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BAGHDAD — After a day of sleeping, praying and even swimming in the Green Zone, the government citadel historically off limits to ordinary Iraqis, protesters began leaving Sunday evening on orders from the man who had sent them: Moktada the influential Shiite cleric. In a statement issued from the holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq, Mr. Sadr directed his followers to leave the Green Zone in an orderly fashion, to chant for Iraq and not a sect, and to help clean the space they had occupied. A day earlier, hundreds of protesters demanding an end to corruption stormed the fortified Green Zone in dramatic scenes that hinted at revolution. But by Sunday evening the episode had become something less: an affirmation of Mr. Sadr’s sway over the street, but one aimed at pressuring the government to enact promised reforms rather than bringing it down. The question in the days ahead is whether Prime Minister Haider who is Shiite, and the rest of Iraq’s ruling elite can come together to form a new cabinet of capable ministers, and not loyalists to a party or sect, something that Mr. Sadr has demanded and Mr. Abadi has promised. Since announcing last summer a set of measures to improve governance, Mr. Abadi has been thwarted repeatedly by parties and politicians who have long depended on Iraq’s system of patronage. They include the previous prime minister, Nuri Kamal . The protests, which had been percolating for weeks and culminated on Saturday with the breaching of the Green Zone walls, were organized as a show of support for the promised changes. On Sunday, Mr. Abadi’s office distributed photographs of him surveying the hall of Parliament, surrounded by broken glass and damaged furniture. A statement also said the prime minister had ordered the arrests of those who had attacked lawmakers or damaged property. Later, Mr. Abadi met with President Fuad Masum and Salim the speaker of Parliament. In a joint statement, the leaders said they condemned the storming of Parliament, and promised to continue meeting over the next days to “assure progress in reforming the political process. ” In his statement, Mr. Sadr demanded that Parliament meet soon and approve a new cabinet. If not, he said, he will push for the disbanding of the government and call for early elections. Mr. Sadr said the departure of his followers from the Green Zone had been done out of “respect” for a Shiite pilgrimage underway, and he vowed that they would return to the streets on Friday, typically the day of protest in Iraq. Inside the Green Zone on Sunday, protesters who had spent the night in an area called Celebration Square, once a parade ground for Saddam Hussein, seemed to luxuriate in having reached a space long forbidden to them. For many it is a place that has symbolized corruption and dysfunction. “I used to hear about the Green Zone and used to ask myself and my friends, ‘What does the Green Zone mean?’ ” said Ali Mustafa, 21, a college student. “Entering the Green Zone was like a dream for me. ” Diyab Abdullah, 74, who described himself as a member of the Communist Party, which decades ago had a foothold in Iraqi politics, said he had walked four hours on Saturday to participate in the protest. “I did not get tired, because my goal is to take part in kicking out this failed government,” he said. Many of the demonstrators, who had gathered near the American Embassy, said they hoped to galvanize a movement that would lead to the dismantling of the political system and its sectarian quotas, which they blamed the United States for establishing more than a decade ago. They railed at their leaders, many in power since the earliest days of the American occupation. Talib Mohammed, an amputee who said he had lost his leg in a battle against the United States last decade, said he was demanding his rights “from the Americans and all who stole from the people and became millionaires. ” He added, “We are here to change all of the faces that have been brought by the Americans. ” The United States Embassy issued a statement on Sunday that expressed concern about the but said all Iraqis should work to “move the political and economic reform process forward” while combating the other threat to the country, the Islamic State. While recognizing the right to peaceful protest, the embassy said, it joined others in “urging restraint and respect for constitutional institutions and respect for the rights of others. ” Though the crisis seemed to be defused for the moment, Iraq’s political system is in disarray. Lawmakers, some of them caught up in the occupation, expressed pessimism. Haitham a Shiite member of Parliament, said, “This crisis will break the country instead of fixing it. ” He called for Mr. Abadi’s resignation and said “a new government must be formed. ” He blamed Mr. Abadi for Saturday’s chaos, and noted the ease with which protesters entered the Green Zone despite tight security. There were numerous reports that security forces had allowed the protesters in as part of a deal with Mr. Sadr and his militia. The prime minister’s office denied news reports on Saturday that Mr. Abadi had ordered forces to accommodate the protesters. “I believe Abadi allowed them to enter,” Mr. Jibouri said. “This is a mysterious scenario aimed at putting pressure on the political blocs. ” The political crisis has diverted attention from the fight against the Islamic State. The United States has lately stepped up its military support to Iraq, and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Thursday to show support to Mr. Abadi. Even as the attention on Sunday remained on the situation in Baghdad, the Islamic State carried out two devastating suicide bombings in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa. The attacks killed at least 37 people and wounded nearly 90, according to police officials and the provincial governor’s office. Also on Sunday, the United Nations released monthly casualty statistics, reporting that 741 Iraqis were killed in terrorist acts and in fighting against the Islamic State in April. The figures were a decline from March, when 1, 119 Iraqis were killed, but the United Nations office in Baghdad said difficulties in compiling the data suggested that the April totals were the “absolute minimum. ” | 1 |
Demonizing Russian Media November 23, 2016
The West is escalating its demonization of Russian media as weapons of “information warfare” that need neutralizing, but Gilbert Doctorow finds that accusation just another part of the West’s own propaganda war.
By Gilbert Doctorow
One of the West’s top points in condemning Vladimir Putin’s “regime” since 2007 has been his alleged suppression of democratic institutions, including an assault on media freedom and imposition of government-directed propaganda. This week, the accusation was repeated in a resolution of the European Parliament calling for stronger counter-measures in defense of European values against “information warfare” from Moscow.
The charges — that Russian media are only an instrument of state propaganda directed at the domestic population to keep Russian citizens in line and at foreign audiences to sow dissent among Russia’s neighbors and within the European Union — are taken as a matter of faith with almost no proofs adduced. Anyone who questions this “group think” is immediately labeled a “tool of Putin” or worse. Russian President Vladimir Putin answering questions from Russian citizens at his annual Q&A event on April 14, 2016. (Russian government photo)
I experienced this firsthand in March 2015 when, as one of three debaters on “The Network,” a Euronews public affairs program, I objected to remarks by a fellow panelist, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee Elmar Brok, who maintained that Putin crushed all liberties and his country has no free press.
Based on my familiarity with the many different political lines of the Russian print media and of the patently unintimidated Kremlin-critics behind the national radio station Ekho Moskvy and television station Dozhd’, I countered that, for example, Russian coverage of events in the Donbass was more multi-sided and free than coverage in the U.S.
Brok lashed out with the slanderous question: “And how much did the Kremlin pay you to say that?” The broadcaster then allowed this video-taped exchange to air freely.
I have ruminated on this exchange ever since and sought incontrovertible proof of the relative freedom of expression on Russian broadcast media. My close examination of the wildly popular political talk shows on Russian television first as a spectator and then as a participant has provided just that.
I have written previously about my initial experience going back six months to when I first took part in a program on the Rossiya 1/Vesti 24 state channel, Yevgeni Popov’s “Special Correspondent.” I mentioned at the time the nearly permanent presence on these programs of domestic opposition figures as well as of foreigners from the U.S., Ukraine, Poland and Israel, in particular, who could be counted on to present views on the political topic of the day’s discussion at sharp variance with the Kremlin line.
Assessing the Talk Shows
In early autumn I appeared on the same presenter’s new show “Sixty Minutes,” as well on what is probably the most respected show of this genre, “Sunday Evening with Vladimir Soloviev,” another Rossiya 1 production. Soloviev has done feature-length television interviews with Vladimir Putin and may be considered to be as close to power as people in this medium get. His personal views are probably more nationalist than the ruling United Russia party, but on his shows he, too, gives time on air to very diverse Russian and foreign views. Some of the estimated 12 million Russians who took part in Immortal Regiment parades across the country over three days in May 2016. (RT photo)
In the past month, I broadened my experience with the Russian talk show format by participating in shows on the other major state channel, Pervy Kanal (“Time Will Tell”) and on the country’s largest commercial television channel, NTV (“The Meeting Place”). This accelerated learning was facilitated by the U.S. presidential elections, which made Russian-speaking talking heads from America like myself a rather hot commodity on Russian television at least briefly.
In speaking to fellow panelists during break time, in interviews with presenters, I gathered some inside information about the production side of the talk shows, including their target audiences, their technical aspects and their substantive positioning.
Anyone looking over Russian television programming in general quickly finds that talk shows as a format take up a very large part of broadcast time. Of course, the focus of talk shows may be highly diverse, and political talk shows were traditionally an evening phenomenon, as is the case with the Rossiya 1 shows cited above, while daytime programming more typically focuses on housewives’ concerns, daydreams of romance or tips for cooking, and the like.
In this sense, it was a bold move when two years ago Pervy Kanal decided to launch a daily two-hour political talk show (“Time Will Tell”) in mid-afternoon. As expected, the target audience proved to be stay-at-home women and viewers aged 50 and above, although it appears there are also a fair number of viewers watching the program in the work place.
Going Daytime
The ratings captured by this show typically are in the 20s, meaning that 20 or so percent of all television viewers in Russia at the given time are tuned to the given program, yielding an audience numbering in the millions. On Nov. 9, when I appeared on the show dedicated to analysis of the U.S. election results, the numbers spiked to 30 percent, as one might well understand given the very great interest among ordinary Russians in the outcome of the race for the U.S. presidency and the outlook for war or peace. A Russian orchestra performing at Palmyra’s Roman theater on May 5, 2016, after Syrian troops, backed by Russian air power, reclaimed the ancient city from the Islamic State. (Image from RT’s live-streaming of the event.)
As “Time Will Tell” presenter Artyom Sheinin explained to me, the decision to appear on daytime television called for certain production decisions differentiating the programs from the evening talk shows. Firstly, the expectation of a less sophisticated audience meant that the language of panelists should be free of political science jargon and allusion to little known names or philosophies.
Said Artyom, panelists are asked to pitch their arguments as they would “talking to their kids, their mom or their lover.’’ On the other hand, overly calm discussion is not seen as a benefit. The presenter explains that his audience sitting at home at mid-day is in need of “an adrenaline shot,” and the normal penchant of Russian panelists to shout down one another in a free-for-all is not discouraged in the way it is on evening programming. The evening viewer is assumed to have come home from work and is seated in his armchair before the television, wants his nerves soothed more than excited.
All Russian political talk shows on the main channels are produced in the afternoon, Moscow time, and all feature on screen the caption “Live On Air.” However, where and when these shows are broadcast live versus rebroadcast from video tapes is another matter.
For example, the Rossiya 1/Vesti programs are broadcast live to the Russian Far East, where they appear at the end of prime-time evening broadcasts. Then they are re-broadcast at local evening prime time in each of the eight other time zones of the Russian Federation lying to the west, showing last in Moscow.
In this regard, two years ago when it launched “Time Will Tell,” Pervy Kanal took a second unparalleled risk by broadcasting live to Moscow in the afternoon. From a political standpoint, this was like a high-flying trapeze act without the benefit of a safety net.
In fact all of these programs are also video-taped, and all the major channels make the tapes available for internet viewing on their websites in full or shortened versions.
Similar Formats
Just as Russian television has often copied studio design and presentation formats from American television (I think in particular of the way the “Tonight Show” has been replicated on major Russian channels), so they copy from one another. In fact, if you turn on any of the political talk shows I cited above, you will find rather similar studios with live audiences. A military parade on Red Square. May 9, 2016 Moscow. (Photo from: http://en.kremlin.ru)
Indeed, at Pervy Kanal, the producers remark jokingly that when NTV decided to launch its own afternoon talk show, “The Meeting Place,” that network picked up not only the production format and studio design but also some of the production staff. The format of having male-female pairs of talk show hosts also has spread widely in the industry.
But there appears to be a significant difference between these shows on the degree to which they are “scripted” by management upstairs, the degree to which they are free discussion. Perhaps the most scripted is this season’s new entry at Rossiya 1, “Sixty Minutes,” in which presenters Yevgeni Popov and Olga Skabeyeva are reading off teleprompters and the audience applause is aggressively prompted. On the other hand, the lead presenter on Pervy Kanal’s “Time Will Tell,” Artyom Sheinin proudly says that he has no script handed to him, that what he says on air is what he himself prepared or is thinking at the time.
One ubiquitous fact is that the panelists are not scripted and if anyone is cut off in mid-sentence it is by other panelists vying for the microphone, not by the presenter keeping the political line of discourse in check. Except in the case of senior politicians, who are given the respect their rank demands, no panelist is safe from interruptions and the audience encourages a culture of gladiators in the arena, with applause punctuating the debates.
On NTV there is the additional expression of audience disapproval, but that is rare. The benefits of these ground rules go to the quick-witted as well as to the loudest voices, whatever their political complexion.
The culture of these talk shows is permeated by a newsroom mentality. Some of the presenters, especially on Rossiya 1/Vesti 24, come from television journalism and have gotten their appointments as a reward for successful work in the field, especially in hazardous areas. Such was the background of talk show host Yevgeni Popov, who for years reported from Ukraine, initially during the Orange Revolution days and later during the Maidan protests.
The content of each program on all channels is subject to change at the last minute as are the list of invited panelists in case of breaking news. This favors inviting panelists who are living in the Moscow area. They can be invited and disinvited at short notice. In fact, all the major political shows on the three channels I observed from inside use many of the same Russian and foreign panelists chosen from among political scientists at universities or think tanks, journalists and Duma or Federation Council members.
Western Voices
To be sure, not all panelists come down to the studio. A very few lucky experts are given air time from remote locations, their close-up image projected onto a wall-sized screen.
One such “regular” on the Rossiya 1/Vesti 24 channel is Dimitri Simes, president of The Center for the National Interest in Washington, D.C. These vignette appearances get special treatment, without any interruption from other panelists and only respectful questioning from the host.
Panelists in greatest demand can be seen leaving one show early so as to be able to get over to another studio on a different channel when there is the rotation of panelists between advertising breaks. None is in greater demand than the American Michael Bohm, who in the dark days of worsening relations with the West provided all channels with highly fluent statements in Russian of the latest policy position of the Washington Consensus, often accompanied by Russian folk expressions.
This has been especially appreciated by television producers representing the more hardline supporters of the Kremlin for whom Bohm is the kind of American the audience loves to hate, his every remark justifying demands for greater military expenditures by the Kremlin. Nonetheless, it remains true that through Bohm and a few other Westerners on these shows, the full blast of Western critiques of Kremlin policy gets prime broadcasting time in Russia.
The senior politicians brought in as panelists come from all the Duma parties, not just the ruling United Russia. In the past half year, I noted in particular the frequent presence of the leader of the nationalist LDPR party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, while Gennady Zyuganov of the Communists or Sergey Mironov, leader of Just Russia, have been rare birds.
On the other hand, there have been frequent appearances by the Liberals of the Yabloko party, which never made it past 1 percent of votes cast in the latest parliamentary elections, not to mention the minimum 5 percent threshold for Duma representation.
The talk show programs are prepared with great professionalism. Behind each there is extensive research to find appropriate archival and/or latest visuals. The administrative chores involved in arranging logistics for the panelists chosen are also considerable. The team members I have encountered were uniformly dedicated, working crazy hours to get their job done.
Encouraging Strong Opinions
I also noted a peculiar complicity between the staff “handlers” and us panelists. Clearly, production staff is rewarded for finding “fresh blood” panelists who play out well, and they make sure that their dogs in the race are well tended with coffee, tea, and, if needed, a shot of brandy during breaks to keep their spirits high.
On the Rossiya 1/Vesti 24 talk shows presenters and the panelists all are wired with headset microphones. However, on both Pervy Kanal and NTV, only the presenters are wired, while panelists are seated next to production assistants holding microphones, which they make available upon request. Indeed, the assistants act as coaches to newcomers like myself, whom they urge to speak louder, speak faster, etc. to get the greatest debate effect out of us.
In conclusion, my firsthand experience with the Russian political talk show phenomenon left me with no doubt that this is bona fide journalism serving the public interest, exposing the broad Russian television audience, from everyone’s parents and grandparents to business leaders and university dons, to a great many different competing and well-presented views on the major issues of the day, both domestic and international.
This reality is sharply at variance with what U.S. and Western European mainstream media would have us believe about Putin’s Russia.
Gilbert Doctorow is the European Coordinator of The American Committee for East West Accord Ltd. His most recent book, Does Russia Have a Future? was published in August 2015. | 0 |
Cast your vote now. All answers are stored anonymously. Who won smackdown between Newt Gingrich and Megyn Kelly? Hillary: Just more Trumpian misogyny Kelly: Newt's past gives him no standing to talk about a sex obsession Kelly: She spoke for all women everywhere who are concerned about Trump Kelly: She is the best thing going at FNC Gingrich: It was a well-deserved rebuke Gingrich: He exposed Megyn's long-time obsession with destroying Trump Trump: Gingrich showed that Hillary starting World War III is more serious than who Donald kissed decades ago Other | 0 |
The Spring Update for Homefront: The Revolution offers gamers who haven’t bought the game a huge free trial while bringing improvements to existing players and the “Beyond the Walls” expansion for Season Pass holders. [With the latest update, players on Xbox One and Playstation 4 who don’t own Homefront: The Revolution can now play the game’s online cooperative mode for free, with no . A free trial allows gamers to play through the entire first Red Zone, “which totals up to 4 hours of gameplay,” of developer Dambuster Studio’s shooter. For Season Pass holders, the final expansion, “Beyond the Walls,” is now available, “set in a new rural environment beyond the walls of Philadelphia that feels much more similar to the original Homefront’s setting. ” Players must lead resistance fighter Ethan Brady out of Philadelphia into rural Pennsylvania to “make contact with NATO and discover their daring plan to defeat the KPA once and for all. ” | 1 |
Home / Badge Abuse / BREAKING: Supreme Court Rules Cops Can Break the Law to Enforce the Law BREAKING: Supreme Court Rules Cops Can Break the Law to Enforce the Law Matt Agorist June 20, 2016 44 Comments
Washington D.C. — In another devastating blow to the 4th Amendment, on Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that evidence of an alleged crime can be used against a defendant even if police did something inappropriate or even illegal to obtain it.
In a split 5-3 decision, the justices voted to reinstate the drug-related convictions of Joseph Edward Strieff. In the case of Strieff, he was illegally detained during a “concededly unconstitutional detention,” which eventually led to the discovery of drugs inside his vehicle.
In Strieff’s case, a trial court judge later found that the officer did not have enough evidence to initially stop and question him. But the judge ruled that Strieff’s subsequent arrest on an outstanding traffic warrant justified the search — implying that the use of criminal behavior to catch criminal behavior is just. The Utah Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court that the drug evidence was admissible at trial, but, in a moment of logic, the Utah Supreme Court last year reversed that decision. The Utah Supreme Court noted in its January 2015 decision that the case presented “a gap of substantial significance” in terms of prior rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court on Fourth Amendment issues, and that other courts that have addressed the issue have come to “substantially different conclusions” regarding search and seizure law.
The Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule allows criminal defendants to suppress “fruit of the poisonous tree”— that is, evidence obtained as a result of a search or seizure that violates the Fourth Amendment. The reason this rule exists is due to the obvious conflict of interests in cops breaking the law to enforce the law.
However, thanks to Monday’s ruling by the Supreme Court, that is exactly what will happen now. Police have essentially been given a free pass to violate the rights of individuals — just so long as they find evidence of a ‘crime.’
On Monday, the logic applied by the Utah Supreme Court in 2015, was thrown to the wayside in a handout to the police state.
Given the reality of the militarized police state rising up from the horrors of the war on drugs, the fact that cops can now legally act illegally to bust people for possessing arbitrary substances is chilling.
As if breaking the law wasn’t enough, prior to this ruling, p olice were no longer required to even give the appearance of an understanding of the laws they’re tasked with enforcing, thanks to a recent court decision surpassing even the veritable green light previously granted in Heien v. North Carolina .
In the Heien case, the Supreme Court ruled a “police officer’s reasonable mistake of law gives rise to reasonable suspicion that justifies a traffic stop under the Fourth Amendment.” A motorist’s broken tail light caused an officer to make a traffic stop — during which evidence of a separate violation of the law was discovered in the vehicle.
But in North Carolina, a broken tail light wasn’t illegal, thus not sufficient cause to justify the stop — nor the arrests stemming from it, lawyers argued, because that would be a violation of unreasonable searches and seizures.
However, the Supreme Court ruled the officer’s ignorance of the law essentially didn’t matter — effectively allowing police around the country the ability to make stops if they ‘reasonably’ believe the cause for the stop is legal. Plainly, police can stop and search you despite ignorance of the law.
Now, in U.S. v Shelton Barnes et. al. — a case that seemed to slip by largely unnoticed — even that flimsy justification has been deemed too constricting of police power, and police ignorance can actually be used against you in a trial.
On Monday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in dissent that the decision in Utah vs. Edward Joseph Strieff, is a blow to constitutional rights.
“The court today holds that the discovery of a warrant for an unpaid parking ticket will forgive a police officer’s violation of your Fourth Amendment rights,” Sotomayor wrote.
Sotomayor’s dissent was joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Elena Kagan.
Now, police need not understand the law, or even abide by the law — to enforce the law. In what world is this considered acceptable? Share
yeah we’re fucked and here comes the revolution! kiljoy616
True that many will be screwed but there will be no revolution, best to learn how to navigate this new world you live in. Gene
U …….sheep, there’s an actual revolution going on right now, it’s just not televised so sheep like you stay ignorant. Wolf-PAC.com is a Constitutional amendment, by the American people, to get the money out of politics. To end the oligarchy. 4 states have already passed it, 11 more to go. Pay attention sheep, they got you by the balls. Even this site is ignoring it, makes me wonder. ThomasJefferson
LMAO! Do you REALLY think that will make any difference? Hell, there’s a a couple of movements that actually, if they were to be carried through with, would go further toward fixing the problem, but some of the state reps that have pledged their support are the very ones that are a MAJOR part of the problem!. Tabbytha
I seriously doubt they will succeed in the long run. Sheep.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander Greg Geitner
copsucker is a term used to describe a spineless animal that believes law enforcement should always be obeyed. ThomasJefferson
People don’t have the balls to revolt anymore! Theyr cross their fingers and HOPE, that the sh*t dont hit the fan in their own little world. The REALLY stupid ones think it will never happen to them, ether because of some false sense of superiority, or because they think that so long as they keep their nose planted firmly in their Master’s Ass,that nothing bad will come to them via “The Pigs” Nothing but dumb luck can save ANYONE from the Gestapo now. LexRex Mann
Are you organizing an overthrow? Email me. Jude Rene Montarsi
http://www.garynorth.com/public/12619print.cfm Gene
Could you provide links? Sometimes you go off the rails with your propaganda. Like the story of the DEA declassifying cannabis, they came out and said that wasn’t true. I do my own research, guess I’m whining for convenience. Richard Brooks
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/supreme-court-refines-rules-governing-police-conduct avelworldcreator
Here’s the problem. They guy already had a warrant even if the officer hadn’t used that fact in the stop and search. Sadly the Court has said such pre-existing circumstances can cover a multitude of ills. In short he had grounds to do an arrest and a search already even if he wasn’t aware of their existence. It’s bullshit, but there it is. Betty Anne Emery Rubendall
Do you mean, if cop had run his tags, the warrant would have shown? I wonder why he didn’t. avelworldcreator
Doesn’t sound like the cop in this case was bright enough to follow procedure or, more likely, he didn’t care and just wanted to fuck with someone. Even more likely it was a combination of both. He simply got “lucky”. William Keen
In “Obama’s World” of course!
But, what difference does any of this make? YOU act like “Executive Orders” are valid! This website quotes them as being Lawful Orders just because a POtuS signs them.
Obviously, the Constitution for the United States of America has no meaning anywhere anymore. It doesn’t matter which Amendment you ignore when the On-The-Street, Militarily Trained and equipped cop is ignorant of the law in their jurisdiction and the courts allow that!
Take out the Kings-of-Corruption (US Supreme Court), the BAR Association (13th Amendment violation) and the local goons and let’s START OVER! ThomasJefferson
What an IDIOT!!! Dude, the ground work was laid for this trashing of the constitution by Ronald Reagan. And NOW idiots, think that DUMP is the answer! For all the good a president can do, people better wake up and vote Libertarian, Gary Johnson!. Any thing else is another MAJOR blow to the constitution. In fact, its probably trashed beyond anything less than a revolution will fix already! LexRex Mann
Why call him an idiot? He never mentions Trump. You are the one taken in by the fraud of election. Don’t you get it? Voting is a waste of time! Who counts the votes? Why is it done in secret? Do you really trust them to count votes accurately? Again: “Take out the Kings-of-Corruption (US Supreme Court), the BAR Association (13th Amendment violation) and the local goons and let’s START OVER!” ThomasJefferson
Nope, he doesn’t mention mention Trump! The comment wasn’t aimed at him per se. I’m so used to reading comments from the sheeple that are guzzling Dump Kool-aid, it was I suppose what is known in military parlance as a preemptive strike. While I agree with you in theory, 100%, for the moment, I think the vote thing for what it’s worth, (if enough people would break the chains that bind their minds, and vote contrary to programming,) would upset the proverbial apple-cart. Hell, a liberty leaning candidate may not become president, but enough people might wake up to the very facts you made mention of and at last begin a meaningful revolt. Sorry I can’t condense where this could lead and don’tr really have the time at the moment to follow through with his concept but you’re a sharp guy, just think what a little enlightenment, and the motivation of people of real action could accomplish. It’s how AMERICA ,came into existence to begin with. The Federal Farmer
Yes, start over because we *need* a government, right? How about we just dissolve the federal government and replace it (again) with 50 individual sovereign governments…to start with. jonn
So the SCOTUS has to protect cops over protecting The Constitution or American Citizens because cops are too stupid to understand The Constitution or local laws? vera4576
I currently make close to 6.000-8.000 bucks /month from freelancing at home. Those who are looking to complete simple online work for 2-5 h a day at your house and get valuable paycheck while doing it… Then this work opportunity is for you… http://ow.ly/9Dxq300yJFs gininitaly
That’s because the goal is a police state here and everywhere else, ruled by the new world order of fascists.. the int’l central bankers/mega corporate/military industrial complex cabal of psychopaths who have manipulated and bought themselves into this position. This is what monopoly capitalism evolves to… the unquenchable desire for money and power at any cost to the human race. They should all be hung on the White House steps. Our days are numbered, unless we rise up. jonn
I don’t think real Americans are going to let this Country fall completely into a police state. I believe there will be a event so horrific by the govt that the “million man march” will happen and these elected officials will be dragged out of their ivory towers and be tarred and feathered and run out of town. Too many normal Americans, too many veterans, too many freedom loving people for the govt to completely control. gininitaly
Knock wood…. altho I’ve been waiting 10 long years watching our former rights disappear one after another… and still too many are sparring with the illusions of enemies manufactured for us, instead the real ones right here in the highest seats of our government. LexRex Mann
Exactly– even as “truthers” gow in numbers, we become divided by things like whether the earth is flat, whether to “vote” for Sanders or Trump, whether to hate Muslims or not, etc., etc., etc. They’ll have us killing each other before we get to the steps of Congress. We’ve been divided and conquered. I keep telling people posting these memes on facebook to forget differences like these and stay focused on the real enemy, but sadly not many seem to be listening. gininitaly
Absolutely!!! I do the same and see as you have that that insidious flat screen in everyones homes is the grand distractor and brain washer par excellence… which is why 6 companies own 90% of the media all preaching, fear, fake enemies and outright lies. But too many are still in denial since Sept. 11, 2001 as if the obvious didn’t really happen as they’ve been told it did, that somehow America will just bounce back and be itself again…. Foolish pipe dream… and dangerous one that will enslave us, that noose is tightening everyday as this article just proved.
As Hitler said: “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”
So a war mongering, murdering Imperialist gov that created terror in the first place and has now allowed our police to terrorize it’s own citizens… by throwing a traitorous SCOTUS into the mix, whittling whittling away at our former Constitutional protections and what do you get? National and global chaos like America has never witnessed in it’s short but intense life. Fiona Clark
I couldn’t have said it better myself. People are waking up but way to slowly. Does something actually have to hit them in the face before they can see it. Joseph Edward Bodden
I voted for Bernie. They said I would be wasting my vote. But please explain to me how my failing to vote for the only decent candidate and voting instead for a choice of nutter or criminal is NOT wasting my vote? And how did the DNC get the power to rule out Bernie as a candidate? I cannot find it in the Constitution… BanishedJester
“Real” Americans already allowed the full insertion of the police state when we allowed the government to form SWAT teams and then to use them to break into peoples’ homes for allegedly using plants. Plants! We are already fucked and it is time for us to begin dealing with the treason that abounds. Cops, lawyers, judges, legislatures should all hang for what we have allowed them to do. Nothing will change with any less effort. Nunya
They don’t have to know or follow the laws, it is called law EFORCEMENT. Just do that… Frank Welsh
Utah’s Supreme Court is an Administrative Branch, the real Common Law Supreme Court is in Pennsylvania. Betty Anne Emery Rubendall
And every time they rule in favor of the PLEBS, new laws are written. I despise living here!!
A minor traffic warrant is cause for a search? Bullshit! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sonia-sotomayor-police_us_57680301e4b0fbbc8beaf4ae anarchyst
For solutions to curtail the police state, obtain and read “Unintended Consequences” by John Ross. This book is a history lesson, a technical manual and a “how to” book on how to take back our government. When this book first came out, sellers of this book were routinely harassed by FBI, ATF, DEA and other “alphabet agency” enforcers. Sorta tells you something about the contents… Philip Tomlins
Thank Fuck I don’t live there, were fucked up here, but at least we the people have some control. Steve Rusk
What we know as law is purely illusion. What cops and the judiciary do is the law, up to and including outright murder. Steve Rusk
Ignorance of the law is no excuse, unless of course you’re a cop. dennisbohner
I notice that it was the WOMEN who defended we commoners. Is it a reality that male asshats are in the legal profession to make decisions that fit the patriarchial ideals of suppression of others and control? WTF is wrong with the ideals that they gained? Nearly everything. Tabbytha
As long as a person is doing what is right, who cares what gender they are? So many men and women are NOT doing what is right, finding those who do is uncommon these days, lets not make this a gender issue and be glad some good people still exist. I wish more people would speak up, the world is pretty much going to hell in a handbasket and the US is in deep trouble right now. Robert Farrior
The police state marches on, here again under the impetus of the selective drug war, the number one fount of tyranny in this nation! They must all be removed from power! robertsrevolution.net
Remember, cops and judges ain’t bulletproof. MaryMacMaster
not these Nimrods sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court swear a sacred oath and make a covenant to honor, uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution??? | 0 |
Vice President Mike Pence challenged the 2017 graduates of Grove City College to lead with courage in the face of criticism and seeming setbacks and congratulated them for earning degrees at an institution which refuses federal funding. [Founded in 1876, Grove City College had to take its fight to refuse all federal funding to the U. S. Supreme Court in the 1980s. Pence recounted this history, telling the graduates, “The diploma that you will receive today was minted in an institution of principle and independence and you can be proud of it for the rest of your lives. ” “People follow people they respect so first and foremost you must aspire to be men and women of character,” said Pence. TUNE IN! I’m at @GroveCtyCollege delivering the 2017 Commencement address. Congrats, grads! #GCCGrad2017 https: . pic. twitter. — Vice President Pence (@VP) May 20, 2017, He called the crowd to servant leadership: leadership grounded in faith and freedom, not selfish ambition, that “must the the animating force of the career that lies before you. ” “If you aspire to lead, you’ll need courage,” he added after referring to a quote from C. S. Lewis, “Courage was not one of the virtues it was actually a form of every virtue at the testing point. ” “Leadership brings both honor and opposition,” he continued. “Anyone who dreams big will encounter those who think small, anyone who dares to step forward will find those who’d rather stay put. And anyone who thinks they can will always hear from those who are sure they can’t. ” Pence told the graduates that for an example of courage they should look no further than his friend, the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump. The vice president quoted the commencement message President Trump gave last Saturday at Liberty University. “Nothing worth doing ever came easy,” he said, quoting Trump. “Following your convictions means you must be willing to face criticism from those who lack the courage to do what’s right. ” Adding his own advice, Pence urged, “Don’t fear criticism. Have the humility to listen to it, learn from it and most importantly, push through it. Persistence is the key. Never quit on your dreams. Dreams may be deferred by they must never be abandoned. ” Pence recounted some of his life story and setbacks, particularly that he actually ran twice for the U. S. Congress and was not successful in those first attempts. He encouraged the graduates to trust the dream in their hearts and “never let it go. ” “That dream came back around,” said Pence, and he was eventually successful and able to serve in Congress, then serve as governor of Indiana and now has the privilege as serving as vice president of the United States. “Hold on to your calling. Never let it go,” he encouraged. Pence quoted former President Calvin Coolidge: Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. Well the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. He then added his own words, “And so persistence men and women. Hold on to your dreams and drive forward. ” Vice President Pence declared that the graduates have been “called to lead, fearlessly. Be men and women of integrity with a servant’s heart. Expect opposition and persevere. And lastly, have faith. ” He quoted Jeremiah 29:11 from the Bible, as he often does, that God has a plan for them, to give them “hope and a future. ” “Have faith that He that brought you this far will never leave you and never forsake you because He never will,” said Pence. The Vice President said if the graduates “if you hold fast to Him, to the faith that deepened in this special place and to all that you learned from this extraordinary faculty, I know in my heart of hearts, you will not only persevere, but you will prevail. ” . @GroveCtyCollege Class of 2017 — this is your day — the future is yours. Congratulations. #GCCGrad2017 pic. twitter. — Vice President Pence (@VP) May 20, 2017, He concluded with, “The future is yours, go get it” and “God bless you and may God bless the United States of America. ” Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana | 1 |
SAN DIEGO, California — Federal immigration authorities arrested at least 160 illegal aliens over multiple days and across multiple states in what the U. S. Department of Homeland Security is calling “routine” immigration enforcement actions. [Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Gillian Christensen confirmed to the Washington Post that “routine” immigration enforcement actions were taken this week in Los Angeles, California Atlanta, Georgia and two other cities that were not identified. The enforcement actions took place at home and workplaces. The spokesperson noted it was an unprecedented step to issue statements on such raids while they were ongoing, but social media commentary triggered the agency to comment in this case. U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attested that 160 illegal aliens were arrested in the southern Californian region, including Los Angeles, according to NBC San Diego. The report stated that those with criminal histories and deportation orders were targeted over a sweep. The Post reported on Friday that federal immigration officials had declined to give numbers for how many arrests had been made. The report stated that “immigration activists” had documented “ICE raids” in at least six states as of Friday. President pro Tempore of the California State Senate Kevin de Leon, who has defiantly announced the state would oppose President Donald Trump’s plans for the enforcement of immigration law, said in a statement issued Thursday: There are reports that ICE today executed raids across Southern California. I have asked federal officials to disclose how many children, men, and women they have detained what the processing time will be what the rationale is for their detention and I asked that everyone be offered access to an attorney. De Leon announced an update on February 1 to his “California Values Act” bill that would effectively make California a sanctuary state. Lawyers and advocates for illegal aliens were scrambling to secure lawyers for those impacted, Grassroots Leadership executive director Bob Libal told the Post: “We’re trying to do some legal triage. ” The majority of those detained in the immigration enforcement actions were males according to both federal immigration authorities and “activists” cited by the Post. ICE spokesperson Virginia Kice echoed the DHS spokesperson when she told the Los Angeles Times that the immigration actions were “routine” and not part of any newly adopted policy under the Trump administration. Kice stated that the agency makes arrests every day: “Our operations are targeted and lead driven, prioritizing individuals who pose a risk to our communities. Examples would include known street gang members, child sex offenders, and deportable foreign nationals with significant drug trafficking convictions. ” Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana. | 1 |
When researchers moved a marble covering that had been in place since 1555, according to Newser , they uncovered the stone slab.
National Geographic archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert was elated.
“The marble covering of the tomb has been pulled back, and we were surprised by the amount of fill material beneath it,” he told National Geographic . “It will be a long scientific analysis, but we will finally be able to see the original rock surface on which, according to tradition, the body of Christ was laid.”
The Edicule and the interior are being restored by a group of scientists from the National Technical University of Athens under the leadership of chief scientific supervisor Professor Antonia Moropoulou, who looks forward to the day when their research can bring the interior chamber to exact replication of what it would have looked like in the time of Christ.
“We are at the critical moment for rehabilitating the Edicule,” she told National Geographic. “The techniques we’re using to document this unique monument will enable the world to study our findings as if they themselves were in the tomb of Christ.”
That is truly amazing. | 0 |
TUCSON — There are food deserts, those urban neighborhoods where finding healthful food is nearly impossible, and then there is Tucson. When the rain comes down hard on a hot summer afternoon here, locals start acting like Cindy Lou Who on Christmas morning. They turn their faces to the sky and celebrate with prickly pear margaritas. When you get only 12 inches of rain a year, every drop matters. Coaxing a vibrant food culture from this land of heat and cactuses an hour’s drive north of the Mexican border seems an exhausting and impossible quest. But it’s never a good idea to underestimate a desert rat. Tucson, it turns out, is a muscular food town. Eight months ago it became the only place in the United States designated a City of Gastronomy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, known by its acronym, Unesco. A years ago, the international agency began including food as a part of cultural heritage worth protecting, recognizing the importance of things like Armenian lavash, the Mediterranean diet and the gastronomic meals of the French. In 2004 the group began a Creative Cities Network to link places where folk art, literature, music and other creative pursuits are being put to use to guide sustainable urban development. In the gastronomy category, Tucson joined 17 other cities, among them Parma, Italy Bergen, Norway and Ensenada, Mexico. “They want towns where the designation will make a difference,” said Jonathan Mabry, Tucson’s officer for historic preservation and an author of the application. To an outsider, Tucson’s star turn may be a bit of a head scratcher. Certainly, the city has plenty of reliably delicious tamales, brilliant renditions of huevos rancheros and devoted eaters who will spend the day debating the best place to get a good raspado. There’s even an outpost of Pizzeria Bianco, Chris Bianco’s Phoenix restaurant, which serves what several critics have called the best pizza in the United States. Still, Tucson has never been high on any list of great food cities. Even Santa Fe, its sister, gets more love. But as people here will tell you, being a great food city is not always about the restaurants. “Tucson has really figured out the connection game,” said Megan Kimble, the editor of the Tucson magazine Edible Baja Arizona and the author of the 2015 book “Unprocessed: My Year of Reclaiming Real Food. ” She pointed to strong advertiser and reader support for the magazine as just one example of the love people have for local food in this city of about 500, 000. The magazine consistently has more advertising pages than any of the other 90 published under the Edible Communities umbrella in the United States and Canada, said Nancy Brannigan Painter, the executive director of Edible Communities. The Unesco designation has been a rallying point for a city that has to balance an annual influx of snowbirds and University of Arizona students with a substantial Native American community, recent immigrants and deep pockets of poverty. “It gives us a reason to have deeper discussions about food and what it means to everyone who lives here,” Ms. Kimble said. Of the many facets of Tucson food culture included in its application, one has risen above the rest: the claim that the city has the longest history of agricultural cultivation in North America. Dr. Mabry was part of a team hired by the city that made the discovery in 2000. He was working as an archaeologist, digging not far from downtown Tucson, when they discovered layer after layer of irrigation trenches, then found some charred corn. They sent it to be carbon dated. It was proof, he said, that Tucson had been built on top of a farming village. The fact is now dropped into even the most casual discussions about Tucson’s culinary assets. “It’s like part of the brand now,” Dr. Mabry said. Cooks here make great use of the food that comes from the desert, finding ways to incorporate agave, cactus pads, amaranth and the tiny wild pepper called chiltepin. Mesquite pods are pounded into sweet flour that is baked into cookies. Descendants of fruit trees introduced in the 1600s by the Rev. Eusebio Francisco Kino, an Italian who explored the Southwestern deserts, offer quince, figs and white pomegranates with soft seeds that taste of apple and grapefruit. Cholla buds, the slippery flowers of a cactus that taste vaguely of asparagus, are chopped into salads and salsas. Members of the Tohono O’odham nation sometimes gather them on the San Xavier Indian Reservation near Tucson and dry them, selling the buds in jars and soup mixes at the San Xavier Farm. “They’re O. K. but it’s not like cholla buds are going to take the country by storm,” said Janos Wilder, a chef who opened his first Tucson restaurant in 1983. “But they’re neat because it’s an absolutely unique and important story. It takes its place in a larger context. ” A lot of the food from the Sonoran Desert is like that. “I thought it was a wasteland when I first came here, but slowly my eyes opened up,” he said. To celebrate the new designation, Mr. Wilder has spent the better part of the summer at his latest restaurant, Downtown Kitchen and Cocktails, cooking a different menu based on each of the new cities of gastronomy. This week, he’s preparing the food from Phuket, Thailand. Tucson’s passion for its food culture goes well beyond the kitchen. People embrace new ventures and cheer creative solutions to help people eat better. When the lines at the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona nearly doubled during the economic crash in 2008, the people who run it helped clients build gardens in their backyards and sell extra produce on consignment at the bank’s farmers’ markets. Not far from downtown, a nonprofit group is recreating a Spanish colonial walled garden like the ones Father Kino built. The Mission Garden project is a history lesson on four acres, tracing agricultural practices that began on the site with the Hohokam and Tohono O’odham tribes. The county’s libraries tuck seed banks into old card catalogs. If you want to plant tomatoes, or the little brown tepary beans that were long a staple of the Southwestern Native American diet (and don’t require much water to grow) simply check them out with a library card. If you save some seeds from your crop and bring them back, all the better. The city’s devotion to creating livelihoods from its heritage foods is part of what appealed to Unesco, said Gary Paul Nabhan, a expert who advised the city on its application. Mr. Nabhan, a MacArthur Fellow and director of the Center for Regional Food Studies at the University of Arizona, has written more than 30 books, most of them about the plants and cultures of the Sonoran Desert. Mr. Nabhan, an ecumenical Franciscan brother who helped start Native a nonprofit organization that saves and distributes Southwestern heirloom seeds, is a proponent of what he calls desert terroir, and the ingredients that make up what he calls borderland cuisine. One of them is white Sonora wheat, one of the oldest varieties grown in North America. Father Kino introduced it to the Tohono O’odham farmers, who welcomed it as a winter crop and used it to make the precursor to the thin, stretchy wheat tortilla that is the foundation of Mexican border cooking. Don Guerra, a cult star among the nation’s bread bakers, uses it in the loaves he bakes in an Italian deck oven he installed in his Tucson garage. His bakery, Barrio Bread, produces 900 loaves a week for people who order it online. “Tucson has a kind of approach to food,” he said. “People want others to succeed, especially if you can make food from this region. ” The Unesco honor has lifted a town that sometimes doubts its place in the cultural hierarchy. “It’s like a new point of pride,” he said. “For so long we’ve been this poor cousin of Phoenix. ” But Tucson will always be Tucson, a place people either love or hate. “There’s no one who’s ambivalent about it,” said Ms. Kimble, a Los Angeles transplant. “But once it gets in your soul, it’s in there. ” | 1 |
TRUTH: No Apartheid in Israel, Says Black South African Politician Oct 28, 2016 Previous post Any black South African who claims there is apartheid in Israel is either uninformed or blatantly dishonest, says a member of parliament in Pretoria.
According to Kenneth Meshoe, chairman of the African Christian Democratic Party faction, any attempt to compare Palestinians’ experience in Israel with the former racist regime is offensive to individuals who suffered under the system of racial separation.
Whatever challenges the Arab minority in Israel faces, the reality of life here cannot be compared to his experiences growing up, he insists.
“There is freedom of movement in this country that we never had in South Africa,” Meshoe told Tazpit Press Service (TPS) during a visit to Jerusalem last week. “Benches and bathrooms said ‘whites only.’ We could never take ‘white’ transportation. Most white doctors would not treat black patients, only white ones. And those who were willing to treat black patients out of compassion – many of them would ask the patients to enter their clinics through the back door so they wouldn’t be seen by the white patients in the lobby. I don’t know if it was illegal for white doctors to treat black patients, but the reality was that very few did.” ‘Perpetuating Propaganda’
According to Meshoe, “Some South Africans who say there’s apartheid in Israel are only repeating things they’ve heard from other people, not because they’ve actually seen it themselves. They are just perpetuating propaganda.
“Other people – politicians – are only thinking about their needs, and the statements that will serve their needs. They ask ‘what do I gain [by claiming there is or is not apartheid in Israel] and then make a decision. So they are perpetuating something that that they know very well is a lie.”
Meshoe said he first visited Israel several years after Nelson Mandela was elected president in 1994. He joined a church delegation to the Holy Land and used the opportunity both for a religious pilgrimage and a political education, but the latter came as a surprise.
“On that trip, I deliberately looked for anything that looked like apartheid. I took a bus to the center of Jerusalem, but blacks, Jews, Arabs and
FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE CLICK LINK | 0 |
— Dr.Darrell Scott (@PastorDScott) October 27, 2016
.seriously?
e: WTF IT’S TRUE Rapper Jay Z will headline a concert for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland before Election Day, according to a Clinton aide. The event — which aides expect will draw thousands — is part of an ongoing series of concerts that aim to motivate young people to turn out for Clinton the way they turned out for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. | 0 |
Warning or threat? Hillary hints at second civil war if Trump wins 11/02/2016
While speaking to supporters in Cincinnati on Monday, Democrat Hillary Clinton hinted at a second civil war if GOP nominee Donald Trump wins, Breitbart.com reported.
Charlie Spiering wrote:
“He has a dark and divisive vision for America that could tear our country apart,” Clinton said to supporters in Cincinnati, Ohio on Halloween.
Clinton specifically referred to the Civil War, suggesting that the country faced a similar threat of divisiveness from Donald Trump.
“Abraham Lincoln understood a house divided against itself cannot stand, and that was over the greatest of challenges – the challenge posed by slavery – and we fought a civil war,” she said.
She warned voters that it was time for the country to take the divisions in the country seriously.
“But we also have to take stock of how divided we are today, the kinds of divisions that need to be healed to bring people together,” she added, failing to admit that her side is the one that has divided America by race, class and gender.
She also claimed that Trump would start a nuclear war if a foreign leader got under his skin.
“I know there are some who will say that any discussion of this topic could be fear-mongering, but I don’t think so,” she said at a rally in Kent, Ohio, earlier in the day.
A post at Barracuda Brigade observed:
Liberals especially the Clinton are always projecting. Anything that they accuse the other side of is what they are doing. She suggests that her message is one of “hope and change” when in fact it is just more of the same.
Moreover, Trump has spent a great deal of time talking about policies and issues while Clinton & Co. have done absolutely nothing but engage in fear-mongering and fingerpointing.
Still, we have to ask — was Clinton’s “hint” a “warning” or a “threat?”
Related: | 0 |
Nükleer silahlara « Hayır » oyu nasıl verilir? yazan Manlio Dinucci Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, BM Genel Kurulunun Birinci Komitesi’ndeki müttefikleri tarafından nükleer silahların topyekun ortadan kaldırılmasını amaçlayan bir karar tasarısının reddedilmesini sağladı. Bu arada, gayrimeşru olarak ABD atom bombalarına ev sahipliği yapan Devletlerin, Nükleer Silahların Yayılmasının Önlenmesi Anlaşmasının 2nci Maddesi gereğince bunların topraklarından geri çekilmesini şart koşmaları muhtemeldir.
Voltaire İletişim Ağı | Roma (İtalya) | 5 Kasım 2016 français italiano English Español « Teşekkürler, Başkan Obama. İtalya nükleer güvenlik için çabalarını büyük bir kararlılıkla sürdürmeye devam edecektir »: Başbakan Matteo Renzi, tarihi bir tweeter mesajında böyle yazıyordu. Altı ay sonra aynı Renzi Birleşmiş Milletlerde, nükleer silahlara « evet » oyu verdi. ABD’nin kuyruğuna takılan İtalyan Hükümeti, Genel Kurul Birinci Komitesinde büyük çoğunlukla onay gören, 2017 yılında Birleşmiş Milletlerde « tamamen ortadan kaldırılmalarıyla sonuçlanacak şekilde, nükleer silahların yasaklanması için zorlayıcı yasal bir aracı müzakere etmek » için bir konferans toplanması davetini öngören karar tasarısına karşı tavır aldı.
Böylece İtalyan Hükümeti, bundan iki yıl önce Viyana Konferansı sırasında, « sabır ve diplomasiyle arabulucu rolü » oynayarak nükleer silahsızlanma adına hareket etme iradesi konusunda güvence vererek, « kolay tatmin olmayan » nükleer karşıtı hareketlere verdiği söz konusunda tükürdüğünü yaladı. Böylece, hükümetten İtalya’nın « aktiften de öte, muhtemelen uç noktada bir rol » oynayabileceği, « nükleer silahsızlanmaya doğru giden insani ve hukuksal » bir güzergah içerisinde, « nükleer silahların ülke dışına çıkarılması için yürütülen çaba ve mücadelenin sürdürülmesinin » talep edildiği, « topyekun nükleer silahsızlanmayı şart koşuyoruz » çağrısı boşluğa düşüyor.
Bunun sonucunda, aynı şekilde aynı içerikteki parlamento önergeleri de boşluğa düşüyor. Nükleer silahsızlanmaya yönelik jenerik çağrılar kolayca araçsallaştırılabilir: 1 000 milyar dolarlık yeniden nükleer silahlanmanın mimarı ABD Başkanının, « nükleer silahlardan arınmış bir dünya vizyonu » için Nobel Barış Ödülü’ne layık görüldüğünü düşünmek yeterli.
Birleşmiş Milletlerin karar tasarısında sözü edilen nükleer silahsızlanma hedefine varmak için İtalya’dan katkıda bulunabileceğimiz somut yöntem, ülkemizi ABD’nin nükleer silahlarından kurtarmaktır. Bu amaçla hükümete çağrıda bulunmak yerine, onu, 2nci maddesinde « sözleşmeye taraf olan ve askeri açıdan nükleer olmayan Devletlerin her biri, herhangi birinden nükleer silah ya da diğer patlayıcı nükleer aygıtları almamayı ve bu tür silah ve patlayıcı aygıtları üzerinde doğrudan ya da dolaylı olarak denetimi altında bulundurmamayı taahhüt eder » koşulunu içeren ve İtalya tarafından imzalanan ve onaylanan Nükleer Silahların Yayılmasının Önlenmesi Anlaşmasına uymaya zorlamamız gerekiyor. İtalya’nın Nükleer Silahların Yayılmasının Önlenmesi Anlaşmasını ihlal etmeye son vermesini ve ABD’den topraklarımızdaki bütün nükleer silahları derhal geri çekmesini ve buraya, Rusya’ya karşı ABD/NATO’nun mızrak başı yeni B-61-12 bombalarını, ne de başka nükleer silahları yerleştirmemesini talep etmeye zorlamalıyız. İtalyan pilotlarının, ABD komutası altında nükleer silahların kullanımı konusunda eğitim almamalarını talep etmeliyiz.
Bu, No Guerra, No Nato komitesi ve başka özneler tarafından başlatılan kampanyanın hedefidir. Kampanyanın elde ettiği ilk önemli kazanım, 26 Ekim’de Toskana Bölgesel Konseyinde, Si Toscana a Sinistra (Evet, Toskana sola) grubunun verdiği ve « Nükleer Silahların Yayılmasının Önlenmesi Anlaşmasına uymayı ve ABD’nin derhal her türlü nükleer silahı İtalyan topraklarından geri çekmesi ve yeni B-61-12 bombalarını ve diğer nükleer silahları yerleştirmemesi için gerekeni yapmasını hükümetten talep etmesi için yerel idareyi yetkilendiren » bir önerge kabul edildi. Bu girişimler ve diğerleri aracılığıyla, güçlü bir seferberlikle hükümete Nükleer Silahların Yayılmasının Önlenmesi Anlaşmasına uymasını dayatacak geniş bir cephe oluşturabiliriz.
Bundan altı ay önce Manifesto sayfalarında, Parlamentoda, Nükleer Silahların Yayılmasının Önlenmesi Anlaşması temelinde, İtalya’dan ABD nükleer silahlarının derhal geri çekilmesini şart koşmaya hazır birisi olup olmadığını soruyorduk. Bu sorunun cevabını hala bekliyoruz.
Manlio Dinucci Çeviri
Osman Soysal
Kaynak
Il Manifesto (İtalya) | 0 |
When Tidjane Thiam took over at Credit Suisse last July, he laid out a new direction for a financial giant with a storied investment banking history: Do less investment banking. And he used forceful language in doing so. He has referred to once core businesses — such as trading in distressed bonds and derivatives — as “ugly ducklings. ” He has suggested publicly that traders increased their investments in risky debt without his knowledge. Instead, Mr. Thiam said, the firm should dedicate itself to cultivating billionaires in China, Indonesia and Africa. The message: The future for the company is in managing the wealth of others. One year in, Credit Suisse stock is down 50 percent. And the investment bank, the second largest in Switzerland after UBS, is in open revolt. Credit Suisse has a wide range of businesses, like overseeing the fortunes of billionaires and managing initial public offerings for technology companies. But for decades, the bank has been dominated, both culturally and financially, by a richly paid banking elite. These deal makers in New York and London are now furious at Mr. Thiam, not just for cutting their pay but also because they resent his blaming them for the $6 billion in losses that the firm has suffered on his watch. Across Europe, banking giants like Barclays, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland have, to varying degrees, moved away from traditional investment banking activities because of increased regulation and volatile markets. Sluggish growth in large European economies — not to mention the remarkable phenomenon of negative interest rates — have not helped matters, either. But what makes the situation at Credit Suisse stand out is that Mr. Thiam appears to have done little to cloak his disdain for these activities. The question is not whether Mr. Thiam is right to grab power and capital from these declining businesses but whether his blunt, domineering style as a change agent will end up alienating bankers instead of winning them over. “It is never easy to tell people that whole parts of the business that have put bread on their table and bought them a second house have become uneconomic,” said Guy Moszkowski, a longtime securities analyst at Autonomous Research. By any measure, Mr. Thiam is an unconventional choice to lead an investment bank. Born to a prominent family in Ivory Coast, he cut short a career at McKinsey Company in Paris in 1994 to join a government in his home country as a top banker and minister. Following a military coup in 1999, Mr. Thiam returned to McKinsey, and in 2009, he was named chief executive of Prudential, the British insurance conglomerate — becoming the first African to head a major listed company in Britain. and snugly tailored, Mr. Thiam has an air about him of not suffering fools. He had a successful run at Prudential (no relation to an American company with a similar name) overcoming an uproar following a failed bid to buy the Asian operations of the American International Group. Along the way, he became one of London’s more celebrated executives and a regular on the circuit of global . That he has not bent to the complaints of bankers and traders in unprofitable businesses should not come as a surprise. “There needs to be a cultural change,” he said in a televised interview in March, in which he argued that bankers were pursuing risky trades to justify their high pay. “A lot of the problems in the investment bank are that people are trying to generate revenue at all costs. ” In turn, deal makers in London and New York, who have seen their bonuses slashed by nearly 40 percent, are not hiding their dislike of the man. More than any other bank on Wall Street, Credit Suisse restricts the cash portion of its bonuses, allocating large chunks in company stock, which has halved in value. So when their new chief executive gave a speech in May and said that Credit Suisse’s stock price “reflected reality,” bankers, especially the many who have worked at the firm for decades, could not believe it. On Credit Suisse’s newly renovated trading floor in New York, several bankers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, grumbled that Mr. Thiam had “lost the building,” which is Wall Street parlance for chief executives who no longer command the respect of their traders. And when he has appeared on television in recent months, employees loudly vented their frustrations at the screen, according those bankers, who witnessed the events but were not authorized to speak publicly. Mr. Thiam was hailed during his first visit to the trading floor in New York last year, but the reception during a more recent appearance was chillier, said two employees who were on the floor during his visits but were not authorized to speak publicly. In particular, many at Credit Suisse find Mr. Thiam’s personal style to be jarring at a time when thousands are being laid off and the stock is trading at a multiyear low. This is particularly true when compared with Brady W. Dougan, his predecessor: Mr. Thiam’s own dealings with the media are handled by a British firm, Powerscourt. He enjoys a robust social life and has been seen doing the rounds at clubs in London and Davos, Switzerland. And he recently purchased a luxury home in Herrliberg, an exclusive lakeside enclave in Zurich. To be sure, analysts agree that Credit Suisse can no longer rely on trading derivatives with firms like Deutsche Bank as a profit center. Instead, Mr. Thiam is encouraging his deal makers to support the firm’s private bankers in Asia, by providing loans to magnates in Indonesia or helping billionaire clients in China with initial public offerings. Mr. Thiam is clearly enamored with the prospect of tapping growth markets in emerging economies. He has been to China and broader Asia at least four times in his new capacity, and his business cards carry a Mandarin translation on the back. Mr. Thiam’s defenders say that with the future of Credit Suisse in doubt, he has no choice but to make these painful changes and that resistance from traders and bankers should not deter him. And it is also true that wealth managers in Switzerland and Asia, where Mr. Thiam is adding resources, are embracing the new strategy. Following last year’s losses, he also asked his board for a 40 percent cut in his bonus, taking in $4. 5 million for the six months he worked last year. To date, the Credit Suisse board appears to be standing with Mr. Thiam. Indeed, having had two Wall Street chiefs since 2001, the board clearly believes that only a prominent nonbanker like Mr. Thiam can wean the firm off a line of business that has so long defined it. Nevertheless, directors were not happy with his televised comments in March when Mr. Thiam suggested that traders at the bank were hiding losses from him. Mr. Thiam quickly corrected himself at a conference that same day and said no limits were breached, though not without taking another dig at his traders by questioning their judgment. Mr. Thiam also called these traders and offered what a spokeswoman for the bank said was a “clarification” of his remarks. “The board is 100 percent behind the strategy, Tidjane and the executive board,” said Richard E. Thornburgh, a former Credit Suisse banker with 30 years of experience at the firm who is now chairman of the board’s risk committee. With morale in New York at a low point, Mr. Thornburgh has had recent meetings with top bankers and traders, hearing them out and urging them to remain focused on their clients. For many, though, this is easier said than done. It is unusual, after all, for an incoming chief executive to be so publicly critical of employees responsible for a quarter of a firm’s revenue. That is particularly true on Wall Street, where punctured vanities can quickly harm a firm, as productive bankers head for the exits in droves. Over the last six months, at least 18 bankers and traders have left the firm, with many of these coming from Credit Suisse’s once prestigious technology unit in San Francisco. The culture clash at Credit Suisse recalls a similar dispute at Morgan Stanley a decade ago. Like Mr. Thiam, Philip J. Purcell was a former whiz kid consultant from McKinsey who preferred slow and steady brokers over bankers with big egos and even bigger paychecks. A uprising forced Mr. Purcell’s departure, since power on Wall Street was then still in the hands of deal makers and traders. With wealth managers now ascendant, Mr. Thiam seems willing to accept the wounded cries of his own bankers as a painful necessity if his grand plan is to succeed. “Is there a vision. Is there a direction?” Mr. Thiam asked aloud last year in a speech introducing his strategy. “The Germans say that the horrible end is better than horror without end. ” | 1 |
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - Politicians often try to relate to the common man and fail miserably. However, in a moment of blunt candor and honesty, Libertarian candidate for President Gary Johnson spoke for all of us when he openly mourned the loss of majestic Harambe.
“Why did they have to kill the gorilla?” Johnson lamented in an exclusive interview with Independent Journal Review.
The former New Mexico Governor and nature enthusiast was visibly moved when asked about his feelings on Harambe, a celebrated Western Lowlands Gorilla living peacefully in the Cincinnati Zoo before he was cruelly cut down in the prime of his life after a child fell into his enclosure this past May. “I'm sure it was a difficult decision for everyone involved,” Johnson said before ultimately bemoaning the cruel fate of the endangered, peaceful animal.
Harambe's legacy has become a cultural and even political phenomenon. Green Party candidate Jill Stein has tweeted her defense of sweet Harambe and there is now an official Harambe Super PAC registered with the FEC called 'Justice For Harambe.'
The Super PAC's creator Ryan Hall spoke with IJR last month describing what his PAC will be committed to doing:
We will endorse any candidate who is willing to honor Harambe's legacy. Harambe represents all Americans and what it truly means to be an American. We will back candidates who will work toward legislation which ensures that innocent gorillas can live in peace and not be shot. We want candidates who support safe enclosures for majestic gorillas. We also will support candidates who will fight for nationwide Harambe memorials, so our children may learn the story of his life.
We have reached out to Hall to see if the PAC, which had raised $20 at last reporting, would now be backing Gov. Johnson's Presidential run. | 0 |
November 4, 2016 at 7:41 pm
this person shouldn't be able to post any more media lieing BS. there's not going to be a war if Clinton isn't elected president…. and it doesn't look like she is so delete your account and so posting BS so people feed in to it like sheep. | 0 |
Chart Of The Day: The Rise And Fall Of Middle Class Wealth, 1927-2013 By David Stockman. Posted On Sunday, November 13th, 2016
David Stockman's Contra Corner is the only place where mainstream delusions and cant about the Warfare State, the Bailout State, Bubble Finance and Beltway Banditry are ripped, refuted and rebuked. Subscribe now to receive David Stockman’s latest posts by email each day as well as his model portfolio, Lee Adler’s Daily Data Dive and David’s personally curated insights and analysis from leading contrarian thinkers. | 0 |
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[Ed. – Now teaching the gospel of racial grievance.]
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick hosted a “Know Your Rights” camp for Oakland-area youth Saturday, an event designed to expand his focus on social and racial injustice beyond his national anthem protest.
“This is exciting for me because I see a lot of hope, what is to come,” Kaepernick said beforehand, in an interview with The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears .
Kaepernick said the campers, who numbered around 100, would have sessions to learn about situations with police, their rights, holistic health, financial literacy, and understanding both community and self. He said the camp’s aim is to “empower youth, give them resources and tools” to deal with difficult situations.
“We want to let them know they have options and people that are behind them to help them,” he said. “And that’s a powerful thing, for someone else to have belief in you.” | 0 |
On most mornings, Mayor Bill de Blasio departs Gracie Mansion, the mayoral residence of New York City, in a black sport utility vehicle, accompanied by a police escort. The caravan then makes the drive down the East Side of Manhattan, a ride familiar to his predecessors, before embarking on a detour: past City Hall, across the East River to his final destination, a Y. M. C. A. on Ninth Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn. There, for an hour — and sometimes more — Mr. de Blasio runs the nation’s largest city from a gym mat. Or a stationary bicycle. Or the weight room. For the entirety of his 30 months as mayor, the Y. M. C. A. gym has served as the center of a kind of Camp David for Mr. de Blasio, an archipelago of neighborhood haunts in a roughly radius that was part of his life and where he now routinely returns. There is the Colson Patisserie, the mayor’s favorite morning stop the S S Cleaners the nearby Brooklyn Public Library branch where Mr. de Blasio votes the Little Purity Diner and Bar Toto, where he has held meetings and made calls. The uniqueness of the mayor’s routine has been noted since his early days in office, before he and his family moved to Gracie Mansion from their Park Slope home. But close observation by a reporter for The New York Times, who is a fellow member of the Y. M. C. A. reveals it to be more rigid, lengthy and leisurely than previously known. During a recent week, Mr. de Blasio did not miss a single workout — hitting the gym each and every weekday, usually leaving the mansion around 8 a. m. or a bit later. He texts and emails on his phone. He stretches. He reads sheets of paper and watches television news. He once appeared to be reviewing a speech or a policy brief. No City Hall staff members came to speak with him nor did any other friends or associates. His wife, Chirlane McCray, accompanied him to the gym on two days, though they mostly worked out separately. No one begrudges the mayor’s right to exercise, even though some may take issue with his choice of venue to do so. But his sojourn in Park Slope is hardly a solitary affair. There is a security detail, as well as a rotating cast of staff members from his press office who stay either outside or across the street at the patisserie before accompanying him to City Hall or other events. One is assigned per day, said Eric F. Phillips, the mayor’s top spokesman, to help Mr. de Blasio “stay connected and efficient while he’s working out. ” Mr. Phillips adds that the mayor’s day starts “with calls, emails and briefings by 7 a. m.,” rarely ends before 9 p. m. and often extends into the weekend. “Mayor Bloomberg had Bermuda Mayor de Blasio has a corner coffee shop and Y in Brooklyn,” Mr. Phillips said, referring to Michael R. Bloomberg’s frequent weekend jaunts by private jet out of New York. Mr. de Blasio, as it turns out, happened to have left the country on Sunday for a weeklong family vacation in Italy. But in a normal week, the Prospect Park Y. M. C. A. and its environs clearly offer Mr. de Blasio a respite from the grind of city business, a place where the mayor has said he feels “grounded” and where he remains largely unaccosted for much of his workout. Fellow members of the gym largely ignore him, and Mr. de Blasio mostly keeps to himself. The mayor has kept the routine even after facing criticism last year for remaining at the gym during a violent standoff in Staten Island in which a firefighter was shot. He also adheres to the daily journey even when Park Slope presents a significant detour. Last Tuesday, for example, Mr. de Blasio traveled from the Upper East Side to Brooklyn, before reversing direction to head 15 miles north — straight past Gracie Mansion — to an event in the Bronx at 10:30 a. m. The routine has also survived a raft of continuing investigations into the mayor’s activities by state and federal prosecutors. As recent observations showed, it is, in many respects, a routine that most busy people can only dream of. In one week in late June, the mayor emerged on that Monday into the gym’s stretching area in a running shoes and khaki cargo shorts with pockets. After 15 minutes of stretching and BlackBerry multitasking, he moved to the weight room. By 9:24 a. m. he was wearing headphones on a stationary bicycle, pedaling at a gentle pace while watching CNN. In the lobby, a communications adviser, Wiley Norvell, sat waiting for the mayor. At 10:23 a. m. Mr. de Blasio exited the gym wearing a suit and got into a waiting car. Mr. Norvell got in the back seat next to him. Sixteen minutes later, the mayor’s office sent reporters a statement on the Supreme Court’s ruling on Texas abortion laws. New Yorkers sometimes hear directly from their mayor while he is at the gym, as in one case when a prerecorded interview earlier that Tuesday aired at 9:30 a. m. on NY1. As his voice sounded on the television, Mr. de Blasio was working out. The mayor also conducts his weekly radio appearances with Brian Lehrer, the WNYC host, from nearby — occasionally in his gym clothes. That Wednesday, he hustled from the stationary bicycle and out of the gym, still in his workout cargo shorts. Minutes later, he was live on the air taking questions and calls from listeners. At the time, he was seated with his press secretary in a room at the library around the corner. On his public schedules through May, the location for at least five previous interviews with Mr. Lehrer had been listed as the Park Slope Library, suggesting a quick trip there after the gym. After the segment, the car drove back to the gym so Mr. de Blasio could finish and change he in a suit at 11:06 a. m. Mr. de Blasio, who sends emails to his staff throughout his workout, often does not arrive at City Hall until well after 10 a. m. On the Thursday of that week, when he got to the gym at 8:55 a. m. he walked into City Hall at exactly 11 a. m. George Arzt, the press secretary for Mayor Edward I. Koch, said the days back then began early. “Koch was at the gym at 6 o’clock,” he said. “By 7:30 we were already having a staff meeting in his office. ” But the purpose of that meeting was a briefing of the morning newspapers, Mr. Arzt said, a task that Mr. de Blasio can accomplish himself from the gym mat or the back seat of his car. (Indeed, Mr. de Blasio’s schedules often begin with a late morning call en route around 9:30 or 10 a. m. with a press aide.) When Mr. Bloomberg was mayor, he favored an early jog on a treadmill at his Upper East Side townhouse. (Mr. Bloomberg did not live at Gracie Mansion.) William T. Cunningham, a former spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg, noted that Mr. de Blasio had “taken a lot of shots,” but said that his use of the Prospect Park Y. M. C. A. should not be among them. “Give the man his gym,” he said. “If he doesn’t care what it looks like, why should we?” Mr. Cunningham also suggested that New Yorkers should not expect Mr. de Blasio’s schedule to look like his predecessor’s. “We didn’t work the same way that Giuliani did,” he said. “Giuliani didn’t work the way that Dinkins did. Nobody worked the way Koch did. ” “I don’t want to be critical of it,” he added. “If he’s on a bicycle, he can still check his emails. ” | 1 |
Megyn Kelly has come under fire for a planned Father’s Day interview with InfoWars founder Alex Jones on her new Sunday night NBC News program, with social media users calling for a boycott of the program’s advertisers and urging others to tune out the show when it airs later this month. [Kelly shared a preview clip of the interview with Jones on her Twitter account Sunday. In the clip, Jones defends against being called “the most paranoid man in the world,” calls the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U. S. an “inside job,” and attempts to deflect criticism for his assertion that the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax. Next Sunday, I sit down with conservative radio host @RealAlexJones to discuss controversies and conspiracies #SundayNight June 18 on NBC pic. twitter. — Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) June 11, 2017, In response to the preview, several Twitter users identifying themselves as family members of the 27 victims of the horrific attack tweeted directly to the Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly host to express their outrage that the anchor and NBC would give Jones a platform to discuss his views. Cristina Hassinger — daughter of Sandy Hook Elementary principal Dawn Hoschsprung, who was killed in the attack — and Nelba Marquez Greene, who reportedly lost a daughter in the attack, both sent messages to Kelly denouncing the interview. “Shame on you,” Hassinger wrote. This piece of actual garbage encourages people to call my mom’s death a hoax and harass other Sandy Hook families. Shame on you @megynkelly. https: . — cristina hassinger (@chass63) June 12, 2017, Here you go @megynkelly — her name is Ana Grace . Say her stare at this tell me it’s worth it. @nbc #SandyHook pic. twitter. — Nelba (@Nelba_MG) June 12, 2017, Hey @megynkelly — this is what I’m talking about. Is this what you’re shining a light on? #ShameOnMegynKelly https: . — Nelba (@Nelba_MG) June 12, 2017, As the backlash grew on social media Sunday, Kelly responded to a user who said that Jones’ appearance on her show would help “legitimize” the radio host and commentator. Kelly replied that Jones’ previous interactions with President Donald Trump were newsworthy and that her job was to “shine a light” on the media figure. But that explanation was not satisfactory to a number of other social media users, who called for a boycott campaign against NBC and Kelly’s new show. #GrabYourWallet Take down Alex Jones and anyone who supports him. @nbc https: . — Anita was here (@VennMultiverse) June 12, 2017, When I was growing up, NBC News was my favorite TV news show. If this vile interview airs, I’ll NEVER watch it again. https: . — Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) June 12, 2017, This is the mother of a child murdered at Sandy Hook — a tragedy Alex Jones says never happened. How could you @megynkelly? #shameonNBC https: . — Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) June 12, 2017, Boycott @NBC @megynkelly for the @RealAlexJones interview. Jones is an incendiary conspiracy theorist who makes up news to fit his agenda, — D. Fitz Allgood 🌞🚴 (@FitzAllgoodlife) June 12, 2017, Very disappointed in @nbc giving airtime to hideous Alex Jones. Won’t watch, and won’t watch @megynkelly ever for providing him a platform. https: . — Heather Whaley (@HeatherWhaley) June 12, 2017, @NBCNews Please, for the love of goodness decency, do not give Alex Jones a platform on Sun. It’s disrespectful to Newtown victims. — Nathaniel (@Hoosier2012) June 12, 2017, A representative for NBC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly premiered earlier this month with a interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Putin told Kelly that American media had created a “sensation out of nothing” with allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 U. S. presidential race. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 1 |
Réunion du Conseil de sécurité du 28 octobre 2016
Document préparatoire de la présidence russe Réseau Voltaire | New York (États-Unis) | 27 octobre 2016 English Español русский عربي 中文 Coopération entre l’Organisation des Nations Unies et les organisations régionales et sous-régionales aux fins du maintien de la paix et de la sécurité internationales : Organisation du Traité de sécurité collective, Organisation de Shanghai pour la coopération et Communauté d’États indépendants La Fédération de Russie compte organiser, le 28 octobre 2016, un débat sur le thème « Coopération entre l’Organisation des Nations Unies et les organisations régionales et sous-régionales aux fins du maintien de la paix et de la sécurité internationales : Organisation du Traité de sécurité collective, Organisation de Shanghai pour la coopération et Communauté d’États indépendants », qui constituera un évènement phare de sa présidence au Conseil de sécurité.
Au vu de la dimension mondiale des problèmes et menaces actuels et de la nécessité d’élaborer des stratégies collectives pour les combattre efficacement, il est essentiel de renforcer la coopération entre l’ONU et les organisations régionales et sous-régionales dans le domaine du maintien de la paix et de la sécurité.
Pour ce qui est de l’ONU, il s’agit avant tout de tirer parti de son caractère universel, aussi bien au niveau de ses Membres que de ses activités, ainsi que de sa légitimité mondialement reconnue. Les organisations régionales, quant à elles, connaissent souvent mieux la situation dans les régions relevant de leur compétence et, dans de nombreux cas, sont dotées de mécanismes de prévention et de maintien de la paix adaptés aux réalités locales. Il importe à cet égard que les activités des organisations régionales tendent à trouver des solutions pacifiques et politiques aux conflits émergents.
Dans ce contexte, il est particulièrement important que l’ONU et ses principaux partenaires régionaux se coordonnent régulièrement sur les questions ayant trait au maintien de la paix et de la sécurité internationales. Ainsi, le Conseil de sécurité tient régulièrement des séances sur la coopération avec l’Union africaine, l’Organisation pour la sécurité et la coopération en Europe et l’Union européenne. Ces dernières années, un examen a également été mené sur la coopération avec la Ligue des États arabes, l’Association des nations de l’Asie du Sud-Est, l’Union des nations de l’Amérique du Sud et d’autres organisations régionales.
Comme on le sait, la collaboration entre l’ONU et ses partenaires régionaux couvre un nombre toujours plus grand de questions. Aux activités de maintien et de consolidation de la paix sont venues s’ajouter la lutte contre la prolifération des armes de destruction massive et le trafic d’armes légères et de petit calibre ainsi que la lutte contre le cyberterrorisme et la migration illégale, domaines dans lesquels la coopération entre les organisations concernées et l’ONU est de plus en plus étroite. Cette coopération joue un rôle essentiel dans le maintien de la paix et de la stabilité à l’échelle de l’Eurasie et, plus particulièrement, en Asie centrale.
C’est précisément dans ce domaine qu’œuvrent trois organisations relativement jeunes dans une vaste zone s’étendant de l’Europe orientale à l’Extrême-Orient, à savoir l’Organisation du Traité de sécurité collective (OTSC), l’Organisation de Shanghai pour la coopération et la Communauté d’États indépendants (CEI). De plus en plus influentes sur la scène politique mondiale, ces organisations contribuent considérablement au renforcement de la sécurité régionale et internationale.
Le débat sera axé sur le rôle de ces trois organisations dans la lutte contre les menaces qui pèsent sur la paix et la sécurité dans la région, notamment le terrorisme, le trafic de drogues et la criminalité organisée. Il permettra également à ces organisations de réaffirmer leur volonté de renforcer la coopération sur le plan pratique avec l’ONU, notamment avec son Centre régional pour la diplomatie préventive en Asie centrale.
L’OTSC est une structure pluridimensionnelle à même de réagir résolument aux divers problèmes et menaces actuels auxquels peuvent faire face ses États membres. À cet égard, le resserrement de la coopération entre l’ONU est l’OTSC dans le domaine du maintien de la paix est prometteur. L’OTSC déploie d’importants efforts pour renforcer ses propres capacités de maintien de la paix, qui pourront aussi être mises à la disposition des opérations de maintien de la paix des Nations Unies. Elle contribue activement, en outre, aux actions menées sur le plan international pour reconstruire l’Afghanistan après le conflit et pour écarter la menace que représentent les stupéfiants provenant de ce pays.
Ses relations avec l’ONU se révèlent fructueuses dans de nombreux domaines, comme la lutte contre le terrorisme et le trafic de drogues, le maintien de la paix ou la lutte contre la criminalité organisée. L’OTSC entretient et développe des rapports productifs avec les entités spécialisées de l’ONU, notamment le Comité contre le terrorisme du Conseil de sécurité et l’Office des Nations Unies contre la drogue et le crime.
Tous les deux ans, l’Assemblée générale adopte une résolution sur la coopération entre l’ONU et l’OTSC, et il est prévu qu’elle en adopte une à sa soixante et onzième session, au titre du point de l’ordre du jour intitulé « Coopération entre l’Organisation des Nations Unies et les organisations régionales ou autres ».
Les fondements juridiques de la coopération entre l’ONU et l’Organisation de Shanghai pour la coopération dans le domaine du maintien de la paix et de la sécurité internationales au titre du Chapitre VIII de la Charte des Nations Unies ont été posés à la suite de la signature, en 2010, de la Déclaration conjointe sur la coopération entre les secrétariats des deux organisations. Actuellement, l’Organisation de Shanghai et l’ONU collaborent étroitement dans des domaines tels que la prévention et le règlement des conflits, la lutte contre le terrorisme (l’Instance régionale de lutte contre le terrorisme relevant de l’Organisation de Shanghai œuvre à cette fin), la non-prolifération des armes de destruction massive, la lutte contre la criminalité transnationale et le trafic de drogues, et la sécurité informatique internationale.
Dans ce contexte, l’Organisation de Shanghai appuie activement les efforts déployés par la communauté internationale et les organismes des Nations Unies pour rétablir la paix en Afghanistan, se prononçant toujours en faveur du maintien du rôle central de coordination de l’ONU dans le règlement du conflit afghan.
Quant à la CEI, la sécurité et la lutte contre les menaces actuelles ont toujours été et demeurent un des domaines prioritaires de coopération entre ses États membres.
Une coopération constructive avec les organisations internationales est également essentielle pour contrer les menaces émergentes. Les pays de la CEI sont parties à tous les principaux instruments internationaux régissant la coopération dans les domaines de la sécurité, du désarmement et de la lutte contre les menaces actuelles, et contribuent efficacement à leur mise en œuvre.
Des mesures conjointes sont prises compte tenu du rôle moteur de l’ONU et de la nécessité d’établir des partenariats constructifs avec d’autres institutions internationales et leurs entités spécialisées, comme le Comité contre le terrorisme, l’Office des Nations Unies contre la drogue et le crime, l’Organisation internationale de police criminelle (INTERPOL), l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations, le Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés et le Groupe d’action financière sur le blanchiment des capitaux.
L’élargissement et le renforcement de la coopération entre l’ONU et l’OTSC, l’Organisation de Shanghai pour la coopération et la CEI au titre du Chapitre VIII de la Charte des Nations Unies semble contribuer de manière constructive à la réalisation des objectifs de l’ONU, y compris à l’élimination des menaces et problèmes actuels. D’une part, ces organisations régionales doivent activement envisager de mettre leurs capacités au service de l’ONU et, d’autre part, l’ONU doit continuer d’accorder l’attention voulue au renforcement de la coordination et de la coopération avec ces organisations, dans le strict respect de ses propres prérogatives et de celles de son Conseil de sécurité.
Dans ce contexte, nous invitons les États Membres de l’ONU à exposer leurs idées sur les moyens de renforcer la sécurité dans la région eurasienne avec l’aide des mécanismes régionaux existants. Force est de constater que la stabilité de cette vaste région est une condition sine qua non de la croissance économique et de l’édification de l’État des pays de l’Eurasie et nous serions par conséquent reconnaissants aux délégations de nous faire part de leurs vues, notamment en ce qui concerne les liens entre sécurité et développement. Nous sommes convaincus qu’ici, dans le cadre de l’ONU, qui jouit d’une légitimité universelle, nous serons tous ensemble en mesure de proposer des stratégies novatrices visant la stabilisation des régions vulnérables, susceptibles, par la suite, d’être mises en œuvre dans d’autres régions du monde qui sont au centre des préoccupations du Conseil de sécurité.
Le Secrétaire général de l’ONU, Ban Ki-moon, le Secrétaire général de l’OTSC, Nikolaï Bordiouja, le Secrétaire général de l’Organisation de Shanghai pour la coopération, Rachid Alimov et le Vice-Président du Comité exécutif de la CEI, Serguei Ivanov, feront un exposé lors du débat. Les États membres des organisations régionales susmentionnées et les représentants d’autres États intéressés sont invités à participer à la réunion. | 0 |
Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox Friends,” incoming aide to Donald Trump’s Kellyanne Conway said Democrats are using the confirmation hearings to “embarrass and humiliate” Trump’s cabinet nominees. Conway said, “This idea of humiliating and trying to embarrass qualified men and women who just wish to serve this nation is reprehensible. ” Defending Trump’s education secretary selection, Betsy DeVos Conway said, “Not one child who needs a better education benefited from any of those incendiary questions yesterday. But, of course, Mrs. DeVos held herself with the grace and elegance that we know her to have. ” Defending Trump’s pick to head Health and Human Services Rep. Tom Price ( ) Conway said, “He has these investments, apparently, are just a fraction of his overall portfolio and they were done by a broker. ” She added, “And by the way, this is another example of just trying to embarrass and humiliate an otherwise eminently qualified nominee. ” ( The Hill) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
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The last time Alabama played God, executing death row inmate Christopher Brooks by lethal injection on January 21, 2016, The Montgomery Advertiser and al.com published a column of mine in which I wrote: “Initial reports out of Alabama are that the execution went as ‘smoothly’ as killing a reasonably healthy 43-year-old man can go. In any event, it appears there was no visible evidence Brooks suffered bodily distress as the lethal drugs were administered, prompting Alabama Prison Commissioner Jeff Dunn to say that the execution with the controversial sedative drug midazolam ‘went exactly as planned[.]” ( See “ Executions are hardly an exact science ,” on February 8, 2016, and “ Courts denied phone to attorneys of man condemned to death ,” on February 9, 2016).
Boy, was I wrong. I was wrong just like Commissioner Dunn, and every media representative and Alabama law enforcement official in attendance was wrong – for painting Mr. Brooks’ execution as a peaceful passing, like he just curled up in a comfy hammock and dozed off – never to wake again.
In a federal court filing on April 15, 2016, that has been inexplicably unreported in the media, Mr. Brooks’ federal defenders, who additionally represent Ronald Bert Smith (scheduled for execution on December 8), allege that after Mr. Brooks was injected with the controversial drug midazolam – the first in Alabama’s three-drug execution cocktail which is supposed to anesthetize the prisoner so that they are “insensate” (completely lacking any physical sensation) – a witness to Brooks’ execution, a federal investigator, Ms. Terri Deep, saw that “Mr. Brooks’ left eye opened after the consciousness assessment and, assuming they even noticed, no one from the ADOC [Alabama Department of Corrections] took any action.”
The filing further alleges that: (1) “[t]he fact that Mr. Brooks’ eye opened indicates he was feeling sensation contemporaneous with, or prior to, injection of the paralytic. Therefore, he was sensate at the time he was executed by injection of potassium chloride,” (2) “[t]he final drug, potassium chloride, disrupts the normal electrical activity of the heart and induces cardiac arrest by stopping the heart from pumping blood. Potassium chloride traveling in the blood stream from the site of injection towards the heart causes an extreme burning sensation as it moves through the body destroying the internal organs,” and (3) in the event the inmate is not properly anesthetized, “potassium chloride will cause excruciating pain” (citing a 2016 report by the National Institutes of Health).
In “ The death penalty in Alabama: What’s it really like ?,” published by The Montgomery Advertise r in April, I discussed in graphic detail what it means when lethal drugs are administered to a condemned person who is not “insensate,” a word commonly used in the death penalty context to, as the Supreme Court put it, “eliminate any meaningful risk that a prisoner would experience pain from the subsequent injections” ( Baze v. Rees , 553 U.S. 35, 49 (2008)).
I wrote:
“That first drug is supposed to put you down, painlessly, like a dog – your eyes just close and you ‘go to sleep’ forever. Except often, it don’t work like that. Because when that first drug don’t do the trick and your eyes close like your sleepin’, but really, you’re not, they inject them next drugs and then your muscles stop workin’, your lungs can’t breathe, and your beaten broken-down heart goes bust. And then, Jesus H. Christ have mercy, you feel it, every sharp stinging step of the way. Like your insides are melting, ‘cause they are … they’re melting from the inside out … they’re burnin’, bubblin’, liquefyin’ … like a bonfire raging inside of you … and you’re the witch. You ever hear that expression a death by a thousand cuts? The needle, the ‘big jab,’ the ‘stainless steel ride,’ – whatever you want to call this lethal injection business – it may be worse.”
Attached to their filing pending before The Honorable Chief District Judge W. Keith Watkins, Smith and Brooks’ federal defenders have attached a sworn affidavit from Ms. Deep about her observation that “[b]efore the curtains were closed, Mr. Brooks’ left eye opened, and was still open when the execution chamber curtains were closed.” Medical experts, they allege, indicate that it is medically impossible for Mr. Brooks’ eye to have opened during his execution unless he was experiencing exactly that type of “excruciating pain” the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution forbids.
Alabama’s Attorney General’s office, beleaguered Governor Robert Bentley, and ADOC have not, to this date, offered any substantive response to the federal defenders’ claims about what now appears to be yet another shameful example of a botched U.S. execution – in which a death row inmate was forced to suffer cruel and unusual punishment – in the name of justice.
Tommy Arthur’s execution in Alabama, scheduled for November 3, will mimic Mr. Brooks’ gruesome demise if allowed to proceed. Ronald Bert Smith’s execution date follows closely after on December 8. Will the people of Alabama allow these executions to go forward in their name, or will they, in the name of all that is good, and all that is right, demand that Governor Bentley immediately declare a halt to all state executions?
Why? Because Alabama may have just burned a man alive. Join the debate on Facebook Stephen Cooper is a former D.C. public defender who worked as an assistant federal public defender in Alabama between 2012 and 2015. He has contributed to numerous magazines and newspapers in the United States and overseas. He writes full-time and lives in Woodland Hills, California. | 0 |
From the Daily News: SAN FRANCISCO >> “Sutter” Brown, a Pembroke Welsh corgi christened California’s first dog by his owner Gov. Jerry Brown, died Friday following a brief illness. He was 13. The dog’s health had deteriorated rapidly in recent days and the decision was made to say goodbye, the governor’s press office said in a statement. He passed away peacefully with the governor and first lady Anne Gust Brown at his side, and was laid to rest at the family ranch in Colusa County, where he “loved to roam, sniff and play,” the statement said. While mom dad got to go light the real Capitol Christmas Tree, we got stuck with this fake fir 2 stuffed dogs #Ruff pic. twitter. — Sutter Brown (@SutterBrown) December 6, 2016, Trick or treat! pic. twitter. — Sutter Brown (@SutterBrown) November 1, 2016, https: . I may not be able to get a @PNKPL8, but I’m still doing my part. #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth #PowerColor #ThinkPink pic. twitter. — Sutter Brown (@SutterBrown) October 1, 2015, | 1 |
LIVERPOOL, England — Jurgen Klopp did not introduce his Liverpool players to the woman who would subtly change their lives right away. When she joined the team, at the club’s preseason camp in Palo Alto, Calif. last summer, Klopp waited a couple of days, eager to see if her actions would win them over more easily than his words. “Usually, in preseason, the players eat as much as they can, as fast as they can,” Klopp said in an interview this month at Liverpool’s Melwood training base. He wanted them to slow down, not to “come, eat, go,” to leave their phones outside, to relax. After a couple of days in Palo Alto, he noticed something was different. The players, aching from his demanding conditioning sessions, were lingering at their tables. They were lining up by the salad bar, intrigued by the choices. “I had not seen that atmosphere before,” he said. “They were staying to eat, and they loved it. ” Only then did Klopp stand up in the restaurant and formally welcome his two new staff members. The first, Andreas Kornmayer, a former fitness coach at Bayern Munich, was easy. “A lot of them knew Andy,” Klopp said. “And they are used to having a fitness coach: He is the drill sergeant guy, shouting at them to run more. ” The second introduction, the one Klopp had delayed, could have been trickier. Mona Nemmer had come from Bayern, too, to be Liverpool’s head of nutrition. Such appointments can be awkward: Players can be reluctant to embrace the less familiar. Had Klopp detailed exactly what she had been hired to do, they might have been skeptical. Nemmer’s plans — for individualized, scientifically planned diets, for food sourced as locally and as organically as possible, for four compulsory meals a day and even for cooking lessons — would have been revelatory even to seasoned pros, far in advance of what most soccer clubs offer. He did not need to go into all of that, though. The food had done his job for him. A couple of days of Nemmer’s meals were all the recommendation his players needed. Casting his mind back, Klopp mimed them putting down their knives and forks, eyes bright with intense concentration. “They were eating unbelievable food,” he said. “She had already made that first impression, so they paid attention. ” Six months into her new job, Nemmer, regarded within the club as one of Klopp’s biggest summer signings, is far too modest to claim much credit for her part in Liverpool’s blistering start to the Premier League season. She insists that she is just a cog in the machine. “All of the departments — medical, coaching, psychological and sports science — play an important role,” she said. She certainly does not regard herself as a guru. The word she returns to — in fluent English already tinged with Liverpool’s distinct, and apparently contagious, long vowels — is “holistic. ” She is there, she said, to support and dovetail with others. Her colleagues, though, are more forthcoming. Klopp insists “you do not find a lot of people like her” she has already been flown out to meet Liverpool’s owners, John Henry and Tom Werner, in Boston. Adam Lallana, the England midfielder, admits that all of his teammates “love her to bits. ” “She almost mothers us,” he said, a little bashfully. That caring, personable side is part of Nemmer’s secret. Some players — notably goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and left back James Milner — pepper her with questions, keen to learn as much as possible about what she is doing and why. She is happy to take a more discreet approach with others. “She does not try and blind us with science,” Lallana said. That does not mean, though, that the science is not there. Nemmer, 32, did not mean to go into sports. She fell into it almost by accident, after studying nutrition in her native Germany. “I learned a lot of theoretical stuff, but I was missing the practical side,” she said. “So I took an apprenticeship as a chef. ” When a chance came up to help cater for Germany’s national youth teams while they traveled to tournaments, she fit the profile: someone who knew what the players should be eating, and how to prepare it. Her work for Germany, she says, was largely basic — “Don’t get food poisoning while you’re away in Nigeria” — but it lit a fire. “I got deeper and deeper into the topic of sport, studying, doing conferences, doing another apprenticeship in sports nutrition,” she said. Her reputation in Germany soared, too, enough for her to win a job at Bayern. She spent three years there, nourishing Germany’s biggest club, before she was recommended to Klopp earlier this year. The two met near his old home in Dortmund, and clicked immediately. With Bayern in transition, to Carlo Ancelotti from Pep Guardiola, Liverpool saw an opening and lured her away. What convinced her to move was not just Klopp’s wholehearted backing, but the conviction of the club’s owners, Henry and Werner. “They have a brilliant perspective,” she said. “They are so . Together with Jurgen, they have given nutrition an importance and respect, and they have given me the chance to try this. That is not too common. ” Nor is it cheap. Most clubs, even now, employ nutritionists only as consultants, visiting a couple of times a week. Liverpool, by contrast, has given Nemmer free rein. She has not overseen vast structural changes at its Melwood training complex, or at the club’s stadium at Anfield. The training ground cafeteria is not markedly different: a station for fresh fruit juices, a spot for granola and nuts, her famous salad bar. She has placed a juicing station in the changing room, so players can refuel as soon as they step off the field. At Anfield, there is now a kitchen in the home dressing room, where bespoke meals can be prepared after matches. The seismic differences are below the surface. They are, first and foremost, in the food itself. “As much as we can, it is all local and seasonal,” Nemmer said. “We have a focus on real food, to keep natural nutrition as high as possible. ” When she has to, Nemmer will travel to find the best suppliers: Together with her team of chefs, she sources fish and game from Scotland, venison from Norfolk, organic meat from Chester. “It is important for us that the animals have a great life,” she said. One of her first tasks at Liverpool was to travel to London, to find the right bakery. She eschews previously prepared food, preferring instead that sauces and dressings be made on site. Her eye for detail extends all the way down to the oil in which the food is cooked. She uses sea salt, instead of chemically treated table salt. “We want to have as much influence as possible,” she said. “What makes sense in a product, and what is beneficial. ” Certain styles of preparation — deep frying, for example — are considered “red lines,” but it is a key tenet of Nemmer’s approach that “nothing is forbidden. ” “We can have a chocolate pudding, of course,” she said. “But we can choose rice or almond milk, no powder, use a good quality cacao, molasses instead of sugar. Then you have a totally different product. ” Her emphasis is on variety, and accessibility. “It is no good telling them to eat apple, some golden raisins and oats for breakfast if they cannot find them,” she said. The canteen now, she said, has “the feel of a marketplace. ” The players can pick and choose what they want — as they do, for salads and juices — and Nemmer can be confident no choice is a bad one. The other great innovation at Liverpool is that everything is now tailored to specific players. “We are not all the same,” Klopp said, “so it makes no sense that we all eat the same. ” Nemmer, in consultation with the players, has drawn up specific diet recommendations for the entire team. They depend not just on the results of various tests — taking into account body fat composition, metabolic rates and the rest — but things like nationality, and position, too. “There are different energy levels depending on where you play on the pitch,” she said. “Goalkeepers do not run as much as midfielders. And then Brazilians, say, have a different breakfast culture to the English. Everything is broken down on different cultures, body types, positions. We have players who focus more on protein, and ones who need different types of minerals and electrolytes. ” She will tweak her menus, depending on the time of season, or even on the number of games on the schedule. Nemmer receives Klopp’s training schedules in advance she is kept with bulletins from the club’s doctors, its physiotherapists, its fitness coaches, even its psychologists. Injured players are given different recommendations from those trying to regain fitness on the training field, or those enduring a period out of the team. It is all informal: quick chats are considered more effective than summons to her office convenient apps preferred to long questionnaires. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Nemmer has changed habits. Instead of a candy at halftime, Lallana, Milner and Jordan Henderson now have a slug of apple juice laced with caffeine. There is fresh pasta, with a range of homemade sauces, available after games Nemmer travels with the team on trips to ensure that the hotel can follow her menus, and under her direction the team provides meals on the bus, too. Indeed, her food has proved so popular that Klopp no longer has to force his players to stay for four meals a day at the training ground. Many take advantage of what Nemmer laughingly refers to as the “takeaway service. ” Individual players have been taught how to cook her meals at home, and there are plans to invite families in next year to spread the word. “We have even, in a wild dream, talked about opening a store, or doing a recipe book,” Klopp said. Both surely would thrive. The players might not have noticed, but they are now at the cutting edge of nutrition science. “We are not even halfway yet,” Klopp said. “But we are going in the right way. We can make this the best nutrition department in the world. I am not proud of much, but I am very proud of this. ” | 1 |
Video has emerged of Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Swat officers shooting from a helicopter and killing an armed home invasion suspect in Sunland on Monday. [According to the Los Angeles Times, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said a woman alleged that she woke up to an intruder in her home. She fled out of a window and called police. When officers arrived, the suspect had armed himself, and a standoff followed. A SWAT team was called in as officers attempted to negotiate with the suspect, but negotiations failed. Beck said the home was on a hill and was “surrounded by bushes and debris,” making the SWAT team’s job difficult. Moreover, the suspect was using the elevated position to his advantage, shooting at the officers when they got close or came into sight. So the decision was made to bring in the helicopter. Officers then fired tear gas into the home, and the suspect was shot when he ran outside to get away from the gas. He exited the house about 2:45 pm: Officers on the ground and air fired on the suspect simultaneously. The Los Angeles Daily News reported that the man fell under the barrage of fire and “tumbled down a ravine. ” He was pronounced dead at the scene. According to KTLA, Chief Beck said “an autopsy would reveal how many times the [suspect] was struck by gunfire” and whether it was from officers on the ground or those in the air. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com. | 1 |
According to a report, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) intends to sponsor a ceremony in the U. S. Capital to the offensive, painting depicting police as pigs. Members of the Caucus are insisting that they are “defending the Constitution” by the controversial artwork. [The news of the CBC’s intentions was made public by a January 9 tweet from Fox Business Network contributor Charles V Payne. Breaking News Congressional Black Caucus to rehang ”Police as Pigs” painting tomorrow saying: ”It’s about defending the Constitution. ” — Charles V Payne (@cvpayne) January 9, 2017, The painting depicting police officers as giant pigs pushing minorities around in Ferguson, Missouri, was originally hung by Missouri Democrat Lacy Clay in the tunnel of the Congressional Cannon office building of the U. S. Capitol complex. But it was recently pulled down by California Republican Duncan Hunter who said the thing fosters an “untrue narrative” that police don’t care about the public in general and minorities in particular. “This false narrative portrays law enforcement professionals as posing a danger to the very communities we serve. That is untrue and this ‘art’ reinforces this false narrative and is disrespectful on so many levels,” Rep. Hunter said after he removed the offensive painting from the wall. The Californian also said that numerous members of the Capitol Police had expressed their dismay at the painting’s inclusion in the display of art works submitted by the nation’s high schoolers to the Congressional Art Competition. Hunter also noted that Rep. Lacy can keep putting it up, but he can also keep taking it back down. Since the painting attacking police went up in the Capitol, police groups and unions have criticized the artwork and have demanded its removal. One police union called the painting “reprehensible and repugnant. ” The CBC, though, is claiming it is replacing the panting because of “the Constitution. ” “The rehanging of this painting for public view represents more than just protecting the rights of a student artist, it is a proud statement in defense of the 1st Amendment to the U. S. Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression to every American,” a statement by the CBC said. The statement also noted the offensive painting had been “removed without permission or proper authority” by Rep. Hunter. In reply to his tweet announcing the intention to the painting, one Twitter user ruefully noted that the family of a recently murdered African American Orlando officer might not be very appreciative of the CBC’s using the Constitution as an excuse to spread hate. @cvpayne I am sure Master Sgt. Debra Clayton’s family OPD is thankful that the Black Caucus fought so hard in defending a stupid painting. pic. twitter. — Mrz Mazz (@mrzmazz) January 9, 2017, Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 1 |
David Samson, a longtime friend of Gov. Chris Christie, pleaded guilty to a felony count of bribery on Thursday and admitted that he had pressured United Airlines to operate a weekly flight to South Carolina for his personal convenience. The plea, which was offered before Judge Jose L. Linares of United States District Court in Newark, appears to put an end to Mr. Samson’s career as a public official and power broker. And it casts a shadow over the political fortunes of Mr. Christie, a New Jersey Republican who until this week had been considered a potential running mate for Donald J. Trump, the party’s presumptive nominee for president. “One of the problems with Chris Christie is there are skeletons in his closet that still have skin on the bones,” Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said. The prosecution of Mr. Samson grew out of a federal investigation into the closing of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in 2013. Federal prosecutors contend that allies of Mr. Christie at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey conspired to tie up traffic on the New Jersey side of the bridge to punish a local mayor for declining to endorse Mr. Christie’s bid for as governor. Mr. Samson, who was Mr. Christie’s appointee as chairman of the Port Authority at the time of the lane closings, has not been charged in that case. But two of the governor’s former allies, Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, are scheduled to stand trial in September for their alleged roles in the scheme. A third, David Wildstein, has already pleaded guilty in that case. Paul J. Fishman, the United States attorney for New Jersey, declined to say whether Mr. Samson was cooperating with the prosecution of the case. The Port Authority is the nexus of the two matters because it operates the bridge and the three big commercial airports in the New York City area. Mr. Fishman said that Mr. Samson, 76, had abused his position at the agency by coercing United to reinstate a canceled route between Newark Liberty International Airport and Columbia, S. C. near one of Mr. Samson’s homes. He said Mr. Samson had threatened to block the construction of a maintenance hangar for United at the airport unless the airline restored the “ ” flight. Tall and Mr. Samson, a former New Jersey attorney general, spoke on Thursday in a soft voice when the judge asked if he understood that he could spend up to two years in prison and that his license to practice law might be affected. He said he did. Judge Linares scheduled a sentencing hearing for Oct. 20. Mr. Fishman said he was saddened because “David Samson was a major force in the legal community in New Jersey. ” He added, “This kind of case shakes public confidence in our institutions of government, when people who are so accomplished and who have occupied so many positions of public trust misuse their authority to get something for themselves. ” Mr. Fishman also announced that Jamie Fox, a former executive of the Port Authority and former transportation commissioner in New Jersey appointed by Mr. Christie, had been charged with conspiring to commit bribery in connection with the flight. Mr. Fox, who was a lobbyist for United, advised Mr. Samson on how to pressure the airline to acquiesce to his demand, Mr. Fishman said. In one email exchange, he said, Mr. Fox told Mr. Samson, “You have them dancing. ” Mr. Samson wrote back: “Good. I hope they dance to my tune — let me know if there’s a way to keep the pressure on this issue: It will save me a lot of heartache. ” The Port Authority staff had recommended that its board of commissioners approve a lease deal with United for the hangar. But Mr. Samson, who controlled the agendas of the board’s meetings, pulled the matter off the agenda in November 2011, Mr. Fishman said. Mr. Fox then advised Mr. Samson to bring it up for a vote at the December 2011 meeting to demonstrate his clout to United, Mr. Fishman said. Less than a year after the hangar deal was approved, United started flying a plane every Thursday evening from Newark to Columbia, a short drive from Mr. Samson’s home in Aiken, S. C. Every Monday morning, United flew a plane back to Newark. Mr. Fishman said that Mr. Samson used the flights 27 times. Mr. Fishman said Mr. Samson and other agency officials called the route “the chairman’s flight,” adding that Mr. Fox referred to it as “Samson Air. ” Mr. Fox, 61, faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250, 000 fine. “They both should have known better,” Mr. Fishman said of Mr. Samson and Mr. Fox. “They both did know better. ” Although Mr. Fishman said United “caved” to the pressure from Mr. Samson, neither the airline nor any of its executives will be charged in connection with the case. United agreed to pay a penalty of $2. 25 million, he said. Mr. Fishman said United had cooperated and responded just as prosecutors would have wanted. He noted that among the actions the airline took were the dismissals of several executives, including Jeff Smisek, its former chairman and chief executive. United stopped flying the route soon after Mr. Samson resigned from the agency in 2014. He retired last year from Wolff Samson, the law firm he helped found. The firm had been very close to the state’s government for decades and had served as outside counsel to state agencies. It had also lobbied agencies on behalf of clients seeking state contracts, favorable regulation changes and approval for large development projects. The firm immediately changed its name to Chiesa, Shahinian Giantomasi. Jeff Chiesa, one of the partners, worked for Mr. Christie in the United States attorney’s office, and as his chief counsel and attorney general. He was appointed by the governor to temporarily fill the United States Senate seat left open when Frank R. Lautenberg died in 2013. After the hearing on Thursday, Mr. Samson exhaled deeply as one of his lawyers, Justin Walder, escorted him away from the courtroom. He and Mr. Walder declined to comment. Another of Mr. Samson’s lawyers, Michael Chertoff, the former secretary of homeland security, said, “The next you’ll hear from us is at the sentencing. ” | 1 |
I thought Trump didn't like people who were captured... | 0 |
GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER demands that Italy send all new illegal alien Muslim invaders back to Africa Germany’s Minister of the Interior has launched a controversial proposal to return African Muslim male invaders home rather than bringing them to Italy, in order to discourage more economic freeloaders from attempting the dangerous crossing. Even worse, Italy has been rescuing them near Libya, not even waiting until they get within spitting distance of Italy. So, where are all the women and children? @moas_eu the taxi service just outside of Libya is part of the pull factor
— The Champ (@audioexpression) November 5, 2016 Breitbart Minister Thomas de Maizière said Sunday that those “saved in the Mediterranean should be sent back to Africa” instead of taking them to Europe. According to a spokeswoman for the minister, this measure would serve a twofold purpose: discouraging new migrants from coming while also demolishing the organizations of human traffickers that organize the crossings. Germany’s interior minister Thomas de Maiziere threatened to close Italy’s border with Austria if Rome starts sending migrants north. With the migrant route through the Balkans from Greece closed, migrants are instead crossing the Mediterranean from North African countries such as Libya and arriving in Italy. De Maizière is not alone in his approach. “The prevention of illegal migration does not start at our internal borders,” said Helmut Teichmann, director of the Germany’s Federal Police. “The aim of the federal government is to stop the refugees before they reach Europe,” he said. On Saturday, 2,200 more people tried to cross the Strait of Sicily in 16 different vessels, and were rescued in a series of operations coordinated by the Italian Coast Guard who later brought them to Italy. Rescuers also recovered ten bodies of migrants who drowned during the attempt. Critics were quick to remark that part of the incentive for attempting the crossing in the first place is the knowledge that migrant rescuers are providing a free “taxi service” to Italy. Protesters have raised their voices in opposition to De Maizière’s plan, claiming it was a “scandal” that would effectively deny potential refugees the right of asylum, but the Minister did not back down. “Eliminating the prospect of reaching Europe could keep them from risking their lives in a dangerous journey.” In point of fact, this year has seen the deaths of a record number of migrants during the perilous trip. On Thursday, some 240 migrants drowned in two shipwrecks off the coast of Libya, bringing the year’s death toll in the Mediterranean to 4,220, compared with 3,777 in the whole of 2015. The Minister suggested that once the migrants were returned to Tunisia, Egypt or other North African countries, they could submit their asylum applications which, if approved, would allow them to reach Europe safely.
As of 2 November, 159,496 people had reached Italy by sea so far in 2016, according to the International Organization of Migrants (IOM). | 0 |
BALTIMORE — In opening the state’s case against Caesar R. Goodson Jr. the driver of the police van in which Freddie Gray suffered the spinal cord injury that killed him, the prosecutor uttered two crucial words: “Rough ride. ” Officer Goodson, the prosecutor said, intended to “bounce” Mr. Gray, a black man, around in the van that morning. Officer Goodson, who is also black, is facing the toughest charge — “depraved heart” murder — of the six officers accused in Mr. Gray’s death. And legal experts say the prosecution’s chances of a conviction on that count hinge in large part on being able to prove that Officer Goodson intentionally, and with disregard for Mr. Gray’s life, drove him dangerously. The defense rested its case Friday, and closing arguments are set for Monday. But just before the state rested its case earlier this week, a crucial prosecution witness said he could not say whether a rough ride had occurred — another indication of just how difficult the prosecution’s case may be. It has different names around the country, including “screen test” and “nickel ride. ” Since it is a colloquial term, not a legal one, the precise definition can vary. But, legal and policing experts say, there is an element of intent. “A rough ride is basically the police driving in such a manner to inflict injury or pain on the person being transported,” said A. Dwight Pettit, a lawyer in Baltimore, who has represented dozens of plaintiffs in police brutality cases, “because they have knowledge that the person is not secure in the vehicle and is usually handcuffed or possibly leg chained and therefore has no way to protect themselves. ” Geoffrey P. Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina, said the tactic was known anecdotally as a form of punishment for unruly prisoners. “Normally,” he said, “it’s just kind of, they end up with a few bruises or, worst case, it’s a broken arm. ” On Wednesday, Stanford Franklin, a retired Baltimore police officer who was the prosecution’s key policing witness, listed some possible elements of a rough ride during : “Sudden acceleration, sudden stops, quick turns. ” It is difficult to assess the frequency of the practice, but cities including Chicago, Philadelphia and Aurora, Ill. have settled lawsuits related to accusations of rough rides. In Baltimore, Tessa president of the local branch of the N. A. A. C. P. and Mr. Pettit said they had both received complaints about rough rides, although they were not always substantiated in court. Those complaints have dropped off somewhat since Mr. Gray’s story took over the headlines, increasing scrutiny of the police and raising calls for working cameras inside police wagons. Charles J. Key, a retired Baltimore police lieutenant, said that he “never saw a single instance” of a rough ride in 26 years of his career there, beginning in 1970. But in 1997, a black man named Jeffery Alston was paralyzed during a ride in a Baltimore police van. In 2004, he received a $6 million settlement from the city. In 2005, another black man, Dondi Johnson Sr. died after suffering a spinal fracture during a police ride. A jury awarded his family more than $7 million, but the award was later reduced to $219, 000. Mr. Key testified as an expert witness in both cases. Officer Goodson faces seven charges, including “depraved heart” murder — meaning murder born of willful disregard for human life — and three counts of manslaughter. Prosecutors allege that Officer Goodson failed to buckle Mr. Gray’s seatbelt or call for medical attention, which they say could have saved his life to them, those omissions were tantamount to a crime. And they allege Officer Goodson rolled through a stop sign and took a sharp right turn so fast that the van could not stay in its lane. “He was injured because he got a rough ride,” Michael Schatzow, a prosecutor, said during opening statements, adding, “There was no good reason for the officer to repeatedly fail to seatbelt Mr. Gray except to bounce him around. ” Legal experts said it could be difficult for the prosecution to secure a murder conviction against Officer Goodson without proving that a rough ride had occurred. “The rough ride is important,” said David Jaros, an associate professor of law at the University of Baltimore, “because it tells us something about the driver’s mental state and his willingness to risk human life. ” The state has presented evidence of Mr. Gray’s devastating injuries. And with a detective, Michael Boyd, on the stand, prosecutors presented a series of surveillance videos showing the van making its way through Baltimore. But on Tuesday, during Matthew Fraling, one of Officer Goodson’s lawyers, asked Detective Boyd if he had observed the van at any point “make an abrupt start, an abrupt stop, or an abrupt turn. ” “No, sir,” Detective Boyd answered. On Wednesday, Mr. Franklin, the prosecution witness, testified that leg shackles made it hard for passengers to brace themselves in a van, and that, without a seatbelt, “your ability to limit yourself from being a projectile in that van is very limited. ” “It’s extremely important,” Mr. Franklin added, “that that ride be as smooth as possible to prevent the person in the back from being tossed to and fro. ” Mr. Gray’s legs were shackled during most of the ride and he was not wearing a seatbelt, but prosecutors did not draw direct connections between those facts and Mr. Franklin’s testimony — a point that Officer Goodson’s lawyers sought to emphasize. “Is it not your contention today that Officer Goodson in any way engaged in a rough ride?” Mr. Fraling said. Mr. Franklin paused. “I can’t say. ” On Wednesday, Officer Goodson’s lawyers moved to have the charges dismissed. While it is a common move by defendants, the lawyers focused on the rough ride during their oral arguments on Thursday. “There was no evidence introduced by the state to support a theory that Officer Goodson gave Mr. Gray a rough ride,” said Andrew Graham, another lawyer for the officer, calling it a “centerpiece” of the state’s argument. When the judge, Barry G. Williams, asked Mr. Schatzow to elaborate on how the prosecution had supported its case, including the murder charge, the prosecutor turned not to the rough ride, but to what they said was Officer Goodson’s failure to buckle Mr. Gray’s seatbelt on five different occasions, suggesting a possible pivot in the state’s strategy. “Five times is enough to demonstrate depraved heart,” Mr. Schatzow said. Later, Judge Williams asked Mr. Schatzow if the state was acknowledging that it had not presented evidence of a rough ride. “The No. 1 piece of evidence is the fact that the man suffered a broken neck, and it killed him,” said Mr. Schatzow, adding that that injury, combined with the “limited” video evidence and that Mr. Gray was shackled, handcuffed and not wearing a seatbelt, made it possible to infer that a rough ride had occurred. But, he added, a rough ride was not a necessary element of the charges. “There are lots of ways to cause people to move about the compartment” in the van, he said. Judge Williams allowed the case to continue with all the charges intact, but said it was a “closer call” to let the murder charge move forward. Mr. Jaros, the law professor, said that the rough ride theory had “flatlined,” but “that doesn’t mean that they don’t have a case at least for manslaughter based on his failure to buckle and then his refusal to get medical attention. ” “There’s no question,’’ Mr. Jaros said, that “you’ve got really a horrific level of callousness to the experience of the people who are being shuttled through the system. ” “The problem is, that doesn’t necessarily satisfy a criminal charge. ” | 1 |
American liberals are now living a nightmare they never imagined would come true: a Donald Trump presidency. Not only did Trump win, but he did so after pollsters and pundits forecasted a solid landslide victory in Hillary Clinton’s favor.
In their mind, this was not supposed to happen. The glass ceiling should have broken and their cups should have been overflowing in celebration. Instead, many are dumbfounded, unable to comprehend how things could have gone so wrong. As the hours crawled by, Clinton voters took to social media and consoled one another—“it’s still too early…she can still take Michigan…this can’t happen…” And yet, despite the prophecies of the foremost data pundits, here we are: a Trump presidency, and Republicans in control of both the House and Senate.
This demonstrable failure on the part of the Democratic Party will not be a cause for reevaluation but will be passed on to third party voters, who have long served as their proverbial whipping boy. The corpse of Ralph Nader’s 2000 campaign is still unearthed every election season to serve as bogeyman, after all.
Early on, Clinton warmed to right wing ideologues while maligning those on the left pushing for more authentic and progressive policies. Her surrogates boasted of a more efficient platform, mocking her leftist detractors as half-witted and starry-eyed.
The reinvention of Clinton as a cool and relatable pop culture icon who was still “your abuela” was a wasted effort; her campaign was a theater of pretentious absurdity that alienated those forced to straddle the intersections of race, gender, and poverty, who will face a multitude of struggles whether or not the glass ceiling shattered around them.
Clinton, and those ensnared in the sputtering limelight of her campaign, turned some the most consequential issues—from universal healthcare and police brutality to the prison industrial complex and a living wage—into detached and immaterial concerns.
This staggering loss to a candidate portrayed as both a balmy object of ridicule and a calamitous threat to numerous communities should serve as a moment of clarity, but if things are to remain guided by the reactionary sentiment we’ve seen expressed so often, then the next few years will push us further towards the edge of the cliff.
There should be no exoneration of the Democratic Party, whose funeral knell should have rung decades ago. The bourgeois liberals who have long enjoyed spreading political fan-fiction instead of mobilizing, who have denounced even the most benign criticism of Clinton as being untimely and lending credence to right wing populism, are frantic. Yet, they still take up spaces across the media landscape that they do not deserve. It is time we make them irrelevant.
As liberals apply for Canadian citizenship and drown their sorrows in bottles of maple syrup, the rest of us must organize. There is no retreating. Mourn if you must, but come hell or high water, we must mobilize.
The post The Left Must Mobilize In The Face Of A Trump Victory appeared first on Shadowproof . | 0 |
NYPD sources said these new emails include evidence linking Clinton herself and associates to: Money laundering Sex crimes with minors (children) Perjury Pay to play through Clinton Foundation Obstruction of justice Other felony crimes NYPD detectives and a NYPD Chief, the department’s highest rank under Commissioner, said openly that if the FBI and Justice Department fail to garner timely indictments against Clinton and co- conspirators, NYPD will go public with the damaging emails now in the hands of FBI Director James Comey and many FBI field offices. “What’s in the emails is staggering and as a father, it turned my stomach,” the NYPD Chief said. “There is not going to be any Houdini-like escape from what we found. We have copies of everything. We will ship them to Wikileaks or I will personally hold my own press conference if it comes to that.” The NYPD Chief said once Comey saw the alarming contents of the emails he was forced to reopen a criminal probe against Clinton. “People are going to prison,” he said. Meanwhile, FBI sources said Abedin and Weiner were cooperating with federal agents, who have taken over the non-sexting portions the case from NYPD. The husband-and-wife Clinton insiders are both shopping for separate immunity deals, sources said. “If they don’t cooperate they are going to see long sentences,” a federal law enforcement source said. NYPD sources said Weiner or Abedin stored all the emails in a massive Microsoft Outlook program on the laptop. The emails implicate other current and former members of Congress and one high-ranking Democratic Senator as having possibly engaged in criminal activity too, sources said. Prosecutors in the office of US Attorney Preet Bharara have issued a subpoena for Weiner’s cell phones and travel records, law enforcement sources confirmed. NYPD said it planned to order the same phone and travel records on Clinton and Abedin, however, the FBI said it was in the process of requesting the identical records. Law enforcement sources are particularly interested in cell phone activity and travel to the Bahamas, U.S. Virgin Islands and other locations that sources would not divulge. The new emails contain travel documents and itineraries indicating Hillary Clinton, President Bill Clinton, Weiner and multiple members of Congress and other government officials accompanied convicted pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein on his Boeing 727 on multiple occasions to his private island in the U.S Virgin Islands, sources said. Epstein’s island has also been dubbed Orgy Island or Sex Slave Island where Epstein allegedly pimps out underage girls and boys to international dignitaries. Both NYPD and FBI sources confirm based on the new emails they now believe Hillary Clinton traveled as Epstein’s guest on at least six occasions, probably more when all the evidence is combed, sources said. Bill Clinton, it has been confirmed in media reports spanning recent years, that he too traveled with Epstein over 20 times to the island. This is a big tragedy for those childrens, and more than one person should be in jail!
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63 GOLD , KWN King World News
Here is a timely update from the New Orleans Investment Conference .
Eric King: “Rick, I know you are at the New Orleans Investment Conference as we speak. For people around the world who were not able to attend this conference, give us an idea of what sentiment is like and what you are seeing there.”
Rick Rule: “To begin with, Eric, for 35 years this conference has been one of the most important conferences in the retail gold trade in the United States. So I would say the consequence of the move that we’ve had in gold and gold stocks over the last 12 months means that the conference is very buoyant generally. It is worthy to note, however that this conference has…To continue listening to Rick Rule’s timely audio interview CLICK HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW.
***ALSO RELEASED: After Correctly Predicting GDP Would Beat Estimates, Former Soros Associate Now Says Gold Headed Above $2,000 CLICK HERE.
© 2015 by King World News®. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. However, linking directly to the articles is permitted and encouraged. About author | 0 |
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer continued fielding questions about President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, reminding the press that it was an effective tool for Trump during his campaign for president. [“Does he sometimes cross the line where his tweets become the news, become the agenda, and actually impedes the ability to get things done?” asked Fox News White House correspondent John Roberts during Tuesday’s White House press briefing, pointing out that “using it and using it wisely are two different things. ” Spicer said that Trump’s use of social media was a “very, very effective tool” for communication for his millions of followers across social media platforms. “I think the same people who are critiquing his use of it now, critiqued it during the election, and it turned out pretty well for him then,” Spicer quipped. According to a White House tech source, the president has about million social media followers. When asked if the Trump’s tweets should be considered official statements from the White House, Spicer appeared incredulous. “Well the president is the president of the United States, so they’re considered official statements of the President of the United States,” he replied. | 1 |
By Amanda Froelich These ‘before and after’ photos are proof that giving up alcohol can dramatically affect one’s health and appearance. Drinking alcohol might seem like the normal or ‘hip’ thing to... | 0 |
BREAKING: Massive Voter Fraud in Broward County Florida Linked To Ex-DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz November 5, 2016 38 SHARES 150,000 ballots have already been counted before the proper procedures took place in Broward County, Florida. Florida officials have been caught filling absentee ballots. According to a former Secretary of Elections Department employee, there is a secret room where Democrat insiders fill out those absentee ballots. The woman has provided her sworn testimony via affidavit. Here is part of document: And the full document:
— Handcuff Hillary🇺🇸 (@russellwiley) November 4, 2016 Watch Fox report on this: Broward County is Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s district. Debbie Wasserman Schultz had to step down from the DNC because she was caught rigging the primary against Bernie. She now works for Hillary Clinton. There have been reports that Hillary Clinton had a private meeting with Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes in Broward County in late October. UPDATE: It appears the Trump campaign may be preparing a lawsuit against Broward County. These are still early reports however and we will update this article as we hear more information. UPDATE: TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREPARING LAWSUIT Against Broward Co FL Sec of Elections Brenda Snipes https://t.co/H9nyinvTAV
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) November 5, 2016 Do you like this article? LIKE to MAGA! | 0 |
There is nothing presidential (in a dignified sense) about any of this. Our ruling class overlords have provided us with a carnival act and we are buying into it like the gullible, ill-informed rubes that we are. Apparently. | 0 |
Animal Protein, Pregnancy, and Childhood Obesity VN:F [1.9.22_1171] Close Transcript Transcript: Animal Protein, Pregnancy, and Childhood Obesity
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
If you expose pregnant crickets to a predatory wolf spider, her babies will hatch exhibiting increased antipredator behavior—and, as a consequence, improved survival from wolf spider attack. The mother cricket appears to be able to forewarn her babies about the threat when they were still inside her, so they would be pre-adapted to their external environment.
This even happens in plants. If you grow two genetically identical plants—one in the sun, one in the shade—the sun-grown plant will produce seeds that grow better in the sun, and the shaded plant will grow seeds growing better in the shade, even though they’re genetically identical. So, what we’re dealing with is epigenetics—external factors changing gene expression.
Vole pups born in the winter come out growing thicker coats. Vole mothers are able to communicate the season to their babies in utero, and tell them to put a coat on, even before they’re born. And people are no different. You know how some people have different temperature tolerances, resulting in battles of the bedroom—do you turn the AC on or off; open the windows? It’s not just genetics. Whether you’re born in the tropics or in a cold environment determines how many active sweat glands you have in your skin.
But what does this have to do with diet? Can what a pregnant woman eats permanently alter the biology of their children in terms of what genes are turned on or off throughout life? Or, what they don’t eat?
What happened to the children born during the 1945 Dutch famine imposed by the Nazis? Higher rates of obesity fifty years later. The baby’s DNA gene expression, reprogrammed before birth to expect to be born into a world of famine, to conserve calories at all cost. But, when the war ended, this propensity to store fat became a disadvantage. and don’t eat doesn’t just help determine the birth weight of the child, but the future adult weight of the child.
For example, maternal protein intake during pregnancy may play a role in the obesity epidemic—but not just protein in general. Protein from animal sources, primarily meat products, consumed during pregnancy may increase the risk of their children growing up overweight. Originally, they thought it might be the IGF-1—a growth hormone boosted by animal product consumption—that may increase the production of fatty tissue. But weight gain was tied more to meat than dairy.
Every daily portion of meat intake during the third trimester resulted in about an extra percent of body fat mass in their children by their sixteenth birthday, potentially increasing their risk of becoming obese later in life, independent of how many calories they ate, or how much they exercised. But no such link was found with cow’s milk intake, which would presumably boost IGF-1 levels just as high.
So, maybe, instead it’s the obesogens in meat—chemicals that stimulate the growth of fatty tissue. Emerging evidence demonstrates that environmental factors can predispose exposed individuals to gain weight, irrespective of diet and exercise. After all, even our infants are fatter—you can’t blame that on diet and exercise. Animals too. And not just our pampered pets, even rats in labs and subways. The likelihood of 24 different animal populations from eight different species all showing a positive trend in weight over the past few decades by chance is less than one in a million. And so, it appears there’s something else going on—like obesogenic chemicals.
One such candidate is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons—found in cigarettes, spewing out of exhaust pipes, and in grilled meat. This nationwide study of thousands found that the more children are exposed, the fatter they tended to be. They could measure the level of these chemicals right out of their urine. And, it can start in the womb. Prenatal exposure to these chemicals may cause increased fat mass gain during childhood, and a higher risk of childhood obesity.
If these pollutants sound familiar, I’ve covered them before, in relation to increasing breast cancer risk in the Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project. So, maybe they’re not just obesogens, but carcinogens as well—perhaps explaining the 47% increase in breast cancer risk among older women in relation to a lifetime average of grilled and smoked foods.
If you look at one of the most common of these toxins, smokers get about half from food, and half from cigarettes. But for nonsmokers, 99% comes from diet. The highest levels are found in meat, with pork apparently worse than beef. But, as you can see, even dark green leafies, like kale, can get contaminated by pollutants in the air. So, don’t forage your dandelion greens next to the highway, and make sure to wash your greens under running water.
Now, these are fat-soluble pollutants, so need lots of fat to be absorbed. So, even heavily contaminated plant-based sources may be safer, unless you pour lots of oil on your food—in which case the toxins would presumably become as readily absorbed as the toxins in meat.
The good news is that they don’t build up in your body. If you expose people to barbecued chicken at time zero here, you can see they get a big spike in these chemicals, like up to a hundred-fold increase, but your body can get rid of it within about twenty hours.
The problem, of course, is that people who eat these kinds of foods every day may constantly be exposing themselves—which may not only affect their health, and their children’s health, but maybe even their grandchildren’s health.
Being pregnant during the Dutch famine didn’t just lead to an increase in diseases among their kids, but even, apparently, their grandkids. So, what a pregnant woman eats now may affect future generations.
The issue of generation-spanning effects of poor conditions during pregnancy may help shed some light on the explosive epidemics of diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease associated with this transition towards Western lifestyles.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site. women's health Doctor's Note
Epigenetics is the science of altering the expression of your genes. No matter your family history, some genes can be effectively turned on and off by the lifestyle choices you make. See, for example:
I previously touched on PAHs in Meat Fumes: Dietary Secondhand Smoke .
If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here . To post comments or questions into our discussion board, first log into Disqus with your NutritionFacts.org account or with one of the accepted social media logins. Click on Login to choose a login method. Click here for help.
Wow! I’m speechless for once! This falls under the category of mind-blowing for me. NFmoderatorRenae
It’s fascinating right?! HaltheVegan
Fascinating stuff for sure. I’ve heard of epigenetics, but this takes it one step further. I’ll have to watch this video a few more times for all this to sink in :-) First question that arises: can the gene expression be changed somewhat after the child is born by what the child eats? This video implies they’re stuck with the gene expressions that are inherited at birth, depending on what the mother was exposed to. Joanne B, RD
Hi HaltheVegan – some food for thought …. have you heard of the expression, “genes load the gun, the environment pulls the trigger” ? plant_this_thought
Strictly speaking, epigenetics concerns itself only with traits that are not inherited. It has to do with gene expression as influenced by environmental factors. The fetal environment influences genetic expression in the unborn baby, and whatever environment the newborn and growing child encounters will continue to affect, for better or worse, its genetic expression. :) baggman744
Not inherited? plant_this_thought
baggman744: Correct. Two individuals with identical DNA can exhibit very different traits depending on their environment. These differences are then said to be attributable to epigenetic factors, and in many cases they are reversible. It becomes more complicated when epigenetic factors result in a genetic mutation, an actual change in the DNA. Genetic changes have roughly 100,000 times the permanence of epigenetic ones. NFmoderatorRenae
I just wrote the same thing haha I love it! Wade Patton
The sooner we all move away from the idea that genetics are a “LOCK” on anything, the sooner well have a better understanding of the interplay amoungst all the factors affecting expression. I read a good book on it just a few years back, but cannot recall the title at this moment. Blair Rollin
T. Colin Campbell talks a lot about this in “The China Study” and “Whole”. Mutated genes aren’t a problem if they don’t express themselves. Cancer cells aren’t a problem if they don’t proliferate. This is obviously true. But, my understanding of, what Campbell says is that what causes expression of mutated genes and what causes cancer cell proliferation is animal protein. Particularly bad is casein, dairy protein (we have learned also on NF how dangerous dairy is in other ways). He says that a very small percentage of cancers are genetic. (Just a couple of percent as I remember?) NFmoderatorRenae
The best explanation I have heard is from Dr Neal Barnard- ‘Genetics load the gun, but diet/environmental/lifestyle pull the trigger’. So genes may give you predispositions, but in most cases (particularly with chronic diseases) YOU still have the CHOICE as to what the outcome is :) HaltheVegan
Thank you for the explanation. That is the understanding I had before I watched this video. I remember the Dean Ornish study where cancer genes were “turned off” with a plant based diet. So I still agree with the interpretation that genes can expressed or not expressed due to diet (ie. internal environment). But what threw me off in this video is the statement: ” even our infants are fatter—you can’t blame that on diet and exercise.” This statement seems to be saying that the infants were fatter regardless of what they ate or how much exercise they got. Similarly with the sweat gland example in the video. If one is born in a cold environment, then the person will have fewer active sweat glands. Do the inactive sweat glands become active when one moves to a warm climate? How long would it take? Or will the person always feel hotter because he/she has fewer active sweat glands. These are simply rhetorical questions. Seems to me this is a very fertile area for continued research! Alexandre
Ok but werent they during the famine eating less of animal protein? Im confused Tom Goff
They were eating fewer calories overall so yes they were consuming less animal protein.
It is important to remember that most things don’t usually have just a single cause. Starvation in parents.may predispose offspring to obesity. Chronic exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by parents may also predispose offspring to obesity. Alexandre
I understand that.. but its still confusing.. so the best way to make sure your kids wont be obese is to be obese yourself so their body wont feel the need to store as much energy? confusing Tom Goff
No. It does not follow that parents must be obese so that their children are not.
In fact there is some evidence from animal studies that, if you do not want your children to be obese, you must not eat a high fat diet.
The best thing that you can do is maintain a healthy weight, eat a healthy diet and follow a healthy lifestyle. And teach your kids to do the same. plant_this_thought Lori Tompkins
I’m 99% vegan and I’ve recently read about the woes of Lectins, which my vegan diet is high in. I don’t see Lectins discussed on this site and would really like Dr. Greger’s take on this subject. A low lectin diet seems to be more meat oriented. Thea
Lori Tompkins: I found one blog post on NutritionFacts which talks about lectins. Here is a quote:
“Modern paleo advocates claim that these foods weren’t part of Paleolithic-era diets, but new research challenges that assumption.5 They also argue that lectins naturally present in these starchy foods are harmful to human health. Consuming too many lectins can cause significant gastrointestinal distress. However, because legumes and grains are almost always consumed in a cooked form—and lectins are destroyed during cooking—eating beans and grains doesn’t result in lectin overload. Sprouting also reduces lectin levels in plants, although not as effectively as cooking. Generally, pea sprouts, lentil sprouts, and mung bean sprouts are safe to consume, as are sprouted grains, which are naturally low in lectins. Most larger legumes contain higher amounts and should be cooked. ” from: http://nutritionfacts.org/2014/09/23/will-the-real-paleo-diet-please-stand-up/
Since I eat my grains and legumes cooked, I consider the lectin brouhaha to be much ado about nothing. Todd
@disqus_EXJURIXKLQ:disqus I don’t think it’s quite true that lectins are destroyed during cooking, but they are significantly reduced, and the more thoroughly they are cooked the more the lectins are reduced. But many lectins are fairly heat resistant, so it’s not an all-or-nothing situation. I’ve noticed that occasionally when I cook black beans in the Instant Pot, I get some transient gastric distress, probably because they weren’t quite well done enough.
There is one thing, however, that consistently causes me to have gastric distress: ground flax seed. I know it’s an important source of omega-3, but when I put it in food I invariably experience a stomach ache for ten or fifteen minutes. I’m pretty sure it’s the lectin content.
I think there’s still a lot we don’t understand about how lectins affect the body. We tend to assume that they are “bad,” since they are part of the plant’s self-defense against being eaten. But we used to say the same about phytates, which we now know to have positive aspects as well for health. Thea
Todd: I don’t have any references one way or another to say whether or how much cooking destroys lectins. Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina are usually pretty careful with their words on these topics, but maybe they got lazy in that sentence and only some lectins are destroyed. Either way, I’m not aware of a body of evidence that says the general human population needs to worry about the lectin content of our cooked beans, intact grains, or raw nuts and seeds.
Of course, if you are getting a reaction from eating a certain food, say ground flaxseed, you need to consider that situation regardless of what is in the flaxseed that is causing it. I wonder if you ate your flaxseed in something cooked (like a muffin?) if that would help your tummy issue??? I have no idea if that’s a good suggestion or not. Just trying to be helpful. Vege-tater
Mind blown here too, the poor grandkids! Pretty disconcerting also how many potent chemicals are now ubiquitous and the myriad of effects…and we are supposed to be the brainy species? NFmoderatorRenae
Scary isn’t it?! Heidi
Interesting. However, this does not account for the fact that Americans have been eating animal protein going back to the 1800s. However, the obesity epidemic has only started in the 1980s. People were consuming a lot of animal protein in the 1950s and 60s, but very very few Americans were obese. You can tell by looking at the photos of that time as well. However, the difference came with the addition of sugars and high fructose corn syrup as well as a high intake of fatty carb rich foods like fries and chips. Fructose is leading contender. We can see the rise in obesity related to the rise in sugar consumption world wide. Hunter gatherer societies that consume animal protein but do not consume processed sugars do not gain weight and are no obese. However when those people are introduced to processed foods with sugars added they immediately gain weight and become obese. When looking at the overall picture, fatty meats, fried chicken and fish for sure would be a factor, but the sugars issue shows a much closer connection to the problem. linda
hello Heidi, I thought you might be interested in this usda brochure that tables the increase in meat since the 1950s as 57 lbs per person per annum to the year 2000. A huge rise in cheese consumption fro 7.7lbs to close to 30 lbs ! per year for the same time period. http://r.duckduckgo.com/l/?kh=-1&uddg=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usda.gov%2Ffactbook%2Fchapter2.pdf Foroogh – NF Moderator
This video by Dr. G. is very educational about Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and childhood obesity. Also Heidi you make a good point about sugar and sugar industry in contribution towards obesity in the 1980’s era to which I also like to add salt, processed food, meat, dairy, egg industries have great part to play in confusing general public about nutrition. Big Salt – Getting to the Meat of the Matterhttp://nutritionfacts.org/video/big-salt-getting-to-the-meat-of-the-matter/ NFmoderatorRenae
If you look at Agricultural data, the amount of animal products consumed has increased greatly since the 1800s. John
The size of the animals is larger, they aren’t running around on pasture, they are creating an environmental mess, and it is cheaper to eat this kind of meat. John S Tom Goff
This is just keto and paleo ideology. There is no solid science to support it apart from some spurious observational correlations, misrepresented studies and industrial-strength speculation. People may have been consuming a lot of animal protein in the 1950s and 1960s but cardiovascular disease death rates were very high then. There was less obesity simply because people consumed fewer total calories then than in later decades.. | 0 |
Just a few years ago, the United States seemed poised to say farewell to nuclear energy. No company had completed a new plant in decades, and the disaster in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011 intensified public disenchantment with the technology, both here and abroad. But as the Paris agreement on climate change has put pressure on the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, some state and federal officials have deemed nuclear energy part of the solution. They are now scrambling to save existing plants that can no longer compete economically in a market flooded with cheap natural gas. “We’re supposed to be adding sources, not subtracting,” Ernest Moniz, the energy secretary, said recently at a symposium that the department convened to explore ways to improve the industry’s prospects. As a result, there are efforts across the country to bail out nuclear plants at risk of closing, with important test cases in Illinois, Ohio and New York, as well as proposed legislation in Congress. Exelon, one of the country’s largest nuclear operators, for example, is deciding whether to close two of its struggling plants in Illinois after efforts to push a bailout through its Legislature fell apart. Nuclear power remains mired in longstanding questions over waste disposal, its safety record after the catastrophes at places like Fukushima and Chernobyl, and the potential for its plants to be converted into factories. In spite of the lingering issues, policy makers, analysts and executives, along with a growing number of environmentalists, say that at stake is the future of the country’s largest source of clean energy. “Nothing else comes close,” Mr. Moniz, a nuclear physicist, said at the symposium. In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Moniz added, “Maintaining the nuclear fleet is really important for meeting our and midterm goals. ” Renewable sources like solar and wind have grown in popularity in recent years, but nuclear plants provide nearly 60 percent of power, followed by hydroelectric plants at roughly 18 percent, according to the Energy Information Administration. In addition, nuclear plants, which can produce power steadily and on demand, run at more than 90 percent of their capacity, higher than any other type of plant, including gas and coal facilities. They also have the advantage of keeping fuel which allowed them to supply electricity during the extreme cold of the polar vortex in 2014, when the use of natural gas for heating led to shortages and when some coal plants shut down because of frozen fuel or equipment. In recent years, a rise in greenhouse gas emissions has tended to follow nuclear plant closings, since they are most often replaced by natural gas, industry executives say. This was the case in California and New England after the San Onofre and Vermont Yankee plants folded. But the nuclear industry is facing a crisis of old age. The majority of the country’s 99 nuclear reactors are more than 30 years old and were opened before deregulation. Starting in the late 1970s, under federal rules established to help reduce the price of electricity, independent power producers gained the ability to compete in wholesale electricity markets. When prices were relatively high, nuclear plants were able to fare well because their facilities, once up and running, were inexpensive to operate. However, the recent slowdown in the demand for electricity and the glut of natural gas from the rise in fracking has driven down wholesale prices. That lower revenue poses special challenges for nuclear plants, which operate potentially for as long as 80 years, and so require costly upgrades and repairs during their life spans. “At these prices,” said Jay Apt, a professor and a director of the Electricity Industry Center at Carnegie Mellon University, “they can’t save up enough to have cash on hand for periodic capital investments. ” Supporters of the bailouts say the current prices undervalue nuclear power, given the method’s lack of greenhouse gas emissions and ability to operate at all hours. The low prices make it hard for the plants to compete with other clean technologies like wind and solar, which receive subsidies and are bolstered by mandates that require purchases of clean power. They argue that the environmental and efficiency value of nuclear plants mean they should be eligible for similar subsidies or be included in clean energy mandates. “We get no recognition for the fact that we emit nothing,” said Marvin S. Fertel, chief executive of the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry trade group. Support for plans to save nuclear energy has come from a seemingly unlikely group — environmentalists, some who have come to believe that the climate benefits of nuclear energy far outweigh the risks. Michael Shellenberger, president of Environmental Progress, a nonprofit research and policy organization, said that because nuclear plants produce so much more energy than other forms, they can be more environmentally friendly than even renewables when all the mining, development and land disturbances are taken into account. “Those of us who have changed our minds on it have changed most often on the climate stuff,” Mr. Shellenberger said, “but from the whole analysis, it’s just better. ” Opponents argue that the industry has already had decades of support, which made many of the companies that own the plants profitable, and that further subsidizing nuclear energy would take momentum and investment away from renewables like solar and wind. “We need to be building the energy system and not continuing to subsidize the energy system of the past,” said Abraham Scarr, director of the Illinois Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocate. Without help, nuclear officials say, there will be far less nuclear power. Two Exelon plants, Quad Cities in Illinois and Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, for instance, were unable to submit winning bids in a recent auction to meet future energy needs in the PJM territory, covering 13 Middle Atlantic and Midwestern states and the District of Columbia. After the auction, Christopher M. Crane, chief executive at Exelon, said that by itself the market “can’t preserve emitting nuclear plants that are facing the lowest wholesale energy prices in 15 years. ” Exelon pressured the Illinois State Legislature to approve a raft of energy measures, including extra subsidies for nuclear as a energy source, by the end of May or risk the shutdown of the two plants. However, the proposals never came up for a vote. Exelon, which has not yet announced a decision on the plants, is hardly the only company seeking more income for its facilities. In March, Ohio regulators approved plans between the utilities and power generation subsidiaries of FirstEnergy and AEP that guaranteed set rates for power from some struggling nuclear and coal plants, even if other plants in the market charged less. But federal regulators blocked the arrangement pending a review. FirstEnergy is now pursuing an amended version, which executives hope will go forward with state approval alone. It would allow the company to charge customers for the shortfall between the costs to operate the plants and the market rate it receives over the next eight years customers would receive credit if the rate rose above the costs. In New York, officials are taking a different approach. Public hearings were held last month on a proposed clean energy mandate that would include an credit paid to nuclear operators, aimed at helping keep upstate plants like FitzPatrick in Oswego County in operation. The Exelon proposal in Illinois followed a similar logic but attracted a number of critics — including the state attorney general, Lisa Madigan — who said that customers had paid for the plants twice and should not have to pay again, especially when Exelon’s overall finances may not be so dire. “The disruption in these communities if Exelon decides to shut down the plants is very significant and has a human consequence,” said Dave Lundy, a Chicago public relations executive who leads a coalition opposed to the proposal. “But I don’t know that they actually have to shut down these plants. ” | 1 |
Sky News: Kay Burley, 55 interviews Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage:
The Labour Party, historically, was there to look after working communities in this country, and it's given all of that up in favor of an open door to southern and eastern Europe.
Sky News Female:
But isn't that racist?
Nigel Farage:
I don't think it is. No. I don't think it can be deemed as such in any way.
But we've never in our history had a complete open door, and now we have one to 485 million people.
I don't think, in terms of common sense, that really adds up.
Sky News Female:
But if you're a 'racist', according to the Oxford English dictionary, it means that you have or are showing the belief that a particular race is superior to another.
Presumably, if you're saying that British people should have jobs above east Europeans, you're suggesting that they're superior and, as a result, that's racist.
Nigel Farage:
Well, actually, this is a big argument in London amongst the Afro-Caribbean community, fifty percent of whose youngsters haven't got jobs.
And that same survey that was done recently showed over 60% of the settled ethnic minorities in this country also believe that we have got to have some degree of control. So this crosses all boundaries within this country.
Sky News Female:
OK, you're getting bogged down in the figures, again.
And, as I said, remember to what happened to Mr Clegg when he did that. [hand gesture]
I've given you the definition of 'racist'. [hand gesture]
You've told me what you thought about the fact that British workers should have a superior chance of getting a job above European workers, whether they're from eastern Europe or whatever, and that is quite simply a 'racist' comment.
Nigel Farage:
No, it isn't. It is a job of the British government, firstly, to defend the realm and, secondly, to put the interests of the people that live in this country, first.
That's what we should be doing, and I'm afraid we've turned out backs on that over the course of the last few years, which has led to much, much unhappiness among millions of families.
...
How can anyone take more of this ludicrous 'racist' propaganda any longer?
What they refer to as 'racism' is protection of the vital interests of oneself and of one's own kind, in one's own land.
As if an Afro-Caribbean settlement belongs in any normal European society?
As if European interests may only be defended using the shield of the interests of the non-European invaders themselves?
How can European man not see this for what it is, and how can European man allow himself to be subjugated to this degree? | 0 |
Политика » Силовые структуры » Министерство обороны Гиперзвуковой летательный аппарат, известный как "изделие 4202" или "15Ю71" 25 октября впервые успешно прошел испытания в ходе стрельб из пускового района Домбаровский в Оренбургской области по камчатскому полигону Кура. Все бортовое оборудование, электронные комплексы, а также система управления полностью состоят из российских комплектующих. 0 комментариев 5 поделились
Как пишут "Известия", оружие способно развивать на максимальной высоте скорость порядка 15 Max, или 7 км/сек. Аппарат предназначен для установки на перспективные межконтинентальные баллистические ракеты, вместо традиционных боеголовок. "4202" начинает работать на высоте порядка 100 км и летит к цели на скорости 5-7 км/с. А перед входом в плотные слои атмосферы непосредственно над целью гиперзвуковой летательный аппарат совершает сложный маневр, который затрудняет его перехват средствами противоракетной обороны.
Отметим, проект гиперзвуковых боевых блоков под названием "Альбатрос" появился в СССР еще в середине 1980-х годов, как ответ на попытку США создать противоракетную оборону в рамках концепции "Звездных войн". Однако, из-за технических сложностей проект был закрыт. В середине 1990-х годов Научно-производственное объединение(НПО) машиностроения возобновило разработку, но уже под обозначением "4202".
По словам источников в госкорпорации "Роскосмос", проведению успешных летных испытаний гиперзвукового летательного аппарата предшествовала обширная программа импортозамещения. Пришлось избавиться от системы управления, ранее изготавливаемой харьковским предприятием "Хартрон", и некоторых других комплектующих. Успешно реализованная программа дала возможность возобновить испытания. Сейчас бортовое оборудование, электронные комплексы, а также система управления теперь полностью состоят из российских комплектующих.
Как рассказал главный редактор интернет-проекта Militaryrussia Дмитрий Корнев, в "4202" изначально было не так уж и много иностранных комплектующих, однако ключевой элемент изделия — система управления, контролирующая полет летательного аппарата, выполнение им гиперзвукового маневра и наведение на цель, изготавливалась украинским предприятием.
"НПО машиностроения начало разработку новой системы управления еще в 2014 году. Вероятно, ее начали испытывать в 2015 году, однако оба пуска "4202" прошли неудачно. 25 октября нынешнего года пуск удался, что свидетельствует об успешной работе НПО маш по импортозамещению", — сказал Корнев "Известиям".
Ранее Pravda. Ru писала, что гиперзвуковое оружие к 2020 году должно поступить на вооружение российской армии. Развитие высокоскоростных зенитных ракет привело к тому, что практически любой современный самолет или даже ракета могут быть с высокой долей вероятности перехвачены и сбиты на любой высоте. Ну, а выход из создавшегося положения может быть только один — создать летательные аппараты способные лететь быстрее ракет-перехватчиков.
Вот поэтому-то ведущие державы мира, такие как США, Россия и Китай в спешном порядке занялись созданием гиперзвуковых летательных аппаратов разных типов и предназначения, то есть включились в очередное противоборство "меча и щита".
Китай, например, еще 9 января 2015 года испытал гиперзвуковой планер WU-14, запускаемый в космос при помощи межконтинентальной баллистической ракеты. Затем развивая скорость в 10 М, то есть более 12,3 тыс. км/ч он сверху пикирует на цель. Современные средства противовоздушной обороны летящую на такой скорости цель отследить и перехватить не могут.
Так что теперь и Китай стал третьей в мире страной, после России и США, у которой есть технологии гиперзвуковых носителей как ядерного, так и обычного оружия. По сути, у китайцев получалась боеголовка с управляющими поверхностями, которая может маневрировать в полете и потому-то она и практически неуязвима. Но собственного двигателя у этого аппарата нет, так что это очередное оружие для "самых бедных".
В России же идут работы над ракетами разных типов с гиперзвуковыми прямоточными воздушно-реактивными двигателями (ГПВРД), которые можно будет запускать с земли, с кораблей или с боевых самолетов.
Гиперзвуковое оружие: Россию защитит "Холод" Поделиться: | 0 |
As the Zika virus bears down on the United States, federal health officials are divided over a politically and ethically charged question: Should they advise American women to delay pregnancy in areas where the virus is circulating? Some infectious disease experts are arguing that avoiding conception is the only sure way to prevent the births of deformed babies, according to outside researchers who serve on various advisory panels. Women’s health specialists, on the other hand, counter that the government should not tell women what to do with their bodies. Indeed, federal health officials have never advised all the women in a region of the country to stop having children. Moreover, they say, most babies conceived during Zika epidemics in Latin America have been born healthy. Several federal experts central to the discussion declined to be interviewed for this article. Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, described the internal debate as “a very long conversation. ” For now, “we do not have a recommendation to not become pregnant,” Dr. Frieden said at a “Zika summit” held recently at disease agency headquarters in Atlanta. “We do recommend access to contraception. ” On Wednesday, the agency confirmed what many experts already believed: that the virus, which is usually mild in adults, can cause severe brain damage in infants. In view of the gathering evidence, health officials in some countries struck by Zika epidemics, including El Salvador and Colombia, have urged women to avoid pregnancy. Dr. Marcos Espinal, who directs the Zika response of the Pan American Health Organization, an arm of the World Health Organization, said in an interview that he thought advising women to avoid conception during an epidemic’s relatively brief peak months, as Colombia did, “is sound advice. ” Yet the W. H. O. does not follow that policy. Dr. Bruce Aylward, the agency’s head of emergency response, called avoiding pregnancy “a complicated decision that is different for each individual woman. ” Currently, the question affects Americans only in Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands and American Samoa, where the Zika virus is circulating locally. But if the virus spreads as expected this summer, women in Hawaii and many Gulf Coast states may also be faced with tough choices. Despite the C. D. C. ’s stance, Puerto Rico’s health secretary, Dr. Ana Ríus, has been advising women to avoid pregnancy, although she has done so in public interviews, not in a large health campaign. Women on the island may be following her advice, she said preliminary figures indicate that there are 8 percent fewer pregnancies than there were at this time last year. For women living on those islands, the disease agency’s current guidelines do not advocate delaying pregnancy, instead calling the timing of conception a “deeply personal and very complex decision” and suggesting that women consult their doctors for “pregnancy planning. ” But tourists visiting the islands receive specific advice to avoid pregnancy for eight weeks after a visit, and for six months if male partners have had symptoms of Zika infection. One expert familiar with the debate, Michael T. Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, described it as “two groups describing an elephant, one looking at the head and the other at the tail. ” Dr. William Schaffner, the chairman of department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical School, who also described the outlines of the split, said that withholding conception advice might leave couples adrift. “They have to think it through by themselves,” he said. “They may hear it from their doctors or mothers or friends at the beauty parlor, but not from the C. D. C. ” Advocates of delaying pregnancy give several reasons. First, they do not believe that even the most aggressive efforts can protect pregnant woman 24 hours a day for nine months. No country yet has stopped dengue or chikungunya, which, like Zika, are spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, and the disease agency itself has warned that reductions of 80 percent to 90 percent in those mosquito populations sometimes does not reduce disease transmission. Second, no vaccine is expected to be ready for at least two years. Third, evidence is mounting that Zika outbreaks are intense but brief. In French Polynesia in 2013, the virus infected 66 percent of the population within seven months and then disappeared. Because women who recover from Zika appear to be permanently immune, experts argue that delaying conception spares them the risk of having a child with severe birth defects, along with the agonizing worry — and lets them conceive safely a year later. “It’s a ” said Dr. Peter J. Hotez, the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “They should say, ‘Don’t get pregnant — watch TV for six months and you won’t have a badly hurt baby. ’” In framing the language of the guidelines, Dr. Frieden said he was “guided by the perspective” of Dr. Denise J. Jamieson, a medical officer in the disease agency’s division of reproductive health. In an interview, Dr. Jamieson described birth defects as a rare complication of Zika infection. Even during an epidemic, she said, “most women will have healthy babies. ” Further, Dr. Jamieson said, delays “would also prevent wanted pregnancies,” especially in older women struggling with fertility, for example. Advice from government doctors on such personal decisions, she added, “is not likely to be effective. ” Asked what advice she would have given during the last American rubella epidemic — which killed or severely handicapped an estimated 20, 000 babies — she answered: “I would have said, ‘This is an extraordinarily risky time to get pregnant.’ ” But she does not endorse giving the same advice this time, she said, because rubella was unavoidable in those prevaccine days, whereas now, “highly motivated women can take measures to avoid mosquito bites. ” Local health officials have offered a variety of perspectives. In the United States Virgin Islands, Michelle S. Davis, the territory’s new health secretary, said she had not advocated pregnancy delay, although individual doctors may be doing so. The story has played out differently in Puerto Rico, where the C. D. C. has said there could be thousands of pregnant women infected by late summer. Dr. Ríus, the health secretary, suggested in several public interviews that women delay conception until more is known about the virus. She also instructed public clinics to distribute condoms. She was accused of alarmism, and the island’s Roman Catholic archbishop criticized her condom plan. But in an interview at the Atlanta summit meeting, she said that a new pregnancy surveillance network created by the disease agency for the epidemic suggested that women there may be heeding her advice. Births are expected to number 28, 000 this year, below last year’s total of 30, 323. Prominent gynecologists in Puerto Rico also are advising patients to avoid pregnancy. Dr. Jose Alvarez Romagosa, a fertility specialist at the Auxilio Mutuo Hospital in San Juan and star of a popular television show, “Latin Doctors,” said he had dissuaded three patients from conceiving in a single day. Dr. Manuel Navas, a fertility specialist and medical director of Pablo Hospital in Fajardo, a town where some of the island’s earliest Zika infections were detected, said he, too, was discouraging most patients from conceiving unless they were desperate for a child and he was sure they understood the risks. That was the advice he would give his daughter, he added. Asked how his patients reacted, he said, “They appreciate it. ” | 1 |
iTS DARK ALRIGHT . In a sad twist of fate these black people in power are doing more to damage black people 's reptutation than any white people ever could . Whats wrong with them ?? Where are they in the streets complaing about corruption ???? Where are they at the voting booths voting against it ?? Thats what you get when you back the very people who fought hard to keep them slaves and i might add where the KKK . They need to wake up fast . | 0 |
This week at a town hall event in her home state of Hawaii, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard ( ) said she was “doing her homework” on the impeachment process of President Donald Trump but warned President Mike Pence would potentially push through a more conservative agenda. Gabbard said, “On the issue of impeachment, I am doing my homework. I am studying more about the impeachment process. I will just say I understand the calls for impeachment, but what I am being cautious about and what I give you food for thought about is that if President Trump is impeached, the problems don’t go away, because then you have a Vice President Pence who becomes President Pence. If you do your research on positions on many of the issues we’ve talked, many of the issues that I get phone calls about from people all across the state, the issue of war and peace, he’s about as hawkish as they come. ” “Issues relating to the environment, education, healthcare — I disagree with so many of the positions that he has. And in some ways given the fact that he’s a former member of Congress and very well connected within the Republican establishment in Washington, he’d be able to, I believe, be far more effective in furthering his agenda than we have seen so far in President Trump’s first 100 days,” she added. ( The Hill) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
A champion female runner who faces being stripped of her titles after revelations that she was born a man has been convicted of attempting to murder a sports official who outed her past life, authorities say, The Daily Mail reported. [Champion Lauren Jeska was arrested for the stabbing attack on British Athletics official Ralph Knibbs in March of last year. Police say Jeska also attacked two of Knibbs’ during the incident. Officials called the March 22 attack at the Birmingham open plan UK Athletics office “frenzied” and “wholly unprovoked,” yet was also a “cool and calculated attack. ” The attacks came after Jeska faced having her series of wins vacated because she refused to supply blood tests to prove she had a woman’s level of testosterone in her system at the time of her victories. “We understand Jeska had been asked to provide further evidence of hormone levels after historical complaints to UK Athletics that she had an unfair advantage competing in women’s events because she had been born a man,” Detective Sergeant Sally Olsen said after the latest hearing. “The governing body’s policy required the athlete to take a blood test but she took exception to this and feared being unable to compete,” Olsen added. Police discovered from a psychiatrist who interviewed the suspect that she “fantasized about going to the Alexander Stadium and killing all of the staff. ” During the attack, Jeska stabbed Knibbs in the neck nicking his carotid artery, but even as blood spurted out across the room with each heartbeat, the victim warded off further blows until two colleagues came to subdue Jeska. The other two men were also injured in the attack. Despite the loss of blood, Knibbs survived the attack. The victim said he suffered a during the attack and now also suffers permanent vision loss. He testified that the attack was a “traumatic, experience. ” Lauren Jeska was handed an jail term for her crime. She will not be eligible for parole until she has served of her sentence. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 1 |
BleachBit Mocks Crooked Hillary With Brutal New Product Offering Called ‘Cloth Or Something’ The new product is a set of microfiber cloths featuring an image of Hillary Clinton holding the BleachBit logo with a quote from Clinton in response to being asked if she wiped her private email server: “Like with a cloth or something?” BleachBit, the company responsible for the file deletion software utilised by Hillary Clinton’s team to delete her emails, recently released a new product called ‘Cloth or Something.’
EDITOR’S NOTE: BleachBit, the company that makes the scorched earth software for people who really, really, REALLY need to delete emails about “grandkids and yoga classes” have expanded their product line. Need a hammer to destroy your BlackBerry? They can sell you one. Need to wipe your server clean…like with a CLOTH or something? You can now buy that, too, and just in time for the 2016 Presidential Election. If I had a liberal friend, I would celebrate Trump’s victory by sending them one. If only I had a liberal friend. Or not.
The new product is a set of microfiber cloths featuring an image of Hillary Clinton holding the BleachBit logo with a quote from Clinton in response to being asked if she wiped her private email server: “Like with a cloth or something?” ‘Like With A Cloth or Something? – Hillary Clinton Jokes About Wiping Server:
Funny thing here, Crooked Hillary always brags about “how much smarter” she is than Donald Trump, right? So WHY, I ask you, does she now want us to believe that “wiping a server clean” happens by using a cloth? Soooo, either she is a LOT dumber than Donald Trump – or – she’s a liar. Pick one! Hillary Clinton Smashed Blackberry Phones With Hammers:
Hmmm, let me see. The FBI asks me to “ preserve emails and devices “, so naturally the first thing I do is delete the emails and THEN smash the devices to smithereens with a hammer. Because that’s how honest people, with nothing to hide, act when contacted by the FBI in an investigation, right?
The product description reads , “August 2015 Hillary Clinton was asked, ‘Did you wipe your email server?’ and she evasively replied, ‘Like with a cloth or something?’ A year later we found out that ‘cloth’ was BleachBit, a software application that deletes information ‘so even God can’t read it,’ as Congressman Trey Gowdy announced August 2016.” The page goes on to list many uses for the cloths while poking fun at Clinton’s actions during the investigation: After you have smashed your BlackBerry , don’t forget to wipe the fingerprints from your email server with this non-abrasive, soft microfiber Cloth or Something. Thin, foldable size makes it easy to stash the Cloth or Something in burn bags. 6″ x 6″ size quickly wipes even the biggest email servers with thousands of emails. Buy an extra cloth for your VIP (VERY VIP) client. Optionally autographed on the back by Andrew, creator of BleachBit. Printed in the USA! Guaranteed not to prove intent, or you will get a full refund paid when you are released from prison. First-class shipping and handling is a flat rate of $2 per order. Yes, this cloth is real , and you can really buy it.
Finally the page says , “Don’t wait for a subpoena: Order Now!” | 0 |
Members of Parliament are like “jihadis” a MP has said. [Claire Perry, a Conservative who represents Devizes, launched the broadside against her colleagues while at the same time lamenting “hysterical” language on Brexit. Comparing fellow Conservatives to Islamic extremists, Ms Perry said: “I have to say that the tone of this debate — and we’ve heard a little bit, although it’s starting to calm down — sometimes borders on the hysterical. “I feel sometimes I am sitting along with colleagues who are like jihadis in their support for a hard Brexit. ” She went on to say: “No Brexit is hard enough — ‘begone you evil Europeans, we never want you to darken our doors again’. People say: ‘Steady on, Claire’ but I am afraid I heard speeches last week exactly making that point. “The point of this is, the more we get this out in the open, the more we are not led by some of the most hysterical tabloid newspapers out there, but actually have an open and frank conversation with each other about what we want to do, the better. ” Ms Perry, speaking as the House of Commons, spent a second day deliberating amendments to the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, which will grant Prime Minister Theresa May the power to trigger the process of leaving the EU. She was one of seven Conservative MPs to rebel against the government and back an opposition amendment forcing the government to give Parliament a bigger say on the final Brexit deal. The amendment was nonetheless defeated after the government announced they intended to do that anyway. MPs will finish debating the bill on Wednesday evening before holding a final vote. If it is passed, it will then go to the heavily House of Lords for further deliberation. | 1 |
SAN FRANCISCO — Hundreds of fake retail and product apps have popped up in Apple’s App Store in recent weeks — just in time to deceive holiday shoppers. The counterfeiters have masqueraded as retail chains like Dollar Tree and Foot Locker, big department stores like Dillard’s and Nordstrom, online product bazaars like Zappos. com and Polyvore, and makers like Jimmy Choo, Christian Dior and Salvatore Ferragamo. “We’re seeing a barrage of fake apps,” said Chris Mason, chief executive of Branding Brand, a Pittsburgh company that helps retailers build and maintain apps. He said his company constantly tracks new shopping apps, and this was the first time it had seen so many counterfeit iPhone apps emerge in a short period of time. Some of them appeared to be relatively harmless — essentially junk apps that served up annoying ads, he said. But there are serious risks to using a fake app. Entering credit card information opens a customer to potential financial fraud. Some fake apps contain malware that can steal personal information or even lock the phone until the user pays a ransom. And some fakes encourage users to log in using their Facebook credentials, potentially exposing sensitive personal information. The rogue apps, most of which came from developers in China, slipped through Apple’s process for reviewing every app before it is published. That scrutiny, which Apple markets as an advantage over Google’s less restrictive Android smartphone platform, is supposed to stop any software that is deceitful, that improperly uses another company’s intellectual property or that poses harm to consumers. In practice, however, Apple focuses more on blocking malicious software and does not routinely examine the thousands of apps submitted to the iTunes store every day to see if they are legitimately associated with the brand names listed on them. With apps becoming more popular as a way to shop, it is up to brands and developers themselves to watch for fakes and report them, much as they scan for fake websites, said Ben Reubenstein, chief executive of Possible Mobile, a Denver company that makes apps for JetBlue Airways, the PGA Tour and the Pokémon Company, among others. “It’s important that brands monitor how their name is being used,” he said. Apple removed hundreds of fake apps on Thursday night after The New York Times inquired about the specific app vendors that created many of them. Other apps were removed after a New York Post article last week drew attention to some of the counterfeits. “We strive to offer customers the best experience possible, and we take their security very seriously,” said an Apple spokesman, Tom Neumayr. “We’ve set up ways for customers and developers to flag fraudulent or suspicious apps, which we promptly investigate to ensure the App Store is safe and secure. We’ve removed these offending apps and will continue to be vigilant about looking for apps that might put our users at risk. ” In September, Apple also embarked on a campaign to review all two million apps in the App Store and remove “apps that no longer function as intended, don’t follow current review guidelines or are outdated. ” The company says that a significant number of apps have been removed and that the review is continuing. Despite Apple’s efforts, new fake apps appear every day. In some cases, developers change the content of an app after it has been approved by Apple’s monitors. In other instances, the counterfeiters change their names and credentials, and resubmit similar apps after one round of fakes is discovered. “It’s a game of ” Mr. Mason of Branding Brand said. On Friday, for example, an entity calling itself Overstock Inc. — an apparent attempt to confuse shoppers looking for the online retailer Overstock. com — was peddling Ugg boots and apparel through a fake app that was nearly identical to one banished by Apple on Thursday. The same Chinese app developer, Cloaker Apps, created both fake Ugg apps on behalf of Chinese clients. Jack Lin, who identified himself as the head of Cloaker, said in a phone interview in China that his company provides the technology for thousands of apps but does not investigate its clients. “We hope that our clients are all official sellers,” he said. “If they are using these brands, we need some kind of authorization, then we will provide services. ” Mr. Lin said Cloaker charged about 20, 000 renminbi — about $3, 000 — for an app written in English. But like so many of the apps his company produces, Cloaker is not what it purports to be. Its website is filled with dubious claims, such as the location of its headquarters, which it says is at an address smack in the middle of Facebook’s campus in Menlo Park, Calif. In the interview, Mr. Lin at first said he had offices only in China and Japan. When asked about the California office, he then claimed to have “tens of employees” at the Facebook address. China is by far the biggest source of fake apps, according to security experts. Many of the fake retail apps have red flags signaling that they are not real, such as nonsensical menus written in butchered English, no reviews and no history of previous versions. In one fake New Balance app, for example, the tab for phone support did not list a phone number and said, “Our angents are available over the hone . ” Data from Apptopia show that some of the fake apps have been downloaded thousands of times, although it is unclear how many people have actually used them. Reviews posted on some of the apps indicated that at least some people tried them and became frustrated. “Would give zero stars if possible,” wrote one reviewer of the fake Dollar Tree app. “Constantly gets stuck in menus and closes what you were doing and makes you start over. ” Mr. Mason says consumers want to shop online and they search for apps from their favorite stores and brands. “The retailers who are most exposed are the ones with no app at all,” he said. Dollar Tree and Dillard’s, for example, have no official iPhone apps, which made it easier to lure their customers to the fake apps. But the counterfeiters have also mimicked companies that do have an official presence in the App Store, hoping to capitalize on consumer confusion about which ones are real. The shoe retailer Foot Locker Inc. for example, has three iPhone apps. But that did not stop an entity calling itself Footlocke Sports Co. Ltd. from offering 16 shoe and clothing apps in the App Store — including one purporting to be from a Foot Locker rival, Famous Footwear. Similarly, the supermarket chain Kroger Company has 20 iPhone apps, reflecting the various retail chains in its empire. An entity calling itself The Kroger Inc. had 19 apps, purporting to sell things as diverse as an $80 pair of Asics sneakers and a $688 bottle of Dior perfume. Some of the fake apps have even used Apple’s new paid search ads to propel them to the top of the results screen when customers search for specific brands in the App Store. Jon Clay, director of global threat communications for Trend Micro, an internet security firm, said Apple’s tight control over the iPhone had historically kept malicious apps out of its App Store. Fake apps appeared more often on Google’s Android platform or on app stores, he said. But that is beginning to change. Shortly after the Pokémon Go game was released in the United States in July, for example, a spate of fake iPhone apps related to the game appeared, especially in countries where the game was not yet available. “The criminals are going to take advantage of whatever is hot,” Mr. Clay said. | 1 |
BALTIMORE — The acquittal on Thursday of a Baltimore police officer charged with murder and six other crimes in the death of Freddie Gray has dealt a devastating blow to the prosecution, legal experts say, and raises questions about whether the state should press ahead with the trials of four other officers. Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. who drove the police transport van in which Mr. Gray suffered the spinal cord injury that killed him, faced the most serious charges of any of the six officers indicted in the fatal arrest. His acquittal on seven counts leaves the state without any convictions after three trials, in one of the nation’s most closely watched police misconduct cases — and continues to leave open the question of what, exactly, happened to Mr. Gray inside the van. Judge Barry G. Williams, who presided over the Goodson trial, issued the verdicts to a hushed, packed courtroom. He drew no conclusions about exactly when during the van ride Mr. Gray got hurt, saying there were several “equally plausible scenarios. ” And he rejected the state’s contention that the officer had given Mr. Gray an intentional “rough ride” and knowingly endangered him by failing to buckle him into the van or provide medical help. Mr. Gray was detained after fleeing, apparently unprompted, from officers in the downtrodden Sandtown neighborhood of West Baltimore, and loaded into a police wagon that made six stops in West Baltimore before it arrived at the Western District police station, where Mr. Gray was found unresponsive and not breathing, with a devastating spinal cord injury. The death of Mr. Gray, a black man, set off a wave of violent unrest here last year and thrust this majority black city into the center of a wrenching national debate over race and policing. The state’s attorney, Marilyn Mosby, sought to quell the violence by telling protesters she heard their “call for ‘no justice, no peace,’” promising to deliver “justice on behalf of this young man. ” But the first trial, of Officer William Porter, ended with a hung jury in December he is scheduled to be retried. A second officer, Edward M. Nero, was acquitted last month of four charges. Thursday’s verdicts instantly reignited debate here over whether Ms. Mosby had overcharged the officers and prompted speculation about what she will do next. “This was the state’s Waterloo,” declared Warren Brown, a defense lawyer who has been watching the trials, and has been sharply critical of the prosecution. Mayor Stephanie issued a bland statement after the verdict that said, in part, “I know the citizens of Baltimore will continue to respect the judicial process and the ruling of the court. ” The Baltimore police union called immediately for all remaining charges to be dropped and accused Ms. Mosby of “playing politics with our agency. ” Ms. Mosby had no comment like all parties in the case, she is bound by a judge’s order barring her from talking about it. But most legal experts agreed that Ms. Mosby must now rethink her strategy. Still, the road ahead is a complicated one for her. Several officers charged in the cases have filed defamation suits against her a decision to drop criminal charges against them could become fodder for their lawsuits — and hurt her if she seeks . “If she abandons the prosecution of the four remaining trials, the only interpretation of that is that she has been defeated — certainly that does not bode well politically for her,” said Warren Alperstein, a lawyer who represents police officers, though not those charged in the Gray cases. “On the other hand, how far do you take this when you are oh for three?” One calculation, if she does go forward, is whether to seek the removal of Judge Williams from future trials. The judge, a former federal prosecutor who tried police misconduct cases for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, has presided over all three trials so far. The first trial was a jury trial the other two were tried by the judge, at the request of the officers. In the process, though, he has tipped his hand as to his thinking about some of the other defendants. For instance, he said on Thursday that it “strains credibility” to think that Officer Porter, who testified that he did not believe that Mr. Gray was in medical distress, had told Officer Goodson that Mr. Gray was in danger. And during the trial of Officer Nero, one of the two arresting officers, the judge raised the idea that the other officer — Garrett E. Miller — had been more deeply involved in the arrest. Officer Miller faces trial starting on July 27. The courtroom was tense and quiet as the judge read the verdicts on Thursday sheriff’s deputies had issued a warning: “no moans, no groans. ” Afterward, Officer Goodson hugged members of his family and Officers Nero and Miller, both of whom were seated in the front row. Ms. Mosby heaved a sigh and walked out, her head down, escorted by her security guard. Jan Bledsoe and Michael Schatzow, who prosecuted the case, followed, and looking glum. Outside the courthouse, a small band of protesters gathered, maybe a few dozen in all. Many had expected the verdict some sounded more resigned, others angry. “It’s business as usual — you’re not going to convict nobody for killing a black man in America, whether it be New York or Chicago, Philadelphia or Baltimore,” said Duane “Shorty” Davis, a chef and activist here. “Black lives don’t matter to white America. ” Mr. Davis said he believed Ms. Mosby never had any “intention of winning this case,” and that the only reason she brought charges “is because they had an uprising. ” Others said they saw the $6. 4 million settlement that Baltimore paid to Mr. Gray’s family, including his mother, to settle an expected civil suit last year as a kind of payback, or trade, for the acquittals. Among them were George Grady and his girlfriend, Carleen White, near Pennsylvania and North Avenues, not far from the site of last year’s unrest. “When she took the money, why would you find the police guilty now?” Mr. Grady said. As to whether Ms. Mosby should drop the remaining cases, he said was of two minds. At first, he said she should not. But then, he switched gears: “The family got paid. Let it go, let this rest. ” Despite the sense here that little has changed since then, some civil rights leaders, like Tessa the president of Baltimore’s branch of the N. A. A. C. P. said the very act of trying the officers has brought scrutiny to police practices that had long endured in the shadows. And some police practices appear to be changing. “We’re here, and the police are being looked at, and they have to change their behavior,” Ms. said, adding that she hoped the prosecutions would continue for that reason. “As a person out in the street, I think we should keep them coming. ” Late last month, the Baltimore police announced they were putting new cameras in transport vans. Ms. as well as a lawyer, A. Dwight Petit, who represents police brutality plaintiffs in Baltimore, say anecdotal complaints of rough rides have dropped since Mr. Gray’s case took over the headlines. That has trickled down to anecdotes on the street. Standing at the intersection of Pennsylvania and North Avenues, Darrius Colbert, 26, who said that he had served about seven years in prison, said he had been arrested and loaded into a police wagon on three occasions — twice before Mr. Gray’s death, and once after. On the former occasions, Mr. Colbert said, he was not secured with a seatbelt, and felt “weak and powerless,” though he was not hurt. “The van takes off,” he said, “you just slide around, thinking, ‘I have no control over my life whatsoever. ’” But during his most recent arrest, he said that he was buckled in. | 1 |
I'm secretly and totally in love with Naomi Wolf, since she's awake and vibrant and bright, writes amazingly well and just beautiful but the "Orlando Massacre" was a staged event. The bumbling idiots(?) imbeciles(?) morons(?) at CNN blew the lid off the farce just about as much as the BBC "journalist" did standing in front of WTC Building 7 doing a live broadcast announcing it's collapse with it still standing in the backdrop of the shot half an hour before the order came to "pull it" and the pre-set explosive demolition occurred.
Crisis actors shouldn't be recycled if you want to fool anyone with a few brain-cells functioning. | 0 |
According to The New York Times, the vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee has been disinvited from the Democratic debates. Representative Tulsi Gabbard did confirm this.
The New York Times reported : “Ms. Gabbard confirmed on Sunday that her chief of staff received a message last Tuesday from the chief of staff to Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the national committee, about her attendance at the debate.”
So why?
The day before receiving the email Gabbard called for more debates on MSNBC. “More and more people on the ground from states all across the country are calling for more debates, are wanting to have this transparency and greater engagement in our democratic process at a critical time, as they make the decision of who should be the next person to lead our country.”
Sunday night, Gabbard spoke with The New York Times: “When I first came to Washington, one of the things that I was disappointed about was there’s a lot of immaturity and petty gamesmanship that goes on, and it kind of reminds me of how high school teenagers act… It’s very dangerous when we have people in positions of leadership who use their power to try to quiet those who disagree with them. When I signed up to be vice chair of the D.N.C., no one told me I would be relinquishing my freedom of speech and checking it at the door.”
Wow.
An anonymous source with ties to the committee disagrees and according to The New York Times: “… an aide to Ms. Wasserman Schultz expressed a desire to keep the focus on the candidates as the debate approached, rather than on a ‘distraction’ that could divide the party, and suggested that if Ms. Gabbard could not do that, she should reconsider going. She was not uninvited. The D.N.C. team wanted this first debate to have all the focus on the candidates. Gabbard’s people were told that if they couldn’t commit to that since Tulsi was trying to publicly divide the D.N.C. leadership last week, then they should consider not coming. The fact that she is still making this about her and not our great candidates by talking to The New York Times says something unfortunate.”
You know, I love how the Wasserman Schultz camp is trying to spin this and make Tulsi look like the villain wanting attention. Tulsi is a bad person for voicing an opinion that the majority of Democrats have? If that’s the case, I applaud her for being the villain. Even if she wasn’t disinvited, the fact that it was suggested is remarkably disgusting.
The fact is many Americans want more debates. Several of the few candidates have called for more debates. What’s the f**king hold up here? What’s the problem? Does Wasserman Schultz have her head so far up someone’s colon that she can’t hear what the American people are screaming at her?
Let me speak a little louder. Can you hear me now Debbie? We are not happy. We want more debates. We are not the ones dividing the party. You and the leadership put in place to serve Democrats nationwide are dividing the party. You are not listening to us. That’s the dividing factor. Not us. It’s not dividing a party when you’re speaking up for the ignored majority.
This isn’t about wanting Bernie to annihilate Hillary. This is about listening to a majority of American citizens who put you in your chair. I can only hope there will be audience members holding signs up calling for more debates to show that it’s not just attention-seeking.
Featured image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr under a Creative Commons Attribution Generic license. About Liz | 0 |
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Federal Judge John Michael Vazquez set a court appearance for this Thursday for the Democratic National Committee’s emergency legal action to fight Republican minority suppression efforts.
The DNC filed suit over a generation-old consent decree last week seeking an injunction and extension of the order by eight years, which prevents illegal Republican voter suppression “ballot security” measures.
That lawsuit is looking ever more likely to succeed, resulting in an order barring Republicans across the country from targeting minority voters. The RNC’s response pointedly omitted any defense of the Michigan and Pennsylvania RNC members accused of unlawful ballot security programs, who are the two key players in this courtroom drama that also involves VP candidate Mike Pence and Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway.
The federal judge ordered both Michigan GOP Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDonald – Mitt Romney’s niece – and Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Rob Gleason to submit sworn statements along with documentation of their ballot security programs by 5pm today.
Last night, Republican lawyers tossed the two high-ranking RNC members under the bus by failing entirely to defend their actions, sworn accounts of which are due at 5pm today. The Democrat’s strongest claims are against the two national RNC members who spoke to the media about ballot security programs.
The Washington Post wrote about the Pennsylvania GOP’s plans to flood urban Philadelphia with suburban poll watchers from other counties and a legal effort to remove state law restrictions on out of county ballot watchers, while t he Michigan State GOP Chairwoman was quoted in The Detroit Free Press as saying she was directing measures in Michigan to launch a “massive anti-fraud” effort.
Under the 1982 agreement between the parties as it’s been modified through the years, any “ballot security program” must be submitted to the court and DNC for “preclearance” ten days before being implemented. It seems highly unlikely that the DNC was notified of any of the four major activities the court demanded to be explained.
The Republican National Committee also has until 5pm today to deliver statements about minority voter suppression made in public, video recorded comments by VP nominee Mike Pence and media reports about the Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway’s statements after the third and final debate. Additionally, the national Republican party has got to deliver to the court any and all agreements between the RNC and the Trump campaign that involve electioneering or polling places to the court as well.
The Democratic lawyers even submitted fresh evidence to the court that the RNC is involved nationally in poll security operations, which a former federal prosecutor obtained via text message during the normal course of poll watching activities. The RNC denies activity in any and all poll watching venues in their legal filings.
The Republican National Committee is clearly frustrated by its lengthy tenure under the key voter protection legal agreement, and you can tell from the legal filing that it wants out. However, the Republican party of Trump isn’t playing by the rules, like it’s standard bearer doesn’t play by the rules, and now they’re likely going to be punished.
Tonight, the music stops and the Republicans will finally have to answer for their dirty campaign tactics, or face the wrath of a federal judge.
Here’s the judge’s complete order: | 0 |
Discours de Vladimir Poutine au Club de Valdai par Vladimir Poutine Réseau Voltaire | Sotchi (Russie) | 27 octobre 2016 English русский
Vladimir Poutine | 0 |
In the packed apartment complex in Queens, the woman saw Shamdai Arjun, whose family shares a apartment with hers, leaving on Friday evening. Ms. Arjun took her two young grandchildren with her and rode off with a man in a white car. Ms. Arjun’s stepdaughter, though, stayed behind. Ms. Arjun told the woman that the girl was washing her hair, according to a criminal complaint. But the light in the bathroom had been on for hours, and the door was locked, the woman, whose name was not disclosed, told investigators. She knocked on the door, and there was no answer. She called the girl’s father, and he told her to break down the door. Inside, she saw the girl, Ashdeep Kaur, lying in a bathtub with no water in it. She was lifeless and bruised. Emergency workers and the police were called around 6 p. m. to the apartment in Richmond Hill, on 112th Street near 101st Avenue, where Ashdeep was pronounced dead, officials said. On Sunday, Ms. Arjun, 55, was charged with murder in her death, prosecutors said. Ashdeep died of strangulation, and her death has been ruled a homicide, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner said. “Her actions, if true, are beyond comprehension and must be severely punished,” Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney, said in a statement. Ms. Arjun appeared in Queens Criminal Court on Sunday, where a judge ordered that she be held without bail. Michael Curtis, an assistant district attorney, said that Ms. Arjun had “the motive, the means and the exclusive opportunity to commit this awful and brutal crime. ” “This defendant repeatedly and on numerous occasions threatened to kill the victim,” he added, “most recently doing so this past Tuesday. On Friday, she made good on that threat. ” Ms. Arjun’s lawyer, Judah Maltz, said his client maintained that she was innocent. “She denied ever hurting the child,” he said. “There’s no confession. No one saw her commit this crime. All they have is circumstantial evidence. ” Ms. Arjun was arrested late Saturday in the South Ozone Park neighborhood at the home of her former husband, Raymond Narayan. He was the one who drove her and their grandchildren, who are 3 and 5, away from her home in Richmond Hill, the authorities said. When investigators arrived at Mr. Narayan’s home, he and Ms. Arjun refused to leave for over an hour, prosecutors said. He finally relented, opening the door, and they were both arrested. Mr. Narayan, 65, has been charged with obstructing governmental administration. Ashdeep had been in the United States for only a few months, neighbors said, leaving her mother and other relatives in India to live with her father and his wife, who is from Guyana. She came to a neighborhood that is filled with immigrants from India, Pakistan and Guyana. She moved into the apartment, which her family shared with another family, in a crowded complex formed by brick houses that have been stitched together. Neighbors said that the building’s tenants turned over quickly and that many of them, like Ashdeep and her father, were from India. It is in an area of southwest Queens that has been shaken by killings this month, with an imam and his assistant gunned down in Ozone Park and a jogger, Karina Vetrano, found dead in an area of marshland in Howard Beach. And in Richmond Hill, Ashdeep’s neighbors struggled with the young girl’s death. “I see my daughter’s face in hers,” Kiran Kaur said, trembling and crying as she left a nearby gurdwara, or Sikh temple. (She is not related to Ashdeep.) “Every mother can see her kids’ faces in another,” she continued, her daughter’s arms wrapped around her waist. “I don’t know how her mother feels to know that her daughter is no longer in this world. ” | 1 |
French university academics have made an extraordinary intervention in the French election, emailing students and urging them to back establishment candidate Emmanuel Macron. [The president of the University of Angers in Western France, Christian Roblédo, claimed in an email to students that, “as a university professor” it was his “duty to denounce the harmful ideology that [Marine Le Pen] conveys”. He characterised this ideology as “withdrawal into oneself, intolerance, fear of the other [and] refusal of differences” in opposition to “humanism, openness, pluralism and freedom of expression” — the values which, in Roblédo’s estimation, “constitute the very essence of higher education and research in France”. “Already in 2002, we were placed before such a choice,” he said, recalling the second round showdown between Jacques Chirac and Marine Le Pen’s father, . Mr. Le Pen was expelled from the Front National by his daughter as she reformed it into a moderate, populist movement. “[In 2002] a Republican front had come together to make the Front National score as low as possible,” wrote Roblédo. “[Again] we have to vote massively so that [Marine Le Pen] does not win the presidential election. ” Anticipating criticism of his intervention as an abuse of his public position, the professor concluded by saying that “[Sometimes] the values of a man’s life take precedence over all other considerations. In addressing you as president of the University, the duty of reserve is obliterated by the threats to the institutional foundations on which our University is based. ” WATCH | @MLP_officiel to @EmmanuelMacron: ”France will be led by a woman, either me or Angela Merkel!” 👏🇷😂 pic. twitter. — LEAVE. EU (@LeaveEUOfficial) May 3, 2017, Colleague Manuel Tunon de Lara, president of the University of Bordeaux, was equally unabashed, writing of his “responsibility to call on the academic community to vote next Sunday to block … the accession of Marine Le Pen to the presidency of the French Republic. ” He claimed that the “Marine Le Pen programme” was incompatible “with the academic values we have hitherto defended”. “How to defend openness in a country that would close its borders?” he asked. “My position is not an isolated position,” he declared. “It is associated with that advocated by the Conference of University Presidents, which called for ‘voting against the extremism of the candidature of Marine Le Pen’. ” | 1 |
This summer, I thumbed past an Instagram photo of a young man with silken brown skin and an enviable fade dressed up in an azure suit. I lingered for a moment, slightly verklempt. I knew him, or, at least, I felt as if I did, and I couldn’t believe he was already going to prom. The teenager was an from New Jersey known as Jay Versace, who has appeared in my life in increments for the last two years on Vine, the video app. I’ve seen him confess that he’s wet himself, channel Drake and Beyoncé and balance an impressive number of items on his head. Most of Versace’s Vines are shot in his bedroom, and watching his videos is as intimate as finding your younger brother’s notebook of secret doodles or poems — you’re stumbling into his ( ) secret world. The kinship I felt reminded me of the bond I imagine my mother has when she talks about “Tracee” (Ellis Ross) or “Chris” (Rock) as if they could walk through our door at any moment and fix themselves something to eat. Jay Versace’s work gives me the same feeling that, say, “Everybody Hates Chris” gave my mom — comfort, stability, familiarity and warmth, a sense of identity and belonging. Versace’s Vines are a particular product of black culture — on the surface, they’re funny to anyone lucky enough to bear witness, but there’s a secondary layer that’s meant for black people, predicated on our shared culture, experiences and understandings. If Facebook has become a destination for moms who are increasingly technologically literate, and Twitter has grown into a place for journalists who spread information (and snark) in missives, Vine, the mobile video app that Twitter announced late last week will be discontinued in the coming months, has become a home for young black people, who dominated the service and established its visual language early — quick cuts, referential jokes, deep allusions. (Jay Versace, for example, has three million followers.) Quickly consumed visuals have the potential to go viral online in ways that words do not, and Vines spread far and fast while also allowing its users to arbitrate their outcomes. While Facebook supplies recognition — first and last name, hometown, face — and Twitter can provide anonymity, Vine offered something in between: a place for people to see you, even people who didn’t necessarily know who you were. Visual platforms like Snapchat are similar canvases for creativity, but make it difficult to attract an audience outside of one’s social circles. Vine didn’t privilege traditional celebrities — its stars grew organically without the benefit of expensive equipment or connections — though after its official release in 2013, it seemed like everybody wanted to be there. Drake premiered the first clip of his album “Views,” on it dance crazes like “The Running Man Challenge” were born there slang like “on fleek,” “WHAT ARE THOOOSE” and “Why you always lyin’?” debuted and spread on Vine. Like much of pop culture, these bits of virality were rooted in the black community, then sucked into the mainstream where businesses benefit from them financially. Vine incubated black ingenuity and creativity, allowing makers to play with structure, form, insertion, pacing and interpolation, and letting users employ the videos as punch lines, shorthand and punctuation. The service became its own ecosystem of black culture, both by relying on familiar figures, experiences and jokes, and by creating the next batch of them. Jay Versace mirrors black experience in a Vine about a relationship breakup, set to the 3LW song “No More (Baby I’ma Do Right). ” He plays two characters: a befuddled male and his clearly angry girlfriend. It’s funny because of the large, exaggerated emotions spreading across his baby face, the way he overemphasizes the singer Kiely Williams’s lisp as he the word “promises. ” Everyone can see that. But what’s funnier is that he’s making fun of the way we — black people, the main audience who bought the 3LW records, and memorized their songs and dances — all made fun of the song when we first heard it. Versace is sharing an inside joke. As the writer Kasai Richardson posted on Twitter, “black youth did more with six seconds than Hollywood has done with six decades. ” Most popular Vines were truly entertaining, even cinematic. But they also began conversations — however small — about the dynamics of comedy and culture created by black people. Chiefly, Vine was an exercise in how many black people talk among ourselves — in code and allusion — and how we telegraph blackness to white people, who may not know any black people besides the ones who live in their phone. Blackness is inherently political, but a number of black comedic Vines weren’t, perhaps making it easier for white kids to latch onto — there weren’t murky politics to consider. Many black Vine stars relied on familiar tropes to appeal to black people but, in turn, may have reinforced stereotypes for white people, who received the content without the tacit understanding that everyone else is in on the joke. Still, that didn’t stop Vine from functioning as a de facto FUBU — for us, by us — space for black people, where we could reinsert ourselves into a mainstream that excluded us, skewer our own culture (however safely) and create something new, a phenomenon that is relatively rare. There are few spaces to provide the public with black ingenuity Vine, in its own small way, was a digital exposition of black achievement. It was fitting, then, that Twitter announced the discontinuation of Vine the same day the “ ” scandal hit the internet. In an article about the film “Moonlight,” the film critic for The Toronto Star misheard the term “” a practice of alternating language or behavior based on the environment and atmosphere, and giddily included the eggcorn in promoting the article. It was a perfect example of how the experiences of minorities are often misconstrued. Vine was a place where you were either on the joke or you weren’t, and so help you if you weren’t. Vines were six rapid seconds of fun, a flash of candy down a throat. My favorite Vine wasn’t a lifesaver or a masterwork it just cheered me up more quickly than any other emotional fix in my arsenal. It’s called “Black people only need 3 claps to turnnn up!” — the premise is uncomplicated, and it manages to be cheeky, tender, nostalgic, surprising, hilarious, painfully true and all in the span of six seconds. Vine was never that deep: it wasn’t designed to spark a national conversation on race, culture, appropriation, ownership and identity. Its effect and utility, though, as a venue for black art to be created disseminated and understood, will be its legacy. Nobody ever tried to change the world with a Vine. But it served as the best place to get away from the world for a while. | 1 |
By Hrafnkell Haraldsson on Tue, Nov 1st, 2016 at 8:00 am "Last spring...New York had to take legal action to collect $8,578 in unpaid taxes on the Trump-owned company that owns the trademark Boeing 757"
We looked yesterday at Kurt Eichenwald’s revelation that Donald Trump put off investigators for six months while busily destroying emails. That is hardly Trump’s only misdeed, but how many people realize that Donald Trump, at this moment, has 75 – SEVENTY-FIVE – legal issues hanging over his head.
He’s lying 20 to 35 times a day and has his followers – and with much less excuse, the mainstream media – thoroughly distracted by the Clinton email nonstory so he can divert their attention away from his own legally questionable activities.
USA TODAY reported at the end of October that “Just two weeks before Election Day, at least 75 of the 4,000-plus lawsuits involving Trump and his businesses remain open, according to an ongoing, nationwide analysis of state and federal court records by USA TODAY.”
It will surprise no one, because Trump is already deadbeating on his own pollster , that “One Trump case, over non-payment of tips to caterers at Trump SoHo Hotel in New York City, is scheduled to go to trial a week before Election Day.”
If one thing has become clear throughout this election it is that Trump does not pay his bills. Earlier, we had covered an incident where he had declined to finish paying a Florida contractor for work it did on one of his resorts, having decided that the contractor had been “paid enough,” even though it wasn’t the agreed-upon amount. Trump got nailed by the court for $300K in attorney’s fees in that case.
Just a few examples from USA TODAY’s investigation:
Trump faces significant open litigation tied to his businesses: angry members at his Jupiter, Fla. golf course say they were cheated out of refunds on their dues and a former employee at the same club claims she was fired after reporting sexual harassment. There’s a fraud case brought by Trump University students who say the mogul’s company ripped them off for tens of thousands in tuition for a sham real estate course. Trump is also defending lawsuits tied to his campaign. A disgruntled GOP political consultant sued for $4 million saying Trump defamed her. Another suit, a class action, says the campaign violated consumer protection laws by sending unsolicited text messages.
As pointed out by USA TODAY’s Nick Penzenstadler and John Kelly, these lawsuits will dog Trump into the White House, should he win. He will have no immunity because he is president. And America – and the world – will be treated to the spectacle of the President of the United States having to make trip after trip to the court to settle his highly questionable personal and business affairs.
There are harassment cases, sex discrimination lawsuits, fraud, unpaid bills, racist comments, defamation, cases involving Trump University. As USA TODAY notes, “as recently as last spring…New York had to take legal action to collect $8,578 in unpaid taxes on the Trump-owned company that owns the trademark Boeing 757 that jetted the mogul to campaign rallies across the country.”
And those 75 cases will likely grow.
Trump has promised, after all, to sue The New York Times and each of the women – NYMag maintains an exhaustive list – who have accused him of sexual assault.
USA Today says it spent six months researching court records. “The exclusive analysis,” they say, “found an unprecedented mountain of legal battles for a presidential candidate, ranging from skirmishes with pageant contestants to multimillion dollar real estate lawsuits. The cases offer clues to the leadership style the billionaire would bring to the White House.”
Donald Trump claims Clinton is tainted. He claims Clinton’s emails are bigger than Watergate. The other day tweeted , “We must not let #CrookedHillary take her CRIMINAL SCHEME into the Oval Office. #DrainTheSwamp.”
This comes from the man who would turn the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue into a morality No-Go Zone.
All the facts – including the new disclosures about Trump’s ties to a Russian server and his potentially illegal ploy to avoid paying taxes – make it clear that if Trump the deadbeat liar drains the swamp, he will be the first one down the drain. | 0 |
BIRSTALL, England — The police in Britain on Saturday charged a man with murdering Jo Cox, the lawmaker whose death shocked Britons and led to a suspension of campaigning in a referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Union. In a statement issued early Saturday, Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen of the West Yorkshire Police said that officers had charged a man with murder and several other offenses, including grievous bodily harm and possession of a firearm. The suspect, Thomas Mair, of Birstall, a town in West Yorkshire county, is expected to make an initial court appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Saturday. Once charges have been made, British media law prevents any reporting about the case that might prejudice a trial. The shooting and stabbing death of Ms. Cox, 41, a member of the opposition Labour Party, left Britain stunned and set off a debate about the tone of Britain’s increasingly fractious politics ahead of the plebiscite regarding the European bloc. Ms. Cox was killed early Thursday afternoon after getting out of her car outside the public library in Birstall where she had been scheduled to hold a meeting with constituents, the police said on Friday in their most detailed description of the attack. Some media accounts, citing witnesses, said on Thursday that Ms. Cox had been coming out of the library after the meeting when she was attacked. Issues of immigration and national identity have been central to the occasionally bitter clashes over the referendum on European Union membership and have resulted in a tone that critics say verges on racism and xenophobia. Ms. Cox’s death was the first killing of a sitting member of Parliament since 1990. Her death brought Prime Minister David Cameron, a Conservative, and the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, together to the site of the killing to honor her. Both sides in the European Union debate suspended campaigning on Thursday out of respect for Ms. Cox, though Vote Leave, which supports departure from the bloc, said Friday that it would resume campaigning over the weekend. Speaking in Birstall, Mr. Cameron said he first met Ms. Cox in 2006 in the Darfur region of Sudan at the time, she worked for the humanitarian organization Oxfam. “Parliament has lost one of its most passionate and brilliant campaigners,” he said. Mr. Corbyn called Ms. Cox’s killing “an attack on democracy,” blaming “the well of hatred. ” Kathryn Pinnock, a Liberal Democrat councilor from Birstall who was appointed to the House of Lords in 2014, said she was scheduled to campaign with Ms. Cox on Thursday afternoon for Britain to remain in the European Union. There has been growing concern about threats British lawmakers have received in the line of their work, and Ms. Pinnock said Ms. Cox had mentioned receiving some “very unpleasant” messages on social media. The West Yorkshire police said Ms. Cox had gotten two threats in the past, including “one of a sexual nature” at her offices in London. The Metropolitan Police, who protect the capital, said Ms. Cox had alerted them in March to “malicious communication” by a man, whom officers detained and released with a warning. That man was not the murder suspect, the police said. Ms. Cox, who would have turned 42 on Wednesday, was elected to Parliament for the district of Batley and Spen in May 2015. In just over a year, she had already established a strong reputation, speaking on behalf of refugees, children in poverty and children with autism. Hundreds of people packed St. Peter’s Church in Birstall on Thursday night for a memorial service. Ms. Cox’s husband, Brendan Cox, said on Friday that a charitable fund had been set up in her memory. | 1 |
Today is Martin Luther King’s Birthday, the federal holiday that honors the assassinated civil rights leader. Well, not everywhere. All 50 states celebrate the public holiday on the third Monday in January, but not all states, cities and towns dedicate it solely to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Some package it as a broader celebration of both Dr. King and Confederate leaders. naming differences are remnants of fierce opposition to a holiday that was not officially recognized by all states until 1999. Here is a brief history of how Martin Luther King Jr. Day came to be. How Did Martin Luther King Jr. Day Become a Holiday? A federal holiday honoring Dr. King was first proposed four days after he was assassinated, in 1968, but it took almost two decades of campaigning for it to be approved and designated at the national level. In the meantime, according to the King Center, a few Northern states approved the holiday from 1973 to 1975: Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut and, by court order, New Jersey. But momentum slowed and Congress did not act. Advocates led by Dr. King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, spent years lobbying for the holiday, testifying before Congress and gathering millions of signatures on petitions. President Jimmy Carter expressed support for the federal holiday in 1979. The singer Stevie Wonder became a prominent supporter, too, financing a Washington lobbying office and releasing a hit 1980 song in support, “Happy Birthday. ” The campaign finally succeeded in 1983, when Congress passed the King Holiday Bill and President Ronald Reagan signed it into law. The third Monday in January would be celebrated as Martin Luther King Jr. Day starting in 1986. Who Opposed It? Proposals to honor Dr. King met strong resistance in Congress, and when the holiday was enacted, many states were slow to acknowledge it. New Hampshire became the last state to officially recognize the holiday in 1999 after years of acrimonious debate. When the proposal to create the holiday was debated in Congress in 1979, Republicans led the charge against it. The strongest opposition came from lawmakers in the Deep South, such as Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina, and Senator Strom Thurmond, Republican of South Carolina, who ran for president in 1948 on a segregationist platform. Opponents argued that giving federal employees a new paid vacation day would be too expensive and that it was inappropriate to bestow such an honor upon Dr. King because he had never held elected office, according to an essay by Donald R. Wolfensberger, a congressional scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. When the measure failed in 1979, Representative Cardiss Collins, Democrat of Illinois and leader of the Congressional Black Caucus at the time, said she believed that racism had played a role. But by 1983, many Republicans in Congress had changed their minds. The King Holiday Bill passed the House and the Senate with bipartisan support and was signed by a Republican president. But not everyone came around to the idea. Mr. Helms had filibustered the bill and denounced Dr. King on the floor of the Senate as someone who advocated “ Marxism” and other “radical political” views. Where Does the Holiday Stand Today? Although Martin Luther King Jr. Day is commemorated by the federal government and, in some form, by all 50 states, some, like Arizona and Idaho, combine commemorations of Dr. King’s birthday with a holiday to honor civil rights. A release by Nueces County, Tex. referred to the day as a “County Civil Rights Holiday. ” Biloxi, Miss. drew backlash on Twitter last week after the city’s official Twitter account posted an alert to residents about municipal closings on the holiday, calling it “Great Americans Day. ” The tweet was later deleted. The controversy prompted a special City Council meeting to consider making the city’s holiday name match that of the federal holiday honoring Dr. King. On Monday morning, the council voted to do so (with one member absent) according to video footage from a local ABC station, WLOX. And then there are a few states in the Deep South — Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi — that combine celebrations of the civil rights icon and that of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general. (Lexington, Va. even honors Lee and another Confederate general, Stonewall Jackson, with a parade and celebration during the weekend leading up to Dr. King’s birthday.) Critics have decried those arrangements as an unholy merger that commemorate both freedom and slavery — a combination that is nonsensical at best and inflammatory at worst. Arkansas lawmakers have tried in recent years to separate the two holidays, but the measures have been opposed from constituents who call the effort an affront to Southern heritage or by lawmakers who say they have better things to do. “We’re looking for a solution to a problem we don’t have,” Josh Miller, a Republican state representative in Arkansas, told The Associated Press. “I haven’t noticed any humongous Robert E. Lee parades that are taking place in conjunction with Martin Luther King Day. ” | 1 |
As if Hillary Clinton was not already facing enough legal trouble, new information has surfaced that the former Secretary of State could actually be legally ineligible to run for President of the United States.
In fact, Clinton could be ineligible to hold any kind of federal office.
This week, Cornell Law Library Former United States Attorney General Michael Mukasey spoke out to say that Clinton’s personal email server “disqualifies” her from the race. To support his argument, he cited federal law Title 18. Section 2071.
The law reads as follows:
(a) Whoever willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, or destroys, or attempts to do so, or, with intent to do so takes and carries away any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
(b) Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States. As used in this subsection, the term “office” does not include the office held by any person as a retired officer of the Armed Forces of the United States. | 0 |
How irrationally foolish I would be to place my faith in Hillary when madness of empire and world is sung a dying song of money, weapons and devious sex the boot pushed harder to our necks and all the while a tv tale tells of hope and dignity
And Donald with his woman ways his corporate heart and billionaire days wants to tell me he knows the moves to make our very lives improve to end the dark of struggle and strife and give the people a better life he tells me this as his grand yacht drifts over everything gone amiss
And in the mix, my blessed freedom washed up, abandoned, reaching for room my rights, waiting on the edge of oppression Is liberty coming any time soon? These are the jewels, the pearls of great price No candidate has yet delivered Still we seek the sweetened life Where songs of love are softly whispered
galen | 0 |
MADRID — Europe is facing a migration crisis, the threat of Islamic terrorism and the prospect that Britain will exit the European Union. But the big foreign policy issue before Spain’s national elections next Sunday? Venezuela, of course. Candidates have visited Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, to grandstand. Spain’s governing conservative party has met in Madrid with opponents of Venezuela’s leftist government. There have been charges of a virtual Venezuelan infiltration of Spain’s politics. The shadow cast by Venezuela has been so long that its president, Nicolás Maduro, recently invited Spain’s politicians to hold their election debate in Caracas “so that I can also participate, and perhaps I will win the elections in Spain. ” It may seem a little odd, given the host of problems facing Spain. But the reason is simple. After six months of political deadlock and inconclusive elections in December, the only sign of change before Spain’s election redo is the growing strength of Podemos, the party whose leaders once served as advisers to the former government of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. The stronger Podemos looks, the more its opponents try to link the party to Venezuela, where the economy is collapsing and Mr. Maduro’s increasingly authoritarian government has declared a state of emergency. The message is meant to be scary and clear: Venezuela is a mess, and it can happen here. “One of the four parties that is competing in the campaign in Spain was hosted and formed in Venezuela, so if they want to bring that model here, they have to explain why,” Albert Rivera, the leader of Ciudadanos, an emerging party, told a group of foreign correspondents this month, shortly after returning from Venezuela. “It is Podemos which brought Venezuela to Spain, not us. ” The leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, fired back in a televised debate that his opponents were ignoring the issues that could really affect Spain, starting with a possible British exit from the European Union. Podemos had its first electoral success in May 2014, when it won 8 percent of the votes in European Parliament elections. In its early days, Podemos looked to Syriza, the Greek party that came to power in early 2015, as an example of how a new and party could overhaul the political establishment. Podemos may be poised to do just that. After recently forming an alliance with a radical party, United Left, it could now leapfrog over the Socialists into second place, behind the conservative Popular Party of the caretaker prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, according to recent opinion polls. Such an outcome would overturn the political order that has prevailed since Spain’s return to democracy in the late 1970s. Given the troubles in Greece, which is negotiating yet another international bailout, opponents of Podemos have made much of the connection to Syriza. But it is the link to the former Chávez government that has been a special focus. A handful of Podemos leaders — including Mr. Iglesias, Juan Carlos Monedero and Iñigo Errejón — once used their academic credentials as political scientists to work as advisers to the government of Mr. Chávez, who died in 2013. They also did advisory work in Bolivia and Ecuador, while studying how politics could reshape Latin American nations. Opponents of Podemos have attacked the party over its finances and possible links to foreign governments, particularly Venezuela. Such accusations have been rejected by Podemos, which has instead built part of its campaign on denouncing the corruption of established parties financed by construction kickbacks. Before Podemos entered the Spanish political scene, Mr. Iglesias and Mr. Errejón sat on the board of a Spanish research institute financed by the Venezuelan government. In April 2015, Mr. Monedero resigned from the leadership of Podemos amid ideological differences, but also after he had to pay 200, 000 euros (about $227, 000 under the current exchange rate) in back taxes and fines for receiving €425, 000 as payment for consulting with the Chávez government in 2010 to develop plans for a new regional currency. Mr. Monedero and other Podemos leaders were never charged with wrongdoing. However, during the recent televised debate, Mr. Rivera, the leader of Ciudadanos, repeated previous allegations that Podemos had relied on Venezuela’s money. “It is immoral that a foreign regime finances a party,” Mr. Rivera said. A visibly angry Mr. Iglesias responded that it was a “very serious” offense to accuse his party of illegal financing, particularly since it was an issue that had been already cleared by Spain’s Supreme Court. Mr. Rivera has recently issued the strongest statements over Venezuela during the Spanish election campaign, taking over from Mr. Rajoy, who last month convened his security council to review the safety of the 200, 000 Spaniards living under the state of emergency in Venezuela. With the help of Spain’s conservative establishment, the Venezuelan opposition has also made its presence felt in Spain, led by Lilian Tintori, the wife of Leopoldo López, a Venezuelan politician who was jailed in February 2014. This month, Ms. Tintori, a former television presenter, gave public speeches in Salamanca and Madrid, hosted by the Popular Party as well as a conservative newspaper, La Razón. “Two years and three months ago, we came to Spain and other countries and nobody paid attention to us,” she said before an audience that included three ministers from Mr. Rajoy’s government, as well as Mr. Rivera. Even as Podemos has distanced itself from Venezuela, it has not joined other parties in condemning Mr. Maduro’s policies. This month, the European Parliament approved a resolution demanding the release of Mr. López and other political prisoners in Venezuela. The lawmakers of Podemos abstained, while those of its ally, the United Left party, voted against the resolution, arguing that it was designed to further destabilize Venezuela. Podemos is making “economic proposals clearly similar to those of Venezuela,” Francisco de la Torre Díaz, an economic adviser to Ciudadanos, said. Among those proposals, he said, is “the idea that it would be worth getting out of the euro. ” He also mentioned that Podemos advocates a “massive increase in public spending,” as well as a plan to nationalize some strategic corporations. Mr. Iglesias has denied having any plan to drop the euro, dismissing warnings by Mr. Rivera and others as fallacious scaremongering. Podemos has gradually watered down its demands for an economic overhaul. Its latest party program seeks an increase in public spending of €60 billion, less than its previous proposal of €96 billion. Despite this, some conservative associations have recently been formed to help prevent Podemos from turning Spain into the next Venezuela. “We want to denounce the situation in Venezuela and warn about what could happen in Spain,” said Andrés Redondo, the president of an association called Let Us Save Democracy, which was formed in Madrid last year. “We want Venezuelans to share their experience with Spaniards,” he said, “so as to make voters here, particularly the young, wake up and realize that all the terrible things happening there are now happening here. ” | 1 |
Tim Kaine Cheers End of White Majority in Spanish Address Julia Hahn, Breitbart, November 5, 2016
During an Arizona speech delivered in Spanish, Sen. Tim Kaine cheered the demographic transformation of the United States caused by the nation’s federal immigration policies, telling his Latino audience on Thursday, “You are the future of America.”
“By 2050, communities of color will represent the majority of our population,” Kaine said. “So, of course, Latinos will help shape the future of America because you are the future of America.”
As the Pew Research Center has documented, this demographic transformation is largely the result of the changes to visa issuance policies enacted into law in 1965 that lifted the immigration controls put in place by Calvin Coolidge during the 1920s. {snip}
{snip}
Yet during his remarks, Kaine laid out how a Clinton administration plans to hasten the demographic transformation through expansive immigration policies that would essentially bring about the dissolution of national borders . Kaine explained how a Clinton-Kaine administration would “end family detention,” “close private detention facilities,” freeze deportations, and would give citizenship–and, by extension, voting privileges and access to federal benefits–to the illegal population.
Kaine also doubled down on his pledge to expand President Obama’s executive amnesty:
A few months ago, the Supreme Court put DAPA on hold. That was devastating for millions of families. But it’s important to note that the Court didn’t actually rule on the substance of the case. Hillary and I have always said that DAPA is squarely within the President’s authority, and we will keep fighting for it.
{snip} | 0 |
Mexican fans booed, jeered, and whistled during the Star Spangled Banner on Sunday before a soccer contest between our southern neighbors and Team USA. [The outrageous behavior by the thousands of fans tainted the World Cup Qualifier, which was held at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. Both of the bordering nations walked away from the match without a victory but tied at . The only losers at the stadium were the Mexican supporters who chose an important international game to disgrace themselves by failing to respect another country’s flag. The American and the Mexican teams showed some respect for each other when they met in Columbus, Ohio, in November agreeing to share a pregame “unity photo,” reported USA Today. However, during Sunday’s game, Mexican fans showed their disfavor for America and its president, donning and carrying banners with . S. messages. The negative reaction by Mexicans to President Trump’s intention to build a wall to stop illegal immigration is highly hypocritical. “The Red Cross has protested rampant police corruption, intimidation, and bribery schemes targeting illegal aliens [in Mexico] for years,” reports the National Review. One Mexican Soccer fan, Francisco Cisneros Solano, 27, posed for pictures with friends wearing a with, “(Expletive) Trump. ” “I did it just for the humor,” he told USA Today Sports. “But this game is the biggest one of all for us (in qualifying). ” Mexico soccer team supporter Hector Rivera said, “We have nothing against the American team apart from the fact we want to beat them. ” He added, “But it is nice for us to say something to (Trump). ” USA Coach Bruce Arena shared his opinion on the issue of the highly charged political climate between the two countries. “I’m ashamed that there’s perhaps some discord on the political side,” Arena said. “But believe me I think most Americans appreciate the Mexicans that have come to America to make a better future for themselves and their families and the way they have contributed. “We have the greatest respect for Mexico, its people, its football team. I live in Los Angeles. I experience on a daily basis people of Mexican heritage. They’re wonderful people, they contribute greatly to our society in many ways. We think the world of them. ” | 1 |
During last week’s confirmation hearings, Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch explained that the Founding Fathers hedged in the right to keep and bear arms because they were “jealous of their liberties. ”[He said this in response to Senator Ben Sasse’s ( ) question about the Bill of Rights. Gorsuch stressed that Amendments protecting freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and private property also show the how determined the Founders were to protect liberty. Sasse pointed out that a number of teachers in Nebraska planned to use the Supreme Court confirmation hearings to teach civics in their classrooms. Sasse stressed that the Constitution “is a negative document — it is not the government giving us freedoms, it is us giving the government a limited set of enumerated powers. ” He explained that we did not originally have a Bill of Rights and asked, “Why do we have a Bill of Rights and what fundamental difference would it make if we didn’t have one. ” Sasse tweeted Gorsuch’s answer: Asked Judge Gorsuch for quick overview of why we have the Bill of Rights. It’s worth watching his answer. #GorsuchHearing pic. twitter. — Senator Ben Sasse (@SenSasse) March 22, 2017, Gorsuch said, “The Constitution is a negative document. And the theory behind it, in short order, was to divide power to better protect liberty. That was the theory. If you put all power into one set of hands you are going to get tyranny. And our Founders had too much evidence of that in their own time. ” He went on to explain how the Constitution divides the federal government into three branches — stressing that this division was intended to safeguard liberty — and how the states retain and enjoy the powers not given to the federal government, another safeguard. But Gorsuch said these safeguards “were not thought enough,” thus the Bill of Rights. He said, “Our Founders were very suspicious and very jealous of their liberties, so they added the Bill of Rights … and they enumerated 10 of them, starting with the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, no establishment of religion, [and] the right to bear arms. ” He pointed to the Third Amendment, which shields Americans from having the government commandeer private property for the purposes of housing soldiers. Gorsuch smiled and said he was glad issues tied to the Third Amendment are not litigated much. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com. | 1 |
By Dan Dicks Tim Hortons Doesn’t Want You To See The Truth. Press For Truth has been banned from Tim Hortons! In this video Dan... | 0 |
TEL AVIV — President Donald Trump’s inauguration rabbi criticized the president and his administration for its seeming reticence to clarify its position on Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem, but added that he was confident the president would erase all doubts once he arrives in Israel next week. [Speaking to the Algemeiner on Tuesday, Rabbi Marvin Hier — the founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) in Los Angeles — said he believes Trump will reaffirm his stance that “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel. ” “Trump is not going to let it stand that the Kotel (Western Wall) is going to be under the sovereignty of another nation, or that it’ll be ‘internationalized,’ as the Vatican would like,” Hier said. “Those are unworkable suggestions that are never going to be agreed upon by the State of Israel. Trump has made it clear on so many occasions that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel, so it would be quite a reversal for him to state differently on this occasion. ” Hier’s remarks came after a press briefing earlier in the day by Trump’s National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster, who declined to give direct answers when pressed as to whether the U. S. regards the Western Wall as part of Israel. McMaster only said that the matter was a “policy decision. ” On Tuesday, White House Spokesman Sean Spicer affirmed that the holy site is “clearly in Jerusalem. ” The debate swirling around the Trump administration’s position on Israel intensified in recent days when it was revealed that a senior member of the U. S. delegation reportedly angrily shouted at his Israeli counterpart that the Western Wall was “part of the West Bank. ” However, it later emerged that the official was David Berns, a political counselor at the U. S. Consulate in Jerusalem who took up the role during the Obama administration. Later that day, the White House said that Bern’s position did not reflect that of the administration or the president. On Tuesday, McMaster confirmed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to accompany the president on his visit to the Western Wall would not be fulfilled, stating that “no Israeli leaders” would be joining the president. Even though Trump will be the first sitting president to go to the Western Wall, the White House said it would be in the framework of “a private visit. ” The Western Wall, together with the Temple Mount complex and the eastern part of Jerusalem, was captured during the 1967 Six Day War. Its final status has not been agreed on by the international community, which views it as a core issue in the conflict with the Palestinians. “The notion that there is a question as to whom the Kotel (Western Wall) belongs to is just preposterous,” Hier said. “This is an unnecessary blunder on the part of, firstly, officials, and then McMaster. To leave open the suggestion that the sovereignty of the Kotel is attached to the West Bank is just to me. ” Hier repeated his belief that Trump would clarify matters after he arrived in the country. “When President Trump arrives in Israel, I don’t think there will be any doubt over who has title over the Kotel,” he told the Algemeiner. Also on Tuesday, a senior U. S. official said Trump still intends to fulfill his campaign promise of relocation. “We’ll move the embassy, just give us time,” the official was quoted as saying. | 1 |
Israeli official secretly visits Dubai: Report By Press TV on November 4, 2016 Israel envoy to the United Nations (UN) Danny Danon (R) and a purported Emirati official (file photo)
A high-ranking delegation from the Israeli regime has secretly traveled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), even as the Emirati government has no diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv.
Danny Danon, the Israeli regime’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN), made a three-day secret visit along with his staff to Dubai to participate in a development conference organized by the UN, reported the Israel Channel 2 television station on Thursday.
The UN conference was held in Dubai from October 30 to November 3.
The report said Danon’s visit to the UAE was conducted “under heavy secrecy and tight security so as not to arouse the anger of UAE citizens.”
The Emirati government does not officially recognize the Israeli regime, which would mean that Israelis cannot obtain passports to travel there. However, Emirati authorities reportedly provided special visas for Danon and his staff to enable their trip, reported the Israeli channel.
Barring Jordan and Egypt, which have open, diplomatic relations with the Tel Aviv regime, Arab governments claim that they do not recognize Israel. They say they would normalize relations with the Tel Aviv regime only when it reaches a deal with the Palestinians, whose lands the Israeli regime has occupied.
However, there have been numerous reports and public statements indicating covert ties between the Arab governments and Israel.
In Mid-March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his regime’s relations with regional Arab countries was “ dramatically warming .” Moshe Ya’alon, Israel’s minister of military affairs, also in February pointed to open channels between the regime and Arab states.
Also in July, a Saudi delegation headed by a former military general visited Israel and met a senior Israeli foreign ministry official and a number of Knesset members.
Anwar Eshki, the Saudi former general, met Israel’s foreign ministry director general Dore Gold, and Yoav Mordechai, who coordinates the Israeli regime’s activities in the occupied territories.
In November 2015, AP cited an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman as saying that Tel Aviv would “soon” open a “permanent mission” in Abu Dhabi. The mission, it said, would operate as part of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) based in the Emirati city. Related Posts: | 0 |
GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — Janet L. Yellen, the Federal Reserve chairwoman, said on Friday that she saw a stronger case for raising the Fed’s benchmark interest rate, suggesting the central bank was likely to act in the coming months. “In light of the continued solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months,” Ms. Yellen said. The remarks, delivered at an annual policy conference here, indicated that the Fed would consider raising rates at its next meeting in though most analysts say they think the central bank is more likely to move in December. In trading on Friday, the chances of a September increase rose to 36 percent from 21 percent, according to a measure derived from asset prices. The chances of a rate increase by the end of the year rose to 61 percent from 52 percent. Stanley Fischer, the Fed’s vice chairman, who has suggested in recent months that the economy is strong enough to move, told the cable business network CNBC that a strong August employment report, due Sept. 2, “would probably weigh in our decision. ” But some officials remain nervous about the fragility of this long but tepid period of economic growth. The Fed also may be inclined to wait until after the presidential election in November, like earlier this year, when Fed officials said they did not want to raise rates before Britain’s referendum on European Union membership in June. Ms. Yellen’s speech “leaves the Fed in a stance of watchful waiting, which is exactly where it was at the end of the last F. O. M. C. meeting in July,” Kevin Logan, chief United States economist at HSBC, wrote in an analysis. “Policy makers are leaning toward a rate hike, but feel that they can wait until they are more confident that the expansion will continue at a sustainable pace. ” The Fed raised interest rates in December for the first time since the financial crisis and predicted four more rate increases this year. Instead, it has kept its benchmark rate between 0. 25 and 0. 5 percent. Low rates encourage borrowing and which can bolster economic growth. Raising rates will gradually reduce that stimulus, and the Fed has been reluctant so far to take its foot off the gas. Ms. Yellen’s remarks appeared aimed in part at jarring the complacency of investors who had concluded that the Fed would not raise rates in September. Fed officials have repeatedly warned that markets had too much confidence in the likely path of policy, given the central bank’s considerable uncertainty about its own plans. Ms. Yellen underscored the point with a chart showing that Fed officials thought rates could plausibly end 2017 anywhere from nearly zero to 4 percent. Yet she also stopped short of echoing other Fed officials who have suggested in recent weeks that they are inclined to raise rates in September. The Fed’s committee is scheduled to meet Sept. 20 and 21 in Washington. John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said last week in Anchorage that a rate increase “makes good sense. ” He repeated that point Thursday during an unusual meeting attended by 10 Fed policy makers and more than 100 activists brought to Jackson Hole by the Fed Up campaign, a coalition of community and labor groups pressing the central bank to postpone rate hikes. “It’s not about trying to stop the economy from growing,” Mr. Williams said, explaining his view that the economy no longer required quite as much help from the Fed. “We’re going to keep this economy growing we are going to run it hot. ” Yasenia Castro, a protester from Brooklyn, said at a demonstration before the meeting that she had not been able to find a job since 2013. Ms. Castro, 35, has an associate degree in criminal justice and works weekends as a babysitter she and her three children live with her mother to make ends meet. “If you’re a Fed official, and you think the economy has recovered, tell me why I’m still working as a babysitter when I have a degree,” Ms. Castro said. Fed officials said repeatedly that they sympathized with the protesters, but they added that pushing too hard to increase employment could be counterproductive if it led to a recession. Those struggling now would likely suffer most. “Everybody on this panel is painfully aware of what the costs of the last recession were and wants to avoid a future recession,” Eric Rosengren, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said during the Thursday meeting. Much of Ms. Yellen’s speech on Friday was devoted to the question of whether the central bank will be ready when the next recession inevitably comes. Even as the Fed moves to continue raising rates, officials expect that they will not rise nearly as much in the coming years as they did during previous periods of economic growth. That means the Fed will not be able to match the scale of the rate cuts it used to combat previous downturns. But Ms. Yellen said that the Fed in recent years had shown that other kinds of stimulus could also be effective. After cutting its benchmark rate to nearly zero, the Fed amplified the effect by promising to keep rates low. It also bought trillions of dollars in Treasury securities and mortgage bonds, forcing investors to accept lower interest rates. “Even if average interest rates remain lower than in the past, I believe that monetary policy will, under most conditions, be able to respond effectively,” Ms. Yellen said. She cited a recent analysis by David Reifschneider, a Fed economist, that found that the central bank’s new set of tools would most likely be sufficient to compensate for the weakening of its traditional tool of lowering interest rates. Ms. Yellen added that the Fed was “not actively considering” a range of other possible policy responses to a future crisis. These include buying assets other than Treasury securities, like municipal bonds, or raising the Fed’s inflation target above 2 percent. She also noted that fiscal policy makers could play a role in addressing any future crises. In particular, she said, the government should consider policies that might increase the productivity of the American work force. “Finally, and most ambitiously, as a society we should explore ways to raise productivity growth,” Ms. Yellen said. Among the possibilities, she mentioned investment in education and infrastructure and reductions in regulation. | 1 |
November 1, 2016 Obama’s Israel Surprise?
The Middle East has few bright spots these days, but one is the budding rapprochement between Israel and its Sunni Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, thanks to shared threats from Iran and Islamic State. Now the Obama Administration may have plans to wreck even that.
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A man from Memphis, Tennessee, committed suicide by setting fire to himself while broadcasting the incident on Facebook Live, according to a report. [The man, who has been identified as local musician Jared McLemore, proceeded run inside a bar while on fire, Saturday, before dying of “severe” burns at a local hospital. “It was the most horrific thing I’ve seen,” said one witness, who added that McLemore targeted the bar because his worked there. “Court records show that McLemore threatened to kill his ex and was sentenced to probation on domestic assault charges last month,” reported NBC News on Sunday. “The community raised more than $18, 000 for the woman so she could attend trauma therapy and replace her audio equipment — which was damaged in the fire. ” One other man was also injured and taken to hospital after he was burned in an attempt to kick the lighter out of McLemore’s hand. He is expected to make a full recovery. This month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that he would be hiring 3, 000 new employees to sort through violent content on the platform, following a spike in video suicides and murders on the site. “We know we need to do better,” said the company in a statement following numerous incidents, which included the revelation that one murder video had been on the platform for hours before removal. Earlier this month, police officers managed to save a teenager from a suicide attempt, which was being filmed on Facebook Live. In April, an Alabama man live streamed his suicide on Facebook Live following a relationship breakup, while a Thai father also streamed himself hanging his child before killing himself. In January, four people were arrested in Chicago after they filmed themselves torturing and beating a tied up disabled man, who was repeatedly forced to say, “f*ck Trump,” and, “f*ck white people,” while on Easter Sunday, Facebook user Steve Stephens filmed himself shooting and killing Robert Godwin Sr. before he evaded police for days — eventually committing suicide in a standoff. Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook. | 1 |
Good for them :
âPORTLAND, Ore. (AP) â A federal jury has found Ammon Bundy and his six co-defendants not guilty on all charges for taking over a federal wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon earlier this year.
Standoff leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five others were charged with conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Several also were charged with possessing a firearm in a federal facility. âŚ
On emotional grounds, Ammon Bundy and other defendants argued that the takeover was an act of civil disobedience against an out-of-control federal government that has crippled the rural West.
Federal prosecutors took two weeks to present their case, finishing with a display of more than 30 guns seized after the standoff. An FBI agent testified that 16,636 live rounds and nearly 1,700 spent casings were found.
Bundy testified in his defense, spending three days amplifying his belief that government overreach is destroying Western communities that rely on the land âŚâ
Hereâs a toast to their acquittal! The acquittal of Bundy brothers in #oregonstandoff is the epitome of white privilege. Two different justice systems! https://t.co/F3GmNgYLrW
â Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) October 28, 2016 White privilege, 2016:
Heavily armed militants just acquitted in #oregonstandoff as unarmed #NoDAPL protestors are attacked by riot police. pic.twitter.com/ZdVyEgUXTq
â David Harris-Gershon (@David_EHG) October 28, 2016 The #Bundytrial #Oregonstandoff jury just delivered a message to the Bureau Of Land Management.
It went something like this. pic.twitter.com/5vzkAQZmWN
â Bob Owens (@bob_owens) October 28, 2016 The "Bundy Standoff" was an FBI hoax. It was drama created by informants. All defendants – not guilty! https://t.co/HeiLCjNHhX | 0 |
Open Thread (NOT U.S. Election) 2016-38
News & views NOT related to the U.S. election ...
(Use thread below this one for election news & views) Posted by b on November 7, 2016 at 01:27 PM | Permalink Comments
Russia Says Ceasefire in Syria's Aleppo in Place Unless Militants Attack TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Kremlin said Monday Russia's air force would stick to the ceasefire in Syria's Aleppo unless militants launch an offensive.
"The (Russian) president deems a regime when Russian air forces don't carry out strikes on eastern Aleppo as reasonable if militants don't start combat action," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, according to Reuters. Posted by: schlub | Nov 7, 2016 1:37:48 PM | 1
Daesh Launches Chemical Attack in Iraq’s Mosul
November, 07, 2016 - 10:56 TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group has used mustard gas during a military clash with government troops in Iraq’s Mosul, a report said.
Daesh on Sunday fired mortar shells containing chemicals at positions of Iraqi troops who are advancing against the terrorist group in Mosul, Sky News Arabia said on Sunday, citing Kurdish sources.
The report added that the Takfiri group had also deployed small drones carrying chemical explosives to blow up the government troops. Posted by: schlub | Nov 7, 2016 1:43:21 PM | 2 Verify your Comment | 0 |
Общество » Практика » Как заработать В советские времена стать писателем было довольно трудно. Недостаточно было просто сочинить что-либо; требовалось добиться, чтобы сочиненное появилось в печати, и желательно не один раз, а потом вступить в профессиональный союз. Зато оставаться писателем было задачей довольно легкой — надо было только хранить свой членский билет и получать гонорары. О том, как обстоят дела сейчас , предлагаем вам узнать на примере писателя Александра Тавера. 0 комментариев 0 поделились
Наоборот, в послесоветские времена стать писателем оказалось весьма легко: достаточно сочинить что-либо и истратить некоторое количество денег, чтобы услужливое издательство опубликовало сочиненное за авторский счет. Зато оставаться писателем стало делом довольно затруднительным, дорогостоящим и неэкономичным. Можно без труда вступить в любой профессиональный союз, которых расплодилось уже около сотни; членские взносы этот союз охотно возьмет, но на этом его полезная автору деятельность, как правило, и завершается. Членский билет такого союза лучше показывать только добрым знакомым — на остальных он никакого впечатления не производит. Гонорары практически не предусмотрены, особенно в периодических изданиях, где обязанности по заполнению страниц любым способом возложены на штатных сотрудников, работающих за зарплату.
Выгоды писательского положения исчерпались, а расходы и трудности умножились. Короче говоря, если в советское время при встрече с человеком, которого вам отрекомендовали как писателя, возникала мысль: "О, этот человек, наверное, многое от жизни получает!", то в наши дни при встрече с таким же писателем возникает мысль: "О, этот человек, наверное, многим в жизни жертвует".
Тем не менее, и в наши дни появляются отважные люди, желающие быть писателями и развлекать людей собственным литературным трудом только за скудные похвалы, без серьезной надежды на материальное поощрение. Интернет предоставляет им громадное поле деятельности. Каждый месяц сотни тысяч авторов наполняют блоги, чаты, форумы и странички в социальных сетях Рунета своими комментариями, новеллами, эссе, письмами и стихами. Тысячи авторов собирают эти случайные наброски в своих компьютерах и систематизируют их в надежде, что они пригодятся еще кому-нибудь, кроме непосредственного адресата. Сотни авторов, устав дожидаться востребованности, обращаются к издателям — и мигом получают на руки драгоценную книгу с собственной фамилией на обложке. И тут у них возникает вопрос: что делать дальше?
Писатель Александр Тавер пытается найти достойный ответ на этот вопрос. Его книга "Эскизы", вполне прилично изданная в твердом переплете, распространяется как в бумажной, так и в электронной версии. Вопреки наивному мнению, будто книги за свой счет издают в основном люди пенсионного возраста, располагающие свободным временем и хотя бы небольшими накопленными средствами, Александр Тавер оказался человеком сравнительно молодым, энергичным и весьма уверенным в себе. Мы разговорились, я вкрался к нему в доверие, и он вручил мне написанную в третьем лице автобиографию, поразившую меня не фактами жизни, — они характерны для многих, а его отношением к собственному стилю. Недаром говорится: "Стиль — это человек". Интернет подсказал: эту крылатую фразу произнес французский естествоиспытатель Жорж Луи Леклерк Бюффон, когда его 25 августа 1763 года избрали в члены Французской академии. Ученый тем самым хотел сказать, что стиль есть неповторимая особенность человека, которая отражает его природные свойства, тогда как идеи, развиваемые им, могут быть достоянием многих.
"Александр Тавер родился в 1977 году в Ярославле, но большую часть жизни прожил в Сибири, куда его семья переехала в начале 80-х. По образованию — прикладной математик. С 2000 года живет в Израиле, где, как и положено новому репатрианту, успел перепробовать целый ряд профессий и даже попытать силы в бизнесе, пока не остановился на профессии программиста. Он не планировал литературной карьеры, но его своеобразный, ироничный и легкий стиль письма неоднократно замечали люди, состоявшие с ним в переписке или читавшие его тексты, вроде заметок для школьных стенгазет. С этого все и началось — с писем. Получатели хранили их годами, перечитывали друзьям, и не раз Александру доводилось слышать: "Когда ты напишешь книгу?" Он в ответ лишь посмеивался: "Да кому это нужно? Посмотрите на писателей и посмотрите на меня. Я рад, что вам нравится, но книга — дело серьезное". В начале 2000-х он стал одним из множества блоггеров, и история с письмами повторялась: люди хотели больше, но все разговоры о книгах натыкались на тот же ответ: блоггер развлекает мимолетную публику или постоянных подписчиков, куда ему до писателя. Даже мутация блогов, чатов и форумов в социальные сети ничего не изменила. Он продолжал интересно и с юморком описывать забавные случаи из жизни, в том числе и своей собственной, иногда сочиняя что-нибудь забавное ради эпатажа. Гром грянул осенью 2014-го. Особенный гром, слышный только ему, заставивший остановиться и переосмыслить происходящее. Ответ на вопрос "Кому это нужно?" был совсем рядом. Его давно окружали сотни читателей, ждавших от него книги. Они говорили об этом открытым текстом на протяжении многих лет. Так пришло решение собрать лучшие из сочинений, подвергнуть, в меру сил, литературной обработке и издать".
Александру Таверу повезло, он слышал гром. Я перечитал "Эскизы" и никакого грома не услышал. Что ж, по-видимому, и в самом деле это был гром, слышный только ему. И я попытался уточнить некоторые аспекты этого явления природы дополнительными вопросами:
— Вы полагаете, что написали действительно хорошую книгу?
— Достаточно хорошую, чтобы быть изданной и найти благодарного читателя. Я могу сколько угодно считать "Эскизы" далекими от идеала и втайне стыдиться отдельных откровенно неуклюже написанных абзацев; но факт остается фактом — эту книгу перечитывают и с нетерпением ждут следующей.
— Вы рассчитываете сделать литературную карьеру?
— Скорее первые неуверенные шаги к ней. Каковы составляющие литературной карьеры в моем понимании? Быть востребованным читателями? Я достаточно востребован. "Эскизы" я выпускал для сотен, а сейчас меня читают тысячи. Писать хорошие книги? Я считаю, что книга хороша, если ее не только читают, но и перечитывают. Меня перечитывают. Обладать хорошим литературным стилем? Вот тут я вынужден в себе усомниться. Я считаю свой слог далеко не идеальным и постоянно над ним работаю. Все-таки писательство — огромная ответственность; не хочется являть пред очи читателя абы что. Само название сборника "Эскизы" символизирует для меня некую сделку с совестью. Я знал, что отправляю в редакцию далеко не идеальные тексты, и даже похвала главного редактора и чисто символические правки меня не переубедили. "Считай, что показываешь людям наброски будущей картины. Просто сделай следующую книгу лучше этой". И наконец, карьера подразумевает, что литература станет моей профессией. Я так же далек от этого сейчас, как мойщик посуды на кухне далек от поста генерального директора.
— Что же такое, по-вашему, хорошая книга?
— Смотря как оценивать качество книги. По тиражу? Но я видел книги, вышедшие тиражом в десятки экземпляров и намного более интересные, чем другие, издававшиеся сотнями тысяч. Может, по долговечности их оценивать? Хороша ли книга лишь потому, что она пережила века? Сомневаюсь. По красоте сюжета? Богатству языка? Жанру? Тут все зависит от индивидуальных предпочтений читателя. Если уж говорить о личных критериях оценки качества книг, то я считаю хорошими те из них, которые мне хочется перечитывать.
— То есть все книги, которые стоят у вас дома, хорошие?
— Вовсе нет. Нравится произведение или нет — труд автора я уважаю. Если откладываю книгу, не дочитав, ей всегда найдется место на книжной полке до тех пор, пока она не найдет своего читателя.
— Имела ли ваша книга коммерческий успех или принесла только убытки?
— Ни то, ни другое. Расходы на подготовку к изданию, иллюстрирование, создание аудиоверсии и печать первого тиража окупились, однако рекламная кампания издательства оказалась катастрофически провальной. Я потратил на нее больше денег, чем на все остальное вместе взятое, но на сегодняшний день издательство отчиталось ровно об одной продаже.
— Получается, чтобы стать писателем, достаточно объявить себя таковым и заплатить издательству?
— Даже менее того. Можно объявить себя писателем, не платя издательству и просто выкладывая тексты в интернет. Это так же легко, как объявить себя гуру или тренером и давать онлайн-советы. Можно представляться кем угодно и создавать видимость успеха в любой области. Интернет все стерпит. Но несоответствие образа действительности рано или поздно проявится. Гораздо важнее, кем тебя на самом деле признают другие. Люди, читавшие мои сочинения, признали меня писателем, как бы скептически я ни относился к такой оценке своего творчества. Когда накопилась некая критическая масса читателей, считающих меня интересным автором, когда у них появилось желание стать обладателями моих книг, я собрал всю свою наглость в кулак и назвался писателем. Разумеется, такое признание льстит моему самолюбию, и я много работаю над тем, чтобы действительно заслуживать это звание.
— Состоите ли вы в какой-либо писательской организации? Помогают ли такие объединения писателю-новичку?
— Я настолько новый человек в литературной среде, что еще не успел присоединиться ни к одному профессиональному писательскому союзу. Очень хочется присоединиться к союзу или литобъединению, подходящему мне по духу и открывающимся возможностям. Пока я лишь присматриваюсь к тем немногим, которые удалось найти, слежу за их активностью и мероприятиями. К сожалению, в Рамат-Гане, где я живу, пока не нашел ни одного. Очень надеюсь, что просто плохо искал, и на самом деле они существуют. Просто числиться где-то так же легко, как и объявить себя писателем. Я как автор, остро чувствующий ответственность перед читателем за качество своих произведений, выберу объединение, которое поможет мне профессионально вырасти.
Живое общение с читателем, безусловно, идет мне на пользу. Не забывайте, что именно благодаря ему я и стал писателем. Как автору, мне всегда интересно выслушивать мнения о своих произведениях и узнавать о впечатлении, которое они производят. Оценки и толкования бывают разными, вплоть до диаметрально противоположных. Критика учит, а похвала вдохновляет на новые свершения. Юрий Мамлеев: можно ли прожить литературным трудом | 0 |
Wearable activity monitors can count your steps and track your movements, but they don’t, apparently, help you lose weight. In fact, you might lose more weight without them. The fascinating finding comes from a study published today in JAMA that found dieting adults who wore activity monitors for 18 months lost significantly fewer pounds over that time than those who did not. The results suggest that activity monitors may not change our behavior in the way we expected, and raise interesting questions about the tangled relationships between exercise, eating, our willpower and our waistlines. There have been tantalizing hints in a few studies recently that new technologies such as wearable activity monitors, which tell us how much we are moving and how many calories we have burned during the day, might help some people to drop pounds. Those studies, however, had typically been small scale and short term, so it was still unclear how much activity monitors might aid in weight loss. So for the new study, University of Pittsburgh scientists from the Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center and their colleagues gathered almost 500 young, overweight men and women who wanted to lose weight. The recruits ranged in age from 18 to 35 since, presumably, these younger volunteers would be familiar with and competent using technologies such as activity trackers and any learning curve would be slight. The volunteers were weighed and their general health and fitness assessed. Then, for the first six months of the study, the volunteers followed a straightforward, diet designed to provide steady weight loss and were urged to start moving more, aiming for at least 100 minutes of moderate activity each week. They kept daily food and exercise diaries and attended weekly counseling sessions. By the end of six months, everyone had lost weight. And then the actual experiment began. The scientists now divided their volunteers in half. One group was told to start logging their daily exercise sessions onto a study website. The others were given a monitor designed to be worn on the upper arm that would track their physical activity and provide feedback about whether they were achieving goals for step counts, calorie expenditure and so on. “We were pretty confident” that the volunteers in the group using the activity monitors would exercise more, monitor their calorie intake better, and lose more weight than the people in the group, says John Jakicic, a distinguished professor in the department of health and physical activity at the University of Pittsburgh and the study’s lead author. For 18 months, the volunteers logged into the study website or wore the monitor on most days. Counselors occasionally checked with everyone by phone and sent encouraging text messages. After 18 months — and two years after the beginning of the study — all of the volunteers returned to the lab to repeat their measurements from the start. Most were thinner now than at the start of the study (although many had regained some of the weight that they had lost during the first six months). Those who had not worn activity monitors were, on average, about 13 pounds lighter now than two years ago. Those who had worn the monitors, however, weighed only about 8 pounds less than at the start. “We were definitely surprised,” Dr. Jakicic says. The reasons for the difference in weight loss are not immediately clear, he says. Theoretically, those using the monitors might have been so inspired to exercise that they moved a lot, developed large appetites, and overate, blunting any weight loss from the workouts, he says. But in fact, the data from the monitors shows that those wearing the technology generally exercised less than those in the other group. So perhaps the monitors resulted in less motivation to move, Dr. Jakicic says. It is possible, he says, that when those wearing the trackers realized they would not reach their daily exercise goal, they simply gave up, leading to relatively low caloric expenditure on those days, and less weight loss overall than among those not using the technology. The people using the monitors may also have assumed that, in some roundabout way, the technology removed responsibility from them for monitoring their energy intake, Dr. Jakicic says. “People may have focused on the technology and forgotten to focus on their behaviors” and ate too much, he says. Dr. Jakicic and his colleagues hope to conduct studies that will directly examine how activity monitors affect exercise motivation and subsequent weight loss. “What these results say to me is that we still have a great deal to learn” about how monitoring technologies affect actions, Dr. Jakicic says. People’s responses to a monitor strapped to their arm may not always be rational and could result in behaviors that are the opposite of those that the monitor would be expected to encourage. In other words, we humans are strange and often our own worst enemies, especially when it comes to trying to increase our exercise or reduce our weight. | 1 |
Hillary Clinton Finally Weighs In On Dakota Access Pipeline Response comes the same day militarized police forcibly cleared hundreds of water protectors from protest site. Be Sociable, Share! Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland.
No longer able to sit on the sidelines and remain silent about the battle raging in North Dakota over Indigenous rights to clean water and sacred land, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton released a statement on Thursday about the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) fight—and it says “literally nothing.”
The statement was delivered via email to a handful of Indigenous journalists and news outlets and was said to be in response to a letter that Native leaders had sent to the former secretary of state asking for her help, as the Indigenous water protectors and their allies have faced tanks, militarized police forces, mace, and attack dogs as they’ve stood their ground in protest of the tar sands pipeline.
Fed-up about her months-long silence , Indigenous youth from the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes also demonstrated outside Clinton’s campaign headquarters in Brooklyn, New York on Thursday asking for some sort of acknowledgement.
But coming the same day that over 300 police officers in riot gear and armored vehicles—brandishing pepper spray, percussion grenades, sound cannons, and non-lethal shotguns, according to observers— forcibly cleared hundreds of water protectors from the frontline camp recently reclaimed through eminent domain , the response struck many as non-committal and lacking appropriate “outrage.”
The statement from director of coalitions press Xochitl Hinojosa, who oversees Hispanic, black, and women’s media for the Clinton campaign, reads in full: We received a letter today from representatives of the tribes protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. From the beginning of this campaign, Secretary Clinton has been clear that she thinks all voices should be heard and all views considered in federal infrastructure projects. Now, all of the parties involved—including the federal government, the pipeline company and contractors, the state of North Dakota, and the tribes—need to find a path forward that serves the broadest public interest. As that happens, it’s important that on the ground in North Dakota, everyone respects demonstrators’ rights to protest peacefully, and workers’ rights to do their jobs safely.
“What a crock,” said Ruth Hopkins, a Dakota-Lakota Sioux writer for Indian Country Today Media Network .
“Hillary Clinton managed to make a statement about the Dakota Pipeline that literally says nothing. Literally,” 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben tweeted in response.
“Kind of a BS statement by the Clinton camp on #NoDAPL, frankly,” wrote MSNBC host Joy Reid. “The outrage taking place out there cries out for outrage.”
Others noted that the statement “is the most Clinton thing of all times,” as Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting journalist Adam Johnson put it .
In a lengthy Twitter thread , anonymous commentator @ActualFlatticus breaks down what they say is the campaign’s “triangulation” of the protest. In other words, you're going to protest by our rules. You're going to do it as we tell you. Or you can't protest.
— Alan Smithee (@ActualFlatticus) October 28, 2016 No part of this statement is concerned with the safety of the water protectors in any way. But the workers are in danger? How, exactly.
— Alan Smithee (@ActualFlatticus) October 28, 2016 The corporations (her donors) have a right to push their pipeline through sacred land (never mentioned). Despite the treaties we made.
— Alan Smithee (@ActualFlatticus) October 28, 2016 And what makes it all so unbelievably offensive? Is we all know Hillary Clinton didn't write this. Not a word. She approves, that's it.
— Alan Smithee (@ActualFlatticus) October 28, 2016 This work by Common Dreams | 0 |
Cómo sería Estados Unidos con Donald Trump de presidente Un alto rango iraquí ha previsto el colapso de Estados Unidos después de Donald Trump. Date: 2016/11/13 Time: 12:06 View: 63 VONpress, EEUU _En un comunicado emitido el jueves, el líder del poderoso Movimiento Sadr de Irak, Muqtada al-Sadr, criticó al magnate inmobiliario por no distinguir entre el radicalismo del Islam y los musulmanes moderados, al tiempo que le advirtió de que “no se meta en nuevas apuestas en política, cuyos resultados no serían nada más que pérdidas, sangre y más guerras”.Según Al-Sadr, incluso con el cambio de mandatario, “las políticas hostiles de EE.UU. hacia el mundo no cambiarán”. El clérigo chií, de 43 años, lamentó que el enfoque de Washington hacia Oriente Medio e Irak siga intacto sin importar quién sea el presidente o qué partido político dirija la Administración.Asimismo, advirtió de que la prolongación del conflicto en Oriente Medio solo agudizará los problemas en EE.UU., justo cuando el país norteamericano se ve agobiado por la crisis financiera.Además, urgió a los estadounidenses a resistir ante la retórica de intolerancia, antislámica y de odio, del nuevo presidente electo del país norteamericano."Aconsejamos al pueblo estadounidense que no se deje influenciar por el radicalismo de su presidente y que no le permita imponer su voluntad", de lo contrario, sufrirá un aislamiento internacional, recogió la agencia estadounidense AP.Por último, Al-Sadr deseó que “la paz esté con el pueblo estadounidense” y aclaró que, para su movimiento, el principal enemigo sigue siendo el régimen de Israel.El miércoles, Trump desafió todos los pronósticos y sorprendió al mundo convirtiéndose en el sucesor del presidente saliente de EE.UU., Barack Obama, en la Casa Blanca. No hay comentarios para esta noticia Nombre : | 0 |
CLEVELAND — Until Monday night, Donald J. Trump’s biggest concern about his convention speech was how much to reveal about himself and his family in an address that is often the most personal one a presidential candidate delivers. But the political firestorm over his wife’s speech, which borrowed passages from Michelle Obama’s convention remarks in 2008, raised the stakes exponentially. Mr. Trump’s speech on Thursday night cannot merely be his best ever. It also has to be bulletproof. By Tuesday morning, word had spread throughout his campaign that any language in Mr. Trump’s address even loosely inspired by speeches, essays, books or Twitter posts had to be either rewritten or attributed. Mr. Trump’s chief speechwriter, Stephen Miller, reassured colleagues that the acceptance speech was wholly original, according to two staff members who spoke with him and described those conversations on the condition of anonymity. Mr. Miller also told campaign aides that he had looked closely at passages that Mr. Trump had contributed — handwritten on unlined white pages — and was confident they contained no problems. (Mr. Miller declined an interview request.) Even so, one of the staff members downloaded software and ran a draft of the speech through the program. No red flags came up. The intense scrutiny of Mr. Trump’s words added new pressure to a speechwriting process that has been one of the most unpredictable and in modern presidential campaigns. A month ago, Mr. Trump began giving dictation on themes for the speech, and he tossed ideas and phrases to Mr. Miller or other advisers on a daily basis. On printed copies of each draft, he circled passages he liked, crossed out or put question marks beside lines that he did not favor and frequently suggested new words or phrases. “I’ve been amending the drafts ” Mr. Trump said in an interview in his Manhattan office before the convention. “I get ideas from a lot of different places, a lot of smart people, but mostly I like language that sounds like me. ” Yet in the aftermath of Melania Trump’s speech, campaign advisers have fretted that they do not know for sure where Mr. Trump gets his ideas and language — whether they are his own, in other words, or are picked up from Twitter, television, or, say, a best seller by Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, a commentator whom Mr. Trump likes. Borrowing or adapting may not always be tantamount to plagiarism, but several Trump advisers, who also insisted on anonymity, said that after the furor over Ms. Trump’s remarks, the campaign cannot allow a similar blowup. Ed Rollins, a Republican strategist who is advising a “super PAC” supporting Mr. Trump, said that the candidate could not afford any mistakes. “His speech is the whole game,” Mr. Rollins said. “Viewers have to watch it and say, ‘There is the next president of the United States. ’” In the interview, Mr. Trump said his speech would center on his vision of a strong and secure America that “once existed and no longer does, but can again under a Trump administration. ” His greatest challenge, he said, was “putting myself in the speech” — discussing his upbringing and early experiences and relating them to the hopes and aspirations of other Americans. “I was never comfortable getting personal about my family because I thought it was special territory,” Mr. Trump said, glancing at a picture of his father on his desk. “It can feel exploitative to use family stories to win votes. And I had a very happy and comfortable life growing up. I had a great relationship with my father. But my focus needs to be on all the Americans who are struggling. ” He said he was unsure if he would discuss his older brother Fred, who died as an alcoholic in 1981 at 43 — and whom he has described as an example of how destructive choices can damage lives that seem golden. “Without my brother Fred I might not be here,” Mr. Trump said. “He was really smart, . I don’t drink or smoke because of what happened to him. I focused on building my business and making good choices. I may talk about that, but I don’t know if I should. ” Acceptance speeches seldom seem complete without anecdotes about personal trials and triumphs: Mitt Romney, trying to persuade voters to see him as more than a rich businessman, devoted about a fourth of his 2012 address to his parents’ unconditional love, his Mormon faith and reminiscences about watching the moon landing. In 2008, Barack Obama described how his grandfather benefited from the G. I. Bill and how his mother and grandmother taught him the value of hard work. And Bill Clinton’s 1992 speech vividly recalled the life lessons he learned from his mother about fighting and working hard, from his grandfather about racial equality — and from his wife, Hillary, who, Mr. Clinton said, taught him that every child could learn. Mr. Clinton finished his speech with a line tying his Arkansas hometown to the American dream. “I end tonight where it all began for me,” he said. “I still believe in a place called Hope. ” James Carville, a senior strategist for Mr. Clinton’s 1992 campaign, said that if Mr. Trump hoped to change the minds of those who see him as divisive or bigoted, he would need to open himself up to voters in meaningfully personal ways in his speech. “If he’s really different than the way he seems in television interviews or at his rallies, Thursday’s speech will be his single greatest opportunity to show voters who he really is,” Mr. Carville said. Paul Manafort, the Trump campaign chairman, said that Thursday’s speech would be “very much a reflection of Mr. Trump’s own words, as opposed to remarks that others create and the campaign puts in his mouth. ” “He’s not an editor — he is actually the creator of the speech,” Mr. Manafort said. “Mr. Trump has given Steve Miller and I very specific directions about how he views the speech, what he wants to communicate, and ways to tie together things that he has been talking about in the campaign. The speech will end up being because the speech’s words will be his words. ” Mr. Trump prefers speaking off the cuff with handwritten notes, a style that has proved successful at his rallies, where he has shown a talent for connecting with and electrifying crowds. But his adjustment to formal speeches remains a work in progress: He does not always sound like himself, and reading from a text can detract from the sense of authenticity that his supporters prize. One question is whether, or how much, he will . He has sometimes seemed unable to resist deviating from prepared remarks, often to ill effect — ranting about a mosquito, or joking that a passing airplane was from Mexico and was “getting ready to attack. ” “ is instinct, all instinct,” Mr. Trump said. “I thought maybe about doing a freewheeling speech for the convention, but that really wouldn’t work. But even with a teleprompter, the speech will be me — my ideas, my beliefs, my words. ” | 1 |
Fidget spinners, the heir apparent to fad toys like Pogs, Tamagotchi, and Furby, is now also dominating the digital realm, becoming the free iOS app. [Whether or not it has anything to do with treating ADHD or autism, this newest fad has definitely proved therapeutic for toy companies across the country. Fidget spinners are dominating sales on Amazon and now feature everywhere from Walmart to . Now, Ketchapp’s appropriately titled Fidget Spinner is the most popular free addition to the Apple iTunes marketplace. Players have five chances to give their virtual spinner an exceptionally healthy swipe, in an attempt to achieve the highest possible number of spins. Better spins offer more coins, which can be used to buy — you guessed it — more spins. Players can also unlock different spinners and stickers to customize their digital fidget toys. Spinning will cost you $1. 99. Meanwhile, real fidget spinners can range from about $5 all the way up to $700. Follow Nate Church @Get2Church on Twitter for the latest news in gaming and technology, and snarky opinions on both. | 1 |
The Only Way to Save the World is to Save Yourself Nov 11, 2016 0 0
“We are not here to save the world. We are here to save ourselves, but in doing so, we save the world.” ~ Joseph Campbell
As I write this, some shit is probably going down at Standing Rock . For anybody awake to the tyranny at hand, the events of the last few months have weighed heavily on our hearts. But the thing people need to remember is this: We’re all Native Americans. If you were born in the USA, and you love the land you were born on (which includes the entire fucking planet, by the way!), you are a Native American. You are a Native Earthling, for shit’s sake. It’s all connected. Their fight is our fight. Skin color is irrelevant. Where you were born or where you migrated to is irrelevant. The only thing relevant is this: are you for freedom, life, cooperation, and love; or are you for statism, profit, divisiveness, and violence? As Derrick Jensen said, “We are the governors as well as the governed. This means that all of us who care about life need to force accountability onto those who do not.”
The media (even the alternative media, mind you) is trying to spin this as a land issue, or a Native American issue. But it’s not. This is a freedom versus tyranny issue. This is an anarchy versus statism issue. This is a life versus entropy issue. All land is free. We just need to quit focusing on imaginary lines and think cooperation first, competition second. All human beings are free. We just need to quit being obsequious to state-driven authority and start asking (and answering) the tough questions.
The only way to save the world is to save yourself. The only way to save the land from being poisoned is to save yourself from being poisoned (and from poisoning the land, yourself). The only way to save the environment from pollution is to save yourself from pollution (and from polluting the environment, yourself). In other words: The only way to save the Crashing Plane that is the Human Race is to put the oxygen mask on yourself first before attempting to put it on anybody else, and especially before attempting to right the plane. The oxygen mask, if you haven’t gathered already, is a metaphor for health, awareness, and truth. Save Yourself
“Only the individual can rise to the heights of consciousness and awareness. The more you belong to the crowd, the deeper you fall into darkness.” ~ Osho
Saving yourself is putting on the oxygen mask of health, awareness, and truth. But what does that mean? It means questioning yourself to the nth degree , to the point of self-interrogation, and then questioning some more. It means psychosocial upheaval. It means getting uncomfortable. It means admitting you are wrong. In short: It means pain, existential pain of monumental proportions.
Why is it so painful? Because much cognitive dissonance must be navigated. Everything that you’ve taken for granted as a fundamental truth must be turned inside out and given proper scrutiny. After such scrutiny, you will likely find that you were wrong about a great many things. But the only tool you need to weigh yourself against your deep questioning is the following anonymous quote: “When an honest man realizes that he is mistaken, he will either cease being mistaken or cease being honest.”
The question is: Do you have the courage to be honest with yourself? Because if you honestly choose the moral side of freedom, life, cooperation, and love, then you’re going to have to admit that statism provides none of these. It only sells the illusion of these.
Statism is about profit, ownership, divisiveness, and violence. It steals people’s freedom by enforcing, and profiting on, outdated and unjust laws (but only if the person believes in the law). It stifles life and human flourishing through calculative debt slavery and by convincing people into believing in an illusory debt. It creates physical divisiveness by drawing imaginary lines in the sand and declaring them “borders.” It creates psychological divisiveness through xenophobic nationalism and conditioned flag worship, setting up an us-versus-them mentality. When, really, the only us-versus-them mentality that holds any moral weight and intellectual validity is the freedom versus tyranny position.
Statism is tyrannical. There’s simply no way to wiggle out of this fact. It teaches authoritarianism and oppression. It teaches the individual to oppress and to tyrannize him/herself and others. It teaches people to blindly follow and obsequiously respect authority. It teaches extortion and violence. For if the authority of the state is not obeyed, or its many outdated and immoral laws are not followed, the individual is forced, violently if need be, to acquiesce. Comply or die, is what it comes down to. Either that or your freedom is taken away from you.
So, when it comes down to it, saving yourself is, first and foremost, waking yourself up from the spell that statism has over you . And then it’s breaking that spell. Break that particular spell, and freedom is at hand. Break that particular spell, and ( your ) life begins. Break that particular spell, and you free yourself to learn how cooperation and love actually work, because you will finally begin taking responsibility for your own shit. No Masters. No rulers. That means taking responsibility for yourself and your own actions as a social creature on an interdependent planet. No more leaning on the crutch of authority. No more codependence on the state. Saving yourself is choosing freedom. Save the World
“The modern hero, the modern individual who dares to heed the call and seek the mansion of that presence with whom it is our whole destiny to be atoned, cannot, indeed must not, wait for his community to cast off its slough of pride, fear, rationalized avarice, and sanctified misunderstanding. ‘Live,’ Nietzsche says, ‘as though the day were here.’ It is not society that is to guide and save the creative hero, but precisely the reverse. And so, every one of us shares the supreme ordeal––carries the cross of the redeemer––not in the bright moments of his tribe’s great victories, but in the silences of his personal despair.” ~Joseph Campbell
So, you’ve saved (freed) yourself from the grip of the state. What comes next? Freeing others, of course. But not so fast. Just because you’re free from the state, doesn’t mean the state isn’t still there, rearing its ugly head. It is still there, oppressing and extorting. It is still there, tyrannizing and destroying the planet under the guise of progress. It’s still there, trying to suck you back in. It is still Goliath and you are still David. And just because you recognize statism as tyranny and oppression, doesn’t mean that others do. Remember: most people are devoted statists who don’t even realize they are statists. Yes, the ignorance is that thick. But, I digress…
You’ve secured your “oxygen mask” on the crashing plane that is the human race. Now it’s time to start helping others to secure their own masks. The problem here is: you can’t control other people. And, really, you don’t want to. You want people to be free, after all. That means you’re going to have to convince them . You’re going to have to be creative. You’re going to have to use your imagination and come up with novel ways to persuade them into being healthy. Yes, sadly it has come to that. The only way to bring health to those who are all-too-well-adjusted to a sick society, is to sell it.
The real kick in the pants is: most people don’t want to hear what you have to say. People are wrestling with their own cognitive dissonance. People are caught up in their own state driven conditioning and brainwashing. Those cops “serving and protecting” the enforcement of the unhealthy, unsustainable, climate changing (game ender) North Dakota pipeline , are all wrestling with their own cognitive dissonance, conditioning, and brainwashing. They’re simply losing their own inner battle and coming up with the only thing they know: the cowardice and violence of a statist.
So, it comes down to this: What do we (those who are already free and have their oxygen mask securely fastened) do against the cowardice and violence of the inured statist? We teach. We use our imagination to persuade them away from the unhealthiness of the state and toward the healthiness of freedom. We lead by example, influencing them with our courageous words and our actions. We coax them into freely putting their own oxygen mask on. For we know that volition is paramount if freedom is to be had. Force is the way of the state. Violence is the way of the state. A free human being helping others to be free must never use force or violence, lest they wish to be a tyrant. An authentically free human being wishes other human beings to be just as authentically free.
But, and here’s the rub, as Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “Your right to waive your fist ends one inch from my nose.”
This means that when our health and freedom are under attack, we are morally justified to defend ourselves. And so, the most important thing we can do as free people, as individuals who have our oxygen masks securely fastened, is to stand our ground. To protect ourselves. Which, by extension, means protecting that which immediately sustains us: water, and the land that grows our food. The worst thing we can do is back down and play the pacifist. Like Derrick Jensen said, “ Love does not imply pacifism.” The Goliath that is the state will trample all over pacifism. Indeed, the road to an unhealthy, unsustainable, immoral, and violent world is paved with pacifism. It’s paved with people turning a blind eye. It’s paved with the inaction of people who recognized evil and did fuckall with it.
At the end of the day, Goliath (the state) is going to be Goliath. But Goliath is only Goliath because people believe in it. We dismantle goliath by convincing people not to give into Goliath’s unhealthy and unsustainable song and dance. First, we extract ourselves from being Goliath by transforming ourselves into courageous Davids. Then, we attempt to extract others from being Goliath. And if we cannot, we stand our ground and point out their cowardice and violence as unacceptable. We draw a line in the sand. We stand our ground. We protect our water. We declare, right in the face of the Goliath state, these courageous words by Thoreau : “I was not designed to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest.”
About the Author
Gary ‘Z’ McGee , a former Navy Intelligence Specialist turned philosopher, is the author of Birthday Suit of God and The Looking Glass Man . His works are inspired by the great philosophers of the ages and his wide awake view of the modern world. This article ( The Only Way to Save the World is to Save Yourself ) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is printed here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Gary ‘Z’ McGee and WakingTimes.com . Vote Up Gary Z McGee Gary ‘Z’ McGee , a former Navy Intelligence Specialist turned philosopher, is the author of Birthday Suit of God and The Looking Glass Man . His works are inspired by the great philosophers of the ages and his wide awake view of the modern world. | 0 |
RT
The record shows Hillary “We Came, We Saw, He Died” Clinton is the ‘Queen of War’.
She is fully supported by virtually the whole US establishment; a bipartisan, neocon/neoliberalcon, regime change/”humanitarian” imperialist axis.
On the opposite side, for all his personal pathology problems and incoherent twitter-mouth ramblings, Donald Trump seemed to be on the money when he said that if elected, Hillary would use Syria to unleash WWIII.
To check out if that holds, let’s start with an essential backup.
The ‘Queen of War’, at the final US presidential debate in Las Vegas: "A no-fly zone [in Syria] can save lives and hasten the end of the conflict."
The ‘Queen of War’, in one of her 2013 speeches to Goldman Sachs, published by WikiLeaks: a no-fly zone would "kill a lot of Syrians.”
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: a no-fly zone in Syria “would require us to go to war, against Syria and Russia." why_hillary_won_t_unleash_wwiii_-_rt_op_edge.png
Predictably, the Clinton (cash) machine has been relentless promoting Hillary’s no-fly zone. Whenever cornered, the machine switches the narrative to Russian hacking of the DNC. Edward Snowden, who knows a thing or two about cyberwarfare, stresses there is no solid proof Russian intel hacked the Democratic/Clinton machine. And if they actually did it, the NSA would know. The fact the NSA is mum reveals this is no more than information war.
Pass the missile launchers, please
Trump seems to have been more on the money when he insisted how Hillary will be outsmarted – as she already was in the past – when dealing with President Putin, who she has demonized as Hitler.
I have shown how Hillary will be prevented from launching WWIII because her no-fly zone is already implemented in Syria by Russia. And the Pentagon – reflecting Dunford’s comments - knows it, no matter how emphatically soon-to-be-unemployed Pentagon head Ash Carter threatens “consequences.”
The Pentagon ranks Russia and China as the number one and two “existential threats” to US national security, in that order. And the US government reserves for itself the privilege of a nuclear “first-strike”– which Hillary supports (but not Trump); this is part of the 2002 Full Spectrum Dominance doctrine.
The relentless hysteria now crystallized as Cold War 2.0 has led scores of analysts to game the actual – terrifying - possibility of a US-Russia hot war. As much as the Cold War MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) doctrine may now lie in the dust – exactly because Washington refuses to back down from “first-strike”– only armchair Dr. Strangeloves get their kicks with the possibility of fighting a nuclear power. Dunford does not seem to be one of them.
What Hillary Clinton will certainly do is to double down on proxy wars, Vietnam/Afghanistan-style. So expect a President Clinton to authorize full weaponization of those Beltway-loved “moderate” Al-Qaeda-in-Syria rebels with plenty of shoulder-held missile launchers. This could easily get out of control – with lethal, yet not nuclear, consequences.
That’s exactly the point made by Mikhail Rostovsky in Moscow daily Moskovsky Komsomolets; if Hillary ratchets up tensions, “things could get out of hand.”
Also expect not so proxy ratcheting up of tension in the South China Sea; after all it was Hillary who claimed ‘mothership’ of the pivot to Asia; and it was Hillary who steered intra-South East Asian maritime disputes into the boiling cauldron of wider US-China competition.
And if that was not hard boiled enough, US frustration will be at an all-time high after Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s own pivot to China.
Say hello to my new Sarmat
A case can be made that official Moscow is carefully getting ready to work with a Clinton – as in Obama III – presidency, with Hillary, a devil they know well when she was Secretary of State, to be dealt with as a pragmatist, unwilling and unable to plunge US-Russia relations into total incandescence.
A Clinton presidency for its part should know better than overestimate Russia’s financial “weakness.”
The national debt of Russia is only 17.7 percent of GDP; for the US it is a whopping 104.17 percent of GDP, or $19.2 trillion. Russia in 2015 had a trade surplus of $150 billion, while the US had a trade deficit of $531.5 billion. The current account surplus of Russia was 5.1 percent of GDP, or 65.8 billion, while the US ran a current account deficit of 484.1 billion, or 2.7 percent of GDP.
Besides, Russia has all the natural resources it needs; unlike the US government, which believes it needs an empire of bases overseas and ten aircraft carrier task forces to secure the resources it lacks.
Moreover, as much as the Pentagon may continue to be infested by neocon cells, sound generals are also able to identify key Russian signals – such as the unveiling of the RS-28 Sarmat nuclear missile, which NATO calls Satan 2. The Sarmat delivers monster warheads of 40 megatons; boasts a top speed of seven kilometers per second; and is able to outfox any anti-missile shield system anywhere. | 0 |
November 15, 2016
In an official statement released this afternoon, God has apologised for the ongoing massacre of talent this year, blaming it on recent pressure to beef up Heaven’s on-site entertainment. The statement, published on the Vatican website, claimed that the deaths were needed to shake-up a flagging variety line-up currently dominated by tambourine-heavy U2 tribute acts and weak parable-based comedy sketches.
‘Have you any fucking idea how boring Christians are?’ said one Archangel,who asked to remain anonymous. ‘Sure, they mean well but they don’t half know how to suck the life out of everything. Bowie, on the other hand, has already released a version of ‘Kum Ba Yah’ that sent shivers down my spine, and Prince’s rendition of ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ had the cherubs dry-humping their harps.’
Speaking directly to reporters outside the Pearly Gates, God acknowledged that the deaths had compounded the misery of one of the worst years in decades but called it a ‘necessary evil’. ‘I appreciate it sucks for you guys but, seriously, have you any idea how good our nativity play is going to be this year?’ He said.
‘We’ve already got Alan Rickman signed up to play Herod, naturally, and I almost shat myself laughing when Gene Wilder started doing his Archangel Gabriel. There was a bit of a bun fight over whether Mary would be played by Victoria Wood or Caroline Aherne, but that’s the price you pay for having so much talent available. Leonard Cohen and Robert Vaughn are sadly now joining the cast to beef up the wise men. You’re lucky we don’t have any wildlife up here,’ he added, ‘otherwise Attenborough would have been underneath a bus months ago.’ Charlie Stuart | 0 |
Obama Ban: Religious Foreign Aid November 01, 2016 A worker secures relief aid to be transported to a devastated area after Hurricane Matthew passed, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October...
U.S. Gov. to Strip Federal Contracts from Organizations that adhere to Scripture on the LGBT issue.
The Obama administration announced a rule last week that threatens to strip federal contracts from religious relief organizations and charities that adhere to traditional views of gender and sexuality, continuing a trend of governmental hostility toward religion. National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice said the rule prohibits organizations that contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the administration of aid.
“The United States also needs to do more to institutionalize efforts to promote LGBT rights,” Ms. Rice said in a speech at American University last week on the state of gay rights around the world.
“As part of that commitment, I’m pleased to note that just yesterday a new rule went into effect that explicitly prohibits discrimination by USAID contractors. This rule means that any organization that contracts with USAID must ensure that all people can benefit from its federally funded programs, regardless of race, religion, disability — or sexual orientation and gender identity,” she said.
“It’s a major step toward ensuring that American assistance is provided in a fair and equitable manner,” she said.
Roger Severino, director of the Heritage Foundation’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, said the rule will create more problems than it solves. U.S. groups advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights lauded the move which affects more than $20 billion in aid programs in over 100 countries. In 2014 The United States cut aid to Uganda in response to a Ugandan law that imposed harsh penalties on homosexuality. | 0 |
As temperatures in New York City dip from cold to Christmas tree vendors have bundled up and hunkered down in the safety of their vans and temporary shacks. But on the southwest corner of 57th Street and First Avenue, Gilles Berube, a vendor from Quebec, works only in jeans, a scarf, a knit jacket and a hat. He does not hide from the cold, but wards it off with shots of vodka and rum. “I was born in a snowstorm,” he says, by way of explanation. Last Friday, in the kind of cold that numbs the toes, the presence of liquor attracted a few customers who stopped to have a drink with him, clinking little snifters of brown and clear alcohol. In a city where the business of selling Christmas trees can become contentious, and occasionally litigious, Mr. Berube is a welcome sight for many in this Manhattan neighborhood, where he has peddled trees for nearly two decades. Because permits are not required to sell Christmas trees in New York, the city does not keep a tally of how many vendors set up shop here each year or how many trees are sold, but the number of trees collected after each season might be some indication. The city’s Sanitation Department estimates it collected 214, 000 trees from curbsides last year, in addition to some 30, 000 taken to mulch events hosted by the parks department. Hugh Whaley, a spokesman with the National Christmas Tree Association, wrote in an email that New Yorkers tend to get attached to their local vendors, most of whom come from New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Canada. “It is a very longstanding tradition to sell real Christmas trees from the same location year after year,” Mr. Whaley wrote. It’s Mr. Berube’s 19th winter on this corner. The vendor, who says he is “around 55,” begins the season with about 300 trees from a farm in North Carolina. On this particular cold afternoon, nine days out from Christmas, it’s not exactly a mad dash for trees once the sky darkens. After minutes of careful deliberation, a man buys a small tree. As children whiz by on scooters and women rush past clutching shopping bags, most find a spare second to call out to the Christmas tree man, who responds, “Bonsoir!” For others, he offers an opening line: “Do you want vodka?” Many turn him down, but Maria Opris and her daughter, Maria Iordache, are drawn in by the invitation, and begin to haggle with Mr. Berube over a small tree. “It’s fresh,” he says, bouncing the Fraser fir against the pavement for emphasis. “Normally, $2, 000. For you? $50. $45?” The trio eventually settles on $40 and a kiss on the cheek. For Ms. Opris, buying a tree and having a drink with Mr. Berube has become a family tradition. “When my son comes, they always have a bit of vodka,” Ms. Opris says. “Sometimes he brings a bottle of vodka and stays. ” Mr. Berube, who arrives in New York City about a week before Thanksgiving to set up shop, works with two assistants. One is sleeping nearby in a van. The other, Courtney Thompson, 22, from the Bronx, is trying to impress Mr. Berube by sweeping pine needles from the sidewalk and rushing deliveries to and fro in a shopping cart. It’s his first day. “He said no at first,” Mr. Thompson says. “But then he said he’d give me a chance. ” Things seem to be working out well so far in this profession — and this brutal weather — good help is hard to find. Mr. Berube, who works as a traveling photographer much of the year, says he catches a few hours of sleep a night in the van during the height of tree season. On this corner, he says, he has met travel companions, photography subjects and even a girlfriend — a woman he saw among the trees over a decade ago. He showers at a recreational club nearby or at his girlfriend’s apartment, “when she’s not mad at me. ” The big sale of the evening comes when an older couple, Anne and Richard Murphy, approach the tree stand and pay $160 for a fluffy Fraser fir. Mr. Berube helps them stuff the hefty tree into a grocery cart, attaching shopping bags to the front with zip ties, creating a makeshift bumper. “He has beautiful trees,” Ms. Murphy, 85, says. “You get trees and kisses. ” Ms. Murphy and her husband share a snifter of rum as they prepare to make the journey back to Sutton Place and string white lights on their tree. Of course, this is still New York. Faster walkers mutter unkind words at the people who have dared to stop and enjoy themselves on the sidewalk. But Ms. Murphy doesn’t notice. She presses her face to the pine needles, closes her eyes and inhales. Mr. Berube will tear down the display late on Christmas Eve. “The next day,” he says, “it’s like nobody was here. ” | 1 |
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After the reignition of the Hillary Clinton ’email scandal,” the polls indicate that 63% of Americans still don’t give a damn about Hillary Clinton’s emails.
The House Republicans’ final gambit is the worst example of grasping at straws, and only days later yet the American people are signaling that yet another attempt to revive the Clinton email non-scandal has failed, miserably.
Recent reports say 21 million early votes have already been cast in this year’s election, which represents roughly 1/6th of the total cast in the 2012 general election and none of those votes will be impacted by the FBI Director’s memo.
Today, The Guardian reports that voters’ minds are already mostly made up about Clinton’s emails, and recent disclosures are having more impact among Republicans and other groups already not pre-disposed to vote for the Democratic nominee.
“About a third of likely voters say they are less likely to support Clinton given FBI director James Comey’s disclosure,” said pollster Gary Langer . “Given other considerations, 63% say it makes no difference.”
Many loyalists are convinced the latest trove of emails, discovered on equipment shared by Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her estranged husband Anthony Weiner, are an irrelevance. Even if some show more classified information passed its way through the private server, it should not change the FBI’s earlier decision that a criminal charge would be unfair without evidence of intent or coverup. But so long as this is not categorically established, there may be a nagging doubt in some minds that the FBI suspects otherwise.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders destroyed the issue of Hillary Clinton’s emails early in the Democratic primary campaign, noting that they’re a giant pile of minutiae and that the American people are more concerned about economic fairness, trade policies and the corrosive effect of Citizens United on our politics. Famously, he said:
Let me say something that may not be good politics, but the Secretary is right. People and America are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails.
The American people aren’t buying Trump’s lies about the FBI Director’s vague memo – written entirely without actual facts – signifies anything other than a DC game being played by House Republicans. Even CNN’s New Day plainly says at the start of this video plainly that, “Trump is Lying.”
Republicans are in familiar territory after having run a divisive and needlessly incendiary political campaign this year, and stuck focusing on literally any little thing they can find about the Democratic nominee to distract voters from the real issues.
It didn’t work during primary season and it’s not likely to work now.
Watch Bernie Sanders debunk the Republican email spin machine in one minute here: | 0 |
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Seth Connell reports that a new video released from Project Veritas provides evidence that Hillary Clinton herself worked in the operation to rig the election to ensure a win.
This video is the third installment from Project Veritas, which has released two previous undercover videos showing Democratic operatives discussing highly unethical and illegal campaigning activities.
The videos revealed such damaging information that two top Democratic operatives were released from their position; when people from the Clinton camp step down, you know it’s bad . BREAKING: Rigging the Election – Video III: Creamer Confirms @HillaryClinton Involvement https://t.co/ozb1frZ7rR #Veritas @PVeritas_Action
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) October 24, 2016
This third installment includes a shocking number of insights into how the Democratic Party has been running the Clinton campaign. Several of the most memorable quotes from the video include:
“Nobody is really supposed to know about me.”-Aaron Black
“So Brad, and Bob, and Lux, and myself are all part of the old school method where, it doesn’t matter what the freakin’ legal and ethics people say, we need to win this motherf**ker.” -Aaron Black
(In regards to the “Donald Duck” characters showing up at Trump events): “Skalar [Clinton operative] had gone to some buddy of his who is one of her body people and she explained the idea to Hillary. And Hillary just loved it. Let me tell you something, I think she has the right instinct here. This thing is working, is resonating but that story is not exactly what you want to hear about how presidential decision-making happens.” -Robert Creamer
The coordination between the Clinton Camp, the DNC, and Americans United for Change is a rather obvious violation of federal campaign finance laws regarding expenditures. DNC chair Donna Brazile was also involved in the coordination with the Clinton Camp as well.
Additionally, Robert Creamer discussed why the Donald Duck idea had to be owned by AUFC and not by the DNC.
“The duck has to be an Americans United For Change entity. This had to do only with some problem between Donna Brazile and ABC, which is owned by Disney, because they were worried about a trademark issue. That’s why. It’s really silly.”
Later in the video Creamer revealed why that is the case:
“Donna Barzile had a connection with them and she didn’t want to get sued.”
And finally, an explicit admission about Hillary’s desires, straight from Creamer himself:
“We originally launched this duck because Hillary Clinton wants the duck.”
Watch the full video below:
This certainly seems to be illegal campaigning, based on these videos. One of the interns even stated that there was a whole slew of reasons why responsibilities had to be divvied up, because the whole scheme was a mess. And why is that? Because they are violating campaign coordination law, so they have to.
It’s truly unbelievable. A plethora of revelations now show us how corrupt Hillary Clinton and the DNC are, yet there are still millions of people that support them. If these revelations continue, and they still support her, what can you really say?
When corruption penetrates this deeply, and when the citizens still wholeheartedly back those who are driving the corruption, the country is in serious danger.
God help us. | 0 |
MONTAGUE, Mass. — Think of all the dogs out there: labradors and poodles and labradoodles huskies and westies and dogues de Bordeaux pit bulls and spaniels and lovable mutts that go to doggy day care. Add them up, all the pet dogs on the planet, and you get about 250 million. But there are about a billion dogs on Earth, according to some estimates. The other 750 million don’t have flea collars. And they certainly don’t have humans who take them for walks and pick up their feces. They are called village dogs, street dogs and dogs, among other things, and they haunt the garbage dumps and neighborhoods of most of the world. In their new book, “What Is a Dog? ,” Raymond and Lorna Coppinger argue that if you really want to understand the nature of dogs, you need to know these other animals. The vast majority are not strays or lost pets, the Coppingers say, but rather superbly adapted scavengers — the closest living things to the dogs that first emerged thousands of years ago. Other scientists disagree about the genetics of the dogs, but acknowledge that of a billion dogs are well worth studying. The Coppingers have been major figures in canine science for decades. Raymond Coppinger was one of the founding professors at Hampshire College in Amherst, and he and Lorna, a biologist and science writer, have done groundbreaking work on sled dogs, herding dogs, dogs, and the origin and evolution of dogs. “We’ve done everything together,” he said recently as they sat on the porch of the house they built, set on about 100 acres of land, and talked at length about dogs, village and otherwise, and the roots of their deep interest in the animals. Both had dogs as children. Lorna had several kinds. An uncle brought Ray his first dog, a pup from a female that hung around a loading ramp at a chemical plant in Cambridge, Mass. “He lived to be 17 — he looked like any other village dog in the world,” he said. After they graduated from Boston University, where they were both undergraduates in the late 1950s, they continued to keep them. “I gave her a dog for a graduation present,” he said. It was reputedly a mix. After they both graduated, they moved to the Amherst area, where Lorna taught Russian and received a master’s degree in wildlife biology and Ray pursued a Ph. D. in zoology, both at the University of Massachusetts. They did field studies together, but on different subjects, and then dove deeply into the canine world. A neighbor raced sled dogs, and one thing led to another until Dr. Coppinger started racing them himself and they had a hundred dogs housed in cement dens on a hill behind his house. In 1969, he joined Hampshire College as part of the founding faculty, and continued researching energy expenditure in the dogs. He also developed a winning strain by hybridizing Alaskan village dogs with Border collies. For the first time in their lives together, the Coppingers are now without any dogs at home, and they talk with some nostalgia, more about the bad dogs than the good. Like Jane. “Worst dog I ever had,” Dr. Coppinger said. “I could tell you a thousand bad stories about Jane. ” “But,” he said, “put her on a mountain pass behind 3, 000 sheep, and she’d worry them all the way up the mountain and pick up the strays and everything. ” They don’t miss having dogs by the score, but Ms. Coppinger said, “I miss the pet dogs. ” The last, who died in 2013, was Poppyseed Shackleton, a Jack Russell terrier who belonged to their grandchildren, but lived with them. One benefit, however, is that they are enjoying observing a flood of wildlife that avoided their land when so many dogs were around — vultures, foxes, deer and other animals. In the early 1970s, they began studying dogs and traveled around the world finding dogs that sheep herders used. They brought some home and helped develop the Anatolian shepherd breed in the United States, and started a livestock project at Hampshire to study how effective dogs were in protecting sheep and other livestock. In 2001, their book “Dogs: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior Evolution” challenged the way scientists thought about the beginnings of dogs. They argued against the widely held view that one day a grabbed a wolf pup from a den and started a breeding program. Instead, they argued, dogs domesticated themselves. Some wild canines started hanging around humans for their leftovers and gradually evolved into scavengers dependent on humans. Not everyone in canine science shares that view today, but many researchers think it is the most plausible route to domestication. During their travels over the years — to look for sheepdogs, to introduce them to sheep farmers who hadn’t used dogs, to attend conferences — they noticed dogs in the street wherever they went, and after a while they began to think about the dogs’ lives. “They were so much more interesting than what we’d ever done before,” Dr. Coppinger said. “Here were animals that had their own unique kind of social behaviors. So we started to study them. ” That was in the early 1990s. He worked with Luigi Boitani of La Sapienza University of Rome, who was studying urban dogs that lived off garbage. “I taught classes in the Mexico City dump,” Dr. Coppinger said. And the Coppingers continued to observe village dogs around the world. They argue in their new book that these dogs “are not mongrels or strays,” as is often assumed. Some lost pets do wander into groups of village dogs. But by and large, these dogs are much the same around the world, whether in Africa, Mongolia, China or the Americas. Dr. Coppinger said he was once told by a Navajo sheep herder that a good herding dog was “not too big and not too small,” which perfectly describes village dogs, too. They are larger in colder climates, but in the tropics, he said, a dog is the norm. They are completely polygamous. “There can be as many fathers to a litter of puppies as there are puppies to a litter,” Dr. Coppinger said. And after about 10 weeks, the puppies fend for themselves. Most of the pups don’t survive, as is the case with many wild animals. They have remarkably varied connections to human beings. Some live completely on their own at dumps. Some are neighborhood dogs, recognized and perhaps given handouts by people who live in a certain area. Others may feed and breed on their own, but spend nights at the homes of people. Sometimes they are adopted by people. But really, Dr. Coppinger says, it is the dogs who adopt humans. The number of dogs that can survive in a city or a neighborhood or at a dump is determined by the available garbage. The Coppingers calculated that in the tropics it takes about 100 people to produce enough garbage to support seven dogs. There is precious little funding for studying these dogs, except in the context of preventing rabies, which is an enormous problem, with close to 60, 000 human deaths a year, mostly from dog bites. But some scientists have tracked their behavior. Sunil K. Pal in India has studied them and written a number of papers on their social lives and behavior. The Coppingers were joined for the recent conversation at their home by Kathryn Lord, a former student of Dr. Coppinger and now a researcher at Hampshire College, who studies the development and reproductive behavior of dogs, including village dogs. She shared her insights on what makes a dog a dog, and not a wolf, for example. Wolf puppies depend on their parents and other adults regurgitating partly digested food. “This is all but lost in dogs,” she said. It does happen, but reports suggest that in village dogs it may occur several times a week. Among wolves in the wild, she said, “it’s seven times a day,” and it is an uncontrollable reflex. In one experiment, she tried testing adult wolves by putting them into a pen with unrelated pups after a big steak meal. “They’d actually run around with their heads in the air to avoid the puppies,” she said. “Eventually they’d lose their lunch. ” At which point they would run off and let the youngsters have at it. The point the Coppingers and Dr. Lord make about these behaviors is not that dogs are somehow less caring or noble than wolves, but how perfectly adapted they are to the lives they lead. They don’t need to be big and strong to bring down prey. They don’t need the kind of parental care and hunting instruction that wolf pups get. As Dr. Lord said, dog pups don’t need to catch and kill anything. “They need to walk up to a rotten melon and eat it, which they can do at 10 weeks. ” Puppies, after they are weaned, cannot compete with adults, so unless disease or dogcatchers have put a dent in the adult population, most of them starve. They have a true superpower in reserve, however, that can help them escape their fate. They can convince a human to feed them. Dr. Coppinger recalled a woman in South Africa who had many dogs in and around her house. He asked her how it happened that she had so many dogs. “I don’t know,” he recalled the woman saying. “They just keep coming. ” But what are village dogs? Are they a breed, or a superbreed apart? Or are they just a mixture of many breeds with origins too messy to trace? Adam Boyko, a biologist at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, who was inspired to pursue canine science by the Coppingers’ 2001 book, has also compiled DNA from village dogs around the world. One of his research papers concluded that village dogs in Mongolia are at the center of dog diversity. That suggests that they are geographically nearest to the place where dogs first evolved. Other evidence has suggested that dogs originated in Europe or China, however, and Dr. Boyko is one of a number of participants in a major study being led by Greger Larson at Oxford to use ancient DNA and fossils to clear up some of the confusion about the origins of dogs. And other village dogs seem to have different genetic makeup. For example, Dr. Boyko and his colleagues analyzed DNA samples from village dogs on remote islands in Fiji and French Polynesia that he hoped would show a historical pattern of migration as people and their dogs moved from place to place. “Almost without exception the dogs were 99 percent European,” he said, meaning their ancestors were dogs on European ships that came to Pacific islands ages ago. Dogs in other places, like Borneo, he said, show almost no trace of European breeds. In a study published last fall, Wieslaw Bogdanowicz at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw led an international team of scientists in analyzing the DNA of dogs in Eurasia. He concluded that these dogs were different from purebreds and mixed breeds. “I would like to call them a superbreed,” he said. He also found that modern European street dogs trace their ancestry to East Asian dogs that migrated with humans to Europe. Earlier studies place that migration sometime between 4, 000 and 11, 000 years ago. Beyond that, however, lies the ultimate origin of dogs, which is still clouded in mystery. The consensus among scientists is that dogs evolved from ancient wolves, perhaps ones not found in the fossil record, 15, 000 or more years ago. Dr. Coppinger has suggested that dogs evolved after the invention of agriculture, perhaps around 8, 000 years ago, and that today’s village dogs are the closest to these first dogs. But this idea has little support from other scientists. The Coppingers’ main goal is to draw attention to the world’s vast majority of dogs that are hidden in plain sight. They represent a treasure trove of scientific information. Although the Coppingers recognize the social cost of animals that are unvaccinated and running free, they argue that killing the dogs, as some countries do during rabies epidemics, does not help. It’s impossible to kill them all, and because they breed rapidly, the population quickly rebounds. Nor do the Coppingers have any sympathy for rescue groups that, as Dr. Coppinger puts it, “kidnap and mutilate” street dogs from the Caribbean and elsewhere to bring them to American shelters to live as pets, “where they are made totally dependent and entirely restricted. ” This is supposed to benefit the dogs, but Dr. Coppinger argues that they are taken from a rich social environment, with many dogs, to lives of relative isolation. What to do? The Coppingers suggest a simple answer. One way or another village dogs depend on garbage. If society wants fewer dogs in the street, there’s a surefire solution. Less garbage. | 1 |
Truth Bomb from Rasmussen: More Americans Want Hilary Indicted Than Elected! And the list goes on…(Proverbs 24:21; Hebrews 4:13) Now Hillary and the foreign agent in the people’s White House, Barack Hussein Obama, are being exposed for voter rigging . Obama has been visited 45 times out of his 340 visits to the White House by election rigging guru and former prison inmate Robert Creamer . The new scapegoat for Obama and Clinton is Russia. They are now being blamed for the crime when it is Clinton and Obama who are literally exposed in their own corruptions. America, do not be diverted from these diplomatic magicians from hell (John 8:44-45). The Clintons have been selling uranium ore to the Russians . This is now World Wrestling Entertainment on a global scale, as they continue to play off of each other. They are not archenemies. They are allied in crime together, period. Furthermore, like that of the Bushes, China, Russia and America, as well as the Pope, they are all calling for the new world. They are allied with the covenant of Hell, which I remind you disannulled (Isaiah 28:15-18). Many are wondering why Hillary Clinton is even up on the platform during debates. It comes to this, the American people have been soft on these corrupt criminals, and have been soft on themselves. However, God will not be soft (Nahum 1:3), and these corrupt individuals have been encouraged to act out in a more corrupt manner. Americans have also allowed the appeasers that identify themselves as prosecutors and government oversight to talk big . Yet, they produce nothing when it comes to justice (Amos 5:7). They are the fox in the chicken coop, acting as if they actually mean what they say. They are protecting themselves as much as the establishment in which they are a part. Then there are those who pose as some sort of patriotic representatives when, in fact, they are the same people that have given Barack a pass every step of the way. These are a few of those who are the establishment: Colin Powell | 0 |
ESCONDIDO, Calif. — In Southern California in the fall of 2015, a giant natural gas leak not only caused one of the worst environmental disasters in the nation’s history, it also knocked out a critical fuel source for regional power plants. Energy regulators needed a quick fix. But rather than sticking with gas, they turned to a technology more closely associated with flashlights: batteries. They freed up the utilities to start installing batteries — and lots of them. It is a solution that’s audacious and risky. The idea is that the batteries can store electricity during daylight hours (when the state’s many solar panels are flooding the grid with power) then release it as demand peaks (early evening, when people get home). In effect, the rechargeable batteries are like an power plant, and, in theory, able to replace an actual plant. Utilities have been studying batteries nationwide. But none have moved ahead with the gusto of those in Southern California. This idea has potential. But the challenge of storing electricity has vexed engineers, researchers, policy makers and entrepreneurs for centuries. Even as countless technologies have raced ahead, batteries haven’t yet fulfilled their promise. And the most powerful new designs come with their own risks, such as fire or explosion if poorly made or maintained. It’s the same problem that forced Samsung to recall 2. 5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in September because of fire risk. After racing for months, engineers here in California have brought three sites close to completion to begin serving the Southern California electric grid within the next month. They are made up of thousands of oversize versions of the batteries now widely used in smartphones, laptop computers and other digital devices. One of the installations, at a San Diego Gas Electric operations center surrounded by industrial parks in Escondido, Calif. 30 miles north of San Diego, will be the largest of its kind in the world, developers say. It represents the most crucial test yet of an technology that many experts see as fundamental to a future. Here, about 130 miles southeast of Aliso Canyon, the site of the immense gas leak in 2015 — the equivalent of operating about 1. 7 million cars over the course of a year — 19, 000 battery modules the size of a kitchen drawer are being wired together in racks. They will operate out of two dozen beige, trailers. Made by Samsung, the batteries are meant to store enough energy to serve as a backup in cases of fuel shortages. They are also designed to absorb energy, particularly solar power, during the day and feed it back to the grid after dusk. They in effect can fill in for the plants that might lack the fuel to fully operate because of the disastrous leak. “California is giving batteries the opportunity to show what they can do,” said Andrés Gluski, chief executive of AES, which is installing the storage systems. AES is installing a smaller array for the electric utility in El Cajon, a suburb east of San Diego. And separately Tesla, the company perhaps better known for its electric cars, has built an array for a different utility on the grid, Southern California Edison, near Chino, Calif. The stakes are high for both energy storage companies. If their projects struggle or fail, it could jeopardize not only the stability of Southern California’s grid but also interest in the technology over all. After a smaller, but pioneering battery project at a wind farm on Oahu in Hawaii went up in flames in 2012, investment in battery storage all but dried up for a few years. That installation, which used 12, 000 batteries to help even out fluctuations in the power flow, caught fire three times in its first 18 months of operation. The storage developer, Xtreme, eventually went bankrupt. The wind farm turned to a different technology to smooth its output. Keeping a close eye on the Southern California battery efforts is Susan Kennedy, who helped shepherd California’s energy policy for more than a decade as a state utility regulator and operative for two governors — Gray Davis, a Democrat, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican. She now runs an energy storage one not involved in the response to the Aliso Canyon gas leak. “The moment one fails,” Ms. Kennedy said of the big bet on batteries, “they won’t build any more. ” As soon as AES’s chief executive, Mr. Gluski, learned last June that San Diego Gas Electric had awarded AES the big battery contract, he leapt out of his chair and interrupted a meeting in his board room at the company’s headquarters in Arlington, Va. As employees watched in astonishment, he barreled down two flights of stairs, grabbed a mallet and, with a ceremonial flourish, banged a gong that one of his executives kept on hand for big news. Mr. Gluski had not had much occasion to celebrate since he had taken the AES reins five years earlier. The company was struggling with debt and trying to coax profits from projects around the developing world that are buffeted by instability in politics, currency and commodity prices. His first steps included an austerity program in which he gave up many of his own executive perks: No more membership. No more corporate Audi A8, with driver. But the more part of his plan would be AES’s battery division, which was then fledgling. The unit had roots in two midlevel executives who had been speculating about a future over beers. Those two men, John Zahurancik, a science fiction fan, and Chris Shelton, a former physics teacher, had started talking about batteries a decade ago, before electric cars became fashionable or even feasible. In 2006, Mr. Shelton had come across a professor’s paper that predicted a future dominated by electric cars that, when parked, could be connected to the power grid so their batteries could act as storage devices to help balance electricity demand. He and Mr. Zahurancik bounced the idea off some AES colleagues, who said it was at least theoretically feasible. So the two continued their bull sessions but decided that stationary battery arrays may make more sense than relying on electric cars. At the time, batteries, the standard in consumer products, were widely in use in the transportation and power tool industries, but no one had paired them with the technology necessary to serve the power grid. Earlier experiments with and other types of batteries worked only for a year or two before conking out. A different technology, “flow batteries,” which use chemicals dissolved in liquids in tanks, were considered even more experimental. But lithium packs more energy per weight than other metals, offering the promise of greater energy density and longevity. The trick would be to figure out how to harness all that power, which creates heat, while avoiding the fires such batteries have caused in any number of vehicles and gadgets, including Teslas, HP computers, hoverboards and, most recently, Samsung Galaxy Note 7s. The two hit upon a design and persuaded executives to begin a pilot project in 2008. That eventually led to the first commercial battery on a grid. Mr. Zahurancik, who owns the gong, is now president of AES Energy Storage. Mr. Shelton is now the company’s vice president and chief technology officer. AES does not actually make its batteries but buys them, along with other equipment, from manufacturers like Samsung, LG Chem and Panasonic. It designs and assembles the arrays, stacking the boxy batteries into racks inside containers. In Escondido, where local radio stations still carry public service announcements about the shortage, the AES battery packs are being installed at a critical spot on the regional electrical grid: the place where the giant wires from power plants and wind and solar arrays connect to the network of local wires. The batteries are intended to relieve the pressure on the system. Mainly, they will serve as a kind of sponge, soaking up excess or solar energy during the day and then squeezing it back into the grid in the evening, when demand surges as the sun sets. There is enough capacity in the containers full of batteries to power about 20, 000 homes for four hours. The idea is that they help the utility lessen its dependence on the type of natural gas plants known as “peakers,” which can turn on and off quickly to meet sudden peaks of demand but are generally used only for short periods and at great expense. And peakers, by burning fossil fuel, are also at odds with California’s goals. The project is also being watched closely by advocates for renewable energy. The reason: If battery installations work as designed, they would help wind or solar generators to act more like conventional power plants by working steadily even when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. “Energy storage is really the tool to do renewables integration for a utility infrastructure company like us,” said Josh Gerber, advanced technology integration manager of SDGE, as workers smoothed the concrete pads that support the containers at the Escondido site. “Without it, you have more risk that the variability of renewables is going to cause reliability problems. ” Under the contract, AES is responsible for making sure the batteries perform for 10 years, after which SDGE will take over. One potential downside is that if the batteries are fully charged and discharged each day, they could degrade more quickly. The executives involved expressed confidence in the design and reliability, despite Samsung’s recent smartphone problems. Not only are these batteries a different configuration than the smartphone units, executives said, but the larger footprint allows for the inclusion of sophisticated monitoring as well as industrial safety and cooling and ventilation equipment. The project, along with the smaller array AES has installed in El Cajon, could provide the leap Mr. Gluski has been striving for. AES has a deal for an even bigger installation in a $1 billion project in Long Beach with Southern California Edison that is not part of the Aliso Canyon remediation effort it is projected to go online by the end of 2020. The electric company plans to use batteries as part of a plan to replace an aging gas plant along the San Gabriel River. Long term, Mr. Gluski plans to shift the company’s portfolio — still heavily based on coal and natural gas — toward more renewable energy. He sees the storage systems as vital components in turning solar and wind energy into a dominant power source in the parts of Latin America, Asia and Africa where AES is active. Whatever progress it has made, AES still has its share of problems, with $20 billion in debt and a stock price less than the value that it had at the start of the century. It faces wary, if not outright skeptical, treatment by Wall Street utility analysts and energy experts, who say the technology AES is peddling on such a large scale in California remains untested and financially risky. “The problem comes if there is a hiccup with the battery storage business in California,” said Charles Fishman, a utilities analyst at Morningstar. “You don’t have the parent that can push money to it and keep it out of trouble. ” Despite all the battery activity in California, executives around the utility industry remain cautious. “The reason we don’t have widespread batteries on our system is because it is not for us,” said Alice Jackson, vice president for strategic revenue initiatives at Xcel, a giant electricity and gas utility serving eight Western and Midwestern states. Xcel has been testing batteries about as long as AES, but almost exclusively in small pilots. “It’s fair to say we don’t have experience with this technology to say that it is perfect, or a nirvana,” Ms. Jackson said. “It’s something we’ll observe as California goes through its experience. ” California’s latest experiment with batteries is but the latest bout in the state’s long struggle to match its energy needs with its environmental sensibilities. In the early 2000s, after market deregulation and Enron’s notorious manipulation of gas supplies led to blackouts and financial instability among the power companies, state officials decided to lessen reliance on natural gas by encouraging the development of wind and solar. Under Mr. Schwarzenegger, who was governor until 2011, officials pushed through a raft of overlapping regulations that created a boom in renewables, especially solar. But that upended the traditional patterns of supply and demand, making the overall energy system technically and economically difficult to manage. Batteries were the logical solution. But the technology wasn’t fully developed and was still too expensive. In order for companies to make the necessary investments, they needed a signal that there would be a big enough market for their products. So in 2010, the state approved one of the first mandates, ultimately requiring utilities to install some form of storage equipment in their territories. That set off a flurry of new investment and innovation and, after the sudden closure of the San Onofre nuclear plant on the coast in northwest San Diego County in 2012 when a steam generator tube sprung a leak, new contracts for battery installations. But the Aliso Canyon accident, which began on Oct. 23, 2015, when the Southern California Gas Company first detected the leak, put that process on . The gas and intermittent oily mist that spewed forth over almost four months traveled into the surrounding neighborhoods on the strong winds that sweep down from the Santa Susana Mountains. At the same time, it forced the battery strategy into its most test yet. Now it’s showtime, and the pressure to succeed is high all around. For AES, it could signify an important step for a relic that is seeking to revitalize itself as a powerhouse in battery storage and other advanced technologies. For advocates — including residents of the Porter Ranch section of Los Angeles, so that Steven Spielberg chose it as the setting for the 1982 movie “E. T.,” but where many still complain of the rashes, headaches and other debilitating symptoms that drove thousands from their homes during the leak — it could be a powerful weapon in the fight to keep the gas depot closed. But the pressure may be highest for the Southern California utilities, their reputations still blackened by waves of forced electricity cuts that followed the Enron debacle. No one wants to contemplate a repeat of that chapter, when blackouts affected factories and even some hospitals. “When the power goes out, people die,” said Ms. Kennedy, the former state official. “Failure is not an option here on any level. ” | 1 |
The St. Louis Cardinals have found themselves in the crosshairs of the LGBT community for inviting former Cardinal Lance Berkman to the team’s annual Christian Day event. [Berkman’s presence sparks controversy amongst the gay community because of his role in the fight against the transgender bathroom ordinance, aka the “Equal Rights Ordinance,” in Houston in 2015. Pride Center of St. Louis issued this highly critical statement of the Cardinals decision to invite Berkman: “Pride St. Louis is disappointed by the decision of the St. Louis Cardinals to provide a public platform for Berkman, an individual whose words and actions towards the LGBTQ+ are divisive and demeaning. ” The group initially released the statement to Outsports, an SB Nation website which prioritizes news involving the LGBT community and sports. According to the St. Louis “On its own, Outsports has called Berkman a “bigot” and “an outspoken opponent of the LGBT community” who was “one of the faces of the campaign against Houston’s ordinance” in 2015. ” Despite the backlash, as of this writing, the Cardinals remain committed to having Berkman attend “Christian Day. ” The team issued their own statement in response to those troubled by the move: “The Cardinals have hosted a Christian Day at the ballpark for nearly three decades. Lance Berkman participated in Christian Day when he was a Cardinals player, and we welcome him back this year to discuss his faith. ” The Cardinals also said they plan to host an event in support of the LGBT community at some point later in the season. Nonetheless, the team makes a good point here. Berkman has attended and spoken at these events before when he, presumably, held the same views towards transgender bathroom laws that he does now. So, what’s the problem? Since it’s likely that the bathroom issue never would have come up on a night dedicated to celebrating the Christian faith, does the LGBT community really want to put the idea out there that they’re fine with tolerating and accepting all things unless Christianity is involved? In his article on the Cardinals invitation to Berkman, Bill Baer wrote that Berkman “foolishly advocated against public accommodations for transgender people to use public bathrooms. ” What was foolish about this? The part where he exercised his constitutional right to express an opinion in a free country? It seems like Bill Baer’s attitude toward tolerance and acceptance is much the same as Outsports and the LGBT community’s attitude: acceptance and tolerance for all … unless they disagree with me. Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn | 1 |
Politics Russia as It Actually Exists Couldn't Be More Different From the One Imagined in the West
Real Russia -- a country nobody knows anything about because they're busy dreaming up a brutal 'Putin's Russia' in its place Originally appeared at Consortium News
In February, the Obama administration announced that it was quadrupling funding for a major increase in NATO troops and weaponry in the countries of Eastern Europe on the border with Russia. Diplomatic relations have faltered between the two countries over Syria.
And the corporate media in the U.S. and U.K. have again stepped up their demonization of all things Vladimir Putin – he’s corrupt, he personally orders hits on people, is facilitating war crimes in Aleppo, and wants to invade Europe. The media also pushes the idea that Russia is an uncivilized and backwards cesspit.
Considering that Russia is a nuclear superpower, the largest country geographically in the world, and is the sixth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (and projected to be number six in 2021 in terms of GDP), the U.S. relationship with Russia is one of the most important and delicate.
In order to have any chance of conducting this relationship in a rational manner, an accurate and nuanced understanding of the country itself and the history of post-Soviet U.S.-Russia relations is essential. This requires cutting through the misinformation and distortion that saturates much of our mainstream news and political discourse.
It’s important to keep in mind that Russia has a 1,000-year history of authoritarian rule and only started its climb out in the late 1980s. It is a transitional society, with elements of both authoritarianism and democracy. Putin, along with Dmitri Medvedev and Mikhail Gorbachev, is the least authoritarian leader that Russia has ever had.
Considering that the U.S. has supposedly been an established democracy for over 200 years, we Americans should consider a few significant problems we still have in order to gain some perspective. Only 55 years ago, African-Americans could not vote and could even be murdered with impunity in many parts of the country.
Today, we have an epidemic of militarized police officers who are shooting first and asking questions later; more and more people on death row are turning out to be innocent; rising inequality threatens our stability; and, a system of deep corruption in terms of campaign financing has compromised our democracy – corruption that is so profound that two political science academics have recently quantified the ways in which we are now officially an oligarchy.
Is this any better than Russia’s corruption because it has been folded into our legal system? We certainly have our own “oligarchs” in the form of the Koch brothers, Bill Gates, and the Walton family. Perhaps we can concede that it’s not very useful to beat on Russia for not being Switzerland after only 25 years.
Russian Sentiment
A recent poll by the independent Levada Center revealed that 66 percent of Russians feel free and 68 percent don’t believe it is likely that Russia will revert back to dictatorship. To understand why Russians may see themselves as fairly free, it is important to understand not only their history of authoritarian rule but also some facts and observations about Russia that run counter to the narrative often presented in our mainstream corporate media, which is owned by those same oligarchs that have captured our political system.
When I visited Russia last autumn, one of the first things I observed was that the police in both Moscow and St. Petersburg did not carry guns, only batons. I asked some Russians about this and was told that if an officer had a special assignment, he/she might carry a gun but that generally they did not. This is not consistent with the characterization that most Americans have about Russia being a police state or autocracy.
Speaking of guns, Russian citizens have to abide by much stricter gun control laws than in the U.S. These include the requirement for gun owners to obtain a five-year renewable license. Before the first license is issued, attendance in a firearms safety class and the passing of a federal safety exam is required as well as a background check.
One example of how the Russian gun control laws have helped to prevent the deadly types of mass shootings seen in the U.S. is the hate crime against patrons of a gay club in Yekaterinburg that occurred shortly after the Orlando massacre. Due to the fact that Russians don’t easily have access to (illegal) assault weapons, no deaths occurred as a consequence of the violence perpetrated against the patrons by a group of Russian hoodlums who only had small, pneumatic weapons.
Russia has also had a moratorium on the death penalty since 1999 and its high court has upheld it, while Putin has publicly supported it, even in the face of popular sentiment for bringing back executions for certain crimes. Russia’s murder rate is still higher than the U.S., but it is important to understand that there is a pattern of major improvement since the Wild West days of the 1990s when journalists who covered Russia, like Angus Roxburgh, acknowledged that people being gunned down in the streets of Moscow was reminiscent of an episode of The Untouchables and was a fairly regular occurrence.
In my visit last year, another woman and I traveled together and encountered no problems or threats, even when we walked from the Metro station to our hotel after dark in Moscow. I felt no less safe than I feel walking around after dark near where I work in San Francisco.
Although the visa application to travel to Russia is more stringent than for other European countries, I traveled freely when I was there, took photos wherever I wanted, and went through a similar airport security procedure as in the U.S. The vast majority of people I encountered in Russia were friendly, curious or neutral.
Recession and Resilience
While Russia has suffered from a recession since 2014 and has seen economic gains for its population suspended since the combination of low oil prices and sanctions, there was plenty of food in the markets and people said that the main hardship was inflation, though that has been coming down and is now at an annualized rate of 6.9 percent. The import substitution policies have shown success in theagricultural sector and are just starting to show promise in the industrial sector.
The sense I got from the Russians whom I spoke with was that they’d weather this storm and come out stronger and wiser for it – as they’d had to do in far worse conditions in their history. In spite of the recession, people generally looked healthy, were dressed in Western attire, and young people had their smartphones. In many ways, these people looked indistinguishable from those you’d see in any American city or suburb.
Prior to this economic downturn, Russia had enjoyed consistent increases in quality of life after “the lost weekend” of massive poverty, crime and exploding mortality rates that the Russian people had suffered during the Yeltsin years – giving Boris Yeltsin the distinction of being the least popular leader among Russians of the last 100 years.
As Victor Kramarenko, an engineer and foreign trade relations specialist during the Soviet period and, more recently, a years-long executive with a major American corporation in Moscow, summed up the Yeltsin era: “The Russian economy was devastated. We went from being an industrial power that defeated the Nazis, showed resilience, rebuilt quickly, and had great achievements in aviation and space to a place where morale collapsed and a lack of trust and a pirate mentality emerged.”
Why Is Putin Popular?
The devastation of the Yeltsin era was the state of the nation when Vladimir Putin took the helm in 2000. Having to navigate among ruthless oligarchic clans that Yeltsin had left behind, with no political party to support him and a very real possibility of overthrow or assassination if he wasn’t careful, Putin began to surround himself with people he’d trusted throughout his career. This included, among others, some people from the security services.
As for the epithet that “once a KGB man, always a KGB man,” Putin was actually not some James Bond-style assassin during his time with the spy agency. He served as a mid-level analyst in Dresden for the bulk of his career. Upon his return to Moscow from East Germany in 1990, he turned down a promotion to the agency’s foreign intelligence operations division, opting to re-settle his family in St. Petersburg instead. His increasing dissatisfaction eventually led him to resign from the KGB.
Putin then went to work as a foreign affairs adviser to Anatoly Sobchack in May of 1990. Sobchak, a professor of economic law at Leningrad State University, had emerged in the Gorbachev era as a popular democratic reformer and major critic of the KGB’s abuses. He had just been elected Chairman of the Leningrad City Council.
The following year Sobchak became mayor and appointed Putin as his deputy. According to Allen C. Lynch in his scholarly 2011 political biography, Vladimir Putin and Russian Statecraft, in this position, Putin coordinated relations with the military, police, district attorney, customs officials and NGO’s and handled diplomatic matters.
In the six years he served in this capacity, Putin had many impressive achievements, including attracting several Western corporations to the city, signing thousands of joint ventures with foreign companies, establishing a substantial foreign banking presence, legalizing the sale of land, allowing for free privatization of residential property, opening an international trade center, and strengthening municipal banks – which contributed to their remaining solvent in the face of the 1998 financial meltdown.
During the 1991 attempted coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Putin found out that the Leningrad KGB, which supported the coup, planned to arrest Sobchak when he returned to the airport from out of town. Putin quickly gathered a group of trusted men and rode straight up to the plane to protect his boss, a challenge the local KGB chose not to press.
The Corruption Claims
Despite Western assertions of Putin’s corruption, with questionable evidence to support these charges, there is evidence pointing in a very different direction about Putin’s honesty. Sharon Tennison – author, program developer and my travel companion in the country – personally interacted with Putin when he reviewed a program proposal for her at Marienskii City Hall in 1992. Although, it was impossible to know who he would go on to become, Putin made an impression on her at the time as the only Soviet/Russian official in her experience who had not asked for a bribe or favor.
Tennison also developed extensive contacts with young entrepreneurs throughout the country, including in the St. Petersburg area. Several of these entrepreneurs stated that Putin was the only local bureaucrat who had never charged a bribe for registering their businesses.
This general picture of Putin’s honesty is buttressed by biographer Lynch as he addresses Putin’s time as deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, stating:
“For much of this time, given Sobchak’s frequent and protracted absences and his preoccupation with national affairs, Putin assumed the functions of acting mayor. He supervised the drafting and implementation of countless international business deals and policy reforms. These transactions did not always go according to plan, and no doubt many profited handsomely from Putin’s admitted inexperience in these matters.
“During his attempt to establish municipal oversight over a series of casinos, for example, the city was cheated. In another case, the city was fleeced for $120 million for two shipments of cooking oil. Although during this period his mother bought a choice apartment at an exceptionally low price at a city auction, Putin didn’t seem to enrich himself personally. In the one specific public charge of corruption that was brought against him, Putin sued in court for slander and won.”
Lynch sums up Putin’s character as follows:
“Putin was not corrupt, at least in the conventional, venal sense. His modest and frankly unfashionable attire bespoke a seeming indifference to personal luxury.…Putin was honest, certainly by Russian standards. He lived simply and worked diligently.” (Lynch, pp. 32-33)
Richard Sakwa, a British scholar specializing in Russia, has written perhaps the most comprehensive political biography of Putin, covering all three of his presidential terms and how the Russian political system has evolved under his watch, both the positive and the negative. Sakwa interviewed numerous people who have worked with Putin throughout his career, including many who vouched for his honesty and relative sense of decency when handling political reassignments and other delicate internal matters.
Under Putin’s leadership as either president or prime minister from 2000 to 2012, Russian citizens saw incomes increase five-fold, the poverty rate cut in half, consistent economic growth, and a safer country. Moreover, Russians enjoy universal health care, one of the highest rates of education in the world (54 percent of Russians have a college degree), and 140 days of paid maternity leave for women. And despite the misinformation regularly put out by Washington, including by President Barack Obama himself, Russia’s average life expectancy is now 71 and has been increasing consistently for several years, rebounding from a stunning decline during the Yeltsin years.
Gradual Improvement
Tennison, who lives part-time in St. Petersburg, has been traveling throughout Russia since 1983, when it was still part of the Soviet Union, and has established a wide network of relationships and connections over three decades. He made the following observations in 2014 on the changes she has seen in Russia since 2000:
"During this time, I’ve traveled throughout Russia several times every year, and have watched the country slowly change under Putin’s watch. Taxes were lowered, inflation lessened, and laws slowly put into place. Schools and hospitals began improving. Small businesses were growing, agriculture was showing improvement, and stores were becoming stocked with food.
“Highways were being laid across the country, new rails and modern trains appeared even in far out places, and the banking industry was becoming dependable. Russia was beginning to look like a decent country — certainly not where Russians hoped it to be long term, but improving incrementally for the first time in their memories.”
She goes on to describe similar developments further out from the major cities, including in the Urals, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk and Perm. New museums, municipal buildings and supermarkets, well-maintained streets, modern street lights and regular snow plowing in the winter were all observed.
During this period, Russia also became a creditor nation with relatively low foreign debt, substantial foreign and gold reserves, and a rainy day fund built up during the prosperous years. These are some of the reasons why Putin has consistently had approval ratings between 60 percent and his high of 89 percent in late 2015.
The vast majority of Russians credit Putin with taking a nation that was on the verge of being a failed state, turning it around and creating concrete improvements in their lives. In my many conversations, Russians described him as a leader possessing patience, organization and determination. Overall, they believe his good qualities outweigh his flaws.
Russians also expressed support for his handling of foreign affairs. More specifically, they see him as standing up to numerous provocations from the U.S. and its NATO club.
Russian Interests
Putin is first and foremost a Russian patriot and pragmatist whose priorities, in addition to raising Russians’ living standards, are the security and stability of the country.
Russia has a long history of invasions from all directions due to its lack of natural barriers like oceans and mountain ranges. In the Twentieth Century, it was invaded twice within a 25-year period by Germany. Some 27 million Soviet citizens, including 19 million civilians,perished in fighting off the Nazi Wehrmacht, leaving one-third of their country destroyed. By comparison, the U.S. lost approximately 405,000 and suffered no fighting or damage on its homeland. With this background, Soviet leader Gorbachev was understandably hesitant to allow a reunified Germany into NATO at the close of the Cold War.
By the time of the Malta meeting between Gorbachev and George H.W. Bush in December of 1989, the Berlin Wall had fallen and Washington had promised it would not “take advantage” of Gorbachev’s decision to eschew using force to maintain control of Central/Eastern Europe. Two months later, Bush’s Secretary of State, James Baker, negotiated a gentleman’s agreement with Gorbachev that, in exchange for allowing a reunified Germany as a NATO member, NATO would not expand “one inch to the east.”
Baker’s argument was that NATO membership would have a restraining influence on a unified Germany as opposed to a militarily independent state. According to Viktor Kuvaldin, an adviser to Gorbachev at the time, the Soviet leader did not press for the agreement in writing because he trusted Washington to abide by its promise.
Research by academic Mary Sarotte, published in the Diplomatic History Journal in 2010, which included interviews with participants and review of notes and other documentation from the meetings, indicates that American politicians’ subsequent denials that such an agreement was made are disingenuous. A November 2009 investigation by the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel came to the same conclusion.
After the Cold War, France and Germany believed that the best way to bring Russia into the Western fold and encourage its evolution as a democracy was through cooperation and gradual integration. But the U.S., which saw an intense lobbying campaign by the military-industrial complex and political pandering to certain constituencies, soon began pushing for NATO expansion as well as imposing neoliberal economic reforms, i.e., privatization of the economy and shrinking of the social safety net. Both policies were carried out under the pretext of spreading democracy and both have elicited strong resentment in Russia.
Overtures to the West
During Putin’s first two terms as president, he made overtures to the U.S. and NATO in the hopes of some reciprocity and acknowledgment of Russia’s interests. For example, after the 9/11 attacks, Putin was the first world leader to call President George W. Bush to offer his condolences and support. His reasoning was two-fold: one, he saw the U.S. and Russia as having a mutual interest in fighting Islamist terrorism; second, he knew that he had a tall order in successfully addressing the many profound problems facing Russia at the time.
He would need to put as much time, energy and resources as he could muster into the project of rehabilitating his country, which meant not wasting them on unnecessary conflict with the world’s lone superpower. Going against the advice of most of his security team, he provided logistical and intelligence support as well as access to military bases on behalf of the U.S. operation in Afghanistan.
In return for this assistance, Putin received the equivalent of a swift kick in the shins from the neoconservative Bush administration in the form of a unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to pursue a “missile defense shield” in 2002 and the accession of seven more nations of Eastern Europe into NATO in 2004. (Three others — Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic — had joined in 1999)
Seemingly undeterred, in 2008, Putin ordered the Russian Foreign Ministry to draft a proposal that Dmitry Medvedev took to Brussels, outlining a security plan that would cover all of the Euro-Atlantic community and Russia, obviating the need for NATO’s continued existence, much less its expansion.
The preamble stated that: “the use of force or the threat of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other way inconsistent with the goals and principles of the Charter of the United Nations is inadmissible in their mutual relations, as well as international relations in general.”
It also reiterated the intent to cooperatively address any security concerns that may arise among members. The body of the document contains mechanisms for how concerns or breaches of security could be handled. This proposal was sent to the leaders of relevant nations as well as the heads of European Union, NATO and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, emphasizing that Russia was open to suggestions and negotiation on the plan.
Putin and Medvedev heard crickets in response to their proposal.
Ratcheting Up Tensions
Not long afterward, Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili, egged on by elements in Washington, staged a military incursion into South Ossetia, killing Russian peacekeepers and prompting a strong military response by Russia. The 2009 E.U. fact-finding report on the war between Georgia and Russia does not support the insistence by Washington and the corporate media that Russia started the war.
Five years later, Ukraine, a country where the southeastern area had historically been part of the Russian Empire and the central and western areas part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, became the flashpoint. The E.U., led by Germany, recklessly tried to pressure Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich to sign an Association Agreement that contained terms that would be unwise for the leader of an already poor and divided nation on Russia’s border to agree to. These included requirements that would result in major economic losses and a security clause that implied integration with NATO.
Again, elements from Washington engaged in provocations. A leaked phone call between Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland (a neoconservative from the Bush years whose rise at the State Department was facilitated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) and U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt revealed them discussing who would take over Ukraine’s leadership several weeks before Yanukovich was illegally overthrown in a violent putsch on Feb. 22, 2014. Footage of Nuland handing out pastries to the protesters also surfaced.
Contrary to repeated claims by the West that the violence on the Maidan, especially sniper fire that killed both police and protesters on Feb. 20, 2014, was the result of Yanukovich’s forces or even Russian provocateurs, several credible sources indicate that neo-fascist forces, such as Svoboda and Right Sector, had hijacked the Maidan movement and were the responsible parties.
The first source is Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet during an intercepted phone conversation dated Feb. 26, 2014 in which hereports to then-E.U. High Commissioner Catherine Ashton that his on-the-ground sources told him:
“What was quite disturbing, the same oligarch told that well, all the evidence shows that the people who were killed by snipers from both sides, among policemen and people from the streets that they were the same snipers, killing people from both sides. … So that and then she [Dr. Olga Bolgomets] also showed me some photos, she said that as medical doctor, she can, you know, say that it’s the same handwriting, the same type of bullets, and it’s really disturbing that now the new coalition they don’t want to investigate what exactly happened, so that now there is stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition.”
This assessment was later supported by an April 2014 investigation by Germany’s ARD TV. An even more in-depth forensic investigationundertaken by Dr. Ivan Katchanovksi, a Canadian academic whose family originally hails from western Ukraine, also concluded that neo-fascist elements of the Maidan movement were culpable.
These extremists had refused to abide by a Feb. 21, 2014 agreement hammered out by Poland, France, Germany and the Yanukovich government in which the latter had agreed to reduced powers and early elections. Interestingly, these European countries have never publicly explained why they abandoned their role as guarantors of the agreement as the violence of Maidan escalated when the putsch occurred the following day.
Considering that none of these three sources can plausibly be accused of being Putin apologists, it casts the West’s whole narrative of “Putin aggression” in a very different light, including the subsequent referendum in Crimea in which 96 percent of the voters favored seceding from Ukraine and rejoining Russia in spring 2014.
View from Crimea
When I visited the three Crimean cities of Simferopol, Yalta and Sevastopol, I had conversations with a cross-section of people, from cab drivers and bus riders to small business owners and participants in what is variously referred to by the locals as “The Crimean Spring” and “The Third Defense of Sevastopol.” I came away with three conclusions.
The first is that Crimeans, who are mostly ethnic Russians who speak Russian, were genuinely alarmed by the ultra-nationalist rhetoric and violence coming out of Kiev, which resulted in what they viewed as an illegal coup by extremist elements of the Maidan movement, supported by Washington.
As Tatyana, a professional tour guide in Yalta told me: “No one asked us if we wanted to go along with Maidan. There are Russians as well as people who are a mix of Russian and Ukrainian here. We are not against Ukraine as many of us have relatives there, but Maidan was not simply a spontaneous protest. We are aware of the phone call with Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt, we saw the photos of her with Yatsenyuk, Tiagnibok [leader of Svoboda, the neo-fascist group that was condemned by the E.U. in 2012], and Klitschko on television. We saw the images of her handing out cookies to the protesters.”
These extremists had attacked ethnic Russians from Crimea who had participated in anti-Maidan protests and the attackers were reportedly on their way into the Crimean peninsula. As a result, Crimeans began to organize self-defense units to protect their communities.
Secondly, Crimeans did not necessarily think Russia would accept their requests for help. Crimea had been part of Russia from the time of Catherine the Great’s reign in the Eighteenth Century. But during the Soviet era, Premier Nikita Khrushchev gifted Crimea to Ukraine.
Since both Russia and Ukraine were part of the Soviet Union at the time, this was not a problem. However, when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, Crimea remained in Ukraine as an autonomous region, while the naval base at Sevastopol was retained by Russia via a lease with the Kiev government. Between 1991 and 2013, Crimeans had voted several times to be reunited with Russia, only to have their requests ignored.
Putin, as any Russian leader would have, viewed the events of February 2014 as a threat to Russia’s naval base and only warm water port. Knowing that the Crimean population had repeatedly expressed its desire to be part of Russia, Putin decided on an operation to assist the native Crimeans in blocking both marauding ultra-nationalists and representatives of the coup government from interfering in activities that would facilitate Crimea’s quick reintegration into Russia.
Support for Reunification
Crimeans told me that they knew the so-called “little green men” were Russian soldiers legally stationed at the naval base who had donned unmarked uniforms. They also told me that they viewed them as protectors who allowed them to peacefully conduct their referendum, not as invaders. Suggestions that these Russian soldiers had pressured them to vote at gunpoint were dismissed as ridiculous.
Third, Crimeans were very happy to be part of Russia. Though they acknowledged that there was still a lot of work to be done, they viewed the future with hope. Thesesentiments have been borne out in several Western opinion polls (Gallup, Pew, GfK, and Levada-Open Democracy) over the past two years.
When the topic of sanctions came up during a meeting with small business professionals in Simferopol, one of them stated, “We are suffering under the sanctions, but the sanctions will not make us go back to where we don’t want to be. There are still many Crimeans willing to fight if it were to become necessary.”
In a similar vein, one participant in the self-defense forces of Sevastopol, Nicolai Kachin, told me: “Sevastopol was the first city to rise up in Crimea. If residents hadn’t stood up to defend themselves, war would be raging in Crimea worse than in the Donbass.”
The Donbass is a region of southeastern Ukraine where Russian speakers had similar concerns. The West has typically characterized the Donbass rebels as puppets of Russia with no legitimate grievances or indigenous support. However, American Russia scholar Nicolai Petro, who spent a year in Ukraine and was in country when the upheaval occurred, has cited sociological surveys of Donbass residents from March, April and May of 2014 in which the results show that majorities considered the Right Sector to be dangerous and influential and the Maidan protests to be illegal and representing “an armed overthrow of the government, organized by the opposition, with the assistance of the West.”
Kiev’s subsequent decision to start an “anti-terrorist operation” against the Donbass region, instead of negotiating a resolution, has only hardened the view of Crimeans that their reunification with Russia was correct and saved them from a similar fate.
Alternative Approaches
One is left to wonder if this could have all been avoided if the West had engaged Russia in good faith on its proposal for a pan-western security architecture in 2008, instead of pushing what amounts to a very dangerous zero-sum game in Russia’s backyard. Attempts to press for the eventual inclusion of Ukraine (and Georgia) into NATO have been ongoing since at least the George W. Bush administration when Condoleezza Rice had a heated discussion with Putin about it during a meeting in 2006.
When Rice tried to assert that each country had the right to decide for itself which alliances to join, Putin explained that Ukraine had many ethnic and political divisions and that such a move could create instability in the country. Polling had reflected that the majority of Ukrainians at the time did not favor joining NATO. This, of course, was in addition to the fact that having a hostile military alliance right on its Western border was understandably perceived as a national security threat to Russia.
These points were reiterated in a conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and then-Ambassador to Russia William Burns as reflected in a confidential cable to Washington from February 2008 titled “Nyet Means Nyet: Russia’s NATO Enlargement Red Lines.”
In the cable, Burns states that Russia warned that pushing Ukraine into NATO could provoke a civil war and that Russia would consequently have to decide whether to intervene or not – a decision Lavrov emphasized Russia did not want to be faced with.
At a minimum, Washington needs to recognize what America’s preeminent Russia expert, Stephen F. Cohen, has noted. That is that we need a pragmatic partnership with Russia if we are to have any hope of addressing the most pressing challenges facing humanity: nuclear disarmament, catastrophic climate change, terrorism and global inequalities that have become destabilizing.
If one studies Putin’s speeches, along with major interviews, which are available in good English translations on the Kremlin website, one can deduce that Putin is an intelligent and rational actor who could be a partner to Washington in areas of mutual interest – as he has indeed demonstrated with respect to eliminating the Syrian government’s chemical weapons and assisting in the Iran nuclear deal.
Putin has been clear and consistent for years that he requires Russia’s interests to be taken into account, including its security. And this is as it should be. He was elected to represent and pursue Russia’s interests, not to serve Washington if he gets nothing in return. Unfortunately, Western corporate media routinely quotes Putin out of context or pretends that it is impossible to understand him because of their cartoonish characterization of him as a “thug.”
Challenges for Russia
Corruption
Corruption has been an intractable problem for centuries in Russia since the administrative state and its attendant tribute paying and harsh bureaucracy were established by the Mongols in the Thirteen Century.
Indeed, it is one of the major issues Putin has publicly admitted he has failed so far to adequately resolve. Although there has been some progress as is reflected in Russia’s rapid rise in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business scores and the Coopers Waterhouse findings for 2016 that Russia has reduced economic crime by 12 percent in the last two years, it is recognized by both Putin and the Russian public that substantially more needs to be done.
Political and Civil Rights
Russians can travel freely as long as they can afford it. Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists are generally free to worship as they please. There is little overt censorship and all the Russians I spoke to said they had access to Western media through both satellite and the Internet, although they all found it to be very distorted and inaccurate in its portrayal of their country and their leader. There is a variety of opinion represented in print media, and even on pro-government Russian TV it is not unusual for a pro-Western viewpoint to be included on political talk shows.
There is still considerable room for improvement for journalists in Russia. However, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, deaths of journalists have actually gone down in the Putin era of governance compared to the Yeltsin era. One would be hard-pressed to know that judging by the way Western politicians and media have undertaken an over-the-top vilification campaign against Putin but gushed that Yeltsin was a “democrat.”
As for the fate of Anna Politkovskaya, the idea that Putin was behind her murder has been promiscuously bandied about in the West, but no evidence has ever been presented. Moreover, her employers at Novaya Gazeta believe the Chechen leadership was behind her death, not the Russian government. Those who carried out the murder have been convicted in Russian court and are now in prison, but it is troubling that whoever ordered it remains at large.
Civil society development has had a setback with the foreign agents law. While some civil society activists whom I spoke to acknowledged that Western provocateurs were a problem, there were many authentic NGO’s that were being caught in the dragnet and the law is consequently viewed among them as a mistake that needs to be rectified. The Russian population in general is divided on this legislation. In response to some of the criticism, in May of this year, the Duma amended the law to exclude charities and cultural organizations.
There have still been some openings for modest civil society development. For example, an independent organization of citizens called the Public Council has developed since 2014 in the city of Krasnodar. It has successfully worked to get the local authorities to start taking the needs and desires of citizens into account when making decisions and enacting policies.
Among other things, they have stopped the destruction of old trees, buildings and parks as well as networked with youth groups and infrastructure specialists, including foreign experts in urban planning, public arts, transportation and city marketing. They have organized periodic cleanup and renovation days sponsored by local businesses that donate equipment, and are working to connect the city’s hiking trails and protect its 16 lakes.
Not only have they received no opposition from Russian authorities, they have begun to gain positive recognition as well as interest from other Russian cities looking to replicate their model.
Another example is a civic education program to teach democracy skills to Russians designed by an independent American named Charles Heberle. The program has been under implementation in a province near St. Petersburg and has had the quiet backing of the Putin government since the early 2000’s.
As the French and Germans wisely recognized at the end of the Cold War, it would serve the goal of encouraging Russia’s evolution toward more openness and democracy if their deep and historical fears of hostility, invasion and exploitation are not provoked. If given the time and space, without U.S. meddling, Russia will address its own internal problems and evolve into a system that will reflect its unique geography, culture and political history. | 0 |
WASHINGTON D. C. — The “open, free, and international” order led and created by the United States is “under unprecedented threat” from Iran, Russia, China, and Islamic extremist groups, former CIA Director and retired Gen. David Petraeus told House lawmakers during a hearing aimed at assessing the state of the world. [John McLaughlin, a former deputy and acting director of the CIA who testified before the House Armed Services Committee alongside Petraeus on Wednesday, added North Korea to the list of threats facing the United States. North Korea “probably presents the most pressing concern and this administration and Congress will face a decision predecessors have not had to confront with the same urgency: how to protect against or neutralize its nuclear and missile capability,” testified McLaughlin, now a at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). McLaughlin said a series of developments in the last few years, including nuclear advances to its missile technology, has moved North Korea to near the top of America’s “nightmare list,” adding that the Communist country is “now clearly within reach” of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) able to reach U. S. soil. Both Petraeus and McLaughlin prepared a written testimony for the House panel hearing, titled “The State of the World: National Security Threats and Challenges. ” “Compounding the danger posed by revisionist forces are technologies that are eroding America’s conventional military edge,” declared Petraeus. He explained: Among the tools in their [Iran, Russia, China] arsenals are area denial weapons that will complicate our ability to project power into vital regions and uphold our security commitments increasingly complex for employment alone in attacks on infrastructure or in influence campaigns, or in supporting conventional and unconventional force operations, including hybrid warfare a renewed emphasis on nuclear weapons and threats to U. S. primacy in space — a vital sanctuary for U. S. military power that is increasingly contested. Petraeus pointed out that revisionist powers, or nations dissatisfied with the status quo, have embarked on an effort to establish a sphere of influence in and around their territory, which includes areas of “vital strategic importance” to the United Staes as well as territory that belongs to allies that America is bound to protect by shared interests and values. He went on to highlight Islamic extremism as another form of revisionist power threatening the open, free, and rule of U. S. international order. “A very different, far more radical revisionist force threatening the international order is Islamic extremism — the ideology that animates the Islamic State and al Qaeda,” noted Petraeus. “The greatest weakness of Islamic extremism is also its greatest strength — which is its protean ability to exist and indeed thrive without inhabiting a conventional . What it lacks in traditional power terms, it compensates for in conviction, resilience, resourcefulness, and ferocity. ” Gen. Petraeus referred to the jihadi threat as “unlike any adversary” the U. S. has ever faced. Despite the challenges, the United States remains in a commanding position to sustain and strengthen the international order it leads, noted the general. However, he warned, “Americans should not take the current international order for granted. It did not will itself into existence. We created it. Likewise, it is not naturally . We have sustained it. If we stop doing so, it will fray and, eventually, collapse. ” “This is precisely what some of our adversaries,” namely Russian President Vladimir Putin, “seek to encourage,” he added. McLaughlin predicted the U. S. will no longer be the sole dominant power over the next couple decades, noting that the world is moving towards a order. “We are witnessing a diffusion of power among nations. Over the next couple decades the world will be without a hegemonic power — that is, without a country so powerful as to exert dominant influence and advance policy with little reference to others,” he testified. “We remain the single most influential country and no major problems will be solved without the US … but the US cannot solve them alone. And others are competing for the preeminence we have long enjoyed,” he added. Petraeus identified a loss of resolve, and strategic clarity on U. S. national security interests as a “more pernicious” challenge undermining the United States and its allies. | 1 |
OTTAWA — When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prevailed in Canada’s election last year, he promised “sunny ways” and later pledged to hold his cabinet ministers to high ethical standards when it came to conflicts of interest and . Now, after being the chief attraction at a attended by wealthy businessmen, Mr. Trudeau himself is facing criticism from some who say he is not following his own rules. On Tuesday, The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper, reported that Mr. Trudeau spoke in May at a political held in the Toronto house of the president of the Chinese Business Chamber of Commerce. Most of the 32 guests paid 1, 500 Canadian dollars, or about $1, 100, to attend. Among the nonpaying guests was Zhang Bin, president of the China Cultural Industry Association, a promotional agency under the control of China’s minister of culture. Not long afterward, Mr. Zhang and his group’s honorary president made a joint donation of 1 million Canadian dollars, or about $741, 200, to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, which includes Justin Trudeau’s brother among its board members, and the University of Montreal law faculty. The donation included funds for a statue of Pierre Trudeau, the former prime minister and Justin’s father, at the law school. The article was the latest in a series by The Globe and Mail that suggests, opposition members of Parliament say, that donors get privileged access to members of Mr. Trudeau’s cabinet in exchange for cash, which can sometimes be as little as 500 Canadian dollars, or $370. Mr. Trudeau has maintained that no rules have been broken or ethical boundaries crossed. On Thursday, the questions over the May followed the prime minister to Liberia, where he was making a visit. Speaking to reporters in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, Mr. Trudeau rejected the idea that the large donation from Mr. Zhang and the Chinese association’s honorary president, Niu Gensheng, to the foundation named for his father could influence his thinking or the direction of government policies. Mr. Trudeau said he had cut all ties to the foundation, which promotes and funds academic research in the humanities and social sciences, when he entered politics. “I stepped down from any of my responsibilities shortly after having gotten elected, in order to demonstrate that there is a tremendous separation there,” he said. Mr. Zhang did not respond to a request for comment. Efforts by Mr. Trudeau and his cabinet members to defend the have not placated opponents. “Not only does this event break the prime minister’s own ethics rules, but it does not pass the smell test,” Rona Ambrose, the interim Conservative leader, told the House of Commons on Tuesday. “He could stop this right away. Why does he not?” Compared with the United States, Canada has severe limits on political donations. A scandal in the late 1990s involving a Liberal government led by Jean Chrétien prompted changes that banned donations by unions and corporations and that limited individual donations to parties to 1, 525 Canadian dollars, or about $1, 130, a year. Only Canadian citizens may donate. After The Globe and Mail reported on involving some members of Mr. Trudeau’s cabinet, Mary Dawson, the independent conflict of interest and ethics commissioner, told a House of Commons committee the sessions did not break any laws, but noted that she had repeatedly called for stricter rules. On the way out of the committee room Ms. Dawson told reporters that the were “not very savory. ” Mr. Trudeau’s critics argue that even if the events break no laws, they seem to be in direct conflict with the stringent and much publicized ethics rules he set down for his cabinet. “There should be no preferential access to government, or appearance of preferential access, accorded to individuals or organizations because they have made financial contributions to politicians and political parties,” Mr. Trudeau’s rules state. When they were in power, the Conservatives held that sometimes cast the party in an unflattering light. Lisa Raitt, a former cabinet minister from Toronto, became the subject of an investigation after a prominent lobbyist organized one of her events. While Ms. Dawson cleared Ms. Raitt, she called for tighter rules related to a request that so far remains unheeded. Ms. Raitt is now campaigning to lead the Conservatives. Mike Storeshaw, a spokesman for the Conservatives, said that when the party was in power, guest lists at were vetted and anyone who did business with the government was asked not to attend. He acknowledged that the system was not always perfect. Since The Globe and Mail began publishing its articles, the Liberal Party decided to bar lobbyists from attended by cabinet ministers they lobby. This month, the chairman of a large generic drug company based in Canada pulled out of a group organizing an event attended by the federal finance minister. In an editorial this week, The Globe and Mail proposed that Mr. Trudeau go much further and reduce individual donations to a mere 100 Canadian dollars, or about $74. “Dropping them to just $100 per person would price fundraising out of business for good,” The Globe and Mail wrote. | 1 |
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At the branch office of the Pentagon’s US-NATO military alliance in Brussels there is a never-ending whirl of activity and apart from provoking Russia by announcing an aggressive military surge around its borders, its latest achievement was to have Belgium issue “a commemorative stamp depicting the new NATO Headquarters and its distinctive architecture.”
On October 22 a ceremony was held to mark the new stamp, but no details were given about the price of the vast palace which will “ enable all Allies to have the space they require and [in which] there is also space for expansion should the need arise.” There is never any mention by US-NATO of the staggering cost overrun that took place, but two years ago Germany’s Der Spiegel revealed that it was more than double the original construction budget, at over a billion euros.
Ten days before the stamp ceremony, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg left the Brussels Palace to visit a more modest one in Italy where he met Pope Francis. After his call, some observers were unkind enough to express surprise that Mr Stoltenberg could spare the time for such an appointment, but all was made clear when it was announced that the meeting took place in the sidelines of his visit to Rome to celebrate the establishment anniversary of the NATO Defense College, an institution that has contributed generously to the Italian economy.
His Holiness the Pope did not of course make a public statement about the meeting, but the NATO publicity machine (the large and remarkably expensive organization that also arranges stamp issue ceremonies) made up for the omission by announcing that he and his illustrious visitor
discussed global issues of common concern, including the conflicts in Syria and the wider Middle East, the importance of protecting civilian populations from suffering, and the importance of dialogue in international affairs to reduce tensions. The Secretary General also stressed that climate change could pose a significant security risk.
It is remarkable that His Holiness engaged in such deliberations with the titular head of an enormous nuclear-armed military alliance, and it would be interesting to know if the Pope mentioned that he did not always agree with the policies espoused by Mr Stoltenberg and his directors in Washington, as he averred earlier this year.
It will be recollected that in February 2016 Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church met with Pope Francis in Havana and that Western media headlines included “Pope Francis Handed Putin a Diplomatic Victory” which was as absurd as it was trivial. But even The Economist headline was similarly slanted and amusingly asked “Did the Pope Just Kiss Putin’s Ring?” This set the tone for other comment, but one thrust of its reporting was especially revealing, as it pointed out in shocked — shocked — tones that the Pope had “made clear in his interview before the meeting that on certain issues he agrees with Mr Putin and disagrees with America and its allies.”
How truly dreadful that the Pope dares to be impartial and ventures to disagree with America and its allies about international affairs.
The Economist further noted that “On Libya, where Western powers helped to bring down former dictator Muammar Qaddafi, the pope was explicit: ‘The West ought to be self-critical.’ And he continued that ‘In part, there has been a convergence of analysis between the Holy See and Russia’.” The Economist did not mention the unpalatable fact that the ‘western powers’ — the US-NATO military alliance — bombed and rocketed Libya to a catastrophic shambles, resulting in anarchy and a base for Islamic terrorists. Perhaps the Pope had taken note of that merciless Blitz, and of the fact that under the dictator Gaddafi the Catholic community in Libya had lived peacefully while now it is suffering gravely.
As recorded by Christian Freedom International , “The upsurge in attacks on Christians in Libya since the Obama/Clinton supported ouster of Gaddafi is of grave concern. CFI condemns these abductions, killings and attacks on Christian property in what is becoming an increasingly inhospitable region for Christians.” Perhaps Pope Francis raised this with the devout Mr Stoltenberg, a graduate of Oslo Cathedral School who was prime minister of Norway when its air force “ carried out about 10 percent of the NATO airstrikes in Libya” from March to July 2011.
The news that the Pope has had the temerity and moral realism to “disagree with America and its allies” is not altogether surprising, but the report that “on certain issues he agrees with Mr Putin” must have shaken Mr Stoltenberg, whose fundamental stance is that “Russia is trying to kind of re-establish spheres of influence along its borders and for me this just underlines the importance of strong NATO, of strong partnership with other countries in Europe that are not members of NATO.”
Mr Stoltenberg believes that because Russia wants to establish — or, more accurately, maintain — spheres of influence along its borders then it must be discouraged or even stopped from doing so. This is confrontational, and it is unsurprising that His Holiness has made it clear that the Vatican is not an unconditional supporter of Washington’s Pentagon and its palatial sub-office in Brussels.
Mr Stoltenberg may not have read the address to the US Congress by His Holiness in 2015, when he said ‘We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the golden rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’.’ As reported , ‘The line drew instant, thunderous applause from Democrats, followed with some hesitation by Republicans, a pattern repeated throughout the address.’
In his talk to Congress Pope Francis eschewed the Stoltenberg line that Russia’s desire to maintain peaceful ‘spheres of influence’ around its borders must by definition be wrong and unacceptableand pointed out that ‘there is another temptation which we must especially guard against : the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners.’
As President Putin observed in an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera “we are not expanding anywhere; it is NATO infrastructure, including military infrastructure, that is moving towards our borders. Is this a manifestation of our aggression?” No, it is not — except in the eyes of such as the Pentagon and Mr Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg makes many visits round the world, including head-of-state-style attendance at the UN General Assembly in New York, where he had discussions with, among others, Ukraine’s President Poroshenko ( “Dear Petro, it’s great to see you again” ) and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; and another recent stopover was in the United Arab Emirates on October 19. There, while committing NATO to an Individual Partnership and Cooperation Program he “ praised the UAE for its role as a valuable NATO partner in projecting international security and stability: from Kosovo, to Afghanistan to Libya.”
Perhaps Mr Stoltenberg’s meeting with the Pope affected his short-term memory. He ignores the unpalatable facts that in Kosovo, as Freedom House reports , there has been “little progress in strengthening its statehood,” while Afghanistan verges on total anarchy and, as noted above, US-NATO’s war on Libya destroyed the country. These are far from being examples of “security and stability” as Mr Stoltenberg would have us believe them to be, but self-delusion knows no borders.
When Stoltenberg was made head of NATO, President Putin considered him to be a “serious, responsible person” but warned with prescience that “we’ll see how our relations develop with him in his new position.” Unfortunately that apprehension concerning future developments has been more than justified. During a trip to Washington in April, Stoltenberg told the Washington Post correspondent Karen de Young, that “NATO has to remain an expeditionary alliance, able to deploy forces outside our territory,” which is a plain unvarnished statement of expansionism. The Pope summed it up when he quoted the Bible’s advice to ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’ but it is unlikely that Mr Stoltenberg could ever bring himself to abide by such wise advice. More confrontation lies ahead. | 0 |
Could you at least learn what a data point is? | 0 |
Probably in the pockets of the corrupt? Guy
It starts with you and me ! Paschn
Checking their deposit history, making certain their Israeli accounts are getting their scheduled 30 pieces of silver on time. Think about it; If a father/mother treated their children the way Sewer Nation’s government treats us, they’d be tried for abuse and jailed, the Judas Class in D.C. wins Nobel (payoffs) prizes. Tina Marie Deraco
Bernie Sanders has been very vocal. What have you done to support his efforts? Paschn
They’re ALL very vocal, until the electronic ballet machines ensconce them in the whor, oops white house. You might ask dual citizen “Bernie” why he gutted the “Audit the Fed” bill, it sure as hell wasn’t for his Christian/Muslim constituency.
http://youtu.be/_Sqoq-lAGO8 Tina Marie Deraco
I agree. Once a president takes the Oval Office, we witness them doing 180’s on some of their most passionate and popular platform promises. It’s so bizarre, I find it hard to believe it’s always deliberate on their part. Frankly, it’s scary to wonder what happens behind those closed doors. In Bernie’s case, he’s not taking any big money, so he’d go in without owing any favors to anyone but the American people. If the man who has been saying the same things for decades got in there and suddenly changed, I’d be concerned he’d been “replaced”. As for Bernie, he is not a dual citizen. He’s been asked and he answered. No one has produced any proof to the contrary; so your allegation is falling on deaf ears. Unless you have some means of proving this honest man is lying; I suggest you drop that argument. He’s the ONLY candidate who stood up for the Palestinian people during a Democratic debate (it’s being called “historic”) and some Israeli officials reacted with nasty verbal assaults. I’m familiar with the ATF bill and Paul eventually appreciated what Bernie did. If you listen to the entire statement by Paul, you’ll hear him explain the tremendous pressure being exerted against it’s passing. What Bernie did was compromise to save it from dying completely. He injected an amendment that even the president went along with and it was voted on and passed. Paul calmed down and realized that Bernie gave them something out of nothing, Sanders wasn’t dubbed the “amendment king” for no reason. When Rand Paul presented another ATF bill just a few months ago, Bernie voted with him, against the Democrats and the president’s wishes. Unfortunately it did not pass. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/10/ron-paul-backs-fed-audit_n_570487.html Paschn
Bernie Sanders is, by virtue of his Jewish heritage, a dual citizen. The “right of Return” automatically extended to all Jews allows him to move about between the U.S. and Israel. As for “compromise”? Being one who will never accept the 2 party system when it comes to what is or is not good for ALL citizens, perhaps I judge his “compromise” too harshly. Even as a teenager I wasn’t able to grasp this idiocy of voting along the “party” lines. It’s either good or not. A person’ voting should have nothing to do with a party affiliation. It cripples the democratic process and benefits those holding title to “our” statesmen. Consider this, what type of honorable legislative branch would argue amongst themselves ending with the private FED RES being, yet again, shielded from transparency? Those foul dogs should be rising up as ONE demanding the FED RES charter be instantly rescinded and they, along with their PRIVATE collection agency, the IRS should be bodily thrown out of our nation right behind the Central Bank owned U.N. It wasn’t a “lucky break” which allowed Jackson to be the first and only president to pay the Nat’l debt to zero, it was because he rid us of those stinking Rothschild parasites. How things have changed, no? While we naively think it’s only oil/gas/markets that keep 800 military bases in +/- 130 nations to make things “cozy” for the corporations but no, the Judas Class’s primary reason, (which they’ve accomplished for their masters), is forcing the goddamn City of London Central Banks down the throats of smaller, weaker nations. There are literally only around five nations who are not being sucked dry by those swine. I apologize for the rant but those Central Bank blood-suckers get my ire up… quickly. Keysbum
quit the pussyfooting around… these criminals control the creation and destruction of money. that means they own, and control the world. Robby Johnson Fox
Which, in turn, means we – the average people of this world – are slaves to them that make and destroy money. Paschn
Even more frightening than a government so corrupted this succubus continues “whoring -as-usual”, knowing full well “the synagogue” has no intention of letting a simple thing like treason allow this year’s favorite member of the Judas Class answer for her crimes, there are literally millions of dead-from-the-neck-up members of this “mutt” culture supporting that demoness Sewer Nation – Idiot Culture.
She’s owned by global Jewry. peter
You know, Judas has been taking an undeserved rap over these past couple of millenia. According to the church, God offered up Jesus for martyrdom and Judas was a key part of that plan. Jesus even asked God if there was no other way and God said “Nope, this is the way it’s gotta be.
Judas was just doing what he was supposed to do. Peaver Bogart
It would be very funny if nobody showed up. Janet Jenkins
Clinton’s accomplishments: 1 – James McDougal – Clinton’s convicted Whitewater partner died of an apparent heart attack, while in solitary confinement. He was a key witness in Ken Starr’s investigation. 2 – Mary Mahoney – A former WH intern was murdered July 1997 at a Starbucks Coffee Shop in Georgetown. The murder happened just after she was to go public with her story of sexual harassment in the WH. 3 – Vince Foster – Former WH councilor, and colleague of Hillary at Little Rock’s Rose Law firm. Died of a gunshot wound to the head, ruled a suicide. He was going to testify against the Clintons. 4 – Ron Brown – Secretary of Commerce and former DNC Chairman who had a serious disagreement with Clinton. Reported to have died by impact in a plane crash. A pathologist close to the investigation reported that there was a hole in the top of Brown’s skull resembling a gunshot wound. At the time of his death Brown was being investigated, and spoke publicly of his willingness to cut a deal with prosecutors. 5 – C. Victor Raiser II and Montgomery Raiser – Major players in the Clinton fund raising organization died in a private plane crash in July 1992. 6 – Paul Tulley – DNC Political Director found dead in a hotel room in Little Rock, September 1992 after a serious disagreement with Clinton. Described by Clinton as a “Dear friend and trusted advisor.” 7- Ed Willey – Clinton fund raiser, found dead November 1993 deep in the woods in VA of a gunshot wound to the head. Ruled a suicide. Ed Willey died on the same day after his wife Kathleen Willey claimed Bill Clinton groped her in the oval office in the White House. Ed Willey was involved in several Clinton fund raising events. 8 – Jerry Parks – Head of Clinton’s gubernatorial security team in Little Rock. Gunned down in his car at a deserted intersection outside Little Rock. Park’s son said his father was building a dossier on Clinton. He allegedly threatened to reveal this information. After he died the files were mysteriously removed from his house. 9 – James Bunch – Died from a gunshot suicide. It was reported that he had a “Black Book” of people which contained names of influential people who visited prostitutes in Tx & Ark. Although the book was seen by several persons, it disappeared. 10 – James Wilson – Was found dead in May 1993 from an apparent hanging suicide. He had ties to Whitewater. 11- Kathy Ferguson – Ex-wife of Ark Trooper Danny Ferguson, was found dead in May 1994, in her living room with a gunshot to her head. It was ruled a suicide even though there were several packed suitcases, as if she were going somewhere. Danny Ferguson was a co-defendant along with Bill Clinton in the Paula Jones lawsuit. Kathy Ferguson was a corroborating witness for Paula Jones. 12 – Bill Shelton – Ark State Trooper & fiancee of Kathy Ferguson. Critical of the suicide ruling of his fiancee, he was found dead in June, 1994 of a gunshot wound also ruled a suicide at the grave site of his fiancee. There were no powder burns. 13 – Gandy Baugh – Attorney for Clinton’s friend Dan Lassater, died by jumping out a window of a tall building January, 1994. His client was a convicted drug distributor. 14 – Florence Martin – Accountant & sub-contractor for the CIA, was related to the Barry Seal Mena Airport drug smuggling case. He died of three gunshot wounds. 15 – Suzanne Coleman – Reportedly had an affair with Clinton when he was Ark AG. Died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head, ruled a suicide. Was pregnant at the time of her death. 16 – Paula Grober – Clinton’s speech interpreter for the deaf from 1978 until her death December 9, 1992. She died in a one car accident. She told a friend that Clinton made advances. 17 – Danny Casolaro – Investigative reporter. Investigating Mena Airport and Ark Development Finance Authority. He slit his wrists, apparently, in the middle of his investigation. Before his death, he claimed to have found a shattering story involving Clinton. 18 – Paul Wilcher – Attorney investigating corruption at Mena Airport with Casolaro and the 1980 “October Surprise” was found dead on a toilet June 22, 1993 in his Wash DC apartment. Had delivered a shocking report to Janet Reno three weeks before his death. 19 – Jon Parnell Walker – Whitewater investigator for Resolution Trust Corp. Jumped to his death from his Arlington, Va apartment balcony August 15, 1993. He was investigating the Morgan Guarantee scandal. 20 – Barbara Wise – Commerce Department staffer. Worked closely with Ron Brown and John Huang. Cause of death unknown. Died November 29, 1996. Her bruised, nude body was found locked in her office at the Dept of Commerce. 21- Charles Meissner – Asst Secretary of Commerce who gave John Huang special security clearance, died shortly thereafter in a small plane crash. The plane had been tampered with. 22 – Dr. Stanley Heard – Chairman of the National Chiropractic Health Care Advisory Committee, died with his attorney Steve Dickson in a small plane crash. Again, tampering with the plane. Dr. Heard, in addition to serving on Clinton’s advisory council personally treated Clinton’s mother, stepfather and brother. 23 – Barry Seal – Drug running pilot out of Mena Arkansas, death was no accident. 24 – Johnny Lawhorn Jr. – Mechanic, found a check made out to Bill Clinton in the trunk of a car left at his repair shop. He was found dead after his car had hit a utility pole. Apparently he was dead before the car hit the pole. 25 – Stanley Huggins – Investigated Madison Guarantee. His death was a purported suicide and his report was never released. 26 – Hershell Friday – Attorney & Clinton fund raiser died March 1, 1994 when his plane exploded. This happen two days after an argument with Clinton. 27 – Kevin Ives & Don Henry – Known as “The boys on the track” case. Reports say the boys may have stumbled upon the Mena Ark airport drug operation. A controversial case, the initial report of death said, due to falling asleep on railroad tracks. Later reports claim the two boys had been slain before being placed on the tracks. Many linked to the case died before their testimony could come before a Grand Jury.
The following persons had infoon the Ives/Henry Case: 28 – Keith Coney – Died when his motorcycle apparently slammed into the back of a truck, July 1988. No one saw the accident & the bike was not damaged. 29 – Keith McMaskle – Died stabbed 113 times, Nov, 1988 30 – Gregory Collins – Died from a gunshot wound January 1989. 31 – Jeff Rhodes – He was shot, mutilated and found burned in a trash dump in April 1989. 33 – James Milan – Found decapitated. However, the Coroner ruled his death was due to “natural causes.” 34 – Jordan Kettleson – Was found shot to death in the front seat of his pickup truck in June 1990. 35 – Richard Winters – A suspect in the Ives / Henry deaths. He was killed in a set-up robbery July 1989.
The following Clinton body guards are dead: 36 – Major William S. Barkley Jr. 37 – Captain Scott J. Reynolds 38 – Sgt. Brian Hanley 40 – Major General William Robertson 41 – Col. William Densberger | 0 |
Posted on November 7, 2016 by Walter Brasch
With less than a week until the election, just about every voter in the swing states has received dozens of robocalls, e-mails, letters, postcards, and exposure to almost-uncountable radio, TV, digital, satellite, and social media ads. Most are attack ads, with similar messages.
The ads focus upon homeland security, taxes, immigration, pro-life/pro-choice, and bringing jobs back to America. The conservatives have thrown in the phrase “liberal extremists” in many of their ads in an effort to shock all America to believe that liberals are somehow tied to Muslim extremists. The liberals are pushing an agenda that defines the conservatives as greedy plutocrats who have little thought for the middle class. This election, from local offices to the presidency may be the dirtiest since 1800 when Thomas Jefferson challenged John Adams.
Donald Trump, who has outsourced much of his clothing line and construction materials, now says if president he will bring jobs back to America, stop illegal immigration, defeat Isis, repeal Obamacare, lower taxes for families while miraculously raising the budget for defense, and perform myriad miracle acts that are not part of a president’s constitutional responsibility.
On his march to the presidency, Trump has focused upon Hillary Clinton’s e-mails, a scandal that isn’t one. Congressional hearings and the FBI have cleared her; innumerable times, Trump has continued to attack her. Clinton has already apologized for using a personal e-mail server during her four years as secretary of state. What turned up among more than 30,000 e-mails is about 55 e-mails that received a “confidential” tag, the lowest of three classifications, with another 55 receiving “secret” or “top secret” classification. As a cabinet officer, and fourth in line of succession, she had the right to classify any message. A few of the messages came from other agencies. About 2,100 messages were classified retroactively.
Clinton, still ahead in numerous polls, has attacked Trump for his crude behavior. One of her TV ads, which penetrates almost every TV show, is a fast-paced collage of his many comments; among them, Trump mocks a disabled reporter, uses obscene language, and treats women as chattel.
Both candidates call each other unfit to be president, with Clinton asking voters if they really want Trump to be the person in charge of unleashing the nuclear arsenal, and Trump asking voters if they want a corrupt liar in the White House. Trump has also played upon Clinton’s 30 years of public service, linking her as an insider and him as an outsider to Washington, D.C., politics. The “outsider” label has been resonating with voters at all levels of the election campaigns as voters believe they are outsiders, alienated to government, and are willing to be led by insiders who claim to be outsiders.
The cost of airing ads by both candidates for the presidency and members of Congress is more than $4 billion, and that doesn’t include the cost of producing them. More than $600 million, spread among all major Democratic and Republican candidates for the presidency, has been spent on broadcast TV ads, according to Borrell Associates. During the past 21 weeks, Clinton has spent about $211 million on broadcast TV ads; Trump has spent about $74 million, according to data compiled by BloombergPolitics. However, Trump has used both Twitter and free TV time, due to outrageous statements, to equal Clinton’s campaign. During the final week prior to the election, Trump will spend $25 million in broadcast TV ads.
The Trump totals don’t include a $3 million TV ad buy from the NRA, which stokes the fire of fear that Clinton, if elected president, will violate the Second Amendment and take guns away from civilians, something a president cannot do. By Tuesday’s election, it will be doubtful that either Clinton or Trump will know how many ads were placed by their campaigns or by SuperPACs on their behalf that aired on broadcast television.
There is one reality in all the advertising—negative ads generally don’t work, and exist only to reinforce a candidate’s base of support.
Dr. Brasch, who has covered politics and government for four decades, is author of “Fracking America: Sacrificing Health and the Environment for Short-Term Economic Benefit.” | 0 |
Nearly 200 of the approximately 450 people who asked Gov. Peter Shumlin of Vermont to forgive their misdemeanor marijuana convictions had their wish fulfilled this week. In one of his final acts in office, Governor Shumlin on Tuesday pardoned 192 people convicted of marijuana possession, fulfilling a promise he made early last month to consider forgiveness for anyone who applied by Christmas. “While attitudes and laws about marijuana use are rapidly changing, there is still a harmful stigma associated with it,” Mr. Shumlin, a Democrat, said in a statement on Tuesday. “My hope was to help as many individuals as I could overcome that stigma and the very real struggles that too often go along with it. ” Such charges can stand in the way of finding work, being accepted to college and traveling internationally. The pardons were limited to people who had no violent criminal histories or felony convictions, and who had not been found guilty of driving under the influence or reckless driving. People who did not apply for a pardon under Mr. Shumilin can still apply to have marijuana possession convictions expunged from their record through a court process established under a 2013 state decriminalization law. Mr. Shumlin cited that law and his own support for legalizing marijuana as the basis for the pardons. “Vermont should follow the many states that are legalizing and regulating the use of marijuana and put to an end the incredible failure that is the War on Drugs,” he said in the statement. His successor, Phil Scott, a Republican, has urged caution, though he has signaled he may be open to legalization eventually. He is scheduled to be sworn in on Thursday and has said that he supports the pardons, according to local news reports. Those who received the pardons ranged in age from 22 to 69, though most were younger than 40. All but 15 live in Vermont. In all, Mr. Shumlin has issued 208 pardons since taking office in 2010, more than any other governor in the history of the state, his office said. | 1 |
Monday on MSNBC, commenting on Rep. John Lewis ( ) saying “I don’t see the as a legitimate president,” Rep. Raúl Grijalva ( ) said Donald Trump’s “legitimacy is in question” and that he will not attend the inauguration. Grijalva said, “I chose not to attend the inauguration. I really feel that since November 8, there are no signs that Trump is rising to the mantle of the office of a president. On the contrary, there’s been no efforts at reconciliation, the attacks on Representative Lewis is a prime example. ” He added, “I agree with John Lewis that the legitimacy is in question. And the person most responsible for the question of legitimacy, whether it is John Lewis’ or mine, is Donald Trump himself. His comportment and rhetoric during the election carried on afterwards, failing to understand after an election one of the biggest responsibilities a has and incoming president has is to reassure the country that the transfer of power with it is going to come a full understanding of the reconciliation needed among the American people. He doesn’t understand that. And if there’s any question of his legitimacy, whether it is the hacking by the Russians, whether it is international, whether it’s domestic that question that John Lewis has and I have and other people have has been brought about by his comportment and no one else. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
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