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| Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, called on Tuesday for Washington, in parallel with its negotiations with Europe, to pursue a separate free trade agreement with Britain, once it has formally separated from the European Union. Ryan, the highest-ranking elected Republican in the United States, echoed a call from many members of his party, who have dismissed President Barack Obama’s contention that Britain will be at the “back of the queue” for trade talks. Obama issued that warning in April when he intervened to try to persuade Britons to vote to remain in the June 23 referendum on staying or leaving the EU. Free trade agreements require the approval of both houses of the U.S. Congress. Ryan’s Republicans currently control a majority in both the House and Senate. EU and U.S. negotiations had sought to conclude the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks before Obama leaves office in January. Although many of his fellow Democrats oppose trade deals as a potential threat to U.S. jobs, Obama has worked with Republicans to pass trade measures. “That is something we should begin discussions with Great Britain to ease concerns so that we do have a smooth trade relationship with Great Britain because they are our indispensable ally,” Ryan said on WISN, a radio station in his home state Wisconsin. The remarks were distributed by Ryan’s office in Washington. Some trade experts have said that a deal on TTIP is unlikely for years now without Britain at the table, which could open an opportunity for a separate deal with Britain. |
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| (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));Obama Tears Share thisPosted by Dave Sayen on Thursday, January 7, 2016Don t take our word for it, watch Obama s speech on gun control in December, 2012. Pay close attention to the 1:01 mark, where he rubs his left index finger into the corner of his eye (exactly like he did last week) pauses, (like he did last week) puts his head down and pauses a bit longer (waiting for the menthol to work) and then (exactly like last week) he lifts his head and exposes the tears flowing, but only from the eye he put his finger in before tears ever began flowing:This is a character issue. Whether you’disagree or agree with his gun control agenda is not the issue here. The point is, if the elected leader of the greatest nation on earth is willing to stand in front of millions and place menthol in his eye in order to make himself cry fake tears, to persuade Americans we need gun control, why should Americans believe ANYTHING he has to say? |
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| Germany s foreign minister Siegmar Gabriel met his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Turkey on Saturday, in a chance to discuss strained ties between the NATO allies after a series of diplomatic incidents. Gabriel and Cavusoglu discussed bilateral relationships as well as difficult themes and expectations on both sides in an informal meeting in the Turkish city of Antalya, the German foreign ministry said on Twitter, without giving further detail. The meeting came a day after the announcement of the release of a further German national who had been detained in Turkey for political reasons, leaving the tally of those still in jail at nine. Ties between the two allies deteriorated after Turkish President Recep Erdogan launched a crackdown on political opponents after a failed coup last year. Germany has criticized the mass arrests and refused to extradite people Turkey says were involved in the plot. Relations with Turkey are a contentious issue in talks on forming a coalition government that Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservative bloc is holding with two other parties after she lost support in an election in September. |
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| Senior U.S. lawmakers want the House of Representatives to formally condemn Turkish security forces’ violent response to a street protest in Washington during a recent visit by President Tayyip Erdogan, a congressional aide said on Wednesday. The leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and top Republican and Democratic House leaders are co-sponsoring a resolution condemning the violence against peaceful protesters and calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. The measure introduced by Foreign Affairs Republican Chairman Ed Royce and ranking Democrat Eliot Engel, Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, also calls for measures to be taken to prevent similar incidents in the future. The brawl that erupted on May 16 between protesters and Turkish security personnel outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence during Erdogan’s visit to meet U.S. President Donald Trump has caused a diplomatic dispute between the two NATO allies. At least 11 people were injured in the encounter, two so seriously they had to go to the hospital. Turkey blamed the violence on demonstrators linked to the militant Kurdistan Workers Party while Washington’s police chief described the incident as a “brutal attack” on peaceful protesters. The U.S. State Department said in a statement the conduct of Turkish security personnel during the incident was “deeply disturbing.” And the Turkish government summoned the U.S. ambassador in Ankara to discuss the “violent incidents.” The congressional aide said the Foreign Affairs Committee would take up the resolution on Thursday. |
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| The people who actually know what is at stake when it comes to national security under a Trump administration are not happy at all. That would be the likely reason for the unprecedented number of leaks coming from within the government regarding the Trump White House and the activities therein. One such person is long time CIA Operative and National Security Council Spokesman Edward Price.Price wrote an absolutely scathing indictment of Trump in the Washington Post regarding his inability to continue to work in the intelligence community with Trump as Commander-in-Chief, and even put out a video revealing what he thinks of the person currently leading the nation as well. While noting that he has been proudly serving his country for years regardless of which party controlled the White House, Price noted how Trump’s issues go beyond anything he has seen before and could ever tolerate: I watched in disbelief when, during the third presidential debate, Trump casually cast doubt on the high-confidence conclusion of our 17 intelligence agencies, released that month, that Russia was behind the hacking and release of election-related emails. On the campaign trail and even as president-elect, Trump routinely referred to the flawed 2002 assessment of Iraq s weapons programs as proof that the CIA couldn’t be trusted even though the intelligence community had long ago held itself to account for those mistakes and Trump himself supported the invasion of Iraq. Price then went on to go all in on Trump’s disgraceful comments in front of the CIA Memorial Wall, where he’should have been there to thank the intelligence community s officers for keeping us safe, and to honor those who so bravely did in the line of duty in service to all of us. Instead, Trump relitigated his election victory, and boasted about crowd sizes and criticized the press. Price says of that event: Trump’s actions in office have been even more disturbing. His visit to CIA headquarters on his first full day in office, an overture designed to repair relations, was undone by his ego and bluster. Standing in front of a memorial to the CIA s fallen officers, he’seemed to be addressing the cameras and reporters in the room, rather than the agency personnel in front of them, bragging about his inauguration crowd the previous day. Whether delusional or deceitful, these were not the remarks many of my former colleagues and I wanted to hear from our new commander in chief. Finally, Price gives us the’straw that really broke the camel s back for him, the way Trump elevated white supremacist Steve Bannon on the NSC:The final straw came late last month, when the White House issued a directive reorganizing the National Security Council, on whose staff I served from 2014 until earlier this year. Missing from the NSC s principals committee were the CIA director and the director of national intelligence. Added to the roster: the president s chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, who cut his teeth as a media champion of white nationalism. It is great to see good patriots like Edward Price coming out so bravely and saying what needs to be said: That Trump is unfit to be president, and is making dangerous and reckless decisions as Commander-in-Chief. We can only hope that there is some mechanism in place for these good people to be able to refuse reckless orders from this clearly mentally ill narcissist who belongs in the nut house rather than in the White House.Watch Edward Price scorch Trump in absolutely epic form below:Featured image via video screen capture |
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| The head of the House of Representatives’ tax-writing committee said on Sunday he would not accept elimination of a federal deduction for state and local taxes, opposing a proposal from Senate Republicans that would hike taxes for some middle class Americans. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said he guaranteed the deduction would not be entirely scrapped in a final tax bill that emerges from dueling plans already unveiled by Republicans in the House and the Senate. Asked on “Fox News Sunday” if House Republicans would reject a bid by Senate Republicans to do away with the deduction entirely, Brady said: “That’s what I’m saying.” The deduction for state and local taxes, known as SALT, has been one of the most hotly contested issues as Republicans seek to achieve a significant overhaul of the U.S. tax code and hand President Donald Trump his first major legislative victory. It is a chief concern for a group of House Republicans who face re-election battles next year in high-tax, typically Democratic-leaning states such as California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Other sticking points include a proposal by the Senate to delay implementation of a cut in the corporate tax rate and a House plan to eliminate the estate tax on inheritances. Republicans control both the House and the Senate. Lawmakers will debate their respective plans this week before heading home for the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Republicans hope to resolve their differences in time to reach their goal of enacting the legislation by the end of the year. The Senate tax blueprint introduced on Thursday would repeal the SALT deduction entirely. The House bill would repeal it only for state and local income and sales taxes, but preserve it for property tax up to $10,000 a year. Brady said there were many similarities in the rival tax proposals. “I know that everyone’s stressing the differences - there are some - but there’s far more common ground,” he said. Both the House and Senate plans would add $1.5 trillion over 10 years to the budget deficit and national debt, an increase that has worried some fiscally conservative Republicans. Both plans also call for deep tax cuts for high-earners and businesses and would reshape how the United States taxes multinational corporations. They are both widely seen as a boon for business. Congressional Democrats have criticized the Republican plans as lopsided, favoring wealthy Americans and corporate interests. “Both the House and the Senate bills would raise taxes on millions of middle-class families, particularly in the suburbs, while providing a huge giveaway to corporations and the wealthy,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said. “Republicans should go back to the drawing board and fully restore the SALT deduction,” he said in a statement. Some analyses show that some Americans would see a tax increase under both plans. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin acknowledged that on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, although he said most middle-class families would be better off. “For most people - and, again, it may not be 100 percent, but by far the majority - both the House and Senate version provide middle-income tax relief,” he said. White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said both plans adhere to Trump’s two main objectives in overhauling the tax code: a tax cut for middle-income Americans and a deep reduction in the corporate tax rate to make U.S. businesses competitive. “That’s how we’re going to grow the economy. That’s how we’re going to pay for the tax bill,” Cohn said on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” A report by Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation estimated earlier this month that the House bill could raise taxes on as many as 38 million people who earn between $20,000 and $40,000 per year, beginning in 2023. Republican Representative Peter King has fiercely opposed the elimination of the SALT deduction, saying many in his home state of New York earning $300,000 a year were hardworking, two-income families facing a very high cost of living. “They’re not hedge fund people,” King said on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “These are hardworking people and they’re going to get screwed by this bill.” |
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| Former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic will appeal his conviction and life sentence, his legal team said on Wednesday after a U.N. war crimes tribunal found him guilty of genocide. It is certain we will file an appeal and the appeal will be successful, attorney Dragan Ivetic told journalists. |
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| 21st Century Wire says Just days before the US inauguration, in his recent interview with the Times of London President-Elect Donald Trump continues to challenge a number of Washington foreign policy sacred cows, particularly neoconservative positions. He signalled a lifting of US sanctions against Russia in the’spirit of cooperation in nuclear arms reductions and also to partner with Moscow in the fight radical Islamist Terror. Trump also laid into NATO calling it obsolete , while potentially driving a wedge between traditionally tight US-EU relations as he chastised Brussels, as well as US ally Germany and its leader Angela Merkel over her country s immigration policy. They have sanctions on Russia let’s see if we can make some good deals with Russia. For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, said Trump.Regarding a change in sanctions policy, Trump added, Something can happen that a lot of people are going to benefit. His off-handed comments on the EU will certainly upset career Mandarin europhiles in Brussels and Berlin too: You look at the European Union and it s Germany. Basically a vehicle for Germany. That s why I thought the UK was so smart in getting out. 21WIRE s Patrick Henningsen spoke to RT International about the policy signalling in Trump’s interview and what it means going forward. How long will his rhetorical rebellion will last and will it translate into policy? Watch:. READ MORE TRUMP NEWS AT: 21WIRE Trump FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV |
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| Germany is worried that U.S. President Donald Trump will decide this week that Iran is not respecting a two-year-old deal to curb its nuclear programme and fears such a step will worsen the security situation in the Middle East. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Germany was prepared to work with the United States to change Iran s behaviour in the region but we do not want to see this agreement damaged. We are looking with great concern towards the United States, Gabriel told reporters in Berlin. We urge the White House not to call into question such an important achievement that has improved our security, he said in reference to the 2015 accord reached under Trump s predecessor Barack Obama, who sought detente with Tehran. We are also offering to help influence Iran s behaviour in the region. Germany is ready to do this, but not at the price of sacrificing the nuclear deal. Trump is expected to decertify the landmark agreement between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United States and European Union despite advice from senior members of his own cabinet and U.S. partners to stick with it. If he does say Iran is not respecting the deal, the U.S. Congress would have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions that were lifted in exchange for curbs on Iran s nuclear programme. Even if Congress does not take that step, the deal could be at risk of unravelling if Washington and Tehran resort to tit-for-tat retaliatory steps. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has repeatedly certified that Iran is in compliance with the deal s terms. Gabriel called the accord a great diplomatic success , saying it had prevented Iran from developing nuclear weapons and headed off a military conflict between Iran and Israel. We are worried, based on the signals coming out of the United States, that the president will tell lawmakers that the nuclear deal with Iran is not being fulfilled, Gabriel said. This runs counter to the view of all the European countries that participated in the deal as well as the EU. Gabriel said he had made clear to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in recent conversations that Europe, due to its relative geographical proximity to Iran, would see its own security interests as damaged if the nuclear deal collapsed. He also drew attention to the signal such a step would send to North Korea. Our big concern, with regard to North Korea, is that it is very unlikely that the North Korean dictatorship would sign an international agreement in which it agrees to renounce nuclear weapons when the one agreement like this (with Iran) is being called into question, Gabriel said. |
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| The following are highlights from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s hour-long news conference in New York on Wednesday, nine days before he takes the oath of office. Trump blasted the release of an unsubstantiated intelligence report saying he had been compromised by Russia and was vulnerable to blackmail, characterizing it as “nonsense that was released by, maybe the intelligence agencies, who knows, but maybe the intelligence agencies ... It should never have been written, it should never have been released.” “It’s all fake news. It didn’t happen. It’s phony stuff. It was a group of opponents who got together, sick people, who put that out.” “I think it was disgraceful, disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out there ... That’s something that Nazi Germany would have done.” He praised some news organizations for not initially reporting on the document. “I just want to compliment many of the people in the room ... I have great respect for the news and great respect for freedom of the press.” He strongly criticized CNN for its reporting of the story, refusing to take a question from a reporter for the network, telling him, “I’m not going to give you a question. You are fake news.” “Some of the media outlets we are dealing with are fake news ... All I can ask for are honest reporters.” Asked whether he accepted that Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to help him win the election, Trump said, “If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability.” He denied having any business dealings with or in Russia. “I have no loans with Russia at all.” “As far as hacking, I think it’s Russia. But we also get hacked by other countries and other people, and I can say that.” On Putin and hacking, Trump said, “He shouldn’t be doing it. He won’t be doing it.” “Within 90 days we will be coming up with a major report on hacking defense, how do we stop this new phenomena.” “Russia will have far greater respect for our country when I’m leading it ... We’re either going to get along, or we’re not. I hope we get along, but if we don’t, that’s possible too. “But Russia and other countries, and other countries, including China, which has taken total advantage of us economically... and (taken) advantage of us in the South China Sea ... Russia, China, Japan, Mexico, all countries will respect us far more, far more, than they do under past administrations.” Asked about nominating a Supreme Court justice, Trump said, “So, as you know, I have a list of 20. I’ve gone through them ... They were outstanding in every case ... I’ll be making the decision on who we will put up for justice of the United States Supreme Court, a replacement for the great, great Justice (Antonin) Scalia. That will be probably within two weeks of the 20th (of January) ... “It will be a decision which I very strongly believe in. I think it’s one of the reasons I got elected.” “We have to get our drug industry coming back” to the United States, he said, adding that companies had been “leaving left and right.” Trump also called for new bidding procedures for U.S. drug companies, saying, “They’re getting away with murder (with drug prices) ... There’s very little bidding for drugs. “We’re the largest buyer of drugs in the world and yet we don’t bid properly. We’re going to start bidding and we’re going to start saving billions of dollars.” “I said I will be the greatest jobs producer that God ever created, and I mean that.” “You want to move your plant, and you think, as an example, you’re going to build that plant in Mexico, and you’re going to make your air conditioners or your cars, or whatever you’re making, and you’re going to sell them through what will be a very, very strong border ... Not going to happen. You’re going to pay a very large border tax.” Trump said he would not wait for negotiations with Mexico to be completed before starting to build a wall along the two countries’ border. “I could wait about a year and a half until we finish our negotiations with Mexico, which will start immediately after we get into office; but I don’t want to wait.” “We’re going to be submitting ... a plan. It’ll be repeal and replace; it will be essentially simultaneously; it will be various segments, you understand, but will most likely be on the same day or the same week.” “Obamacare is the Democrats’ problem. We are going to take the problem off the shelf for them ... we are doing the Democrats a great service.” Trump announced the nomination of Dr. David Shulkin as secretary of Veteran Affairs. Shulkin is currently under secretary for health at the VA. “We’re going to straighten out the VA for our veterans. I have been promising that for a long time ... We interviewed at least 100 people (for VA head), some good, some not so good ... Our veterans have been treated very unfairly.” |
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| North Korea’s Kim Jong Un “will be tested like never before,” U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday as the two leaders continued to trade insults and Pyongyang threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean. “Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn’t mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before,” Trump tweeted, one day after announcing additional sanctions on Pyongyang. |
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| President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would withdraw the United States from the landmark 2015 global agreement to fight climate change, drawing anger and condemnation from world leaders and heads of industry. Trump, tapping into the “America First” message he used when he was elected president last year, said the Paris accord would undermine the U.S. economy, cost U.S. jobs, weaken American national sovereignty and put the country at a permanent disadvantage to the other countries of the world. “We’re getting out,” Trump said at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden under sunny skies on a warm June day, fulfilling a major election campaign pledge. “We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us any more. And they won’t be,” Trump said. “The same nations asking us to stay in the agreement are the countries that have collectively cost America trillions of dollars through tough trade practices and in many cases lax contributions to our critical military alliance,” Trump added. Republican U.S. congressional leaders backed Trump. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell applauded Trump “for dealing yet another significant blow to the Obama administration’s assault on domestic energy production and jobs.” Supporters of the accord, including some leading U.S. business figures, called Trump’s move a blow to international efforts to tackle dangers for the planet posed by global warming. Former Democratic President Barack Obama expressed regret over the pullout from a deal he was instrumental in brokering. “But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I’m confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we’ve got,” Obama added. Trump, who has called climate change a hoax, said his administration would begin negotiations either to re-enter the Paris accord or to have a new agreement “on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its taxpayers.” He complained in particular about China’s terms under the agreement. International leaders reacted with disappointment, even anger. “The decision made by U.S. President Trump amounts to turning their backs on the wisdom of humanity. I’m very disappointed... I am angry,” Japanese Environment Minister Koichi Yamamoto told a news conference on Friday in an unusually frank tone. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said in a rare joint statement the agreement could not be renegotiated and urged their allies to hasten efforts to combat climate change and adapt. “While the U.S. decision is disheartening, we remain inspired by the growing momentum around the world to combat climate change and transition to clean growth economies,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. A summit between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and top European Union officials in Brussels on Friday will end with a joint statement - the first ever issued by China and the EU - committing both sides to full implementation of the Paris accord. Speaking in Berlin a day earlier, Premier Li said China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, would stick to its commitment to fight climate change. Russia also voiced abiding support for the Paris accord, regardless of the U.S. withdrawal. “We made the decision to join, and I don’t think we will (change) it,” Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich was quoted as saying by RIA news agency. In India, one of the world’s fastest growing major economies and a growing contributor to pollution, a top advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi vouched for intentions to switch to renewable power generation independent of the Paris accord. “The prime minister is very keen on this,” Arvind Panagariya said. With Trump’s action, the United States will walk away from nearly every other nation in the world on one of the pressing global issues of the 21st century. Syria and Nicaragua are the only other non-participants in the accord, signed by 195 nations in Paris in 2015. Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who is the incoming head of the U.N. Climate Change Conferences, which formalized the 2015 pact, said Trump’s decision was “deeply disappointing”. Fiji, like many other small island nations, is seen as particularly vulnerable to global warming and a possible rise in ocean levels as a result of melting polar ice. U.S. business leaders voiced exasperation with the Trump administration. “Today’s decision is a setback for the environment and for the U.S.’s leadership position in the world,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein wrote on Twitter. Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk and Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger said they would leave White House advisory councils after Trump’s move. Under the Paris accord, which took years to reach, rich and poor countries committed to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases generated by burning fossil fuels that are blamed by scientists for warming the planet. (GRAPHIC - The 2015 Paris Agreement to limit climate change: tmsnrt.rs/2f3oKDV) “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” Trump said. Pittsburgh’s mayor, Democrat Bill Peduto, shot back on Twitter that his city, long the heart of the U.S. steel industry, actually embraced the Paris accord. The spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the action a “major disappointment.” The U.N. body that handles climate negotiations said the accord could not be renegotiated based on the request of a single nation. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, speaking in Singapore on Friday, also called the U.S. decision “disappointing... but not at all surprising,” adding that Australia remained “committed to our Paris commitments.” South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement “it is regrettable that the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accord will undermine international responsibility and efforts to respond to climate change.” Trump said the United States would stop payments to the U.N. Green Climate Fund, in which rich countries committed billions of dollars to help developing nations deal with floods, droughts and other impacts from climate change. The White House said it would stick to U.N. rules for withdrawing from the pact. Those rules require a nation to wait three years from the date the pact gained legal force, Nov. 4, 2016, before formally seeking to leave. That country must then wait another year. Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed disappointment and said in an email to employees that he had spoken with Trump on Tuesday to try to persuade him to stay in the Paris accord. “It wasn’t enough,” he said. Other business leaders warned that the U.S. economy would give away technological leadership. General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt said he was disappointed, adding: “Climate change is real. Industry must now lead and not depend on government.” Democrats also blasted Trump. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the decision “one of the worst policy moves made in the 21st century because of the huge damage to our economy, our environment and our geopolitical standing.” The United States had committed to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. The United States accounts for more than 15 percent of total worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, second only to China. Leading climate scientists say greenhouse gas emissions trap heat in the atmosphere and have caused a warming planet, sea level rise, droughts and more frequent violent storms. A “Global Trends” report prepared by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence’s office, released on Jan. 9, warned that climate change posed security risks because of extreme weather, stress on water and food, and global tensions over how to manage the changes. Last year was the warmest since records began in the 19th Century, as global average temperatures continued a rise dating back decades that scientists attribute to greenhouse gases. Frank Rijsberman, Director-General of Seoul based Global Green Growth Institute expected international funding for investment needed to fight climate change would suffer, noting a $1 billion reduction in U.S. funding the Green Climate Fund in South Korea. Economists said the U.S. withdrawal would potentially cost U.S. jobs. China and the EU both already employ more workers in the renewable energy sector than the United States, according to the data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena). “Winding back the climate agenda means that the U.S. will be left behind in the clean energy transition as other global players, such as in Europe and China, demonstrate greater commitment to deploying low carbon and job-creating solutions to climate change,” said Peter Kiernan, of the Economist Intelligence Unit. |
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| Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is taking a low key approach to dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump, seeking to avoid clashes while indirectly signaling the two leaders’ differences to a domestic audience. Insiders acknowledge the cautious strategy could anger progressives whose support helped bring Trudeau to power in 2015 but say for now, he has no choice but to hold fire: Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States and could suffer if it is targeted by Trump. “Why poke a grizzly bear while it’s having lunch? Trump has just got into office and he is formulating his economic plans,” said one senior political source. While Trudeau’s close friendship with former President Barack Obama was often referred to as a “bromance” and “dude-plomacy,” Canadian prime ministers have not always had close ties with U.S. presidents. Still, few in Ottawa have experienced anything like Trump, insiders said. “He is totally unpredictable,” said another government source. Although Canada regards the United States as its closest ally, Trudeau has yet to visit Washington to see Trump. A visit tentatively scheduled this week was canceled after a shooter killed six Muslims in a Quebec mosque and no new date has been set, said two people familiar with the matter. Michael Kergin, a former Canadian ambassador to Washington, said Trudeau’s caution was wise. “He’s been playing it pretty well by restraining the temptation to be publicly critical of the president. At the same time, it’s a delicate balance,” said Kergin, now a senior adviser at law firm Bennett Jones. Trudeau was also right not to follow British Prime Minister Theresa May in rushing to Washington to “gin up a special relationship,” only to watch Trump make an unpopular move on immigration after she left, Kergin said. Trump labeled a refugee swap deal with Australia “dumb” on Thursday after a telephone call with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that the Washington Post reported was acrimonious. Turnbull kept any sparring behind closed doors. Trudeau, however, has taken indirect shots. When Trump signed orders banning people from seven Muslim-majority states, Trudeau tweeted that Canada was open to those fleeing war. His chief spokeswoman blasted U.S. network Fox News on Tuesday for a tweet falsely claiming the Quebec gunman was of Moroccan origin. But she said nothing publicly when Trump’s spokesman said the attack on Muslims showed why it was important to suspend immigration from Muslim nations. This approach infuriates the opposition New Democrats, who have called on Trudeau to denounce Trump’s “racist” immigration policy. Trudeau team members acknowledge that over time, Liberals could lose support before a 2019 election if the prime minister is deemed not to be standing up for Canadian values such as inclusiveness. “That is a risk, but we’ll address it closer to the time,” said the first Ottawa insider. Surveys show the Liberals have a healthy, but narrowing, advantage over their nearest rivals. Pollster Nik Nanos of Nanos Research said it was too early for Trudeau to be aggressive. “He has to avoid making any kind of criticism. Trump has a very thin skin and he’s quick to lash out,” he said. |
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| If you live in Wisconsin and want your working neighbors to fund your existence, you may need to start peeing in a cup to prove your dependency on the government isn’t related to your dependency on drugs. The governor of Wisconsin is a love em or hate em kind of leader. Conservatives love him for making public sector unions pay more of their own benefits, liberals hate him for daring to stand up to the powerful, organized mega-donors of the Democrat Party. Governor Walker is about to shake things up again in the blue state of Wisconsin, and liberals are not gonna be happy Gov. Scott Walker is moving forward with an effort to drug test some food stamp recipients, with testing expected to begin in as little as a year absent action from lawmakers or the federal government.Wisconsin s Republican governor has submitted a plan to state lawmakers for drug testing able-bodied recipients of the’state s Food Share program. If the’state Legislature doesn’t object within 120 days, the plan will go into effect, though it will take at least a year for actual testing to begin.The program won’t necessarily have a massive effect, however. The Walker administration estimated in October that only about 220 food stamp recipients statewide or just 0.3% of able-bodied adults would test positive in the first year. Employers have jobs available, but they need skilled workers who can pass a drug test, Walker said in a statement. This rule change means people battling substance use disorders will be able to get the help they need to get healthy and get back into the workforce. A year ago, Walker had asked then President-elect Donald Trump and his incoming administration to clear the way for the change in the food stamp program, which is overseen by the’state but largely funded by federal taxpayers. So far that hasn’t happened but a Walker spokesman said Monday that the governor believes the’state can proceed without any federal action. Our position is we have the authority to implement the rule, spokesman Tom Evenson said.The now-departed appointees of President Barack Obama didn’t see it that way. In January 2017, right before Trump took over the White House, the former U.S. official in charge of the replacement program to food stamps said such testing would require a change in federal law. The law clearly does not allow it, said Kevin Concannon, undersecretary at the federal Food and Nutrition Service within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Walker s office forwarded that request to us and it was very clear, we consulted the legal counsels here and the law absolutely does not allow it. The Trump administration, however, may not see the issue in the’same light. Journal Sentinel |
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| Inside the packed exhibition hall in central Beijing is a showcase of China s recent achievements: the country s first operational aircraft carrier; a gleaming fleet of high-speed trains; happy villagers lifted from poverty. While the display officially celebrates the accomplishments of the Chinese people over the past five years, it is made clear that President Xi Jinping is the man to thank. To enter the exhibition, staged by the Communist Party s propaganda department, visitors pass through a circular antechamber with red walls emblazoned with slogans inspired by Xi s concepts on governance. Hundreds of images of Xi adorn the walls in each of the exhibition s ten halls: in combat fatigues surveying the troops, holding court with foreign dignitaries, even showing his softer side by petting a baby elephant. By contrast, photographs of other party leaders are much smaller and displayed in less prominent spots. Even a dinner receipt for 160 yuan ($24.25) bearing Xi s name is on display, reflecting his frugality. Alongside radio shows and documentaries lauding Xi s achievements on state television, the exhibition is part of a propaganda push to bolster the stature of China s leader ahead of a key Communist Party Congress on Oct 18. At the conclave, which takes place every five years, Xi is expected to further cement his status as the country s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. Although it is typical for the party to sell its key achievements ahead of major events, the propaganda effort is the most effusive for a Chinese leader in years. Xi is being lionized as the one responsible for China s recent successes, including an unswerving anti-corruption campaign, a buoyant economy and growing stature on the world stage. The effort appears designed to justify Xi s expanded powers, said Willy Lam, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In recent years, Xi has stamped his personal leadership on reforms to the military, economy and cyberspace. The Communist Party is trying to show that only a strongman can marshal the forces and pull off these near-miraculous achievements which he is supposed to have achieved in the past five years, Lam said. The State Council Information Office, which also acts as the party spokesman s office, did not respond to request for comment. Chinese leaders do not make explicit appeals to the public for support, as, in theory, the Party confers the power of the people onto the leadership. In reality, the images of top leaders are carefully cultivated by the Party s propaganda arm. An avuncular image of Xi during his early years in office, which led to a folksy nickname - Xi Dada , or Uncle Xi - and syrupy songs about his looks, was stamped out in early 2016 to avoid creating a cult of personality. Kitschy souvenirs, like mugs and plates with images of Xi and his wife, the famous singer Peng Liyuan, have become harder to find. Censorship of images that mock Xi, including an internet meme that plays on his supposed likeness to Winnie the Pooh, the cartoon character, has also tightened in recent months. Still, personal touches have not completely disappeared from Xi s carefully crafted public image. On Sept 1, the 30-year anniversary of Xi and Peng s marriage, a WeChat account posted an article of old photos and personal details about the couple. A source with direct knowledge of the matter said the account was run by an official reporter who travels with Peng whenever she accompanies Xi overseas and is designed to share select details of the first couple s life together. For the most part, the latest wave of propaganda casts Xi as all business, focusing on his dedication, his aptitude and his personal role in guiding China into a new stage of development. One documentary on state television applauded Xi s prowess on the global stage. Foreign Minister Wang Yi published an essay in an official newspaper saying his contributions to diplomacy had transcended 300 years of western theory on foreign affairs. A popular section of the Beijing exhibition is devoted to Xi s pledge to transform China s military into a world-class fighting force, including a display of model missile launchers, battleships and the Liaoning aircraft carrier, all under a giant red flag. It s inspiring, said one visitor, a retired automation engineer who only wanted to be identified by his surname, Ma. The speed of China s development has been very quick, and the ordinary people have benefited. A book on Xi, a 452-page collection of interviews of his years in rural Shaanxi province during the Cultural Revolution, has also been heavily promoted in recent months. Some of the anecdotes are reminiscent of Party mythology about heroes who selflessly work for others - such as Lei Feng, an idealized soldier of the Mao Zedong era who was upheld as a model citizen after his death. In the book, villagers who knew him say Xi showed signs of greatness even then, describing in one anecdote how he led villagers to dig a well so they had access to drinking water. It was icy cold to the bone but Jinping was down the well, his legs deep in the mud, one villager, Liang Yuming, said. He d work for a long time, until he really couldn t take it any more. |
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| Talk about a flawed strategy! Obama is doing everything he can not to bomb these terrorists so they’re growing and rowing..They have propaganda centers in Iraq, Syria and Libya! Yes, Obama wants to study them a little more how crazy is that? In a secret project tied to the overall U.S. campaign against the Islamic State, intelligence officials have spent months mapping out known physical locations of media safe houses where the extremist group s operatives are compiling, editing and curating raw video and print materials into finished digital propaganda products for dissemination across the Internet.Most of the locations are embedded in heavily residential areas in Syria, Iraq and Libya and are not being targeted by U.S. airstrikes because of Obama administration concerns about civilian casualties.The White House also has been pressing the intelligence community to continue studying the facilities for a deeper understanding of how the Islamic State and its media enterprises operate, the’sources said.While the White House, CIA and Pentagon declined to comment on the clandestine mapping project, its existence was revealed amid mounting debate over whether the administration s strategy is robust enough for countering the professionalized blitz of digital propaganda that the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS and ISIL, is using to recruit fighters and radicalize supporters around the world.The administration is engaged publicly in a dual-track approach that involves an interagency push to spread carefully crafted messaging online and through local partners in various corners of the world to counter the Islamic State, while ramping up pressure on American social media companies to block extremist content and links from their online platforms.But critics, including a growing number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill and some current and former officials directly involved in the project, say the administration s effort is badly mismanaged and underfunded, allowing the Islamic State to maintain a physical footprint of media production houses upon which creation of the terrorist group s most influential products depends.The propaganda operation s vastness and sophistication are considered unprecedented in Islamic terrorism. Although its penetration across the Internet relies on a seemingly endless spray of links posted by the Islamic State on social media sites, it is the core media products that such links lead back to that analysts describe as most worrisome.Twelve issues of the group s official propaganda magazine Dabiq are now online in several languages, including Arabic, English, Russian, French and Turkish. The’shiny content, organizational integrity and layout are more thorough and professional than those of many American newsmagazines.More striking for the visually driven young audience are the dozens of highly curated recruiting videos that Islamic State operatives have produced using elaborate graphic animations, special effects, live-action speed edits and Hollywood-quality voice-overs.Videos that have emerged in recent months are clearly bent on reaching an international audience way beyond the borders of the group s self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq. The first Chinese-language Islamic State video appeared online last week, replete with a theme song calling on Muslims to wake up from a century of humiliation.The most recent English-language video circulated roughly a month ago. Not only did it go to staggering lengths to mock the U.S. military s failure to contain’the Islamic State, but a sober-voiced narrator also went so far as to taunt America over the’sensitive issue of suicide rates among U.S. soldiers and veterans. You claim to have the greatest army history has known. You may have the numbers and weapons, but your soldiers lack good will and resolve, the deep voice says in unaccented English. Still scared from their defeats in Afghanistan and Iraq, they’return dead or suicidal, with over 6,500 of them killing themselves each year. So while you go around cooking the facts on the results of your military airstrikes, we continue to haunt the minds of your soldiers and sew fear into their hearts. Animation-enhanced blood bursts and sprays across a white background in the video as gunshots ring out a macabre display apparently designed to depict the’suicides of American service members.What is unclear is specifically where the video was edited. Intelligence officials say the final cut could have been produced and uploaded to an Internet host site by Islamic State admirers anywhere in the world. There are a number of ISIL supporters online that help disseminate propaganda or craft their own, said one U.S. intelligence official, who spoke anonymously with The Times.Read more: WT |
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| The wife of a cyberbully spoke today about what she would take on as First Lady if her husband is elected. Melania Trump wants to take on Internet bullies because our culture has gotten too mean and too rough, she’said. We must treat each other with respect and kindness, even when we disagree, she added.It was as if Mrs. Trump has never seen Mr. Trump’s Twitter timeline or heard his disparaging remarks about women, Mexicans, Muslims, blacks, people with disabilities and prisoners of war.On Twitter, the racist Alt-Right movement which backs Trump has coordinated to bully people off of the’social site. Anyone who is active on that site, especially females, knows this is true.A CNN panel reacted to Melania s big speech today in disbelief. The irony in Mrs. Trump’s speech was as thick as her husband s head.Brooke Baldwin noted that Donald Trump has attacked a lot of people and just not on Twitter. He has disparaged Heidi Cruz s appearance.Dana Bash said, Actually hearing the words out of her mouth, all I kept thinking was Have you met Donald Trump? Maybe you should talk to your husband, Bash said, about the example that he has set on this issue. Watch:We remember when Donald mocked a reporter s physical disability. When he mocked Sen. John McCain for being a prisoner of war while in captivity for 5 years in North Vietnam. McCain s captors slammed a rifle butt into his right shoulder and after being moved to a camp, he was tortured.By the way, Donald Trump received multiple deferments to avoid the Vietnam War. As a bit of irony, McCain supports Trump’s bid for the White House. It s almost as if he’s in captivity again.So does Ted Cruz, who lost his spine and conscience recently. After insulting Ted Cruz s wife, the Texas Senator also joined Team Trump.Hey guys, we know you’ve met Donald Trump. And so has Melania. What we’re saying here is that Melania is so full of shit, we’re going to have to put a toilet flush on her jaw.Image via screen capture. |
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| Iran said on Saturday that the resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri would create tension in Lebanon and the region. Hariri accused Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of sowing strife in the Arab world in his resignation statement earlier on Saturday. The resigning Lebanese prime minister s repetition of the unrealistic and unfounded accusations of the Zionists, Saudis and Americans against Iran is an indication that this resignation is a new scenario for creating tension in Lebanon and the region, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said in a statement published on the ministry website. But we believe that the resistant people of Lebanon will pass this stage easily. Hariri s resignation comes only a day after he met Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in Beirut. The sudden resignation of Mr. Hariri and his statement in another country is not only surprising and regrettable but is also an indication of his playing a game designed by those who want ill for the region, and the winner of this game is not Arabic or Muslim countries but the Zionists, Qassemi said. |
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| It s a sad day in America when we allow the left to destroy American history The mayor of New Orleans wanted treasured cultural monuments removed and he got what he wished for at the expense of the citizens of the city: We will no longer allow the Confederacy to literally be put on a pedestal in the heart of our city. New Orleans Mayor Mitch LandrieuThe City of New Orleans removed the first of four Confederate monuments this morning in an effort to appease those who believe the monuments represent racism or pretty much anything else they object to. By erasing our past, do we change anything?Some on Twitter are saying: New Orleans starts taking down Confederate statues, like ISIS did in the Middle East removing the history of our lives. It s not that we can compare religious persecution to a cleansing of history but it does have some similarities.Emotions are running high because this involves a time in our history that brother fought brother and died Should we forget the’struggle and refuse to honor those who fought and died? Isn t it true that we should always remember history and learn from it?We should also honor the’soldiers who fought and died No matter what!A LETTER FROM A PATRIOT WHO MAKES THE CASE FOR KEEPING THE MONUMENTS:By William McMichaelAny Longhorn will proudly declare that The University of Texas is more than an academic institution. The University is a beacon a promise that Texas will continue to produce citizens who care about its future. However, the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue from the Main Mall demonstrates that the university values its current students more than it does its future ones.I believe that society does well to relegate the memory of the Confederacy to museums. Its legacy haunts the United States in ways that many will never understand. Recent events demonstrate that our nation may never fully heal from the wounds that the Civil War inflicted. However, removing a statue does not equate to progress particularly when other symbols of Confederacy continue to stand on the South Mall.In fact, the crowd of students and professors that gathered to witness the’statute s removal serves as clear evidence that the University worries more about public appearances than it does encouraging future generations to remember the achievements of the past. Much like the university, the Main Mall serves as more than a beautiful area of the campus. The university commissioned the mall as a memorial to the reconciliation of the North and South. Less than 50 years after the end of the Civil War, sons of Union and Confederate soldiers fought together on the fields of France during World War I. Their parents had taught them to hate each other, yet they persevered together to defeat a common enemy.The South Mall s designers arranged the’statues in such a way that the’sun set on the faces of the Confederacy, a sign that the era of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Albert Sidney Johnston would no longer govern Texas. However, the’sun rises on the faces of men who stood as symbols of Texas hope for a progressive future: President Woodrow Wilson, Gov. Jim Hogg, and Senator John Reagan a former Confederate sympathizer who encouraged Texas to rejoin the Union.The’statues look center toward a statute of George Washington, the preeminent founder who warned of the dangers of national division. The Littlefield Fountain bears a Latin inscription that translates to read: Short is the life given, but the memory of a life nobly surrendered is everything. Ultimately, the South Mall reminds viewers not to honor the errors of the past, but rather that Texas can’triumph in spite of its past. Yet rather than explain’the Main Mall s history and purpose to the public, the University allowed errant voices to rule the day. As a result, future generations will likely forget the Main Mall s importance altogether. The moral of the’story will be no more.Longhorns, do not continue wasting time by fretting over appearances. Fight for worthwhile causes, and remember your history. It will make you better, and thereby prompt you to change the world.McMichael lives in Waco. He graduated with his bachelor s degree from the University of Texas in 2014. |
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| A JV team threat Shaken by a daring U.S. military strike deep in ISIS territory, supporters of the extremist organization were vowing revenge for the killing of senior leader Abu Sayyaf or claiming the’special operations mission never took place, a Vocativ analysis reveals. If they took Abu Sayyaf, we will take Obama, one ISIS supporter posted in the hours after the raid near the eastern Syrian city of al-Amr.Translation: If your goal is killing Abu Sayyaf then our goal is killing Obama and the worshipers of the cross. We have attacks coming against you.Elite American commandos carried out the rare, overnight military operation, killing Sayyaf, capturing his wife, and freeing a Yezidi woman believed to have been held as their slave, the Pentagon said Saturday. Defense Secretary Ash Carter heralded the mission as a significant blow to the Islamic State.Vocativ analyzed social media across Syria in the wake of the’strike and discovered some ISIS supporters claimed the news was U.S. propaganda timed to counter ISIS momentum after taking most of the Iraqi city of Ramadi this week. Others tweeted from outside the Syrian city of Raqqa vowing revenge for the’strike, saying they heard explosions and helicopters.Carter said Sayyaf was responsible for directing many of the group s military activities and funding, directing its illicit oil, gas, and financial operation. No U.S. forces were killed or injured during the operation, which represented another significant blow to the group, Carter said. And it is a reminder that the United States will never waver in denying safe haven’to terrorists who threaten our citizens, and those of our friends and allies, he continued in the’statement.The mission included the arrest of Sayyaf s wife, Umm Sayyaf, and the freeing of the Yezidi woman. The trading of Yezidi women has been a major inducement and reward for ISIS fighters in the past. The Yezidis follow a strand of Islam that is rejected by mainstream Muslims as heretical. ISIS last year surrounded the Yezidis villages in northern Iraq, killing and capturing dozens, and taking many of the girls and women as slaves. U.S. forces captured Umm Sayyaf, who we suspect is a member of ISIS, played an important role in ISIS s terrorist activities, and may have been complicit in what appears to have been the enslavement of a young Yezidi woman rescued last night, Carter said. The White House said in a statement that Umm Sayyaf had been moved to a U.S. military detention facility in Iraq. The Yezidi woman would be freed. We intend to reunite her with her family as soon as feasible, Bernadette Meehan, the National Security Council spokeswoman, said in a statement.The operation was coordinated with Iraqi officials, but the U.S. government did not coordinate with the Syrian regime, nor did we advise them in advance of this operation, Ms. Meehan said.According to reports, a team of the Army s Delta Force troops traveled in Black Hawk helicopters and Osprey aircraft into al-Amr in eastern Syria. The Washington Post quoted an unnamed defense official who said a firefight broke out after the troops touched down near a building where Abu Sayyaf was believed to be, and that ISIS fighters tried to use women and children as human shields. It was a real fight, the official told the Post, saying there was hand-to-hand fighting and about a dozen militants were killed. He told the Post that troops collected items that might prove useful intelligence.Via: Vocativ.com |
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| President Donald Trump s call for Congress to toughen the Iran nuclear deal faced opposition on Friday from among the ranks of his fellow Republicans as well as from Democrats, narrowing the chances any legislation could pass. As Trump announced that he had chosen not to certify Tehran is complying with the deal but would not immediately withdraw from it, Republican Senators Bob Corker and Tom Cotton offered an outline of legislation they said would address flaws in the accord. If passed, the measure would set stricter restrictions on Iran and immediately revive U.S. sanctions imposed over Iran s nuclear program if Tehran is deemed able to produce a nuclear weapon within a year. We have provided a route to overcome deficiencies (in the agreement) and to keep the administration in the deal, and actually make it the kind of deal that it should have been in the first place, Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on a call with journalists. Republicans control Congress, but their four-seat edge in the Senate means any measure would need Democratic support to pass, even if every member of Trump s party supports it. That is not a given. Republican Senator Marco Rubio said he had serious doubts about the Corker-Cotton plan. He said he would reserve judgment until the final measure, but preferred that Trump abandon the deal. Ultimately, leaving the nuclear deal, reimposing suspended sanctions, and having the president impose additional sanctions would serve our national interest better than a decertified deal that leaves sanctions suspended or a new law that leaves major flaws in that agreement in place, Rubio said in a statement. Most Democrats were strongly opposed. Senator Ben Cardin, ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations panel, said he would only support a measure backed by European allies who had signed the nuclear pact, formally known as the JCPOA. Anything we do must be consistent with the JCPOA, cannot lead us on a path to violate the JCPOA and must have the support of our European allies, he told Reuters in a telephone interview. Cardin said he wanted a full-Senate briefing on the plan from administration officials, and then committee hearings. Corker acknowledged the tough fight ahead, but said he hoped to win over Democrats. He pledged to seek the support of European allies Britain, France and Germany, who had signed the agreement and urged Trump not to decertify. |
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| Real journalism ended a long time ago, but this is a new low even for leftist Barbara Walters. Just embarrassing He was named People s Sexiest Man Alive back in 2011. And Bradley Cooper proved just why he had that honour as women of all different ages desire him.The 40-year-old actor may have received a bit more attention than he was expecting from Barbara Walters recently during her 10 Most Fascinating People of 2015 special.Bradley seemed to be the apple of the 86-year-old journalist s eye, as according to People, she told him during the interview: I could just sit and stare at you but that would take too much time. But I, I find you’very screwable. After making the’surprising admission, the television host commented on his looks as she’said: I think you’re handsome, I think you’re sexy. The Silver Linings Playbook star definitely seemed to be bashful as he was grateful for the compliments and says: I think that I ve grown to stop thinking about it. But sometimes I feel better than others. Yeah, I think it has a lot to do with feeling comfortable with yourself. Bradley definitely seems to be very comfortable in his own skin as he added: And I know that I m more comfortable with myself than I ve ever been in my life, so maybe that makes me more attractive. Via: UK Daily Mail |
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| A federal judge on Thursday postponed until April the sentencing date for Dennis Hastert, convicted last year of a financial crime, because the former U.S. House speaker was still recovering from a stroke and life-threatening infection. Hastert pleaded guilty in October to a federal charge of “structuring” - evading bank reporting rules by withdrawing large amounts of cash in smaller increments - in a hush-money case stemming from allegations of sexual misconduct. The 74-year-old, once one of the country’s most powerful politicians, went to the hospital in early November after a fall, his attorney, John Gallo, told U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin. Hastert was treated for a spinal infection requiring surgery, a severe blood infection and suffered a stroke, nearly dying, Gallo said. Durkin reset Hastert’s sentencing for April 8, from Feb. 29. Hastert currently requires 24-hour care. He is able to feed himself and is articulate, but a doctor has said he should not leave his home except to go to the hospital. Gallo said Hastert can still help prepare for his sentencing, and his doctors would know better about his prognosis in a month. Hastert faces up to five years in prison but prosecutors have recommended a sentence of six months or less, in exchange for his guilty plea. Hastert admitted to paying $1.7 million in cash to an individual he had known for decades to buy that person’s silence and compensate for past misconduct toward that individual. Prosecutors did not spell out the misconduct, but unnamed law enforcement officials have told media that it was sexual and involved someone Hastert knew when he was a high school teacher and coach in his hometown of Yorkville, Illinois, in the 1960s and 1970s. |
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| KILLED: Rancher and protest spokesman Robert Lavoy Finicum (Image Source: RT International)21st Century Wire says New eye witness testimony indicates that the FBI and other federal agencies were never fired upon, but have shot and killed leading protester, Robert Lavoy Finicum, and wounding one other in a elaborate operation that took place along a rural highway near Burns, Oregon.For 26 days since the protest and occupation began at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge outside of Burns, Oregon there were no one was hurt and there were no injuries. That all changed early Tuesday evening when the FBI and Oregon State Police raised the ante, bringing the 4 week standoff to a dramatic ending.As detailed in yesterday s report, according to 18 yr old passenger and eyewitness, Victoria Sharp, dozens of federal vehicles and armed agents had set-up a pre-positioned roadblocks along an isolated stretch of rural Highway 395 before intercepting two vehicles and firing upon one of them, killing rancher and protest spokesman, Robert Lavoy Finicum, from Chino Valley, Arizona, and wounding Ryan Bundy of Bunkerville, Nevada.A total of 8 persons were detained, 5 of whom were charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers and are waiting arraignment.21WIRE journalist Patrick Henningsen weighs in on the’situation in Oregon and discusses its implications with news anchor Rory Suchet from RT International. Watch: UPDATE 1-28-2016 at 11:30PM ET: Due to public pressure and intense speculation about the events of Tuesday evening, and because of the YouTube recording of 18 yr old eye witness Victoria Sharp, the FBI has released the unedited aerial video footage from Tuesday evening s incident which took place along Highway 395 here. According to the official FBI statement: We feel that it is necessary to show the whole thing unedited in the interest of transparency. The FBI video entitled, Complete, Unedited Video of Joint FBI and OSP Operation 01/26/2016 , does show the victim Lavoy Finicum exiting the truck awkwardly in at least two feet of snow, and he clearly does not charge towards the SWAT team, and his hands are clearly held high above his head as he exits his truck when confronted by a SWAT team, before being shot multiple times by marksmen and falling in the’snow. Also, the’scale and size of this operation is very evident by the footage, and the apprehension of the protesters was not the result of a mere traffic stop as it was wrongly characterized in multiple mainstream media reports. On its own, this FBI drone footage would appear to support previous government and media claims by CNN, Washington Post and others that the victim was indeed reaching towards his waistband which gave federal and state police justification to unleash deadly force. However, it is still not completely clear from this aerial footage whether or not Finicum was holstered (he is said to normally carry a gun on the right hip, but FBI are claiming he had a 9mm gun in his inside left breast pocket), but also whether or not he lowered his arms before, or after he was shot multiple times. For example, if Finicum had his hands in the air and was then was shot in the abdomen first, then any man s natural reaction would be to then lower his hand(s) and clutch the wound. Additionally, if any shots were fired, even in the vicinity, then confusion could have ensued which might have prompted Finicum to reach for his weapon. Either way, it is impossible to make any such a forensic determination without a corresponding audio track which would help to determine if any shots were fired before Finicum s hand(s) could be seen lowering.WARNING: The following images depict violence and death which some readers may find disturbing. Watch: SEE MORE OREGON STANDOFF NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Oregon Standoff Files |
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| Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is scheduled to return to the campaign trail on Friday after taking a few days off to recuperate from pneumonia, MSNBC reported on Tuesday. The network, citing what it said was a release from Clinton’s campaign, said she was scheduled to appear at a “Black Women’s Agenda” event in Washington, although it said if she were not feeling well that plan could change. |
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| Conservatives have set up a fascist professor watchlist website in order to target professors they feel aren’t conservative enough. As professors are teachers, and reality has a liberal bias, it s likely to get pretty extensive.The project, by Turning Point USA, was set up by 22-year-old conservative wonderboy Charlie Kirk, a young man who is clearly frustrated by the lack of reception among his peers for his fascist and anti-American ideals. The about us section on their website reads, The mission of Professor Watchlist is to expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom. Help us identify, and expose more professors who have demonstrated liberal bias in the classroom. Donate today! It s interesting that a group whose favorite slogan is big government sucks! doesn’t understand how supporting the new administration s war on speech is the most intrusive government ever gets. It s important to remember that when a Republican says something bad about big government, they almost always want to replace it with a rich guy or corporation making the’same decisions for you. They don’t care about the public good, only private profit.It s notable that, as a 501(c)3, the purpose of the group should be religious, educational, literary, charitable, or scientific in nature. There are a couple of other qualifications as well, but the important thing to take away here is that an organization concentrated on smearing individuals for speech they believe is political in nature probably doesn’t qualify, and any good citizen should file a complaint with the IRS. They re abusing the tax code to avoid revealing donors. If they endorse a candidate or could be construed as campaigning, their tax-exempt status will go out the window. This is only a step away. The rest of Turning Point s activities are not any more charitable or less political.Politics isn’t enough for Republicans. They can’t win the vote or argue policy they have to gerrymander districts and cheat to win. They can’t keep religion in the churches they need everyone to believe the’same way they’do. They can’t stomach free speech they have to make war on the press, try to silence opposition, and shut down debate on college campuses.BBC reports:Nearly 150 professors are listed on the website. The list is searchable by school or name and includes pictures of the university teachers and descriptions of their alleged transgressions, backed up by links to conservative news sites. Almost all the instances on the website are people who not only oppose what we believe in but are very biased against it and don’t present the other side, says Matt Lamb, director of constitutional enforcement and transparency at Turning Point. We just want students, parents, alumni to know what s going on. So if an alumni is thinking of donating to a school they may want to know where their money is going, if they believe or agree or disagree with the professor s views. So far, it looks like students and professors are fighting back. Names like Jesus and Indiana Jones have been added, with appropriate descriptions of their liberal propaganda and agenda, and the hashtag #trollprofwatchlist trended a few days ago with people posting their troll submissions to the website. The more that are added, the more confusing and difficult the job of identifying disagreeing professors will be for the fascists.However, while silliness and trolling may temporarily undermine the usefulness of the’site, the underlying danger presented cannot be ignored or denied. This is an age where Republicans have their own media, their own version of the world, and in many ways, their own truth (objectivity be damned!). This is an age where fake news lists are passed around based on a partisan slant (those of us on the left generally understand when something is fact or opinion the other side, not so much). This is an age where lists of professors that have ideological disagreements with the authoritarian right wing get their names published online.With Trump’s rhetoric, this becomes especially problematic. There is the potential that such a list could be used not only to deny alumni donations from a school, but actually used by the more rabid of Fuhrer Trump’s followers to target these men and women. Conservatives believe this is a culture war, and they ll do anything to win.Featured image via screen capture |
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| Twitter Inc on Thursday accused Russian media outlets Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik of interfering in the 2016 U.S. election and banned them from buying ads on its network, after criticism the social network had not done enough to deter international meddling. RT and Sputnik condemned the decision, saying Twitter had encouraged ad spending with its sales tactics, while Russia’s foreign ministry said the ban was due to U.S. government pressure and that it planned to retaliate. San Francisco-based Twitter said in an unsigned statement on its website that election meddling is “not something we want” on the social network. It cited a report this year from U.S. intelligence agencies and said it had also done its own investigations of RT and Sputnik. “We did not come to this decision lightly, and are taking this step now as part of our ongoing commitment to help protect the integrity of the user experience on Twitter,” the company said. Twitter, Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google have all recently detected that suspected Russian operatives used their platforms last year to purchase ads and post content that was politically divisive. Russia has denied interfering in the election. Twitter said it would take the estimated $1.9 million it had earned from RT global advertising since 2011 and donate the money “to support external research into the use of Twitter in civic engagement and elections.” The company said it would allow RT and Sputnik to maintain regular, non-ad Twitter accounts in accordance with its rules. RT, an English-language news channel, accused Twitter’s sales staff of pressuring it to spend big on advertising in 2016 ahead of the election. “The more money RT spent, the bigger the reach to American voters that Twitter would provide,” RT said, describing the Twitter sales pitch. It said it never “pursued an agenda of influencing the U.S. election through any platforms, including Twitter.” Twitter declined to comment on any discussions with advertisers. A former Twitter employee said the sales pitch to RT is similar to what the company uses to lure advertisers to Twitter, which has struggled to turn a profit. On Thursday, Twitter said it may become profitable for the first time next quarter after slashing expenses and ramping up deals to sell its data to other companies, which could help to break its reliance on advertising for revenue. Facebook and Google did not immediately respond to questions about whether they would limit Russia media ad spending. In April, Reuters reported that RT and Sputnik were part of a plan by Russian President Vladimir Putin to swing the U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump and undermine voters’ faith in the American electoral system, according to three current and four former U.S. officials. On Oct. 19, U.S. lawmakers, alarmed that foreign entities used the internet to influence last year’s election, introduced legislation to extend rules governing political advertising on broadcast television, radio and satellite to also cover social media. General counsels for Twitter, Facebook and Google will testify on Nov. 1 before public hearings of the Senate and House intelligence committees on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. “Twitter is wisely positioning itself to be able to tell the committees that the company has taken steps to address the issues raised,” Adam Sharp, a former Twitter executive, told Reuters on Thursday. The Russian foreign ministry said the ban was a “gross violation” by the United States of the guarantees of free speech. “Retaliatory measures, naturally, will follow,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, according to the RIA news agency. Sputnik, a news agency, said on its website that Twitter’s move was regrettable, “especially now that Russia had vowed retaliatory measures against the U.S. media.” Some analysts said transparency, rather than a ban, would have been a better approach. Unlike Facebook, Twitter allows anonymous accounts and automated accounts, or bots, making the service more difficult to police. “Banning any particular person, group or country is just bad policy - in other parts of the world, platforms will come to be viewed as a tool of U.S. or other foreign policy and it will give authoritarian regimes more excuses to ban speech,” Albert Gidari, who as a lawyer has represented tech companies, said in an email. Gidari is now privacy director at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society. A U.S. lawmaker, Representative Adam Schiff, applauded Twitter’s move. “Serving as a platform for free expression does not require assisting foreign powers in their efforts to push propaganda, whether by promoted tweets or other means,” Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. |
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| Bigoted North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory is going to be nothing more than a footnote in history who everyone forgets about as far as Henry Rollins is concerned.In a column for LA Weekly, the’singer, actor, and television presenter known for hosting programs on the History Channel wrote about how the Republican governor will be little remembered after this shameful time in North Carolina comes to an end. It seems like a long way to go to please a handful of hicks, but obviously the governor was losing sleep over all those poor homophobes shaking in their boots as to who is in the’stall next to them, and he took action, Rollins wrote.The ink was not even dry on the anti-LGBT bill McCrory signed into law before corporations, activists, and entertainers began hammering the’state for legalizing discrimination.Paypal has cancelled a project in the’state that would have created hundreds of jobs. The NBA is considering pulling the All-Star game out of Charlotte. Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr, and several other entertainers have cancelled performances in North Carolina in protest of the law. And the’state faces losing millions of dollars that flows into the’state from the federal government. All of this is costing the’state dearly as Republicans continue to refuse to repeal the discriminatory law.HB2 allows business owners to discriminate against LGBT customers and employees and they can hide behind their Bibles and scream religious freedom to do so.Rollins also detests the bigoted law and warned McCrory that people will want to forget his legacy and that he ever existed for the way he has embarrassed North Carolina during his tenure as governor. The truth is that no one cares what his name is, Rollins continued. He will be dimly remembered as the asshole who signed that f*cked-up bill that embarrassed the majority of North Carolinians. If McCrory eventually caves and tries to repeal it, everyone will know it s because he values money over his homophobia, which he has poorly disguised as moral rectitude and common sense. Either way he’s f*cked. Rollins also hilariously smacked down North Carolina GOP Rep. Mark Walker for whining about Bruce Springsteen cancelling the concert. Punching himself in the dick, North Carolina Congressman Mark Walker described Springsteen as known to be on the radical left, then generously added, He s got every right to be so, but considers Springsteen s cancellation a bully tactic. In a sad attempt to show how with it he is, Walker quipped, We ve got other artists coming soon Def Leppard, Justin Bieber. The congressman added, I ve never been a Bieber fan, but I might have to go. Maybe artists who weren’t born to run deserve a little bit more support. Do they hand out free bags of dumbfuck at red lights in N.C.? Mic. Dropped.Republicans seriously need to give up their effort to legalize bigotry in this country under the guise of religious liberty because it is clearly backfiring.Featured image via Wikimedia |
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| Carter Page, previously described as a foreign-policy adviser to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, has arrived in Moscow to meet with businessmen and politicians, RIA News agency reported on Thursday. “I am going to meet with influential businessmen and thought leaders,” RIA quoted Page as saying. |
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| President Donald Trump on Thursday named Andrew Wheeler, a coal industry lobbyist and former congressional staffer, as his pick for deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, prompting contrasting reactions from industry and environmental groups. The Sierra Club, an environmental group, called his nomination, which is subject to Senate confirmation, “absolutely horrifying,” while a coal industry group and some Republican politicians said he was well qualified for the job. The EPA said in a statement Wheeler had spent four years at the agency’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics during the George H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations, as well as many years on Capitol Hill, including as counsel for conservative Republican Senator James Inhofe. It said he currently works as a principal at FaegreBD Consulting, “providing guidance on federal regulatory and legislative environmental and energy issues.” Inhofe said in the statement that no one is more qualified than Wheeler to help EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt “restore EPA to its proper size and scope.” The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, an industry lobby group, called Wheeler extraordinarily qualified for the job, saying in a statement: “His understanding of a wide range of environmental policies and the policy development process — combined with his thoughtfulness, judgment and temperament — will enable him to be an outstanding Deputy Administrator.” But the Sierra Club called his nomination “absolutely horrifying,” adding in a statement: “Andrew Wheeler is a big time lobbyist who has represented Big Coal for almost a decade, including in numerous lawsuits challenging the EPA. He is a friend to polluters, not to American families that rely on clean air and clean water.” Pruitt led 14 lawsuits against the agency when he was Oklahoma’s attorney general, and has said he is not convinced that carbon dioxide from human activity is the main driver of climate change, a position widely embraced by scientists. He was appointed by President Donald Trump, a climate change doubter, who campaigned on a pledge to boost the U.S. oil and gas drilling and coal mining industries by reducing regulation. He also promised to pull Washington out of a global pact to fight climate change, which he did in June. |
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| The U.S. government should have publicized the existence of a program that vacuumed up in bulk Americans’ telephone call data before its existence was leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency’s deputy director said on Tuesday. Richard Ledgett, who is retiring next month, said in an interview with Reuters that disclosing the secret program would have been difficult. But, he said, doing so might have mitigated the damage done by Snowden. “That’s one where I might have to say, yes,” Ledgett said in his office at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. “That’s one where maybe it would have been less shocking when Snowden did what he did.” Ledgett’s comments, which echo the sentiments of some former top U.S. officials, come as the U.S. intelligence community is stepping up efforts to convince Congress to reauthorize other controversial surveillance programs. Those programs allow intelligence agencies to collect vast amounts of digital communications from foreigners living overseas, but incidentally scoops up the communications of an unknown number of Americans. The programs, authorized by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, expire on Dec. 31 unless Congress takes action. Ledgett said that the NSA, whose mission is to intercept adversaries’ communications while protecting sensitive U.S. government networks, had learned from the Snowden experience. “We’re being very open about the (Section 702) program, and will be,” he said. Privacy advocates have repeatedly demanded that the government share an estimate of how many Americans are ensnared by programs authorized under Section 702. Intelligence officials have declined to do so. But Ledgett, in remarks earlier Tuesday at a forum sponsored by the Aspen Institute, said “yes” when asked if an estimate would be provided before year end. Snowden’s revelation of the bulk telephone data program - which captured information about calls such as the numbers and time stamp, but not their actual content - prompted congressional hearings and court battles. In 2015, Congress passed a law replacing it with a more limited system while installing new transparency measures over U.S. surveillance activity. U.S. officials argued that the program was lawful, and aimed at finding violent militants or other adversaries in communication with allies inside the United States. In the 50-minute interview at the NSA’s large campus outside Washington, Ledgett expressed concern about the vulnerability of U.S. critical infrastructure to cyber attack by another nation. “All of the major cyber threat actors that we worry about have efforts in place, have that capability,” he said. “Can you take out a traffic system? Absolutely. Can you take out comm(unication)s systems? Absolutely. Can you take out gas and oil distribution, and energy distribution systems? Absolutely you can. ... We’re more vulnerable than most.” He also gave a small insight into the secret cyber battles playing out globally, around-the-clock. In late 2015, he said, an unclassified U.S. government computer network was penetrated by another nation, and the NSA was called in to help. In the past, when an adversary realized they had been discovered, they would withdraw. “Like a turtle, touch them and they pull in their shell,” Ledgett said. “What happened here was, they fought back. So it kind of became a hand-to-hand combat thing,” he said. “We’d remove their malware. They would deploy new malware, even though they knew we were in the system. They were just trying to get around us.” He declined to name the attacker or the computer system involved. |
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| It s no secret Republicans are salivating to find something, anything, to take down Hillary Clinton. The idea of a third term for Democrats (at the hands of an accomplished woman) scares the hell out of them. So they’do what they’do best: lie, cheat, smear and bog down with endless investigations.Now that the FBI and the Department of Justice have cleared Clinton of any criminal wrongdoing, Republicans are once again faced with nowhere to go. They have hit a wall when it comes to pinning criminal charges on Clinton, who is increasing her chances of becoming America s next president.As part of a usual maneuver of transparency, the FBI handed over to members of Congress documents detailing witness interview reports, including that of Secretary Clinton s interview, along with other materials from the FBI s now closed investigative file in regards to her email controversy.In the age of the internet, it is almost guaranteed that whenever Congress gets their hands on anything potentially incriminating, embarrassing or politically expedient, it s leaked to the public. Both sides do it for different reasons, some for nefarious reasons, and others as a public service.But this situation is different. Republicans are hoping to use evidence in these documents as a smoking gun for the court of public opinion since their desire for indictment in a court of law fell flat. But there s one harbinger to this: many of these documents are deemed classified and confidential. And should any Republican, at the behest of their staff or them personally, feel compelled to leak the information provided, the FBI released a statement reminding them of what they are messing with:Consistent with our commitment to transparency with respect to the FBI s investigation to former Secretary of State Clinton s use of a personal server, the FBI is providing certain relevant materials to appropriate congressional committees assist them in their oversight responsibilities in this matter. The material contains classified and other sensitive information and is being provided with the expectation it will not be disseminated or disclosed without FBI concurrence.Should someone from Capitol Hill leak the information, prosecution could be pursued. And should a Republican be stupid enough to allow such a leak, their moral high ground argument that Clinton was reckless with handling classified information would be completely and utterly decimated.While Republicans are hoping to be selective in their discoveries, the Clinton campaign has announced that they want all the documents pertaining to the investigation to be released, as to stave off biased selection of information at the hands of a bloodthirsty GOP:This is an extraordinarily rare step that was sought solely by Republicans for the purposes of further second-guessing the career professionals at the FBI. We believe that if these materials are going to be shared outside the Justice Department, they should be released widely so that the public can see them for themselves, rather than allow Republicans to mischaracterize them through selective, partisan leaks.While Trump continues to put off releasing his much anticipated tax returns, the Clinton campaign is calling for near-total transparency of the facts surrounding what is arguably the dumbest scandal she has been linked to.Be careful Republicans. Everything you’ve worked for could come crashing down should a giddy staffer decide to be a conservative hero and leak information.Featured image via Mark Mekela/Getty Images |
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| This story just keeps unraveling Two days ago, conservative Thomas Wictor dropped a bombshell on Twitter, exposing what he’suggested was a forged Roy Moore signature on the yearbook that allegedly belongs to Beverly Young Nelson, the most recent sexual misconduct accuser of GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore.CNN published a story about Roy Moore signing Nelson s yearbook. Thomas Wictor dissected the’signature and the validity of her story on Twitter:Beverly Young Nelson said Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore wrote a message in her yearbook in December 1977 that said, "To a sweeter more beautiful girl, I could not say, 'Merry Christmas.'"She’said he’signed it, "Roy Moore, D.A." https://t.co/aluJzQsv15 pic.twitter.com/esjGd1ssd9 CNN (@CNN) November 13, 2017Here are close up versions of the’signatures. Note, that when viewed close up, the’signature is signed in both black and blue ink.Here is a closer version of the yearbook signature:Here is Wictor s explanation for the different colors of ink:(4) The LIGHT is reflecting off of the ink.The ink that LOOKS blue is actually black. It's DIFFERENT ink than the ORIGINAL ink.Therefore it reflects light differently. Thomas Wictor (@ThomasWictor) November 16, 2017(11) So, to recap:The’signature is a forgery, and everything after the name "Roy-Ray" was added later with different ink. pic.twitter.com/1sPv6aABge Thomas Wictor (@ThomasWictor) November 15, 2017Just like the "TH" doomed Dan Rather, "DA" will doom the anti Roy Moore forces. They copied his signature on Nelsons divorce order not realizing "DA" was his assistants initials, not his title. The’sheer stupidity! pic.twitter.com/oWJ5fzM6fr TruthHurts (@tru768) November 15, 2017Moore s attorney came out today with a statement regarding the’signature in question in the high school yearbook. Here s what he had to say:Roy Moore's Attorney: "[Nelson & Gloria Allred] said that Ms. Nelson after the allegations had never seen or had any contact with Judge Moore In 1999, Ms. Nelson filed a divorce action The judge assigned was Roy S. Moore." pic.twitter.com/Bv5ZV0CMvc Fox News (@FoxNews) November 15, 2017Meanwhile, the leftist, feminist lawyer, Gloria Allred, refused to deny that her client Beverly Nelson s Roy Moore signature in her high school yearbook is NOT a fabrication. CNN s Wolf Blitzer grilled Allred on the matter Wednesday.Big League Politics Well, all I m saying is, we will permit an independent examiner of the writing We will allow all of this to be asked and answered at the hearing, Allred said. But that s not a flat denial, Gloria, Blitzer said. Well, all I m saying is, we’re not denying, we’re not admitting, we’re not addressing, Allred said. We will not be distracted. Blitzer asked why Allred needed a Senate hearing and would not just permit an independent handwriting expert to take a look. Well, uh, all I can say is we want it done in a professional setting to the extent possible, that s the only setting in which people can’testify under oath, Allred said.Blitzer asked if Allred s client would take a lie-detector test, but she refused, pushing for a Senate hearing.Go to the 25:30 min. mark in the video: |
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| Donald Trump’s call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States does not tarnish the U.S. commitment to religious freedom in the eyes of foreigners, a State Department official said on Wednesday. On Dec. 7, the week after a Muslim couple killed 14 people in San Bernardino, the Republican called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” Speaking as he presented the State Department annual report on religious freedom, David Saperstein, the U.S. ambassador at large for that issue, was asked whether the comments made his job of promoting religious tolerance in foreign nations harder. “Countries across the globe ... they see clearly the basic constitutional, institutional constraints against violations of religious freedom in the United States, and I think see clearly and believe deeply in America’s promise to be a model about treating all people equally without regard to religion,” Saperstein said. “That is clear and that is not tarnished by the statements here,” he added. “No matter who is elected, the institutions and the United States’ constitutional constraints will ensure that we continue along the line we have for the last 200 years.” At the time, Trump’s comments were condemned by the White House, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and some of the candidates then vying with Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. More recently, the parents of a Muslim American Army captain killed in Iraq took Trump to task at the Democratic National Convention over his rhetoric on Muslims, prompting a spat that triggered renewed criticism of the Republican candidate. Democratic presidential nominee Clinton’s lead over Trump in the Nov. 8 presidential election increased to more than 7 percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday, from less than 3 points on Thursday. |
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| A general strike called by pro-independence campaigners in Catalonia closed shops and severed transport links on Wednesday, as the region s deposed leader lost political momentum after failing to seal an electoral pact with another party. Protesters closed roads, causing huge tailbacks into Barcelona, while some public transport ran minimum services and some smaller stores remained shuttered. Reuters saw hundreds of strikers gathered in Barcelona s main Sant Jaume square to protest the imprisonment of politicians, chanting the name of ex-leader Carles Puigdemont and referring to him as our president . But he faces an uphill task to maintain influence after he missed a deadline of midnight on Tuesday to agree a pro-secessionist pact for a regional election with his former vice president Oriol Junqueras. The central government in Madrid called the election for Dec. 21 after last month assuming control of Catalonia following its parliament s unilateral independence declaration. Spain s Constitutional Court on Wednesday officially annulled the declaration, which it had suspended, a widely expected ruling. Catalonia s secessionist push has plunged Spain into its worst political crisis in four decades, leading to a business exodus and reopened old wounds from the civil war in the 1930s. Junqueras is in custody on charges of sedition, rebellion and misuse of public funds. But polls show his leftist ERC party will win three times as many seats next month in the regional assembly than the centre-right PDeCAT of Puigdemont, who is in self-imposed exile in Belgium and facing the same charges. If that forecast proves correct it represents a very uncomfortable position for Puigdemont, said Jose Miguel de Elias, of political consultancy Sigma Dos. If (the secessionists) get enough seats to form a government, he would be vice president, which ... would not suit him. In Catalonia there was a mixed reaction to the pro-independence strike, called by two civic groups, whose heads were imprisoned last month on sedition charges, and a labor union. People stood across dozens of major highways waving placards and chanting freedom for political prisoners , TV and video images showed, while minor scuffles were reported on social media as police attempted to move protesters. While many smaller stores left their shutters down due the strike, most larger shops and businesses appeared to be open as normal. Why should I strike, nobody is going to raise my salary... The politicians should work more and stop their silliness, Jose Luis, a Barcelona construction worker, told Reuters TV on his way to work. Protester Josep Cardona, a 55-year-old office worker, had not joined a previous strike, but this time with putting people in prison, it has all gone too far, he said. Strike supporter Nuria Catalana, a 64-year-old nurse, said she had favored a pro-secessionist electoral pact, but understood the difficulties involved. We ll have to see if they really pay attention to whoever wins the election. We have to continue the struggle, she said. Puigdemont had ambitions to garner support for his independence campaign in the heartland of the European Union. But that hope has fallen flat, and in an interview published on Wednesday he renewed criticism of the bloc s executive. (EU Commission President Jean-Claude) Juncker welcomes mayors, governors ... but he doesn t want to meet me, Puigdemont told Belgian Daily De Standaard. I ve always been a convinced European ... But the people who are running the EU now are wrecking Europe. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who has been unwavering in his opposition to any form of independence for Catalonia, said he hoped next month s election would usher in a period of calm and business as usual for the region. I m hoping for massive participation ... and, after that, we ll return to normality, he said in the Madrid parliament building on Wednesday. An opinion poll released on Sunday by Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia showed Junqueras ERC could garner 45 or 46 seats in the regional assembly and Puigdemont s PdeCat just 14 or 15. That would leave them needing to form a parliamentary alliance with anti-capitalist CUP to reach the 68-seat threshold for a majority. ERC and PDeCAT could still reach an agreement after the vote, but by standing together they could have held more seats, polls and projections from the 2015 election results showed. |
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| This nightmare could have all been prevented if America was able to look past their unwarranted white guilt for one second, and realize they were electing a second rate community agitator, with sealed records and a questionable birth certificate If Donald Trump wins the Republican nomination and defeats likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in November, President Obama will sabotage the economy in his final months in office, predicts talk-radio host Michael Savage. If Trump wins and I think he will there will be an economic crash, Savage told listeners of his nationally syndicated show, The Savage Nation, Monday. The reason I say that is not because of his policies, but because of what Obama will do on the way out the door. Savage said that if anyone thinks that a President Trump will be able to easily turn this huge ship around, you’don’t know much about navigation in turbulent waters. Wait until you see what happens in the last few months if Trump wins, Savage said. Wait until you see what that nice guy in the White House does. (Federal Reserve Chairman Janet) Yellen ups interest rates, Obama and his band of unmerry pranksters Sharpton and company unleash the mobs, Savage said. (George) Soros makes a last-ditch effort to distract Trump and the new Justice Department from currency manipulation and other financial games he may have been playing. Spends tens of millions on social agitation. Obama floods the U.S. with Central Americans, Syrians and Africans, mainly Muslim, mainly young males, and grants pardons to 10,000 more Central American drug dealers, Savage continued. Let s see what else might these decent Americans do? Release a few more billion pork barrel green projects? You can guess! Prior to his remarks about Obama s final days in office, Savage told his listeners he believed Trump would defeat Clinton in a landslide, describing the former secretary of state, senator and first lady as Fidel Castro in a dress. Savage cited the new Rasmussen poll of likely voters showing Trump with a 41-39 lead over Clinton nationally. And this is only an early poll, Savage noted on his show Monday. I said a long time ago that when it comes down to Trump vs. Clinton, he would win by a landslide, 60-40, 59-41, something like that. No matter how many illegal aliens Obama tried to flood into this country, Trump will win by a landslide, he’said.In February, Savage warned that the banking deregulation under the Bill Clinton administration that led to the 2008 recession appears to be on the verge of impacting the economy again. We re being set up for an economic meltdown similar to the one that triggered the Great Depression, he’said.This time, however, Savage continued, it s going to occur on a global scale, and it s unlikely that we ll be able to recover within even the next several decades, once it happens. For entire story: WND |
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| The financial and political fallout from Britain’s vote to leave the European Union has added to a string of setbacks for President Barack Obama as he works to burnish his legacy before his presidency ends in January 2017. The Brexit decision came after a deadlock in the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday effectively ended Obama’s push to overhaul immigration rules, and the week after the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. For Obama, the reversals heighten pressure on him and fellow Democrats to work harder for the Nov. 8 elections - particularly for the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, who represents his best shot at making sure more of his policies are not rolled back. Speaking at two fundraising events in Seattle on Friday night, at the end of an arduous day that saw global markets plunge after the Brexit vote, Obama acknowledged the shifting political winds four months from the vote. “If you didn’t think the stakes were high before, you should think the stakes are pretty high right now,” Obama said at an intimate fundraising dinner at the home of tech executive Steve Singh. Guests, arranged in two long tables, paid $10,000 to $66,800 per couple. Obama has argued technology and globalization can increase opportunities for all, but conceded that recent events show many people are frightened by global competition and feel left behind. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and political novice, has tapped into those concerns about the economy, trade and immigration - fears that also figured into the UK campaign to leave the EU. “Unfortunately, when people are anxious and scared, there are going to be politicians out there who try to prey on that frustration to get themselves headlines and to get themselves votes,” Obama told about 3,000 people who paid $250 and up to attend a campaign-style event on Friday for Washington State’s Democratic Governor Jay Inslee. Clinton regained a double-digit lead over Trump this week, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday that showed 46.6 percent of likely American voters supported Clinton while 33.3 percent backed Trump. In April, Obama had taken the unusual step of traveling to London to help the “Remain” camp of the referendum for his friend and ally, Prime Minister David Cameron, who will now leave office before Obama does. The financial uncertainty from Brexit threatens to weigh on the strong U.S. economy and undo some of the recovery seen since Obama took office in early 2009 at the height of the financial crisis. Earlier this week, Obama’s plan to remove the specter of deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants was quashed when the Supreme Court deadlocked over lifting a hold on the action. And two weeks ago, the nation’s worst mass shooting in modern history, at a gay nightclub in Orlando, raised questions about how Obama is dealing with home-grown extremism - and served as a reminder of his failure to convince the U.S. Congress to tighten gun laws. The setbacks show the limits of action that any president can take unilaterally, said Justin Vaughn, a political scientist at Boise State University. “I don’t think Obama’s legacy has taken a hit so much as it came back to earth,” Vaughn said. Still, the impression that his administration is unable to control its own political destiny could weigh on how history views Obama’s time at the White House, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political scientist at University of Houston. “Presidents are often judged by what happens in the ninth inning, so President Obama’s last few months in office are important to cementing and enhancing his legacy,” Rottinghaus said. |
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| The funny thing is, we all know the media s obsession with Russia would never be happening if Hillary won’the election. Where were all the rabid Russian conspiracy journalists when Hillary was selling them our uranium for favors? We re not fans of Putin, but any dummy can see that the left is clearly using Putin s alleged involvement in our elections as a means to destroy the legitimacy of President Trump’s election Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied interfering in the U.S. elections, and he did it by using a famous quote from a U.S. president. Watch my lips, no, Putin said.The Russian strongman made the claim when asked point-blank whether Russia had interfered and whether any evidence to the contrary would get found.He invoked former President Reagan, although the Read my lips quote was actually used by his successor, George H.W. Bush, speaking at a CNBC event on Arctic issues.Putin said claims of Russian interference were lies used for domestic American politics.All those things are fictional, illusory and provocations, lies, Putin continued. All these are used for domestic American political agendas. The anti-Russian card is played by different political forces inside the United States to trade on that and consolidate their positions inside. Then he delivered a friendly message to U.S. audiences. We said on numerous occasions and I reiterate that we are confident And know for sure that opinion polls in the Unites States show that very many people are friendly towards the Russian Federation and I d like to tell these people that we perceive and regard the United States as a great power with which we want to establish good partnership relations. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday in an interview with CBS News, We all knew Russia was trying to meddle with our election. And we already know right now they’re trying to do it with other countries. Ryan continued: The world s super power, the American government needs to do everything we possibly can, not only to undercut what they’re trying to do but to uncover what they’re trying to do and help our allies prevent it from happening. Putin also said Thursday he is ready to meet with Trump if Finland hosts an Arctic summit. Finland is set to take over the rotating leadership of the Arctic Council.For entire story: Daily Mail |
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| Irma, now a category 4 , is heading towards the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean and is expected to move near or over the northern part of the region by Tuesday night or Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Hurricane Irma is about 320 miles (515 km) east of the Leeward Islands and packing maximum sustained winds of 150 mph(240 km/h), the Miami-based weather forecaster said. Swells generated by Irma will affect the northern Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands during the next several days, the NHC said. |
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| Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday that it would be a grave mistake for the United States to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and that he had warned U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Before a bilateral meeting with Tillerson at NATO headquarters, Cavusoglu said: It would be a grave mistake (to move the U.S. embassy). It will not bring any stability ... but rather chaos and instability. The whole world is against this, he said, adding that he had already told Tillerson how he felt and would reiterate it at the meeting at NATO during the alliance s foreign ministers meeting. |
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| Poland s President Andrzej Duda designated Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki as the country s new prime minister after Beata Szydlo tendered her resignation. The ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party decided on Thursday to swap Szydlo for Morawiecki as they gear up for a series of elections due in the next three years. |
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| On Thursday, Donald Trump was devastated after an appeals court completely rejected Donald Trump’s Muslim ban. The Trump administration has lost dramatically and completely and they’re going to have to decide what to do next, CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said following the court s 3-0 complete repudiation of the Trump ban. The Government has taken the position that the President s decisions about immigration policy, particularly when motivated by national security concerns, are unreviewable, even if those actions potentially contravene constitutional rights and protections, the court said, adding that the Muslim ban runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy. The judges, who were appointed by three different Presidents, flat-out rejected the Trump administration s claim that his decisions are absolute and unquestionable: The Supreme Court has made clear that the Government s authority and expertise in [such] matters do not automatically trump the Court s own obligation to secure the protection that the Constitution grants to individuals, even in times of war. There is no precedent to support this claimed unreviewability, which runs contrary to the fundamental structure of our constitutional democracy. After getting checked, Trump tweeted out an unbalanced all-caps tantrum, vowing that he will SEE YOU IN COURT even though he had just been there, where he lost embarrassingly.SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2017To make things sweeter, Hillary Clinton gave Trump just long enough to bleed out a bit before rubbing salt in his wound and all she had to do was type two beautiful numbers and a hyphen:3-0 Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 10, 2017Clinton was joined in celebration of this win for democracy by her friends on Twitter, who don’t seem to like The Donald much:@HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/9RXyIvXuYP Raymond Braun (@raymondbraun) February 10, 2017@HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/tqrUKTRUmG Brian Scully (@brianscully) February 10, 2017@HillaryClinton you're perfect never change carmen rios (@carmenriosss) February 10, 2017@HillaryClinton pic.twitter.com/knVtLwgdvo Matthew Schueller (@booshoe37) February 10, 2017@HillaryClinton <sits back, sips martini> MichaelMarshallSmith (@ememess) February 10, 2017@hillaryclinton easy with all the numbers, don’t want to confuse him. Adam Shapiro (@adamshapiro) February 10, 2017.@HillaryClinton I think that's what the kids call a mic drop Roland Scahill (@rolandscahill) February 10, 2017@Cernovich @HillaryClinton 65,844,610-62,979,636 GayDad (@gaydad) February 10, 2017@HillaryClinton GIRL YOU COULD GROW SOME GORGEOUS HOSTA IN THAT SHADE pic.twitter.com/SOBG0zXI8v Abby Norman (@abbymnorman) February 10, 2017.@HillaryClinton MIC DROPPPP Jordan Uhl (@JordanUhl) February 10, 2017@HillaryClinton He be tweeting. She be sipping. pic.twitter.com/vy5t2a8jhS Good Trouble (@goodtroubleme) February 10, 2017@HillaryClinton I can just imagine the’shimmy as you write this tweet! COME BACK TO US!! is_today_the_day (@trump_at_school) February 10, 2017Clinton may have lost thanks to an antiquated system put in place to protect the power of slave-owning states, but the majority of Americans wish she was President and she continually reminds us why.Trump had better get used to losing, because his days of never being told no are over.Read more:Featured image via Getty Images (Chip Somodevilla)/screengrab |
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| U.S. President Donald Trump hopes to find a way to avert a government shutdown later this week in a Thursday meeting with Republican and Democratic lawmakers, the White House said on Wednesday. Congressional Republican leaders as well as U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are scheduled to meet with Trump on Thursday. Pelosi and Schumer did not attend a previously scheduled meeting with Trump last week after he said on Twitter that he did not expect to reach a deal with the Democratic leaders. |
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| Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump had not divulged any secrets during a meeting in Washington with Russian officials and offered to prove it by supplying Congress with a transcript. But a leading U.S. Republican politician said he would have little faith in any notes Putin might supply. Two U.S. officials said on Monday Trump had disclosed classified information about a planned Islamic State operation to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov when they met last week, plunging the White House into a fresh controversy just four months into Trump’s tenure. Trump, whose administration has been dogged by allegations that Russia helped him win the White House and that he and his allies are too cozy with Moscow, has defended his decision to discuss intelligence with the Russians after media reports of the meeting alarmed some U.S. and foreign politicians. President Putin deployed his trademark sarcasm on Wednesday to make clear he thought the accusation that Trump had divulged secrets absurd. “I spoke to him (Lavrov) today,” a smiling Putin told a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. “I’ll be forced to issue him (Lavrov) with a reprimand because he did not share these secrets with us. Not with me, nor with representatives of Russia’s intelligence services. It was very bad of him.” Putin, who still hopes Moscow can repair battered ties with the United States despite a deepening political scandal in the United States related to Trump’s purported Russia ties, said Moscow had rated Lavrov’s meeting with Trump highly. If the Trump administration deemed it appropriate, Putin said Russia could hand over a transcript of Trump’s meeting with Lavrov to U.S. lawmakers to reassure them that no secrets were revealed. A Kremlin aide, Yuri Ushakov, later told reporters that Moscow had a written record of the conversation, not an audio recording. U.S. Republican Senator Marco Rubio was unimpressed with Putin’s offer and alluded to alleged Russian hacking of Democratic groups during the U.S. presidential election. “I wouldn’t put much credibility into whatever Putin’s notes are,” Rubio said on Fox News. “And if it comes in an email, I wouldn’t click on the attachment.” Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, which is among those probing alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, called Putin’s offer “quite amusing.” “The last person Trump needs to vouch for him right now is Vladimir Putin,” Schiff said in an interview with CBS News. “If they want to send something, you know, hats off. Send it our way... It’s credibility would be less than zero.” Russia has repeatedly denied interfering in the U.S. election. Trump is also under pressure over accusations he asked then-FBI Director James Comey to end the agency’s investigation into the Russia ties of former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn. The allegation stems from a memo written by Comey and seen by a source familiar with the contents of the memo. In Washington, Republican and Democratic lawmakers said they wanted to see the Comey memo. U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger joined a small but growing number of Republican lawmakers who have said they would back some sort of independent investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election. “If in fact what was in the memo is true, it’s very concerning and we need to get to the bottom of that,” Kinzinger said on CNN. Complaining about what he said was “political schizophrenia” in the United States, Putin said Trump was not being allowed to do his job properly. “It’s hard to imagine what else these people who generate such nonsense and rubbish can dream up next,” said Putin, referring to unnamed U.S. politicians. “What surprises me is that they are shaking up the domestic political situation using anti-Russian slogans. Either they don’t understand the damage they’re doing to their own country, in which case they are simply stupid, or they understand everything, in which case they are dangerous and corrupt.” Russia has repeatedly said that Trump’s opponents are trying to damage him and Moscow by making what it says are false accusations about the billionaire president and the Russian government which initially had high hopes of a rapprochement. Officials have told Reuters Trump’s alleged disclosure of classified information to Russia’s foreign minister is unlikely to stop allies who share intelligence with Washington from cooperating. That view was reinforced on Wednesday when British Prime Minister Theresa May said her government had confidence in its relationship with the United States and would continue to share intelligence with Britain’s most important defense and security ally. |
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| President Donald Trump’s call for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton is “highly inappropriate” and threatens to erode the separation between law and politics, a leading Republican senator said on Tuesday. “Prosecutorial decisions should be based on applying facts to the law without hint of political motivation. To do otherwise is to run away from the long-standing American tradition of separating the law from politics,” Senator Lindsey Graham said in a series of posts on Twitter. “President Trump’s tweet today suggesting Attorney General Sessions pursue prosecution of a former political rival is highly inappropriate,” said Graham, who defended Sessions from criticism by the president. |
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| These leftist actors are so darn funny. You know what isn’t funny? They never mention the 4 Americans Hillary left to die in Benghazi. They never mention that she has put our nation and the national security of our nation at risk with her personal unsecured email server. You know what else isn’t funny? That they never mention the person they’re supporting, because she has a vagina and a D after her name, has been under criminal investigation for most of her adult life. But let’s hear how funny it is that some nit-wit actress who is supported by the general public (not just Democrats) wanted to track down Trump to make a video attempting to humiliate him. I m actually sorry she never found him, it would’ve been an amazing career ending move. The 25-year-old Oscar-winning actress joined fellow actors Johnny Depp and James McAvoy on the Graham Norton Show Friday night, where she revealed that she once attended a concert at which the Republican presidential frontrunner was also present. I was at a concert that I heard he was attending, so I had my full security, I was like, Find Donald Trump, Lawrence told Norton. Because I was adamant on finding him and then making a video of me going, Hey Trump, f*ck you! I wouldn’t rest until he was found, the actress continued over the audience s enthusiastic applause. He knew I was looking for him. WATCH:Meanwhile, Depp told Norton about his experience playing Trump in left-wing comedy website Funny or Die s Art of the Deal movie in February, and even offered up some on-the-spot impressions of the GOP candidate. Both Lawrence and Depp have predicted apocalyptic disaster if the Republican presidential hopeful were to win in November.During a red carpet appearance at the premiere of his latest film Alice Through the Looking Glass earlier this week, Depp said that a President Trump would be America s last president. If Donald Trump is elected president of the United States of America, in a kind of historical way it s exciting, Depp said, because we will see the actual last president of the United States. Via: Breitbart News |
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| Roughly 70% of states use some form of electronic voting machine. The ease with which these machines can be manipulated is stunning Donald Trump’said this week that he fears the election will be rigged for Hillary Clinton. Although he didn’t specify exactly how Clinton, her team, or her supporters would commit widespread voter fraud, allowing her to steal a Presidential election, he insisted that the 2012 Presidential election demonstrated a cause for significant concern.I ve been hearing about it for a long time, Trump told CNN. And I know last time, there were you had precincts where there was practically nobody voting for the Republican. And I think that s wrong. I think that was unfair, frankly. Many of Trump’s supporters agree.But how easy is it to actually rig an election? It turns out that while voting machines are notoriously easy to hack, throwing a national election is a major operation that would require serious technical firepower.In a recent CBS News report, hackers demonstrated that individual electronic voting machines the kind used in most precincts are particularly vulnerable.WATCH:Via: Heat Street |
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| Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will hold phone talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday to convey his condolences after the mass shooting in Las Vegas and to discuss North Korea s weapons programs, a Japanese government source said. Tensions have grown on the Korean peninsula since reclusive North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3, leading to a new round of United Nations sanctions. |
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| America better wake up and realize we are quickly becoming victims of leftist bullies and their desire to destroy our right to free speech Celebrity chef Jose Andres is backing out of a deal to put his new flagship restaurant inside the new Trump International Hotel in Washington DC after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump caused a media firestorm with his recent comments about illegal immigration.In a statement, Andres whose ThinkFoodGroup oversees more than a dozen restaurants in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, and Puerto Rico said comments Trump made about illegal immigration during his presidential campaign announcement last month make it impossible for him to open his restaurant in Trump’s new hotel. Donald Trump’s recent statements disparaging immigrants make it impossible for my company and I to move forward with opening a successful Spanish restaurant in Trump International s upcoming hotel in Washington D.C., Andres said in a statement. More than half of my team is Hispanic, as are many of our guests. And, as a proud Spanish immigrant and recently naturalized American citizen myself, I believe that every human being deserves respect, regardless of immigration status. Andres s statement comes after Washington DC resident Erick Sanchez started a Change.org petition asking the chef to pull his planned restaurant from Trump’s hotel. The petition had gathered 2,750 signatures by Wednesday afternoon, but it was unclear whether it had played a role in Andres s decision.In an email to the Washington Post, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. said that Andres had no right to back out of what he’said is a 10-year lease the chef signed with the hotel and threatened legal action:Our relationship with Jos Andr s has always been a good one, but simply put, Jos has no right to terminate or otherwise abandon his obligations under the lease. In the event Mr. Andres defaults in the performance of his obligations, we will not hesitate to take legal action to recover all unpaid rent for the entire 10 year term together with all attorneys fees and additional damages we may sustain. We will also enforce the exclusivity provisions preventing Mr. Andr s from opening a competing restaurant anywhere in the D.C area. Mr. Andr s obligations under the lease are clear and unambiguous. More importantly, construction is ahead of schedule at Trump International Hotel, Washington D.C. and when completed in 2016, will be a crown jewel within the Trump Hotel Collection.Andres has been a vocal advocate for immigration reform. In a 2013 op-ed for the Post, the chef, who became a naturalized American citizen after living in the United States for decades, lobbied Congress to pass an immigration bill that had stalled in the legislature. The fellow immigrants I ve known and worked with over the years, those with legal status and those without, are here for the right reasons, Andres wrote. They don’t want to cause any trouble, take any handouts or steal anyone s job. Many already pay taxes and have jobs tough, dirty, exhausting work that America depends on, such as picking our tomatoes, cleaning our fish or canning our products on cold factory floors for low wages and no benefits. Andres s decision to cut ties with Trump follows other individuals and companies who have backed away from the real estate mogul and presidential candidate in recent weeks. NBC, Univision, Macy s, PGA Golf, the Miss Universe pageant, and ESPN have all distanced themselves from Trump following his comments.Via: Breitbart News |
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| Vietnam’s prime minister has urged a greater U.S. role in preventing militarization and island-building in the South China Sea, the government said on Tuesday, in a rare call for Washington’s support to curb Beijing’s maritime expansionism. During a summit of Southeast Asian countries in California on Monday, premier Nguyen Tan Dung suggested to U.S. President Barack Obama that Washington uses a stronger voice and “more practical and more efficient actions”, in comments likely to rile China. Tension has spiked since Beijing’s construction of seven islands in the Spratly archipelago. “Prime Minister Dung suggested the United States has a stronger voice and more practical and more efficient actions requesting termination of all activities changing the status quo,” the government said on its news website. The statement did not specifically name China, but it said Dung was referring especially to “large-scale construction of artificial islands” and “militarization”. With a large U-shaped line on its official maps, China claims most of the South China Sea. Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Vietnam have rival claims. Obama and allies from Southeast Asia will turn their attention to China on Tuesday on the second day of a summit intended to improve trade and provide a united front on maritime disputes with Beijing. Whereas China accuses the United States of seeking maritime hegemony in Asia, Washington says its interest in the South China Sea is preserving freedom of navigation. In recent months, the United States raised the stakes by sending guided-missile destroyers USS Lassen and USS Curtis Wilbur close to disputed areas occupied by Beijing. Though communist Vietnam routinely opposes China’s activities in disputed waters, its leaders are usually wary of provoking a giant neighbor with which it shares over $60 billion of annual trade and maintains close ideological ties. Dung has earned popularity in Vietnam for pursuing stronger U.S. trade and defense links and for taking a tougher line against China, compared to measured responses by other Vietnamese leaders to Beijing’s assertiveness. Dung was controversially overlooked by the politburo last month in its nomination for party chief, meaning the end of his political career when his term ends this year, posing a possible blow for Washington. Dung also asked Obama to fully lift a lethal arms embargo on Vietnam, which would be an “important way to strengthen political trust”, the government website quoted him saying. Obama will visit Vietnam in May, the White House said. |
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| Facebook has announced plans to check for fake news using a series of organizations to assess whether stories are true One of them is a website called Snopes.com which claims to be one of the web s essential resources and painstaking, scholarly and reliable It was founded by husband-and-wife Barbara and David Mikkelson, who used a letterhead claiming they were a non-existent society to start their research Now they are divorced with Barbara claiming in legal documents he embezzled $98,000 of company money and spent it on himself and prostitutes In a lengthy and bitter legal dispute he is claiming to be underpaid and demanding industry standard or at least $360,000 a year The two also dispute what are basic facts of their case despite Snopes.com saying its ownership is committed to accuracy and impartiality Snopes.com founder David Mikkelson s new wife Elyssa Young is employed by the website as an administrator She has worked as an escort and porn actress and despite claims website is non-political ran as a Libertarian for Congress on a Dump Bush platform Its main fact checker is Kimberly LaCapria, whose blog ViceVixen says she is in touch with her domme side and has posted on Snopes.com while smoking potOne of the websites Facebook is to use to arbitrate on fake news is involved in a bitter legal dispute between its co-founders, with its CEO accused of using company money for prostitutes.Snopes.com will be part of a panel used by Facebook to decide whether stories which users complain about as potentially fake should be considered disputed .But the website s own troubles and the intriguing choice of who carries out its fact checks are revealed by DailyMail.com, as one of its main contributors is disclosed to be a former sex-blogger who called herself Vice Vixen .Snopes.com will benefit from Facebook s decision to allow users to report items in their newsfeed which they believe to be fake .It is asking a number of organizations to arbitrate on items which are reported or which Facebook staff think may not be genuine, and decide whether they should be marked as disputed .The others include ABC News, the Associated Press and fact-checking websites including Politifact.com.Now a DailyMail.com investigation reveals that Snopes.com s founders, former husband and wife David and Barbara Mikkelson, are embroiled in a lengthy and bitter legal dispute in the wake of their divorce.He has since remarried, to a former escort and porn actress who is one of the’site s staff members.They are accusing each other of financial impropriety, with Barbara claiming her ex-husband is guilty of embezzlement and suggesting he is attempting a boondoggle to change tax arrangements, while David claims she took millions from their joint accounts and bought property in Las Vegas.The Mikkelsons founded the’site in 1995. The couple had met in the early 1990s on a folklore-themed online message board, and married before setting up the’site.Profiles of the website disclose that for some time before it was set up, the couple had posed as The San Fernardo Valley Folklore Society , using its name on letterheads, even though it did not exist.A profile for the Webby Awards published in October describes it as an entity dreamed up to help make the inquiries seem more legit .David Mikkeleson told the Los Angeles Times in 1997: When I sent letters out to companies, I found I got a much better response with an official-looking organization s stationery. In 2015, their marriage ended in divorce but a bitter legal dispute continues.Both stayed on as co-owners of Snopes which is registered under its legal name of Bardav, Inc. and were its sole board members.Legal filings seen by DailyMail.com detail a lengthy financial and corporate dispute which stretches long after their divorce, and which one lawyer describes as contentious in court documents.In the filings, Barbara, 57, has accused her former husband, 56, of raiding the corporate business Bardav bank account for his personal use and attorney fees without consulting her.She also claimed he embezzled $98,000 from the company over the course of four years which he expended upon himself and the prostitutes he hired .When contacted by the Dailymail.com, David said he was legally prohibited from discussing his ex-wife s allegations. I d love to respond, but unfortunately the terms of a binding settlement agreement preclude me from publicly discussing the details of our divorce, he’said. Barbara Mikkelson said: No comment. In court records, Barbara alleged that her ex-husband removed thousands from their business accounts between April and June of 2016 to pay for trips for him and his girlfriend .One of the lead fact-checkers, Kim LaCapria, has also been a sex-and-fetish blogger who went by the pseudonym Vice Vixen. She described her blog as a lifestyle website with a specific focus on naughtiness, sin, carnal pursuits, and general hedonism and bonne vivante-ery. She regularly provided intimate advice and reviewed sex toys, including a vibrating wand that drives boys mad. If you are doing something to your fella, and you apply this to the base of his cash-and-prizes while you carry on, he will scream and perhaps cry, she wrote.She also recommended one book with the review: How to Tell A Naked Man What To Do seems like the perfect how-to for the dominatrix-in-waiting, or any girl looking to get in touch with her domme side. Mine, I wish I could shut her up sometimes, but there you go. In others posts, LaCapria claimed to be addicted to smutty HP [Harry Potter] fanfic. Describing her day-off activities on another blog, she wrote that she played scrabble, smoked pot, and posted to Snopes. She added, That s what I did on my day on, too. David Mikkelson told the Dailymail.com that Snopes does not have a standardized procedure for fact-checking since the nature of this material can vary widely. He said the process involves multiple stages of editorial oversight, so no output is the result of a single person s discretion. He also said the company has no set requirements for fact-checkers because the variety of the work would be difficult to encompass in any single blanket set of standards. Accordingly, our editorial staff is drawn from diverse backgrounds; some of them have degrees and/or professional experience in journalism, and some of them don’t, he added.For entire story- Daily Mail |
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| Catalonia s pro-independence parties were seen losing their parliamentary majority in the regional election on Dec. 21, an official poll showed on Monday. Pro-indepence party Junts per Catalunya was seen winning 25-26 seats, ERC another 32 seats and extreme-left party CUP 9 seats, according to the poll carried out by Sociological Research Centre (CIS). That would give the pro-independence camp just 67 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament, stripping them of the previous slim majority. The government s People s Party (PP) would win just 7 seats while the Socialists would take 21 and the market friendly Ciudadanos 31-32 seats, the poll showed. CatComu-Podem, the Catalan arm of the anti-austerity Podemos party, could win 9 seats, according to the survey. |
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| A Tennessee lawmaker was expelled from the state’s House of Representatives on Tuesday following accusations of widespread sexual harassment, media reported. Republican state Representative Jeremy Durham was ousted by a vote of 70-2, according to the Tennessean newspaper, which said this was the state’s first legislative expulsion since 1980. Durham did not immediately respond to request for comment. The Tennessean reported that Durham said no formal complaint had been filed against him and that he has not been charged with a crime. “I’m very pleased that the House made the decision it did today. This was good for the taxpayers of the state. It was good for the victims of the state,” the newspaper quoted House Speaker Beth Harwell as saying. A spokeswoman for Harwell’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A report released by Tennessee’s attorney general in July accused Durham of inappropriate sexual conduct with 22 women over a four-year period. The report said Durham repeatedly made unwelcome sexual advances toward female legislative staff, interns and lobbyists. Durham declined to be interviewed by investigators, the report said. His lawyer, Bill Harbison, said at the time that the report was politically motivated and unfair. Harbison could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday. The chairman of Tennessee’s Republican Party, Ryan Haynes, said on Tuesday: “I am saddened that all of my former colleagues, both Republicans and Democrats, have been placed in this terrible position by the reprehensible misbehavior of one individual.” |
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| Just in case anybody s wondering just how dangerous Trump’s love of Putin is, here s a little reminder: When Putin was running for election in 2011, he hosted a big, lavish banquet where he’spoke to a variety of leaders on a variety of topics. When he addressed the Americans there, he’said that the only reason the U.S. was interested in a relationship with Moscow was because Russia could destroy the U.S. in a half hour or less. That s according to two authors of The Russia-China Axis, who concluded from Putin s thinly-veiled threat: It would be difficult to find a statement more revealing about Putin s true position regarding the United States. This is a man that Donald Trump repeatedly praises as a strong leader, and over whom he fawns because Putin likes him. Putin and Trump are two of a kind in terms of demagoguery, but it s never been a secret that Putin isn’t a fan of the U.S. It seems the only way he ll become a fan of us is if Trump is elected.Why?He likely believes he can pull Trump’s puppet strings. Trump might think that Putin is just a good negotiator, but he fails miserably at understanding the naked fact that Putin sees us as his number one enemy.If Putin is actively working to undermine our democratic process (and there is credible evidence suggesting exactly that), then a President Trump is very likely to just hand us over, knowingly or unknowingly, to a hostile leader who believes he can destroy us on a whim.Russia has a squillion nuclear weapons that s never been a secret. We have roughly 4,100 of the damn things that aren’t awaiting dismantlement while Russia has roughly 2,700 in that state. In total, we have 7,100 while Russia has 7,300. However, Russia has managed to negotiate cuts in our arsenal while they work to strengthen theirs. Some reports say that their military exercises center around nuclear strikes now.In other words, their nuclear arsenal might be a bigger threat than ours, and they are more prepared for a nuclear war than we are. Compare all of that to North Korea s eight and Iran s nonexistent nuclear arsenal, and one has to wonder why our leaders seem to focus all our energy on those two countries when Russia is currently led by a man who said he could destroy us in a half hour, and we have a presidential candidate who is in love with that man.This is so frightening to many in the GOP that some feel they’re in the awkward position of having to rationalize Trump’s love affair with Vladimir Putin while quietly quaking in their boots. But others aren’t fooled, like Lindsey Graham: Other than destroying every instrument of democracy in his own country, having opposition people killed, dismembering neighbors through military force and being the benefactor of the butcher of Damascus, he’s a good guy. And the ghostwriter of Trump’s best-selling Art of the Deal, Tony Schwartz: To undecided voters: Trump wants to be Putin, a despot & dictator. The world may not recover. Save your children and grandchildren. Yeah. Putin s a great guy. So s Trump. Two peas in a pod. Anybody who thinks we ll be safe with Trump as president has their head buried up their buried up an ass full of sand.Featured image by Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images |
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| The European Union handed Prime Minister Theresa May a 10-day absolute deadline to improve her Brexit divorce offer or face failure in persuading EU leaders to open trade talks with Britain at a December summit. Without a deal next month, time will be very tight to agree arrangements before Britain leaves the EU in March 2019, adding to pressure on businesses to avoid potential losses and move investments. We need to see progress from UK within 10 days on all issues, including on Ireland, European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted after meeting May in Brussels for one hour following an EU summit. A deal on the Northern Ireland border became suddenly trickier on Friday as the Dublin government looked set to fall. Tusk said it was still possible the other 27 EU leaders would conclude at a summit on Dec. 14-15 that Britain had made sufficient progress toward meeting three key conditions for them to approve the opening of trade talks in the new year. But, added the former Polish premier who chairs the bloc s summit meetings, that was still a huge challenge . EU officials expect the crunch to come when May returns on Monday, Dec. 4, to meet the EU chief executive, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and his chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. Tusk presented the timeline ... with December 4 as the absolute deadline for the UK to make additional efforts, allowing Barnier to be in a position to recommend sufficient progress, an EU official said. May agreed to this time frame. The UK will need to give credible assurances as to how to avoid a hard border before December 4, as it is still unclear how this can be done, the official added. A further complication lay in Ireland, where Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who has warned of a veto without big British moves on the border issue, may call a snap election next week over a separate issue. May told reporters after meeting Tusk that the two sides were still making progress toward closing gaps on a financial settlement, rights for expatriates after Brexit and how to avoid a hard border that may disrupt the peace in Northern Ireland. But she added: There are still issues across the various matters that we are negotiating on to be resolved. She repeated a line she first used in September that Britain would honour our commitments . But there was no sign of details that EU counterparts are demanding over payments before they accede to London s call for talks on a post-Brexit trade pact. On the Irish border, May said: We and the Irish government continue to talk about solutions for that. We have the same desire. We want to ensure that movement of people and trade across that border can carry on as now. For months, the EU s demand for Britain to pay something like 60 billion euros ($72 billion) has seemed the toughest nut to crack. But EU negotiators have been encouraged by apparent leaks in the British media indicating that May has won backing from Brexit hardliners in her cabinet to offer a large sum. Now, Ireland could be a sticking point. The Irish issue is very worrying. The chances of sufficient progress in December were only 50-50. Now maybe less, an official handling Brexit talks from one of the other 27 EU states told Reuters on the sidelines of Friday s summit. Barnier threw the Union s weight behind Ireland on Friday, telling Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney there was strong solidarity for Ireland and Irish issues are EU issues . Coveney, who accused the government s opponents of being irresponsible in calling a no-confidence motion for Tuesday over an unrelated issue, said Ireland would not agree to opening EU trade talks with Britain if it was unhappy over the border. May s Northern Irish, pro-Brexit allies, on whom she depends for a slim parliamentary majority, accused Dublin of trying to force Northern Ireland, or the whole of the United Kingdom, to stay in a customs union with the EU, depriving it of the freedom to set its own commercial regulations. EU officials say the best way to avoid a hard border is to keep regulations the same - whether just for Northern Ireland or across the UK. Britain has rejected the former because it would divide Northern Ireland from the British mainland. Brexit campaigners say Britain should not have to follow EU rules. |
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| Star Trek legend George Takei gloriously shredded Donald Trump’s dipshit son in a column which includes a poem for Trump Jr. to read to pass the time in his prison cell.As we all know by now, Trump Jr. released an email chain of himself agreeing to a meeting with a Russian lawyer who offered to give the Trump campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton to use in the 2016 Election. The information was received from the Russian government through Aras Agalarov, a Russian oligarch who is close to Vladimir Putin and one of Donald Trump’s friends.It has since been revealed that a former Soviet intelligence officer also attended the meeting, which took place inside Trump Tower.In a scathing column published on Saturday, Takei recounts the news of the’scandal and proceeds to inform Trump Jr. that he is going to jail. The latest I can’t believe this actually happened bombshell concerns, of course, not Trump himself but his namesake, Donald, Jr., whose emails confirming Russian support for his father and meddling in the election present such low hanging evidentiary fruit that even Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions III could pick them, Takei wrote.The emails, released by Junior in advance of a damning story by the Times, no doubt in a vain attempt to blunt the’story s impact or at least divert its media coverage, has had something of the opposite effect. Importantly, Junior also had copied then-campaign manager Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner on his response, indicating that the campaign s senior staff were willing to accept damaging information on the Democratic opponent from a foreign hostile state. Their subsequent attendance of the meeting confirmed this. In attendance at the meeting itself was not only a lawyer from the Russian government but also a known Russian counterintelligence officer. The’story grows, and darkens. This email string thus comprises the first direct evidence of coordination between the campaign and the Russians, but unlikely the last.In light of these damning revelations, Takei wrote a poem to commemorate Trump Jr s crimes against the United States.Lest there be any confusionDon Jr. has dispelled the illusionHis emails revealedWhat they thought was concealedNow he’s gonna do time for collusionTakei went on to point out that on the very same day of the meeting, Trump wrote a speech about how Russia has a blackmail file on Clinton, and delivered it later that same month along with a plea to Russian hackers to continue attacking her and the DNC in search of emails.Takei couldn’t resist taking note of the irony of it all.The president, in tepid defense of his son, remarked that Junior is a good boy, a high-quality person, and that he applauds his transparency. I can’t but help think the president probably wishes that level of transparency would render Junior invisible right about now. For with now another member of his immediate family caught up in the Russia investigation, and the curious timing of his speeches, it becomes increasingly implausible that all this was happening without the president s knowledge.And what poetic irony it would be if Trump’s downfall resulted from emails.Indeed, it would not only be poetic irony, but poetic justice as well.Featured Image: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images |
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| Tanzania s new central bank governor will be tax law professor Florens Luoga, the country s president said on Monday. President John Magufuli said Luoga would take over in December or January after the tenure of current governor Benno Ndulu expires. I have decided to appoint a new (central bank) governor from among members of the committees that investigated the mining sector, Magufuli said. He was speaking at a ceremony to award certificates of recognition to members of two presidential committees that investigated allegations of tax evasion in exports of gold and copper concentrate in the east African country. Luoga currently serves as the deputy vice chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), the country s largest public university. In July he was also appointed by Magufuli as chairman of the board of directors of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA). Magufuli said he was aware many people expected him to appoint an economist as next governor. But Luoga is a professor of taxation law and he will help us strengthen checks on capital flight by some foreign companies that use tax havens. President Magufuli s government accuses mining firms of cheating Tanzania out of its fair share of mineral wealth through tax dodging and smuggling, allegations they deny. Magufuli ordered the country s central bank to crackdown on capital flight by foreign investors companies. The country s new Minister of Minerals, Angellah Kairuki, speaking at the same function, said the government was determined to plug all loopholes in the mining sector, including the smuggling of minerals. |
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| A U.S. law allowing lawsuits against Saudi Arabia over the Sept. 11 attacks met a stony silence from Riyadh on Thursday but some Saudis bristled, saying the kingdom should curb business and security ties in response. The Senate and House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to approve legislation that will allow the families of those killed in the 2001 attacks on the United States to seek damages from the Saudi government. Riyadh has always dismissed suspicions that it backed the attackers, who killed nearly 3,000 people under the banner of Islamist militant group al Qaeda. Fifteen out of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. The Saudi government financed an extensive lobbying campaign against the “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act”, or JASTA, in the run-up to the vote, and warned it would undermine the principle of sovereign immunity. But Saudi officials who had lobbied against the bill stopped short of threatening any retaliation if the law was passed. There was no official reaction from Saudi Arabia after the votes, and in the short-term, few expect little more than a curt statement of disapproval from Riyadh. The long-standing alliance between the kingdom and the United States is one of the cornerstones of Middle East politics, security and trade, and in their reactions on Thursday some Saudis said JASTA would jeopardize what they see as an interdependent relationship. “What would happen if Saudi Arabia froze its cooperation with the United States with regards to counter-terrorism as a response to JASTA?” Salman al-Dosary, editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab, Saudi-owned Al Sharq al-Awsat newspaper, wrote on Twitter. The Saudi riyal fell against the U.S. dollar in the forward foreign exchange market on Thursday after the bill was passed, prompting a drop in dollar demand in Riyadh. “People are reluctant to buy dollars ... because of the price,” said Raed al-Sayari, whose family runs an exchange shop in a bustling commercial district popular with foreign workers. “We’re concerned that if the dollar keeps appreciating and the situation doesn’t stabilize in the coming days there will be no demand. This would be a big loss for the market.” The Saudi riyal SAR= is pegged at 3.75 to the dollar in the spot market, but banks often use the forwards market to hedge against risks. Some analysts argue the Al Saud ruling family will interpret the move as political expedience by lawmakers in a U.S. election season and that the chances of a successful lawsuit are uncertain at best. But the measure does nothing to ease long-standing friction in the alliance: President Barack Obama, who had vetoed JASTA but was overridden by Congress, is increasingly seen by the kingdom and fellow Gulf Arab as favoring their bitter rival Iran, a charge Washington denies, and differs with Riyadh over Syria and other Arab crises. “This bill reflects an anti-Saudi campaign. It is time to see less of America in our midst,” said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a political scientist in the United Arab Emirates. Some analysts have speculated that Riyadh could retaliate by curbing U.S. trade with the biggest Arab economy or restrict cooperation on security, a crucial relationship for U.S. counter-terrorism and for peace efforts in Arab conflicts. Theodore Karasik, of Gulf State Analytics, wrote on al Arabiya website that JASTA would “ignite a firestorm of legal warfare that will directly undermine political relationships at a time when robust ties to fight terrorism is required”. He said the measure could also disrupt sweeping economic reforms meant to boost the private sector and foreign investment and wean the kingdom off oil dependence. Some analysts speculated that bilateral trade and investment could be hurt. The kingdom owns $96.5 billion of U.S. Treasury bonds, and is believed to hold at least that sum in other U.S. assets and bank accounts. |
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| A U.S. news channel and a newspaper will host a debate for the Democratic presidential contenders in New Hampshire a few days before the state’s primary election, but it remained unclear whether the party will relax its rule banning candidates from non-sanctioned debates. The news channel MSNBC and the New Hampshire Union Leader will hold the debate on Feb. 4 in New Hampshire, the second state in the nation to vote for parties’ presidential nominees following the Iowa caucuses on Monday, the Union Leader said on its website on Tuesday. But the Democratic National Committee (DNC) raised doubts about whether it would proceed, saying in a statement it had no plans to sanction this debate. It left open the question of whether it would punish any participants by excluding them from the remaining two sanctioned ones. Spokesmen for Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state who leads most polls, and Martin O’Malley, a former Maryland governor, said their candidates would be happy to take part, at least in theory. “Hillary Clinton would be happy to participate in a debate in New Hampshire if the other candidates agree, which would allow the DNC to sanction the debate,” Jennifer Palmieri, a Clinton spokeswoman, said in a statement. A spokesman for U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont did not respond to a request for comment. Both Sanders and O’Malley have criticized the DNC for organizing a relatively skimpy debate schedule. The DNC scheduled only six debates for its 2016 candidates, and, contrary to its practice in previous election years, forbade candidates from taking part in debates not sanctioned by the party. There were 25 Democratic primary debates in 2008 and 15 in 2004, both sanctioned and unsanctioned. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has dismissed criticisms from within her party that she organized relatively few debates and scheduled them at times when viewership might be lower than average in order to protect former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s position as the long-standing front-runner for the nomination. Sanders has recently been drawing near or even, overtaking Clinton in some opinion polls as the first voting draws near, beginning with caucuses in Iowa on Feb. 1 and the New Hampshire election on Feb. 9. “We have no plans to sanction any further debates before the upcoming First in the Nation caucuses and primary,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement, “but will reconvene with our campaigns after those two contests to review our schedule.” (Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Richard Chang) SAP is the sponsor of this coverage which is independently produced by the staff of Reuters News Agency. |
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| There is nothing about Obama s executive order gun grab. Barack Hussein Obama has an agenda that, for some reason, no one in America seems to be able to stop. From the video showing fake tears flowing from Obama s left eye, to every false word uttered from his mouth, it is clear he will stop at nothing to fundamentally change America, just as he promised the American voter when he campaigned back in 2007. The White House released a fact-sheet Jan. 4 which previews the executive gun control Obama will unveil Tuesday and one aspect of the new controls is the inclusion of information from the Social Security Administration in the background check system about beneficiaries who are prohibited from possessing a firearm. On July 18 Breitbart News reported on Obama s push to ban gun-possession for Social Security beneficiaries who are believed incapable of handling their own finances.At that same time, the Los Angeles Times reported that a ban was being put together outside of public view, so all the details were not known. But the Times did know that the ban would cover those who are unable to manage their own affairs for a multitude of reasons from subnormal intelligence or mental illness to incompetency, an unspecified condition, or disease. The ban pertaining to Social Security beneficiaries is now tucked into the mental health aspects of Obama s executive gun control.According to the White House executive order preview:Current law prohibits individuals from buying a gun if, because of a mental health issue, they are either a danger to themselves or others or are unable to manage their own affairs. The Social Security Administration (SSA) has indicated that it will begin the rulemaking process to ensure that appropriate information in its records is reported to NICS. The reporting that SSA, in consultation with the Department of Justice, is expected to require will cover appropriate records of the approximately 75,000 people each year who have a documented mental health issue, receive disability benefits, and are unable to manage those benefits because of their mental impairment, or who have been found by a state or federal court to be legally incompetent. The rulemaking will also provide a mechanism for people to seek relief from the federal prohibition on possessing a firearm for reasons related to mental health.Again, the push for a ban on gun possession for certain Social Security beneficiaries was already in the works during the’summer, but it is also incorporated into the mental health aspect of Obama s executive gun control.And this means that information on beneficiaries who meet the criteria of mental impairment demonstrated in part by an inability to manage their own benefits will be added to the National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS) so that the beneficiaries cannot buy a gun. Via: Breitbart News |
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| Next stop after BREXIT is the US! Judge Jeanine nails it and says we need to know the facts to fight this elitist agenda. We re tired of being lectured to by the fat cats in Washington . |
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| Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed sharply in a debate on Thursday over their support for President Barack Obama, with Sanders accusing Clinton of “a low blow” after she compared him to Republicans. As the Democratic race moves to states with large minority populations, both candidates openly courted black and Hispanic votes during a debate that was far more restrained and cordial than last week’s contentious debate in New Hampshire. In the sharpest exchange of the night, Clinton attacked Sanders for being too critical of Obama, who is extremely popular with the black voters who will play a big role in the outcome in South Carolina and other upcoming nominating contests. “The kind of criticism that we’ve heard from Senator Sanders about our president, I expect from Republicans, I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama,” said Clinton, who served as secretary of state during Obama’s first term. “Madam Secretary, that is a low blow,” said Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont. Sanders said he had been an Obama ally in the Senate even if he did not always agree with him. “Do senators have the right to disagree with the president?” Sanders said. Clinton, who has eagerly embraced Obama’s legacy, said Sanders had called Obama weak and a disappointment, and “that goes further than saying we have our disagreements.” With Clinton looking to rebound after her crushing 22-point loss to Sanders in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, the two also differed over healthcare and Wall Street. Even so, the restrained exchange on Thursday was unlikely to change the trajectory of a race that has intensified dramatically over two weeks. Clinton accused Sanders of misleading Americans on his healthcare. She said his proposal for a single-payer, Medicare-for-all healthcare plan would mean dismantling the program known as Obamacare and triggering another intense political struggle. “Based on every analysis I can find by people who are sympathetic to the goal, the numbers don’t add up,” Clinton told Sanders. “That’s a promise that cannot be kept.” Sanders said he was simply moving to provide what most industrialized countries have - healthcare coverage for all. “We’re not going to dismantle anything,” Sanders said. “In my view healthcare is a right of all people, not a privilege, and I will fight for that.” Sanders also repeated his accusation that Clinton is too beholden to the Wall Street interests she once represented as a U.S. senator from New York, noting her Super PAC received $15 million in donations from Wall Street. “Let’s not insult the intelligence of the American people,” he said. “Why in God’s name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it, they want to throw money around.” Clinton said the donations did not mean she was in Wall Street’s pocket, and noted that President Barack Obama had taken donations from Wall Street during his campaigns. “When it mattered, he stood up and took on Wall Street,” she said. With an eye to on the minority vote, both candidates decried the high incarceration rate of African-Americans and called for broad reforms of the criminal justice system. Sanders said the disproportionately high rate of incarceration for black men was “one of the great tragedies” in the United States. He called for “fundamental police reform” that would “make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will in fact be dealt with.” Clinton criticized what she called “systemic racism” in education, housing and employment. “When we talk about criminal justice reform … we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing and other ways of helping communities of color,” she said. They both agreed on the need for immigration reform, an important issue to Hispanic voters, though they clashed over the Obama administration’s actions on handling a wave of undocumented children who entered the country alone. Clinton criticized Sanders for voting against a reform measure in 2007, which Sanders defended because of a provision in the bill for guest workers. Clinton entered Thursday’s debate under acute pressure to calm growing nervousness among her supporters after her drubbing in New Hampshire and a razor-thin win the prior week in the Iowa caucus. Both states have nearly all-white populations. For his part, Sanders, who calls himself a democratic socialist, hoped to harness the momentum and enthusiasm he gained from the first two contests and prove he can be a viable contender to lead the Democratic Party to victory in the Nov. 8 presidential election. “What our campaign is indicating is that the American people are tired of establishment politics,” Sanders said. “They want a political revolution.” Clinton dodged an opportunity to distance herself from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s recent controversial comments that there was “a special place in hell” for women who don’t support other women. “Look, I think that she’s been saying that for as long as I’ve known her, which is about 25 years. But it doesn’t change my view that we need to empower everyone, women and men, to make the best decisions in their minds that they can make,” she said. On the foreign policy front, Sanders criticized Clinton for her warm relationship for Henry Kissinger, who served as secretary of state under Republican President Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War. Sanders called Kissinger “one of the most destructive secretaries of state.” Asked by Clinton about who his foreign policy advisers were, Sanders shot back: “Well it ain’t Henry Kissinger.” The race now moves to what should be more favorable ground for Clinton in Nevada and South Carolina, states with more black and Hispanic voters, who, polls show, have been more supportive of Clinton so far. (Additional reporting by Amanda Becker, Alana Wise and Megan Cassella in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler) 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. |
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| This woman s having trouble entering the Walmart so people go to help her SHE SPITS ON THEM! Her reasoning for this disgusting behavior is that Americans are pushing us around . She’s arrested BUT what happens next is what s so disturbing.A Saudi Arabian national faces hate crimes charges after allegedly spitting on several people at a Florida Walmart.Nuha Mohammed Al-Doaifi was arrested in Palm Bay after police responded to a 911 call, Florida Today reported Tuesday.The 21-year-old, who was with her 2-year-old son at the time, allegedly admitted to authorities she’spat on several people because Americans are pushing us around. The incident began, police said, when a woman approached Al-Doaifi when she appeared to be having difficulty entering the Walmart. All I was trying to do was tell her she was coming in through the out door, Terry Rakowski told Florida Today. She was just ramming (her cart) into the door. The 39-year-old then claims the woman spat in her face. She just spit all over me, she’said.Al-Doaifi then allegedly did the’same thing to several others inside the Walmart. Her actions were directed at random people based on their ethnicity, and that s according to her own statement, said a spokeswoman for the Palm Bay Police Department.BUT THIS IS WHAT S EVEN MORE DISTURBING:Don t bother trying to hit the link to the original source Florida Today . As soon as this story started to appear at other websites they yanked the’story, scrubbed it completely. You can’t even find the original report by searching for this woman s name, all you get is a 404 page not found. It s like it never happened and she doesn’t exist.Apparently, hate crimes is a one way street, especially when committed by a Muslim against white folks.You have to wonder why she’s even here if she hates white Americans so much. The next question is whether the Obama regime will deport her back to the big sandbox from whence she came.I m gonna say, probably not.VIA: BLUR BRAIN |
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| Sit back, relax, and enjoy the left telling their viewers and fans how Donald Trump will never win the presidency.Now watch the’same media and Hollywood freaks meltdown over Trump’s win that they said would never happen. It s hard to imagine how much hate these poor liberals have in their hearts.So, just how much has President Trump accomplished since he won’the election on November 8, 2016?Vice President Mike Pence offers a list of President Trump’s accomplishments since he won’the election, only one year ago today:Thanks to the president s leadership, the American economy is roaring. Businesses have created nearly 1.5 million new jobs. Manufacturers haven’t been this confident in 20 years. The’stock market is setting records, creating nearly $5 trillion in wealth for the pension, retirement and savings of the American people. And after eight years of lackluster growth, the economy has already expanded by at least 3% for two quarters in a row.The U.S. economy is making a comeback because President Trump has taken decisive action to spur a new era of opportunity, prosperity and growth.We ve unleashed American energy, approved the Keystone and Dakota pipelines, and under President Trump, the war on coal is over.We re appointing originalists to the federal courts, to uphold the Constitution and all our God-given liberties. And President Trump put Justice Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.President Trump has also taken decisive action to ensure the’safety and security of the American people, at home and abroad. He has stood without apology with the men and women of law enforcement. We re securing our borders, enforcing our laws and taking the gang members, drug dealers and violent criminals off our streets.The president is putting our veterans first. He signed bills to restore accountability to the Department of Veterans Affairs and give veterans access to the world-class care they’deserve.We re rebuilding our military. President Trump has already signed the largest increase in defense spending in nearly 10 years, and we are working with Congress to pass one of the largest investments in the national defense since the days of Ronald Reagan.With renewed American strength, the president is achieving real results on the international stage.Our NATO allies are contributing more to our common defense. ISIS is on the run, and its caliphate is crumbling. This president reaffirmed the credibility of American power when he enforced a red line against chemical weapons in Syria. He put Iran on notice and made it clear that we cannot certify the Iran nuclear deal. And our administration has brought unprecedented economic and diplomatic pressure to bear on North Korea.It has been a year of accomplishments, and we’re just getting started. Before this year is out, we ll pass historic tax cuts for the American people. And with President Trump’s leadership, I know: We will Make America Great Again. |
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| A clear violation of Obama s lopsided deal with Iran Hey Barry do you still think Iran wants to be our friend? What was the rush for America to cave to Iran while totally ignoring their nuclear ambitions? Iran unveiled a new underground missile depot on Tuesday with state television showing Emad precision-guided missiles in store which the United States says can’take a nuclear warhead and violate a 2010 U.N. Security Council resolution.The defiant move to publicize Iran s missile program seemed certain’to irk the United States as it plans to dismantle nearly all sanctions on Iran under a breakthrough nuclear agreement.Tasnim news agency and state television video said the underground facility, situated in mountains and run by Iran s Revolutionary Guards, was inaugurated by the’speaker of parliament, Ali Larijani. Release of one-minute video followed footage of another underground missile depot last October.The United States says the Emad, which Iran tested in October, would be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and U.S. officials say Washington will respond to the Emad tests with fresh sanctions against Iranian individuals and businesses linked to the program.Iran s boasting about its missile capabilities are a challenge for U.S. President Barack Obama s administration as the United States and European Union plan to dismantle nearly all international sanctions against Tehran under the nuclear deal reached in July. Via: Reuters |
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| After years of debate, the House on Thursday voted to repeal key parts of the Affordable Care Act and replace them with new provisions.The vote, which President Donald Trump was planning to tout as a big victory, sends the Republican-sponsored bill to gut Obamacare to the Senate for consideration.But winning approval for the bill could be even more difficult in the Senate than it has been in the House, where Republican leaders struggled for nearly two months to wrangle enough votes in their caucus to secure its passage.The bill passed by a vote of 217 to 213. All 193 Democrats voting opposed the bill; they were joined by 20 Republicans voting no. A lot of us have waited seven years to case this vote, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said shortly before the voting began. Many of us are here because we pledged to cast this vote: to repeal and replace Obamacare. This bill delivers the promises we have made to the American people, Ryan said.House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., told MSNBC shortly before the vote began, We were elected to do this. After the vote, protesters outside the Capitol building yelled, Shame, shame! at members of Congress walking down the front steps. CNBCWashington Free Beacon One of the amendments, introduced by Rep. Tom MacArthur (R., N.J.), co-chair of the Tuesday Group, allows states to obtain a waiver from federal standards such as essential health benefits and community rating rules. This measure gained the’support of House Freedom Caucus members, who said it will significantly lower health costs, even if it does not fully repeal Obamacare. The MacArthur amendment will grant states the ability to repeal cost driving aspects of Obamacare left in place under the original AHCA, said the House Freedom Caucus. While the revised version still does not fully repeal Obamacare, we are prepared to support it to keep our promise to the American people to lower health care costs. Another amendment, introduced by Rep. Fred Upton (R., Mich.) adds $8 billion to the Patient and State Stability Fund, which helps reduce premiums and out-of-pocket costs. This amendment would provide additional funding, $8 billion over five years, to ensure a strong safety net and reduce premiums, or other out-of-pocket costs, for those with preexisting conditions, said Upton.Following the amendment, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that the White House supported the measure and that President Trump has been working to ensure that Americans have more affordable care. Overall the efforts that were made, and especially the effort this morning with congressmen Long and Upton, help bring more people into this effort and make it even a stronger bill, and ensure that Americans have a health care system that gets them the care that they need at a price that s affordable, Spicer said. The president has been on the phone constantly, Spicer said. I think we have made this an unbelievable bill and an unbelievable replacement for Obamacare, which is failing, and that s what we’ve sought to do from the beginning. |
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| Skipping customs at JFK might seem like a great thing for passengers arriving on an international flight BUT those passengers might be putting all Americans in danger by doing so. For the’second time in a few months, a flight into JFK let passengers bypass customs. JFK is known to have a brutal customs time that can be up to two hours but the choice should be obvious just do it: New York remains the number one target for terrorists and it just made me think of Paris and how easy it would be for them to get in, he’said. It s incompetence like this that could lead to another attack. Passengers arriving at Kennedy Airport on an international flight were allowed to exit the busy hub without going through Customs for at least the’second time in recent months.Bumbling airline and security officials let travelers on American Airlines Flight 1223 from Cancun, Mexico, out of the airport on Monday morning without having their passports or bags checked, sources told The News.The’security lapse mirrored a similar incident involving another American Airlines flight in November.A 34-year-old man who had been in Cancun to attend three Phish concerts told The News he was able to glide from the plane to the baggage claim area without having to endure the usual maze of Customs and Border Protection security checks. It s absolutely absurd, the business adviser said. To think that anyone could be walking off of that plane and just get right into the city. It could be terrorists, El Chapo s henchmen, anyone. The jam band fan said he even approached a Transportation Security Administration agent near the exit, but was told he was free to go.A man who had been in Cancun to attend three Phish concerts told The News he was able to glide from the plane to the baggage claim area without having to endure Customs and Border Protection security checks. I told them what happened and asked them what should I do, the passenger said. They said to me That s fine, you’re OK. Go ahead. Several other concertgoers who were on the flight were already outside at the curbside cab line when he exited the airport.Neither the TSA, which screens passengers before they fly, nor the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security, responded to a request for comment.It was unclear how many of the passengers from the flight were able to skip the’security checkpointsHours after the plane landed, American Airline officials pleaded with the Manhattan man and presumably other passengers to return to Kennedy and complete the customs process. I apologize for any inconvenience this may be for you; however it is a Customs requirement that every passenger entering the United States must clear Customs, the airline wrote in an email sent to passengers. You could tell that they knew they screwed up and were desperate to get me to come, the passenger added.The oversight sparked fears that terrorists could easily slip into the country without having to pass through any checkpoints. New York remains the number one target for terrorists and it just made me think of Paris and how easy it would be for them to get in, he’said. It s incompetence like this that could lead to another attack. A nearly identical incident involving another American Airlines flight from Cancun unfolded in November, just two days after ISIS released a video threatening New York City with a terrorist attack, The News reported. ISIS THREAT TO NYC: Via: NYDN |
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| One of the cornerstones of Donald Trump’s campaign for president has been that he’s going to keep jobs here at home. He s made it one of the key talking points at his many, many rallies. However, it doesn’t seem like he really gives a rat s ass about preventing outsourcing when it comes to his own wallet.Back in March, Trump’said: Our companies are leaving our country rapidly, rapidly Frankly I m disgusted with it. Although, that really doesn’t seem to be the case considering he’s making a profit off investing in the companies he’s very disgusted with. According to Bloomberg: Trump has denounced units of United Technologies Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Mondelez International Inc. on the campaign trail and has received income of as much as $75,000 from bonds issued by all three since January 2015, according to his latest financial disclosure form released Tuesday. He also has invested in Apple Inc. s stock and bonds even though in February he called for a boycott of the company for refusing to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation unlock an iPhone used by a terrorist in San Bernardino, California. In fact, only last month did Trump call out Ford Motor Co. by name when he’said: Carrier has to know that if they’do that and I m not only speaking to them, I m speaking to Nabisco and Ford and hundreds and hundreds of other companies they have to know that there are consequences when you want to leave and fire all these people You re not just going to go to another country, make your product, sell it across our really weak borders. Yeah, Trump hates it so much, just like a dog hates a peanut butter covered bone. Mmmhmmm The man is a walking and talking lie machine. His face could literally be next to the word hypocrite in the dictionary. Not that any of his supporters have ever opened a dictionary, or for that matter, a book.Trump is not only bad for the United States, but for the entire world. If he were to actually win the presidency, the rest of the world would look at us as thought we’re crazy. We re only now getting over the embarrassment of George W. Bush, and Trump is a million times worse. At least Bush had policy experience, Trump doesn’t even have that.Enough is enough, America. Trump is bad news and only has his own self-interests at heart, and all the proof you need is in the fact that he’s profiting off American loss. He also made a point of saying back in 2006 that he hoped the real estate market tanked so he could buy up all the properties to make a profit.He only wants to be president for himself, and not to make America great again, because guess what, America is already great, and that slogan is just coded language that means go back to the time before a black man was president. And don’t say it s not, because many of his biggest supporters are white supremacists.If you care at all about the well-being of the many and not just the few vote blue.Featured Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images |
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| The information is spilling out little by little but we now know that HILLARY CLINTON put America s National Security at risk when she peddled influence for money using our State Department. Is there any doubt that she’s lived up to her name Crooked Hillary ? What s even worse is that the FBI wanted to investigate The Clinton Foundation but Obama s DOJ blocked the investigation. This is exactly why an outsider like Donald Trump is what we need ASAP!The Trump campaign seized on reports Thursday that the Obama administration rejected requests from three FBI field offices that wanted to open public corruption cases involving the Clinton Foundation and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. After banks alerted the field offices to suspicious activity involving the Clinton family charity, the FBI wanted to investigate conflicts of interest stemming from foreign donations during Mrs. Clinton s tenure as secretary of state, CNN reported. Today s news that President Obama s Department of Justice overruled three separate DOJ field offices and the FBI in declining to open a public corruption charge against the Clinton Foundation shows a troubling pattern of Obama and Clinton politicizing any government institution for their own personal political interests, Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement. This latest refusal to allow even a cursory investigation into the Clinton Foundation s pay-for-play dealings smacks of political favoritism. This is exactly why the American public has lost trust in the U.S. government and is ready to elect an outsider like Donald Trump, Mr. Miller said. Read more: WT |
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| U.S. President Donald Trump is undermining international stability with his decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel s capital and move the U.S. embassy there, the leader of Germany s Social Democrats (SPD) said on Wednesday. Affirming his support for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, Martin Schulz said Trump s decision, taken despite warnings from a wide range of U.S. allies, risked setting back the peace process in the Middle East. Trump is due to announce later on Wednesday that the United States recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will move its embassy there, breaking with longtime U.S. policy and possibly stirring unrest. |
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| The White House announced on Friday that it was confident the Russian government, hiding behind the anonymous Guccifer 2.0 moniker, has been unilaterally responsible for a series of breaches and leaks against the Democratic National Committee and other Democratic political entities for one reason to tilt the election in favor of Donald Trump. The Obama Administration is asking state and local election officials to be vigilant and seek cybersecurity assistance, which most states have agreed to do.Without mentioning Trump by name, Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, said in a statement: These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process. Such activity is not new to Moscow the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there.We believe, based on the’scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities. It appears the truth is out Trump’s newfound BFF and idol, Russian President Vladimir Putin, is in the hot seat, and his cronies will have to answer for their rigging of our election system.This confirmation comes several weeks after Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees have come to the’same conclusion; that Russia is, indeed, behind the recent hackings. Rep. Adam Schiff, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, applauded the White House s response, and called on it to release their findings to the pubic: I applaud the administration s decision to publicly name Russia as the’source of hacks into U.S. political institutions. All of us should be gravely concerned when a foreign power like Russia seeks to undermine our democratic institutions, and we must do everything in our power to guard against it. Congress knows it. The White House knows it. The media knows it. The voters know it. Russia is trying to influence this election and get their friend and ally Donald J. Trump elected.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images |
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| President Donald Trump on Wednesday trumpeted plans for $1 trillion in U.S. infrastructure spending as he struggles to gain momentum for his economic agenda amid growing attention on the probe into alleged ties between his campaign and Russia. “America wants to build,” Trump said. “There is no limit to what we can achieve. All it takes is a bold and daring vision and the will to make it happen.” Speaking in Cincinnati, Ohio, Trump reviewed a proposal announced earlier this year to leverage $200 billion in his budget proposal into a $1 trillion of projects to privatize the air traffic control system, strengthen rural infrastructure and repair bridges, roads and waterways. Trump said he would not allow the United States to become a “museum of former glory.” He spoke about backing large transformative projects but did not give specifics. “We will construct incredible new monuments to American grit that inspire wonder for generations and generations,” he said. Trump pointed to a government program that allows the private sector to tap into low-cost government loans called the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act as a way to leverage federal funds with state, local, and private sector funding. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said at a Senate hearing on Wednesday that administration plans to unveil a detailed legislative proposal by the end of September. Democrats want $1 trillion in new federal spending and proposed a plan that includes $200 billion in roads and bridges,$20 billion in expanding broadband Internet access, $110 billion for water systems and $75 billion for schools. Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer said the Trump budget unveiled in May cuts $206 billion in infrastructure spending across several departments, including $96 billion in planned highway trust fund spending. The Ohio visit was the second leg of a week-long White House focus on infrastructure. On Monday the president proposed spinning off air traffic control from the Federal Aviation Administration. The proposal to privatize air traffic control has run into skepticism and opposition from Democratic senators and some Republicans. The infrastructure push comes as the White House seeks to refocus attention on core promises to boost jobs and the economy that Trump made last year during his presidential campaign. Those pledges have been eclipsed by the furor over Russia’s alleged meddling in the election. That drama will come to a head on Thursday when former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, who was leading the Russia probe until Trump fired him last month, testifies before a Senate panel. |
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| U.S.-led coalition air strikes killed dozens of Syrian soldiers on Saturday, endangering a U.S.-Russian ceasefire and prompting an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting as tensions between Moscow and Washington escalated.Just a few days ago it was reported that Putin felt that if anything happened to damage the tentative ceasefire agreement that it would be Obama s fault. Seems he was right.Reuters reported:The United States military said the coalition stopped the attacks against what it had believed to be Islamic State positions in northeast Syria after Russia informed it that Syrian military personnel and vehicles may have been hit. The United States relayed its regret through the Russian government for what it described as the unintentional loss of life of Syrian forces in the’strike, a senior Obama administration official said in an emailed statement. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in an emailed statement that Russian officials did not voice concerns earlier on Saturday when informed that coalition aircraft would be operating in the’strike area. The 15-member Security Council met on Saturday night after Russia demanded an emergency session to discuss the incident and accused the United States of jeopardizing the Syria deal. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, chastised Russia for the move. Russia really needs to stop the cheap point scoring and the grandstanding and the’stunts and focus on what matters, which is implementation of something we negotiated in good faith with them, Power told reporters. She’said the United States was investigating the air strikes and if we determine that we did indeed strike Syrian military personnel, that was not our intention and we of course regret the loss of life. When asked if the incident spelled the end of the Syria deal between Moscow and Washington, Russia s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said: This is a very big question mark. I would be very interested to see how Washington is going to react. If what Ambassador Power has done today is any indication of their possible reaction then we are in serious trouble, Churkin told reporters. Moscow cited the’strikes, which allowed Islamic State fighters to briefly overrun a Syrian army position near Deir al-Zor airport, as evidence that the United States was helping the jihadist militants. We are reaching a really terrifying conclusion for the whole world: That the White House is defending Islamic State. Now there can be no doubts about that, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying. Power said Zakharova should be embarrassed by that claim. Churkin said Russia had no specific evidence of the United States colluding with Islamic State militants. The Syrian conflict has been a tug-o-war between Washington and Moscow for some time now. Both Putin an Obama have pulled maneuvers that could have been detrimental to all involved, but this latest air-strike was such an obvious and epic failure that Obama can’t hide from. We have all felt that he’supports the Islamic State terror group and if this accident doesn’t show that then nothing will. Lets hope an pray that the ramifications aren’t too harsh.The discussions are still being maintained in a diplomatic way thankfully and they haven’t reached a level of action by Russia against the U.S. as of yet.H/T [ Reuters ] |
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| It s not often enough that we see a story about a good police officer who goes above and beyond the call of duty, which is why this story is so awesome.It s true that police officers around the country have developed a bad reputation. There are bad apples in every department who can’t keep their guns holstered, and they end up killing unarmed individuals for no reason. The fallout has been swift. And rightfully so.But there are good cops out there who not only do the right thing at work, they’do extraordinary things off the clock as well which should be newsworthy, too.Take Damon Cole of the Fort Worth Police Department in Texas, for example.When he isn’t fighting crime as a police officer, Cole takes two weeks off every year and spends it traveling the country visiting cancer-stricken children in hospitals dressed as different superhero characters. And he does this on his own time with his own money. I dress up as different Superheroes (Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Captain America and Baymax) and I travel the country seeing children with cancer on my own time and money, he explained on Facebook. After winter is over I will take 2 weeks off from work and I will go through 20 states in my custom 2012 Superman Dodge Charger to all the children s hospitals. If anyone on here knows of any children who are sick or have cancer, PM and I will go see them. I do NOT charge anything, I do all this on my own time and money. I will go anywhere to make a child happy. I also go to schools or any community functions to talk to kids about being a police officer then a become a Superhero for them. Back in October I took a week off from work and I drove to Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, New York City and Tennessee to see children with cancer. Here are several photos of Cole in action.Cole even started a non-profit organization called Heroes and Cops Against Childhood Cancer.Here s the full post on Facebook.// < ![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>This guy is the kind of hero every police officer should aspire to be both in and out of uniform.Featured Image: Facebook |
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| Unreal! Mooch gets millions for Pakistani girls? The American’taxpayers should be outraged by this! Let Pakistan empower its own people! Michelle Obama has been traveling all over the world with the Let Girls Learn initiative as her pet project. The only thing is that most of the places she’s traveled to have a great track record with educating girls. It s just one big around the world vacation for Mooch compliments of the American’taxpayer. Judicial Watch s Tom Fitton had this to say about the trip: The Obama family continues to bill the taxpayers for costly tourism jaunts thinly disguised as humanitarian crusades EUROPEAN VACATION: MOOCH RUNS UP A HUGE TAB COMPLIMENTS OF THE TAXPAYERS Could someone please remind this woman that America is BROKE! As public schools around the United States suffer through a perpetual financial crisis, the Obama administration commits a breathtaking $70 million to help educate girls in a terrorist nation known as Al Qaeda headquarters. It s part of the First Lady s initiative (Let Girls Learn) to educate and empower an estimated 62 million girls in third-world countries who are not in school. A noble cause indeed, but it s costing American’taxpayers huge sums while kids especially minorities in this country struggle in schools that aren’t adequately funded, according to public education advocates. We know that countries with more girls in secondary school tend to have lower maternal mortality rates, lower infant mortality rates, lower rates of HIV/AIDS, and better child nutrition, according to the initiative s website. But too often, a girl who could change her world for the better is locked out of that future by the circumstances of her birth or the customs of her community. So it s Uncle Sam to the rescue. The government of Pakistan, which is included in the State Department s Country Reports on Terrorism, will get the $70 million to promote education among 200,000 girls and young women age 10-19. The announcement was initially made during a White House event this month with the wife and daughter of Pakistan s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif. The program will serve as a platform and catalyst for broader political and social commitment to strengthen girls education and empowerment in Pakistan, according to a government announcement. Young women in Pakistan face barriers and lack of access to education opportunities from an early age due to poverty, cultural norms, and geographic isolation, the announcement states. The question remains; should American’tax dollars go to this foreign education cause when public schools in this country have been hurting for years? Besides financial troubles, there s an epidemic of low-performing schools and dismal graduation rates around the country, especially in the nation s inner cities. They could probably use a few million to create programs that might help improve academic performance or perhaps empower needy students like the multi-million-dollar allocation is predicted to help empower girls in Pakistan. The public school district in the Obamas own hometown of Chicago could use some extra cash. By Thanksgiving as many as 5,000 teachers could be laid off unless the 367,499-student district Chicago Public Schools gets a $500 million bailout from the’state. A recent editorial in the area s mainstream newspaper says that it has been a disastrous time for Chicago Public Schools. The piece is accompanied by an illustration of a yellow school bus with Corruption & Politics in our Schools plastered across the’side. Districts across the nation are in similar situations. In Detroit, Michigan the public school system has a $515 million debt and among the nation s worst performing students. Read more: Judicial Watch |
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| Donald Trump has crossed another line that should disqualify him from running for president.During a speech to a crowd in Ottumwa, Iowa on Saturday, Trump expressed praise for North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un for solidifying his power by spilling the blood of his family members and political opponents. You ve got to give him credit, Trump gushed. How many young guys he was like 26 or 25 when his father died take over these tough generals and all of a sudden, you know, it s pretty amazing when you think of it. How does he do that? Even though it is a culture, and it s a culture thing, he goes in, he takes over, he’s the boss. It s incredible. He wiped out the uncle, he wiped out this one, that one. I mean this guy doesn’t play games. Here s the video via YouTube. The relevant remarks begin at the 41 minute marker.Yeah, you heard that. A Republican presidential candidate who desires to be the leader of the free world admires a ruthless dictator for the way he executes people who might be a challenge to his power. Doesn t that sound like a dangerous threat to democracy?And it s not like Trump hasn’t been leaning toward being a dictator throughout his campaign. After all, we’re talking about a guy who has no problem with throwing people out into the freezing cold or letting his supporters beat up protesters.Donald Trump has displayed a frightening level of hostility toward his opponents and people who don’t support him or his policies. He has taken political discourse to an all new low over the last year by attacking Republican and Democratic presidential candidates below the belt. He has also made it clear that he has no respect for women and would treat anyone who isn’t a conservative white guy with utter contempt. If anyone has the capacity to become America s first tyrant, it s Donald Trump.And that s why it is scary to hear him praise Kim Jong-Un and his deadly power tactics.Featured Image: flickr |
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| Negotiations to surrender currently live-streaming from the’scene on YouTube (below)Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy arrested on way to Malheur wildlife refuge, will appear in court at 1.30pm PTRemaining militia members had tentatively agreed to walk off refuge at 8am PT after night of frantic negotiationsFranklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, arrived at the’standoff site in Burns, Ore., around 8 a.m. PT., at about the time when one of the occupiers, Sean Anderson, said the group planned to turn themselves in at a nearby FBI checkpoint.Graham, who is based in North Carolina, said on his Facebook page that he had been speaking with the four holdouts by phone everyday at the request of the protesters and the FBI. Last night I was on the phone with them for several hours, was able to have prayer with them, and they have said they would come out today, he’said in the Wednesday night post. I am on my way there and hope to be there by 7:00 AM their time. Please keep them, law enforcement officials, and all involved in your prayers, that everyone will be safe. In the final moments leading up to the planned surrender, discussions between the holdouts and Nevada lawmaker Michele Fiore, a sympathizer who flew to Oregon, were being livestreamed in an online broadcast.LIVE FEED:SLOW MOTION VIDEO Of protester and patriot, Lavoy Finicum shooting death by FBI:Oregon Protester s Interview Voicing Concerns The Day Before He Was Killed WATCH VIDEO HERE18:22 Cliven Bundy charged with assault, conspiracySome breaking news from outside of the refuge: The Associated Press is reporting that Cliven Bundy has been charged with assault and conspiracy for his 2014 standoff with the federal government at his Nevada ranch.The 69-year-old rancher has for years refused to pay grazing fees to the government to have his cattle use public lands. The dispute reached a head when federal officials attempted to seize his cattle and armed anti-government protesters came to his aid.He still owes the government more than $1m.Cliven Bundy was arrested late Wednesday night in Portland. Earlier in the evening, he told the Guardian he was on his way to Oregon to support the occupiers. He is currently in jail in Portland.13:17 David Fry is telling the more than 25,000 listeners on the live YouTube stream that he fears going to prison. They need to address my grievances. They need to promise me absolute protection, Fry said. Even if I go to prison, they should promise me absolute protection. He also said he worried he would be attacked by other prisoners.Gavin Seim, the live-streamer, told him not to be afraid: Don t be intimidated by a jail or prison cell. He said the people in jail are like him others who have been abused by the government .Fry continued: I can’t come out guys. I can’t do it. 12:50 David Fry said on the live-stream that Jeff Banta, one of the four holdouts, is now leaving the occupation and surrendering.Fry, however, is now shouting demands at the FBI: Unless my grievances are heard, I will not come out! Gavin Seim, the live-streamer, tried to keep him calm: Go and walk out there like the others We ve got the world watching. They haven’t even promised anything, really. I didn’t agree to any of this, really. I m kind of worried that they are just going to ignore us, Fry said.Seim responded: It s in God s hands. 12:41 Occupiers walking outSean Anderson has just said that FBI officials have told them to exit the refuge one at a time. Michele Fiore is no longer on the live-feed. You coming out, Sean? Gavin Seim asked Coming out! Sean shouted on the video. They re walking toward us. It looks like they’ve got guns pointed at us, David Fry said, adding that Jeff Banta is next to him. They are basically patting her down and I think they are going to apprehend her there, Fry said of Sandy Anderson. Now, Sean is standing there holding the American flag in his hand. 12:16 Latest summaryNevada assemblywoman Michele Fiore and Franklin Graham, a high-profile reverend, are on their way to the Malheur national wildlife refuge headquarters in rural Harney County with FBI officials. The plan is to escort the occupation holdouts out.The four holdouts are: Sandy Anderson, 48, Sean Anderson, 47, Jeff Banta, 46, and David Fry, 27.The four were indicted by a federal grand jury last week on conspiracy charges and could face six years in prison.Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy was arrested in Portland last night and will appear in court at 1.30pm today.From evening of February 10:00:09: Occupiers say they will meet FBI at checkpoint at 8amThe tone of the occupiers is becoming more conciliatory.Sean Anderson tells Seim that the FBI has offered to meet them at a checkpoint at 8am (PST) on Thursday.He says the four of them have agreed to leave their weapons in their vehicles before approaching the checkpoint.Both Andersons say they want the media to be present at the checkpoint. The world s going to be watching, says Seim. They re not just going to haul you away into the darkness. 04:20The feed of the live phone call is at turns disturbing and downright surreal. There was just a moment of sheer panic when Sean Anderson announced he was going to light an outdoor heater. I am going to light a propane heater cos we are standing out here freezing cold, he’said. Don t do that, don’t do that, replied Congresswoman Fiore.There appeared to be a frantic attempt to communicate with the FBI that the occupiers were on the cusp of lighting their heater, so they’didn’t misunderstand what was happening.Amid discussions about whether there were flammable materials in the area, and attempts to implore Anderson not to light the heater, he replied: I am going to go ahead and light this so my wife can be warm. If they shoot them that s on their fucking ass. He lit the heater. Lights are seen from the Narrows roadblock near Burns, Oregon, as FBI agents surrounded the remaining four occupiers at the Malheur national wildlife refuge. Photograph: Thomas Boyd/AP23:02 More vehicles are approaching the refuge, the occupiers are saying.They broke through our barricades, they object.22:59 Fiore: I m not asking you to give up Fiore who appears to be acting as a curious mixture of negotiator and cheerleader tells the occupiers that they are engaged in a battle to take America back.She is being driven to the refuge now, in a journey expected to take around four hours.Fiore says her cellphone signal might drop as they’drive through mountains, but says the FBI will not act while the’signal is down (we don’t have confirmation of that alleged agreement from the FBI). In order to stay alive, I have to submit and be a slave, Sean Anderson shouts. He compares himself to Braveheart. I m not asking you to give up, Fiore tells him.22:50 Associated Press has further background information on two of the occupiers, husband and wife Sean and Sandy Anderson:The husband and wife moved from the town of Janesville, Wisconsin, within the last several years to Riggins, Idaho, where Sean, 47, opened a store for hunting, tactical and survival gear. Sandy, 48, worked at a gas station.Idaho County, where they live, and Harney County, 290 miles away where the refuge is located, are similar in many ways. Both have large portions of land managed by federal agencies and populations chafing at restrictions put on that land.Idaho county sheriff Doug Giddings said the Andersons are good residents, though he didn’t know as much about Sean as he did about Sandy. She’s a good person, she’s just upset with the government, he told Oregon Public Broadcasting.Sean Anderson is facing misdemeanor charges in Wisconsin for resisting an officer, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of THC, the intoxicating chemical in marijuana.He also has pleaded guilty to a series of misdemeanors in recent years: domestic abuse in December 2010, disorderly conduct in 2008, criminal trespass in a dwelling in 2002, and disorderly conduct in 1999.A friend of the couple, Lindsey Dipo, told the Lewiston Tribune newspaper that the couple recorded their will on Dipo s cellphone before departing for Oregon.22:46 The occupiers and Fiore on the other end of the phone line break off frequently to pray.Sandy Anderson is angered because she’says the FBI negotiators interrupted one prayer session.Fiore says this is good it shows the FBI is listening to the broadcast and they know what is happening.22:43 If they won’t give us one more day we’re just going to stay here and fucking die, Sean Anderson says. 22:39 Cliven Bundy on his way to the refugeCliven Bundy has confirmed in a phone interview with the Guardian just now that he is on his way to the refuge. I hope I save some lives, for one thing, he’said.The elder Bundy said he decided to go to Harney County after he’saw the FBI was closing in on the occupiers:I guess if they wanted to murder somebody tonight, that d be a good way to do it.I don’t know whether I ll be a negotiator or maybe a demander. I think we oughta take this country back and I think it s time the feds get out of there.Bundy said he has not heard from law enforcement:I m not really talking to the FBI. As far as I m concerned, they have no jurisdiction or authority there.Bundy declined to say if anyone else was with him or how long it would take him to get there.22:35 Sean Anderson says he wants assurances that the four occupiers won’t face prosecution. They can drop charges, they’do it all the time for people who are way worse than we are, he told Fiore.The occupiers are also telling the assemblywoman that Franklin Graham, a reverend from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, is in discussions with them. The occupiers said the FBI may consider letting them walk out at 7am Thursday morning with Graham.But Sean Anderson said he wasn’t confident they would get out alive: How can we trust what they are saying? 22:32Sean Anderson, one of the occupiers, has just announced what he calls their concession that the four of them will leave the refuge in daylight on Thursday if they are allowed to be accompanied by Congresswoman Fiore and Christian evangelist Franklin Graham.He says the FBI must now offer its own concession in return.22:30According to a Facebook page associated with the militia, Cliven Bundy father of Ammon Bundy and himself involved in an earlier standoff with officials is on his way to the’site of the’siege.However, the FBI has reportedly told the four occupiers that nobody will be able to enter the property.22:26 Helicopters heard over the refugePaul Lewis Paul Lewis The live broadcast just captured the moment the occupiers heard helicopters above the refuge. The black hawks are here and they’re going to kill us, said one voice, which appeared to be David Fry, the most agitated of the occupiers.He added moments later: If they fire first, my weapon is in reach and I m going to take them with me. Gavin Seim, the rightwing activist who is running the Youtube broadcast, led a group prayer for those inside, and assured them that leader Ammon Bundy, who in prison, has been taken out of solitary confinement.Assemblywoman Michele Fiore who is also on the line, acting as a mediator is also encouraging the remaining occupiers to remain calm. I need you to stay alive. The only way we’re going to be able to write your story and write your book is if you stay alive. The occupiers appear to have a separate line to the FBI, and are relaying that they’ve been told no one will be allowed on to the refuge until they leave. They want us to leave. They said the time for concessions has passed, Sandy Anderson said.The details are sketchy, and the audio in parts inaudible, but it appears that one proposal is for a local figure, possibly a reverend, to join the occupiers and lead them off the’site.David Fry, the 27-year-old occupier from Ohio, has become increasingly agitated on the live stream, shouting at Fiore and his fellow protesters.Fry made headlines when he posted video of himself using government computers to create a website for the occupation.According to a recent profile of Fry by Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), his antics led many in the militia to grow frustrated with him, with some wanting him to leave.Fry had previously communicated with militia spokesman LaVoy Finicum online, and Finicum had reportedly encouraged the young occupier to stay.Fry s family told the radio station that he has frequently had problems with authorities. He s had his problems, some of which he’s brought on himself, his grandfather, William Fry, told OPB. He gets pulled over for busted taillights, and instead of just rolling down his window and handing over his insurance, he’screams at the officer, What the [expletive] do you want? And right there, a regular thing turns into him in handcuffs. Fry also often writes about conspiracy theories online.Via: The GuardianThe occupation at Malheur started on 2 January in response to the conviction of two local ranchers on arson charges. Our explainer has more on the background to the 40-day standoff:One protester has been shot dead and eight others were arrested on Tuesday after a confrontation between police and an armed group that has taken over a federal wildlife reserve in Oregon.What were the circumstances of the’shooting? The FBI said shots were fired after officers stopped a car carrying Ammon Bundy, the leader of the protests, and five others near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Activists said rancher Robert LaVoy Finicum was killed, and one person wounded. Finicum, 55, had been one of the main spokesmen for the occupation, appearing at daily news conferences, posting regular dispatches on his YouTube page and organising some of the most high-profile actions protesting against the federal government s regulation of public lands. Bundy and four other senior members were taken into custody following the confrontation along Highway 395 near the reserve in north-east Oregon at 4.25pm local time, the FBI said. Two others were arrested later, including Peter Santilli, a journalist who livestreamed events at the refuge.Is the’standoff over? No. FBI agents have set up a perimeter around the wildlife refuge, where an unknown number of people are still holding out. One of the remaining occupiers, Jason Patrick, told Reuters by phone that they would stay until the redress of grievances . He said: I ve heard peaceful resolution for weeks now and now there s a cowboy who is my friend who is dead so prepare for the peaceful resolution. How long has the occupation been going on, and why are they there? The takeover at Malheur started on 2 January after a peaceful protest in nearby Burns, Oregon, over the conviction of two local ranchers on arson charges. Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven Hammond, 46, said they lit fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires. The two were convicted three years ago. But in October a federal judge ruled their terms were too short and ordered them back to prison for about four years each. Among the demands by the group is for the Hammonds to be released. But the militia have more deep-seated grievances over land under federal government control. |
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| Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives were in discussions on Tuesday about how long to fund the federal government in a short-term spending measure expected to come to a vote as early as Wednesday. “I feel like we’re going to have a majority... for passing the CR (spending measure) we have this week,” House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters after a closed-door meeting with fellow House Republican members. “We’re having a good conversation with our members about timing and date ... and all the rest,” he added. The conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has enough members to block legislation, has pressed Republican leaders to consider a spending measure that expires on Dec. 30, eight days later than the Dec. 22 deadline that House and Senate Republicans have been discussing up to now. Ryan said the end date of the measure, known officially as a continuing resolution, or CR, would become known when it reaches the House floor. But House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions told reporters his panel would consider a continuing resolution that expires on Dec. 22. The committee later rescheduled its hearing on the legislation for 3 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Wednesday. Several other House Republicans, however, said members were still debating whether the funding would expire on Dec. 22 or on Dec. 30, after the Dec. 25 Christmas holiday. “It’s still being negotiated,” said Representative Greg Walden. A Senate Republican leadership aide sidestepped a question on what Senate leaders thought about the CR date. “If the House makes any changes to their bill, I’m sure they will let everyone know,” the aide said. |
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| Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny called on his supporters on Wednesday to hold street protests this weekend across Russia, in defiance of an official ban, to demand that Navalny be allowed to run in next year s presidential election. Navalny, a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, was jailed for 20 days on Monday for repeatedly violating laws governing the organization of public meetings and rallies. His arrest, the third this year, means that he will miss a campaign rally planned in Putin s hometown of St Petersburg on Oct. 7 - the Russian leader s birthday. Appealing to his supporters via his Facebook page, Navalny called on them to attend protests in both St Petersburg and Moscow on Saturday, adding that 80 of his support groups were meanwhile organizing protests across Russia. Our task is to make Oct. 7 the day when every decent person will pronounce aloud or to himself at least these two demands: political competition and Navalny s admission to the polls, he said in the appeal, which he said he had dictated from jail. The authorities have banned the planned weekend rallies in Moscow and St Petersburg, and the Kremlin warned on Tuesday that those calling for the protests would be prosecuted. Putin said earlier on Wednesday that he had not yet decided whether he would run for re-election in March 2018, something he is widely expected to do. Opinion polls show that if both Putin and Navalny were running, the incumbent would win by a wide margin. |
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| Thousands protested outside the U.S. Embassy in the Indonesian capital on Sunday against U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel s capital, many waving banners saying Palestine is in our hearts . Leaders in Indonesia, home to the world s largest Muslim population, have joined a global chorus of condemnation of Trump s announcement, including Western allies who say it is a blow to peace efforts and risks sparking more violence. Thousands of protesters in Muslim-majority countries in Asia have rallied in recent days to condemn the U.S. move. Israel maintains that all of Jerusalem is its capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state and say Trump s move has left them completely sidelined. Palestinian people were among the first to recognize Indonesia s independence in 1945, Sohibul Iman, president of the controversial Islamist opposition Prosperous Justice Party which organized the rally, told protesters. Indonesia should be more proactive in urging the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) member states and U.N. Security Council and the international community to respond immediately with more decisive and concrete political and diplomatic actions in saving the Palestinians from the Israeli occupation and its collaborator, the United States of America, Iman said. Indonesia as the world s largest Muslim country has the largest responsibility toward the independence of Palestine and the management of Jerusalem, he told reporters, adding that he hoped Indonesia would take a leading role within the OIC on the matter. Trump has disrupted world peace. It s terrible, one protester, Yusri, told Reuters. The decision was a major disaster for the Palestinian people, while the Palestinian s own rights have been taken away for a long time, said Septi, a student at the rally. Violence erupted for a third day in Gaza on Saturday in response to Trump s decision, which overturned decades of U.S. policy towards the Middle East. Indonesia s foreign minister left for Jordan on Sunday to meet the Palestinian and Jordanian foreign ministers to convey Indonesia s full support for Palestine . |
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| A Mike Pence rally in Nevada turned ugly when a military mom asked the vice presidential candidate about Donald Trump’s recent statements regarding Khizr Khan and his wife Ghazala. Rally goers viciously booed her and demanded to know why she was even there in the first place.The woman, who was later identified as identified as Catherine Byrne. began by explaining that her son is serving in the Air Force. Of course, the crowd cheered enthusiastically. But when she continued, their mood quickly did an about face: Time and time again, [Donald] Trump has disrespected our nation s armed forces and veterans. And his disrespect for Mr. Khan That was as far as she got before the crowd became vicious, booing her so fiercely that they’drowned out her words. Why are you here? one woman screamed angrily. But Byrne continued to speak You ve got a son in the military, how do you tolerate this disrespect? Pence finally stepped in after about 10 seconds and began to hush the crowd. That s OK, he’said. Pence then reiterated what he and said when he was confronted by protesters in Ohio last week: That s what freedom looks like, and that s what freedom sounds like. Pence then praised Capt. Humayun Khan and his family. Khan was killed in Iraq while serving in the United States military. His parents made headlines when they appeared at the Democratic National Convention and blasted Trump for his anti-Muslim rhetoric. The Republican nominee responded to Khizr Khan s criticism of his bigoted policies by attack them. Capt. Khan is an American hero and we honor him and honor his family, he’said. The’story of Capt. Khan is an incredibly inspiring story. But in the next breath, Pence defended Trump. I have never been around someone more devoted to the armed forces of this country, Pence said of Trump. There is no one more devoted to the veterans in this country. One of the people booing Byrne was Denise Martinez. She’said that she admired how Pence had dealt with the tense situation. I thought he handled it really, really well, she’said. Looking back, I think I would’ve taken the high road. He handled it the right way, the way I wish Trump would have, she added.Barbara Weisenthal was another woman who was booing. In her opinion, Khizr Khan had no right to speak about Trump the way he did at the DNC and his entire speech was almost like slander. Weisenthal added that the rally was probably not the best place for Byrne to ask her question.Jack Christenson, who is a veteran himself, argued that even though Byrne had the right to speak out thanks to the Constitution, she didn’t have the right to violate everyone else s rights by asking a question of a person running to be vice president.Roen Horn said Byrne was claiming that Trump was somehow insulting the veterans, which he’said was a bunch of crap. She was politicizing the veterans, he’said. She had an agenda. Featured image via Ralph Freso/Getty Images |
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| This is some pretty surreal stuff In the four years since the’start of Operation Vigilant Eagle, the government has steadily ramped up its campaign to silence dissidents, especially those with military backgrounds.The case of 26-year-old decorated Marine Brandon Raub who was targeted because of his Facebook posts, interrogated by government agents about his views on government corruption, arrested with no warning, labeled mentally ill for subscribing to so-called conspiratorial views about the government, detained against his will in a psych ward for standing by his views, and isolated from his family, friends and attorneys is a prime example of the government s war on veterans.Raub s case exposes the’seedy underbelly of a governmental system that is targeting Americans especially military veterans for expressing their discontent over America s rapid transition to a police state. Via: Conservative Post |
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| It s Memorial Day, which means that most across the country will be Barbecuing, spending time at the beach or just relaxing. Others are being reverent, remembering those who were lost during the nation s numerous wars. There s a new tradition, though, and conservatives won’t be happy. The tradition is to burn the Confederate flag.It started lat year and it wasn’t big. Several, including artists, and anyone who hates the tradition of Southern racism, joined together in an attempt to enlighten the world on what the Confederate flag stands for. The confederate flag is the N-word on a pole, said Sarasota, Florida, artist John Sims, who coordinated symbolic burials of the Confederate flag on Monday in the 13 states represented by the’stars of the flag, including Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi. Source: IB TimesThis year, organizer John Sims hopes that the movement will spread. Last year, it was over just 13 cities. This year, it could be nationwide, although you’don’t see a lot of Confederate flags outside of the South. So, Sims has made it easier. He s created a Burn and Bury kit that can be downloaded. You don’t even have to buy anything. You can print it.While this will definitely anger Trump voters (watch for lots of cries of political correctness. ), that s not why Sims is doing it. He, like so many in this country, hate what the flag stands for.Southern heritage groups like the Sons of Confederate Veterans have failed to recognized the unredeemable nature of the Confederate flag as symbol of Southern heritage, Sims told Think Progress. And to deny this flag s connection to American white supremacy and fear of the loss of white privilege is insane. I challenge the Sons of Confederate Veterans to come correct and acknowledge that the Confederate flag should be retired as an artifact. And after that they should help advocate for reparations for slavery. He added he hoped Burn and Bury Memorial Day would ritualistically confront through reflection and catharsis, the pain and trauma of a very horrific part of American history. Source: YahooFor those who defend the flag as just being part of Southern history, it is, but it s a shameful part of Southern history. Here s the designer of the Confederate flag, Thompson, speaking for himself:Image courtesy of MicThompson went on to describe it as a white man s flag:According to a recent survey, Republicans still love the thing. Fewer than half of Republicans believe the flag is racist. |
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| Germany s Social Democrat (SPD) Foreign Minister said on Thursday that his party would not be quick to agree to another grand coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, as party leaders met with the president in a bid to end political deadlock. Merkel is casting around for a coalition partner after her center-right bloc shed support to the far right in a Sept. 24 election. Her attempts to form a three-way tie-up with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens failed. The SPD, which saw its participation in a Merkel-led coalition government from 2013-17 rewarded with its worst election result in German post-war history, had been strongly opposed to another grand coalition . But under pressure from Germany s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, SPD leader Martin Schulz has signaled willingness to discuss a way out of the political impasse. SPD Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told broadcaster ZDF no one should expect his party - still ruling with the conservatives in a caretaker government - to immediately agree to join another grand coalition now that talks to form a three-way Jamaica alliance have failed. We re now in a process orchestrated by the president, in which we first need to look at what the possibilities are but no one can expect it to go quickly, he said, adding that it was up to the conservatives to show what they wanted. The conservatives, Greens and FDP took months to get nothing off ground so I d ask people not to put pressure on us, Gabriel said, adding that the conservatives needed to make clear what they wanted. Senior conservative and chancellery chief Peter Altmaier told ZDF the conservatives and SPD had presided over four years of economic prosperity and the SPD needed to decide if it would give that up or reconsider its decision to go into opposition. We re making the case for that because we think one of our trademarks, alongside Made in Germany , is Stability Made in Germany , Altmaier said. He added that many people expected Germany to manage to form a government, adding: Everyone has to live up to that. Steinmeier, a former SPD lawmaker and foreign minister, hosted a meeting on Thursday that lasted just over two hours between Merkel, her Bavarian conservative ally Horst Seehofer and Schulz, as part of his efforts to facilitate the formation of a stable government. The parties are all due to hold high-level meetings on Friday to discuss how to proceed. Sources in the SPD said all options would be discussed - ranging from a re-run of the grand coalition with the conservatives to new elections. Merkel is set to hold a telephone conference with senior party members on Friday to discuss the meeting with Steinmeier but the conservatives do not expect the SPD to agree to official coalition talks until after its party congress next week. Almost two-thirds of Germans, surveyed between Nov.22 and Nov.27, want the SPD to start talks with the conservatives on forming another coalition of the center-right and center-left, an Allensbach poll showed. The atmosphere has been soured by the decision of the conservative agriculture minister to back a European Union proposal to extend the use of a weedkiller for another five years - a measure opposed by the SPD. In reaction, SPD members have called for compensation and set various policy conditions. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, a conservative, told reporters a stable government was urgently needed to move ahead on security priorities such as hiring more police. He told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper that the conservatives were trying to form a stable government with the SPD, if the SPD would agree. He added: Only if this attempt fails do we need to think about other steps - not now. FDP leader Christian Lindner, who walked out of attempts to form the Jamaica alliance, told newspaper Rheinische Post a grand coalition would be more stable and more advantageous than a Jamaica tie-up.The business wing of Merkel s Christian Democrats called on Merkel to seriously consider a minority government, warning that another grand coalition would only be possible for the price of even more unaffordable promises in social policy. |
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| President Joseph Kabila has agreed to help aid reach a region of the Democratic Republic of Congo where ethnic conflict has spawned a humanitarian emergency, the head of the U.N. s World Food Programme said on Monday. WFP Executive Director David Beasley said he had also asked Congo s Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala to waive $9 million in administrative fees the organization had paid to the government, saying the sum could feed tens of thousands of people. This country is destabilizing and it needs attention because if we don t give the attention now it could impact the entire region, Beasley told reporters by phone from Kinshasa. The conflict in Kasai region turned Congo into the world s biggest displacement crisis this year. Although many people have started going home, Beasley said Congo still had about 600,000 children on the brink of starvation and 7.7 million severely malnourished people. While visiting Kasai, where WFP has 1 percent of the $135 million needed for the next eight months, he said he saw horror in the eyes of women and children as they told of beheadings and brutality. The Kasai region, it was rather appalling, in ways that are truly hard to explain, in ways you actually don t want to explain, he said. Beasley said he met Kabila for about 45 minutes before meeting ministers and explained that the trust of aid donors needed to be rebuilt and that the government must provide access, safety and visas. He gave me his assurances that he would do everything possible to address any and all needs that we brought to his attention, Beasley said. Beasley, a former governor of the U.S. state of South Carolina, told Congo s prime minister that WFP had paid the government $9 million in administrative fees just for access, just for being here , and asked him to scrap the fees. As I told the government, the prime minister, and the ministers, if you take that $9 million and I m feeding people at 31 cents a day, you can do the math - that s 75,000 people, give or take, that we can feed in an entire year, he said. Asked about the $9 million, government spokesman Lambert Mende said: That s the first time I ve heard of anything like that. We know that we have humanitarian needs because many people (in Kasai) are returning to their homes and we are working with our partners on that, Mende said. Beasley said there was donor fatigue but addressing the Kasai situation immediately would save lives and money. |
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| Of course tomorrow morning, the Democrat Party will put their heads together and after hours of damage control, they will tell Americans Wasserman-Schultz didn’t really mean what she’said. What is it about women in the Democrat Party (Hillary) who don’t really mean what they say?The Democratic National Committee has released a statement about the’shooting of 11 police officers in Dallas tonight. The’shooting took place at a Black Lives Matter protest against the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of police this week. In a press conference, the chief of the police department clearly said that there is no known link between the’snipers and the protesters.Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz didn’t get that memo. The’statement from the DNC looks like this:Pay attention to that penultimate paragraph. The last line, in particular, is noteworthy. And while most protesters have made their voices heard peacefully, tonight s shooting of officers in Dallas is unacceptable and a reminder that the time to address these tensions and find common ground is long overdue. What are you implying here, DWS?Image via: TwitterVia: Mediate |
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| My husband and I sat in a restaurant booth last night in Michigan and listened to group of college administrators talking about how best to address sexual fluidity in the classroom. I heard words like binary and confused and in search of sexual identity being thrown around as if they were the most important issues college kids are facing today. There was no mention of academics, it was all about a ensuring the faculty was in-tune and sensitive to their student s sexual identity. I was barely able to digest my food after listening to these administrators discussing what was of utmost importance to them in the college environment. I am more grateful than ever for conservative students like Grant Strobl, who are boldly standing up to the idiocy of political correctness .especially in my home state of Michigan A new policy at the University of Michigan allows students to choose their preferred pronouns including the gender-neutral they and ze to appear on class rosters.With that in mind, one conservative student, Grant Strobl, who is also chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom board of governors, decided to troll the university administration by officially requesting his pronoun to be changed to His Majesty. And it worked!Although Storbl says he has no problem with students asking to be identified a certain way, he thought it important to show just how ludicrous it is for universities to institutionalize the use of arbitrary pronouns and threaten disciplinary action if students and staff repeatedly fail to use them. I henceforth shall be referred to as: His Majesty, Grant Strobl. I encourage all U-M students to go onto Wolverine Access, and insert the identity of their dreams he told the College Fix.University of Michigan now allowing students to choose preferred pronouns, prompting student to troll school by choosing His Majesty. pic.twitter.com/n7po5mwTAo Fox News (@FoxNews) September 30, 2016The university vice president and provost of student life said employing preferred pronouns was one of the most basic ways to show your respect for their identity and to cultivate an environment that respects all gender identities. Students can now add or change their preferred pronouns, and the changes will only be shared with those who have a legitimate education interest in this information, according to the new website.Since the announcement, several students have followed Srobl s example, registering an array of of regal pronouns. Via: Heat Street |
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| U.S. President Donald Trump said he would discuss trade and military issues with the emir of Kuwait at the White House on Thursday, as well as tensions over Qatar. Trump, welcoming Kuwait’s Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah to the White House, said Kuwait was helping the United States in the Gulf and things were “coming along nicely.” Kuwait has been trying to heal a bitter dispute between Qatar and four Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, which say Doha supports regional foe Iran and Islamists, charges Qatar’s leaders deny. |
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| You won’t believe what passes for offensive these days A BANANA PEEL! Yes, a banana peel caused a Greek Life retreat to be cancelled at Ole Miss (University of Mississippi) Doesn t this make you wonder how these college kids will handle real life if they’re triggered or offended by just about everything they come across? Wow!HERE S THE LOWDOWN ON THE OFFENDING BANANA PEEL:A Greek Life retreat at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) was promptly cancelled this weekend after a banana peel was found hanging in a tree. To be clear, many members of our community were hurt, frightened, and upset by what occurred at IMPACT, Interim Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Alexa Lee Arndt remarked in an email between Greek leaders, according to The Daily Mississippian. Because of the underlying reality many students of color endure on a daily basis, the conversation manifested into a larger conversation about race relations today at the University of Mississippi. UNABLE TO FIND A TRASH CAN Apparently, student Ryan Swanson admitted to discarding the banana peel in a tree after he was unable to locate a garbage can, and it was later spotted by Alpha Kappa Alpha President Makala McNeil, who leads one of the campuses historically black sororities:She was walking with friends to their group session across camp when one of her sorority sisters pointed at a tree 15 feet away. She’said that about six feet up the tree s trunk sat a lone, fresh-looking banana peel. It was so strange and surreal to see it there, McNeil said. We were all just sort of paranoid for a second. The totally innocent student who placed the banana peel in the tree has issued the’standard cringing apology Oy vey! Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill: Although unintentional, there is no excuse for the pain’that was caused to members of our community Meanwhile, Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Community Engagement Katrina Caldwell (pictured above) is talking to people on campus who have some experience working across diversity to help the’students process what happened. No doubt Katrina receives a six-digit salary perhaps this is a way to try and legitimize her HUGE salary. Our tax dollars subsidize this nauseating and pernicious idiocy.TO READ MORE ON THIS TRIGGERING EVENT: THE DM ONLINE |
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| Keep buying Jay Z and Beyonce s music and keep telling us you like their music and see no connection between buying their music and using it to fund Obama s race war Rap mogul Jay Z has quietly used his wealth to post bail for people arrested in protests across the United States against police, an author close to him said Sunday.Dream Hampton, a writer and activist who worked with Jay Z on his 2010 memoir Decoded, made the revelations in a series of messages on Twitter that were deleted but were posted by the hip-hop magazine Complex. When we needed money for bail for Baltimore protesters, I hit Jay up, as I had for Ferguson (and he) wired tens of thousands of dollars within minutes, read one tweet.She also tweeted that Jay Z and his pop superstar wife Beyonce wrote a huge check to support the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement aimed at stopping police brutality.Protests spread last year after a white police officer shot dead African American’teenager Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.Major demonstrations, some turning violent, erupted last month in Baltimore after another African American man, Freddie Gray, died from a spinal injury sustained in police custody. The tweets appeared aimed at defending Jay Z and Beyonce, who have faced accusations from some activists that they have only paid lip service to the cause without tapping into the couple s estimated $1 billion net worth.Hampton later wrote that she deleted the tweets because Jay Z would be pi-issed to see I was offering evidence that he is taking action.Jay Z on Saturday performed in New York as an exclusive for Tidal, the music streaming service he has launched with fellow stars.In a freestyle segment, Jay Z paid homage to Brown and Gray and belittled Tidal s rivals Spotify and Apple.Jay Z and Beyonce met with Brown and Gray s families last week at a peace concert in Baltimore by Prince, leaving without making public appearances.The power couple are also strong supporters of President Barack Obama, throwing a multimillion-dollar fundraiser for him during his 2012 campaign.Via: Yahoo News |
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| U.S. Republican lawmakers voiced deep concern on Thursday about reports that the Obama administration might allow Iran to use the dollar in some business transactions, although no such plans have been announced. U.S. government officials said the issue is being discussed in the Treasury Department, but any policy change would not involve widespread access for Iran to the U.S. financial system, disputing media reports suggesting otherwise. The Obama administration is considering easing some sanctions to permit non-U.S. companies to have some access to the U.S. financial system for U.S. dollar transactions involving Iran, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said the matter was being studied, no decisions had been taken and that, to the official’s knowledge, none were imminent. The underlying reason for weighing the step is that non-U.S. companies now able to do business with Iran because of last year’s nuclear deal find it is difficult to do so without at some point touching the U.S. financial system. The official said such companies are getting conflicting messages from their own governments, which encourage trade with Iran, and from Washington, which emphasizes that it will enforce sanctions rigorously. Republicans remain dead set against any effort to ease restrictions against Tehran, especially in light of Iran’s recent missile tests. “As Iran continues to undermine the spirit of its nuclear agreement with illicit ballistic missile tests, the Obama administration is going out of its way to help Tehran reopen for business. The president should abandon this idea,” said Paul Ryan, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives. The controversy could complicate Senate confirmation of Adam Szubin to head Treasury’s sanctions enforcement arm, Senate aides said. President Barack Obama nominated Szubin in April 2015, but he was not approved in committee until this month. Senate leaders tried to bring Szubin up for a vote in the full Senate a few days later, but at least one senator objected, the aides said. Republicans, who control Congress, tried to kill the international deal in which Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Some Republicans said they opposed Szubin because of his support for the agreement, and aides said talk of easing dollar restrictions could fuel their opposition. Deal opponents have seized on comments by U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew as a sign that the administration would end a ban on Iran’s use of the dollar for trade. Republican Representative Ed Royce said in a letter to Obama that Lew appeared in House testimony last week to leave the door open to the administration allowing such transactions. Lew said the department was looking at how to “make sure Iran gets relief” under the nuclear deal, rather than denying the idea was under consideration. Current U.S. policy bars foreign banks from clearing dollar-based transactions with Iran through U.S. banks. Sanctions experts said Treasury could issue a license allowing U.S. banks to send dollars to an offshore facility, from which foreign, non-Iranian banks could withdraw dollars to facilitate legal trade with Iran. Any allowance would likely bar trade involving blacklisted Iranian citizens or organizations. The Associated Press reported that the Obama administration might soon tell foreign governments and banks they could start using the dollar in some instances to facilitate business with Iran, citing officials familiar with the discussions. Sources in the administration and Congress told Reuters such a concession was just one of a wide array of options that might be considered. State Department spokesman John Kirby commented that Washington would continue to analyze the lifting of sanctions under the nuclear agreement, known as the JCPOA, while keeping pressure on Iran on other areas of concern. “As long as Iran continues to meet its nuclear commitments, we will continue to meet our JCPOA commitments for sanctions lifting,” he said. |
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| The U.N. World Food Programme is cutting food rations by 30 percent for more than 400,000 refugees living in camps in Kenya due to insufficient funding, it said on Monday. Dadaab and Kakuma camps in Kenya are primarily home to refugees from neighboring Somalia and South Sudan, both ravaged by wars that have forced millions of people to flee. The World Food Programme said it needed $28.5 million to cover the food assistance needs of the 420,000 refugees living in the camps for the next six months. An abrupt halt to food assistance would be devastating for the refugees, most of whom rely fully on WFP for their daily meals, said Annalisa Conte, the top WFP official in Kenya. The funding shortfall comes six months after the United Nations warned that the world was facing its greatest humanitarian disaster since World War Two because of the threat of famine in South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria and Yemen. It said in March that 20 million people risked starvation in what it called largely man-made hunger crises in addition to drought. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network said in a report last month that risk of famine persists in parts of Somalia due to the extended drought and disease outbreaks. |
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| One thing we’ve noticed is that Trump has surrounded himself with great people who have a wealth of knowledge about the border and immigration. Senator Jeff Sessions is one of those people. He s been an advocate for closing our borders for quite some time. Sessions and so many others must have really schooled Trump well on the border. The’speech last night was dead on and full of great ideas. A new proposal has come up and is a brilliant idea. It s just being considered but the idea of using seized assets from drug cartels something to think about since $8.7 billion was brought in just last year from seized assets. That could pay for the wall in one year To fund construction of a new U.S. border wall, Donald Trump and senior advisers are considering various ideas, including the use of assets seized from drug cartels and others in the illicit drug trade.As the debate over who will pay for the wall dominates the discussion on cable news, sources involved in the pre-planning of the GOP nominee s Mexico trip told LifeZette the Trump camp is looking for innovative ways to pay for the construction of the border wall that both countries can support. Sensitivities in Mexico regarding Trump’s visit, and specifically paying for the border wall, are running high. For decades, the illicit drug and arms trade has endangered and destroyed the lives of countless Mexicans and Americans A senior Trump policy advisor stressed the proposal was just one of several funding options being discussed and said the idea was not raised during Trump’s meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pe a Nieto.Advocates of the make the cartels pay plan believe it has the added benefit of punishing the worst of the worst who bring violence to our streets and prey on innocent Mexicans and Americans, while giving political cover to both leaders to accomplish their objectives. Sources close to both the Mexican government and the Trump campaign have confirmed that this proposal exists, but wish to remain anonymous given the preliminary nature of the discussions.Read more: Lifezette |
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| Chris Cuomo of fake news network CNN interviewed Kellyanne Conway on Sunday. You would have thought by now, these hacks at CNN would have figured out they are no match for the brilliant Kellyanne Conway. At the opening of his interview with Conway, Cuomo attempted to convince the few viewers who still watch CNN that President Trump was very squishy on his meeting with Vladimir Putin. Kellyanne Conway snapped back in her usual calm but witty way, Chris, let’s back up. So you’re saying you used the word squishy which, itself, is unusual to describe the president s state of mind. So somehow that makes people on CNN insist that the president is never going to raise this with Putin? Why are they still in there? Cuomo responded, It s not about CNN. It s about what the president said, Kellyanne. Kellyanne immediately landed a right hook to fake news host Chris Cuomo when she asked him, Aren t you the least bit reluctant, if not embarrassed that you now talk about Russia more than you talk about America? Cuomo went on to discuss the nothing-burger story about a meeting Donald Trump Jr. had with a Russian lawyer prior to the election. The lawyer allegedly claimed he had information about individuals connected to Russian that were funding the DNC and Hillary. It turns out she was a human rights lawyer who wanted to talk about adoption. But CNN, who suffers from Trump-Russia collusion obsession, is clinging to this story like a squirrel protects its only nut in the dead of winter. Again, Conway delivered another knock out blow saying, you keep on saying opposition research the way you guys constantly vomit words like collusion and Russian interference and affecting the election, all of which you have no evidence. We cannot convert wishful thinking into hard evidence. Watch: |
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| Brazil s government will declare Venezuela s charg d affaires persona non-grata, stripping him of his diplomatic status, Brazil s foreign affairs ministry told Reuters on Tuesday. The move to cease official recognition of Gerardo Antonio Delgado Maldonado follows Venezuela s expulsion of Brazil s diplomatic envoy over the weekend. |
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| Supporters of U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump unwittingly helped pick up the tab for a booze-up in Mexico City on Thursday, after they were duped into buying cleverly concealed anti-Trump t-shirts designed by a local brewery. Trump, who has labeled Mexicans rapists and drug runners, has caused outrage south of the border with his vow to build a border wall that Mexico will pay for - a pledge that inspired brewer Cerveza Cucapa’s ingenious scheme to get Trump supporters to cough up for Mexicans’ brews. “It’s amazing that we can have a party paid for by Donald Trump!” said 54-year-old Leticia Villanueva, cradling her free beer at the event which had attracted a few hundred people. Late last month, Cucapa, an artisanal brewery from the northern border state of Baja California, posted a video in which representatives went to the United States to hawk blue t-shirts with Trump’s face that ostensibly say “I support Donald.” However, unbeknown to the buyer, when they put on the t-shirt, their body temperature adds a clown’s nose to Trump’s face and alters the message to read “Donald: El que lo Lea,” a traditional message meaning “Whoever reads this is Donald.” Proceeds from the tongue-in-cheek publicity stunt helped fund the event on Thursday in Mexico City, where a well-heeled crowd of young boozers in bright yellow Trump wigs took cheer from the property mogul’s recent collapse in the polls. “His campaign is garbage, and the only good thing he’s ever done is get us drunk,” said 21-year-old Ivan Grajeda. “It’s great that he’s losing ... that’s a triumph for Mexico.” Others hoped that their family in the United States would turn out and vote in the Nov. 8 election for Hillary Clinton, who has strengthened her lead against Trump in recent weeks after her Republican rival faced a string of groping allegations. “I ask my family members over there to vote for Hillary, as it’s not in their interests for Trump to win,” said Jose Ramon Trevino, 28. “ I have family in Chicago and they are hard-working people, who don’t go looking for problems or beg for money in the street.” Esteban Pacheco, a 26-year-old Cucapa employee, said the aim of the brewer’s campaign was to build bridges between the two countries. “We want to unite the people with these types of activities,” he said. |
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| European Union leaders, wary of the rise of populism and xenophobia, are turning to one of their more successful programs, the Erasmus student exchange scheme, to help foster cross-border education and European unity. Over lunch in the Swedish city of Gothenburg on Friday, they discussed and gave political support to a European Commission proposal to create a European Education Area, in which the EU could help promote studies across its various nations. The idea is to foster a European identity by letting more people study in countries across the bloc, emphasizing language learning and engendering more cooperation between universities, including on curricula. During our meeting today, we established political support for these ideas, the chairman of the leaders meeting Donald Tusk told a news conference. The initiative comes as the Union, about to lose its second biggest economy Britain, seeks to make itself more appealing to European citizens, many of whom find the often highly technical or legal issues, which the EU deals with, disconnected from their everyday lives. The Erasmus exchange program of studying abroad is one of the most recognizable and popular EU policies. It has already been used by 9 million Europeans. Appreciation for it is growing fast, the Commission said, adding that 90 percent of Erasmus students, who typically spend a year at a university in another EU country, come back with an increased awareness of common European values. As we look to Europe s future, we need ... a driver for unity. Education is key, because it is education that ...helps us... develop a European identity, Commissioner for Education Tibor Navracsics said. Scaling up the scheme could see 2 million more people taking part in Erasmus over the next 2 years, the Commission said, although leaders were cautious about the funding this would require. Talks on the money would start with discussions on the next seven-year EU budget that starts from 2020. EU leaders also backed the idea that by early 2019, students in the EU should have an electronic student card enabling secure exchange of data like student records and academic attributes and access to services like course materials, enrolment services, online libraries in host institutions and countries. By 2025 we should live in a Europe in which learning, studying and doing research is not hampered by borders but where spending time in another Member State to study, learn or work is the norm, Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen said. The Commission wants to set a goal that all university students should speak two languages in addition to their mother tongue by 2025, improve computer literacy and create a network of world-class European universities that can work together. The Commission also wants all EU governments to invest, by 2025, a minimum 5 percent of their GDP in education today s average rate, which Germany, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Bulgaria or Romania do not meet. |
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| The United States said on Wednesday it would push the United Nations Security Council to renew within days an international inquiry into who is to blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria, setting the stage for a likely showdown with Russia. Russia has questioned the work and future of the joint inquiry by the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and said it would decide whether to support extending the mandate after investigators submit their next report. The inquiry, known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), is due to report by Oct. 26 on who was responsible for an April 4 attack on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed dozens of people. We would like to see it renewed prior to the report coming out, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told reporters. The Russians have made it very clear that should the report blame the Syrians suddenly they won t have faith in the JIM. If the report doesn t blame the Syrians then they say that they will. We can t work like that, Haley said. A separate OPCW fact-finding mission determined in June that the banned nerve agent sarin had been used in the Khan Sheikhoun attack, which prompted the United States to launch missiles on a Syrian air base. Haley said she would circulate a draft resolution to the 15-member Security Council later on Wednesday to renew the mandate for the JIM, which is due to expire in mid-November. It was unanimously created by the council in 2015 and renewed in 2016. A resolution must get nine votes in favor and not be vetoed by any of the council s five permanent members - Russia, China, the United States, Britain and France - in order to pass. The JIM has found that Syrian government forces were responsible for three chlorine gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 and that Islamic State militants used mustard gas. Syria agreed to destroy its chemical weapons in 2013 under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States. The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons during a civil war that has lasted more than six years. Mikhail Ulyanov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry s non-proliferation and arms control department, said on Friday there were serious problems with the work of the inquiry. In order to judge if it deserves an extension of the mandate, we need to see the report ... and assess it, Ulyanov told a briefing at the United Nations to present Moscow s view on the Syrian chemical dossier. |
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| U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would visit Britain for the opening of his Scottish golf resort on June 24, his first trip to the UK since a spat with Prime Minister David Cameron over comments he made about Muslims. Relations between Cameron and Trump, whose visit comes the day after Britain holds a referendum on its membership of the European Union, have been tense since the British leader called his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States dangerous and stupid. Trump’s idea for a boycott of Muslims, mooted last December, also led to calls from some lawmakers for him to be banned from Britain, with almost 600,000 people signing an online petition to keep him out. While Cameron and his ministers rejected that call, the prime minister did suggest that Trump would unite the nation against him if he visited Britain. Trump responded by saying he was unlikely to have a good relationship with Cameron, although both men have since tempered their language after Trump effectively became the presumptive Republican Party nominee. Cameron has said he would be happy to meet him, although no date had been fixed, and Trump said they could have a good relationship after all. A spokesman for Cameron said there were no firm plans for a meeting, although it was a long-standing practice for a prime minister to meet presidential nominees if they visited Britain. Trump’s visit will coincide with the result of Britain’s EU referendum, and while Cameron is leading the campaign for Britain to stay in the bloc, Trump has said he thinks Britons would be better off outside. In a statement, Trump made no mention of any potential Cameron meeting, saying only that his visit to Britain was for the official opening of his golf resort at Turnberry following a 200 million pound ($290 million) refurbishment. A spokeswoman for the Trump Organization said the date of the opening had been planned long in advance and that it was just a coincidence it came the day after the EU vote. The date would not be changed, she added. The golf course has itself pitted Trump against British politicians after Scotland’s devolved government approved plans for an offshore wind farm nearby which led Trump to denounce Scottish ministers as “foolish, small minded and parochial”. |
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| Michael Flynn, Trump’s embattled former national security adviser, has reportedly caved in and will testify to Robert Mueller and his team about Trump’s collusion with Russia. According to an ABC News special report, Flynn has pleaded guilty to charges that include making false statements to the FBI. Most importantly, he admitted in his plea that officials on Trump’s transition team directed his contacts with Russian officials.Furthermore, according to CNN s David Wright on Twitter, there s more to it than that. He s reporting that Brian Ross, who reported for ABC News, said that Flynn also says he’s prepared to testify that Trump himself ordered him, directed him, to make contact with the Russians, which contradicts all that Donald Trump has said at this point. .@BrianRoss reports Michael Flynn is prepared to testify that President Trump as a candidate Donald Trump ordered him, directed him, to make contacts with the Russians, which contradicts all that Donald Trump has said at this point. David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) December 1, 2017.@BrianRoss: As well, we’re told that Flynn made the decision to cooperate only in the last 24 hours. That he is distraught about this decision, but feels he is doing the right thing for his country David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) December 1, 2017.@BrianRoss: and that he is facing huge legal bills of more than a million dollars, and he’said that finally he had to go and do this for that reason. He expects to put his house on the market. He is facing serious financial problems. David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) December 1, 2017For his part, Flynn issued a statement saying the following: Actions I acknowledged in court today are wrong, and through my faith in God, I am working to set things right. My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel s Office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country. I accept full responsibility for my actions. The White House has said that this is merely more of what got Flynn fired in the first place, and that this will have zero effect on Trump. Har de har har don’t make us laugh too hard. It hurts. Merry Christmas to Donald Trump and his entire treasonous family and administration! We hope you like orange jumpsuits!Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images |