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In his first executive order, President Donald Trump called for federal agencies to “ease the burden” of Obamacare. [Trump says in the order that he will be seeking “prompt repeal” of the Affordable Care Act. Pending full repeal, however, he will “take all actions consistent with law to minimize the unwarranted economic and regulatory burdens of the Act. ” He also says the executive order will give individual states “more flexibility and control to create a more free and open healthcare market. ” The executive order continues: To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) and the heads of all other executive departments and agencies (agencies) with authorities and responsibilities under the Act shall exercise all authority and discretion available to them to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision or requirement of the Act that would impose a fiscal burden on any State or a cost, fee, tax, penalty, or regulatory burden on individuals, families, healthcare providers, health insurers, patients, recipients of healthcare services, purchasers of health insurance, or makers of medical devices, products, or medications. According to Fox News, Trump’s chief of staff Reince Priebus also issued a memo that directs federal agencies to freeze all new regulations and those that may be in the pipeline until the Trump administration is able to review them. Republicans in Congress began the process of repealing Obamacare last week with an addendum to a budget bill. | 1 |
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[Ed. – Every now and then the facade cracks. Somebody asks a question the media haven’t intervened to spin yet, and a bit of truth peeks out about what the public really thinks. CNN is our poster child on this one, but it could be any number of them.]
Two national polls released late last week confirmed the public widely recognizes the news media’s agenda in favor of Hillary Clinton and decidedly against Donald Trump, a reality documented in a NewsBusters study earlier in the week.
“By nearly 10-1, all those surveyed say the news media, including major newspapers and TV stations, would like to see Clinton rather than Trump elected,” Susan Page and Karina Shedrofsky reported deep into a Thursday USA Today story on the latest USA Today /Suffolk University poll on the Clinton-Trump race.
The October 27 article elaborated on how even a solid majority of Clinton supporters also realize journalists want Clinton to win: “That includes 82% of Trump supporters and 74% of Clinton supporters. Six in 10 Trump supporters say the news media is coordinating stories with individual campaigns, rather than acting on its own accord. Three in 10 of Clinton supporters feel that way.” | 0 |
Donald Trump is loud, rude, bombastic and just awful , right?
That’s what the media is telling you.
They’ll play the awful Billy Bush audiotape over and over again, repeat comments he made decades ago about women, and recycle his “What an awful woman!” comment during the debate.
But that’s the side of Donald Trump the media wants you to see.
Perhaps the real Donald Trump is soft-spoken, humble, thoughtful and intelligent.
In a short video announcing the opening of his new hotel in Washington (a revitalization of the old Post Office in the district), Trump speaks about what it took to get the building remodeled.
He used the work on the post office as a metaphor for rebuilding America.
“This building is an historical landmark, a true American original,” he said. “It had all the ingredients of greatness, but it has been neglected and left to deteriorate for many, many decades. It sat there so beautiful and so empty and was falling into a very, very bad state of condition.
It had the foundation for success. All of the elements were here. Our job was to restore it to its former glory, honor its heritage, but also to imagine a brand new and exciting vision.”
Everyone should watch this video:
No yelling, no screaming. Just Donald Trump explaining how to make America great again. | 0 |
Rep. Adam Schiff ( ) threatened to have Congress appoint a special counsel, despite the Supreme Court’s decision that it is unconstitutional for Congress to appoint any federal official. This decision came from a case so famous that the lawmaker almost certainly learned it as a student at Harvard Law School. [Schiff tweeted Monday, “If President fired Bob Mueller, Congress would immediately independent counsel and appoint Bob Mueller. Don’t waste our time”: If President fired Bob Mueller, Congress would immediately independent counsel and appoint Bob Mueller. Don’t waste our time. — Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) June 12, 2017, The Harvard Law professors who taught the ranking member of the House Select Intelligence Committee are probably disappointed with their former student because the Supreme Court in 1976 unanimously said Congress would violate the Constitution by doing so. In the 1970s, Congress created the Federal Election Commission (FEC) which gave them the power to appoint two of its six commissioners, but the statute was challenged on several constitutional grounds. In Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution’s separation of powers requires that the only branch of government that can create a federal office — Congress, through passing legislation — is also the one branch that can never then appoint someone to fill the office it had just created. Congress must, instead, specify in the statute who can appoint someone to fill that office, choosing between the president, one of the president’s senior subordinates, such as the attorney general or other cabinet officers, or the courts. Quoting the rule from its 1926 case, Myers v. United States, the Court declared, “Legislative power, as distinguished from executive power, is the authority to make laws, but not to enforce them or appoint the agents charged with the duty of such enforcement. ” Consequently, the Court in Buckley struck down that provision in federal law for violating the Constitution’s Appointments Clause. Following that decision, all FEC commissioners are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. That is precisely the issue here. Schiff is threatening to take action that the Supreme Court has clearly and repeatedly held unconstitutional. This sets aside the fact that the independent counsel statute — the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 — is unconstitutional, upheld by the Supreme Court in its 1988 case, Morrison v. Olson, over the dissent of Justice Antonin Scalia. But political dramas in subsequent years proved Scalia’s argument correct on why a prosecutor, fully independent from the elected head of the executive branch, is incompatible with the Constitution’s structure of American government. Now, many leading liberal judges agree that while the Constitution allows special counsels, it does not allow independent counsels. In other words, Schiff is threatening to violate the Constitution not once, but twice, one in open defiance of the Supreme Court. This is all political theatre. Given these Supreme Court cases, Congress would never pass such a statute. If it did, President Trump would promptly and properly veto it, and there is zero chance that even a Congress could muster a supermajority to override the veto. Schiff should know all this, leading skeptics to conclude his entire threat should be chalked up as more evidence of Democrats’ exacerbation of partisan tensions in the nation’s capital. Ken Klukowski is senior legal editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski. | 1 |
PARENTS think a lot about what their money might one day do for their children. Will it give them options in life to accomplish something meaningful, or rob them of ambition? Or will a lack of family money leave them at a disadvantage? Of course, there are a lot of other outcomes. But fear about the bad things that money can do to children sends some parents to lawyers and advisers to create trust documents with rules stating what children need to do to obtain the money. Even parents of modest means are encouraged to own life insurance policies in trusts to inhibit their children from getting all the cash at once should the parents die. These are necessary in certain cases. But long before children are aware of what they might inherit, there are more foundational conversations that parents should have. What if parents thought about the capital — yes, financial, but also emotional and intellectual — that they were spending on their young children as assets in an “emotional trust fund” with trustee duties inherent in it? That’s the concept being advanced by Jacalyn S. Burke, a former nanny, a commentator on parenthood issues, and the author of “The Nanny Time Bomb: Navigating the Crisis in Child Care” (Praeger, 2015). She argues that thinking in financial terms when it comes to parental choices could make a difference in shaping children who grow up to live meaningful lives — regardless of whether any money comes to them. The essential components of an emotional trust fund are analogous to those of a conventional one — cash, stocks, bonds and property as the holdings, with trustees directing the investments in each, with an eye toward the recipient’s best interest. How investments in those assets are divided up, though, is what matters. “That same structure we use for our financial lives could be applied to how we raise our children,” Ms. Burke said. “The different components could relate to a child’s life. A nanny comes in as a massive part of that portfolio, particularly if they work with them 9 to 5 and sometimes longer. ” Nannies and child care workers more broadly are the stocks in the emotional trust fund. Their influence on children is a bet on the future, and just like stocks, no one makes a selection thinking it will underperform. Like stocks, some nannies do well from the start. Others pay dividends over time. And then there are the ones that seem like but prove to be disappointments. Ms. Burke said this is where her thinking started, largely because she found parents not putting enough time into selecting someone — or enough money into paying such a crucial person in their children’s development. Cutting corners and hiring a disengaged nanny early on, she said, could hurt a child’s ability to form relationships over the long run. To choose well, she said, parents need to do their due diligence. “For someone who you’re employing for the majority of the time when you’re out of the home, you should go back and see how that stock has performed in the past,” she said. “Did it perform well for six months or for 10 years? A reliable performer is someone with various credentials who shows up each week — that’s a solid stock that’s not going to wobble. ” Karen Kaufman, a clinical psychologist in Manhattan, who also wrote the preface to Ms. Burke’s book, said distracted nannies can inflict lasting damage on children. (The same goes for parents.) “Just about every nanny I see is on the phone,” Dr. Kaufman said. “They’re distracted. It’s all these little tiny disruptions that make kids question if they’re enough. ” Separating good from bad nannies is as difficult as trying to select a stock. Ms. Burke recommends detailed background checks but also visiting the nanny at home or where she was last working, to gauge her interaction with that family. This also serves to make sure the nanny is telling the truth. “I was routinely asked by other nannies to pretend I was a parent and be a reference,” she said. For people who have consistently chosen nannies who didn’t work out, Ms. Burke suggested finding a consultant to work with the family on finding the right fit, much as one would go to an adviser to help with selecting securities. And as with stocks, trustees need to be dutiful managers — in terms of nannies’ work but also their happiness in their jobs. “When nannies got together and complained, you’d think the No. 1 complaint would be the awful wages they got paid,” Ms. Burke said. “It wasn’t. It was the lack of respect. ” Of course, it may take time before parents can judge how well their child care money was spent — or they may have an anchoring bias that keeps them with a mediocre nanny for fear that others will be worse. Enrichment activities are different. They’re the bonds in the portfolio. Just as analysts following the declining prices of municipal bonds knew Detroit and Puerto Rico were headed into trouble long before a crisis hit, parents can measure their children’s responses to enrichment fairly quickly. Ms. Burke said she is not focused on the number or kind of activities for a child, but on how those activities are inspiring or hurting a child. “There is so much value in doing something outside their school curriculum,” she said. “There’s a consummate value in enriching your children but not overextending them. ” Community, broadly defined, is the property component of the emotional trust fund. “A cloistered sense of the world does not do them well,” Ms. Burke said. “At the weekends, walk the dog around the neighborhood, have pancakes, play ball in your neighborhood, get involved in your church or synagogue. It gives your kid a great grounding in life. ” How parents spend time with their children is the cash in the emotional trust fund. It can be spent wisely to maximum benefits or it can be squandered on things that don’t matter or could do harm. In some ways, spending that cash carelessly dovetails with too much enrichment — activities scheduled throughout the weekend keep families apart. Instead, Ms. Burke calls for parents to spend their emotional cash on experiences — sitting, playing, baking, talking — and not on more things. “Cash is switching your phone off and doing things with your children,” she said. “What I hear from children is they just want down time with their parents. I can’t tell you how many extremely wealthy children say ‘I just want to play ball with Dad. ’” Like any trust fund, an emotional one needs a balance between what the trustees — the parents — are doing and how those actions are received by children — the beneficiaries. “The nannies can provide a tremendous amount of education,” Dr. Kaufman said. “But the main theme is no one is as important as the parents. It’s encouraging parents to be more physically present, not to be on their devices, to make eye contact. ” None of this is to say that parents can substitute an emotional trust fund for talking to their children as they grow up about wealth and the responsibilities that come with it. “Financial wealth is not a free ride — it’s a powerful tool,” said Kristen Armstrong, a wealth dynamics coach with U. S. Bank’s Ascent Private Capital Management. “In high school, having some conversations about being a family with significant wealth and being a family who has some opportunities is important. ” Given the amount of time and money parents spend on their children today, the emotional trust fund is an interesting concept. If nothing else, thinking in these terms might reframe how people spend time and money in their family. | 1 |
Daily Mail :
A newlywed couple have claimed their big day was ruined when a man burst inside the church shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and then started tearing down wedding decorations.
Groom Marcel Lohbeck, 35, and bride Friederike were celebrating their wedding with 90 guests in the Karmel Church in Duisburg, a city in western Germany.
Lochbeck said: ‘At the beginning of the ceremony, a man with a thick jumper and a hat on came into the church and sat in the back row.
‘Shortly afterwards, he stood up and wandered around the candles. He laughed in a disturbing manner and then fondled the statue of Mary.
‘He had been speaking in Arabic and partly English. He then started destroying the flowers and kept shouting “Allahu Akbar”.
Police officer Ludger A., 57, the uncle of the groom, reportedly tried to intervene along with the church sexton.
The officer said: ‘We tried to calm the obviously traumatised Syrian man.’
After the man again refused to leave the church, there was a fight in which the police officer got slight injuries to his face.
Yet he managed to restrain the man until his colleagues from the Duisburg police could arrive.
After a medical examination, the 23-year-old Syrian man was taken to a psychiatric hospital. | 0 |
News alerts and push notifications regularly draw questions from readers. So I sat down with Eric Bishop and Michael Owen from the news desk at The Times to answer some of my questions — and hopefully yours — about how the newsroom approaches this area. Last month, The Times announced it was dividing its email alerts into two channels: Breaking News gives readers developing stories as they happen and Top Stories gives subscribers breaking news plus special reports, investigative stories or live events in sports or politics if The Times deems them important. Soon, subscribers to mobile push notifications will get the same choice. Liz: So tell us more about these changes. Why do this? Michael: One of the big objections people have to alerts is that they’re not “breaking news. ” Even though we no longer advertise them as only for breaking news, I think that’s still an expectation people have — that people will only be interrupted for really big stuff. But we’ve discovered that both as a way of amplifying our work and as a way to engage people, and get them into the app, there’s actually a pretty big appetite for things that are not breaking news. We’ve found that many people do want the sort of New York Times stuff of investigations and major enterprise. So we wanted to be able to send those things but also give them an option if they just want to know when there’s some big disaster going on. Eric: And so in addition to that, we also have topical channels that users can opt into. That’s Politics, Sports, New York and Business. And we also had an Olympics channel during the Games that users could opt into. On those channels, you’re also going to get a mix of breaking news from those worlds — Politics or Sports — but also get some alerts of our best enterprise coverage. Liz: These alerts, through email or mobile, seem like they’re becoming a new home page through which a large audience enters into the vast work of The New York Times. I wonder how you try to engage this audience. What does this audience look like from your vantage point: Who are you trying to pull in, and what are you trying to achieve strategically? Eric: The point you make about this being a new home page is exactly right for a lot of people. I’ve had friends of mine say to me they would not have sought out our app and read this story had we not pushed it to them. But as far as strategy goes, that’s a question we’re beginning to confront a little more aggressively. I think in the past the stories have been the driver of notifications — where, say, we’ve got a great story, so what should the audience be for this? Now we’re starting to think a little more about whether there are audiences that The Times wants to reach but isn’t. Is there a way to reach them through Push that satisfies our goals and also clues them in to content that they might want to read? Michael: With increasing granularity we can choose the target for a particular story. And it really helps us as journalists to think about, from the moment a story is conceived, who is it for and how is it going to reach them? That’s a sea change to not just be broadcasting it into the dark. The ethos of The Times is never going to be “We’re writing stories for one particular audience. ” The generalist blood runs through our veins. But there’s a great power in being able to say we think some people are going to be particularly enthusiastic about a particular story. Liz: What tools do you have at your disposal now that can help you identify specific users or demographic groups and allow you to watch their patterns? For example, if you watch and see that I open up a lot of politics, or lifestyle stories, are you guys at a place where you can respond to that behavior and dish up more of what I want? Michael: I think we’re at the very beginning of it. We can segment audiences, and for people who have opted in to particular channels for breaking news, we can target within that. There’s no way for us to say systemically, “ is going to get more music articles. ” Instead, we say, we have this one Arts article we want to send an alert about. Who should we target? We’ll target people who’ve read X music articles. Liz: And you’re doing that now? Michael: Yes. Liz: O. K. interesting. So let’s talk about some questions I get from readers. As the public editor, my predecessors and I receive a regular stream of complaints or questions about alerts. And I’d say they fall into two categories — either people are concerned about an alert that wasn’t sent out, or they’re concerned about an alert that was sent. I imagine it’s a complicated calculation, but can you talk about how you make these evaluations? Michael: These decisions are made on the news desk, based on each case, for a given notification. Whoever is supervising the desk has the ultimate call, but every potential notification is deliberated on by multiple editors in every case. Sometimes those editors include the masthead [the top editors in the newsroom]. These are the same editors who are involved in what goes on the front page of the newspaper. It’s part of the same overall news judgment and process. As such, it’s susceptible to all of the classic pitfalls of news judgment. Sometimes we’re wrong, sometimes we don’t have all of the information we need to make a decision so we have to put it off, and sometimes there’s a quite a torturous conversation about whether we should send a given alert or not. And there’s no objective measure of what is newsworthy and what our audience is going to be most interested in, so we just have to make a judgment call every time. Eric: And given you really only have 125 characters, every word counts. So the language is often very heavily deliberated on. Liz: Along these lines, I wanted to ask you about a question I got this week where someone asked about alerts on terrorist attacks. He noted that there was a suicide attack perpetrated by a that killed 50 people in Turkey: no notification. When there was a priest in his 80s in France, you sent a breaking news alert. And the reader is asking: “Why the disparity? And what efforts are being done to consider balancing unnecessary alarm with equal coverage of terrorism globally?” Do you recall anything about that decision? Michael: I was there for the priest one. This is such an articulate form of this question. Every time we debate this, it’s like this incredible confluence of so many factors. Like: What is the news temperature of the day, what else is going on? Have we sent other alerts already? Do we anticipate that there is going to be big news later in the day? Are there other big running stories? How does this compare to the most proximate events that we’ve dealt with? And so those are the internal factors, and then: Do our journalists have direct access to what’s going on, can we make informed and reasoned evaluation about it? Sometimes it’s just not clear what’s going on. We’re really cautious, I would say, in breaking news situations exactly because we don’t want to veer into alarm. Those are really the most tense moments on the news desk. Liz: What about when some other prominent news organization has a big story but you don’t yet have the reporting yourself? You can’t confirm the story. Is that the kind of situation you struggle with? Michael: Yeah, it drives us crazy. Because in some cases the second you hear it you know that it’s going to be an alert but you don’t have the same level of sourcing that we would have before we would publish something. Liz: Do you have a number, an average range per day, that you aim for in sending out alerts? A number where you think, more than that is too annoying and less than that is not enough? Eric: We usually send to the Top Stories channel, I would say, an average of one to three a day. Which does seem to be on the low end. Liz: Yeah, I would have thought it was more than that. Michael: If it’s a big news day and there’s a lot of different things happening and we have sent a lot of alerts we are more conservative about sending alerts at a certain point because a) we don’t want to be bugging people but b) we don’t want to be in any way compromising our credibility and seeming to just jump on everything that happens. So it’s an incredibly delicate balance. When there’s a big multiday running story, you almost can’t push too much. We see huge engagement every time we send out an update. I mean, I don’t want to say we have a sixth sense, because it’s not magical — but we’re paying attention to a lot of signals in terms of what we alert and what we don’t. Eric: And it’s not just per day, it’s often per hour. Did we just send something 10 minutes ago? That might influence a decision about whether to send something. Liz: So let me ask you one last question. Can you cast into the future a bit and tell us where you think this area — news alerts, push notifications — is going? Eric: There’s a lot that could happen. For one, I think we’ll see more personalization. Liz: And what might that look like? Eric: Well, right now, and Michael touched on this, we are sending notifications to targeted groups, but we’re only doing that a little bit. We could probably be doing that more if we had more sophisticated tools, more editor bandwidth to do this type of thing. We’re still trying to figure out the best way to get reader feedback about these, though so far the feedback we’ve heard has been pretty good. That will inform how aggressive we get with more targeted alerts. I think another thing we aim to explore is the capacity to make these more of a communication channel, and if we can figure that out, then they aren’t just push notifications, but more units of interaction with our audience. Liz: Hmm. What might someone who subscribes say back to you? Michael: Historically, The New York Times was this thing we printed and sent out to everybody and was largely a interaction. Now, I think both the great opportunity and the difficulty of messaging is that it gives us a chance to take this way of interacting and put it in the realm of relationships. That’s kind of the dream that messaging promises. Eric: And in the more immediate future, moving beyond just text, the new Apple iOS will allow photos and videos to be pushed right on the lock screen, so that could be a very rich way of communicating and delivering the news and stories to people. *** Thanks to Michael and Eric for taking the time to talk. I hope we answered some of your questions. If we didn’t, feel free to write my office or share your comments on this article. | 1 |
Hamas’ prime minister in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh vowed “divine punishment”on Saturday for the assassins of military wing operative Mazen Faqha last week, and said his group was preparing “radical measures” against Palestinians caught collaborating with Israel. [Haniyeh said, “These murderers and their dispatchers will not escape divine punishment, punishment by the people and punishment by the resistance organizations. ” “Assassinations do not frighten us,” he added, according to a report on Channel 2 news. The terror group has accused Israel of killing Faqha on March 24. Faqha was a Hamas operative released as part of a prisoner exchange that secured the release of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit from Hamas captivity. Faqha was shot dead by men using guns with silencers near his home in southwest Gaza City. According to the Palestinians, he was shot four times in the head. Israel did not comment on his assassination. Haniyeh pledged that “every hand that hurt the martyr Mazen … will be cut off. ” The Hamas Interior Ministry, meanwhile, said, “Vigorous steps will be taken against the agents and collaborators of Israel in coming hours and days. ” Iyad the Palestinian ministry’s spokesperson, said the measures may include arrests, trials and even executions. On the Sunday after the assassination, the terror group established roadblocks near the Erez Crossing with Israel. On Monday, the roadblocks were opened for people entering Gaza City but remained closed for Palestinians wishing to leave the coastal territory. Hamas was reportedly looking for the assassins, believing they never left Gaza. On Wednesday, the group posted a video showing Israeli politicians and military figures with cross hairs on their faces. The officials shown included Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan and others. Faqha, 38, was released after serving nine life sentences for his role in planning a terror attack in 2002 in which nine Israelis were killed and 52 were wounded. Originally from a small village in the West Bank, Faqha was head of a Hamas office tasked with launching terror attacks against Israel. His subordinates specialized in recruiting suicide attackers, collecting weapons and preparing explosive devices. After his release in the Schalit prisoner exchange he was expelled to Gaza. His father said last week that Israeli authorities had contacted him repeatedly, telling him to warn his son against taking part in terror activities or there would be consequences. | 1 |
Huge crowds have turned out to pay their respects to Police Constable Keith Palmer as he is laid to rest in Southwark Cathedral. [PC Palmer, a Royal Regiment of Artillery veteran who served for 15 years on the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, was murdered by Westminster terrorist Khalid Masood while directing members of the public to safety. Thousands turn out to pay their respects to PC Palmer as his hearse made its way to Southwark Cathedral, Police observed a silence for their fallen colleague as his hearse made its way from the Palace of Westminster, the site of Masood’s deadly attack, to the cathedral, escorted by a “black guard” of mounted officers. Flowers and Union flags laid in tribute to PC Palmer, described as a “perfect policeman” by colleagues, colleague PC Shaun Cartright told Sky News: “If you could paint a picture of a perfect policeman you’d be painting a picture of Keith Palmer. One of the kindest people you will ever find. Very giving, very loyal, a true friend and a fantastic policeman. ” Police line the path of PC Palmer’s funeral procession, “It’s hit all of us so hard, what’s happened to him and what his family have to go through now,” said PC Greg Rainey, who knew him for 13 years. “He took his job really seriously. The reason Keith came to work was for his family but he was so proud to be a police officer. ” Police and Fire boats line up on the River Thames, The new Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, read W. H. Auden’s ‘Funeral Blues’ at the service. The poem was selected by PC Palmer’s family, who asked not to be filmed or photographed. Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drumBring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let aeroplanes circle moaning overheadScribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead, Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves, Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my songI thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong. The stars are not wanted now: put out every onePack up the moon and dismantle the sunPour away the ocean and sweep up the wood. For nothing now can ever come to any good. | 1 |
In the schoolyard of American politics, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stood tall Tuesday as he fired back at Vice President Joe Biden for a slam Biden sent his way last week.
“The press always asks me: Don’t I wish I were debating him? No, I wish we were in high school — I could take him behind the gym. That’s what I wish,” Biden said last week while attacking him for comments that surfaced from Trump’s past.
Trump commented on that remark Tuesday during a rally in Tallahassee, Fla.
Related Stories Trump Dedicates D.C. Hotel: ‘The Future Lies With The Dreamers’ Trump Sets GOP Fundraising Milestone In Small-Donor Contributions Newt Gingrich Defends Donald Trump Against ‘Sexual Predator’ Accusations “Did you see where Biden wants to take me to the back of the barn?” Trump asked his fans.
Donald Trump responds to Joe Biden saying he'd like to take Trump "behind the gym": "I'd love that! Mr Tough Guy." https://t.co/1vwBSd9c79
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) October 25, 2016
“ I’d love that . I’d love that,” Trump added. “Mr. Tough Guy. He’s Mr. Tough Guy. You know, he’s Mr. Tough Guy, when he’s standing behind a microphone by himself.”
Trump seemed to relish the thought.
“Some things in life you could really love doing,” Trump said.
I'm trying to envision something more fitting than this election actually ending in a Biden-Trump fist fight and i cannot
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 26, 2016
many, many, many economic problems could be solved by making a biden – trump boxing match pay-per-view
— ☕netw3rk (@netw3rk) October 26, 2016
Trending Stories Frustrated With Media Bias, Trump Campaign Takes Its Case Directly To Voters With Nightly Show On Facebook Independent Voters Push Trump To The Front In Florida And Ohio RNC Official Takes CNN Host To Task For Claiming There Is No Media Bias Trump also threw a jab at the media.
“By the way, if I said that, they’d say, ‘He’s violent. How could he have done that?'” Trump said.
Trump, who according to one recent poll has a narrow lead in Florida, told supporters that he was confident of victory .
“In 14 days we are going to win the state of Florida and we are going to win back the White House,” he declared.
“We have a thing going on that they have never seen before. It is a movement. They have never seen anything like it before. We are going to win and we are going to bring back a lot of good things including common sense to the White House,” Trump added.
“We have the power in our hands,” he said. “In just 14 days – 14 days? Can you believe this? I started, it was a year and a half. Now we’re down to 14 days.”
“We had unbelievably tough, nasty primaries. We’re proud to say they were the most difficult and toughest primaries they say in the history of politics. And now we have a nasty, nasty election. But we have the facts on our side,” he added.
What do you think? | 0 |
Actor Jim Caviezel portraying Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ.”
Jesus Christ of Nazareth is not the Republican nominee for president in this election cycle.
But if He were, Democrats would try to “destroy” Him in the same manner they’re attacking the 2016 GOP candidate, Donald Trump.
That’s according to radio host Rush Limbaugh, who hypothesized what this year’s race would look like if the Son of God were at the top of the Republican ticket.
Should President Trump try to prosecute Hillary? Sign the hottest petition in America now to show your support!
“It doesn’t matter who the Republicans would have nominated, they were gonna get the treatment Trump’s getting. It wouldn’t have mattered,” Limbaugh said Wednesday.
“They would go out of their way to find ways to destroy Jesus Christ if he could be nominated as a Republican. The Democrats would do everything they could, include calling Him a liar, the Bible a fake book, whatever it took.” Rush Limbaugh
And despite the fact the Bible never indicates Jesus was married or had sex out of wedlock, Limbaugh suggested Democrats would do their best effort in trying to find any of His offspring:
“They would scour the historical record looking for children He had fathered, anything they could do to disapprove the gospel to discredit Jesus. That’s who they are. That’s what they would do.”
Limbaugh said the point he was stressing was that Republicans would never escape “this kind of media assault based on who we nominate.” Donald Trump’s RNC acceptance speech (Photo: Screenshot from RNC live feed)
“I say this because a lot of you Never Trumpers are out there claiming that this is exactly what you get when you nominate a guy like Trump. No, it’s exactly what you get when you nominate a Republican. Whenever there is any opposition to the Democrats, this is what they do. It doesn’t matter. They’re gonna do it. They did it to Romney …
“I’ve made this point ’til I blue in the face. They turned Romney, who is mild-mannered Mr. Gosh, Can’t Even Get Noticed into the biggest walking Satan, El Diablo politics had ever seen at that time, and they made it stick So this is why I think Trump has so many people supporting him. He’s fighting back against it when most Republicans haven’t and don’t.”
As an example of how media treatment of Republicans has not changed, Limbaugh played an excerpt of 1980 election-night coverage from CBS. Commentator Bill Moyers characterized the race before it was known that Republican Ronald Reagan would easily defeat Democrat Jimmy Carter. Moyers stated:
“Those of you who might speak Spanish, who might be black, who might be women, remember,” said Carter, “who’s been your friend.” And there under the California sun in San Diego at a shopping center, Ronald Reagan was delivering himself of one of those patriotic soliloquies at which he’s been a master since his days at Eureka College. Suddenly hecklers in the crowd started shouting and waving their ERA signs. Reagan took his cue and snapped back, “Aw, shut up!”
And thousands of supporters roared their approval. Those are the people for whom Ronald Reagan is the apostle of the rollback, the knight who promises finally to slay the dragon of liberal government. Jimmy Carter won four years ago as an outsider, and, if he wins at all tonight, it must be as an insider defending the status quo. Reagan has cast himself as a sheriff who comes riding into town at just in the nick of time shouting, “Enough’s enough.”
“Does it sound like anything has changed in the way these people see the world?” Limbaugh asked. “Not an iota!”
Follow Joe Kovacs on Twitter @JoeKovacsNews | 0 |
El turismo, un filón que florece pese al bloqueo imperial por Luz Marina Fornieles Sánchez Como para el resto de las esferas de la vida socio-económica de Cuba, la Revolución significó un vuelco rotundo para el turismo. Con el Primero de Enero de 1959 comenzaron a borrarse de un plumazo las secuelas de actividades que caracterizaron al sector: carreras de caballos, drogas, casinos y prostitución, entre otras.
Socios | La Habana (Cuba) | 28 de octubre de 2016 En el territorio presentado como el paraíso del libertinaje, se dio paso a las expropiaciones, nacionalizaciones de hoteles y otros inmuebles, y quedaron atrás las discriminaciones raciales y las playas fueron para el pueblo.
Fue así que el 20 de noviembre del 59 surgió el Instituto Nacional de la Industria Turística (INIT), primer organismo especializado en el ramo creado por la Revolución y su Presidente, el por entonces Primer Ministro Fidel Castro .
Una de las tareas acometidas rápidamente resultó la estructuración de un giro del ocio que respondiera a los valores culturales, históricos y sociales de la nación.
Como era de esperar frente a la magnitud de los cambios, el sector prácticamente desapareció de la escena antillana, debido principalmente a las consecuencias del bloqueo de EE.UU. , que desde entonces y hasta hoy se erigió en freno para las aspiraciones de la ínsula de abrirse al mundo.
La actividad turística foránea solo pudo resucitar a partir de 1974, y en 1975 ya se recibieron seis veces más visitantes que en el ejercicio antecedente. Con tal impuso continuaron los años 80, cuando surge el Campismo Popular (1981) y se aprueba la legislación para las empresas mixtas (1982).
Llegaron entonces los años 90 y hubo una explosión en la esfera. El fuerte período especial que vivía la nación era motivo más que suficiente para que el territorio antillano apostase por tal opción económica.
Cuando se ponderan las bondades del rubro, de inmediato se le reconocen sus significativos aportes monetarios, ser fuente de empleo y, a la vez, su accionar como motor impulsor para otro conjunto importante de ramas.
Para esa fecha los veraneantes que escogían este destino eran solo 327 mil, para quienes estaban alistados 12 mil cuartos; mientras que a partir del 2004, y de forma consecutiva, la Antilla Mayor rebasó la cota de los dos millones de arribos internacionales, y la tendencia alcista conllevó a números superiores en periodos subsiguientes.
Al cierre de 2015, por ejemplo, los flujos fueron de tres millones 524 mil 779 viajeros (17,4 por ciento de incremento)-, en tanto en el calendario en curso las previsiones apuntan a mucho más.
2016: RECORD HISTORICO DE TURISTAS
Cuba recibió recién la cifra de tres millones de visitantes internacionales en 2016, con 39 días de antelación a similar etapa del ejercicio precedente.
Con tal resultado el destino cubano refuerza su posicionamiento en el escenario turístico mundial, pese a persistir casi intacto el bloqueo económico, comercial y financiero, que mantiene ya por más de media centuria Washington sobre La Habana e impide a sus nacionales hacer turismo en su vecina ínsula al sur, lo cual viola la Constitución de La Unión.
Ello ha sido posible gracias a la labor de los trabajadores del turismo, a la cooperación de múltiples sectores de nuestra economía, al acompañamiento de los colaboradores internacionales, y muy especialmente al apoyo constante del Gobierno y su pueblo, protagonistas del desarrollo del giro en el país, según agrega la nota del Mintur.
DIFICULTA POLITICA DE BLOQUEO DESARROLLO DEL TURISMO CUBANO
El turismo en Cuba experimenta severas afectaciones a consecuencia del bloqueo impuesto por la Casa Blanca, según aseguran autoridades del propio MINTUR .
A consecuencias de tal yugo imperial solo en el período abril de 2014 a igual mes del 2015, las pérdidas ocasionadas a la actividad sin humo se estiman en 73 millones 416 mil 529 dólares, monto equivalente al programa inversionista de la industria nacional para el 2014.
El abastecimiento a la actividad constituye otra de las afectaciones registradas en el rubro a tenor con la criminal política, porque es imprescindible acceder a mercados lejanos- como Asia y Europa-, para garantizar suministros imprescindibles para el normal desenvolvimiento del ramo.
Considerado un sector estratégico para la reanimación de la economía autóctona, la actividad local de la llamada igualmente industria sin humo cuenta para su evolución con más de 62 mil habitaciones, 10 aeropuertos internacionales, una empleomanía bien capacitada e ingresos anuales por más de dos mil millones de dólares.
Los principales mercados son Canadá, EE.UU., Reino Unido, Francia, Alemania, España, Italia y por Latinoamérica, México y Argentina.
UN SECTOR ESTRATEGICO QUE JUSTIFICA TAL DESIGNACION
Augurios aparte, hablan por sí solas las imágenes de los muchos clientes en los diferentes destinos del patio (ya sean ciudades modernas o coloniales, balnearios, cayerías o entornos naturales) y la propia observación de esta redactora en sitios claves del panorama citadino, que ratifican a la industria del ocio como uno de los soportes más promisorios para la economía autóctona.
¿Será posible que este sea otro año récord para el turismo cubano? La respuesta a esta altura del almanaque es ya una rotunda afirmación. Con bloqueo o sin él, esta dinámica esfera seguirá ganando adeptos y continuará fiel a sus mercados tradicionales, aquellos que la han acompañado siempre, en las buenas y en las malas.
Luz Marina Fornieles Sánchez Fuente
Agencia Cubana de Noticias
La Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) es una división de la Agencia de Información Nacional (AIN) de Cuba fundada el 21 de mayo de 1974. | 0 |
Wells Fargo’s board said on Monday that it would claw back an additional $75 million in compensation from the two executives on whom it pinned most of the blame for the company’s scandal over fraudulent accounts: the bank’s former chief executive, John G. Stumpf, and its former head of community banking, Carrie L. Tolstedt. The clawbacks — or forced return of pay and stock grants — are the largest in banking history and among the largest in corporate America. A committee of Wells Fargo’s directors investigated the extensive fraud. Wells Fargo’s board said in a report issued on Monday that Mr. Stumpf had turned a blind eye to the fraudulent accounts being created under his nose and that Ms. Tolstedt, who ran the branch system, had focused obsessively on sales targets and withheld information from her boss and the board. Wells Fargo’s misdeeds, which came to light in September, have at least temporarily become a more widely recognized symbol of the bank than its signature stagecoach. Bankers across Wells Fargo’s giant branch system were tacitly encouraged to meet their sales goals by committing fraud opening unwanted or unneeded accounts in customers’ names and, sometimes, moving money into and out of the sham accounts. While the amount of money customers lost was relatively small — the company has refunded $3. 2 million — the scope of the fraud was huge: 5, 300 bankers were fired for creating as many as two million unwanted bank and credit card accounts. In one detail revealed by the report, a branch manager had a teenage daughter with 24 accounts and a husband with 21. The warning signs were glaring and could be traced back at least to 2004, the investigators said. Ms. Tolstedt, who ran the national network of Wells Fargo branches, set up ruthless sales goals that even she acknowledged were unreachable. Mr. Stumpf, who had a long and trusting relationship with Ms. Tolstedt, left her on her own to run her department, the investigators said in the scathing report. Neither Ms. Tolstedt, who was allowed to retire in July but was subsequently fired, nor Mr. Stumpf, who was permitted to retire in October after being castigated during congressional hearings on the scandal, was available on Monday to comment. Mr. Stumpf cooperated with the board’s investigation Ms. Tolstedt declined to be interviewed. All told, Mr. Stumpf will surrender $69 million, and Ms. Tolstedt will lose $67 million, including stock options that they forfeited last year. While those figures are bigger than any previous bank clawback, they fall far short of the largest clawback in corporate history. In 2007, William W. McGuire of UnitedHealthGroup was forced to give back $618 million over backdating options. Ms. Tolstedt’s lawyer, Enu Mainigi of the Washington firm Williams Connolly, issued a statement challenging the board’s findings. “We strongly disagree with the report and its attempt to lay blame with Ms. Tolstedt,” Ms. Mainigi said. “A full and fair examination of the facts will produce a different conclusion. ” The board’s report, compiled by the law firm Shearman Sterling after interviews with 100 current and former employees and a review of 35 million documents, said it was obvious where the problems lay. Structurally, the bank was too decentralized, with department heads like Ms. Tolstedt given the mantra of “run it like you own it” and granted broad authority to shake off questions from superiors, subordinates or lateral colleagues. Many things collectively should have raised suspicion, the report said. Customers were failing to fund, or put money into, their new accounts at alarming rates. Regional managers were imploring their bosses to drop sales goals, saying they were unrealistic and bad for customers. Particularly in Arizona and Los Angeles, where the toxic culture was most pronounced, some managers explicitly told subordinates to sell people accounts even if they did not need them. Because of the bank’s decentralized structure, the problem went unnoticed for a long time. When it finally came to light — thanks in part to an investigation by The Los Angeles Times — the bank was slow to take action. Mr. Stumpf was warned as early as 2012 about “numerous” complaints about the company’s sales tactics — from both customers and employees — but he ignored growing evidence that the problem was pervasive, the board said in its report. Much of the climate, the report said, stemmed from Ms. Tolstedt, who led Wells Fargo’s retail branch network for eight years. The report casts her as a powerful and insular leader who set unreasonable targets, castigated those who criticized them and actively ignored signs that some managers and employees were cheating to meet them. “She resisted and rejected the near unanimous view of senior regional bank leaders that the sales goals were unreasonable and led to negative outcomes and improper behavior,” the report said. Timothy J. Sloan, who succeeded Mr. Stumpf as chief executive, was largely exonerated by the report, even though he was also a career Wells Fargo executive. As president and chief operating officer, he became Ms. Tolstedt’s immediate supervisor in November 2015. At that point, the report said, he “assessed her performance over several months before deciding that she should not continue to lead the community bank. ” Mr. Stumpf, who retired in October, exercised all of his remaining options and converted them to stock — which he retained — in the months before Wells Fargo announced its $185 million settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Los Angeles city attorney in September. He held 2. 5 million shares as of late February, currently valued at $137 million. Asked about the timing of Mr. Stumpf’s options exercise, Stephen W. Sanger, the board’s chairman and the leader of its investigation, said at a news conference on Monday that it was a routine move that did not raise concern. The $28 million that the board is taking back from Mr. Stumpf — the proceeds of a 2013 equity grant — will be deducted from his retirement plan payouts, Mr. Sanger said. Nearly all public companies have clawback provisions, but boards are typically loath to invoke them. Wells Fargo’s example may inspire future directors, said Charles M. Elson, a professor of finance at the University of Delaware and an expert on corporate governance. “I welcome the move,” he said. “I’m a shareholder of Wells Fargo, and I’m glad they did it. ” Mr. Sanger took over as the board’s chairman from Mr. Stumpf. All four members of Wells Fargo’s independent investigation group were on the board before the settlement was announced. The report depicted the board as hoodwinked by bank executives who withheld important facts. It praised the changes the bank had made recently, which include ending sales goals for its retail bank employees. Such conclusions are unlikely to quiet the bank’s critics. Better Markets, a nonprofit organization that advocates stricter regulation of Wall Street, called the report a compendium of “ cosmetic actions” and called on shareholders to oust all of Wells Fargo’s board members at the company’s annual meeting on April 25. Two influential advisory firms have also recommended significant changes to the company’s board. Mr. Sanger said that the report issued on Monday concluded nearly all of the bank’s investigation and that no further terminations or clawbacks were expected. But other investigations — including criminal inquiries by the Justice Department and several state attorneys general — remain in progress, raising the possibility of criminal charges. The board’s law firm is still looking into reports that the bank retaliated against former employees who tried to blow the whistle on its wrongdoing. Last week, a federal regulator, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the Labor Department, ordered Wells Fargo to rehire and pay $5. 4 million to a former employee who said he was fired after making internal complaints about wrongdoing that he had observed. The agency has also warned Wells Fargo that it is likely to order the bank to reinstate another worker who said she was fired in 2011 after trying to call her supervisors’ attention to accounts that she said had been fraudulently created. So far, Shearman Sterling has found no evidence of retaliation, said Stuart J. Baskin, a partner at the firm. “We still have a few loose ends, but we don’t think it’s likely to change any findings,” he said. Wells Fargo is eager to put its sales scandal behind it, but customers are not quite so willing to move on. The number of consumer checking accounts opened in February dropped 43 percent compared with a year earlier, and credit card applications declined 55 percent. The financial damage caused to customers by Wells Fargo’s fraudulent acts was relatively minimal, but the issue has loomed large in the public imagination in part because the bank’s transgressions were so blatant — and so simple. “People getting accounts they didn’t sign up for?” said Stephen Beck, the founder of CG42, a strategy company that studies banks’ brand perception. “I don’t need an M. B. A. in finance to understand that’s wrong. Our expectation is that it is going to take quite a bit of time for Wells to recover. You can’t just advertise ‘Trust me,’ which is what they’ve tried to do so far. ” Mr. Sloan, the bank president, said at a news conference after the report was issued that he had some regrets about how the bank’s leadership — and he in particular — had handled the years of warnings. “In hindsight, I wish we would have taken more action and would have done things more quickly,” he said. The bank’s sales incentives should have been eliminated sooner, he said. | 1 |
If the surprisingly strong job gains in January revealed the economy’s resilience, they also exposed some of its stubborn weaknesses. Yes, the government’s report on Friday showed that employers fattened their payrolls by 227, 000 workers last month, an unexpectedly large increase. And yes, public optimism about economic prospects has persuaded a few hundred thousand Americans who had dropped out of the work force to return. But the very fact that so many sidelined workers could be lured back despite meager wage growth is evidence that the labor pool is not as shallow as some have argued. To the labor market bulls, consistently low official jobless rates have suggested that the economy is nearing capacity and that inflation lurks. Initial estimates released last month gave the impression that wages had taken a big step forward at the end of last year, lifting hopes that the momentum would continue, especially with a surge of local increases taking effect across the country. Instead, the Labor Department’s latest figures showed baby steps — slower increases in earnings for December and January, bringing average wage growth back down to its disappointing 2. 5 percent trend. “The increase in participation and drop in wages suggest we’re not at full employment,” James Athey, senior investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, said. Although officials at the Federal Reserve have said they expect to raise the benchmark interest rate three times this year in response to a strengthening economy, they made clear at their session this week that nothing is guaranteed. “This is just what the doves at the Fed wanted to see,” Mr. Athey said, referring to those wary of raising rates and keen to keep the focus on fostering hiring rather than heading off inflation. “All of the numbers point toward it being more difficult to justify another hike in March,” when Fed members next meet. But just because the job market is not yet drum tight does not mean it is not improving. “The labor market started 2017 on the front foot,” said Carl R. Tannenbaum, chief economist at Northern Trust. “This is a good, good number. ” President Trump, who previously dismissed the jobs estimates as “phony numbers,” said on Friday that the latest report showed there was a “great spirit in the country right now. ” The averages the government reported mask how fractured the labor market is regarding skills and pay. Employers in many sectors have complained about the difficulty of finding and keeping suitable workers, which has driven up pay in several sectors. “We’re still continuing to see wage pressure as the candidate market continues to shrink,” said Amy Glaser, senior vice president of Adecco Staffing USA, which has 300 branch offices. In addition to the omnipresent hunger for engineers and other workers, demand is strong for people with trade skills like welding that fell into disuse during the recession, and for warehouse and light assembly workers, Ms. Glaser said. “I’m definitely seeing a trend of employers targeting certain pools of workers like the disabled, retirees that may be looking to return to the work force, and moms,” said Ms. Glaser, whose office is in Lexington, Ky. “Employers are getting very creative. Anything to get a competitive edge. ” David Nilssen, chief executive of Guidant Financial, a financier based in Seattle, added 30 employees last year to his work force of 80. He said the trouble he has had recruiting and retaining staff members was echoed in a Guidant survey of about 2, 000 clients, who listed a shortage of qualified workers as their main challenge. Many American workers remain cut off from the competitive bidding that has emerged in the eighth year of the recovery. A mismatch of skills or location, the lack of support like child care and employer discrimination are some of the reasons that high school graduates, factory workers, members of minorities, baby boomers and others have failed to find or regain a comfortable footing in the labor force. However strong (or weak) last month’s figures are ultimately viewed, they are a legacy of the Obama administration, since they are based on surveys before Mr. Trump took office on Jan. 20. Some employers may have made staffing decisions in anticipation of a Republican administration, but this report does not reflect any specific policy changes. (The way the government estimates the jobless rate does not change from one administration to the next.) Still, given the timing, the January job figures are one benchmark against which the new president’s stewardship of the economy will be judged. There are others. Economists at Moody’s Analytics said in a report this week that at least six other measures should be used to determine whether the economy has reached full employment. The list included the proportion of those not in the labor force who want a job, the size of the pool of unemployed and the degree of wage growth. The share of adults who are in the labor force, meaning they have a job or are actively looking for one, has been dragging along at historical lows, but it bumped up to 62. 9 percent in January, from 62. 7 in December, a sign that at least some people have returned and that still more might do so if prospects brighten. That growth in the work force raised the official unemployment rate to 4. 8 percent last month. A broader measure of unemployment, which includes the millions who are working part time but would prefer jobs and those so discouraged by rejections that they have given up searching, also rose, to 9. 4 percent in January from 9. 2 percent in December. Revised estimates from December and November cut 39, 000 jobs from previous totals, although other routine adjustments by the Labor Department showed the overall job creation for 2016 was better than previously reported. Manufacturing jobs, which Mr. Trump has focused on, grew by 5, 000 in January, increases that were countered by a revised estimate that reduced December’s gains. The Department of Labor will issue one more revised estimate for December, and two more for January. At the lower end of the pay scale, state and local increases — ranging from as small as 5 cents an hour in Florida and Alaska to $1. 95 an hour in Arizona — affected about 4. 3 million workers across 19 states in January. The widest impact was felt in Arizona, California and Washington, where more than 1 in 10 workers got a raise. Employees in Oregon, the District of Columbia and Maryland are scheduled to get an increase later this year. The disappointing overall wage growth can be traced in part to the financial industry, which had a 0. 1 percent drop in pay. Analysts, backed by research from the Federal Reserve, have been recalibrating their assessments of what constitutes a strong number of hires, given how far the official unemployment rate has fallen. Economists estimate that it takes 50, 000 to 110, 000 new jobs to absorb growth in the population and keep the jobless rate steady. The current average is 183, 000. Mr. Trump, who ordered an hiring freeze for the federal government last week, has pledged on the White House website to create 25 million jobs — a staggering number that would eclipse the total number of jobs created during Ronald Reagan’s tenure, George Bush’s term and George W. Bush’s eight years combined. | 1 |
Defying a new Swedish law that prohibits full face coverings at public events, such as political rallies and sports matches, keen football (soccer) fans donned Islamic garments at the game instead. [Members of the AIK Ultras, the dedicated fans of Stockholm’s Allmänna Idrottsklubben (AIK) team, also unfurled a giant banner at the match in Sweden Sunday thanking the law for a religious provision loophole. Swedish law specifically bans people in “a public place attending a public meeting under the Public Order Act” if there is a disturbance of the peace, or “immediate danger of such a breach” — making full face coverings generally illegal at football games. Those breaking the law can be fined or imprisoned for up to six months. Yet understanding of particular religious minorities in Sweden means the second paragraph of the face covering law created an exception: “The ban does not apply to covering the face for religious reasons. ” La Suède ayant interdit le port de masques et cagoules dans les stades, les ultras portent désormais des niqabs … . dont le port est légal. pic. twitter. — PassionFootball Club (@PassionFootClub) April 4, 2017, Making the most of the new law intended to curb antisocial behaviour at football games, large numbers of AIK Ultra members were seen at the game wearing niqabs — the full face covering cloth which forms part of the Islamic hijab. The colossal banner held by fans in the stands made reference to the Swedish politician who introduced the ban, Anders Ygeman. It read: “AIK’s ultras are well meaning, we’re now wearing masks for religious reasons. Freedom for ultras is the goal, thanks Ygeman for the loophole. ” Speaking to bestselling Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet’s Sportbladet section, Minister of Home Affairs Ygeman said he found the episode “pretty funny” and said the fans clearly had a sense of humour — but said if fans continued to use the religious exception the courts may decide the legal loophole doesn’t apply on a basis if they found men up before them. The minister confirmed that police would not require football fans turning up to matches in niqabs to prove their religion on the spot. While the Swedish mask ban was introduced to deal with particular problems, including violence at matches, this is not the first time European football fans have invoked Islam to make political points. Breitbart London reported in 2015 when Polish football fans unfurled a giant ‘stand and defend Christianity’ banner at a premier league match. Running to thousands of square feet, the banner depicted an armed crusader standing over Europe repelling migrant boats carrying terrorists. | 1 |
usapoliticsnow admin 0 Comment Donald Trump , Voting Machine
We all knew that the voting machines are rigged! Here is the video proof.
Trump was right. Where is the New York Times? Where is the Washington Post? Where are our esteemed reporters? There are citizens doing your job.
Like this citizen below, y’all. The on in the video, y’all. Here is an alleged video of an election machine switching votes in the swing state of Virginia. EXPOSED! Election machines in the swing state of Virginia are switching Republican votes to Democrats pic.twitter.com/x8EXH7VpaE
— MicroSpookyLeaks™ (@WDFx2EU7) October 25, 2016
Watch that video above. That is a computer programmer in Florida that testified before a congressional panel that there are computer programs that can secretly fix elections. This happened in 2001, but you would have never seen this on the mainstream media.
*** Share this everywhere!
Document everything at the polls. We need to be able to fight the rigging. God bless all the Trump voters and share this post if you are voting Trump on Nov. 8th.
Together we can make America great again. | 0 |
Taming the corporate media beast Opps! German Magazine Uses ISIS Propaganda Video to Show All is Well in Mosul
Well they are on the same side, after all Originally appeared at Sputnik
In an almost four-minute video, political editor of Spiegel Online Christoph Sydow tried to defend the editorial policy of his magazine regarding the developments in Aleppo and Mosul. However, the shots demonstrated in his video turned out to be the propaganda materials of Daesh terrorists.
The video was supposed to be a response to critical letters of Spiegel Online readers and their comments on social networks. Many of them accused the magazine of spreading propaganda and presenting the situation in the Middle East in a biased manner. "Again and again, readers have been accusing us of presenting the Aleppo siege as a bad one, and that of Mosul as a good one. That's not right. Political editor Christoph Sydow explains the similarities and the differences," Spiegel Online reported. In the video, Sydow explained the similarities and differences of both situations. "Eastern Aleppo has been cut off from the outside world for months. There is no help coming to the city. People are starving. There is no drinking water, lack of electricity. In Mosul, the situation is different at the moment. The city can receive supplies; people have water, electricity, enough food. Nobody was starving to death there yet," Sydow said. To prove his point of view, the journalist referred to video footage showing that the situation in Mosul is not as bad as one probably imagined. But it turns out that the footage he used was Daesh propaganda material who currently keep Mosul under their control. 1046870142.png
According to BILDblog, which sharply criticized the German magazine for the releasing video, the shots of the city were published by Daesh a few days ago to make a false impression that people in the city "live a normal life," which in fact is not true.
"This is the most recent Daesh propaganda video which was published online five days ago. It is supposed to show normal life in Mosul, happy people, who have everything they need. However, in fact, there is a lack of water, food, medicines and electricity. This is what people from Mosul tell their relatives in secret telephone calls," the ARD report said. 1046870197.png
In the right upper corner of the video, near the logo of the Spiegel magazine, one can see "an Amaq" symbol — the logo of Al-Amaq news agency, a media outlet considered an official part Daesh's propaganda apparatus. "This is the propaganda material of the so-called 'Islamic State' (Daesh)," BILDblog wrote.
Earlier, Germany's ARD TV channel used the same recordings in its report called "Iraq: Inside Mosul". However, in contrast to Spiegel, the ARD stated that the information was taken from Daesh propaganda sources. | 0 |
WASHINGTON — In an interview with Time magazine on Wednesday, President Trump cited The New York Times as evidence of his claim, made in a series of Twitter posts on March 4, that President Barack Obama had wiretapped his phones in Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign. The F. B. I. director, other top intelligence officials and numerous Republicans have rejected this claim. Here’s an assessment of Mr. Trump’s references to The Times’s reporting. False. Mr. Trump was referring to an article published online on Jan. 19 and in print on Jan. 20 that disclosed that American law enforcement and intelligence agencies were examining intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and associates of Mr. Trump. There were in fact two different headlines on the online and print versions of the article, which is typical. At no point was either headline altered. Times headlines often differ in print and online, in part because of variations in presentation and in part because of space. This disparity is always noted at the end of the web version and has been noted since the story was first published in print on Jan. 20. In this case, the article appeared in print with the headline, “Wiretapped Data Used in Inquiry of Trump Aides,” followed by two subheadlines, “Examining Russian Ties” and “Business Dealings of Campaign Advisors Are Investigated. ” Online, the headline read, “Intercepted Russian Communications Part of Inquiry Into Trump Associates. ” As the conservative publication National Review has reported and as the Wayback Machine’s archive of the 336 caches of the story shows, the web headline has remained the same from initial publication. .. . ..to two days after Mr. Trump made his accusation on Twitter. .. . ..to Thursday, March 23, the day his interview with Time magazine was published. This is misleading. Neither the print nor online version of the article supports Mr. Trump’s accusation that Mr. Obama ordered surveillance on him. The Times reported that there were intercepted conversations involving Mr. Trump’s associates, but it did not report that they or Mr. Trump were the subject of wiretap orders. To date, The Times has not found evidence of that. Mr. Trump’s initial accusations specifically targeted Mr. Obama, whom The Times article does not mention. The independent website PolitiFact rated Mr. Trump’s assertion False, and The Washington Post awarded the claim Four Pinocchios, its lowest rating, twice. “The bald assertion that Obama had Trump wiretapped is nowhere supported by the story. That is fiction,” said Jay Rosen, a media critic and professor of journalism at New York University. When asked if The Times article could give Mr. Trump a false impression that Mr. Obama wiretapped him, Mr. Rosen said, “It does not. No one reading it in good faith would say that. ’’ American intelligence agencies typically monitor the communications of foreign officials of allied and hostile countries, and so they routinely sweep up any conversations between American citizens and those officials — called “incidental collection. ” For example, it is routine for F. B. I. counterintelligence officials to keep the Russian ambassador under surveillance. Therefore, when Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, spoke on the phone with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition, the government intercepted that conversation because it was wiretapping the ambassador. This is misleading. Mr. Trump did put the word in quotes in two of his tweets, but explicitly accused Mr. Obama of wiretapping his phones. “I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter in an post on March 4. Ten minutes later, he doubled down, writing, “How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is . Bad (or sick) guy!” Again, there is no evidence that Mr. Obama ordered surveillance of Mr. Trump’s phones, nor can a president legally request wiretapping of an American. | 1 |
It may be true that is the way things currently are with Obama care, and it may be he is saying the exact same thing you are.
I think he's saying he wants to fix a problem, not promising summary execution. Not "the literal KILLING of tens of thousands of American men, women, children, babies, and fetuses PER YEAR..."
If that's what he was saying would anybody vote for him? Look again, he may be agreeing with you. BTW- I am not a Trump supporter, I just like things stated clearly. | 0 |
Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: • Serious disagreements emerged between Donald J. Trump and some of his nominees in the third day of confirmation hearings. Mr. Trump’s choice for defense secretary, Gen. James N. Mattis, said Russia was trying to break NATO. Here’s where General Mattis stands on other issues. Rex W. Tillerson, the choice for secretary of state, faces a second round of questions — Wednesday, he called for China to be denied access to its artificial islands in the South China Sea. Follow our coverage of the hearings. _____ • The intrigue over a sensational but entirely unverified dossier on Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia deepened. The who compiled the information disappeared from his home in Britain, saying he feared for his safety. Mr. Trump discussed the dossier with James R. Clapper Jr. the director of national intelligence. They had radically different takeaways from the conversation. And the Justice Department said it would investigate the decision by James B. Comey, above, the F. B. I. chief, to inform Congress about a new review in the Hillary Clinton email investigation ahead of the election. _____ • Prosecutors in South Korea are planning to use revelations about a cultural blacklist to strengthen the impeachment charges against President Park . So far, two versions of the blacklist have been reported by the news media, citing anonymous sources. One version listed more than 9, 000 people, including some of the country’s most beloved filmmakers, actors and writers. Above, Hong one of the artists who was reportedly blacklisted. _____ • Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, ended a visit with President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines in which he promised the country about $8. 7 billion worth of business deals, investments and equipment. Mr. Abe is on diplomatic push that will continue with stops in Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Separately, Mr. Duterte ordered government agencies to provide free contraception to women, especially the poor, in a move that is likely to face strong resistance from Catholic leadership in the country. Above, protesters in the Philippines. _____ • And we look at Aceh Province, Indonesia, which began enforcing Shariah law in 2001. Women are required to wear head scarves, alcohol is prohibited and many offenses are punishable by public whipping. The nation has drifted in a conservative direction, but one Aceh politician says that “a silent majority” thinks the local government has gone too far. In the country’s capital, Jakarta, three candidates vying to be governor of the city will meet for a televised debate tonight. The incumbent, a Christian, is on trial over charges that he insulted the Quran. _____ • India’s largest conglomerate, the Tata Group, named Natarajan Chandrasekaran, 53, to be chairman of its holding company, Tata Sons, ending months of turmoil. • Health care stocks tumbled after Mr. Trump denounced pharmaceutical companies for shifting manufacturing abroad. But many of the imports are generic drugs — a large percentage of which are manufactured in India — that help keep costs down. • The Environmental Protection Agency accused Fiat Chrysler of cheating on emissions tests on at least 104, 000 diesel vehicles, a case with echoes of the Volkswagen scandal. • Vietnam’s industrial policy will take a hit if Mr. Trump follows through on his pledge to scrap the Partnership, but companies have their own plans for going global. • U. S. stocks were down. Here’s a snapshot of global markets. • President Obama will end the policy that allows Cubans who reach U. S. soil to stay legally, a move long sought by the Cuban government. Above, Mr. Obama in March last year. [The New York Times] • Hong Kong’s chief secretary, Carrie Lam, leaves her post today. She submitted her resignation and, if approved, will run for chief executive. [Hong Kong Free Press] • President Xi Jinping of China called for “greater coordination” on South China Sea disputes in a meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong, the general secretary of Vietnam’s ruling party. Mr. Xi is headed to Switzerland on Sunday. [South China Morning Post] • In Bangladesh, a popular restaurant in Dhaka’s diplomatic quarter reopened after a terrorist attack in July that killed 22 people. [The New York Times] • Wilbur Ross, the billionaire chosen by Mr. Trump to manage trade with China, once volunteered to be part of project by a famous Chinese artist. [South China Morning Post] • “Star Wars” was the inspiration for the common name scientists gave to the world’s newest primate — the Skywalker hoolock gibbon — which was discovered in the Chinese province of Yunnan. [BBC] (In this new section, we’ll help you start your day right.) • We’re not saying you will need this tomorrow, we’re simply presenting it for your consideration: Here’s how to nurse a hangover (and how to head one off). Have a great weekend! • An inspiring story of weight loss and its aftermath: Brooklyn’s borough president reversed his Type 2 diabetes through diet and exercise, without taking medication. • Recipe of the day: Give baked sweet potato fries a shot. • Portraits of addiction. A photographer spent a year traveling in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines to explore the region’s underworld of “ice,” or crystal methamphetamine. • In an opinion column, a nuclear scientist argues that the Trump administration should links of communication with North Korea to avoid a nuclear catastrophe. • “The Handmaiden,” an erotic period drama from South Korea, earned six nominations for the Asian Film Awards. Here’s the full list. If you’re superstitious, today isn’t your day. But Friday the 13th isn’t universally feared. Many countries disregard it. In Greece and some countries, Tuesday the 13th is the dreaded day. It’s Friday the 17th in Italy. The number four is unlucky in parts of Asia — its pronunciation in several languages is close to the word “death,” making April 4 ( ) a day to stay inside. A a cute charm showing a cat with a raised paw, is used to ward off the bad luck. Other animals believed to combat bad omens include pigs. In Germany, marzipan pigs are given as gifts on New Year’s Eve. And if a cricket is chirping in your house, don’t kill it. Across Asia, Africa and Europe, the insects are viewed as harbingers of wealth. Magpies have great significance in Britain. Seeing a single magpie can be bad luck, it is believed, though saluting one can ward off ill fortune. But if you spot a group, you may be in luck, according to an old nursery rhyme that goes: _____ Des Shoe contributed reporting. Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings. What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes. com. | 1 |
Report Copyright Violation Face It. Nobody Cares About Wikileaks Because Trump Doesn't Have The "Temperament" To be President. He's Scary. Trumps twitter rants and threats show him as petty and vindictive, he said Saudi Arabia should have nukes,he throws tantrums.Trumps dangerous temperament overrides everything else because he can't be trusted with the nuclear football.And that is not even speaking of his racism and sexism. Page 1 | 0 |
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CHECK it out! With 360 video now commonplace, social media is filling up with exciting footage of surfers, mountain bikers, skydivers and astronauts going about their thrillseeking affairs, all of which can be viewed from whatever angle you wish!
Well, one guy has taken it a step further, with this incredible 360 stream from the inside of a coffin!
Feel free to drag your mouse or finger around the screen to look up, down, and all around you!
It’s the most accurate way to recreate the experience of being buried alive, right here in your browser! | 0 |
They have to re-vote all the State's that already voted Because the Voting Machine's were rigged up so every vote goe's to the Hillary Clinton, The must stop the guy's responsible for this rigging up the voter machine's! complaint's from the voter's their whom Voted straight Party Republican told the new's that all their vote's were changed in the machine to Democrate instead of what they put on their paper's! They need a old fashion paper vote re done even if it take's Longer and avoid the Machine's! | 0 |
Toots Thielemans, one of the only musicians to have a successful career as a jazz harmonica player, died on Monday in Brussels. He was 94. The death was confirmed by Mr. Thielemans’s agency, which did not specify a cause. Mr. Thielemans, who retired in 2014 for health reasons, had been hospitalized recently with a broken arm. That Mr. Thielemans played jazz on the harmonica was unusual enough. Even more unusual was how he first gained international attention: by playing guitar and whistling in unison. He introduced this approach in 1961 on his recording of the wistful but jaunty jazz waltz “Bluesette,” which he wrote. The record became an international hit, and the song was his signature. It also became a jazz standard, recorded by numerous instrumentalists, among them Chet Atkins, Tito Puente and Mr. Thielemans himself, who went on to record it several more times. It was also recorded, with lyrics by Norman Gimbel, by Sarah Vaughan and other singers. But his distinctive sound on the chromatic harmonica was Mr. Thielemans’s primary claim to fame and, especially, to fortune. Although his name was well known in the jazz world — he performed with greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman and Charlie Parker — it was relatively unknown to the general public his playing, on the other hand, was virtually ubiquitous. It can be heard on the soundtracks of movies including “Midnight Cowboy” and “The Getaway. ” It was featured in television commercials and on records by, among many others, Ms. Fitzgerald, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones, who once called Mr. Thielemans “one of the greatest musicians of our time. ” For more than four decades, it has been heard in the opening theme music of “Sesame Street. ” Frédéric Isidore Thielemans was born on April 29, 1922, in Brussels, where his parents owned a cafe. He offered various explanations over the years for how he came to be known as Toots, sometimes saying he chose the name himself and at others saying it was given to him whatever the truth, the name was apparently borrowed from two American jazz musicians, Nuncio Mondello and Salvador Camarata, who both went by Toots. Musically inclined from an early age, he began playing the accordion at 3 and took up the harmonica in his teens. A few years later, inspired by Django Reinhardt, a fellow Belgian, he began playing guitar, as well. By the end of World War II he had become a musician. In 1949, he shared the stage with Charlie Parker at the Paris Jazz Festival, and a year later he toured Europe as the guitarist in a sextet led by Benny Goodman. He moved to the United States in 1951 and eventually became a citizen. From 1953 to 1959, he was a member of the British jazz pianist George Shearing’s popular quintet. He mostly played guitar with Mr. Shearing, but his harmonica work was featured on at least one number at every performance. It was also showcased on the handful of albums he recorded as a leader in those years. After leaving the Shearing group, Mr. Thielemans became a busy studio musician, even spending a few years on staff at ABC. But he remained active in jazz, with the harmonica now his main instrument. He toured frequently, and occasionally recorded as the leader of a small group, for the rest of his life. Most of his albums presented him in a straightforward jazz context, but late in his career they took on a more international color. On “The Brasil Project,” released in 1992, and a released the next year, he collaborated with Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil and other prominent Brazilian artists. And on the 1998 album “Chez Toots” he returned to his roots, leading a group of French and Belgian musicians in a program of French songs. Playing a set in New York a few months after turning 80, Mr. Thielemans “seemed dazzled by his glorious sunset, and found shelter under the umbrella of sophisticated schmaltz,” Ben Ratliff wrote in The New York Times, adding: “He’s in good shape, only losing wind at the end of a long string of notes but he finds rhythms, attaining a little bit of freedom, knocking his instrument from side to side for tremolos. ” Albert II, then the king of Belgium, bestowed on Mr. Thielemans the honorary title of baron in 2001. The country’s prime minister, Charles Michel, said on Monday, “We have lost a great musician, a warm personality. ” The National Endowment for the Arts named Mr. Thielemans a jazz master for 2009, the highest honor that can be accorded a jazz musician in the United States. “I accept this distinction with pride and emotion,” he said at the time, adding that he had only “played at music” until a Louis Armstrong record in 1940 provided “instant contamination” and changed the direction of his life. Mr. Thielemans lived in La Hulpe, a suburb of Brussels. Information on survivors was not immediately available. In March 2006, Mr. Thielemans was the guest of honor at an Carnegie Hall tribute concert, with the pianist Herbie Hancock and the clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera among the performers. Reviewing the concert for The Times, Nate Chinen praised both Mr. Thielemans’s “exuberantly expressive” playing and his infectious spirit. “No one stole the spotlight from Mr. Thielemans,” he wrote. “He was having giddy fun, and the feeling was contagious. ” | 1 |
Study finds that alcohol is worse for mental health than psychedelics Nov 15, 2016 1 0
( Minds ) A study by the Research Council of Norway has concluded that psychedelics do not link to mental health problems or suicidal behavior. A study of roughly 130,000 adult citizens in the United States found no “evidence that psychedelic use is an independent risk factor for mental health problems.”
Of the 135,095 randomly selected people, 19,299 of them had used either lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin or mescalin, and no links were found to “increased likelihood of past year serious psychological distress, mental health treatment, suicidal thoughts, suicidal plans and suicide attempt, depression and anxiety.”
Overall, the study concluded that “it is difficult to see how prohibition of psychedelics can be justified as a public health measure.”
As information is allowed to run free through the internet, it has become openly apparent that many psychedelic drugs are not the danger the profit-driven media had portrayed them to be. Often, they are one of the greatest medicines to overcome addiction. There is, however, a direct link between alcohol abuse and suicide.
According to the US National Library of Medicine, “Alcohol abuse may lead to suicidality through disinhibition, impulsiveness and impaired judgment, but it may also be used as a means to ease the distress associated with committing an act of suicide.”
Renowned author, Sam Harris, discusses the virtures of some specific psychedelic drugs:
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Obama lies all of the time. He doesn't bother to even check the facts to make sure that the is telling the truth. This is just another instance of this. We need to ask other questions. Was he sending unsecured emails to HRC? He would need a different S/MIME certificate to send an encrypted email to HRC than the one for addresses because HRC wouldn't have the private key for the State Department certificate. So, we have to presume that he knew that he was sending unsecured emial to HRC. The location of the server is a Red Herring. It was somewhere in cyberspace. What matters is that it was that she was using a private email account that appeared to be unsecured. The fact that it was unsecured is the major point here. If it had been properly secured with digital cryptography, it wouldn't have really mattered if it was in her home at least as far as national securty was concerned. | 0 |
Go to Article Donald Trump was willing to give up a very fulfilling life that took decades to build, so he could step up and take control of an out of control government. He and his family have already sacrificed so much because he chose to put his country first. Making sacrifices is certainly not something loudmouth liberals like Robert DeNiro are accustomed to. DeNiro was very vocal about his opposition to the wildly successful business man Donald J. Trump. He felt so strongly about his hate for Trump that made a video where he angrily stated he’d like to, “punch him in the face.” Now that Trump won the election in a landslide, DeNiro has chosen to get behind the Trump rioters who are terrorizing cities across America. Anti-Trump rioters are breaking windows, using baseball bats to smash the windshields of innocent citizens who get trapped in their hellish protests as they try to escape. Women who are taking part in the protests are being punched in the faces by men who are also taking part in the George Soros funded protests. American flags are being burned and families who are walking in major cities are being subjected to the most vile and disgusting, hateful language and images imaginable. If this is the kind of America that Robert DiNero is openly supporting? And if so, why would any American pay to see his movie,”Comedian”?
Robert De Niro gave anti-Donald Trump protesters across the United States his backing Friday as he spoke about how “depressed” the tycoon’s win in the presidential election had made him.
The 73-year-old star was on the red carpet at the world premiere of his new film “The Comedian” in Los Angeles when he was asked how he was coping with Trump’s victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
“How am I doing? I’m very depressed,” the famously laconic “Raging Bull” actor told reporters.
“We have to just wait and see how things go and keep our eyes ever vigilant on the new government.”
Asked if he thought the protests were an appropriate response to the outcome of Tuesday’s election, he replied: “Yes, absolutely. Things aren’t being done right.”
Demonstrators took to the streets in Miami, Los Angeles, New York and other US cities for a third straight night on Friday.
In Manhattan, they held signs reading “Your Wall Can’t Stand in Our Way” — a reference to the anti-immigration barrier the billionaire has promised to build on the US border with Mexico.
De Niro hasn’t minced his words in his criticism of Trump, describing him as “a punk,” “a pig” and “an idiot.”
“I’d like to punch him in the face,” he said before the election.
Earlier in the day a town in southern Italy where De Niro’s grandparents came from offered the actor a means of escape.
“If, after the disappointment of Trump, he wants to take refuge here, we are ready to welcome him,” said Antonio Cerio, the mayor of Ferrazzano.
“The Comedian,” De Niro’s passion project which took him eight years to bring to the big screen, was part of this year’s program for the American Film Institute’s annual AFI Fest in Los Angeles. – Yahoo
Here’s a clip of Trump-hater Megyn Kelly promoting DiNero’s hateful rant against Donald J. Trump: | 0 |
by PAUL FASSA
The old adage of an apple a day keeps the doctor away still has some validity. And new research has discovered apple juice three times a week helps prevent Alzheimer’s and heart disease.
Dr. Thomas Shea, a neurobiologist, and his research team at the University of Massachusetts topped off 10 years of studying apples’ effects on brain health. They used test tubes, Petri dishes, and mice for years. Then finally they confirmed their findings with a human clinical trial .
Twenty-one AD patients from ages 72 to 93 were fed four ounces of apple juice twice daily for thirty days. There were improvements with memory as well as the negative emotional moods normally associated with AD victims.
Dr. Shea concluded that by drinking apple juice only three times per week, you would reduce your chances of Alzheimer’s by 75%. And there are other benefits. Other animal studies have demonstrated that apples protect the heart, increase lipid metabolism, and reduce inflammation.
A Florida State University study by Dr. Bahram Arjmandi, involving several women aged 45 to 65, discovered that a heavy diet of apples reduced LDL in the women by 23% in six months. The women also lost three and a half pounds on average. How to Juice Apples Yourself
Conventionally grown apples usually top the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) “Dirty Dozen” list of excessively pesticide sprayed fruits and vegetables. Eat only organically grown apples or apples that are locally grown.
Often locally grown small orchard apples are not sprayed, but they are not USDA certified organic. This is often due to the time and money it takes to get that approval. So locally grown could be a solution for less expensive non-toxic apples if you are assured they are not sprayed.
Don’t bother with store bought pasteurized apple juice. Organic raw and unfiltered apple juice is better. But the best way to go is juicing just enough apples to drink at one sitting each time. Since Big Ag apples top the list of the “dirty dozen” (the 12 most sprayed foods), you should invest in organic apples.
A slow speed masticating juicer is recommended. It can be single auger (masticating screw) or double auger. You can Google slow speed masticating juicers and shop for what works for you. This is a worthwhile investment if you intend to do any juicing. I’ve been very pleased with my Omega single auger juicer with its 15 year parts guarantee.
This type of juicer eliminates the extra fiber that inhibits rapid absorption while concentrating the juice of several items in one drink and preserving the enzymes that a high speed juicer may destroy. And it’s easy to clean.
Do not peel the apples. Cut them into pieces small enough for the juicer and include the core, seeds and all. Adding a small piece of peeled ginger root into the juicer adds more inflammatory protection. A freshly squeezed lemon can be added also. This should be done at least three times a week. Early Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) Symptoms
It’s best to launch a three prong attack if confusion, fog, and memory loss is creeping in as a matter of daily life. The apple juice approach is good, but it may not be enough if AD symptoms have already set in.
Orthomolecular medical doctors specialize in curing with high dose vitamin and mineral supplements, such as IV mega-dose Vitamin C. They have had a good deal of success with all types of brain issues using large doses of niacin, aka vitamin B3. It shouldn’t be buffered as niacinamide, it needs to be plain niacin. This helps generate ATP for cellular energy in the brain. Read more here.
Consuming a tablespoon of pure cold pressed coconut oil twice or more daily has even reversed advanced Alzheimer’s. Dr. Mary Newport reversed her husband Steve’s advanced Alzheimer’s, which couldn’t be improved with pharmaceuticals, after discovering fresh virgin coconut oil has MCTs (medium chain triglycerides) that the liver can easily convert to molecular energy enhancing ketones .
Some health experts are considering Alzheimer’s Disease diabetes 3. AD victims suffer from dysfunctional insulin in the brain, thus starving brain cells of glucose needed for cellular metabolism. But ketones replace the glucose that’s in short supply in an AD victim’s brain.
Coconut oil also helps create “good cholesterol” that forms much of the tissue in the brain and also protects the central nervous system with a myelin coating .
Repairing and protecting central nervous system tissue and providing easily produced ketone energy into brain cell to reverse Alzheimer’s is something Big Pharma cannot come close to claiming. Thus far Big Pharma’s solutions for AD have been ineffective with damaging side effects.
Stay natural, my friend.
Paul Fassa is a contributing staff writer for REALfarmacy.com. His pet peeves are the Medical Mafia’s control over health and the food industry and government regulatory agencies’ corruption. Paul’s contributions to the health movement and global paradigm shift are well received by truth seekers. Visit his blog by following this link and follow him on Twitter here
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Financial Markets , Gold , Market Manipulation , Precious Metals GLD , Junior mining stocks , silver eagles , SLV admin
One interesting occurrence that has not been written about in the precious metals alternative media or blog space yet is that gold has been quietly moving in tandem with the dollar over the past several trading sessions. It has been quite pronounced during the past four trading days, today inclusive. In the previous 15 years, gold’s best periods of return have occurred when gold and the dollar move in tandem higher for a brief period of time, followed by a period of time when the dollar heads south and gold continues higher.
If you look at graphs of both gold and the dollar side by side, you’ll see that this occurred in late 2005 into early 2006, when gold moved higher until May while the dollar fell and again in late 2008. It’s too early tell if that will happen now, but suffice it to say that both are moving in tandem right now and it’s worth watching to see if it continues. My theory is that there’s flight to safety into gold and the dollar ahead of an adverse economic event. As the event unfolds, the dollar begins to sell off but capital continues to flow into gold as the ultimate wealth preservation asset.
The above analysis is an excerpt from the latest issue of IRD’s Mining Stock Journal which was released last night. Earlier today, Bill “Midas” Murphy poked his head out of the New Orleans Investment Conference and asked me why the metals were acting “so goofy” this morning, to which I replied: Interestingly, gold and the dollar have been moving in tandem the past several days. Not perfect correlation but I bet its 80-85%. I discussed this in the latest issue of my Mining Stock Journal . Over the last 15 years, gold has had some of its best performance periods when it moved in tandem with the dollar for a bit then took off higher while the dollar sold off. It’s been moving in tandem with the dollar today as well. The manipulated correction is over. India and China are buying a LOT of gold right now. Two days ago nearly 100 tonnes were delivered onto the SGE. I don’t think the cartel can take gold lower and I think right now they are merely trying to keep the “beachball” from popping above the surface of the water. Every time gold pops up, they hit it, but gold bounces back like one of those punching clowns. At some point they are going to have to go back into “managed retreat.” Maybe once the election is over.
You’ll note that there’s now been a complete reversal in the precious metals sector, with gold, silver and the HUI running higher and the SPX/Dow headed south. MSJ subscribers have been getting analysis like this since early March. In addition, my picks have been substantially outperforming the sector. MSJ is $20/month, with no minimum commitment period. You can access this content by clicking here: Mining Stock Journal . You’ve got a great journal for an amazing price – James, happy subscriber Share this: | 0 |
29 Views November 01, 2016 GOLD , KWN King World News
As the gold and silver markets stage a rally, today’s move in gold and silver is nothing compared to what is coming.
A Terrifying Crisis John Embry: “Things are continuing to deteriorate across the globe. Now we are facing the very real possibility of another world war, and in a world with massive nuclear arsenals on both sides I find that to be terrifying… Continue reading the John Embry interview below… Advertisement To hear what billionaire Eric Sprott & Rick Rule are doing with their own money and which $7 billion company John Embry & Dr. Marc Faber oversee click on the logo:
John Embry continues: “In my mind, that crisis dwarfs the economic and financial deterioration.
On a separate note, I laughed when I saw the U.S. GDP number come in at 2.9 percent. That is totally at odds with important economic indicators such as freight traffic, industrial production, construction, oil consumption, etc.
Along those same lines, the inflation rate published by the government sharply understates the true rate of inflation for the average U.S. citizen. The price of necessities — food, energy, housing, and healthcare, are all now rising much faster than the official inflation rate. And those are the primary items that the average consumers spend the bulk of their incomes on in the United States.
The issue of Obamacare has become a national disgrace, with premium increases in 2017 to exceed double-digit percentages in virtually all constituencies. It will be interesting to see how this reality is reflected in voting patterns next week. Despite the mainstream press awarding the election to Hillary Clinton, there may be a bigger backlash coming from the voting public than anticipated. The public has become increasingly disenchanted with the establishment and what it has done to living standards for the average American.
However, irrespective of who wins the election, I foresee a big upward price move in gold and silver that may have already started today, as there are no palatable solutions to the world’s massive debt problems. I have long believed that we are going to experience a global hyperinflation for the first time in history, and this represents the most disruptive social condition that can possibly occur. Eventually the debt will have to be dealt with but I suspect that will happen in the wake of the hyperinflation. At that moment the only refuges will be hard assets, with gold and silver at the front of the pack. Meaning, today’s upside move in gold and silver is nothing compared to what is coming.”
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***KWN has also released Rick Rule’s timely audio interview CLICK HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW.
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The Trump transition team wants copies of every single executive order and directive outgoing President Obama ordered on immigration since he took office, along with several other documents that will let them assess how to beef up border security, according to a Reuters exclusive. [Most famous among the executive orders: Obama’s unconstitutional shielding of illegal aliens from deportation in 2012, carving out exemptions for illegal aliens who arrived in the U. S. as minors. It granted a form of legal status and work permits to some 1. 4 million illegals who signed up — and an “advance parole” that would let them claim U. S. citizenship, completely absent of Congressional oversight, let alone approval. Trump transition officials also asked to see any illegal aliens’ records who had been changed to ensure federal workers were not altering them to help the illegals stay in the U. S. according to Reuters. The illegal aliens who signed up for amnesty freely gave the government their addresses, identities, and admission that they’re in the country illegally, meaning they could be the first in line when the deportations begin under a Trump administration. “Four years ago I pointed out the fundamental problem with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program: Anyone who signed up for DACA would be adding their names to a list of illegal aliens. Should a future administration decide that it would start enforcing the law, the DACA program would provide list of prime candidates for deportation,” writes John Miano at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). “At the time, this was so obvious that I was surprised anyone would be stupid enough to sign up for DACA and DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans). Yet apparently hundreds of thousands of people did so anyway. ” Roughly one million of the illegal aliens who signed up for Obama’s amnesty are from Mexico, CIS added. There may be as many as thirty million illegal aliens living in America in defiance of U. S. law. Any and every illegal alien in the U. S. is subject to deportation, Trump said in a major policy speech given in Phoenix, Arizona, roughly two months before his election win. There will be “zero tolerance” for illegal immigration under a Trump administration. “Anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation — that is what it means to have laws and to have a country,” Trump said. The Trump transition team also requested that the Department of Homeland Security ” assess all assets available for border wall and barrier construction,” and look into expanding detention capabilities for illegal aliens and aerial surveillance of the U. S. border: In response to the transition team request, U. S. Customs and Border Protection staffers identified more than 400 miles along the U. S. border, and about the same distance along the U. S. border, where new fencing could be erected, according to a document seen by Reuters … One program the transition team asked about, according to the email summary, was Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program that authorizes 1, 200 Army National Guard airmen to monitor the southern border for drug trafficking and illegal migration … Adding 413 miles of fencing on the southwest border would be more expensive, according to the estimate of $11. 37 billion, because it would be aimed at keeping pedestrians as well as vehicles from crossing. The meeting between transition team and DHS officials took place Dec. 5, Reuters said. | 1 |
It is not an easy thing to be an independent company these days. For one, it takes billions of dollars and hundreds of employees to spread to new cities, to market the service and to recruit drivers. Legislators and local laws are often not in your favor. And competitors with deep pockets from all over the world are waiting to cheer if you happen to fail. Lyft, the company in the United States behind Uber, is grappling with those forces — but has found that its options are limited. The company, which is based in San Francisco, has in recent months held talks or made approaches to sell itself to companies including General Motors, Apple, Google, Amazon, Uber and Didi Chuxing, according to a dozen people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions were private. One person said it was Lyft who was approached by interested parties. Lyft’s discussions were most serious with G. M. which is one of the company’s largest investors. Still, G. M. never made a written offer to buy Lyft, said the people, and in the end, Lyft did not find a buyer. Lyft is not in danger of closing down and has a cash cushion of $1. 4 billion, some of these people added, so the company will continue as an independent entity. Still, the talks underline how difficult it has become to operate in the market, where people can book rides from drivers through a smartphone app. While companies do not own fleets of cars and instead rely on drivers who have their own vehicles, the business is highly . Venture capitalists and other investors have poured billions of dollars into the companies. Tensions have escalated in the industry in recent months as some companies have worked to figure out what to do with their most expensive operations. This month, Uber, which has raised far more money than Lyft, agreed to sell its Chinese subsidiary to Didi, the biggest company in China. The deal freed Uber from a battle for dominance in the Chinese market. But the move also disrupted a global alliance that Lyft had struck with Didi and others to fight Uber. Lyft has not said whether it will continue working with Didi, but the dissolution of a partnership could stymie Lyft’s growth prospects. Representatives from Lyft, Google, Amazon, Apple, G. M. Didi and Uber declined to comment on talks. The Information earlier reported on talks between G. M. and Lyft. Lyft, a company founded by Logan Green and John Zimmer, sprang out of an early program, then called Zimride, in 2007. The goal, the two have said, was to create a new kind of social an attempt to decrease the number of cars on the road and to improve congestion, reduce humanity’s environmental footprint and create more efficiency in transportation. That idea has turned into a global movement, as companies worldwide — like Grab in Southeast Asia, Ola in India, BlaBlaCar in Europe and Uber — look to upend the global transportation infrastructure. The effort to sell Lyft was aided by bankers at Qatalyst Partners, the boutique investment bank founded by the veteran Silicon Valley banker Frank Quattrone, said the people with knowledge of the talks. Qatalyst declined to comment. Lyft failed to find a buyer partly because of cost, the people said. Lyft was valued at $5. 5 billion after an investment round by G. M. and others in January, making it one of the more unicorn companies in Silicon Valley. Any sale would most likely have to fetch a premium from Lyft’s last valuation to be desirable to the company and its investors. Lyft also struggled to find a buyer because of the challenging economics of the business. Companies like Lyft and Uber typically take 20 percent to 25 percent of the cost of each ride. With Lyft drivers expected to pick up an estimated $2 billion or so in fares this year, that meant Lyft’s annual revenue would be about $400 million, according to a person familiar with the company’s financials. That $400 million shrinks after marketing costs are factored in. To win loyalty from drivers who can also work for Uber, Lyft also sometimes lets drivers keep that 20 percent to 25 percent of some rides, so the company effectively earns no revenue in those situations. And in some cases, Lyft provides drivers with additional cash incentives simply to get out on the road, adding to its costs. The economic realities of the industry have set in for a number of players. Sidecar, an app that competed with Uber and Lyft, shut down in December, citing a “significant capital disadvantage” compared with others in the market. “One of the challenges for these companies is to figure out how to grow and sustain that latent demand for these businesses, but also to eventually become profitable,” said Susan Shaheen, of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley. “Part of the challenge in evolving those services is just balancing out those factors. And that’s not an easy task. ” Lyft is not profitable, said a person briefed on the company’s finances. Yet it has a $1. 4 billion cash hoard, the person added, and the company thinks that will shield it as it works toward achieving profitability. Ms. Shaheen said an acquisition might still make sense for companies that needed more resources and a bigger size to compete. “There isn’t a single company that has all of this expertise — software, manufacturing, — under one roof,” she said. “That’s where acquisition comes in. ” | 1 |
Sheriff David Clarke began his closing address to CPAC 2017 as he knew everyone familiar with him would expect, by declaring “Blue Lives Matter in America! ”[“To what purpose did our Founding Fathers and the soldiers of our great Continental Army strive? Did they work to form the horrible mistake of what progressive Democrats call the Great Society — a place of reliance on the benevolent providence of government as the father, the mother, the breadwinner, and the teacher?” Clarke asked as he settled down to the primary business of his speech. “I think not,” he answered. “You see, General Washington was rightly and firstly proud of the nation that he believed lay within the grasp of the colonists, as they struggled to tear it away from the corpulent arms of an overbearing King of England. George Washington wrote to Benjamin Franklin that no country upon Earth had it more in its power to attain these blessings than united America. ” Clarke quoted extensively from Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Ronald Reagan, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his address. His overall theme was a call to arms his closing request was for CPAC attendees to go out and fight. It was, in some respects, the type of closing speech one might have expected to hear if Republicans had lost the 2016 presidential election. Clarke’s purpose was to impress upon his conservative audience that they faced determined opposition from the Left, and would need to remain in fighting trim themselves if they wanted President Donald Trump to implement the policies they voted for. Clarke stressed that Washington and his revolutionaries “never intended to build a nation to be ruled from a throne room or a centralized government. ” “They weren’t building a land where Boston, or Philadelphia, or New York City, or even today’s capital city that bears his name would dictate terms and conditions to the American people,” he continued. “No, their efforts to secure the basic human rights endowed by the Creator and formation of a most limited government, instituted justly by men and deriving its limited powers from the consent of the governed. They embraced the concept of . ” “They fought the tyranny of the throne, it’s true. They fought to end the abuse of the colonies at the hand of an uncaring and unsympathetic master, but seemingly forgotten yet chief among the complaints outlined by Jefferson in his great Declaration was the refusal of the monarchy to craft and enforce needed laws — wholesome and necessary to the public good, said Jefferson, and of immediate and pressing importance, they told the king of England. They law, they said, a law that works, a respect and reverence to the rule of law,” said Clarke. “These goals were as key at the founding of our great Republic as the need to satisfy our thirst for freedom and religion, and assembly, and a free and unfettered media that we keeping hearing about so much today,” he added wryly. Clarke used the Civil War as another example of the importance of law, making a compelling argument that passing and fairly enforcing good laws is as essential to the maintenance of liberty as repealing bad laws and scaling back the power of overweening government. “Lincoln knew the failure to adhere to that standard in our shared American life would surely result in our surrender — first to the immorality of convenience, then to the sloth of inaction, and finally to the shame of irrelevance,” he proclaimed. Clarke quoted from George Washington to support the idea that America has legitimate needs as a and requires a certain degree of unity to endure, despite our many important differences: “We are either a united people or we are not. If it is the former, then let us in all matters of general concern act as a nation which has national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, then let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it. ” Clarke asked: I ask, are we now acting out the farce that President Washington predicted? We have matters under consideration in this capital city, most notably concerning immigration law and its enforcement, that even the most jaded among us would begrudgingly concede are of national importance to everyone. We have border states, most notably on our southern border, that have to date disproportionately borne the brunt and the burden of our failure to act over the past decades. But is there a state in this union in which the impact of that failure is not keenly felt by the American people? “Yet we seem to have fallen to a place and a time in our national discourse where even the mere restatement and affirmation of laws long ago crafted, and duly enacted by our Constitutional republic’s legislature — laws that were formed and codified in the people’s house, by the people’s representatives — is now considered controversial,” he observed. He went on: In the executive memoranda on immigration laws attested to this past week, no new laws were created. No group was put at risk without affording them due process. The rights of not one of our citizens, even in a land where president, senator, and farmer stand shoulder to shoulder as equals, was imperiled in the least. Instead, we merely restated the laws that were, what they have been, and voiced an intent to see them upheld fairly, impartially, and with a haste born of necessity. “And yet, in our modern times, that is viewed in some circles as oppressive, as controversial, and as wrong,” he noted, adding a sarcastic “Seriously?” He called it a “perversion of thought” to say that Americans are against immigrants. “Do some critics truly believe that we have become that Orwellian nightmare that views all Americans as equal, yet with some more equal than others? Come on now, seriously?” he asked. He said those who oppose the fair enforcement of duly passed immigration laws offer only “lawlessness, obstruction, and chaos” in other areas of American life as well. “They offer no morality, and certainly no courage,” Clarke said. “They offer only appeasement and the false currencies of concession and popularity over the virtues of morality and certainty. ” He drew a comparison between appeasement in foreign policy and appeasement to domestic lawlessness, warning we could not expect strong support for the rule of law from “liberal legislators” who “mark as their key data point in crafting policy how many Facebook likes their pages get, or what the latest Internet polling shows, or how many smiling emojis follow their every move. ” “I for one find no safe harbor or view on the middle ground, wheedling or seeking for others to announce the virtue of my actions,” declared Clarke, whose history of boldly confronting controversy over his words and actions certainly support that claim. “You see I, like President Reagan, see things not only as Left and Right, but as forward and backward — swimming sometimes against a powerful tide, or simply treading water, fundamentally failing our duty to make any choice at all by voting ‘present. ’” This was an important part of his overall theme about keeping all hands on deck, and conservatism at battle stations, rather than allowing intense opposition from the Left and media to paralyze Congress and the administration. He emphasized the point with an especially apt Reagan quote the audience adored: “I suggest to you that there is no Left or Right, only an up and a down. Up to the maximum of individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. ” Clarke said that as a career police officer, he understood the importance of public servants respecting the public that grants them authority through the consent of the governed. “We the people do not follow established rules simply because a law enforcement officer is present to enforce them, but because of our basic love of, trust of, and reliance on our fellow citizens,” he argued. He quoted Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter’s admonition that “if one man can be allowed to determine for himself what the law is, then every man can. That means first chaos, and then tyranny. ” “American law enforcement officers have always understood this simple truth,” Clarke said. “They spend their life’s work, as I have thus far, exemplifying my faith in, my belief in, and commitment to our American system of justice — a system renowned the world over for the provisions of individual due process as a right endowed in each of us by our Creator. ” “The rule of law doesn’t divide us,” he said. “It binds us together in our great American life with shared behaviors, beliefs, and manners. I call it, as do many of you, ‘American exceptionalism.’ We are a nation of limited government in which everyone willfully, and as a matter of civic duty, must obey the law. And the value derived for the small price paid of observance of the common law is the greatest treasure known to mankind: freedom. Sweet freedom. ” “Freedom is why we get up in the morning and tend the fields. It is why we stay up late at night watching foreign markets. It sustains us. It feeds us. And once we have tasted it, we can never have enough to be satisfied,” he said. “As a conservative I believe with all my heart, that in furtherance of the common good, freedom means you decide your destiny. You, your family, your household, your neighborhood, your small town, your state — and yes, in those few matters of national scope, your nation,” Clarke said. “To cede as a matter of simple course of expediency, to cede those powers too quickly or injudiciously to Washington D. C. is just plain wrong, and it always has been. ” He quoted Reagan again: “We have come to a time for choosing … either we accept the responsibility for our own destiny, or we abandon the American revolution and confess that an intellectual belief in a capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan our own lives. ” Clarke exclaimed, winning the longest and strongest applause of the hour: How refreshing is that simple concept, that we who run our lives know the course of our own destiny better than some congresswoman from California, better than some judge from Joplin may know it sitting in a office in Washington, making the decisions that can undermine all of our great efforts. How refreshing to see a return to that respectful thought of the importance of and to turn away from the conceit and arrogance that was its predecessor at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue before January 20th, 2017! In President Donald Trump we have chosen a leader — a leader who I expect many of you in this room well know I both campaigned and vigorously supported for the highest office in this land. And he was a candidate that I’m certain many in this room also supported, and some may have at first opposed in some measure. That’s fine. That’s the great nature of this republic. We have choices, and we decide. However, in President Trump I sense a return now to those key virtues first extolled in that letter to a tyrant monarch in 1776. I sense a pride in our nation, and a voice to that pride that I have found lacking for the last eight years. “We were constantly told by former President Obama that America needed to humble itself. He told us humility is a virtue. But false humility is an affront to the senses, and pride in the greatness and might of our nation has never been a sin,” he argued. “President George Washington himself observed, upon the occasion of his first inaugural, ‘There is a rank due to the United States among nations which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness.’ Consider those words once more: ‘A rank due the United States of America.’ Allow me to translate that language from 1789 to 2017. It means: ‘Put America first,’” he said. Clarke faulted the mainstream media for “mocking and taunting” President Trump’s America First vision, portraying it as “dark and feral. ” He said: No, it’s not. Yet those who held the office before President Trump would rise up from their graves and nod in agreement with the importance of our shared effort and potential for reward that President Trump offered us when he said, ‘We the citizens of America are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country, restore its promise not for an elite few, but for all of our people.’ He said together, we will determine the course of America and the world for many years to come. President Trump reminded us we will face challenges, we will confront hardships, but we will get the job done. Clarke said in closing: Ladies and gentlemen, today is our moment of truth, our point of no return. The choices we need make at this moment are opposed by entrenched interests. The ‘resistance’ looms. They attack our motives, they assail our beliefs, they decry our notion of justice, they proclaim the high ground of virtue, and they threaten upheaval if not given their way. What will history show we did with our moment of truth? Did we stand and fight, or did we cut and run? “Ladies and gentlemen, this is my challenge to you. These are your marching orders: Go forth to stand and fight,” he said. | 1 |
WASHINGTON — President Obama said on Thursday that the United States would retaliate for Russia’s efforts to influence the presidential election, asserting that “we need to take action,” and “we will. ” The comments, in an interview with NPR, indicate that Mr. Obama, in his remaining weeks in office, will pursue either economic sanctions against Russia or perhaps some kind of response in cyberspace. Mr. Obama spoke as Donald J. Trump on Thursday again refused to accept Moscow’s culpability, asking on Twitter why the administration had waited “so long to act” if Russia “or some other entity” had carried out cyberattacks. The president discussed the potential for American retaliation with Steve Inskeep of NPR for an interview to air on Friday morning. “I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our election,” Mr. Obama said, “we need to take action. And we will — at the time and place of our choosing. ” On Friday morning, the Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, batted away the warning. “It is necessary to either stop talking about it, or finally produce some evidence,” he told the Interfax news agency. “Otherwise, it all begins to look quite unseemly. ” The White House strongly suggested before the election that Mr. Obama would make use of sanctions authority for cyberattacks that he had given to himself by executive order. But he did not, in part out of concern that action before the election could lead to an escalated conflict. If Mr. Obama invokes sanctions on Russian individuals or organizations, Mr. Trump could reverse them. But that would be politically difficult, as his critics argue that he is blind to Russian behavior. On Thursday, pressure grew on Mr. Trump in Congress for him to acknowledge intelligence agencies’ conclusions that Russia was behind the hacking. But aides said that was all but impossible before the Electoral College convenes on Monday to formalize his victory. Mr. Trump has said privately in recent days that he believes there are people in the C. I. A. who are out to get him and are working to delegitimize his presidency, according to people briefed on the conversations who described them on the condition of anonymity. The ’s suspicions have been stoked by the efforts of a group of Democratic electors, as well as one Republican, who called this week for an intelligence briefing on the Russian hacking, raising the prospect that votes in the Electoral College might be changed. In his Twitter posting on Thursday, Mr. Trump suggested that the government’s conclusions on Russian hacking were a case of sour grapes by Mr. Obama. The falsely stated that Mr. Obama had waited until after the election to raise the issue. “Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?” Mr. Trump asked, although the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr. formally blamed Russia on Oct. 7 for cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee and other organizations. In September, meeting privately in China with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Mr. Obama not only complained, the White House says, but also warned him of consequences if the Russian activity did not stop. Among those in his own party, Mr. Trump’s refusal to accept the evidence that Russia was the perpetrator was raising growing concerns, with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina saying he would not vote for Rex W. Tillerson, Mr. Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, unless Mr. Tillerson addressed Russia’s role during his confirmation hearings. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Trump’s stated doubts about Russia’s involvement will subside after Monday’s Electoral College vote. He and his allies have been concerned that the reports of Russian hacking have been intended to peel away votes from him, although even Democrats have not gone so far as to say the election was illegitimate. “Right now, certain elements of the media, certain elements of the intelligence community and certain politicians are really doing the work of the Russians — they’re creating this uncertainty over the election,” Representative Peter T. King, Republican of New York, told reporters on Thursday after meeting with Mr. Trump. But many other Republicans, including Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, and Senator John McCain of Arizona, have publicly argued that the evidence leads straight to Russia. They have called for a full investigation, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, urged Mr. Obama on Thursday to complete an administration review quickly. Mr. Trump’s Twitter post was his latest move to accuse the intelligence agencies he will soon control of acting with a political agenda and to dispute the conclusion that Moscow carried out a meticulously planned series of attacks and releases of information to interfere in the presidential race. But as he repeated his doubts, Mr. Trump seized on emerging questions about the Obama administration’s response: Why did it take months after the breaches had been discovered for the administration to name Moscow publicly as the culprit? And why did Mr. Obama initially opt not to openly retaliate, through sanctions or other measures? White House officials have said that the warning to Mr. Putin at the September summit meeting in China constituted the primary American response so far. When the administration decided to go public with its conclusion a month later, it did so in a statement from the director of national intelligence and the Homeland Security secretary, not in a prominent presidential appearance. Officials said they were worried that any larger public response would have raised doubts about the election’s integrity, something Mr. Trump was already seeking to do during the campaign when he insisted the election was “rigged. ” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, criticized Mr. Trump on Thursday for questioning whether Russia was behind the attacks, referring to Mr. Trump’s call during the campaign for Moscow to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails, a remark his team has since dismissed as a joke. “I don’t think anybody at the White House thinks it’s funny that an adversary of the United States engaged in malicious cyberactivity to destabilize our democracy — that’s not a joke,” Mr. Earnest said. “It might be time to not attack the intelligence community, but actually be supportive of a thorough, transparent, rigorous, nonpolitical investigation into what exactly happened. ” While he declined to confirm news reports that Mr. Putin was personally involved in directing the cyberattacks, Mr. Earnest pointedly read part of the Oct. 7 statement that said intelligence officials believed “that only Russia’s officials could have authorized these activities. ” He said that language “would lead me to conclude that based on my personal reading and not based on any knowledge that I have that may be classified or otherwise, it was pretty obvious that they were referring to the government official in Russia. ” In a conference call with reporters later on Thursday, aides declined to explain Mr. Trump’s position on whether Russia had been responsible for the breaches or to describe what he would do about the issue as president. Jason Miller, a spokesman, said he would let Mr. Trump’s “tweets speak for themselves” and added that those raising questions about the hacking were refusing to come to terms with his victory. “At a certain point you’ve got to realize that the election from last month is going to stand,” Mr. Miller said. | 1 |
Before he became president, Donald J. Trump called climate change a hoax, questioned the safety of vaccines and mocked renewable energy as a plaything of “ . ” So perhaps it is no surprise that Mr. Trump’s first budget took direct aim at basic scientific and medical research. Still, the extent of the cuts in the proposed budget unveiled early Thursday shocked scientists, researchers and program administrators. The reductions include $5. 8 billion, or 18 percent, from the National Institutes of Health, which fund thousands of researchers working on cancer and other diseases, and $900 million, or a little less than 20 percent, from the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which funds the national laboratories, considered among the crown jewels of basic research in the world. The White House is also proposing to eliminate climate science programs throughout the federal government, including at the Environmental Protection Agency. “As to climate change, I think the president was fairly straightforward: We’re not spending money on that anymore,” Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said at a White House briefing on Thursday. “We consider that to be a waste of your money to go out and do that. ” While the budget is only a blueprint and is sure to face strong opposition from members of both parties in Congress — many lawmakers have already said that certain cuts, like those to the N. I. H. are nonstarters — policy makers expressed concern about what the proposal says about the administration’s commitment to science. “Do they not think that there are advances to be made, improvements to be made, in the human condition?” said Rush D. Holt, a physicist and the chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “The record of scientific research is so good, for so many years — who would want to sell it short? What are they thinking?” The American Society of Clinical Oncology, the leading professional society for cancer specialists, issued a statement warning that the proposed budget “will devastate our nation’s already fragile federal research infrastructure. ” “Now is not the time to slow progress in finding new treatments and cures for patients with cancer,” the group said. Others said the proposed cuts would motivate more scientists to become politically active. Referring to the budget released early Thursday, Dr. Caroline Weinberg, a public health researcher and one of the organizers of a protest march by scientists set for April 22 in Washington, said, “It is a document detailing exactly why thousands of people around the world will join together to march for science. ” Some cuts were singled out for criticism. The proposed budget would eliminate the Fogarty International Center, an N. I. H. program focused on global health. The center, founded in the 1960s, has worked on H. I. V. Ebola, diabetes, dengue, maternal mortality and numerous other health problems, and trains American and foreign doctors and researchers in developing countries. “The Fogarty Center advances United States national interests in a multitude of ways, and it would be terribly unfortunate for the institution to cease to exist,” said J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a member of the Fogarty Center’s advisory board. “It has a high reputation outside our borders,” Dr. Morrison said of the center, which has had annual appropriations of about $70 million. “It’s a very tiny institution,” he added, in terms of the overall budget. Judith Enck, a regional E. P. A. official in the Obama administration and now a visiting scholar at Pace University School of Law, called the proposed science cuts in her former agency “nonsensical. ” Noting that one of the programs being cut monitors chemicals known as endocrine disrupters, she said, “Not having the latest science on endocrine disrupters will make more people sick. And that is not something the states will pick up. ” The administration proposal spares some programs. It would continue development of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s current generation of weather satellites, for example. NASA’s budget would be cut only slightly, by less than 1 percent, but the White House is proposing a shift in where the money would be spent — eliminating four earth science missions and the $115 million the agency is spending on education. Eliminating laboratory research on climate change, as the budget proposes, can have effects, experts said, by making it harder to predict storms or other weather events that cause devastation and loss of life. “Cutting scientific research in E. P. A. and NASA and NOAA and other science agencies is not going to help us have more information on the causes and, more important, the effects of climate change,” said Vicki Arroyo, the executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center and a former E. P. A. official. The budget also calls for eliminating some programs that help bridge the divide between basic research and commercialization. Among the most prominent of these is the Advanced Research Projects Agency — Energy, known as the Energy Department office that funds research in innovative energy technologies with a goal of getting products to market. Its annual appropriation of about $300 million would be eliminated. James J. Greenberger, the executive director of NAATBatt International, a trade group for the advanced battery industry, said had been of enormous benefit to the industry. “We’re absolutely stunned by it,” Mr. Greenberger said of the agency’s potential elimination, which he announced to industry leaders gathered at his group’s annual conference in Arizona. “I don’t know what’s going through the administration’s head. It’s almost surreal. ” | 1 |
Ned Ryun, founder and CEO of American Majority, discussed with Sirius XM host Raheem Kassam on Thursday’s Breitbart News Daily what Kassam called “palace intrigue. ”[“Is Stephen K. Bannon marginalized? Is Jared Kushner leading the president into strange and unusual places? Is Reince, and is Sean Spicer, influential? Are they on their way out? In your opinion, what is going on here, what do we need to be wary of, what are we looking out for, who are the players, and how do they align with each other?” Kassam asked. “Since inauguration, it was really about four camps,” Ryun replied. “It was the Kushner camp, it was the Bannon camp, it was the Reince camp, and it was the Pence camp. But I’m starting to think, based off what I was hearing from yesterday and then reading reports this morning, that this is becoming actually more of two camps — that it really is the national populists, really led by Bannon, versus, quite frankly — there’s no other way to describe them — the liberal New York City set that have come in. ” Ryun said the latter camp included “Gary Cohn, Dina Powell,” and others he described as Democrats, along with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. “God bless them, they’re part of the Trump family, but let’s not kid ourselves: they are part of the Manhattan liberal set,” he said of the latter duo. “The question that I have as I’m reading these reports — and I think we should start asking questions — who are they really? What has been their experience? What is their worldview? Because I’m starting to suspect their worldview does not line up with the campaign promises that Trump was making,” Ryun said. “The people that voted for Donald Trump voted for very specific things,” he noted. “They do want to see a wall. They want to see immigration dealt with. They want to see healthcare reform. They want to see tax reform. They want to see all of these things. ” “Watching what’s taking place, I’m growing more and more concerned that some of the dynamics, some of the voices in Trump’s ear, some of the influences — we should start asking questions. Are they starting to steer him in the wrong direction, away from what got him into one of the most stunning victories in presidential history, got him into the White House?” Ryun asked. Kassam returned to Ryun’s description of the “liberal New York City set” and asked him to explain the importance of Dina Powell. Ryun noted Powell is a fellow veteran of the Bush White House. “I was at the White House before she was, but she came in she was head of presidential personnel. In fact, I think she was the head of presidential personnel,” he said. He continued that after Powell left the Bush White House, she worked for Goldman Sachs in New York “and now has come back, really gotten involved with Ivanka Trump Day. ” “I have real concerns, not only about the New York liberal set that has come into the White House. … I am more and more concerned about the Goldman Sachs people that have come into the administration,” Ryun professed. He said they have a “different worldview than the American people that voted Trump in. ” “You’ve got that worldview, you’ve got the New York Goldman Sachs liberal set worldview, and the real question here is which one is going to win out, influencing the future direction of Trump,” he predicted. “I thought really yesterday, at first, initially, it was a reorganization by McMaster of some of these things,” Ryun said of the news that Steve Bannon has been removed from the principals committee of the National Security Council. “I’m a little more concerned that there is a serious power struggle going on. ” “I’ve got to tell you, my hope is that Trump will say, ‘I know what got me in. I know what brought me to the White House. Steve Bannon is really the lead cheerleader on that front. Keep Steve close. Listen to Steve. Keep pushing down this path,” Ryun advised. “If he does, there will be victory this year in regards to policy,” he anticipated. “He’s already going to have it this week with Gorsuch. I really do think we’re going to get something done with health care. There’s going to be a massive step in the right direction. I do think we’ve got a real shot at tax reform. ” “You get a couple of these victories under your belt. You keep going down this path. Then we’re going to start talking about what the second Trump term looks like,” he said. “But if he starts to stray, I’m concerned. ” Kassam asked where the Republican National Committee, its former chairman Reince Priebus, and Sean Spicer fit into this picture. “You know, I think they’re starting to realize that the New York set, they’re not their friends,” Ryun replied. “I think in a weird strange alliance that the RNC folks are realizing they’re basically going to become allies with Bannon. ” “This is all on the fly. This is all really the last 24 hours,” he added. “If the other guys win, I guarantee you Bannon’s out, Reince is out, Spicer’s out, the corporate New York set is in. ” “I think you’re going to see, internally, really kind of what I think are strange alliances. But in the short term, I think they’re going to be working together to push back on this New York set. Quite frankly, even though it pains me somewhat to say this, I hope that Bannon and the RNC guys, that alliance is successful,” Ryun said. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. LISTEN: | 1 |
MANILA — President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines said on Saturday that Donald J. Trump had endorsed his brutal antidrug campaign, telling Mr. Duterte that the Philippines was conducting it “the right way. ” Mr. Duterte, who spoke with Mr. Trump by telephone on Friday, said Mr. Trump was “quite sensitive” to “our worry about drugs. ” “He wishes me well, too, in my campaign, and he said that, well, we are doing it as a sovereign nation, the right way,” Mr. Duterte said. There was no immediate response from Mr. Trump to Mr. Duterte’s description of the phone call, and his transition team could not be reached for comment. Since his election last month, Mr. Trump has held a series of unscripted calls with foreign leaders, several of which have broken radically from past American policies and diplomatic practice. A call on Friday with the president of Taiwan, Tsai appeared to be out of sync with four decades of United States policy toward China and prompted a Chinese call to the White House. Mr. Duterte has led a campaign against drug abuse in which he has encouraged the police and others to kill people they suspect of using or selling drugs. Since he took office in June, more than 2, 000 people have been killed by the police in what officers describe as drug raids, and the police say several hundred more have been killed by vigilantes. The program has been condemned by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and others for what rights organizations have characterized as extrajudicial killings. In rejecting such criticism from the United States this fall, Mr. Duterte called Mr. Obama a “son of a whore. ” In a summary of the phone call with Mr. Trump released by Mr. Duterte’s office on Saturday morning, Mr. Duterte said the two had spoken for just a few minutes but covered many topics, including the antidrug campaign. “I could sense a good rapport, an animated Trump,” Mr. Duterte said. “And he was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem. ” Mr. Duterte added: “He understood the way we are handling it, and I said that there’s nothing wrong in protecting a country. It was a bit very encouraging in the sense that I supposed that what he really wanted to say was that we would be the last to interfere in the affairs of your own country. ” Mr. Duterte, who has said he was seeking “a separation” from the United States, a longtime ally, and has threatened to bar American troops from his country, also said, “We assured him of our ties with America. ” He did not elaborate on that comment. Mr. Duterte also said that Mr. Trump had invited him to visit New York and Washington, and that Mr. Trump said he wanted to attend the summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year in the Philippines. Mr. Duterte has often been compared to Mr. Trump for his blunt speech and populist positions. “I appreciate the response that I got from Trump, and I would like to wish him success,” Mr. Duterte said. “He will be a good president for the United States of America. ” | 1 |
Behind the headlines - conspiracies, cover-ups, ancient mysteries and more. Real news and perspectives that you won't find in the mainstream media. Browse: Home / October Boomerang The 9/11 Solution: The Big Clue Everyone Missed By wmw_admin on July 21, 2008
Google removed this video but a reader sent in a copy. Watch how the media carefully manipulates coverage of the events of 9/11, as they interview ‘experts’ who provide the cover story that has gone to make up the standard govt/media version of 9/11 The Lady, The Queen and what it really means By wmw_admin on December 28, 2009
Every picture tells a story and with some photos and a few words Paul Powers shows us what was hidden in the background when Queen Elizabeth II met pop sensation Lady Gaga Dov Zakheim and the 9/11 Conspiracy By wmw_admin on April 23, 2010
Our web hosts were threatened with legal action after lawyers representing none other than Dov Zakheim himself claimed this article was “defamatory.” Due to an oversight the article was not fully removed so read it before Zakheim gets us shut down Letter from James Abourezk, former US Senator from South Dakota to Jeff Blankfort on the Israel Lobby By wmw_admin on December 8, 2006
More than being an insider’s confirmation of the power of the pro-Israel lobby over Congress, the former US Senator’s letter also calls into question Noam Chomsky’s increasingly suspect looking motives Bilderberg Meeting – Media Should Be Ashamed By wmw_admin on July 12, 2003
Why do the Bilderberg meetings receive so little coverage. Victor Thorn examines why, and how, real news is suppressed by the mainstream media “WIPED OFF THE MAP”– The Rumor of the Century By wmw_admin on January 21, 2008
How President Ahmadinejad’s words were mistranslated and deliberately distorted. So that the term “wiped off the map” has now become synonymous with the Iranian leader’s attitude to Israel – even though he never uttered those words The Advent of the Anti-Christ By Rixon Stewart on August 2, 2010
A few words on the market meltdown and how it may assist the debut of a truly sinister figure The Marijuana Trick By wmw_admin on November 17, 2005
Doug Yurchey looks at the history of Hemp and the real reason why it is now illegal. As with so many other things, we’ve been sold a lie to maximise the profits of a few Have You Read the Talmud Lately? By wmw_admin on September 3, 2006
The Talmud expounds some of the most virulent racism, as these extracts plainly show. However, as a reader points out not all Jews are influenced by it, or even read it. Only the ultra religious study it, the rest haven’t a clue. We leave you to decide | 0 |
Would have been more ironic if that had been a US TOW missile supplied by the Pentagon to ISIS recently.
Recently read that the Abraham M1A2's armour (Chobham type) is near impenetrable with most tank and RPG rounds so it's weird that this one sliced through it and cooked the lid off the thing. | 0 |
Report Copyright Violation OFFICIAL ONLINE NATIONAL DONALD TRUMP POLLS UPDATED IN REAL-TIME Traditional media outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, FOX and ALL major newspapers nationwide have been proven to be 100% corrupt. The masses have ‘caught on’ and have turned to social media as the new, dominant news source.All polling records shown on this website are 100% accurate and reveal the true national polling numbers, which are completely our of sync with the fraudulent MSM results shown nightly. [ link to www.donaldjtrumppolls.com ] Go Vote!! The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Thomas Jefferson | 0 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. A powerful earthquake in a mountainous stretch of central Italy devastated historic towns in three regions. The stunned mayor of one, Amatrice, reported that “half the town no longer exists. ” More than 100 people were killed in the quake and its aftershocks, many more were injured, and more than 1, 000 people are spending the night in emergency camps. Watch video from the scene. ______ 2. Turkey sent tanks, warplanes and special forces across the Syrian border to attack Islamic State positions, escalating the Syrian conflict days after a suicide bomber killed more than 50 people at a Turkish wedding party. Turkey also insisted that Syrian Kurdish militias, which it distrusts, retreat from the territorial gains they made with U. S. backing. ______ 3. Bernie Sanders is establishing a new group, Our Revolution, to fight economic inequality and special interests. But some of his core staff members have stepped down. One objection is that tax rules would allow Our Revolution to accept large donations from anonymous sources. Another is the leadership role of Mr. Sanders’s former campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, above left in March, whom some do not trust. ______ 4. Donald Trump’s efforts to reach out to are alienating some black voters, who reject his portrayal of black America as defined by misery, poverty and urban perils. “Black America also has a large community of striving, successful, people: in the work force,” said a black leader. ______ 5. Hillary Clinton remained on the West Coast for a second day of including one hosted by Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive. Our election model currently gives the Democrats a 60 percent chance of retaking the Senate. But the trajectory may not be so smooth, because of candidates in key states like Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, Nevada, Iowa and Ohio. Above, the end of a lunch in Washington in January. ______ 6. The last major guerrilla struggle in Latin America is over. Colombia’s government and FARC rebels announced a final deal, ending a conflict that, over 52 years, claimed some 220, 000 lives and displaced more than 5 million people. President Juan Manuel Santos, who has staked his legacy on peace, must now sell the agreement to his people, who will be asked to vote in an referendum on the deal. ______ 7. Astronomers reported a tantalizing discovery: Circling our nearest neighboring star is a Goldilocks planet, one at just the right distance from its sun to be neither too hot nor too cold for liquid surface water. A scientist on the team said it was like a neon sign, flashing, “I’m the nearest star, and I have a potentially habitable planet!” ______ 8. Unease over the banning of “burkinis” has begun building in France, as images and reports of sometimes humiliating beachfront confrontations between the authorities and Muslim women circulate. The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, cautioned that enforcement efforts should not “stigmatize” people or “set one against another. ” ______ 9. Trolls and hackers renewed their assaults on the “Ghostbusters” star Leslie Jones. Her personal website was breached, plastered over with a picture of the gorilla Harambe — which became a racist meme after being killed in a Cincinnati zoo — images of her driver’s license and passport, and what appeared to be nude photos of her. The musician Questlove posted on the gravity of the attack: “It’s racist sexist. It’s disgusting. This is hate crimes. This ain’t ‘kids joshing round.’ ” ______ 10. Good economic news: The U. S. housing sector is finally back on its feet. A new report shows that more new homes were sold last month than in nearly a decade. Analysts say builders have begun serving the end of the market, including young adults who are entering their prime years. ______ 11. Finally, more good news: European scientists have figured out how to identify women with breast cancer who can recover well without chemotherapy. If most of the genes that control the growth and spread of cancer are inactive, then surgery, hormonal treatment and radiation appear to be enough to discourage recurrence. The finding could spare tens of thousands of women annually from the harshest cancer treatments. Above, survivors at an N. F. L. game last fall. ______ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 1 |
SEATTLE — Ever since last summer, when Lynn Gemmell’s dog, Bela, was inducted into the trial of a drug that has been shown to significantly lengthen the lives of laboratory mice, she has been the object of intense scrutiny among dog park regulars. To those who insist that Bela, 8, has turned back into a puppy — “Look how fast she’s getting that ball!” — Ms. Gemmell has tried to turn a deaf ear. Bela, a Border shepherd mix, may have been given a placebo, for one thing. The drug, rapamycin, which improved heart health and appeared to delay the onset of some diseases in older mice, may not work the same magic in dogs, for another. There is also a chance it could do more harm than good. “This is just to look for side effects, in dogs,” Ms. Gemmell told Bela’s many . Technically that is true. But the trial also represents a new frontier in testing a proposition for improving human health: Rather than only seeking treatments for the individual maladies that come with age, we might do better to target the biology that underlies aging itself. While the diseases that now kill most people in developed nations — heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cancer — have different immediate causes, age is the major risk factor for all of them. That means that even treatment breakthroughs in these areas, no matter how vital to individuals, would yield on average four or five more years of life, epidemiologists say, and some of them likely shadowed by illness. A drug that slows aging, the logic goes, might instead serve to delay the onset of several major diseases at once. A handful of drugs tested by federally funded laboratories in recent years appear to extend the healthy lives of mice, with rapamycin and its derivatives, approved by the Food and Drug Administration for organ transplant patients and to treat some types of cancer, so far proving the most effective. In a 2014 study by the drug company Novartis, the drug appeared to bolster the immune system in older patients. And the early results in aging dogs suggest that rapamycin is helping them, too, said Matt Kaeberlein, a biology of aging researcher at the University of Washington who is running the study with a colleague, Daniel Promislow. But scientists who champion the study of aging’s basic biology — they call it “geroscience” — say their field has received short shrift from the biomedical establishment. And it was not lost on the University of Washington researchers that exposing dog lovers to the idea that aging could be delayed might generate popular support in addition to new data. “Many of us in the biology of aging field feel like it is underfunded relative to the potential impact on human health this could have,” said Dr. Kaeberlein, who helped pay for the study with funds he received from the university for turning down a competing job offer. “If the average pet owner sees there’s a way to significantly delay aging in their pet, maybe it will begin to impact policy decisions. ” The idea that resources might be better spent trying to delay aging rather than to cure diseases flies in the face of most philanthropy and the Obama administration’s proposal to spend $1 billion on a “cancer moonshot. ” And many scientists say it is still too unproven to merit more investment. The National Institutes of Health has long been organized around particular diseases, including the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. There is the National Institute on Aging, but about a third of its budget last year was directed exclusively to research on Alzheimer’s disease, and its Division of Aging Biology represents a tiny fraction of the N. I. H. ’s $30 billion annual budget. That is, in part, because the field is in its infancy, said the N. I. H. director, Dr. Francis Collins. “I would resist the idea that we should shift funds away from cancer and diabetes and Alzheimer’s, where there are clear drug targets, and say, ‘We’re going to work on this hypothesis,’ ” Dr. Collins said. “If you had a lot of money for geroscience right now, it’s not clear what you would do with it that would be scientifically credible. ” Researchers in the field, in turn, say they might have more to show for themselves if they could better explain to Congress and the public why basic research on aging could be useful. “People understand ‘my relative died of a heart attack, so I’m going to give money to that,’ ” said Dr. James L. Kirkland, a Mayo Clinic researcher. “It’s harder to grasp ‘my relative was older, that predisposes them to have a heart attack, so I should give money to research on aging.’ ” Some companies have embraced the quest for drugs that delay aging. Google created Calico (for California Life Company) in 2013 with the goal of defeating aging. A called Unity has said it will develop drugs based on new research on aging mice suggesting that purging certain cells can extend a healthy life span. And a group of academic researchers is trying to persuade the F. D. A. to recognize aging as a disease for which a drug can be marketed, which they hope will draw more interest from pharmaceutical firms. The agency recently greenlighted its proposed trial of a widely used diabetes drug, metformin, to see if it can delay the onset of other diseases in older adults who have received a diagnosis of at least one, as one study suggests it might. But the group has yet to secure funding. One reason, the researchers say, is that the notion that aging is immutable is so deeply entrenched. “When I go out and try to raise money for this, the first thing people will say to me is, ‘Eh, we’re all getting older,’ ” said Steven Austad, a researcher at the University of Alabama. Most of us harbor the intuition that we age because our bodies, like our cars, our furniture, our patience, just wear out. But the best argument that life span is not biologists say, has long been evident: Living things age at significantly different rates. “The squirrels in my neighborhood have a life span, but they look like rats that live two years,” said Gary Ruvkun, a pioneer in aging biology at Harvard Medical School. “If you look at what nature has selected for and allowed, it suggests that you might be able to get your hands on the various levers that change things. ” That aspiration gained traction in the 1990s and 2000s, when scientists, armed with new tools of molecular biology, homed in on the complex cellular pathways that regulate life span in many species. By removing genes that produced certain proteins, or adding genes that produced others, researchers found they could significantly extend the lives of simple laboratory organisms like budding yeast, roundworms and flies. “It’s not just wearing out, it’s a program,” Dr. Ruvkun said. “The genetics told us that. If you can modulate it with a few simple perturbations, that’s the definition of a program. ” Since genes cannot be so easily manipulated in humans, it was significant in 2006 when Dr. Kaeberlein and others demonstrated that rapamycin, the drug now being tested in dogs, suppressed one of the crucial proteins in yeast, resulting in a longer life span without removing a gene. The protein is known to be involved in cell growth. But just how its suppression works to extend life is still unclear, raising questions about potential unknown downsides. And it has not helped the field’s reputation that what emerged as a hope for fighting aging, amplifying proteins called sirtuins, has not yet panned out. Initially believed to be activated by resveratrol, a substance found in red wine, sirtuins provided a seemingly excellent excuse to imbibe. But the pharmaceutical giant GSK, which had purchased a company for $720 million with the intention of developing a drug, cut back its efforts in 2013 after the results of the original genetic experiments came under question. A year later, one of only two major foundations funding longevity research stopped making new grants in the field. Besides the standard scientific road bumps, biology of aging researchers say their field’s reputation suffers from its association with peddlers selling creams, hormones and fountains of youth, not to mention the likes of Dorian Gray, Voldemort and assorted Sith lords. Efforts to prolong life are often viewed as selfish or trivial. “It seems pretty egocentric while we still have malaria and TB for rich people to fund things so they can live longer,” Bill Gates, whose philanthropy focuses on global poverty, said during a session on Reddit last year in response to a question about Calico, the Google spinoff. Coleen Murphy, a molecular biologist at Princeton who is studying reproductive age in women, said she had received hate mail accusing her of trying to overpopulate the earth. Critics of research on extending life span also worry that, rather than increasing health span, which researchers say is their goal, geroscience will consign humanity to living longer in a compromised state. That is happening, with or without longevity research, thanks to advances in public health that have allowed life spans to increase. of older Americans have multiple chronic conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and in just over a decade, a fifth of Europeans and Americans will be 65 or older. “If you go to a dinner party and you tell people you’re working on longevity, they say, ‘Oh that’s terrible,’ ” Dr. Murphy said. “I think if they just understood it’s a way to slow the whole process, instead of fighting it one disease at a time, they’d understand why we’re interested in this. ” Dogs age faster than humans, and bigger dogs age faster than smaller dogs. The 40 dogs that participated in the rapamycin trial, which just concluded its pilot run in Seattle, had to be at least 6 years old and weigh at least 40 pounds. Like Lynn Gemmell’s Bela, whose cholesterol was high, many of them were showing signs of aging: loose skin, graying muzzles, a stiffness in the joints. So were some of their owners. “How are you going to be sure people are going to be giving this to their dog rather than taking it themselves?” Ms. Gemmell, 58, joked with Dr. Kaeberlein on her first visit to the veterinary clinic, where Bela was given a checkup and an echocardiogram to measure heart function, a marker that could conceivably register an improvement over the 10 weeks that she would be given the drug. A research coordinator for human clinical trials at a hospital, Ms. Gemmell adopted Bela as a rescue without realizing how much outdoor time she would need with her. Now divorced with two grown daughters, Ms. Gemmell dons a headlamp when she returns home in the dark, and takes Bela out with a ball and a collar light. “I wish she could live forever,” she said. Over 1, 500 dog owners applied to participate in the trial of rapamycin, which has its roots in a series of studies in mice, the first of which was published in 2009. Made by a type of soil bacterium, rapamycin has extended the life spans of yeast, flies and worms by about 25 percent. But in what proved a fortuitous accident, the researchers who set out to test it in mice had trouble formulating it for easy consumption. As a result, the mice were 20 months old — the equivalent of about 60 human years — when the trial began. That the mice survived about 12 percent longer than the control groups was the first indication that the drug could be given later in life and still be effective. Dr. Kaeberlein said he had since achieved similar benefits by giving mice the drug for only three months. (The National Institute on Aging rejected his request for funding to further test that treatment.) Younger mice, given higher doses, have lived about 25 percent longer than those not given the drug, and mice of varying ages and genetic backgrounds have been slower to develop some cancers, kidney disease, obesity and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. In one study, their hearts functioned better for longer. “If you do the extrapolation for people, we’re probably talking a couple of decades, with the expectation that those years are going to be spent in relatively good health,” Dr. Kaeberlein said. Still, drugs that work in mice often fail in humans. It is also hard to ask rodents about their quality of life. The side effects, depending on the dose and duration, include mouth sores, cataracts, insulin resistance and, for males, problems with testicular function. No one knows if people, who already live a lot longer than mice, would see a proportional increase in life span. And some researchers say there would be serious concerns in testing rapamycin, or any drug, in healthy people just to slow aging. What if a drug lengthened life for some and shortened it for others? Could anyone ethically put a healthy person into a test that might actually shorten life span? “It’s not as simple as cancer, where patients are going to die anyway if they don’t get the drug,” said Andrew Dillin, a biology of aging researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, who recently raised the questions in Nature, a scientific journal. Ethical concerns aside, such a trial would take decades. But what dog lovers have long considered the sad fact that their pets age about seven times as fast as they do, Dr. Kaeberlein knew, would be a boon for a study of rapamycin that would have implications for both species. An owner of two dogs himself, he was determined to scrounge up the money for the pilot phase of what he and Dr. Promislow called the Dog Aging Project. Last month, he reported at a scientific meeting that no significant side effects had been observed in the dogs, even at the highest of three doses. And compared with the hearts of dogs in the control group, the hearts of those taking the drug pumped blood more efficiently at the end. The researchers would like to enroll 450 dogs for a more comprehensive study, but do not yet have the money. Even if the study provided positive results on all fronts, a human trial would carry risks. Dr. Kaeberlein, for one, said they would be worth it. “I would argue we should be willing to tolerate some level of risk if the payoff is 20 to 30 percent increase in healthy longevity,” he said. “If we don’t do anything, we know what the outcome is going to be. You’re going to get sick, and you’re going to die. ” For her part, Ms. Gemmell is not counting on anything. The other night, when she got home from work, she was ready to read her mail and have a glass of wine. But Bela greeted her as usual, ball in her mouth, ready to play. For now, she said, this is how they both plan to stay young. | 1 |
SAN FRANCISCO — The newest generation of technology darlings has signaled that it is about to come of age: Snapchat, the messaging service beloved by teenagers, is preparing to step out into the public markets. The company — born only five years ago — may end up ushering in a wave of huge tech initial public offerings at a time when Wall Street has seen few such big deals. Snapchat’s parent, recently renamed Snap Inc. has hired the investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, essentially firing a starting gun for a potential stock sale as soon as the first quarter of next year, people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday. Should Snap follow through on its plans, it would be the most prominent debut by the latest batch of “unicorns” — those private companies valued at more than $1 billion. Its class also includes Uber, the enormous service, and Airbnb, the . Many of those companies are already awash in cash they have raised privately from mutual funds, venture capital firms and hedge funds, money that once needed to be raised on the public stock markets. But an initial offering would represent a new level of status and legitimacy, placing them on the same level as Google and Facebook. A wave of unicorns hitting the public markets would help end what has been one of the bleakest times for tech initial offerings — and I. P. O.s in general — in some time. No tech companies went public in the first three months of this year, a drought that had happened only three times since the early 1990s. Over all, just 84 companies have gone public so far this year in the United States, according to data from Renaissance Capital, down nearly 42 percent from last year. Should it prove to be an outlier, a Snap offering would still be one of the technology world’s most awaited market debuts since Twitter’s in 2013 and the Alibaba Group’s a year later. Snap was most recently valued by private investors at about $19 billion. Among the problems that had bedeviled the market for new stocks was the ease with which tech companies like Uber have found cash from private investors, removing the need to go public anytime soon. The companies that have gone public over the last 12 months have largely been smaller, names like the communications service Twilio or the business software maker Atlassian. And public market investors like mutual funds have pushed back against the prices that have demanded, often leading to fewer of the stock debuts that Twitter and others enjoyed. But as the markets have stabilized, and their backers have again resumed discussions about splashy market debuts. “In the last three months, a number of companies have started saying that it’s not all bad to be public,” Matt Murphy, a partner at Menlo Ventures, said. “If you’re a mature company with more than $50 million in revenue, an I. P. O. is very much on your mind now. ” The prospect of a huge offering has had banks racing to seize a piece of it for some time. Beyond Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, Snap has also engaged a bevy of other banks — including JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Allen Company, Barclays and Credit Suisse — to help manage its stock sale, one of the people briefed on the matter added. Bloomberg earlier reported the selection of bankers. At the heart of the frenzy is Snap, born in a Stanford University dorm room in 2011. The company is known for its mobile storytelling and messaging app, which lets users watch videos and send photos and messages to friends. The company also makes sunglasses called Spectacles that are equipped with a video camera. Currently, Snap would be able to file its public offering documents confidentially with the Securities and Exchange Commission because the company now generates less than $1 billion in annual revenue. The company may ultimately decide not to file for an offering. Yet Snap may be in a better position to go public before some other highly valued private companies because it has comparatively few regulatory concerns that would be listed as risk factors in a prospectus. Uber and Airbnb, for example, are fighting legal battles in numerous cities around the country and the world. Even though all of these battles will most likely be resolved, a long list of outstanding litigation and regulatory uncertainties could create an additional hurdle for investors. And unlike those two companies, Snap isn’t based in Silicon Valley itself but in Venice, Calif. spearheading a nascent tech community in the Los Angeles area. Snap’s app Snapchat was an early hit with young users who liked the fact that their messages and photos disappeared. The company was criticized for making it easier to send inappropriate photos with fewer consequences. Yet the ephemeral nature of the platform also made it seem like a more authentic way of communicating. Snapchat was an online facsimile of a casual conversation while platforms like Facebook and Instagram were the equivalent of a permanent record. Snap eventually added in tools that let users tell stories about their days and augment their selfies with stickers and masks, which the company calls filters and lenses. It also introduced channels for professionally created content from media companies like CNN and Cosmopolitan magazine. As users continued to flock to the app, a year ago Snap began to monetize its growing audience by allowing advertisers to sponsor filters and lenses and run video ads between stories produced by media companies or made up of user photos and videos. Advertisers have been keen to reach the Snapchat app’s audience, which now includes 41 percent of Americans ages 18 to 34 and 150 million daily users. At the moment, Snapchat is the trendiest, newest thing and advertisers want to be associated with it, Chad Stoller, executive vice president and global innovation director of IPG Mediabrands, said in an earlier interview. Snap has continued to build out content on Snapchat, the app has increasingly drawn comparisons to traditional television and is seen as an internet company that could someday draw ad dollars away from TV. This year, Snapchat is expected to generate nearly $367 million in ad revenue worldwide, according to data from the research firm eMarketer and that figure is expected to rise to nearly $1 billion next year. For now, nearly all of Snapchat’s revenue comes from the United States, according to eMarketer, but other markets should account for about a quarter of Snap’s revenue by 2018. Yet for all of the service’s phenomenal growth, Snapchat’s parent must still demonstrate to potentially skittish stock market investors that it has a path to profitability if its offering is to soar, analysts say. “Investors aren’t willing to buy growth at all costs,” Kathleen Smith, a of Renaissance Capital, said. | 1 |
By Ryan Banister
Project Hemisphere, a secretive program developed by AT&T, searches trillions of call records in order to analyze cell phone data, spying on the activity of private individuals in order to identify who they are speaking with and why, as well as GPS tracking on the location of each individual connected to the call, and it transmits this information to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
In 2013, Project Hemisphere was shown in a PowerPoint presentation produced by the Drug Enforcement Administration. The New York Times reported this as a partnership between AT&T and the DOJ, primarily deployed for drug-enforcement task-forces. All information collected in this program is accessible to the federal agencies authorized by the DOJ.
AT&T specifically developed and marketed this product for use by the DOJ, who would promise hundreds of millions in funds on behalf of taxpayers, using the taxpayers’ own money to spy on their every move. This is an invasion of privacy without a warrant. This is a federal spy program by proxy, working through corporations.
AT&T promises law enforcement that it will not disclose Project Hemisphere’s involvement in active investigations that are made public. AT&T is is attempting to lower liability for their customer and limit scrutiny to information transmitted to federal agencies through their network.
While it should not be surprising that your cell phone company is working with bureaucrats to collect incriminating evidence on you, there is a staggering number of people who still carelessly use their cell phone as if the information being transmitted through the device will be kept private.
News flash! It’s never been private. They have always wanted to use your information as a product to sell to the highest bidder. Your data is their product, and you are paying them to take it from you. | 0 |
Russia's 'White Book' on Syria shakes up UN Security Council AP photo On Friday, Russia began distributing a curious document on behalf of the c hairing state of the UN Security Council - the "White Book" on Syria . The book contains the descriptions of the cases, when the US-led coalition was committing "errors," as John Kerry once said. However, those "errors" can be categorized as war crimes . The actions of the Syrian "moderate opposition" are also reflected in the document. The 'White Book" also contains statistics about the successful operations of the Russian Air Force and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population in Syria, about the number of the liberated settlements, destroyed militants, as well as about the number of refugees, who returned to their places of permanent residence.The "White Book" was prepared by the Defence Ministry and the Foreign Ministry of Russia, as well as by specialists of the Institute for Oriental Studies.The "White Book" was translated into English and distributed for further reading.On 21 October the coalition attacked a funeral procession in near Kirkuk (Iraq). The pilots took the congregation of people for terrorists. As a result, dozens of civilians were killed. The recent attack of US pilots on the Syrian military near Deir-Ezzor also claimed the lives of dozens of soldiers. Later, US Secretary of State John Kerry, in a conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, said that it was a mistake, apparently believing that such a statement would be enough for an excuse."We have repeatedly said that such deadly attacks on settlements that have all attributes of war crimes, have become almost daily routine for the international lcoalition," an official representative for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov said commenting o the attack of the funeral procession in Iraq. Pravda.Ru Read article on the Russian version of Pravda.Ru Kerry comes to Moscow to talk to Putin | 0 |
Share on Facebook A leaked Hillary Clinton email has now confirmed that the Obama administration, with Hillary directing policy, orchestrated a civil war in Syria to benefit Israel's geopolitical interests and stability. The new Wikileaks release shows that Clinton, then Secretary of State orchestrated the war in Syria to overthrow the government of President Assad, because it is “best way to help Israel”. Newobserveronline.com reports: The document was one of many unclassified by the US Department of State under case number F-2014-20439, Doc No. C05794498 , following the uproar over Clinton's private email server kept at her house while she served as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013. Although the Wikileaks transcript dates the email as December 31, 2000, this is an error on their part, as the contents of the email (in particular the reference to May 2012 talks between Iran and the west over its nuclear program in Istanbul) show that the email was in fact sent on December 31, 2012. The email makes it clear that it has been US policy from the very beginning to violently overthrow the Syrian government—and specifically to do this because it is in Israel's interests. “The best way to help Israel deal with Iran's growing nuclear capability is to help the people of Syria overthrow the regime of Bashar Assad,” Clinton forthrightly starts off by saying. Even though all US intelligence reports had long dismissed Iran's “atom bomb” program as a hoax (a conclusion supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency), Clinton continues to use these lies to “justify” destroying Syria in the name of Israel. She specifically links Iran's mythical atom bomb program to Syria because, she says, Iran's “atom bomb” program threatens Israel's “monopoly” on nuclear weapons in the Middle East. If Iran were to acquire a nuclear weapon, Clinton asserts, this would allow Syria (and other “adversaries of Israel” such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt) to “go nuclear as well,” all of which would threaten Israel's interests. Therefore, Clinton, says, Syria has to be destroyed. Iran's nuclear program and Syria's civil war may seem unconnected, but they are. What Israeli military leaders really worry about — but cannot talk about — is losing their nuclear monopoly. An Iranian nuclear weapons capability would not only end that nuclear monopoly but could also prompt other adversaries, like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, to go nuclear as well. The result would be a precarious nuclear balance in which Israel could not respond to provocations with conventional military strikes on Syria and Lebanon, as it can today. If Iran were to reach the threshold of a nuclear weapons state, Tehran would find it much easier to call on its allies in Syria and Hezbollah to strike Israel, knowing that its nuclear weapons would serve as a deterrent to Israel responding against Iran itself. It is, Clinton continues, the “strategic relationship between Iran and the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria” that makes it possible for Iran to undermine Israel's security. This would not come about through a “direct attack,” Clinton admits, because “in the thirty years of hostility between Iran and Israel” this has never occurred, but through its alleged “proxies.” The end of the Assad regime would end this dangerous alliance. Israel's leadership understands well why defeating Assad is now in its interests. Bringing down Assad would not only be a massive boon to Israel's security, it would also ease Israel's understandable fear of losing its nuclear monopoly. Then, Israel and the United States might be able to develop a common view of when the Iranian program is so dangerous that military action could be warranted. Clinton goes on to asset that directly threatening Bashar Assad “and his family” with violence is the “right thing” to do: In short, the White House can ease the tension that has developed with Israel over Iran by doing the right thing in Syria. With his life and his family at risk, only the threat or use of force will change the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad's mind. The email proves—as if any more proof was needed—that the US government has been the main sponsor of the growth of terrorism in the Middle East, and all in order to “protect” Israel. It is also a sobering thought to consider that the “refugee” crisis which currently threatens to destroy Europe, was directly sparked off by this US government action as well, insofar as there are any genuine refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria. In addition, over 250,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, which has spread to Iraq—all thanks to Clinton and the Obama administration backing the “rebels” and stoking the fires of war in Syria. The real and disturbing possibility that a psychopath like Clinton—whose policy has inflicted death and misery upon millions of people—could become the next president of America is the most deeply shocking thought of all. Clinton's public assertion that, if elected president, she would “ take the relationship with Israel to the next level, ” would definitively mark her, and Israel, as the enemy of not just some Arab states in the Middle East, but of all peace-loving people on earth. Related: | 0 |
Weiner Sexting of 15-Year-Old Girl Leads to New FBI Investigation of Hillary Emails
The giant flaming garbage dump that is Clintonworld is offering up a wonderful new development sure to excite anyone who wanted to combine the Weiner scandal and the Hillary email scandal.
Yes Virginia, you can now have both of them in one. Like peanut butter and jelly or shampoo and conditioner in one, they've been merged into one horrible stinking landfill for your entertainment and the downfall of the republic.
The FBI has reopened its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server while secretary of state after discovering new emails – apparently during the probe of former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s sexting – in a stunning turn of events just days before the presidential election.
FBI Director James Comey wrote in a letter to top members of Congress Friday that the bureau has “learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation.”
Comey did not detail those emails, saying only that they surfaced “in connection with an unrelated case.”
An FBI source, though, confirmed to Fox News that the new emails were discovered after the bureau seized devices belonging to disgraced Rep. Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin, a top Clinton aide who recently announced she was separating from the former congressman. The New York Times first reported on the Weiner investigation connection, noting the FBI had been probing texts Weiner sent to a 15-year-old girl.
As Donald Trump and congressional Republicans seized on the FBI’s decision, interim Democratic Party leader Donna Brazile simply tweeted, “Good grief,” after the news of the Anthony Weiner connection broke.
Can't argue with her there.
It would be hilarious if Anthony Weiner and thereby Huma Abedin led to the downfall of Hillary's lifelong ambition. You just know someone is going to "commit suicide" in a D.C. park.
But does anyone in the Democratic Party really look forward to 4 to 8 years of this? This is how big of a mess Hillary is now. We've reached the point where her ongoing email scandal is now intertwined with a sexting investigation of a 15-year-old girl. And that's just during the election. | 0 |
Wilson Silva said he knew the homeless situation at Pennsylvania Station had grown “out of hand” when he found a man in raggedy clothing sleeping on a couch inside the shop he manages, Drago Shoe Repair, in the rail terminal’s upper level. “There’s more homeless in the station than ever before — every day we get new faces,” Mr. Silva, 59, said as he watched his staff polish and buff the shoes on a row of commuters. “I try to help them, but they harass the customers, and the police can’t do anything,” said Mr. Silva, whose shop looks out on dozens of homeless men and women who live in a waiting area for New Jersey Transit passengers. At New York City’s major transit hubs — its two railroad stations, the main bus terminal and its two airports — the persistence of homeless people seeking shelter among the blur of travelers has become a familiar sight. While the concentration of homeless people is uneven — relatively small numbers at La Guardia and Kennedy Airports and larger populations at Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal and the Port Authority Bus Terminal — they are a manifestation of an intractable homelessness problem in the city. “For us, the terminal is a default shelter,” said Phil Mellor, 55, who said he had largely relied on Grand Central for shelter since he lost his job as a security guard several years ago and his life began spiraling downward. Now, he said, he survives on “what the tourists throw out” and spends nights sleeping on the No. 6 train when the terminal is closed. The station’s dining concourse, on the lower level, with its popular food kiosks and ample seating, attracts diners as well as several dozen homeless people. At Penn Station, the busiest public transportation center in North America, serving more than 600, 000 passengers a day, some homeless people panhandle from Amtrak customers waiting for trains to Washington and Boston. Others sell “loosies,” individual cigarettes, to one another outside an entrance on Seventh Avenue. And others try to nap on benches alongside waiting passengers. At the Port Authority Bus Terminal, homeless people fan out, seeking corners and corridors to sleep without being rousted by police officers. This ad hoc shelter system has endured for decades with homeless people staying months or even years. Against the waves of purposeful travelers and suburban commuters, they sprawl on floors of cold tile, lit by the glare of fluorescent lights, with a constant soundtrack of departures. They tote all they own in inelegant bags and pass the hours in cavernous passages between track gates or bus bays. Many seem to be grappling with mental health issues. Their presence in some of the country’s busiest transit hubs recalls a far grittier time in the city when violent crime was rampant and transportation stations were crowded with many more homeless people. Like many who live on the streets, the people in these hubs are what advocates describe as chronically resistant to offers of services, especially beds in shelters, which many homeless people say have too many rules and are rife with danger. Indeed, the city’s shelter system has been rocked by several episodes of violence recently, including the murders of six residents this year. New York City officials say about 58, 000 people are living in shelters, and that an estimated 3, 000 sleep on the streets or in the subways every night. The city does not have jurisdiction over the transit hubs, but officials from the Department of Homeless Services participate in monthly meetings to discuss the issue with the transportation agencies that run the terminals, their law enforcement officials and homeless advocates. Mayor Bill de Blasio has made tackling homelessness a top priority, improving security at shelters, expanding outreach to those living on the street and moving to increase transitional housing. Michael Polenberg, vice president for government affairs at Safe Horizon, a group that works with homeless youths, said the city’s transit terminals have become shelters out of necessity. “There aren’t a whole lot of options available,” Mr. Polenberg said, adding that the plan to open more supportive housing could help ease the problem. “It’s all going to help, but it’s not going to help tonight or tomorrow,” he said. “These things take time to get up and running. ” Nightly counts of the homeless people at Penn Station tally about 70 people, rising to 90 on particularly cold nights, said Muzzy Rosenblatt, the executive director of the Bowery Residents’ Committee, which is contracted by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to offer shelter placements and other services to homeless people at Penn Station and Grand Central. No census is taken at Grand Central, he said. Though Mr. Rosenblatt said his group was limited by the number of available beds, the number of homeless people in transit terminals who have been placed in shelters or rehabilitation, psychiatric and other programs has increased over the last two years. Last year, 357 people were placed out of Grand Central, Mr. Rosenblatt said, compared with 292 in 2014. And 742 were placed last year from Penn Station, compared with 579 in 2014, he said. But given how widespread homelessness has become, Mr. Rosenblatt said, as soon as someone leaves the terminal, “somebody else is going to take their place. ” Port Authority officials said they do not conduct a homeless census at the bus terminal, but instead monitor the interactions of outreach teams from Urban Pathways, a group contracted to address homeless issues that offers shelter and other services. The number of daily interactions has declined by more than 20 percent over the past year, officials at the authority said. The situation at the two airports in Queens is somewhat different because they are not as easy to reach and they have tended to attract fewer homeless people. The news media, including The New York Post, described several dozen homeless people staying in La Guardia in December. But in January, the Port Authority, which runs the airports, started limiting the main terminal to passengers with tickets between midnight and 4 a. m. and now far fewer people remain. One is Christine, a woman in her 60s who said she had been waiting at the airport for several months to save enough money to buy a plane ticket so she could move to Florida. Mike, 38, a California native, said he had been living in the airport for five years, passing the days walking constantly through the main terminal. Mike and Christine refused to give their surnames. In the past, officials were often able to push homeless people out by setting strict rules and finding reasons to remove them. But over the years, advocates and civil rights groups have successfully challenged attempts to oust or block homeless people, calling those efforts discriminatory and selective law enforcement. Today, all parties accept that transit terminals are public spaces that homeless people have as much right to occupy as anyone else, provided they follow regulations. Restrictions must be enforced for all terminal users, not just for “people who some members of the public don’t want to interact with,” said Tina Luongo, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society. As Mr. Rosenblatt put it, “We don’t segregate public space by wealth. ” Homeless people must leave Grand Central and the bus terminal around midnight when the stations close for several hours. Penn Station is open 24 hours, but many homeless people there said they were not allowed to sleep on the floor or on benches overnight. The solution for many is to hop on a subway train, said Caryll Corlear, 48, a homeless man who called Penn Station “the nicest pit stop in the city. ” He has spent most of his time at the station ever since arriving there by train from Florida four years ago. “It’s clean and safe you have bathrooms, food stores and people who give you money,” said Mr. Corlear, who tows two large wheeled suitcases and often dresses in a and shorts, since he rarely has to step outside. “I’ve never been in a shelter, but I’ve heard the horror stories,” he said. Several blocks north, at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, a homeless man who would provide only his given name, Mike, said he had learned to nap standing against the wall — part of his strategy to avoid ejection by Port Authority police officers. Mike, 51, who said he had stayed in the bus station for much of the eight years he has been homeless, wears a dark wool overcoat and carries a suitcase, which almost allows him to blend in. “If they see you laying down, they tell you to get the next bus out,” he said, referring to the police. Ramkarran Moteelall is part of a small group of scruffy men who spend days and nights lolling on the vents at the base of a huge glass facade inside Terminal 4 of Kennedy Airport. “If you don’t do nothing wrong, they don’t mess with you,” said Mr. Moteelall, 48, a Guyanese immigrant who has been living at the airport since December but who walks about two miles to his old Queens neighborhood to buy inexpensive meals. At Grand Central, in a cluster of tables in the station’s dining concourse, one of every three or four tables on a recent weekday was taken by people who appeared to be homeless, sharing the cavernous space with lunchtime office workers, passengers and tourists. The homeless people foraged through trash cans, including Mr. Mellor, who pulled discarded food from the garbage and ate it as he sat next to a table of teenage girls who were visiting New York to sing with their school choir at Carnegie Hall. His meal consisted of two slices of pizza and half of a $15 strip steak from the nearby Grill. He washed down his scavenged meal with swigs of cheap vodka. “It’s a survival skill — you take a sip of vodka to kill any bacteria,” Mr. Mellor said. Nearby, a man was panhandling while holding a sign that read, “Give me a dollar or I’ll vote for Trump!” He settled into a table and starting napping next to a man in a business suit, who surveyed the tables of tourists interspersed with shabbily dressed homeless people. “The fact that they stay all day in a dining area, I guess, is not ideal, but I don’t see them bothering anyone,” said the man, Carlo Valladares, 22, of Long Island. Another school group, on a class trip from Odenville, Ala. noticed the homeless people at the food court tables. Lisa Mayhew, a chaperone, gave leftover food to some homeless people near her table. “We were surprised to see so many homeless here, with all the tourists and nice food places,” she said. “But I told the kids, this is part of New York City. ” | 1 |
First Lady Melania Trump has responded to Kathy Griffin’s photograph of herself clutching Donald Trump’s bloody, severed head, describing the photo as “very disturbing” and “simply wrong. ”[A report Wednesday claimed that the First Lady’s son, Barron Trump, was watching television when the image flashed up on the screen as part of the news coverage of the incident. The president’s son reportedly became “panicked” over the photo because he did not know who Griffin was or the context in which the photo was taken. “As a mother, a wife, and a human being, that photo is very disturbing,” Melania Trump said in a statement Wednesday. “When you consider some of the atrocities happening in the world today, a photo opportunity like this is simply wrong and makes you wonder about the mental health of the person who did it. ” The photograph, first published by TMZ Tuesday morning, shows the My Life on the comedian holding up a bloody, decapitated head meant to resemble that of the president, in a photograph reminiscent of horrific pictures taken by Islamic State terrorists to celebrate their atrocities. The photo was taken during a shoot with L. A. artist Tyler Shields. The image went viral Tuesday, drawing strong condemnation from both sides of the political aisle as well as thousands of calls for a boycott of Griffin’s current comedy tour. The president responded Wednesday, saying the proliferation of the photograph had been particularly hard on his children, including Barron. Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017, The image also reportedly led the U. S. Secret Service to open an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the photo shoot. Griffin apologized in a video posted to her Twitter account Tuesday, saying the image had gone “too far. ” I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong. pic. twitter. — Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) May 30, 2017, “I’m a comic. I cross the line. I move the line, then I cross it. I went way too far,” Griffin said. “The image is too disturbing. I understand how it offends people. It wasn’t funny. I get it. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career, I will continue. ” The apology apparently did little to quell outrage over the image. On Tuesday, CNN — where Griffin has a live New Year’s Eve broadcast with Anderson Cooper since 2007 — said it was “evaluating” the comedian’s role in its future broadcasts. Home security services company ADT also announced that it would pull its advertising from the network over the incident. On Wednesday, the Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque announced that Griffin’s upcoming show, scheduled for June 16, had been cancelled. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 1 |
0 comments She arrived almost two hours late but still had time to act like this? Is she melting down before our eyes? Hillary Clinton was late to yet another rally. This time, in Arizona, she showed up one hour and forty five minutes late and eventually took the stage almost two hours late. Aside from her tardiness, a number of other bizarre observations are causing people to ask questions: She is finally on stage. Voice raspy. 8:15. That alone suggests serious issues with her campaign. 1 hour 45 minutes late. #HillaryInAZ
â Audit The Media đđ¸ (@AuditTheMedia) November 3, 2016
Raspy voice? Are there more health concerns or is the stress getting to her? Perhaps lack of sleep…
Again, people are asking questions about the mystery man who follows Hillary around: Hillary’s Handler? Brain washer? pic.twitter.com/5lsCTc8Vdk
â Mike Cernovich đşđ¸ (@Cernovich) August 7, 2016
Other reports says that she was yelling in a bizarre manner, but we are used to that.
Perhaps most telling is her pre-speech behavior.
She is clearly pacing and viewers are noticing a nervous smile, as if she cannot sit still and is trying to convince herself that everything is ok. If you watch closely, you will see her speaking, presumably to the people around her, then swatting one hand in the air in a strange way.
It looks as if she is using all of her self-control just to keep it together.
Watch and decide for yourself. Make sure to study her facial expressions and the swatting of her arm.
It is easy to understand why she is stressed. The long, controversial Presidential Campaign of 2016 is winding down, the FBI is mounting multiple investigations of her and her family, and her best friend and top assistant, Huma Abedin, is likely spilling the beans on everything she knows. It is likely that Abedin and her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, are cutting some sort of deal with authorities.
All the while, the FBI is digging through 650,000 emails.
Stressful indeed. | 0 |
SAN FRANCISCO — As the editor in chief of The San Francisco Chronicle, Audrey Cooper has overseen countless stories on homelessness. But the issue became personal three years ago when she was pushing her child in a stroller through the city’s business district. A homeless couple in a tent on the sidewalk were having sex, tent flaps open, as their pit bull stood guard. Ms. Cooper expressed her outrage loudly and in colorful language. “I probably shouldn’t have started yelling at them,” she said in an interview in her fishbowl office in the heart of the Chronicle’s newsroom. “They let their dog loose. ” San Francisco residents have over decades become inured to encounters with the city’s homeless population, the clumps of humanity sleeping on sidewalks under coats and makeshift blankets, or drug addicts shooting up in full view of pedestrians. There are also the but common scenes of mentally ill men and women stumbling down streets, arguing with imaginary enemies or harassing . One particularly vocal group of residents, San Francisco’s journalists, say they feel a sense of urgency in addressing the problem. They are banding together in an exasperated, but as yet vaguely defined, attempt to spur the city into action. Next month, media organizations in the Bay Area are planning to put aside their rivalries and competitive instincts for a day of coordinated coverage on the homeless crisis in the city. The Chronicle, which is leading the effort, is dispensing with traditional news article formats and will put forward possible solutions to the seemingly intractable plight of around 6, 000 people without shelter. Representatives from Bay Area television and radio stations, The Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, Mother Jones and online publications, among others, met last month to figure out a plan to share resources and content. They agreed to publish their reports on homelessness on June 29. “We are all frustrated,” said Jon Steinberg, the editor in chief of San Francisco magazine, which is also taking part. “We are all fed up. We feel there is not enough movement and accountability on the issue. ” “We want the full force of the Fourth Estate to bear down on this problem,” he added. Thirty news organizations have confirmed their participation. KQED, a public television and radio station, is also taking a lead role in the campaign. The premise of the effort is to create a “wave” of coverage that will force politicians to come up with solutions, Ms. Cooper said. “You will not be able to log onto Facebook, turn on the radio, watch TV, read a newspaper, log onto Twitter without seeing a story about the causes and solutions to homelessness,” she said. At a time of tight budgets, collaboration has become increasingly common in the news business. This year’s Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism was won by a combined team from The Tampa Bay Times and The Sarasota in Florida. Still, the San Francisco collaboration stands out for the number of organizations involved and, in the case of The Chronicle, the emphasis on proposing solutions. Ms. Cooper said The Chronicle will run a week of coverage, including four articles that she described as something akin to a science project: putting forth a hypothesized solution and investigating it. The first proposal is that the city build a mental health center large enough to treat the mentally ill on the streets. The article will explore the cost and the feasibility of institutionalizing people. “We need to be a hell of a lot more creative about how we solve this problem,” Ms. Cooper said. “And we are probably going to have to break some dishes to do it. ” The paper’s articles and photographs will be offered free to all participants. The paper will also run a editorial with its conclusions on what solutions should be pursued. Advocacy is a longstanding taboo in American journalism, making reporters and editors wary of discussing solutions to the problems they highlight in their coverage. One rationale for this is that journalists who advocate causes might be selective in their reporting or biased in their coverage. In a city known for its liberal traditions, the question of whether San Francisco’s journalists are crossing into activism has not come up, at least not in the initial meeting of news organizations last month. “It was sort of shocking that there was no dissension,” said Holly Kernan, the executive editor for news at KQED, the public broadcaster that hosted the meeting. “On the contrary, the conversation was, ‘Let’s do way more. ’” Ms. Kernan said her station plans “blanket” coverage on June 29, but will not propose solutions. “I see what we are doing as pure journalism,” Ms. Kernan said. Aaron Pero, news director of a Bay Area television news station, said he planned to have a report on homelessness each day for a week, possibly profiles of homeless people. “I wasn’t going to try to figure out how to solve the homeless problem,” Mr. Pero said. “My vision was to send a number of reporters out and to find a profile that we could do every single day. ” Mr. Pero said it was “really awesome that all these media outlets are coming together. ” “I don’t think it’s been done anywhere else,” he added. Only one local outlet, KCBS, a news radio station, declined to participate. “It’s not because of any lack of interest in the homeless or any perception that the story is unimportant to our listeners,” Jack Swanson, the director of news and programming at KCBS, said in an email. “Like many media outlets in the Bay Area we cover the homeless situation in our communities and will continue to cover it, on a regular basis. ” (A New York Times reporter also attended the meeting. While The Times is not participating in the coordinated coverage, it has and will continue to cover homelessness as a major issue in the city.) Proponents of journalism are applauding the initiative. Andrew Donohue, a senior editor at the Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit organization that partners with other media on reporting projects, said the muckraking focus of some journalism has made the public more cynical. “There’s outrage fatigue,” Mr. Donohue said. “You can very easily leave people feeling helpless, which can then lead to being disengaged. ” Courtney Martin, a founder of the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization that advocates journalism that covers solutions to social problems, said she was thrilled to hear of the San Francisco project. “This is the kind of thing that is music to our ears,” Ms. Martin said. “We have this bias in the media to think that our only job is the watchdog role. ” A journalist’s job, she said, “is not to pick a winner. ” “Your job is to investigate solutions,” she said. “People want to read about how to fix broken systems. ” | 1 |
Phony ‘Corruption’ Excuse for Ukraine Coup November 2, 2016
Exclusive: The U.S.-backed “regime change” in Ukraine — launching the New Cold War with Russia in 2014 — was rationalized by the need to rid Ukraine of corruption, but post-coup officials are busy lining their pockets, reports Robert Parry.
By Robert Parry
If Ukraine becomes a flashpoint for World War III with Russia, the American people might rue the day that their government pressed for the 2014 overthrow of Ukraine’s allegedly corrupt (though elected) president in favor of a coup regime led by Ukrainian lawmakers who now report amassing, on average, more than $1 million each, much of it as cash.
The New York Times, which served as virtually a press agent for the coup in February 2014, took note of this apparent corruption among the U.S.-favored post-coup officials, albeit deep inside a story that itself was deep inside the newspaper (page A8). The lead angle was a bemused observation that Ukraine’s officialdom lacked faith in the country’s own banks (thus explaining why so much cash). Ukraine’s anti-Russian President Petro Poroshenko speaking to the Atlantic Council in 2014. (Photo credit: Atlantic Council)
Yet, Ukraine is a country beset by widespread poverty, made worse by the post-coup neoliberal “reforms” slashing pensions, making old people work longer and reducing heating subsidies for average citizens. The average Ukrainian salary is only $214 a month.
So, an inquiring mind might wonder how – in the face of all that hardship – the post-coup officials did so well for themselves, but Times’ correspondent Andrew E. Kramer treads lightly on the possibility that these officials were at least as corrupt, if not more so, than the elected government that the U.S. helped overthrow. Elected President Viktor Yanukovych had been excoriated for a lavish lifestyle because he had a sauna in his residence.
Kramer’s article on Wednesday tried to explain the bundles of cash as a sign that “many of the lawmakers and officials responsible for inspiring public trust in Ukraine’s economic and banking institutions have little faith that their own wealth would be safe in the country’s banks, according to recently mandated financial disclosures. …
“Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, for example, declared over one million dollars in savings in cash — $870,000 and 460,000 euros — apparently shunning Ukraine’s ever-wobbly banking system. The top official in charge of the country’s banks, Valeriya Gontareva, who is responsible for stabilizing the national currency, the hryvnia, maintains most of her money in American dollars — $1.8 million.
“A tally of the declarations filed by most of Parliament’s 450 members compiled by one analyst, Andriy Gerus, found that the lawmakers collectively held $482 million in ‘monetary assets,’ of which $36 million was kept as cold, hard cash. …
“Some politicians seem to have approached the declaration as a sort of amnesty, revealing everything they have earned from decades of crooked dealings, in an effort to come clean. … One minister reported a wine collection with bottles worth thousands of dollars each. Another official declared ownership of a church. Yet another claimed a ticket to outer space with Virgin Galactic. …
“Another theory making the rounds in Kiev — where people generally acknowledge the inventive, venal genius of their politicians — suggests that the public servants are padding their declarations,” so they can hide future bribes within their reported cash holdings and thus offer plausible excuses for luxury cars and expensive jewelry.
Accessing More Money
Ironically, passage of the law requiring the disclosures of what appears to be widespread corruption among Kiev’s officials unlocked millions of euros in new aid money from the European Union that then flowed to the same apparently corrupt officials. Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
However, because the Ukraine “regime change” in 2014 was partly orchestrated by U.S. and E.U. officials around the propaganda theme that elected President Yanukovych was corrupt – he had that sauna, after all – the continued corruption in the post-coup regime has been a rarely acknowledged, inconvenient truth. Indeed, some business people operating in Ukraine have complained that the corruption has grown worse since Yanukovych was overthrown.
Yet, only occasionally has that reality been allowed to peek through in the mainstream U.S. media, which prefers to deny that any “coup” occurred, to blame Russia for all of Ukraine’s problems, and to praise the post-coup “reforms” which targeted pensions, heating subsidies and other social programs for average citizens.
One of the rare deviations from the happy talk appeared in The Wall Street Journal on Jan. 1, 2016, observing that “most Ukrainians say the revolution’s promise to replace rule by thieves with the rule of law has fallen short and the government acknowledges that there is still much to be done.”
Actually, the numbers suggested something even worse. More and more Ukrainians rated corruption as a major problem facing the nation, including a majority of 53 percent in September 2015, up from 28 percent in September 2014, according to polls by International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
So, as the hard lives of most Ukrainians got harder, the elites continued to skim off whatever cream was left, including access to billions of dollars in the West’s foreign assistance that has kept the economy afloat.
There was, for instance, the case of Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, who was regarded by many pundits as the face of Ukraine’s reform before departing last April after losing out in a power struggle.
Yet, Jaresko was hardly a paragon of reform. Prior to getting instant Ukrainian citizenship and becoming Finance Minister in December 2014, she was a former U.S. diplomat who had been entrusted to run a $150 million U.S.-taxpayer-funded program to help jump-start an investment economy in Ukraine and Moldova.
Jaresko’s compensation was capped at $150,000 a year, a salary that many Americans – let alone Ukrainians – would envy, but it was not enough for her. So, she engaged in a variety of maneuvers to evade the cap and enrich herself by claiming millions of dollars in bonuses and fees.
Ultimately, Jaresko was collecting more than $2 million a year after she shifted management of the Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) to her own private company, Horizon Capital, and arranged to get lucrative bonuses when selling off investments, even as the overall WNISEF fund was losing money, according to official records. Ukraine’s former Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko.
For instance, Jaresko collected $1.77 million in bonuses in 2013, according to a WNISEF filing with the Internal Revenue Service. In her financial disclosure forms with the Ukrainian government, she reported earning $2.66 million in 2013 and $2.05 million in 2014, thus amassing a sizeable personal fortune while investing U.S. taxpayers’ money supposedly to benefit the Ukrainian people.
It didn’t matter that WNISEF continued to hemorrhage money, shrinking from its original $150 million to $89.8 million in the 2013 tax year, according to the IRS filing. WNISEF reported that the bonuses to Jaresko and other corporate officers were based on “successful” exits from some investments even if the overall fund was losing money.
Though Jaresko’s enrichment schemes were documented by IRS and other official filings, the mainstream U.S. media turned a blind eye to this history, all the better to pretend that Ukraine’s “reform” process was in good hands. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “ How Ukraine’s Finance Minister Got Rich .”]
Biden’s Appeal
Worried about the continued corruption, Vice President Joe Biden, who took a personal interest in Ukraine, lectured Ukraine’s parliament on the need to end cronyism.
But Biden had his own Ukraine cronyism problem because three months after the U.S.-backed overthrow of the Yanukovych government Ukraine’s largest private gas firm, Burisma Holdings, appointed his son, Hunter Biden, to its board of directors. Vice President Joe Biden.
Burisma a shadowy Cyprus-based company also lined up well-connected lobbyists, some with ties to Secretary of State John Kerry, including Kerry’s former Senate chief of staff David Leiter, according to lobbying disclosures.
As Time magazine reported , “Leiter’s involvement in the firm rounds out a power-packed team of politically-connected Americans that also includes a second new board member, Devon Archer, a Democratic bundler and former adviser to John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. Both Archer and Hunter Biden have worked as business partners with Kerry’s son-in-law, Christopher Heinz, the founding partner of Rosemont Capital, a private-equity company.”
According to investigative journalism inside Ukraine, the ownership of Burisma has been traced to Privat Bank, controlled by the thuggish billionaire oligarch Ihor Kolomoysky, who was appointed by the U.S.-backed “reform” regime to be governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, a south-central province of Ukraine (though Kolomoisky was eventually ousted from that post in a power struggle over control of UkrTransNafta, Ukraine’s state-owned oil pipeline operator).
In a speech to Ukraine’s parliament in December 2015 , Biden hailed the sacrifice of the 100 or so protesters who died during the Maidan putsch in February 2014, which ousted Yanukovych, referring to the dead by their laudatory name “The Heavenly Hundred.”
But Biden made no heavenly references to the estimated 10,000 people, mostly ethnic Russians, who have been slaughtered in the U.S.-encouraged “Anti-Terror Operation” waged by the coup regime against eastern Ukrainians who resisted Yanukovych’s violent ouster. Nor did Biden take note that some of the Heavenly Hundred were street fighters for neo-Nazi and other far-right nationalist organizations.
But after making his sugary references to The Heavenly Hundred, Biden delivered his bitter medicine, an appeal for the parliament to continue implementing International Monetary Fund “reforms,” including demands that old people work longer into their old age.
Biden said, “For Ukraine to continue to make progress and to keep the support of the international community you have to do more, as well. The big part of moving forward with your IMF program — it requires difficult reforms. And they are difficult.
“Let me say parenthetically here, all the experts from our State Department and all the think tanks, and they come and tell you, that you know what you should do is you should deal with pensions. You should deal with — as if it’s easy to do. Hell, we’re having trouble in America dealing with it. We’re having trouble. To vote to raise the pension age is to write your political obituary in many places.
“Don’t misunderstand that those of us who serve in other democratic institutions don’t understand how hard the conditions are, how difficult it is to cast some of the votes to meet the obligations committed to under the IMF. It requires sacrifices that might not be politically expedient or popular. But they’re critical to putting Ukraine on the path to a future that is economically secure. And I urge you to stay the course as hard as it is. Ukraine needs a budget that’s consistent with your IMF commitments.”
However, as tough as it might have been for Ukraine’s parliament to slash pensions, reduce heating subsidies and force the elderly to work longer, that political sacrifice did not appear to extend to the officials making financial sacrifices themselves.
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com ). | 0 |
Financial Markets , Gold , Market Manipulation , Precious Metals , U.S. Economy gold coins , money supply , silver eagles , stock bubble admin
Short answer: No.
A local financial advisor texted me today asking what I thought gold would do if Hillary wins today. Obviously he’s been reading the pedestrian analysis on the topic that has flooded the mainstream media.
But gold doesn’t care who wins. The United States is beset with unsolvable financial and economic issues that will require a systemic reset. The amount of funded Treasury debt outstanding since Obama took office has doubled to $20 trillion. So much for his claim that he reduced the spending deficit. But the result would have been the same if McCain had won in 2008 or if Romney had won in 2012.
Stocks and bonds are historically overvalued. While the accounting standards have been substantially liberalized thereby enabling companies to artificially boost earnings with gimmicks, using comparable accounting rules to compare now to any other market top in history would show that current valuation ratios are significantly higher than at any other time in the history of U.S. markets. The bond argument is easy: interest rates are at or near all-time lows. Rates can only go higher which means bond prices can only go lower (unless artificially taken negative by the Fed, which would cause gold to go parabolic) .
With fiat paper assets at historically overvalued levels, gold and silver are highly undervalued relative to financial assets and in relation to the quantity of paper money, where the quantity paper money is currency issued plus credit outstanding. The latter is included because debt functions exactly like currency until it’s repaid. Guess what? This country has not reduced the cumulative public and private debt outstanding in the post-World War Two period. The small “blip” indicating overall debt declined in 2010 reflects massive banking sector write-offs and debt-forgiveness, both of which were monetized by the Fed. As long as the level of debt increases, credit outstanding needs to be included in the money supply.
The bottom line is that gold is going to move much higher in value relative to the dollar regardless of which candidate or which party controls the political process. The laws of nature and economics remain constant throughout history. When the Central Bank and Government market intervention eventually fails and these laws reassert their force – which they always do – the “money” that floods out of stocks and bonds will flood into physical gold silver. Share this: | 0 |
Home › POLITICS › FBI FOUND “TENS OF THOUSANDS OF EMAILS” BELONGING TO HUMA ABEDIN ON WEINER’S LAPTOP FBI FOUND “TENS OF THOUSANDS OF EMAILS” BELONGING TO HUMA ABEDIN ON WEINER’S LAPTOP 5 SHARES
[10/29/16] With furious Democrats – and the Clinton Campaign – now openly blasting the FBI’s reopened investigation (as Republicans take delight for once in having a government agency reinforce their side of events), the question turns to just what emails were found on Weiner’s laptop, and how damaging their contents are for the FBI to take the unprecedented step of “intervening” in a major political event just days before the national election.
We first laid what was the most likely explanation yesterday , when we showed several examples of Huma Abedin emails being sent from her work email account to her personal account at , courtesy of a Judicial Watch FOIA release. Of the more than 160 emails in the latest Judicial Watch release, some 110 emails – two-thirds of the total – were forwarded by Abedin to two personal addresses she controlled. The Washington Times reported in August 2015 that the State Department had admitted to a federal judge that Abedin and Mills used personal email accounts to conduct government business in addition to Clinton’s private clintonemail.com to transact State Department business.
One email from May 15, 2009, was sent by Abedin from her State Department email to her personal email. Abedin was archiving in her personal email account an email Hillary Clinton sent her from Clinton’s private email server at . Abedin was asked to print out attachments to an email Mills sent via a private address the previous day to Clinton involving “timetables and deliverables” for her review via Alec Ross, a technology policy expert who then held the title of senior adviser for innovation to Secretary Clinton. However, while forwarding Hillary’s emails to her personal email server for “convenience” is one thing, what is more troubling is the amount of redaction involved in these emails which migrated to the open email account, which as we now know ended up in Anthony Weiner’s computer: in the above example, the two pages of timetables and deliverables attached to the email were 100 percent redacted, with “PAGE DENIED” stamped across the first redacted page.
An argument can be made that the extensive redaction confirms confidential material was part of the transmission.
This is a nuanced point being pushed by Hillary Clinton supporters such as Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald, who in an article yesterday tried to make a case citing “sources” (even though the FBI said that nobody has seen the content of the Weiner/Abedin emails), that “ no emails being examined by FBI were to or from Clinton .” Post navigation | 0 |
link So we have laser defense systems being used by the US Navy... Ponce became the testbed platform for the Laser Weapon System (LaWS), with installation of a prototype weapon system for field testing in August 2014.[29][30][31] In December 2014 the United States Navy reported the LaWS system works perfectly, and that the commander of Ponce is authorized to use the system as a defensive weapon.[32] On 9 December 2014, the U.S. Navy released video footage of the LaWS in operation.[33] The exact level of power the LaWS will use is unknown but estimated between 15–50 kW for engaging drones, small aircraft and high-speed boats.[34] Ponce was deployed to the Persian Gulf in late August 2014.[35][36] The LaWS will remain in use on Ponce as long as it is at sea, potentially into 2017.[37] USS Ponce (LPD-15) The US Army has them and they will be fielded... The Army and General Dynamics Land Systems are developing a Stryker-mounted laser weapon aimed at better arming the vehicle to incinerate enemy drones or threatening ground targets. Concept vehicles are now being engineered and tested at the Army’s Ft. Sill artillery headquarters as a way to quickly develop the weapon for operational service. During a test this past April, the laser weapons successful shot down 21 out of 23 enemy drone targets. The effort marks the first-ever integration of an Army laser weapon onto a combat vehicle. Stryker mounted laser Boeing’s High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) team has used a solid state laser to destroy mortars and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A laser destroys targets with pinpoint precision within seconds of acquisition, then acquires the next target and keeps firing. In recent demonstrations, HEL MD used a 10-kilowatt, high energy laser installed on an Oshkosh tactical military vehicle. The demonstrator is the first mobile, high-energy laser, counter rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) platform to be built and demonstrated by the U.S. Army. Source w/video And now after the Air Force originally called lasers off, they've gone and called the game back on. After the success of the Navy and the Army. The contract, which was awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) on 23 August, is for the Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) Turret Research in Aero-Effects (STRAFE) programme. It is intended that the SHiELD pod would better enable the USAF's fourth-generation fighter fleet, such as the Boeing F-15 Eagle and Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, to survive in contested airspace. The fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II would probably not carry the pod, as it would negate their stealth characteristics. Lasers are upon on the USA. They have permeated every aspect of our military. Can anyone else say that? | 0 |
THE BLOOD OF EMMETT TILLBy Timothy B. Tyson291 pp. Simon Schuster. $27. The existence of racial terror is not a singular phenomenon in our country’s national archive. Consider 2015, a feverish June night in South Carolina, when Dylann Roof, feeding off racist conspiracy theories, walked into Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and murdered nine black parishioners. Then reach back almost 20 years before that, to 1998, when James Byrd Jr. a black man, was abducted by three white men and fatally dragged from the back of a pickup truck along unforgiving Texas asphalt. Then there is perhaps the most monstrous application of racial terror in our historical register: Aug. 28, 1955, when Emmett Till was lynched. The events of that bitter morning, their motivations and ramifications, have found a meticulous, if not their most exhaustive, retelling in Timothy B. Tyson’s “The Blood of Emmett Till,” an account of absorbing and sometimes horrific detail. Comprehensive in scope, its final 60 pages alone are a catalog of notes and sources. Tyson is a senior research scholar at Duke University and the author of “Blood Done Sign My Name,” about the 1970 lynching of Henry Marrow in Tyson’s hometown, and he tracks Till’s life from Argo, Ill. to Chicago, to his last moments in Money, Miss. where — despite the hesitation of his mother, Mamie — Till had sojourned with relatives. On a Wednesday evening in August, Till allegedly flirted with and grabbed the hand of Carolyn Bryant, a white woman who worked as the cashier at a local market. According to recovered court transcripts released by the F. B. I. in 2007, he let out a “wolf whistle” as she exited the store to get a gun from her car. Bryant later informed her husband and his half brother, who proceeded to uphold a grim tradition: Till was abducted, beaten, shot in the head and thrown into the Tallahatchie River. A gin fan was tied to his neck with barbed wire, with the hope that he would never be found. Black life in America has endured as little more than a fragile truth in the hands of white aggressors. And Tyson does well to remind us just how racial terror can be when wielded with brute force: “Affronted white supremacy drove every blow. ” There are a number of facts to parse in this book — such as Till’s affinity for straw hats on churchgoing Sundays, and the sheriff’s belief that the body recovered from the river was part of an “N. A. A. C. P. scheme” to disgrace Mississippi — but none perhaps more profoundly consequential than Bryant’s own admission to Tyson that the events that led to Till’s death didn’t happen as she had previously attested. Outside private correspondence with her attorney, trial testimony and her unpublished memoir, Bryant remained about her interaction with Till. In 2008, in her only interview since that fateful season of death, Bryant admitted to Tyson that a crucial piece of her testimony in court was fabricated. Till never “grabbed her around the waist and uttered obscenities,” as she had avowed on the witness stand. “You tell these stories for so long that they seem true,” she confesses early in the book, “but that part is not true. ” And so we are left with a sobering certainty, one that even Bryant herself is forced to concede to Tyson, more than 50 years later: “Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him. ” The sum of history is made up of recurring patterns. Each new decade has brought past sins to the fore. From Emmett Till and Henry Marrow to Amadou Diallo, Rekia Boyd and Alton Sterling. These deaths, lynchings that have taken new shapes, are simply the mores and modes of a American custom: white supremacy. “The real horror comes when your dead brain must face the fact that we as a nation don’t want it to stop,” the novelist Chester Himes wrote to The New York Post upon hearing that Till’s murderers were acquitted. “If we wanted to, we would. ” | 1 |
The tens of thousands of women marching in the Women’s March on Washington demonstration in Washington, D. C. Saturday are “mostly white” and experiencing “therapy” for their anxiety over Hillary Clinton’s election loss to Donald Trump in November, the Washington Post reports. [Planned Parenthood tweeted: We stand shoulder to shoulder with all women in the struggle for equality justice. #WhyIMarch @womensmarch pic. twitter. — Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) January 21, 2017, According to the Post: Marchers — mostly women and mostly white — said they came to take the most public possible stand against Trump, a candidate and now president whom they said routinely insults women and the issues they care about. But the gathering also provided therapy for many, the balm of immersing themselves in a sea of citizens who had shared their anxiety and disappointment after Democrat Hillary Clinton’s historic bid for the presidency ended in defeat. The report notes some of the women are “sometimes sleeping on the couches of people they had never met before” due to the vast crowd participating in the march. “Organizers, who originally sought a permit for a gathering of 200, 000, said Saturday they now expect as many as a half million participants — potentially dwarfing Friday’s inaugural crowd,” the report says: 12 Ways You Can Fight Back Against All This Oppressive Crap In 2017: https: . via @buzzfeed #IDEFY, — Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) January 20, 2017, The march’s central focus appears to be to protect abortion chain Planned Parenthood from taxpayer defunding, one of the stated goals of the Trump administration. Though cast as a “women’s rights” march, women who attempted to register for the march were refused. “If you want to come to the march you are coming with the understanding that you respect a woman’s right to choose,” Linda Sarsour, a Muslim racial justice and civil rights activist, and a chairwoman of the event, told the New York Times. Feminist Gloria Steinem and Planned Parenthood have partnered for the event, providing it with its decidedly tone. On her website, Steinem says to her fans: We have all the powers we had [before Trump was elected] of lobbying and pressuring and making clear that the political consequences are great. We may look up and feel powerless and think there’s nothing we can do, but it’s not true. There are things we can do at each level. And there’s always civil disobedience. Trump is not my president. Steinem also recently said she would refuse to pay the full amount of her federal income tax if Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funds were eliminated. Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said about the march: We will send a strong message to the incoming administration that millions of people across this country are prepared to fight attacks on reproductive health care, abortion services, and access to Planned Parenthood, as they intersect with the rights of young people, people of color, immigrants, and people of all faiths, backgrounds, and incomes. According to the march’s website, its mission is to “send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights. ” Democrat Sens. Patty Murray (WA) and Elizabeth Warren (MA) are supporting Planned Parenthood: Today, we stood with Planned Parenthood and the millions of women men who don’t want to see their health care taken away. pic. twitter. — Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) January 20, 2017, Despite its message of unity among all the left’s political identity groups, the Times previously reported the “Women’s March” has been anything but unified from its inception: On the march group’s Facebook page, it is easy to see how complicated the idea of the “women’s vote,” an already mythological concept, has become, and how difficult it might be for organizers to fulfill their aim of gathering women who remain fiercely divided on reproductive rights, gun control, marriage and immigration, among other issues. Not everyone on the page believes, for instance, that Hillary Clinton would have made a good president, or that Stephen K. Bannon, a chief strategist under Mr. Trump, holds divisive views about minorities. Debates over both have sprung up in recent days. Bob Bland, one of the march’s organizers, said in an email that organizers in Maryland had to change a Facebook page from public to private to protect the safety of women who want to attend. Writing at the Week, abortion rights supporter Shikha Dalmia asserts the demonstration has already failed in its mission. “Demonstrations serve a useful function in a democracy — but only when they have clarity of purpose,” she writes, adding that the march is “shaping up to be a exercise in search of a cause. ” Dalmia writes some of the “absurdity” related to the event stems from “the fact that they are billing this event as the voice of women when 42 percent of women (and 62 percent of educated white women) actually voted for Trump. ” She also observes “the progressive hysteria over the event’s name. ” The initial plan by the “three white women” organizers, she says, was to call the event the “Million Women March,” but the women were criticized for “cultural appropriation” for “allegedly poaching the heritage of the 1997 Million Woman March for black women. ” “Feminists are confusing the issue by making Trump’s threat about themselves,” Dalmia concludes. “If they really wanted to help, they would have kept their powder dry for now, rather than embark on this confused and pointless march. ” | 1 |
Pakistan declares nationwide bandh on November 9th in protest against 1-day ban on NDTV Posted on Tweet (Image via ndtv.com)
Global terror hub Pakistan has called for a nationwide shutdown on the 9th of November, in what it terms a strong protest against the Indian Ministry of Information & Broadcasting’s 1-day ban on satire
Pakistan Prime Minister Raheel Nawaz Sharif, after firing a stinging letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, highlighting India’s 24-hour ban on NDTV, which he termed a cold-blooded murder of democracy and free speech, officially made the announcement. “The people of Pakistan stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the employees of NDTV at this time. To make the world get an idea of what is happening in India as well as about how much dear NDTV means to us, the whole of Pakistan will shut down on the 9th of November. This will teach India a lesson,” Sharif stated. If rumours are to be believed, ORF chief Sudheendra Kulkarni and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar are expected to join the agitation across the border.
Sharif’s appeal found resonance not only among Pakistan’s citizens, but also among their terrorists. Leading the charge was JuD chief terrorist Hafiz Saeed, who announced a worldwide terror shutdown on the 9th. “Who does India think they are? After I mentioned that I am a big fan of Barkha Dutt, they go all coward and block her channel for 24 hours! I won’t take this insult to our Barkha lightly. I appeal to all my fellow terrorists in Pakistan and in all parts of the world, including the ones in India, to suspend all terror operations on that day to show our solidarity. This way, we will send out a strong message,” Saeed announced.
The clarion call has been uniting all rival factions in Pakistan by the hour. While PTI chief and former cricketer Imran Khan announced that he would not look to marry anyone on the 9th of November, in complete solidarity with NDTV, former Pakistan External Affairs Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has announced that she would not be purchasing any Birkin bags on that day.
The countries standing up for NDTV do not seem to be limited to Pakistan alone. According to NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain, the Gaza administration has conveyed similar intentions to him. “I’m in Gaza right now and every citizen here, right from the safed dhaadis to the kaala dhaadis feel that this is no chota-mota matter. NDTV and I personally mean so much to these people. Even today, whenever people see me on the streets here, they laud my coverage of Snoopgate,” Jain told The UnReal Times .
While a few journalists at NDTV are still shell-shocked and clueless over what to do during the day, journalist Sunetra Choudhury has signed up for an alternative reading class at JNU. NDTV India’s Ravish Kumar declared that he would cover himself up with the black screen he previously used, for the whole day, in protest against the government’s move. While Union I&B Minister Venkaiah Naidu is yet to comment on the issue, his predecessor Arun Jaitley is likely to go on leave on November 9th, according to Finance Ministry sources. Tweet About Ashwin Kumar
1 of the proud columnists of URT, former co-editor of URT Tamil, amateur musician, Real Harris Jayaraj devotee, UnReal T. Rajendar fanatic, passionate about stopping female foeticide. | 0 |
Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Here’s the .) Let’s turn it over to Jennifer Medina, a correspondent based in Los Angeles, for today’s introduction. Often referred to as the Ellis Island of Los Angeles, the neighborhood east of downtown known as Boyle Heights has been the first stop for several waves of immigration. Since the 1940s, it has transformed into a largely enclave and the center of Chicano culture and activism in the city. As other parts of Los Angeles have seen real estate prices climb steadily, many in Boyle Heights have expressed concern about gentrification, particularly after several art galleries moved into an industrial stretch. The battle between the galleries and activists reached a peak last fall when someone a vulgar statement condemning “white art” on the door of one gallery and a investigation was opened. Almost from the moment it opened its doors last year Pssst, a nonprofit gallery, and its creators, have been the focus of protests and criticism on social media. Last month, they announced they could no longer tolerate it. They were closing up shop. “This persistent targeting, which was often highly personal in nature, was made all the more intolerable because the artists we engaged are queer, women, people of color,” they said on their website. “We could no longer continue to put already vulnerable communities at further risk. ” Defend Boyle Heights, one of the activist groups that has called for a boycott of the galleries, said that it considered the closing a victory and that it hoped other galleries would soon follow suit. The response has raised alarms for many of the other galleries in the area. Ethan Swan, one of the directors of 356 Mission, which has been there since 2013, said that he had tried to arrange a meeting with local activists, but that he had been repeatedly turned down. “We want to be thoughtful about our presence and what it was that we could do or how we could work together for a better future for this neighborhood and how it might shift,” he said. “But their position is an uncompromising one since they don’t see a solution unless we leave. ” Do you think the galleries should stay in Boyle Heights or leave? Let us know your thoughts at caltoday@nytimes. com. (Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.) • Insurance premiums would rise significantly for many Californians under the Republican health plan. [Los Angeles Times] • Democrats unveiled a sweeping plan to make college free for more Californians. They . [Opinion | Sacramento Bee] • The Queen Mary, a historic vessel in Long Beach, needs more than $230 million in repairs to keep it from sinking. [Long Beach Press Telegram] • The dream of rail is taking longer and costing more. [Orange County Register] • Daredevils are walking on slacklines high above a waterfall near Lake Elsinore. Forest officials aren’t happy. [The Press Enterprise] • A proposed California license plate design features a redwood forest. [The Mercury News] • : Through music and relationships, a California man with Asperger’s syndrome finds another way to be “normal. ” [The New York Times] • “It has harmed me professionally,” said a screenwriter about his support for President Trump. [Los Angeles Times] • The artist Jimmie Durham has his first American solo show in 22 years, at a Los Angeles museum. He gave a rare interview. [The New York Times] • A new podcast investigates why Richard Simmons left public life. Is it any of our business? [The New York Times] • Drinking your way — responsibly and on a budget — through San Diego. [The New York Times] • The odds of U. C. Davis winning the N. C. A. A. men’s basketball tournament are against. “This is a moment of hope,” a campus official said. [San Francisco Chronicle] On Monday, we wrote about an effort to end daylight saving time in California. We asked where you came down on the matter. Among hundreds of responses, an overwhelming majority made the same plea: stop the twice yearly clock changing. Readers called for the adoption of an unchanging time throughout the year, outnumbering those who favored the status quo by roughly eight to one. Most of those favoring an immutable time said they would prefer to simply stay on daylight saving time, dispensing with the “fall back” of November. Dave Spaulding, of Sausalito, echoed a theme: “Love that extra hour of sunshine. ” The crowd expressed worries of falling out of sync with the rest of the country. Others complained that our politicians should be focused on bigger issues. A sample of the responses: “I really don’t care which one we use. But use it consistently. I dislike the change. One or the other, not both. ” — Carolyn Dennison, Garden Grove “I’m totally for permanent daylight saving time. I think people feel more energized and happy with the extra hour of sunshine. ” — Toni Bouman, San Luis Obispo “I very much favor eliminating the time change. It is confusing and physically stressful. I dread it every time. Personally I would favor Pacific Standard Time year round. ” — Leslie Clarke Gray, Cambria “I feel daylight savings is an arbitrary practice of torture we impose upon ourselves. Ditch it and save the headache. ” — Cory Windorff, Irvine “Ideally the whole country would adopt a uniform time plan, either daylight saving time or standard. Maybe if California gets the ball rolling, other states would follow. Meanwhile, the shift back and forth is a useless and disruptive annoyance. ” — Linda Lancione, Berkeley California Today goes live at 6 a. m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes. com. The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U. C. Berkeley. | 1 |
According to a new study, eight percent of our DNA is ALIEN. In fact, it is made up of NON-HUMAN, viral fragments. The new study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .
The recent study revealed that there is literally non-human DNA residing in modern humans’ genome. This study comes after a froup of researchers from Tufts and University of Michigan Medical School examined 2,500 people.
Experts discovered that our DNA is less human and that nineteen pieces of Ancient Viral DNA exist within our own genome.
Most strikingly, experts discovered the full genetic mockup for an entire virus within 2 percent of the people they examined. According to sciencedaily.com , whether or not the virus can be replicated or reproduced, isn’t yet known. But other studies of ancient virus DNA have shown it can affect the humans who carry it.
ScienceDaily reports that the study offers new insight on human endogenous retroviruses. HERV’s are actually antique diseases which possess eerily similar characteristics to human immunodeficiency virus, the precursor to AIDS.
Experts believe that this ‘Viral DNA0 has been passed down through thousands of generations of human beings. The study’s authors are still unsure whether the ancient strains of DNA could cause infections.
“This one looks like it is capable of making infectious virus, which would be very exciting if true, as it would allow us to study a viral epidemic that took place long ago,” says senior author and virologist John Coffin, Ph.D. of the Tufts University School of Medicine. “This research provides important information necessary for understanding how retroviruses and humans have evolved together in relatively recent times.”
“Many studies have tried to link these endogenous viral elements to cancer and other diseases, but a major difficulty has been that we haven’t actually found all of them yet,” says co-first author Zachary H. Williams, a Ph.D. student at the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University in Boston. “A lot of the most interesting elements are only found in a small percentage of people, which means you have to screen a large number of people to find them.”
“This is a thrilling discovery,” says co-first author Julia Wildschutte, Ph.D., who began the work as a Ph.D. student in Coffin’s lab at Tufts. “It will open up many doors to research. What’s more, we have confirmed in this paper that we can use genomic data from multiple individuals compared to the reference human genome to detect new HERVs. But this has also shown us that some people carry insertions that we can’t map back to the reference.”
Reference: http://www.pnas.org/content/113/16/E2326.full.pdf
Source: EWAO
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April 30 (UPI) — Bruce Springsteen says writing and performing “Born in the U. S. A. ” helped him reconcile the mixed feelings he has about decisions he made during the Vietnam War era. [“I had some friends, very close friends of mine … guys who came home in wheelchairs and, then, I didn’t go. I was a draft dodger,” the New Jersey rocker said at a Tribeca Film Festival conversation with Tom Hanks at the Beacon Theatre in New York Friday. “I pulled the whole ‘Alice’s Restaurant.’ ‘I’m sorry, sir. I don’t understand what you are saying because I am high on LSD.’ I did everything in the ’s text book,” Springsteen recalled. “So, perhaps, I felt guilty about that later on. I had friends who went. I had friends who went and died. I had friends later on who were seriously hurt. And whether it was that or whether it was just the fact it was an event that defined a generation and if you were going to write about the world, if you were going to write about who we are at this this particular moment, if you were going to write about your place, if you were going to try to seize your little moment in history, which were all things I wanted to deliver to my audience, it was something that needed to be reckoned with. … And, so, it was something that I felt I had to come to terms with myself and I needed to sing about. ” | 1 |
LOS ANGELES — Smiling and clapping through marathon awards banquets. Week after week, month after month. Racking up miles (New York to Los Angeles to London to Los Angeles) to woo Oscar voters at sessions. Giving endless command performances to reporters who ask the same five (three?) questions on loop. All the hair and makeup. All the gown fittings. And losing the whole time. Nicole Kidman, Naomie Harris, Michelle Williams and Octavia Spencer — each nominated for best supporting actress at the coming Academy Awards — know this drill all too well: It has been their lives (boohoo, I know) since November, when their fellow nominee, Viola Davis, started to vacuum up prize after prize for her performance in “Fences. ” All told, Ms. Davis, who plays a homemaker in 1950s Pittsburgh, has collected at least 29 trophies in recent months. (“Thank you to the Iowa Film Critics Association! ”) She walked to bellwether wins at the Golden Globes, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the Screen Actors Guild. The oddsmakers at GoldDerby. com have her seizing the supporting actress Oscar in a landslide on Feb. 26. It’s the most category there is: She’s winning. So why do the other contenders keep going through the motions? That question pops into my head almost every year around this time, when the gracious losing starts to seem like performance art unto itself. reporters do their best to keep the Academy Awards feeling like a contest, but at least one category is perennially no contest at all. In 2015, Julianne Moore won best actress on the September day when Hollywood insiders first saw her in “Still Alice” at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2012, Ms. Spencer similarly breezed to the Oscar lectern, collecting the supporting actress statuette for her portrayal of a maid in “The Help,” in which she starred with Ms. Davis. For answers, I spoke to longtime studio executives, publicists, agents and even a few of this year’s nominees. And some of their responses were surprising. Joe Quenqua, who runs the entertainment practice at DKC Marketing and Public Relations, cleared up one thing right off the bat: No nominees, no matter what they say, concede they are losing until that golden envelope has been opened. “You can be the longest shot in the history of Oscar nominees,” he said. “You still have to think you have the teeniest, tiniest, chance of winning walking into that room. ” Mr. Quenqua, who has worked on numerous Oscar campaigns, including one for “The Help,” said that there are multiple reasons that contenders cling to hope. Aside from ego — and don’t underestimate that factor in Hollywood — actors and actresses, from their earliest days auditioning, don’t make it very far if they have a defeatist attitude. Upsets from past Oscars can also contribute to magical thinking nobody thought voters would select Marisa Tomei as best supporting actress in 1993 for her girlfriend in “My Cousin Vinny,” but they did. And reporters may play a role. “It’s not like journalists single out the long shots and say, ‘Tell me how it feels to be losing,’” Mr. Quenqua said. “Instead, the question asked to everyone is always, ‘What are you saying in your acceptance speech? ’” Guilty as charged. Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hosts a luncheon a few weeks before its prize ceremony to celebrate all the nominees as a group, from major stars down to the sound mixers. The academy peppers the room with reporters. Since the event usually falls at a crucial time in the voting process — this year, a few days before ballots went out — nominees tend to be very chatty. One of my first stops was Ms. Harris, who played a mother in “Moonlight” and is vying for best supporting actress against Ms. Davis. “Do you plan to write an acceptance speech?” I asked her. Ms. Harris smiled. “I’m going with Helen Mirren’s advice, which is to always have a speech, even if you know beyond a doubt that you’re not going to win,” she said. I knew I was pushing it, but I said it anyway: “How do you know that?” With a single facial expression, she seemed to toss all 29 of Ms. Davis’s trophies in my direction. In the end, the affable Ms. Harris offered some insight into how she has approached the Year of Viola Davis, who has never won an Oscar despite two prior nominations (for “The Help” and for “Doubt” in 2009) making her the most nominated black actress in academy history. “I’m so grateful for the acknowledgment, which has made a huge difference in my career already, in terms of scripts and projects coming to me — it’s quite extraordinary, actually — but I’m also happy to be able to come to these events and help get ‘Moonlight’ to a broader audience,” Ms. Harris said. “I feel a responsibility to get out there and do as much legwork as I can to promote the film. ” Perhaps her category mates had similar points of view. Ms. Kidman, nominated for her adoptive mother in “Lion,” has certainly done her best, dating back to the September film festivals, to keep that in the public eye. Ditto Ms. Williams, nominated for her heartbroken mother in “Manchester by the Sea. ” Before I could track them down, I stumbled across Ms. Spencer, honored for playing a NASA leader in “Hidden Figures. ” She caught my eye partly because she was not aggressively working the room. “Can I ask you a question?” I said to her, after identifying myself as a reporter. “No,” she said, sitting down at her lunch table. Now it was my turn to make a face. “Well, you can ask me how my day is going,” she said quickly. “But I’m not doing any press. ” Maybe she just wanted to be left alone with her salad. Maybe she was worried that I might drag her into yet another discussion about the #OscarSoWhite controversy. Or maybe, just then, she had stopped going through the motions. | 1 |
White House press secretary Sean Spicer scrambled to correct himself during the daily press briefing after arguing that Syrian dictator Bashar was worse than Hitler. [“Hitler didn’t even sink to the level of using chemical weapons,” Spicer said, trying to express moral outrage for Assad’s use of chemical weapons on his own people. Reporters reacted instantly to Spicer’s remarks on Twitter, pointing out that Hitler gassed millions of Jews during his dictatorship. As Spicer continued his briefing, ABC News reporter Cecilia Vega asked him to clarify his statement. “I think when you come to sarin gas, he was not using the gas on his own people the same way that Assad is doing,” Spicer replied, adding that he appreciated the opportunity to clarify his statement. As White House reporters murmured, Spicer reacted, stumbling as he referred to Hitler’s concentration camps as “the Holocaust Center. ” “He brought them into the Holocaust center, I understand that,” Spicer said. “I appreciate the clarification. ” Later, Spicer further clarified his remarks in a statement to reporters. “In no way was I trying to lessen the horrendous nature of the Holocaust. However, I was trying to draw a contrast of the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on innocent people,” he said. The White House later sent an additional and expanded statement to the press to further clarify Spicer’s previous statements: “In no way was I trying to lessen the horrendous nature of the Holocaust. I was trying to draw a distinction of the tactic of using airplanes to drop chemical weapons on population centers,” he said. “Any attack on innocent people is reprehensible and inexcusable. ” | 1 |
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte repeatedly threatened to impose martial law on his nation and threatened to killed hostages taken by Islamic State affiliate Abu Sayyaf to eradicate the jihadist group. [Duterte, who has called the observance of human rights norms in the context of a war on terror “bullshit,” has launched a new initiative against Abu Sayyaf, a radical jihadist group primarily concentrated in Duterte’s native southern Mindanao island. Abu Sayyaf has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año announced Tuesday that the military had six months to eradicate the terrorist group completely. “As pronounced by our president, we have a very tall order to do. And we have six months to totally decimate the Abu Sayyaf group and the other terror groups here in Western Mindanao,” Año told reporters. Duterte himself said on Saturday that Abu Sayyaf terrorists should not assume that their lives will be spared if they use hostages as human shields. “They say, ‘What about the hostage?’ Sorry, collateral damage,” he said. “Then if they are blasted everyday [sic] that [kidnappings] would stop … so, better not get yourselves kidnapped. ” Duterte had previously vowed to “eat” Abu Sayyaf terrorists “in front of people. … I will eat you alive, raw. ” He has also admitted that he has “cousins” who fight for the Islamic State, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and other terrorist groups in the area. The Philippine military issued a report in October estimating that Abu Sayyaf had generated $7. 3 million in kidnapping ransoms between January and June of 2016. While the Philippines has an official policy of not paying ransom to Abu Sayyaf, foreigners have paid to free their relatives, primarily Indonesian nationals. Duterte announced his plan to ramp up the campaign against Abu Sayyaf after visiting the wake of a Philippine soldier killed in a Special Forces operation against the terrorist group, leaving behind a daughter. The soldier was the nation’s first military loss of 2017. While announcing the new initiative to eradicate Abu Sayyaf, a spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) clarified that Duterte had not given any orders to disregard loss of hostage lives in operations against the terror group. The presidential office also clarified that Duterte’s repeated mentions of martial law did not mean he intended to impose it. “The president has categorically said no to martial law. He even made a pronouncement saying that martial law did not improve the lives of the Filipinos,” Duterte’s spokesman Martin Andanar said this week, calling it “misreporting” and “the height of journalistic irresponsibility” to claim this. “If I have to declare martial law, I will declare it — not about invasion, insurrection, not about danger. I will declare martial law to preserve my nation — period,” Duterte had said on Friday night. “I will declare martial law if I wanted to. No one will be able to stop me. ” Multiple Philippine senators have implored Duterte to leave martial law off the table in the case of Abu Sayyaf. “President Duterte should just shut up on these martial law threats and just govern our country the way any responsible leader should,” Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said on Monday, according to the Philippine Star. “There is no basis to declare martial law,” said Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto. “No foreign army is steaming toward our shores to invade us. And as the President himself likes to brag, crime is down and the people are safe in their homes and communities. ” | 1 |
By John W. Whitehead
“Today the path to total dictatorship in the U.S. can be laid by strictly legal means, unseen and unheard by Congress, the President, or the people . Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system … a well-organized political-action group in this country, determined to destroy our Constitution and establish a one-party state….
The important point to remember about this group is not its ideology but its organization… It operates secretly, silently, continuously to transform our Government…. This group … is answerable neither to the President, the Congress, nor the courts. It is practically irremovable. ”— Senator William Jenner, 1954 speech
Unaffected by elections. Unaltered by populist movements. Beyond the reach of the law.
Say hello to America’s shadow government.
A corporatized, militarized, entrenched bureaucracy that is fully operational and staffed by unelected officials who are, in essence, running the country, this shadow government represents the hidden face of a government that has no respect for the freedom of its citizenry.
No matter which candidate wins the presidential election, this shadow government is here to stay. Indeed, as recent documents by the FBI reveal, this shadow government— also referred to as “The 7th Floor Group” —may well have played a part in who will win the White House this year.
To be precise, however, the future president will actually inherit not one but two shadow governments.
The first shadow government, referred to as COG or Continuity of Government, is made up of unelected individuals who have been appointed to run the government in the event of a “catastrophe.” COG is a phantom menace waiting for the right circumstances—a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, an economic meltdown—to bring it out of the shadows, where it operates even now. When and if COG takes over, the police state will transition to martial law.
Yet it is the second shadow government —also referred to as the Deep State—that poses the greater threat to freedom right now. Comprised of unelected government bureaucrats, corporations, contractors, paper-pushers, and button-pushers who are actually calling the shots behind the scenes, this government within a government is the real reason “we the people” have no real control over our government.
The Deep State, which “ operates according to its own compass heading regardless of who is formally in power ,” makes a mockery of elections and the entire concept of a representative government.
So who or what is the Deep State?
It’s the militarized police, which have joined forces with state and federal law enforcement agencies in order to establish themselves as a standing army. It’s the fusion centers and spy agencies that have created a surveillance state and turned all of us into suspects. It’s the courthouses and prisons that have allowed corporate profits to take precedence over due process and justice.
It’s the military empire with its private contractors and defense industry that is bankrupting the nation. It’s the private sector with its 854,000 contract personnel with top-secret clearances, “a number greater than that of top-secret-cleared civilian employees of the government.” It’s what former congressional staffer Mike Lofgren refers to as “ a hybrid of national security and law enforcement agencies ”: the Department of Defense, the State Department, Homeland Security, the CIA, the Justice Department, the Treasury, the Executive Office of the President via the National Security Council, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a handful of vital federal trial courts, and members of the defense and intelligence committees.
It’s every facet of a government that is no longer friendly to freedom and is working overtime to trample the Constitution underfoot and render the citizenry powerless in the face of the government’s power grabs, corruption and abusive tactics.
These are the key players that drive the shadow government.
This is the hidden face of the American police state that will continue long past Election Day.
Just consider some of the key programs and policies advanced by the shadow government that will continue no matter who occupies the Oval Office.
Domestic surveillance No matter who wins the presidential popularity contest, the National Security Agency (NSA), with its $10.8 billion black ops annual budget, will continue to spy on every person in the United States who uses a computer or phone. Thus, on any given day, whether you’re walking through a store, driving your car, checking email, or talking to friends and family on the phone, you can be sure that some government agency, whether the NSA or some other entity, is listening in and tracking your behavior. Local police have been outfitted with a litany of surveillance gear, from license plate readers and cell phone tracking devices to biometric data recorders. Technology now makes it possible for the police to scan passersby in order to detect the contents of their pockets, purses, briefcases, etc. Full-body scanners, which perform virtual strip-searches of Americans traveling by plane, have gone mobile, with roving police vans that peer into vehicles and buildings alike—including homes. Coupled with the nation’s growing network of real-time surveillance cameras and facial recognition software, soon there really will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
Global spying The NSA’s massive surveillance network, what the Washington Post refers to as a $500 billion “ espionage empire ,” will continue to span the globe and target every single person on the planet who uses a phone or a computer. The NSA’s Echelon program intercepts and analyzes virtually every phone call, fax and email message sent anywhere in the world. In addition to carrying out domestic surveillance on peaceful political groups such as Amnesty International, Greenpeace and several religious groups, Echelon has also been a keystone in the government’s attempts at political and corporate espionage .
Roving TSA searches The American taxpayer will continue to get ripped off by government agencies in the dubious name of national security. One of the greatest culprits when it comes to swindling taxpayers has been the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), with its questionable deployment of and complete mismanagement of millions of dollars’ worth of airport full-body X-ray scanners, punitive patdowns by TSA agents and thefts of travelers’ valuables. Considered essential to national security, TSA programs will continue in airports and at transportation hubs around the country.
USA Patriot Act, NDAA America’s so-called war on terror, which it has relentlessly pursued since 9/11, will continue to chip away at our freedoms, unravel our Constitution and transform our nation into a battlefield, thanks in large part to such subversive legislation as the USA Patriot Act and National Defense Authorization Act. These laws completely circumvent the rule of law and the rights of American citizens. In so doing, they re-orient our legal landscape in such a way as to ensure that martial law, rather than the U.S. Constitution, is the map by which we navigate life in the United States. These laws will continue to be enforced no matter who gets elected.
Militarized police state Thanks to federal grant programs allowing the Pentagon to transfer surplus military supplies and weapons to local law enforcement agencies without charge, police forces will continue to be transformed from peace officers into heavily armed extensions of the military, complete with jackboots, helmets, shields, batons, pepper-spray, stun guns, assault rifles, body armor, miniature tanks and weaponized drones.
Having been given the green light to probe, poke, pinch, taser, search, seize, strip and generally manhandle anyone they see fit in almost any circumstance, all with the general blessing of the courts, America’s law enforcement officials, no longer mere servants of the people entrusted with keeping the peace, will continue to keep the masses corralled, controlled, and treated like suspects and enemies rather than citizens.
SWAT team raids With more than 80,000 SWAT team raids carried out every year on unsuspecting Americans by local police for relatively routine police matters and federal agencies laying claim to their own law enforcement divisions, the incidence of botched raids and related casualties will continue to rise. Nationwide, SWAT teams will continue to be employed to address an astonishingly trivial array of criminal activity or mere community nuisances including angry dogs, domestic disputes, improper paperwork filed by an orchid farmer, and misdemeanor marijuana possession.
Domestic drones The domestic use of drones will continue unabated. As mandated by Congress, there will be 30,000 drones crisscrossing the skies of America by 2020, all part of an industry that could be worth as much as $30 billion per year. These machines, which will be equipped with weapons, will be able to record all activities, using video feeds, heat sensors and radar. An Inspector General report revealed that the Dept. of Justice has already spent nearly $4 million on drones domestically, largely for use by the FBI , with grants for another $1.26 million so police departments and nonprofits can acquire their own drones.
School-to-prison pipeline The paradigm of abject compliance to the state will continue to be taught by example in the schools, through school lockdowns where police and drug-sniffing dogs enter the classroom, and zero tolerance policies that punish all offenses equally and result in young people being expelled for childish behavior. School districts will continue to team up with law enforcement to create a “schoolhouse to jailhouse track” by imposing a “double dose” of punishment: suspension or expulsion from school, accompanied by an arrest by the police and a trip to juvenile court.
Overcriminalization The government bureaucracy will continue to churn out laws, statutes, codes and regulations that reinforce its powers and value systems and those of the police state and its corporate allies, rendering the rest of us petty criminals. The average American now unknowingly commits three felonies a day, thanks to this overabundance of vague laws that render otherwise innocent activity illegal. Consequently, small farmers who dare to make unpasteurized goat cheese and share it with members of their community will continue to have their farms raided.
Privatized Prisons States will continue to outsource prisons to private corporations, resulting in a cash cow whereby mega-corporations imprison Americans in private prisons in order to make a profit. In exchange for corporations buying and managing public prisons across the country at a supposed savings to the states, the states have to agree to maintain a 90% occupancy rate in the privately run prisons for at least 20 years.
Endless wars America’s expanding military empire will continue to bleed the country dry at a rate of more than $15 billion a month (or $20 million an hour). The Pentagon spends more on war than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety. Yet what most Americans fail to recognize is that these ongoing wars have little to do with keeping the country safe and everything to do with enriching the military industrial complex at taxpayer expense.
Are you getting the message yet?
The next president, much like the current president and his predecessors, will be little more than a figurehead, a puppet to entertain and distract the populace from what’s really going on.
As Lofgren reveals, this state within a state, “concealed behind the one that is visible at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue ,” is a “hybrid entity of public and private institutions ruling the country according to consistent patterns in season and out, connected to, but only intermittently controlled by, the visible state whose leaders we choose.”
The Deep State not only holds the nation’s capital in thrall, but it also controls Wall Street (“which supplies the cash that keeps the political machine quiescent and operating as a diversionary marionette theater”) and Silicon Valley.
This is fascism in its most covert form, hiding behind public agencies and private companies to carry out its dirty deeds.
It is a marriage between government bureaucrats and corporate fat cats.
As Lofgren concludes:
[T]he Deep State is so heavily entrenched, so well protected by surveillance, firepower, money and its ability to co-opt resistance that it is almost impervious to change … If there is anything the Deep State requires it is silent, uninterrupted cash flow and the confidence that things will go on as they have in the past. It is even willing to tolerate a degree of gridlock: Partisan mud wrestling over cultural issues may be a useful distraction from its agenda.
In other words, as I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People , as long as government officials—elected and unelected alike—are allowed to operate beyond the reach of the Constitution, the courts and the citizenry, the threat to our freedoms remains undiminished.
So the next time you find yourselves despondent over the 2016 presidential candidates, remember that it’s just a puppet show intended to distract you from the silent coup being carried out by America’s shadow government.
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People (SelectBooks, 2015) is available online at www.amazon.com . Whitehead can be contacted at [email protected] .
The original source of this article is The Rutherford Institute Copyright © John W. Whitehead , The Rutherford Institute , 2016 | 0 |
We analyzed in real time the second presidential debate between Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton. Plus, here are our fact checks and email exchanges with William Weld, the Libertarian nominee. The second presidential debate between Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton began with explosive attacks and ended with a measure of graciousness, as the two candidates complimented each other at the request of an audience member. Mrs. Clinton said she admired the Trump children, while Mr. Trump called his opponent “a fighter. ” But the candidates savaged each other on the way to the finish, with Mr. Trump struggling mightily for much of the evening to address questions about his finances, policy ideas and treatment of women. In several tense exchanges, Mr. Trump acknowledged that he had avoided paying federal income taxes for years, called his taped description of sexual assault “locker ” and accused Mrs. Clinton of victimizing women and carrying “hate in her heart. ” He also said that as president he would appoint a special prosecutor to pursue Mrs. Clinton. In a comparatively subdued performance, Mrs. Clinton hewed close to the basic arguments of her campaign: That she is an experienced public servant and Mr. Trump is unfit to be president. Mr. Trump, she said, “owes our country an apology. ” • An audience member asked the candidates to name one positive quality in their opponent. Mrs. Clinton jumped in first. “I respect his children,” she said. “His children are incredibly able and devoted and I think that says a lot about Donald. I don’t agree with nearly anything else he says or does, but I do respect that. ” Mr. Trump, expressing gratitude for the compliment, offered his own. “I will say this about Hillary: She doesn’t quit,” he said. “She doesn’t give up. I respect that. ” The debate ended, and the pair shook hands. • Pressed on the 2005 recording which he seemed to boast of sexually assaulting women, Mr. Trump said he was “not proud of” the behavior, saying that he had apologized to his family and the American people. But he disputed that the recording amounted to bragging about sexual assault, calling his comments “locker room talk. ” “I have great respect for women,” he said. “Nobody has more respect for women than I do,” he said, adding, “I was embarrassed by it. ” • Mrs. Clinton, responding to Mr. Trump’s remarks about the recording, said that while she disagreed with past Republican nominees, “I never questioned their fitness to serve. ” “Donald Trump is different,” she said. She suggested that, despite Mr. Trump’s insistence that the recording did not reflect his character, “It’s clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is. ” • Mr. Trump turned the discussion of his lewd remarks on Mr. Clinton, arguing that his “words” did not compare to Mr. Clinton’s history with women. “If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse,” Mr. Trump said. Mrs. Clinton did not address the attacks on her husband. “He gets to run his campaign any way he chooses,” she said. She paraphrased Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic convention to describe her approach: “When they go low, you go high. ” • Addressing Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Trump said that if he wins, “I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation,” citing her use of a private email server as secretary of state. Mrs. Clinton pointedly said she could not spend all of her time Mr. Trump, advising viewers to go to her website to see his falsehoods. She said it was a good thing that Mr. Trump was not in charge of the laws in the country. “Because you’d be in jail,” Mr. Trump shot back. Cheers could be heard from the crowd. • Mrs. Clinton said Mr. Trump was plainly trying to divert attention from his own campaign — “the way it’s exploding and the way Republicans are leaving you. ” Mr. Trump asked a moderator, Mr. Cooper, why he had not spent more time discussing Mrs. Clinton’s private email server. (The other moderator, Martha Raddatz, had in fact brought it up moments earlier.) Mr. Trump was unmoved. “Nice, one on three,” he said, suggesting the moderators were teaming up on him. • Asked about how to stop Islamophobia, Mr. Trump said, “You’re right about Islamophobia and that’s a shame. ” But he pivoted immediately to a discussion of what he called “radical Islamic terrorists,” citing the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. and the attacks on the World Trade Center, among other atrocities. Mrs. Clinton suggested Mr. Trump’s statements throughout the campaign had been destructive. “We are not at war with Islam,” she said. “It plays into the hands of the terrorists to act as though we are. ” • Pushed repeatedly to answer whether his proposed ban on Muslim immigration still stood, Mr. Trump deflected, saying his plans amounted to “extreme vetting” and accusing a moderator, Ms. Raddatz, of favoring Mrs. Clinton. Mrs. Clinton said it was “important for us, as a policy” not to ban people based on religion. “How do you do that?” she asked. “We are a country founded on religious freedom and liberty. ” • After Mr. Trump said again that he opposed the war in Iraq, despite past public statements that contradict him, Mrs. Clinton reiterated that “we have it on tape” that Mr. Trump had not been against the war before it began. “It’s not been debunked,” he insisted, turning the issue back on Mrs. Clinton. “You voted for it and you shouldn’t have. ” • A black audience member asked if the candidates could serve as president for “all Americans. ” Mr. Trump said that he could, before moving quickly to a standard of his stump speech: wondering aloud what some voters “have to lose. ” “It can’t get any worse,” he said. After Mr. Trump again criticized Mrs. Clinton’s Senate tenure, she noted that she won by a wide margin. She added, “If you don’t vote for me, I still want to be your president. ” • Mrs. Clinton was asked about a remark, leaked from a private speech, in which she seemed to stress the importance of keeping both a public and a private position on given issues as a political figure. She said she was following the example of Abraham Lincoln as he sought to convince lawmakers to ally with him. “Now she’s blaming the lie on the late, great Abraham Lincoln,” Mr. Trump said. “Honest Abe never lied. ” • Mrs. Clinton cited the specter of Russian hackers seeking to influence the election with strategic leaks, which she suggested were intended to help Mr. Trump. “Believe me, they’re not doing it to get me elected,” she said. (She has spoken often of Mr. Trump’s kind words for Vladimir V. Putin, Russia’s president.) Mr. Trump claimed ignorance. “Maybe there is no hacking,” he said, adding, “I know nothing about Russia. ” • Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump tussled over taxes, touching on Mr. Trump’s efforts to avoid paying them given past losses. He was giving “zero for our vets, zero for our military,” she said. “That is wrong. ” Asked directly if Mr. Trump had used a loss in the to avoid paying taxes, he replied, “Of course I do. Of course I do. ” He accused Mrs. Clinton of not doing enough as a senator to reform the tax code. • Asked by an audience member about coarseness in the presidential race, Mrs. Clinton said it was “very important for us to make clear to our children that our country really is great because we’re good. ” She reminded the crowd of her campaign slogan, “Stronger Together. ” Mr. Trump, who before the debate appeared with women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault, said he broadly agreed with Mrs. Clinton. “I began this campaign because I was so tired of seeing such foolish things happen to our country,” he said. • In response to a question on the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Trump called the program “a disaster. ” “You know it, we all know it,” he said. Mrs. Clinton was asked about recent remarks from her husband, in which he appeared to criticize Mr. Obama’s signature legislative achievement. “He clarified what he meant,” Mrs. Clinton said. “If we were to start all over again, we might come up with a different system,” she said. “But we have an system. ” • Asked about the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Mrs. Clinton called the situation “catastrophic,” pivoting to criticize Russia and accusing the country’s leadership again of favoring Mr. Trump for president. Asked the same question, Mr. Trump said Mrs. Clinton “talks tough against Russia, but our nuclear program has fallen way behind. ” When Ms. Raddatz, a moderator, brought up the remarks of Mr. Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, on Syria, Mr. Trump said, “He and I haven’t spoken and I disagree. ” • Mr. Trump attacked Mrs. Clinton for saying that half of Trump supporters could be placed in a “basket of deplorables. ” “Believe me, she has tremendous hate in her heart,” Mr. Trump said. Mr. Cooper asked Mr. Trump if he had the discipline to lead, citing a recent “Twitter missive” in which he advised followers, without evidence, to “check out” a sex tape featuring a former pageant winner whose weight he had insulted in the 1990s. Mr. Trump denied that he had mentioned a sex tape. He also defended his favored social media practice: “Tweeting happens to be a form of communication,” he said. “I’m not of it. ” • Asked about the Supreme Court, Mrs. Clinton said she wanted “a Supreme Court that will stick with Roe v. Wade and a women’s right to choose. ” Mr. Trump said he hoped to find judges “very much in the mold of Justice Scalia,” citing a list he has compiled of possible selections. • Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump took the stage without shaking hands. | 1 |
By Amanda Froelich at trueactivist.com
The new “right to disconnect” law mandates that a company with 50 employees or more cannot email an employee after typical work hours.
If you’ve ever been with friends or family members over the weekend then received an urgent email from work, you’re aware of the dread that fills your stomach and causes your mood to dip. Being unable to fully disconnect from work can have mental and physical health implications, which is why unwarranted contact by the workplace is soon to become illegal in France.
Credit: Wall Street Journal
Already, the country gives its employees 30 days off a year and 16 weeks of full-paid family leave; this latest initiative is only making France more popular. According to BBC News , the new “right to disconnect” law will mandate that a company with 50 employees or more cannot email an employee after typical work hours. The amendment is largely a result of studies showing that people have an increasingly difficult time distancing themselves from the workplace.
Good relays that the law seeks to make sure the French citizens are able to fully enjoy their time off. Said Benoit Hamon of the French National Assembly: | 0 |
Wall Street bonuses are expected to decline for the third consecutive year, reflecting a period of busted mergers, limited trading activity and muted hedge fund returns. The payouts are projected to be from 5 to 10 percent lower this year, according to an annual report to be released on Monday by Johnson Associates, a compensation consulting firm. Bonuses fell about the same amount last year from 2014. The projection confirms a report last month by the New York State comptroller that said firms set aside 7 percent less for bonuses through the first half of this year compared with last year. While mergers and acquisitions have been active (and even hit record levels in 2015) the bankers who advise on the deals get paid largely when the deals are completed. This year, antitrust officials thwarted a number of large mergers, including Halliburton’s $35 billion bid for Baker Hughes, as well as the consolidations of the health insurance companies Anthem and Cigna, and Aetna and Humana. Pfizer and Allergan abandoned their enormous deal after the Treasury Department announced new tax rules, killing $200 million in fees that the bankers were supposed to collect. In addition, choppy markets damped stock trading activity and prevented skittish companies from making their debuts as public companies, except for a few prominent offerings. Investors dumped hedge fund holdings because of poor returns and high fees. Alan Johnson, the founder of Johnson Associates, describes this pattern as a “malaise,” and one that is unlikely to reverse itself anytime soon. “I don’t see it changing for the next year or two, either,” he said in a phone interview. “The pressures in the industry on profit and fees are going to continue, and I think pay will likely continue to decline in 2017. ” Even more than in past years, competitors and clients pressured banks to reduce fees, as there was more disclosure around what companies can and do charge clients, Mr. Johnson said. In March, the state comptroller’s office said that the average bonus for securities industry employees in the New York City area in 2015 was $146, 200, while the average salary was $388, 000. Both figures declined from 2014, but the compensation was still far higher than in any other industry in the area. According to the Johnson Associates report, some of the deepest cuts in bonuses this year will be among investment banking underwriting, hedge fund and equities professionals. Equity underwriting bonuses could be more than 20 percent lower compared with 2015. Within sales and trading, Johnson Associates said that there were lower levels of client activity, especially in equities, meaning bonuses could be from 5 percent to 15 percent lower than last year. Johnson Associates expects merger advisory bonuses to be about 10 percent lower. Nevertheless, there are more deals in the wings. Research by PitchBook found that through the third quarter of 2016, there was a record number of transactions valued at $10 billion or more. During the first nine months of the year, 31 such deals were signed, compared with 23 in all of 2015 and 16 in 2014. If this year’s deals have better luck with regulators, banks could enjoy a payout later this year or next. Private equity bonuses will be little changed this year, according to the report, as firms were able to increase their assets under management but experienced “mediocre returns. ” Retail and consumer banking was not quite as bleak. There, bonuses could actually gain as much as 5 percent over the previous year. That area of finance has benefited from deposit and loan growth as the economy recovers. Johnson Associates has been publishing its report annually for about 15 years. The consultants pore through public filings and interview from 30 to 50 clients to produce the results. Some of the challenges facing banks could soon reverse if interest rates go up meaningfully. With rates for almost a decade, banks have been able to lend money inexpensively but with lower returns than they received historically. If that dynamic reverses, it could be a boon to the industry, as long as the broader economy remains intact. “It could be water on the fields for many of these businesses in isolation,” Mr. Johnson said. “Now the caveat is, what happens to the economy when rates go up?” Economic challenges are the reason European bank employees are worse off than American ones. And Britain’s vote over the summer to leave the European Union, known as “Brexit,” did not help European bank employees’ situation, Mr. Johnson said. A portion of a banker’s total compensation is based on how well his or her company has been doing in the stock market. The stock prices of some European banks, such as Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, have declined about 50 percent each over the last year as they have grappled with government fines, increasing competition and greater regulation. Executives at those banks and others are talking about how to refocus their businesses to become more profitable. In New York, profit was not an issue. The securities industry generated $9. 3 billion in profit during the first half of 2016, the comptroller’s report showed, on track to surpass the $14. 3 billion made in all of last year. But with thousands of job cuts and lower compensation for those in securities, it has become clear that the focus of those profits is primarily preservation, rather than making bankers wealthier. | 1 |
In the name of the people.
This is the only morality.
Philippine Star :
If his scathing and vulgar comments are causing consternation and worry among American investors and businessmen, President Duterte said yesterday they can always pack up and leave.
Duterte was reacting to pronouncements from visiting US State Department Assistant Secretary Daniel Russel that his conflicting statements were causing jitters among US businessmen.
âGo ahead. Pack your bags. We will sacrifice. We will recover, I assure you. We will live and survive. We have gone through the worst of times in this planet,â the President said in a press briefing at the NAIA Terminal 2 shortly before his departure for Japan.
Russel on Friday said Duterteâs recent statements â especially his âseparationâ from the US â have ushered in a âclimate of uncertainty.â
âThe succession of controversial statements, comments and a real climate of uncertainty about the Philippinesâ intentions have created consternation in a number of countries,â Russel told reporters Monday after meeting Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. in Manila.
âNot only in mine and not only among governments, but also growing concern in other communities, in the expat Filipino community, in corporate boardrooms as well.â
Duterte called the US official gago or stupid for asking him to tone down his anti-US rhetoric, saying it was Washington that started the rift between them.
âI had a talk with Secretary Yasay and hereâs a guy his name is Russel, if you can just tone down our rhetoric. But I was not the one who started this rift. They are the ones who started it,â the President told reporters.
He noted that during the campaign, Ambassador Philip Goldberg got his goat when the diplomat reacted to his joke about the rape-slay of an Australian missionary during a 1989 prison riot in Davao City.
âRemember, it all started during the election. I made a comment in narration of an actual event which happened in Davao and which was covered by all media outlets there. The ambassador said something not very nice,â he pointed out.
âYou are not supposed to do that because in an election of another country, you should be careful with your mouth,â he said, addressing Goldberg.
KIKE Goldberg.
In the final stretch of the campaign, Duterte joked about the rape and murder of Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill during a prison riot. He said Hamill looked like an actress and as mayor âhe should have been first.â His remarks drew condemnation from several quarters, particularly womenâs groups.
The rising death toll in the Duterte administrationâs war on drugs has sparked concerns among Western countries, particularly the US and the European Union.
For Duterte, Russelâs statement was an insult. âI said donât do that to me. Every time they threaten us, including the EU (European Union), they think they are brighter than us,â Duterte said.
âThen they will say âbe careful, we will put you in prison.â Son of a w***e. Go ahead.â
Duterte maintained he would never be subservient to the interests of the US or any other foreign country.
âYou know before we can move forward, Mr. America, there are things â so many things â the massacre of the Filipinos before. These are historical hurts that would never go away,â he said. He had earlier called the attention of the US to the massacre by its soldiers of hundreds of Muslims in the early 20th century.
âI am not also a lapdog of any country. Only the Filipinos can treat me as a lapdog. Period. Nothing else.
âDo not make us dogs. Do not. As if I am a dog with a leash and then you throw bread far away that I cannot reach.â
Duterte had previously branded US President Barack Obama a âson of a b***hâ and told him to âgo to hell.â
Duterte also hit Russel for supposedly being too nervous about his recent state visit to China.
âNow, what did I tell to China? I went there, just being nice,â the President said. âI am just a small person. How can I cause distress? You are nervous because you are guilty.â
Duterte said his state visit to China last week triggered a lot of speculations.
âNapakabilis ng malisya ng mga gago (These fools were quick to think maliciously). We did not talk about anything in China except to cook siopao and chopsuey,â the President said in jest.
Duterte also scored Goldbergâs statement that the US remains committed to defend the Philippines.
âThere will be no wars anymore. Who will wage war with us? China? What will they get? Japan? What defense? They want to talk about the boogeyman war,â the President said.
âStop that s**t. Nobody is interested in wars anymore. And if there is a fight, you fight your wars. Do not include mine.”
Pure shitlordery.
So great to see.
And just for those who don’t get it: Duterte is not “anti-American,” he is anti-ZOGmerican. Filipinos have no problem with the American people, they have a problem with being slaves to international kike financial institutions and then, as already enslaved through massive debt programs and foreign ownership of infrastructure, being told by the Jew globalists that they’re not allowed to slaughter drug dealers because it’s mean.
Duterte is doing what every leader should be doing by default: defending the people from enemies foreign and domestic.
He is creating a new model of governance in the post-industrial era. | 0 |
Pussy Riot Released The Perfect Nasty Woman’s Answer To Trump (VIDEO) By Natalie Dailey on October 26, 2016 Subscribe
At the third presidential debate last week, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump made the mistake of calling Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman.”
Just a couple of weeks ago, Trump was caught in some hot audio from an Access Hollywood bus in 2005. He famously said that he can “grab them by the p***y” because he is a star.
The Russian band, Pussy Riot, has released a new song in response to Trump’s comment. It is called “Straight Outta Vagina.” It is a very feminist and body-positive song. As women, we should all be proud of our bodies. Perverts like Donald Trump love to abuse us, but we can be stronger.
Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova told The Guardian : “This song could be considered an answer to Trump. But I believe the idea of powerful female sexuality is much bigger than any populist megalomaniac man … Vagina is bigger than Trump.”
NSFW: Graphic content.
Here are some of the lyrics: “Does your vagina have a brand? / Let your vagina start a band / If your vagina lands in prison / Then the world is gonna listen “My vagina is tough and dangerous / Shaking up the major labels / Vagina gonna take the stage / Cuz vagina’s got a lot to say “My pussy my pussy / Is sweet just like a cookie / It goes to work / It makes the beats / It’s CEO, no rookie / From senator to bookie / We run this shit, go lookie / “Y ou can turn any page, any race, any age / From Russia to the states / We tearing up the place.”
I’ll warn you, the song is very catchy. Just watch who you sing it around. Rapists and abusers like Trump don’t realize just how strong we women are. This song is a great way to celebrate our bodies.
Here is the video :
Featured image via YouTube screenshot . About Natalie Dailey
Hi, I'm from Huntsville, AL. I'm a Liberal living in the Bible Belt, which can be quite challenging at times. I'm passionate about many issues including mental health, women's rights, gay rights, and many others. Check out my blog abravealabamaatheist.com. Check out my other blog weneedtotalkaboutmentalhealth.com Connect | 0 |
WASHINGTON — When President Trump welcomes Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany to the Oval Office on Tuesday, their meeting will take on a symbolism unlike any he has held so far: The great disrupter confronts the last defender of the liberal world order. Mr. Trump and Ms. Merkel are poles apart on issues like immigration and trade they have circled each other warily since the American presidential election. But both sides, officials said, are determined not to let this first meeting devolve into a clash of competing worldviews. Ms. Merkel has been studying Mr. Trump’s speeches to get an insight into the new president’s thinking. American officials said Mr. Trump would ask the chancellor for advice on how to deal with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, whom, after dozens of meetings over her 11 years in power, she knows better than any other leader in the West. The threat posed by Russia to Europe could give Ms. Merkel and Mr. Trump a sliver of common ground. The Trump administration is demanding that Germany and its other NATO allies increase their military budgets, a message the Germans appear to be taking to heart, even if their spending still falls well short of what the United States would like. “You might almost call it serendipity,” said Josef Joffe, the publisher and editor of the German newspaper Die Zeit. “Just as Trump is pushing the Europeans to shape up and pay up, the Germans have quite independently realized they are facing a strategic threat on their eastern border. ” But if Mr. Trump and Ms. Merkel find common cause on NATO, they risk new tensions over trade. Administration officials have railed against Germany’s huge trade surplus with the United States. One of Mr. Trump’s top economic advisers, Peter Navarro, recently accused Germany of exploiting its trading partners by depressing the euro to boost its exports. Ms. Merkel plans to push back hard on what the Germans view as blatant protectionism. She is bringing a delegation of corporate chiefs from BMW, Siemens and other German companies with major American operations. They will talk about apprenticeship programs to train American workers. “The thing she’ll come back with is, ‘Do you know that there are thousands of Americans working for German companies in the U. S.?’ ” said Jackson Janes, the president of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at the Johns Hopkins University. Few leaders have displayed Ms. Merkel’s adroitness in handling swaggering, strongman leaders, whether it is Mr. Putin or Silvio Berlusconi of Italy. But in Mr. Trump, “she’s up against a different kind of guy,” Mr. Joffe said. “Here is a guy who talked in the campaign as if he was going to put the ax to the liberal international world order. ” In an interview with a British newspaper in January, Mr. Trump said Ms. Merkel had made a “catastrophic” mistake in letting tens of thousands of refugees from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East enter Germany. “I respect her and I like her, but I think it was a mistake,” he said. “People make mistakes, but I think it was a really big mistake. ” He declined to say whether he would support Ms. Merkel in running for a fourth term as chancellor — a position repeated by a senior administration official who briefed reporters about her visit on Friday. It was a stark contrast to Ms. Merkel’s relationship with President Barack Obama, one of his closest with any foreign leader. Ms. Merkel, however, also managed to have a productive relationship with President George W. Bush, even though he, like Mr. Trump, was deeply unpopular in Germany in the aftermath of the Iraq war. Some experts said that could be a blueprint for how she approached Mr. Trump. “It’s a tightrope walk,” said Jeffrey Rathke, the deputy director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “She needs a strong relationship. ” But, he added, she “doesn’t want to be too close to the U. S. administration. ” Ms. Merkel has studiously avoided a confrontation with Mr. Trump. She said she would judge him by his actions rather than his words. And she has dismissed as absurd the suggestion that she was the last bastion of a liberal world order — a label that would put her at odds with Mr. Trump. When Mr. Trump first announced his temporary travel ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries in January, Ms. Merkel patiently explained to him over the phone that the Geneva Conventions oblige countries to protect refugees of war on humanitarian grounds. In their briefing on Friday, White House officials said they expected a “robust” exchange between Mr. Trump and Ms. Merkel on issues ranging from the European Union and the financing of NATO to trade and the campaign against the Islamic State. There has been an unusual degree of preparation for this meeting, given that it is not expected to produce any significant announcements on economic or security issues. For the Germans, however, the Trump White House remains something of a riddle. ideological players, like Mr. Navarro and the chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, vie with more conventional, realist ones, like Gary D. Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council, and Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the national security adviser. Mr. Navarro, for example, complains that Germany uses unequal treatment of a tax rebate on its exports to disadvantage American exports. Mr. Bannon told a visiting German diplomat that the White House viewed the European Union as a “flawed construct” and preferred to negotiate with Germany and other European countries one on one. The problem is that Germany, as a member of the European Union, cannot legally negotiate its own trade agreements with the United States. On Friday, another senior administration official who did not want to be identified conceded that point, saying that any new trade deal with Germany would have to be negotiated with the European Union. But that official also said Mr. Trump would raise Germany’s persistent trade surplus with Ms. Merkel. The chancellor is likely to make a fervent case for the European Union, not just as an economic bloc but also as a political project that has brought peace and prosperity to Europe. White House officials said Friday that Mr. Trump would not be shy about his views of Brussels, but that the United States wanted to keep a strong partnership with it. Perhaps the most delicate topic for the two leaders will be Russia. Questions about link between Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia continue to hang over him, while Ms. Merkel is preparing to run for in a Germany that is fearful that the Russian government will meddle in its campaign like it did in the United States. German officials are encouraged that Mr. Trump has so far not radically tilted American policy toward Moscow. But they point nervously to Breitbart, the website until recently run by Mr. Bannon, which is setting up an outpost in Germany and could seek to influence the vote. Russia, they note, can cause plenty of mischief, even without help from the United States. “I think they’ll skirt around the Russia issue,” Mr. Janes of Johns Hopkins said. “They’ll stay at 30, 000 feet. ” | 1 |
Editor’s note: This article first ran on July 13, 2012, but we’re running it again because the topic is timeless. IT was like one of those magical scenes out of a Hollywood without the “rom. ” I met Brian, a New York screenwriter, a few years ago through work, which led to dinner with our wives and friend chemistry that was instant and obvious. We liked the same songs off Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde,” the same lines from “Chinatown. ” By the time the green curry shrimp had arrived, we were finishing each other’s sentences. Our wives were forced to cut in: “Hey, guys, want to come up for air?” As Brian and his wife wandered off toward the No. 2 train afterward, it crossed my mind that he was the kind of guy who might have ended up a groomsman at my wedding if we had met in college. That was four years ago. We’ve seen each other four times since. We are “friends,” but not quite friends. We keep trying to get over the hump, but life gets in the way. Our story is not unusual. In your 30s and 40s, plenty of new people enter your life, through work, children’s play dates and, of course, Facebook. But actual close friends — the kind you make in college, the kind you call in a crisis — those are in shorter supply. As people approach midlife, the days of youthful exploration, when life felt like one big blind date, are fading. Schedules compress, priorities change and people often become pickier in what they want in their friends. No matter how many friends you make, a sense of fatalism can creep in: the period for making B. F. F. ’s, the way you did in your teens or early 20s, is pretty much over. It’s time to resign yourself to situational friends: K. O. F. ’s (kind of friends) — for now. But often, people realize how much they have neglected to restock their pool of friends only when they encounter a big life event, like a move, say, or a divorce. That thought struck Lisa Degliantoni, an educational executive in Chicago, a few months ago when she was planning her 39th birthday party. After a move from New York to Evanston, Ill. she realized that she had 857 Facebook friends and 509 Twitter followers, but still did not know if she could fill her party’s invitation list. “I did an inventory of the phases of my life where I’ve managed to make the most friends, and it was definitely high school and my first job,” she said. After a divorce in his 40s, Robert Glover, a psychotherapist in Bellevue, Wash. realized that his roster of friends had quietly atrophied for years as he focused on career and family. “All of a sudden, with your wife out of the picture, you realize you’re lonely,” said Dr. Glover, now 56. “I’d go to salsa lessons. Instead of trying to pick up the women, I’d introduce myself to the men: ‘Hey, let’s go get a drink.’ ” In studies of peer groups, Laura L. Carstensen, a psychology professor who is the director of the Stanford Center on Longevity in California, observed that people tended to interact with fewer people as they moved toward midlife, but that they grew closer to the friends they already had. Basically, she suggests, this is because people have an internal alarm clock that goes off at big life events, like turning 30. It reminds them that time horizons are shrinking, so it is a point to pull back on exploration and concentrate on the here and now. “You tend to focus on what is most emotionally important to you,” she said, “so you’re not interested in going to that cocktail party, you’re interested in spending time with your kids. ” As external conditions change, it becomes tougher to meet the three conditions that sociologists since the 1950s have considered crucial to making close friends: proximity repeated, unplanned interactions and a setting that encourages people to let their guard down and confide in each other, said Rebecca G. Adams, a professor of sociology and gerontology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This is why so many people meet their lifelong friends in college, she added. In the professional world, “proximity” is hard to maintain, as work colleagues are reassigned or move on to new jobs. Last year, Erica Rivinoja, a writer on the NBC series “Up All Night,” became close with a woman, Jen, when they worked together on a pilot. Almost instantly, they knew each other’s exercise schedules and food preferences. Jen could sense when Ms. Rivinoja needed a jolt of caffeine, and without asking would be there with an iced tea. “But as soon as the pilot was over, it was hard to be as close without that constant interaction,” said Ms. Rivinoja, 35. They can occasionally carve out time for a quick gin and tonic, she said, but “there aren’t those long afternoons which bleed into evenings hanging out at the beach and then heading to a bar. ” The workplace can crackle with competition, so people learn to hide vulnerabilities and quirks from colleagues, Dr. Adams said. Work friendships often take on a transactional feel it is difficult to say where networking ends and real friendship begins. Differences in professional status and income also complicate matters. “It really does get weird when your friends are making tons more than you, or tons less,” said Adriane Duckworth, a former marketing executive now working as an artist in Hamilton, Ontario. She recently welcomed a promising new couple into her circle of friends, but they quickly turned people off with their obsession with money. “At our wedding, other friends of ours who were seated with them actually complained to us afterward about the couple who was asking everyone how much money they made,” said Ms. Duckworth, 32. “People who made less felt uncomfortable discussing it, and people who made the same or more just felt it was weird to talk about it so nonchalantly. ” Once people start coupling up, the challenges only increase. Making friends with other couples “is like matchmaking for two,” said Kara Baskin, a journalist who works in Boston. “Not only are you worrying about whether the other woman likes you, you’re also worrying if her husband likes you, if your husband likes her, if your husband likes him. ” Not long ago, she invited her husband’s new work buddy over for dinner with his wife. But the wife was visibly unimpressed by Ms. Baskin’s home (they had just moved in) and spaghetti dinner. “It was basically clear that his wife had been cajoled into attending,” said Ms. Baskin, 33. “She settled on to our rickety Ikea kitchen chairs like she was lowering herself into a coal mine. ” The couple departed quickly after dessert. The next day at work, the husband made an excuse about his wife being tired. “But it was unspoken that we wouldn’t be seeking their company again,” Ms. Baskin said. ADDING children to the mix muddles things further. Suddenly, you are surrounded by a new circle of parent friends — but the emotional ties can be tenuous at best, as the comedian Louis C. K. related in one routine: “I spend whole days with people, I’m like, I never would have hung out with you, I didn’t choose you. Our children chose each other. Based on no criteria, by the way. They’re the same size. ” Even when parent friends develop a bond, the resulting friendships can be fleeting — and subject to the whims of the children themselves. Caryl Lyons, an event planner in Danville, Calif. and her husband found a budding friendship with a couple hit a roadblock when their young sons, who had been close friends, drifted apart. When the families planned a barbecue together, her son would say, “Can I have my other friends over?” said Ms. Lyons, 44. External factors are not the only hurdle. After 30, people often experience internal shifts in how they approach friendship. gives way to so you become pickier about whom you surround yourself with, said Marla Paul, the author of the 2004 book “The Friendship Crisis: Finding, Making, and Keeping Friends When You’re Not a Kid Anymore. ” “The bar is higher than when we were younger and were willing to meet almost anyone for a margarita,” she said. Manipulators, drama queens, egomaniacs: a lot of them just no longer make the cut. Thayer Prime, a strategy consultant who lives in London, has even developed a playful scale (100 being “best friend forever”). In her mind, she starts to dock new friend candidates as they begin to display annoying or disloyal behavior. Nine times out of 10, she said, her new friends end up from 30 to 60, or little more than an acquaintance. “You meet someone really nice, but if they don’t return a call, drop to 90, if they don’t return two calls, that’s an immediate 50,” she said. “If they’re late to something in the first month, that’s another 10 off. ” (But people can move up the scale with nice behavior, too, she added.) Having been hardened by experience, many people develop a more fatalistic view of friendship. “When you’re younger, you define what it really means to be friends in a more serious way,” said my screenwriter friend, Brian. (His full name is Brian Koppelman, and he wrote and is a of “Solitary Man,” a 2010 film starring Michael Douglas about a man trying to reconnect with friends and family.) “My ideas of friendship were built by ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Diner,’ ” he said. “Your friends were your brothers, and anything but total loyalty at all costs meant excommunication. As you get older, that model becomes unrealistic. ” By that point, you have been through your share of wearying or failed relationships. You have come to grips with the responsibilities of juggling work, family and existing friends, so you become more wary about making yourself emotionally available to new people. “You’re more keenly aware of the downside,” said Mr. Koppelman, 46. “You’re also more keenly aware of your own capacity to disappoint. ” “I haven’t really changed my standards for what it means to actually be friends,” he concluded. “It’s just that I use the word ‘friends’ more loosely. Making the real kind, the brother kind, is much harder now. ” Some, like Ms. Degliantoni, the executive, simply downsize their expectations. “I take an extremely efficient approach and seek out folks to fill very specific needs,” she said of her current strategy. “I have a cocktail friend and a book friend and a parenting friend and several basketball friends and a neighbor friend and a workout friend. ” “It’s much easier filling in those gaps in my life,” she added, “than doing an exhaustive approach for a new friend. ” Or, they hit rock bottom and turn back the clock to their breathlessly social 20s. After a move to New York in his 30s, Dave Cervini, a radio station executive, was so lonely that he would walk his cat in Central Park, hoping to stoke conversations. Finding only curious stares, he decided to start the New York Social Network, an activities group for people to find friends by hanging out at Yankees games or mixers. The company now counts 2, 000 members, most in their 30s. He considers 200 of them close friends. “It takes courage for people to take the first step,” he said. “Hopefully, I make it easier, having been there myself. ” In that spirit, I recently called Brian. We joked about our inability to find time to hang out, and made a dinner date at the next available opening. It is three months from now. | 1 |
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Here is a message from the founder of Newsbud, Sibel Edmond:
We have launched our new Kickstarter campaign, and we need your help again. We have 35 days to raise $130,000, and we know we can do it with your support!
We have taken an enormous step forward thanks to your funding of our Phase 1 campaign. Now we need your help to achieve this next step so we can continue building our 100% people-funded independent media outlet.
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Without you, we cannot achieve our dream of a media outlet that is nonpartisan and accountable only to its viewers and to the truth. Make a donation, subscribe, and activate others. They have rendered we the people irrelevant; together, we will make them irrelevant!
Thank you for all your support,Sibel Edmond | 0 |
4 Fascinating Things Quantum Physics Does In Nature By Michael Danielson on November 9, 2015 Subscribe
Quantum Physics is a subject that is often discarded by everyday people as too esoteric or too new-agey (depending on which kind of QM you read about) to be useful in everyday life. We have all been introduced to QM as “the science of stuff too small to really matter to everyday life.” But recent developments in biological science have revealed that life itself puts powerful quantum mechanical principles to use as an everyday part of its function. “Quantum Biology” is one of the forefronts of modern science. Quantum Physics in Bird Navigation
We’ve known for decades that many species of birds migrate each year, most famously from north to south as the temperature drops in the temperate zones. But how they navigate during those migrations has always been a mystery. The magnetic field the Earth produces is terribly weak compared to the other forces that act on an animal’s body. Furthermore, biologists knew from studies that birds’ compasses are light-dependent, and that they detect magnetic fields relative to the surface of the planet, not the poles.
It wasn’t until the rule of quantum entanglement developed that we began to develop a theory of how bird compasses worked. Without delving too far into the science, the theory is that bird’s eyes contain a protein that itself contains millions of entangled electrons. When light enters the bird’s eye, it knocks some of those entangled electrons loose, but leaves others attached to the protein molecules.
The “loose” electrons are much more dramatically affected by the Earth’s magnetic field than the bound ones are, but the entanglement means the bound electrons move the same way. The subsequent “wiggling” of the protein that the bound electrons are attached to can be perceived by the bird’s retina and translated by its brain into a “picture” of the magnetic field it’s flying through. Quantum Physics in Photosynthesis
Plants, it seems, use quantum mechanics for one of the most important aspects of life on Earth: turning sunlight into the power that life runs on. The biggest mystery of photosynthesis for as long as we’ve understood it is “how is photosynthesis so efficient?” Our best machines achieve efficiencies of upwards of 30% — photosynthetic transfer of energy is upwards of 99% efficient. There are so many directions a photon could travel once it gets captured by a molecule of chlorophyll that science had no idea how such a high proportion of photons made it to the “reaction center” where they were used in building new molecules.
The answer turns out to be quantum coherence , the ability of a quantum particle to act like a wave until something “decoheres” it. The theory is that photons enter plant cells, are captured by chlorophyll, and rather than traveling in a particle-like manner, they travel as waves , and the “reaction center” has the ability to decohere those waves back into particle (photon) form. Quantum Physics In Your Digestion
Enzymes are catalysts — chemicals that trigger other chemical creations. But for decades, scientists have been unable to determine how enzymes can speed up reactions so much: up to a trillion times faster than they would naturally occur. Recent research has shown that enzymes may be a trigger of quantum coherence — as above — using the “wave side” of the wave-particle quality to cause electrons and even protons to simply “teleport” from one atom to another, bypassing the need for time, heat, and all of the other factors that enable or speed up classical chemical reactions. Quantum Physics In Your Sense of Self
Finally, worthy of a mention in passing is the theory being debated right now by many scientists: that quantum mechanics are fundamental to our consciousness . For centuries, humans have proposed “second processing systems” in the brain or body that run parallel to our normal neuron firings, and that these overlapping systems are what give rise to our ability to mentally separate ourselves from our circumstances — what we call “being conscious.”
Recent evidence has come up that the cytokine in the brain — what we used to think of as the “brain’s skeleton,” holding it all together — is in fact a massive quantum processor. Laced with what the scientists call “microtubules” that vibrate at incredible speeds, the cytokine system appears to be operating on the quantum level as a “trinary” computer — able to hold values of ‘on,’‘off,’ and the quantum superposition of being both on and off at the same time.
What exactly this would enable our “secondary processing system” to accomplish is currently being explored — but the results, if we find them, are bound to change a lot of our fundamental assumptions about what we, as human beings, are capable of.
Featured image courtesy of Cristóbal Alvarado Minic via Flickr. Shared using a Creative Commons license. About Michael Danielson
Michael "Mr. Write" Danielson is a full-time writer based in Shelton, Washington with a live-in research assistant he also happens to be married to and a live-in research dissistant who also happens to be his 7-year-old son. He's politically oriented in the same direction that a vial of Bernie Sanders' tears blessed by Pope Francis in a civil ceremony attended by Noam Chomsky and the entire administrative body of Planned Parenthood then sprinkled over the ghost of FDR by the light of the final episode of Phineas and Ferb playing on a projection TV powered entirely by kombucha and seitan would be oriented. He is not afraid of complex, run-on sentences as long as they get the point across, preferably with a little bit of poetry in. Also, he's really, intensely fond of bleeding-edge quantum physics research, and posts often on Quora about how everyone has economics all wrong. Like, all of it. Connect | 0 |
Monday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh addressed President Donald Trump’s tweets over the weekend accusing the Obama administration of wiretapping Trump Tower before the presidential election. Partial transcript as follows: RUSH LIMBAUGH, HOST: Let me ask you a question. Is it unreasonable, is it unreasonable that President Trump would suspect he’s being spied on? It’s not unreasonable, is it? Telephone calls that he’s made to presidents of other countries have been leaked, transcripts have been leaked … So a lot to try to explain here today, and it all makes sense when it is explained in not just necessarily a timeline format, but just when you provide and when you learn the information of things that are going on, all of this makes sense. It all seems reasonable. It all seems like it could be happening. We know, for example, that there has been an effort on the part of what I’ve been calling the deep state, this is embedded Obamaites that are in the bureaucracy that have been trying to sabotage and undermine the Trump administration ever since he was elected and through the transition into the inauguration and up to now. I mean, this is undeniable. These various leaks, many of them are criminal. How are people getting this information? How are people acquiring the information that they are disseminating? I have here, ladies and gentlemen, I went and looked and I’ve got a copy here of the actual New York Times front page on January 20th of this year. And the primary story, the lead story, “Trump Arrives, Set to Assume Power. ” But right next to it is this headline: “Wiretapped Data Used in Inquiry of Trump Aides. ” Well, the New York Times has a story back in January admitting that wiretapped data has been used in an inquiry of Trump aides. And this article goes on to say “intelligence reports based on some of the wiretapped communications had been provided to the White House. ” So it isn’t unreasonable at all for Donald Trump to suspect that he’s being tapped, that his aides are being tapped, at Trump Tower. We know that there were two FISA warrants that were issued starting last summer and then another one in October, and I want to walk you through those as the program unfolds today. It’s kind of unsettling. I mean, you don’t want to think things like this happen, but you know that they do, and so you have to face it. And we are in a polarized circumstance in our country. We are really divided, and the gap is wide. The partisanship is profound and it’s worsening here, to the point that there isn’t any common ground and crossing the aisle and shaking hands and cooperating. This is a war that’s going to result in somebody winning and somebody losing, within a political context, of course. And what’s new about this one is we have a Republican president for the first time in my lifetime fighting back. Well, I can’t exclude Ronald Reagan from that. And I actually think a part of this — and I can’t substantiate this, ’cause it goes to motive — but I think part of what President Trump is doing by tweeting out on Saturday that he believes the Obama administration’s wiretapping him, I think he’s not just tweeting to the American public and tweeting to the news media. I think Trump confounds these people because he’s always a step or two ahead. Trump plays the long game. And I think in addition to whatever else these tweets are intended to accomplish, it’s also a direct line to the Democrat Party and Obama and members of the Obama administration that Trump is signaling, “You don’t face the usual feckless bunch of opponents who never fight you back. You’ve got me here, and if you’re gonna start lying about me, if you’re gonna keep lying about me, I’m not gonna sit here and take it. ” Now, why might Trump think that he’s been bugged? Why might he believe that Trump Tower has been bugged? Well, folks, from the moment that Donald Trump won the election back in November, there have been leaks, illegal leaks that were no question hopefully damaging. There has been a sabotage effort to undermine Trump and his administration since the election. We’ve talked about it ever since it began. I’ve had various names for it, the deep state, Friday called it silent coup or whatever, but there isn’t any doubt in my mind that this is going on. The media is complicit in it, that there is an effort to undermine the Trump administration. We have these protests that come up out of nowhere, and they appear instantly. So I think it’s totally reasonable to believe that something like this could be happening. It would be unreasonable to think that this is crazy, unreasonable to think that this is absurd, unreasonable to think that this is nothing more than a big batch of conspiracy theories stitched together for whatever purpose. ( RCP Video) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
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Republican Donald Trump has denied Russian business ties throughout his entire campaign for President, even after confirmed videos (below) show him bragging adamantly about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, Mother Jones just reported that Trump actually maintains a mutually beneficial, direct relationship with Putin, which is why the FBI has been conducting an inquiry into Trump’s campaign management since August. The entire report proves Trump’s Russian connection and was provided to the FBI in August by a “veteran spy”— and publicly revealed this afternoon . Here’s the conclusion:
“Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting and assisting TRUMP for at least 5 years. Aim, endorsed by PUTIN, has been to encourage splits and divisions in western alliance.” It maintained that Trump “and his inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the Kremlin, including on his Democratic and other political rivals.” It claimed that Russian intelligence had “compromised” Trump during his visits to Moscow and could “blackmail him.” It also reported that Russian intelligence had compiled a dossier on Hillary Clinton based on “bugged conversations she had on various visits to Russia and intercepted phone calls.”
The former intelligence officer says the response from the FBI was “shock and horror.” The FBI, after receiving the first memo, did not immediately request additional material, according to the former intelligence officer and his American associates. Yet in August, they say, the FBI asked him for all information in his possession and for him to explain how the material had been gathered and to identify his sources. The former spy forwarded to the bureau several memos—some of which referred to members of Trump’s inner circle. After that point, he continued to share information with the FBI. “It’s quite clear there was or is a pretty substantial inquiry going on,” he says.
“This is something of huge significance, way above party politics,” the former intelligence officer comments. “I think [Trump’s] own party should be aware of this stuff as well.”
The above bombshell has been confirmed by the federal government. The western spy revealed that the Kremlin began working with Trump up to five years ago.
Ultimately, this western spy went to the FBI due to the seriousness of the information that he had uncovered.
A senior US government official not involved in this case but familiar with the former spy tells Mother Jones that he has been a credible source with a proven record of providing reliable, sensitive, and important information to the US government.
A former senior intelligence officer for a Western country who specialized in Russian counterintelligence tells Mother Jones that in recent months he provided the bureau with memos, based on his recent interactions with Russian sources, contending the Russian government has for years tried to co-opt and assist Trump—and that the FBI requested more information from him.
In June, the former Western intelligence officer—who spent almost two decades on Russian intelligence matters and who now works with a US firm that gathers information on Russia for corporate clients—was assigned the task of researching Trump’s dealings in Russia and elsewhere, according to the former spy and his associates in this American firm. This was for an opposition research project originally financed by a Republican client critical of the celebrity mogul. (Before the former spy was retained, the project’s financing switched to a client allied with Democrats.) “It started off as a fairly general inquiry,” says the former spook, who asks not to be identified. But when he dug into Trump, he notes, he came across troubling information indicating connections between Trump and the Russian government. According to his sources, he says, “there was an established exchange of information between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin of mutual benefit.”
This was, the former spy remarks, “an extraordinary situation.” He regularly consults with US government agencies on Russian matters, and near the start of July on his own initiative—without the permission of the US company that hired him—he sent a report he had written for that firm to a contact at the FBI, according to the former intelligence officer and his American associates, who asked not to be identified. (He declines to identify the FBI contact.) The former spy says he concluded that the information he had collected on Trump was “sufficiently serious” to share with the FBI.
This newest Mother Jones report is chilling news, implicating the Trump campaign in the kind of high level dirty politics that the Republican’s political hero Richard Nixon would’ve found awfully familiar –only with a bizarre Russian twist. Nixon resigned in disgrace after an investigation found evidence that he’d ordered a break-in to the Democratic National Committee’s offices at the Watergate Hotel seeking information to swing his election. Trump doesn’t look like he will get that opportunity, but might face just as much public scrutiny in the wake of election day due to his Russian ties.
Donald Trump is the first American politician in history to openly beg Russia for help in an election, let alone in a presidential campaign. The Republican certainly has benefitted from a string of stolen email releases, which has strangely only afflicted Democrats — and not a single Republican.
Watch Trump admit to MSNBC that he has a relationship with Putin – twice: | 0 |
WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders confirmed this week what seemed inevitable with the triumph of Donald J. Trump: The trade agreement with 11 other Pacific Rim nations that President Obama hoped to leave as a major legacy, but which Mr. Trump called “a terrible deal,” is dead. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the incoming Democratic leader, told labor leaders on Thursday that the pending Partnership, the largest regional trade agreement in history, would not be approved by Congress. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said “no” when reporters on Wednesday asked whether the agreement would be considered in the Congress that convenes next week — its last legislative chance, given the opposition from the . Mr. Trump, whose invectives against trade agreements were central to his appeal to disaffected voters, will have the authority as president “to negotiate better deals, as I think he would put it,” Mr. McConnell said. Yet there is little likelihood of Mr. Trump seeking a new agreement. That reflects not only his campaign statements, but also his yearslong hostility to past trade accords as well as the sheer difficulty of renegotiating a Pacific pact that was seven years in the making, entailing compromises among a dozen countries including Australia, Canada, Chile and Japan, but excluding China. Another broad trade deal still being negotiated, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between Europe and the United States, is a likely casualty of the Trump election and a global backlash against trade. The discussions “are dead, and I think everybody knows it,” Matthias Fekl, the French secretary of state for trade, said Friday as trade ministers met in Brussels. “Globalization has created lots of losers, lots of difficulties. ” Mr. Obama faces the prospect of many of his signature achievements dying or being pared back dramatically during the Trump administration. The and congressional leaders have vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Trump has said he will pull the United States out of last year’s Paris climate agreement and kill off Mr. Obama’s global warming regulations. The law regulating Wall Street could be carved up. But the Partnership, painstakingly negotiated but little understood, will be buried with few in either party to mourn it. It was hailed by its negotiators as the most sophisticated such deal ever, establishing the rules of commerce that would rope both sides of the Pacific together into a economy, while cementing the United States’ alliance with Asia. Which raises the question: What would be lost by abandoning it, for the nation and for specific industries from Hollywood to America’s ranches and farmlands? Its specifics were mostly ignored in the political attacks from both parties. Instead, for many voters the Pacific agreement was simply a lightning rod for their broader discontent with stagnant wages and job losses blamed on globalization and past trade agreements. The other parties to the agreement are Brunei, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. “Popular understanding of the T. P. P. is very low,” Kevin G. Nealer, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a postelection analysis on Thursday. With its abandonment, he added, “The risk to America’s role as trade policy leader — and therefore to the global economy — is real and immediate. ” Mr. Obama and his team likewise emphasized the potential geopolitical blow, even as they promoted the economic benefits the trade agreement would offer American exporters by eliminating thousands of tariffs and other trade restrictions in the other countries. Forsaking the agreement, the president insisted, would undercut the United States’ standing in the region as a reliable counterweight to an expansionary China, economically and militarily, for America’s allies there. The other countries have approved the pact or are in the process of doing so, but without the approval of the United States, it does not take effect. That tension could well be evident later this month, when Mr. Obama and his trade representative, Michael B. Froman, attend the annual Economic Cooperation summit. The Americans will have to explain their failure on the trade agreement to foreign leaders gathered in Lima, Peru, while China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is there seeking progress toward an emerging alternative to the Partnership — the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, known as R. C. E. P. which includes China, Japan and 14 other Asian countries but excludes the United States. “In the absence of T. P. P. countries have already made it clear that they will move forward in negotiating their own trade agreements that exclude the United States,” Mr. Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers wrote days before the election. “These agreements would improve market access and trading opportunities for member countries while U. S. businesses would continue to face existing trade barriers. ” One example is a bilateral agreement between Australia and Japan, which gives Australian beef exporters a price advantage over American producers whose exports are subject to higher Japanese tariffs those tariffs would ultimately have been removed under the Pacific agreement. “We are experiencing lost sales without T. P. P. ” of about $400, 000 a day as a result, said Kevin Kester, a California cattle rancher and vice president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “Multiply that over several hundred more products and several dozen more relationships,” Mr. Froman said in an interview. The T. P. P. would have phased out some 18, 000 tariffs that the other 11 countries have on imports from the United States, thus reducing their cost to foreign buyers. Beyond such typical trade actions, it also would have established a number of precedents for international trade rules dealing with digital commerce, intellectual property rights, human rights and environmental protection. A number of countries had agreed to copyright protections, benefiting sectors like the film industry. The agreement would have assured an open internet among the 12 nations, including in Vietnam, encouraging digital trade and serving as a contrast to China’s walls to internet traffic. It included commitments against wildlife trafficking — Vietnam, for example, is a major market for rhino horns and ivory — and against subsidies in that country and others on both sides of the Pacific that encourage overfishing. For the first time in a trade agreement, businesses like those in Vietnam and Malaysia would have had to comply with commercial trade rules and labor and environmental standards. The agreement would have committed all parties to the International Labor Organization’s principles prohibiting child labor, forced labor and excessive hours, and requiring collective bargaining, a minimum wage and safe workplaces. While unions and human rights groups remained skeptical about enforcement, the United States reached separate agreements with Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam in which the three countries committed to specific labor changes, under penalty of the United States’ restoring tariffs for noncompliance. Those side agreements will fall along with the overall trade pact. antitrade politics aside, the biggest hurdle to Republicans’ consideration of the Pacific pact was objections from some — led by Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, chairman of the committee responsible for trade — to provisions that would have limited monopoly protections for pharmaceutical companies’ biologics. Those are advanced drugs used, for instance, in cancer treatments. The Obama administration — pressed by nearly every other nation, the generic drug industry and nonprofit health groups like Doctors Without Borders, all of which wanted quicker access to affordable lifesaving drugs — had agreed that drugmakers could keep production data secret for five to eight years, fewer than the 12 years in federal law. Mr. Hatch had demanded 12 years. But administration officials were hindered in how far they could go to appease Republicans given strong opposition in other countries to any change. Without the trade agreement, however, drug companies have no monopoly protections for biologics data in some countries. Democrats, organized labor and the Ford Motor Company were especially opposed to the trade agreement because it did not include what they considered enforceable protections against other countries’ manipulation of their currency’s value to gain price advantages for their products. The pact did have a side agreement that, in another first for trade accords, included the parties’ “joint declaration” against currency manipulation, required them to report interventions in exchange markets and set annual meetings to discuss any disputes. Another innovation in the T. P. P. was provisions to help small businesses, which lack the resources of big corporations, to navigate export rules, trade barriers and red tape. Opponents on the left were especially critical of the agreement for opening the door to more foreign subsidiaries being able to go to special trade tribunals to sue to block local, state or federal policies — environmental or consumer safety rules, say — on grounds that the rules conflict with corporations’ rights under the trade pact. The administration, however, countered that the trade agreement actually reformed the Dispute Settlement tribunals, which are a longstanding feature of trade policy. It called for changes responding to criticisms that the tribunals favor corporations and interfere with nations’ efforts to protect public health and safety. | 1 |
PARIS (AP) — France’s new President Emmanuel Macron is formally taking power Sunday during a ceremony at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris. [His predecessor, Francois Hollande, is to welcome him in the courtyard in front of hundreds of journalists. The two were meeting in the president’s office before Hollande’s departure, taking a last few minutes to discuss the most sensitive issues facing France, including the country’s nuclear codes. Macron takes charge of a nation that, when Britain leaves the European Union in 2019, will become the EU’s only member with nuclear weapons and a permanent seat on the U. N. Security Council. Macron will then make a speech in the Elysee reception hall in front of about 300 guests, officials and family members, including his wife Brigitte Macron. She will be wearing a lavender blue dress by French designer Nicolas Ghesquiere for Louis Vuitton. Macron will be wearing a dark suit from French brand Jonas and Cie, a tailor based in Paris, that cost 450 euros ($491) his team said. Following the ceremony and military honors at the Elysee palace, Macron will go the Tomb of the Unknown soldier, at the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Avenue, a tradition followed by all heads of states in France’s modern history. Macron will also meet with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo later Sunday. His first visit abroad will be to Germany on Monday, to visit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. He will have to name his prime minister and form a government in the following days. A former economy minister, Macron quit Hollande’s Socialist government last year to launch his independent bid. He is the first French president who doesn’t originate from one of the country’s mainstream parties. He has promised to reinvigorate French politics by bringing in new faces. His Republic on the Move movement has announced an initial list of 428 candidates for the 577 seats up for grabs in France’s lower house of parliament in June. Macron is seeking a majority of lawmakers so he can pass his programs. Many of the Republic on the Move candidates are newcomers in politics. Their average age is 46, compared to 60 for the outgoing assembly. Half of them are women. Only 24 are lawmakers running for all Socialists. Workers prepare the red carpet for the takeover ceremony between outgoing President Francois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Sunday, May 14, 2017. (AP Mori) | 1 |
TAMPA, Fla. — Hillary Clinton has vastly outspent Donald J. Trump on TV ads in Florida. Her 57 campaign offices dwarf Mr. Trump’s afterthought of a ground game. And Mr. Trump is deeply unpopular among Hispanics, who account for nearly one in five Florida voters. Despite these advantages, Mrs. Clinton is struggling in the Sunshine State, unable to assemble the coalition that gave Barack Obama two victories here, and offering Mr. Trump a broad opening in a road to the White House that not long ago seemed closed to him. Mr. Trump is pressing down hard to win the state, campaigning in Miami on Friday and in Fort Myers on Monday, after a rally in Pensacola recently. Recent polls show Mrs. Clinton is not earning the same support among Hispanics, young people or white voters that Mr. Obama captured when he eked out a Florida victory four years ago in the country’s most swing state. Mrs. Clinton could afford to lose here and still find other routes to victory. Mr. Trump’s electoral map is narrower he must have Florida in his column. But as the most populous and one of the most racially diverse battleground states, Florida is also a bellwether for the nation: a candidate’s struggles here often are mirrored elsewhere. Polling in swing states that Mrs. Clinton once led, prompting predictions a month ago of an Election Day romp, now show Mr. Trump closing the gap or slightly ahead, including in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa and Nevada. “If she underperforms what Obama did in ’12, she’s not going to carry Florida,” said Fernand Amandi, a Democratic strategist in Miami. A poll his firm conducted for Univision, released last week, showed Mrs. Clinton winning 53 percent of Florida Hispanics, compared with the 60 percent who voted for Mr. Obama four years ago. After several weeks in which Mr. Trump attempted to sand off some of his rough edges and attacked Mrs. Clinton for portraying half his supporters as “deplorables,” the share of Florida voters who view the candidates unfavorably is now the same for Mr. Trump as for Mrs. Clinton, according to a poll. In Miami on Friday, Mr. Trump said Mrs. Clinton’s bodyguards should disarm and “see what happens to her,” a comment that could renew voters’ doubts about his fitness for the presidency. The Clinton campaign maintains it always expected the Florida race to be tight. “Two months before the election, Hillary Clinton is within a couple of points of where President Obama ended on Election Day with Hispanic voters, while Donald Trump has been drastically underperforming Romney by 10 points or more,” John Anzalone, Mrs. Clinton’s pollster for Florida, said in a statement. With 20 million people and 10 major media markets, Florida is a place of vast diversity and contrasts that is a challenging puzzle for any statewide campaign. The traditional playbook has been for Democrats to run up the score in South Florida, with its large nonwhite population, and for Republicans to rack up votes in the conservative panhandle. That leaves Central Florida, and especially Tampa on the Gulf Coast, as one of the state’s most contested swing areas. The booming region has the largest share of registered voters statewide, with one in four voters in Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, registered as independents. “The old saying is: ‘As goes Hillsborough County, so goes Florida,’ ” said Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Within this swing region, an epicenter of swing voters is the explosively growing New Tampa. It is a community of affordable subdivisions reached by grandiose landscaped entrances off a highway, attracting young professionals with families. In interviews, undecided voters there seemed uncertain if they would cast ballots at all. Kish Nathan, 45, a computer professional born in India, voted for Mr. Obama four years ago. He has ruled out Mr. Trump, but is unenthusiastic about Mrs. Clinton. “I might not even vote,” he said. Leo Lewis, 51, was reading political news on a laptop outside a Starbucks. Mr. Trump scares him, Mr. Lewis said. Mrs. Clinton, he believes, is dissembling about her health. He, too, is considering sitting out the election. “The world has gotten so bad no matter what you do, no one’s going to fix it,” he said. Some strategists believe the pool of persuadable voters this year is shallower than in the past, which may explain why the tens of millions in TV ads run by Mrs. Clinton and her allies in the state have failed to give her a noticeable advantage. (Mr. Trump and outside supporters have spent about $8 million.) Representative Alcee L. Hastings, Democrat of Florida, said recently that the Clinton advertising push was a failure. “You give us $22 million, and I’ll produce more votes for you than a damn television ad,” Mr. Hastings told a meeting of Democrats, arguing that television does not reach young voters. Mrs. Clinton’s bulwark is her vast organizing effort, currently focused on registering new voters and signing up volunteers. But Republicans have not been idle: Field teams working for the Republican National Committee and state party have cut the Democrats’ advantage with registered voters in half since 2012. It is now just 258, 000 active voters. The Florida Democratic Party pointed out that of the 146, 000 newly registered Hispanic voters this year, only 15 percent are Republicans. “I want to make sure I give my vote to Hillary,” said Valesca Barilles, who registered for the first time with a Clinton volunteer outside a Dollar Tree store in Tampa last week. Born in Honduras, Ms. Barilles, an assistant bank branch manager, said of Mr. Trump, “I love the U. S. A. and I don’t think we need someone to come and ruin it. ” After poor efforts during the primaries, Mr. Trump seems to be belatedly getting a ground game together. When he spoke in Pensacola, where the crowd was asked to text “Trump” to a number, some 3, 500 followed up on a reply message about how to check their voter registration, according to the campaign, and 1, 400 signed up to volunteer. “There is an army of R. N. C. volunteers and Trump volunteers crawling every part of this state every day,” said Susan Wiles, Mr. Trump’s state director. Mr. Trump must find a way to turn out a wave of white supporters who are infrequent voters. The campaign concedes that Mitt Romney’s field staff members four years ago drove conventional white turnout in Florida about as high as possible. In this state of contests, every small demographic shift is closely watched. Mr. Obama won 37 percent of the state’s white vote in 2012. Mrs. Clinton is falling short of that number in polls with Mr. Trump. “If she’s getting 34, 33, 35 among whites in Florida, I’m going to start to buy a lot of antacids,” said Steve Schale, who ran Mr. Obama’s Florida race in 2008 and was a senior adviser in 2012. Mrs. Clinton could make up for the erosion among whites by gaining with Hispanic voters. But so far, polls show Mrs. Clinton falling short of Mr. Obama’s 60 percent share of Florida Hispanics in 2012. “Against the candidate perceived to be the most hostile to Hispanic voters in modern presidential politics, why is she not exceeding where Barack Obama was?” Mr. Amandi, the Miami pollster, asked. He criticized the Clinton campaign for beginning advertising only this month and for not doing a forum during the general election campaign with either Univision or Telemundo. “I think it’s too early to hit the panic button, but if these numbers by aren’t at or slightly above where Obama was, there’s reason to be concerned,” he said. “She’s going to need all these votes to carry Florida. ” And Florida, he added, “is the whole enchilada. ” | 1 |
UFC GYM® Celebrates “Veterans Day” with Complimentary Military Access ‹ › Since 2011, VNN has operated as part of the Veterans Today Network ; a group that operates over 50 plus media, information and service online sites for U.S. Military Veterans. Forget the FBI cache; the Podesta emails show how America is run By VNN on November 3, 2016 They are all engaged in promoting one another’s careers, constantly. For them the door revolves. The friends all succeed. They break every boundary. White House press secretary Jay Carney, left, and White House senior counselor John Podesta, right, laugh during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washington Monday, May 5, 2014. Podesta, who served as Chief of Staff under President Clinton, was answering a question about his returning to work for the White House. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
WikiLeaks’ dump of messages to and from Clinton’s campaign chief offer an unprecedented view into the workings of the elite, and how it looks after itself
The Guardian T he emails currently roiling the US presidential campaign are part of some unknown digital collection amassed by the troublesome Anthony Weiner, but if your purpose is to understand the clique of people who dominate Washington today, the emails that really matter are the ones being slowly released by WikiLeaks from the hacked account of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta. The U.S. Justice Department official Peter Kadzik in charge of of the probe into Hillary Clinton’s and Huma Abedin’s emails sent Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta a ‘heads up’ about a congressional hearing into her secret server last year. Wikileaks reveals Podesta responded by looping senior campaign staff into the conversation and said the hearing would provide ‘additional chances for mischief.’
They are last week’s scandal in a year running over with scandals, but in truth their significance goes far beyond mere scandal: they are a window into the soul of the Democratic party and into the dreams and thoughts of the class to whom the party answers.
The class to which I refer is not rising in angry protest; they are by and large pretty satisfied, pretty contented. Nobody takes road trips to exotic West Virginia to see what the members of this class looks like or how they live; on the contrary, they are the ones for whom such stories are written. This bunch doesn’t have to make do with a comb-over TV mountebank for a leader; for this class, the choices are always pretty good, and this year they happen to be excellent. Is Huma Abedin Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon Or Her Next Big Problem?
They are the comfortable and well-educated mainstay of our modern Democratic party. They are also the grandees of our national media; the architects of our software; the designers of our streets; the high officials of our banking system; the authors of just about every plan to fix social security or fine-tune the Middle East with precision droning. They are, they think, not a class at all but rather the enlightened ones, the people who must be answered to but who need never explain themselves.
Let us turn the magnifying glass on them for a change, by sorting through the hacked personal emails of John Podesta, who has been a Washington power broker for decades. I admit that I feel uncomfortable digging through this hoard; stealing someone’s email is a crime, after all, and it is outrageous that people’s personal information has been exposed, since WikiLeaks doesn’t seem to have redacted the emails in any way. There is also the issue of authenticity to contend with: we don’t know absolutely and for sure that these emails were not tampered with by whoever stole them from John Podesta. The supposed authors of the messages are refusing to confirm or deny their authenticity, and though they seem to be real, there is a small possibility they aren’t.
With all that taken into consideration, I think the WikiLeaks releases furnish us with an opportunity to observe the upper reaches of the American status hierarchy in all its righteousness and majesty. Bill Clinton now leads a sprawling philanthropic empire like no other. And yet it’s hard to shake the sense that it’s not all about saving the world.
The dramatis personae of the liberal class are all present in this amazing body of work: financial innovators. High-achieving colleagues attempting to get jobs for their high-achieving children. Foundation executives doing fine and noble things. Prizes, of course, and high academic achievement.
Certain industries loom large and virtuous here. Hillary’s ingratiating speeches to Wall Street are well known of course, but what is remarkable is that, in the party of Jackson and Bryan and Roosevelt, smiling financiers now seem to stand on every corner, constantly proffering advice about this and that. Citigroup bank chose Obama’s 2008 cabinet – WikiLeaks
In one now-famous email chain, for example, the reader can watch current US trade representative Michael Froman, writing from a Citibank email address in 2008, appear to name President Obama’s cabinet even before the great hope-and-change election was decided (incidentally, an important clue to understanding why that greatest of zombie banks was never put out of its misery).
The far-sighted innovators of Silicon Valley are also here in force, interacting all the time with the leaders of the party of the people. We watch as Podesta appears to email Sheryl Sandberg. He makes plans to visit Mark Zuckerberg (who, according to one missive, wants to “learn more about next steps for his philanthropy and social action”). Podesta exchanges emails with an entrepreneur about an ugly race now unfolding for Silicon Valley’s seat in Congress; this man, in turn, appears to forward to Podesta the remarks of yet another Silicon Valley grandee, who complains that one of the Democratic combatants in that fight was criticizing billionaires who give to Democrats. Specifically, the miscreant Dem in question was said to be:
“… spinning (and attacking) donors who have supported Democrats. John Arnold and Marc Leder have both given to Cory Booker, Joe Kennedy, and others. He is also attacking every billionaire that donates to [Congressional candidate] Ro [Khanna], many whom support other Democrats as well.”
(Hilariously, in another email chain , the Clinton team appears to scheme to “hit” Bernie Sanders for attending “DSCC retreats on Martha’s Vineyard with lobbyists”.)
Then there is the apparent nepotism, the dozens if not hundreds of mundane emails in which petitioners for this or that plum Washington job or high-profile academic appointment politely appeal to Podesta – the ward-heeler of the meritocratic elite – for a solicitous word whispered in the ear of a powerful crony.
Scandal at Clinton Inc.
This genre of Podesta email, in which people try to arrange jobs for themselves or their kids, points us toward the most fundamental thing we know about the people at the top of this class: their loyalty to one another and the way it overrides everything else. Of course Hillary Clinton staffed her state department with investment bankers and then did speaking engagements for investment banks as soon as she was done at the state department.
Of course she appears to think that any kind of bank reform should “come from the industry itself”. And of course no elite bankers were ever prosecuted by the Obama administration.
Read these emails and you understand, with a start, that the people at the top tier of American life all know each other. They are all engaged in promoting one another’s careers, constantly. Architects of “Regime Change” Wars
Everything blurs into everything else in this world. The state department, the banks, Silicon Valley, the nonprofits, the “ Global CEO Advisory Firm ” that appears to have solicited donations for the Clinton Foundation. Executives here go from foundation to government to thinktank to startup. There are honors. Venture capital. Foundation grants. Endowed chairs. Advanced degrees.
For them the door revolves. The friends all succeed. They break every boundary.
But the One Big Boundary remains. Yes, it’s all supposed to be a meritocracy. But if you aren’t part of this happy, prosperous in-group – if you don’t have John Podesta’s email address – you’re out.
Read more: | 0 |
(Before It's News)
In the effort to prove the credibility of the undercover donor featured in the videos and to keep the investigation going, Project Veritas Action made the decision to donate twenty thousand dollars to Robert Creamer’s effort. Project Veritas Action had determined that the benefit of this investigation outweighed the cost. And it did. In an unexpected twist, AUFC president Brad Woodhouse, the recipient of the $20,000, heard that Project Veritas Action was releasing undercover videos exposing AUFC’s activities. He told a journalist that AUFC was going to return the twenty thousand dollars. He said it was because they were concerned that it might have been an illegal foreign donation. Project Veritas Action was pleased but wondered why that hadn’t been a problem for the month that they had the money.
View the first part of this series here: https://youtu.be/5IuJGHuIkzY
View the second part of this series here: https://youtu.be/hDc8PVCvfKs
View the third part of this series here: https://youtu.be/EEQvsK5w-jY | 0 |
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Los emails de Hillary Clinton y la Hermandad Musulmana por Thierry Meyssan La investigación del FBI sobre los emails privados de Hillary Clinton ya no está relacionada con una negligencia en materia de normas de seguridad sino con un complot tendiente a sustraer a los servidores del gobierno federal todo rastro de su correspondencia. Esto parece incluir intercambios de mensajes sobre financiamiento ilegal o la corrupción de terceros vinculados a las relaciones del matrimonio Clinton con la Hermandad Musulmana y los yihadistas.
Red Voltaire | Damasco (Siria) | 1ro de noviembre de 2016 ελληνικά English français Türkçe русский Deutsch Hillary Clinton y la jefa de su equipo, Huma Abedin. La reactivación de la investigación del FBI sobre los mensajes privados de Hillary Clinton ya no tiene que ver con un problema de seguridad sino con una serie de manejos que pudieran llegar incluso a caracterizarse como crímenes de alta traición.
Técnicamente, en vez de utilizar los servidores de seguridad del Estado federal, la secretaria de Estado usó un servidor privado que había instalado en su domicilio para poder utilizar internet sin dejar rastros en una máquina del gobierno federal. El técnico privado de la señora Clinton había limpiado ese servidor antes de la llegada del FBI, de manera que ya no era posible saber el por qué de la instalación de ese dispositivo.
El FBI observó inicialmente que el servidor privado no garantizaba el mismo nivel de seguridad que el servidor del Departamento de Estado. Por tanto, la señora Clinton había cometido una falta en materia de seguridad. Pero el FBI confiscó posteriormente el ordenador del ex miembro del Congreso estadounidense Anthony Weiner, el ex esposo de Huma Abedin, la jefa del equipo de trabajo de Hillary Clinton. Y en ese ordenador aparecieron una serie de correos electrónicos de la ex secretaria de Estado.
Anthony Weiner es un político judío, muy vinculado a los Clinton, que ambicionaba ser alcalde de Nueva York. Pero tuvo que dimitir como consecuencia de un escándalo esencialmente puritano: Weiner había enviado SMS eróticos a varias mujeres. Huma Abedin se separó de él oficialmente, pero en realidad no lo dejó.
Huma Abedin es estadounidense y se educó en Arabia Saudita. Su padre dirige una revista académica –en la que la propia Huma fue durante años secretaria de redacción–, publicación que recoge regularmente las opiniones de la Hermandad Musulmana. Su madre preside la asociación saudita de mujeres miembros de la Hermandad Musulmana y trabajaba con la esposa del presidente egipcio Mohamed Morsi, otro representante de la Hermandad Musulmana. Su hermano Hassan trabaja para el jeque Yusuf al-Qaradawi, el predicador y consejero espiritual de Al-Jazeera.
Durante un viaje oficial a Arabia Saudita, la secretaria de Estado visita el colegio Dar al-Hekma con Saleha Abedin –la madre de Huma– quien preside la asociación de Hermanas miembros de la Hermandad Musulmana. Huma Abedin es actualmente un personaje central de la campaña electoral de Hillary Clinton, junto a su director de campaña, John Podesta, quien fue jefe de personal de la Casa Blanca bajo la presidencia de Bill Clinton. Podesta es además el agente de influencia encargado de promover los intereses de Arabia Saudita en el Congreso de Estados Unidos, tarea por la cual percibe mensualmente la módica suma de 200 000 dólares. El 12 de junio de 2016, la agencia de prensa oficial de Jordania publicó una entrevista del príncipe heredero de Arabia Saudita, Mohamed Ben Salman, quien defendía la modernidad de su familia argumentando que la familia real saudita financió –ilegalmente– en un 20% la campaña electoral de Hillary Clinton… a pesar de tratarse de una mujer. Al día siguiente, la agencia anulaba el despacho que contenía esa información y afirmaba que su sitio web había sido pirateado.
Según un despacho de Petra, la agencia oficial de Jordania, fechado el 12 de junio de 2016, la familia real de Arabia Saudita ha financiado ilegalmente un 20% de la campaña electoral de Hillary Clinton. Huma Abedin no es la única persona de la administración Obama vinculada a la Hermandad Musulmana:
El medio hermano del presidente, Abon’go Malik Obama, presidente de la Fundación Barack H. Obama, es también tesorero de la Obra Misionaria de la Hermandad Musulmana en Sudán. Abon’go Malik Obama se halla directamente a las órdenes del presidente sudanés Omar el-Bechir.
Un miembro de la Hermandad Musulmana es miembro del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional estadounidense. Desde 2009 hasta 2012, fue Mehdi K. Alhassani. No se sabe quién lo sustituyó, pero la Casa Blanca negaba que hubiera un miembro de la Hermandad Musulmana en el Consejo de Seguridad Nacional, hasta que se supo que Alhassani era efectivamente miembro de la cofradía.
Rashad Hussain, embajador de Estados Unidos ante la Conferencia Islámica, también pertenece a la Hermandad Musulmana.
Otros miembros de la cofradía debidamente identificados ocupan cargos menos importantes en la administración Obama. Pero vale la pena mencionar en particular a Louay M. Safi, actualmente miembro de la Coalición Nacional Siria y ex consejero del Pentágono.
El presidente Barack Obama recibe a su medio hermano Abon’go Malik Obama en la Oficina Oval de la Casa Blanca. Abon’go Malik Obama es el tesorero de la Obra Misionera de la Hermandad Musulmana en Sudán. En abril de 2009, dos meses antes de pronunciar su famoso discurso en El Cairo, el presidente Obama recibió secretamente una delegación de la Hermandad Musulmana en la Oficina Oval. Anteriormente, había invitado a su investidura a Ingrid Mattson, la presidenta de la Asociación de Hermanos y Hermanas Musulmanes en Estados Unidos.
Por su parte, la Fundación Clinton empleó como responsable de su proyecto «Clima» a Gehad el-Haddad, uno de los dirigentes mundiales de la Hermandad Musulmana, quien había sido hasta entonces responsable de un programa de televisión coránica. Su padre fue uno de los cofundadores de la Hermandad Musulmana en 1951, cuando la CIA y el MI6 decidieron reactivarla. Gehad dejó la Fundación Clinton en 2012 para convertirse, en El Cairo, en vocero del entonces candidato a la presidencia de Egipto Mohammed Morsi, y posteriormente pasó a ser vocero oficial de la Hermandad Musulmana a escala mundial.
Sabiendo que todos los líderes yihadistas del mundo provienen de la Hermandad Musulmana o de la orden sufí de los Naqchbandis –los dos componentes de la Liga Islámica Mundial– sería interesante tener un poco más de información sobre las relaciones de la señora Clinton con Arabia Saudita y la cofradía.
Resulta, por otro lado, que en el equipo del adversario de Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, está el general Michael T. Flynn, quien trató de oponerse a que la Casa Blanca creara el Emirato Islámico (Daesh) y dimitió de su cargo de director de la Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA, la Agencia de Inteligencia del Departamento de Defensa) en señal de protesta. Y junto a él, también como miembro del equipo de Trump, figura Frank Gaffney, un « cold warrior » histórico, actualmente catalogado como « complotista » por haber denunciado… la presencia de miembros de la Hermandad Musulmana en el gobierno federal.
Por supuesto, desde el punto de vista del FBI, todo respaldo a las organizaciones yihadistas constituye un crimen, sin importar la línea política de la CIA. En 1991, el FBI –y el senador John Kerry– provocaron la quiebra del BCCI –banco pakistaní registrado en las Islas Caimán y ampliamente utilizado por la CIA en todo tipo de operaciones secretas con la Hermandad Musulmana, el mismo esquema que esa agencia estadounidense de inteligencia suele emplear con los cárteles latinoamericanos de la droga.
Thierry Meyssan | 0 |
MINNEAPOLIS — On April 21, as news spread that Prince had been found dead at his Paisley Park compound in Chanhassen, Minn. a crowd began to gather 21 miles away at First Avenue, the Minneapolis club where he had filmed the concert scenes for the 1984 film “Purple Rain. ” Thousands of fans flocked to what became a giant block party memorial, and local acts took the stage to play covers of Prince’s songs. On Thursday night, Prince’s band the Revolution arrived on that stage for the first time since 2012 to honor, and grieve for, one of their own. For three months after his death, the group had remained silent about details of a reunion, finally confirming a stand (which grew to include a third) in early July. “I need this as much as you,” the bassist Mark Brown, a. k. a. Brownmark, wrote on Facebook at the time of the announcement. “Sharing the music with you is what will heal. ” Thursday night’s show, the first of the brief run, offered the crowd of 1, 500 the chance to experience Prince’s music as performed by the musicians who helped define it: Wendy Melvoin (guitar) Lisa Coleman and Matt Fink (who’s called Dr. on keyboards) Mr. Brown (bass) and Bobby Rivkin, known as Bobby Z (drums) as well as the André Cymone and the lead guitarist Dez Dickerson, who had played with Prince in the years before the Revolution. The group had previously reunited at First Avenue for a benefit for Mr. Rivkin after he had a heart attack in 2012, and according to Nathan Kranz, the club’s general manager, Mr. Rivkin did most of the legwork in staging the current reunions. Mr. Dickerson said there was talk of getting back together at the Los Angeles memorial for Prince in May: “Things were being sorted. ” The shows were finally booked in . “Look at those smiling faces! That’s what we want to see,” Ms. Melvoin said from the stage on Thursday night, perhaps trying to nudge the mood toward celebration from something more somber, before the band surged into its opening song, “Let’s Go Crazy. ” She added, “I expect to hear everyone singing. ” She got her wish, on and off the stage. With no Prince anchoring the band, group vocals — harmonies, — were plentiful, and Ms. Melvoin stepped up front for rockers like “Let’s Go Crazy” and “Raspberry Beret. ” With Mr. Cymone and Mr. Dickerson joining the band, they recreated “1999,” alternating singers on each opening line. Mr. Cymone took lead on “Little Red Corvette,” and a quick survey of the club showed that most everyone in it was singing along ditto, later, for “Kiss,” which the Revolution played in a way that was close to the original recording, unlike their boss, who had constantly changed the arrangement. A number of guests bolstered the show. The RB singer Bilal was a welcome surprise, having not only aced the BET Awards’ Prince tribute but also one at Carnegie Hall in 2013. At First Avenue, he proved a mellifluous falsetto for hire, especially on “The Beautiful Ones,” whose climax he lifted with his nimble squall. Fans spied other familiar faces onstage: Susannah Melvoin (Wendy’s sister, Prince’s former girlfriend and the lead singer in the Family, a band he masterminded) Omar Baker, Prince’s brother (resplendent in a white fedora and shoes) the “Purple Rain” Apollonia (who introduced the encore by tossing gold hoop earrings to the crowd, a motif in the movie) and Prince’s Mayte Garcia. The crowd members were largely in their 40s and 50s, many from out of town. One of the first in was Scott Bogen, a Twin Cities native who once won $1, 000 impersonating Prince for First Avenue’s contest. He has lived for the last two decades in Big Sur, where he is a volunteer firefighter, and came back here for the reunion. “We’ve been fighting the fire for five weeks straight,” he said, referring to the West Coast wildfires. “My property burned, but my house survived. ” Mr. Bogen said it was fortunate that the fire didn’t claim the tambourine Prince signed for him in 1981. There were mementos available at the Revolution’s merchandise table — four two hoodies — where a line of a dozen that had assembled by 7:13 p. m. had tripled by 7:20. (The club’s doors had opened at 7.) But many in the audience were wearing two that weren’t for sale: designs featuring a list of the Revolution members’ names or the contents of a lunchbox in “Starfish Coffee,” a song on Prince’s 1987 double album, “Sign o’ the Times. ” It’s hard to imagine the Revolution tribute’s taking place anywhere other than First Avenue. Prince had used the club as a home performance base since 1981, and it was the spot where he debuted the song “Purple Rain” in 1983, before it made many memorable appearances in the film the following year. A replica of the motorcycle from the movie stood where pinball machines once did. A few fans wore of Prince’s “Purple Rain” trench look. Much of Ms. Melvoin’s stage patter revolved around the idea of the show’s being not just in Prince’s memory, but for his heavenly delectation. After a cheer following “America,” she focused on the crowd. “Everybody hear that?” she asked. “Let’s help him hear this. ” When Ms. Melvoin and Ms. Coleman played “Sometimes It Snows in April” as a duo, quiet and acoustic, Ms. Melvoin struggled to keep her composure it was a clear highlight, particularly when she sang, “Always cry for love, never cry for pain,” to some deeply felt shouts from the crowd. At the end of the night, one thing stood out — that the band didn’t even try to copy Prince’s singular guitar solos, in particular for “Let’s Go Crazy” and “Purple Rain,” the inevitable show closer. The lack of flash for “Purple Rain” wasn’t total (there were actual lighters in the air) but it nevertheless gave the song a rawer charge than usual. It was stark, yet fitting. Who could ever replace their man? | 1 |
BALTIMORE — Tradition at the game calls for each team’s players, at the game’s end, to stand in front of their fellow students and sing their alma mater, with the winning team singing second. On Saturday, for the first time since December 2001, Army sang after Navy did. Army had pulled off a victory that ended a losing streak to Navy. And when the game ended, with Army running out the clock in front of a capacity crowd announced at 71, 600 at MT Bank Stadium — a crowd that included Donald J. Trump — thousands of members of the Corps of Cadets jumped over the fence to flood the field. Which, in turn, made for a pretty loud backup chorus. “I can’t put words to it,” said Edgar Poe, a senior wide receiver who finally learned what it feels like to beat Navy. “It’s surreal. It doesn’t even feel like it’s for real. ” The winning touchdown was a thrilling one: The junior quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw scored on a run with six minutes to play, putting Army back ahead after it had squandered a halftime lead. Navy still holds a edge in the series, which dates to Nov. 29, 1890, and also includes seven ties. And although they were severely in this game because of injuries to top players, the Midshipmen ( ) made Army ( ) earn the victory. Which it did. “We’ve heard for a long time about the streak and all that,” said Army Coach Jeff Monken, who is in his third season at West Point. “It was good to be part of the team that put that to an end. ” Army’s fumbles helped Navy climb back into the game in the second half, and when Navy quarterback Zach Abey broke three tackles early in the fourth quarter on an option keeper that turned into a swerving, touchdown run, the Black Knights trailed for the first time all day. But Army, suddenly down by immediately responded with a touchdown drive that ate up 6 minutes 42 seconds and ended with the touchdown run by Bradshaw, who had thrown an interception and lost a fumble earlier. “I told the guys to just be prepared — they may try to make us do something foolish to draw a flag,” Bradshaw said. “I told them to keep their composure, to protect the ball — to focus on ourselves. ” After Bradshaw scored, a determined Army team held Navy to 6 yards on three plays, forcing a punt. The Black Knights then pushed through for two first downs to end the game. “We persevered through everything,” Andrew King, an Army senior linebacker, said of the game and the season. “We fought hard, executed, and most of all, we finished. ” Brandon Jackson, a sophomore cornerback, had been killed in a accident after Army’s second game of the season. On Saturday, his mother, Morna Davis, made her first appearance at a game since his death, Monken said. Afterward, she was with the team in the locker room for the celebration. “To share that victory with her, and for her to see how much she means to these guys, was really special for all of us,” Monken said. For a half, it seemed as if Army was going to break the losing streak with ease. Just a week earlier, in a loss to Temple in the American Athletic Conference championship game, Navy had lost quarterback Will Worth and slotback Toneo Gulley to foot injuries on the same play. The damage from that loss seemed to hang over Navy as Army turned an early fumble by Shawn White into a scoring drive that concluded when fullback Andy Davidson plunged in from the line. Later, after a Navy punt, Army went ahead, as another run by Davidson capped an drive. As for Trump, he waved to the crowd and pumped his fist as he arrived during the first quarter and then watched the game from two luxury suites, one linked to Army, the other to Navy. At halftime, he appeared on the CBS television broadcast of the game, said he was “absolutely neutral” and suggested that the quality of the game might not be the best but that the spirit was. After Trump left the broadcast booth, the second half began, and the momentum swung abruptly when Bradshaw quickly lost a fumble at the Army 32. Abey completed a screen pass to White that picked up 16 yards and then muscled into the end zone on a keeper that cut Navy’s deficit to less than four minutes into the half. The Midshipmen picked up a field goal by Bennett Moehring and took the lead on Abey’s touchdown run. But Army found a way when it really mattered. Asked how he felt about ending the streak, Rhyan England, a junior free safety for Army, said, “The biggest thing is relief. ” Poe, his teammate, found himself searching for something beyond the appropriate words after it was all over: his helmet. But the victory he will have forever. | 1 |
Country: Thailand Thailand is currently undergoing a sensitive period with the passing of the nation’s long-lived, revered head of state, King Bhumibol Adulyadej . Indeed, the mood across the country is somber, however, the actual business of the nation continues on with many Thais realizing that moving forward is the best way to honor their late king. And despite Thais continuing to work, factories continuing to produce, agricultural goods continuing to be cultivated, processed, and shipped domestically, regionally, and internationally, the Western media – driven by corporate-financier and political special interests – has attempted to upend confidence in the Thai economy by suggesting that somehow toned-down entertainment venues will overturn the entire economy. And some in the Western media have attempted to claim the one year of official mourning in Thailand could even affect the rest of Asia. But back in reality, sound economic fundamentals and actual political stability determine a nation’s positive economic outlook – and Thailand possesses both. The Financial Times in an article titled, “Can Thailand’s economy handle a year of mourning?,” claims that: Many Thais are putting off weddings, vacations and other “joyful events” as the country begins a one-year period of mourning. This is in addition to a 30-day ban on “entertainment” that has forced infamous bar districts, like Bangkok’s Soi Cowboy, to pull down their shutters out of respect for the late king. Although some bars have resumed operations with workers dressed all in black, the nighttime landscape of the capital remains dramatically quiet. Even after the entertainment ban is lifted, it is hard to say how quickly the nation’s mood will bounce back. While Thailand is noted for its tourist and entertainment venues, they contribute a relatively small percentage (9-16% of GDP) to Thailand’s overall economic activity. Most tourist destinations in Thailand continue to operate as normal. And while the nation’s more infamous entertainment industry is indeed expected to see a downturn, the total number of people employed by it represents at most, only 0.5% of the nation’s total workforce. Attempts to claim that the year of mourning may lead to political instability are also questionable. The king’s heir and his decision to postpone ascending to the throne until the end of the mourning period next year is in fact a sign of confidence that the nation can safely mourn, without rushing the succession process. If political stability in Thailand is compromised, it will be because of external forces. The nation’s political opposition are a spent force, and US attempts to stir up division and chaos by intensifying violence in the nation’s deep south have so far been unsuccessful. Both the opposition and prospects of violence in the south expanding depend entirely on the US’ ability to support them both – and both Thais and foreign observers alike have become increasingly adept at exposing this foreign support. Weaponizing Economic Outlooks The Financial Times is not the only Western media source attempting to portray Thailand as looking into an economic abyss. The entirety of the Western media has also attempted to perpetuate this narrative, not because careful analysis has helped them arrive at this conclusion, but because of a concerted effort to use Thailand’s moment of perceived sociopolitical weakness to undermine the current political order and help return to power Western-backed political parties – more specifically – those allied to ousted ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The “weaponizing” of economic outlooks has long been employed by the Western media. Portraying a nation’s economy as faltering helps spread panic across fickle investors, encouraging them to invest elsewhere and drawing away much needed capital to sustain economic growth. However, despite this, Asia finds itself in a position where the majority of its economic activity is done regionally. What Western papers and news channels say is increasingly irrelevant to the plans and ambitions of these regional players. As for Thailand’s economy in particular, the current government is on track, repairing the agricultural industry after gross mismanagement by Shinawatra’s administration, including a devastated rice industry. It is also investing in the increased use of technology and innovation across all sectors of the economy. Beyond that, Thailand still serves as an attractive nation for companies to build and operate factories, and Thailand itself sees its own domestic industry maturing and increasingly exporting goods of their own abroad. Agriculture, industry, energy, education, and service industries – which employ the vast majority of Thais – have basic fundamentals that will remain unaffected by the nation’s year of mourning. The superficial examples the Western media cites are cited specifically to prey on the ignorance and misconceptions their ill-informed audiences have regarding Thailand and its economy. Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “ New Eastern Outlook” . Popular Articles | 0 |
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Will this be the most chaotic election day in modern American history? All across the nation, schools are being closed on election day due to safety fears. Traditionally, schools have been very popular as voting locations because they can accommodate a lot of people, they usually have lots of parking, and everyone in the community knows where they are and can usually get to them fairly easily. But now there is a big movement to remove voting from schools or to shut schools down on election day so that children are not present when voting takes place. According to Fox News , “voting has been removed or classes have been canceled on Election Day at schools in Illinois, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and elsewhere.” Just a couple days ago , I shared with you a survey that found that 51 percent of all Americans are concerned about violence happening on election day, and all of these schools closing is just another sign of how on edge much of the population is as we approach November 8th.
Many officials are being very honest about the fact that schools are being shut down on election day because they are afraid of election violence. The following comes from Fox News …
Several schools across the nation have decided to close on Election Day over fears of possible violence in the hallways stemming from the fallout from the heated rhetoric that consumed the campaign trail.
The fear is the ugliness of the election season could escalate into confrontations and even violence in the school hallways, endangering students.
“If anybody can sit there and say they don’t think this is a contentious election, then they aren’t paying much attention,” Ed Tolan, the Falmouth, Maine police chief, said Tuesday. His community has already called off classes on Nov. 8 and an increased police presence will be felt around town.
And without a doubt, voting locations are “soft targets” that often have little or no security. We have been blessed to have had such peaceful elections in the past, but we also need to realize that times have changed. I believe that there is wisdom in what Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp told reporters …
“There is a concern, just like at a concert, sporting event or other public gathering that we didn’t have 15 or 20 years ago,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, co-chairman of the National Association of Secretaries of State election committee. “ What if someone walks in a polling location with a backpack bomb or something? If that happens at a school, then that’s certainly concerning.”
All it is going to take is a single incident to change everything.
Let us hope that it is not this election day when we see something like that.
Another reason why polling locations are under increased scrutiny this election season is because of concerns about election fraud. This is something that Donald Trump has alluded to repeatedly on the campaign trail. For instance, just consider what he told a rally in Pennsylvania …
“We don’t want to lose an election because you know what I’m talking about,” Trump told an overwhelmingly white crowd in Manheim, Pa., earlier this month. “Because you know what? That’s a big, big problem, and nobody wants to talk about it. Nobody has the guts to talk about it. So go and watch these polling places .”
And of course reports are already pouring in from around the country of big problems with the voting machines. In Illinois this week, one candidate personally experienced a machine switching his votes from Republicans to Democrats…
Early voting in Illinois got off to a rocky start Monday, as votes being cast for Republican candidates were transformed into votes for Democrats.
Republican state representative candidate Jim Moynihan went to vote Monday at the Schaumburg Public Library.
“I tried to cast a vote for myself and instead it cast the vote for my opponent,” Moynihan said. “You could imagine my surprise as the same thing happened with a number of races when I tried to vote for a Republican and the machine registered a vote for a Democrat.”
In addition, if you keep up with my work on The Economic Collapse Blog , then you already know that a number of voters down in Texas have reported that their votes were switched from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton .
Well, it turns out that those voting machines appear to have a link to the Clinton Foundation …
According to OpenSecrets, the company who provided the alleged glitching voting machines is a subsidiary of The McCarthy Group.
The McCarthy group is a major donor to the Clinton Foundation – apparently donating 200,000 dollars in 2007 – when it was the largest owner of United States voting machines. Or perhaps the 200,000 dollars went to paying Bill Clinton for speeches?
Either way, it doesn’t look good.
After everything that we saw in 2012 , I am convinced that there is good reason to be concerned about the integrity of our voting machines.
But Democrats don’t like poll observers, because they think that having too many poll observers will intimidate their voters…
“It’s un-American, but at the same time we have a long history of doing things like that ,” Ari Berman, author of the 2016 book “ Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America ,” previously told The Christian Science Monitor. “Voting was very, very dangerous. I don’t think anyone’s suggesting that we’re at the same place today. I just think the loss of the [official poll observers] is going to be really problematic.”
Without a doubt, this has been the craziest election season that we have seen in decades, and I have a feeling that it is about to get even crazier.
But will the end result be the election of the most corrupt politician in the history of our country ?
If that is the outcome after all that we have been through, it will be exceedingly depressing indeed.
Take a look at the future of America: The Beginning of the End and then prepare Don't forget to Like Freedom Outpost on Facebook , Google Plus , & Twitter . You can also get Freedom Outpost delivered to your Amazon Kindle device here . | 0 |
Need to book a hotel on the go, or a friendly dinner recommendation while exploring a new city? There’s a bot for that. In fact, there are now chatbots for all kinds of things, from weather updates to health advice, as the popularity of smartphone messaging apps driven by artificial intelligence grows. Mobile messaging apps were used by 1. 6 billion people in 2016, and will reach two billion in 2018, or 80 percent of all smartphone users, according to the digital data researcher eMarketer. Another sign of their growing influence was evident last April, when Facebook announced it was opening its Messenger app to any outside company that wants to integrate its own bots into the chat program. Now, the booking services Expedia, Kayak, Skyscanner and many others are allowing potential customers to seek recommendations on hotel rooms and flights and book them via Facebook Messenger. Several other bots have sprung up in recent months, providing services like bookings and tips for activities, with a robotic touch. The technology is young, and while most of these chatbots have yet to become viable alternatives to existing travel planning options like Trip Advisor and traditional guides, it could be only a matter of time before our culture embraces booking by text. Here is what three of the more interesting options have to offer so far: SnapTravel aims to find you a hotel based on your budget and preferences via SMS, Facebook Messenger or Slack. It uses a combination of artificial and human intelligence to search Expedia, Priceline and more than 100 other sites for the best deal, and claims to have “secret deals” of its own. The bot first asks for your travel city and dates, whether you have a specific hotel brand in mind and if you have any neighborhood preferences in the city. I texted SnapTravel while I was looking to book a few nights in my hometown, Binghamton, N. Y. during Thanksgiving week. Based on my initial responses, SnapTravel gave me a cost estimate for and hotels in the area. After another series of questions regarding my budget, brand preference and more, I was told to hang tight and it would get back to me with hotel options within an hour. Seven minutes later, I was sent what it deemed my four best options, with photos and links to more details and booking options for each hotel, a link to a map with more options, and I was asked if I wanted to be put in touch with one of its travel agents (who can offer some human insight). The entire process from start to finish took 16 minutes. But it felt more like an automated phone call with a cable company than a typical text conversation. I thanked the bot, and was pleased that it did not bug me later on, something I had expected. The hotel recommendations were a mixed bag. I told the bot that I prefer Marriott hotels, and it included a Courtyard Marriott within my budget. The other three included a a local resort and a Homewood Suites by Hilton. Points for variety, but another Marriott choice would have been nice. Meanwhile the map with more options had only two additional hotels. As far as the deals themselves, they seemed legitimate when compared with the prices seen on discount booking websites like Hotwire. com. When you click on the hotel’s link on SnapTravel, you get its rates, are told whether there is a cancellation fee and are given the opportunity to compare its rate for that hotel with other booking sites. While you won’t get a comprehensive list to shop from, SnapTravel mostly did what it claims it can do, and in a timely manner. A spinoff from the Hipmunk booking website and smartphone app, Hello Hipmunk offers up a cute chipmunk to help you book travel from Facebook Messenger, Slack or Skype. Just be careful what you ask for. You will need to be specific if you want to get relevant results. I used Messenger to converse with Hipmunk, and before I had a chance to say hello, the critter asked me what airport I usually fly from. I said La Guardia, assuming it would understand that I meant La Guardia Airport in New York City. But it came back with: “Looks like you’re planning a getaway from Laguardia, Spain. ” I tried again, asking for some flight deals from New York to Chicago for the next week. He came back with: “You’re looking for the best time to go from New York City, NY, to Chicago, IL. Hold on, I’m digging through the data now. :)” Not really there, but we’re getting closer, and I appreciate the service with a smile. Next I tried: “I need a flight from New York to Chicago, leaving tomorrow and coming back on October 9. ” That seemed to do it. “Ready to jet? I’m finding you flights from New York City, NY, to Chicago, IL, on October 05, coming back on October 09,” the Hipmunk bot said. “I searched 736 itineraries. The least agonizing itinerary flies from LGA to ORD. ” Below were nine itineraries, rated one to nine in order of “least agonizing” with times and prices. This bot is fun to play with if you have the time, but it has a ways to go in the accuracy department. For the business traveler, there is Pana, which, like SnapTravel, combines artificial and human intelligence to plan your trip. The human factor seems to play a more significant role than it did with the other bots I tried. You don’t need to be a business traveler to benefit, but you do need to be a traveler to justify the cost: $49 per month ($499 annually) for its “concierge” plan. But there is a free trial to start. The involvement of humans may have explained the short delay in Pana’s response to my initial text (three minutes felt like an eternity compared with the other bots) but it also ultimately led to better results. After signing up and giving some basic information, including your email and phone number, Pana asks you for a quick phone call to get to know you a little better. But in keeping with the spirit of avoiding as much human interaction as possible, I passed on that and sought out its A. I. guidance. Pana gives you three ways to start: through email, SMS or its app. I chose SMS and received an introductory hello. I then texted that I wanted to fly from New York to Chicago, leaving next Monday and returning Friday. I got a response from “Jo” and learned that she is “a Canadian transplant in Hong Kong, avoiding the snow and loving the urban island life. ” Jo promised to look into my flight options and send them to me shortly. About an hour later, I received four flight itinerary options, sorted by price from lowest to highest. This was as far as I took it, but Pana is designed to be a relationship. Your virtual travel agent can check you into flights and suggest hotels, and then can pivot to to recommend restaurants and activities in your destination city. | 1 |
Hillary Clinton plans to deliver a scorching assessment of Donald J. Trump’s foreign policy prescriptions on Thursday, casting her likely Republican rival as a threat to decades of bipartisan tenets of American diplomacy and declaring him unfit for the presidency. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign aides said the speech, which she will deliver in San Diego, would be the start of a persistent assault to portray a potential Trump presidency as a dangerous proposition that would weaken American alliances and embolden enemies. The argument will include specific criticism of comments Mr. Trump has made about rethinking the United States’s support of NATO his proposal to allow Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia to acquire nuclear weapons his vow to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the United States and his pledge to advance the use of torture and kill the families of suspected terrorists. But Mrs. Clinton will also invoke her experiences as secretary of state, including in 2011 when she supported President Obama’s decision to send Navy SEALs on a raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden, to make the case that Mr. Trump does not have the temperament to make such decisions. “Donald Trump is unlike any presidential candidate we’ve seen, maybe ever, certainly in decades, in that he does not cross the threshold of fitness for the job,” said Jake Sullivan, Mrs. Clinton’s top policy adviser, who helped draft the speech. Mrs. Clinton will deliver the address on her final campaign swing before California holds its Democratic primary on Tuesday, when she is widely expected to reach the threshold of delegates needed to secure her party’s nomination. But in choosing to raise concerns about Mr. Trump’s foreign policy stances, she will be speaking to swing voters in general election battleground states who have doubts about a Trump presidency. While Mrs. Clinton must be cautious not to alienate liberal Democrats who oppose some of her hawkish foreign policy stances, her campaign says national security could be the catalyst that drives independents and wavering Republicans to support her this fall. Roughly 21 percent of independent voters and 32 percent of Republican voters said the most important issue this election was terrorism and national security, compared with 16 percent of Democrats, according to a Suffolk Today poll conducted last month. At the same time, 61 percent of registered voters said a Trump presidency would make America’s image in the world worse, according to the latest New York News poll. “There are many Republicans concerned about this,” R. Nicholas Burns, an American ambassador to NATO during the George W. Bush administration who also served on Bill Clinton’s National Security Council, said of Mr. Trump. “They find his policy positions beyond the pale, and they’re also turned off by his vulgarity. ” To that end, the Clinton campaign and its outside advisers have embarked on an effort to reach out to prominent moderate Republicans who could endorse Mrs. Clinton, largely making the case for foreign policy . Those calls have included to an aide of the 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, and to Nicholas F. Brady, who served as secretary of the Treasury under Mr. Reagan and the elder Mr. Bush, with plans to reach out to James A. Baker III, a White House chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan and secretary of state under President George Bush. In her debates with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Mrs. Clinton has defended her foreign policy decisions, including urging the Obama administration to join a coalition to oust Col. Muammar in Libya and her 2002 vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq, which she later said was a mistake. In an interview Wednesday night, Mr. Trump criticized Mrs. Clinton’s early support for the Iraq war, which he said he opposed, and questioned her judgment in Libya. “Bernie Sanders said it and I’m going to use it all over the place because it’s true,” Mr. Trump said. “She is a woman who is to be president because she has bad judgment. ” As each candidate argues the other is unfit to occupy the Oval Office, Mrs. Clinton’s advisers are preparing to make a case against Mr. Trump that will be jarringly different from the sparring of past presidential campaigns over foreign policy. “It’s not like the campaign against McCain or Romney, which was two competing visions,” said Derek Chollet, a former White House and Pentagon official under President Obama. Instead, he said, Mrs. Clinton will remind voters that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and the North Korean government of Kim have expressed support for Mr. Trump, who has suggested a willingness to talk directly with Mr. Kim, a pariah worldwide. Mrs. Clinton will also accuse Mr. Trump of bluster and oratory that is in direct opposition to the bipartisan pillars of American diplomacy that every president has adhered to since World War II. Julianne Smith, a former deputy national security adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. pointed to Mr. Trump’s suggestion that the United States rethink its involvement in NATO, the coalition of European nations. Mrs. Clinton, she added, needed to explain to voters that “every single president over the last couple decades has understood the value of alliances” and that “playing by the rules makes sense for all of us. ” Mr. Trump said Mrs. Clinton was “fraudulent” in her misrepresentation of his foreign policy positions, explaining that he supported global alliances, but believed that the United States should shoulder less of the financial burden. “Our country can’t afford to protect the world anymore, and at least not get reimbursed for it,” he said. Mrs. Clinton has delivered a series of foreign policy speeches over the course of the nominating fight that included calling for accelerating the operation to defeat the Islamic State, ending the economic embargo against Cuba, and pledging unwavering support of Israel. And she had already begun to lay the groundwork against what she called Mr. Trump’s “reckless actions” on foreign policy. The San Diego speech, to be delivered in a city known for its military presence at a time when Mr. Trump is facing scrutiny over his donations to veterans’ groups, will present a more sweeping — and fearsome — portrayal of Mr. Trump, one that the Clinton campaign will deliver like a drumbeat to voters in the coming months. “There’s not a lot of room left in terms of new proposals,” Mr. Sullivan said. “This is a speech about a vision and principle and purpose, not individual policy proposals. ” The prospect of a foreign policy debate not centered on policy differences has confounded Mrs. Clinton’s advisers, who in a more traditional election would be facing questions about Mrs. Clinton’s call for a zone with coalition forces to protect Syrians or how she would handle the flood of migrants to Europe. But Mr. Trump, in addressing foreign policy, has largely relied on gut instinct and appealing to voters’ emotional concerns that America has lost its standing in the world. “You do get the sense that he’s in a dialogue with a part of the electorate — and I consider it a minority — that couldn’t be less interested in facts or realities,” said Daniel Benjamin, coordinator for counterterrorism at the State Department under Mrs. Clinton. “That’s a really challenging task that most of us were unprepared for in many ways. ” | 1 |
Comedian Roseanne Barr took to Twitter Monday to defend President Donald Trump from unspecified attacks, which she said were really “disguised” attacks on American voters. [“Every single attack on @POTUS is really a disguised attack on American voters who rejected ’s bleeding of R treasury,” Barr tweeted. Every single attack on @POTUS is really a disguised attack on American voters who rejected ’s bleeding of R treasury. — Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) March 20, 2017, The Roseanne star — whose own 2012 presidential run was the subject of a documentary film — frequently praised Trump during the 2016 race and has continued to defend his presidency on social media. In June, the comedian told the Hollywood Reporter that the country would be “lucky” if Trump won, “because then it wouldn’t be Hillary. ” “I like Trump because he financed his own [campaign],” Barr said then. “That’s the only way he could’ve gotten that nomination. Because nobody wants a president who isn’t from Yale and Harvard and in the club. ‘Cause it’s all about distribution. When you’re in the club, you’ve got people that you sell to. That’s how money changes hands, that’s how business works. If you’ve got friends there, they scratch your back and blah, blah. ” Last week, Barr spoke out after Palestinian activist and Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour said it is impossible to be both a Zionist and a feminist. “Is it even possible to be a feminist?” Barr fired back on Twitter. Barr also announced last week that the cast of her hit 1990s television show was “up for a reunion show. ” Roseanne ran for nine seasons between 1988 and 1997 and won three Golden Globe awards. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 1 |
UK May Prosecute Top Banking Officials in Public Sham 27, 2016
Imagine Jailing the Central Bankers Who Saved the world … The U.K. may be on the verge of an unprecedented experiment in public accountability. The courts may soon be invited to consider the following question: Should government officials face prosecution if the actions they took to support the financial system during the credit crisis stink in hindsight? – Bloomberg
Finally central bankers are going to be investigated. But the investigation won’t involve the system itself or why central banks are given monopoly powers to print money.
According to this Bloomberg article, banks and central bankers have been facing a potential day in court because banking officials coordinated monetary giveaways in 2007-2008.
Say what? With all the immense corruption surrounding central banks, what’s under investigation has to do with whether banks were pressured to behave in a certain way so as to avoid public panic?
More:
In late 2007 and early 2008, with markets in a meltdown and the health of British banks under relentless scrutiny, the Bank of England belatedly pumped money into the financial system.
With money markets seized up and liquidity hard to find, banks were invited to trade assets for central bank cash.
At issue is whether officials nudged, steered or ordered — take your pick — financial firms to act in unison, ensuring that no single bank looked more desperate for assistance than its peers. In other words, were these transactions rigged?
This is a truly incredible question. The world’s monetary system is rigged from top to bottom and thanks to central bank monetary manipulation is basically in an almost decade-long quasi-depression.
Worse, most of the world’s central banks are doing something that’s never been considered in the history of money: either charging negative interest rates or seriously considering it.
When central banks get through adjusting interest rates to even more thoroughly distort economies, they can move toward banning cash, worldwide, something that needs to be done in concert with negative interest rates.
A ban on cash has never been tried in the whole of history. But these central bankers and their handpicked government officials are an ambitious bunch. Uruguay, for instance, has already banned cash for gasoline purchases and several European countries are embarked on even more ambitious programs.
How about the fiddling relative to money metals? Central banks surely collude to reduce the price of gold and silver as regards other currencies. Also, many Western countries claim to have gold and silver that they evidently do not actually possess.
Interest rate malfeasance? Savers and investors have lost trillions because of determinedly low interest rates. How about suing bankers for monopoly money manipulation?
Or how about suing to bust-up the obvious monopoly regime exercised out of Switzerland where the Bank for International Settlements meets regularly with top central banks representing most of the money in the world.
Put China, the US, Britain and the European Central Bank around a conference table and you’ve maybe 70 percent of the world’s money supply represented. Decisions taken at that table can change the direction of world history – and probably do on a regular basis.
Sir Paul Tucker, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England, was interviewed this year as part of an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, the Financial Times reported this week …
Dan Davies, a senior research adviser at Frontline Analysts, [says]: “It’s a disproportionate amount of effort to put into a ‘crime’ that was not only victimless but socially useful.”
Middle classes in the US supposedly have about $1,000 on hand in savings and well over $100,000 in debt. And surely the same sort of situation is present in Europe.
Since the beginning of the Federal Reserve in 2013, the US dollar has been virtually destroyed: It’s reportedly only worth some two cents of its original value. Other major currencies are similarly debased.
The world is facing a series of catastrophes that are much greater than a secret orchestration of banks so that one banking problem didn’t seem greater than another.
The debt levels of countries, industries and individuals is so high that the William White – a former top official for the BIS – said early this year that there was no way out of a global default. What was necessary, he said, was a debt jubilee similar to ones that have taken place in the past.
But British officials are worried about whether British banks and the Bank of England secretly colluded to avoid a public panic. This is the best they can come up with regarding central bank criminality?
It’s a kind of meme, in fact. Propaganda. With the world’s economy in shreds, British bank officials are supposedly worried that their central bankers did things that “stink” in order to stabilize – “save” – the system.
People are supposed to look at this investigation and conclude that there is no other criminality worth investigating and that in any event British officials are indeed serious about holding banks responsible for some sort of wrongdoing.
What will be broadcast, if there is a trial, is the concern of bankers and central bankers that public panic be damped at the source – for the good of the public.
In fact, one can visualize a scenario where any bankers brought up on these charges will look sympathetic to the public because their actions were supposedly taken to stabilize public perceptions and avoid a panic.
Economies around the world are melting down. They are one market-crash away from nearly universal bankruptcy. The system has bestowed literally trillions of dollars of wealth on a handful of global central bank controllers while stripping almost everyone else of solvency.
But the best British officials can do is investigate central bankers for supposedly trying to avoid making individuals banks the target of bank runs.
The reality of central banking and its ongoing horrendous destruction will likely never be subject to real criticism until it’s too late. This sort of investigation illustrates this exactly.
Ironically, when the world is decimated and millions, or even billions, starve due to a breakdown of the monetary economy, the same individuals now “investigating” the manipulation of public banking will suggest a global consolidation of the system.
Conclusion: The goal is to make central bankers look endlessly sympathetic and caring to the general public. When the catastrophe finally occurs, suggestions will be made to repose even more power in these same individuals and institutions. This investigation is nothing more than a public relations sham, It is probably designed to elicit public sympathy for those it indicts, if it comes to that. | 0 |
WASHINGTON — President Obama said on Saturday that the death of Fidel Castro was an occasion for Americans to “extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people” and acknowledge the “powerful emotions” the revolutionary leader had evoked in both countries, seeking to use Mr. Castro’s fraught legacy to underscore his own efforts to bury decades of bitterness between the United States and Cuba. “History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him,” Mr. Obama said in a statement that neither criticized nor praised Mr. Castro. “The Cuban people,” he added, “must know that they have a friend and partner in the United States of America. ” The death of Mr. Castro, the embodiment of decades of suspicion and enmity between the two countries, has the potential to hasten Mr. Obama’s goal of cementing the historic rapprochement that he hopes will be a signature part of his legacy. But with Donald J. Trump, who has been critical of the détente, set to succeed Mr. Obama, the fate of the thaw between the United States and Cuba is far from clear. Mr. Trump’s initial response on the matter Saturday morning was a post on Twitter. “Fidel Castro is dead!” he wrote. A few hours later, in a statement issued by his transition team, Mr. Trump called Mr. Castro a “brutal dictator” who had oppressed his own people for decades and left a legacy of “firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights. ” “While Cuba remains a totalitarian island, it is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve,” Mr. Trump said. “Though the tragedies, deaths and pain caused by Fidel Castro cannot be erased, our administration will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can finally begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty. ” The statements from the president and the were remarkable both for their differences and their similarities. While Mr. Obama steered clear of disparaging Mr. Castro, in keeping with his efforts to essentially defang a mutual grudge, Mr. Trump condemned him. But both also described Mr. Castro’s death as a potential turning point for Cuba, and both appeared to accept as fact that its prospects for freedom and prosperity are bound up with that of the United States. During the campaign, Mr. Trump sent mixed signals about how he intended to approach American policy toward Cuba, even as Mr. Obama was using the final months of his presidency to try to codify as much of the opening as possible. While Mr. Trump said during the Republican primary race that restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba — a step the Obama administration took last summer — was “fine,” he called Mr. Obama’s December 2014 agreement with President Raúl Castro of Cuba, Mr. Castro’s younger brother, a “very weak agreement” that provided too many “concessions” to the Cubans. “All of the concessions Barack Obama has granted the Castro regime were done through executive order, which means the next president can reverse them, and that I will do unless the Castro regime meets our demands,” Mr. Trump said at a campaign event in Miami in September. “Not my demands. Our demands. ” Mr. Trump announced last week that he had named Mauricio a fierce critic of Mr. Obama’s opening with Cuba who leads a political action committee, to his transition team for the Treasury Department. The move was seen as a signal that Mr. Trump is considering unraveling the web of regulations Mr. Obama has put in place to ease trade and commercial restrictions against Cuba. Last month, Mr. Obama issued a sweeping directive setting forth a new United States policy to lift the Cold War trade embargo entirely — a move that would require congressional approval — and end a of clandestine plotting against Cuba’s government. And he announced that his administration was lifting perhaps the most symbolically potent aspect of trade restrictions, the $100 limit on bringing Cuban rum and cigars into the United States. Earlier, Mr. Obama had also resumed direct flights between the two countries. “During my presidency, we have worked hard to put the past behind us, pursuing a future in which the relationship between our two countries is defined not by our differences but by the many things that we share as neighbors and friends — bonds of family, culture, commerce and common humanity,” Mr. Obama said in his statement. Advocates of the opening argued that Mr. Castro’s death could be a pivot point, clearing away the last emotionally charged remnants of a policy that has outlived its usefulness. “Symbolically, it makes a difference,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, the sponsor of bipartisan legislation to lift the embargo. “A lot of this policy for decades has not been based on sound reason. It has been based on the ghosts of the past. This could mark a major change. I don’t think it’s going to happen immediately, but symbolism is important in this relationship. ” But among Republicans, such a shift was not immediately apparent. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said that if anything, Mr. Castro’s death should stiffen the resolve of those determined to oppose the Cuban government. “The dictator has died, but dictatorship has not,” said Mr. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants. “The future of Cuba ultimately remains in the hands of the Cuban people, and now more than ever Congress and the new administration must stand with them against their brutal rulers and support their struggle for freedom and basic human rights. ” Representative Ed Royce, a California Republican and the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said, “Sadly, Raúl Castro is no better for Cubans who yearn for freedom. ” | 1 |
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte joked in an address to soldiers this weekend that he would protect them if they raped up to three women — but not four — a remark that has aroused the ire of feminist groups and recalled a major controversy during his presidential campaign. [The Philippine Star reports that Duterte made the joke while addressing the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade on Friday, who would soon deploy into the increasingly deadly war zone in Marawi, Mindanao, where Duterte has imposed martial law. The jihadist Maute group invaded the city last week in response to a police raid on the hideout of Isnilon Hapilon, the head of Islamic State affiliate Abu Sayyaf. The Maute group has also pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, and its members appear to be cooperating with Abu Sayyaf. “For this martial law, and the consequences of martial law, and the ramifications of martial law, I and I alone would be responsible,” Duterte told the soldiers, adding in Filipino, “Just work, I’ll take care of it. I will be the one to imprison you. If you have committed rape three times, I’ll take responsibility for it. If you marry four, son of a bitch, you’ll get beaten up. ” “Fight back. … I’ll give you everything you need,” he told the soldiers. Duterte previously told his army to “spare no one” in Marawi and has allowed warrantless searches and arrests on all of Mindanao, the southern island Duterte calls home. His spokesman, Ernesto Abella, explained the rape joke as an attempt to use “heightened bravado” to energize the troops. Duterte, he said, was “decisively acting, speaking with heightened bravado, that law and order would be brought back in these areas of rebellion. ” The joke has received wide condemnation from both relevant political entities and Twitter celebrities like Chelsea Clinton. Within the Philippines, politicians in the Duterte government have rejected it. “It is an injustice to our soldiers that what’s being implied is because it is martial law, they are already thinking, or that they have the license, to commit a crime as heinous as rape,” Vice President Leni Robredo said. “Duterte’s comments only confirm some of the worst fears of human rights activists that the Duterte government will not just turn a blind eye to possible military abuses in Mindanao, but may actively encourage them,” Human Rights Watch’s Phelim Kine said in a statement. This is not the first time Duterte has come under fire for a joke about rape. During his presidential campaign last year, Duterte remarked that it was a “waste” that an Australian woman had been gang raped in his native Davao City, lamenting that he “should have been first” to have sex with her because he was the mayor at the time. Duterte refused to apologize and threatened to cut diplomatic ties with the United States if the government condemned the joke. He handily won the presidency and took over as head of state in June 2016. The Islamist insurgency in Marawi is the greatest challenge Duterte has faced as president so far. He responded to the raid of the city — in which jihadists have so far abducted priests, killed Christians and Muslim “traitors” who could not recite Islamic prayers, freed more than 100 jihadists from a local prison, and flown the Islamic State flag over the city’s mosques. “If I think that you should die, you will die. If you fight us, you will die. If there is an open defiance, you will die,” Duterte promised the terrorists last week. While Mindanao is home to a substantial Muslim population, the Philippines is an 86 percent Catholic country, with another six percent of citizens identifying as Christian . Only about five percent of the country identifies as Muslim. Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter. | 1 |
Chart Of The Day: Russia Must Want War---Look How Close They Have Put Their Borders To Our Military Bases! By David Stockman. Posted On Saturday, November 12th, 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 |
Of all the things connected to Donald J. Trump, few have given him more mileage than his fleet of aircraft. His Boeing 757 jet, often referred to as Trump Force One, has received the full lifestyle treatment The Washington Post even queried whether it was better than Air Force One. One of Mr. Trump’s helicopters has gotten similar coverage an interior renovation made CNBC’s “Secret Lives of the Super Rich” in a segment entitled “Pimp My Chopper. ” A close look at Mr. Trump’s two airplanes — the 757 and a smaller jet used on the campaign trail — and three helicopters, however, suggests that their value rests chiefly in their marketing potential, with the Trump stamp of status masking the fleet’s age. Four of the five aircraft are more than 20 years old, a rarity for most billionaires. The exception is a Cessna 750 Citation X — the only one of the five without the Trump name painted on it in large letters. The smaller plane was grounded last week after The New York Times reported that its registration had expired in January. It is now cleared to fly again, according to the F. A. A. Most people who own aircraft do not have more than one or two. Even those who can afford to own planes often lease or charter them instead, offering a layer of ease and anonymity. But anonymity is not Mr. Trump’s style. The Boeing, built in 1991 to seat roughly 200 people, is Mr. Trump’s favorite flying toy, he said in an interview on Saturday. The jet, which once did duty with a commercial airline in Mexico in the 1990s, has been famously renovated. It has a bedroom the fixtures are brushed with gold and the toilet seats were reupholstered with Edelman leather, which also graces the Eames chairs in Ivanka Trump’s den. “It’s like a new plane,” Mr. Trump said in a documentary that showed off some of the renovations. “The plane is very much an extension of the Trump brand. ” While the 757 might seem like an odd choice for a man who puts his net worth at $11 billion, and, records show, does not use the plane much to travel abroad, Mr. Trump has cited it and his other planes as proof of how he gets good value for his money. In the 1980s, for example, he paid $8 million to buy a 1968 Boeing 727 from a financially troubled Texas company, Diamond Shamrock, according to his book “The Art of the Deal. ” Mr. Trump said a smaller Gulfstream jet would have cost more than twice as much. “It was a little more plane than I needed,” he wrote, “but I find it hard to resist a good deal when the opportunity presents itself. ” In the interview on Saturday, Mr. Trump said he did not own the five aircraft to burnish his brand, but agreed that the fleet had “promotional value. ” He added that he could get by without owning a Boeing 757 but it was a “great luxury to have. ” Air travel is one of the largest expenses of Mr. Trump’s Republican presidential campaign: A company he owns has charged the campaign approximately $3. 7 million in travel costs since he announced his candidacy in June 2015. Using the 757 does not help keep costs down: It guzzles fuel and costs thousands of dollars an hour to fly, more than private planes being used to shuttle other presidential candidates. Still, Mr. Trump has used it to crisscross the country, sometimes with just a small group of people aboard. The Boeing also weighs more than 100, 000 pounds, making it too heavy to land at many smaller airports, including one at Teterboro, N. J. the airport of choice for wealthy New Yorkers like Mr. Trump. Instead it must fly in and out of La Guardia Airport in Queens, which Mr. Trump, and others, have likened to what one might find in a third world country. La Guardia does offer a marketing perk: The 757 can often be seen at the airport, a billboard on wheels. Mr. Trump said that he was aware of the Boeing’s limitations and that he did not “use it that much. ” According to F. A. A. records, the Boeing has flown about 333 hours between Mr. Trump’s announcement of his intention to run for president last June and March 16, 2016. During the same stretch, F. A. A. records show, the Cessna has flown roughly 216 hours. A review by The Times shows most of the hours logged were for campaign travel. Large jets are popular among professional sports teams and rock bands, which have to move large groups and equipment. Still, some individuals and companies do own such aircraft. Ronald W. Burkle, a billionaire investor who owns stakes in a number of companies, including Whole Foods Market, flies on a Boeing 757 registered to his firm. Las Vegas Sands, a casino operator run by the billionaire Sheldon Adelson, has several larger planes that are used to transport company executives and Sands customers. Buying older planes has advantages: In addition to being less expensive, their depreciation costs are lower. Mr. Trump said he liked older planes because they had been “tested” and had “been around. ” For Mr. Trump, doing things bigger than most has been a guiding principle, as reflected in his penchant for slapping his name on buildings and planes. In June 1989 he launched the Trump Shuttle, after paying $365 million to buy the old Eastern Airlines shuttle operations, which connected New York City with Boston and Washington. The deal is not counted among his more successful ventures. In 1990 he defaulted on his loan and lost control of the airline to a group of lenders. Around the same time, a helicopter shuttle service he ran also fizzled. As for Mr. Trump’s personal travel, he prefers to fly private. In 2009, he decided to sell his Boeing 727, which was by then 41 years old. He replaced it with another used aircraft, the Boeing 757. A company controlled by the billionaire Paul Allen, a founder of Microsoft, had bought that plane in 1995. Mr. Allen did a full renovation, transforming it into a luxurious private jet. He installed a master suite that included a bathroom and guest room. He put a conference table, overhead projector and bar in the center of the aircraft. This room had two couches and 11 single seats, according to F. A. A. records. Elsewhere on the plane, Mr. Allen installed 12 sleeper seats, each with their own foldout monitors. He agreed to sell it to Mr. Trump in 2010, records show. The purchase price was not disclosed, though it was widely reported that Mr. Trump paid $100 million. The aircraft was insured at a value of $35 million in 2011, records show, and aviation experts say it is currently worth about $18 million. Boeing no longer makes 757s, but a 2015 Boeing Business Jet would sell for approximately $80 million, and cost anywhere from $20 million to $40 million to outfit. After Mr. Trump took possession of the 757 in 2011 he made a number of changes but did not fundamentally undo Mr. Allen’s initial renovation, records show. For instance, he kept the headboard in the master bedroom, as well as most of the chairs, couches and toilet seats Mr. Allen had left, choosing to reupholster them. Greg Raiff, chief executive officer of Private Jet Services, an aviation consulting firm and charter broker for corporations and individuals, said the Boeing was an unusual aircraft for a man of Mr. Trump’s wealth. “Buying a 757 is like buying a bag of Cheetos. It’s a lot of food for a low price,” he said. The Cessna was previously owned by NetJets, an aircraft company that caters to the nation’s wealthiest people, and has flown more than other planes its age, records show. It was worth $15. 3 million new and has a current resale value of approximately $3. 2 million, according to an estimate by Vref Publishing, a company that supplies information about aircraft values. The Times paid Vref to value the plane based on publicly available information. Mr. Trump’s three other aircraft are helicopters. Two of those are 1989 Sikorsky one of which was used to give rides to children at the Iowa State Fair. Mr. Trump took possession of the other 1989 in August 2014. It has logged only a handful of flights with the F. A. A. since he took possession, records show, though not all chopper flights are logged with the federal regulator. One notable trip that it received clearance to make was on New Year’s Eve in 2015, when, records show, it was given authorization to fly to Nassau, in the Bahamas, from West Palm Beach, Fla. Both helicopters are worth approximately $875, 000, according to Vref. The third helicopter, a 1990 Sikorsky was purchased in March 2012 and is currently worth roughly $940, 000. The Trump Organization has used pictures of it to help market its golf courses. It was shipped to Scotland in 2015, for the use of clients of Trump Turnberry Resort in Scotland. “The sky’s the limit at Trump Turnberry, with exclusive helicopter charter now available for guests for quick and seamless travel to destinations across Scotland and beyond,” the resort’s website reads. | 1 |
Genetically Modified Crops in U.S. Fail to Deliver Expected Yields 10/31/2016
ALL GOV
The controversy over genetically modified crops has long focused on largely unsubstantiated fears that they are unsafe to eat.
But an extensive examination by The New York Times indicates that the debate has missed a more basic problem — genetic modification in the United States and Canada has not accelerated increases in crop yields or led to an overall reduction in the use of chemical pesticides.
The promise of genetic modification was twofold: By making crops immune to the effects of weedkillers and inherently resistant to many pests, they would grow so robustly that they would become indispensable to feeding the world’s growing population, while also requiring fewer applications of sprayed pesticides.
Twenty years ago, Europe largely rejected genetic modification at the same time the United States and Canada were embracing it. Comparing results on the two continents, using independent data as well as academic and industry research, shows how the technology has fallen short of the promise.
An analysis by The Times using U.N. data showed that the United States and Canada have gained no discernible advantage in yields when measured against Western Europe, a region with comparably modernized agricultural producers like France and Germany . Also, a recent National Academy of Sciences report found “there was little evidence” that the introduction of genetically modified crops in the United States had led to yield gains beyond those seen in conventional crops.
At the same time, herbicide use has increased in the United States, even as major crops like corn, soybeans and cotton have been converted to modified varieties. And the United States has fallen behind Europe’s biggest producer, France, in reducing the overall use of pesticides, which includes both herbicides and insecticides.
One measure, contained in data from the U.S. Geological Survey , shows the stark difference in the use of pesticides. Since GM crops were introduced in the United States two decades ago for crops like corn, cotton and soybeans, the use of toxins that kill insects and fungi has fallen by a third, but the spraying of herbicides, which are used in much higher volumes, has risen 21 percent.
By contrast, in France, use of insecticides and fungicides has fallen 65 percent and herbicide use has decreased 36 percent.
To Learn More: | 0 |
This election remains more heated than any other in modern history – and for many, it has become a call to arms, even if only metaphorically.
Despite the fact that DNC operatives have been exposed as the ones inciting violence at rallies – Robert Creamer and Scott Foval for example – and working overtime to bus in illegal voters and rig the vote – the media is going out of its way to paint Trump supporters and grassroots Americans as the ones plotting violence.
Most recently, they are latching onto comments made by former congressman Joe Walsh, now a conservative radio host, who suggested he would ‘pick up a musket’ if Trump loses the election.
On November 8th, I’m voting for Trump.
On November 9th, if Trump loses, I’m grabbing my musket.
You in?
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 26, 2016
Did Walsh mean to imply violence? That is certainly how the media is portraying it, as his comments spark controversy and fuel fire to the debate over the nearing election.
The irony that his commentary drew from the imagery of founding-era patriots who stood up to tyranny was deeply lost on the left, who see opponents to Hillary in black and white terms – racist, xenophobic, utterly deplorable and inherently violent.
CNN followed up, asking Walsh what he meant by statement.
via CNN :
Former Rep. Joe Walsh appeared to call for armed revolution Wednesday if Donald Trump is not elected president.
[…]
Walsh … did respond to CNN’s Jake Tapper via Twitter when he asked: “What exactly does that mean?”
“It means protesting. Participating in acts of civil disobedience. Doing what it takes to get our country back,” he responded to Tapper.
@jaketapper It means protesting. Participating in acts of civil disobedience. Doing what it takes to get our country back.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 26, 2016
After a firestorm on social media, Walsh doubled down, stating on Twitter:
I’m serious. I don’t think a musket would do much good these days, but it’s time for civil disobedience on the right. https://t.co/ThJPEbALWZ
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 26, 2016
His heated rhetoric is a response to the endless episodes of fraud, dirty trick and foul play by the Hillary campaign, as it seems that she will stop at nothing to become the first female POTUS – just the sort of abuse of power that the founders warned about.
1775-76 erupted in response to a long train of abuses – acts of oppression and hostility listed in the Declaration of Independence that is being largely repeated in modern day America.
Could Hillary’s reported election victory – or Donald Trump’s defeat – signal civil unrest and a new wave of resistance, particularly if the results are widely viewed as fraudulent or “rigged”? Trump, for one, has certainly been talking up the possibility of a stolen election.
The scenario is plausible enough that the Pentagon and Homeland Security have been carrying out secret drills in the lead up to the election to prepare for the possibility of a martial law response to violence or civil unrest.
As SHTF detailed in an exclusive report, a whistleblower has come forward on the ominous contingency plan to keep and/or restore order if the populace revolt against the establishment’s “selection” for president:
If there is any truth to it, the 2016 election could be a kick-off for total tyranny.
According to an unnamed source – who has provided accurate intel in the past – an unannounced military drill is scheduled to take place during a period leading up to the election and throughout the month after.
Date: October 30th – 30 days after the election
Suspected Region: Northeast, specifically New York
1st Phase: NROL (No Rule of Law) – drill involving combat arms in metro areas (active and reserve). Source says active duty and reserve service members are being vaccinated as if they are being deployed in theatre.
2nd Phase: LROL (Limited Rule of Law) – Military/FEMA consolidating resources, controlling water supply, handing out to public as needed.
3rd Phase: AROL (Authoritarian Rule of Law) – Possible new acronym or term for “Martial Law”. Curfew, restricted movements, basically martial law scenario.
Source said exercise involves FEMA/DHS/Military
At this point, no one can say for certain what will happen in the aftermath of November 8, but it is clear that millions and millions of Americans are dissatisfied with the status quo, troubled about the economic realities perpetuated by the Fed and angry that Hillary may be put in the Oval Office rather than a jail cell, despite a trail of corruption with virtually no end.
How far will things go?
And will things ever be reset without a new American Revolution?
Read more:
Unrest and Martial Law? Leaked Military Drill Anticipates “No Rule of Law” After Election Results
Trump Resists Pledge To “Absolutely Accept” Election Results… But Why Should Anyone Accept Fraud?
If Trump Wins, Will Obama Declare Martial Law To Remain In Office? “These Are Not Normal Times”
After Bernie Cheated By DNC, Trump Fears “Election Going To Be Rigged”
No One Can Stop Her… And She Knows It: “This Election Won’t Be Fair”
This Is a Usurper, Not a Candidate: California Primary Was Stolen, And Hillary’s “Nomination a Coup” | 0 |
Americas Rocky Road to Raqqa
Though the U.S. has no legal right to operate inside Syria, Official Washington is boasting about its plans to liberate Raqqa from ISIS. But another problem: the battle plan makes no sense, says Daniel Lazare. By Daniel Lazare
" Consortium News " - In her final debate with Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton promised that the United States and its allies would follow up the offensive against ISIS-occupied Mosul with an assault on ISIS headquarters in Raqqa in neighboring Syria. Last week, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter assured the press that an offensive was on the way.
It starts in the next few weeks, Carter said . That has long been our plan and we will be capable of resourcing both, i.e. dual assaults on Mosul and Raqqa.
We think this is the right moment to begin pushing in Raqqa, a Pentagon spokesman added on Monday. There is a plan in place to begin this.
Except that the more the administration assures the public that an assault is just around the corner, the more distant it seems to become. In fact, it looks more and more like an assault on Raqqa wont occur at all. The reason is simple. The strategy is half-baked even by U.S. standards.
The effort to take back Mosul is off to a dangerous enough start as it is. The problem is not the military campaign, which seems to be making good progress as Iraqi troops enter the city for the first time in two years . Rather, it is the larger political setting.
Powerful cross-currents are at work involving the Iraqi army, Turkey, Iranian-backed Shiite militias known as Popular Mobilization Forces, or Al-Hashd al-Shaabi, and the Kurdish Peshmerga. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkeys neo-Ottoman president, has unsettled the Iraqis by claiming that Mosul lies within his countrys traditional sphere of influence and by vowing to protect the citys Sunni population against revenge by Al-Hashd for anti-Shiite atrocities committed by ISIS (also known as ISIL, Islamic State, and Daesh).
Unfortunately, Erdogans fears are not unfounded since Al-Hashd has already been accused of atrocities in Tikrit and Fallujah while at least one militia leader has sworn to take vengeance in Mosul as well. [See Consortiumnews.coms Clintons Slog Deeper into the Big Muddy .]
Although the Iraqi government has promised that the militias will confine their activities to the citys outskirts, the Iraqi army is seen as hardly less threatening since its Shiite flags are now ubiquitous . Mosul residents also feel threatened by the Kurds since they remember all too well when the Peshmerga took over in the wake of the 2003 U.S. invasion, sparking a wave of looting that stripped the city clean .
Shiite militia members similarly remember when they clashed with the Kurds in the central Iraqi town of Tuz Khurma as recently as April and are leery of coming into contact with them as well.
Leery Allies
So everyone is leery of everyone else, which means that the more such forces converge on Mosul, the greater the risk that years of accumulated fears and hatreds will reach a critical mass and explode.
Erdogan is meanwhile refusing to abandon a military beachhead that he maintains in the small town of Bashiqa a few miles to the northeast, while Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is threatening that Turkey will be dismantled if it tries to mount a full-scale invasion.
We do not want war with Turkey, Abadi said, and we do not want a confrontation with Turkey. But if a confrontation happens, we are ready for it. We will consider [Turkey] an enemy and we will deal with it as an enemy.
Turkeys reply has been to continue massing troops, tanks, and other military hardware on the Iraqi border just 90 miles to the north. On Wednesday, it piled on yet more abuse as Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu demanded of Abadi, If you have the strength, why did you surrender Mosul to terror organizations?
But as dangerous as all this is, the situation some 280 miles to the west around Raqqa in Syria is even worse. As the U.S. tries to assemble a force capable of taking on ISIS, it finds itself picking its way through a list of contenders that is little short of dizzying.
In addition to Syria, Russia and Turkey, the list includes the so-called Free Syrian Army; Kurdish Peoples Protection Units known as the YPG; Sunni Arabs who have joined with the YPG in an umbrella federation known as the Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF; plus the same Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Iraq that have lately begun threatening to cross the border and join in the assault on Raqqa as well.
Also dizzying are the local animosities. While Turkey gets along well with Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdish autonomous zone in northern Iraq, the story is very different in northern Syria, where the left-leaning YPG is dominant. Since the YPGs parent body, the Kurdish Democratic Union, is allied with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been leading an insurgency inside Turkey since the 1980s, Erdogan sees the militia as no better than Islamic State and possibly even worse.
The YPG feels the same way, describing Erdogan and ISIS as nothing less than brothers under the skin. The YPG is hostile to the Free Syrian Army since it took part in last summers Turkish incursion into northern Syria, whose primary goal was to prevent Kurdish militia units in northeastern Syria from hooking up with fellow YPG fighters in the northwest. The FSA, meanwhile, is not only anti-YPG but anti-U.S. even though its Turkish sponsors are nominally pro.
Thus, Free Syrian Army members erupted in anti-American chanting when a convoy of U.S. commandoes showed up in the Turkish-occupied town of Al-Rai in mid-September, forcing the Americans to flee .
Christians and Americans have no place among us, one militant shouted . They want to wage a crusader war to occupy Syria. Another called out: The collaborators of America are dogs and pigs. They wage a crusader war against Syria and Islam.
This is one of the groups that Washington classifies as secular and moderate. Still, Washingtons hope is that the various factions will put their differences aside long enough to liberate Raqqa. The prospect seems unlikely especially since fighting between the Turkish-backed FSA and the YPG seems to be spreading.
Turkey Killing Kurds
On Oct. 20, Turkish jets and artillery pounded YPG-SDF positions northeast of Aleppo, killing as many as 200 fighters. Since then, the two groups Turkey and the Free Syrian Army on one side, the YPG and anti-Turkish Arabs of the SDF on the other have been engaged in a struggle for control of ISIS-occupied Al-Bab, 20 miles or so south of the Turkish border and roughly the same distance northeast of Aleppo.
If Turkish-FSA forces take Al-Bab, then Kurdish hopes of linking up their forces in northeastern and northwestern Syria will have been dashed. The FSA would then be in a position to push east to Raqqa, which would mean a clash with both the main body of the YPG and ISIS. Or, as the often perceptive Moon of Alabama website suggests , it could instead wheel about and attempt to relieve its fellow Salafists besieged in Aleppo.
That would mean a head-on collision with Syrian government forces and exposure to Russian jets, a point that a Syrian government helicopter drove home last week by bombing Turkish-FSA forces engaged in combat with the YPG.
Internecine warfare like this can only benefit Islamic State, an undisputed expert at using its opponents differences to its own advantage. This is why it was able to put down roots in Syria in the first place because the U.S. was too busy trying to topple Bashar al-Assad to worry about an Al Qaeda offshoot that Obama famously dismissed as nothing more than a JV team .
Its also why Islamic State was able to establish bases and supply lines in Turkey because Erdogan was more concerned with fighting Assad and the Kurds to concern himself with what his fellow Sunnis were up to. A northern Syrian and Iraqi landscape torn by infighting is perfect for a hyper-violent Sunni-Salafist group skilled at playing one group off against another.
The White House dimly senses that it has gotten itself into a mess, which is why officials turn vague and inscrutable whenever reporters press for details concerning a reported assault on Raqqa. The problem, as the U.S. officials see it, is that Erdogan remains unalterably opposed to the YPG-SDF even though it is the only ground force capable of fighting Islamic State. Hence, it is impossible to take Raqqa without alienating a fellow member of NATO.
We do not need terrorist organizations like the PYD-YPG, Erdogan says he told Obama in an Oct. 26 phone call , referring to the militia and Kurdish Democratic Union. I said, Come, lets remove [Islamic State] from Raqqa together. We will sort this out together with you. We have the strength.
The U.S. doubts that Erdogan does have that capability yet is unable to say no. The upshot is talks, negotiations, and growing delays. Jennifer Cafarella, a Syria expert at the neocon Institute for the Study of War, grouses that the administration is stalling while, on the other side of the debate, foreign-policy realists wonder why the administration is rushing ahead with a strategy that it knows wont work.
Skeptical Analysis
In a hard-hitting analysis in the conservative but often skeptical National Interest, Daniel L. Davis, a retired army colonel and Afghan veteran, points out that whereas a national army, well-armed militias, U.S. ground and intelligence forces, and resupply lines through friendly territory are all in place in northern Iraq, none of those things exist with regard to Raqqa. The political problems, he adds, are even more daunting.
When Kurdish units liberated the ISIS-occupied town of Manbij in August, Davis notes, grateful residents told YPG members, You are our children, you are our heroes, you are the blood of our hearts. Yet the YPGs reward was to be denounced as terrorists by Erdogan and instructed to leave by the U.S.
What possible assurances could the United States give to the Kurds, Davis writes, that upon successful liberation of Raqqa, the Turkish army isnt going to turn on them? Why would the Turks bomb the Kurdish troops one day and then work with them the next, or allow the Kurds to maintain a presence after liberating Raqqa? There is no recognizable logic in these unsubstantiated hopes.
Davis is correct. But, then, there is no recognizable logic in the Obama administrations intervention in Syria in general. Why insist that Assad step down, for example, when the only effect will be to clear a path for Al Qaeda and Islamic State straight through to the presidential palace in Damascus?
Why back a Turkish incursion into northern Syria when the only result is to infuriate Kurds who are the only effective anti-ISIS fighting force that the U.S. has on its side? Why insist that the U.S. wants a democratic solution to the Syrian civil war when the countries backing the anti-Assad forces, i.e. Saudi Arabia and the other Arab oil monarchies, are some of the most undemocratic societies on earth?
None of it makes sense. But since the Israelis, Turks and Saudis all want Assad to go, the Obama administration feels that it has no choice but to comply. How else can it keep a fractious empire together if not by catering to its client states whims and desires?
When empires are strong, they can afford to say no. But when they are weak and over-extended, they do as they are told. This is why the U.S. is frozen with regard to Raqqa. It cant disappoint its allies by calling an assault off, and it cant push ahead with a plan that doesnt add up. So it dawdles.
Daniel Lazare is the author of several books including The Frozen Republic: How the Constitution Is Paralyzing Democracy (Harcourt Brace).
Syria's U.S.-backed SDF says no to Turkish role in Raqqa operation : "The Syrian Democratic Forces are the only force that will take part in the operation to liberate Raqqa and we informed the (international U.S.-led) coalition forces that we reject any Turkish role in the Raqqa liberation operation,"
SIL chief threatens Turkey : Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who is reportedly hiding out in the besieged city of Mosul, released his first message since 2015, urging followers to wage all-out war and take the fighting into Saudi Arabia and Turkey. | 0 |
What appears to be test pages for graphics clientele for news stations across the country could in fact turn out to be another Dewey wins moment or more recently, akin to the BBC reporting the collapse of building 7 on 911‌ before it happened.
Election night results are big business. WorldNow.com, a 17 year old CMS and digital tech provider was recently publicly traded to San Francisco based messaging company Frankly for $45 million. SO it comes as no surprise that yet another facet of the election process is out of the oversight of citizens and in the greedy hands of the corporatocracy.
NBC affiliate WRCB TV in Chattanooga, Tennessee has inadvertently posted election night results. The results page appears to be similar to what mainstream news networks display on election night, including Presidential and Congressional results, the popular vote count, electoral votes, and percentage of precincts reporting.
As Jim Stone notes, the page was pulled directly from the WorldNow.com content management platform utilized by major networks like NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox and appears to be a non-public staging area for news and election results. The original page has since been reset.
Source
| 0 |
Protester Pies Ex-NBA Mayor… Not So Funny When Mayor Brutally Evens the Score
That’s when the kid in the red hoodie hit her right in the face.
The teacher, stunned, stepped back and eventually left the room. Thankfully, though, another kid leaped in and taught the red hoodie punk a lesson. The third student took Mr. Red Hoodie to the ground in one of those “only two hits, me hitting you and you hitting the floor” kind of fights.
“Watch the f*** out, you just hit the f***ing teacher!” the third student said. “Chill your s***, you just hit the f***ing teacher, you don’t f***ing do that. Who the f*** do you think you are?” Advertisement - story continues below
Here’s the video of the sick encounter ( WARNING: There is a lot of bad language involved. Obviously not safe for work, and viewer discretion is advised ):
It may have been brutal, but the red-hoodied punk had it coming to him. After all, what kind of sick country are we in when it’s considered OK to beat up your teacher ?
However, at least one student had some sense — and managed to knock it into the punk, quite literally. Advertisement - story continues below | 0 |
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