Saudi policy of the past towards Lebanon has gone, analysts say, under the new leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 32-year-old son of King Salman. He is now the de facto ruler of the kingdom, running its military, political and economic affairs. Whether Iran and Hezbollah are willing to make significant concessions to Riyadh is doubtful, sources said. They (Hezbollah) might make some cosmetic concessions, but they won t submit to the Saudi conditions, a source familiar with Hezbollah thinking said. Lebanese analyst Sarkis Naoum said Riyadh wanted Hariri to return to Lebanon and press President Michel Aoun to open dialogue and address their conditions on Hezbollah s regional interventions. They need to come up with a position that will be satisfactory to the Saudis ... If the Saudis decide on sanctions they will do it, Naoum said. A source close to Hariri said he had put the ball in the court of Aoun, Hezbollah and its allies, by saying business cannot continue as usual. There was no sugar-coating. The sanctions were spelled out clearly. They want Lebanon to be disassociated from Hezbollah . Aoun has welcomed comments that the former premier planned to return home soon, palace sources said on Monday. Saudi frustration with Lebanon seems to have boiled over after a string of setbacks to its foreign policy. Riyadh has been bogged down in the war it launched against Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen in 2015. Saudi Arabia has accused Iran and Hezbollah of backing the Houthis, and also said Hezbollah had a role in firing a ballistic missile from Yemen towards Riyadh earlier this month. Hezbollah and Iran s involvement in Syria has also transformed the war in favor of President Bashar al-Assad, while Saudi support for Sunni rebels in Syria s civil war have amounted to little. Hezbollah, a movement with a heavily armed fighting force in addition to seats in parliament and government, is Iran s spearhead in the region. Tehran s Revolutionary Guard looks to be trying to replicate it by building coalitions of militia groups in Iraq and Syria, according to some analysts. The list of potential sanctions against Lebanon, political sources there say, could include a ban on flights, visas, exports and transfer of remittances. Some of those have been imposed on Qatar, but that blockade, initiated in June, has had limited effect on the emirate so far, beyond driving it closer to Iran. Allegiance to foreign backers is not new to Lebanon. Sunnis have always looked to Saudi Arabia for support and funding while Shi ite Lebanese tended to turn to Tehran and Hezbollah. The Lebanese have always been agents of foreign powers. They take their money, make promises, commitments and alliances, Naoum said. But while Hezbollah fulfilled its promises to Iran, Sunni factions let Riyadh down, he said. Thanks in part to Iranian investment in the group, Hezbollah now calls the shots in the Lebanese capital as well as playing a pivotal role in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East. Riyadh has historically channeled billions of dollars to Lebanon to help its reconstruction after the 1975-90 civil war and following massive Israeli incursions of south Lebanon. Now it appears ready to do serious economic damage to Lebanon that could weaken Hezbollah s standing at home and in the region, should its demands not be met. The Saudi conditions are causing alarm among some Lebanese, who have long viewed Hezbollah as a state-within-a-state . Many believe the solution is outside the control of local players. Lebanon will pay the price, a top Lebanese banker told Reuters. The only pressure the Saudis have is economic ... they can put pressure by imposing sanctions that can hurt. | 1 |
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada s Finance Minister Bill Morneau said on Thursday he will place his assets in a blind trust and divest all his stock in a publicly traded family business, amid opposition allegations that these holdings put him in a conflict of interest. Questions about the assets of Morneau, the multimillionaire former chief executive officer of human resources management firm Morneau Shepell, have dogged the minister and led some to question whether he would be forced to resign. His plan to adopt a blind trust follow weeks of backlash over a government attempt to reform small business taxes, which have become a major stumbling block for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau s two-year-old Liberal government. Morneau said he had initially intended to put his assets in a blind trust - as Trudeau has - but had changed his mind after consultations with the ethics watchdog. He said he had naively believed that following the advice of the ethics commissioner was a high enough standard. What we ve seen over the last week is that I need to do more. As minister of finance, in this role, it s important to make sure people have absolute confidence, he told a news conference, adding he has about a million shares in the company and would work with a trustee to divest his and his family s holdings. Shares of Morneau Shepell Inc fell nearly 2 percent on Thursday to C$20.63, shedding about C$21.6 million in market value. Morneau was elected in 2015 when the left-leaning Liberals were vaulted to a surprise majority under Trudeau, becoming one of the many rookie ministers in Trudeau s cabinet. In a heated session of parliament after the news conference, opposition politicians said Morneau s 2016 legislation on pension reform increased the profits of Morneau Shepell. The finance minister and his company, Morneau Shepell, have benefited from the minister s actions, said Conservative member of parliament Maxime Bernier. Morneau said he had been pulled out of government meetings at least twice since becoming finance minister to guard against conflicts of interest between policy decisions and his company. I don t know the total number of times, but I can remember at least two times being taken out of meetings because of that conflict-of-interest screen, I believe. Of course I don t know what happened in those meetings, he said. Separately, Morneau said the government s autumn fiscal update will be released on Oct. 24. | 0 |
Linda McMahon, Trump s pick to head the Small Business Administration, has been making headlines because of her unsavory career building the WWE. However, those headlines have been hiding a sinister fact that everyone should be aware of: the McMahons are major funders of Trump. They ve given the Trump Foundation and Super PACs supporting the candidate millions of dollars. A donor is being given a spot on the incoming administration.Here s more, from The New Civil Rights Movement:Donald Trump has named former WWE CEO Linda McMahon to become his Small Business Administration chief. McMahon gave a Trump Super PAC $6 million during the final months of the campaign, despite having denounced his comments about women as deplorable. McMahon, who ran for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut but failed, twice, is the top outside donor (along with her husband) to the Trump Foundation, giving the controversial family charity $5 million between 2007 and 2009 more than Trump himself gave.Apparently, she s totally fine with Trump s comments as long as she gets to buy a spot on his administration.As Trump said when speaking about the Clinton Foundation, Follow the money. If she s not buying a position in the administration, why would you appoint someone who has donated over $10 million to support you? After all, the appearance of impropriety and impropriety itself are often not far separate in public life, where perception can be everything. It s very obvious that Donald Trump is either corrupt, or doesn t care if people think he s corrupt. And considering his settlement for fraud, thousands of stiffed contractors, thousands upon thousands of lawsuits, and general business record, it seems most likely it s the former option.Can you imagine the level of scrutiny Hillary Clinton would have faced if she appointed someone to her hypothetical administration who had donated over $10 million to her? Conservatives would be frothing at the mouth and rightfully so, in that case. Pay-to-play is simply not the way a government should be run. Of course, since it s Trump, conservatives are silent.Plus, she s not even qualified:Like many of the President-elect s cabinet appointments, McMahon s professional qualifications appear to be out-of-step with the duties she will assume when she is confirmed. Despite her family s entrepreneurial streak, the WWE has a near monopolization over the industry and has been accused of allegedly prioritizing money over the health of its wrestlers. We of course had a responsibility to our shareholders, McMahon told the Times in response, denying the allegations. But every good chief executive understands that in addition to maintaining profitability, companies that hope to be successful in the long term absolutely have to put people first. Whether McMahon will be able to use her experience with big business to benefit small businesses around America has yet to be seen. (Source)This is just more evidence that Trump is doing the OPPOSITE of draining the swamp. He s business-as-usual on steroids.Featured image via Sara D. Davis/Getty Images | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has sanctioned 26 individuals as part of its non-proliferation designations for North Korea as well as nine banks, including some with ties to China, according to the U.S. Treasury Department Office Of Foreign Assets Control Sanctions. In a list on the office s website posted on Tuesday, the U.S. sanctions target individuals in North Korea as well as some North Korean nationals in China, Russia, Libya and Dubai. | 0 |
(Reuters) - The U.S wind energy industry on Friday cheered a Senate tax proposal that, unlike the House version unveiled last week, preserves the tax credit that helps wind farms compete with plants fired by fossil fuels. The Senate plan brought relief to an industry that has spent the last week warning lawmakers on Capitol Hill that changes to the credit would put $50 billion in planned investment at risk. However, if the House and Senate pass their differing proposals on the Republicans’ broad tax-cut plan, a House-Senate committee will need to reconcile the differences and both chambers will have to approve the resulting compromise legislation, so it is too soon to know if the tax overhaul will ultimately preserve the wind energy credit. MidAmerican Energy said on Thursday that if the bill passed as the House proposed, the Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) unit could be forced to cancel $4.3 billion of wind investments in Iowa, affecting 400 jobs and prompting the loss of $10 million a year in property tax and landowner payments. The wind industry’s production tax credit was extended by Congress in 2015 and awards a credit for every kilowatt-hour of energy produced from wind projects. Investors and project developers had banked on the stability of the policy, which is scheduled to phase out by 2020, in planning their investments. “The Senate tax reform bill keeps a promise to America’s more than 100,000 wind energy workers and restores the confidence of businesses pouring billions of dollars into rural America,” Tom Kiernan, Chief Executive of the American Wind Energy Association trade group said in a statement. Republican Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Thune of South Dakota and Dean Heller of Nevada and others were opposed to changes in the tax credit, the AWEA said. | 1 |
3 Philadelphia prison guards arrested for alleged assault on handcuffed inmate 3 Philadelphia prison guards arrested for alleged assault on handcuffed inmate By 0 48
Three Philadelphia prison guards are facing charges including aggravated assault after allegedly beating up a handcuffed inmate and submitting a fraudulent report. They say the inmate harmed himself, but their actions were caught on video.
Milton Gibbs, 52, Terrance Bailey, 30, and Shaun Lowe, 26, are facing charges of aggravated assault, conspiracy, and tampering with public records. There are also additional charges of misdemeanor, recklessly endangering another person, unsworn falsification to authorities, and obstructing the administration of law and official oppression. They turned themselves in for arrest on Wednesday.
“We cannot stand for any kind of assault, and this attack on a handcuffed inmate by sworn corrections officers is egregious. Every inmate who is held in our prisons deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said in statement following arrests of the three guards.
According to the investigation, the assault at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center dates back to June, when Gibbs allegedly threatened inmate Brandon Kulb, 22, stating that he would “hang him and murder him.”
It is alleged that Gibbs called Bailey, and the two then entered Kulb’s cell and began beating, kicking, and spitting on him.
District Attorney Williams says they eventually put Kulb in handcuffs and walked him down a staircase, while continuing to beat him.
“Once they arrived at the cell block’s exit, Bailey struck the victim in the back of the head knocking him to the ground. Gibbs and Bailey then dragged the victim into the central control area and began to stomp on him. Lowe arrived on scene and joined in the assault,” the DA’s office said in a press release, adding that Kulb “lost consciousness” at least twice during that time.
The guards tried to make sure that the assault would not get captured on surveillance cameras, but “much” of it was still caught on CCTV, offering the investigation irrefutable evidence. Despite that, guards tried to cover up the assault.
After the purported beating of Kulb, Gibbs and Bailey submitted a mental health referral saying the inmate had intentionally harmed himself. Lowe allegedly transported the victim to the receiving room, and Gibbs tried to coerce the victim not to report the incident in exchange for food from the staff kitchen, the DA said.
In their reports, the three wrote that they only used “open hand” control, because they had to subdue Kulb. They omitted their own actions.
This is not the first time Gibbs has been arrested, according to NewsWorks. In 2004, he was reportedly fired for assaulting an inmate but was acquitted in a federal civil rights case filed against him.
Via RT . This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license. | 1 |
Stanley Friedman was shot at. The ship he was on was attacked by enemy bombers. He saw a landmine blow apart a truck carrying two dozen of his fellow soldiers. One of them died in his arms.
But after he came home from World War II, he found himself embroiled in another battle -- this time, with the Veterans Administration, as he tried to get his benefits.
In the decades that followed the war, Friedman suffered from anxiety, depression and nightmares which lasted his entire life, affecting his job and his family.
Yet, as he sought treatment and benefits, the Veterans Administration told him the military records documenting his service couldn't be found. Despite the fact Friedman knew very specific details of the dates and places he experienced the most traumatic events, there was no proof, so he wasn't entitled to benefits, the VA said.
"I have a huge box of letters that he sent to the VA over the years in his attempt to get benefits," said Friedman's wife of 61 years, Minna Rae. "He tried over and over and over again to get help, but they just kept turning him down."
Friedman -- who, as he would later learn, suffered from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder -- was not alone.
Veterans of all wars, from World War II to the present, are fighting similar battles to this day against the VA -- now called the Department of Veterans Affairs -- to prove their service and obtain benefits they believe they deserve, and finding out that the VA's records are woefully incomplete.
The John Marshall Law School's Veterans Legal Support Center and Clinic, which works to assist vets with legal and other issues, has lists of former soldiers wrangling with the VA system.
"It's an issue many, many vets have been suffering through for a long time, including recent veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan," said attorney James Garrett.
Garrett had been a lawyer with the firm DLA Piper Global, in San Diego, which has a division that takes on pro bono work assisting veterans. The veteran support clinic emailed him in 2009 appealing for help for Friedman. Garrett said he was stunned to learn that six decades after the war ended, a soldier was still locked in battle.
"I couldn't believe that after all this time, a WWII veteran was still having trouble getting benefits," he exclaimed.
Friedman was 89 years old at that time.
Garrett and his team began making calls, sending letters, searching the Internet, digging through documents and wading through reams of microfilm, just trying to find anything that would prove Friedman's claims.
"Frustrating does not even begin to tell you the truth of the matter. I've found it incredibly unbelievable as a taxpayer the amount of bureaucracy and ineptitude that was occurring, not only in Stanley Friedman's case, but in other cases," Garrett said.
Brian Clauss, who is executive director of the clinic at John Marshall, said missing records are especially a problem for veterans who served before 1973, when a fire destroyed millions of files at the National Personnel Records Center in suburban St. Louis, Mo.
"No duplicate copies of these records were ever maintained, nor were microfilm copies produced," said Clauss. "Neither were any indexes created prior to the fire."
A person would need to be a very good detective to come up with proof of service or experiences.
"It can be particularly cruel -- an elderly veteran has to reconstruct their service record. They're forced to prove their qualifications," Clauss said.
In addition to the fire, Clauss said records may not have been well kept during combat situations, especially if a person was injured and then evacuated. "It is emergency treatment under extreme conditions," he explained. "It is war, people are rushing through the chaos. They don't keep detailed records."
Critics also claim the VA is antiquated and behind the times technologically, and there's still a great deal of material on paper -- and not enough staff to deal with it all.
The VA did not respond to requests from Fox News for comment for this report.
Since Friedman's case came to light, there's been more attention paid to the problem of lost veteran records, but it continues to be a serious issue for many.
Garrett said veterans told him, "Everyone thought we were lying about things we said we had seen and experienced."
One Vietnam veteran, who didn't want his name used, said "the more publicity we get for this problem, the better ... Americans need to know about it."
In 2012, Garrett was able to locate some of Friedman's lost records. And after three more years of legal wrangling with the VA offices, Friedman was finally able to obtain benefits, at the age of 92.
"This validated him. It completely changed our lives," said Minna Rae.
Once he got benefits, Friedman had greater access to care, which included long-awaited therapy for PTSD.
"We're very fortunate he lived long enough to get verification for his service because many other World War II vets died before that happened," Minna Rae said.
In the final years of his life, Stanley Friedman was eventually able to move to a veterans' residence not far from his suburban Chicago home, called the Green House homes at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center.
He found peace among the caring staff and his fellow veterans.
Friedman died in his sleep there at the age of 94.
Ruth Ravve joined the Fox News Channel (FNC) in 1996 and currently serves as a Chicago-based producer. | 1 |
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence released new videos depicting the danger of guns in children s hands in response to the National Rifle Association s (NRA) and the corporate gun industry s disgusting marketing of guns to children. The videos depict Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan as victims of gun violence.Watch videos here:Peter Pan[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoAuvmRH2Yk] Alice in Wonderland[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDrQlHx7GK4]A report by the Violence Policy Center (VPC) Start Them Young How the Firearms Industry and Gun Lobby Are Targeting Your Children, documents how the gun industry and the gun lobby markets guns to children. The comprehensive 54 page report lists the many slick approaches marketers use to make guns attractive to children despite the lethal consequences which include mass murder, suicides, fatal unintentional shootings, and mass murder. The marketing approaches of guns include: The promotion of 22 caliber assault rifles that often incorporate plastic in their design (leading to less recoil and lighter weight). The result, according to Shooting Sports Retailer, is guns that bring the coolness and fun of the tactical rifle to kids and less serious shooters. Marketing guns in child-friendly colors, including: pink rifles and pistols intended for girls and women from a wide range of manufacturers; Smith & Wesson 22 caliber AR-15 style assault rifles in Pink Platinum, Purple Platinum, and Harvest Moon Orange; and youth rifles from Savage Arms that come in crayon-box colors that include red, yellow, orange, and blue. In the search for a gun-based reality video game to compete with the appeal of actual video games, the industry has embraced 3-Gun competition, described by one gun writer as being as close to a real-life first person shooter video game as you ll get without joining the military. The NRA, which is considered the most powerful lobby group in Washington along with other groups that promote violent activities like Israel s AIPAC, has a leash on Washington GOP politicians despite the fact that its promotion and profiteering off of guns has made America one of the most dangerous countries on the planet.The Brady Campaign, named after James Brady, who was permanently disabled after the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981, is a non-profit organization that has advocated for gun control for decades. Featured image via video screenshot. | 0 |
Like many habits, the pursuit of good sushi can get expensive. At the extreme end, the cost includes airfare to Tokyo and bribes to hotel concierges. Even for New Yorkers who stick close to home, the price of keeping up to date on sushi is high and climbing. sushi nuts have already had the $145 omakase and been served on both sides of the counter by the profoundly courtly employees of Kosaka tried Sushi Zo’s $200 omakase, the rice almost invisible under very long and very soft and unadorned ribbons of fish sat down to Ichimura’s $300 sonata of fish cured and seasoned in an emphatic style that descends from the days before refrigeration and handed over as much as $400 to Sushi Ginza Onodera for nigiri and other dishes that are as minutely detailed as the interior is soaringly grand. For sushi chasers whose bank accounts are not this all gets kind of depressing. Or consider the novice fan, who has begun to realize that there are realms of pleasure out there beyond tuna rolls from Duane Reade. What’s next? Sugarfish by Sushi Nozawa would like to be the answer. It’s not, but enough people believe it is, or want to believe, that getting inside this restaurant on East 20th Street can be a test of patience. Sugarfish arrived with an pedigree. Its branches around Los Angeles have an ardent following, and one of the chain’s founders, Kazunori Nozawa, was among the first sushi chefs to bring to that city a rigorously autocratic style. Specializing in omakase, he was known to yell at those foolish enough to stir wasabi into their soy sauce. Nobody yelled at me at Sugarfish, but the staff didn’t seem all that eager to feed me, either. I made my first assault on the host stand just after 6:30 one weeknight. (The place doesn’t do reservations.) I was alone and willing to wait even if it took until closing time — 11 that night. What an optimist I was in those days. “We’re not taking any more names tonight,” a host announced. Later, I learned to stage my raids between 2 and 4 in the afternoon, not hours when I typically crave raw fish. One lucky day, I was in within 30 minutes and out before sunset. One can order sushi by the piece, but the servers and the printed menu heavily push the three “Trust Me” meals. This is a variant on omakase, which roughly means “I trust the chef,” but a Trust Me is not an omakase meal. It is, essentially, a set menu served in waves. All three start with chilled edamame and slices of tuna in ponzu, move on to several small courses of nigiri and end with a hand roll or two. The simplest, Trust Me Lite, is $27 and includes four pieces of nigiri the most expensive is the Nozawa Trust Me, with 12 pieces of sushi and two hand rolls at a price of $51. Each course zooms out of a window in the kitchen where sushi is made with unusual speed. Efficiency lets Sugarfish keep prices low, the volume high and the rice warm — a hallmark of what the critic Jonathan Gold has termed the School of Nozawa. The rice is not only warm. It’s seasoned with so much vinegar that it’s almost pickled. This makes it appealingly energetic, a quality that sets it apart from the rest of the food. The fish is uniformly soft and pretty, but none of it tastes much like fish. Sweet shrimp and sea scallops were both exactly as they should be. But there was no heft to the tuna, no depth to the salmon, and anybody who happens to like species like mackerel or sardines is in the wrong restaurant. The menu and website make much of Mr. Nozawa’s connections among elite fishmongers, but the selection at Sugarfish rarely rises above entry level. The menu lists certain specials “when available. ” Sea urchin is one the last time I went, there wasn’t any. This has to be the only sushi restaurant in New York that can’t get its hands on sea urchin. Fresh wasabi may be too much to ask at Sugarfish’s prices, but there is no wasabi at all under the fish. This is weird. Where sushi is concerned, wasabi isn’t just a condiment. It’s the air in the tires. Sugarfish lets you apply your own from some concentric bloops of stuff that tastes like watery horseradish and looks like a green version of the poop emoji, without the smile. By the end of my third meal, I was desperate for some break in the monotony. If Mr. Nozawa had suddenly materialized to yell at me, I would have given him flowers. | 0 |
TUNIS (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has information that Tunisian women or women traveling on Tunisian passports might commit terrorist acts in the Gulf country, Tunisia s state news agency TAP said. Tunisia late on Sunday suspended flights from Dubai carrier Emirates to Tunis, with officials saying the airline was refusing to carry female Tunisian travelers. Emirates has given no reason for not allowing female Tunisians to board its flights since Friday. A spokesman for Tunisia s presidency did not elaborate on the security threat in a brief TAP article. Emirates had stopped its Dubai-Tunis connection on Monday. In Tunisia, anger has been building after women said they had been banned at Tunis airport from boarding Emirates flights to Dubai. Tunisian civil organizations and political parties called on the government to respond. Foreign Minister Khemais Jhianoui told a local radio station the UAE should apologize for the travel ban, which he said its authorities had not informed Tunisia about. | 1 |
21st Century Wire says Late last year, search engine giant Google announced its plans to protect users from the horrors of fake news by changing the way it presents search results. According to corporate officials, they hope to shelter readers by limiting access to what the company deems as low-quality information while promoting what it calls established mainstream sources. Critics believe that the company, which now has a virtual monopoly on internet traffic, is now playing god over the info-sphere. While its known that Eric Schmidt, the head of Google s parent company, Alphabet Inc, is regular attendee at the annual secretive Bilderberg meeting which charters the globalist agenda, not much is known about new Google CEO Sundar Pichai and what his personal ideology is, or whether he personally believes that Google s role is to control what the public think about any given issue by fixing the search results on the world s number one search engine. Judging by the culture of conformity at Google, it s not likely that Pichai would be allowed to express any dissenting views if he had them.As 21WIRE pointed out last week regarding the controversy over the recent Google Memo and the firm dismissing employees who are seen to divert from the company s prescribed group think, this same repressive political culture at Google is reflected in its broad new automated censorship program administered by algorithms on its Google search engine a bold move which effectively disappears political views and articles it does not like, and wishes to bury.Watch this segment from RT America, with guest Andre Damon, editor of the World Socialist Web Site, to explain why he believes his site and other alternative sources are being unfairly targeted in Google s new reordering of visible information through its portal. Watch: SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @ 21WIRE.TV | 0 |
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will propose offering to end sanctions imposed on Russia over its annexation of Crimea in return for a nuclear arms reduction deal with Moscow, he told The Times of London. Criticizing previous U.S. foreign policy in an interview published on Monday, he described the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 as possibly the gravest error in the history of the United States and akin to “throwing rocks into a beehive”. But Trump, who will be inaugurated on Friday as the 45th U.S. president, raised the prospect of the first big nuclear arms control agreement with Moscow since the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed by President Barack Obama in 2010. “They have sanctions on Russia — let’s see if we can make some good deals with Russia,” the Republican president-elect was quoted as saying by The Times. “For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, that’s part of it. But Russia’s hurting very badly right now because of sanctions, but I think something can happen that a lot of people are gonna benefit.” The United States and Russia are by far the world’s biggest nuclear powers. The United States has 1,367 nuclear warheads on deployed strategic missiles and bombers, and Russia has 1,796 such deployed warheads, according to the latest published assessment by the U.S. State Department. Under the 2010 New START treaty, Russia and the United States agreed to limit the number of long-range, strategic nuclear weapons they can deploy. Trump has said he will seek to improve relations with Moscow despite criticism that he is too eager to make an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The United States and other Western powers imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014 over its annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine and its support for pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine. Asked whether he would trust German Chancellor Angela Merkel or Putin more, Trump said: “Well, I start off trusting both —but let’s see how long that lasts. It may not last long at all.” His relations with Moscow have faced renewed scrutiny after an unsubstantiated report that Russia had collected compromising information about Trump. The information was summarized in a U.S. intelligence report which was presented to Trump and Obama this month. The report concluded Russia tried to sway the outcome of the Nov. 8 election in Trump’s favor by hacking and other means. It did not make an assessment on whether Russia’s attempts affected the election’s outcome. Trump accused U.S. intelligence agencies of leaking the information from the unverified dossier, which he called “fake news” and phony stuff.” Intelligence leaders denied the charge and Moscow has dismissed the accusations against it. In the interview with The Times, Trump was also critical of Russia’s intervention in Syria’s civil war which, along with the help of Iran, has tilted the conflict in President Bashar al-Assad’s favor. “I think it’s a very rough thing,” Trump said of Russian intervention in Syria. “Aleppo has been such a terrible humanitarian situation.” The war has killed more than 300,000 people, created the world’s worst refugee crisis and aided the rise of the Islamic State militant group. On NATO, Trump repeated his view that the military alliance was obsolete but said it was still very important for him. “I took such heat, when I said NATO was obsolete,” Trump told The Times, referring to comments he made during his presidential election campaign. “It’s obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror. I took a lot of heat for two days. And then they started saying Trump is right.” Trump said many NATO member states were not paying their fair share for U.S. protection. “A lot of these countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to be paying, which I think is very unfair to the United States,” Trump said. “With that being said, NATO is very important to me. There’s five countries that are paying what they’re supposed to. Five. It’s not much.” Trump said he would appoint his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to try to broker a Middle East peace deal, urged Britain to veto any new U.N. Security Council resolution critical of Israel and criticized Obama’s handling of the deal between Iran and six world powers including the United States which curbed Tehran’s nuclear program. On Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, Trump said: “Brexit is going to end up being a great thing” and said he was eager to get a trade deal done with the United Kingdom. | 1 |
Republican Representatives and one Democrat are pushing legislation that would make Pennsylvania gun owners a “protected class. ”[Gun owners would be protected from discrimination by having their right to keep and bear arms firmly ensconced in the Pennsylvania Human Rights Act (PHRA). According to the Pennsylvania Record, the legislation — House Bill 38 — “is currently in committee,” but would protect employees from employers who want to ban firearms on workplace property. For example, HB 38 would bar such employers from preventing gun owners from keeping firearms in their cars that could be retrieved for . CeaseFirePA’s Shira Goodman opposes the proposed protections for Pennsylvania gun owners, saying, “The Second Amendment right is not overly burdened here, and so why (gun carriers) need to be in a protected class is just a little bit . ” She added, “It’s very easy to get a gun here. We’re an state, except for Philadelphia. It’s not very hard to get a concealed carry license. We don’t have waiting periods. We don’t have registration and license. ” Goodman made clear that employers ought to be able to ban employees from keeping guns for intimating that such bans can prevent “workplace violence” and “domestic instances spilling over into workplaces. ” She did not address the fact that businesses, elementary schools, and universities around the country have witnessed horrendous attacks wherein the citizens were sitting ducks rendered defenseless by employers school administrators or boards of regents. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart leNews and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com. | 0 |
Next Swipe left/right Forget online shopping – these 7 deals are what makes the high street great! Yes, internet shopping is easy and convenient – but look at the kind of amazing deals you’ll miss out on if you don’t go down the high street…
1. | 1 |
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive .A review of FBI Director James Comey s professional history and relationships shows that the Obama cabinet leader now under fire for his handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton is deeply entrenched in the big-money cronyism culture of Washington, D.C. His personal and professional relationships all undisclosed as he announced the Bureau would not prosecute Clinton reinforce bipartisan concerns that he may have politicized the criminal probe.These concerns focus on millions of dollars that Comey accepted from a Clinton Foundation defense contractor, Comey s former membership on a Clinton Foundation corporate partner s board, and his surprising financial relationship with his brother Peter Comey, who works at the law firm that does the Clinton Foundation s taxes.HSBC HoldingsIn 2013, Comey became a board member, a director, and a Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee member of the London bank HSBC Holdings. Mr. Comey s appointment will be for an initial three-year term which, subject to re-election by shareholders, will expire at the conclusion of the 2016 Annual General Meeting, according to HSBC company records.HSBC Holdings and its various philanthropic branches routinely partner with the Clinton Foundation. For instance, HSBC Holdings has partnered with Deutsche Bank through the Clinton Foundation to retrofit 1,500 to 2,500 housing units, primarily in the low- to moderate-income sector in New York City. Retrofitting refers to a Green initiative to conserve energy in commercial housing units. Clinton Foundation records show that the Foundation projected $1 billion in financing for this Green initiative to conserve people s energy in low-income housing units.Who Is Peter Comey?When our source called the Chinatown offices of D.C. law firm DLA Piper and asked for Peter Comey, a receptionist immediately put him through to Comey s direct line. But Peter Comey is not featured on the DLA Piper website.Peter Comey serves as Senior Director of Real Estate Operations for the Americas for DLA Piper. James Comey was not questioned about his relationship with Peter Comey in his confirmation hearing.DLA Piper is the firm that performed the independent audit of the Clinton Foundation in November during Clinton-World s first big push to put the email scandal behind them. DLA Piper s employees taken as a whole represent a major Hillary Clinton 2016 campaign donation bloc and Clinton Foundation donation base.DLA Piper ranks #5 on Hillary Clinton s all-time career Top Contributors list, just ahead of Goldman Sachs.And here is another thing: Peter Comey has a mortgage on his house that is owned by his brother James Comey, the FBI director.Peter Comey s financial records, obtained by Breitbart News, show that he bought a $950,000 house in Vienna, Virginia, in June 2008. He needed a $712,500 mortgage from First Savings Mortgage Corporation.But on January 31, 2011, James Comey and his wife stepped in to become Private Party lenders. They granted a mortgage on the house for $711,000. Financial records suggest that Peter Comey took out two such mortgages from his brother that day.This financial relationship between the Comey brothers began prior to James Comey s nomination to become director of the FBI.DLA Piper did not answer Breitbart News question as to whether James Comey and Peter Comey spoke at any point about this mortgage or anything else during the Clinton email investigation.Peter Comey Re-Designed the FBI BuildingFBI Director James Comey grew up in the New Jersey suburbs with his brother Peter. Both Comeys were briefly taken captive in 1977 by the Ramsey rapist, but the boys managed to escape through a window in their home, and neither boy was harmed.James Comey became a prosecutor who worked on the Gambino crime family case. He went on to the Bush administration, a handful of private sector jobs, and then the Obama administration in 2013.Peter Comey, meanwhile, went into construction.After getting an MBA in real estate and urban development from George Washington University in 1998, Peter Comey became an executive at a company that re-designed George Washington University between 2004 and 2007 while his brother was in town working for the Bush administration.In January 2009, at the beginning of the Obama administration, Peter Comey became a real estate and construction consultant for Procon Consulting.Procon Consulting s client list includes FBI Headquarters Washington, DC. So what did Procon Consulting do for FBI Headquarters? Quite a bit, apparently. According to the firm s records:Procon provided strategic project management for the consolidation of over 11,000 FBI personnel into one, high security, facility.Since 1972 the Federal Bureau of Investigation has had its headquarters in a purpose built 2.1 million square foot building on Pennsylvania Avenue. Having become functionally obsolete and in need of major repairs, GSA and the FBI were considering ways to meet the space needs required to maintain the Bureau s mission and consolidate over 11,000 personnel.Procon assisted GSA in assessing the FBI s space needs and options for fulfilling those needs. Services provided included project management related to site evaluations, budgeting, due diligence, and the development of procurement and funding strategies.For entire story: Breitbart News | 1 |
Iran may have received an additional $33.6 billion in secret cash and gold payments facilitated by the Obama administration between 2014 and 2016, according to testimony provided before Congress by an expert on last summer s nuclear agreement with Iran.Between January 2014 and July 2015, when the Obama administration was hammering out the final details of the nuclear accord, Iran was paid $700 million every month from funds that had previously been frozen by U.S. sanctions.A total of $11.9 billion was ultimately paid to Iran, but the details surrounding these payments remain shrouded in mystery, according to Mark Dubowitz, executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.In total, Iran may have received as much as $33.6 billion in cash or in gold and other precious metals, Dubowitz disclosed.New questions about these payments are emerging following confirmation from top Obama administration officials on Thursday that it was forced to pay Iran $1.7 billion in cash prior to the release of several U.S. hostages earlier this year. The administration insisted that cash had to be used for this payment.Read more: WFB | 1 |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - The California Senate on Monday confirmed U.S. Congressman Xavier Becerra as attorney general, positioning the majority-Democrat state to challenge conservative policies of new Republican President Donald Trump. Becerra, who represented Los Angeles for 24 years in Congress, was approved by a party line votes of 26 to 9, with Democrats heavily in favor and Republicans arguing that the state should give the new administration a chance rather than picking fights. He will replace former California Attorney General Kamala Harris, a Democrat who was elected to the U.S. Senate in November. “It’s a role to defend the progress and the values of the people of California,” Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon said of Becerra’s new job in an interview after the vote on Monday. “These are extraordinary times and require extraordinary actions.” Becerra, 58, was nominated for the position by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown shortly after Trump’s election. A Stanford-trained attorney who was first elected to Congress in 1993, Becerra is viewed as a reliable progressive with the savvy to navigate the halls of Congress as well as the nation’s courtrooms. “I couldn’t ask for a better job,” said Becerra, to be sworn in by Brown on Tuesday. “It is humbling and exciting to assume responsibility for vigorously advancing the forward-leaning values that make California unique among the many states.” Becerra learned through his long Congressional career to work both sides of the aisle, and he made sure to meet with legislative Republicans before his confirmation hearings began this month. But while the legislature’s minority GOP members made a point to say they liked and respected Becerra, most spoke against his nomination. “Instead of acting like we’re going to be defiant, I’d like to see us extending an olive branch” to the new administration, said state Senator John Moorlach, a Republican who represents part of Orange County south of Los Angeles. In addition to naming Becerra attorney general, the legislature also hired the law firm of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, an Obama appointee, to represent them in cases and negotiations involving the new administration and Republican-controlled Congress. | 0 |
HARARE (Reuters) - Lawmakers from President Robert Mugabe s ruling party will meet at the party headquarters on Monday to discuss impeaching the 93-year-old leader after a noon deadline passed without him resigning, ZANU-PF s chief whip Lovemore Matuke said. The ruling party removed Mugabe as ZANU-PF president and first secretary on Sunday, capping a dramatic week after the military seized power on Wednesday saying it wanted to remove criminal elements around the president. | 1 |
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand could become the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize cannabis for personal use after an unlikely alliance of populist, centrist and leftist parties put drug policy immediately on the agenda of the incoming government. Recreational marijuana use is legal in several U.S. states and European nations including the Netherlands and Spain, but countries in the Asia-Pacific tend to have strict prohibitions. Australia recently introduced laws freeing up access to cannabis for medicinal use, but does not allow recreational use. Labour s prime minister-designate Jacinda Ardern said on Tuesday she agreed with a Greens proposal for a referendum to legalize use of recreational cannabis. We agreed that what we are doing now simply isn t working, so we have said yes to having that referendum, Ardern told reporters in Wellington. There is no timeframe for possible legalization, which would represent the first major reform of drug laws since the 1970s, but would depend on the public first voting to back reforms. Anything that helps shift New Zealand drug laws out of the dinosaur age is going to be a good thing, Ross Bell, executive director of the charitable NZ Drug Foundation, told Reuters. Arguably it is better for the sustainability of the reform to have a broad church like we ve got with this government, so that it is not just seen as some sort of fringe liberal policy, Bell said in a telephone interview. Drug law reforms figured in talks to form New Zealand s new government after a Sept. 23 election failed to yield a majority for either the governing National Party or opposition Labour, although neither major party had such a campaign plank. The center-left Labour will govern with support from its new junior coalition member, the populist NZ First, which supports holding referendums on controversial issues. The Greens have offered confidence and supply and the diverse group of parties is already starting to deliver a melange of policies, from potential relaxation of drug laws to tighter immigration controls. New Zealand s drug use ranks among the world s highest, a study by the NZ Drug Foundation shows. Too much money is spent on enforcement and convictions, rather than on health policies, says the body, which gets government and private funding. | 0 |
While I don t believe Donald Trump can possibly win a general election against a coma patient, much less Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, I am growing concerned with how eager the police seem to be to attack his detractors. From arresting peaceful protesters after THEY were physically assaulted to pepper spraying protesters for little to no reason, the police appear to be casting their votes early:In a video uploaded to YouTube, police can be seen attempting to shove protesters behind barricades as a a chant of F*ck Trump can be heard.Officers can also be seen moving through the crowd taking pictures as the protesters are pushed from multiple directions.According @Lukewearechange, who uploaded the video, police did resort to pepper spray and arrests were being made.Here s the video the police shoving the protesters back:Considering the police have been almost completely ignoring the escalating violence of Trump s Brownshirts, it s worrying how quick they are to arrest and abuse anti-Trump protesters. At what point will they do their jobs and protect ALL citizens, not just the conservative ones?The biggest question is going to be this: When Republicans figure out how to deny Trump the nomination and his cult members riot, will the police treat THEM like they treat liberals or will Right Wing Privilege kick in? I ve been trying to think of a SINGLE time that the police have pepper sprayed conservative protesters. I personally watched a group push past barricades and march right up to the steps of the Capitol and the police did exactly nothing. Sure, they kept them from going any further but I also saw how the police treated the Occupy Wall Street protesters and they would have been hosed down with pepper spray before they got within 200 feet on the building.It makes you wonder just how much support from the police a President Trump would have if he declared martial law and suspended the Bill of rights.Featured image via screen capture | 0 |
November 1, 2016 US calls for end to Saudi airstrikes in Yemen
The US has called for an end to airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen at a UN security council meeting, but critics pointed out that Washington continues to supply arms and provide other military support to Saudi Arabia.
The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, condemned missile attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia and said the kingdom had a right to defend itself.
But she added: “It is also incumbent on the Saudi-led coalition and the forces of the Yemeni government to refrain from taking steps that escalate this violence and to commit to the cessation of hostilities.
“After 19 months of fighting, it should be clear that there is absolutely no military solution to this conflict. Airstrikes that hit schools, hospitals and other civilian objects have to stop. In many cases these strikes have damaged key infrastructure that is essential to delivering humanitarian aid in Yemen.” | 1 |
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland s government will collapse if the opposition Fianna Fail party proceeds with its plan to vote for the resignation of the Deputy Prime Minister Frances Fitzgerald on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said. If they move ahead with the motion of no confidence, then the confidence and supply (agreement) is over, Coveney, a member of the ruling Fine Gael party, told state broadcaster RTE on Friday, referring to a three-year agreement Fianna Fail signed to support the government. If there is no confidence and supply agreement in place ... then I don t see how we can have a government that can function, he said. | 1 |
Martha, Martha, Martha You re 75-years old! Time to lay off of the nasty gestures We feel a Martha Stewart boycott coming on Flipping off our President is a low move on her part. Not cute and not funny!Martha Stewart appeared to be giving a portrait of President Donald Trump the middle finger in New York City Saturday night.The 75-year-old home entrepreneur and business mogul was spotted at the Frieze Art Fair at Randall s Island Park standing between a portrait of her pal rapper Snoop Dogg and Trump doing the shocking gesture, according to E! News.In the shot, Stewart was giving a V sign to the rapper while it looked like she was flipping the bird to Trump.Stewart shared a photo on Instagram Saturday with her 115,000 followers that just showed her giving a V sign to both portraits (See photo below). In the caption next to the snap she wrote, A propos this week Taping twenty more episodes with @snoopdogg for @vh1 Watch the awards Sunday night !!! We are presenting! Photo @seenbysharkey I am at @frieze the giant art fair on Randall s Island NYC. Read more: The Smokeroom | 1 |
Hillary Clinton on Thursday decried the spread of fake news online, calling it an epidemic that Congress should take action against. The epidemic of malicious fake news and false propaganda that flooded social media over the past year it s now clear the so-called fake news can have real-world consequences, Clinton said during a speech on Capitol Hill.Some Democrats have argued the spread of anti-Clinton fake news online contributed to her electoral loss to Donald Trump. This isn t about politics or partisanship, Clinton continued during her speech Thursday at a ceremony honoring retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Lives are at risk lives of ordinary people just trying to go about their days, to do their jobs, contribute to their communities. ENTIRE SPEECH PLEASE SKIP TO THE 6:45 POINT FOR THE COMMENTS ABOUT FAKE NEWS Read more: The Hill | 0 |
How many American taxpayer dollars have already been used by the Obama regime to spy on, discredit and dismantle conservative groups like the Tea Party? Is anyone else beginning to feel like the Obama regime is one big union who forces members to pay dues that are used to fund, and ensure the success of the Democrat party? The Department of Justice is concentrating on far-right groups in a new study of social media usage aimed at combatting violent extremism.The Justice Department s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) awarded Michigan State University $585,719 for the study, which was praised by Eric Holder, the former attorney general, earlier this year. There is currently limited knowledge of the role of technology and computer mediated communications (CMCs), such as Facebook and Twitter, in the dissemination of messages that promote extremist agendas and radicalize individuals to violence, according to the NIJ grant. The proposed study will address this gap through a series of qualitative and quantitative analyses of posts from various forms of CMC used by members of both the far-right and Islamic extremist movements. The study draws more upon right-wing forums than upon the corners of the web inhabited by Islamist extremists. We will collect posts made in four active forums used by members of the far-right and three from the Islamic Extremist community, as well as posts made in Facebook, LiveJournal, Twitter, YouTube, and Pastebin accounts used by members of each movement, the grant said. The findings will be used to document both the prevalence and variation in the ideological content of posts from members of each movement, the grant continued. In addition, we will assess the value of these messages in the social status of the individual posting the message and the function of radical messages in the larger on-line identity of participants in extremist communities generally. The project will also identify the hidden networks of individuals who engage in extremist movements based on geographic location and ideological similarities. The results will be used for a public webinar, and for presentations for counterterrorism experts in the United States.Holder highlighted the study in remarks this February at the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, as an example of the new methods the Justice Department is using to combat terrorist threats.Holder said the study will help us develop more effective techniques and partnerships for counter-messaging. While the grant does not name the far-right groups that would be examined, other federal agencies have devoted their energy to the sovereign citizen movement.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report on the movement, whose members believe that U.S. laws do not apply to them, just as the White House held its summit on violent extremism. The administration did not use the phrase Islamist extremism at the summit.DHS stirred controversy in 2009 when it issued a report on right-wing extremism, which included veterans returning from combat as a potential terrorist threat.The Justice Department and Michigan State University did not return requests for comment by press time.Via: Washington Free Beacon | 1 |
Donald Trump s new adviser on tech matters wants to basically get rid of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which acts as a consumer protection watchdog.On Monday, Trump appointed Mark Jamison as one of two members of his tech policy transition team. Let s take a look at his ideologies. In October, Jamison wrote a blog post explaining that he sees no reason for the FCC to exist. Most of the original motivations for having an FCC have gone away, Jamison wrote. Telecommunications network providers and ISPs are rarely, if ever, monopolies. As reported by the Washington Post:Jamison has argued that the FCC could be replaced by a much smaller agency charged with handing out licenses for wireless airwaves essentially acting as a traffic cop for the spectrum over which cellphone calls, mobile data and TV signals travel.Many of the FCC s existing functions could be farmed out, Jamison wrote in the blog post. Subsidies for phone and Internet service could be handled by state governments, while the Federal Trade Commission could handle consumer complaints and take action against abuses by companies. There are some details that were not addressed in the blog post due to time constraints, Jamison said Tuesday, such as the possible need for new state-level powers to address broadband monopolies.FCC leadership has made it clear that they strongly disagree with Jamison s assessment. Tom Wheeler, the Democratic chairman of the FCC, has said that in much of the country there is a duopoly when it comes to internet service providers. This severely limits the options of many consumers.Wheeler has fought against companies who have slowed down internet speeds for users with unlimited plans. He has also taken action against companies who have billed customers for content and services they didn t sign up for. He has implemented rules regarding net neutrality to prohibit anticompetitive behavior. Wheeler also took steps to protect the public by forcing internet providers to follow the same privacy guidelines when handling consumer data as legacy phone companies.Hal Singer, an economist at the George Washington University s Institute for Public Policy, said both Jamison and Jeffrey Eisenach, the other member of Trump s two-man tech transition team, envision a significantly pared-down agency. In their minds, proponents of regulation must demonstrate a market failure This is a 180-degree turn from Wheeler s FCC, which began with a presumption that markets failed. Getting rid of the FCC would be disastrous, especially for the internet. Just like every other position Trump has filled in the past two weeks, he has chosen the most heinous choice possible.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 1 |
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Donald Trump’s combative style has buffeted Mexico’s president for months, but deeply unpopular Enrique Pena Nieto may end up thanking the new U.S. president for prompting offended Mexicans to rally behind their leader. From billionaire business magnate Carlos Slim to political opponents, there has been a groundswell of support for Pena Nieto, who has cut a lonely figure in months of bruising encounters with Trump. Often referred to by his initials EPN, Pena Nieto is laboring under the worst approval ratings of any Mexican president in decades due to discontent over corruption, gang violence, sluggish growth and a jump in fuel prices. Trump’s threats to scrap the NAFTA trade deal with Mexico and build a border wall have caused anger and left Mexicans feeling fearful for the future. His challenge to Pena Nieto on Thursday - saying he should skip a planned summit between the two leaders if Mexico wasn’t willing to pay for the wall - was the final straw. Pena Nieto replied a couple of hours later that he had canceled his meeting with Trump, one of the president’s biggest ever hits on Twitter, getting more “likes” than when he personally broke news of the capture of notorious drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in January of last year. “Bravo EPN!,” cheered former President Vicente Fox, who had initially condemned Pena Nieto for inviting Trump to Mexico for talks last August, and who has waged a colorful and expletive-ridden campaign against the Republican on Twitter. Pena Nieto and Trump talked for about an hour by phone on Friday, pledging to work out their differences and agreeing not to speak about the wall in public for now. Meanwhile, calls for unity grew in Mexico, led by Slim, a normally media-shy 76-year-old who gave a 90-minute news conference in support of the government on Friday. “This is the most surprising example of national unity I’ve seen in my life,” said Slim, who spent several years in the past decade as the world’s richest man. “We have to back the president of Mexico so he can defend our national interests.” Senior opposition leaders also urged a common front. “It’s time to show unity and our commitment to Mexico,” Alejandra Barrales, head of the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), said on Twitter. Pena Nieto’s credibility has been battered by a widespread public perception that he has failed to battle corruption and indeed even encouraged it since a conflict-of-interest row embroiled him, his wife and a top minister in late 2014. Some opposition critics fear the government will try to use Trump as a screen to distract from its failings. However, two senior officials told Reuters they hoped Pena Nieto would seize the moment to act quickly and decisively to improve his image. Expressions of dismay at Trump’s behavior towards Mexico have almost become a national pastime, and talk of boycotts against U.S. companies is gathering steam on social media. Slim, when asked about boycotting at his news conference, said it wasn’t a good idea to turn on U.S. companies, which are creating jobs in Mexico. Some foreign companies voiced support for Mexico too. “I feel Mexico is being subjected to terror at the moment,” said Andreas Schindler, co-owner of German fruit wholesaler Don Limon’s parent Pilz Schindler, by phone from Hamburg. “We’re right behind Mexico.” | 0 |
Why is no one asking the bigger question about why, in the first place we need to import workers from other countries who speak no english when only 44% of Americans are working full-time jobs as a percentage of the adult population, 18 years and older? It seems like the government is setting these foreign workers up for potential abuse by employers who clearly are looking for a way to circumvent traditional hiring practices. The top federal official for worker safety said Tuesday that an Illinois businessman s outrageous behavior of bringing in Mexican workers to remove asbestos without safety gear warrants fines of nearly $1.8 million.The U.S. Department of Labor s Occupational Safety and Health Administration levied the fines Monday. Investigators found Joseph Kehrer, Kehrer Brothers Construction and a Kehrer-affiliated company, D7 Roofing, exposed at least eight workers to asbestos in violation of federal health standards. This case stands out because of the outrageous behavior of Joseph Kehrer, said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michaels. Workers were threatened with firing if they spoke to investigators, Michaels said. They spoke no English. He drove to them to jobs, Michaels said. He set up a housing camp for them. They were at his mercy. A phone message left for Kehrer seeking comment was not immediately returned.Kehrer had workers removing asbestos-containing materials during renovation of a former school in Okawville, about 45 miles southeast of St. Louis. Many of the workers came to the United States to work for Kehrer under a special visa program that allows companies to hire foreign workers temporarily, according to OSHA.Breathing asbestos fibers can increase the risk of cancer.It s unclear whether the workers will be able to find other work in the United States, Michaels said. These workers will carry this increased cancer risk for the rest of their lives, he said.Via: Latino FOX News | 1 |
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel s military on Wednesday reduced by four months the 18-month jail term of an ex-soldier who killed an incapacitated Palestinian assailant, saying his service record warranted clemency though he showed no remorse in the case. In March 2015, infantry conscript Elor Azaria was caught on videotape shooting dead a Palestinian who was lying wounded after taking part in a stabbing attack on other Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. Azaria said he shot Abd Elfatah Ashareef because he feared the Palestinian could carry out another attack, but a court-martial found contradictions in the testimony and convicted him of manslaughter. The verdict was upheld on appeal. After being discharged from the military, Azaria went to prison last month and appealed to the armed forces chief, Lieutenant-General Gadi Eizenkot, to reconsider his sentence, citing the cost to his family of the acrimonious trial. In a response letter made public on Wednesday, the military informed Azaria that Eizenkot had decided to cut the jail term on grounds of compassion and mercy ... taking into account your past as a combat soldier in an operational theater . But the letter also faulted the former soldier over grave actions for which you did not take responsibility and for which you did not express regret, adding that the important messages in the court rulings should be heeded . Azaria became a right-wing cause celebre in Israel, where most Jewish men and women are drafted at 18 for military service. One poll found that nearly half of Israeli Jews believe any Palestinian attacker should be killed on the spot. The Palestinian government said Azaria s jail term had given Israeli soldiers a green light to kill with impunity. Under Israeli law, manslaughter can carry a maximum 20 years behind bars. Military prosecutors had asked the appeals court to impose a three- to five-year sentence on Azaria, but were turned down. | 1 |
Enjoy the guacamole as you watch the Super Bowl on Feb. 5. Some of the ingredients might be a little more expensive next year. House Republicans and President Trump have been talking about imposing a 20 percent tax on imported goods, with a White House spokesman suggesting on Thursday that such a tax might start with goods from Mexico. With the tax, the price for some heavily imported items could go up. But other foods produced mainly in the United States might become slightly cheaper. While many details remain unclear, here are a few indications of how the tax might work and how it would affect prices in the fruit and vegetable aisle at the supermarket. A third of all avocados eaten by Americans are grown in the United States and the rest are imported. More than nine of every 10 imported avocados come from Mexico, while most of the rest come from Chile, Peru and the Dominican Republic. The average retail price of an avocado varies considerably. Prices can creep up toward $1. 50 for the Super Bowl and Fourth of July, the two biggest spikes in demand. The retail price falls toward $1 apiece around Christmas, as demand falters but the trees, grown in mild, subtropical climates, keep producing. Organically grown avocados have been commanding a premium of about 30 percent lately, a premium that has widened over the last few years. The tax would not end up being 20 percent of a $1 to $1. 50 avocado, which would be 20 to 30 cents. That is because the import tax would only be on what is known a the dutiable value — the wholesale price of the avocado assessed when it crosses the border. That does not include the cost of trucking it from the border to a grocery store in the United States, the store’s rent, the store’s bills for and other utilities, or the wages for the store’s staff. None of these costs would be subject to the tax, but can help determine the retail price of the avocado. For the first 11 months of last year, the average wholesale price of avocados crossing the border was 50 cents apiece. So a 20 percent tax on that wholesale price at the border would only add a dime to the cost of each avocado. It takes four or five years for a newly planted avocado tree to bear fruit. If an import tax were to be imposed on foreign avocados, American farmers could not increase production quickly. That means many Americans might have to pay for taxed avocados imported from Mexico and elsewhere for a few years, or potentially do without. That is right — a good guacamole needs onions, lime juice and a few other ingredients as well. Just look at onions. Seven out of eight onions eaten by Americans are grown in the United States. They also tend to be grown by companies — even the onion farmers tend to incorporate their farms — so they owe corporate tax. That is notable because various plans being circulated call for a border tax to be used to help reduce the corporate profits tax. Right now, the corporate profits tax is 35 percent. Multinationals like Apple actually pay a lot less, in part because much of their profits are held offshore. That is harder for an onion farmer to do, although there are tax breaks for farmers. With those qualifiers, the introduction of a border tax is expected to produce enough revenue to offset the losses from lowering the tax on corporate profits to 25 percent, 20 percent or even 15 percent, depending on the proposal. That would ultimately help cut the tax bill for onion farmers. The whole idea behind the House Republicans’ plan is that companies producing in the United States should pay lower taxes, so those companies can hire more workers. The tax burden would be shifted toward importers, but also toward people who buy imported goods. Companies tend to pass on the cost of taxes to consumers, while pocketing any tax savings, when there are only a few businesses in the industry and limited competition. The opposite can also be true: companies in highly competitive industries tend to pay extra taxes out of their own profits, because raising prices might result in lower market share. In those cases, they tend to pass on tax savings to consumers. Onion farmers might also use their tax savings to hire more workers and export more. The United States imports a few more onions than it exports, but most onion farmers simply grow for the domestic market. A corporate tax cut linked to a border tax might prompt them to expand globally, which is the whole idea behind a border tax. That is tough to predict, and also depends on inflation and other factors, not just the border tax. The odds are that a border tax would drive up the cost of guacamole, because avocados, not onions, account for most of the cost of making it, and most avocados are imported. But the details of the tax, and how markets respond to it, will also make a big difference. | 0 |
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda on Wednesday denied its foreign minister had engaged in corrupt activities with a Hong Kong man who has been charged with bribery and other violations by U.S. authorities. Chi Ping Patrick Ho, 68, who heads the China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC), a charity based in Hong Kong and the U.S. state of Virginia, was charged with violating the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Ho was accused of among other issues of being involved with bribes and promises of other benefits to Sam Kutesa, Uganda s foreign affairs minister, in exchange for promises of business contracts for an unnamed Chinese firm. Kutesa is also a former president of the U.N. General Assembly. The Ugandan foreign ministry said the interaction and engagement that Kutesa had with Ho was in fulfilment of his official functions as president of the U.N. General Assembly . It is therefore erroneous to insinuate or infer that Hon. Sam Kutesa, from references made to him and CEFC...is linked to the bribery allegations, a statement said. Ho s attorney has declined to comment to Reuters on the charges. | 0 |
ROME (Reuters) - The United Nations is preparing to deploy 150-250 mostly Nepalese guards to Libya to protect its base in the capital as part of a plan to return its operations to the country, U.N. officials said on Friday. Backed by Western governments, the U.N. is trying to heal a rift between Libya s rival factions in order to stabilize the country and to tackle militant violence and people-smuggling from Libya s northern coast. The mission has been based in Tunis since 2014, when fighting among rival Libyan brigades forced out most foreign embassy staff, but it has gradually increased its presence in Libya and has been planning for months for a fuller return. The military unit would probably consist of around 150 guards, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told a news briefing in Geneva. Most will be Nepalese. To make sure that we protect our colleagues as they deploy in Tripoli there will be a guard unit which will be basically U.N. military personnel coming from Nepal, Lacroix said. U.N. Libya envoy Ghassan Salame told Italian newspaper La Stampa that a little under 250 could be deployed in the coming weeks . Deploying the guards to the base in Tripoli will mean that around the beginning of October we can carry out a significant part of our work in Libya, said Salame, who has headed the mission since June. A spokesperson for the mission said there were no plans to send U.N. peacekeepers to Libya. Security in Tripoli and other parts of western Libya is fragile, and armed groups that are largely unaccountable hold power on the ground. Most foreign embassies closed and pulled out their staff in 2014 when heavy fighting between rival factions destroyed the capital s airport. It was the worst fighting since the fall of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Libya slipped into turmoil after the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Gaddafi. A U.N.-backed government set up in Tripoli last year has struggled to assert its authority and is opposed by factions that control eastern Libya. In July, rival leaders pledged in Paris to work toward elections in 2018 and a conditional ceasefire. Salame said constitutional and electoral laws would have to be written to ensure any vote brought lasting change. We need to be sure everyone accepts the final result, he said. Let s not forget that presidential elections would be the first ever. Salame also expressed frustration at competing international initiatives in Libya, where regional and European powers have vied for influence. I think the proliferation of initiatives, of mediations, does not help, he said. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he hoped that after his country s efforts a revision of the 2015 U.N.-mediated deal that created the Tripoli government could be reached under Salame s auspices. Discussion has centered on reforming the government s leadership and power over military appointments. It seems that efforts are converging, Le Drian told reporters during a visit to Moscow. | 0 |
While in Warsaw, Poland, Obama commented on the Dallas shooting proving he s totally divorced from reality. He states that it s hard to untangle the motives of the shooter Huh? First of all, I think it s very hard to untangle the motives of this shooter. I ll leave that to psychologists and people who study these kinds of incidents I think the danger is that we somehow suggest the act of a troubled individuals speaks to some larger political statement across the country. Perhaps he should listen to the video of the Dallas Police Chief (video below) stating directly that the suspect wanted to kill white people and cops. Crazy! President Obama on #Dallas: It's hard to "untangle the motives of the shooter" https://t.co/7dClE5Mjr6 https://t.co/YzdDnT3nDf CNN (@CNN) July 9, 2016 DALLAS POLICE CHIEF S STATEMENT: | 0 |
There s nothing quite like hypocrisy on the grandest scale imaginable. So large, in fact, that all you can do is sit there and laugh at how absolutely ridiculous something is. This is what just happened on Twitter when they decided to call out media bias.Yes, you read that correctly, Fox News whined about media bias allegedly coming from other news organizations.Not only that, they hashtagged it with #BiasAlert to really add an extra layer of nauseating frosting on to the hypocrisy cake.They tweeted out:#BiasAlert: Candidates refer to NYC blast as bomb but #Trump takes brunt of media criticism https://t.co/KEYMx7ddRk pic.twitter.com/u2MkvGVoOp Fox News (@FoxNews) September 18, 2016Let s just talk about this for a moment. In a tweet that blames other media outlets for correctly going after Trump s irresponsible reaction to a blast in New York City, they are saying that there s media bias.This tweet is the EPITOME of media bias. It is so ridiculous, in fact, that all other tweets with media bias can now be measured against this one in the future to see how biased something actually is. Not only do they display their own bias towards Trump, but they have the audacity to say Bias Alert. That right there is hilarious and kinda sad.Fox News can, without a doubt, be called the media outlet for the Republican party. They so unapologetically swing to defend all things Republican and conservative that they are blind to their own reality.Featured image via Wikimedia Commons | 0 |
Throughout his entire presidential campaign, Donald Trump has whined about the media. He calls reporters dishonest, tells the thousands of low-information voters who flock to his rallies that the press hates him and therefore they should hate the press. He points to the press pit at these events and tells his supporters to yell at them and every single time he does an interview he complains that someone somewhere in the world of media, even right-wing media, is treating him unfairly. On Tuesday, CNN s S.E. Cupp slammed the presidential candidate for his treatment of the media and said that he is fundamentally confused about the roll of free press. During a press conference about his support of veteran s groups on Tuesday, Trump threw another hissy fit about reporters and said that they are being nasty and not giving him credit for giving money to vets. Cupp responded to his whining, saying: When you re talking about suing journalists for doing their job, he s not saying that we re getting the story wrong, we re actually doing our job asking questions about where this money went that s the job of the press. He actually said in this press conference today, I wish you d just say thank you, thank me for, that s not the role of the media, to thank the presidential nominee for raising money. It s not the job of the media to heap praise upon him. So I just think that he s fundamentally very confused about the role of free press.. .@secupp: Trump says he wished the press would just say thank you, that s not the role of the media! https://t.co/QUwwpKW7uS The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) May 31, 2016I disagree, I think Trump is very aware of the role of the free press, but he doesn t want his supporters to be aware of it. It is no secret that the people who support the billionaire are not the brightest crayons in the box. Trump has even talked about how much he loves his poorly educated voters. He needs to convince these people to distrust the press because then they will just tune out the stories that would sink his candidacy. He needs them to ignore the shadiness around the money he supposedly raised for veterans. He needs them to ignore the Trump University story and how he swindled people out of their money. He needs them to ignore every single bad report that they may see on the news in the coming months. It is the easiest way to lead his sheep to slaughter.Trump may be a bombastic, racist, lying asshole, but he isn t stupid and he is playing his supporters like a fiddle.Featured image via video screenshot | 1 |
Eric Garner s daughter has released a new video in which she endorses Bernie Sanders for president. Erica Garner s father was killed when he was placed in a chokehold by New York City police.In the video, Erica Garner talks about the importance of her family and the struggle of raising her daughter, talking about the problems of racism facing black America in modern times. Garner says she is fighting for racial justice in honor of her pop-pop after seeing her father die on national TV. Our people died for this, Garner continues, saying she s behind anyone who s going to listen and speak up for us, and I think we need to believe in a leader like Bernie Sanders. We need a president who s going to speak about this, Garner adds.Eric Garner was selling loose cigarettes when police approached him for selling them without tax stamps. As they went to arrest him, he was put in a chokehold. Garner told them 11 times I can t breathe, and he was pronounced dead an hour later.The ad comes as both Sanders and Secretary Clinton are vying for support amongst the black electorate in South Carolina. Unlike the mostly white electorate in New Hampshire and Iowa, about 25 percent of the voters in South Carolina are black. Currently Clinton enjoys an aggregate of 62 percent support in that state, an advantage of 29.5 percent over Sanders.Sanders is hoping to capitalize on the near-tie in the Iowa caucus and his big victory in New Hampshire to eat into Clinton s lead, while also demonstrating that he appeals to more than just white college liberals.The Garner endorsement comes on the same day that Clinton received the backing of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, announced in a press conference where legendary civil rights leader John Lewis pointed out that he did not personally encounter Sen. Sanders during the heyday of the movement.The Sanders campaign also announced today that actor Harry Belafonte had endorsed the senator.Featured image via YouTube | 1 |
Donald Trump s personality could be described several ways. Some would call him type A competitive, outgoing, ambitious and aggressive while others would call him the textbook case of narcissistic personality disorder. Megalomaniac is another that comes to mind. No matter what way you look at The Donald, he definitely doesn t qualify as typical. As it turns out, there may be a very good, very dangerous, very pharmaceutical reason for it. Gawker recently re-examined an article from 1992 that may have more to do with Donald Trump s failures as a human being than the genes he inherited from his booze and hooker pimping grandfather.As it turns out, a story from Spy Magazine revealed that Trump was a patient of the infamous Dr. Joseph Greenburg, who was known for prescribing an amphetamine-like drug called Tenuate Dospan for a non-existent condition called metabolic imbalance. According to the story:Dr. Greenberg s program included no set caloric limit, and Tenuate was prescribed or five months. The long-term use of Tenuate can, according to the medical literature, lead to psychosis delusions of grandeur, say, like the belief that by simply putting your name on real estate properties, you will double their value.According to the NIH, prolonged use of tenuate can lead to hallucinations and confusion. Prolonged is exactly what Trump s exposure to the drug can be described as, according to this medical record obtained by Gawker that shows years of visits to Greenburg by Trump:Gawker was able to confirm by email with a former employee of Greenburg that this is in fact an actual copy of The Donald s record. Since Greenburg s role in Trump s care seemed to only include giving him happy pills that should have been prescribed for no longer than a month, it could be argued that the lasting effects of anger, anxiety and delusions of grandeur are still with the man today. His campaign speeches and lack of ability to hold a coherent thought in an interview for more than a moment or two are fairly clear indicators.The pills had such a detrimental effect on Trump that one of his Vice-Presidents once noted that when he got to work he would ask if it was a Dr, Greenburg day, doing everything in his power to avoid the boss if the answer was yes.Does Trump s obsession with fitness and physical appearance have something to do with his obvious desire to be thin and trim? His personal attacks on people based solely on their looks do a pretty good job of answering that question.Featured image from Gawker via screen capture | 1 |
BREAKING : Hillary Campaign Manager Deletes his Entire Twitter Timeline BREAKING : Hillary Campaign Manager Deletes his Entire Twitter Timeline Breaking News By Amy Moreno October 28, 2016
The Hillary campaign is collapsing.
After discovering “new emails” the FBI just announced that they’re reopening the investigation into Hillary’s mishandling of classified information. BREAKING: FBI re-opening Hillary Clinton email investigation #LockHerUp #FridayFeeling
— OakTown ☢FBI Re-Do☢ (@hrtablaze) October 28, 2016
Now, we’re learning that Hillary’s campaign manager, Robby Mook has deleted his entire Twitter timeline. This story is developing, but obviously, there’s panic – and possibly more cover up inside the Clinton camp. This is a movement – we are the political OUTSIDERS fighting against the FAILED GLOBAL 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. | 1 |
Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” while discussing President Donald Trump executive order halting immigration from seven countries to the United States, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( ) said, “the extent they’re trying to improve the vetting process, I think that’s in order. ” “We need to bear in mind that we don’t have religious tests in this country and we also need to remember that some of our best allies in the war against Islamic terrorism are Muslims,” he added. Partial transcript as follows: RADDATZ: Do you support president Trump’s temporary immigration ban from these predominantly Muslim countries. SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL ( ) MAJORITY LEADER: Well, I think it’s a good idea to tighten the vetting process. But I also think it’s important to remember that some of our best sources in the war against radical Islamic terrorism are Muslims, both in this country and overseas. And we have had some difficulty in the past getting interpreters as you suggested in the earlier segment who are helpful to us treated properly. So we need to be careful as we do this. Improving vetting, something … RADDATZ: And yet right now they’re being detained so — do you support this or not support this. MCCONNELL: It’s hopefully going to be decided in the courts as to whether or not this has gone too far. I don’t want to criticize them for improving vetting. I think we need to be careful. We don’t have religious tests in this country. RADDATZ: In the past, you’ve called the Muslim ban completely and totally inconsistent with American values. The president says this is not an outright Muslim ban, even if this is temporary, how is this order consistent with American values? MCCONNELL: Well, if they’re looking to tighten the vetting process, I mean who would be against that? But I am opposed to a religious tests. The courts are going to determine whether this is too broad. RADDATZ: So it sounds to me like you are opposed to certain parts of this. If we’re detaining or holding back people who have helped Americans in the fight. MCCONNELL: Well, obviously I’m against that. RADDATZ: A religious test then you’re opposed to certain parts of this. MCCONNELL: Look, the president has a lot of latitude to try to secure the country. And I’m not going to make a blanket criticism of this effort. However, I think it’s important to remember, as I said, a lot of Muslims are our best sources in the war against terror. RADDATZ: So, do you think this will have blowback in the world? I mean, are you sensing that already? You’ve seen the reactions. MCCONNELL: Yeah, well, we’ll see. And it’s important, however, to emphasize it’s important to keep America as secure as possible and we’ll see how it plays out. RADDATZ: Just tell me again how you would summarize what happened with this executive order. MCCONNELL: How I would summarize. RADDATZ: Yes, how would you — what would you say about it? Others are saying it’s devastating, others are saying it’s . MCCONNELL: Well, I’m not saying either of those things, I’m saying what I just said a few minutes ago, which is to the extent they’re trying to improve the vetting process, I think that’s in order. We need to bear in mind that we don’t have religious tests in this country and we also need to remember that some of our best allies in the war against Islamic terrorism are Muslims. Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0 |
CLEVELAND (Reuters) - The mayor of Youngstown, Ohio, on Friday accepted a plea agreement on multiple political corruption charges involving a property deal made while he was a county commissioner in the area, the state’s Attorney General’s office said. Mayor John McNally, a Democrat, pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor counts including unlawful influence of a public official, said Daniel Tierney, spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. Youngstown is a city of 67,000 people about 65 miles southeast of Cleveland. The plea allows McNally, who was elected mayor in 2014, to stay in office. The conspiracy, bribery and perjury charges stem from his nine years as Mahoning County commissioner starting in 2005 until he was elected mayor. Under Ohio law, a felony conviction bars anyone from holding most public offices for seven years. Prosecutors said McNally was part of a scheme to inflate the cost of moving the Mahoning County jobs and family services office from a rental property to benefit a local business owner. McNally had previously been indicted on similar charges in 2010. The charges were dismissed, but the judge ruled they could be filed again at a later date. Former Mahoning County auditor Michael Sciortino and Youngstown attorney Martin Yavorcik along with McNally were part of an 83-count indictment brought in 2014 by the Ohio Attorney General’s office alleging a pattern of corruption. Sciortino, also a Democrat, pleaded guilty to one felony count and two misdemeanor charges including receiving or soliciting improper compensation. Sentencing for McNally and Sciortino is scheduled for March 28 in Cuyahoga County courthouse, in downtown Cleveland. McNally faces a maximum 18 months in prison, Sciortino faces a maximum of 2-1/2 years, Tierney said. In addition to the plea in a Cuyahoga County court, Sciortino agreed to plead guilty to one felony and one misdemeanor in Mahoning County court at a later date, Tierney said. Prosecutors said Sciortino is accused of tampering with records to inflate the cost of moving the county jobs office. Yavorcik accepted political contributions as a candidate for prosecutor in exchange for a promise to stop investigations into wrongdoing by county officials, according to the indictment. His trial is scheduled for March 14 in Cuyahoga County. | 1 |
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq wants the Kurdistan region to stop independent crude exports and to hand over sales operations to the Iraqi state-oil marketer SOMO, the company s director said on Thursday. Iraq is talking to Turkey to allow SOMO to sell the Kurdish crude that arrives by pipeline in Ceyhan, the Turkish terminal on the Mediterranean, acting SOMO director general Alaa al-Yasiri told reporters in Baghdad. About 530,000 barrels per day (bpd) used to arrive in Ceyhan via the pipeline until mid-October, of which about half came from the Kurdistan Regional Government s oilfields and the rest from Kirkuk, a disputed province claimed by both the Kurdish region and Iraqi authorities in Baghdad. Output from Kirkuk fell in mid-October, when Iraqi forces took back control of the northern region s oilfields from Kurdish fighters who had been there since 2014. Kurdish Peshmerga forces deployed in Kirkuk in 2014, when the Iraqi army fled in the face of an advance by Islamic State militants. The Kurdish move prevented the militants taking control of the oilfields. The pipeline carried on average 419,000 bpd in October, down from 600,000 bpd in September, said Farid al-Jadir, the director general of North Oil Company, which operates Kirkuk. NOC should resume exports from Kirkuk through the Kurdish pipeline this month, after the two sides agree on terms of use, Yasiri said. Kirkuk would also export by tanker trucks about 15,000 bpd to the refinery of Kermanshah in Iran, he added. Yasiri expected an old pipeline that bypasses most of the Kurdistan region to resume operation in three months. The pipeline was severely damaged by Islamic State after it took over Mosul s Nineveh province in 2014. U.S.-backed Iraqi forces ousted the group from Mosul in July, after a nine-month campaign supported by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. Iraq, the second-largest producer of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia, supported any future decision by the group to support oil prices, Yasiri said. OPEC is expected to extend curbs on oil output when it meets in Vienna at the end of month. | 1 |
A Sarasota, Florida, homeowner attacked armed robbery suspects with a machete, not only stopping the robbery, but disarming the suspects. [The incident occurred on the homeowner’s porch and was caught on a security camera. According to Daily Mail, three suspects entered the homeowner’s covered porch, “armed with a crowbar, a machete and a shotgun. ” The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) said the homeowner “feared for his life,” so he retreated to his home’s interior and retrieved a machete for . The SCSO said they first received a call about “a suspicious person armed with a rifle, at a home in the 2100 block of Dodge Avenue. ” As deputies sped to the scene, they received a second call “indicating that the homeowner disarmed the suspect and was holding him until law enforcement arrived”: SCSO arrested Alen Angel and Ronier and charged them for their alleged “attempt to rob the victim. ” Deputies also arrested Jorge and Roberto claiming they were waiting outside the home in the car and had taken part in planning the failed robbery. They “face two counts each of Principal to Armed Robbery. ” The suspect who possessed the shotgun faces additional charges for “possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. ” AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins. a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com. | 0 |
Donald Trump is getting absolutely hammered for his recent attacks on NFL players who refuse to stand during the National Anthem in a stand against social injustice. Trump has tried his hardest to pass off those attacks as a defense of patriotism, but most Americans know that Trump is simply trying to mask what are obviously remarks fueled by his own racism and one Democrat is calling him out for it.Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., blasted Trump on the House floor on Monday and attacked the undeserving POTUS for his pathetic attacks on athletes such as Stephen Curry, Lebron James and the NFL players. In his powerful, fiery speech, Jeffries asked the question that most of us would like to know: How dare Donald lecture us on what s patriotic?! You can watch this epic speech below:Just defended @StephenCurry30 @KingJames @Kaepernick7 on House floor. How dare donald lecture us on what s patriotic?! pic.twitter.com/wfbtDajTLD Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) September 25, 2017And that s not the only time Jeffries has spoken out against Trump about the POTUS recent attacks on athletes. In an interview with CNN, Jeffries called Trump a racial arsonist and stated that Trump was causing controversy just to keep his dwindling conservative fan base happy and engaged. Jeffries said: He uses race to advance his own ends. We couldn t have said it better. It is no coincidence that Trump s fan base are practically just white supremacists who he has repeatedly failed to denounce because he doesn t want to lost the only support he has left. Trump knows that his fans are losing interest and patience after all of his broken campaign promises, so he creates these scandals and spews nonsense to distract everyone and remind his racist fans why they voted for him in the first place. Trump s remarks about the NFL are disgusting and deserve to be condemned again and again.Featured image is a screenshot | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Thursday unveiled new oil well control rules to prevent the kind of blowout that happened six years ago on a BP Plc (BP.L) rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced the finalized regulations, which include more stringent design requirements and operational procedures for offshore oil and gas operations. The new standards come nearly six years after a deadly explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig off the cost of Louisiana, which led to the worst oil spill of all time. The Macondo well blowout and the fire on April 20,2010 killed 11 workers. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told reporters the rule took six years to complete because the agency wanted to understand the root cause of the disaster. “There are a number of things that went wrong,” she said. “It was important that we understood those things and the evolution of technology.” The Interior Department said it took into account industry and other stakeholder feedback since it first proposed the rule last April. To improve the “culture of safety” on oil rigs and prevent future spills or blowouts, the new rule tightens requirements for blowout preventers, well design, well control casing, cementing and sub-sea containment. It also calls for real-time monitoring, third party reviews of equipment, regular inspections and safe drilling margin requirements. The agency estimates the new rule would cost the industry $890 million over a 10-year period, but would yield $1.5 billion in benefits. Republican Louisiana Senator David Vitter slammed what he called an “overarching” rule that would “kick our oil and gas industry while it’s down.” Industry lobby group the American Petroleum Institute said it is still reviewing the document, but said technical problems in the initial proposal could cause unintended consequences if they remain. Offshore drilling has seen at least 1,066 injuries, 496 fires and explosions, 22 losses of well control, 11 big oil spills and 11 fatalities since the Deepwater Horizon accident, according to the Interior Department. Jacqueline Savitz, vice president of the ocean protection advocacy group Oceana, said the new standards were “a significant improvement over the status quo” since Congress has not passed legislation to improve offshore drilling safety but are “absolutely not sufficient to protect our oceans.” Earlier this month, a federal judge in New Orleans approved BP’s $20 billion settlement, paving the way for Gulf restoration to begin. | 1 |
Rebecca Blumenstein, deputy editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal, has been named a deputy managing editor of The New York Times, one of the top leadership positions at the newspaper. Ms. Blumenstein will become one of the women in The Times’s newsroom. She will join three other deputy managing editors — Janet Elder Clifford Levy, who was promoted last week and Matthew Purdy. In a note to the staff announcing the appointment on Tuesday, Dean Baquet, the executive editor, and Joe Kahn, the managing editor, said that Ms. Blumenstein, 50, would help the newsroom “do all the big things we intend to do in 2017 and beyond. ” In particular, they said, Ms. Blumenstein “will focus on making sure we remain an essential destination for readers interested in business, finance, economics and technology. ” In recent months, the newsroom has had a dearth of female leaders. In September, Susan Chira stepped down as deputy executive editor to write about gender issues, and in December, Lydia Polgreen, an associate masthead editor, left to become the top editor at The Huffington Post. Ms. Blumenstein’s appointment will quite likely be seen as a positive step, though it is notable that The Times named an outsider rather than promoting a woman from within. In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Kahn said it was “absolutely not the case’’ that they could not find a woman within The Times to play a role in newsroom leadership. “This is about Rebecca, who I think has a skill set, a perspective and the experience running a big newsroom that Dean and I and the others at the top of the masthead felt that we needed, to make sure that we’re putting our best foot forward in terms of this digital transition,” Mr. Kahn said. He added that there would be other masthead announcements soon. Ms. Blumenstein was seen as a potential successor to Gerard Baker, the editor in chief of The Journal, and news of her departure was met with surprise and sadness in the Journal newsroom, where she is known for her passion for breaking news. Asked how it felt to lure someone of Ms. Blumenstein’s caliber from a highly respected competitor, Mr. Kahn was circumspect in his reply. “I can only say that I follow and deeply admire The Journal’s coverage, and they’re a fierce competitor and a constant source of concern for us,” Mr. Kahn said. “So of course it’s meaningful to have one of their top editors come and join us. ” In a note to employees, Mr. Baker called Ms. Blumenstein “a peerless exponent and advocate of the very highest quality journalism. ” “She has been a singularly principled and dignified leader and a great mentor and friend to so many colleagues here,” he wrote. The appointment comes as both news organizations work to determine a strategy for an increasingly digital world. Both have initiated sweeping newsroom strategy reviews that have left employees anxious and uncertain about their futures. Last month, The Times released the findings of its review in a report that called for rapid change. Ms. Blumenstein has worked at The Journal since 1995, where she has held numerous senior positions, including managing editor of WSJ. com and international editor. As the newspaper’s China bureau chief, she led her team to a Pulitzer Prize in 2007. China was also where she and Mr. Kahn, who worked in the Beijing bureau for The Times, got to know each other, Mr. Kahn said. “She was unrelenting in pushing her team hard to beat us,” he said. | 0 |
LONDON (Reuters) - A row over how much money Britain should pay the European Union when it leaves the bloc will probably go on for the full duration of the EU exit talks, Brexit minister David Davis said on Tuesday. The Brexit bill is a contentious issue both in Britain, where eurosceptics are keen to see as little money paid as possible, and in the EU, which is demanding Britain meets its existing commitments to the bloc. My expectation is that the money argument will go on for the full duration of the negotiation, he told parliament. Britain, which began a two-year negotiating period in March, has said it is prepared to meet its international obligations and, last week, Davis said London was willing to offer more than the bare legal minimum. The bill is one of three issues the EU is demanding progress on before it is willing to begin discussing Britain s future relationship with the bloc - something London is keen to move on to as soon as possible. But, Davis stressed that Britain would not be pressured into cutting a deal just to move talks to the next stage. Davis said the two sides disagreed over the basis of the so-called Brexit bill, and that he did not expect them to fully resolve their differences. It is clear that the two sides have very different legal stances, Davis told parliament during an update on the talks. (EU chief negotiator) Michel Barnier and I agreed that we do not anticipate making incremental progress on the final shape of the financial deal in every round ... it is also clear there are significant differences to be bridged in this sector. Davis also said that there was widespread agreement across the European Union about having an implementation period when Britain leaves the bloc, and that it would probably look to continue its relationship with the European Investment Bank. | 1 |
The hardest questions pediatricians must routinely ask teenagers at checkups are those about depression and suicide. But they aren’t optional we have to ask them, every time. From 2005 to 2014, the prevalence of depression — that is, the chance of having a major depressive episode over the course of a year — increased significantly among to in the United States. These data come from an annual survey, the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, in which the same structured questions are asked every year. The trend toward more depression was steeper in girls than it was in boys. Furthermore, when to were surveyed, there was again a significant increase in the prevalence of depression, but only among those 18 to 20. So it appears to be increasing in the population from 12 to 20. Dr. Ramin Mojtabai, a psychiatrist who is a professor in the department of mental health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins and the first author on the study, said that there was no real increase from 2005 to 2011, but then the rise began, and got more pronounced in 2012 and 2013. Why was the prevalence of depression increasing, and why was it more intense among girls? Were adolescents actually suffering more from depression, or was it possible they were just more willing to talk about it? Dr. Mojtabai said that over the past couple of decades, teenagers have generally been more open about depression, but the researchers didn’t think that could account for the pattern they were seeing. They adjusted for the prevalence of substance abuse, and still the trend was there it wasn’t explained away by drug use or drinking. Neither could it be accounted for by looking at household composition (two parents versus one parent versus no parents). Suicide is the second leading cause of death in adolescents 15 to 19, second only to accidents, but that rate, as opposed to the incidence of depression, has actually been decreasing since the 1990s. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last November that the suicide rate for younger children from 10 to 14 had increased to the point where the risk of dying by suicide was as high as the risk of dying in a traffic accident they were looking at 2014 data, the most recent available. Dr. Benjamin Shain, the head of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at NorthShore University Health System, was the lead author on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ clinical report last summer on suicide and suicide attempts by adolescents. “When it comes to your child, in a sense statistics don’t matter, what matters is your particular child,” he said. “Pay attention to worry signs. ” Too often, he said, the parental impulse is to give advice or even step in and try to fix the problem. “What parents should do is mostly listen, that should be 90 percent of the conversation,” he said. The other 10 percent of the time, parents should not attempt to offer a solution, “but help the child problem solve. ” He raised concerns, in particular, about the impact of electronic media on adolescents. Dr. Mojtabai pointed out that the study was missing some information about factors like child abuse and neglect and about screens and digital devices, which some reports have associated with depressive symptoms. “There’s certainly evidence that cyberbullying may be connected to an increase in depression particularly among girls, maybe an increase in suicide,” Dr. Shain said. And this is an area, he said, where many parents feel at a loss about how to guide their children the parental impulse may be to take away the cellphone, which may make things worse for some adolescents. “They tend to find parent restriction of social media actually more traumatic than whatever the event was,” he said. “That’s how they connect to their peer group, that’s how they get their support, that’s how they have a conversation with their group you take this away and then you have a very isolated child. ” Over all, Dr. Mojtabai said, we need more information about whether there really is a trend here, and much more information about the teenagers’ lives. Still, it’s important for parents to be aware of the risks, both for children who are already struggling with mental health issues, and for those who may not yet have given their feelings a name. “A lot of children and adolescents have psychiatric problems that are not recognized by parents and they go untreated as a result,” he said. The signs of teenage depression include mood changes, like persistent sadness or irritability, and changes in level of functioning, such as school failure. They also include withdrawal from friends and family, a loss of interest in activities that had been important, and changes in eating and sleeping patterns, as well as some pretty nonspecific signs like lack of energy, trouble concentrating and unexplained aches and pains. Any parent of an adolescent has to wonder, of course, what’s the difference between “regular” adolescent mood swings and teenage behaviors and these warning signs. Parents need to ask themselves how severe the symptoms seem, and how persistent. When a child really seems to have changed, you can’t just write it off as adolescence. Dr. Shain pointed out that many of the warning signs are relatively nonspecific there could be many reasons adolescents might be hiding in their rooms, or bringing home significantly worse grades. “It could be depression, could be drugs, could be simply that their schoolwork is too hard,” he said. “The first step is sit and have a conversation with your child — what’s going on — the next step could be talk with teachers or bring your child to a counselor or psychiatrist. ” And though this increase in the prevalence of depression was not explained by substance abuse, it’s important to remember that substance abuse and depression have always gone together in adolescents those who report depression are more likely to have used drugs or alcohol. Identifying depression, of course, doesn’t solve the problem, and this is not an issue that lends itself to quick fixes, even with caring and supportive families. As the A. A. P. clinical report says: “Suicide risk can only be reduced, not eliminated, and risk factors provide no more than guidance. ” This can be a long and hard journey for teenagers and their families, but the message to parents, and to pediatricians, is that we have to keep asking the right questions. | 0 |
One of the 20 or so courses served to me the first time I ate at the new Aska in Brooklyn was a cluster of nasturtium leaves, next to a bundle of burned herb sprigs and flower stalks, tied up with a string. It looked pretty and pagan at the same time, like a page from a Martha Stewart lifestyle magazine for witches. This plate was more than just photogenic, though. Wrapped inside the scorched bouquet was a langoustine, very gently cooked to a soft pink. It tasted of herbs and ashes. There were blots of chamomile jelly and a sauce on the plate, too, and when I rubbed a bit of the lobster around in there, the combination of flower and shellfish flavors was a complete surprise, extraordinary in ways I’d never imagined before. One of the rewards of working as a restaurant critic for a few years is getting to see chefs growing into their ambitions. On my watch, few have done this as dramatically and successfully as Aska’s chef, Fredrik Berselius. Aska, which opened beneath the ribs of the Williamsburg Bridge in July, is his third restaurant. And with each fresh incarnation, his cooking has taken a leap forward. His first, in 2012, was a operation called Frej, which shared its space in Williamsburg with a ramen outfit and a coffee bar. Its menu was a great deal at $45, and Mr. Berselius, who was born and raised in Sweden, was already showing a gift for delicately naturalistic compositions in the New Nordic style. But some of the flavors were tentative, like underexposed photographs. Mr. Berselius fleshed out some of those sketches when he turned Frej into a restaurant, called Aska. The menus were longer and a little more expensive. Some dishes were too subdued and others were just I may still have a bit of a ’ cracker stuck between my teeth. The pleasures, however, were numerous and original enough to persuade me that Aska was easily a restaurant. Less than two years in, though, Mr. Berselius closed Aska, saying that he had outgrown the site. New York’s real estate and construction industries being what they are, it took him more than two years to find and then renovate the new space, a warehouse from the Civil War era about a mile south. He installed a bar and lounge in the basement, a patio in the courtyard and a moody main dining area and open kitchen in the soaring, room at street level. Mr. Berselius must have used some of that time to bear down in the kitchen, too, because his new tasting menus vault past the ones at the old Aska. They are longer, and much more expensive, at $145 for 10 courses and $215 for 19 courses, service included. But the flavors don’t hide anymore they have an insistent presence, and their dynamics are beautifully modulated from one dish to the next. You will still be eating things you probably didn’t think you wanted to eat. A new pig’s blood creation has replaced the cracker, and this time it leaves a memory I’m happy to be haunted by. The blood lends a mineral tang to an appealingly tender traditional Swedish pancake set under rose petals, cherries and a rose hip jelly. It looks, and even tastes, a little like a thin chocolate cake. (Blood imitates chocolate again in a little truffle that shows up at the end of the night.) Reindeer lichen, another ingredient that didn’t entirely win me over last time around, is back. I may never learn to love the way a clump of it feels in my mouth — like a cross between kataifi pastry and a hairball — but I loved the chanterelles and their broth that surrounded the lichen and the swoosh of cream, cooked down to a caramelized sweetness, that was hiding beneath. Mr. Berselius is the rare chef who thinks like an artist and gets away with it. His Nature Boy act took a turn toward the mystical on a recent night as he delivered a dish to the table he recalled seeing a small flock of sheep in the Catskills, amid hills overrun with bedstraw. He said he wanted to bring the two together, which he accomplished by placing lambs’ hearts under burning bedstraw until the hearts collapse into ashes. These ashes are then scattered over sunchoke cream mixed with pickled sunchokes. The pairing of bitter cinders and sweet sunchokes was fascinating, and reminded me of baking chocolate grated over melted white chocolate. But one or two tastes were enough for me incinerated heart may be better expressed as a or snack, like the puff of pommes soufflées, topped with wonderfully smoky flounder roe. Part of the program at Aska asks us to look again at nature, and to try ingredients that aren’t sold in any supermarket. Mr. Berselius does impressive things with more ordinary materials, though, like the slabs of scallop and their roe with brown butter spooned over the top, or a simple and remarkably good stick of roasted king crab leg with tiny potatoes, cooked almost al dente. The procession of plants and seafood is usually broken up by some red meat right before dessert. Once, it was beef bathed in rendered beef fat, tasting the way the air at Peter Luger smells: hypnotic. More recently, there were a few slices of wild wood pigeon, brought in from Scotland a very fine thing on a chilly, windy fall night. After that came an amazing sorbet of raw milk served with little strawberries preserved during the summer, along with some fermented juice on its way to becoming wine. This was followed by birch ice cream under white slices of raw pine mushrooms and woodruff leaves, an odd, herbaceous and unexpectedly stirring combination. In my tour of duty, I’ve eaten a number of dishes that were supposed to represent a walk in the woods, but none came as close to capturing the forest’s aromas as this one. The service is warm and unpretentious, even down to earth. Guidance through the wine list, which has some fashionably esoteric choices alongside some excellent, familiar ones, isn’t quite as fluid as at the old Aska, but the servers know how to listen and respond. Their tone is especially welcoming in the basement lounge, where you can sprawl on a couch or unwind at a small table over a martini that’s been Nordicized with Icelandic birch liqueur and syrup distilled from prehistoric amber. The à la carte menu downstairs offers a fantastic cured pork shoulder in mushroom vinaigrette, or lettuce leaves dotted with a mash of smoked hake that tastes like unusually good gefilte fish. These and other dishes may not be the makings of a filling weeknight meal, but they do provide a fine, introduction to the Aska worldview. Mr. Berselius has a lyrical sensibility, though it seems to have abandoned him when it came time to design the main dining room. The tablecloths and the ceiling are black, which makes most of the room disappear. When I was there, most of the tables were taken by couples seated side by side, facing the open kitchen. It looked as if they were at a cabaret, waiting for the show to start. By the third hour of the night, I was restless and conscious of the passage of time I kept expecting the cooks to do something, maybe sing a little Sondheim. The atmosphere at a lot of restaurants can feel a little inert. This tends not to matter very much to most customers, few of whom are going to put a $215 menu into their regular rotation. What they want is a delicious, memorable night that takes them to places they haven’t been before. Aska does all of that, and throws in a little blood and poetry. | 0 |
WASHINGTON — Few companies have been as intimately tied to the Democratic Party in recent years as Google. So now that Donald J. Trump is president, the giant company, in Silicon Valley parlance, is having to pivot. The shift was evident a day after Congress began its new session this month. That evening, about 70 lawmakers, a majority of them Republicans, were feted at the stately Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building, where they clinked champagne and bourbon glasses and posed for selfies with the 600 guests assembled in their honor. The event’s main host was not from the Republican establishment. Instead, the party was primarily financed and anchored by Google. “We’ve partnered with Google on events before, but nothing like this party,” said Alex Skatell, founder of The Independent Journal Review, a news with a millennial audience, which also helped host the event. The event was emblematic of an by Google. Over the last eight years, the company was closely associated with former President Barack Obama. Google employees overwhelmingly supported Mr. Obama’s presidential campaigns, and some later took roles in his administration. Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, advised the Obama White House. And last year, Google employees gave $1. 3 million to Hillary Clinton’s campaign to succeed Mr. Obama, compared with $26, 000 to the Trump campaign, according to federal filings. Now, the tech giant is scrambling to forge ties with Mr. Trump’s new administration and to strengthen its relationship with a Congress. Most important, Google is trying to change the perception that it is a Democratic stronghold. That has led to events like the party at the Smithsonian, which the institution said had cost at least $50, 000. Mr. Schmidt has embarked on an East Coast charm offensive of Republican political leaders, including twice visiting Mr. Trump and his advisers at Trump Tower. Last month, Google also posted an opening to fill a position for a “conservative outreach” employee in its Washington office. “Google has a target on its back because it is fundamentally viewed as a Democratic company,” said Gigi Sohn, a former senior adviser to Tom Wheeler, who was chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. “Even though it has reached out to Republicans, it can’t shake the image. ” Google said it had long had Republican lobbyists and had not changed its strategy. “We’ve worked with both Republicans and Democrats for over a decade, advocating policies to encourage economic growth, innovation and entrepreneurialism,” the company said in a statement. “We’ll continue to do exactly that. ” A spokesman for Mr. Schmidt added, “Eric has a long record of working constructively and energetically on important technology issues with American and world leaders across the political spectrum. ” Other Silicon Valley tech companies, like Facebook, are in a similar predicament. The perception is that they lean left and their executives backed Mrs. Clinton. Many are now also pledging to work with Mr. Trump and paid court to the new president at a December tech summit meeting. One week into the administration, Google and other tech companies began to push back, criticizing Mr. Trump’s executive order on immigration bans. The company said an estimated 187 employees were affected by the order and it urged any of those employees who were abroad to work with the company to return safely to the United States. ”It’s painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues,” Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, said in a memo to employees over the weekend. “We’ve always made our views on immigration issues known publicly and will continue to do so. ” Google has much at stake as it repositions itself. During the Obama years, Google avoided American antitrust charges, even as European regulators accused the firm of antitrust violations in search and in its mobile business. Google also successfully pushed a policy agenda that included the creation of net neutrality rules in 2015 and the defeat of online piracy laws in 2012. Now warning shots against Google have been fired by those in Mr. Trump’s circle. Some of the president’s advisers have debated whether the tech behemoth deserves more antitrust scrutiny, according to two people briefed by the new administration’s transition team, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist and Trump transition adviser, also compared the power that Google had under Mr. Obama to that which the oil giant Exxon Mobil had under President George W. Bush. Under President Bush, the administration largely agreed with Exxon’s skeptical stance on climate change policy. Mr. Trump’s team is particularly wary of one Google executive — Mr. Schmidt — who has been allied with Democrats. During last year’s presidential campaign, Mr. Schmidt counseled Mrs. Clinton on strategy. A photo of him wearing a staff badge at her party circulated widely in the conservative media. Mr. Trump’s advisers, including his chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, have complained about Mr. Schmidt’s funding of a called the Groundwork, which provided data and other technology for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. They also suspected Google was skewing search results in favor of Mrs. Clinton, said Barry Bennett, a former senior adviser for Mr. Trump’s campaign. “Mr. Schmidt spent millions and millions of his personal money to defeat Donald Trump,” Mr. Bennett said. “It takes a particular amount of gumption to pretend that never happened. ” Google has denied it tweaked its search results, which are determined by algorithms, and the company declined to comment on Mr. Schmidt. White House officials did not respond to a request for comment. For many years, Google’s support of Democrats was plain. Google’s political action committee and employees ranked third in all donations to Mr. Obama’s 2012 campaign at $804, 240, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In 2008, Google’s PAC and employees were sixth with $817, 855. The company did not rank in the top 20 for donations to Mr. Obama’s Republican opponents in either of those elections. About five years ago, Google began diversifying its bets. The company forged ties with the House of Representatives and started addressing the beginning of an antitrust investigation into whether the company was using its search dominance to suppress competing travel, map and restaurant sites. In 2011, Google hired Stewart Jeffries, a former member of the House Judiciary Committee, to lobby Republicans on Capitol Hill. That same year, it quadrupled its number of outside lobbying firms — including many with Republican lobbyists — to 24, from six in 2010. In 2012, Google named a former Republican congresswoman, Susan Molinari of New York, to lead its Washington office. Google also sponsored conservative think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation. The company has hosted Republican lawmakers including the House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy of California, and Darrell Issa of California at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Google’s Washington office is now roughly split between Republican and Democrats. The company spent $15. 43 million in lobbying in 2016, according to federal lobbying documents, making it among the top dozen firms in lobbying spending last year. For the first time last year, Google’s PAC gave more to Republican congressional candidates than to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Even so, Google’s Republican ties got little notice because of the company’s strong relationship with Democrats. Several Google employees joined the Obama administration while dozens of government bureaucrats were employed by the tech company. Google’s head of global public policy, Caroline Atkinson, was Mr. Obama’s former national security adviser. A former Google executive, Megan Smith, became the nation’s chief technology officer. During his presidency, Mr. Obama also repeatedly supported proposals backed by Google, including net neutrality in 2015 and cable box reforms last year. “Google was very much treated as the golden child by the Obama administration,” said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, which has been critical of Google for privacy policies. Since the election, Google has accelerated efforts to win over the Republican White House and Congress. Before his visits to Trump Tower, Mr. Schmidt met with Mr. McCarthy and Senator John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, who is chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Days after Mr. Trump’s victory, Google also contacted The Independent Journal Review, which it had worked with on events during the Republican campaign debates. Google told the news that it would provide the main funding for the party at the Smithsonian. Google said the event was open to both parties. But pairing with the conservative site sent a clear message to attendees. “We definitely helped draw Republicans and people from across the spectrum,” said the site’s founder, Mr. Skatell. At the party, several Republican lawmakers were positive about their tech host, brushing off questions about the company’s heft and power. “When I think of technology and Google, I don’t think of dominance,” said Representative Bradley Byrne, a Republican from Alabama. “I think of innovation. ” | 0 |
President Barack Obama insisted Thursday that Islamist terrorist groups committing atrocities from the Middle East to Africa to Europe do not represent Islam, calling the idea that the West is at war with Islam "an ugly lie."
The president addressed delegates from more than 60 countries at the closing session of a summit on "Countering Violent Extremism," hosted by the U.S. State Department in Washington.
Obama said the nations gathered "must remain unwavering in our fight against terrorist organizations."
In one part of the address, the president appeared to be responding to administration critics, who have pointed out that the White House refuses to use the term "Islamic" when referring to terrorist groups such as al Qaeda, ISIS, and Boko Haram, who are committing atrocities against Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims.
"Obviously, there is a complicated history between the Middle East and the West, and none of us, I think, should be immune from criticism in terms of specific policies. But the notion that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie -- and all of us, regardless of our faith, have a responsibility to reject it," he cautioned.
On Wednesday, the president explained he doesn't want to mention Islam when talking about terrorism because it would give Islamic radicals a tool they can use to recruit new fighters.
"We must acknowledge that groups like al Qaeda and (ISIS) are deliberately targeting their propaganda to Muslim communities, particularly Muslim youth," he said.
What can be done to be more effective in the fight against Islamic terrorism? Cliff May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, offers more insight to the presidents summit speech
But even the president refused to admit any connection between the Islamic State terrorists and Islam, he said we need to "tackle" the issue head on.
"We can't shy away from these discussions. And too often folks are understandably sensitive about addressing some of these root issues, but we have to talk about them, honestly and clearly," Obama said.
But critics are mocking the president and his administration for not using phrases like "Islamic terrorism."
Thursday's New York Post shows a picture of the president blindfolded with the caption "Islamic Terror? I Just Don't See It."
Cliff May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, says the president and his administration need to acknowledge that radical Islam is behind terrorism and groups like ISIS.
"We're kind of avoiding making decisions now and we're saying things that really nobody that's informed about these matters can actually believe," Cliff May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told CBN News.
"He thinks he's doing it because he wants to avoid the impression that this is in any way a religious war it was 21 Coptic Christians who had their heads taken off by the Islamic State," May said.
This week's White House summit came after the State Department recently, and quietly, hosted a meeting with members of the Muslim Brotherhood -- much to the outrage of the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Israelis were also surprised.
"We just don't understand because we know the history of the Muslim Brothers. We know exactly who they are," Zvi Mazel, former Israeli ambassador to Egypt, said.
"So how come, the United States, the administration, in that case the president himself and the State Department, receive delegation of the Muslim Brothers?" he asked. | 1 |
Notable names include Ray Washburne (Commerce), a Dallas-based investor, is reported to be under consideration to lead the department. | 1 |
U.S. authorities said Friday there is no known threat to the American homeland in the wake of the deadly terror attacks in Paris, but cities across the country were taking precautions while intelligence officials expressed alarm over the methodology and planning that was evident behind the terrorist acts.
More than 120 people were killed when a series of apparently coordinated shootings and explosions rocked Paris, which officials said evoked memories of the deadly 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India.
"The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are closely monitoring events in Paris and we are in contact with our counterparts in the region," Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. "At this time, we know of no specific or credible threats of an attack on the U.S. homeland of the type that occurred in Paris tonight."
It is still unclear who was behind the attacks. One U.S. counterterrorism official told CNN that the attacks resemble tactics that have been used by a number of terror groups -- including al Qaeda's focus on mass casualty and visibility, and the small, tactical nature of attacks that are more the hallmark of ISIS and its acolytes.
The official noted that Algerian terrorist groups have attacked in Paris in the past, though they don't have much capability to do what unfolded in Paris. Meanwhile, U.S. officials are still trying to determine if there are any U.S. connections with the terrorists or the victims and are working with their French counterparts to ensure there are no immediate threats to the U.S. Two additional U.S. counterterrorism officials told CNN that authorities across the U.S. have convened secure conference calls to try and gather information. And a federal law enforcement official said federal authorities are working with local police agencies around the country to task sources domestically and internationally for information about any individuals possibly associated with the attacks. They're also going back to look at whether there was any intelligence missed indicating these attacks were going to happen, the law enforcement official said, adding that the FBI is also putting additional personnel on standby to be deployed to France to offer any support such as bomb technicians and computer analysts. President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, second from right, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo arrive at the Bataclan, site of one of the Paris terrorists attacks, to pay their respects to the victims after Obama arrived in town for the COP21 climate change conference early on Monday, November 30, in Paris. The Eiffel Tower in Paris is illuminated in the French national colors on Monday, November 16. Displays of support for the French people were evident at landmarks around the globe after the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, November 13. People hold hands as they observe a minute of silence in Lyon, France, on November 16, three days after the Paris attacks. A minute of silence was observed throughout the country in memory of the victims of the country's deadliest violence since World War II. French President Francois Hollande, center, flanked by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, right, and French Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, center left, stands among students during a minute of silence in the courtyard of the Sorbonne University in Paris on November 16. A large crowd gathers to lay flowers and candles in front of the Carillon restaurant in Paris on Sunday, November 15. A man sits next to candles lit as homage to the victims of the deadly attacks in Paris at a square in Rio de Janeiro on November 15. People light candles in tribute to the Paris victims on November 15 in Budapest, Hungary. People gather outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on November 15 for a national service for the victims of the city's terror attacks. People write messages on the ground at Place de la Republique in Paris on November 15. People pray during a candlelight vigil for victims of the Paris attacks at a church in Islamabad, Pakistan, on November 15. French golfer Gregory Bourdy passes a peace symbol for the Paris victims during the BMW Shanghai Masters tournament November 15 in Shanghai, China. A man offers a prayer in memory of victims of the Paris attacks at the French Embassy in Tokyo on November 15. A woman holds a candle atop a miniature replica of the Eiffel Tower during a candlelight vigil Saturday, November 14, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Front pages of Japanese newspapers in Tokyo show coverage and photos of the Paris attacks on November 14. An electronic billboard on a canal in Milan, Italy reads, in French, "I'm Paris," on November 14. The Eiffel Tower stands dark as a mourning gesture on November 14, in Paris. More than 125 people were killed in a series of coordinated attacks in Paris on Friday. People around the world reacted in horror to the deadly terrorist assaults. Lithuanians hold a candlelight vigil in front of the French Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, on November 14. Thousands gather in London's Trafalgar Square for a candlelit vigil on November 14 to honor the victims of the Paris attacks. A woman lights candles at a memorial near the Bataclan theater in Paris on November 14. A man places a candle in front of Le Carillon cafe in Paris on November 14. A woman holds a French flag during a gathering in Stockholm, Sweden, on November 14. Nancy Acevedo prays for France during the opening prayer for the Sunshine Summit being held at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida on November 14. French soldiers of the United Nations' interim forces in Lebanon observe the national flag at half-staff at the contingent headquarters in the village of Deir Kifa on November 14. A couple surveys the signature sails of the Sydney Opera House lit in the colors of the French flag in Sydney on November 14. A woman places flowers in front of the French Consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia, on November 14. Candles are lit in Hong Kong on November 14 to remember the scores who died in France. A woman lights a candle outside the French Consulate in Barcelona, Spain, on November 14. Britain's Prince Charles expresses solidarity with France at a birthday barbecue in his honor near Perth, Australia, on November 14. The French national flag flutters at half-staff on November 14 at its embassy in Beijing. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte after a speech on November 14 in The Hague following the attacks. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe becomes emotional after his speech on the French attacks during the opening ceremony of a Japanese garden in Istanbul, Turkey, on November 14. A woman mourns outside Le Carillon bar in the 10th district of Paris on November 14. The attackers ruthlessly sought out soft targets where people were getting their weekends underway. People lay flowers outside the French Embassy in Moscow on November 14. Mourners gather outside Le Carillon bar in the 10th district of Paris on November 14. "We were listening to music when we heard what we thought were the sounds of firecrackers," a doctor from a nearby hospital who was drinking in the bar with colleagues told Le Monde. "A few moments later, it was a scene straight out of a war. Blood everywhere." People attend a vigil outside the French Consulate in Montreal. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered "all of Canada's support" to France on Friday, November 13, in the wake of the attacks. Police show a heightened presence in Times Square in New York on November 13, following the terrorist attacks in Paris. People light candles at a vigil outside the French Consulate in Montreal on November 13. University of Nevada, Las Vegas, fans observe a moment of silence for the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris before a basketball game November 13. The house lights are shut off and scoreboard dark as Boston Celtics players pause for a moment of silence for the Paris victims before an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks in Boston on November 13. People light candles at a vigil outside the French Consulate in Montreal on November 13. One of the primary reasons for alarm among U.S. counterterrorism officials is the lack of relevant intelligence before the attacks began. Intelligence agencies are looking at communications intercepts for clues as to any advanced planning or coordination, a U.S. intelligence official said. The U.S. collects overseas communications in Europe and elsewhere, and in the past, such reviews have uncovered emails and other communications that show planning, the intelligence official added. Local police departments moved quickly to place units on extra alert. In Los Angeles, extra police were deployed at critical sites like airports. In Washington, enhanced patrols were sent near the Capitol. In New York City, the New York Police Department was giving special attention and increasing its presence at soft targets such as nightclubs, theaters and museums, along with locations tied to France, another federal law enforcement official said. Authorities are also scrutinizing known terror suspects in the U.S. and boosting surveillance of them, the law enforcement officials said. "We will not hesitate to adjust our security posture, as appropriate, to protect the American people," an FBI spokesperson said in a statement. "DHS and the FBI routinely share information with our state, local, federal and international law enforcement, intelligence and homeland security partners, and continually evaluate the level of protection we provide at federal facilities." Sign up for CNN Politics' Nightcap newsletter, serving up today's best and tomorrow's essentials in politics. | 1 |
Obama s former AG Loretta Lynch released a video that s a call to action for Democrats. These people who have been stripped of power after being so close to achieving their goals of fundamentally transforming America into something most Americans wouldn t recognize, are serious about starting a civil war in our nation. If you don t believe me, listen to the words of Obama s former AG, who compares the fight against President Trump and his supporters to that of the Civil War: I know that this is a time of great fear and uncertainty for so many people. I know it s a time of concern for people, who see our rights being assailed, being trampled on and even being rolled back. I know that this is difficult, but I remind you that this has never been easy. We have always had to work to move this country forward to achieve the great ideals of our Founding Fathers. (Lynch s statement about the Founding Fathers is quite ironic, considering that she worked hand-in-hand with former President Barack Obama to destroy the very fabric of our Constitution.) It has been people, individuals who have banded together, ordinary people who simply saw what needed to be done and came together and supported those ideals who have made the difference. They ve marched, they ve bled and yes, some of them died. This is hard. Every good thing is. We have done this before. We can do this again. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday he was confident that Congress would raise the federal debt limit “before there’s an issue” with U.S. creditworthiness, and he pledged that the Trump administration’s tax reform plans would be paid for. “We’re going to get it increased,” Mnuchin told Fox Business Network about the debt limit. “The credit of the United States is the utmost. I’ve said to Congress they should do it as quickly as they can. But we are very focused on working with them and I’m confident we’ll get there before there’s an issue.” Mnuchin said last week that he wanted a “clean” debt ceiling increase before the start of Congress’ summer recess in early August. Mnuchin said that it “makes no sense” to view the Trump administration’s tax reform plans through a “static” budget analysis that does not account for economic growth effects. He has previously pledged that increased economic growth would generate more revenue to offset lower tax rates. “We’re about creating economic growth, we’re about broadening the base and we’re going to make sure that this is tax reform, not just tax cuts, and that they’re paid for,” Mnuchin said. | 0 |
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes struck Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on Tuesday, killing three militants, the military said, as part of a widening campaign against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). In a statement, the military said the air strikes targeted the Zap region, the Turkish name for a river which flows across the Turkish-Iraqi border and is known as Zab in Iraq. The air strike was the second on Tuesday and the third in the past two days since Turkish soldiers started a military drill along the Iraqi border. The army was training tank guns and rocket launchers across the southern border on Tuesday, less than a week before a Kurdish independence referendum in northern Iraq. The show of force ahead of the vote reflects the scale of concern in Turkey, which has the largest Kurdish population in the region, that the plebiscite could embolden the outlawed Kurdish PKK which has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey s southeast since 1984. The Turkish air force has frequently struck against PKK units in the mountains of northern Iraq. The group is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and European Union. | 0 |
The celebrated artist Peter Doig did not create a landscape painting, despite the claims of the former corrections officer who owns it, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. As a result, he was not responsible for destroying the plaintiffs’ plan to sell the work for millions of dollars. The ruling, after seven days of heated and sometimes bizarre testimony in federal court this month in Chicago, would appear to end one of the stranger art authentication cases in recent history. It had pitted Mr. Doig, a artist whose works routinely sell for $10 million, against the owner of the painting and that man’s art dealer. They had accused Mr. Doig of falsely denying that he had created the work as a young man in Canada, thus scuttling their efforts to sell it. “Peter Doig could not have been the author of this work,” Judge Gary Feinerman said. Mr. Doig, who was not in court but called in to hear the ruling, said from Rome by telephone that he felt angry that he had been forced to prove he had not painted the work. “I feel a living artist should be the one who gets to say yea or nay and not be taken to task and forced to go back 40 years in time. It was painstaking to piece this together,” he said. Mr. Doig, 57, who was born in Britain and grew up in Canada and Trinidad, has created haunted, magical landscapes that have made him among the world’s most popular artists. During the trial, the former corrections officer, Robert Fletcher, sought to prove that the painting, an untitled acrylic on canvas of a rocky desert scene, signed “Pete Doige 76,” was an early work by Mr. Doig. Mr. Fletcher said he met Mr. Doig in the 1970s, when, he said, the artist was attending Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, about 900 miles northwest of Toronto. According to Mr. Fletcher, they met again when Mr. Doig was serving a brief sentence for LSD possession at a nearby correctional center, where Mr. Fletcher saw him create the painting. Later, serving as Mr. Doig’s parole officer, Mr. Fletcher said he had helped the artist land a job and bought the painting for $100. Five years ago, a friend noticed the painting hanging on Mr. Fletcher’s wall and told him that the work was by a famous artist. In 2013, Mr. Fletcher and Peter Bartlow, the Chicago art dealer who agreed to help him sell the painting, filed suit in United States District Court for Northern Illinois, arguing that Mr. Doig was denying authorship because of a vendetta against Mr. Fletcher. Seeking nearly $8 million in damages and a court declaration that the work was authentic, Mr. Fletcher testified during the trial that he felt disrespected by Mr. Doig because the artist did not show any gratitude to Mr. Fletcher for setting him on a path toward fame and riches. Mr. Doig told the court that he had never attended Lakehead nor been incarcerated. Instead, he and his lawyers said the work in question was painted by another man, Peter Edward Doige, who died in 2012. One of Mr. Doige’s sisters produced evidence at trial that her brother was at Lakehead University, and testified that he was an inmate at the correctional center, that he liked to paint and that the signature on the work was his. And a former art teacher at the corrections center recalled watching it being painted by Mr. Doige over at least five weeks between 1976 and 1977. That the case ever went to trial surprised many in the art world. Authentication disputes tend to involve the works of dead artists. In this case, a very alive Mr. Doig found himself forced to prove that he did not create something. To show that he had not been in prison in the 1970s, Mr. Doig dredged up a school yearbook his mother’s letters about his appearing in “Romeo and Juliet” at his Toronto high school and working on oil rigs in western Canada and friends’ written testimony about his skiing in Utah. The plaintiffs’ response was to take up many hours of the trial with somewhat unorthodox efforts to demonstrate similarities between the painting and Mr. Doig’s works. The plaintiffs had also argued that rather than hiding youthful drug use — which Mr. Doig has admitted — or a prison past, the artist was embarrassed by the painting because he had used it as the basis for many other works. The plaintiffs’ case was weakened, art market experts said, because they could produce only one expert witness to authenticate the painting as a Doig. That witness, Mr. Bartlow, proved problematic: He was one of the plaintiffs, and — as revealed during the trial — had a 25 percent interest in any proceeds. The judge’s ruling said any similarities between the desert scene and Mr. Doig’s paintings were “purely coincidental. ” William F. Zieske, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said they were disappointed by the ruling and had not decided yet whether to appeal. “I still think the painting may be authentic,” he said. Had the decision gone against Mr. Doig, its effects would have reverberated throughout the art world, experts said. Such a decision could have set an uncomfortable precedent, potentially emboldening others to claim that a seemingly familiar painting on a living room wall was in fact by a artist. “Other artists will be breathing a big sigh of relief,” said Nicholas M. O’Donnell, a Boston art lawyer. | 0 |
DHAKA (Reuters) - Hundreds of people rushed to a Bangladeshi community centre prayer meeting to get free food packets on Monday, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than 50 in the crush, police said. The family of a former mayor in the southern port city of Chittagong had organised a prayer meet and offered the food packets in his memory. We repeatedly announced on the loudspeaker that there are adequate stock of foods at the centre, but when the gate was opened, hundreds of people tried to enter at the same time, Devashis Paul, a local leader of the ruling Awami League party, said. | 0 |
When former President George W. Bush left office, he remained quiet in regards to any criticism of Barack Obama. Sure, Dick Cheney didn t, but Obama s predecessor remained graceful in order to keep the peace. President Obama didn t attack Bush, either. Trump s unprecedented attack by a sitting president on the former occupant of the White House has caused a firestorm off attention after calling Obama sick and suggested he should be criminally prosecuted for wiretapping him during the election campaign. Trump did not offer any proof and the White House is scrambling to defend his jaw-dropping claims which originated from the right-wing fake news site Breitbart, then was promptly circulated by fake news site Gateway Pundit.So what does Barack Obama think of the new conspiracy theory about him? Unlike Trump, Obama can take the heat with a simple eye roll and shrug it off. Obama didn t take to his Twitter account to unleash mean-girl tweets about Donald Trump.A source who spoke to NBC News said that former President Barack Obama rolled his eyes at Trump s unsubstantiated claims that he wiretapped Trump Tower toward the end of the 2016 election.This his how a real President reacts to a 70-year-old s Twitter tantrum:The source, who spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity and is familiar with the president s thinking, said Obama believes the claims undermine the integrity of the office of the president, but don t undermine his own integrity, because he didn t do it. The source added that Obama is much more concerned by President Trump kicking people off their health insurance, not staffing the government, not being prepared for a crisis, rolling back regulations so that corporations can pollute the air and water and letting mentally unstable people buy guns with no problems whatsoever. He cares about all those things much more than what President Trump tweets at the TV each morning, the source continued.The White House has stated that alleged president Donald Trump supports a congressional investigation into whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016 as part of a larger investigation into the Russian hacking scandal.So, Obama is more concerned about our country s well-being than over some crotchety old man s rantings on Twitter even though Trump has again created another conspiracy about his predecessor.Seriously, Trump supporters, you never knew what you had until it was gone. Sort of like Obamacare which is being replaced by Trumpcare Karmacare.Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images. | 1 |
One of the ringleaders of the terror-minded militia group who are illegally occupying a National Park service building got a six figure loan from the government the same government that they accuse of being a despotic, criminal enterprise.Ammon Bundy, the son of rogue Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, heads the group and has been their front man in communication with the press. He already tasted the national standoff when his father refused to pay his bill to the Bureau of Land Management, even after using the government land for his personal enrichment.It turns out that despite the Bundy rhetoric about government and its supposed encroachment into their personal liberty, they were not above putting their hands out for some green.Ammon Bundy runs a Phoenix-based company called Valet Fleet Services LLC, which specializes in repairing and maintaining fleets of semitrucks throughout Arizona. On April 15, 2010 Tax Day, as it happens Bundy s business borrowed $530,000 through a Small Business Administration loan guarantee program. The available public record does not indicate what the loan was used for or whether it was repaid. The SBA website notes that this loan guarantee was issued under a program to aid small businesses which are unable to obtain financing in the private credit marketplace. The government estimated that this subsidy could cost taxpayers $22,419. Bundy did not respond to an email request for comment about the SBA loan.This is the same sort of mindset we ve seen for years and years on the mainstream right. Out of one side of the mouth comes words condemning the government, often attacking those who have sought help from the government particularly ethnic minorities who dare to receive government support, even temporarily. From the other side of the mouth they are more than willing to build their personal fortunes on top of government help and assistance. Help for me, not for thee. They may as well be part of the Tea Party crowd demanding that the government take its hands off Medicare.Featured image via YouTube | 0 |
in: Government Corruption , US News It’s been almost a week since FBI director announced the reopening of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s illegal use of her state department emails and this story is only getting bigger with every passing day. Hillary’s fully controlled liberal left mainstream media and her attack dog politicians and authority figure minions are doing things that some may argue resemble a silent coup d’etat. Yes, I’m talking about an American coup d’etat. I believe in many ways we are witnessing a slow motion coup d’etat that if it succeeds it will mark the permanent end to the rule of law, any resemblance of justice and the end of America itself. Let’s begin by first looking at the definition of coup d’etat : a sudden and decisive action in politics, especially one resulting in a change of government illegally or by force Recently reopened by the FBI, the investigation of Hillary’s criminality is very real and under any normal circumstances would or should guarantee not only her removal as presidential candidate regardless of how close we are to the elections, but also a warrant for her arrest. The Hillary crime team is not about to lay down for this incredible moment in US history however. Hillary has unleashed her attackers on the FBI and its director James Comey, who of course has been one of Hillary’s very controlled minions all along until now perhaps. To counter the application of the rule of law (remember, Hillary broke the law), to preserve her road to presidency and to block her road to jail Hillary’s attack dogs have been released on the justice system itself, something historically unusual and alone worthy of top news status. Attack dog number one, Senator Harry Reid recently threatened FBI director Comey stating the following in a letter to him: I am writing to inform you that my office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act… Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law. Historically and astonishingly Reid is attempting to put the elections before the rule of law itself. This is apparently a common theme and strategy in the Hillary criminal camp. So much so that they are attempting to make this about James Comey instead of the actual criminal who broke the law, Hillary Clinton. Attorney General Loretta Lynch also jumped in on this pro-Hillary, screw-the-rule-of-law narrative now being perpetuated by the pro-Hillary minions and attack dogs when it was reported that she “advised Comey not to send a letter to Congress informing them of the discovery of new emails”. The New Yorker put out anonymous quotes designed to attack Comey saying (anonymity emphasized in bold) “You don’t do this,” one former senior Justice Department official exclaimed . “It’s aberrational. It violates decades of practice.” The reason, according to the former official, who asked not to be identified because of ongoing cases involving the department, “is because it impugns the integrity and reputation of the candidate, even though there’s no finding by a court, or in this instance even an indictment.” In fact, according to the Washington Post James Comey’s critics are “ growing by the hour “. All of this is a continuation of what we’ve been seeing throughout this US presidential election campaign. Ignore the suspect on trial and attack the investigator instead. Ignore the details of the videos and emails being revealed and question the source or blame it on Russia. In the case of Hillary, this craziness is what we’ve been seeing for decades. Hillary (like Bill) is above the law and any attempt to bring her to justice will be fought and resisted by her army. They know that they are close to taking over the presidency (very likely via voting fraud ) that they don’t have to answer to the rule of law. The process of getting Hillary in, which we call election day, is therefore more important than the application of the law itself and justice. According to the pro-Hillary resistance (to the rule of law and justice), removing a potential criminal candidate who has repeatedly lied and murdered her enemies is apparently only of secondary importance to election day itself. The idea, the deep rooted delusional belief that Hillary really is actually above the law seems to be believed by her followers, supporters and attack dogs. Thus by perpetuating this belief they (the Hillary attack dogs) are trying to WILL their way into a Hillary presidential victory while completely ignoring the possibility and prospects that Hillary is in fact a criminal. It’s incredible how times have changed. It’s like we are watching the Watergate scandal in reverse. Imagine if AFTER the Watergate scandals of the 1970’s THEN Richard Nixon would have ran for president instead of the other way around. This, my friends, is what we are seeing with Hillary. The logic sequence goes like this: 1. Hillary criminality revealed and exposed to the world via leaks, witnesses, emails etc. 2. Hillary body count rises, many of her enemies coincidentally end up dead. The world watches this. 3. Hillary’s fully revealed criminality not allowed to be investigated because pursuing justice is seen as “interfering” with an election. 4. Known criminal Hillary Clinton becomes president and assumes power with the aid of George Soros and a mass criminal operation of voter fraud. 5. Hillary assumes power to go after all her enemies who tried to hold her to the law. Again, this is their (the pro-Hillary insiders) desired sequence and this is how they want to see things unfold. Adding to the recent attacks from the Clinton attack dogs Democratic Strategist James Carville recently stated: “This is in effect an attempt to hijack an election,” Carville claimed. “It’s unprecedented… the House Republicans and the KGB are trying to influence our democracy,” he said. Yes, the KGB apparently is behind the recent application of the rule of law as it pertains to Hillary’s lies and criminality now further revealed in her personal assistant’s ( Huma Abedin ) emails discovered by the FBI. The emails that offer further hard evidence to the Hillary criminal accusations. According to the NEW rule of law, especially the rule of law that Hillary will bring with her regime, none of this apparently matters any more. What most Americans don’t see is how closely all of this resembles a coup d’etat. Taking over the rule of law and declaring your own version of the law is a takeover any which way you cut it. The arrogance seen in Hillary Clinton in one hearing after another which she has sat for is mind boggling. At no point in any of these hearings (including the Benghazi hearings) has Hillary ever admitted doing anything wrong. She has just the right arrogance to take over the criminal Obama regime and push the West’s global order plans forward. She has just the right arrogance and criminal mindset to push the world into world war 3 and destroy whatever is left of America and individual freedom. Everything we are watching resembles an American coup d’etat from a legal point of view if you ask me. And the Hillary attack dogs at every level are riding out the final storm before (they hope) they insert their leader on election day. The criminals ignoring the rule of law surely have a stake in what they hope will be the next regime. Submit your review | 1 |
Even as Donald J. Trump trounced him from New Hampshire to Florida to Arizona, Senator Ted Cruz could reassure himself with one crucial advantage: He was beating Mr. Trump in the obscure, internecine delegate fights that could end up deciding the Republican nomination for president. “This is how elections are won in America,” Mr. Cruz gloated after walking away with the most delegates in Wyoming last month. Now, as he faces a potentially contest on Tuesday in Indiana — where a new NBC Street poll, released Sunday morning, showed him trailing Mr. Trump by 15 percentage points — Mr. Cruz can take little solace from his vaunted operation even if he prevails there. It turns out that delegates — like ordinary voters — are susceptible to shifts in public opinion. And as the gravitational pull of Mr. Trump’s recent primary landslides draws more Republicans toward him, Mr. Cruz’s support among the party’s 2, 472 convention delegates is softening, threatening his hopes of preventing Mr. Trump’s nomination by overtaking him in a floor fight. With each delegate Mr. Trump claims, he gets closer to the 1, 237 he needs to clinch the nomination outright, and Mr. Cruz’s chances of stopping him — even with an upset victory in Indiana — shrink. Before Mr. Trump’s crushing victory in Pennsylvania last week, Mr. Cruz’s campaign boasted that it had 69 people devoted to acquiring as many as possible of the state’s 54 unbound delegates — who are free to vote as they please on the first ballot, making them potentially decisive players in a contested convention. Mr. Cruz won only three. In North Dakota, where the Cruz campaign declared victory after the state Republican convention on April 3 and declared that it had won “a vast majority” of the state’s 28 unbound delegates, Mr. Cruz’s support appears to be weakening. In interviews, delegates said he really had only about a dozen firm commitments to begin with, and some of them appear to be wavering as he falls farther behind Mr. Trump. And in states across the South, which was supposed to be Mr. Cruz’s bulwark, some delegates are now echoing a growing sentiment inside the Republican Party: a sense of resignation to the idea that Mr. Trump will be their . “Honestly, we didn’t think he could get this far. And he did,” Jonathan Barnett, the Republican national committeeman for Arkansas, said of Mr. Trump. Mr. Barnett, who supported former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s failed campaign, said his focus had shifted to winning in November, even if that meant unhappily falling in behind Mr. Trump. The changes of heart have little to do with any epiphany about Mr. Trump’s electability or his campaign’s recent efforts to cast him in a more serious light. Instead, delegates and party officials said, they are ready to move on and unite behind someone so that Republicans are not hopelessly divided heading into the general election. And many delegates cite concerns about whether Mr. Cruz is really a better choice. “There’s just as many people that would question whether they could get behind Cruz,” Mr. Barnett said. This gradual acquiescence points up a larger flaw with Mr. Cruz’s strategy of being the last candidate standing in a field that began at 17: It was never as much about him as about Republicans grasping for a more palatable alternative to Mr. Trump. But the “never” in the “Never Trump” movement is beginning to look more like a “reluctantly. ” “I’m not in the campaign,” said Jim Poolman, a delegate from North Dakota. “I’m in the campaign. ” Mr. Poolman said he still planned to vote for Mr. Cruz on the first ballot, which he told the campaign he would do. But he said his decision was not set in stone. “I’m trying to hold on to my commitment but still be pragmatic,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff that could happen before Cleveland. And I know that makes me sound squishy, but I don’t mean it that way. ” Delegates like Mr. Poolman are emblematic of the Cruz campaign’s larger problems holding on to votes at a contested convention. Mr. Poolman initially favored Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who withdrew from the race in March. While Mr. Poolman was looking for another candidate, he said, local Cruz volunteers asked if they could add his name to the list of delegate candidates supporting Mr. Cruz at the state convention. He said Mr. Cruz’s wife, Heidi, called him and gave him her cellphone number, saying he would always have “a direct line to the campaign. ” And he was elected a delegate. But now, Mr. Poolman said, he worries about party disunity and what it could mean for Republicans in November. “My goal, personally,” he said, “is to not let our convention become a circus. ” The chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party, Kelly Armstrong, said Mr. Cruz’s appeal remained strong there, but put his support among the state’s 28 unbound delegates at “at least 10” — not quite the “vast majority” the Cruz campaign had claimed. Mr. Armstrong, who has not taken sides, said delegates also had to consider how denying the nomination to Mr. Trump might look to his supporters. “We can’t have a bunch of people really, really upset about the process and then think we’re going to be able to gain their support in November,” he said. The results in Pennsylvania were most troubling for Mr. Cruz. He had dominated the delegate fights in Colorado and Wyoming, contests that were influenced by the kinds of party activists Mr. Cruz tends to attract. Yet Mr. Trump appeared to win at least 40 of Pennsylvania’s 54 unbound delegates. “There’s not going to be a second ballot,” said Ash Khare, who was elected last Tuesday as an unbound Pennsylvania delegate. Mr. Khare declined to support any candidate before the election, though Mr. Cruz, Mr. Trump and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio all came calling, he said. “I was promised a photo, a private meeting. Forget about it,” Mr. Khare said, adding that he only ever intended to vote for the candidate who won in his district. That would be Mr. Trump. Mr. Khare said he was not especially drawn to anything about Mr. Trump or his ideas. “Whether he will succeed or not, I don’t know,” he said. But he said he could not deny the will of so many voters. “There is a revolution going on here,” he added. Voters may be starting to share Mr. Trump’s reasoning that he would deserve the nomination even if he fell short of 1, 237 delegates. A recent NBC Street Journal poll found that more than six in 10 Republicans believe the nominee should be the candidate with the most votes even if he does not have the support of the majority of delegates. Still, Mr. Trump’s campaign is moving to nail down the delegate commitments he would need to get a majority. With the Indiana primary potentially a moment for stopping Mr. Trump, Mr. Cruz can only hope the campaign once again takes an unexpected turn. “Trump is very popular in our state,” said Alec L. Poitevint II, a longtime Republican leader in Georgia and previously a Rubio supporter, but now uncommitted. He will be a bound delegate on the first ballot, but he has not yet been assigned to a presidential candidate. And if he is required to vote for Mr. Trump, who won Georgia with 39 percent of the vote? “Fine with me,” he said. | 0 |
WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out an appeals court decision that went against the University of Notre Dame over its religious objections to the Obamacare health law's contraception requirement.
The justices asked the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision in favor of the Obama administration in light of the June 2014 Supreme Court ruling that allowed closely held corporations to seek exemptions from the provision.
The court's action means the February 2014 appeals court ruling that denied the South Bend, Indiana-based Roman Catholic university an injunction against the requirement has been wiped out.
The 2010 Affordable Care Act, known widely as Obamacare, requires employers to provide health insurance policies that cover preventive services for women including access to contraception and sterilization.
In the 2014 ruling, the high court said that Hobby Lobby Stores Ltd could, on religious grounds, seek exemptions from the contraception provision.
Days later, in a case similar to the Notre Dame dispute, the Supreme Court allowed a college in Illinois a temporary exemption while litigation continues.
Catholic groups say they should not have to pay for or facilitate access to contraception or abortion because of religious objections.
But courts that have considered the issue since then have found that a compromise aimed at nonprofits with religious affiliations, issued in 2013 and amended in August 2014, did not impose a substantial burden on the plaintiffs' religious beliefs. Religious rights are protected under a law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The Notre Dame case was the only appeals court decision on that issue that pre-dated the Hobby Lobby ruling.
The compromise allows the groups to certify they are opting out, which then forces insurers to pick up the tab.
Notre Dame says the certification process still essentially forces the groups to authorize the coverage for its employees, even if they are not technically paying for it. Religious institutions are exempt from the contraception coverage requirement.
The case is Notre Dame v. Burwell, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 14-392. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham) | 0 |
So much for the SCOTUS not being political Check out her comments on equality for women. It s like she s time traveled back to the 50 s. What is the deal with these women that think we re still in the dark ages! | 1 |
HABUR, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Iraqi Kurds would go hungry if his country halts the flow of trucks and oil across the border with northern Iraq and warned that all military and economic measures were on the table against its neighbor. The comments, some of the harshest yet from Erdogan about Monday s referendum in Iraq s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, came as Iraqi troops joined the Turkish army for military exercises near Turkey s border with northern Iraq. While initial results indicated overwhelming support for independence, Turkey - long northern Iraq s main link to the outside world - sees the referendum as a threat to its own security, fearing it will inflame separatism among its Kurdish population. (They) will be left in the lurch when we start imposing our sanctions, Erdogan said in a speech broadcast live on television. It will be over when we close the oil taps, all (their) revenues will vanish, and they will not be able to find food when our trucks stop going to northern Iraq. Turkey, which is home to the region s largest Kurdish population, is battling a three-decade Kurdish insurgency in its southeast, which borders northern Iraq. Erdogan said on Monday that traffic was only being allowed to cross from the Turkish side of the border into Iraq. Erdogan has repeatedly threatened economic sanctions, but has given few details. Hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day flow through a pipeline in Turkey from northern Iraq, connecting the region to global oil markets. Iraq, including the Kurdish region, was Turkey s third-largest export market in 2016, according to IMF data. Turkish exports to the country totaled $8.6 billion, behind Germany and the United Kingdom. Erdogan said all potential measures - including economic and military initiatives that involved land and air space - were on the table, adding that Iraqi Kurds would be incapable of forming a state. They don t have an idea on how to be a state. They think that they are a state just by saying it. This can t and won t happen, he said. Iraqi soldiers joined Turkish troops for military exercises in southeast Turkey near the border with Iraq on Tuesday, a Reuters witness near the border said, as the two countries coordinate steps in response to the referendum. A small group of soldiers holding an Iraqi and a Turkish flag walked across the dusty plain where the exercises, launched last week, were being held 4 km (2.5 miles) from the Habur border gate. The flags were then held aloft from the top of an armored personnel carrier. National and international media observed the exercises from the main highway leading to the border gate. The Turkish president also accused Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government, of treachery over the vote. Until the very last moment, we weren t expecting Barzani to make such a mistake as holding the referendum. Apparently we were wrong, Erdogan said. This referendum decision, which has been taken without any consultation, is treachery. | 0 |
21st Century Wire says The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is dropping all charges against an arms dealer whose weapons made it into the hands of radical Libya militants.Early this week a motion was filed by the DOJ to drop charges against an American arms dealer named Marc Turi, according to federal court records obtained by Politico.Also according to Politico: The deal averts a trial that threatened to cast additional scrutiny on Hillary Clinton s private emails as Secretary of State, and to expose reported Central Intelligence Agency attempts to arm rebels fighting Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi. LIBYA FALLOUT (Photo Illustration 21WIRE s Shawn Helton)In the book entitled Definitive Report by both Jack Murphy (Army Green Beret) and Brandon Webb (Navy SEAL), a close friend of Glen Doherty (one of the Americans killed during the Benghazi siege) it was revealed that Obama s former deputy NSA advisor and current CIA director, John Brennan had been directing covert black-ops in Libya as well as other parts in North Africa, prior to the siege that left four Americans dead at a compound in Benghazi.Brennan s covert operations were said to have prompted retaliation inside the compound in Libya as former CIA director David Petraeus had been blackmailed into resignation by senior CIA officials.All of this information was preceded by a massive cover-up involving mainstream media, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Susan Rice and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, both of whom initially blamed the siege on a heavily propagandized YouTube film entitled, The Innocence of Muslims. This meme was spread on many major talk shows even though evidence failed to connect the film to the attack.In addition, the White House and President Barack Obama had many inconsistencies in their talking points about Benghazi, first labeling it a terror attack, then quickly shifting gears, denying that there were Al Qaeda operatives anywhere near the compound.US Ambassador Christopher Stevens was said to have helped manage a large gun-running operation from the Special Mission Compound in Benghazi, as he was also said to have helped ship guns to al-Qaeda-linked opposition to assist in the takedown of former dictator Moammar Gadhafi.In a Business Insider report from October of 2012, the Benghazi story dovetailed the growing proxy war in Syria: In March 2011 Stevens became the official U.S. liaison to the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan opposition, working directly with Abdelhakim Belhadj of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group a group that has now disbanded, with some fighters reportedly participating in the attack that took Stevens life.In November 2011 The Telegraph reported that Belhadj, acting as head of the Tripoli Military Council, met with Free Syrian Army [FSA] leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey in an effort by the new Libyan government to provide money and weapons to the growing insurgency in Syria. As 21WIRE has previously reported in 2014, It s worth noting here: like Libya s new militant governor of Tripoli, Abdel Hakim Belhadj, the Chechen terrorist group Kata ib Mohadzherin s leader Airat Vakhitov was also under US supervision for years imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba circa 2002, after being captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Both were Belhadj and Vakhitov were released by the Pentagon only to be repatriated in the field again back into fighting regions to organise al Qaeda-type Islamist groups both active in countries which the US and NATO have been actively vying for regime change in Libya and Syria, respectively. You can draw your own conclusions here about what Guantanamo is in reality, a fact which was confirmed by thePenny Lane leaks regarding the recruitment of double agents out of Gitmo. Interestingly, in a NY Times article from December of 2012 entitled, U.S.-Approved Arms for Libya Rebels Fell Into Jihadis Hands, we see an acknowledgement of an arms shipment at the behest of the Obama administration under the watchful eye of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton but the mainstream media appears to have provided cover for the White House and State Department by blaming Qatar for the weapons transfer to militants: The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats.No evidence has emerged linking the weapons provided by the Qataris during the uprising against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi to the attack that killed four Americans at the United States diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, in September.But in the months before, the Obama administration clearly was worried about the consequences of its hidden hand in helping arm Libyan militants, concerns that have not previously been reported. The weapons and money from Qatar strengthened militant groups in Libya, allowing them to become a destabilizing force since the fall of the Qaddafi government. The spectre of Benghazi looms large when connecting the Middle Eastern dots over the past five years.More from Zero Hedge below TRAIL OF BLOOD Many questions about 2012 s Benghazi terror siege remain unanswered. (Image Source: foxnews)DOJ Drops Charges Against Arms Dealer Who Threatened To Expose Hillary Arming Islamic ExtremistsZero HedgeIn what would under other circumstances likely be a major media spectacle, Politico reported that the Obama administration is moving to dismiss charges against an arms dealer whom it had accused of selling weapons destined for Libyan rebels and who had threatened to expose Hillary Clinton s talks about arming anti-Qaddafi rebels.According to a motion filed in federal court in Phoenix, the DOJ on Monday filed a motion to drop the case against the arms dealer, an American named Marc Turi. One potential reason for the surprising move is that as Politico writes, the deal averts a trial that threatened to cast additional scrutiny on Hillary Clinton s private emails as Secretary of State, and to expose reported Central Intelligence Agency attempts to arm rebels fighting Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi.Turi was indicted in 2014 on four felony counts: two of arms dealing in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and two of lying to the State Department in official applications. The charges accused Turi of claiming that the weapons involved were destined for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, when the arms were actually intended to reach Libya. Turi s lawyers argued that the shipments were part of a U.S. government-authorized effort to arm Libyan rebels. It s unclear if any of the weapons made it to Libya, and there s no evidence linking weapons provided by the U.S. government to the Benghazi attacks.According to Politico government lawyers were facing a Wednesday deadline to produce documents to Turi s legal team, and the trial was officially set to begin on Election Day, although it likely would have been delayed by protracted disputes about classified information in the case. A Turi associate asserted that the government dropped the case because the proceedings could have embarrassed Clinton and President Barack Obama by calling attention to the reported role of their administration in supplying weapons that fell into the hands of Islamic extremist militants.Making matters worse, Turi s case had delved into emails sent to and from the controversial private account that Clinton used as Secretary of State, which the defense planned to harness at any trial. They don t want this stuff to come out because it will look really bad for Obama and Clinton just before the election, said the associate.Leery of admitting the actual truth, in the dismissal motion, prosecutors were vague saying that discovery rulings from U.S. District Court Judge David Campbell contributed to the decision to drop the case. The joint motion asks the judge to accept a confidential agreement to resolve the case through a civil settlement between the State Department and the arms broker.This story continues at Zero Hedge READ MORE ISIS NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire ISIS Files READ MORE LIBYA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Libya FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1 |
Left-wing CNN’s John Berman guest-hosted a panel of pundits who failed to articulate broad political forces that underwrote President-elect Donald Trump’s victory on November 8. Comment on this Article Via Your Facebook Account Comment on this Article Via Your Disqus Account Follow Us on Facebook! | 1 |
Why is this woman not in jail?The evidence is overwhelming that Hillary was putting our national security at risk by taking money for the Clinton Foundation Slush Fund from foreign governments while Secretary of State, in return for favors. The latest Wikileaks email shows that our nations security was second to Hillary s desire to not get caught so it wouldn t hurt her chances at winning the election for the highest office in our nation. Here is the insane story of more Hillary corruption:Hillary Clinton solicited a $12 million donation from a government that her State Department considered corrupt, then realized the mess it would cause to her presidential run, a newly leaked email reveals.King Mohammed VI of Morocco agreed to give the money to the Clinton Foundation, provided that it hold a convention in his country in May 2015 with Clinton as the keynote speaker.But Clinton realized that the conference, slated for a month after she announced her run for president, would hurt her candidacy. No matter what happens, she will be in Morocco hosting CGI [Clinton Global Initiative] on May 5-7, 2015. Her presence was a condition for the Moroccans to proceed so there is no going back on this, top Clinton aide Huma Abedin wrote to campaign manager Robby Mook in a November 2014 email revealed by Wiki Leaks.In another email, Abedin warned that if Clinton didn t attend, the $12 million would be off the table. Just to give you some context, the condition upon which the Moroccans agreed to host the meeting was her participation. If hrc was not part if it, meeting was a non-starter, Abedin wrote in a January 2015 email to Mook and campaign manager John Podesta. CGI also wasn t pushing for a meeting in Morocco and it wasn t their first choice. This was HRC s idea, our office approached the Moroccans and they 100 percent believe they are doing this at her request. The King has personally committed approx $12 million both for the [foundation s] endowment and to support the meeting, Abedin continued. It will break a lot of china to back out now when we had so many opportunities to do it in the past few months. She created this mess and she knows it. The king gave the money to the Clinton Foundation and underwrote the CGI summit with the quid-pro-quo understanding that Hillary would attend, and other dignitaries attending were led to believe that she would be there.But Hillary sent Bill and Chelsea Clinton while she campaigned in Nevada and California.The deal with Morocco was struck even though the State Department under Hillary Clinton accused the country s government of arbitrary arrests and corruption, according to Fox News.It was unclear exactly how much went directly for the summit and how much went to the Clinton Foundation but the total added up to $12 million, according to the emails.Guests at the May 2015 CGI summit which was closed to the media stayed at the five-star Selman-Marrakesh hotel, a posh lodging featuring a stable of Arabian horses and luxury amenities.The meeting was officially paid for by OCP, a Moroccan government-owned mining company that has been accused of human rights violations.Hillary Clinton supported the monarch when she was secretary of state, and the US-financed Export-Import Bank gave OCP a $92 million loan guarantee during her tenure, the Daily Caller reported.Politico reported in 2015 that Clinton was seen by [the Moroccan capital] Rabat as among its staunchest supporters in the Obama administration. The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice charged OCP with serious human-rights violations, the Daily Caller said.For entire story: NYP | 1 |
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Tim Poole is citizen journalist who s done some really important work exposing Antifa, Black Bloc and the violent non-profit group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN). He sits down with popular Youtube personality Joey Salads who went undercover with Antifa in Berkeley, CA during the riots on April 15th to explore what he found.One of the most interesting observations Salads makes is that the Women are the dominant ones in the group and that they mostly control everything. Considering how many cowardly men are walking around with masks over their faces while they grab one person from the free-speech side into their crowd, so the entire group could brutally beat one person with no interference from the other side, it shouldn t surprise anyone that the women are the aggressors.Salads also points out that the Antifa members aren t too smart. They talk about the bike groups he saw and how they use the bikes to wall themselves off. Salads also confirms Antifa members were throwing rocks, bottles and M-80 s into the crowd.Tim Pool frequently calls the Trump supporters the alt-right which according to the left (who made up the term to disparage Trump supporters) means that they are racists . Pool asks Salads if he believed any of the people who Antifa were attacking were racists ? Salads told him that while he did see a few racists at the event that it was a free-speech rally and that while most of the people were Trump supporters, the rally was about free-speech and that the point of free-speech in America is not about whether or not you agree with what the other person saying, but about their right to express their feelings and thoughts.Watch here:Here is Salad s video showing what he saw while he went undercover in Berkeley with Antifa on April 15th:Berkeley middle school teacher Yvette Felarca, a national organizer for militant left-wing activist group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), is clearly the aggressor in their group. Watch her interview with Tucker Carlson: | 1 |
Fox News recently aired a panel discussion over one of the right s new favorite videos online. Conservatives are falling in love with a viral video that shows a woman harass a man at a grocery store for buying food with benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).The woman accosts the man and angrily states that she is not a bleeding heart f*cking liberal before she says that he must be a Bernie supporter. This woman embodies all that is wrong with the current generation of conservatism.The man defends himself, saying that he works 60 hours a week but still needs the extra support to help provide for his child. I put in 50, 60 hour weeks. Just because you see me doing this right now I m trying to provide for my family. Jonathan Hoenig, a hedge fund manager who is famous mostly for being a rich a**hole was on the Fox News panel, defended the woman s attack saying: I m proud of this woman. This is the producers and the looters. And you know what, she s absolutely right. You have every right to keep every cent of your money. It should be pointed out that this all happened at a Walmart. Walmart costs the U.S. about $6.2 billion dollars a year providing benefits such as SNAP to their employees because they refuse to pay their employees a higher wage. It s very likely that any Walmart employee who was working at the time of the incident would be using SNAP, or some other form of government assistance. In Hoenig s mind. those people are looters as well as everyone else who has ever struggled in their life.That s just a small taste of the hate and ignorance to come out of this particularly horrible Fox News panel.You can watch the Fox News panel segment below.Featured image via video screenshot | 0 |
21st Century Wire says This definitely needed to be said.Host of popular internet news shows The Young Turks, Cenk Uygur, has slammed the mainstream media for journalistic malpractice after they fraudulently announced that Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee prior to the result of the California primary.Here at 21WIRE, we informed our readers last week that such big politik dirty tricks would be played.Uygur appeared on CNN saying: Brian, you guys, and I mean all of the establishment press, totally tilted the playing field here from day one by counting those superdelegates, Superdelegates do switch their votes all the time, they switched it in 2008. Hillary Clinton had a 100-superdelegate lead which completely vanished in 2008, But if you count them in the official tally, when you know they can, and often do switch their votes, and have not voted yet, that is simply incorrect, that s not journalism. From day one, which was absolutely incorrect, it was in fact journalistic malpractice which indicates an establishment bias. Watch the full interview here: EVERYTHING ON ELECTION 2016: 21st Century Wire Election Files | 1 |
It was appalling but not exactly surprising to see the way Republicans responded to the sudden death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The party that has increasingly defined itself solely on its opposition to President Obama once again immediately declared that they would not allow him to fulfill his constitutional obligations of appointing a new Justice.Obama, no doubt tired of this obstructionism after seven long years of it, basically told them to shove it. He would be nominating a justice whether they liked it or not.However, in the coverage of this potentially era-defining new appointment, CNN managed to stick its foot so far into its mouth that it s a wonder they didn t just cut to commercial and never come back.Dana Bash was discussing the Republican opposition to a new nominee appointed by President Obama and in her rush to be fair to both sides, she wound up feeding right into the right-wing talking points that serious journalists might scoff at. When asked about President Obama s decision to go ahead with a nomination, Bash remarked:That s right. And as we were talking about last hour, that is not surprising in the least, since he clearly feels that it is his constitutional duty to do so. That he is the President of the United States. It is his job to nominate somebody.He clearly feels it s his constitutional duty? What? It is his constitutional duty to appoint new justices. That s put in simple terms in Constitution itself. Saying this is Obama s opinion is disingenuous. But Bash was only just warming up:He still will be technically the president of the United States for the next 11 months, which is a very, very long time. Yes, we are in an election year, but we are barely into this election year of 2016. So you have Republicans coming back, not just Mitch McConnell who you just mentioned, but the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee saying that he believes that it is standard practice to not deal with such issues in an election year. Technically he will be president of the United States. Technically. You might want to tell that to the people who voted for him for a full four year term.Needless to say, the internet was not pleased. CNN may have wanted to avoid offending conservatives, but they managed to offend nearly everyone else. He still will be technically the pres. of the US for another 11 months. CNN. Technically? John Aravosis (@aravosis) February 14, 2016I'll accept this definition if CNN's talking heads state that they're "technically" reporters. https://t.co/piXBmK9ATS Ferrett Steinmetz (@ferretthimself) February 14, 2016Did CNN actually say Technically President? Did they really? https://t.co/uEnXN74OSU Anthony (@ThatWeirdGuy77) February 14, 2016Hey @CNN he's not TECHNICALLY the President, he's ACTUALLY the President. Stop parroting right wing stupidity. Ben Cisco (@BenCisco) February 14, 2016The issue wasn t just a slip of the tongue, it was that CNN was pretending that the Republican beef with Obama s nomination had to do with anything other than political point scoring. For many years, the policy of mainstream media outlets has been to tread lightly on partisan issues to avoid alienating viewers. This might help keep ratings up, but it s not a way to accurately report the news. There are times when things are just WRONG.In the case of Republicans now saying Obama can t appoint a justice because it is an election year, history and the law say otherwise. It s time for reporters to own that.By contrast, debate moderator John Dickerson stood up to Sen. Ted Cruz when he tried to flat-out lie about Supreme Court appointments. Asked to back up his claims with facts, Cruz was left speechless, the Republican audience booed Dickerson, but the American people were informed. It was a highlight of the election.Feature image via YouTube | 0 |
Ivanka Trump has been sort of the female face of her father s campaign, but despite being a woman, she really doesn t get it. That s quite evident in her new video touting her father s childcare plan, which she kicks off with following gender stereotyping words: The most important job any woman can have is being a mother. That is the height of irony, considering the fact that this video is directed towards working mothers. Working mothers value their jobs and their children, and many resent being shunted into sexist gender roles like this. Such a dismissive attitude toward women, both mothers and non-mothers, will do nothing to warm them up to Trump at all.But wait! There s more. Ivanka goes on to say: Donald Trump understands the needs of the modern workforce. Har de har har. Don t make us laugh too hard, it hurts. Ivanka s father once said that pregnancy is an inconvenience for business, and told a woman she was disgusting for needing to pump her breasts. He s a serial cheater, a serial sexual harasser, and a serial body-shamer.The AP published a story earlier today that exposes Trump s harassment of women on the set of The Apprentice. According to that story, he rated women contestants on the size of their breasts, and openly talked about which ones he d like to sleep with. He also wanted them to bare more cleavage and wear shorter skirts, and asked one woman to twirl for him so he could ogle her figure.As a woman who, at a previous job, was repeatedly asked to twirl around so a manager could ogle my figure before he d even answer a question I had, these revelations make me positively ill.Trump even compared a camerawoman s looks to the beauty of Ivanka on the set of The Apprentice. Ivanka hasn t had a very good role model for a father, let alone for anything to do with feminism and women s rights. Trump always saw his parental duties as limited to providing funds for his children. He never actually parented, and he s said both of the following to boot: I mean, I won t do anything to take care of them. I ll supply funds and she ll take care of the kids. It s not like I m gonna be walking the kids down Central Park. Marla used to say, I can t believe you re not walking Tiffany down the street, you know in a carriage. Right, I m gonna be walking down Fifth Avenue with a baby in a carriage. It just didn t work. And: There s a lot of women out there that demand that the husband act like the wife and you know there s a lot of husbands that listen to that I m really like a great father but certain things you do and certain things you don t. It s just not for me. This is understanding the needs of working mothers, women, and the modern workforce? Not hardly.Ivanka is in awe of her father, it seems, and carries a ton of internalized misogyny because of him and because of society. She s ill-equipped to reach out to women on this level on behalf of her father, because that takes a lot more than simply being a female face.Watch the entire ad below:Featured image via screen capture from embedded video | 1 |
BEIJING (Reuters) - China s air force has carried out exercises near the Korean peninsula, practicing to defend against a surprise attack coming over the sea, Chinese state media said. The exercises came days after North Korea s sixth, and most powerful, nuclear test fueled global concern that the isolated nation plans more weapons tests, possibly of a long-range missile. An anti-aircraft defense battalion held the exercises early on Tuesday, near the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea that separates China from the Korean peninsula, an official military website said. Troops traveled to the site from central China before immediately beginning drills to fend off the surprise attack simulating real battle, it said. The troops rapid response capabilities and actual combat levels have effectively been tested. It was the first time certain weapons, which the website did not identify, had been used to shoot down low-altitude targets coming over the sea, www.81.cn said, without elaborating. The drills do not target any particular goal or country , and were part of an annual plan intended to boost the troops capability, China s Defence Ministry said on its website late on Wednesday, in a response to media. After weeks of rising tension over North Korea s actions, South Korea and the United States have been discussing the deployment of aircraft carriers and strategic bombers to the Korean peninsula. China is deeply suspicious of any U.S.-backed military build-up in the region, and has repeatedly expressed anger at the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defense system in South Korea. | 0 |
HAMBURG (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday that her bilateral meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan revealed deep differences between the two NATO allies. “The many arrests, the overall actions in Turkey, and the failure to allow visits to Incirlik (air base) - those are all developments that show deep differences and we did not sweep them under the table,” Merkel told reporters after the end of the two-day G20 summit in Hamburg. Merkel said Erdogan and Turkey were very engaged in the summit and G20 members did acknowledge Turkey’s contribution in caring for millions of migrants from Syria and Iraq. | 1 |
Every American needs to consider this new evidence about Hillary and how her campaign is helping to hide her poor health from voters unless of course, the only reason you re planning to vote for Hillary is because you like her VP candidate, Tim Kaine Why does Hillary reject a bottle of water for a glass of water during her coughing fit in front of press on her new campaign plane? Why does Hillary have a stool and GLASS OF WATER next to her at all times during public appearances? Why does Hillary tell press she s suffering from allergies when allergens aren t even high in the specific region where she s speaking? Why is Hillary resting while Donald Trump is out running circles around her on the campaign trail? Why does the media cover for her lies and MOST IMPORTANTLY, why is anyone supporting this woman who is clearly not well enough to even campaign for the highest office in our nation???During the Republican National Convention last June, two Secret Service agents approached InfoWars and asked to speak to them about Hillary s health. The Secret Service contacted me. They said that Hillary Clinton has Parkinson s disease. They [Hillary s people] spent over a quarter million dollars on these stairs to allow her to step down from the vehicle to the ground because she has trouble walking. They [Secret Service] said that any kind of flashes or strobes will set her off into a seizure, and that s why they wanted to come us.They wanted to contact us and give us information because they knew we [InforWars] would be able to get this out. [Unlike the MSM,] we wouldn t be scared to do it. And you know it really makes a lot of sense when you watch all these videos. The fact that she s refusing to do these news conferences. Hillary had not done a press conference for 8 months. Her last press conference was on December 4, 2015.DOES HILLARY HAVE PARKINSON S DISEASE?As a neurological disorder, Parkinson s disease (PD) has been shown to affect motor skills in the limbs, inhibit muscle coordination, and sometimes contribute to dysphagia.1 Dysphagia is the medical term for difficulty swallowing. Thickened liquids are often used in the management of dysphagia to improve bolus control and to help prevent aspiration. A range of starches and gums has historically been used to thicken liquids. Although thickened liquids improve swallow safety, they appear to have a great potential for unintended physiological consequences.Like this unintended physiological consequence maybe? Why does Hillary always have a stool and GLASS OF WATER at every public appearance? Don t most people in this day and age drink from a bottle of water?Again the stool and the GLASS OF WATER And again On Feb. 4, WND reported Hillary Clinton has been prescribed Armour Thyroid, a natural medication made from desiccated pig thyroid glands, for her hypothyroid condition and Coumadin a brand name of warfarin, which initially was developed as a well-known rat poison for her congenital tendency to form blood clots.WND also reported the medication Clinton has taken since 1998 to deal with her blood-clotting problems may have side effects that are hazardous to her health, including blurred vision and confusion, both of which she has experienced. And a California physician warned Coumadin could be more life-threatening to her than the possibility of a recurring blood clot.Bill Clinton, during a question and answer session at the Peterson Foundation in Washington, on May 14, 2014, told the audience that the concussion Hillary suffered required six months of very serious work to get over. On Nov. 16, 2015, in an exchange between Hillary Clinton s aides Huma Abedin and Monica Hanley dated Jan. 26, 2013, regarding Clinton s schedule, the aides said it was very important to go over phone calls with Clinton because the former secretary of state was often confused. Clinton s five-minute bathroom break at the third Democratic debate in Goffstown, New Hampshire, on Dec. 19, 2015, initially attributed to the distance of the woman s bathroom from the stage, was reported to have caused a flare up of problems from brain injury that required Clinton to sit in a chair off-stage to recover from fatigue, dizziness and disorientation.WND just last week reported that at least 10 prominent physicians have been questioning Hillary Clinton s health.Based on publicly available information, the following physicians have raised concerns: Dr. Jane Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, said images of Clinton being helped up stairs and propped up, and videos showing odd, seizure-like head movements require an explanation to voters, she contends. The author of Emerging Diseases: Protecting Your Family from Pandemics, Viral Threats, and Rogue Vaccines noted the vituperation and anger that she s faced for raising questions. I m not making a diagnosis, she told WND on Monday. But I can look at the video. You can look. She said for a medical professional to simply ignore the evidence would be completely reckless. Meeting someone with these symptoms personally would require a How are you? she said. These are not ridiculous questions. Dr. Lee Hieb, author of Surviving the Medical Meltdown: Your Guide to Living Through the Disaster of Obamacare, agreed. They made a huge deal about [Sen. John] McCain because of his melanoma, she told WND. Melanoma doesn t give you dementia! She said the images and videos are evidence that should be reviewed and explained to voters, contending Clinton is not being forthcoming. If she doesn t want the American people informed we know where she stands. Citing Clinton s previous concussion, Hieb said such injuries can cause long-term side effects, seizures, personality changes and cognitive deficits. The Fox News medical A-Team of Dr. Marc Siegel and Dr. David Samadi had questions. In 2008 I looked over a thousand pages of John McCain s records because of a melanoma he had 10 years ago. What about Hillary? In 2009, a severe fall. She breaks her elbow. In 2011, she boards a plane, falls. In 2012, she has a severe concussion which Bill Clinton says took her six months to recover from, Siegel said. He continued: Then she ends up with a blood clot in the brain and a lifetime of blood thinners. Just that point alone if she s prone to falling, you can see from that picture up there that it looked like she can barely get upstairs without two people carrying her. Guess what if she falls and hits her head? She ll get a blood clot. Dr. Drew Pinsky s television show on the HLN cable network, Dr. Drew on Call, was canceled after he raised questions about Clinton s health in an interview on KABC-AM in Los Angeles. Alt-Right fanatics and conspiracy theorists immediately questioned her health is she ok? And concerns over Hillary s worst coughing fit ever was raised by MSNBC.But as Paul Josepth Watson reports, MSNBC regurgitated claims by Hillary s campaign aides that, Allergens were high in Northeast Ohio on Monday, before asserting that there is no evidence to indicate she is unwell. Whore press already running defense for #HackingHillary, blaming pollen. What about the 10 previous times? pic.twitter.com/lwDNYjhEhI Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) September 5, 2016The problem for that propadandist line is It was a complete fabrication.As numerous websites that track daily allergen levels confirmed, grass pollen was low, tree pollen was low and ragweed pollen was moderate. | 1 |
It is getting closer to midnight. On Thursday, the group of scientists who orchestrate the Doomsday Clock, a symbolic instrument informing the public when the earth is facing imminent disaster, moved its minute hand from three to two and a half minutes before the final hour. It was the closest the clock had been to midnight since 1953, the year after the United States and the Soviet Union conducted competing tests of the hydrogen bomb. Though scientists decide on the clock’s position, it is not a scientific instrument, or even a physical one. The movement of its symbolic hands is decided upon by the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The organization introduced the clock on the cover of its June 1947 edition, placing it at seven minutes to midnight. Since then, it has moved closer to midnight and farther away, depending on the board’s conclusions. Thursday’s announcement was made by Rachel Bronson, the executive director and publisher of the bulletin. She was assisted by the theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss, the climate scientist and meteorologist David Titley, and the former United States ambassador Thomas Pickering. Dr. Bronson, in a interview, explained why the board had included the mark in the measurement. She said that it was an signal that was meant to acknowledge “what a dangerous moment we’re in, and how important it is for people to take note. ” “We’re so concerned about the rhetoric, and the lack of respect for expertise, that we moved it 30 seconds,” she said. “Rather than create panic, we’re hoping that this drives action. ” In an for The New York Times, Dr. Titley and Dr. Krauss elaborated on their concerns, citing the increasing threats of nuclear weapons and climate change, as well as President Trump’s pledges to impede what they see as progress on both fronts, as reasons for moving the clock closer to midnight. “Never before has the Bulletin decided to advance the clock largely because of the statements of a single person,” they wrote. “But when that person is the new president of the United States, his words matter. ” The board has held the responsibility for the clock’s movements since 1973, when the bulletin’s editor, Eugene Rabinowitch, died. Composed of scientists, and nuclear and climate experts, the board meets biannually to discuss where the clock’s hands should fall in light of world events. In the 1950s, the scientists feared nuclear annihilation, and since then, the board has begun to consider other existential threats, including climate change, compromised biosecurity and artificial intelligence. There were crises that the clock was not quick enough to take into account. The Cuban Missile Crisis, for instance, in 1962, did not change the hands of the clock, which at the time stood at seven minutes to midnight. An explanation on the Bulletin’s website accounts for this seeming lapse in timekeeping: “The Cuban Missile Crisis, for all its potential and ultimate destruction, only lasted a few weeks,” it says. “However, the lessons were quickly apparent when the United States and the Soviet Union installed the first hotline between the two capitals to improve communications, and, of course, negotiated the 1963 test ban treaty, ending all atmospheric nuclear testing. ” The end of the Cold War came as a relief to those who had lived in fear of nuclear annihilation for decades, and the minute hand slowly moved away from danger. In 1990, it was at 10 minutes to midnight. The next year, it was a full 17 minutes away, at the relatively undisturbing time of 11:43. “The illusion that tens of thousands of nuclear weapons are a guarantor of national security has been stripped away,” the Bulletin said at the time. But over the next two decades the clock slowly ticked back. Conflict between India and Pakistan, both of whom staged nuclear weapons tests three weeks apart, had the clock at nine minutes to midnight in 1998. By 2007, fears about Iranian and North Korean nuclear capacity had pushed it to 11:55. By 2015, the scientists were back in a state of unmitigated concern, with the clock at three minutes to midnight, the closest it had been since 1984. “Unchecked climate change, global nuclear weapons modernizations, and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals pose extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity,” the bulletin said. “World leaders have failed to act with the speed or on the scale required to protect citizens from potential catastrophe. ” “These failures of political leadership endanger every person on Earth,” it added. | 0 |
Ted Cruz has officially quit the 2016 Republican presidential race, according to a statement released by his campaign manager Jeff Roe. This brings an end to the last desperate hope that Republicans had to stop Donald Trump from leading their party directly into the 9th layer of Hell in the 2016 presidential election.Trump completely smashed Cruz, by approximately a 16 percent margin in the Indiana primary. John Kasich also technically still existed, coming in with less than 10 percent of the vote.Kasich has pledged to stay in the race until either he or Trump reach the required threshold of 1,237 delegates. Aside from most people saying John who? a reason this is a futile effort is that it s mathematically impossible for him to win enough delegates to beat Trump. To put it into context, Cruz needed fewer delegates and even he dropped out after Trump walked away with a gift-wrapped Indiana primary win.Cruz threw in everything including the kitchen sink to secure a win in Indiana. He colluded with John Kasich in a so-called alliance to try to swing a heavier vote count towards himself in order to take away from Trump s chances, he picked a VP candidate, even though she is universally reviled (what was he thinking?), and there was massive super PAC money doing ad-buys. He even netted the governor s endorsement.In the end, it was an embarrassing blowout that told him what everyone has been saying for months; The RNC is speeding towards the edge of a cliff, and Trump is in the drivers seat.Cruz issued some short remarks following his blistering defeat: We left it all on the field in Indiana. We gave it everything we ve got but the voters chose another path. So with a heavy heart but with boundless optimism for the long-term future of our nation, we are suspending our campaign. Sourece: CNNTechnically speaking, Trump still needs to gather more delegates in the remaining primaries before he will win the nomination hands-down, but with Cruz out and Kasich being relegated to obscurity as a GOP protest vote, there s really nothing stopping Trump from usurping control of the Republican party. Will you be watching as the Republican party has to smile and hand Trump his nomination in Cleveland?Featured image via Tombstone Generator | 0 |
One of the big successes in US policing over the past three decades was the push to make law enforcement more data-driven. The big crime-tracking system that came out of this, CompStat, has been widely credited with helping cut crime in the US.
But what if this approach has also led police to be too focused on data, turning policing into a numbers game in which cops try to make as many arrests as possible and manipulate the figures to look good?
John Eterno, a retired New York City Police Department captain and associate dean and director of graduate studies in criminal justice at Molloy College, explained the problem in a new documentary by FiveThirtyEight:
Initially, I think it was easier to bring down crime, because crime was so high. It's kind of like squeezing a lemon — when you squeeze a lemon, the juice is easy to come out initially. But over time, it's more and more difficult.… Commanders are under enormous pressures to make sure that the crime numbers go down. And then the message filters down to the lower rank: If the captain's not doing well, or the inspector's not doing well, we're not doing well.
This creates a perverse incentive at some police departments to make crime and policing numbers look favorable to the department at almost any cost. Officers could achieve this by, for example, purposely misinterpreting some crimes as non-serious offenses or not counting them altogether. That way, the mayor and police chief can claim that serious crimes are dropping when, in reality, some serious offenses are just being defined as non-serious or not counted at all.
The numbers game also increases demand on cops to look like they're doing more to prevent crime. So officers are sometimes encouraged to stop or arrest as many people as possible so they can appear as if they're staying busy while on duty.
And if some cops don't play along, commanders will try to make their lives harder — by, for instance, putting them on the graveyard shift or denying them promotions. Or, in one whistleblower's case, something much worse.
The numbers game became a huge focus for the NYPD over the past few decades. And when officer Adrian Schoolcraft tried to expose the abuse, the NYPD retaliated — placing Schoolcraft in a psychiatric institution against his will for six days.
Schoolcraft used a tape recorder to capture several examples of officers massaging the numbers at the NYPD. Here are some examples:
But Schoolcraft's colleagues found out what he was up to. One day, when he got off work early, an emergency service unit came to his apartment, abducted him, and forcibly admitted him to a psychiatric ward.
As they detained him, police discovered the recorder in Schoolcraft's pocket. One high-ranking official, Deputy Chief Michael Marino, couldn't believe it. "Absolutely amazing," he said, according to the recording. "When I came on the job, a cop would never dream of doing that to another cop for all the money in the world."
Schoolcraft later got the recordings to the Village Voice, a news weekly that broke the story. He is now suing the hospital that held him, as well as New York City and the NYPD.
The story shows just how deeply ingrained the numbers game can be in some police departments: Officers are willing to take down their peers and sometimes friends just to avoid getting caught.
"I believe they couldn't afford to have someone expose the behavior so bad, so criminal it would threaten their careers," Schoolcraft told New York City's ABC 7 in 2010. "They reacted out of fear." | 0 |
Every day we learn of a new security breach or criminal act by Hillary, her closest staff members or her campaign. Every American, regardless of party affiliation should be ashamed to have such a reckless, criminal running for the highest office in our nation. An unnamed senior aide to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left classified information unsecured and unattended in a hotel room during a 2010 trip to China, one of several overseas lapses by Clinton s inner circle, Fox News has learned.Confirmation of the alarming violation comes as Clinton herself is under a renewed FBI probe for mishandling sensitive information on a private server and her longtime senior aide, Huma Abedin, also faces scrutiny as part of the investigation. It was not known which of Clinton s aides left the information exposed. In May 2010, Secretary Clinton was on official travel in Beijing, China, accompanied by senior staff. Upon Secretary Clinton s departure, a routine security sweep by Diplomatic Security agents identified classified documents in a staff member s suite, State Department spokesman John Kirby told Fox News in a statement, issued several weeks after a Freedom of Information Act request was filed with the agency.Diplomatic Security, which protects the Secretary of State in the U.S. and abroad, as well as high-ranking foreign dignitaries and officials visiting the United States, wrote up the incident on a Form 117, while the Marine Security Guards filed a separate formal report, the source said.The information came to light when the FBI was investigating whether Clinton or her staff violated the US Espionage Act by mishandling classified and top secret information.House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., citing a whistleblower who separately came to him with an allegation it was Clinton who left the material out, wrote to the FBI director on Monday asking for more information. I understand that former Secretary Clinton left classified documents in her hotel room in China and that U.S. Marine Corps security officials filed a report related to the possible compromise of the documents, Nunes wrote to FBI director James Comey.Additionally, Nunes said an email released in response to a FOIA request described Abedin asking another staffer to remove burnstuff Abedin had left in a car during a trip to India.Kirby told Fox News that incident may not have involved classified material. This email exchange does not show that classified information was left in a motorcade car, Kirby said of that incident. Sensitive But Unclassified material is routinely disposed of in burn bags. As the regulations state, Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) and Personally identifiable information (PII) documents are often burned. So it s not accurate that any reference to a document going to a burn bag is a document that includes classified material. As for the China incident, Kirby insisted that Clinton had nothing to do with the matter. To be clear this was not Secretary Clinton s hotel room and no citation whatsoever was given to Secretary Clinton, nor were any reports written about Secretary Clinton s conduct, Kirby said in the statement.At the time of the security sweep, the suite was still inside of a Diplomatic Security-controlled area, Kirby said, and under the direct control of a Diplomatic Security agent posted outside the room. Ultimately, Diplomatic Security concluded that classified information had been improperly secured, but that the evidence did not support assigning culpability to any individual. Furthermore, the Diplomatic Security investigation concluded that due to the fact that the documents were found within a Diplomatic Security controlled area, the likelihood that the information was compromised was remote. Leaving out classified or top secret information is a serious offense, a former state department staffer told FoxNews.com. Diplomatic Security and the Marine Security Guard takes exposure of classified information very seriously, said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy research at the Center for Immigration Studies. You can lose your security clearance if you re caught more than once, and that means you might lose your job. It s a big deal. FOX News | 0 |
(Reuters) - Nicaragua is set to join the Paris climate agreement, according to an official statement and comments from Vice President Rosario Murillo on Monday, in a move that leaves the United States and Syria as the only nations outside the global pact. Nicaragua has already presented the relevant documents at the United Nations, Murillo, who is also first lady, said on local radio on Monday. It is the only instrument we have in the world that allows the unity of intentions and efforts to face up to climate change and natural disasters, Murillo said. U.S. President Donald Trump said in June he would withdraw the United States from the accord, and Nicaragua s decision to enter the pact means only two countries will now be outside it - the world s No. 1 economy and war-torn Syria. Nicaragua, a poor Central American nation that is often threatened by hurricanes, was the only nation to reject the agreement in 2015, and has argued for far more drastic action to limit rising temperatures. The Paris accord, agreed by nearly 200 countries two years ago, seeks to limit planetary warming by curbing global emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that scientists believe drive global warming. The administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama had pledged deep emissions cuts as part of the deal, but his successor, Trump, has said the accord would cost America trillions of dollars, kill jobs, and hinder the oil, gas, coal and manufacturing industries. Island nation Fiji will host the next round of U.N. climate talks from Nov. 6-17 in Bonn, Germany, where environment ministers from around the world will work on a set of international guidelines for the Paris accord. The latest round of negotiations take place after a string of powerful hurricanes ravaged Caribbean island nations and caused billions of dollars in damage along the Texas and Florida coastlines. Climate scientists have said warmer air and water resulting from climate change may have contributed to the severity of the storms. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has disputed such claims as an attempt to politicize natural disasters. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon will need to buy up to 18 more Russian-built RD-180 engines to power rockets carrying U.S. military satellites into space over the next six years or so, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said in an interview on Friday. Congress banned use of the Russian RD-180 rocket engines for military use after 2019, following Russia’s annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014. But U.S. lawmakers eased the ban late last year, worried that it could drive United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, out of business and leave only privately held SpaceX to lift satellites into space. Work said the United States needed to ensure there were at least “two affordable and reliable means into space.” He added the RD-180 would be needed only during what he described as a transition period of new domestic rocket engine development. “We just don’t see any way you can get a new engine in anything less than six years,” Work said. “And so, therefore, in the transition period, we believe strongly that we need RD-180 space engines. No more than 18 but, you know, that’s our position.” Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is pushing to end U.S. dependence on Russian engines used by United Launch Alliance to power its Atlas 5 rockets. McCain said last month that two Russians placed on the U.S. sanctions list because of events in Ukraine were leaders of Russian space agency Roscosmos, which he said was the parent of the company that makes the RD-180 rocket. ULA has said it was moving forward with two companies developing their own U.S. engines, Blue Origin and Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, but such development programs were difficult and took years to complete. | 1 |
Despite claiming to look forward to the second day of G-20 meetings, Donald Trump decided to let his daughter take his place instead.That s right. Trump literally let Ivanka take his place at the G-20 Summit on Friday even though she is NOT in any position to represent America on the world stage.She is not an elected official, nor is she the Secretary of State. She doesn t even have diplomatic status. Yet Ivanka took her daddy s place at the round table meeting, sitting beside British Prime Minister Theresa May and Chinese President Xi Jinping.Here s a photo via Twitter.Ivanka Trump, unelected, unqualified, daughter-in-chief, is representing the US at the G20 summit next to May, Xi, Merkel. Photo @LanaLukash pic.twitter.com/fvs0EMy8z7 Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) July 8, 2017Here s the video via YouTube:The decision to let Ivanka do his job caused national outrage as Americans demanded to know why a failed shoe designer who has zero political and diplomatic experience was tapped to take on such an important role at a major international meeting.how the hell is this acceptable? Tanya (@DutchDelights13) July 8, 2017Ivanka Trump sitting in at G20 instead of her father is breathtakingly insane. She designs shoes #G20 Dom Joly (@domjoly) July 8, 2017How is she allowed at the G20? She s not even allowed at Nordstroms. George Reinblatt (@georgereinblatt) July 8, 2017The rest of the world leaders must be wondering what the f**k has happened to the#USA Irish ELT (@irishelt) July 8, 2017The embarrassment didn t end there. A photo of Trump clearly being ignored as other leaders talk to each other while he sits by himself at the table has been widely circulated.agreed pic.twitter.com/BzFBhw7Y7S Phil Jones (@Meercat42) July 8, 2017It s pretty damn clear that the other world leaders want nothing to do with Trump or Ivanka.Trump later praised Ivanka and claimed that she s only getting criticized because she s his daughter. If she weren t my daughter it would be so much easier for her, Trump said. It might be the only bad thing she has going if you want to know the truth. Trump s remarks received a mere golf clap from a few people in the room.Just imagine the reaction from Republicans if President Obama had let his daughter Malia take his place at the G-20 Summit. They would have been uncontrollably enraged. They would have called Obama irresponsible. They would have accused him of nepotism. They would have called him a dictator. But Trump lets his daughter take his place and Republicans don t say a word because they are hypocrites.America deserves to be represented by the president at the G-20. At the very least, a State Department official should have replaced Trump. Ivanka is only Trump s adviser because he ignored government ethics rules. She has no experience as a public official. She certainly has no experience in diplomacy.This only serves as yet another embarrassing Trump moment abroad that makes our country look like even more of a joke on the world stage.Featured Image: Twitter | 0 |
CNN s Anderson Cooper has pretty much had it with Trump surrogates. Last week, he became a viral internet meme when he rolled his eyes at Kellyanne Conway. Now, he s about to become another internet meme with his hilariously disgusting and inappropriate comment to Trump sycophant Jeffrey Lord.Cooper was interviewing Lord on Friday afternoon. Lord was defending Trump s telling Russian officials that he fired Comey to take the pressure off his administration. Cooper became just frustrated enough with the BS that was being spouted that Cooper, on live cable news TV, said, If he told a dump on his desk, you would defend it. Cooper realized that the might have wandered outside the norms of professionalism (don t we all these days) and sort of apologized. He even offered Lord a bit of flattery if you can call it that: I mean, I don t know what he would do that you would not defend, Cooper continued. I mean, you re a loyal guy, I think that speaks well of you. Source: Entertainment WeeklyHere s the video:The actual apology came via Twitter:I regret the crude sentence i spoke earlier tonight and followed it up by apologizing on air. It was unprofessional. I am genuinely sorry. Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) May 20, 2017The Twitterverse thought Cooper s apology was completely unnecessary Many were amazed at Cooper s restraint:@Meryals @Green_Footballs @jaunte @andersoncooper This. And really, what was there to apologize for?https://t.co/oZgujz8fe5 Myron @ GOBA 4WKS! (@myronfalwell) May 20, 2017@andersoncooper you better not apologize! These Guests you have on would drive Jesus to start smoking meth to cope. lol you re good Kellee Terrell (@kelleent) May 20, 2017@kelleent @andersoncooper Seriously. I need to apologize. If he was in the studio I would have theoat punched him Marine Zograbyan (@TAINTEDLUVV) May 20, 2017@andersoncooper I would hold the apology until after Trump apologizes for calling for the state execution of the innocent Central Park 5 kids. Anil Dash (@anildash) May 20, 2017@anildash @andersoncooper Or mocking a handicapped reporter, bashing a gold star family, downplaying a Vietnam POW s captivity, accusing his predecessor of a felony Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) May 20, 2017@dwsNY @RobertMaguire_ @anildash @andersoncooper or bragging about sexual assault, sexually objectifying his own daughter, sullying the WH. Kendra of Ulm (@thekendra) May 20, 2017@Rosie @andersoncooper pic.twitter.com/H1vT54my0M Mike Denison (@mikd33) May 20, 2017One, though, noted the real problem with the interview:@andersoncooper @brianstelter CNN should probably stop paying people like Jeffrey Lord to defend everything Trump does without question. It doesn t inform anyone. Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) May 20, 2017Featured image via video screen capture. | 0 |
ROME (Reuters) - The leader of one of Italy s biggest political parties, the Northern League, criticized magistrates on Thursday after the Genoa court froze several of the bloc s bank accounts. Matteo Salvini, speaking to reporters at the lower house of parliament, said five of the party s bank accounts were frozen on Thursday, following a July conviction of party founder Umberto Bossi and others of illegal use of party funds. The court in Genoa in northern Italy has accepted a request by prosecutors in the fraud case to preventively freeze the accounts, a source close to the matter told Reuters. The magistrates are trying to outlaw a political party, Salvini said. They re trying to stop the advance of the League, which has reached a historic high. Salvini said he would meet with the party s lawyers on Friday to discuss how to fight the seizure. Bossi is no longer in frontline politics, but he remains an influential figure in the party. In July, the Genoa court said Bossi had used party funds to pay for family expenses. The ruling is being appealed and is not definitive. The League would win 15 percent of the vote if an election were held now, recent polls show, which is about three times higher than it faired in the 2014 European elections. That would make it the country s third most-popular party, and a national vote is due early next year. As hundreds of thousands of boat migrants have arrived in Italy in the past three years, the opposition Northern League has attacked the government s and the European Union s handling of the immigration crisis. At the same time, Salvini has tried to broaden the appeal of the party, which was founded to protest Rome s funneling of taxpayer money to the under-developed south. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump vowed on Tuesday to bring federal intervention to bear in Chicago to quell the “carnage” of gun violence plaguing America’s third-largest city unless local officials can curb the murder rate on their own. Trump appeared to be seizing on a story published by the Chicago Tribune on Monday reporting at least 228 people shot in the city so far this year, up 5.5 percent from the same period last January, with at least 42 homicides to date, an increase of 23.5 percent. A Chicago Police Department spokesman, Frank Giancamilli, disputed the Tribune’s numbers, saying there were 182 shootings in the city from Jan. 1 to Jan. 23, “which is exactly flat from last year.” He said homicides have numbered 38 year to date, compared with 33 for this time in 2016. Still, the Tribune said its latest figures put the city on track to exceed last January’s 50 homicides, the most for that month in at least 16 years. Chicago’s homicide toll for 2016 as a whole reached 762 killings, the most in 20 years. “If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!” the president said in a Twitter post. It was not clear what Trump meant by “the Feds,” or what kind of unilateral government intervention he could order to address the issue. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson responded by saying he was “more than willing to work” in partnership with U.S. law enforcement and to help “boost federal prosecution rates for gun crimes in Chicago.” Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson said in a Twitter post: “We need a plan, not a threat. We need jobs, not jails.” Urban violence, drug trafficking and poverty were recurring themes in Trump’s campaign appearances, and he periodically has cited Chicago as an example of rising inner city crime, which ticked up nationally in 2016 after a two-decade decline. Speaking in his inauguration address about drugs and crime that “have stolen too many lives,” Trump declared: “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” Chicago, with a population of 2.7 million, posted more shootings and homicides last year than any other U.S. city, according to FBI and Chicago police data, and its murder clearance rate, a measure of solved and closed cases, is one of the country’s lowest. On Jan. 2, Trump tweeted about Chicago’s effort to lower its murder rate, saying: “If Mayor can’t do it he must ask for Federal help!” A spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff to Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, said then that the mayor welcomed the prospect of working with Trump and that the two men had previously spoken together on the issue. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats are gearing up for a potentially ugly fight over Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court pick, with some liberal activists urging them to do everything possible to block any nominee from the Republican president-elect. Democrats are still seething over the Republican-led Senate’s decision last year to refuse to consider outgoing President Barack Obama’s nomination of appeals court judge Merrick Garland for a lifetime post on the court. The action had little precedent in U.S. history and prompted some Democrats to accuse Republicans of stealing a Supreme Court seat. Trump last week vowed to announce his appointment within about two weeks of taking office on Friday. He said he would pick from among 20 candidates suggested by conservative legal groups to fill the lingering vacancy caused by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia last Feb. 13. Scalia’s replacement could tilt the ideological leaning of the court for years to come, restoring the long-standing conservative majority that disappeared with Scalia’s death just at a time when it appeared liberals would get an upper hand on the bench. Liberal groups are gearing up for a battle, with the People For the American Way calling the judges on Trump’s list of candidates “very extreme.” “We’re hearing from Senate Democrats and parallel concern among outside groups that this is going to be a major fight,” said Marge Baker, the group’s executive vice president. “We’ll be arguing that Democrats use every means at their disposal to defeat the nominee. This is going to be ‘all hands on deck,’ using all means at our disposal.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has said it is hard for him to imagine Trump picking a nominee who Democrats could support, and said he would “absolutely” fight to keep the seat vacant rather than let the Senate confirm a Trump nominee deemed to be outside the mainstream. “We are not going to make it easy for them to pick a Supreme Court justice,” Schumer told MSNBC on Jan. 3, adding that if the Republicans “don’t appoint someone who’s really good, we’re going to oppose them tooth and nail.” Senate Democrats may be in a position to hold up Trump’s selection indefinitely. Senate rules require 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber to overcome a procedural hurdle called a filibuster on Supreme Court nominees. There are 52 Republican senators. Assuming all 52 back Trump’s nominee, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell either would need to lure eight Democrats to his side or change the rules and ban the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations. Republicans, then in the minority, complained that their rights had been trampled when Senate Democrats in 2013 voted to eliminate the filibuster for executive branch and judicial nominees beyond the Supreme Court. Baker said liberals cannot hold their fire for fear that Republicans will use this so-called nuclear option, adding, “At some point you don’t game this out. You say, ‘This is a fight.’” Other liberal groups urged a more conciliatory approach. “We’re not predisposed to opposition here,” said Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Any nominee will be evaluated, Clarke said, adding that the group is girding for a nominee who is hostile to civil rights. Trump’s nominee could influence the court on a wide range of issues including abortion, the death penalty, religious rights, presidential powers, gay and transgender rights, federal regulations and others. Political considerations also hang over the confirmation fight. Democrats and the two independents aligned with them in the Senate will be defending 25 seats in the 2018 elections, while Republicans defend only eight. Many of those Democratic seats are in Republican-leaning states Trump won in the Nov. 8 election, including West Virginia, Missouri, North Dakota, Indiana, Montana, Michigan and Ohio. Republicans likely will target these and other Democrats in hopes of coaxing them into backing Trump’s nominee. That means Democratic senators such as West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, Indiana’s Joe Donnelly and Missouri’s Claire McCaskill could face extra pressure not to block Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. The liberal groups are facing off with well-funded conservative adversaries. The Judicial Crisis Network, for instance, has said it will spend at least $10 million on advertising and grassroots efforts to pressure Senate Democrats to back Trump’s nominee. Carrie Severino, the group’s chief counsel, said it would be hypocritical for Democrats to block a vote after arguing the Constitution required the Senate to act on Garland. “A lot of them (Democrats) spent the last nine months saying there is a constitutional duty to have a vote. I’d find it shocking if they would not carry out what they think their duty is,” Severino said. Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, said the high level of interest the vacancy has generated among activists, lawyers, students and others makes up for the deep pockets of the other side. “I don’t think we’ll need $10 million given the outcry expressed already,” Aron said. | 0 |
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