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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Sunday did not rule out that Attorney General Jeff Sessions may recuse himself from Justice Department investigations into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a deputy White House press secretary, said congressional investigations into possible Russian hacking of Democratic groups would have to run their course before Sessions needed to decide whether to step aside from the FBI probes. Sessions was a top adviser to President Donald Trump, a Republican, during the 2016 presidential campaign. “I wasn’t saying that he shouldn’t recuse himself or that he should,” Sanders told ABC’s “This Week.” “My point is I don’t think we’re there yet. Let’s work through this process.” U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded that Russia tried to help Trump win the White House by discrediting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her party through cyber attacks. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, expelled Russian diplomats in retaliation in December. Moscow has denied the accusations. The FBI is investigating alleged Russian election-related hacking and financial transactions by Russian people and companies believed to have links to associates of Trump, according to current and former government officials. Trump has dismissed the controversy about ties between his aides and Russia as a “ruse” perpetrated by a hostile news media. “Russia talk is FAKE NEWS put out by the Dems, and played up by the media, in order to mask the big election defeat and the illegal leaks,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday. Trump fired his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, three weeks into the new administration after disclosures surfaced that Flynn had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. Democrats have been pushing for an independent investigation into whether there were links between the Trump campaign team and Russian officials. “The attorney general must recuse himself,” House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on ABC. Republican lawmakers echoed the White House, saying the investigations must take their course. Senator Tom Cotton said it was premature to talk about a special prosecutor. “If we get down that road, that’s a decision that Attorney General Sessions can make at the time,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” | 1 |
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[Ed. – Suddenly, Newsweek cares that the Hillary case might be politicized? When Comey and the media have been politicizing it all along, by giving Hillary special treatment that no one else on earth would have gotten in the same circumstances?]
Why did FBI Director James Comey shock Washington on Friday with an announcement that the FBI “has learned of the existence of emails” related to Hillary Clinton’s private email server, and what does it mean?
The truth is Comey didn’t have a choice. Because the new information followed his sworn testimony about the case, Comey was obligated by Department of Justice rules to keep the relevant committees apprised.
Under oath Comey had stated that the bureau had completed its review. Once he learned that there were new emails that required examination, Comey had to notify Congress that he had to amend his testimony because it was no longer true. …
Had Comey not told Congress and it emerged after the election that new materials had come into its possession, the director and his entire agency’s credibility might have been questioned.
In his letter, Comey did not use the phrase being touted by Republicans that the case had been reopened. Technically it was never closed. | 1 |
TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - After 13 years of military service that included deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Indiana National Guard reservist Cameron St. Andrew felt crushed on Wednesday by President Donald Trump’s decision to ban transgender soldiers. The sergeant first class, who transitioned to living as a man while on active duty, said getting kicked out of the military two years before his planned retirement could mean losing many of his pension and healthcare benefits, and even harm his chances of being hired again. “Why serve a country that doesn’t want me? It breaks my heart, to be honest,” said St. Andrew, 37, of Indianapolis. Despite the devastating effect Trump’s move could have on him, he said he was more concerned about younger soldiers who were earlier in their careers and transition. “You pull that rug out from under them after they have this false sense of security, that could really throw them into a downward spiral,” he said. The Republican president’s announcement, made through a series of Twitter posts, upended years of efforts to eliminate barriers to military service on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Just last year, the Pentagon ended a prohibition keeping transgender people from serving openly. Trump, who cited “tremendous medical costs and disruption” for the ban, did not specify how it would be implemented. It remained unclear whether the policy would apply to existing transgender service members or new transgender recruits. The president’s action was condemned by rights groups and some lawmakers in both parties, who called it discrimination with purely political motives. The move was praised by conservative activists and some Republicans. “I have a lot of service members that are scared that their careers are over with,” said Navy Lieutenant Commander Blake Dremann, who leads a support organization working with actively serving transgender military members. “Right now, they still have their jobs and we will continue to work to make sure that policy doesn’t change.” The Pentagon said only that it was working on developing guidance following Trump’s tweets. St. Andrew said he did not know he was transgender when he enlisted, eager to serve his country after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. After an impoverished childhood in a small town in Michigan, he wanted to give back to the nation whose welfare system had kept him clothed and fed. Several years into his military service, he began reflecting on his gender identity. He said he struggled with the anxiety that accompanied the fear of being outed and losing his job. “They pound into you this thing of selfless service,” he said. “So you do that for a few years, and then you come out socially or to a few close people and that gives you some relief, but you still have to hide what you are.” He said he received support from his commanders and peers through his transition and found that few accommodations were needed. He already was discreet in changing facilities and had trained for the male physical fitness requirements. Still, anticipating changes like Trump’s ban coming, St. Andrew resigned from full-time service after the November election. He now wonders if his part-time reservist status is in jeopardy. “I try to be tough about it,” he said, but added: “It breaks your spirit down.” “Transgender people are serving today knowing that their leader frankly doesn’t trust them,” said retired Colonel Sheri Swokowski, 67, of Windsor, Wisconsin, the highest-ranking openly transgender veteran. “The bottom line is that this does great harm to people who simply want to serve their country.” Sergeant Sam Hunt, an electrician serving in the Nevada Army National Guard, said people had long referred to him as a man. He thought he could serve openly as such after former Democratic President Barack Obama lifted the transgender ban. Earlier this month, he learned that the Department of Defense had approved his transition to male from female. “Until told otherwise, I will continue serving this nation and state, as I have since 2009,” he said in a statement. | 1 |
With Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claiming he may not accept the election results on November 8th if he loses to Hillary Clinton, it s left many people criticizing his crybaby behavior.Not only is not accepting the results of our democratic process unpatriotic and dangerous, but it shows what an absolute toddler Trump actually is. He basically believes that if he doesn t win, then Hillary must have cheated. It wouldn t have anything at all to do with the fact that he s a horrible candidate and an even worse human being.Well, not letting this ridiculosity slip by and go unnoticed was the legendary entertainer extraordinaire, Bette Midler. She took to Twitter and gave the Republican candidate a piece of her hilarious mind.Midler tweeted out: Trump sez he may not accept election results if he loses. I don t accept my ass, but guess what s stuffed in the back of my pants right now. Trump sez he may not accept election results if he loses. I don't accept my ass, but guess what's stuffed in the back of my pants right now Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) October 20, 2016Basically saying, there are a lot of things in life that are hard to accept, but they are in fact true and what is actually going on.Trump needs to realize that the election results are the will of the people and he needs to accept that because that s what s best for the nation as a whole.What is most obvious is the fact that he clearly knows he is going to lose, or he wouldn t be pushing the narrative that the election is rigged as hard as he is. Hopefully, come the evening of November 8th, he does what s right and not what s best for his ego.Featured Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images Twitter | 0 |
B y Danny Haiphong S yria is “the target of one of the greatest misinformation campaigns in recent history.” The author regrets that left analyst Eric Draitser has contributed to the confusion. Draitser criticizes leftists who firmly support the Syrian government. Danny Haiphong counters that “the left must act with uncompromising dedication to the principle of self-determination in every case where US and Western imperialism wages wars of neo-colonial plunder.” PHOTO ABOVE: Western supported Takfiri primes field gun supplied via Turkey. “To claim that the left in the US should fight for ‘peace’ and at the same time oppose the Syrian government is an intentional attempt to remain neutral in a time of war.” Imperialism’s war on Syria may be the most important question on the order of the day for those fighting for a world free of exploitation and oppression. Syria is currently the battleground of imperialism’s last gasp of life. In nearly six years, Syria has been turned into a site of intense struggle between the forces of resistance and imperialism’s forces of reaction. It has also been the target of one of the greatest misinformation campaigns in recent history. The imperialist countries and their media lackeys have sewed deep confusion about the true character of the war being waged on Syria. Nowhere is this confusion greater than in the United States, and it appears someone I deeply respect has been overtaken by it. Imperialism’s war on Syria may be the most important question on the order of the day for those fighting for a world free of exploitation and oppression. Syria is currently the battleground of imperialism’s last gasp of life. In nearly six years, Syria has been turned into a site of intense struggle between the forces of resistance and imperialism’s forces of reaction. It has also been the target of one of the greatest misinformation campaigns in recent history. In a recent issue of CounterPunch, Eric Draitser dives head deep into the confusion [3] . He criticizes what he deems as two critical problems with the left’s stance. Draitser first criticizes the pro-imperialist left for their decision to align themselves with the foreign-sponsored terror groups in Syria, which have been labeled “revolutionaries” or “rebels” by the imperialist countries. He then goes on to criticize leftists who have positioned themselves firmly in support of the Syrian government. ERIC DRAITSER: Usually solid analysis, but suddenly a plunge into rank political collaboration with the forces of imperialism which he supposedly opposes. The question is why act like a liberaloid? Given his record, we refuse to believe he is that dumb. It is his criticism of the “pro-Assad left” that needs further examination. Draitser reveals his deep confusion when he asks: “Will you continue to delude yourselves by refusing to accept the plainly obvious truth that no state or group has the best interests of Syrians at heart?” Draitser’s question assumes that the Syrian and Russian governments are equally to blame for the chaos in Syria. Their bombs are assumed to be prolonging the war and committing atrocities against the Syrian people at the same rate of the imperialists. If this is not the case, he doesn’t state otherwise in the piece. In fact, Draitser sets out to prove true what has already been proven false by a wide range of independent and corporate media sources. “The imperialist countries and their media lackeys have sewed deep confusion about the true character of the war being waged on Syria.” First, Draitser claims that the war on Syria began as a genuine protest against “neo-liberal” reforms instituted by the Syrian government. This narrative is popular among the liberal-left media as well as the white left generally. However, those who make this claim rarely specify what neo-liberal reforms were made or how the confrontation all of a sudden became violent. Stephen Gowans reviews numerous reports from the corporate media [4] that describe the uprising in March of 2011 as immediately violent, ill-supported, and ultimately insignificant in the midst of reforms from the Syrian government that were broadly supported by the Syrian people. At the same time as the violent uprisings, thousands of Syrians were protesting in the streets [5] in support of President Assad. US/Saudi supported Takfiri fanatics operating in Syria, and depicted by the media as “moderates”. Furthermore, reports from the city of Daraa during the 2011 uprisings confirmed the presence of armed “rebels” who had freshly arrived from their US-NATO backed destruction of Libya [6] . These “rebels” have since infested the country through various channels of the Syrian border. Each group possesses a fundamentalist Wahhabi ideology and receives varying degrees of assistance from the Gulf monarchies, Israel, Turkey, NATO, and of course, the US. This is confirmed in Draitser’s article. Yet he still reinforces the claim that a popular uprising started the war even though Assad possessed broad support in 2011 [7] . The truth is that the war on Syria has little to do with neo-liberalism or popular discontent. It has been acknowledged by UN sources that despite reforms, the Syrian economy remains highly regulated and socialist in character [8] . Syria’s own form of socialism has brought many benefits to the Syrian people. Healthcare and education are rights guaranteed to all citizens [9] . Syria also possesses a secular government where Muslims, Christians, and all religious and ethnic groups lived peacefully prior to the war. Syria is thus a poor example of neo-liberalism. What economic struggles that do exist in Syria have largely stemmed from the harsh sanctions imposed by the US [10] in 2004. “The war on Syria has little to do with neo-liberalism or popular discontent.” Furthermore, Draitser cites numerous sources that support regime change to smear the Syrian government and, by extension, the Syrian people. One of the sources receives much of its information from the White Helmets. The White Helmets have long been exposed as an NGO that works directly in service of imperialism’s regime change operation in Syria. The organization receives approximately 33 million in funds [11] directly from the US and UK governments. Eva Bartlett recently visited Aleppo and witnessed many White Helmet workers sporting arms and fighting among the terror groups [12] . Draister also cites a source from the New York Post . The Post article relies heavily on documents collected by the dubious Center for International Justice and Accountability. This purported “international law” NGO [13] is run by a consortium of corporate lawyers, former or current Amnesty International staffers, and various other servants of empire. The organization specializes in “transitional justice.” In other words, the Center for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA) provides a legal framework for regime change on behalf of its imperial funders. Draitser claims no group involved in the war has the interests of the Syrian people at heart yet cites directly from an organization dedicated to the promotion of war in Syria. The NGOs and their partners in the corporate media have worked together to distort the reality on the ground. Aleppo is case and point. A ceasefire was brokered by all parties in late October that was supposed to allow Syrians to escape safely from East to West Aleppo. However, the humanitarian corridors were repeatedly shelled by the Nusra Front [14] , the US-backed Al Qaeda affiliate . The media decided to ignore this and report instead that the ceasefire’s failure was due to the withholding of aid by Russia and Syria [15] . This is but one example of many where the Syrian government has been blamed for the rebel-sponsored terror inflicted on Syrian people. “His analysis uses an abstract, moral argument to violate Syria’s self-determination.” After five years of war on Syria, it is a wonder how anyone could believe a word that comes from the mouths of the imperialist countries. They lied about the origins of the conflict. They have continuously blamed the Syrian government for events that have all been traced back to the armed proxies they support. This includes the Houla Massacre [16] , the sarin gas attack [17] in Ghouta, and the so-called starvation of Madaya [18] . Aleppo is no different. The Syrian city has been under constant siege from NATO-backed terrorists. The terrorists are holding nearly 250,000 Syrians hostage in the Eastern side of war-torn Aleppo. This has been verified by journalists on the ground such as Vanessa Beeley [19] . These facts seem not to matter in Draitser’s newfound assessment of Syria. His analysis uses an abstract, moral argument to violate Syria’s self-determination. Calling those who unequivocally support the Syrian government “fetishists” assumes that the US left should take a position different from that of the Syrian people. Actual Syrians supported Bashar Al-Assad, and thus the Syrian Army, with 88.7 percent of the vote [20] in the 2014 elections. To claim that the left in the US should fight for “peace” and at the same time oppose the Syrian government is an intentional attempt to remain neutral in a time of war. As Howard Zinn brilliantly stated, one cannot be neutral on a moving train. And the imperialist war against Syria is moving dangerously toward a World War III scenario. Hillary Clinton will be elected the next President of the United States and has repeatedly expressed that she will pursue a no-fly zone [20] once in office. A no-fly zone would place Russian and Syrian military assets at risk of US-sponsored bombs and thus the world at risk of a global military confrontation not seen since World War II. How convenient it is then that Draitser should rebuke his former anti-imperialist stance in place of a stealth form of regime change. The world is on fire, yet Draitser has interpreted the situation as a chance to distort an already highly misunderstood situation . “Draister’s conclusions ultimately reinforce the Western assumption that the left must come to the rescue and save the Syrian people from their plight.” Positions such as Draitser’s are ultimately shaped by the material conditions of an imperialist empire in crisis and decline. White supremacy has been a principal condition of US imperialism since its inception. The war machine and white supremacy are deeply connected. The peoples and nations on imperialism’s hit-list are routinely depicted in a manner that justifies the need for US and Western military medicine. This notion has trickled down to the day-to-day actions of ordinary people, including what currently passes as the “anti-war” movement in the US today. Draister’s conclusions ultimately reinforce the Western assumption that the left must come to the rescue and save the Syrian people from their plight. Indeed, the Syrian people need allies and the left must be organizing toward an end to the war. But an end to the war cannot be achieved unless the left supports the will of the Syrian people. At the moment, this means the US left must align itself with the Syrian government and its allies. The left must act with uncompromising dedication to the principle of self-determination in every case where US and Western imperialism wages wars of neo-colonial plunder. Syria should be no exception. Of course, this critique should not be seen as a personal attack on Draitser himself. His body of work reflects a deep commitment to the struggle against war and Empire. He has often taken positions on international questions that are deeply unpopular with the US imperialist order. However, when mistakes are made, the left has a responsibility to correct them. There is too much at stake. Failure to step up in defense of Syria means another regime change scenario similar to what happened in Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Libya. Draitser’s piece is a study into the path that all genuine anti-imperialists should avoid. But what is the correct path forward? Imperialism is the unquestionable cause of the war in Syria, so imperialism must be the primary target of an anti-imperialist movement. The US and its allies are risking world war over Syria’s destruction. On the other side, the Syrian and Russian governments (along with Iran and China) are doing as much as they can to find a peaceful solution to the conflict that also respects Syria’s national sovereignty. It is without question that this is the side where the left ought to be in the continued struggle to end the war once and for all. Source URL: http://blackagendareport.com/haiphong_answers_eric_draitser | 1 |
November 1, 2016 Israel to build new settler homes in Shiloh, despite US objections
Israel intends to move ahead with plans to construct 98 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Shiloh, despite harsh United States objections to the plan.
On Monday the state informed the High Court of Justice it awaited final bureaucratic approval to develop the site within six months as a relocation option for the 40 families from the Amona outpost.
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - The battle for the city of Raqqa, which Islamic State had used as its headquarters in Syria, is drawing to an end. Islamic State militants have lost swathes of land to various offensives across Syria and Iraq, forced into a diminishing foothold along the Euphrates river valley. Their defeat in Raqqa would be a milestone in the fight to roll back the theocratic caliphate Islamic State declared in 2014 in both countries. Following are some facts about Raqqa: Raqqa sits on the Euphrates river around 90 km (56 miles) from the Turkish border in north central Syria. Hardline Sunni militant group Islamic State overran Raqqa in January 2014, seizing control from rebel factions opposed to the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The United States has said Islamic State planned and sent teams from Raqqa to carry out attacks on cities including Paris, Brussels and Istanbul. THE ANTI-IS OFFENSIVE The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of mostly Kurdish and Arab militias, began to advance towards Raqqa city in November 2016. After encircling the city, they launched the offensive to take it, facing tough resistance. The United States-led coalition supports the SDF with air strikes and special forces on the ground. The battle for Raqqa has taken a severe toll on civilians. The United Nations said in March the city contained around 200,000 people, just under its pre-war population. Since late last year, fighting around and in Raqqa has displaced tens of thousands of people. Many have fled the city to camps in surrounding territory now under the control of the SDF and its strongest component, the Kurdish YPG militia. Civilians trapped inside the Islamic State enclave in the city have endured miserable conditions for months, lacking water, power, food and healthcare. Parts of Raqqa that the SDF captured have mostly been cleared of residents. Air strikes, fighting and Islamic State snipers and mines have killed many hundreds of people. The coalition says it is careful to avoid civilian casualties in its bombing runs in Syria and Iraq. But the U.N. human rights office and rights group Amnesty International have raised concerns about reports of high civilian deaths. Islamic State has imposed its very strict interpretation of Islamic law on Raqqa s residents. The fighters have carried out public executions, lashings and violent punishments for infringements of their rule. The Raqqa campaign has stirred tension between the United States and NATO-ally Turkey. Potential Kurdish influence in the future of the mainly Arab city is sensitive both for some activists from Raqqa and for Turkey. The YPG has become the main U.S. partner in the fight against Islamic State in northern Syria. Ankara views it as a Syrian extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency within Turkey, and fears growing Kurdish power along its border. The SDF s political allies have set up a Raqqa Civil Council of people from the city, which the SDF says it will hand control to once its fighters have defeated Islamic State. This echoes the pattern in other towns and cities that the SDF captured. The U.S.-led coalition has helped train a new police force for the city. Islamic State has made enemies of all sides in the more than six-year Syrian conflict, with separate offensives now trying to clear it from its last foothold in the towns along the Euphrates river in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border. Besides the U.S.-backed SDF, the Syrian army, with Russian jets and Iran-backed militias, is also waging its own campaign against Islamic State in eastern Syria. A modern-day provincial transport hub and market town, Raqqa was built by the Abbasid Islamic Caliphate in the eighth century, serving as its capital at one point. It has been inhabited since antiquity and contains important archaeological and architectural sites. The United Nations has said they have been extensively looted during the war and religious buildings have been damaged. Islamic State militants released a video of them bombing a large part of the Uwais al-Qarani shrine complex in March 2014. | 0 |
This is a good reminder of how important it is to prevent Obama from anointing another radical on the Supreme Court. It might also be a good time for every American to call their representatives in Washington. Keeping another radical Obama appointee off our Supreme Court could literally be the only thing standing between a free America and one that looks more like Venezuela. This is also a reminder for anyone in the Republican party who considers themselves part of the never Trump movement. The Democrat party has never been more serious about, or closer to, fundamentally changing America forever The Obama administration is looking into whether it can challenge the Supreme Court s decision to block President Barack Obama s plan to spare millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Tuesday. We will be reviewing the case and seeing what, if anything else, we need to do in court, Lynch told Reuters in an interview.Lynch did not say what legal options the Obama administration may pursue following a split decision by the Supreme Court justices last week that left in place a block on the executive action by a lower court.She said any future executive actions Obama may take on immigration would be left to the White House.In a wideranging interview on topics from gun control to the effect of the planned exit of Britain from the European Union, Lynch identified espionage from foreign nationals on U.S. companies as a tremendous problem. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reported a 53 percent increase in cases of economic espionage between 2014 and 2015 and the majority of cases involve Chinese nationals as culprits.Most recently, Xu Jiaqiang, 30, was charged with economic espionage and theft of trade secrets, for stealing software source code from his U.S. employer with the intent of benefiting the Chinese government. It is a matter of priority for us, Lynch said. When companies or industries are preyed upon by others, be they individuals, be they state actors who literally steal the fruit of their intellectual labors, essentially they are stealing from future generations also. Via: Yahoo News | 0 |
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations agreed on Friday to establish a group of eminent experts to examine all human rights violations commmitted in Yemen s war and to identify those responsible. In a last-minute compromise hammered out between Western powers and Arab countries, the U.N. Human Rights Council adopted by consensus without a vote a resolution which the Yemen delegation said it accepted. A credible international investigation is necessary in order to comprehensively, transparently, independently and impartially establish facts and circumstances surrounding violations with a view to put an end to the cycle of impunity in Yemen, the Dutch delegate told the forum on behalf of a core group of Western states. (This version of the story corrects second paragraph to say adopted without a vote, not with a vote). | 0 |
Hollywood celebrities took to Twitter Thursday to weigh in on the airstrikes in Syria authorized by U. S. President Donald Trump in retaliation for an earlier chemical weapon attack by Syrian president Bashar . [While many of those celebrities who reacted to the strikes condemned the president and called him a “hypocrite,” a number of stars reacted with both shock and sadness. Actress Kerry Washington wrote simply that she was “heartbroken,” while actress Lena Dunham turned to prayer. Below is a sampling of Hollywood’s reaction to the American airstrikes in Syria. 🚽Bombing Syria Will,🙏🏻 Stop Assad Gassing His Ppl, BUT🚽Has NO Strategy, Or, Diplomacy‼️ TURKEY RUSSIA WINNERS‼️🚽IN HORNETS NEST, OVER HIS👨 — Cher (@cher) April 7, 2017, Wait. What?! Heart breaking. #Syria, — kerry washington (@kerrywashington) April 7, 2017, These two damaged creeps are committing mass murder and they shouldn’t even be allowed to own fish as pets. pic. twitter. — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) April 7, 2017, Hadnt seen the news. The only thing to tweet right now is a prayer for peace and safety. — Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) April 7, 2017, If you support bombing Syria because they were attacked with Chemical Weapons, but u supported banning Syrian refugees ur a fuckin hypocrite, — DL Hughley (@RealDLHughley) April 7, 2017, It’s sad that politicians can’t find money for education, clean water or healthcare but they can spend millions to ”send a message to Syria” — Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) April 7, 2017, Trump on Syria: ”No child of God should suffer such horror.” BUT NO WAY, NOPE. THEY CAN’T COME HERE. — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) April 7, 2017, What’s that? pic. twitter. — Margaret Cho (@margaretcho) April 7, 2017, Moved enough by innocent casualties to excuse bombing them, but not enough to accept refugees. War is a game of hypocrisy greed #Syria, — Lauren Jauregui (@LaurenJauregui) April 7, 2017, I just wish I could trust that this President is competent, — Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) April 7, 2017, he thinks he is on the apprentice — with his fake set in florida — like qvc — like palin had in alaska — a taped message audio — WTHF, — ROSIE (@Rosie) April 7, 2017, Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 0 |
Trump made a bad decision, or so his ardent followers seem to think. His attempts to work something out with Congressional Democrats on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and also his remarks that current construction on his stupid border wall involves mostly existing fencing, have set off their ire. Big-time and small-time MAGAsh*ts alike are crying today, because their rigid, purist minds suffer from severe tunnel vision that doesn t include Trump doing, well, what he s done. They want Trump to do what he promised and damn the consequences to millions who aren t like them.Take Joe Walsh, for example. Walsh is a former U.S. Representative from Illinois 8th district, but his big claim to fame is being a deadbeat dad. All he wants is for Trump to cut his taxes and build the wall. With Trump s latest tweets on DACA and the wall, though, he s ready to abandon Trump and throw his support to probably someone worse:Trump: We re close to a deal on amnesty. The wall will come later. That s not why we voted for you. https://t.co/0eFMR9jvxT Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) September 14, 2017This is the art of the deal right? Can someone remind the president why he was elected? Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) September 14, 2017If true, Trump is done. Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) September 14, 2017We voted for #MAGA, not #DACA.Pull your head out Mr President. Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) September 14, 2017He ran on: BUILD THE WALL! He didn t run on: FIX UP SOME OF THE EXISTING FENCING! Not surprising. Just very disappointing. Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) September 14, 2017I m tired of @fox news saying: It s not the Donald s fault. Big, bad GOP made him do it. Bullshit. Trump is responsible for what he does. Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) September 14, 2017NONE of this is a surprise. I voted 4 Trump knowing he wasn t a Conservative & knowing he had no core.I voted 4 the wall & against amnesty Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) September 14, 2017Then we have Ann Coulter, who seems to have developed some serious regret about writing a book called In Trump We Trust. If Walsh is crying, Coulter is raging: Put a fork in Trump, he s dead. https://t.co/xEu5lwhmqO Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 14, 2017At this point, who DOESN T want Trump impeached? https://t.co/g1mMhmm8ng Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 14, 2017If we re not getting a wall, I d prefer President Pence. https://t.co/g1mMhmm8ng Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 14, 2017Let s play Jeopardy. ANSWER: An Easter egg. QUESTION: What s the only thing easier to roll than Donald J. Trump? Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 14, 2017Let s just tell @realDonaldTrump there was a hurricane at the border. Maybe he ll rush down there with FEMA and build a wall. Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 14, 2017What s the only difference between @realDonald Trump & Carrot Top? Carrot Top might actually build the wall. Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) September 14, 2017There are others who are sobbing over Trump s about-face on these issues, too. They were conned, they know it, but they were too dumb and blinded by the racist who said anything they wanted to hear to think this might happen prior to the election.Found this by the side of the road #amnestydon #burnmyMAGAhat pic.twitter.com/QivQ81xClG Mickey Kaus (@kausmickey) September 14, 2017Trump s going to have to PAY people to attend his rallies now .and to chant Build that NEW RENOVATION OF OLD FENCES! Wait, what?? https://t.co/ouSYdSByjJ Mensans for USA (@Mensans4USA) September 14, 2017Disgusted I ever supported you. My family went through a lot supporting u. Cruz should have been nominee. Despise u & the other GOP traitors Patriotic Mama (@BluegillRises) September 14, 2017Live in apartment, can t burn. #AmnestyDon you broke my heart. @realDonaldTrump better look forward to retirement in 2020. #GoGetHimMueller pic.twitter.com/jdO5edLwqo Impeach Him (@GregPrill) September 14, 2017Trump used the grieving parents of those killed by illegal aliens as props then betrays them like this.#AmnestyDon mediacritic (@mediacritik) September 14, 2017Do you really want to be remembered as #AmnestyDon, the biggest traitor in US history since Benedict Arnold, and be a one term POTUS? Adorable Deplorable (@OliMauritania) September 14, 2017Do you really want to turn Florida blue and make our country look like a 3rd world hell hole? Tell us #AmnestyDon? Adorable Deplorable (@OliMauritania) September 14, 2017#AmnestyDon going to make himself a one term President just so he can get a week s worth of good headlines from the Liberal media. SAD! Craig ?? Norwalk (@LosGoyers) September 14, 2017I donated, volunteered, & trolled to help pull off the political miracle of the century, & all I got was a guy pushing amnesty. #AmnestyDon Coach Finstock (@RisenCoach) September 14, 2017Did ivanka cry again or something? #AmnestyDon Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) September 14, 2017.@CassandraRules is speaking for million upon millions of Trump supporters. #NoDACA #AmnestyDon pic.twitter.com/fz3rrzEyRm Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) September 14, 2017Dear @realDonaldTrump, We didn t elect you to give Dems whatever they want!! We elected you to do what you promised! ?#AmnestyDon #DACADeal CJ Schafer (@RaisedRightWI) September 14, 2017people aren t gettingJUST HOW F*CKING MADMAGA IS RIGHT NOW There will be no Amnesty - DT Arizona 8-31-16#AmnestyDon David Alvord (@davealvord164) September 14, 2017Poor Donald can t catch a break, but we can t feel sorry for him or his delusional MAGAs here.Featured image via Justin Merriman/Getty Images | 0 |
Welcome to Watching, The New York Times’s guide. We comb through releases big and small to email readers twice a week with our timely recommendations. You can browse previous guides here, and to receive recommendations straight to your inbox, sign up here. Stay tuned for our coming website. Dear Watchers, The Emmys are Sunday, and we’ll have plenty of coverage coming up this weekend, but for now, let’s take one last look at the summer that was. Today’s newsletter rounds up the worthy shows that came out in the last few months, some of which you might have missed, and some of which you might have added to ye olde DVR but have not gotten to. Happy watching. “O. J.: Made in America” is maybe Watching’s most mentioned TV specimen so far, and with good reason: It’s one of the best in living memory. ESPN’s documentary is gripping and educational and made what I thought was a familiar story into something completely new and riveting. If you don’t want to commit, at least watch the first episode, which alone is one of the best documentaries about race in Los Angeles you are likely ever to see. (Watch on ESPN.) Neflix’s “Stranger Things” has captured the internet’s imagination to a degree that surpasses understanding. It’s pretty good, and I enjoyed it tremendously, but I have no idea how it became such a thing. Aspirational nostalgia from people too young to actually remember 1983? Maybe! “Stranger” is radically straightforward for a horror story: It isn’t trying to trick you, and it isn’t trying to wink at you. (I didn’t find it all that scary, but I am in the minority.) (Watch on Netflix.) “The Great British Baking Show” makes its way to PBS on a seemingly arbitrary schedule, but if one has to endure frustrating broadcast delays in order to encounter the most charming food show currently airing, well, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. but brutally exacting, the series pulls off a feat almost unheard of on reality contest shows: There’s zero drama. The entire story of every episode revolves solely around baking triumphs and failures. Let this show inspire you to live every day as if you were a “star baker. ” (Watch on PBS and Netflix.) Sometimes great shows don’t capture “the conversation. ” Boo. These shows are fantastic give ‘em a go if you haven’t already. The megachurch ensemble drama “Greenleaf” premiered as OWN’s biggest show ever, and yet it didn’t seem to be particularly buzzy. While its network mate “Queen Sugar” is destined for more acclaim, “Greenleaf” deserves plenty of attention, too. It’s vibrant and smart, and not afraid of soapier moments. (Watch on the OWN app.) If you miss “Friday Night Lights” — don’t we all? — watch Netflix’s “Last Chance U,” a documentary series about a community college football team that sends most of its players on to Division I programs. After you watch it, please tweet me your thoughts, because I want to talk about this show so much. (Watch on Netflix.) For anyone who likes medical shows, “Boston EMS” is an absorbing spin. It’s a documentary series that never crosses the threshold of a hospital the show only takes place on the road and in the ambulances. Rare is the series that can make you care so much so quickly. (Watch on ABC.) “Take My Wife,” on NBC’s comedy streaming service Seeso, is a quick six episodes, but they charmed me so much I watched them twice. and wives Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher star as loosely themselves, and the show covers the ins and outs of the Los Angeles comedy scene without being tragic or sleazy. There are a ton of shows right now where comedians play themselves, but “Wife” is the only one pulling off exploring the idea that the more you’re yourself in your life, the better your comedy becomes. (Watch on Seeso for Amazon.) Some people loved them! Some people didn’t care at all! Which one are you? I don’t know! You are the captain of your own vessels. I can only offer guidance. CBS’s twisted political black comedy “BrainDead,” from the creators of “The Good Wife,” was a tough sell. Alien ants crawl into politicos’ ears, turn them extra partisan, and sometimes heads literally explode. I didn’t always grasp the rules that governed the alien invasion, but both Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s sparkling performance and Jonathan Coulton’s silly songs that served as the “previously on” segments delighted me. (Watch on Amazon.) If “Stranger Things” hadn’t come out this summer, would “The Get Down” have been Netflix’s big show? It’s someone’s job to know the answer to that, but not mine. Baz Luhrmann’s origin story, set in the Bronx in the 1970s, has a messy pilot but pulls itself together in subsequent episodes. I didn’t have the real estate for another sprawling show, but maybe you do. (Watch on Netflix.) If you want to watch two attractive actors in attractive locations learn about attractive beverages, then yeah, “The Wine Show” is for you. But maybe you are just a salty crab crabbing around, and you want educational shows to be more substantive, cohesive and convincing. A toast to however you are. (Watch on Hulu.) If you thought those hidden gems above were hidden, well … these were even more hidden. “Still the King” is a Billy Ray Cyrus vehicle on CMT where he plays a singer pretending to be a minister back in his rural hometown. I know, I know. But it’s reminiscent of “My Name Is Earl” in all the good ways, and it’s an undercover sweetheart of a show. (Watch on CMT.) On the drama front, TNT’s “Animal Kingdom” really aimed for a “Diet ‘Sons Of Anarchy’” vibe and mostly hit it — it’s physically and emotionally violent, bordering on grotesque. Ellen Barkin stars as the matriarch of a California crime family, where‚ if you can believe it, there is not honor among thieves. (Watch on TNT Drama.) I didn’t love “Queen of the South,” USA’s drug queenpin drama adapted from a popular book and Telemundo telenovela, but I might give it another try knowing that Season 2 will have a different showrunner. But if you have an insatiable appetite for stories of violent drug trafficking, theoretically you could do worse. (Watch on USA.) Indeed. Lots of good stuff, actually. If you like family dramas that still have potent dialogue, try the British series“The A Word,” about a family whose son is autistic. It’s the right amount of emotional without being wrenching — it’s not a show that wrecks you, but you might want to drink tea and wear sweaters for a while after watching it. (Watch on Sundance.) Satisfying though never surprising, Australia’s “Cleverman” uses Aboriginal mythology in its superhero storytelling. It’s reminiscent of “District 9” and “Black Mirror,” but a bit sloppier and less horrific. (Watch on Netflix.) For many viewers, the only thing better than a British murder show is a Scandinavian murder show. “The Tunnel” is somewhere in between as a British adaptation of a Scandinavian series. If you’ve watched the original “” or the American adaptation “The Bridge,” this serial killer mystery will seem redundant, but if not, there are thrills aplenty. (Watch on PBS.) There are plenty of shows, but “Thirteen” is the rare show: Ivy is a woman who was kidnapped 13 years ago and has now returned. It’s creepy and haunting, and luckily moves very quickly. Is England half murderers? Maybe! (Watch on BBC America.) Amazon’s two most promising pilots this are Jill Soloway’s “I Love Dick” and the reboot of “The Tick. ” Could Amazon market this in a package called “Dick and the Tick”? They could but shouldn’t. “Dick” stars Kathryn Hahn as a frustrated filmmaker who develops an obsession with a mysterious academic (Kevin Bacon). And “The Tick” is an effective entry in the very saturated superhero genre, satirical but thoughtful and textured. On Sept. 17, “Gimme the Loot” will expire from Netflix. In this wonderful “summer in the city” movie, Malcolm (Ty Hickson) and Sofia (Tashiana Washington) are burgeoning graffiti artists struggling to gain respect. So they hatch a plan to boost their reputation: tag a New York City icon so that no one will forget them. But it’s the realistic friendship between Malcolm and Sofia that makes “Gimme the Loot” memorable. (Watch on Netflix watch the trailer and add the film to your watchlist here.) — Monica Castillo “American Horror Story” returns for its sixth season on Wednesday. At this point, you probably know if you like “A. H. S. ” or not. Unlike previous years, FX hasn’t announced the premise or setting for the season, nor have they sent episodes to critics. Enter at your own risk. | 0 |
About | | Archive David Rives is known for his presentation "The Heavens Declare the Glory of God" and as host of TBN's "Creation in the 21st Century." His GPS observatory-class telescope allows David to share his passion for the heavens with others through astro-photography and astronomical events. THE HEAVENS DECLARE: Yes, creationists can be real scientists, too Exclusive: David Rives offers testable hypotheses supported by data from Bible-believers ...more | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Chris Christie considered the future of his struggling U.S. presidential bid on Wednesday amid news reports he would suspend his campaign and narrow the field of rivals facing businessman Donald Trump. A disappointing sixth-place finish in Tuesday’s New Hampshire nominating contest raised doubts about the combative New Jersey governor’s viability as a candidate for the Nov. 8 presidential election. The Wall Street Journal quoted a senior adviser to the campaign as saying Christie was expected to make an announcement soon suspending his campaign. Other news organizations carried similar reports. A spokeswoman for Christie’s campaign said no decision had been made about whether he would stay in the race. Christie’s departure would leave eight Republicans from a field that once had 17 candidates vying to represent the party. Trump has dominated the Republican race and won the party primary in New Hampshire on a wave of voter anger at traditional U.S. politicians. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a democratic socialist, defeated former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the state’s Democratic contest. The results testified to the sizable share of American voters upset over the slow economic recovery, immigration and America’s place in the world and willing to send a shockwave to Washington. On Wednesday, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said he understood the frustration and expected Republican voters to coalesce behind a candidate. “I think it’s pretty normal and I think it’s pretty common and expect that sort of vein is going to play itself out for the next few months and you know we’ll have a unified party when it’s done,” he told CNN in an interview. Christie had poured much of his campaign’s resources into New Hampshire and had considered a good showing there critical. He canceled plans to go to South Carolina, a sign he could drop out soon. The southern state holds the next Republican primary on Feb. 20. “No decision has been made,” Christie spokeswoman Sam Smith wrote in an email to Reuters. Trump’s opponents, most of them mainstream Republicans, could benefit if Christie pulls out. Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich, finished second in New Hampshire, followed by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. For Trump, New Hampshire showed he has staying power and can take a punch after losing last week to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in the first nominating contest, the Iowa caucuses. The former reality TV star’s win showed pundits were wrong to think he would quickly self-destruct based on his penchant for insults and imprecise plans for the presidency. Trump’s odds for winning the White House, once seen as an extremely long shot, improved significantly after his victory in New Hampshire, online betting site Ladbrokes PLC LAD.L said. The real estate tycoon is now at 9/2, compared to 7/1 last week, meaning that his chances of victory in November are now 18 percent. Clinton still had the best odds of becoming president at 50/50, Ladbrokes said. On the Democratic side, Sanders courted the African-American vote on Wednesday, having breakfast with civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton at a restaurant in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. Clinton currently has strong support from African-American voters, who will be crucial in the Democratic primary in South Carolina on Feb. 27. Sharpton and Barack Obama met at the same restaurant during Obama’s successful 2008 presidential campaign - a piece of symbolism for Sanders as he tries to expand his appeal beyond liberals in the U.S. Northeast. November’s election is followed by the inauguration of Obama’s successor in early 2017. “My concern is that in January of next year for the first time in American history a black family will be moving out of the White House,” Sharpton, a Baptist minister and television talk-show host, told reporters afterward. “I do not want black concerns to be moved out with them. We must be front and center and not marginalized. And Senator Sanders coming here this morning further makes it clear that we will not be ignored.” Sharpton discussed a spate of police shootings of black males and other issues with the senator. Sharpton said he would not endorse a candidate until he met with Clinton. Clinton consistently polls better among African-American voters and has a long history of support for civil rights. She also has benefited from husband Bill Clinton’s popularity in the black community during his presidency, although that became strained during her fierce 2008 primary battle with Obama. Even before the exit polls on Tuesday showed Sanders had won New Hampshire, Clinton’s campaign was trying to highlight her double-digit lead over Sanders among African-American and Latino voters. “It will be very difficult, if not impossible, for a Democrat to win the nomination without strong levels of support among African-American and Hispanic voters,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said in a memo to reporters. He predicted the Democratic race would be won in March, when the nominating contests quickly expand to 22 delegate-rich states with some of the largest minority and urban populations, and that Clinton would have the advantage. (Writing by Alistair Bell; Additional reporting by Brendan McDermid, Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey, Clarece Polke and John Whitesides; Editing by Howard Goller) SAP is the sponsor of this content. It was independently created by Reuters’ editorial staff and funded in part by SAP, which otherwise has no role in this coverage. | 0 |
Wow! If I were Hillary, I d stop sending people to her website during the debates as a way to deflect from actual issues. They may find out something pretty horrifying like maybe a TRILLION dollar tax hike! Trillion dollar tax hike Hillary s tax hike proposals will raise taxes on the American people by over $1,000,000,000,000 over the next ten years, based on her campaign s own numbers.Payroll Tax Hike Hillary said she would not veto a payroll tax increase on all Americans should such a bill reach her desk. She said she would set her middle class tax pledge aside. This took place Jan. 12 in Iowa, and it s on video:Moderator: Democrats have introduced a plan that Senator Sanders supports that you ve come out against because it is funded by a payroll tax. If that were to reach your desk as President, would you veto it in order to make good on your tax pledge? Hillary Clinton: No. No. Soda Tax Hike Hillary endorsed a steep new soda pop tax in Philadelphia. This will cost soda purchasers an extra $2.16 per 12-pack. Bernie Sanders called out Hillary s violation of her middle class tax pledge: Frankly, I am very surprised that Secretary Clinton would support this regressive tax after pledging not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000. This proposal clearly violates her pledge, he said.Sanders also said: The mechanism here is fairly regressive. And that is, it will be increasing taxes on low-income and working people. 25% National Gun Tax Hillary endorsed a new national 25% retail sales tax on guns. I am all for that, she told the Senate in 1993. On June 5, 2016 she was asked about her gun tax endorsement by George Stephanopoulos on ABC s This Week. She acknowledged her gun tax endorsement and did not disavow it, saying she wanted the gun tax money to pay for Hillarycare. If you have any doubts about her strong desire to impose a new gun tax, watch her face in the video.Doubling of federal excise tax on guns Hillary also endorsed a doubling of the existing federal excise tax on guns.65% Death Tax Hillary is now pushing a 65% Death Tax. And her own finances are arranged to shield herself from death taxes.Capital Gains Tax Hike Hillary has proposed the most complex and Byzantine capital gains tax regime in American history, with ten different rates. She raises the top capital gains tax rate from 23.8% to 43.4%.No Corporate Income Tax Rate Relief for Anyone Hillary offers no income tax rate reduction for any business. The USA has the highest corporate income tax in the world, which kills jobs and makes us less competitive. Even Bill Clinton understands the need to cut the corporate rate.No Personal Income Tax Rate Relief for Anyone Hillary offers no income tax rate reduction for any American.Carbon Tax Hillary s campaign has opened the door to a carbon tax if she wins the White House. Democrat Senate Leader Chuck Schumer is also fantasizing about a carbon tax under Hillary, and a carbon tax is part of the official 2016 Democrat party platform.To learn more about Hillary s tax hike plan, visit ATR s dedicated website: www.HighTaxHillary.com | 0 |
We Are Change
Fierce battle for the city of Mosul continues to shock Iraq and the whole Middle East with no significant results. The leading role belongs to the assault of the Iraqi army and Kurdish Self-Defense Forces—which still lack experience and skills—to capture the city in the shortest time.
However, 500 elite commandos of the U.S. Special Forces, which had been transferred this week at Mosul should give new impetus to the assault. U.S. combatants are supported by Apache and Chinook helicopters.
According to the Inside Syria Media Center , the U.S. Special Forces are located at the forefront of Iraqi and Kurdish combat formations. Military experts believe these combat conditions are atypical for the special operation forces which are aimed to carry out reconnaissance and other specific tasks.
Elite combatants in Mosul actually perform the functions of infantry soldiers, resulting in inevitable great losses, which are going to be covered up and silenced by the Washington officials in the usual manner.
Although the U.S. officials have repeatedly stated Mosul should be liberated from terrorists to eliminate the Islamic State, the decision to use U.S. Special Forces looks unjustified at first glance. However, the protracted nature of the assault on the city is forcing the Pentagon to take extreme measures to complete the operation before the U.S. presidential election. Therefore, the White House uses this situation, first of all, as a large-scale PR-campaign to support the candidate of the Democratic Party Hillary Clinton.
In this context, it becomes clear why the U.S. Government refrained from active struggle against terrorists for so long choosing an opportune moment strangely coincided with the end of the presidential elections in the United States.
Liberation of Mosul should also demonstrate to the world community the importance and crucial role of the American nation in the fight against the Islamic State. It is even more regrettable in the light of the recent Wikileaks’ revelations, which confirmed the United States and American tycoons’ role in the creation and funding of the Islamic State terrorists.
The post U.S. Special Forces Join Fight For Mosul appeared first on We Are Change .
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There are a lot of Republican members of Congress who can t stand even the prospect of having their town halls disrupted by protesters, even if those protesters are their own constituents. Some think that the disruption prevents meaningful dialogue with their real constituents, while others probably buy into Trump s narrative that the protesters are paid liberal activists.And some are just avoiding their constituents entirely, fearfully hiding behind telephones or just refusing to meet with them at all. And constituents have begun fighting back.In Pennsylvania, where Sen. Pat Toomey refused to meet with people opposed to repealing the Affordable Care Act. They had a meeting anyway and had an empty suit up on stage representing Toomey:No Toomey, no problem for Obamacare rally in Allentown, report says https://t.co/S7h2i6nVFo pic.twitter.com/zvTr2w86P1 lehighvalleylive.com (@lehighvalley) February 22, 2017Some have begun putting their senators and representatives faces on milk cartons, a la missing persons notices. These are framed like missing persons notices, too. One was posted to Twitter by an account calling itself Where Is Paul Cook, and their tweet has pictures of half-gallon milk jugs with Cook s photo on it and a big MISSING label across the top.Reports of these milk jugs spotted in local stores all over the 8th district #WhereIsPaulCook @RepPaulCook @VVDailyPress pic.twitter.com/RsVLAgCw9n Where Is Paul Cook (@WhereIsPaulCook) February 20, 2017Two others are missing persons ads in local papers, one for Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and another for Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina. Both start with LOST United States Senator. Both have nearly identical wording despite being in two completely different papers. The ad for Rubio is below:@IndivisibleTeam look at what appeared in the Palm Beach Post today. pic.twitter.com/r8VPpNzmnV Kira (@KiraCA76) February 22, 2017Then there s a group in New York State that s been taking out ads on billboards asking where Rep. Chris Collins is. He was the first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump for President, and so of course Trump has been trying to butter him up since then. But Collins, like all the others, has been missing from town halls.This billboard just went up in Rep Chris Collins home district in Western New York. #NY27 pic.twitter.com/8OInIEVJan Jill a-go-go (@jillagogo) February 14, 2017In some places, where people want to prove that they re not part of these alleged paid liberal activist groups trying to stop meaningful dialogue, they ve resorted to things like holding up their drivers licenses at meetings to show that they really are upset constituents:Everyone holding up their CO driver s license to prove that it s all Coloradans wanting to talk with @SenCoryGardner ? pic.twitter.com/hIySskpeZA IndivisibleNOCO (@IndivisibleNOCO) February 22, 2017It s sad when constituents are reduced to things like this simply because their reps don t want to hear what they have to say, or know and understand that they re angry. Our Senators and Representatives in Congress are supposed to represent us, not the rich, not the corporations, us. It seems there are an awful lot of people who are legitimately trying to wrest that power back.Featured image via screen capture from embedded tweet | 1 |
It s worth noting that the victims of this horrible terrorist bombing are responsible for their own court parking fees, food and any potential travel and lodging expenses they incur as a result of this trial. Muslim terrorists first it s the Obama way The family of the convicted marathon bomber is in America, on your tax dollars, and survivors are outraged after learning the news.As of Thursday, family members of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have been staying at the Hampton Inn in Revere under very tight security, just one of the things tax dollars are paying for. FOX25 s Sharman Sacchetti investigated how much this trip is costing you.Sources say these family members are being called as witnesses and not only that, at least three agencies are working around the clock to protect and transport them. This is all part of the defense team s strategy to save Tsarnaev. While it s unclear when their flight started, we know the last part of it came through Amsterdam and landed at Logan Airport and cost nearly $2,500 per person.The cost to put them up at the Hampton Inn at the government rate: almost $200 per night, per person. And a source says at least three agencies, the FBI, US Marshal s and Revere Police are involved in constant protection. I think you re probably talking about $100,000 plus in that neighborhood in terms of security and out of pocket costs associated with travel, former US attorney Michael Sullivan said.And that s just for this trip.Lawyer fees or even what all witnesses during the trial cost is still unclear. One defense witness, Mark Spencer of Arsenal Consulting, charged $375 per hour and billing taxpayers for $150,000.Governor Charlie Baker said, It s a federal trial, it s a federal case, the feds ultimately need to make the decisions about this. Baker was non-committal about how resources are being used, even state ones.Sullivan told Sacchetti that while he understands taxpayer outrage, the whole point is to make sure it s done right. The court wants to make sure that at the end of the day, the defendant gets a fair trial and would not want to add any potential issues on appeal in the penalty phase, prosecutors finished making their case yesterday, he said.JUDGE JEANINE HAS A POWERFUL MESSAGE for Jihadi Mom:Marathon survivor Marc Fucarile reached out to us Friday night, reacting to this news, saying that he s outraged that Tsarnaev s family s expenses are being paid for when myself and some of the other survivors and our families have to pay for our own parking at court, lunch, and we were told that if the trial was moved out of state, we d have to pay for our own travel and lodging, there. The statement went on to say: Why should our country pay for them when that family committed a violent act against our country? Not to mention, all of the free government services this family previously enjoyed on the backs of the taxpayers including government assistance and a free ride to UMass Dartmouth. In contrast, I was denied housing assistance I sought after the bombings, even though I needed a handicapped accessible apartment, and my wife lost her job as a result of the events. He ended by saying he feels badly for the taxpayers that have to pay for this after they were so generous to all the survivors and the One Fund. The defense team is up next. And the penalty phase picks up again Monday.Via: MyFOXBoston | 0 |
While facing budget cuts, the IRS nevertheless prioritized worker bonuses, union activity and the implementation of President Obama’s health care law over assisting taxpayers during tax season, according to a new report released Wednesday by the House Ways and Means Committee.
The findings, in a Republican-led report, were released ahead of a subcommittee hearing Wednesday morning with IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
At the hearing, Koskinen stressed that the agency is significantly under-funded, and those cuts have consequences.
He said less funding means there will be a decline in service for taxpayers, and pledged that service would improve if they got more money.
"Customer service -- both on the phone and in person -- has been far worse than anyone would want. It's simply a matter of not having enough people to answer the phones and provide service at our walk-in sites as a result of cuts to our budget," he said.
But Republicans argued the IRS is making bad spending choices. "I would just suggest to you that there's hardly a person in America today that isn't doing more with less, that hasn't tightened their belt and learned how to work with less," Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., said.
The IRS has faced congressional budget cuts of $1.2 billion since 2010, and has faced criticism in recent years over the targeting of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status and reports of wasteful spending. The new report said the cuts were intended to “force the IRS to manage its resources more effectively and immediately stop inappropriate activities.”
However, while cuts were made in part to focus the agency on customer service, the report asserted that “spending decisions entirely under the IRS’s control led to 16 million fewer taxpayers receiving IRS assistance this filing season.”
The panel found the IRS had cut customer services while continuing to hand out bonuses to employees, allowing staff to conduct union activities, failing to collect debt owed by employees of the federal government and spending over $1.2 billion on implementing ObamaCare.
Even though the IRS’s budget for taxpayer assistance remained flat from fiscal year 2014 to 2015, the level of over-the-phone customer service significantly decreased, with the agency shifting staff in customer service to focus on written correspondence instead of telephone calls. Meanwhile, the number of calls doubled in that period.
The panel found that wait times increased from 18.7 minutes to 34.4 minutes, and answered calls decreased from 6.6 million to 5.3 million.
“In January 2015, the IRS commissioner estimated that taxpayer service would decline while delays in tax refunds would increase. While the IRS commissioner has blamed this solely on budget cuts, in reality the IRS deliberately diverted resources away from taxpayer services,” the report found.
Despite the drop in service, there was no significant decrease in bonuses for IRS employees. Notably, in November 2014, despite another round of budget cuts at the IRS, Koskinen announced that employees would receive bonuses at the same level as for the previous year, unless they had substantiated conduct issues, the report said.
While acknowledging that the agency has cut the amount of time spent on discretionary union activity, the report questioned why it could not have been decreased further, asserting that “the amount of resources spent on discretionary union activity could have assisted nearly 2.5 million taxpayers.”
The report noted that while the IRS’s implementation of ObamaCare was deemed a success by Koskinen, “the IRS achieved this supposed success by prioritizing … implementation over other activities, including core responsibilities like taxpayer assistance.”
The panel also claimed the agency had failed to pursue recommendations for streamlining and reducing waste and abuse. It concluded that what it called “large areas of systemic waste and inefficiency” present in 2010 remained unaddressed in 2015, and highlighted in particular that the IRS spent $2.1 million on litigation services that the government could have conducted itself. | 1 |
Pecans, with their rich, buttery, sweet flavor, are considered by many to be the quintessential American nut. They once grew wild throughout what is now the American South and Mexico. Native peoples foraged for these highly nutritious nuts, and Spanish explorers took pecans — along with other unknown New World foods like potatoes, tomatoes, corn and chiles — back to Europe for cultivation. Today, orchards in the United States continue to produce most of the world’s supply. I have had them on the brain ever since I received a giant bag of pecans from a friend in New Mexico recently. With the holiday season (a. k. a. the baking season) nigh upon us, I began to think of what to do with them. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I will happily make an exception when homemade pecan rolls or other members of the sticky bun family are in the room. And if they happen to be rolled in cinnamon sugar, so much the better. Pecan rolls are a particularly fond childhood memory for me. Occasionally, a dozen freshly baked ones would arrive at our house, packed in a shoe box — the gift of a doting aunt on a baking spree. It was impossible not to eat at least two of them. I would eat them from the top down, unfurling the rolls’ spiral layers and saving the sugary caramelized bottom for last. Many years later, I found work as a professional baker, and making cinnamon rolls became a daily task. I baked dozens and dozens each day, even more on weekends, gaining proficiency, to say the least. (For quality control, I sampled one from each batch.) So playing with this pecan version was like riding a bike. Some home bakers are fearful of yeasted doughs. Don’t be. The key is to let the yeast do its work and allow the dough to rise sufficiently before popping your creations into the oven. These pecan rolls are baked in muffin tins to help them puff proudly. Just be sure not to rush them: The longer they rise, the lighter they’ll be. Bake them until the tops are nicely browned and well burnished. That is the way to ensure a golden glazed underside. Don’t we all love the classic filling of a good pecan pie? For these pecan bars, I wanted a similar sensation, but with a heaping dose of spice. Cardamom, allspice, nutmeg and clove add a kind of peppery warmth to these. I also craved the earthy presence and deep dark hue that a touch of molasses can contribute. Rather than rely on too much sugar or syrup, I folded chopped dates into the batter to increase the sticky factor. A thick layer of buttery shortbread is the base, baked in a square cake pan, with a generous layer of crisp pecans on top. You can cut the flat pie into bars or into pieces. The best thing about it is that you can store these bars at room temperature for days on end with no loss of quality. In fact, they seem to improve with a little age. (They also freeze well.) I’ll confess to a weakness for cheese puffs and other cheesy nibbles, and some kind of salty baked good is always welcome with drinks. For these savory cookies, grated Parmesan was my choice. Chopped pecans, fresh sage and a good spoonful of coarsely ground black pepper went into the dough. It is as easy to put together as any type of cookie dough, but not a speck of sugar goes in. The dough can be shaped into a log (keep a couple in the fridge at the ready) for savory cookies, or it may be rolled out like pie dough and cut into shapes. They’ll keep a week in an airtight tin, if it’s perched well out of reach serve the cookies with cocktails or add them to a cheese board. Surprise your friends and family with one of these pecan treats, or all three. Give them savory pecan cookies to start, pecan bars for dessert and a bag of pecan rolls to take home for breakfast. Recipes: Savory Pecan Cookies | Rolls | Spiced Pecan Date Shortbread Bars | 0 |
St. Louis County Police announced on Sunday that they had made an arrest related to the two officers who were shot during a protest on Thursday in Ferguson, Missouri.
St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch announced that authorities had brought charges, including assault in the first degree, against 20-year-old Jeffrey Williams. Williams is from the St. Louis area and had been on probation for receiving stolen property.
Williams had been involved in protests on the evening that the shooting occurred and had "acknowledged" firing shots, according to McCulloch. McCulloch said that Williams, who is African-American, may have been firing at someone other than the police.
"We don't know him," said Tony Rice, the founder of Ground Level Support, who has been protesting since August
After naming three young male protesters who were regularly at the demonstrations, Rice told HuffPost, "I don't think there is a male 20-years-old that regularly protest outside of them."
"I think I can speak for the protester community in saying we don't know him," said Rice.
After the press conference, press swarmed Alicia Street when she helped source the first picture of Williams. Street, 29, has been actively involved in protest since August as well and says she was unfamiliar with Williams as well.
"I have never seen him at a protest. I cannot recall that I even seen him that night. We know a lot of people out there, we really do. I even showed pictures to other regular protesters and they said they didn't know him," Street told HuffPost.
The shooting came during protests after Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson announced that he would resign. One of the officers was shot in the face and the other was shot in the shoulder, but both survived the attack.
Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement on Sunday that the arrest was a testament to good collaboration between federal and local authorities.
“This arrest sends a clear message that acts of violence against our law enforcement personnel will never be tolerated. The swiftness of this action is a credit to the significant cooperation between federal authorities and the St. Louis County Police Department," Holder said. "The ATF’s ballistic imaging technology has played a critical role in the ongoing investigation. I commend both the ATF and St. Louis police for their tremendous work in identifying this suspect."
President Barack Obama condemned the shooting on Thursday, posting on Twitter that "violence against police is unacceptable." Holder also called the shooter a "damn punk" last week.
Read the full complaint against Williams below: | 1 |
The Women s March was historic. Over four million women all across the country (and world) came out in solidarity to protest against the incoming avalanche of assault from the Trump Administration.Contrary to popular belief, the Women s March was not a protest against President Trump it was a protest in support of women s rights.Before taking the oath of office, the Trump Administration pledged to defund all programs at the DOJ which enforce the Violence Against Women Act. Donald Trump himself has released the names of 21 conservative judges who are potential Supreme Court nominees that mirror the late Justice Antonin Scalia (who does not believe the 14th Amendment extends to women).On Monday, January 23, Trump signed an executive order imposing the Mexico City rule that overseas operations (including clinics) that perform or encourage abortion will lose all federal funding from the United States.The war on women is in full force, and Trump is at the reins.That is why, now more than ever, an Equal Rights Amendment is needed.The proposal is a simple one:Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.Aside from the 20th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote, there is no specific mention of women in the United States Constitution. The word men is mentioned a handful of times. The words women, ladies, or female is nowhere. Not one line in the United States Constitution even alludes to the rights of women when considering historical context (aside from the 20th). Nor is the word equality found anywhere.Even though the Constitution states All men are created equal, we know that the Founders truly did not understand that. If you weren t white, a landowner, or male, the Constitution was not written with your rights in mind. Thomas Jefferson, who authored the Declaration of Independence and made significant contributions to the Constitution, wrote:Were our state a pure democracy there would still be excluded from our deliberations women, who, to prevent deprivation of morals and ambiguity of issues, should not mix promiscuity in gatherings of men.What many people fail to realize is that the rights of women that hinge on the 14th Amendment s Equal Protection Clause can easily be taken away. The 14th Amendment says that states may not deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Should a Congress or bench of judges hold hostile views of women s equality, they could deem it necessary to roll back on much of the social progress made through common or statutory law. Should Trump appoint one, two or even three new Justices to the Supreme Court, who hold originalist views like Scalia, many issues such as equal pay, abortion, insurance discrimination, and so forth could vanish or become embedded in sex discrimination.The only thing women truly, inarguably have is the right to vote. But what s the point of voting if your rights as a human being could be taken away down the road in the name of jurisprudence?The argument women already have everything the ERA would guarantee them is not only wrong but na ve. First, women don t have everything equal to men in current law. There are still many statutes that separate on the basis of sex. Second, only the ERA would truly guarantee them these fundamental rights without fear of being stripped away so easily. So those opposed to the ERA actually give us a reason to support it they admit it would guarantee equality if enacted.This wasn t always a divisive issue. Republicans use to support it. Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford supported the ERA in the 1970s, as did President Carter. This was not a partisan issue until Phyllis Schlafly came along and derailed it using scare tactics (one argument was that this would lead to same-sex marriage).But Schlafly is gone (as is Ford and Nixon), and a new era for women is on the horizon. If women came out in support for an Equal Rights Amendment as they did on January 21st, equality would be the true law of the land.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images | 0 |
The investigation into possible collusion between Donald Trump s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia is heating up. On Monday, former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. There were bombshell revelations in that testimony that directly contradicted the accounts regarding the actions and conduct that led to the firing of former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn that were told by the White House. Now, as the lies keep being exposed, Trump has gone even further into the arena of attempting a cover-up of the whole Russia deal by firing FBI Director James Comey.Now, it could be argued that Comey had his thumb on the scale for Trump, considering the letter he sent to House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz just eleven days from Election Day that detailed the FBI s intent to re-open investigations into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton s private email server. However, now that Comey has testified just last week that there are ongoing investigations into the Trump campaign s possible coordination with the Russian government to fix an election, Comey is out. The White House released the following statement regarding Comey s firing: Today, President Donald J. Trump informed FBI Director James Comey that he has been terminated and removed from office. President Trump acted based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Here is a shot of the entire letter:Trump himself went on to say in a statement: The FBI is one of our Nation s most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement. Crown jewel indeed. It s only a crown jewel in their eyes if they show unwavering loyalty to Trump.Considering that Sessions had to recuse himself from any and all investigations related to Russia and the Trump team, this stinks to high heaven. In other words, Team Trump is getting rid of anyone and everyone who would be able to blow the whistle on anything resembling collusion. These people are balls deep in collusion with the Kremlin.This is what a coup looks like, folks. Sessions, Trump, and all the rest are cleaning house in an effort to get rid of anyone who could tell the truth about what REALLY happened to fix the 2016 election in Donald Trump s and Vladimir Putin s favor.This is a developing story. Stay tuned to Addicting Info for more information.Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images | 0 |
Bristol Palin brought this upon herself. After all, she could have just practiced what she preached. Now, it s her turn to take responsibility.But she didn t, and now the daughter of America s village idiot has a second out-of-wedlock baby by a second dude, who now wants Bristol to pay him child support as well as give him joint physical custody of the little girl named Sailor Grace.Palin has already been embroiled in battles with her other baby daddy Levi Johnston over their 7-year-old son Tripp. And now she gets to battle Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer.According to legal documents obtained by Radar Online: The parties have reached a final custody and visitation agreement for residing in the same community and have executed, personally and through their attorneys, a confidential stipulation regarding custody. Therefore, the only pending issue to be addressed by the Court is the matter of past and future child support. And Bristol Palin isn t the struggling single mom she pretends to be. She has a lot of money to make child support payments.After getting knocked up and giving birth the first time around, Palin became a paid spokesperson for for an abstinence-only campaign, making $262,000 in 2009 alone. And then she got a $100,000 payday by selling her story to In Touch Weekly. And Palin owned a $400,000 modern lakefront home in Alaska, pictures of which you can see here.Combine all of that with the millions of dollars her mom has suckered from conservatives across the country via donations and book sales and it becomes quite clear that Bristol can afford to pay child support.One would think Bristol would learn her lesson by now. But apparently she s quite comfortable being paid to preach abstinence while having sex and babies with any guy she meets. The hypocrisy is stunning and makes it hard to feel sorry for her.For years now, she has criticized women and girls for being irresponsible when it comes to sex and birth control. Now it s time for her to take responsibility for her own actions, which means she should have to pay child support in a timely manner so that her child can have at least one parent who has some discipline and isn t a spoiled brat who whines all the time.Featured Image: Inquistr | 0 |
Fox Business host, Stuart Varney, had an interview with Nevada Superdelegate, Erin Bilbray, that made Varney get more than a little angry. Bilbray has pledged to vote for Bernie Sanders during the Democratic National Convention. Varney became hot under the collar because Bilbray supports higher taxes for the rich.Varney has a net worth of approximately $10 million dollars. That means the financial analyst would probably be paying more in taxes should Sanders win the White House and get some of his proposals passed. Varney argues against Sanders proposals to make taxes a bit more progressive to address skyrocketing income inequality, saying You re going to take it off me and give it to somebody else. I got it. Okay. Bilbray defends her position. However, Varney wasn t hearing it. Let s not beat around the bush, Varney goes on to say. He is going to take it off me. I already pay 60 percent of my income in taxes and he wants more. Please, don t confuse the issue, he is going to take it off me and give it to somebody else. If you think that s okay, that s fine with me. I don t. Let me move on. Varney, seemingly not wanting to have a conversation about facts or policy, insists on having a conversation about the morality of having the rich pay a higher share of taxes. Bilbray says that she wasn t prepared to have a conversation about morality. Though she thinks it isn t moral for people to be working as they as they are and still struggle just to get by.Varney only repeats his earlier position, while steadily growing angrier.Now, Sanders himself has called income inequality the great moral issue of our time. Sanders has revealed himself to have a humanist philosophy on morality. Sanders also happens to have a lot of respected economists who agree with his tax policy proposals too. Sanders recently explained his spirituality, saying: I believe that, as a human being, the pain that one person feels, if we have children who are hungry in America, if we have elderly people who can t afford their prescription drugs, you know what, that impacts you, that impacts me. And I worry very much about a society where some people spiritually say, It doesn t matter to me. I got it, I don t care about other people. So my spirituality is that we are all in this together and that when children go hungry, when veterans sleep out on the street, it impacts me. That s my very strong spiritual feelings. It would be a pleasure to see a gentleman like Sanders have this conversation with Varney.You can watch the interview below:Featured image from video screenshot. | 1 |
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - There are no Muslim Malays in the top echelons of Singapore s army, and few among the senior ranks of its judiciary, but a member of its poorest ethnic minority is set to become the first woman president of the Southeast Asian city state this week. Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament, will be formally named to the mostly ceremonial post on Wednesday, media reported, after other candidates fell short of the criteria set for contesting the election. Aiming to strengthen a sense of inclusivity in the multicultural country, Singapore had decreed the presidency would be reserved for candidates from the Malay community this time. Halimah s experience as house speaker automatically qualified her under the nomination rules. Of the four other applicants, two were not Malays and two were not given certificates of eligibility, the elections department said. The last Malay to hold the presidency was Yusof Ishak, whose image adorns the country s banknotes. Yusof was president between 1965 and 1970, the first years of Singapore s independence following a short-lived union with neighboring Malaysia, but executive power lay with Lee Kuan Yew, the country s first prime minister. The separation of Singapore from Malaysia gave ethnic Malays a clear majority in Malaysia, while ethnic Chinese formed the majority in independent Singapore. Leaders of both countries, however, recognized that peace and prosperity depended on preserving harmony between the two groups. But living in a Muslim-dominated neighborhood, with Malaysia and Indonesia next door, Singapore s leaders have long worried about the risk of conflicted loyalties among Malays. You put in a Malay officer who s very religious and who has family ties in Malaysia in charge of a machine-gun unit, that s a very tricky business, the late Lee Kuan Yew was widely quoted as saying in 1999. For Lee, whose son, Lee Hsien Loong, is now prime minister, the answer to social cohesion lay in creating a culture of meritocracy, rather than adopting policies of positive discrimination to boost the chances of advancement for Singapore s Malay and Indian minorities. Still, a government report published in 2013 found Malays felt they were sometimes discriminated against and had limited prospects in some institutions, such as the armed forces. Singapore s economic success and education policies have helped swell the ranks of middle-class Malays, but the last census in 2010 showed they lagged other ethnic groups on socio-economic measures such as household incomes and home ownership. Malays, who form just over 13 percent of Singapore s 3.9 million citizens and permanent residents, also underperform on measures such as university and secondary school education. Despite being the establishment candidate, Halimah wears a hijab, which is banned in state schools and public sector jobs that require uniforms. But she has seldom spoken publicly on the issue and there is little sign of change in official attitudes. Farid Khan, one of the unsuccessful candidates and the chairman of marine services firm Bourbon Offshore Asia, told Reuters more Malays now hold political office, and some are making their way in the corporate world, but there is still room for improvement. The prospect of a Malay president is by itself unlikely to resolve concerns over under-representation, but analysts and advocates say it could help foster trust among communities. Yet the reserved election has also injured some pride. It cheapens the credibility of a Malay person that it requires a token election for us to be president, said Malay comedian and television personality Hirzi Zulkiflie. Some people intending to run are very capable. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, a Republican, planned to send a letter on Thursday to Donald Trump Jr to ask him to testify before his committee in a public session, CNN reported. Trump Jr, son of Republican President Donald Trump, disclosed this week that he had a meeting with a Russia lawyer who sought to provide damaging information on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign. | 0 |
The media is in an all out frenzy today, as they attempt to help pump up the sales of the horribly flawed presidential candidate and Benghazi liar, Crooked Hillary, while attempting to trash our beloved president. Does the media, or Hillary really believe we re going to buy into their latest attempt to prop up America s biggest loser s book sales, while trying to paint President Trump as some sort of creeper ?Here are just a few of the usual suspects who jumped in with this nothing burger story in an attempt to help Hillary sell her book: Cosmopolitan, the former fashion and beauty magazine, also chimed in on the nothing burger story to show their support for the crooked female who set the woman s movement back at least 50 years: Hillary how quickly you forget about the creepy people you ve surrounded yourself with for most of your adult life. Do you seriously think any American will take you seriously when you call President Trump a creep for standing to close to you, after your husband, who s been accused of rape and sexual assault by many women, had oral sex with a 19-year old intern in the Oval Office? What about serial creeper Joe Biden, who you just can t seem to get enough of?From the Trump-hating The Hill: Hillary Clinton writes in her new book that Donald Trump s attempts to intimidate her during the presidential debates made her skin crawl and that she wanted to tell him to back up, you creep. What would you do? Do you stay calm, keep smiling and carry on as if he weren t repeatedly invading your space? the 2016 Democratic nominee asks in her new book, What Happened, excerpts of which were released by MSNBC s Morning Joe early Wednesday. Or do you turn, look him in the eye and say loudly and clearly Back up, you creep. Get away from me. I know you love to intimidate women, but you can t intimidate me, so back up. Listen to the phony Hillary read an excerpt from her new book that will likely end up where the last book did, on a bargain basement shelf at Walmart.Coming up, we'll have a Morning Joe Exclusive on Hillary Clinton's new book, and here is a first look of Clinton discussing a debate. pic.twitter.com/xRkgcoTnKw Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 23, 2017Or this Was Hillary s poor health the reason for Joe Biden s awkward embrace while they campaigned together in Pennsylvania, or was it simply just another perfectly acceptable creeper moment from the former Vice President. | 0 |
Tensions ran high outside of a campaign rally for Donald Trump in St. Louis, Missouri. Thousands of Trump supporters waited outside in line to see the Republican primary front-runner speak at the Peabody Opera House located in the downtown area of St. Louis.According to the St. Louis Dispatch, protestors were also in attendance at the campaign rally. They report: Supporters wore red Trump hats, waved American flags, and bought T-shirts and buttons from concession stands up set up around the perimeter. Protesters held up signs to crying hatred and, in a few cases, comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler. We re just trying to join with the Muslim community saying hate speech has no place here, said Jay Kanzler, an Episcopal priest and attorney who was among the protestors. We stand with our Muslim American bothers and sisters, our Jewish brothers and sisters, our Christian brothers and sisters for this community. We re not going to let Donald Trump s hate speech divide us. This lead to a near all-out race riot between Trump supporters and protestors. A man can be seen in video footage being escorted away from the event by police. The man was assaulted by insults from Trump s supporters waiting in line.One Trump fan screams at the man, saying: Hey, f*ck Islam! Allah is a wh*re! Jesus is the most high god and you b*tches are done. So f*ck Islam. Here is the video:This guy though #TrumpRally pic.twitter.com/cfTUHfAVWu Marissa (@southards_3) March 11, 2016Another video shows a young male Trump supporter try to start a fistfight with the protestors. He walks up to them reputedly telling them to You mother f*fuckers wanna go. Bring It Battle lines drawn at Trump rally pic.twitter.com/Y9yRTnjOAm Trymaine Lee (@trymainelee) March 11, 2016Police are get involved.The first arrest. A yelling match nearly turned into a fistfight. The crowd cheered as they dragged him away. pic.twitter.com/YzTsrTApQo Trymaine Lee (@trymainelee) March 11, 2016More violent actions from Trump supporters.My mother told me to NEVER put hands on a woman pic.twitter.com/tRXqm0aXN9 Junius Randolph (@JuniusRandolph) March 11, 2016Trump supporters calling a woman a wh*re.Hard to believe that anyone would get assaulted at rallies with these sorts of attendees pic.twitter.com/ShhTKouFwL Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) March 11, 2016Protestor screams F*ck Donald Trump .Here we go again at the St. Louis Trump rally pic.twitter.com/BFcQ5s2TxU Junius Randolph (@JuniusRandolph) March 11, 2016This is only the latest incident to prove that Trump and his racist, fascist, supporters are tearing the United States apart.Featured image from video screenshot via Twitter | 0 |
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia s parliament voted to change party laws on Monday to re-distribute seats if a party is dissolved after the government filed a lawsuit earlier this month to dissolve the main opposition party, part of an escalating political crisis. Lawyers from the interior ministry filed a lawsuit on Oct. 6 to demand the dissolution of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), in a move that would help Prime Minister Hun Sen to extend his 32-year rule when the nation votes in an election next year. The latest move comes amid growing concern from the United Nations and rights groups over what they say is Cambodia s deteriorating human rights and political situation ahead of the key election. It follows an exodus by several opposition figures - nearly half of Cambodia s opposition parliamentarians fled abroad in September and early October - as Hun Sen moves to tighten his grip on power by silencing critics in the lead-up to the polls. The attempt to disband the CNRP comes after its leader, Kem Sokha, was charged with treason following his arrest on Sept.3. The government said the CNRP had conspired with foreign advisors to topple the government, citing a 2013 video clip that shows Kem Sokha talking about a plan to take power with the help of Americans. Monday s parliamentary vote on the new amendments was supported by all 67 parliamentarians present from Hun Sen s ruling Cambodian People s Party (CPP), while the CNRP boycotted the morning session. Under the new laws, if a political party abandons its seats, is delisted, is disbanded or dissolved, a list of candidates or members of parliament of that party are no longer valid and beneficial. The laws require that National Election Committee re distribute seats to other parties participating in elections within seven days. Cheam Yeap, a lawmaker from the ruling CPP party, said the amendments were aimed at guaranteeing long lasting political stability in Cambodia. Seeing the actions of betraying the nation and people by the CNRP leader Kem Sokha, with the obvious evidence, the signatory lawyers asked for the amendments on these four laws, Cheam Yeap told the parliament on Monday. There was no debate on the amendments on Monday and the government has not provided new evidence against Kem Sokha, besides the 2013 video. Mu Sochua, deputy president of the opposition CNRP, who fled Cambodia earlier this month in fear of arrest, said that parliament s move was unconstitutional. It s a total violation of the constitution and the will of the people. The highest national institution - the National Assembly will not be legitimate, Mu Sochua, who has called for targeted sanctions against Cambodia, told Reuters by e-mail. Authors and anyone adopting the proposed amendments will take part in putting an end to democracy in Cambodia. | 0 |
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A thick cloud of toxic smog 10 times the recommended limit enveloped India s capital, New Delhi, on Monday, as government officials struggled to tackle a public health crisis that is well into its second week. A U.S. embassy measure showed levels of poisonous airborne particles, known as PM 2.5, had reached 498 on Monday afternoon, compared with the upper limit of good quality air at 50. India s weather office said rain was forecast over the next three days which could help clear the smog. Light rainfall is likely in states surrounding Delhi and in Delhi over the next three days, and this could result in a change in wind pattern in the region, Charan Singh, a scientist at India Meteorological Department, told Reuters. Smog will start to abate starting tomorrow. But Skymet, India s only private weather forecaster, said dense smog would continue over Delhi and the surrounding area for at least the next two days. The Supreme Court is due to hear a petition filed by a New Delhi lawyer to direct government authorities to tackle the intolerable and unbearable air pollution . The Delhi state government declared a public health emergency last week after pollution levels spiked, a yearly phenomenon blamed on a combination of illegal crop burning in northern states, vehicle exhaust and dust. Over the weekend, authorities began using fire trucks to spray water in parts of the capital to keep the dust and other air particles down, but it has had little effect. A senior federal government official said there was little more that could be done. We can only do this much, and now we will have to wait for rains to clean the atmosphere, said Prashant Gargava, an official at the Central Pollution Control Board. Gargava, who is in charge of monitoring air quality, said Delhi s air has been consistently in the hazardous zone, despite measures such as a halt to construction and increasing car parking charges four-fold to encourage people to use public transport. The PM 2.5 airborne particles are about 30 times finer than a human hair. The particles can be inhaled deep into the lungs, causing respiratory diseases and other ailments. Hospitals have seen a surge of patients coming in with respiratory complaints, according to media reports. Every second we are damaging our lungs, but we cannot stop breathing, said Arvind Kumar, the head of the chest and lung surgery department at the Sir Ganga Ram hospital. United Airlines said it had resumed flights from Newark, New Jersey, to New Delhi on Sunday, after suspending the service temporarily over concern about the bad air. Authorities decided to reopen schools on Monday after closing them temporarily for a few days last week, but the decision is likely to add more vehicles on the road. Enforcement agencies said they were unable to impose a blanket ban on the movement of commercial trucks. Primary school teacher Aarti Menon said her family had been wearing face masks, even when indoors. Not everyone can afford an air purifier or air-conditioned car. We are all living in hell, said Menon, a mother of two teenage daughters. The National Green Tribunal, an environment court, has directed the city government and neighboring states to stop farmers from burning crop stubble. But the governments have not been able to do so. New Delhi-based non-government group TARA Homes for Children, which supports 60 poor children, said it was seeking donations to buy at least five air purifiers. Some of the children have breathing issues and couldn t go to school, said a volunteer at the group. | 1 |
(Reuters) - Hurricane Irma was about 110 miles (175 km) southeast of Key West, Florida, and heavy squalls carrying tornadoes were sweeping across south Florida, the National Hurricane Center said on Saturday. The storm had maximum sustained winds 120 miles per hour (195 kilometers per hour). The center said the core of Irma will continue to move near the north coast of Cuba for next few hours and should be near the Florida Keys on Sunday morning. | 1 |
Stochastic terrorism is a term that means to use mass communications like Facebook to incite a seemingly random person to do violence against someone or something. For instance, leading up to Robert Dear s bloody assault on a Planned Parenthood facility, the Right spurred on by David Daleiden s fraudulent and heavily-edited baby parts videos conservatives regularly informed their mindless followers that the women s health organization kills babies and sells them in pieces for profit. All across the Right, including from presidential candidates, a single message resounded across the Stupid Part of America: someone somewhere needs to do something about this. Someone needs to be a hero.And someone stepped up. Robert Dear killed multiple people in his quest to unilaterally stop Planned Parenthood s evil acts. The system, for our frenemies on the Right, worked.In what can only be viewed as an attempt to incite violence against Clinton, Nugent posted a video to Facebook that depicts 2016 hopeful Bernie Sanders shooting Clinton during a debate. The photo was captioned, I got your guncontrol right here bitch! The graphic video shows blood spouting from Clinton s chest after Sanders shoots her a very pleasing sight for Nugent s immensely stupid and bloodthirsty followers. It is obvious through a perfunctory glance that these people would love to see Clinton dead. Sanders too, though many made it clear that he would earn their vote by actually shooting Clinton, even if he is a dirty Communist bastard (they don t know what Communist means). Obviously, no one has taken a shot at Clinton yet, but the more right-wing figures encourage such a thing, the higher the chance that someone, somewhere is going to take them up on their suggestion.After all, as Robert Lewis Dear demonstrated, it only takes one crazy person listening to the violent rhetoric who decides that he wants to make a difference.Ted Nugent once adopted a 17-year-old girl so he could have sex with her without difficulty, intentionally sh*t his pants to get out of going to war, and has made numerous racist remarks about Barack Obama and other notable African-American figures. This has no relevance to the situation at hand, but we thought it important to note whose opinion these people consider important.Watch the disgusting video below:Featured image via Getty Images/David Livingston (modified) | 1 |
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday said the United States remains committed to Europe, offering a public statement of support for European allies worried about foreign policy under President Donald Trump. The partnership between America and the European Union... is based upon shared values, shared objectives for security and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic and we remain committed to that, Tillerson said before a lunch with 28 EU foreign ministers. Tillerson, in brief statements with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini after which the two took no questions, said his visit showed the strong commitment the U.S. has to the European alliance, the important role that the European alliance plays in our shared security objectives. | 1 |
JERUSALEM — Emboldened by the Republican sweep of last week’s American elections, members of the Israeli government have called anew for the abandonment of a solution to the conflict with the Palestinians. “The combination of changes in the United States, in Europe and in the region provide Israel with a unique opportunity to reset and rethink everything,” Naftali Bennett, Israel’s education minister and the leader of the Jewish Home party, told a gathering of the Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem on Monday. Mr. Bennett, who advocates annexing 60 percent of the occupied West Bank to Israel, exulted on the morning after Donald J. Trump’s victory: “The era of a Palestinian state is over. ” That sentiment was only amplified when Jason Greenblatt, a lawyer and of the Trump campaign’s Israel Advisory Committee, told Israel’s Army Radio that Mr. Trump did not consider West Bank settlements to be an obstacle to peace, in a stark reversal of longstanding American policy. Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and other rightist politicians jumped to make hay of the change. Yoav Kish, a Likud member of Parliament, called for the expansion of Israeli sovereignty into the West Bank Meir Turgeman, the chairman of Jerusalem’s municipal planning committee, said he would now bring plans for thousands of Jewish homes in the fiercely contested eastern part of the city up for approval. Aryeh Deri, the interior minister, who is hailed Mr. Trump’s victory as a miracle, asserting it would lessen the influence of liberal, streams of Judaism popular in America. He added, “We must truly be in Messianic times when everything will turn out favorably for the people of Israel. ” Mr. Netanyahu, whose previous three terms in office all coincided with Democratic administrations in the United States, has been more cautious. Adding to his troubles, Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday rejected a government request for a delay of the demolition of an illegal West Bank outpost built on privately owned Palestinian land. The demolition is slated for Dec. 25, and the government had argued for the delay in part to temper a potentially violent settler response. On Sunday, a ministerial committee of rightists within the Likud party and the governing coalition approved a contentious bill to retroactively legalize illegal settlement on privately owned Palestinian land. Prompted by the effort to salvage the Amona outpost, it may be a precursor of things to come. Although the camp was promoting the bill long before Mr. Trump’s victory, the decision was taken, unusually, over Mr. Netanyahu’s vehement objections and despite his exhortations for it to be postponed. Tzipi Livni, a centrist former foreign minister and justice minister who now sits in the Parliamentary opposition, denounced the settlement bill, writing on Twitter that it constitutes “major damage to the rule of law at home, damage to Israel abroad, and primarily conveys a message that might makes right, when faced with a weak prime minister. ” Mr. Netanyahu warmly welcomed Mr. Trump’s victory, calling him “a true friend” of Israel. But Mr. Netanyahu has also since instructed his ministers and legislators to be discreet, saying the incoming administration should be allowed “to formulate — together with us — its policy Israel and the region through accepted and quiet channels, and not via interviews and statements. ” Mr. Netanyahu endorsed the principle of a Palestinian state in 2009, under American pressure and with caveats. Since then, he has tried to balance between world opinion and his constituency by declaring support for a solution based on two states for two peoples without going out of his way to advance it. Israeli analysts point out that the Trump campaign has spread contradictory messages. While many here assume that he will have more pressing priorities than the conflict, Mr. Trump told The Wall Street Journal on Friday that he would like to seal an peace agreement, calling it the “ultimate deal. ” Mr. Netanyahu’s critics on the right, however, assume a Trump administration will at least give Israel a freer hand in areas like settlement construction. They say Mr. Netanyahu will have to decide which side he is on. Acknowledging that Mr. Trump’s positions are not entirely clear, Mr. Bennett, the leader of Jewish Home, said, “We have to say what we want first. ” Amit Segal, a political commentator for Israel’s popular Channel 2 News, said that during the tenures of Presidents Clinton and Obama, Mr. Netanyahu could “disguise his worldview. ” The Obama administration’s sharp condemnation of all settlement activity gave Mr. Netanyahu “the ultimate excuse” for not building with abandon in the West Bank, Mr. Segal said in an interview, adding, “I am not sure that the right wing, with its appetite, will be prepared to suffer another few years of that. ” Asked what Mr. Netanyahu would probably be rooting for, Israelis who generally reflect the prime minister’s thinking said he was unlikely to forswear the solution. “Israel has its own interest in reaching a negotiated solution with its neighbors,” said Dore Gold, a longtime Netanyahu adviser who recently resigned from his position as director general of Israel’s foreign ministry. “This is not a function of pressure or . Prime Minister Netanyahu has made it clear that this is his goal. ” But Mr. Gold suggested that a Trump administration was likely to roll back the demand that Israel withdraw to the 1967 lines and support borders that are more accommodating to Israel. “Trump’s policy paper spoke about Israel having defensible borders, which are clearly different from the 1967 lines,” he said. Michael B. Oren, a deputy minister in the prime minister’s office and a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, told Israel Radio: “We have to ask ourselves what is in Israel’s interests. The interest of the Israelis and, in my view, of the government, is indeed to achieve peace with the Palestinians through direct negotiations, without preconditions, at any time, in order to get to a solution of two states for two peoples. ” Gilead Sher, an Israeli former peace negotiator under the governments of Ehud Barak and Yitzhak Rabin, noted that although most of the Israeli governments over the past four decades had been “never has one of them annexed one square inch of the West Bank. ” Mr. Sher, now a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, is also of Blue White Future, an Israeli group advocating a solution, by unilateral means if necessary. Of the rejoicing on the Israeli right, he said, “Most joyful moments are provisional and temporary. ” | 0 |
The United States as we know it is over at least that s the prediction by Norwegian professor Johan Galtung, who s known as the man who predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union. Why is our country over? Because of Donald Trump.Galtung has been predicting the demise of the U.S. as a superpower since 2000. Back then, he said it would come in 2025. That was before George W. Bush took office, though. That presidency sped up the inevitable, according to Galtung, by five years. Trump s election is going to speed it up even more.He told Motherboard the election of Mr. Trump speeds up the decline , although he qualified the statement, saying: Of course, what he does as a President remains to be seen. Source: IndependentOne of the pressing issues with Trump is his nationalism, and in particular, his hostility toward NATO. The collapse has two faces, Dr Galtung told the tech news site, Other countries refuse to be good allies and the USA has to do the killing themselves, by bombing from high altitudes, drones steered by computer from an office, special forces killing all over the place. Both are happening today, except for Northern Europe, which supports these wars, for now. That will probably not continue beyond 2020, so I stand by that deadline. Naturally, not everyone agrees. Yet Xenia Wickett, who heads the US and Americas program at the think tank called Chatham House said that the mere fact that the United States has the largest military and some great universities will protect our superpower status for a long time.Remember, though, that this has been a year of odd predictions coming true. Despite the media and the predictions of nearly every pundit, one professor, a professor who has a track record of predicting elections, predicted Donald Trump would win.As for our military and intellectual prowess, well, Trump intends to boost military spending while decreasing tax collection. That is a quick way to bankruptcy. And, as this year s election has shown, we can no longer lay claim to intellectual superiority.Featured image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images | 0 |
Missouri, in an attempt to make their state capitol building safer, has put into place security measures they didn t have before, however, it appears there s a problem. A nonexistent problem, but a problem nonetheless. It seems that people can t carry their guns into the statehouse. What to do, what to do? Won t someone please think of those poor people?It turns out that Rep. Nick Marshall is quite the 2nd Amendment freedom fighter, and he has a solution to this less-than real problem. He ll simply let anyone with a CCW borrow a gun from him if they want.Yes, seriously. He actually stuck a sign on his door that reads, ATTENTION: Any constituent with a CCW that was refused to carry into the Capitol may borrow a firearm from Representative Marshall for the duration of the visit. I can t believe one of my colleagues would actually put this on their door. SMH ? #moleg pic.twitter.com/F2GRzkjfAu Randy D. Dunn (@MORepDunn) January 12, 2017He also posted it to his Facebook page:What could possibly go wrong?Marshall is angry about the new security measures at the statehouse. Where once people were able to enter and exit without going through security, now they have to go through metal detectors and put their belongings through x-ray scanners. Elected officials may still carry concealed weapons, along with their staffs, but not the general public.Of course, every 2nd Amendment warrior in all of existence hates this kind of thing, including Marshall, because freedom and liberty and stuff. Another Facebook post of his on this issue says:Marshall and other gun nuts don t actually give a damn about the safety of the people around them. Democratic Rep. Stacey Newman said exactly that in her reaction to Marshall s sign: [I am] greatly disturbed by Rep. Marshall s offer to give guns to his constituents in the state Capitol, purposefully averting our new security restrictions and endangering everyone in the building, including legislators and staff. I am appalled that even my personal security is of no concern to my colleague. No doubt Marshall would say that he is concerned about her personal security, and the personal security of everyone in the building, which is why he will loan guns to anyone with a CCW that lost their weapon at the security checkpoint.Never mind that more access to guns tends to mean more shootings, whether they re intentional or accidental. The good guy with a gun myth is too powerful for these 2nd Amendment warriors, though, and they willfully put people in danger. Marshall is a complete idiot for this.Featured image via screen capture from embedded tweet | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - It was classic Hillary Clinton, ignoring medical advice and attending a ceremony on a sultry New York City day while battling pneumonia - a decision ex-aides and other associates speculated was rooted in her longstanding desire to prove that women can compete in the male-dominated world of politics. The move backfired on the famously stoic Democratic presidential candidate after she had to leave Sunday’s September. 11 remembrance early and was caught on camera buckling from dehydration as she was helped into a van. Clinton, 68, has since acknowledged she went too far in trying to soldier on with a jam-packed schedule. Daniel Scherb, a South Bend, Indiana, cardiologist interviewed by Reuters, who was not privy to Clinton’s medical records, said pneumonia can leave a patient “feeling blah for seven to 10 days” under the best of circumstances and, at worst, “people can die from it.” Former subordinates who are fiercely loyal to Clinton said there are plenty of instances in which she drove herself remarkably hard as first lady from 1993-2001, as a U.S. senator from 2001-2009 and as U.S. secretary of state from 2009-2013. In her first year at the State Department in 2009, she traveled abroad extensively shortly after undergoing surgery for a broken arm. One retired ambassador said Clinton sees herself as part of a generation of women who had to work extra hard to overcome barriers to female advancement. The ambassador describes this as part of an ethos that “you could never be weaker than a man.” At the same time, the ambassador blamed Clinton’s aides in part for allowing her to put herself into difficult situations. At an event in Congo after breaking her arm, Clinton snapped at someone who posed a question she disliked, the ambassador recalled. While the question may have been translated into English incorrectly, the ambassador said Clinton also was clearly exhausted. “It’s not necessarily that she is running roughshod over the advice of her staff. Her staff doesn’t seem to take very good care of her,” the ambassador said. Working to defeat Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, 70, on the rough-and-tumble campaign trail, Clinton has said she is held to a different standard. “Women are seen through a different lens,” Clinton told Humans of New York, a group organized around a project to photograph and catalog stories of New Yorkers. “I’ve learned that I can’t be quite so passionate in my presentation,” she said, adding, “I love to wave my arms, but apparently that’s a little bit scary to people. And I can’t yell too much. It comes across as ‘too loud’ or ‘too shrill’ or ‘too this’ or ‘too that,’” even though those attending her rallies “are loving it.” In all her roles, including as President Bill Clinton’s healthcare chief and a two-time presidential candidate, Clinton has been known as an almost unstoppable, detail-oriented policy wonk. “Her constant work, internal in meetings or external on Capitol Hill, was virtually incomprehensible,” said David Dreyer, a White House deputy communications director during Bill Clinton’s first term. Dreyer, who said he had a “front row seat” to the healthcare reform fight that Hillary Clinton spearheaded as first lady, said she is “wired” to always be fully prepared and compelled to public service. ‘CAN’T-WIN SITUATION’ Three other people, one close to Clinton when she was secretary of state and as a presidential candidate, said efforts to persuade her to temper her travel and appearance schedule can go nowhere because she insists it is expected of her. One, a prominent former official who has advised Clinton on foreign policy issues, said: “She pushes herself so hard because she’s convinced that only she can do what needs to be done, and that’s compounded by a very small inner circle that in some cases doesn’t like to contradict or confront her, and as a result just ends up encouraging this compulsion.” Matt Bennett, who served as deputy assistant for intergovernmental affairs in Bill Clinton’s second presidential term, said Hillary Clinton is “in a can’t-win situation here.” Noting competing, unsubstantiated attacks from Trump and his supporters about her health versus criticisms that she does not know how to pace herself, “Either she is frail or reckless with her health.” Bennett added, “I don’t view her as disregarding medical advice” over past blood clots, a fall that caused a concussion and other maladies. “But I do think she’s super tough.” Bennett, now a vice president at the Third Way think tank, said the increasingly frantic pace of campaigning for the White House has pressed candidates to the limit. As an aide to retired General Wesley Clark while he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, Bennett noted that Clark would constantly remark about the rigors of the campaign. “He was shot multiple times in Vietnam and went through (elite Army) Ranger training and he’s saying this is really tough running for president.” | 1 |
After finding out that Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was endorsing Hillary Clinton for president on Tuesday morning, Donald Trump took to Twitter, as he always does, to try to lure in as many angry Bernie supporters as possible. He put out such a tweet storm that it actually appeared that he lost his damn mind more than he already likely has.In a series of tweets, Trump showed how desperately he is trying to pander to Bernie Sanders voters who are mad at the Senator from Vermont for endorsing Hillary Clinton. It s so obvious, in fact, that he s trying to play to that crowd, that if it works, it probably says more about those who could so easily switch to the anti-Bernie that is Trump, than it actually says about Trump himself.He tweeted:Bernie Sanders, who has lost most of his leverage, has totally sold out to Crooked Hillary Clinton. He will endorse her today fans angry! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2016I am somewhat surprised that Bernie Sanders was not true to himself and his supporters. They are not happy that he is selling out! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2016Bernie Sanders endorsing Crooked Hillary Clinton is like Occupy Wall Street endorsing Goldman Sachs. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2016Bernie sanders has abandoned his supporters by endorsing pro-war pro-TPP pro-Wall Street Crooked Hillary Clinton. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2016To all the Bernie voters who want to stop bad trade deals & global special interests, we welcome you with open arms. People first. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2016And don t forget his pinned video:#CrookedHillary is not qualified!https://t.co/6qi7KTW43O Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2016Now, if you ve proudly supported Bernie over the past year and his very progressive agenda, but now see yourself supporting a staunchly conservative racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic reality television star, you never actually felt the Bern, but rather just really hated the idea of Hillary Clinton as president. Which is fine. That s your choice, but don t pretend to be supporter of progressive ideology and making the nation better for all, not just the few on top.Trump does and says whatever is necessary to please the audience directly in front of him at any given moment. He s a fraud and a scam artist, and most certainly is not to be believed ever. He s a salesman and currently is just trying to sell himself to whoever will buy it Don t buy it.Featured Photo by John Moore/Getty Images | 1 |
"Police say the attack began when a suicide bomber in a car detonated outside parliament's gates.
"Inside, lawmakers were meeting to confirm the appointment of a new defense minster. TV pictures showed the speaker sitting calmly as a cloud of dust from the blast fills the room.
"A prolonged fire-fight then followed which police say ended when the security forces killed the six Taliban attackers. There's been a surge of Taliban attacks since last year's withdrawal of most U.S. and foreign forces.
"The Taliban will see today's attack as a propaganda coup — as it's against a major government power center in the heart of the capital. The attack is raising questions about how this security lapse could happen and about the overall ability of Afghan forces to combat the militants." | 1 |
QUEBRADILLAS, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - When Nestor Rodriguez saw Puma Energy fuel tanker 333 pull into Puerto Rico s Quebradillas gas station at 12:37 p.m. on Monday, he bowed, raising his arms to the heavens. I didn t know if it would come today, or if wouldn t, he said as he filled up his tank, after a three-hour wait in the Caribbean sun. When I saw that truck, I saw the glory. It was like seeing the Lord. Two weeks after Hurricane Maria plowed into the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, cutting power and hobbling fuel distribution, finding gasoline and diesel has become a regular ordeal for the island s 3.4 million residents, with no guarantee of success. Rodriguez, a 63-year-old retiree with a bright shock of white hair and beard, was one of the lucky few on Monday. He managed to purchase enough gasoline for both his car and his generator at home, where he cares for his 93-year-old father. Fuel scarcity has been one of the major headaches facing hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico, which relies on gas shipped from the U.S. mainland. Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello on Monday reported progress in getting fuel supplies to the island, with 500,000 barrels of diesel and close to 1 million barrels of gasoline due to arrive in upcoming days. More than 720 of the island s 1,100 gas stations were now up and running, Rossello added, which he said should allow more Puerto Ricans to operate generators and get around. Puma Energy, which is partially owned by commodities trading giant Trafigura, operates six terminals on the Caribbean island, and is working with the regional government to add more delivery trucks to its fleet. To assess the scale of the problem, Reuters joined a Puma delivery truck and its 49-year-old driver, Carlos Ramos, on a journey from Puma s fuel distribution center in Bayamon, to a gas station in Quebradillas, some 55 miles (88 km) west. Ramos pulled out of the Bayamon facility at 10:38 a.m., escorted by two police vehicles responsible for protecting his precious 10,000-gallon (38,000 liter) load. Ramos said he had made more than 30 deliveries since Maria hit, and was often greeted with elation when he arrived at gas stations. At some, bands played to celebrate the truck s arrival, while at others, he felt like a politician arriving at a rally. If there s no line when we arrive, there will be soon, Ramos said. It s like putting out a little candy, and suddenly all the ants arrive. When Ramos eventually got to Quebradillas, nine cars were waiting. Within 10 minutes, the line had grown to 42 vehicles, with more arriving every few seconds. Luz Preciado, a 34-year-old housewife, said she had been waiting at a nearby station, when she saw Ramos truck drive by, and decided to give chase, despite the fact that her fuel gauge was blinking on empty. When you see water, and when you see gas - that s happiness in Puerto Rico right now, said Preciado, who had slept overnight in her car with her two kids a few days earlier to be first in line for a morning fuel delivery. Looking for gas is a full-time job right now. Inside the gas station, 44-year-old Puma employee Waldemar Sosa said he normally sold about 1,400 gallons during a typical 6 a.m.-10 p.m. day. On Sunday, he said, he sold 12,000 gallons - all the fuel he had - in about 13 hours. Sosa said that with no cellphone coverage to phone in orders, the owner of the gas station was forced to travel to San Juan to write Puma a check for more fuel. Without communication, this country doesn t move, he said. At 1:55 p.m., Juan Gonzalez rolled out of Sosa s station, the first person to leave with a full tank since 9 p.m. the previous evening, to go eat a simple of lunch of sausage and rice with his elderly parents. We re going through a difficult moment, he said, leaning out of his car window with a look of hard-won relief. We re in God s hands. | 1 |
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Carl Paladino, who served as the co-chairman of Donald Trump s New York campaign, wrote a wish list of what he d like for the New Year. He wished death and beastiality upon President Obama and wanted the First Lady to be let loose in Africa to live with a gorilla. Paladino also serves as a Buffalo School Board member and people have been calling for him to resign over his racist attack on the Obamas. I was wired up, primed to be human and make a mistake, he wrote in a statement obtained by WBEN. I could not have made a worse choice in the words I used to express my feelings. And that s where he should have stopped but unfortunately, he didn t:Even as Paladino apologized for hurting the minority community with his racist remarks, he took shots at the attacking parasites, vanquished progressive haters, and mean spirited disoriented press [sic] who took issue with his comments. He also called Obama a yellow-bellied coward and lazy ass president. I certainly am not a racist, he insisted, then stated, No, I m not leaving the school board. He said he made a mistake then he blamed the media.Paladino also said the survey answers were accidentally sent to Artvoice. I filled out the survey to send to a couple friends and forwarded it to them not realizing that I didn t hit forward I hit reply, he said. All men make mistakes. In other words, he didn t mean to get caught being a racist.In the survey, Paladino wrote that he hopes Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford. He added that he wishes [Obama] dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to Valerie Jarret [sic], who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady [sic] cell mate [sic] mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her. As for Mrs. Obama, he said he would like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla. Yes, you are a racist, Mr. Paladino. Put your big boy pants on and own your words instead of attacking the media for reporting it.Photo by Audrey C. Tiernan-Pool/Getty | 1 |
Welcome to the Trump World Order By Maria Dubovikova
So Donald Trump is the new president of the United States. Allan Lichtman and his 13 Keys to the White House have been proved right. The 30-year tradition of predicting the out-come of the US presidential elections continues uninterrupted. Political figures have started checking their social media accounts, deleting Tweets that could be uncomplimentary to Trump. It doesnt help as the Internet remembers everything.
Some are even more unlucky. French President Francois Hollande said in public recently that Trump make you want to retch. The global political narrative is quickly drifting away from the dumb Trump to Congratulations, dear Mr. President, I always knew you would win!
Journalists who had been vilifying Trump and promising apocalypse in case he is elected have started debating how he would possibly save the world. Most experts failed in their prognosis. They could not imagine that the erratic Trump will be victorious over reserved, pragmatic, and experienced Clinton. They had their reasons but in their analysis they missed a lot of things.
Why Trump is president-elect Trump is a living example of the American dream. From being a simple middle class Ameri-can, child of second generation German immigrants, he jumped to become a billionaire and then the US president. His penthouse apartment is said to be more luxurious than the White House. He had his own plane before becoming the US president.
More importantly, he has promised to revive the American dream for all Americans, irrespec-tive of their social status. Experts and the so-called elite considered his mannerisms and choice of language as a disadvantage. But instead it turned out to be his advantage as he connected to people in their language.
The fact remains that the elite, and people considering themselves intellectuals, do not form the majority in any society. The US is no different. Trumps tweets and declarations were shocking for the elites but were very common for the masses. His imperfections made him closer to the ordinary people, especially from the working class. The he is one of us image always works when you deal with the masses. He gambled with it and emerged the winner.
He got a chance to grab the Oval Cabinet as he is not liberal. Shadi Hamid seems right not believing that humans naturally inclined toward liberalism. Moreover, some men continue to remain sexist. If they dont confess it, they keep this deep inside. Women frequently like more bad guys than respectable family men. They may not confess it but this sometimes reveals where their sympathies lie and how they vote.
A large number of white Americans continue to show racist tendencies. While calls for toler-ance goes on, the influx of immigrants gave a fertile ground for racism and somehow xeno-phobia. During these elections, it appeared, that the Americans had to choose between two candi-dates with little credibility. They opted for change and fresh ideas. Also, the turnout was far lesser than on the previous elections, which indicates disillusionment over the current presi-dential campaign and both the candidates.
Popular vote shows the deep divide in the American society, with Clinton showing ad-vantage over Trump. However, it was the US electoral system that brought Trump to power.
Homeland and foreign policy Apparently he is set to make America great again not by foreign policy and imposing its will but by boosting the economy, retuning to manufacturing and giving new jobs. There is also a possibility that he will put even foreign policy based on business ties. So no help or assis-tance could come for free or without concomitant advantages for the economy.
The tycoon that he has been Trump is aware that money decides everything. He will proba-bly try to implement this rule in policymaking, both at home and abroad. The main motive of the foreign policy could turn into bargain, trading and profit.
Trump is not going to be easy for the Arab leaders. You, guys, are out of business these were his words in response to a journalist asking about the President-elects policy vision toward the Middle East. Pro-Israeli and mostly anti-Arab, he will not try to solve Arab prob-lems anymore. However, he will continue the US fight against terrorism and probably be more hawkish than Clinton.
In any case, he will not be inclined to treat the Arabs as equal partners. Such an attitude is going to be unacceptable for the Middle Easters powers and could lead to cooling of ties. The same fate i.e. no allies, just business probably awaits Europe.
Trump and Russia Russia, which was frequently debated during the campaign, is neither a winner nor a looser after this election. First of all, no one really knows who is Mr. Trump and what he is going to do. Secondly, he has Senate and Congress, which will not let him do whatever he likes. Moreover, an anti-Russian spirit prevails in the US no matter what.
With Senate and the Congress, both in Republican hands, they are likely to seriously limit his intentions, as he will have to balance between what he wants and what he actually can. However, this man is hard to deal with. So pressure groups and other instruments of man-agement of the US policy will not probably work with Trump.
Even if there is a shift in the US-Russia relations, this will take a long time. Such a shift is needed anyway and a confrontation isnt good for the whole world. Trump is probably de-fined to press the reboot button in Russian relations and Russia doesnt need a weak US. Russia needs to speak with the US, to listen and to be heard. Trump, as a businessman, seems exactly that kind of a figure.
We are entering into a new era that will be hardly predictable but extremely interesting. Clinton had many cards on her hands but failed to play them the right way. Trump has out-smarted her. A game of poker has never been so relevant as an analogy. A spicy 45th season of the United States Saga is about to begin.
Maria Dubovikova is a President of IMESClub and CEO of MEPFoundation. Alumni of MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations [University] of Ministry of For-eign Affairs of Russia), now she is a PhD Candidate there. Her research fields are in Russian foreign policy in the Middle East, Euro-Arab dialogue, policy in France and the U.S. towards the Mediterranean, France-Russia bilateral relations, humanitarian cooperation and open diplomacy. She can be followed on Twitter: @politblogme | 1 |
Eric Trump has a new haircut and that haircut looks to be an outrageously offensive political statement.Moving away from the slicked back caricature of a Wall Street sleazeball, Eric landed on a hairstyle that is, at this moment, mostly popular with a collection of up-and-coming neo-Nazis. As the Washington Post described it last year in a article titled Does this haircut make me look like a Nazi? , the style looks as follows:It is short on the sides and long on the top. It is clean and tidy, with a military sheen. It s been popular among young people for several years. But now this haircut is making us ask ourselves, with seriousness that seems unthinkable in 2016: hipster or Nazi?Thanks to high profile Nazis like Richard Spencer, the answer in 2017 is: Nazi.The look, once popular with hipsters, is now decidedly one meant to symbolize an alt-right ideology. In fact, the cut was co-opted by Nazis because it had connections to Hitler. The style was a modern take on one made popular by the Hitler Youth in Nazi Germany. You re probably familiar with it:(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Now, it s obvious that not everyone with that particular haircut is associated with white supremacy. It s a haircut. But within white supremacy circles, the haircut is used to signal to other members that the wearer is part of the team. In the same way a particular piece of clothing or hand gesture can identify you as a member of a group, the haircut has become the calling card of many prominent neo-Nazis.Here s Spencer today still with the haircut along with his buddy wearing a slightly shorter variation of the same haircut:Nathan Damigo! pic.twitter.com/YNr4X8YFD4 Richard ? Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) June 25, 2017And now Eric Trump has it, too:Eric Trump has a fascist haircut.This cannot possibly be unintentional. pic.twitter.com/9mqUbwENqQ Ali Gharib (@Ali_Gharib) June 25, 2017Is it intentional? You d be forgiven for thinking so. Eric and his brother Donald Jr. s behaviors since the election are only fueling the controversy. Since their father s win, the family has been growing increasingly close with the alt-right, a group that breeds neo-Nazis. Donald Jr, in particular, has globbed onto the group, retweeting articles and figureheads of the alt-right movement. Now Eric is styling himself, physically, after them.That s a lot of smoke and the question we need to ask ourselves now is, Where s the fire? Featured image via Fox News | 1 |
Donald Trump has once again used images of non-American military in a campaign appeal. This time the former reality TV star used images of Communist soldiers in a web ad advertising his support of veteran s issues.The men were clearly Communists, as the detail on their medals read CCCP, the Russian initials for USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.Interesting choice for a photo of veterans in this @realDonaldTrump video: https://t.co/NdxdwpvMDD pic.twitter.com/PiagKGTP8H Josh Perry (@MrJoshPerry) January 22, 2016After he was called out for posting the Communist soldiers as Americans, the Trump campaign pulled the video. But here it is.The incident is not the first time Team Trump has tried to pass off foreign soldiers as Americans. In July, Trump tweeted out a photo of himself embedded on the American flag with a photo of soldiers. The problem is, that photo was a picture of German Nazi soldiers. As in the photo of the Communist soldiers, a cursory glance at the picture would have revealed the SS eagle logo on the side of their uniforms.As he often has done during the campaign, Trump blamed the photo on a young intern and pulled the picture.It was the same excuse he used on Friday when he re-posted a complimentary Twitter image from an account called White Genocide, who turned out to be a Trump supporter who also is a backer of the white supremacist movement.Trump s campaign is a cult of personality, built of toadies who appear to have risen in the ranks based on how much they suck up to the former reality TV star. Actual competence doesn t seem to matter at all. Even more damning, it doesn t seem to matter to Republican voters, who appear quite fine with giving their support to Trump, even as he can t show the basic respect that is due to members of the U.S. armed services.But then again, that seems to be the mindset of most of the Republican establishment, so perhaps it shouldn t be so surprising or jarring.Featured image via Flickr | 0 |
By Adalia Woodbury on Sun, Oct 30th, 2016 at 1:43 pm A Trump supporter sporting a “Hillary for Prison” t-shirt chanted “Jews S-A” in support of his candidate during a rally in Arizona on Saturday. The target was the pen of reporters who have been fodder for Trump’s rhetoric at every rally. Share on Twitter Print This Post
A Trump supporter sporting a “Hillary for Prison” t-shirt chanted “Jews S-A” in support of his candidate during a rally in Arizona on Saturday.
The target was the pen of reporters who have been fodder for Trump’s rhetoric at every rally.
The context: While the crowd was chanting “USA” one man chanted “Jews S-A”. Words like that can’t be spun or read into. The intent and meaning were obvious to everyone.
Watch here on video obtained by The Huffington Post .
This sort of thing comes as no surprise considering that Donald Trump spent the last year spewing hate filled venom in every possible direction. It may seem superfluous to restate every category of people for which Trump has shown contempt, but it is not.
Muslims, Jews, immigrants, labor, taxpayers, Latinos, Hispanics, Mexicans, African-Americans, women, POW’s, veterans, people with disabilities, Gold Star Families, and the military have felt the sting of Trump’s words and the disdain in his heart.
Throughout this campaign season, the vitriol against Hillary Clinton saw no limit. Signs and T-shirts too disgusting to quote in this article. Chants of “lock her up” at the Republican convention and since. Trump promised his base of thugs, lowlifes, and haters he would weaken the first amendment, strengthen the second and establish the alt-right utopia.
Hillary Clinton was already the most qualified candidate in this race. She also proved to have more stamina than any previous candidate needed. Not only was she competing against a vicious and pathological liar, she was competing for who we are and who we could be. For all the Trump claims that the media is rigged in Clinton’s favor, it was Trump who got free advertising, who framed the narrative and whose words were the primary “news” stories of the campaign.
There is no doubt that Hillary Clinton will keep her promise to fight for us. She has been doing it from the beginning of this campaign. Every time Hillary Clinton called out Donald Trump’s sexist comments, she was fighting for all women who were attacked, humiliated and sexually abused by men like Trump. Every time Clinton shamed Trump’s horrific and disgusting comments about the Khan family she was standing up for every Gold Star family. She was also standing up for every Muslim-American. The same is true every time Clinton condemned Trump for mocking a disabled reporter or resorted to alt-right stereotypes about African-Americans, inner-cities, and African-American communities.
Every time Trump spewed hate in whatever direction, Hillary Clinton defended the target.
So no, this isn’t about choosing the lesser of two evils. Like every election, this is about choosing our next president. More importantly, it’s about voting for who we are and who we aspire to be.
Image: Screengrab from video. | 1 |
Imagine what it must be like to be one of the only people in America who doesn t have to abide by any of our laws. Apparently it pays to be a Clinton.Even though it s against the law to campaign inside the polling place or within 100 feet of the measured entrances of the polling place in NY, Hillary and Bill can clearly been seen breaking that law in the video below. Much like Obama though, Hillary knows that no one will hold her accountable for her actions. She and Bill are above the laws that the everyday people Hillary claims to be a champion for, are required to follow.Watch Hillary and Bill pander for votes in the video below:NY State Law Prohibiting Electioneering Activities In NY: While the polls are open no person shall do any electioneering within the polling place, or in any public street, within a one hundred foot radial measured from the entrances designated by the inspectors of election, to such polling place or within such distance in any place in a public manner; and no political banner, button, poster or placard shall be allowed in or upon the polling place or within such one hundred foot radial. (N.Y. Election Law 8 104(1)) | 1 |
Donald Trump recently said that grading his first 100 days is a ridiculous standard, but as Jake Tapper points out, Trump set the standard himself during the campaign.When Mitt Romney ran for president in 2012, he quickly made a name for himself as a serial flip-flopper. Well, Donald Trump is flip-flopping even more.Throughout the 2016 campaign, Trump made a lot of promises about what he would get done during his first 100 days, even going so far as to present a 100 days action plan listing what Americans could expect him to accomplish during that period.But now that his first 100 days winding down, Trump realized that he is a total failure and quickly posted a tweet designed to make it sound like the first 100 days standard is no big deal.No matter how much I accomplish during the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days, & it has been a lot (including S.C.), media will kill! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2017Trump has even released a list of his so-called historic accomplishments to make it appear like he has done great things since taking over the White House.Jake Tapper was not impressed and it only took him four minutes to take Trump down on Monday night.The CNN host began informing Trump of his record low approval ratings and pointed out that not a single major piece of legislation has been signed despite Republicans controlling Congress. With historically low approval ratings and zero pieces of major legislation signed into law, President Trump has had an empirically disappointing first 100 days. Perhaps that s the reason he recently tweeted about the ridiculous standard of the first 100 days. Indeed, Trump often brags about himself and whines about the media when they tell the truth about him.Tapper then demonstrated Trump s hypocrisy by showing clips of him repeatedly bragging about how much he would get done in the first 100 days. In other words, Trump held himself to the standard that he now claims is ridiculous. He changed his tune on this marker this very conceit that he promoted with his 100-day action plan, Tapper continued. Which is not really a surprise, because President Trump often heralds his flexibility. Tapper went on to hit Trump for flip-flopping on all of his positions during the campaign, like when he said that NATO is obsolete, only to turn around and admit that NATO is not obsolete after coming face to face with NATO officials. Then there was the time Trump dismissed the unemployment rate as phony, which was under 5 percent during the campaign, only to brag about the same numbers when the first jobs reports came out under his presidency.Then there s healthcare, which Trump bragged would be easy to deal with during the campaign. He promised Americans would get cheap healthcare. Now, he admits it s complicated after failing to repeal the popular Affordable Care Act.Trump also failed to cripple a Syrian air base he ordered bombed. Botched a raid in Yemen that left a soldier, an American girl, and many civilians dead. His two immigration bans have been blocked by the courts, and a government shutdown looms because Trump refuses to budge on funding his useless border wall.In the end, Tapper also hit Trump for complaining about executive orders during the campaign, only to sign 25 within his first 100 days, more than any president since World War II. In fact, Trump is on pace to sign more executive orders than President Obama. Trump is also on pace to take more vacations days, spend more taxpayer dollars on those vacation days, and play more rounds of golf.Here s the video via YouTube.Donald Trump is a loser. That s the one word that best sums up Trump and his disastrously embarrassing first three months in office.Featured Image: Screenshot | 1 |
This is a MUST WATCH!According to American News, Raso began by calling Clinton out for a lie she told an audience in order to make herself appear as courageous as American soldiers. Of course, he was referring to the lie Clinton told about dodging enemy fire in Bosnia. I remember landing under sniper fire, Clinton once said. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicle to get to our base. It was a moment of great pride for me. Raso pointed out that video footage proves Clinton was greeted warmly with handshakes that day. She tried to blame her lie on a mistake, calling it a misstatement. In my 12-year military career, I never heard an excuse like that from my leadership, Raso told reporters. It s impossible to even imagine that happening. Only someone completely arrogant, ignorant and disrespectful of what happens in war could say something like that, he concluded. Hillary was willing to lie in order to take advantage of that feeling of gratitude and awe Americans have for those who serve. Via: Conservative Post | 0 |
After a tape was released in which Donald Trump was heard talking about how he loves to grope women, even married women, you can expect a rash of his victims to come forward. The first one, it appears, was with his one-time business partner, Jill Harth.The New York Times wrote about Harth s experiences on Friday. In it, she called Trump relentless. The man she described in the interview was a predator a would-be rapist.She and her longtime boyfriend, George Houraney attended meetings with Trump in the early 90s. Even when sitting at a table with her boyfriend, Harth recalled Trump putting his hand up her skirt, all the way up to her crotch. I didn t know how to handle it. I would go away from him and say I have to go to the restroom. It was the escape route. Darth and Houraney had approached Trump with a business proposal that was right up his alley. They wanted to hold calendar girl beauty contests, an automobile show, a music competition and other events at his Atlantic City casino. They wanted Trump to do business with them, but as the evening wore on, Harth was getting more and more uncomfortable.The first sign of trouble came the day before the evening groping, in an initial business meeting in which, Harth and Houraney say, Trump spent the time asking about the breasts of the beauty contestants real or enhanced? and staring at Harth, then 30. At one point he asked Houraney, Are you sleeping with her? Houraney explained awkwardly that they were a couple, but Trump was unfazed. You know, there s going to be a problem, Trump told Houraney, according to a 1997 sexual harassment lawsuit Harth filed against him. I m very attracted to your girlfriend. About six weeks later, Trump gave Harth and Houraney a tour of Mar-a-Lago. They brought some of the calendar girls, but Trump wanted Harth. He pulled her into Ivanka s room (that s right, he tried to have sex in his daughter s bedroom.) I was admiring the decoration, and next thing I know he s pushing me against a wall and has his hands all over me, Harth told me. He was trying to kiss me. I was freaking out. Harth says she was desperately protesting, and finally managed to run out of the room and find the group again. She and Houraney left rather than stay the night, as they had intended.Harth and Houraney tried to continue the business relationship. Trump kept persisting and Harth was afraid he was going to rape her. His mind was in a totally different place than mine, Harth recalls. He thinks he s God s gift to women. They did end up doing business with Trump. She didn t report it to the police. Trump, not surprisingly, tried not to pay the couple, but he eventually settled out of court, but only after she agreed to withdraw a sexual harassment suit, which detailed all the allegations.The couple eventually married and then divorced. They do not speak, but their stories, according to the Times, did match. Eventually, Harth ended up dating Trump. When asked why, Harth responded: I was scared, thinking, what am I going to do now? she says. When he called me and tried to work on me again, I was thinking maybe I should give this a try, maybe if he s still working on me, I should give this rich guy a chance. Here she is talking about it with The Guardian:Trump didn t respond to the New York Times, but he has publicly trashed Harth in the past, saying she was the one who was obsessed. She, surprisingly, wanted to work on his campaign, doing his hair and makeup. Still, the Times is convinced her story is true and after Friday s revelations, it wouldn t be surprising. We know Trump has zero respect for women. We know he sees them as a collection of body parts and that s it. We also know that he feels entitled to take whatever the hell he wants, even if what he wants is a human being. Trump is even accused of raping a 13-year-old. Would attempting to rape an adult be so inconceivable? It is going to be tough for Trump to spin his way out of this.Featured image Jill Harth via video screen capture | Featured image of Donald Trump via Diane Freed/Getty Images. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump created a commission on Thursday to investigate voter fraud and suppression, the White House said, a move that follows Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump signed an executive order creating the bipartisan Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which would be chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters. The move provoked anger among top U.S. civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers, who called it a voter suppression tactic. Trump, who took office in January, has said there was widespread voter fraud in the November election. The Republican won the White House through victory in the Electoral College, which tallies wins in states, but lost the popular vote to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by some 3 million ballots. Trump said in January he would seek an investigation into voter fraud in the election, even though the consensus among state officials and election experts is that it is rare in the United States. “The President’s ‘Election Integrity’ Commission is purpose-built to encourage and enable voter suppression,” said U.S. House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi in a statement. She said the commission would lend legitimacy to state efforts to enact discriminatory voting laws. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Elijah Cummings, ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, issued similar statements. Top civil rights leaders said the commission would encourage voter suppression by justifying new barriers like requiring identity cards for voting. “When Attorney General Jeff Sessions led a similar effort as a former prosecutor in Alabama, it had a chilling effect on the black vote,” said Kristen Clarke, the head of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Dale Ho, director of the American Civil Liberties Union voting project, said, “Signing a piece of paper will not make Trump’s false statements about voter fraud true.” The bipartisan commission would not be limited to investigating Trump’s election fraud claims but look at issues that have been raised over many years. “The commission will review policies and practices that enhance or undermine the American people’s confidence in the integrity of federal elections, and provide the president with a report that identifies system vulnerabilities,” Huckabee Sanders said. She said the report would be complete by 2018. The new panel coincides with several U.S. investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the November election, including selectively leaking hacked emails and circulating false news reports. Russian officials have denied such interference. | 0 |
Implausible schemes to put Mike Pence, rather than Donald Trump, on the top of the ballot have been flying since a once-secret recording of Trump’s lurid boasting about sexual assault leaked to the public on Friday evening.
Pence has issued a public statement on Trump’s remarks, saying he “does not condone his remarks and cannot defend them” — but accepted Trump’s apology and suggested he’d stick by him through the second presidential debate on Sunday night. Anonymous sources say privately Pence is “beside himself” over the details in the leaked audio.
Meanwhile, multiple prominent Republicans — from former rival for the nomination Carly Fiorina to former Bush Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a number of members of Congress — have called for Trump to step aside and allow Pence to be the nominee.
On some level, the Republican longing for Pence in the face of these new details about Trump’s past makes sense. He’s an experienced politician with a long track record. He has impeccable social conservative credentials. He’s the governor of a state. He can pay attention in a debate long enough to land punches on Tim Kaine. And he has almost certainly never been secretly recorded talking about a woman’s “tits” or “pussy” or bragging about kissing women against their will.
But if Republican politicians are really horrified by Trump’s remarks — and not just by the possible electoral implications — Pence made one decision that should disqualify him in their eyes, too: Mike Pence agreed to be Donald Trump’s vice president.
Pence lent Trump the legitimacy he needed to unite the Republican Party. He spent months apologizing for Trump, explaining what Trump really meant, and doing everything he could to put Trump in the Oval Office.
Trump himself pointed to “party unity” as one of the key reasons for choosing Pence as his running mate in the first place, making no secret of the role he viewed the Indiana governor as playing in the campaign.
It’s not as if Pence didn’t know what he was doing. By the time Trump picked him as his running mate on July 14, Trump had already:
Nor was Trump’s rampant sexism a secret. His public feuds with celebrities aside, the New York Times had already published a long article on times Trump was accused of crossing boundaries with women in his private life.
And, of course, Trump had spent years publicly doubting that President Obama was born in the United States.
This is not a complete list. But by the time Trump was picking a running mate, it was clear that he was a man with a history of bigoted, racist, sexist behavior and remarks. This is what Pence agreed to make palatable to the Republican establishment, to social conservatives, and to swing voters.
Pence was going against his own principles, as these tweets from before he joined the ticket show:
And Pence has stood by Trump throughout the ensuing controversies — Trump’s fights with a Gold Star family and the 1997 Miss Universe among them. He’s watched Trump tell black voters that they should vote for him because “What do you have to lose?” and say that the Central Park Five, proved innocent by DNA evidence, should have been executed anyway.
To characterize Pence as a paragon of respect and decency who happened to wake up one morning and, through no fault of his own, be Trump’s running mate ignores the role Pence played in trying to make Trump palatable to voters and the establishment in the first place.
If the case against Trump’s presidency is his poor judgment and his lack of respect for women, what does Pence’s tacit approval of all of this say about him? | 1 |
BEIJING (Reuters) - China s ruling Communist Party has agreed to amend the party constitution, expected to embed President Xi Jinping s political thought, ahead of next week s five-yearly party congress in which Xi will tighten his grip on power. The party s Central Committee, the largest of its elite ruling bodies, on Saturday passed a previously announced proposal to amend the constitution which will now be put to the Congress for formal approval. A lengthy communique released by the party via state media offered praise for the past five years under Xi s leadership, especially success in the fight against corruption, but did not say what wording would be inserted into the party constitution. A key measure of Xi s power will be whether he manages to have his name crowned in the party constitution, elevating him to the level of previous leaders exemplified by Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory. Xi s more recent predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, both had the party constitution amended to include their guiding thoughts, but without their names directly attached. Jiang has his Three Represents , which embraced private entrepreneurs, written in, while Hu, Xi s immediate predecessor, had his economic doctrine of scientific development included. In the section of the communique mentioning former leaders theories, there was a reference to the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping s series of important speeches and new concepts, new thinking and new strategy on governing , signalling that could be the phrasing used. The party has also been pushing Xi s Four Comprehensives, which refer to China working comprehensively to build a moderately prosperous society and strengthen reforms, rule of law and party discipline, as well as the Four Greats , which focus on party building and national rejuvenation. The four-day Central Committee plenary meeting also approved reports by the party s corruption watchdog of investigations into several former senior officials who have been sacked or jailed for graft, including Sun Zhengcai, once a contender for top leadership who was expelled from the party last month. Since assuming power five years ago, Xi has mounted a sweeping campaign against deep-rooted corruption, with more than one million people punished and dozens of senior officials jailed. The party has vowed that the campaign, overseen by close Xi ally Wang Qishan, will never end. The Congress will open on Wednesday with a speech by Xi, the party s head, details of which are a closely guarded secret ahead of time but will focus more on ideology than concrete policies. Last October, the party gave Xi the title of core leader, a significant strengthening of his position ahead of the Congress, at which a new Standing Committee, the pinnacle of power in China, will be constituted. | 0 |
ROME (Reuters) - Libya s eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar was quoted on Friday as saying force must remain an option for imposing order in the country, though he added that a political solution would be preferable. Libya has been mired in turmoil since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ended Muammar Gaddafi s 42-year rule, giving space to Islamist militants and smuggling networks that have sent hundreds of thousands of migrants to Europe via Italy. Italy and other Western states have tried to work with the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, but factions aligned with Haftar control eastern Libya and back a rival government. It s obvious that we prefer the political routes, but when these don t work there must be other solutions, Haftar told Italy s Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview. We are defeating terrorism in Libya not through diplomatic channels, but with weapons. Haftar s comments came as United Nations envoy Ghassan Salame made a renewed push to get rival factions to sign up to a plan to stabilize Libya and take the country toward presidential and parliamentary elections. Haftar spoke to the Corriere after his first official visit to Italy on Tuesday. After the meeting, Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti expressed hope that all parties would support Salame s inclusive political strategy... excluding any military solution . Haftar also said Pinotti had agreed to train his soldiers and urged the revocation of a U.N. arms embargo if European countries are interested in stopping migrants . He also criticized Italian efforts to convert armed groups on the Western coast into anti-smuggling police. It s a big mistake. The Italian government should not be led astray by the militias... Tomorrow they will fight among themselves for a share of the spoils; it will be a never-ending blackmail, Haftar said. Some international media have reported that the leader of one such group, the Anas al-Dabbashi brigade, had received five million euros directly from Italy s secret services to stop the migrant boats. Italy has denied making any direct payments to armed groups. There has been a sharp reduction in migrant departures since the brigade, known previously as one of the country s biggest people smuggling gangs, clamped down on trafficking in July in exchange for promises of legitimacy and state security jobs from the GNA. Almost two weeks ago, fighting broke out in Sabratha between the Dabbashi brigade and its allies and rival cross-town factions. | 0 |
Hillary Clinton expressed regret Saturday for calling half of Donald Trump’s supporters “deplorables,” but she stood by her sharp criticism of her Republican rival. Mrs. Clinton said she was “grossly generalistic” when she took aim at Mr. Trump’s backers at a Friday fundraiser in New York, characterizing many as racist, sexist and homophobic. “That’s never a good idea,” she said […] | 1 |
Radio host and frequent FOX News contributor Laura Ingraham and Fox News The Five host Kimberly Guilfoyle were seen leaving the funeral service for former FOX News chief Roger Ailes with Sean Hannity. Kimberly Guilfoyle was one of the few women at FOX News who stood up for Roger Ailes when he was being accused of sexually harassment by former Fox and Friends host Gretchen Carlson. Guilfoyle tweeted a message of support for the Ailes family on Twitter following his death:RIP #RogerAiles sending my love and prayers to Beth & Zachary. Roger was a friend and a mentor to so many of us @FoxNews he will be missed Kimberly Guilfoyle (@kimguilfoyle) May 18, 2017Guilfoyle also bravely eulogized Ailes on FOX News. It was her current bosses the Murdoch boys, who fired Roger Ailes, the man who put FOX News at the top of the ratings due to allegations of sexually harassment by Gretchen Carlson and later from former FOX host Megyn Kelly:Former Fox News boss Roger Ailes was eulogized in the town of Palm Beach at St. Edward Roman Catholic church Saturday morning in a service heavy with references to suffering. Beth (Ailes wife, Elizabeth) came to me Friday and asked that I officiate, St. Edward Monsignor Thomas J. Klinzing told DailyMail.com. She asked me to base some of my reading on the theme of suffering. I believe Roger suffered quite a bit with those accusations. Klingzing was referring to Ailes firing from the network he founded last year after fired FNC anchorwoman Gretchen Carlson accused him of sexual harassment followed by other women coming forward with similar accusations.Ailes coffin was carried out at 11am to the altar of the 90-year-old church, famously President John F. Kennedy s Winter White House church, as five members of the Palm Beach Police Department presented the colors.The ceremony was kept secret by Ailes family members and was attended by fewer than 100 family and friends, and took place with heavy security under the watch of three private security guards.The media guru and political strategist died on Thursday in Palm Beach, Florida aged 77.Rush Limbaugh and his wife Kathryn were in the front row. Douglas Kennedy, a nephew of JFK who works at Fox News, read from Letters of Paul to the Romans, a passage about how nothing can separate a believer from the love of God.Sean Hannity read a responsorial psalm. I wouldn t be what I am today without Roger, Hannity told DailyMail.com exclusively after the funeral. He took me as a local radio host in Atlanta and gave me the opportunity of a lifetime. He saw things in people that no one else would see. He is an American patriot of the highest level. For entire story: Daily Mail | 1 |
We all knew the 2016 Republican National Convention would be a Hillary hate fest. For the past three days, Republicans have given the voters not one reason to vote for them, but many reasons why they shouldn t vote for Hillary Clinton.No substance, only an us-against-them mentality. This shouldn t come as a shock to anyone.But what has come as a shock is that the RNC has crowned itself as the de facto judge and jury of America. Not only was it a Hillary hate fest, it was a hyper-partisan witch hunt that transcends anything we ve seen in presidential politics.While their presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump, paints himself (humorously) as the law and order candidate, speaker after speaker, from General Michael Flynn, to Patricia Smith, to Chris Christie, have decided to take the law into their own hand, and convict Hillary Clinton of egregious crimes. They are, in their minds, the judge and jury that will convict Hillary Clinton, courts be damned.No matter how many times they scream guilty, lock her up, or Hillary for prison, they know, as much as anyone else, that Clinton is innocent. Since the 1990s, when Ken Starr and his band of ideological thugs (including Newt Gingrich), Republicans have never been able to successfully pin anything on Hillary Clinton. Not Rose Law Firm, not Whitewater, not Benghazi, and not her emails. Yet they have convinced themselves that they know better than the law, and they know better than the judges, juries, prosecutors and special counsels that have spent countless hours no, years trying to find something, anything, to convict Hillary Clinton of.Republicans know what they re doing. It s pure political theater. It s tidbit SoundBits that stick in voters minds and fester until election day, polluting the electorate s ability to look at the facts in an objective, impartial manner. They know they can t really convict her, but if they can convince the people that they re right and the law is wrong, that s good enough for them.But in the eyes of the Republicans, whose only goal is to win and not govern, the court of public opinion is mightier than the courts that uphold the rule of law.There is no law and order with Republicans. That s just a talking point they use when they want to stop black people from having their voices heard or when they don t like the Supreme Court granting marriage rights to same-sex couples.These instances, coupled with their sophomoric chants at their coveted convention, shows one thing: Republicans do not respect the law. They do not respect the institutions thatAl Franken is right. Lock her up has become a banana republic for the GOP. They have no substance to run on. Hillary Clinton is their main topic, and their world s revolve around her. It s actually quite pathetic not just on the surface but also deep down. They know they can t win with their ideas, so they must rely on smearing others.The Democratic convention can t come fast enough.Featured image via Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images | 0 |
La crisis de Twitter: nada es para siempre No es un hecho que Twitter quiebre y desaparezca, pero sí es algo que podría suceder: un recordatorio para todos de que no es bueno establecer su estrategia de comunicación únicamente en las redes sociales. Así como las computadoras se hacen obsoletas más rápido que antes, las aplicaciones (apps) y las redes sociales también tendrán una existencia más efímera, incluido Facebook que hasta el momento parece invencible, como en su momento lo parecían IBM y también Microsoft.
Socios | 7 de noviembre de 2016 Gonzalo Monterrosa
Todo lo que sube tiene que bajar. Al principio nadie entendía Twitter. Al poco tiempo parecía indispensable; pero la lección es que nada es realmente indispensable, así que podría seguir el mismo camino que su app de videos cortos, Vine.
Hace un par de semanas Twitter se cimbró con la caída de sus acciones, derivada de que se hizo público (seguramente con esa intención) que existía un desinterés generalizado de grandes empresas por la red social de los 140 caracteres.
Recién se anunció que eliminarían Vine, su plataforma de videos cortos que hace 4 años anunciaba con bombo y platillo y que logró llamar la atención de millones de personas. “Un paso en la dirección correcta”, decían todos.
Ahora se encuentra en una franca reestructuración con despidos que afectarán aproximadamente al 9 por ciento de sus trabajadores, el tipo de problemas de cualquier empresa que está perdiendo su capital y el ingreso de ganancias no es claro. La publicidad avanza lenta y no es fácil para los pequeños negocios utilizarla, a diferencia de Twitter que además de llevarte de la mano insiste sobre los posibles beneficios a sus usuarios.
La red social cuenta con millones de usuarios registrados pero no todos se encuentran activos, no los que necesita Twitter para seguir brillando. Nos encontramos en un momento histórico en el que podría quebrar uno de los productos insignia que representaron por mucho tiempo el concepto de red social.
La app de video Vine se enfrentó a Snapchat y a Instagram y no ha podido competir con ellos a pesar de haber recibido mucho apoyo. Facebook ha ingresado a cada nuevo nicho que aparece en redes sociales, adquiriendo empresas o clonando conceptos que ofrece con algunas variaciones a sus miles de millones de usuarios.
Snapchat es una app para compartir fotografías y videos que se autodestruyen; comparte la misma circunstancia que vivió Twitter cuando surgió: nadie entendía para qué servía, aun así, Snapchat se está convirtiendo en el enemigo a vencer.
Vine no terminaba de posicionarse cuando Twitter comenzó a promocionar Periscope, que representa la posibilidad de la transmisión de video en vivo y que se hizo famoso por que los usuarios transmitían eventos deportivos de pago por evento desde países donde ese mismo evento aparecía en televisión abierta sin costo alguno. Vine estaba limitado a grabar unos cuantos segundos. Se percibió que lo habían abandonado a pesar de que para muchos fomentaba una creatividad visual para narrar historias en seis segundos (que después se incrementaron), al igual que Twitter lo hace al limitar lo que escribimos, lo que presenta un reto muy a pesar de sus detractores generacionales.
Fue en 2015 cuando la app poco a poco dejó de ser popular, desapareció de los listados de las 100 más descargadas tanto en la plataforma de Apple como en la de Android. Se acusa también a quienes generaban contenido de ser repetitivos y copiar las mismas historias, la gente se aburre. Quizá un aviso para los sitios que clonan notas todo el tiempo y generan la sensación de que todos los medios y los agregadores de noticias traen la misma información. Un aburrimiento que provoca que se busque otras fuentes, otros contenidos. Y con ellos se llevarán a los pocos anunciantes.
Y son los anunciantes un factor para la migración de los denominados influencers de Vine, que poco a poco se fueron a Instagram o Youtube, porque además de más herramientas que les facilitaban el trabajo, existían mejores posibilidades de monetizar su trabajo. Como ya se mencionó, Twitter no tiene una buena estrategia para monetizarse. Vine no es diferente, no cuenta con un sistema de monetización sencillo como sí lo tienen Instagram y Youtube.
Dentro de la debacle que sufre Twitter, aparece la noticia de que el sitio de pornografía Pornhub ofrece comprar la app como una propuesta que permitiría a Twitter obtener dinero que ya considera perdido. No se sabe qué tan serio sea el ofrecimiento pero sí genera dudas sobre el contenido final y sobre todo el contenido existente: se mezclará con pornografía o qué contenido planean subir. Lo más extraño será que las personas que subieron videos a la app, ahora pertenecerán y serán relacionados a una empresa de pornografía.
Gonzalo Monterrosa
[BLOQUE: OPINIÓN][SECCIÓN: SOCIEDAD BETA]
Contralínea 513 /del 07 al 12 de Noviembre 2016 | 1 |
Quid pro quo in the Trump/Russia situation is happening sooner than expected, at least according to Russian officials you know, they give him a gift by using hacking a propaganda to hand him the election, and Trump builds a nightmarish team for himself that will be very friendly to Russia. So friendly, in fact, that the Kremlin is pretty openly celebrating Trump s newest gift to them.Thus far, The Donald has filled his cabinet to the brim with so many pro-Russian people that Stolichnaya stocks have gone through the roof (just joking, don t bother Googling that). Seriously, though, Russia is thrilled with Trump s selections so far.But it is Rex Tillerson s nomination for Secretary of State that, as The Guardian notes, confirms Vladimir Putin as one of the strategic victors of the US presidential election. The Wall Street Journal notes that Friends and associates said few US citizens are closer to Mr Putin than Mr Tillerson. And, of course, Tillerson will now be in a position to make a f*ckton of money in his new position, as The Guardian points out:The 2011 Exxon-Rosneft agreement was frozen when sanctions were imposed on Russia in 2014, following the annexation of Crimea and covert military intervention in eastern Ukraine. Exxon Mobil estimated the sanctions cost it $1bn and Tillerson has argued strenuously for the measures to be lifted. We always encourage the people who are making those decisions to consider the very broad collateral damage of who are they really harming with sanctions, he said, at a shareholders meeting.In June, two years after sanctions were imposed and in an apparent show of support for Sechin, Tillerson reportedly turned up at a St Petersburg economic summit.If the sanctions were lifted, the Arctic project would probably go ahead and Tillerson s retirement fund of Exxon Mobil stock would increase in value. He would most likely have to divest himself of stock by the time he entered the office on the seventh floor of the state department. It might be harder to divorce his judgments entirely from the oil company where he spent his career.Tillerson s nomination can be called a lot of things but pro-Kremlin Russian political commentator Sergei Markov calls it what it is: some kind of Christmas gift from the American people to the Russian people especially in light of the artificial Cold War that was started with Russia over the country s involvement in hacking Donald Trump s political enemies for him (at his request, no less).Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, which advises the Kremlin, says that Tillerson represents profound changes in U.S. foreign policy that stands to favor Russia heavily. Mr. Tillerson is very well known to the important people here, and neither Mr. Putin nor the others will need time to learn who he is and how to deal with him, Lukyanov says. This news is better than any other possible person for this position. At this point, how can we allow Donald Trump to assume power on January 20? Electors have the weight of the world on their shoulders as December 19 approaches. Will they do nothing and allow a tyrant installed by a foreign power to take office or will they do the right thing and say no more? Featured image via Getty Images/Alexey Druzhinin | 1 |
LONDON (Reuters) - The final death toll from the fire that destroyed the Grenfell Tower social housing block in London in June is 71, police said on Thursday after five months of painstaking search and recovery operations. Police had previously said about 80 people died in the blaze, which tore through the 24-storey tower in west London in the middle of the night, but officers now believe all those who died in the fire have been recovered and identified. The figure has come down because some people were reported missing several times, some people who lived in the tower and were feared dead were found to have been elsewhere on the night, and some people were falsely reported dead by fraudsters hoping to receive financial compensation. The final toll includes 70 adults and children who died in the tower during the fire, and one baby who was stillborn shortly after the heavily pregnant mother escaped from the 21st floor, suffering severe smoke inhalation on her way down. The mother survived. Specialist teams working inside Grenfell Tower and the mortuary have pushed the boundaries of what was scientifically possible to identify people, said Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy, who is in charge of operations at the tower. I know that each and every member of the team has done absolutely all they can to make this possible. They have done that for every person who lost their life, their families and loved ones, and all those for whom Grenfell Tower was home. The tower was home to a tight-knit, multi-ethnic community in a deprived social housing estate within the wealthy Kensington and Chelsea borough that is also home to large numbers of millionaires. The tragedy has prompted political debate and soul-searching about London s stark social inequalities and whether neglect of social housing estates and the communities living in them played a part in the fire. A criminal investigation is under way that could result in individuals or organizations being charged. A separate public inquiry aims to shed light on any flaws or irregularities in the design, construction or maintenance of the tower. Cundy said that when he first entered Grenfell Tower after the fire, the devastation was such that he feared it would not be possible to find, recover and identify all those who died. Police officers, assisted by forensic anthropologists, archaeologists and specialists in using dental science to identify unknown human remains, searched every flat on every floor and every communal area. The search involved sifting through tonnes of debris by hand to identify all human remains in the charred building. In parallel, huge amounts of investigative work was undertaken to identify who was in Grenfell Tower on the night of the fire, who was missing and presumed dead, enquire after those reported missing and reconcile all the information. One person was reported missing 46 separate times. Some were reported under a number of different names, and even the slightest differences in spelling had to be investigated. Police said that having completed all this work, they now believed it was highly unlikely that anyone remained in Grenfell Tower. | 1 |
0 88 0 1 After running one of the most divisive presidential campaigns in US history, the Trump brand has taken a hit -- literally.
In 2007, Donald Trump was granted a coveted spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work on his reality show, “The Apprentice.” With limited real estate, the decision to enshrine reality stars on the sidewalk has always been controversial.
Trump’s star has become especially unwelcome. — MEFeater Magazine (@mefeater) October 26, 2016
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, a man dressed as a city worker used a sledgehammer and pickaxe to deface the presidential hopeful’s star, removing the brass star and scraping his name from the sidewalk. — Ol' QWERTY Bastard (@TheDiLLon1) October 26, 2016
According to Deadline , the vandal has been identified as Jamie Otis, who said he intended to remove the entire section of sidewalk in order to sell it at auction. Proceeds, he said, would go toward supporting the multiple women who have accused Trump of sexual assault.
The stars are maintained by the Hollywood Historic Trust, and the group has already said that the individual responsible will be prosecuted "to the full extent of the law," and repairs are already underway. — Adelle Nazarian (@AdelleNaz) October 26, 2016
"The Hollywood Walk of Fame is an institution celebrating the positive contributions of the inductees," said Leron Gubler, head of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, according to Deadline. "When people are unhappy with one of our honorees, we would hope that they would project their anger in more positive ways than to vandalize a California State landmark."
If found guilty, the individual responsible could face up to three years in jail and a fine of $10,000.
The Trump star has been vandalized on a number of occasions since he began his presidential campaign. In January, a vandal spray-painted a reverse swastika over the star. — afterglow (@afterglow2046) October 26, 2016
Two similar incidents occurred over the summer. In June, a mute sign was spray-painted over the spot. One month later, a street artist erected a miniaturized wall around the star, a reference to the Republican candidate’s proposal to construct a barrier along the US-Mexico border.
Of course, given that his divisive rhetoric on the campaign trail appears to be affecting his brand, Trump may soon start defacing his own properties. Amid rumors that the billionaire is removing the Trump name from his hotels, the Trump organization has announced plans to launch a new brand under the less identifiable name "Scion." ... | 1 |
Oil leaks that pose catastrophic risks to the environment, people and water were the reason thousands of protesters risked their lives to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Millions of others around the world showed their support for the protesters and the rights of all people to have access to clean water and a healthy environment.Tragically, the fears of clean water activists around the world are already coming true. The Associated Press reports the Dakota Access Pipeline has already spilled oil onto American soil three separate times before it s even been fully constructed.According to the North Dakota Health Department, a leaky flange in a pipeline terminal spilled 84 gallons of oil on March 3, in Watford City. The spill was quickly contained and oil flow was stopped on site. According to the department, the contaminated soil and snow were removed and no waterways, people or wildlife were harmed.Two days later a leak of 20 gallons was reported in a rural area of Mercer County by the Federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Again, they stated that no waterways, people or wildlife were harmed.The incident report faults a manufacturing defect as the caused a valve failure and the subsequent leak, which was isolated by closing valves upstream and downstream. All other valves were later inspected and given the OK.Despite the ETP insisting that the pipeline is safe, several native Dakota tribes still fear the future environmental havoc of this 1,200-mile pipeline that will start commercial operation on June 1st.The Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, Oglala Sioux and Yankton Tribes are still fighting to stop the pipeline from operating. They are currently working in court to convince a federal judge to shut it down.The pipeline leaked a third time on April 4th. Eighty-four gallons were spilled at a rural pump station in South Dakota. The SD Department of Environment and Natual Resources reported the spill to its online database but kept it quiet from the public. Apparently, the department s policy is to conduct a press release only if the spill threatens waterways or public health. In the fight to stop the DAPL, attorneys and local Tribal leaders are using these leaks as evidence that additional environmental reviews are necessary before it becomes fully operational. We have always said it is not a matter of if, but when, tribal attorney Jan Hasselman said after the South Dakota leak. Pipelines spill and leak. It s just a fact. | 0 |
Videos France’s Far-Right National Front Seeks Funding From United Arab Emirates With French banks reluctant to lend to the National Front, the party says it could resort to foreign funding from as far away as the UAE. | October 29, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! An electoral board showing France’s far-right National Front president Marine Le Pen and reading: 100% National Front. 0% migrants is pictured during a demonstration in Forges-les-Bains, south of Paris, France, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016.
France’s National Front is known to have diverse funding streams, but an investigation published this week unveiled a new potential funder: the United Arab Emirates.
It is certainly an odd source of funding for a party whose leader, Marine Le Pen, has been taken to court for anti-Muslim hate speech.
Le Pen’s Russian networks are already well known: in 2014, the National Front received a loan of €11mn ($12mn) from the First Czech Russian Bank.
This fact was admitted by the party’s treasurer, Wallerand de Saint-Just, who said: “The party makes requests to foreign banks, why not Russian banks?”
The latest controversy was sparked by a book by famed French investigative journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot. In 2004, the journalistic duo were even held hostage at one point by Islamic militants in Iraq.
Titled Nos très chers émirs (Our dear emirs), their latest book exposes the murky relationship between a number of French politicians and the countries of the Arabian Gulf.
In the wake of the controversy caused by the book’s publication, the news website Mediapart has raised the question of possible funding of Marine Le Pen’s presidential campaign by the UAE.
A source familiar with the far-right French party told Middle East Eye: “It is true that in 2014 Marine Le Pen met an Emirati emissary in her residence in Montrebout, in the Hauts-de-Seine region, who offered to help her.
“That being said, the FN [National Front] has always been clear on this point: it has two enemies, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which it regards as sponsors of wahhabism, but in her eyes the Emiratis are an ally in the fight against radicalisation.”
Wahhabism is an ultra-orthodox strand of Sunni Islam practised in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, and it has become an increasingly popular theme to explain the chaos gripping the Middle East.
“France must break its relations with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which helped, assisted, and funded Islamic fundamentalists worldwide,” Le Pen said in September 2014 on France 24.
“We must rely on those Muslim countries which fight fundamentalism,” she added, naming the UAE and Egypt as examples of such countries and calling for “a wide coalition” against Islamic extremism.
In 2014, pro-Le Pen French MEP Jean-Luc Schaffhauser told Mediapart that he had negotiated a loan at a rate of 2.8 percent with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, but that it in the event it did not materialize.
The following year in May, Le Pen travelled to Cairo to meet with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque – a trip allegedly funded by the UAE, according to Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot.
The allegation was denied earlier this week by National Front MEP and Secretary General Nicolas Bay, who told France 2 television: “That is incorrect.”
“For now, about 50 percent of the campaign should be funded by Cotelec, the FN’s funding organisation that is chaired by Jean-Marie Le Pen,” the source close to the party told MEE.
These loans granted to the party by its members will be refunded once the state has itself reimbursed the campaign. This rule applies to all parties that win more than 5 percent of the vote in the first round of the elections.
“The needs for the first round are estimated at around €12mn, and €21mn for the second round. For the first round, they still lack €6-7 million, but they are aware of the fact that appealing to the Gulf countries harm them in terms of image,” the source added.
“So at first, the goal is to look for loans in European countries. If this is not enough, they will turn to the Russians, and thirdly, to the UAE. We can say that this is an option, but a third choice option.”
The National Front has indicated that around 40 banks have refused to lend it money. Yet polls assure that Le Pen will win more than the 5 percent of votes needed to be reimbursed by the state.
“If we have to borrow abroad, we will borrow abroad,” Wallerand de Saint-Just, the party’s treasurer, told France 3. “There are no exceptions to this, either in Russia, Argentina, or in the United States… and why not in the Middle East?” | 1 |
Donald Trump and his administration have proven time and time again that they are incapable of performing even the most simple, basic tasks that only require basic human decency and manners. The latest gaffe in the White House demonstrates that even as Trump s 100th day approaches, they still can t get their sh*t together.According to a White House aide and court spokeswoman, Trump did not extend a formal invitation to the Supreme Court to have dinner at the White House on Thursday. An initial report that was released early Sunday stated that a dinner WOULD take place: That evening, the President will have dinner with the Justices of the Supreme Court, including his successfully confirmed nominee Justice Neil Gorsuch. However, this changed just hours later. On Sunday night, the dinner with the Supreme Court justices was taken off the agenda. The White House aide confirmed: An invitation was never extended. When White House press secretary Sean Spicer was questioned about the nixed dinner plans, Spicer said Trump s staffers moved some things around and perhaps the dinner might happen at a later time. Spicer said: I think having a relationship and meeting with the Supreme Court at some point would be a great idea and something that we hope to have on the schedule at some point soon. Trump s rude, disorganized cancellation is hardly the only issue with these tentative dinner plans. While former presidents have had dinner with Supreme Court justices before, Trump s corrupt administration definitely raised some eyebrows when they first announced these dinner plans. Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz said it best: Why would the Supreme Court agree to do this? I can think of no legitimate reason to dine with a litigant. No matter what Trump does, he can t help but raise ethical concerns as his scandals and conflict of interests only mount up. Trump s administration is not only the most incompetent, lazy, and disorganized, but it is the most corrupt and must be watched closely.Featured image via Tom Pennington / Getty Images | 1 |
Bill 468, something that the Louisiana state legislature has been working on, deals with strip clubs and will maintain the state s current laws that regulate those clubs. It does, however, add a new regulation: All dancers must be at least 21 years of age if the club serves alcohol. Makes sense.One lawmaker, however, saw that and just had to stick his own amendment in there that would also regulate the dancers weight. According to Rep. Kenny Havard (R), dancers between 21 and 28 should also weigh no more than 160 pounds.Right, because regulating women s weight is totally okay in a world where women are judged more on their appearance than on anything else. It s also totally okay coming from a guy who claims he s making a point about government overreach. Sure.Havard claims he did this as a joke, much like the proposals in other states that would regulate how men get things like Viagra in protest of laws restricting access to birth control for women. After all, regulating any business, even strip clubs, is massive government overreach with the tiny-government crowd. Dear Kenny here made a very bad joke.He also failed miserably to make his point the bill itself passed 96-0, meaning it had broad, bipartisan support, and that Havard himself voted for it after pulling his own little protest amendment out of the bill. If he could vote for it without that amendment that was supposed to make a point, then he must actually not see it as government overreach.The whole purpose of Havard s amendment is this: Havard, who immediately pulled the amendment, [said] he doesn t regret the joke and called it satire not sexism. He said he meant for the amendment to point out that the bill teeters on overregulation. Supporters of the bill say that they are trying to protect teens from human trafficking. It has won bipartisan support through the legislative process. Okay, so it s sexist satire and a sexist joke. It doesn t matter what Havard claims, he clearly doesn t understand sexism at all. There is nothing non-sexist about suggesting that we should regulate women s weight, even as a joke. Fortunately (or unfortunately for him) he brought the wrath of all his colleagues down onto himself, which is what caused him to pull the amendment. Can t have everyone mad at you for being a raving, sexist hypocrite after all.Exotic dancers actually further the sexual objectification of women, and for a man to say that these dancers, especially if they re young, should be svelte and slender under law sounds more like he wants to enshrine in law that the only women who fit his ideal of sexy and beautiful are the ones who get to be exotic dancers. A joke, a piece of satire, can still be horribly sexist. That s what Havard is and has done. He s outed himself as a sexist pig.Image By Jeffrey Schwartz. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned under pressure from President Donald Trump on Friday in an uproar over Price’s use of costly private charter planes for government business. His abrupt departure was announced an hour after Trump told reporters he was disappointed in Price’s use of private aircraft and did not like the way it reflected on his administration. “Secretary of Health and Human Services Thomas Price offered his resignation earlier today and the president accepted,” the White House said in a statement. Trump named Don Wright to serve as acting secretary. Wright is currently the deputy assistant secretary for health and director of the office of disease prevention and health promotion. “I’m not happy. OK? I’m not happy,” Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn. Candidates to succeed Price included Seema Verma, who is administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and who is close to Vice President Mike Pence, and Scott Gottlieb, a physician who serves as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, according to industry analysts. Several sources saw Gottlieb as a clear front runner. They said he got along well with the White House and is viewed favorably there. Price’s resignation leaves Trump with a second Cabinet position to fill. He has yet to pick a secretary for homeland security after hiring former Secretary John Kelly as his White House chief of staff. It was the latest blow to the Trump White House, which has struggled to get major legislative achievements passed by Congress and has been embroiled in one controversy after another since Trump took office in January. Price, a former congressman, was instrumental in the Trump administration’s policies aimed at undercutting Obamacare, as well as working with governors across the country to slowly begin unraveling parts of the law. In a resignation letter, Price offered little in the way of contrition. He said he had been working to reform the U.S. healthcare system and reduce regulatory burdens, among other goals. “I have spent forty years both as a doctor and public servant putting people first. I regret that the recent events have created a distraction from these important objectives,” he said. Trump, currently trying to sell his tax cut plan and oversee the federal response to devastation wreaked by three hurricanes, saw the Price drama as an unnecessary distraction and behind the scenes was telling aides “what was he thinking?,” a source close to the president said. Price promised on Thursday to repay the nearly $52,000 cost of his seats on private charter flights. “The taxpayers won’t pay a dime for my seat on those planes,” Price said. But that was not enough to satisfy Trump. Trump told reporters that the “optics” of Price’s travel were not good, since, as president he was trying to renegotiate U.S. contracts to get a better deal for taxpayers. “Look, I think he’s a very fine person. I certainly don’t like the optics,” Trump said. Price had also been seen in the White House as having been ineffective in getting Congress to pass healthcare reform legislation, an effort that has fizzled on Capitol Hill. Price was one of a handful of senior officials in Trump’s administration put on the defensive over reports about their use of charter flights and government aircraft, sometimes for personal travel, when they could have flown commercial for less money. The White House issued an order late on Friday saying use of private planes required approval from White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and that the commercial air system was appropriate even for very senior officials with few exceptions. The Washington Post on Friday reported that Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin attended a Wimbledon tennis match, toured Westminster Abbey and took a cruise on the Thames this summer during a 10-day trip to discuss veterans’ health issues in Britain and Denmark. Shulkin, who traveled on a commercial airline, was accompanied on the trip by his wife, whose airfare was paid for by the government and who received a per diem for meals, the Post said, noting that the Department of Veterans Affairs said she was traveling on “approved invitational orders.” His six-person traveling party included an acting undersecretary of health and her husband as well as two aides. They were accompanied by a security detail of as many as six people, the Post said. Washington news media outlet Politico has reported that Price had taken at least two dozen private charter flights since May at a cost to U.S. taxpayers of more than $400,000. Politico also reported he took approved military flights to Africa and Europe costing $500,000. Senior U.S. government officials travel frequently, but are generally expected to keep costs down by taking commercial flights or the train when possible. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin have also been in the spotlight for their travel habits. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States sought on Monday to avoid openly taking sides in an Iraqi-Kurdish dispute, as Iraq’s capture of the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk raised the risk of an open conflict between U.S. allies in the fight against Islamic State. U.S. President Donald Trump expressed disappointment the two sides were fighting. “We don’t like the fact that they’re clashing. We’re not taking sides,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We’ve had for many years a very good relationship with the Kurds as you know and we’ve also been on the side of Iraq, even though we should have never been there in the first place. We should never have been there. But we’re not taking sides in that battle.” Iraqi government forces captured the major Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk on Monday, responding to a Kurdish referendum on independence with a bold lightning strike that transforms the balance of power in the country. A convoy of armored vehicles from Iraq’s elite U.S.-trained Counter-Terrorism Force seized Kirkuk’s provincial government headquarters on Monday afternoon, less than a day after the operation began, a Reuters reporter in Kirkuk said. Senator John McCain, the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned Iraq’s government of “severe consequences” over any further misuse of U.S.-provided weaponry against Kurdish forces. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Robert Manning declined to speculate on whether the United States might cut off military aid and training to Iraqi forces in the event a major conflict, saying: “I’m not going to speculate on that but I will tell you that we’re looking at all options for planning considerations ... We encourage dialogue.” | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of elder Republican statesmen, including three former Cabinet members, said they will meet with White House officials on Wednesday to propose a $40 per ton tax on carbon emissions to fend off global climate change. The proposal echoes past attempts by parts of the Republican Party to address climate change but could be a non-starter. Republican President Donald Trump has cast doubt on the existence of climate change and vowed during his campaign for the presidency to pull the United States out of a global pact to fight it. “Mounting evidence of climate change is growing too strong to ignore,” the group said in an opinion piece published by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal late on Tuesday. “Now that the Republican Party controls the White House, both chambers of Congress and a majority of state legislatures, it has the opportunity and responsibility to promote a climate plan that showcases the full power of enduring conservative convictions,” they said. An overwhelming majority of scientists believe that burning fossil fuels is driving global climate change, triggering sea level rise and more frequent powerful storms. The carbon tax proposal was co-authored by James Baker, secretary of state during the administration of George H. W. Bush; Henry Paulson, Treasury secretary under George W. Bush; George Shultz, secretary of state under Ronald Reagan; and several others. The group said in a press release they would meet with “senior White House officials in two separate meetings” on Wednesday to present their proposal. Their plan calls for a $40 per ton carbon tax that rises over time, in which all of the revenues are returned to Americans in the form of quarterly dividends administered by the Social Security Administration. The plan would also call for “significant regulatory rollback” of former Democratic President Barack Obama’s climate initiatives, including the repeal of his Clean Power Plan aimed at curbing carbon output from states. A White House official did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The full plan is at www.clcouncil.org/ | 1 |
Your daily reality snack Georgia Abandons Ukraine's Anti-Russian Obsession
After a brief period in which both Ukraine and Georgia appeared to be united against Russia, it now appears that the two nations are moving along very different paths Originally appeared at Russia Direct
In October, Georgia didn’t support any of Ukraine’s resolutions denouncing the Kremlin’s foreign policy within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). That is surprising, given how many analysts had by now assumed that Georgia and Ukraine were on the same page when it came to Russia.
The two resolutions deal with “the political implications of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine” and human rights abuses “on the occupied Ukrainian territories.” By supporting them, PACE recognized the military conflict in Ukraine as “Russian aggression” for the first time and called on the Kremlin to withdraw its forces from the eastern part of Ukraine. Moreover, it denounced the parliamentary elections , recently conducted by Russia in Crimea .
When the Georgian delegation in PACE didn’t support these resolutions, the nation’s pro-Western parties reacted strongly. For example, the United National Movement lambasted the Georgian government and accused the country’s former Prime Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, of supporting Russia. Moreover, Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and now the governor of the Odessa region in Ukraine, described such a stance as a “disgraceful” move.
However, an immediate response came from one of the members of the Georgian delegation in PACE, Eka Beselia. She retorted that Tbilisi needed to defend its own national interests. Even though this statement seems to have alleviated the increasing conflict, the video of Russian-Ukrainian journalist Matwey Ganapolsky, who accuses Georgia of betraying Ukraine in favor of Russia, fuelled the tensions. In contrast, Russian pundits see the unwillingness of Georgia to vote for the PACE resolution as a sign of improvement in Tbilisi-Moscow relations.
In reality, the reluctance of the Georgian Dream, the ruling party in Georgia, to approve these resolutions is just the logical conclusion of complicated relations with Kiev. Since the start of the color revolutions in the post-Soviet space , Georgia and Ukraine were largely in the same boat.
After the success of the Rose Revolution in Tbilisi and the Orange Revolution in Kiev, the newly elected governments were closely connected with each other and teamed up against Russia. This resulted from friendly relations between Ukraine’s former prime minister Yulia Timoshenko and former president Viktor Yushchenko on the one hand, and Georgia’s Saakashvili on the other hand.
However, their relationship was rather pragmatic in its nature, although officially Tbilisi recognized Ukraine as one of its closest allies. Since 2007 the democratic processes in the two countries have started moving in a reverse direction. Saakashvili’s penchant for conducting an aggressive policy as well as his authoritarian inclinations was increasing, while Ukraine faced the corruption and the political rivalry between Timoshenko and Yushchenko.
The more impact this had on the countries’ stability and development, the more obvious became the fact that the ruling elites from both sides did not support democratic reforms, but only the regimes that were friendly to them. Thus, Georgian-Ukrainian relations could be seen as a form of cooperation between governments, not between the people.
And this trend became relevant until the 2010 presidential elections, when Georgia’s civil society and population called on the government to support democratic processes and regime change in its “brother” country. From then on, Georgia has been shying away from supporting the political regime in Ukraine and focusing more on the support of the country’s own population.
However, Ukraine refused to consider such tactics, with its official representatives criticizing the Georgian Dream coalition for supporting Russia during the 2012 parliamentary elections. Moreover, Kiev cooperated with Georgia’s United National Movement, which was openly accused of building an authoritarian regime and egregious human rights abuses.
Logically, the new Georgian government under Ivanishvili cannot help paying attention to this fact. But it was relatively reticent and didn’t respond, even when Georgian volunteers came to fight in Eastern Ukraine to support Kiev and accused Tbilisi of supporting Russia. That had some implications for the Georgian Dream: It was seen as a political force that is capable of defending the country’s national interests.
Moreover, Georgian voters also saw the fact that Saakashvili was appointed as the governor of the Odessa region as an unfriendly move from Ukraine, as a slap in the face, because the former Georgian president was legally prosecuted in his home country, which meant that Ivanishvili couldn’t fulfill his pledges and restore justice [During the election campaign he promised to put Saakashvili in jail for corruption and the abuse of power — Editor’s note]. The problem was exacerbated when Kiev granted Saakashvili Ukrainian citizenship, which made it impossible to imprison the former Georgian president.
Saakashvili crossed the red line during the latest parliamentary elections in Georgia during the campaign. First, his colleagues from the United National Movement visited Ukraine. Second, he openly called for a coup d’état against the Georgian government, which he sees as pro-Russian. In fact, he threatened to conduct a new revolution in Georgia. This was the last straw for the Georgian Dream.
It is safe to say that the current Georgian political elites started seeing Ukraine as a real headache and the shelter for dubious and controversial Georgian politicians from the United National Movement accused of different wrongdoings and legal violations.
However, with the victory of the Georgian Dream in the 2016 parliamentary elections, a lot has changed. Moreover, the odds of the party of winning the constitutional majority are really high. It means that the influence of the party is growing in the Georgian parliament and even more could change.
As a result, the government won’t necessarily have to take into account the views of other political forces to take decisions. It can be pretty outspoken now that it won’t put up with anti-government moves and initiatives like the ones promoted by Saakashvili. Moreover, the Georgian voters, who are seeking to have those involved in the violations during Saakashvili’s tenure prosecuted. So, in this regard, the electorate supports the Georgian Dream.
Thus, all this indicates that Georgian-Ukrainian relations have always been more complex and nuanced than they seemed to be at first glance. During Saakashvili’s tenure, there was cooperation between his government and the ones of Timoshenko and Yushchenko. However, eventually, Tbilisi shifted its priority from supporting top political officials to supporting society and people.
Ukrainian politicians should keep in mind that the Russian factor is not the only one that determines the Ukrainian-Georgian agenda. Providing shelter to Saakashvili also does matter. So, to improve the relations with Tbilisi, Kiev should take into account its national interest and support the Georgian people instead of the country’s politicians. | 0 |
Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is denying that he romantically pursued teenagers as young as 14 while he was in his 30s after a bombshell report. The women accusing Moore told the Washington Post that when they were between the ages of 14 and 18, he romantically pursued them.One woman, Leigh Corfman, told the Post that when she was 14 years old in 1979, a 32-year-old Moore took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. Corfman told the Post that Moore touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear. The outspoken social conservative said in a statement the four women quoted by the Washington Post are lying. This garbage is the very definition of fake news and intentional defamation, Moore said.Former White House adviser Stephen Bannon helped Moore trounce establishment favorite Luther Strange in a September Republican primary, over President Trump s warning that Moore was less electable.Moore currently is in a close race against Democrat Doug Jones ahead of a Dec. 12 election. Washington ExaminerStephanie McCrummen, the reporters who co-wrote the Washington Post hit piece on Judge Roy Moore, apparently has a history of faking things like fake checks for instance According to the anti-Trump publication, Red State, McCrummen, who works for the Washington Post, (who many consider to be fake news, after using mulitple unnamed sources in an attempt to tie President Trump to the Russians), has a criminal record that involves writing a FAKE check.Ms. McCrummen has a rather interesting criminal history herself, as public criminal records in multiple states stretching across 4 time zones have shown.Ms. McCrummen s criminal history began with North Carolina Case # 1992 CR 00654, a violation of the Article 19 False Pretenses and Cheats section of the North Carolina Criminal Code. Ms. McCrummen was convicted of a crime punishable by up to six months of imprisonment for writing a hot check that was deemed worthless.Ms. McCrummen s other offenses are all traffic related and in 2010, she was tracked down by the courts after she had escaped Arizona s jurisdiction to D.C., and her case was assigned to the Fines/Fees and Restitution Enforcement (FARE) Program established to collect delinquent court ordered restitution, fines, fees, and surcharges . After the FARE team tracked her down at her Washington D.C. apartment, they finally appeared to get her attention and on October 23, 2010 she paid the defaulted fine to the criminal court, almost two months after her conviction. McCrummen has now found herself a four-time loser in the states criminal courts. She currently resides outside of the jurisdiction of the three states where she committed her crimes.Sean Hannity ripped into the media frenzy over the Judge Moore scandal on his show last night. The left is calling for his head today:.@seanhannity EVERYONE deserves the presumption of innocence before proven guilty. Not to mention these allegations coming out days before an election!#RoyMooreChildMolester pic.twitter.com/SEAC7GP0TU Shell Covfefe (@MichelleRMed) November 10, 2017When a reporter has a criminal history that essentially proves she gave false information to pay a debt or for services, shouldn t her character come into question when it comes to making a 40 year old sexual allegation against one of the most hated, Steve Bannon backed conservatives running for office in America, that may help to enhance her career? | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday said that the FBI director who would replace the fired James Comey, “must be strong and independent.” Feinstein said in a statement that President Donald Trump called her Tuesday afternoon to tell her that Comey was being removed from the top FBI job. When Trump announces a replacement, the nomination would be reviewed by the Judiciary Committee. | 1 |
There’s nothing like a flight to get you over a fear of flying. At least that was the case for me after my first trip to South Africa to visit the family of the woman who eventually became my wife. At 28, I was still pretty new to flying, and spending the better part of an entire day trapped in an airborne steel tube was just what I needed to stop worrying and learn to love the miracle of air travel. O. K. the truth is, I still don’t love to fly. But after that first marathon ride from New York to Johannesburg, which is among the longest flights in existence, my focus has at least shifted from how to survive to how to make the long haul as painless as possible. The simplest way to guarantee a decent meal and some legroom is to upgrade to first class, but if you don’t have the luxury of spending a few hundred extra for premium seats, all is not lost. “Most air carriers configure their economy cabins with slightly more legroom and added amenities,” said Patrick Smith, a pilot who is author of “Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel. ” These amenities typically include free access to entertainment consoles, meals and alcoholic beverages. In other words, airlines are not completely evil, and are less likely to you during flights. That also applies to legroom. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of leg space available in economy class during my first long haul to South Africa. But this does vary by airline. South African Airways has roomier seats (by one to two inches) on its nonstop flight from New York to Johannesburg than any other airline that flies between those two cities, according to Routehappy. com, a useful site that allows you to compare amenities before booking. Consider Seatguru. com when trying to find the most comfortable seat. But these freebies and a little extra legroom will get you only so far. A smartly packed bag is essential. “A big mistake is expecting the flight attendants to take care of everything for you,” said Kara Mulder, a flight attendant who chronicles her experiences on her blog, The Flight Attendant Life. Ms. Mulder recommends taking your own water, a sweatshirt and socks to keep you warm (I never fly without my hoodie) and some of your favorite healthy snacks. “Don’t just eat the free food the flight attendants serve because it’s there,” Ms. Mulder said. “Your body will respond differently to different foods when at altitude. ” Dry oatmeal and dried fruit are favorites of Ms. Mulder. I’ve found trail mix and protein and granola bars to be safe and sustainable options. I’ve also learned not to be shy. If you napped your way through mealtime or did not pack enough water, take a walk to where the flight attendants are and ask for what you need. You still have 13 hours to go. Nothing puts a damper on a vacation like a blood clot in the knee. Studies have found that travel increases the risk of venous thromboembolism, and that height is an additional risk factor, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s still a rare condition, but the C. D. C. recommends “ambulation,” which is a fancy word for walking and thigh exercises, and suggests aisle seats for those who are particularly tall. Even if you’re not concerned about a blood clot, walking and stretching will make you less miserable in general, and there is plenty you can do without even leaving your seat. How about a little yoga at 39, 000 feet? “When it comes to a physical release, the yoga exercises help right away,” said Kajuan Douglas, a yoga instructor in New York City. “ You feel the physical stretch, and it’s like you have just awakened from sleep. ” You do not have to be a yogi to benefit from these stretches. The simplest ones can bring instant satisfaction. For beginners, Mr. Douglas recommends the “Locust Bind” stretch, which involves interlacing your fingers behind your back and drawing your shoulder blades toward each other, and “seated twisting,” placing your hand on your opposite knee or thigh and twisting from the upper back. It may seem hard to do when the toddler behind you is kicking your seat or your neighbor is snoring. “To help overcome these difficulties, I bring more awareness to my breath or add a simple mantra,” Mr. Douglas said. “Simply recite ‘inhale let, exhale go’ ” mentally as you breathe. ” If there is a silver lining to having 16 hours to kill, it’s that you can at least get something accomplished like work or reading that novel you’ve yet to make a dent in. But it’s not as easy as it sounds, especially if you do not plan ahead. You may be distracted by turbulence or the drink cart rolling by, and that first gin and tonic leads to another. Before you know it, you’re poking at the entertainment console and pondering which Adam Sandler movie you haven’t already seen 10 times. “I’m an author and blogger who writes about air travel,” Mr. Smith said, “but I find it almost impossible to get anything done, even with my subject matter all around me. ” Compartmentalizing your time is the way to go, and can make the flight feel much shorter. “Devote blocks of time to certain tasks,” Mr. Smith said. “Pick out a couple of movies to watch that’s three or four hours right there. Spend a couple of hours reading, then a couple of hours napping if you can, and so on. ” If you are intent on getting work done, you could try something like the Pomodoro Technique, which divides work into intervals and separates them by short breaks. “I can be on a flight and not watch one movie from the plane’s entertainment system sometimes, simply because I planned out my tasks and airplane relax time so well,” Ms. Mulder said. “Those are good flights. ” That still feels like an oxymoron to folks like me but less so these days. | 0 |
We re just wondering if the state of MN has ever considered giving US veterans the same consideration? Or is this an exclusive offer given to African refugees because they contribute so much to our economy or wait do they? In the USA, 91.4% of Muslim refugees are on food stamps and 68.3% are taking Cash Welfare. Here s a chart to show how much refugees are contributing to the overall economy. Via: Senator Jeff SessionsThe Minneapolis Housing Authority passed legislation this week that will allow migrants to skip their monthly rent in Minnesota when they travel back home to East Africa.The move was sought by local East African immigrants. Immigrants traveling for 30 to 90 days could apply for a hardship which will reduce their rent to $75 a month while they are gone. The Star Tribune reported:Public housing residents in Minneapolis will no longer need to pay their normal monthly rent when travel abroad erases their income, a change particularly sought by East African immigrants.The board of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority approved this week reverting to its previous policy of collecting only minimal rent during extended absences. The change takes effect once approved by federal housing officials, which is expected by year s end.Abdi Warsame, a City Council member, told the board that the policy in place for the past five years works a particular hardship on elderly East Africans who must save for long periods if they want to visit their homelands. He said that many receive federal Supplemental Security Income, which is halted when the recipient is outside the United States.Yet the policy required people to keep paying rent, which is income-based. Travelers gone for 30 to 90 days could apply for a hardship, which meant that they paid the minimum $75 monthly rent during their absence, but were required to make up the difference between that and their normal rent over the next year or two. GP | 0 |
Let s be honest when it comes to the Clinton clan, is there really any criminal or morally corrupt act they ve committed that the media doesn t consider off limits? I think there s always a temptation to take the election away from people, so I m just gonna give it to them. -Bill Clinton s utterly incoherent answer to question about his perverted past posed to him by ABC s Cecilia Vega..@ABC Exclusive: Bill Clinton responds to Trump's claim that his past is fair game in interview with @CeciliaVegaABChttps://t.co/4ARzemKcRY ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 4, 2016 | 1 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday prescribed a quick fix to undo Obamacare through executive order after Republicans in the U.S. Congress failed to repeal and replace the healthcare law as promised, but industry experts said there are many steps involved that will slow it down. Trump’s plan rests on one main pillar, the creation of associations in which multiple employers can band together to buy health plans under the same law that large employers do. That law rests outside of many of the mandates of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare. Here are some questions and answers about these plans. Potentially, small business employees and maybe even more people would be able to buy such plans. The executive order envisions that associations will form to offer these new health plans for small businesses that want to join together. It is not clear from the order whether freelance workers or other individuals interested in buying health insurance outside of Obamacare would be able to access these association plans through other routes. That may be decided in the federal rule-making process, which takes months. There currently are some associations that have united to buy health insurance, but the order imagines the creation of many new associations around the country. By allowing small businesses to join forces to create a larger pool of employees when buying insurance, these associations can decrease the risk of having a higher proportion of members with costly illnesses that can drive up coverage costs for small employers. It is not clear who would create these groups, but there are some employer trade groups, like the National Restaurant Association, that have advocated this year to allow restaurants to band together to buy healthcare. Groups first need to create an association, register it with the U.S. Labor Department, design the benefit plans, sign up medical providers or hire a third-party company that establishes networks of doctors, and then advertise and sell those plans to employees, insurance experts said. Signing up providers such as doctors and hospitals could be challenging, especially across state lines, said Dave Dillon, a fellow and actuary at the Society of Actuaries. Doctors and hospitals charge higher prices when they are uncertain about how many patients they might have, even when they are dealing with known entities like the large health insurers. In addition, Americans next month are due to start buying their plans for next year during open enrollment, whether that is through an employer or on their own. That means 2018 would be off the table for the executive order’s provisions. “To get ready for 2019, you would have to be fairly up and running by the spring or early summer, and you would have to have things in place for the employers who would want to sell coverage for a 1/1 date,” Dillon said, referring to Jan. 1, 2019. By the time April rolls around, health insurers like Aetna Inc and UnitedHealth Group Inc and benefit design brokers like Aon PLC and Mercer, part of Marsh & McLennan Cos., are shopping around plans for 2019 with the goal to sign contracts by the summer. That gives them time to create the advertisements and documents that go to employees in time for sign-up. The 2019 plans would go on sale in November 2018. Legal challenges from Democratic state attorneys general who have fought some of Trump’s initiatives could further delay associations from forming, or employers from deciding to move employees from current small group plans or to offer a plan to employees currently being served by the individual market. | 0 |
Rand Paul is a self-described libertarian, but his idea for how to fix our healthcare system sounds awfully socialist. On the right, Paul has been one of the biggest critics of Trumpcare, calling it Obamacare lite. What we think is being hidden from conservatives is there s a lot of Obamacare Lite in their bill, the Kentucky Republican said on CNN s New Day Friday. There s a new entitlement program. There is also a Cadillac tax or something similar to the Cadillac tax that was in Obamacare. And there s also an individual mandate, believe it or not. Instead of paying the mandate to the government, they re going to tell you you have to pay the mandate, by law, to an insurance company. Paul, speaking at a Freedom Works rally, had his own proposal, which might as well have been an advertisement for the National Rifle Association. His suggestion is that people should be able to buy health insurance through the NRA.Here s the video: You see what he did there?The truth is, this isn t the worst idea in the world. The NRA is a sizable membership organization, but it s far from the biggest. The fact is, large groups people have a lot more clout than individuals. AAA has 40 million members, as compared to the NRA s 4.5. The AARP would probably be happy to negotiate with insurance companies and sell policies to their members.Inadvertently, though, the rabidly anti-union (but pro-gun) Republican, made the case for unions. Individuals don t have much if any negotiating power with insurance companies, or really, anyone. Still, Republicans want to leave individuals on their own, with the imagined idea that somehow, shopping is equivalent to negotiating. It s not. If you have the option to buy from six overpriced plans, you re still paying too much, but hey, you got a choice.The third largest membership organization in the world is a union. Unfortunately, you have to work for them to get the benefits of their negotiations, but if more people had access to unions, prices would drop across the board.But, there is one major problem with Paul s idea. Most employers, including most union employers, pick up at least part of the monthly tab. That s where the government subsidies that Republicans hate would come in. If an organization like AAA or even the NRA were to offer health insurance, it would still cost a lot more money than a decent employer plan, at least without some government help.Sorry, Republicans, but unions aren t synonymous with corruption anymore than the corporations that supply the paychecks, but they do give workers a voice, and in the case of goods and services, they give workers negotiating power. All free market Republicans should be behind more negotiating power, but the truth is, Republicans only want the market to be free for large corporations. All the rest of us should be at their mercy.Still, even at half bad, it s better than Trumpcare.Featured image via video screen capture | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump s U.S. Middle East peace negotiator Jason Greenblatt will return to Israel next week for talks related to the peace efforts, a senior administration official said on Friday. The trip is Greenblatt s first to the region since Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel s capital, which created an international uproar. Greenblatt, whose title is special representative for international negotiations, will meet with Fernando Gentilini, the European Union s special representative to the Middle East and stay for U.S. Vice President Mike Pence s trip to Israel later in the week, the official said. | 1 |
Lyon County gave the former Pennsylvania Senator his biggest margin of victory in the 2012 Iowa caucuses, winning by 62%. The county, Santorum said, "Stood with us from the very beginning ... I'm just coming back to say thank you, Lyon County, for the wonderful support."
A visit to all 99 counties, dubbed "the full Grassley" after Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who visits every county every year, is an important organizing tactic to candidates looking to get to know voters in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. Santorum is the first 2016 presidential candidate to complete the challenge, his second time personally completing the feat
Republican Party of Iowa co-chairman Dr. Cody Hoefert told CNN a visit to all 99 counties is "critically important" for candidates.
"It quite often turns out that the candidate that spends the most time, effort, and energy in Iowa tends to get rewarded on caucus night," Hoefert said.
If that's true, his efforts have yet to show in the polls. In a recent CNN/ORC poll of likely caucus-goers, Santorum had just 1% of support. In that same poll, 66% of respondents said they were still trying to decide who to support. This cycle, Santorum faces competition from other social conservatives in the race, including neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the caucuses in 2008. The former senator defended his standing in the polls to reporters, noting that his 99-county tour has been focused on building out the campaign's organization at the grassroots level. "It's a long, arduous process... People say, 'Oh, you're just trying to check a box.' No, no, no. This is how you win caucuses," Santorum said. "You meet people and you connect with folks like we have here in Lyon County, and then you recruit other folks to be your caucus chairs, to recruit other folks to speak for you in the caucuses. All of those things are sort of the nuts and bolts go unseen in a race like this that don't pay off five months before the election, they pay off five days before the election and on caucus night." In his pitch to the 200 or so Iowans assembled, Santorum focused on his record and work in elected office, particularly on social issues. "Let me assure you if you look at my track record, for 15 or 20 years, I have been standing up and taking the slings and arrows, not just for the right to life, not just on partial birth or things like the Born Alive Protection Act. But for marriage," said Santorum, who served in the House and Senate from 1995 until 2007. Asked about the support for outsider candidates during what's been called the "summer of discontent," he said, "People are ticked off." "They're understandably saying we just want someone new, somebody that can shake things up and then you'll hear candidates who for one reason or another are folks that they trust will actually do something different." | 1 |
21st Century WireAccording to reports, the FBI have obtained a warrant to examine newly discovered emails relating to possible classified material originating from Hillary Clinton s unauthorized private email server. The FBI will now pour through 650,000 emails found while investigating a laptop belonging to former US Congressman Anthony Weiner (photo, left) who has been caught in a sexting scandal alleged to have involved an underaged girl. Weiner is estranged husband of top Clinton aid and long-time confidant Huma Abedin. The process has begun, said an FBI source to the New York Times.This comes after a Friday afternoon announcement by embattled FBI Director James Comey stating the agency intended to reopen the previously closed investigation into former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton s long-running email scandal.21WIRE reported on Comey s shock announcement Friday, and also detailed a leaked memo supplied to Fox News indicating that there might be an internal upheaval within the FBI over botching the previous leg of the investigation and possibly caving into the political pressure from the White House and the DOJ to drop the case in order to preserve Hillary Clinton s presidential run.Since the FBI announcement, the Clinton campaign has gone into full damage control mode, while the Trump campaign has enjoyed a small surge which has cut into Clinton s lead across all national polls. All this happening less than 10 days before voters go to the polls on Nov 8th.Oddly, Clinton, a former lawyer, has publicly demanded that the FBI release all the information, and let the public know exactly what they have, even though this would be a violation of legal procedures in a criminal investigation.Nevada Senator Harry Reid (photo, left) issued an open letter/press release accusing director Comey of somehow being in violation of the Hatch Act by attempting to interfere with a US election, stating, I am writing to inform you that my office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act, said Reid. Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law, he added.Congressman Trey Gowdy (SC-R), the Chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, was the first to discover Clinton s illegal email server during the initial Benghazi hearings. According to Gowdy, this latest move by the FBI could net an indictment due to possible evidence of a cover-up. Gowdy s reponse on FOX News to Reid s letter was stunning: Thank God he s leaving (office), is my initial reaction. My second reaction is, I did not know Mormons used drugs. Anyone who is capable of sending out that press release has to be under the influence of something. Watch Gowdy here: SUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV | 1 |
Ted Cruz is trying to differentiate himself from Republican front runner Donald Trump by any means possible. Recently, Trump shocked everyone by calling controversial anti-trans bathroom bills discriminatory and stating that transgender individuals should be allowed to use whatever bathroom they feel corresponds to their identity. Meanwhile, Cruz has decided to go the complete opposite way as his rival, ramping up the bigotry. His latest comments are transphobia at its worst.While in Indiana last weekend, Cruz was filmed talking about his bathroom policies, making it perfectly clear that he is on board with divisive anti-trans bathroom legislation. Despite that fact that no trans person has ever attacked anyone in a bathroom, Cruz insisted that the only bathrooms trans people should be able to use are the ones in their own homes. The Texas senator told reporters: Every one of us has the right to live our lives as we wish. Then, Cruz s lack of intelligence resulted in an epic contradiction. If any one of us wants to dress up as a woman or man and wants to live as woman or man and believes that we might be something other than what we were born, God has made each of us with free will and the ability to choose to do that if man to wants to dress as a woman, and live as a woman, and have a bathroom at home. A reporter clarified with the presidential hopeful, So, then they shouldn t use the bathroom out in public? Yes, exactly. Cruz drove his bigoted point home: You don t have a right to intrude upon the rights of others because whether or not a man believes he s a woman, there are a lot of women who would like to be able to use a public restroom in peace without having a man there and when there are children involved, you don t have a right to impose your lifestyle on others. Here s the video, courtesy of the American Bridge:Cruz has definitely amped up his anti-trans rhetoric over the last few days. The GOPer recently released an ad about transgender people using public restrooms with the message it s not appropriate, it s not safe and has also made anti-trans jokes insulting Donald Trump. In the same weekend that this awful video was taken, Cruz called transgender protections political correctness on steroids. Cruz has also voiced his support for North Carolina s bathroom laws, which prevent transgender people from using the restroom they re most comfortable with.If you care anything for the LGBT community and their right to freedom, Ted Cruz is definitely making himself out to be one of the community s biggest threats.Featured image via Joe Raedle / Getty Images | 0 |
It has been nearly fifty years since the landmark Supreme Court ruling, Loving v. Virginia, that made interracial marriages (relationships) legal in the United States, but apparently some people are unaware of the ruling. A teenager in Texas recently tweeted an infuriating letter from her dad explaining the reason why he s disowning her: the relationship she was in with an African-American male.Stephanie Hicks, 19, is dating a black male and apparently this pissed her father off so much that he disowned her. In a letter she posted on Twitter, her father says: My belief is that interracial relationships are despicable. Vulgar and reprehensible. There s nothing worse than a half-black, and I m crushed that my own daughter has entered into such a disgusting relationship Mistakes can be forgiven, but you have willingly and consciously chosen a lifestyle of sickening choices, and I won t tolerate it. Her father then tells her that is she does not break up with her boyfriend, Nike, that she is not welcome in his life any longer: If you choose this black kid over your parents fill [suitcases] up and leave my house Change your name as soon as possible, because I won t have any association with you. Ever. First of all, as a parent, I am disgusted by this piece of garbage who has the audacity to call himself Dad. If he s are willing to disown his child over who they are dating, he never had any business raising a kid in the first place.Secondly, it is 2016 and no matter how much the GOP would like us all to believe racism is dead, it is clearly alive and thriving in the state of Texas. Her father called her relationship sickening but the only thing sickening about any of this is that guy s vile, hatred for a person because of the melanin he has in his skin. It is sad that this is even a battle that needs to be fought still, but it does.Like Stephanie, I am super white. I m so white that you could all use me to guide your way through a dark forest and my husband isn t white at all. I also live in the South, just like her and know what it is like to have people stare at me with disgust because my husband and child are naturally tan. Seriously. In 2016.America really has changed that much in the last fifty years because we have an entire political party that campaigns on platforms of racism and hate hell, just look at Donald Trump. And this is going to continue to be a problem until we all step up and fight back. That means that we all have to vote for progressive candidates who want to move this country forward, not back.Hopefully, Stephanie takes this and uses it to become an even stronger human being. Sometimes the best thing a toxic person can do for you is cut themselves out of your life. Featured image via Twitter | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama shortened the prison sentences for 98 convicts serving time for drug-related offenses in his latest round of commutations, including for 42 people serving life sentences, the White House said on Thursday. Obama has granted 688 commutations this year, for a total so far of 872 during his presidency, which ends on Jan. 20. “These are individuals - many of whom made mistakes at a young age - who have diligently worked to rehabilitate themselves while incarcerated,” White House Counsel Neil Eggleston said in a statement. The commutations are part of Obama’s push to reform the criminal justice system to reduce the number of people serving long sentences for non-violent drug offenses. Obama and a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. Congress had tried to work on legislation to reduce mandatory minimum sentences, but those efforts stalled ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election. | 1 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia on Friday urged senators to oppose a temporary spending bill because it fails to offer a long-term solution to secure retired coal miners’ benefits. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not yet announced when a final vote on the government spending legislation would take place. The House of Representatives voted for the funding bill on Thursday and went home. But in the Senate, Manchin and some other Democrats planned to delay a vote in hopes of adding a longer-term extension of expiring healthcare benefits for retired coal miners and their families. | 0 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials are aggressively investigating what caused symptoms ranging from hearing loss to mild brain injury in 21 people linked to the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, a State Department official said on Thursday. Spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a briefing that no new incidents had been reported since late August but testing continued, with 21 people saying they had been injured in what some media accounts have called an acoustic attack. We are, at the State Department, very deeply concerned about what has taken place and what has happened to our American personnel who have been serving at our embassy in Cuba, Nauert said. This has certainly turned out to be a difficult situation for some of our people. The incidents, which began in late 2016, were first confirmed by a U.S. official in August. Nauert said at that time 16 people had been injured. Some of those had returned home for testing and treatment, Nauert said, while others had been tested in Cuba, where the embassy has a fulltime medical officer. News media have reported that Americans and Canadians working in Cuba have been diagnosed with hearing loss, nausea, headaches, balance disorders and conditions as serious as mild traumatic brain injury and damage to the central nervous system. The investigation into all of this is still underway. It is an aggressive investigation that continues and we will continue doing this until we find out who or what is responsible for this, Nauert said. She said U.S. diplomatic security personnel had been able to look through the rooms of some of those injured and conducted searches but still had not determined the cause of the injuries. Nauert said people were still being tested and it was possible the number of injured personnel would rise. | 0 |
This is something you won t hear on Fox News anytime soon: President Obama is making the lives of honest, hardworking consumers a little better by allowing them to, again, sue big banks for misconduct.Working through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Obama Administration quietly pushed for new regulations that force the biggest financial institutions to backtrack on a secret clause hidden in contracts that hinders arbitration from consumers who feel they are victims from credit and banking misconduct.Meaning, if the big banks and credit card companies screw you over, you can take them to court and make them pay (finally) for their mistakes. No more stonewalling. No more too bad, so sad. The new rule clearly states:Pursuant to section 1028(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Public Law 111-203), the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is proposing to establish 12 CFR part 1040, which would contain regulations governing two aspects of consumer finance dispute resolution. First, the proposed rule would prohibit covered providers of certain consumer financial products and services from using an agreement with a consumer that provides for arbitration of any future dispute between the parties to bar the consumer from filing or participating in a class action with respect to the covered consumer financial product or service. Second, the proposal would require a covered provider that is involved in an arbitration pursuant to a pre-dispute arbitration agreement to submit specified arbitral records to the Bureau.Night and day. No more B.S. Once again, Elizabeth Warren s brainchild is swooping in to protect the people most preyed upon by greedy conglomerates.And it only gets better.The Obama Administration is also directing the Treasury to crackdown heavily on U.S. companies that take advantage of tax inversions, where they buy a company in a foreign country for a lower tax rate and then use those foreign resources to skip out on paying their fair share back here in the U.S., which costs our economy billions.According to Vox:The new rules announced on April 4 are different because they specifically target the most lucrative part of an inversion earnings stripping tactics, whereby the strategic use of debt and interest payments are used to transfer profits from a US-based subsidiary to a foreign-based one.Both of these new rules, at the behest of a Democratic administration, will put a dent in the money making machine of big banks who skirt the rules and screw over the people for an extra buck. Economist and tax expert Robert Willens told the Wall Street Journal that this new rule will take all of the juice out of inversions. These new rules already are threatening the mega-merger of pharmaceutical conglomerates Pfizer and Allergan, which stands to make over $150 billion, the largest merger of its kind.Still think both parties are the same? While the GOP just picked a liar and a financial cheater as their nominee, the Democrat s two-time picked candidate is working to bring money back to the Treasury and the pockets of the people.Thank you, President Obama!Featured image via Bill Pugliano/Getty Images | 1 |
Republican front-runner Donald Trump decided a visit to New York would be a good time to try out his comedy routine by delivering a stunningly tasteless joke at the expense of a man who had been recently killed nearby by New York police.In a performance that recalled the time he mocked a physically disabled reporter, Trump cast his arch-nemesis Mitt Romney in the role of police brutality victim Eric Garner because, as Trump tells it, both were known for choking. Unbelievable. The last election should have been won, except Romney choked like a dog. He choked, Trump said, before mocking Romney with his hands in a choke position.Trump shouted I can t breathe, I can t breathe, mocking the last words of Garner, who died in police custody on July 17, 2014, when officers tried to arrest him for allegedly selling loose, untaxed cigarettes across from Tompkinsville Park.The moment stunned reporters on scene, but what was perhaps even more surprising was the response Trump got from his fans. Rather than find the idea of aping the words of a man who recently died just a few miles away repulsive, the crowd of Trump-heads roared with laughter. The mockery was the funniest thing they had ever seen.'Like a dog': Donald Trump impersonates Mitt Romney 'choking' in the 2012 election https://t.co/dX9r9HADCA pic.twitter.com/Ny7ULsOIhW Business Insider (@businessinsider) April 12, 2016Like every offensive thing Trump does, this may have been a finely-tuned tactical maneuver. For many in New York, the story of Eric Garner s senseless death is still raw and infuriating, but the small but vocal Fox News crowd has always taken a different opinion on it. In the aftermath of Garner s death, Fox repeatedly booked guests who pushed the idea that Garner deserved it.Neil Cavuto and guest Bishop E.W. Jackson concluded as much: It s the result of a young man having made the decision to resist arrest. And when you do that, things are not going to end well. It s tragic, it s terrible. But how about teaching the young people when the police make a request, cooperate with them rather than resisting them? Rudy Guliani also on Fox News agreed, claiming Garner killed himself by struggling to not be arrested.Many of the people who felt the same, now attend Trump rallies where they count on the candidate to stoke racial fears and push the kind of xenophobic nationalism that s gotten him so far with the Republican base. Mocking Eric Garner and linking him to Romney, whom Trump views as weak and pathetic is a way of playing on feelings of white pride that enthralls many of Trump s fans.Featured image via Twitter | 1 |
As more and more leaks get out, it s obvious that Donald Trump is not just a dictator, he s so insecure that aides have to hand him daily pacifiers in the form of fake and flattering news stories to keep the man baby from having even more Twitter meltdowns.The key to keeping Trump s Twitter habit under control, according to six former campaign officials, is to ensure that his personal media consumption includes a steady stream of praise. And when no such praise was to be found, staff would turn to friendly outlets to drum some up and make sure it made its way to Trump s desk. If candidate Trump was upset about unfair coverage, it was productive to show him that he was getting fair coverage from outlets that were persuadable, said former communications director Sam Nunberg. The same media that our base digests and prefers is going to be the base for his support. I would assume the president would like to see positive and preferential treatment from those outlets and that would help the operation overall. Source: PoliticoApparently Trump s constant accusations of fake news has some legitimacy, but not how Trump or his supporters would like.Trump is quite selective about where he gets his news. He does read print, like the New York Times, but he also watches a lot a lot of Fox News. Remember when Trump touted a terrorist attack in Sweden that never happened? That allegedly came straight from Fox News.My statement as to what s happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2017It was a fake story. We can t say whether it was planted by Trump s aides, but it might as well have been for all the anti-immigrant political fodder it provided.The ramifications of a president who has to be sheltered from the real news are chilling. As the administration rolls on, Trump will continue to make adversaries around the world and in the media. Trump s unfiltered Twitter habit is potentially a national security issue. His aides obviously see this, but a president who is completely out of touch with reality, and is only willing to acknowledge fawning praise is equally dangerous.Featured image via Pool/Getty Images | 1 |
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Luis Zelaya, the third-placed candidate in Sunday s Honduran presidential election, said on Monday that Salvador Nasralla was the country s new leader, and urged the U.S.-friendly incumbent Juan Orlando Hernandez to accept defeat. | 1 |
GENEVA (Reuters) - Venezuela s foreign minister defended his country s record on Monday, rejecting as baseless reports by the United Nations human rights office that found grave violations by its security forces against protesters. Earlier, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra ad al-Hussein warned that the government of President Nicolas Maduro may move to further crush democratic institutions and that crimes against humanity may have already been committed by his security forces. The opposition in Venezuela is back on the path of rule of law and democracy, we will see dialogue emerging thanks to the mediation of our friends, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said to applause at the U.N. Human Rights Council, where Venezuela is one of 47 members. (This story corrects quote in 3rd paragraph following U.N. interpretation error) | 0 |
For months, Gov. Chris Christie had said that New Jersey’s transportation funding was not in a crisis, even as the state inched closer toward exhausting its principal fund for roads, bridges and mass transit. But after Mr. Christie embraced plans this week to raise the state’s gas tax, and the State Senate balked at the proposed Mr. Christie quickly changed his tune. Shortly after 11 p. m. on Thursday, Mr. Christie declared a state of emergency and moved to shut down most road work. Allowing the transportation fund to go broke would be “disastrous” and jeopardize people’s safety, Mr. Christie said in an executive order. By raising the prospect of potholes going unfixed and construction workers being laid off, Mr. Christie ratcheted up the pressure on state lawmakers to reach an agreement. But his sudden turnabout stunned politicians and interest groups in the state. The governor directed the state transportation commissioner and the executive director of New Jersey Transit to submit plans by Saturday night for an “immediate and orderly shutdown” of most work funded by the state transportation trust fund. Any work that is federally funded or necessary for safety reasons could continue, Mr. Christie said. Mr. Christie, a Republican, had reached a deal with the State Assembly earlier in the week to raise the state’s gas tax in exchange for lowering the sales tax. But on Thursday, Democratic leaders in the State Senate said they could not support the agreement because it would harm the state budget. State transportation officials said that orders were unlikely to go into effect quickly enough to affect the Fourth of July weekend and that such work was rarely scheduled for holiday weekends. Still, concerns over snarled traffic could cause some people to think twice about using the roads, said Brigid Callahan Harrison, a professor of political science and law at Montclair State University who had been closely watching the debate over transportation funding. “Even if the average New Jerseyan doesn’t see this over the weekend, there is an element of uncertainty that is damaging to the state,” she said. The surprise order came as Mr. Christie was being vetted as a possible running mate for Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president. Mr. Christie had agreed to support a increase in exchange for lowering the state sales tax to 6 percent from 7 percent by 2018. Lowering the sales tax would cut revenue by about $1. 7 billion each year after it is fully implemented, while the changes to the gas tax would increase revenue by about $1. 1 billion each year, according to the state’s Office of Legislative Services. On Thursday night, Mr. Christie rebuked Senate leaders for failing to approve the legislation. The transportation trust fund is expected to run out of money by August, the executive order said. State Senate leaders favor an earlier plan supported by some lawmakers in both houses to raise the gas tax and phase out the estate tax. Under both proposals, the gas tax would rise by about 23 cents per gallon. Mr. Christie’s decision could intensify political pressure on the Senate president, Stephen M. Sweeney, a Democrat who has close ties to labor unions and may run for governor next year. “You can bet that organized labor and all of the associated businesses will be putting pressure on Sweeney to compromise in some way,” Professor Harrison said. On Friday, Mr. Sweeney said in a statement that he was disappointed by the governor’s decision and that it would lead to layoffs. It was unclear when lawmakers might return to Trenton to address transportation funding Vincent Prieto, the Assembly speaker, said negotiations could resume during the second week of July. Mr. Christie is expected to attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, which starts on July 18. For years, lawmakers and transit advocates have raised alarm about the need for a new source of funding for the state’s roads, bridges and transit system. But Mr. Christie, who ended his presidential campaign this year, was reluctant to raise taxes and said the funding was not in crisis. New Jersey’s gas tax is the second lowest in the country, at 14. 5 cents per gallon. Both proposals would raise it to about 37. 5 cents per gallon, still less than New York State’s gas tax. On Friday, Mr. Prieto said the Assembly was willing to compromise with the Senate on the legislation. “We all know we need a transportation funding plan the governor will sign and we need it as soon as possible,” Mr. Prieto, a Democrat, said in a statement. “This is too important for jobs — especially in our construction industry — and our economy to allow this to continue. ” | 0 |
Leave a reply The second video on this post is very important – g
Black Box Voting , founded in 2003, performs nonpartisan investigative reporting on elections in an attempt to stop vote rigging.
You may be wondering what the term “black box” means. A “black box” system is non-transparent; its functions are hidden from the public. Elections, of course, should not be black box systems.
Here is a link to a free copy of the book, Black Box Voting HERE .
Author Bev Harris became known for groundbreaking work on electronic voting machines, which can remove transparency of the vote count.
With voting machines, all political power can be converted to the hands of a few anonymous subcontractors: SF Source InfoWars Oct. 2016 Share this: | 1 |
Whiskey, Tango Foxtrot!!! A Sharia compliant UN working with Obama to create a Global police force? Does anyone else have alarm bells going off in their heads? On Wednesday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced at the United Nations that her office would be working in several American cities to form what she called the Strong Cities Network (SCN), a law enforcement initiative that would encompass the globe.This amounts to nothing less than the overriding of American laws, up to and including the United States Constitution, in favor of United Nations laws that would henceforth be implemented in the United States itself without any consultation of Congress at all.The United Nations is a sharia-compliant world body, and Obama, speaking there just days ago, insisted that violent extremism is not exclusive to Islam (which it is). Obama is redefining jihad terror to include everyone but the jihadists. So will the UN, driven largely by the sharia-enforcing Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the pro-Islamic post-American President Obama, use a global police force to crush counter-jihad forces?After all, with Obama knowingly aiding al-Qaeda forces in Syria, how likely is it that he will use his global police force against actual Islamic jihadists? I suspect that instead, this global police force will be used to impose the blasphemy laws under the sharia (Islamic law), and to silence all criticism of Islam for the President who proclaimed that the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. What is a global police force doing in our cities? This is exactly the abdication of American sovereignty that I warned about in my book, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration s War on America. The Obama Department of Justice made it clear that it was exactly that when it distributed a press release last week announcing the Launch of Strong Cities Network to Strengthen Community Resilience Against Violent Extremism. In that press release, the DoJ complained that while many cities and local authorities are developing innovative responses to address this challenge, no systematic efforts are in place to share experiences, pool resources and build a community of cities to inspire local action on a global scale. So if the local and municipal effort to counter the euphemistic and disingenuous violent extremism is inadequate and hasn t developed systematic efforts are in place to share experiences, pool resources and build a community of cities to inspire local action on a global scale, the feds and the UN have to step in. Thus the groundwork is being laid for federal and international interference down to the local level. The Strong Cities Network, Lynch declared, will serve as a vital tool to strengthen capacity-building and improve collaboration i.e., local dependence on federal and international authorities.Lynch made the global (that is, United Nations) involvement clear when she added: As we continue to counter a range of domestic and global terror threats, this innovative platform will enable cities to learn from one another, to develop best practices and to build social cohesion and community resilience here at home and around the world. This internationalist character was brought to the fore by the fact that the Strong Cities Network was launched on September 29 not at the White House or the Department of Homeland Security, or at the FBI headquarters or anywhere else that might be fitting for a national project, but at the United Nations.Even more ominously, the DoJ press release says that the Strong Cities Network will strengthen strategic planning and practices to address violent extremism in all its forms by fostering collaboration among cities, municipalities and other sub-national authorities. Sub-national and international: the press release then quotes Governing Mayor Stian Berger R sland of Oslo, Norway, a participant in the Strong Cities Network, saying: To counter violent extremism we need determined action at all levels of governance. To succeed, we must coordinate our efforts and cooperate across borders. The Strong Cities Network will enable cities across the globe pool our resources, knowledge and best practices together and thus leave us standing stronger in the fight against one of the greatest threats to modern society. But what is that greatest threat, exactly? Remember, the DoJ presser says that the SCN will address violent extremism in all its forms. It also says that it will aid initiatives that are working toward building social cohesion and resilience to violent extremism. Building social cohesion is a euphemism for keeping peace between non-Muslim and Muslim communities mostly by making sure that non-Muslims don t complain too loudly about, much less work against, rapidly expanding Muslim populations and the Islamization of their communities.The DoJ presser noted that at the launch of the Strong Cities Network, welcoming remarks would be offered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra ad Al Hussein and Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City. The involvement of New York City s Marxist internationalist mayor is yet another warning sign.Assert American sovereignty and individual rights. Contact your representatives now. Exhort them to oppose SCN now. Exhort them to keep America free while it still is. Via: Breitbart News | 0 |
How long do you think our President has known about this? Anyone else sick of this Muslim Sympathizer In Chief? The mysterious Pakistani woman who with her husband gunned down 14 Wednesday at a Southern California holiday party pledged her allegiance to ISIS before the massacre, according to a government source, in what appears to be concrete evidence that the rampage was at least inspired, if not directed, by the terrorist group.Tashfeen Malik posted the pledge to ISIS leader and self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before the attack, in which she and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, stormed a San Bernardino party for his co-workers before escaping, Fox News confirmed through a law enforcement source who said the post was recovered despite the pair s attempts to erase their digital trail. The couple died hours later in a shootout with police, and in the aftermath the 29-year-old Pakistani woman has remained largely a name without a face. No confirmed pictures of her have surfaced, and few details have emerged.The pledge, posted on Facebook under another name and then deleted, was reported by The Associated Press, citing federal sources. It provided a fresh clue to Malik s identity and motivation. The aura of mystery surrounding Malik has given rise to suspicions she may have been the radicalizing force who turned her new husband from an aloof county restaurant inspector into her cohort in carnage, an Islamist fanatic capable of murdering co-workers who had embraced him for years. Tashfeen remains the biggest mystery, said a leader of the area s Pakistani-American Muslim community. She s the one no one knows anything about and has little to no presence on the Internet or having interacted with others in the Muslim community. Tashfeen remains the biggest mystery. She s the one no one knows anything about and has little to no presence on the Internet or having interacted with others in the Muslim community. Southern California Pakistani-American leaderThe aura of mystery surrounding Malik has given rise to suspicions she may have been the radicalizing force who turned her new husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, from an aloof county restaurant inspector into her cohort in carnage, an Islamist fanatic capable of murdering co-workers who had embraced him for years. Usually it s ISIS supporters trying to radicalize young girls online as they try to find new wives, but this may be the first case I know of where the opposite happened, said Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst for Clarion Project, which tracks international terrorism.Mauro noted that Farook s older brother, who shares his name, served in the U.S. Navy, which would seem to indicate that Farook s radical leanings did not come from within his own family. It is possible that she radicalized him or that suspected terrorists inside America he was communicating with are responsible for the radicalization, which led him to be attracted to a more hardline Salafi girl, Mauro said.What is known is that Malik met Farook online and that the two became engaged after Farook traveled to Saudi Arabia in September 2013. Malik applied for a K-1 visa at the American embassy in Islamabad in May, 2014 and two months later Farook again traveled to Saudi Arabia, met her there and brought her to the U.S. on a K-1 visa, a 90-day visa given to fianc s planning to marry Americans.They were married on Aug. 16, 2014, in nearby Riverside County, Calif. according to their marriage license. The marriage and passage of criminal and national security background checks using FBI and Department of Homeland Security databases resulted in a conditional green card for Malik in July 2015, two months after she gave birth to their baby daughter.Malik and Farook, an American citizen born in Chicago and raised in Southern California by parents of Pakistani descent, lived with their daughter and his mother, Rafia Farook, in a Redlands, Calif., apartment described by one investigator as an IED factory and ammo arsenal. Via: FOX News | 0 |
Patrick Henningsen 21st Century WireHas political reality finally set in for the GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump?With only days before the Republican Party s National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, presidential candidate Donald J. Trump finally abandoned any pretence of neutrality on the Israel-Palestine issue, and is now firmly committed to supporting Israeli settlement expansion on territories it has seized illegally, and also not recognizing a Palestinian State.After all the promising rhetoric and previous displays of good will on this crucial foreign policy issue, exactly how did he finally arrive back at the status quo?What started off as interesting, became promising, before eventually settling into Washington s default position. On numerous past occasions during the GOP debate cycle and along the campaign trail, Trump had stated his feelings (which appeared to have an air of passion at the time) and intentions to secure a peace deal for the open-ended Israel-Palestine conflict.The Israeli Lobby started to get very interested in the beginning of December 2015, when during an interview with the AP, Trump seemed to blame Israel for not securing a lasting peace agreement. I have a real question as to whether or not both sides want to make it, Trump said, before explaining that his concerns predominantly reside with one side in particular [Israel]. He also hinted that he wasn t interested in any Jewish Republican money, to a chorus of boos he crowed, I can t be bought . The same for any outside money too. Later, it slipped out again during a nationally televised GOP debate, with Trump making sounds about negotiating a peace deal. Now here was a true maverick, giving chase to the forbidden cow. Amid all of Trump s wild gaffes and ad hominem attacks, this was an epiphany. At this moment Trump really stood out, and caught the attention and support of a whole new legion of disaffected, disenfranchised moderates paddling on the fringe of the Trump wave.That was it. Soon after the phone rang. It was Sheldon.The Donald had been summoned to a one-on-one in Las Vegas with the capo de capo himself, the George Soros of American right-wing politics, the kingmaker, Lord of the Slots and Supreme Master of Macau, billionaire property, casino tycoon and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, 82 yr old Sheldon Adelson. It was after this time that Trump began to shape-shift on the issue, and not in favor of the Palestinians either. CAPO de CAPO? Donald Trump and Sheldon AdelsonAdelson, a committed Zionist who has backed numerous successful political careers, including that of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, commented on his meeting with the Republican candidate, He [Trump] had talked about potentially dividing about Jerusalem and Israel, so I talked about Israel because with our newspaper, my wife being Israeli, we are the few who know more about Israel than people who don t. From that point on, began the process of Trump s rehabilitation on the Israel-Palestine.On March 10, 2016, there stood Trump, still as the presumptive underdog, at CNN s GOP Debate in Miami alongside a wall of Republicans candidates who were all firmly in the pockets of the Israel lobby including their emissaries in the US Senate Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Trump s remarks on the illusive peace process could have been considered seminal way back then: I would like to at least have the other side think I m somewhat neutral as to them, so that we can maybe get a deal done. Campaign rival Cruz hit back, questioning Trump s support for Israel saying, I don t think we need a commander in chief who is neutral between the Palestinian terrorists and one of our strongest allies in the world, the nation of Israel. Everyone, including the media, seemed so shocked by Trump s unorthodox comments that they went near catatonic on this issue afterwords. It was as if Trump had pole-vaulted over the perennial swamp that is the GOP foreign policy platform. The Lobby didn t waste any time however. In the eyes of the wider Israeli Lobby, taking a neutral stance or daring to recognize Palestine or Palestinians, is synonymous with attacking Israel and Jews. This is a simple law of political physics in America at the moment and will remain so as long as the lobbyists continue shoveling millions of dollars per month into the pockets of both prospective candidates and elected officials nationwide.Predictably, he was attacked viciously by his opponents, especially Cruz. It seemed as if Trump has broken ranks in a way that was unfathomable for any Republican politician seeking office in the United States of America.Of course, the Israeli press didn t take kindly to Trump s vision of peace and harmony, and from this point onward, pressure began to mount on Trump to conform to the American political orthodoxy on this issue.Soon, Trump was summoned on March 21st, to AIPAC, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, where he delivered a resounding speech which seemed good enough for the lobby that night, but the job wasn t finished just yet.Later on in May, Trump continued to evolve, now employing doublespeak on the issue, saying he would still like to negotiate a deal but that Israel should keep building illegal settlements in the West Bank of Palestine, and that Israel needs to keep going and keep moving forward. He stated: I d love to negotiate peace. I think that, to me, is the all-time negotiation I would love to see if peace could be negotiated. A lot of people say that s not a deal that s possible. But I mean lasting peace, not a peace that lasts for two weeks and they start launching missiles again. So we ll see what happens. I think Israel should have they really have to keep going. They have to keep moving forward [with constructing illegal settlements]. Finally, the penny ultimately dropped. With the GOP s Big Tent event rapidly approaching, Trump s platform on Israel has been fully baked. Sputnik News reports: David M. Friedman, a real-estate attorney serving as Trump s main advisor on Israel, said the Republican presidential candidate and reality television star would not support the recognition of the Palestinian state without the approval of the Israelis. Friedman also remarked that Trump was unconcerned with the inhabitants of the West Bank, because nobody really knows how many Palestinians live there. Trump made Friedman a part of his campaign staff in April, at a meeting with Orthodox Jews, naming him and Jason Greenblatt, another real-estate lawyer and Trump s chief attorney, as his advisors on Israel. Friedman said at the time, Mr. Trump s confidence is very flattering. My views on Israel are well known, and I would advise him in a manner consistent with those views. America s geopolitical interests are best served by a strong and secure Israel, with Jerusalem as its undivided capital. Friedman has made no secret of his feelings about a two-state solution with Palestine, writing that, It was never a solution, just an illusion that served both the US and the Arabs. Another devastating blow to the native Palestinians, currently under military occupation and backed by the US to the tune of $3 billion per year in direct military aid (free money for weapons and equipment).Against his former declarations to the contrary, Trump is also now accepting outside money, from multiple sources. Funny how the political poles shift. How quickly a raging populist becomes a cynical realist. Even for a self-made billionaire, money still buys friends and influence.With that out of the way, it s finally safe for the lobby to get behind Donald in a general election, should they wish to.There it is. The genealogy of Donald Trump s evolving stance on Israel.*** Author Patrick Henningsen is an American writer and global affairs analyst and founder of independent news and analysis site 21st Century Wire, and is host of the SUNDAY WIRE weekly radio show broadcast globally over the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR). He has written for a number of international publications and has done extensive on-the-ground reporting of the conflict Syria, Iraq and the Middle East.READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire 2016 Files | 0 |
By JOEY MILLAR
The show of force comes just days after the Russian leader’s fleet passed near the British coast.
British soldiers will travel to Estonia in what is one of the biggest build-ups of foreign firepower on Russia’s border since the Cold War.
The move will take place next spring, with Denmark and France also taking part in the huge military exercise.
The project was revealed by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who said the UK’s forces will be “fully combat-capable”.
He said: “That battalion will be defensive in nature, but it will be fully combat-capable.
“This is about two things: reassurance, and that needs to be done with some formidable presence, and deterrence.
“This is not simply a trip-wire. This is a serious military presence.”
Cold War-style tensions between Moscow and Washington took a further dip this week after the US revealed plans to station marines in Norway – just a few hundred miles from the border with Russia.
Officials in Norway and the US said they were considering a deal for extra equipment and training for the Scandinavian country.
Russia has reacted | 1 |
(Reuters) - A stock-trading algorithm built for Reuters highlights the correlations among gun purchases, mass shootings and the politics of gun regulation. With the benefit of hindsight, the Boston-based hedge fund Quantopian examined how a theoretical investor would have fared by investing equal amounts in Smith & Wesson Holding Corp SWHC.O and Sturm Ruger & Co (RGR.N) after 20 events that impacted the companies’ sales or stock prices. The events, chosen by Reuters, included 12 mass shootings, starting with the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting; six events involving President Barack Obama, including two elections and various calls for gun regulation; and two U.S. Supreme Court decisions favorable to gun companies. Hedge funds and other sophisticated investors use computer-driven algorithms to place trades based on a defined set of instructions. In the theoretical exercise for Reuters, the Quantopian algorithm showed that buying the two gun stocks the first trading day after the events and selling them 90 days later would have produced a return of 365 percent over a nine-year period – compared to 66 percent for the S&P 500 Index. A buy-and-hold bet on Smith & Wesson stock starting in January 2007 would have produced a return of 137 percent. For a graphic showing how the algorithm performed, see tmsnrt.rs/1OSHshu | 0 |
CHICAGO — This city, reeling from a rising toll of gun violence, may soon hire hundreds of additional police officers — more than 500 of them. Superintendent Eddie Johnson of the Chicago police is expected to announce plans for a significant increase in officers during a news conference on Wednesday afternoon at Police Headquarters, a spokesman said late Tuesday. Officials would not provide specific numbers or details, but said that the new hires would be over and above the current force, not a replacement for retiring officers or unfilled positions. Chicago’s Police Department is the municipal force in the nation, with more than 12, 000 officers, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel has faced intensifying criticism over the city’s handling of violence as the death toll has mounted. New York, which has more police officers, has seen homicides decrease in recent years. Mr. Emanuel is scheduled to present an address on Thursday regarding his plans for public safety here. Already this year, more than 500 people have been killed in Chicago — more than in all of last year in this city and more than Los Angeles and New York combined have experienced this year. The uptick in violence, particularly in neighborhoods on the city’s South and West Sides, has left many questioning the effectiveness of the Police Department in closing cases or slowing the violence. If approved as part of Chicago’s city budget, the hires would constitute the first major expansion in officers in recent years and a shift in the city’s approach to tackling the year’s increase in violence. In months past, as the number of shootings continued to rise, officials took other tacks, calling for a tightening of gun laws and sending hundreds of officers working administrative jobs back on to the streets. But the proposal, which The Associated Press reported on Tuesday afternoon, comes at a remarkably complex time for this city, amid strained relations between residents and the police, a federal Justice Department investigation into the Police Department’s patterns and practices, and stressed city finances. On Tuesday, officials would not provide the anticipated cost for an expansion in officers, but Chicago is already wrestling with deep fiscal problems, from underfunded pension systems to a budget crisis in the public schools, and any proposal for new spending may face debate. The Police Department’s relations with residents are the subject of intense scrutiny, complicating reactions to any proposal for a larger police force on the streets. The release last year of a video showing a white police officer shooting Laquan McDonald, a black teenager, 16 times renewed a sense of community anger and distrust toward the police. | 0 |
Conservatives have suggested repeatedly that if former President Barack Obama clicked his heels together three times while saying the words radical Islamic terrorism then terror attacks would never happen again. Ever. During former reality show star Donald Trump s speech in Saudi Arabia, he failed to use those words, but it helped to elect him while on the campaign trail by criticizing his opponents for not saying the magical phrase.While Trump is visiting the Middle East, a bomb tore through an entrance hall of the Manchester Arena at about 10:30 p.m. as American pop star Ariana Grande s concert was ending. In total, 22 people died and 59 concert-goers were hospitalized, marking this as the deadliest terrorist assault in Britain since 2005.On Tuesday, ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombing.During President Curtsy s press conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Trump branded terrorist groups as evil losers. I extend my deepest condolences to those so terribly injured and to the so many families of the victims. We stand in absolute solidarity with the people of the United Kingdom, Trump said Tuesday. So many young beautiful and innocent people living and enjoying their lives, murdered by evil losers in life, he said. I won t call them monsters because they would like that term, he continued. They would think that s a great name. I will call them from now on losers because that s what they are, they re losers. And we ll have more of them. But they re losers, just remember that. The terrorists and extremists and those who give them aid and comfort must be driven out from our society forever, he added, then called on the international community to protect human life. Watch Trump deliver a real sick burn to terrorists everywhere by calling them evil losers. You know, as opposed to evil winners.On the campaign trail, Donald Trump said he would present a plan to defeat the Islamic State to his generals within 30 days after taking office, but that hasn t happened.Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images. | 0 |
In a wide-ranging discussion, Trump also said he disapproved of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in eastern Ukraine, called for a renegotiation of the Paris climate accord, and said he would dismantle most of the Dodd-Frank financial regulations if he is elected president.
The presumptive Republican nominee declined to share details of his plans to deal with North Korea, but a meeting with Kim would mark a major shift in U.S. policy towards the isolated nation.
"I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him," Trump said of Kim.
"At the same time I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China," he said in the half-hour interview at his Trump Tower office in Manhattan.
China is Pyongyang's only major diplomatic and economic supporter.
Trump said the United States is treated unfairly in the Paris climate accord, which prescribes reductions in carbon emissions by more than 170 countries. A renegotiation of the pact would be a major setback for what was hailed as the first truly global climate accord, committing both rich and poor nations to reining in the rise in greenhouse gas emissions blamed for warming the planet.
Turning to the economy, Trump said he planned to release a detailed policy platform in two weeks. He said it would dismantle nearly all of Dodd-Frank, a package of financial reforms put in place after the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
"I would say it'll be close to a dismantling of Dodd-Frank. Dodd-Frank is a very negative force, which has developed a very bad name," Trump said.
The New York billionaire also said he perceived a dangerous financial bubble within the tech startup industry. He said tech companies were attaining high valuations without ever making money.
Trump also said he eventually wants a Republican to head the U.S. Federal Reserve, but said he is "not an enemy" of current chair Janet Yellen.
"I'm not a person that thinks Janet Yellen is doing a bad job. I happen to be a low-interest rate person unless inflation rears its ugly head, which can happen at some point," he said, adding that inflation "doesn't seem like it's happening any time soon." | 0 |
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