text
stringlengths 1
143k
| label
int64 0
1
|
|---|---|
ZURICH (Reuters) - The Swiss government urged voters on Wednesday to reject a campaign for a nationwide ban on face veils, saying any decision on facial coverings was a matter for Switzerland s cantons individually. But, in a counter move to a referendum to be held by 2020, the government said it would propose to voters a ban on face veils being worn by individuals while doing business with federal authorities, including in immigration offices or employment agencies. Regulation of public spaces in Switzerland is traditionally a cantonal matter, the government said in a statement. So cantons should continue to decide for themselves whether to enact a ban on facial coverings. In particular, it said it was down to individual cantons to decide how they handled tourists from the Arab world who wore the veil. In September, activists submitted a petition for a nationwide ban after collecting more than the 100,000 signatures required to put the proposal to a binding referendum. Several cantons have already taken a stand on the issue. Zurich, Solothurn, Schwyz, Basel City and Glarus have rejected a ban on veils, while Italian-speaking Ticino has imposed a ban. At least two demonstrators who wore veils in Ticino in defiance of the ban were fined 250 Swiss francs ($260), according to media reports. The parliament in St. Gallen canton this year backed a ban on facial coverings which were deemed likely to endanger public security or upset the peace. With an eye to the referendum, the federal government said it would also present a proposal to stop individuals being forced to cover their face. We can not allow husbands and fathers to demand their wives and daughters wear a face veil, Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga told a news conference. | 1 |
Karma is a bitch and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is learning that the hard way.For nearly a year, Republicans viciously blocked President Obama s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in a purely partisan refusal to do their jobs out of sheer hatred and contempt.Donald Trump is now set to take over the White House and now McConnell is whining because Democrats are about to demonstrate what turnabout is fair play means.Senator Chuck Schumer and his Democratic minority intend to block Trump s Supreme Court picks, indefinitely if need be to make sure Republicans do not get to fill the empty seat.So, McConnell complained by talking about the non-existent Biden rule, which Republican used to justify they re refusal to confirm Garland and then had the gall to claim that Americans won t tolerate the blocking of Trump s nominees. I noticed my counterpart Sen. Schumer announced yesterday that their goal was apparently to never fill the Supreme Court vacancy. That s kind of an expansion of Biden rule. You recall the Biden rule in 1992 was the Senate would not confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the middle of a presidential election year, which was my view last year. Sen. Schumer said in the second Bush administration that they would not confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the last eighteen months of President Bush s forty-three s tenure. Apparently, there s yet a new standard now, which is to not confirm a Supreme Court nominee at all. I think that s something that the American people simply will not tolerate, and we ll be looking forward to receiving a Supreme Court nomination and moving forward on it. Here s the video via Twitter.McConnell: The American people simply will not tolerate Democrats blocking Trump s SCOTUS nominee https://t.co/9b6sqFrQTM CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 4, 2017To the contrary, Americans, who voted against Trump by nearly 3 million in the popular vote (millions more if you count the other candidates on the ballot) very much disagree with McConnell and blasted his hypocrisy.@SenateMajLdr Fuck you and your hypocrisy Jeremy M (@thismyshow) January 5, 2017@SenateMajLdr Mitch, prepare to meet karma. You chinless, treasonous hack. fakelawn (@fakelawn) January 4, 2017@SenateMajLdr Are you going to complain about obstruction? You LOVE obstruction. You said it s what you were most proud of. You set example Paige Cuccaro (@PaigeCuccaro) January 4, 2017.@SenateMajLdr Reminder: the #Senate sat on Merrick Garland s nomination for 293 days before the nomination expired. Jacquie (@After_Words) January 4, 2017@SenateMajLdr The SCOTUS only needs 8 Justices. You wouldn t allow the elected president to fill a vacancy. I hope Dems refuse to confirm. NEVERMYPRESIDENT (@doodlebug0) January 4, 2017@SenateMajLdr reminder: you didn t even consider his last SCOTUS nom, and said you d not consider any Clinton SCOTUS nom s #FakeOutrage Chris Russo (@ChrisLRusso) January 4, 2017@SenateMajLdr You blocked the President s moderate Supreme Court nominee for over a year and running. Biggest hypocrite ever EastCoastProud. (@EastCoastProud1) January 4, 2017@SenateMajLdr Then you went on strike for 8 long years, refusing to #DoYourJob. As you sew, so shall ye reap. William Durfey (@william_durfey) January 4, 2017@SenateMajLdr Reminder: for nearly a year you denied a highly qualified SCOTUS nominee. You made the precedent, you made the precedent. I ll ride with you? (@mrshellwinger) January 4, 2017@SenateMajLdr Reminder: you blocked a Supreme Court nomination and hobbled one branch of government for 11 months just to be a dick Keith Bergman (@KeithBBergman) January 4, 2017@SenateMajLdr So? Now it s the Dems turn to obstruct. It worked for your party. this is not normal (@wrosen21) January 4, 2017If Mitch McConnell seriously expects Democrats to play nice, he is seriously delusional. It s time for Democrats to declare total war on Senate Republicans. Republicans obstructed President Obama for eight years and refused to confirm his Supreme Court nominee in an unprecedented temper tantrum. Democrats have a duty to return the favor to defend America from Trump s insanity.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
Bill Clinton rode into office 24 years ago on the campaign mantra, ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ – and apparently, it still is.
In an election where dim economic prospects have fueled the campaigns of both Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican Donald Trump, a new Fox News poll shows the economy still is far and away the top priority for voters. And faced with flashing warning signs of tepid growth, barely rising wages and factors that signal an even further slowdown, what would a President Trump or Clinton or Sanders do about it?
The proposals span the gamut: Trump wants big tax cuts and tariffs on trading partners. Sanders wants a hike in the minimum wage and free college tuition. Hillary Clinton wants more infrastructure spending.
And each candidate has taken the others to task on their positions and plans.
Clinton economic adviser Gene Sperling recently warned that if Trump was elected he would put the entire financial system at risk. That was after Trump said he could reduce the national debt by getting the government to pay back less than it has borrowed.
Trump, though, has slammed his likely Democratic rival over trade policies, including the North American Free Trade Agreement that Clinton’s husband signed into law in 1993.
"It has cleaned out our country of jobs," Trump told Fox News on Friday.
Trump says he’d be the “greatest jobs producer in history” by slapping tariffs on Mexico, China and other trade partners.
“The lines have been crossed,” Carroll Doherty, director of political research at Pew Research Center, said. “The Republicans were always known as the party of free trade and now they are less supportive of free trade than Democrats.”
The stakes are high, as the next president is likely to face a lingering economic challenge all in the wake of the last recession.
A Wall Street Journal survey of economists earlier this month showed an elevated risk (about 20 percent) of another U.S. recession in the next year. One of those economists, the National Association of Manufacturers’ Chad Moutray, cited: “Decelerating employment growth, growing uncertainty and sputtering GDP growth.”
Income inequality continues to strike a deep divide between the haves and have-nots, which the candidates also have seized on.
Clinton pledges to enact the “Buffett Rule” – a basic principle that ensures no household making more than $1 million annually should pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than a middle-class family pays.
Clinton also promises to strip tax benefits from U.S. companies that move jobs to foreign countries to get a more favorable rate. And she says she’ll help small businesses by expanding access to capital and vows to invest $350 billion in secondary education.
Clinton supports as well raising the federal minimum wage to at least $12 – currently, it’s at $7.25 for covered nonexempt employees. Clinton has also shown support for the Fight for $15 campaign which pushes for even higher minimum wages in individual states.
It’s a fight Sanders has taken on since the start of his campaign. And he's accused Clinton of being late to the party. At a CNN debate in April, Sanders mocked Clinton’s declaration of support: “What has happened is that history has outpaced Secretary Clinton.”
Sanders repeatedly has described tackling income inequality as the hallmark of his campaign. He also has vowed to break up big banks, cap credit card rates at 15 percent and limit ways some in the financial industry have been able to monetarily benefit from taxpayer bailouts.
Trump, meanwhile, takes the opposite tack. Trump says dismantling the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul would be one of his top priorities. He’s also said he’d boot out Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen.
While the candidates push for more economic changes, there are bright spots.
When President Obama took office, the economy was losing 800,000 jobs a month. The unemployment rate has since fallen dramatically, from 10 percent to 5 percent. During Obama’s two terms, the private sector has added jobs for 73 straight months.
Still, hard economic realities face the country, putting pressure on the next Oval Office occupant to engineer a jump-start.
The economy grew at its weakest quarterly pace in two years between January and March -- 0.5 percent -- as consumers spent cautiously. Businesses cut back on investments to levels not seen since the financial crisis of 2008. And there was a massive stock market sell-off at the start of the year which eroded consumer confidence.
And while the budget deficit -- the federal government's annual shortfall -- has shrunk by nearly $1 trillion, Washington continues to spend far more than it earns, swelling the national debt beyond $19 trillion. It's a factor that could increasingly limit the government's ability to spend its way out of an economic downturn.
Should the country find itself in another recession, James Pethokoukis, an expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, says a Trump response would likely be based on a “truly massive tax cut” -- and more.
“He also likes to do infrastructure. Fantastic, he can throw in some infrastructure in there as well. Doesn’t care about the debt? Who cares? Fine. So we have a massive tax cut, maybe massive infrastructure spending,” Pethokoukis said. “A Donald Trump presidency during a recession – assuming that his trade conflict doesn’t cause the recession – might just be like the Democratic dream president.” | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie top Donald Trump’s short list to be his vice presidential running mate, sources said, but the candidate is casting a wide net that also includes several U.S. senators and other governors. With less than three weeks to go until his formal nomination at the Republican National Convention as the party’s candidate in the Nov. 8 election, Trump’s search for a No. 2 has intensified. The wealthy businessman, a political neophyte, has said he wants a political veteran to help him navigate the power corridors of Washington.Gingrich and Christie, both loyal to Trump at a time when many Republican colleagues want nothing to do with him, would meet his requirement for experience - but would come with minuses as well as pluses. Other names to watch include U.S. Senators Bob Corker of Tennessee, Joni Ernst of Iowa and Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Governors Mike Pence of Indiana and Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, Republicans close to the campaign said this week. Trump has set up a meeting with Pence this weekend, a spokesman for the governor said on Friday. The New Yorker has also met with Corker and Fallin. “Mr. Trump is meeting with a number of Republican leaders in the run-up to the convention in Cleveland, and he has a good relationship with Gov. Pence,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said in an email response to a question from Reuters. An experienced running mate also could help with fundraising. Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, raised more than $40 million for her campaign in June and about $28 million for her party. Trump, who largely self-funded his primary run, has not yet released June fundraising numbers. Trump is expected to name his running mate close to the July 18-21 convention. Gingrich, who was speaker of the House of Representatives in the 1990s and ran for president in 2012, is a popular conservative writer and speaker, and has been an important behind-the-scenes voice in urging Trump to adopt a more presidential demeanor. But because Trump is 70 and Gingrich is 73, they could face difficulty appealing to a younger generation. Christie quickly endorsed Trump after quitting the race early this year. A source said the 53-year-old governor has emerged as a key adviser to Trump and his campaign team. A source said Christie was instrumental in coaxing Trump to be less confrontational with a Mexican-American federal judge overseeing a fraud case involving Trump. One clue to Christie’s rising importance came earlier this week when some campaign supporters held a conference call to discuss strategy and talking points for media appearances. A source said that during the call Christie’s name was raised as someone who might comment on former President Bill Clinton’s meeting earlier this week with Attorney General Loretta Lynch. As a former federal prosecutor, Christie would be a credible voice. Monday night’s private meeting of Clinton and Lynch, the top U.S. law enforcement officer, has been criticized because Hillary Clinton is under federal investigation for using a private email server when she was Democratic President Barack Obama’s secretary of state. The source said campaign associates made clear Christie was not to be used for this purpose. “They’re saving him for the general election,” the source said. “They don’t want to overexpose him.” Still, many Republicans are waiting to see whether Christie is named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a 2014 case involving charges that lanes on the George Washington Bridge were closed in New Jersey for political reasons. Corker, 63, offers Trump deep foreign policy experience as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and, like Trump, believes the Republican Party needs shaking up. His stock may have gone down, however, because he has not hesitated to criticize the candidate at times. Ernst, a first-term senator and military veteran, could help improve Trump’s standing with women. She tacitly supported rival Marco Rubio during the Republican nominating campaign, though she has promised to support the party’s nominee. Ernst, who turned 46 on Friday, said earlier this month that the Trump campaign had not contacted her. The same goes for Oklahoma’s Fallin, who was among several Republican governors who met jointly with Trump in June. “It’s an honor to be mentioned for the office of vice president. I have not had any conversation with Mr. Trump about the vice presidency,” Fallin, 61, said in a statement. Some Republicans could be considered even if they have not had recent contact with the campaign. Alice Stewart, a former spokeswoman for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, said the Texan’s running mate, Carly Fiorina, was only told late in the vetting that she might be picked. Trump’s vetting is being conducted by Washington lawyer A.B. Culvahouse, a longtime fixture in national Republican politics. | 1 |
Donna Hubbard, a flight attendant who lives outside Atlanta, has no problem speaking forcefully about the issue of human trafficking in the United States. But her voice begins to falter when she talks about her own life — how years of exploitation shattered her confidence and turned her life upside down. “For many years, I couldn’t talk about being an addict,” she said. “I couldn’t talk about being imprisoned. I couldn’t talk about getting on my feet, getting my life back, getting my children back. ” She paused to fight back tears. “I could not talk about that part of me where I was victimized. ” But having realized that airline employees are perfectly positioned to stop human traffickers and their victims in transit, Ms. Hubbard has found her mission: teaching other flight attendants to spot and report cases of human trafficking. The nonprofit organization she joined in 2015, Airline Ambassadors International, trains workers at airlines and airports how to spot, and report, cases of human trafficking. It also delivers humanitarian aid around the world and transports sick children who need medical care. It was founded in 1996 by Nancy Rivard, who was then a flight attendant. “We just did it on our own as a public service because we had the personnel,” Ms. Rivard said, noting that the organization began focusing on human trafficking in 2009 and has held 52 training sessions in the United States and abroad since 2011. There were 8, 042 reported cases of human trafficking in the United States last year — the most ever, according to a report released last week by the nonprofit organization Polaris. Most of those came through calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, which was established by the federal government in December 2007 and is operated by Polaris in a partnership. The number of reported cases has been rising every year since the hotline was established. But it is not all bad news, said Bradley Myles, Polaris’s chief executive. “We don’t necessarily want to give the impression that just because we’re learning about more cases, the crime is increasing,” Mr. Myles said. “It’s actually possible that the response is getting more sophisticated. ” Encouragingly, he added, more and more of these reports are coming directly from trafficking victims, which suggests a growing awareness among those who need it most that the hotline exists. Ms. Hubbard sees victim outreach as vital to her work, but she is hesitant to give details about her own ordeal. She entered an arranged marriage at 16, she said, but the worst abuses did not start until her early 20s, when she described being “bought and sold, traded and bartered. ” “Usually, the traffickers play on people’s ignorance and naïveté,” she said. “Traffickers exploit people who are vulnerable. ” That is part of the lesson she imparts to airline personnel, along with practical advice on how to spot people who may be traveling against their will — often young passengers who look disoriented, refuse to make eye contact or act oddly subservient to a traveling companion. American Airlines, Ms. Rivard’s former employer, offers free miles to the volunteers of Airline Ambassadors International. American’s employees already undergo training on human trafficking, led by the Department of Homeland Security, according to a company representative. Ms. Rivard said airlines’ existing programs are not enough. She cited instances in which she said airline staff failed to take signs of trafficking seriously, and added that she wished more resources were available to her organization. “It doesn’t cost much. We try to raise about $3, 000 per training” from individual donors, she said. An Airline Ambassadors International training session in late January in Houston, just before the Super Bowl there, was filled to capacity. “It was an amazing event,” Ms. Hubbard said. “I give kudos to the city of Houston and to the agencies that are doing the work on the ground. ” Though human trafficking gets more attention during major sporting events like the Super Bowl, there is little hard evidence — from Polaris or elsewhere — to suggest a major spike in trafficking during large events. “We don’t think it’s useful to somehow give the impression that there are new victims and new types of trafficking that only happen around that time,” Mr. Myles said, though he added that major events might lure criminals who were already operating in other areas. The Houston Police Department has been revamping its approach to human trafficking for years, said Capt. Dan Harris, of the department’s vice division. It now offers training on human trafficking for officers as well as assistance for survivors. “We had the processes, the procedures and the relationships already in place,” Captain Harris said. “The only thing we really did for the Super Bowl was work more hours in order to go after, mainly, the johns. ” While law enforcement agencies and charities work to address the problem on the ground, Ms. Hubbard and other flight attendants plan to keep an eye on things in the air. “If someone is being held against their will, then a crime is being committed inside my airplane,” she said. “So it is my responsibility to make sure that these people — whose lives are in my hands while they’re on board my aircraft — are safe. ” | 0 |
Lili Bayer and Larry Cohler-Esses HaaretzSebastian Gorka, President Trump s top counter-terrorism adviser, is a formal member of a Hungarian far-right group that is listed by the U.S. State Department as having been under the direction of the Nazi Government of Germany during World War II, leaders of the organization have told the Forward.The elite order, known as the Vit zi Rend, was established as a loyalist group by Admiral Miklos Horthy, who ruled Hungary as a staunch nationalist from 1920 to October 1944. A self-confessed anti-Semite, Horthy imposed restrictive Jewish laws prior to World War II and collaborated with Hitler during the conflict. His cooperation with the Nazi regime included the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Jews into Nazi hands. STRANGE CHARACTER: People are now questioning why Trump hired bizarre Hungarian author as his terrorism expert.Gorka s membership in the organization if these Vit zi Rend leaders are correct, and if Gorka did not disclose this when he entered the United States as an immigrant could have implications for his immigration status. The State Department s Foreign Affairs Manual specifies that members of the Vit zi Rend are presumed to be inadmissible to the country under the Immigration and Nationality Act.Gorka who Vit zi Rend leaders say took a lifelong oath of loyalty to their group did not respond to multiple emails sent to his work and personal accounts, asking whether he is a member of the Vit zi Rend and, if so, whether he disclosed this on his immigration application and on his application to be naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2012. The White House also did not respond to a request for comment.Continue this story at HaaretzREAD MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Trump FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
The FBI finally delivered a dose of karma to a loony liberal from Iowa who threatened to kill Republican Senator Joni Ernst. Is the FBI cracking down on threats to U.S. officials? You have to wonder why the people who have threatened President Trump haven t been given the same treatment. We know that the Secret Service interviewed Kathy Griffin after her beheading Trump video came out. Will Antifa members who have threatened President Trump be looked at by the FBI?LIBERAL LUNATIC ARRESTED FOR THREATS:An Omaha man was arrested by the FBI on Friday after he made threats to kill U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), according to a report from the DesMoines Register:Simet is accused of telling employees of a motorcycle shop where Ernst was scheduled to speak, he could kill Ernst at an event, and told another employee that everyone in the government needs to be killed off. Robert William Simet, 64, was charged and arrested for threatening a U.S. official on Friday in Omaha, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney s Office in the Southern District of Iowa. The FBI is currently investigating the case.Simet is currently in custody in Council Bluffs, and is waiting to appear before a magistrate in the Southern District of Iowa on Tuesday.Via: FOX | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Senator Mike Lee has not decided whether to support a Republican tax bill and wants changes to the child tax credit, an aide to the lawmaker said on Thursday. Both Lee and Republican Senator Marco Rubio want more of the proposed child tax credit to be refundable, Conn Carroll, Lee’s communications director said, adding Lee is “undecided on the tax bill as currently written.” The sweeping tax bill needs a simple majority to pass in the Senate, in which Republicans hold 52 of the 100 seats and no Democrats are expected to support it. | 1 |
VALLETTA (Reuters) - Thousands of mourners at a funeral on Friday for slain Maltese anti-corruption blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia heard a plea for the protection of journalistic freedoms and a warning to her unknown killers that they face the justice of God. The island s president, prime minister and opposition leader, all targeted in Caruana Galizia s writing, stayed away from the private ceremony, but European Parliament President Antonio Tajani attended as a guest of the family. The island observed a day of mourning and flags flew at half mast in Brussels during the funeral at Malta s biggest church, near the capital Valletta and two miles from the site where the 53-year-old was killed by a car bomb as she left her home on Oct. 16. Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who led the funeral mass, addressed the unknown killers, saying, However hard you try to evade the justice of men, you will never escape from the justice of God. Repent before it is too late. He then told journalists not to be afraid. I encourage you never to grow weary in your mission to be the eyes, the ears, and the mouth of the people ... We need people in your profession who are unshackled, who are free, intelligent, inquisitive, honest, serene, safe and protected. Reflecting concern in neighboring countries about possible failings in democracy and the rule of law in Malta, the European Union vowed earlier on Friday to make sure its smallest state found the barbarous killers. Tajani was also due to visit the offices of a newspaper for which she worked as a contributor, and Caruana Galizia s family was invited to a sitting in parliament to commemorate her. The island s government is offering a one million-euro ($1.16 million) reward for information about the culprits and has asked the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to help. But the Caruana Galizia family refused to endorse the reward, called for the resignation of the prime minister, the police commissioner and the attorney general, and insisted there could be no justice without institutional change. Their calls have been echoed by opposition leader Adrian Delia, who said the police commissioner and attorney general s failure to act when Caruana Galizia revealed corruption created the circumstances leading to the assassination. Mourners applauded, made V for victory signs and sung the national anthem as the coffin was carried to a hearse. Some chanted Justice . Caruana Galizia s husband and three adult sons stood solemnly, occasionally hugged by mourners. Malta s chief justice and former prime ministers Lawrence Gonzi and Eddie Fenech Adami also attended. A household name in Malta, Caruana Galizia was well-known for stirring up passions and dividing opinion. Her murder shocked the tiny country and was condemned by all political parties, but controversy continued on the day of her burial. Maltese news websites reported several critical Facebook posts including one referring to a demonstration outside police headquarters planned by a group of NGOs which is demanding the commissioner s resignation. You d have to wonder why you never get a truck mowing people down here in Malta. Who knows? Maybe that will happen at Sunday s protest. I d love to see them crushed in the middle of the road, one read. ($1 = 0.8607 euros) | 1 |
And so to Friday, the end of the working week for some but not for the nomads of the fashion tribe, who have just reached the halfway point of a frenzied Milan schedule. Here’s what’s on for today: • This season, Giorgio Armani will show the Emporio Armani spring 2017 collection in Paris, so he has bumped his main label (usually the closing show of Milan) into an earlier slot. Expect plenty of Mr. Armani’s signature tailoring, and gushing Italians in the audience breaking into applause at the sight of the evening wear. One thing no longer on the catwalk? Fur, after Mr. Armani pledged to go 100 percent fur free after fall 2016. • Season in and season out, Etro offers up bohemian prints on gorgeous billowing fabrics. But before the show, the company also offers up the most delicious lunchtime snacks for the hungry hordes, not to mention pretty printed cushions to sit on, cushions that can then be taken away. It’s a winning combination. • The king of color, Marco de Vincenzo, who spent 13 years at Fendi before introducing his own label and gaining backing from LVMH in 2014, is often touted as one of Italy’s most promising emerging talents (which, given that he’s knocking on 40, can occasionally feel a little ridiculous). His shows tend to excite and delight he’s a man who knows his way around a rainbow. • As evening falls, it will be time for Versace, where no doubt Donatella will dish out her usual dose of barely there on some of the starriest models of the moment. Log on to the NYT Styles Facebook page we’ll be backstage and on Facebook Live with the beauty doyenne Pat McGrath before peeking at the latest beauty looks for the season. • Accessories labels staging catwalk shows appears to be a big trend of the season. The latest to jump onto the bandwagon is Sergio Rossi. The company is staging performances at the Teatro Gerolamo, putting the latest collection in the spotlight. Across town, hotfoot it to the shoe guru Gianvito Rossi’s party for a glass of prosecco or three. In the real world, it is Friday, after all. And in case you missed it: • Rebelling Against at Fendi and Roberto Cavalli. Our reviewer weighs in. • In the Studio With Silvia Fendi • The Wild Ride of Supermodel Naomi Campbell Isn’t Slowing Down • Rankin, and Fashion, Take to the Milan Streets • At Philipp Plein: Fergie Down the Rabbit Hole | 0 |
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A senior Texas health official who co-authored a report that criticized the state’s funding cuts to Planned Parenthood for reducing access to reproductive healthcare will retire from his post next month, a Texas commission said on Friday. Rick Allgeyer, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s director of research, faced criticism from the state’s Republican leaders over the report published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine this month. The report said state funding cuts to Planned Parenthood and its affiliates had an adverse effect on family planning for lower-income people. Allgeyer is eligible to retire and decided to do so effective on March 31, the commission said. Allgeyer, who has been at the commission for 16 years and was one of the study’s five listed authors, declined to comment. In 2011, the Texas state legislature cut Planned Parenthood out of one family-planning program and revamped the way another program hands out funds, placing it and other private clinics at the bottom of the list. Top Texas political leaders have said after cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood that the state has been able to rebuild its safety net. Independent health experts dispute the claim, saying Texas still has a long way to go before it can provide the level of service it did when Planned Parenthood was an integral part of its family planning efforts. The Texas plan has garnered attention among Republicans in the U.S. Congress who are looking to defund the nation’s largest family-planning provider at the national level. The study said the cuts appeared to lead to an increase of unintended pregnancies among lower-income residents and a decrease in access to long-acting reversible contraception. It also said the cuts appeared to increase the rate of childbirths covered by Medicaid. Some Texas Republicans said it was inappropriate for a state employee to be involved in such a study and that its results were flawed, putting political pressure on Allgeyer. | 0 |
Black Trump Supporter: ‘We need somebody that loves America’ "My word to all black Americans: Let's not be deceived" Infowars.com - October 27, 2016 Comments
Speaking with MSNBC outside a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, a family of black Donald Trump supporters who explained they like Trump because of his all-inclusive rhetoric, and because he actually cares about America. I delivered a speech in Charlotte, North Carolina yesterday. I appreciate all of the feedback & support. Lets #MAGA ! https://t.co/VQ8NgyUbjD pic.twitter.com/Obj1B6ZqDP
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2016
“My word to all black Americans, one thing I would like to say: Let’s not be deceived,” a woman named Gloria told MSNBC.
“Look at the record. Look at the promises that have been made over the past from the Democratic party. We’re not voting for a party, we’re voting for a man who has been standing by all citiz… He loves America. We need somebody that loves America. And he also loves all people, all people. And there’s that perception out there that he has no black supporters. WRONG! He does.”
Trump admired Gloria’s comments so much he tweeted her statement out to his 12.8 million followers, saying he appreciated all the feedback and support. NEWSLETTER SIGN UP Get the latest breaking news & specials from Alex Jones and the Infowars Crew. Related Articles | 1 |
LESBOS, Greece (Reuters) - Syrian migrant Bashar Wakaa and his heavily pregnant wife are days away from the birth of their third child, stranded on the Greek island of Lesbos in a muddy, garbage-strewn olive grove with no running water or toilets. Nearby, three Syrian men share a flimsy tent designed for two. Like the expectant couple, they arrived by rubber dinghy from Turkey only to find the island s migrant camp in a disused military base was severely overcrowded. This is not a life for humans, said 23-year-old Anas Bakour, one of the men who shares the rain-sodden tent. The animals have a better life. The hundreds sleeping in the woods are among more than 8,500 asylum-seekers stuck on Lesbos, where facilities for migrants were only designed to accommodate about 3,000. Thousands more are on four other Greek islands close to Turkey. A deal between the European Union and Turkey struck in 2016 stemmed the uncontrolled exodus of nearly a million people across the Aegean Sea the year before. Under the agreement, anyone crossing to Greece from Turkey who does not qualify for asylum must be deported. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras discussed cooperation on migration with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who arrived in Athens on Thursday for the first visit to the country by a Turkish head of state since 1952. Though arrivals collapsed in 2016 following the deal, they have recently ticked up. In the four months to November, 15,800 asylum-seekers arrived on Greek islands, up 27 percent from last year, according to data from the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR). The data does not give monthly arrivals by country of origin but a UNHCR spokesman in Greece said most were Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans, as has been the case throughout the crisis. Aid groups and experts on Europe s migration crisis say the main problem is a lack of political will to improve conditions on the Greek islands, in the hope of dissuading more migrants from risking the sea crossing. "No one will admit it but it's a discouraging factor, a discouraging message for anyone who may want to come," said Konstantinos Filis, research director at Greece's Institute for International Relations. (For a graphic, click tmsnrt.rs/2AABfSV) Aid workers say there is now an acute shortage of medical care, the conditions are horrendous and more and more depressed asylum-seekers are cutting themselves or attempting suicide. Camp residents say gangs, some armed with knives, roam at night, drugs and alcohol circulate freely and women cower in their shelters for fear of attack. Any girl in this camp expects at any moment that she will be attacked, said Shahed Naji, 22, an Iraqi woman. The EU-Turkey deal does not explicitly forbid asylum-seekers from leaving the islands until claims are assessed but the process takes months and stranded asylum-seekers grow desperate and frustrated, said charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). People need to get off the island as soon as possible, said Aria Danika, MSF s field coordinator in Lesbos. Turkish officials said the increase in crossings to the Greek islands in recent months did not reflect any slippage on their part in implementing its agreement with the EU. Some camp residents on Lesbos said they were not aware of the deal blocking their journey onwards to northern Europe. Others said they left Turkey because they could not find work and found life unbearable. No one puts his life in danger to come by small boat if Turkey is good and he can live there, said Amal Adwan, a Palestinian born in Syria now on Lesbos. Adwan, who made seven attempted sea crossings before reaching Lesbos, said she might have had second thoughts if she had know what the conditions were like. If I knew before, maybe I wouldn t have come, she said. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told Reuters there was a certain general resistance to moving people from the islands, not to create a pull factor . Greece s migration ministry, which manages the Lesbos camp, has said it is trying to ease overcrowding but could not remove people in large numbers because of the EU-Turkey pact. It declined to give an immediate comment on conditions on Lesbos and other islands. Ahead of Erdogan s visit, Prime Minister Tsipras told a Turkish news agency on Wednesday that the EU-Turkey deal was difficult but necessary . The European Commission, which has offered Greece millions in emergency aid, said on Thursday it was working on a daily basis with the Greek authorities to try to improve the conditions on the islands but more needed to be done. I have earlier, also in Athens, expressed my frustration over the fact that although we have put so much money at the disposal of all the authorities, that still the situation on some of the islands is unacceptable, the Commission s First Vice-President Frans Timmermans told reporters. On Lesbos, the once-welcoming community is fed up. On Saturday, residents used cars to try to block a ferry from unloading containers intended to house more refugees. The island s mayor, Spyros Galinos, said EU policies had turned the island into an open prison and called for protests and strikes against the deal. Sitting in his office overlooking the port, he compared Lesbos to a weightlifter being asked to lift heavier and heavier barbells: Today, we re buckling. When we get crushed the situation will be completely unmanageable and explosive. Back in the olive grove, Wakaa and his pregnant wife are despondent. If they can t accommodate these people then why are they accepting them in the first place? Wakaa asked. Let them drown in the sea. At least they will die and rest. (For photo essay from Lesbos: reut.rs/2AYs5Ci) | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There will be no planned announcement on Friday of U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, the White House said. Trump fired the former director James Comey on May 9 in a surprise announcement that sparked days of political turmoil. On Thursday, the president said he was close to choosing a replacement. | 1 |
On Tuesday, Education Secretary Betsy Devos announced that she will appoint A. Wayne Johnson as the as Chief Operating Officer of Federal Student Aid on Thursday. In the press release put out by the Education Department, Devos cited Johnson s academic and professional achievements as Johnson s skills he is bringing to the department.<FSA currently serves 42 million student loan borrowing clients and administers more than $1.4 trillion in current outstanding Federal Student Loan balances.Reuters reports on the story saying: In last year s election, Donald Trump and other Republicans campaigned on getting government out of the business of student loans. Democrats want to stay on the path forged by former President Barack Obama, who moved student lending from the banks to the federal government.DeVos has taken on higher-education finances since being confirmed in February. She recently began rewriting rules on for-profit college debt and decided to put one company in charge of servicing loans. Wayne is the right person to modernize FSA for the 21st Century, said Secretary DeVos in a press release. He actually wrote the book on student loan debt and will bring a unique combination of CEO-level operating skills and an in-depth understanding of the needs and issues associated with student loan borrowers and their families. Wayne has worked previously in executive positions at TSYS, First Data, and VISA. He is also the founder and former CEO of First Performance Corporation. Wayne s corporate background has attracted the ire of financial sector watch groups. Allied Progress, a left-leaning anti-Wall St watch group says that Wayne will implement policies that increase the odds students will default on their loans. This announcement comes just one month after Obama-appointed FSA CEO, James Runcie, resigned from his position as Education Secretary. When he resigned Runcie cited he could not take the risk of working in a department ran by Devos. Runcie also claimed that he could not accept Devos policies that were redirecting critical funds within the department. I cannot in good conscience continue to be accountable as Chief Operating Officer given the risk associated with the current environment at the [Education] Department, reads the resignation memo Runcie put out in May.This move is a continuation of the corporatization of the federal government that has been seen under the Trump administration. Devos herself has no actual background in education. Yet, she is Education Secretary because she allowed Trump to use her family s arena multiple times, for free, during both his primary and presidential election. The Devos family is also deeply embedded in conservative politics, usually of the Christian fascist variety. They are major donors to the GOP s war chest as well, having given up to a commonly cited total of $200 million dollars to the Republican Party.Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images | 1 |
A man known primarily for posting videos of himself making the sounds of different types of guns yeah, apparently there is a market for that was arrested after he threatened to shoot his underage girlfriend and then kill cops in a rampage. Just another day in gun crazy America!Bryan Silva, 25, has over two million followers on Facebook and Vine, where he thrills fellow gun lovers with short videos of his obsession with firearms.However he went from good guy with a gun to violent nutcase in a hurry. On January 4, Charlottesville, Virginia, police received a call from a distraught 17-year-old girl who said she had just escaped Silva s home after he held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her. She also told police that Silva was planning on killing cops.Police responded to a domestic dispute call around 6 a.m. Sunday at the home where the barricade situation occurred.According to police, the call was made by a neighbor. It was a domestic disturbance, said Longo. A female caller said that she was threatened with a firearm, we responded and began an investigation. Apparently, a 17-year-old girl had been at the residence when a dispute occurred. She then left go to the neighbor s house.The girl told police she had been held against her will by her boyfriend and that he had also threatened her with a handgun. She also told officers that he had threatened to shoot the police.Virginia is one of several Republican states that recently pushed to make it easier for people to have and carry guns. It seems to be working out well.The police surrounded Silva s house, and Silva took advantage of his infamy by what else? posting to his social media accounts about his siege with police and chatting with friends.But while Silva would have loved to posture himself as a gun-toting badass, things didn t work out that way. He eventually surrendered and was promptly arrested with his pants falling to his ankles. In the ultimate bit of karma, the Vine star was immortalized in this hilarious Vine.I can't believe this vine of Bryan Silva being arrested with his pants down #Gratata https://t.co/iSwWXfWvg0 Ryan Broderick (@broderick) January 4, 2016It turns out that Silva was not legally allowed to have all those guns he was bragging about daily on social media. Silva was already a convicted felon. On top of the new charges of abduction, he was slapped with another felony, illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.His legions of gun nut fans will probably be disappointed, but the streets are probably much safer with Bryan Silva off of Vine and the streets.Feature image via Newsplex | 0 |
WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS! PRESIDENT TRUMPIn the aftermath of another terror attack in London, our President tweeted support and a statement regarding the travel ban. NBC refused to retweet a message President Trump had tweeted from the Drudge Report saying there are fears this could be terror:How is it that fearing it was terror is at all confirming it was terror? NBC tweeted this out:PRESIDENT TRUMP TWEETED OUT THIS AWESOME MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE OF LONDON: We Need the Travel Ban as an Extra Level of Safety President TrumpThe Trump administration asked the Supreme Court late Thursday to let the revised travel ban take effect.The Supreme Court should rule on this request as early as this week.The administration filed two emergency applications with the nine Court justices seeking to block two lower court rulings that blocked President Trump s executive order.In the filing, the Justice Department argued that the appeals court in Richmond, Va. made several mistakes in ruling against Trump s travel order.Sarah Isgur Flores, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said the ban is lawful.The order barred entry for people from six Muslim majority nations, including Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days while the U.S. implements stricter visa screenings.The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called the national security concerns an after-the-fact justification for a policy that was intended to bar Muslims from this country. Via: FOX News | 0 |
Way back in 1998, when Fox s MadTV was still on the air, an actress/singer named Nicole Sullivan performed a three-minute comedy sketch that so accurately predicts the Donald Trump campaign, we just had to write about it.For the sketch, Sullivan adopted the character of Darlene McBride, a huge-haired country music singer, who is promoting her upcoming Take Back America tour.As the video opens, Sullivan s character can be seen strumming her guitar, while belting out the words to her new song, Take Back America. Take back America to 1955, she sings. Take back America to when god was still alive. As the music fades into the background, McBride is seen sitting at a mirrored dressing table, dressed in camo, an American flag displayed proudly on the shoulder of her military fatigues. Truer words were never spoken, or sung, she says.She then introduces herself. Hi, I m Darlene McBride. You know I love this country, the way it used to be, simple-minded, with simple values, simple people. But then the big government, the Supreme Court and those bleeding heart liberals just couldn t leave well enough alone. And now look at it? A big, ugly melting pot just boilin over on what used to be a nice, white stove. From there, McBride goes on to talk about her upcoming tour, where she says she ll be coming to a city near you, to sing traditional songs with traditional values. She then provides the audience with a few samples tunes that you can hear during the tour.For starters, there s a little ditty called The Lord Loves the NRA. The lord loves the NRA, he told me so the other day. He spelled it out in bullets in the sky. He s sitting up in heaven with his AK 47. He s a rough-and-ready, macho kind of guy. Then there s the song called The Back of the Bus.Leading into that one she says Excuse me Mr. Negro, but I ve got a question to ask you. She then breaks into the song, asking in the lyrics, What s so bad about the back of the bus? Next up is a song called Nothing Would Be Finer. Nothing would be finer than to drop a bomb on Chiner in the morning. She also has a song about illegal immigration called Hey Senorita.To be fair, all of the songs in this sketch would work for any GOP candidate, not just Trump. The NRA lovin , republican-Jesus fearin racists and warmongers that vote for them would likely never realize they were listening to a musical parody of themselves.Watch the MadTV video below, courtesy of Migrainemaker on YouTube.While the sketch might seem like it was written to mock today s Teapublican Trump supporters, it s actually 18 years old.It goes to show, no matter how much time passes, the republican party does not change. It s the same today as it was almost twenty years ago, and will most likely be twenty years from now.Featured image credit: video screen capture, MadTV via Migrainemaker on youtube | 1 |
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary has extended a deadline for a U.S.-accredited Budapest university founded by George Soros, philanthropist financier and prominent critic of Prime Minister Viktor Orban s government, to comply with a new education law or face closure. As Hungary prepares for parliamentary elections in early 2018, the nationalist, right-wing Orban, who leads the ruling Fidesz party, has launched a national consultation campaign on Soros and what he has dubbed the Soros plan . The higher education bill applies to all international universities, not just the Soros-founded Central European University, but critics say it was clearly targeted at the Hungarian liberal, whom Orban accuses of planning to bring millions of migrants into Europe. Parliament approved to amend the higher education law, which sparked big protests when it was passed in April, to extend the deadline for foreign universities to meet conditions for operating in Hungary until end-2018 from end-2017. Justice Minister Laszlo Trocsanyi said in the bill that the legislation wanted to create a level playing field for all institutions of higher education. Critics say Orban s efforts against Soros and foreign-accredited universities are part of an election campaign strategy to whip up support among Hungarians who also hold anti-immigration views and fear perceived foreign interference. Soros, 87, lives in the United States but funds a number of initiatives in his home country, including civil rights and refugee rights NGOs. He has heavily criticized Orban s government. I admire the courageous way Hungarians have resisted the deception and corruption of the mafia state Orban has established, Soros said in June. Opponents to the higher education bill said it was an attack on academic freedom, provoking big protests in Budapest in the spring and causing Orban s approval ratings to drop. Although polls show Fidesz approval rating to be only around 30 percent at present, it is still predicted to win over the deeply divided opposition. CEU said in a statement on Tuesday that it has taken all steps to fulfill the conditions of the amended Hungarian higher education law. It also said the extension of the deadline for compliance is an unnecessary delay that subjects the university to a further year of legal uncertainty. | 0 |
A big life change does not come easily. That might seem a bit obvious, because if it were easy, chances are you would have made the big life change that’s on your list of changes you would really like to make. But you haven’t. So my question for you is this: Why not? What’s stopping you from just doing it? It might be money, family obligations, fear or just feeling stuck. If you’re at all like me, you see people doing something transformative, like going to medical school at 45, because they couldn’t imagine being an accountant for 20 more years. It seems magical, like one day they just decided to make it happen. For some people (a tiny few, I suspect) it might work that way. I have found, however, that most of the time, it’s much less magical. In truth, it’s a slog. It takes years of thinking and planning. But after plenty of practice, I think I’ve figured out how to streamline things a bit. You may want to try it yourself. First, embrace the uncertainty of life. As much as we don’t like to admit it, life is uncertain. We never know exactly where it will take us. If you doubt me, go back 10 years and ask yourself where you thought you’d be now. I doubt it looks exactly like you planned. So start by being O. K. with the truth in the old saying, “People make plans, and God laughs. ” Second, be open to possibilities. Many times, we know we want to do something, but we don’t know what “it” is. Explore a bit. Brainstorm. Journal. Allow things to come up and be open to new ideas. Then, once you settle on something, it’s time to plan a bit. At this point, obstacles start to show up, particularly around money. My family first explored the idea of spending a year living outside the United States more than a decade ago. At the time, there were a bunch of reasons it didn’t make sense. Money was just one of them, but it was a big obstacle. So we kept weighing options. For you, it might be as simple as setting aside an hour a week to consider ways to move forward. Ask people who have done the thing you want to do. Use a little of that time you spend on social media for research instead. Little by little, a plan might emerge. If it doesn’t, maybe it’s not time, or it’s not the right plan. As you reach different obstacles, make sure you spend time questioning your assumptions. Maybe something you always considered true is nothing more than someone else’s opinion. Or maybe looking at it from a slightly different angle will produce a different result. Finally, as paths open, head down them. Don’t worry if you experience false starts. I can tell you there will be plenty of those, and you may only need a quick course correction. Almost all of the stories readers shared with me about doing things involved changing plans, disappointment and lots of hard work. But almost all said that in the end, it was worth it. And one last thing. As you explore making big changes, please realize that maybe nothing needs to change. Sometimes, the permission we seek is to embrace what we have and accept that it brings us real happiness. It’s important to understand that there is nothing wrong with choosing not to change if that’s the right answer for you. | 0 |
When it comes to taking lecture notes, Laura Gayle, a sophomore at Florida State University, has her methods. A smiley face connotes an important person. If the professor says, “Make sure you know this,” she uses an asterisk. A triangular button signals a video clip played in class. Later, she will organize the notes, write a video summary and check uncertainties against the textbook or with the professor. For “Introduction to Classical Mythology,” she’ll even alphabetize a list of Greek gods and goddesses. Then, a few days before the exam, she puts it all up for sale. Since last fall, when she uploaded her macroeconomics notes onto Flashnotes. com to pay for a birthday gift for her mother, Ms. Gayle has sold more than 500 copies of the study guides that she’s put together for her courses, made over $3, 285 and tapped into a growing, if controversial, online marketplace. In describing her approach, Ms. Gayle, a human resources major with a 3. 8 average, sounds aggressive in the best way. “I sit in the front row center for every single class, whether I am selling notes or not,” she says. “For me it is a matter of paying attention, being and,” if something is unclear, “taking the initiative to go out and find the answer. ” Her study guides are rated five stars by users. While borrowing, bartering and selling class notes is nothing new, the online market is just getting organized. sites matching note sellers and buyers have come and gone in recent years as students who started them graduate. NerdyNotes at Stony Brook University is surviving the graduation of a founder, but bigger players are arriving. Flashnotes started up last fall on five campuses — Kent State, Ohio State, Florida State, Rutgers and University of Maryland — with 30, 000 registered users. There are now about 100, 000 at 100 campuses, and the company just bought a Florida State . The sites let student sellers set prices for notes (average is $9) but take a cut. Flashnotes gets 30 percent NerdyNotes takes 50. The marketplace has annoyed some professors, who bar their students from buying or selling notes. In 2010, California State University banned students on its 23 campuses from using NoteUtopia. com (since bought by Flashnotes) citing a state education code prohibiting the selling of class notes for commercial purposes. Some argue that lectures are professors’ intellectual property, including notes recording their ideas others warn that notes are a student’s interpretation of a class. Some say that selling them promotes laziness by enticing students to skip lectures. Still others encourage it. “I want them to use any resource they can to do well on my tests,” says Lora Holcombe, an economics professor at Florida State. “It’s not like with the notes you sleep on them and they’ll go into your head. You have to do some heavy studying. ” Michael Matousek, who graduated from Kent State in 2010, dreamed up Flashnotes during a statistics class in his senior year. He had switched majors twice so was taking a required class that covered topics he had previously studied. Students found the professor confusing, but Mr. Matousek “knew how they were confused. ” After classmates repeatedly sought his help, he compiled and sold his notes to a friend. Soon others wanted copies, so Mr. Matousek collected $10 for each emailed copy, netting more than $1, 000 for the semester. The experience showed him the power of peer education — and not necessarily led by brainiacs. “The 4. 0 kids, they can’t explain,” he says. “The 3. 5, the 3. 6 kids understand what it takes to learn something. ” Mr. Matousek graduated with a 3. 67 G. P. A. and now heads a staff of 22 at Flashnotes headquarters in Faneuil Hall in Boston. The demand is not surprising. “Students are notoriously poor ” says Kenneth Kiewra, professor of educational psychology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. They tend to record only a third of the important lecture points. What makes notes great? “Completeness,” Dr. Kiewra says. Research shows that having detailed, comprehensive notes raises test performance. In his 1985 study, published in Human Learning, Dr. Kiewra randomly assigned 100 students to one of seven groups. hours after a lecture, the groups had 25 minutes to review before a test. Each group was assigned a learning method: Take your own notes and review (1) your notes, (2) your notes as well as instructor notes, (3) without any notes. Don’t take notes but review (1) instructor notes, (2) without any notes. Skip the lecture but review (1) instructor notes, (2) without any notes. Groups that reviewed instructor notes performed best. “It didn’t matter so much what you did during the lecture,” Dr. Kiewra explains. “It mattered what notes you had. ” Even those who didn’t attend the lecture but reviewed instructor notes did better than those who attended and “reviewed their own crummy notes. ” He concludes: “The real value of is not so much in the taking as in the having. ” Getting down details along with main points is easier said than done. Average lecture speed is 100 to 125 words a minute, but college students listening to a lecture write 22 words a minute by hand they type just 33 words a minute. In his latest research Dr. Kiewra has found that when the professor pauses three times to let students catch up and fill in missing information, they have more “original, additional and total notes” than those who waited to revise immediately after a lecture. If a student fails to note a particular point, Dr. Kiewra says, there is only a 5 percent chance of recalling it later. Videotaped lectures help. When students viewed a video twice, they recorded 53 percent of the details, up from 38 percent, Dr. Kiewra says. Watching three times raised it to 60 percent. Memory is a weak tool, but thinking about the information — paraphrasing rather than writing everything verbatim — improves retention, according to a series of studies at Princeton, published last April in Psychological Science. Students who took notes by hand rather than laptop wrote less but performed better. Laptop users tended to merely transcribe a lecture “rather than processing and reframing it in their own words” they scored strikingly lower on conceptual tests. Alexandra E. Hadley, a Boston College junior who has posted 29 different offerings on Flashnotes in the last year, uses paper for small discussion classes and a laptop for lectures. An English and communications major, she says she thinks hard about points the professor stresses. “I try to be very present in all of my classes,” she says. “That is key — focusing on what I am doing. ” That means considering points as you take notes and connecting new ideas with information from earlier lectures. “I was taking notes in my research methods class and we were talking about pop culture,” she says. “We touched on two theories, but it reminded me of another one, so I threw that in my notes. ” Umar Zaidi, a Stony Brook senior from Queens in political science and sociology, prefers to grab a seat near a power outlet and tap away. “When you are typing you can look at your professor,” he says. He reads over the syllabus before class, “so when the professor mentions something that rings a bell, I type it up. ” While typing he organizes material into sections with main ideas, bullet points and asterisks. Mr. Zaidi uploaded a semester’s worth of lecture notes for “Urban Politics,” an course, when NerdyNotes started up last spring. Sales, at $10 a packet, were slow at first. (Biology notes are the most in demand on campus.) Classmates didn’t take notes, he says, because they thought political science was a breeze — until the midterm. After, he netted $150. “If they’re too lazy to make notes,” he says, “then I’ll make notes and take advantage. ” But Mr. Zaidi won’t sell the study guides he makes for himself. One doesn’t want to make it too easy for classmates. Indeed, some campuses are not good territory because students don’t want to help competitors. In other words, at Flashnotes, Mr. Matousek says, “we’re not putting a huge emphasis on Harvard. ” | 0 |
After his joint press conference with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Donald Trump told the press that the two had discussed his wall, but not who would pay for it.It was Trump s easy out on the issue the ability for him to say that discussions on the wall were preliminary. While Trump may have been correct that the two nations respect the right of either nation to build a physical wall, his claim that it wasn t discussed was, as is everything else he says, complete bullsh*t. The AP reports that Nieto has spoken out on the wall issue, and Trump is surely furious. Pena Nieto says he told Trump that Mexico won t pay for border wall, contradicting Trump, who says it was not discussed, the Associated Press Twitter account shot out shortly after Trump s photo-op in Mexico was completed.BREAKING: Pena Nieto says he told Trump that Mexico won't pay for border wall, contradicting Trump, who says it was not discussed AP Politics (@AP_Politics) August 31, 2016President Nieto was also very clear on the issue via Twitter:Al inicio de la conversaci n con Donald Trump dej claro que M xico no pagar por el muro. Enrique Pe a Nieto (@EPN) August 31, 2016 At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump, he said, I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall. The border wall has been the central part of The Donald s campaign since the early days when he called all Mexicans rapists drug dealers and criminals, and pledged to build The Wall to keep the brown people from further ruining our Great White Nation. This promise has been an important part of growth with key Trump demographics like white supremacists, Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and closet racists.Unfortunately for the 2016 Republican nominee s followers, he appears to have all but given up on building their favorite thing ever. What you guys didn t think it was really going to happen, did you? Still think Mexico is going to pay for it, guys? Hmm?Watch Trump claim they never talked about the wall below:Featured image via Getty Images/Sean Rayford | 1 |
CAIRO (Reuters) - Gunmen who attacked a mosque on Friday in Egypt s North Sinai brandished an Islamic State flag as they opened fire through doorways and windows, killing more than 300 worshippers, including two dozen children, officials said on Saturday. No group has claimed responsibility, but Egyptian forces are battling a stubborn Islamic State affiliate in the region, one of the surviving branches of the militant group after it suffered defeats by U.S.-backed forces in Iraq and Syria. The assault on a mosque has stunned Egyptians, prompting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi s government to tighten security at places of worship and key buildings, and call three days of mourning for the bloodiest attack in Egypt s modern history. State news agency MENA said the death toll had risen to 305, including 27 children, and 128 people were injured. Egypt s public prosecutor s office, citing interviews with wounded survivors as part of its investigation, linked Islamic State militants, also known as Daesh, to the attack on the Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, west of El-Arish city. The worshippers were taken by surprise by these elements, the prosecutor said in a statement. They numbered between 25 and 30, carrying the Daesh flag and took up positions in front of the mosque door and its 12 windows with automatic rifles. The gunmen, some wearing masks and military-style uniforms, had arrived in jeeps, surrounded the mosque and opened fire inside, sending panicked worshippers scrambling over each other to escape the carnage. Witnesses had said gunmen set off a bomb at the end of Friday prayers and then opened fire as people tried to flee, shooting at ambulances and setting fire to cars to block roads. Images on state media showed bloodied victims and bodies covered in blankets inside the mosque. When the shooting began everyone was running, and everyone was bumping into one another, Magdy Rezk, a wounded survivor, said from his hospital bed. But I was able to make out masked men wearing military clothing. Striking a mosque would be a shift in tactics for the Sinai militants, who have previously attacked troops and police and more recently tried to spread their insurgency to the mainland by hitting Christian churches and pilgrims. Local sources said some of the worshippers were Sufis, whom groups such as Islamic State consider targets because they revere saints and shrines, which for Islamists is tantamount to idolatry. Islamic State has targeted Sufi and Shi ite Muslims in other countries like Iraq. The jihadists in Egypt s Sinai have also attacked local tribes and their militias for working with the army and police. Sisi, a former armed forces commander who supporters see as a bulwark against Islamist militants, promised the utmost force against those responsible for Friday s attack. Security has been a key reason for his supporters to back him, and he is expected to run for re-election next year. Egypt s military carried out air strikes and raids overnight to target hideouts and vehicles involved in the attack, the army said, without giving details on the number of militants. What is happening is an attempt to stop us from our efforts in the fight against terrorism, Sisi said on Friday. The Sinai attack came as Sisi s government looks to draw more foreign investment and finish an IMF reform program to help revive an economy that struggled through instability after the 2011 uprising ousted long-standing leader Hosni Mubarak. North Sinai, a mostly desert area stretching from the Suez Canal eastwards to the Gaza Strip and Israel, has long been a security headache for Egypt and is a strategic region for Cairo because of its sensitive borders. Local militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, once allied to al Qaeda, split from it and declared allegiance to Islamic State in 2014. But attacks in the Sinai worsened after 2013 when Sisi led the overthrow of President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood after mass protests against his rule. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said additional major sanctions would be imposed on North Korea after Pyongyang said it had tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile and that its nuclear weapons could reach the U.S. mainland. Just spoke to President Xi Jinping of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled! Trump wrote in a post on Twitter. He gave no other details about the sanctions. | 0 |
Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates was grilled about her refusal to defend the president s travel executive order She made huge mistake by assuming what Trump said during the campaign could be admissible in court IT CAN T!In a hearing centered on Russian interference in the election, one senator took the opportunity to question the former attorney general who was fired for refusing to defend President Trump s travel ban.Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) asked former acting Attorney General Sally Yates why she refused to defend Trump s initial executive order barring travel from several Mideast nations. I believed any argument [the Justice Department] would have to make in its defense would not be grounded in the truth, Yates said. We would have to argue that it had nothing to do with religion, she said.Kennedy asked whether there was no reasonable argument that could be made to defend the order any other way.Yates said she believed the intent of the order was to discriminate against Muslims trying to come to the United States.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGqsrx0LpTcHere s what former US Attorney Joe DiGenova said about Sally Yates: This is a person of the extreme Left who should not have been anywhere near the decision-making process for this president. Yates was fired and should have been! | 0 |
This may shock you, this may not, but Trump has been delegating the duty of writing his executive orders to some scary people well, a scary person, that is.If you thought executive orders limiting Muslim entry into the United States, stripping health international organizations of federal funds if they so much as mention abortion, authorizing the building of literal f*cking concentration camps to hold the illegals The Donald intends to round up, and beginning the process of stripping health care from millions of impoverished Americans sounded like Breitbart s Christmas list come to life, you were exactly right.According to White House aides, Trump has been delegating the duty of writing the rapid stream of absolutely f*cking terrifying executive orders to the same guy who ran Breitbart. Trump s Chief Strategist and former executive chair called his publication a platform for the alt-right (for those who are unaware, alt-right means Nazi ) and the views that would be associated with one who cultivates that sort of cesspool are definitely making themselves apparent in the nature of Trump s orders.Things are a mess in the White House at the moment. According to Politico, no one seems to have any idea what the hell they are doing or, more importantly, what Trump is doing with his flawed orders that might be unworkable, unenforceable or even illegal :Just a small circle of officials at the Department of Health and Human Services knew about the executive action starting to unwind Obamacare, and only less than two hours before it was released. Key members of Congress weren t consulted either, according to several members. And at a conference in Philadelphia, GOP legislators say they had no idea whether some of the executive orders would contrast with existing laws because they hadn t reviewed them.The breakneck pace of Trump s executive actions might please his supporters, but critics are questioning whether the documents are being rushed through without the necessary review from agency experts and lawmakers who will bear the burden of actually carrying them out. For example, there are legal questions on how the country can force companies building pipelines to use materials manufactured domestically, which might not be available or which could violate trade treaty obligations. There s also the question of whether the federal government can take billions from cities who don t comply with immigration enforcement actions: Legal experts said it was unclear.Aides say that it is often difficult to know what order Trump intends to sign at any given moment or even what is in some of them because of the secretive nature in which they are being drafted by Bannon and the small circle of friends Trump has handling them.To make matters worse, Bannon is in the process of a huge power grab right now, giving two of his former staffers at the white supremacist hate rag seats at the table. The Hill reports:One of Breitbart s biggest stars, Julia Hahn, is expected to join the White House as an aide to Bannon. Breitbart s national security editor, Sebastian Gorka, will also relocate to the White House, likely with a spot on the president s National Security Council, Business Insider reported on Tuesday.The Breitbartization of the White House comes as no surprise to people at the conservative news site. I m surprised it took this long, one Breitbart reporter told The Hill. There are a number of people on staff who clearly have resumes that would lend themselves to the administration. These two are ideologically in line with Bannon. They re people he can trust. It makes sense. There is no line of separation between the White House and Breitbart they are one in the same, a former Breitbart spokesman who has since disavowed the right-wing hate factory, told The Hill. They effectively are a state-sponsored/controlled platform designed to advance the administration s propaganda. And the administration, in turn, is bringing Breitbart s propaganda to life.Featured image via Getty Images/Ben Jackson | 0 |
WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish President Andrzej Duda has signed into law two bills overhauling the judiciary, he said on Wednesday, in defiance of European Union criticism that the legislation undermines the rule of law in central Europe s largest economy. I have taken a decision to sign these bills, Duda said in a statement broadcast on public television. Earlier on Wednesday, the EU executive launched an unprecedented action against Poland over its reforms of the judicial system. | 0 |
Donald Trump is a snake oil salesman. Anyone who paid attention during the election knows that, and increasingly, the people who took Trump at face value are beginning to realize it. Radio host Michael Savage was one of Trump s most rabid supporters, but on his show last week, he admitted to having an awakening, of sorts, and he s waking up in a nightmare of Trump s broken promises.It s not as if Savage, who s famous for quotes like this: Barack Obama is elected for another four-year term, he ll be president for life. He ll be the new Hugo Chavez. He ll do away with the two-term limit and win the 2016 election with 90 percent of the vote. We have less than six months to make sure this doesn t happen. Before Lyndon Johnson intervened to make sure blacks would become dependent on the government for just about everything they needed to live, black participation in the labor market was equal to or greater than that of whites. Today the official African-American unemployment rate which doesn t take into account the enormous number of blacks who aren t even trying to find jobs is around 14 percent. In fact, when you count those who don t even try to find a job, it s nearly 50 percent. When the numbers are added up, under this administration more than 60 percent of young black people are no longer even part of the labor force. It s the lowest ever recorded in our history. End affirmative action. We ve had a black president, black cabinet members from both parties, a black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As much as the left fashions themselves as being progressive, they re not. In reality, today s leftist movement is made in much the same way as a sausage it s a blend of fascist, communist, and socialist ideologies from twentieth-century Europe, with a pinch of Nazism, all ground together, yet retaining the flavor of its various parts. has suddenly grown empathy and has become aware of all the people a Trump presidency can hurt. Nope, Savage is disillusioned because Trump seems to be buddying up to some black guys.Savage, who has been credited with enabling Trump and his legion of racist white men, has been called Trump s ideological spirit animal. He shares Trump s hatred for People of Color, and despite being Jewish, Savage supports Israel but has a complicated relationship with Jewish people. It s no wonder, then, that Savage experienced some existential angst when Trump was seen cozying up to Kanye West, who Savage called a psycho rapper. Then, a caller had this so say: I think as badly of it as I think of a lot of the things he s doing, the caller said, referring to Obama. Talking about, you know, Obama and how he agrees with Obama on so many things. When he was running for president, he didn t agree with Obama on nothing; neither did I, neither did you, neither did any of the people voting for him, and now he talks about how he has great respect for him and he s calling him for his opinion and to invite this rapper up to Trump Tower had he told us he was gonna do these things, do you think this movement would have been as big as it was? I don t think so. Savage agreed with the caller, and said, I don t think you re alone. He then complained about Trump s appointments of establishment Republicans (no complaints about billionaires, though) and the fact that Trump is no longer talking about building a wall. I m waking up and it seems to be a nightmare, Savage said. One day after another, they seem to be tilting so far away from what they promised that it s hard to even remember what it is that he promised. Here s the audio:Featured image via Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images. | 1 |
The FBI has actually received a voter suppression complaint, but not against Hillary and the Democrats despite Trump s insistence that she s rigging the entire election. No this complaint was filed against Trump himself, and targets his dangerous requests that his followers monitor polling places on Election Day.The complaint comes from the Democratic Coalition Against Trump, and a memo on the complaint specifically states: Over the weekend, the Democratic Coalition Against Trump filed complaints against Donald Trump with the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and with the FBI Public Corruption Unit for violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which guarantees the right to vote for all citizens. The complaints were filed as a reaction to Donald Trump s call for his supporters to go out and watch the polls, which will prevent citizens from exercising their right to vote. Trump has repeatedly called for his followers to act as poll watchers to ensure that no in-person voter fraud happens (which is almost non-existent). One man even said that he was planning on engaging in racial profiling for the purpose of intimidating anyone who didn t look American (read: anyone who appeared to be Mexican or Syrian). His hope seems to be to weed out people who aren t allowed to vote by making them nervous.Scott Dworkin, who wrote the memo, went on to copy the words of the DCAT s complaint, which not only went to the FBI, but also went to the Department of Justice: This complaint is against Donald Trump and his campaign for voter intimidation and suppression nationally. Trump has encouraged his supporters to go over and watch polling places, the implication being to instill fear specifically to minority communities in the inner cities.By encouraging his supporters to go out and watch polling places, Donald Trump is violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Dworkin details out how violence at Trump s rallies could be enough to frighten minority voters away from polling places if they know the same violent, racist bigots will be lurking. Nobody wants to try and cast a vote with someone who hates them standing over their shoulders.Dworkin also cites Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act, which states that nobody, regardless of their purpose, is allowed to try and threaten, intimidate, or coerce anybody trying to cast a ballot. Trump s so-called poll watchers will do exactly that, which is what Dworkin is worried about.The FBI and DOJ know what Trump says at his rallies. He s claimed that Hillary has undocumented immigrants coming in specifically to vote for her; he s claimed that polls should be carefully watched so nobody votes twice, and everyone attempting to vote is legally allowed to vote, and he screams repeatedly that the election will be rigged against him.So it s not like the DCAT is grasping at straws, trying to draw a picture that doesn t exist. It does. And Trump should be terrified of it. Read the full complaint below:Dcat FBI Vra Memo by Grant Stern on Scribd If you witness or experience any type of voter suppression or intimidation when you go to vote, call this number: 1-866-OUR-VOTE. Let Trump and his minions know that this kind of cheating will not be tolerated.Featured image by Mark Makela via Getty Images | 1 |
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel has ordered a special inspection into past irregularities in billing of expenses at its embassy in Paris, but the ministry said it was not aware of similar problems at other embassies. Walter Lindner, a senior ministry official, disclosed the probe in a letter to Greens lawmaker Franziska Brantner in letter dated Friday, and said it could trigger new recommendations for billing practices at all foreign offices. The letter marked the first confirmation by the ministry of irregularities at the Paris embassy after French daily Le Monde reported that the embassy had set up an undeclared cash fund to pay staff for special events at the embassy for third parties. In the letter, first reported by the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper, Lindner said the ministry had revamped billing procedures in Paris in spring 2016 after discovering that the previous form of billing had not met the usual standards. The changes were triggered after a former butler and head waiter accused the embassy of using fake invoices to channel money into a fund used to give staff undeclared cash for overtime work at events hosted on behalf of private companies such as BMW and Mercedes. Lindner said the changes implemented in Paris ensured a transparent accounting of the use of the embassy by third parties, but the thorough review now under way could also trigger recommendations for all foreign missions and embassies. Brantner urged the ministry to hold those accountable for the problematic billing practices in Paris - some of whom still worked for the ministry. In addition, all foreign offices must be carefully examined to ensure that such practices are not occurring elsewhere, Brantner said in a statement. She also called for protection of whistleblowers. | 0 |
Her father is a staunch supporter of life. Although her mother was not vocal about it during her conservative husband George W. Bush s presidency, Laura Bush was an advocate of abortion and of homosexual marriage. Here she is two years after leaving the White House expressing her liberal views to Larry King:Their daughter Barbara Pierce Bush was a vocal supporter of gay marriage. She also supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Although it s probably a huge slap in the face to her father, Barbara Pierce Bush plans to help Planned Parenthood, the federally funded (for now) baby killing business to raise money at an upcoming fundraiser. Barbara Pierce Bush, the daughter of former President George W. Bush, will headline a Planned Parenthood fundraiser next week in Texas, according to a report from the Texas Tribune.Bush is expected to be the keynote speaker at the Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas s annual Fort Worth fundraising luncheon.President Bush pushed for anti-abortion policies during his time in the White House, but his wife Laura Bush has supported legal abortion in the past.The announcement comes amid the continuing debate over federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides a variety of reproductive health services to women, including abortions.Barbara Bush is the CEO and co-founder of Global Health Corps and called Planned Parenthood an exceptional organization last year in an interview with the New York Times. Bush also attended an event for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Paris. The Hill | 1 |
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan police detained a ruling party lawmaker and a former opposition senator on Monday for alleged hate speech, as political tensions simmered following the Supreme Court s decision to annul the presidential election. Both the candidates in that ballot, incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta and veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, also ratcheted up the temperature in public speeches on Monday and the opposition said it would boycott the opening of parliament. Politics in Kenya often follows ethnic lines and has in the past erupted into deadly violence, making the authorities sensitive to perceived inflammatory statements. Reported instances of hate speech have risen sharply since the surprise ruling on Sept. 1, the first of its kind in Africa, when the supreme court voided Kenyatta s reelection citing irregularities in the tallying process. Moses Kuria, a member of parliament and Johnson Muthama, a former senator, have been arrested on hate speech allegations, interior ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka told Reuters by phone. Njoka did not give further details, and police did not respond to queries. Last week, Kuria gave a public speech calling for a manhunt for Odinga s supporters, who had greeted the court ruling with jubilation. Two witnesses described a roadblock set up the next day near where Kuria gave his speech, where ruling party supporters checked the ethnicity of passengers in vehicles to see if they might be opposition supporters. On Sunday, Muthama, a former senator for the opposition Wiper party, gave a speech peppered with insults aimed at Kenyatta. In a televised speech on Monday, Kenyatta said the ruling party might use its majority in the legislature to impeach Odinga if the opposition leader won the new polls, scheduled for Oct. 17. Even if he is elected, we have the opportunity in parliament within two months, three months to kick him out, Kenyatta said in a nationally televised speech. Waikwa Wanyoike, a barrister specializing in constitutional law, said the government s majority fell short of the majority needed in both houses to impeach a president. It s just posturing. It requires a two-thirds majority in both houses ... there also has to be grounds to do it. They can manufacture grounds but it s hard to manufacture the numbers, he said. Odinga, meanwhile, accused the government of a mass sterilization campaign under the guise of giving tetanus vaccinations. Hundreds of thousands of our girls and women between 14 and 49 will not have children because of state-sponsored sterilization sold to the country as tetanus vaccination, Odinga said at a press conference. Odinga cited Kenya s Lancet laboratories as one of his sources. But Dr Ahmed Kelebi, managing director of Lancet, said such claims were based on debunked misinterpretations of their data. After Odinga spoke, a founding member of his opposition alliance, Moses Wetangula, said the opposition would boycott the opening of parliament on Tuesday. (Opposition) members of parliament from both houses will not attend the intended opening of the house because the president is a lame duck president, Wetangula said. He is enjoying temporary incumbency and has got no moral authority whatsoever to officially open parliament. | 0 |
If you listen to Donald Trump at any of his many rallies, you d think he made all of the products within his many, many product lines here in the good old U.S. of A. However, facts and reality tell a different story from the one currently pouring out of the orifice on the front of his face.As it turns out, Trump likes to save a few bucks himself and ship his manufacturing needs overseas. This, of course, killing jobs in the United States, but boosting jobs overseas. So, he s not lying when he says he ll put people to work, because he s been doing it in China, Peru, Bangladesh, etc. for years now. Too bad those jobs aren t here at home.Noticing the hypocrisy spewing out of Trump s mouth at nearly all of his rallies is none other than the Hillary Clinton campaign. They just put together a brilliant new ad that hilariously shows some Clinton staffers going and buying some Trump merchandise, because they re sure all of it must be made in America. However, it seems as if none of it was actually made in the U.S.A. as Trump likes to boast that s where goods should be made.If only he practiced what he preached.Watch the brilliantly hilarious attack ad here:So @jess_mc & @Zac_Petkanas went to Trump Tower, bought Trump swag & talked to voters about where it was made. Gold. https://t.co/SYT7CcIMwP Ian Sams (@IanSams) July 1, 2016Featured image via video screen capture | 1 |
If there s one thing Donald Trump has made remarkably clear throughout his campaign for the presidency, it s that low ratings are pathetic. He said it about the debates, about how high or low they are, about how certain networks do better than others if they feature him, etc. etc.Taking all of that into consideration, Trump is really going to hate the fact that he has a lower approval rating than any of his predecessors for the past 27 or so years.According to the Pew Research Center: Trump s rating for the job he has done so far presenting his vision to the public is lower than those other recent presidents received following their elections. The partisan gap in ratings of the job Trump has done so far is wider than it has been for any prospective president dating to the 1988 election. Further: Trump also receives low marks for his initial cabinet choices and other high level appointments. By 51% to 40%, more say they disapprove than approve of the cabinet choices and appointments Trump has made so far. In contrast, majorities approved of the choices made by the past four president-elects. In fact, approval ratings for Trump s cabinet choices are 18 points lower than for the next lowest-rated president-elect. And also this: Alongside negative ratings for the job Trump has done explaining his plans and selecting his cabinet so far, most also hold an overall unfavorable view of the president-elect. Here s a look at the visual comparison put out by Pew:Approval rating for Trump during transition lower than for his predecessors https://t.co/PdrJWw1pJl pic.twitter.com/ge2vzQOdnu Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) December 8, 2016Trump receives low marks for his initial cabinet choices and other high level appointments https://t.co/PdrJWw1pJl pic.twitter.com/hiuCwKANCh Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) December 8, 2016Trump's personal favorability far lower than those of past president-elects https://t.co/kkdcf5k0DW pic.twitter.com/O9C3BfkURG Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) December 8, 2016Now, with Trump s obsession for ratings taken into consideration, you know this isn t going to go over very well with him, and he s likely going to take to Twitter very soon to go after how terrible Pew is or something to that affect.The president-elect has very, very thin skin, so grab your popcorn and get ready.Featured Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, in a bid to demonize Jeff Sessions as Russian agent, said back in March she had never met nor spoke on the phone with a Russian ambassador ever. A simple look at her old tweets showed almost immediately that was a lie.I've been on the Armed Services Com for 10 years.No call or meeting w/Russian ambassador. Ever. Ambassadors call members of Foreign Rel Com. Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) March 2, 2017Off to meeting w/Russian Ambassador. Upset about the arbitrary/cruel decision to end all US adoptions,even those in process. Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) January 30, 2013On Monday, CNN reported McCaskill not only met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, but she attended a private dinner at his house in 2015. Information LiberationCNN -In March, Sen. Claire McCaskill was unambiguous. The Missouri Democrat said she never once met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in her 10 years serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee.This is NOT winning. Ford Chooses China, Not Mexico, to Build Its New Focus, via @nytimes https://t.co/18SiV5abkD Claire McCaskill (@clairecmc) June 21, 2017 | 0 |
A federal judge on Friday curbed the enforcement of a North Carolina law that restricted restroom access for transgender people. The ruling was the first judicial rebuke of a statute that has been condemned as discriminatory and, with lawsuit after lawsuit, has deepened the national debate about transgender rights. In an decision that was restrained in its scope, Judge Thomas D. Schroeder of Federal District Court in N. C. limited the University of North Carolina’s power to enforce the section of the law that requires people in publicly owned buildings to use restrooms that correspond with the gender listed on their birth certificates. The judge’s decision applies only to the people who brought the legal challenge, and it came after he concluded that they had shown they were “likely to succeed” in ultimately proving that the access restriction violates the federal government’s interpretation of Title IX, which forbids sex discrimination. “In sum, the court has no reason to believe that an injunction returning to the state of affairs as it existed before March 2016 would pose a privacy or safety risk for North Carolinians, transgender or otherwise,” Judge Schroeder wrote in his opinion, which he issued nearly four weeks after he heard oral arguments in . “It is in the public interest to enforce federal laws in a fashion that also maintains longstanding state laws designed to promote privacy and safety. ” Judge Schroeder, whom President George W. Bush nominated to the federal bench, did not impose a wholesale injunction against the law. He said that the plaintiffs had “not made a clear showing” that they would prevail in their argument that the statute violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. But his ruling is still a milestone victory for critics of the measure, commonly referred to as House Bill 2, and a blow to many Republican leaders in North Carolina, who have championed the statute as crucial to public safety. “Today is a great day for me, and hopefully this is a start to chipping away at the injustice of H. B. 2 that is harming thousands of other transgender people who call people home,” Joaquín Carcaño, a transgender man who is a plaintiff in the case and a University of North Carolina employee, said in a statement. “Today, the tightness that I have felt in my chest every day since H. B. 2 passed has eased. But the fight is not over: We won’t rest until this discriminatory law is defeated. ” The University of North Carolina said in a statement Friday night that its lawyers were reviewing the ruling and that the system “will fully comply with its directive. ” The statement continued: “We have long said that the university has not and will not be taking steps to enforce H. B. 2. ” A lawyer for Gov. Pat McCrory, Bob Stephens, said in a statement that the decision “is not a final resolution of this case, and the governor will continue to defend North Carolina law. ” Separately, the General Assembly’s ranking Republicans noted the narrow nature of Judge Schroeder’s ruling. “While the court granted a limited injunction for three individuals, we are pleased it preserved the protections to keep grown men out of bathrooms and showers with women and young girls for our public schools and for nearly 10 million North Carolinians statewide,” House Speaker Tim Moore and Phil Berger, the president pro tempore of the State Senate, said in a joint statement. Mr. McCrory, who signed H. B. 2 into law, and others have spent months arguing that the statute, which the General Assembly approved during a special session, is free of discriminatory intent. But they have struggled to persuade civil rights activists and major businesses, and the state has endured an enormous backlash. Last month, the National Basketball Association protested the law by abandoning plans to hold its 2017 Game in Charlotte, the state’s largest city. The law has emerged in a flash point this election year, as Mr. McCrory seeks a second term, but its fate will not be settled until long after ballots are cast and counted. A bench trial about the law, the subject of intense litigation brought by civil rights groups, North Carolina officials and the United States Department of Justice, is scheduled for Nov. 14. Judge Schroeder will preside. | 0 |
BATON ROUGE, La. — The protest of the fatal police shooting of a CD vendor here in Louisiana’s capital had many of the trappings of similar around the country: blaring music, young men with faces obscured by bandannas, and obscene and brutal sentiments directed toward the local police department, on angry tongues and homemade placards. But as Wednesday night’s street rally flowed into Thursday morning, it had managed to be as peaceful as it was passionate. Cars and trucks honked, stopped and skidded as they made their way up and down a few blocks of North Foster Drive, past cheering and dancing crowds in front of the Triple S Food Mart where Alton Sterling, 37, was fatally shot early Tuesday by officers responding to a call about an armed man. The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation into Mr. Sterling’s death after a searing video of the encounter, shown repeatedly on television and social media, reignited contentious issues surrounding police killings of . Officials from Gov. John Bel Edwards to the local police and elected officials vowed a complete and transparent investigation and appealed to the city — after a numbing series of racially charged incidents elsewhere — to remain calm. “I have full confidence that this matter will be investigated thoroughly, impartially and professionally,” Mr. Edwards said in announcing the federal takeover of the case. “I have very serious concerns. The video is disturbing, to say the least. ” Urging patience while the investigation takes place, the governor said: “I know that that may be tough for some, but it’s essential that we do that. I know that there are protests going on, but it’s urgent that they remain peaceful. ” The video of the shooting propelled the case to national attention, like a string of recorded police shootings before it. The shooting has prompted protests here, including a vigil with prayers and gospel music that drew hundreds of people Wednesday night to the storefront where it happened. Over the course of 10 hours, from about 4 p. m. to 2 a. m. Wednesday, when the crowd of hundreds outside the store finally began to thin, there had been almost no visible police presence — no squad cars, no uniformed officers, no helmeted troops. Across the street from the store, scores of young men and women danced, often with hands up, through the stifling heat of a South Louisiana summer night, as Southern rap anthems boomed behind them. Teenagers draped themselves on the hoods of moving cars and poked their bodies out of sunroofs, driving over and over again up and down the block. James Woods, 22, a worker at a lumber company, was standing in front of a barbershop where a D. J. crew had set up, soaking it all in. “We’re here for a cause, and we’re not here to hurt each other,” he said. As he spoke, a scuffle, apparently between two young women, broke out by a Toyota sedan, but it was quickly broken up by others, and proved to be one of the rare such encounters of the night. When calm returned, Mr. Woods continued the conversation. He felt as if he had no choice but to come stand here and make it known that the shooting was not right. “I’m here to show that I stand up for the cause,” he said. “If I don’t stand up for something, then I’ll fall for anything. ” Kirpatrick Franklin, 46, a second cousin of Mr. Sterling’s, observed the proceedings with a stern face, but said he was pleased and proud that so many residents of Baton Rouge had turned out in force. He also made it clear that he could see no way the police might have been in the right. “The togetherness, the strength — I love it,” he said. “They need this now, because he was straight murdered. ” Local and state officials endorsed the federal takeover of the case. “We feel it is in the best interest of the Baton Rouge Police Department, the city of Baton Rouge and this community for this to happen,” said the police chief, Carl Dabadie Jr. In other cities with deaths of people in police custody, when local law enforcement agencies have kept control of the investigations and prosecution, they have often drawn intense criticism for their handling of the cases. There are multiple videos that may show the conflict with Mr. Sterling, in addition to the one recorded by a bystander that has been made public, Lt. Jonny Dunnam, a police spokesman, said at a news conference. Edmond Jordan, the family lawyer, called on the police to release the videos, but Lieutenant Dunnam said that for now, the department was providing them only to the federal authorities. “We have camera video footage, we have body camera video footage and there is video at the store,” Lieutenant Dunnam said. Of the recordings from the body cameras the officers wore, he said: “That footage may not be as good as we hoped for. During the altercation those body cameras came dislodged. ” On Tuesday, a person called the police to report that a black man in a red shirt selling music CDs outside the Triple S Food Mart had threatened him with a gun, the Police Department said. Two officers confronted Mr. Sterling about 12:35 a. m. Mr. Sterling had a long criminal history, including convictions for battery and illegal possession of a gun, but it is not clear whether the officers knew any of that as they tried to arrest him. The graphic cellphone video shot by a bystander, which was released later in the day, shows an officer pushing Mr. Sterling onto the hood of the car and then tackling him to the ground. He is held to the pavement by two officers, and one appears to hold a gun above Mr. Sterling’s chest. At one point someone on the video can be heard saying, “He’s got a gun! Gun!” and one officer can be seen pulling his weapon. After some shouting, what sounds like gunshots can be heard and the camera shifts away, and then there are more apparent gunshots. A second video, made by the owner of the store and first posted by the local newspaper, The Advocate, on Wednesday afternoon, shows the shooting from a different angle. It shows one of the officers taking something out of Mr. Sterling’s pocket after he was shot and was lying on the ground. | 0 |
Tucker takes on the co-director of Popular Resistance, and asks him whether he advocates violence, whether he would like political foes to show up at is house and threaten him? Political resistance advocates violence as a tactic to get their way much like a toddler has a temper tantrum. Tucker Carlson debates the leader of a group that thinks it s ok to go to the FCC Chairman s house to protest. Does this cross the line? We believe it does!The Chairman of the FCC is a Republican and is such a great choice! No matter who he is, we still believe it s wrong on a moral level to do what these people are doing. Shame on them!CURRENT FCC CHAIRMAN AJIT PAI STOOD UP TO THE OTHER COMMISSIONERS WHEN THEY WERE TOLD NOT TO RELEASE INFORMATION ON FRAUD IN THE LIFELINE PROGRAM:TYRANNY: Obamaphone Fraud Kept Under Wraps Until Vote To Expand ProgramFederal regulators were instructed to keep a massive fraud investigation under wraps until a day after a controversial vote to expand a program that was allegedly used to bilk taxpayers of tens of millions of dollars, one those regulators claims.The Federal Communications Commission on Friday announced that it would seek $51 million in damages from a cell phone company that allegedly defrauded the federal Lifeline program of nearly $10 million.The commission s five members unanimously backed the Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL), but Republican commissioner Ajit Pai parted from his colleagues in a partial dissent. According to Pai, he and other commissioners were told not to reveal the details of its investigation until April 1, a day after the FCC voted to expand the Lifeline program. Commissioners were told that the Notice of Apparent Liability could not be released or publicly discussed until April 1, 2016, conveniently one day after the Commission was scheduled to expand the Lifeline program to broadband, Pai wrote. That s not right. Pai did not say who issued that directive. However, it had the effect of preventing public knowledge of widespread fraud in the Lifeline program ahead of a contentious vote on expanding it despite persisting concerns about a lack of internal safeguards.FCC spokesman Will Wiquist insisted that the timing was completely coincidental. The timing of the enforcement action was in no way related to the timing of the vote on the program modernization, he said in an email.IF YOU BELIEVE WIQUIST, WE HAVE SWAMPLAND IN FLORIDA TO SELL YOU! | 1 |
Posted on October 26, 2016 by Michael DePinto
For anyone who has heard about, but not yet had a chance to learn the details about the undercover operation produced by James O’Keefe ’s Project Veritas about the inner workings of the Democrat Party, you’re in luck. I have written two different posts covering the subject from different angles, and this will be the third, covering Hillary’s response. Each post include at least some, if not all of the undercover recordings released so far by James O’Keefe .
For over a year, O’Keefe risked his life by going deep undercover into the Democrat Party’s factory of corruption, and just this week after everyone laughed at Trump for calling the election rigged, O’Keefe began releasing portions of the SHOCKING video he took while undercover. In the videos, some of the highest ranking members of the DNC make some of the most jaw-dropping admissions of guilt you’ve EVER heard in your lives, not the least of which is, “[w]e have a call with Hillary’s campaign EVERY DAY to go over what areas need more focus.”
In the first post I wrote titled, George Soros’ Master Blueprint to Conquer the West Gets Caught on Camera , I go into detail about how the money funding all the illegal operations caught on film comes from Hillary Clinton ‘s largest donor, none other than George Soros . One very high ranking Democratic operative explains what happens with the money once it comes in. Upon receipt:
“[t]he campaign (Hillary Clinton campaign) pays the DNC, the DNC pays Democracy partners, Democracy Partners pays the Foval group, and the Foval Group goes and executes the sh** on the ground.”
WOW! Then, when questioned about the legality, the response was:
“It doesn’t matter what the friggin’ legal and ethics people say, we need to win this motherf**ker.”
That’s just the beginning. The evidence gets infinitely worse. Then, in the second post I wrote titled, This Video Guarantees a Trump Win Even With Hillary’s Fraud Machine , I present an honest look at both candidates, and how they operate. The post contains 100% of the released undercover footage so far, so you learn EXACTLY who is prescribing what to whom, and I assure you that nothing can prepare you for what James managed to catch on film. You’ll be sick.
Then, I contrast the criminal enterprise Hillary is running with a montage of videos taken over a 30 year span of Donald Trump , and in each of the clips spanning all those years, Trump is asked about potentially running for the Presidency some day. Some of the answers are 30 years old, and all are spontaneous. Unlike the scripted (and now we know, totally false) statements we consistently get from Hillary, it is painfully obvious the answers Trump gives are genuine, and from the heart.
Love him or hate him, good luck arguing that Trump isn’t authentic in the video. You get a good look at who would be in the Oval Office, and it’s not the caricature that Team Hillary has tried so hard to create. On the other hand, Team Hillary’s behavior is utterly indefensible, and she knows it, which is why she runs like hell in the video below the second reporters begin to ask her about the recordings.
There’s nowhere to run now though Hillary… You and your staff have a lot to answer for… much of which is criminal in nature (go figure!)
Article posted with permission from The Last Great Stand
Michael DePinto is a member of the fast growing un-silent American majority that is sick of the insanity going on in this country right now. He has been accused of being vitriolic, bombastic, sarcastic to the extreme, and probably worse behind his back. Michael is sick of being branded a right wing-extremist, racist, homophobe, warmonger, or whatever other asinine adjectives Liberal Progressives have for the words COMMON SENSE these days. Michael is also a blogger at The Last Great Stand and an Attorney. Don't forget to follow the D.C. Clothesline on Facebook and Twitter. PLEASE help spread the word by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks. Share this: | 1 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said he will inquire further into whether former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey can represent a Turkish gold trader charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran. U.S. District Judge Richard Berman said at a hearing on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court that he will hold another hearing, likely later this month, into whether conflicts of interest prevent the two men from effectively representing the trader, Reza Zarrab. Giuliani and Mukasey will not appear in court or help prepare for Zarrab’s trial, Benjamin Brafman, another of Zarrab’s lawyers, said at the hearing. Instead, he said, they are seeking a “diplomatic solution” to the case. The two men traveled to Turkey shortly after Feb. 24 to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Giuliani, an ally of President Donald Trump, discussed the trip in advance with then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who brought the charges against Zarrab, Brafman said, while Mukasey conferred with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “No one was trying to hide their involvement,” Brafman said. Zarrab is accused of conspiring to conduct illegal transactions through U.S. banks on behalf of Iran’s government and other Iranian entities. Prosecutors said in a court filing last week that eight of those banks were clients of Giuliani or Mukasey’s firms, and that Giuliani’s firm is a registered agent of Turkey, raising potential conflicts. Brafman said in a response the issue “quite frankly is none of the Government’s business.” But Berman said at Tuesday’s hearing that it was “unquestionably the business of the court.” At the hearing, Brafman argued that Zarrab had an “absolute right” to meet with anyone he chose. If he had chosen to meet with another lawyer without telling anyone, there would be no issue, Brafman said. “He’s interviewed half the lawyers in America, so that’s not so much of a hypothetical,” Brafman joked, alluding to Zarrab’s hiring of more than a dozen lawyers at major firms. The dispute highlights the politically charged nature of the case, which expanded in scope last week with the arrest of an executive at a Turkish state-owned bank accused of conspiring with Zarrab. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticized that arrest as “political.” Zarrab, a dual national of Iran and Turkey, had previously been arrested in 2013 in a corruption probe of people tied to Erdogan, then prime minister of Turkey. | 1 |
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi-led coalition aircraft struck a military police camp in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday, killing at least 39 people and wounding 90 more, including some prisoners, an official and witnesses said. The strike is part of an air campaign by the Western-backed coalition on the Iran-allied Houthis that has escalated since the Houthis crushed an uprising last week led by former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh and killed him. One official in the camp said the coalition aircraft had launched seven raids on the camp, located in the eastern part of Sanaa, where some 180 prisoners were being held. The official said rescue teams had pulled out 35 bodies from the rubble, while the rest were not accounted for. It was the latest in a string of air raids the coalition has conducted on Sanaa and other parts of the country, sometimes causing multiple casualties among civilians. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition could not immediately be reached for comment on the report. The coalition denies that it targets civilians. The United States and Britain provide political backing as well as weapons and logistical support for the Saudi-led coalition, which has been fighting since 2015 to restore Yemen s internationally-recognised president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, to power. | 1 |
Andrew Puzder, Trump s nominee for Secretary of Labor, hasn t had his confirmation hearing yet, but he ll probably end up getting confirmed despite opposition from pro-worker Democrats and labor groups. That s unfortunate, because he was once a part of a group with a ridiculous name: The Job Creators Network. This group is anything but pro-job creation, as they push all sorts of right-wing, anti-worker propaganda that s been shown to harm the economy and jobs.According to a report in The Nation, JCN pushes employers to pepper their employees with anti-government, pro-big business ideology, and while they don t specifically have their employers hold guns to their workers heads to force them to pay attention to this stuff, they encourage employers to send out government policy emails, stuff paycheck envelopes with flyers, run their videos during team-building meetings and other company exercises, and post notices and infographics around the workplace, where they can easily see it and read it.In other words, this group that Puzder belonged to until just recently works to ensure employees don t have much of a choice but to pay attention to at least some of their stuff.And their stuff is insidious. For instance, their website, informationstation.org, has a film that ominously depicts cartoon workers disappearing into thin air and getting replaced with robots. It talks about how minimum wage hikes in California and New York could kill 700,000 jobs and 500,000 jobs, respectively. It also says that 16.8 million jobs could disappear if we raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.What it doesn t say is that the 16.8 million number is the uppermost number in a range derived by the right-wing American Action Forum, and that the low end is 3.3 million.It certainly doesn t mention anything whatsoever about higher minimum wages having a positive effect on jobs, like what the CEO of Wetzel s Pretzels noticed in California after their minimum wage went up.Watch the spin below:JCN also paints minimum wage earners as less-than deserving of a living wage. An infographic neatly informs workers that over half of minimum wage earners are ages 16-24, that 64 percent of them are part-time workers, that 65.2 percent have never been married, and 27.9 percent have not graduated high school. These statistics are true, but they re using them in very deceptive ways to push an anti-minimum wage message.And that message is quite clear: Minimum wage earners don t deserve a living wage, and since all raising it will do is destroy your job, you should vote for people who don t want to raise the minimum wage.They paint the new overtime rule as a job killer, too. And on and on it goes all of this is stuff that employees at many companies are forced to watch or read. According to The Nation s report, this propaganda effort has actually effected dramatic changes in the way workers see these issues, which, in turn, affects how they vote.This bullshit is why we have such terrible income inequality. JCN is selling the very myths that have created such a problem with income inequality and stagnant wages, and harms the workers they claim they want to protect. If any of this was going to actually work, it would have worked by now. It s had over 30 years to work.And Puzder belonged to this group until at least December, although JCN claims he never belonged. We re about to have a Secretary of Labor who isn t just in favor of these policies, but appears to have supported forcing workers to view propaganda, and outright lies, for the purpose of brainwashing them so the so-called job creators can continue to fatten their wallets, and for the purpose of getting them to vote Republican.Featured image by Jason Kempin via Getty Images for Dream Foundation | 1 |
DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain will not attend December s summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council if Qatar does not change its policies and Qatar should have its membership in the six-nation group suspended, Bahrain s foreign minister said. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut diplomatic, transport and trade ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of financing terrorism. Doha denies the charges and says the boycott is an attempt to impinge on its sovereignty and rein in its support for reform. If the situation remains as it is we won t attend this summit, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said on Twitter, referring to the GCC meeting in Kuwait. The right step to preserve the GCC is to freeze Qatar s membership in the council, he said. Founded as a bulwark against neighbours Iraq and Iran, the Western-backed GCC is a loose association of the six Gulf Arab countries. Qatar has pursued policies aimed at the security of member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council ... Qatar has proved that it does not respect the charters, treaties and ties established by the GCC, Saudi state TV channel quoted Bahrain s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa as saying on Monday. Bahrain believes Qatar is fomenting unrest in the island kingdom by supporting protests and even sporadic shooting and bombing attacks aimed at security forces. In an interview with U.S. broadcaster CBS News broadcast on Sunday, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said he wanted an end to the dispute and warned against any military escalation. | 1 |
Plimpton, 46, who starred in The Goonies when she was 15, was speaking at a #ShoutYourAbortion event in June in Seattle, but the recent release of online footage of her remarks in which she boasted about her abortion are causing a firestorm on Twitter.Plimpton told the cheering crowd:Seattle has some particular significance for me for lots of reasons. I ve got a lot of family here, some of whom are here in the audience tonight. I also had my first abortion here at the Seattle Planned Parenthood! Yay!Notice I said first and I don t want Seattle I don t want you guys to feel insecure, it was my best one. Heads and tails above the rest. If I could Yelp review it, I totally would. And if that doctor s here tonight, I don t remember you at all, I was 19, she continued as the crowd applauded. I was 19, but I thank you nonetheless. You probably won t remember because I wasn t that famous then. Breitbart NewsWATCH this sub-human brag about killing her children: | 1 |
The kiosks in New York were designed to replace phone booths and allow users to consult maps, maybe check the weather or charge their phones. But they have also attracted people who linger for hours, sometimes drinking and doing drugs and, at times, boldly watching pornography on the sidewalks. Now, yielding to complaints, the operator of the kiosks, LinkNYC network, is shutting off their internet browsers, but not their other functions, while it works out a Plan B with city officials. The switch, announced on Wednesday, is a case study in unintended consequences, commendable goals gone somewhat awry. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s aim of providing modern technology to the masses ran headlong into the reality of life on the city’s streets. After months of complaints from residents, businesses and other elected officials, Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, conceded that combining unfettered internet access with free was a recipe for bad behavior. The retreat comes just seven months after the mayor introduced the network amid much fanfare as a key plank of his promise to bridge the digital divide in the city. The kiosks would replace more than 7, 500 public pay phones and bring free and phone service to every neighborhood. Users were expected to make short stops at the kiosks. But the sites quickly attracted homeless people and other idle users who took full advantage of the unlimited access to the internet to turn the kiosks into al fresco living rooms, watching movies and playing music for hours. “People are congregating around these Links to the point where they’re bringing furniture and building little encampments clustered around them,” said Barbara A. Blair, president of the Garment District Alliance, a business group in Manhattan. “It’s created this really unfortunate and actually deplorable condition. ” Ms. Blair said her organization of Midtown merchants and property owners had welcomed the kiosks as an overdue replacement for increasingly outdated phone booths that were attracting vagrants and drug dealers. “We’re a modern city we should have ” Ms. Blair said. “But when something has an outcome that you completely weren’t anticipating, then you have to go back and reconsider. Maybe other cities don’t have this problem. ” Councilman Corey Johnson, a Democrat whose district encompasses Greenwich Village, Chelsea and part of Midtown, said police officials had asked for the removal of “several problematic kiosks” along Eighth Avenue. He said he had observed people watching pornography on the kiosk screens with children nearby. “These kiosks are often monopolized by individuals creating personal spaces for themselves, engaging in activities that include playing loud explicit music, consuming drugs and alcohol, and the viewing of pornography,” Mr. Johnson wrote in a letter last month to officials of the city and LinkNYC. In a Sept. 1 meeting at his office, Mr. Johnson said, officials agreed to his demand for a moratorium on the installation of additional kiosks on Eighth and Ninth Avenues in his district. But a spokeswoman for the mayor, Natalie Grybauskas, said the Police Department had not made any official request for kiosks to be removed. In a statement explaining the decision, Ms. Grybauskas said: “There were concerns about loitering and extended use of LinkNYC kiosks, so the mayor is addressing these complaints head on. Removing the internet browser from LinkNYC tablets will not affect the other great services LinkNYC provides — superfast free phone calls or access to key city services — but will address concerns we’ve heard from our fellow New Yorkers. ” Jen Hensley, general manager of LinkNYC, said the consortium that built and operated the kiosks had begun “removing the internet browsers while we look at ways to enhance the service. ” She said those changes could include adding services, as well as bringing back the browsers with limitations on their use. Ms. Hensley described the process of designing the kiosks as “iterative,” noting that several changes had already been made, including turning down the volume of the speakers at night and adding filters to prevent users from accessing pornography. The latest change would not slow the planned rollout of the kiosks throughout the five boroughs, she added. So far, about 400 have been installed in the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens. Continuing to build the network is critical for the consortium, which is relying on the sale of ads on the sides of the kiosks. It has pledged to share at least $500 million in ad revenue with the city over the first 12 years. Despite the efforts to filter out objectionable material, city officials have continued to receive complaints about people watching pornography at the kiosks. The filters do not affect internet access using the signals on personal phones or tablets. Gale A. Brewer, the Manhattan borough president, who had demanded changes to the kiosks, said she was pleased to hear about the shutdown of the browsers, and noted that the free was the true benefit of the kiosks. “I don’t think anybody should be able to sit there and watch movies all day long,” Ms. Brewer, a Democrat, said. “People are pulling up sofas or chairs or what have you. ” She likened turning off the browsers to the decision during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s to block pay phones from accepting calls. All along Amsterdam Avenue, she said, crack dealers were using pay phones as business offices. “When we changed the incoming calls, we got rid of the drug dealers at the phone booths,” Ms. Brewer recalled. “I don’t know where they went, but they were gone. ” | 0 |
Do you remember Trump s first meltdown week? It was late July, after the Democratic National Convention, and as the election drew closer it seemed to many people as if Donald Trump might be approaching a mental breakdown. It wasn t the final meltdown of the campaign, and doubtless the next four years will prove a harsher test of the Donald s sanity. Yet it did result in some startling moments of honesty as Trump, in the grip of strong emotion, let some things slip that perhaps he shouldn t have.Take July 29, for example. He was speaking in Denver, Colorado when he said the following:We have stupid people representing us. Stupid, stupid people. So, here s what s going to happen. We are going to build, and bring, our best. Look we have the greatest business people in the world. Better than anyplace else. We don t use them. We use political hacks. Some of these business people are not nice people. Who cares? Do you care? I don t think so. Some of these people are vicious, horrible, miserable human beings. Who cares? Who cares? Some of these people they don t sleep at night! They twist, and turn, and sweat! And their mattress is soaking wet! Because they re thinking all night about victory the next day against some poor person that doesn t have a chance! And these people unfortunately, I know them all these people would love to represent us against China, against Japan. Against all of these countries Mexico, where they re killing us at the border, and they re killing us in trade!For the record, I am not making the case he is projecting or speaking indirectly. Despite his attempted qualifier, unfortunately, I know them all, it seems pretty clear that he is directly referring to himself.Think about it. He is clearly stating (we can all agree here) that we should pick this class of best business people in the world to run things, instead of politicians and public servants. Furthermore, he has selected himself (by running) as the epitome of what American leadership should be.So he s talking about himself. Drain the swamp? He s the fucking swamp monster.He describes himself as not nice and a vicious, horrible, miserable human being who twist, turns, and sweats rather than sleeping. That explains the 3 a.m. Twitter temper tantrums, I suppose.He describes himself as staying up all night to figure out how to screw over poor people. I will grant it s not clear whether he means this in a pitiful sense or economically.If you doubt the words as I have recorded them, think that I am taking him out of context in an unfair way, or really want to punish yourself, you can watch him speak below. The reported remarks start around 1:24:00:h/t @NettiLDN for pointing this out on Twitter.Featured image via screencapture from embedded video | 0 |
Episode #199 of SUNDAY WIRE SHOW resumes on Aug 20th, 2017 as host Patrick Henningsen brings you this week s LIVE broadcast on the Alternate Current Radio Network covering all the top news stories both at home and internationally LISTEN LIVE ON THIS PAGE AT THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULED SHOW TIMES:5pm-8pm UK Time | 12pm-3pm ET (US) | 9am-12am PT (US) This week we deliver another LIVE broadcast from the UK, as SUNDAY WIRE host Patrick Henningsen is joined by two incredible guests to discuss the disturbing political situation in America. In the first hour we ll be joined by artist and the brilliant and controversial best-selling author and internationally acclaimed jazz artist, Gilad Atzmon, to discuss Charlottesville and the problem of Left vs Right identity politics in the West, as well its roots in Jewish ID politics, and how society might be able overcome the downward spiral it currently finds itself in. In the second hour we re joined by author and analyst, Jay Dyer, from JaysAnalysis.com to talk about America s new culture wars and why Leftist activists are now pulling down statues across the country and how this might accelerate to more censorship and ceremonial book burning activities. In the final segment, we hear a thought-provoking interview with an American man who managed to turn from hating all Muslims to adopting a more open-minded, civil approach to dialogue proving that communication is the key to conflict resolution. Our guest Gilad Atzmon s book, Being In Time: A Post Political Manifesto is available now on: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and gilad.co.uk. Also guest Jay Dyer s book, Esoteric Hollywood: Sex, Cults and Symbols in Film is available now at Amazon.com. SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TVStrap yourselves in and lower the blast shield this is your brave new world *NOTE: THIS EPISODE MAY CONTAIN STRONG LANGUAGE AND MATURE THEMES*Download Episode #199Sunday Wire Radio Show Archives | 0 |
HYSTERICAL!A US Marine enters the Catholic Church confessional booth in Jacksonville, FL.He tells the priest, Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. Last night, I beat the s**t out of a flag burning Hillary supporter. The priest says, My son, I am here to forgive your sins, not to discuss your community service. | 1 |
Sometime around 2:00 am on July 17, a man armed with a handgun entered Parrish Medical Center, located in Titusville, Florida. He opened fire, killing one elderly patient and a hospital employee who was in the same room.As soon as they heard the sound of gunfire, two unarmed security guards reacted. Even though neither of the good guys had a gun, they brought the shooter down, managing to disarm him before he could injure or kill anyone else.The shooter has been identified as 29-year-old David Owens, of Titusville. Owens is charged with two counts of murder.The two shooting victims were identified as 88-year-old Cynthia Zingsheim, who was a patient of the medical center, and 36-year-old Carrie Rouzer, the staff member who was caring for Zingsheim at the time of the shooting.Police say there does not appear to be a connection between the victims and the shooter. They are referring to the incident as extremely random. Owens reportedly entered the hospital through the emergency room doors, then made his way to the third floor, where he started the shooting rampage.In a public statement Titusville police Chief John Lau praised the security guards who took Owen down, saying that without a doubt the two guards saved more lives. While police have provided few details about the shooter, or a possible motive, the chief s comments indicate that Owen had plans to continue with the shooting rampage, harming as many people as possible.This is not the first time that unarmed people were able to bring a shooter under control, without the use of a gun. As Addicting Info reported here, last year an unarmed West Virginia high school teacher managed to prevent what could have been another tragic school shooting, by talking down an armed student. Before that, another unarmed teacher stopped a potential school massacre at Taft Union High School in Georgia.In August of last year, an unarmed U.S. soldier stopped a potential mass shooting on a high speed train in France. In October, a group of unarmed college students took down the UCC shooter, who killed nine people on a college campus in Oregon and clearly intended to kill many others.As the LA Times reports here, there were just 259 justifiable homicides in 2012, compared to 8,342 criminal homicides using guns. That equates to .03 percent of good guys using a gun to stop a violent crime. Yet the NRA keeps telling us that only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun. Featured image via wikimedia commons | 1 |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mehk5eWcZA | 0 |
It only took what 14 years for this to happen? 9-11-01 is a memory that is etched in the minds of every American. One of the most distinctive memories many of us have following the attack by Muslim extremists on our country, was the deafening silence from the huge Muslim community in Dearborn, MI.The protest against ISIS in the majority Muslim community of Dearborn, MI is a good start. Americans can t help but wonder though, why it took so long for Muslims to protest these acts of terror by Islamic extremists? Is it because they ve come to the realization that ISIS is not particularly discriminating about who they target? You can t help but notice the Muslims in this video are carrying a huge sign telling Muslims that 99.9% of ISIS victims are actually Muslims. And you certainly can t help but question where were all the protests when Al-Qaeda and other terror networks announced they were specifically targeting the West.There is no doubt there are Muslim Americans who love this country. Why wouldn t they? We offer freedom of religion, free education, housing, healthcare and food benefits. What we really need to see is that love for country extended to the love for their neighbors, for their Christian and Jewish neighbors specifically. This protest is a good start, but when Muslims make an honest attempt to assimilate in our country, instead of coming here with the intent of maintaining Sharia law and replacing our cultures and religious values with theirs. When they make an attempt to assimilate, that s when we ll know and believe they are truly interested in becoming Americans, not transplanted Muslims from overseas working to turn America into a Sharia compliant nation. | 0 |
0 |
|
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon can no longer handle vast numbers of Syrian refugees, its president said on Monday, urging world powers to help them return to the calmer parts of their war-torn homeland. More than six years into the Syrian war, 1.5 million refugees who fled the violence now account for a quarter of Lebanon s population. Lebanese President Michel Aoun told international envoys he wanted to find ways for them to return safely but would not force people back to places where they could face persecution. My country cannot handle it anymore, Aoun told representatives of the European Union, the Arab League and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council at a meeting in Beirut, his media office said. The long-term presence of refugees is a particularly sensitive issue in Lebanon where some politicians say the influx of mainly Sunni Syrians might destabilize the delicate sectarian balance with Christians, Shi ite Muslims and others. As the Syrian government regains more territory from rebels and militants, calls have increased in Lebanon for Syrians to return. A series of ceasefire deals has reduced fighting to some extent in parts of western Syria. But rights groups have warned against forcing people back to a country still at war, and refugees have often said they fear facing arrest or conscription into the army. The U.N. refugee agency does not yet consider Syria safe for refugee to return to. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has said there can be no forced returns. Aoun told the envoys there were parts of Syria not currently at war and territory where calm has returned, a spokesman said. The return of displaced to stable and low-tension areas must be carried out without attaching it to reaching a political solution, the president s Twitter account said. Aoun said it was in the everyone s interest to solve the refugee crisis so that political, economic and social problems in Lebanon do not get out of hand. Officials at the meeting thanked Lebanon for its generosity in hosting refugees. They expressed their full understanding of the concerns that are being voiced, a statement from the envoys said. A return of refugees to their country of origin must take place in safety, dignity and voluntarily, in accordance with principles of international law, it said. | 1 |
On December 10, Chester Pennsylvania police officers shot and killed one-year-old Bear, a mixed breed family dog, who had been rescued by his owners just months before.According to Christie Fry, the owner of the dog, she first encountered Bear when he was just four months old. Three months later, she brought the injured pup home to join her family. Bear came into my life in May as a rescue. He was seven months old and had a broken leg. He was brought into my family and his leg healed better than expected without requiring surgery. He could run and jump like a normal dog. I loved this dog. I fell in love when I first met him as a four month old pup. But two weeks before Christmas, Chester police pumped eight bullets into Bear, as the horrified mother watched from her window.Fry says that she heard Bear barking in the backyard at about 10:00 am that morning. There was construction going on at the house next door. She explains that Bear was securely hooked up on a tie out in the yard, so she didn t see his barking as a cause for concern.About ten minutes later she heard the first gun shots.I hear two gunshots. As I m getting up I hear the third. As soon as I m standing, I can see out my side window. Police. Fourth shot. I look at what they re doing and see my dog on the ground. My dog starts screaming. I scream. More shots. Five, six, seven, eight. There s two cops taking turns shooting him with smiles on their faces.Fry says she ran out the door, yelling What the hell? One of the officers asked Is this your dog? She says that after she told them yes and tried to asked what happened.The response she was given is even more disturbing.The officer said (and I quote) Well you don t have a dog anymore. He s done now! and laughed in my face.She goes on to say,My one-year-old puppy that I did everything in my power to save was laying there dead. They shot my dog like he was a human coming at them with a gun.Bear was killed less than two feet from his own dog house, located near the fence that separates Christie Fry s property from the house next door.image credit: puppycidedb.comA photo of his body shows that the fence between the Fry s yard and the neighbor s was open. Bear s body is lying just on the other side of the fence.In a subsequent report filed by the police, officers claimed that they had received complaints about Bear.Christie Fry says she was never informed of any complaints from anyone.She was at home at the time that police, accompanied by an animal control officer, came to her home. No one ever knocked on her door or made an effort to contact her.Instead it appears that the cops and the animal control officer went directly to the Fry s backyard, where Bear was barking and restrained.According to animal control, Bear conveniently broke loose from his tie-out at that time. He claims that Bear knocked him over. He denies that the dog ever bit him or even tried to bite him.Even if the puppy did knock him down, which is doubtful, why was it necessary for cops to shoot him eight times?Christie Fry has started a Go Fund Me page to raise the money to hire a lawyer. As she points out here, the area around Bear s dog house is bare dirt, as is the neighboring yard. Yet she says that there was not a speck of dust or dirt on the animal control officer s suit, even though he claimed that he was knocked into the dirt by an overly zealous puppy.It seems more likely that the cops went to the Fry s home that day with every intention of killing the dog. They likely thought there was no-one at home to witness the shooting. That would explain why neither animal control nor the police made any attempt to talk to his owner, but headed straight for the backyard instead.Fry acknowledges on her Go Fund Me page that Bear was a barker. Was he just getting on the nerves of the construction crew next door?If there were complaints about Bear, police have yet to provide his owner with any details of those complaints.This is not the first time that Chester police have come under fire for killing a dog.In 2013, shocked bystanders captured video of officers opening fire on a pickup truck that was occupied by dogs. The truck was parked directly in front of the high school. Police opened fire, shooting toward both the truck and the school during the student lunch period.Here s more on that story from NBC News: According to Chester mayor John Linder, police followed all protocol when they opened fire on the pickup truck, ultimately killing three dogs.Since the dogs involved in that incident were pit bulls, the mayor justified the actions of police by citing a supposed violent history of the animals in question. (Here s what happened when our guest writer let a pit bull near his baby.)In a statement published by the Daily Times, Mayor Linder said: (P)olice personnel immediately arrived on scene and assessed the severity of the situation. They took immediate action to ensure that no one in the vicinity could be harmed. Meaning they did exactly what witnesses said they did. They pulled up in their vehicles, grabbed their guns and started shooting immediately, into the bed of a pickup truck, in front of a school, while school was in session.According to the mayor, two dogs were killed inside the truck. A third was killed after it exited the truck. That means they were shooting at a moving target in front of the school, with people standing all around.The shooting was justified because, according to the mayor, the three dogs were a greater threat to the public than a hailstorm of bullets.The mayor stated that the officers involved in the shooting outside the school were in communication with the city s only animal control officer.It s likely this is the same animal control officer that was on the scene when Bear was killed.In a Twitter post, Fry points out that it s not only police that she wants to see held accountable.Image credit: Chris Christie on Twitter, via PuppycideBDIn his 2013 statement, Mayor Linder also said, We don t want to be known as a place that abuses animals or kills dogs. How about not allowing laughing cops to get away with killing innocent family pets, like Bear, who had never even been accused of biting anyone?Fry is in search of an attorney who will help bring the officers that killed Bear to justice.You can donate to Fry s legal fund here.*Featured image credit: Bear, via Chris Christie on Facebook | 0 |
A North Carolina woman has been arrested and accused of sexual misconduct with an animal and creating child porn by filming children in bathrooms, authorities report. [Rowan County Sheriffs arrested Wendy Arlene Kasper, 36, and charged her with felony secret peeping with a recording device and possessing photographic images from secret peeping. She was also hit with three counts of crimes against nature after video showing her engaging in sexual contact with a dog came to light during the investigation, Fox 8 reported. An investigation was launched in December by the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigative Division which joined with the Rowan County Department of Social Services after allegations were made that Kasper sexually exploited a young girl. During the course of the investigation, authorities found video of the child using a bathroom and learned that Kasper had also sexually abused a dog on several occasions. Police also found a link between Kasper and an individual named Joshua Douglas Martorelli, whom they suspect of dealing in child pornography. “This investigation indicated that Kasper was involved in child pornography dissemination with Joshua Douglas Martorelli,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a press release released on Saturday. “Martorelli is also from Salisbury, and is possibly involved in a larger child pornography group that is still under investigation. This information is being shared with other jurisdictions to include the N. C. SBI,” the statement added. An arrest warrant for Martorelli was also released and police say he was last seen in the Old Concord Road area of Salisbury, North Carolina. Kasper is being held in the Rowan County Detention Center under a $25, 000 secured bond. Authorities are asking anyone with information on the location of Martorelli to contact Lt. C. A. Moose (704) Detective C. J. Gordy (704) . Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 0 |
America better wake up and realize we are quickly becoming victims of leftist bullies and their desire to destroy our right to free speech Celebrity chef Jose Andres is backing out of a deal to put his new flagship restaurant inside the new Trump International Hotel in Washington DC after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump caused a media firestorm with his recent comments about illegal immigration.In a statement, Andres whose ThinkFoodGroup oversees more than a dozen restaurants in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, and Puerto Rico said comments Trump made about illegal immigration during his presidential campaign announcement last month make it impossible for him to open his restaurant in Trump s new hotel. Donald Trump s recent statements disparaging immigrants make it impossible for my company and I to move forward with opening a successful Spanish restaurant in Trump International s upcoming hotel in Washington D.C., Andres said in a statement. More than half of my team is Hispanic, as are many of our guests. And, as a proud Spanish immigrant and recently naturalized American citizen myself, I believe that every human being deserves respect, regardless of immigration status. Andres s statement comes after Washington DC resident Erick Sanchez started a Change.org petition asking the chef to pull his planned restaurant from Trump s hotel. The petition had gathered 2,750 signatures by Wednesday afternoon, but it was unclear whether it had played a role in Andres s decision.In an email to the Washington Post, Trump s son Donald Trump Jr. said that Andres had no right to back out of what he said is a 10-year lease the chef signed with the hotel and threatened legal action:Our relationship with Jos Andr s has always been a good one, but simply put, Jos has no right to terminate or otherwise abandon his obligations under the lease. In the event Mr. Andres defaults in the performance of his obligations, we will not hesitate to take legal action to recover all unpaid rent for the entire 10 year term together with all attorneys fees and additional damages we may sustain. We will also enforce the exclusivity provisions preventing Mr. Andr s from opening a competing restaurant anywhere in the D.C area. Mr. Andr s obligations under the lease are clear and unambiguous. More importantly, construction is ahead of schedule at Trump International Hotel, Washington D.C. and when completed in 2016, will be a crown jewel within the Trump Hotel Collection.Andres has been a vocal advocate for immigration reform. In a 2013 op-ed for the Post, the chef, who became a naturalized American citizen after living in the United States for decades, lobbied Congress to pass an immigration bill that had stalled in the legislature. The fellow immigrants I ve known and worked with over the years, those with legal status and those without, are here for the right reasons, Andres wrote. They don t want to cause any trouble, take any handouts or steal anyone s job. Many already pay taxes and have jobs tough, dirty, exhausting work that America depends on, such as picking our tomatoes, cleaning our fish or canning our products on cold factory floors for low wages and no benefits. Andres s decision to cut ties with Trump follows other individuals and companies who have backed away from the real estate mogul and presidential candidate in recent weeks. NBC, Univision, Macy s, PGA Golf, the Miss Universe pageant, and ESPN have all distanced themselves from Trump following his comments.Via: Breitbart News | 1 |
Hillary Clinton used a CNN interview on Friday to completely embrace the Democrats claim that white people and cops must change to help reduce the number of African-Americans killed in tense exchanges with cops. BREITBART NEWSLet s face it, Hillary needs votes from the black community come November. What better way to do it than to continue the false narrative that Obama has been using for so long.The facts are just too inconvenient for the black community and the politicians who pander for their votes. The truth is never spoken for fear of being called a racist or for fear of losing votes. The black community needs some tough love and that involves honesty. Here s a bit of truth that Hillary and Obama choose to ignore:African-American communities have a role in reducing police-encounter deaths, which usually occur in tense engagements between a few cops and a few suspects with extensive criminal histories.In general, young African-American men are far more likely to commit crimes than young white men, young Asian men or young Latino men. A November 2011 report by the Justice Department showed that young African-American men are just 1 percent of the population, yet are responsible for a disproportionate percentage of murders in the nation.Clinton suggested that people who disagree with her agenda are racists. There is so much more to be done we can t be engaging in hateful rhetoric or incitement of violence, we need to be bringing people together we need more love and kindness. White Americans need to do a better job of listening when African Americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers you face every day.- Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 8, 2016Hillary Clinton used a CNN interview on Friday to completely embrace the Democrats claim that white people and cops must change to help reduce the number of African-Americans killed in tense exchanges with cops. I will call for white people, like myself, to put ourselves in the shoes of those African-American families who fear every time their children go somewhere, who have to have The Talk, about, you now, how to really protect themselves [from police], when they re the ones who should be expecting protection from encounters with police, Clinton told CNN s Wolf Blitzer. I m going to be talking to white people, we re the ones who have to start listening to the legitimate cries coming from our African-American fellow citizens, she said. We ve got to figure out what is happening when routine traffic stops, when routine arrests, escalate into killings Clearly, there seems to be a terrible disconnect between many police departments and officers and the people they have sworn to protect, she said.Federal policing guidelines are needed because we have 18,000 police departments [some of which need more training to] go after systemic racism, which is a reality, and to go after systemic bias, she said. We ve got to start once again respecting and treating each other with the dignity that every person deserves, she said.VIA: BREITBART | 0 |
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Trapped under tons of rubble and in complete darkness, Diana Pacheco s hopes were fading fast for making it out alive from a collapsed office building after a huge earthquake in Mexico City, despite rescuers frantic attempts to reach her. Then the trapped woman had a great stroke of luck: a series of short messages she had written and sent to her husband some 16 hours earlier lit up his phone screen. My love The ceiling fell We re trapped I love you I love you a lot We re on the fourth floor Near the emergency stairway There s four of us, read the WhatsApp messages, which finally reached her husband Juan Jesus Garcia on Wednesday at 5:34 a.m. Garcia, 33, an Uber driver, had been waiting, often in tears, beside the collapsed building all night and immediately ran over to rescue workers. It was like a miracle because I was the only one who got the message and since I was there with the rescue workers I talked to them and they could locate her, said Garcia. The messages on Garcia s phone, seen by Reuters shortly after they were received on Wednesday, could have been delayed due to erratic cell phone coverage in parts of Mexico City after the quake, or the fact that Pacheco s phone signal was blocked by the tons of concrete that kept her trapped in the collapsed building. When asked whether WhatsApp messages can be delivered hours after they were sent in an area without good cellphone coverage, a spokeswoman for the company confirmed it is possible. Pacheco, a recruiter for a human resources and accounting firm, said she sent the messages shortly after the 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck at 1:14 p.m. on Tuesday. Those messages helped them know more or less where we were located, Pacheco said on Friday from her hospital bed, her voice weak. Using the information to pinpoint their location, rescuers freed Pacheco, 30, and the three other survivors shortly after 6 a.m. on Wednesday. Rescue operations were still underway on Friday at the building, where Pacheco says there were some 60 people on her floor alone at the time of the quake. I think there are people (alive) there because we had oxygen, air was coming in, she said. Despite having bruises all over her body and wearing a neck brace, Pacheco was generally in good health. She said she tried to send WhatsApp and text messages to other people from under the building, as well as make phone calls and post on Facebook, but only the messages to her husband got through. She said when the building fell, the force of two floors above collapsing violently knocked her down, but a wall of concrete stopped just short of crushing her and three of her coworkers. They found themselves huddled together in a cramped space. They screamed out every time they heard voices from outside the building. We heard them (rescue workers) when they asked us to yell or make noise, but regardless of how much we yelled they couldn t hear us, Pacheco said. The quake, Mexico s deadliest in a generation, has already claimed close to 300 lives. [nL5N1M330H] (This version of the story has been refiled to change the date in dateline.) | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama met on Friday with his national security team to discuss the fight against Islamic State and the war in Syria, the White House said. Reuters had reported that in the meeting Obama and his advisers would consider military and other options in Syria as Syrian and Russian aircraft continue to pummel the city of Aleppo and other targets, U.S. officials said. U.S. officials said they considered it unlikely that Obama would order U.S. air strikes on Syrian government targets, and they stressed that he might not make any decisions at the National Security Council meeting. A readout of the meeting released by the White House noted that the United States had broken off bilateral talks with Russia on reaching a ceasefire in Syria. It said Obama directed his team to continue multilateral talks with “key nations” to seek a diplomatic resolution to the civil war. The brief summary made no mention of other U.S. options in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will return to Syria talks on Saturday, three weeks after the failure of their painstakingly drafted ceasefire. Kerry has pointedly avoided new bilateral negotiations with Lavrov, and his invitation to the Turkish, Saudi, Qatari and Iranian foreign ministers to join them for talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, will broaden the discussion to include the most powerful backers of Syria’s government and rebels. Pressure is rising for a halt to a ferocious, three-week-old Syrian government offensive to capture the rebel-held eastern zone of Aleppo, where the United Nations says 275,000 civilians still live and 8,000 rebels are holding out against Syrian, Russian and Iranian-backed forces. | 0 |
Americans support Donald Trump’s Jan. 25 comprehensive immigration reform by three to one, according to a new poll by Rasmussen Reports.[ percent of Americans agree with the immigration priorities described in Trump’s Jan. 25 Executive Order, which seeks to exclude migrants who oppose Americans’ values. Only 19 percent of Americans — and only 28 percent of Democrats — disapprove of Trump’s decision to align immigration policy with Americans’ civic and cultural values. Here’s the critical passage from Trump’s reform: In order to protect Americans, the United States must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its founding principles. The United States cannot, and should not, admit those who do not support the Constitution, or those who would place violent ideologies over American law. In addition, the United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred (including “honor” killings, other forms of violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice religions different from their own) or those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation. The new Rasmussen poll asked respondents if they favor a proposal that would keep out “those who do not support the U. S. Constitution or who would place violent ideologies over American law. In addition, the United States would not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred for reasons of religion, race, gender or sexual orientation. ” percent approved the policy, 19 percent opposed, and 21 percent declined to answer the question. percent of supported the policy, as did 49 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of independents. Trump’s popular policy was largely ignored by the establishment media, which instead focussed on his popular exclusion of Islamic migrants and refugees from several majority Muslim countries. That subordinate part of his plan is being opposed by Islamist groups, progressives, and judges in the Ninth Circuit of Appeals. Curiously, even though 28 percent of Democrats oppose Trump’s reform of immigration policy to match American values, 65 percent of Democrats also wish to impose tougher penalties on fellow Americans who commit crimes that violate progressives’ political values. When asked “Should criminals be prosecuted more severely if it can be proven that their crime was motivated by the victim’s race, color, religion, national origin or sexual orientation?” 65 percent of Democrats said yes, as did 57 percent of Republicans. The survey of 1, 000 American adults was conducted on Feb. 2017 by Rasmussen Reports. Other polls show that Americans want legal immigrants to integrate into the U. S. culture, and they oppose Americans’ integration into foreign cultures. In June 2016, for example, a poll showed that 56 percent of Americans want to exclude migrants who believe in Islam’s sharia law, which requires that democracy and civic norms be subordinated to the Islamic scriptures. In contrast, only about 20 percent of Americans told the pollster that they did not oppose the immigration of people who believe in sharia law. Through his tenure, President Barack Obama boosted the progressive claim that Americans should not put their culture first but instead should subordinate their society into a diverse globalist mix of conflicting foreign cultures and governments. Obama described his policy in a Nov. 2014 speech to Democratic supporters in Chicago: Sometimes we get attached to our particular tribe, our particular race, our particular religion, and then we start treating other folks differently. And that, sometimes, has been a bottleneck to how we think about immigration. If you look at the history of immigration in this country, each successive wave, there have been periods where the folks who were already here suddenly say, ‘Well, I don’t want those folks’ — even though the only people who have the right to say that are some Native Americans. Obama made the same claim in September 2015: When I hear folks talking as if somehow these [foreign] kids are different than my kids or less worthy in the eyes of God, that somehow that they are less worthy of our respect and consideration and care, I think that’s . I don’t believe that, I think it is wrong and I think we should do better, because that’s how America was made. A July 2016 poll shows that roughly three out of four voters — including nearly three out of four Democrat voters — believe that “instead of giving jobs and healthcare to millions of refugees from around the world, we should rebuild our inner cities and put Americans back to work. ” The view was shared by almost 90 percent of and almost 70 percent of Hispanics. Under current policy, the federal government annually provide new work permits to roughly 1 million legal immigrants and to roughly 1 million temporary contract workers. That policy adds roughly 2 million new workers to the labor supply each year, just as 4 million young Americans begin looking for work, and it shifts roughly $500 billion per year from employees to employers and investors, according to an analysis provided in a September report by the National Academy of Sciences. | 0 |
source Add To The Conversation Using Facebook Comments | 0 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. He has a Pulitzer, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe Awards. He was inducted into the Rock Roll Hall of Fame decades ago. And now, Bob Dylan adds a Nobel Prize to that list. The songwriter and musician was honored in the literature category, a distinction that set off intense debate on social media. Our music critic had one question: “What took them so long?” ____ 2. Donald Trump counterattacked after several women came forward with accounts of his sexual aggression, singling out The Times for publishing what he called “false smears. ” Here’s what our lawyer had to say about that. Hillary Clinton will be off the campaign trail for days, letting the furor over Mr. Trump play out in a race tilting in her favor. Michelle Obama, the first lady, sharply criticized Mr. Trump in a speech, saying in a voice that shook with emotion that his lewd comments about women were “disgraceful” and “intolerable. ” ____ 3. An American warship fired “limited, ” cruise missiles at Yemen, where Houthi rebels are fighting the government. The Pentagon said insurgents had fired two missiles at another American warship in the area in recent days. It was the first time the U. S. had become directly involved in the conflict. ____ 4. The train that smashed through a station in Hoboken, N. J. last month drew attention to a railroad that has been deteriorating in recent years. Despite booming ridership, New Jersey Transit’s finances have suffered during Gov. Chris Christie’s administration. New Jersey Transit hasn’t had a permanent leader for nearly a year, nor a public meeting in months, and it was fined for several violations during a recent audit. Another headache for Mr. Christie: A judge allowed a criminal complaint accusing him of misconduct in the bridge scandal to move forward. ____ 5. The Nigerian government said 21 of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram two years ago had been freed. They were among nearly 300 students kidnapped from a school in the town of Chibok, sparking an international campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. Most of the girls are still missing, believed to be held in remote areas controlled by the militant group. ____ 6. An autopsy requested by the family of Keith Lamont Scott, whose fatal shooting by the police last month prompted days of protests in Charlotte, N. C. showed that he died from gunshot wounds to the back and the abdomen. The county medical examiner’s office has not yet released the results of its own autopsy. Four cameras recorded his death, but none clearly show whether he was holding a gun. We did a analysis to create a reconstruction of the moments before and after the shooting. ____ 7. Demand for pastry chefs is soaring, but salaries are stagnant. Our financial columnist says restaurants are simply hiring younger people with less training, a dynamic at work in other U. S. industries, too. Above, Emily Spurlin, at work at a “ ” restaurant in Chicago’s West Loop. ____ 8. Hyperrealistic video games like the FIFA series and Pro Evolution Soccer are changing the way soccer is played. Many professional players are obsessed with the versions of their jobs, and use them to study the moves and strategies of famous players. FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, is expected to decide in January whether to expand the World Cup finals from a tournament to include as many as 48 countries. ____ 9. #thisis2016. Reactions are pouring in after an open letter from a Times editor to the woman who yelled “Go back to China!” at his family on the street. In the video above, recount their experiences with racism. One man was once asked, “Is your peripheral vision as good as mine, or better? ’Cause, you know, your eyes. ” ____ 10. Finally, a reader asked if eating fish is good for us just because it replaces red meat. There are other reasons, like: vitamins A, D and B, a host of minerals and protein that is lean and . Fish is also low in saturated fat and cholesterol, but high in fatty acids. Happy eating. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 0 |
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least 800 civilians have been killed in strikes in Iraq and Syria by the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State since the campaign began in 2014, according to a report released by the coalition on Thursday. The estimate in the monthly report, which said coalition strikes had unintentionally killed at least 801 civilians between August 2014 and October 2017, was far lower than figures provided by monitoring groups. The monitoring group Airwars says a total of at least 5,961 civilians have been killed by coalition air strikes. We continue to hold ourselves accountable for actions that may have caused unintentional injury or death to civilians, the coalition said in its report. Since the start of the campaign against Islamic State militants, the coalition has carried out more than 28,000 strikes and has received 1,790 reports of potential civilian casualties, the report said. It was still assessing 695 reports of civilian casualties from strikes it carried out in Iraq and in Syria. The coalition, battling to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, says it goes to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the first two months after a June Supreme Court ruling allowed partial implementation of President Donald Trump’s travel ban, visas issued on average each month to citizens of six countries targeted by the order were 18 percent lower compared to the month prior to the ban, a Reuters analysis of government data shows. The 3,268 visas issued in July and 3,884 visas issued in August to citizens of the six majority-Muslim countries were down from 4,351 issued in June. The July figure was lower than the monthly average at any point since 2007, when an average of 3,080 visas per month were issued to those countries. The lower July and August numbers were especially noteworthy, immigration attorneys say, because a larger number of visas are typically issued in the summer months, as foreign students prepare to arrive in the United States for the fall semester. “We are processing visa applications for nationals of the six affected countries as directed by the Executive Order and to the extent permitted by court decisions,” a State Department official said on condition of anonymity when asked about the lower numbers. The decline comes on top of already plummeting figures for U.S. visas issued to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen after Trump issued an executive order in late January halting entry of travelers from those countries for 90 days. That order, and a more limited form of the ban issued in March, were hamstrung by months of legal challenges until the Supreme Court approved a limited version in June. But in the interim, the State Department issued far fewer visas to travelers from those six countries compared to the number issued in 2016 under the administration of President Barack Obama. On Sunday, Trump issued a third version of the ban, which indefinitely restricts travelers from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea. Certain government officials from Venezuela will also be barred. From March through June, a period when Trump’s order was mostly blocked by the courts, citizens of the six countries were issued an average of 3,929 visas monthly, 42 percent fewer than the 2016 monthly average of 6,799, according to State Department data. After the Supreme Court ruling, that monthly average was 47 percent lower than in 2016. (For a graphic of visas issued to six countries affected by the travel ban, see tmsnrt.rs/2yd6BAA) Trump’s initial travel ban, which barred citizens of the six countries as well as Iraq, sparked chaos and protests at airports around the United States. Issued with little forewarning, the order’s scope was unclear and sowed confusion among travelers as well as authorities responsible for implementing it. Courts quickly enjoined the main parts of the order. Trump eventually issued a new order that excluded Iraq and delayed its enactment to allow the administration and travelers time to prepare. But that order, too, was soon blocked by courts. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court, which allowed a limited version of the ban affecting only those citizens of the six countries lacking “bona fide” ties to the United States. After Trump issued the revised ban on Sunday, the Supreme Court canceled oral arguments scheduled for Oct. 10 to decide whether or not the earlier version of the ban was discriminatory. Even as sharply fewer visas were being issued, the president often complained on social media and in speeches about limits imposed by U.S. courts on the two executive orders establishing the travel ban. “The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!” Trump tweeted on Sept. 15. (Follow Trump’s impact on energy, environment, healthcare, immigration and the economy at The Trump Effect www.reuters.com/trump-effect) Because the State Department only releases data on how many visas are issued and not total application numbers, it is unclear if the drop is due to fewer people applying, or because the administration is denying more applications. In addition, a month-by-month comparison with prior years is not possible because the State Department released only annual numbers – not monthly data - until March of this year. Stephen Pattison, a former U.S. consular official and now an immigration attorney, said he suspects that the huge drop in visas issued is due to fewer people applying rather than higher rejection rates. “Quantifying the chilling effect of the Trump administration’s policies on the international public is hard to do, but I think that’s the biggest impact of what this administration has done,” Pattison said. “This atmosphere is causing bona fide, legitimate travelers to think twice about coming to the United States.” Michael Boos, general counsel for the conservative nonprofit Citizens United, which filed a brief to the Supreme Court in support of the Trump administration in the travel ban case, said the figures show the ban is having its intended effect. “Clearly the purpose of the temporary ban was to reduce the number of visas that would be issued to persons from the affected countries, so it’s not surprising that...when the court reinstated the ban, the number of visas would have dramatically diminished,” Boos said. “If people are deterred from seeking admission to the United States because they’re going to go through a vetting process that’s real and substantial, then maybe they shouldn’t be coming here in the first place.” (This version of the story corrects penultimate paragraph spelling to Michael instead of Michel) | 0 |
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is considering supplying arms to Myanmar s government in a sign of strong support for a neighbor that faces criticism for its crackdown on Rohingya Muslims. The arms were discussed during a visit by the chief of Myanmar s navy, Indian officials said on Thursday. The two sides also talked about training Myanmar sailors on top of the courses taught to its army officers at elite Indian defense institutions. India s decision to discuss enhancing military cooperation with its eastern neighbor appears part of a push to counter Chinese influence in the region. It comes at a time when Western countries are stepping up pressure on Myanmar s government for violence against Rohingya Muslims in its northwestern Rakhine state. Myanmar rejects the charge, saying its forces are tackling insurgents of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army who it has accused of setting fires and attacking civilians. Britain said this week it was suspending its training program for the Myanmar military, demanding it take steps to end the violence against civilians. On Wednesday, the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar navy Admiral Tin Aung San met Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and the chiefs of India s army, navy and air force. The two sides are discussing the supply of offshore patrol boats, a military official said. The Myanmar navy chief also visited the naval ship building site in Mumbai as part of the four-day trip that ends on Thursday. Myanmar is a pillar of our Look East policy and defense is a large part of the relationship, said the official. In 2013, India offered to supply equipment such as artillery guns, radars and night vision devices to Myanmar s army. Since then, the focus has shifted to naval cooperation as India seeks to push back against Chinese influence in the region. The two sides are expected to increase coordinated patrols in the Bay of Bengal that help the two navies operate together. The fact that the Indian government is receiving a high level military officer at a time when the international community is criticizing the military sends out a signal, said K.Yhome who specializes on India s neighborhood policy at the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation. The message is (that) India is with the Myanmar government so far as the Rohingya issue is concerned, he said. Since the crisis erupted in Rakhine last month, New Delhi has been supportive of de facto leader Aung Saan Suu Kyi, condemning insurgent attacks on security forces that prompted a military crackdown against the Rohingya. Only later as international criticism mounted, India expressed concern at the flight of hundreds of thousands of refugees into neighboring Bangladesh. China has also stood by the Myanmar government. This week Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.N. Secretary-General Ant nio Guterres that it supported Myanmar s efforts to protect its national security and opposes recent violent attacks in Rakhine. | 1 |
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia s leftist ELN rebels said on Sunday they are willing to extend a ceasefire set to expire next month if there is sufficient progress at peace talks with the government. The National Liberation Army (ELN) and the government have been in public peace talks in Quito for 10 months, after a long exploratory phase of negotiations, in a bid to end more than 53 years of war. The group s first-ever ceasefire began in October and is set to expire Jan. 9. It is being supervised by the Catholic Church and the United Nations. We are willing to agree a new ceasefire once we have jointly evaluated at the negotiating table the progress, confidence and results of the current one, the group said in an open letter to the U.N. posted on the ELN s Twitter account. The ELN added that it would also assess the government s willingness to overcome hurdles at the talks. The 2,000-strong ELN, which has regularly bombed oil infrastructure and taken hostages, has continued kidnapping despite the ceasefire. An indigenous leader in Choco province died in October after being detained by the group. | 0 |
This is outrageous and someone needs to put this right-wing nut job in her place.Rather than applaud Khizr Khan for standing up to hate and bigotry as he celebrated the Constitution and America, right-wing radio host Sandy Rios did something even worse than Ann Coulter in response. You know what this convention really needed? An angry Muslim with a thick accent like Fareed Zacaria, Coulter wrote on Twitter. Of course, even conservatives slammed Coulter for her shameful words.But Rios, who works for the American Family Association hate organization, went further than Coulter by questioning Khan s loyalty to America and even had the gall to question the loyalty of his son, who died for this country to save the American soldiers under his command in Iraq. If you are so concerned, Mr. Khan, if you re an American first, then distinguish yourself and condemn Islamists, condemn the Muslim Brotherhood, then we will listen to you, and stop waving the Constitution, Rios said before claiming that Muslims cannot truly practice Islam and live under the Constitution and accusing Khan of lying. As far as I can tell, Islam, truly, supporters of Islam and the Quran, cannot embrace the Constitution. Now, if you have a different view, then explain that to us and then maybe we can be persuaded, but don t shame America for having genuine and rightful concerns about Muslims in our midst when we have no idea who they are or what they really believe, and we re not even sure about you, sir, because we know about taqiyya, which is the practice of lying to the infidel in order to advance the Muslim cause. First of all, this man lost his son in Iraq so it s safe to say he condemns terrorists. What Rios is employing is the Trump and Republican claim that simply saying the words radical Islam will magically make ISIS disappear and they are claiming that anyone who doesn t say it isn t a real patriot.Donald Trump made that same claim when he questioned President Obama s loyalty to America back in June in the wake of the Orlando mass shooting. Look, we re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he s got something else in mind, Trump told Fox News. There s something going on. It s inconceivable. There s something going on. He doesn t get it or he gets it better than anybody understands it s one or the other and either one is unacceptable. But Rios didn t stop there. She also questioned the loyalty of Khan s son Humayun, who proudly wore the uniform and flag of this country and posthumously received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his heroic actions on the day he was killed. So I m sorry, we ll not be shamed. I m sorry for the loss of their son and I hope he is a loyal American. But I think a loyal American Muslim would be more like Zuhdi Jasser, who is very clear about where he stands, who was very patriotic and loyal and totally distances himself from Islamism, so if that s the case for this gentleman, then he should ve said that on the platform rather than shaming us for having concerns about Muslim immigration. Here s the audio via Right Wing Watch.I would say that this is a new low for conservatives but they have already hit rock bottom. The fact is that members of ISIS WANT us to refer to them as followers of Islam because they want legitimacy. But they are not real followers of Islam. They have simply co-opted the religion in an effort to justify their violent cause and they do not represent the over one billion peaceful Muslims in the world. Basically, Rios expects every Muslim to take a loyalty oath, which is exactly what Donald Trump wants to do to any Muslim seeking refuge within our shores.This is pure hate and bigotry and it has no place in our society. If anyone is violating the Constitution it is the likes of Rios and Trump who think that only Christianity is protected by it. But the Constitution protects freedom of religion. That means all religions, even Islam.And Rios should be removed from the airwaves for even suggesting that Khan and his son are not loyal to this country. He and his son have sacrificed more for this country than she ever has or ever will.Featured Image: Screenshot | 0 |
Officers with U. S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized drugs worth more than $7, 200, 000 on one day at the Port of Nogales in Nogales, Arizona. Nogales shares a border with Sonora, Mexico, and is Arizona’s largest border city. [On Saturday afternoon, a drug detection officer alerted on a tractor trailer carrying bell peppers at the Mariposa Commercial Facility. CBP officers took the produce off of the tractor and discovered that the Mexican driver had 13, 700 pounds of marijuana hidden in the produce. The drugs have an estimated street value of $6. 85 million. Officers at the Dennis DeConcini Crossing also busted a Mexican man. His vehicle was referred to be inspected when he reached the border crossing. A CBP canine alerted on the Ford SUV, and officers found more than 34 pounds of cocaine hidden in the back seats. Officials estimate the value of the drug at almost $386, 000. Officers seized the vehicles used to transport the contraband along with the drugs. Officers arrested the suspected drug smugglers turned them over to special agents from U. S. Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Nogales provides ports of entry for vehicular, pedestrian, and airport traffic. In April, Breitbart Texas reported that border officials arrested a Mexican woman after she was found to be carrying the highly dangerous drug, fentanyl, in a baby stroller that was also carrying two small children. CBP officers at the Nogales Port of Entry observed the woman crossing the pedestrian lanes. They directed her to a secondary inspection station where a officer alerted to the possible presence of drugs in the stroller. “Fentanyl can kill you,” DEA Deputy Administrator Jack Riley advised in a statement sent to law enforcement officers in 2015. “Fentanyl is being sold as heroin in virtually every corner of our country. It’s produced clandestinely in Mexico, and (also) comes directly from China. It is 40 to 50 times stronger than heroin. A very small amount ingested, or absorbed through your skin, can kill you,” he said. Breitbart Texas reported in late January that a previously deported Italian mobster was caught trying to sneak into the country through Nogales. Salvatore Marciante had been previously deported after serving time in federal prison for drug trafficking and violent assaults. The Italian drug Mafia mobster had been a permanent legal resident living in New York until he was convicted in 1995 and lost his legal status. After he had served time, officials deported him back to Italy. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook. | 0 |
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Friday it believed North Korea was behind the WannaCry cyber attack in May that disrupted businesses and government services worldwide, including the National Health Service (NHS) in England. Security Minister Ben Wallace said Britain believed quite strongly that the ransomware attack came from a foreign state. "North Korea was the state that we believe was involved in this worldwide attack on our systems," he told BBC radio. We can be as sure as possible - I can t obviously go into the detailed intelligence but it is widely believed in the community and across a number of countries that North Korea had taken this role. WannaCry infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries in a matter of days, demanding victims pay ransoms starting at $300 to regain access to their machines. Cyber security researchers quickly identified a possible link to North Korea. More than a third of England s 236 NHS trusts and an estimated 19,000 appointments were affected, Britain s National Audit Office said on Friday in a report on the attack. It said WannaCry was a relatively unsophisticated attack that could have been prevented by the NHS had it followed basic IT security best practice. No NHS organization paid the ransom but the government does not know how much the disruption to services cost the NHS, it said. Wallace said Britain needed to redouble its efforts to strengthen cyber security. It s a salient lesson for us all that all of us, from individuals to governments to large organizations, have a role to play in maintaining the security of our networks, he said. | 1 |
CHICAGO —Donald Trump, the GOP presidential front-runner, on Saturday first blamed "thugs" for his decision to cancel a rally in Chicago over alleged security concerns and then said supporters of his Democratic rivals caused disruptions there.
"It is (Hillary) Clinton and (Bernie) Sanders people who disrupted my rally in Chicago - and then they say I must talk to my people," Trump tweeted. "Phony politicians!"
"Obviously, while I appreciate that we had supporters at Trump’s rally in Chicago, our campaign did not organize the protests," the Vermont senator said in a statement. “What caused the violence at Trump’s rally is a campaign whose words and actions have encouraged it on the part of his supporters."
The Chicago Police Department said on that four men and a woman were arrested at the rally after brief scuffles broke out at the event at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion. Four of the individuals were still in police custody on Saturday morning but had not yet been charged, said Officer Jose Estrada, a department spokesman. One individual was given an ordinance citation and released.
However, CBS News said its reporter, Sopan Deb, was detained by law enforcement while covering the scene.
Another man, activist William Calloway, said he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing. Calloway said police told him they arrested him because he failed to immediately exit the arena after the rally was canceled and guests were ordered to exit. The police department, however, said he was not among the five they had taken into custody. Calloway said that he was arrested by UIC campus police.
Calloway played a prominent role in the court-ordered release of a police video of a white officer fatally shooting a black teenager, which triggered months of protests in the city. Calloway said he believes that his role in the McDonald case may have factored into police detaining him. He said police released him about three hours after taking him into custody.
"They knew who I was," Calloway said in a phone interview Saturday.
Anthony Guglielmi, a police department spokesman, said the Trump campaign did not consult the police department before canceling. "The decision was made by the campaign on its own," Guglielmi said.
Trump held a rally in the Dayton suburb of Vandalia Saturday afternoon and planned an event in Cleveland ahead of primary voting in Ohio on Tuesday. Trump denied some media reports that a rally in Cincinnati on Sunday had been canceled.
On Twitter, Trump blamed the protesters for Friday's canceled rally. "The organized group of people, many of them thugs, who shut down our First Amendment rights in Chicago, have totally energized America!" he said on Twitter.
At the Dayton rally, Trump said some of the people taunting and harassing his supporters in Chicago "represented Bernie, our communist friend."
"With Bernie, he should really get up and say to his people, 'stop, stop.' Not me," Trump said.
Chaos ensued after organizers announced at 6:30 p.m. that Trump, who never arrived at the pavilion, had scrubbed the event. Some protesters rushed the arena floor in celebration, many shouting, "Bernie, Bernie" and "We stopped Trump!"
Police ejected at least a half dozen anti-Trump demonstrators, including one man who got onto the stage and approached the podium.
Joe Fritz, 20, who came to hear Trump speak, said a woman punched him outside the arena after the rally was canceled.
He said the woman, who was with a girl about 10 years old, landed a glancing blow to his chin after he questioned her for yelling epithets toward police and about Trump. "I told her, 'What kind of example are you setting?'" Fritz said.
Fritz said he and his friend were then surrounded by other anti-Trump protesters who screamed at them before police pulled them out of the crowd.
Still, the pushing and shoving was brief, and some protesters said security concerns were overstated.
"(Trump) felt us tonight and felt our power tonight," said Angelica Salazar, 30, of West Chicago, Ill. Salazar, who went to speak out against Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric, said she did not feel unsafe.
Matthew Ross, a Chicago activist, said suggestions from Trump that protesters presented a security risk don't hold up.
"Have you seen what his supporters have incited at their rallies?" asked Ross, who said a Trump supporter threw water on him after it was announced that the rally was canceled. "I think what [Trump] is doing is inciting violence."
Afterward, Trump spoke by phone with several news networks and described many anti-Trump protesters, including those at previous rallies, as violent. "I just don't want people hurt," he told MSNBC.
Trump has been criticized about violent comments he and his supporters have made on the campaign trail. When attendees at an event in November kicked a Black Lives Matter activist, Trump said, "Maybe he should have been roughed up."
Another supporter, John McGraw, sucker-punched a protester at a rally Wednesday in North Carolina. McGraw later told Inside Edition that "we might have to kill him" next time the protester shows up.
Trump insisted that anti-Trump protesters were instigating incidents at his events. “I certainly don’t incite violence," he said.
“If a protester is swinging a fist at a man or a group of men, and if they end up going back," he said, "I’m not looking to do him any favors."
Trump's rivals for the GOP nomination quickly weighed in on the uproar.
Sen. Marco Rubio, speaking Saturday in Florida, blamed the rhetoric of the front-runner for the violence, and the media for ignoring his "offensive" statements for too long.
"This is what happen when a leading presidential candidate goes around feeding into a narrative of anger and bitterness and frustration," Rubio said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump's closest rival in the race, noted that "in any campaign, responsibility starts at the top."
"When the candidate urges supporters to engage in physical violence, to punch people in the face, the predictable consequence of that is that it escalates," Cruz told reporters in Illinois. "Today is unlikely to be the last such incidence."
"Some let their opposition to his views slip beyond protest into violence, but we can never let that happen," the Ohio governor said in a statement.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton said the "divisive rhetoric" of the Trump campaign should be of "grave concern."
"We all have our differences, and we know many people across the country feel angry," Clinton said in a statement. "We need to address that anger together." | 1 |
21st Century Wire says News broke Sunday night that Meredith Corp., publisher of Better Homes & Gardens and other popular magazine brands, agreed to purchase all of Time Inc. s assets in a cash deal valued at $2.8 billion.Grabbing all the headlines is the $650 million investment from Koch Equity Development (KED). This is the private equity firm of Charles and David Koch, aka the Koch Brothers. According to the company s official press release, KED will not have a seat on Meredith s board and will have no influence on Meredith s editorial or managerial operations. Zero Hedge reports the deal gives the conservative billionaires a stake in one of America s best-known publishers. And that is what is giving the Left mainstream media nightmares and creating widespread panic and hysteria on social media:Great. The Koch brothers are about to be co-owners of TIME, Inc. How long til TIME, People and Sports Illustrated are pushing stories about how much better life would be if we canceled Social Security and Medicare? Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) November 27, 2017It remains to be seen how the editorial of these publications will be affected by Koch money. When the news broke in 2013 that Amazon.com founder and Bilderberg member Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post, we started asking some questions at the time. We re starting to see how it will play out.What we do know thus far about the Meredith/Time news all the crazed paranoia around this deal exposes, yet again, how the mainstream, corporate power media likes to think their version of mass media is so influential. At the same time, discounting the ability of everyday citizens to think for themselves, and not be spoon fed whatever gets pushed out through the echo chambers of many of these failing and lost print magazine empires.Let s not forget it was Time Magazine that started selling ad space on their covers shortly after they were spun off from Time Warner back in 2014.We thought this story by Bloomberg Rothschild s Koch Connection Pays Off in Pursuit of Time Inc. was an interesting angle.Watch this space READ MORE MEDIA CRITIQUE AT: 21st Century Wire Media Cog FilesSUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE NOW & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 0 |
BNI Store Nov 3 2016 NY elementary school calls off mock election because students were chanting “Trump” and “We don’t want Muslims here” Jericho Elementary School in Centereach, New York, announced it had scrapped the mock vote that was due to take place this Friday after some young students started chanting “Trump” and repeated ‘negative rhetoric about Muslims.’ ABC News (h/t Susan K) Principal Glen Rogers revealed the decision was made after teachers complained about what some children had been chanting around the school and in the cafeteria. Teachers have said they’ve heard some kids in the cafeteria chanting “Trump! Trump! Trump!” or saying they don’t want Muslims here,’ Roger said. ‘I mean, kids often repeat what they hear on the TV or the news, but it doesn’t mean it’s OK. (In other words, you don’t think the First Amendment is OK) “We have a diverse community here. We want all our students to feel valued.” (So we don’t become the target of an Islamic terrorist attack?) ‘It’s important for our students to be able to express their opinions, but it’s also important for them to be informed about it and not just repeating what they happen to hear,’ Rogers said. (Especially if it goes against the Democrat talking points. This IS New York, after all) | 1 |
February 4, 2016, in Charleston, SC.
And this? April 16, 2016 at Southwest College, Los Angeles.
And this, less than two months ago on Sept. 11, 2016?
On Thursday, October 26, 2016, Hillary was in Lake Worth, Florida for a rally.
She walks up to the cheering crowd, as a bearded guy in sunglasses hurries to her side.
He extends his left hand to Hillary; she clutches it tightly. The man then helps her to make a step up onto the platform.
Just one step.
Here’s the video:
Later that day, Hillary leaves Florida for another rally in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
Walking up a flight of 15 steps to board her campaign plane, while holding an umbrella in her left hand and clutching the handrail with her right, and “mumbling to herself” (according to Live Satellite News ), Hillary appears to be wobbly and unsteady. Halfway up the steps, she stumbles, tilting her umbrella down (0:17 mark).
Hillary turned 69 two days ago on October 26, but moves like a disabled old woman. | 1 |
Subscribe
In politics, the Third Way is a position that tries to reconcile right-wing Republican Party and left-wing Democratic Party politics by advocating a synthesis of right-wing economic and left-wing social policies. It was created as a re-evaluation of center-left political ideals in response to international doubt regarding the viability of interventionist (Keynesian) economic policies versus the economic libertarianism of the New Right. The Third Way is promoted by some social democratic and liberal movements.
One of the significant factors concerning the 2016 Democratic Party presidential race is that corporate Democrats are scared of Bernie Sanders’ quick rise in popularity in the Democratic Party. This explains why corporate Democrats support Hillary Clinton.
In political campaigns, you have to follow the money. Third Way has been very secretive about where its think tank funding comes from. However, several investigative journalists have uncovered some of the donors and they are not surprising: The Chamber of Commerce The Business Round Table AT&T
These are just a few donors to the Third Way. There is also a laundry list of hedge funds that are donating money. The bottom line is that Third Way is backed by Wall Street titans, corporate money, congressional allies, and corporate Democrats like Hillary Clinton. It is important to note that these same corporate factions also donate to the Republican Party. The existence of Third Way should not come as a surprise. There are essentially no economic differences between a corporate Democrat and a Republican. ‘Third Way’ Members Are Backroom-Cigar-Smoking Wall Street Types.
Third Way and its members would like to see politicians like Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) disappear. Why do Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party scare the hell out of corporate Democrats?
There is the issue of labels in modern day politics. The Third Way Democrats, the Blue-Dog Democrats, the Wall Street Democrats are all centrist in their ideology. It begs the question: Who is in charge of the Democratic Party right now?
Until something drastic happens like electing a Democratic Socialist non-establishment politician like Bernie Sanders, the truth is the Democratic Party is controlled by Wall Street just like the Republican Party. There is much talk how the Republican Party is falling apart. The Tea Party has taken over, and the fringe is now the GOP mainstream.
There is a similar fight taking place in the Democratic party between people who care (like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren), who are concerned about the middle class and working people of America, and corporate centrist Democrats like Hillary Clinton whose economic policies are not much different than the Republicans.
Third Way President Jonathan Cowan , who claims he is a Democrat, is joined at the hip with Wall Street and is a poster boy for the right wing-oriented Chamber of Commerce. He and his Third Way organization have done nothing for labor unions. This guy is a Republican in a Democrat’s clothing.
The 2016 Democratic presidential race will go a long way in determining if the Democrats reject this corporate agenda. The corporate Democratic Party think tank has submitted over 70 policy proposals they want corporate Democrat Hillary Clinton to take up. The new populist movement by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is not welcomed by corporate centrist Democrats. Third Way are trying as hard as they can to force Bernie Sanders out of the race. They have tried to put a muzzle on Elizabeth Warren.
Third Way’s position is that someone who is left of center (a Democratic Socialist, liberal, or progressive) will lose by a landslide in the general election. What is ironic is that every major poll right now shows that Bernie Sanders would beat Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, and Ted Cruz. Moreover, these polls show Bernie Sanders beating these flavor-of-the-week Republicans by a larger margin than the centrist corporate choice Hillary Clinton in the swing states .
Bernie Sanders’ campaign has the potential to change the dynamics of the entire electorate. His campaign is getting young voters’ attention and more importantly, getting them involved in the political process. Bernie has already gotten the endorsement from the American Postal Service Workers Union . Several African American politicians are backing Sanders. Independent voters are choosing Sanders over Hillary Clinton by a wide margin. The truth is Bernie Sanders’ voting base is growing while the corporate centrist Democratic base is stagnant at best.
These facts have caused the Democratic Party Wall Street types to panic and to start attacking Bernie Sanders on being too far left . Plus, who better to lead the charge than pre-ordained corporate Democrat Hillary Clinton?
One of the major problems the Democratic Party has faced is that huge blocks of potential Democratic voters have become disenfranchised from the voting process because they feel there is no real difference between the two parties. They feel that elections are rigged, and their votes don’t count . What Bernie Sanders’ run for president has re-energized these voting blocks.
Polls have shown 60 percent of Americans feel Hillary Clinton is untrustworthy and dishonest . Many liberal progressive Democrats don’t trust Hillary Clinton at all.
Granted, there are some major social issues where there is a stark contrast between the two parties. But with issues that deal with low- and middle-earning families being able to feed their children and everyday Americans having a better quality of life, it is fair to say there are no real differences between the Republican Party and the corporate Democrats.
One of the main reasons for this paradox is organizations like Third Way. Corporate Democrats like Hillary Clinton want that Wall Street money. Their belief is you cannot win if you don’t have Wall Street donors and Super Pacs. Bernie Sanders’ campaign is proving that this assumption is not true. Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008 showed this wasn’t true. There is little doubt in this writer’s mind that Hillary Clinton and her corporate Democrat buddies are feeling 2008 deja vu all over again.
Featured Image By DonkeyHotey via Flickr available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license. About Johnny Hill
Johnny Hill is a freelance writer who has extensive experience in writing for sales, marketing and advertising. He has a background in radio broadcasting which is showcased in the music mixes he creates for his Facebook page, "One Nation Under the Groove." Johnny has been an avid and life long student of politics . He is the founder of the House of Public Discourse Political Organization, which he created as a platform for his progressive liberal ideology. You can follow Johnny on Twitter, @hillj60. Connect | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on cyber security on Tuesday, two sources familiar with the situation said, marking the first action to address what he has called a top priority of his administration. The order is expected to commission several different reviews of the government’s offensive and defensive cyber capabilities, according to one of the sources and a third briefed on a draft of the order that circulated last week. The move follows a presidential campaign that was dominated by running storylines related to cyber security, including the hacking and subsequent leaking of Democratic emails as part of what U.S. intelligence agencies determined was a wide-ranging influence operation intended to help Trump win the White House and denigrate his challenger, Democrat Hillary Clinton. For months Trump refused to accept the conclusions of the agencies that Russia was responsible, before stating at a press conference on January 11 that, “as far as hacking I think it was Russia.” In his answer, Trump, then the president-elect, pivoted to say that “we also get hacked by other countries, and other people” while vowing to launch a government-wide review of vulnerabilities to cyber attacks. The order is expected to also initiate a audit of several federal agencies’ cyber capabilities, seek input on how to improve protections for critical infrastructure, and review government efforts to attract and train a technically sophisticated workforce, according to two of the sources briefed on the draft, which was first published by the Washington Post. The draft order would also seek ways to give the private sector incentives to adopt strong security measures. | 1 |
Friday 4 November 2016 by Davywavy NewsThump declared an Enemy of the People
Treasonous lickspittle “comedy” website NewsThump has been declared an Enemy of the People today after expressing a general preference for the supremacy of Parliament.
The site, which was run by a cabal of international financiers, homosexuals and fencers from a light industrial estate just outside Kettering, treacherously suggested that a system of checks and balances within a Democracy was a pretty good idea and were immediately denounced by popular tribunes for their sedition.
Contributors to the site have been accused of supporting foreign interests, including buying expensive continental lagers in preference to Carling.
Managing Editor, Simon Williams, has been taken into custody and will be tried and hanged – because it’s important to have a trial even when the outcome isn’t in doubt.
A new editor has been democratically elected and will only run popular comedy stories, including the hilarious ‘Purge Parliament of Perfidy!’, “Buy British-made jams to further strengthen our economic progress!”, and “Let us thoroughly implement our Party’s policy of putting all the people under arms and turning the whole country into a fortress!”, which Kim Jong-Un has given his generous permission to use.
Speaking to reporters from loyal publications, a spokesman for The People explained that ‘The so-called law’ was merely ‘advisory’ and should be set aside at times when more important considerations over-ruled it.
“Yes, yes, Britain has a ‘constitution’ and ‘laws’ and ‘checks and balances’, but these are outdated, petty ideas from a less civilised time; a barbaric holdover from the past,” he explained.
“From now on we’ll just hold a vote on everything people want. There’s going to be one on Tuesday about everyone getting a pony.
“And if I’ve not got my free pony by Friday, heads will roll, let me tell you.” | 0 |
DENPASAR, Indonesia (Reuters) - Bali airport will reopen on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said, two days after a volcanic eruption spread ash across the island and forced the airport to close. The airport will reopen at 3 p.m. (0700 GMT) | 0 |
The CEO of outdoor clothing giant Patagonia is burnishing her anti-Republican bona fides again, this time saying she intends to pledge her entire company to the resistance of President Donald Trump.Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario recently attacked President Trump for his statements about rolling back President Obama s unusually aggressive campaign of confiscating millions of acres of state lands and claiming them as national monuments. We have to fight like hell to keep every inch of public land, Marcario said in a May article at Huffpost. I don t have a lot of faith in politics and politicians right now. In an effort to prevent citizens from retaking possession of their state lands, one of her immediate actions will be to sue the Trump administration for its efforts to scale back Obama s unprecedented land grab. A president does not have the authority to rescind a national monument, Marcario said in an April 26 statement after Trump announced his national monuments order. An attempt to change the boundaries ignores the review process of cultural and historical characteristics and the public input. In particular, the Trump administration is preparing to revisit Obama s order to create the Bears Ears National Monument. In April, Trump issued an executive order requiring the Department of the Interior to review Obama s actions on national monuments. Ordering Interior Secretary Ray Zinke to review Obama s policies in April, President Trump called Obama s move an egregious abuse of federal power. Many state governments fully agree with Trump s assessment and were furious when Obama swooped in from Washington and stole away millions of acres of land from state control to create new national monuments and parks.A poll of residents of Utah, for instance, showed that 60 percent opposed Obama s land grab, while only 33 percent supported it.This is far from the first time the sportswear company pledged its profits to political matters. Last year, the California-based company spent over $1 million for a get-out-the-vote campaign to defeat Donald Trump and Republicans. BreitbartPatagonia is an accredited and founding member of the Fair Labor Association; its website is as much an educational tool about environmental and social responsibility filled with information on issues such as preservation of land in Chile, labeling GMO products, and responsible sourcing as it is an online store. In a note launching the company s food division, Patagonia Provisions, company founder Yvon Chouinard restated the brand s central ethos: We aim to make the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, and perhaps most important, inspire solutions to the environmental crisis. And yet, despite these aspirations, four years ago internal audits turned up multiple instances of human trafficking, forced labor, and exploitation in Patagonia s supply chain, according to Cara Chacon, the company s director of social and environmental responsibility, and Thuy Nguyen, the manager of supply chain social responsibility and special programs. | 0 |
(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump met with auto executives on Tuesday and gave the energy industry a boost with action on pipelines. Highlights of the day follow: Trump signs orders smoothing the path for the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, aiming to expand energy infrastructure and roll back key Obama administration environmental actions. Trump is expected to sign executive orders starting on Wednesday that include a temporary ban on most refugees and a suspension of visas for citizens of Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries, according to several congressional aides and immigration experts briefed on the matter. Trump urges the chief executives of General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to build more cars in the country. Trump signs an executive order directing that the permitting process and regulatory burden for domestic manufacturers should be streamlined to reduce what he calls an “incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible” system. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Agriculture Department will hold off on some rules as part of a freeze on regulations imposed by the Trump administration, trade groups say. Trump’s administration has moved since last week to curb the flow of information from several government agencies whose mandate affects environmental issues, in actions that appear designed to tighten control and discourage dissenting views. {nL1N1FE5FE] Trump, poised to restore the Supreme Court’s conservative majority, says he will announce his choice next week to fill the seat left vacant since the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia more than 11 months ago, with three federal appeals court judges among those under close consideration. Trump intends to retain FBI Director James Comey amid reports that law enforcement and intelligence agencies are scrutinizing Trump associates over their ties to Russia. The U.S. Senate votes overwhelmingly to confirm South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as ambassador to the United Nations. Representative Tom Price, Trump’s nominee for health secretary, tells a Senate panel he wants to ensure people with pre-existing conditions have access to insurance and he does not support Medicare privatization. Mexico could pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement if a renegotiation of terms does not benefit the country, its economy minister says. The White House says Trump stands by his belief that millions of people voted illegally in the presidential election but offered no evidence to support the contention. | 1 |
GENEVA (Reuters) - Fighting and air strikes have intensified in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, where roads are blocked and tanks are deployed on many streets, trapping civilians and halting delivery of vital aid including fuel to supply clean water, the United Nations said on Monday. Some of the fiercest clashes are around the diplomatic area near the U.N. compound, while aid flights in and out of Sanaa airport have been suspended, the world body said in a statement following its appeal for a humanitarian pause on Tuesday. The escalating situation threatens to push the barely functioning basic services ... to a standstill. These services have already been seriously compromised with the latest shock of the impact of the blockade, it said, adding that fighting had also spread to other governorates, such as Hajjah. | 0 |
Obama brings two gas guzzlers on a sightseeing trip just another day in the life of preezy It s really easy to spend someone else s money, isn t it? In this case, it s YOUR money! The really ironic thing is that Obama likes to preach about global warming HummmPresident Obama brought along a second, smaller Air Force One for his family to enjoy a day of sightseeing in Argentina on Thursday.After dancing the tango at a state dinner in Buenos Aires Wednesday night, the president and first lady Michelle Obama took their daughters aboard the government plane colloquially known as baby Air Force One Thursday to fly to the scenic town of Bariloche in southern Argentina. It s a Boeing 757 used when traveling to places where the runway is too short for the primary Air Force One.The larger Air Force One, a 747-200, was parked alongside the smaller plane at the airport in Buenos Aires, according to pool reporters traveling with the president. It costs about $206,000 per hour to fly the larger plane, which the president is expected to use for the 10-plus-hour flight back to Washington late Thursday night.It s common for the government to have a backup plane available when the president travels, although not often for a family sightseeing excursion.Bariloche is a lakeside resort town nestled in the foothills of the Andes mountains, famous for its chocolates and Swiss-style architecture.Bariloche is also well-known for having served as a sort of haven for Nazis on the run after World War II. Several top former Nazis, including Dr. Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death from the Auschwitz death camp, are believed to have sought refuge there in the decades after the war.Via: WT | 1 |
SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - When a 17-year-old Bollywood actress took to social media this week alleging she was sexually assaulted on an airplane, she appeared to catch the airline industry off-guard. Her allegations - denied by the man accused of the assault on a domestic Vistara flight in India - triggered online outrage and prompted a rare police investigation. The incident, coming shortly after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg s sister Randi, a Silicon Valley executive, said via social media that she had been a victim of sexual harassment on an Alaska Airlines flight, highlights a risk to airlines: they need to do more than just respond once an incident goes public and their brand comes under fire. It s a global issue and every country has to deal with the fallout, said Saj Ahmad, a London-based analyst at Strategic Aero Research. Being prepared to address passenger concerns rather than being reactive to social media complaints will arguably help address these problems in real time. Most people Reuters contacted about in-flight sexual misconduct, against passengers and crew - including airlines, flight attendant unions and airline training consultants - said incidents are vastly under-reported. Last year, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), airlines globally reported just 211 instances of inappropriate sexual behavior . That s among 3.8 billion passengers on more than 40 million flights. In a statement, IATA said fewer than half those cases were reported to the authorities, which is why there are so few police investigations. Victims are required to press charges, the airline can t do that for them, said Taylor Garland, spokeswoman for the U.S. Association of Flight Attendants. We believe under-reporting occurs. Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, said the IATA data needs to be viewed with caution as event descriptions are not always standardized and there are significant variations in the level of voluntary reporting by airlines. With regard to incidents involving sexual harassment, ranging from verbal intimidation to actual physical assault, these are relatively rare, but always taken seriously, he said. Among nearly two dozen major airlines contacted by Reuters, only Japan Airlines Co Ltd gave actual figures on incidents of sexual harassment on its flights: around 10-20 a year, with police called in on some cases. Suhaila Hassan, head of cabin crew at Malaysia-based budget airline AirAsia Bhd, said there had been no reported cases of passenger-on-passenger harassment, though there were occasional instances of cabin crew being harassed. She said it was possible some incidents were not reported to the airline. That could be the case because of the culture. People feel shy and embarrassed if revealed, she said. The airlines comments fit with broader studies that estimate three of every four sexual harassment incidents in the workplace in United States go unreported. In Asia, there s less of a culture of public discourse on sexual harassment. We tend to have a culture where ... people don t generally speak up, said Jason Tan, a former Singapore Airlines flight attendant who works as a consultant training cabin crews in Asia and the Middle East. Victims tend to suffer in silence. ElsaMarie D Silva, a former flight attendant at Jet Airways, now runs a website crowdsourcing cases of sexual harassment and abuse. She said cases are under-reported in India because of the associated shame and a culture where the onus is on the victim to prove the allegations. The time has come for Indian aviation to take this more seriously, she said. Most airlines train their cabin crews to deal with a broad category of unruly passenger incidents - ranging from physical abuse and obscene behavior to verbal threats and tampering with aircraft equipment. Crews are trained in these incidents, but to a limited extent, said Philip Baum, managing director of Green Light, an aviation security training firm and consultancy. Most cabin crew security courses around the world are completed in one day. Some take two days. There are so many scenarios, you could spend a week just going through all the types of unruly passenger. According to IATA, a third of almost 10,000 unruly passenger incidents reported last year involved intoxication. Just 2 percent were of inappropriate sexual behavior. While such incidents are rare, our crew are highly trained to manage any situation which may be dangerous or threatening, said a spokeswoman for European budget airline easyJet. American Airlines recently decided to provide enhanced training in sexual harassment matters as part of a broader diversity and inclusion drive, a spokeswoman said, declining to give further details. And United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz this week told the carrier s over 90,000 employees there was zero tolerance for sexual harassment of customers or staff, according to a memo on the airline s website, but he did not specify any extra training. A survey by the U.S. Association of Flight Attendants this year found a fifth of cabin crew respondents had experienced a passenger-to-passenger assault while working on a flight. The union has expressed concern that policies related to passenger sexual misconduct are rarely highlighted. More than half those surveyed said they had no knowledge of specific policies. The same appears to apply in India, too, said Satvik Varma, a New Delhi-based independent litigation lawyer. There s no lack of regulations, he said. What we re grappling with here is a lack of implementation and a lack of knowledge of these regulations. | 1 |
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A leading European rights watchdog called on Turkey on Friday to ease post-coup state of emergency laws that have seen thousands arrested and restore power to regional authorities. President Tayyip Erdogan has overseen a mass purge in the armed forces and the judiciary, as well as a crackdown on critics including academics and journalists since a failed military coup in July last year. An advisory body to the Council of Europe, of which Turkey is a member, acknowledged in a report the need for certain extraordinary steps taken by Turkish authorities to face a dangerous armed conspiracy . However...Turkish authorities have interpreted these extraordinary powers too extensively, said the experts, known as the Venice Commission, in an opinion that has no legal force. It urged Ankara to lift laws allowing it to pick mayors, deputy mayors and members of local councils outside of local elections, a reference to rules the Turkish government has used to replace local pro-Kurdish politicians across the largely Kurdish southeast of the country. The experts at the Council of Europe, Europe s leading human rights organization with 47 member states, recommended Turkey set a time limit on the emergency rules and ensure proper judicial oversight of any counter-terrorism measures. Erdogan has accused U.S.-based, Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the coup, in which 250 people were killed. Gulen has denied involvement. Since then, more than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial over links to Gulen, while 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the public and private sectors. Rights groups and Turkey s Western allies - including the European Union - have been taken aback by the scale of the purge, sounding alarm that Erdogan was using the coup as a pretext to quash dissent. The government in Turkey, a NATO member, says it must neutralize the threat represented by Gulen s network deeply rooted in the army, schools and courts. | 0 |
Email
In case this election wasn’t already infuriating enough, here’s something that’s really going to make your blood boil. With hours to go before polls close, voter watchdog groups across the country are reporting that many laser tag establishments are staying open today.
This is seriously alarming news.
In what appears to be a concerted effort to prevent Americans from casting their ballots on time, dozens of laser tag locations are keeping normal business hours on Election Day, inviting one and all to enjoy nonstop laser tag action with all the coolest terrain and equipment.
If true, this could represent voter suppression on an unprecedented, scarcely conceivable scale. It’s appalling to see laser tag places—some of them located within blocks of polling stations in swing states—deploying everything from signs to roadside billboards to social media posts in an attempt to stop Americans from exercising their civic duty. Just take a look at this truly disgusting tweet:
George Washington is rolling over in his grave right now.
According to Leanne Holst, spokesman for the watchdog group Voter Vigilance, laser tag may only be the tip of the iceberg.
“Some of these laser tag facilities are continuing to operate roller rinks, 18-hole mini golf courses, and go-kart tracks in a shameless ploy to lure voters as far as possible from the booths,” said Holst. “It’s an utterly transparent tactic, and the saddest thing is just how effective it can be. Laser tag arenas represent a grave, immediate threat to the democratic process.”
Below, via Voter Vigilance, is a partial, ongoing list of laser tag places that have not closed for Election Day, and several with the sheer audacity to offer off-peak, daytime discounts. Lightspeed Go-Karts & Laser Tag (Greenfield, WI) Code Red Laser Tag (Dallas-Fort Worth, TX) Laser Tag Kingdom (Monroe, NH) QZAR (Carle Place, NY) Laser Quest (numerous locations nationwide) Zap Zone (Sterling Heights, MI) Battle Blast Laser Tag (Las Vegas, NV) Lazer Kraze Laser Tag (Erlanger, KY)
If you know of a laser tag place in your district that remains open today, do not be silent. Post their names and pictures in the comments so that we can put a stop to this assault on democracy before any further damage is done. | 1 |
A joint law enforcement task force arrested a previously deported criminal alien and his brother for allegedly transporting nearly 200 pounds of methamphetamine. [U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents teamed up with deputies from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to arrest two brothers who were allegedly smuggling a large volume of methamphetamine, according to information obtained by Breitbart Texas from ICE officials. The task force attempted to arrested Jayor 34, a Mexican national with a prior criminal history that includes prison time and at least two deportations, and his brother Hernan 28, after observing them loading a suspicious box into one of their vehicles. Officials listed the younger brother as a Phoenix resident. The made no mention of his citizenship, nationality, or immigration status. Officers surveilling the two brothers followed them to a storage facility where they removed a large box and placed it into Jayro’s SUV. After following the two vehicles for several miles, officers attempted to stop both vehicles. Hernan stopped his vehicle, but Jayro fled from the law enforcement officers in his SUV. During the pursuit, Jayro allegedly caused two traffic collisions. After the second crash, Jayro abandoned his vehicle and fled on foot. Officers quickly caught up with the illegal alien and placed him in custody. An inspection of his vehicle revealed a large box containing nearly 200 pounds of methamphetamine. Officers arrested the two men and seized the drugs and vehicles. Court records obtained by Breitbart Texas reveal that immigration officials deported Jayro on at least two previous occasions. Border Patrol agents apprehended the Mexican national on at least three other occasions. A court sentenced him to prison after one of the incidents of illegally crossing the border and a second time for using a fraudulent document to cross the border illegally. The court sentenced him to two years in prison for that charge. “It takes cooperation and coordination across agencies to keep our communities safe,” said Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone. “MCSO is committed to working with our partners in law enforcement to make it tough for drug gangs to operate and endanger our communities. We’re pleased with a very successful outcome. ” “This case is a direct result of the ongoing collaborative efforts by HSI with its federal and local partners,” acting special agent in charge for HSI Phoenix Louie Garcia said in a written statement. “Drug smuggling poses both a security and a public safety concern in our communities. We’re continuing to use all of the resources and tools at our disposal to address these threats. ” The two men each face prison sentences of between five and ten years if convicted on the state drug charges. Jayro also faces charges of resisting arrest and fleeing law enforcement. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook. | 0 |
(Reuters) - Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Tuesday signed a bill that paves the way for the state to create what is believed to be the first system in the United States to certify marijuana as organic. The sponsor of the bill, Republican Senator Ann Rivers, said marijuana certified as organically grown is likely to be on sale in Washington in about a year and a half. Washington is among a handful of U.S. states where voters approved the sale of recreational marijuana. Washington was the second state to begin legal recreational pot sales, in mid-2014, after its voters in 2012 approved it. “This is consumer-driven,” Rivers told Reuters by phone on Tuesday night. “As we have moved forward in the legal marijuana market, we’re hearing people say, ‘We don’t want any pesticides, fungicides, none of that stuff in our weed.’” The new law “creates a voluntary program for the certification and regulation of organic marijuana products,” to be administered by the Washington agriculture department, according to a state analysis of the new law. Rivers said the “heavy lifting” in certifying marijuana has been done by the system of doing the same for a multitude of food products on supermarkets shelves across America. That process just needs to be adapted for pot, she said. Rivers said that legal recreational marijuana is “the gift that keeps on giving....this year, we’ll make $768 million” in revenue for the state of Washington. This pays for drug education and drug addiction treatment as well as public education, she said. Organic pot was just one of a myriad of marijuana-related measures in the bill. Many state legislators wanted to vote for only one marijuana-related bill rather than have to go on the record favoring marijuana several times, Rivers said. The November 2012 measure to allow recreational marijuana in Washington passed 56 percent to 44 percent. While it is legal for adults to smoke marijuana in Washington, it is not legal to grow industrial hemp. The new law allows for the study of a method to allow hemp to be grown and used for industrial purposes. Last week, Vermont’s legislature approved a bill to legalize recreational use of marijuana. Unless the measure is vetoed, Vermont would be the first state to legalize pot without a public vote. Voters have approved legal recreational marijuana use in Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, California, Nevada, Maine, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. | 0 |
James Clapper was the Director of National Intelligence during the Obama Administration. He has been interviewed many times over the Trump Administration s troubles with Russia and his latest statement is sure to make the Trump White House furious that s to say nothing of how Donald Trump himself will react when he gets wind of these comments.During remarks he was making at Australia s National Press Club, Clapper said of Trump s scandal-ridden White House: I lived through Watergate. It was a scary time, I have to say though that I think, you know, compare the two, that Watergate pales in my view compared to what we re confronting now. Apparently, Clapper continued to go all in on Trump, as Australian reporter Paul Karp tweeted out the contents of what Clapper was saying:Clapper is absolutely shirtfronting Trump at #NPC #auspol pic.twitter.com/avN2VxKlOR Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) June 7, 2017This is not the first time Clapper has openly spoken of Trump with contempt; in fact, he recently suggested to Jake Tapper, host of the CNN news shows The Lead and State of the Union, that Trump is a threat to the very fabric of the republic, saying: I think in many ways our institutions are under assault both externally and that s the big news here is the Russian interference in our election system and I think as well our institutions are under assault internally. When Tapper pressed Clapper about what he meant about the institutional danger from the inside, Clapper said he meant Trump.Of course, Clapper is correct. Donald Trump makes Richard Nixon look like a boy scout. There has never been such an assault on our Republic from within the very top levels of government, and certainly we ve never had a president who was in the pocket of the Russians the way Trump is. No, this is far, far worse than Watergate, and that is why we must find a way to remove the entire Trump Administration from office as soon as possible.Watch Clapper s remarks below:Featured image via Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images | 0 |
The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level. Norman MailerBernie Sanders has raised a lot of money during the 2016 Democratic primary. In fact, his supporters often brag about his fundraising as proof of his viability as a candidate, just like Obama supporters did back in 2008.With all that in mind, you ll never guess what most of Bernie s donors have in common.The Los Angeles Times reports:Who gives money to Bernie Sanders?Small-dollar contributions have been the fuel that has propelled Sen. Bernie Sanders presidential bid, making it one of the most successful insurgent campaigns in Democratic party history, but little has been known about those donors because campaigns don t have to publicize the names of people who give $200 or less.Now, a Times analysis of nearly 7 million individual contributions has provided unprecedented detail about the army of people behind the $27 donations Sanders mentions at virtually every campaign stop.Many resemble Emily Condit, 40 of Sylmar, who has contributed three times $5 each to the Vermont senator s campaign.Condit, who has several physical disabilities, is among the largest single group of Sanders donors those who don t have a job. Of the $209 million given to the Vermont senator s campaign, about one out of every four dollars came from those not in the workforce, who include the unemployed or retired.Here s a handy chart that puts things in perspective:So the free stuff candidate is being bankrolled mostly by people who aren t working.Anyone surprised?Via: Gateway Pundit | 0 |
Next Prev Swipe left/right This woman was photobombed by a rat and turned into Rat Woman Redditor rosedwaterman posted this charming picture of herself being photobombed by a rat, presumably a pet one since she doesn’t look particularly phased by the event. Perhaps her fellow Redditor IDistributeCoke is right in their comment “She’s just got a bit of a rattitude.” | 1 |
2016 presidential campaign by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
Donald Trump, the white nationalist that claimed to oppose the corporate establishment, appears to have won the U.S. presidency. But, “even the victory of the openly bigoted Trump poses an opportunity to right our political ship.” The Democrats were not “our” party, but the party that thought they owned us. Their “rejection must be complete and blame must be laid squarely at their feet” for raising those chickens that have come home to roost. Freedom Rider: Dump the Democrats for Good by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
“The Democrats were so entrenched in their corruption and self-dealing that they didn’t see the Bernie Sanders campaign for modest reform as the savior it might have been.”
This columnist did not see a Donald Trump victory coming. The degree of disgust directed at an awful candidate was more than I had predicted. Neither the corporate media, nor Wall Street nor the pundits nor the pollsters saw this coming either. Their defeat and proof of their uselessness is total. Those of us who rejected the elite consensus and didn’t support Hillary Clinton should be proud.
Black people are now in fear and in shock when we ought to be spoiling for a fight. All is not lost. Even the victory of the openly bigoted Trump poses an opportunity to right our political ship. Not the electoral ship, the political one. For decades black Americans have been voting for people who have done them wrong. Bill Clinton got rid of public assistance as a right, and undid regulations that kept Wall Street in check. He put black people in jail and yet black people didn’t turn on him until he and his wife tried to defeat Obama. But Obama gave us more of the same. Bailouts of Wall Street, interventions and death for people all over the world, and a beat down of black people who still loved him. Despite the fear of Republican victory we end up losing whenever a Democratic presidential candidate wins.
“Obama bailed out banks, insurance companies, Big Pharma and even Ukraine.”
Victory is ours if we dump the Democrat Party and their black misleaders. The Democrats were so entrenched in their corruption and self-dealing that they didn’t see the Bernie Sanders campaign for modest reform as the savior it might have been. Instead they marched in lock step with a woman who was heartily disliked. Sanders went along as the sheep dog who led his flock straight over the cliff. The Democrats inadvertently galvanized people who had stopped participating in the system and who want change from top to bottom.
One of our biggest problems lies not in facts but in perceptions. What did Democrats do for black people? The Democrats ship living wage jobs off shore in corrupt trade deals like NAFTA and TTP. They don’t prosecute killer cops or raise the minimum wage. Trump will be hard pressed to deport more people than Obama did. The list of treachery is very long.
When Donald Trump asked black people, “What have you got to lose?” his words were met with derision. But in reality he posed a good question. What do we have to show for years of Democratic votes? Obama bailed out banks, insurance companies, Big Pharma and even Ukraine. But he didn’t rebuild Detroit or New Orleans. The water in Flint, Michigan is still poisoned and the prisons are still full.
“There may be opportunity in this crisis if we dare to seize it.”
The outpouring of love for Barack Obama was purely symbolic. In state after state, black people who gave him victory in 2008 and 2012 stayed home. They loved seeing him and his wife dressed up at state dinners but they were never fully engaged in politics because that is not what Democrats want. The love was phony and void of any political intent. Donald Trump will be president because of that veneer of political activism.
As for white people who voted for Trump, of course many of them are racists. However they are not without valid complaints. They don’t want neoliberalism but black people don’t either. They don’t want wars around the world and neither do black people. We corrupt our own heritage of radicalism in favor of shallow symbolism. While we slept walk in foolish nostalgia for Obama and cried at the thought of him leaving office, white people kept their hatred of Hillary to themselves or lied to pollsters. They want America to be great again, great for them. White nostalgic yearnings are dangerous for black people, and we must be vigilant. But there may be opportunity in this crisis if we dare to seize it.
Republicans have been the white people’s party for nearly 50 years. Trump just made it more obvious. He didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. We don’t have to be the losers in this election. Let us remember what we have achieved in our history. Half of black Americans didn’t even have the right to vote in the 1960s yet made earth shattering progress in a short time. But we must understand the source of that progress. It came from struggle and daring to create the crises that always bring about change.
“The dread of redneck celebration should not be our primary motivation right now.”
Yes white people will strut for president Trump but that doesn’t mean we must submit as if we are in the Jim Crow days of old. We have ourselves to rely on and we can reclaim our history of fighting for self-determination. The dread of redneck celebration should not be our primary motivation right now. Before we quake in fear at white America we must send the scoundrels packing.
The black politicians and the Democratic National Committee and the civil rights organizations that don’t help the masses must all be kicked to the proverbial curb. The rejection must be complete and blame must be laid squarely at their feet.
Those of us who voted for the green party ticket of Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka must stand firmly and proudly for our choice. We must strategize on building a progressive party to replace the Democrats who never help us. We must applaud Julian Assange and Wikileaks for exposing their corruption. There should be no back tracking on the fight to build left wing political power.
“We must strategize on building a progressive party to replace the Democrats who never help us.”
The black people who didn’t return to the polls shouldn’t be blamed either. Those individuals must have personal introspection that is meaningful and political. Their lack of enthusiasm speaks to Democratic Party and black misleadership incompetence. We should refrain from personal blame and help one another in this process as we fight for justice and peace.
The end of the duopoly is the first step in liberation. Staying with a party that literally did nothing was a slow and agonizing death. Sometimes shock therapy is needed to improve one’s condition. If we don’t take the necessary steps to free ourselves this election outcome will be a disaster. Instead, why not bring the disaster to the people who made it happen? The destruction of the Democratic Party and creation of a truly progressive political movement is the only hope for black America. Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com. | 1 |
PARIS (Reuters) - In tight-knit groups with their backpacks hanging in front where they can keep an eye on them, Chinese tourists walked around Paris on their guard on Monday, alarmed by a recent mugging and other attacks targeting Asian visitors. We like Paris but we are a bit scared, Chinese tour guide Jenny Xu said as she lead a group around the department store district hours after China s foreign ministry said France needed to step up security after a high-profile robbery. Chinese tourists, they are afraid for their safety in Paris, said Xu, speaking in English as she recounted some of her own clients experiences of being mugged in shops or museums. We tell them again and again to have their bags in front of them. And I tell them not to take so much cash. France has in the past promised to do more to protect the safety of Chinese tourists, who come to Paris in ever larger numbers and have become more of a target for the cash they often carry and the luxury goods they buy. Last week, a group of 40 Chinese tourists was tear-gassed and robbed by four men in the parking lot of their hotel near Orly airport, south of Paris. While the muggings are not good for the city s reputation, and tourism was hit hard by the Islamist attacks of 2015, Paris still attracted 16 million visitors in the first half of 2017, making it one of the most popular cities in the world. Chang Hui Ying, a tour operator from Taiwan who leads Chinese and Taiwanese groups across Europe, said Paris was the city where she was most worried about client safety. One hour ago, when I was leaving the Louvre museum, two girls opened my bag and I was almost robbed, she said, adding that once a whole week s worth of wages was stolen from her bag in the French capital. There really are a lot of thieves, she said. But they still want to come. We like to shop here, she said as she led a group to a store especially dedicated to Chinese visitors which the Galeries Lafayette chain opened earlier this year. Tourists said they were taking extra precautions. We put a small wallet somewhere and more money deeper inside (our bag), and the bag always in front, said Chang Hui-Neng, speaking English with the help of her guide. A group of hoteliers deplored last week s mugging and called for more protection. More needs to be done to avoid such tragic events that have a lot of impact on Paris image and that of France as a tourism destination, UMIH said in a statement. With no backpack or shopping bags that would mark her as a tourist, 23-year-old Chinese student Wang Xi Qing, who has been living in France for 18 months, said she knew here way around and felt comfortable. But she said she tells friends who visit to be careful, especially since one of them got mugged in Notre Dame cathedral. It s important to be aware, she said. | 0 |
How many times will our lawless president plead his unconstitutional positions before our Supreme Court? For a Constitutional lawyer, Obama sure does have a difficult time understanding how our laws work President Barack Obama s executive action to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation suffered a legal setback on Monday with an appeal to the Supreme Court now the administration s only option.The 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to uphold a May injunction deals a blow to Obama s plan, opposed by Republicans and challenged by 26 states.The Obama administration has said it is within its rights to ask the Department of Homeland Security to use discretion before deporting nonviolent migrants with U.S. family ties.The case has become the focal point of the Democratic president s efforts to change U.S. immigration policy.Seeing no progress on legislative reform in Congress, Obama announced last November he would take executive action to help immigrants. He has faced criticism from Republicans who say the program grants amnesty to lawbreakers.In its ruling, the appeals court said it was denying the government s appeal to stay the May injunction after determining that the appeal was unlikely to succeed on its merits. Republicans hailed the ruling as a victory against the Obama administration.John Scalise, the No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives, said in a Twitter message that the court decision was a major victory for the rule of law. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement the ruling meant the state, which has led the legal challenge, has secured an important victory to put a halt to the president s lawlessness. Via: Reuters | 1 |
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The public should not be forced to pay to walk on Germany s beaches or swim in the sea, a federal court ruled, calling into question private beaches along the North and Baltic Sea coasts. The coastal town of Wangerland, 170 km (100 miles) west of Hamburg, was sued by two residents of neighboring towns who demanded it provide free access to its two North Sea beaches. Wangerland s tourist office has largely fenced in the beaches, added facilities, playgrounds and lifeguards, and has been charging visitors a 3-euro ($3.57) entry fee during the summer season, with the exception of residents and tourists of the town itself. Under German law, anyone is allowed to enter unused tracts of land, a provision meant to give the public access to the country s natural beauty and create opportunities for fresh-air recreation free of charge. But a court in the state of Lower Saxony last year ruled in favor of Wangerland, saying the beaches in question were not unused but had been leased by the town for commercial purposes. The federal administrative court said in its ruling published on Thursday the town could not charge visitors to go for walks on the beach or to swim in the sea, but could for using the facilities set up there. Claims to nearly the entire beach, and not only the areas needed to operate the business, put excessive limits on general liberty, the court said in a statement, partly overturning the lower court s ruling. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast on Monday that the United States is providing more support to Iraq as its military moves to take back territory from Islamic State, and he expects the city of Mosul will be retaken eventually. “As we see the Iraqis willing to fight and gaining ground, let’s make sure that we are providing them more support,” Obama said in an interview with CBS News. U.S. officials announced in Baghdad on Monday the United States will deploy about 200 additional troops, mostly as advisers for Iraqi troops as they advance toward Mosul, the largest Iraqi city still under Islamic State control. The increase raises the authorized U.S. troop level in Iraq to 4,087, not including special operations personnel, some logistics workers and troops on temporary rotations. “We’re not doing the fighting ourselves,” Obama said, “but when we provide training, when we provide special forces who are backing them up, when we are gaining intelligence, working with the coalitions that we have, what we’ve seen is that we can continually tighten the noose” on Islamic State. “My expectation is that by the end of the year, we will have created the conditions whereby Mosul will eventually fall,” Obama said. | 1 |
If you didn t know, Friday was Holocaust Remembrance Day a day in which we remember the victims of a man who was very much like our current President*. Surprisingly, someone on Donald Trump s staff took time away from celebrating the other side of that battle and put out a halfhearted, generic, and disrespectful statement on his behalf one which Trump then made his own by tweeting it the American people:Statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day: https://t.co/KjU0MOxCHk Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2017Trump s statement is three paragraphs long and reads like it was written by the same guy who has been writing his executive orders white supremacist Steve Bannon. Trump says he wants to honor the victims, survivors, heroes of the Holocaust though many of his neo-Nazi supporters would surely disagree with others on the identities of the heroes of the Holocaust. Notably, Trump didn t specifically mention Jewish people a single time a clear fan service for the Klansmen and Sieg Heilers who rally behind him.Trump concludes with a pledge to do everything in his power to ensure that the forces of evil never again defeat the powers of good. For instance, if a thin-skinned egomaniac backed by an army of neo-Nazis, Christofascists, and other assorted terrible people teamed up with a foreign dictator to manipulate the election and place himself in the Oval Office so he can build a walkl to keep brown people out of the country, ban people of a specific religion from entering, and generally abuse the powers of the office to make the bigoted dreams of his deplorable supporters come to life Trump would totally put a stop to that. Together, we will make love and tolerance prevalent throughout the world, said the man who is Holocaust Remembrance Day signing an executive order banning refugees from countries he thinks have too many Muslims.If this all seems crazy and hypocritical to you, you re not the only one. Seemingly all of Twitter showed up to kick Trump in his tiny orange nards:@realDonaldTrump dude neo-Nazis love you Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) January 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump your Chief Strategist's ex-wife says he doesn't like Jews in a sworn court declaration: https://t.co/ZBFZ83Vci8 Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) January 27, 2017.@realDonaldTrump But your dad was in the KKK. Al x Young (@AlexYoung) January 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump remember when you tweeted this? pic.twitter.com/QPGkKjRwED Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) January 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump your foreign policy adviser is literally a Holocaust denier https://t.co/XjsoiQx1mZ Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) January 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump @Stl_Manifest https://t.co/u10twa9E5f Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) January 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump @Stl_Manifest https://t.co/uoUHCEebW7 Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) January 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump @Stl_Manifest https://t.co/OSE3Y0e4zq Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) January 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump wait, I thought your buddy Bannon doesn't believe the holocaust happened?Also your voters might not appreciate this ?? ? (@VeeVee) January 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump no mention of the Jews? You are a disgrace to the office. Truly sad. Truly infuriating. Benjamin Byron Davis (@Tooda) January 27, 2017.@realDonaldTrump ctrl+f+jews = nothingtrying to keep some certain fans happy? Isaac Saul (@Ike_Saul) January 27, 2017. @realDonaldTrump You're banning people from America because of their religion, turning away refugees and building a racist wall. pic.twitter.com/TNw2pZtzu0 Ian Boothby (@IanBoothby) January 27, 2017.@realDonaldTrump Maybe you could honor victims of the Holocaust by not ushering in another ethnic cleansing? #HolocaustMemorialDay Keegan Stephan (@KeeganNYC) January 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump Your statement forgot to mention Jews. Brendan Carroll (@_brendancarroll) January 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump but your supporters aren't racist or anti-Semitic, right? pic.twitter.com/87eF2CyFfJ Jordan Farber (@Jordan_Farber10) January 27, 2017@realDonaldTrump Have you no sense of irony at the hypocrisy of your statement on the Holocaust? You must be DELUSIONAL not to get that! Gerald Werhan (@GerryWerhan) January 27, 2017Some of Trump s fans showed up to offer, erm, opposing points of view:@realDonaldTrump 6 gorillion! Baked Alaska (@bakedalaska) January 27, 2017@bakedalaska @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/8SJJTVOnRp That Mika Face (@CT_muhdick) January 27, 2017Trump is a guy who has done nothing but attack people for their ethnicity, gender, and race since he assumed office a week ago. In that time he has signed executive orders banning a large number of Muslims from entering the country based solely on where they live and effectively signing the death warrants of countless would-be refugees, stripped federal funding from any international health organization that so much as mentions abortion, ordered the construction of a wall along our southern border and authorized the construction of concentration camps for undocumented immigrants. During his campaign, he retweeted neo-Nazis and their propaganda almost constantly.He should probably just not talk about the Holocaust.Featured image via Getty Images (Pool)/screengrab | 1 |
November 17, 2016
As the final route for HS2 was announced, one MP was particularly gleeful: ‘I and my constituents are delighted with the proposed route, which not only avoids my safe seat but which will protect my majority for years to come. Coincidentally my wife’s parents’ modest Jacobean house and 400 acres are also unaffected’.
The benefits are manifest, for example, a businessman in Sheffield will be able to put his racing pigeons on a train and they would reach London 30 minutes earlier than they would now. The aggregate time saved would mean he would be able to have another 5 races per year. Yes a number of homes will have to be demolished, but this is on a par with the slum clearances of the 50s & 60s.
When asked if there was really the need for a high speed rail link over a comparatively short distance, the MP replied: ‘Who doesn’t want to see 60 trains a day travelling past the bottom of their garden at 250 miles per hour?’ pippip | 1 |
Dueling Drills Further Increase NATO Russia Tensions November 03, 2016 Dueling Drills Further Increase NATO Russia Tensions
Irked by NATO's disaster-relief drills in Montenegro, Russia held special forces exercises with its Balkan neighbour Serbia on Wednesday. In Montenegro, which split from Serbia a decade ago, NATO is on Friday due to wrap up a five-day disaster-relief drill of 680 unarmed personnel from seven NATO members and 10 partner countries including Serbia. "It is in the interest of Montenegro, in the interest of NATO, and also in the interest of the region, to be part of NATO and promote Euro-Atlantic values in the Balkans, and these values benefit each and every one of us," Montenegro's deputy Prime Minister Dusko Markovic , said about the exercise. Across the border, in Serbia, Russia flew in its paratroopers along with allied Belarus for an exercise called "Slavic Brotherhood", which according the Serbian defence ministry focuses on "fighting terrorism".
The drills are set to last until November 9 and will include 212 Russian, 450 Serbian and 56 Belarusian troops. Three Russian transport planes have already landed in Belgrade on Wednesday bringing in soldiers and equipment.
Drills in the two former Yugoslav republics reflect mounting tensions between Russia and the West over a variety of geopolitical issues including conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.
READ MORE: RUSSIA IS MOVING NUKES WEST IN RESPONSE TO CONTINUING NATO AGGRESSION
In Serbia, NATO is hugely unpopular after its 1999 bombing ousted Belgrade's armed forces out of its former southern province of Kosovo.
But as part of its integrations with the West, Serbia last year signed the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), the highest level of cooperation between NATO and a country not aspiring to join.
An EU candidate, Serbia insists that it is militarily neutral, but maintains close ties with Russia, its Orthodox Christian and Slavic superpower ally, the biggest gas and oil source and an obstacle to Kosovo's membership in the United Nations.
Last year Montenegro accepted an invitation to join NATO, a move that soured relations withRussia. Ahead of October's parliamentary vote Montenegro's outgoing Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic accused Moscow of meddling in country's elections and of financing the opposition. A fifth of the votes in the poll went to an anti-NATO, pro-Serbia bloc. Article by Doc Burkhart , Vice-President, General Manager and co-host of TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles Got a news tip? Email us at Help support the ministry of TRUNEWS with your one-time or monthly gift of financial support. DONATE NOW ! DOWNLOAD THE TRUNEWS MOBILE APP! CLICK HERE! Donate Today! Support TRUNEWS to help build a global news network that provides a credible source for world news
We believe Christians need and deserve their own global news network to keep the worldwide Church informed, and to offer Christians a positive alternative to the anti-Christian bigotry of the mainstream news media Top Stories | 1 |
CARACAS (Reuters) - Key members of Venezuela s opposition, divided and dispirited after losing gubernatorial elections over the weekend, will travel abroad to denounce what it says is a fraudulent voting system under leftist President Nicolas Maduro. Congress president Julio Borges said in a press conference on Thursday that the opposition coalition will try to stir up international support, which could result in further sanctions against Maduro s administration. His unpopular government unexpectedly swept to victory in Sunday s regional vote, pocketing 18 of 23 states in the midst of a debilitating economic crisis that has millions skipping meals as soaring inflation destroys salaries. Polls had forecast the opposition easily beating the ruling socialists. Maduro s rivals say a mix of dirty tricks, like moving hundreds of voting centers in opposition areas at the last minute and including the names of opposition politicians who lost in primaries on ballots, worked against them. We made a huge effort, we aimed to overcome all the obstacles, and what the government did was upgrade its fraud and its cheating, said Borges, adding that politicians were due to travel to fellow Latin American countries and other supportive nations shortly. We have the full records of this electoral process and we re going to submit them to various international bodies, so that ... they can be audited, added Borges, who did not provide further details on the trips. While the opposition first cried fraud, without providing proof, it later scaled back its accusations and is now focusing on the minerals-rich state of Bolivar where it says its losing candidate was robbed of decisive votes. Maduro blasted his opponents as sore losers who cry fraud when convenient. On Thursday, he inaugurated Hector Rodriguez, a rising star in the Socialist Party, as governor of Miranda state in a ceremony filled with song and dance. Opposition politicians have acknowledged that demoralization in their own ranks hurt turnout. Many opposition supporters are exhausted after four months of protests earlier this year and were loath to participate in what some saw as a rigged vote that would legitimize Maduro as a dictator. They were even more downbeat after the vote, however, as it casts doubt on whether they can remove the ruling Socialist Party in next year s presidential election. The government s handling of (Sunday s) vote suggests that it is not even willing to entertain anything close to free and fair presidential elections in 2018, even if it prompts growing international isolation, renewed unrest, and increased outward migration, consultancy Eurasia wrote in a note to clients this week. | 1 |
Democrats are days away from launching a multi-million dollar advertising campaign designed to completely destroy Donald Trump and render him impotent in the general election. The organization leading the charge will be Priorities USA, the Super PAC that backed President Obama s re-election campaign in 2012.The original plan was reportedly to start releasing ads after the California primary, but now the timetable has been moved up.Priorities USA will spend $6 million on ads between May 18 and June 8, hitting Trump in Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Nevada, all general election battleground states. The ads will try to do what no Republican could: Take down the businessman who beat a scrum of veteran politicians to all-but-win the Republican nomination. Respect is a more traditional ad, highlighting Trump s divisive speech, including his campaign rallies where he has gone after minorities, women, and Muslims among others. Speak showcases Trump s anti-woman comments, many of them from his appearances on shock jock Howard Stern s radio show. In the ad women are shown, sometimes with their families, mouthing along with Trump.Guy Cecil, the Clinton campaign veteran who runs the super PAC, appeared on MSNBC s The Rachel Maddow Show to debut the ads. He explained that while ads in the Republican primary had not stopped Trump, the effort began far too late in the process and often Republicans had been far too reluctant to go after the candidate.Priorities USA, in addition to its own focus groups and research, has also been using the Republican primary as a testing ground for what has and hasn t worked against Trump in the hopes of hitting on the winning formula that will hurt him as much as a similar campaign did against Mitt Romney in 2012.The group reportedly plans to spend at least $130 million in advertising over the next six months.Featured image via YouTube | 1 |
Wouldn t it be great if we had someone in government who would take the import of thousands of Muslims from countries who hate us seriously?Swiss army chief Andr Blattmann warned, in a Swiss newspaper article on Sunday, the risks of social unrest in Europe are soaring. Recalling the experience of 1939/1945, Blattman fears the increasing aggression in public discourse is an explosively hazardous situation, and advises the Swiss people to arm themselves and warns that the basis for Swiss prosperity is being called into question. Even though Switzerland has not been involved in an armed conflict since a standoff between Catholics and Protestants in 1847, the Swiss are very serious not only about their right to own weapons but also to carry them around in public. Because of this general acceptance and even pride in gun ownership, nobody bats an eye at the sight of a civilian riding a bus, bike or motorcycle to the shooting range, with a rifle slung across the shoulder.As Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten reports, speaking on the record for the first time since the November Paris terror attacks, Blattmann told the paper that despite a rise in security incidents over the past two years Switzerland s means of defence were being reduced.The situation is growing increasingly risky, Blattman begins. The threat of terror is rising, hybrid wars are being fought around the globe; the economic outlook is gloomy and the resulting migration flows of displaced persons and refugees have assumed unforeseen dimensions. Social unrest can not be ruled out , the vocabulary in public discourse will dangerously aggressive. The mixture is increasingly unappetizing Blattmann sees the basis of Swiss prosperity, has long been once again called into question. He recalls the situation around the two world wars in the last century and advises Switzerland, to arm themselves.Via: Zero Hedge | 0 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.