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An estimated 4, 000 Texans are expected to rally in Austin today to show their support for expanded school choice during National School Choice Week. They will bring their message to the south steps of the Capitol building. [Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, the state’s top school choice proponents, will speak at today’s rally. The event begins at 10 a. m. with a march on south lawn at the Capitol followed by the annual rally with more than 20 other Texas elected officials. Abbott proclaimed January 22 through January 28, school choice week in Texas, reaffirming his commitment to “support families’ ability to choose the educational environment that best suits their children’s needs. ” In 2015, he underscored the relevance of a parent’s role in a child’s education. Last year, he signed a school choice week proclamation highlighting the importance “for parents in Texas to explore and identify the best education options available to their sons and daughters, as research demonstrates that providing children with multiple education options improves academic performance. ” Organizer Randan Steinhauser called this year’s rally a “reminder to our legislators that parents in Texas want more education freedom. ” She said: “The demand for more school choice is widespread and it’s time for Texas to join the growing number of states that allow parents the opportunity to choose their child’s education. ” While Texas already offers school choice options like magnet and public charter schools, plus private and home schools, lawmakers hope to expand access for the state’s children through legislation that would create an education savings account (ESA) program. In 2016, the Lt. Governor made the case for ESA’s in a series of Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute (TCCRI) policy summits on education choice held around the state. It featured panels of state legislators who support this kind of school choice plus Steinhauser and others who promoted ESA’s allow parents to have more choice in their children’s education, particularly for children stuck in a failing public school. Roughly 5. 3 million children attend through grade 12 in one of the state’s public schools. The Public Education Grant (PEG) program listed 1, 379 struggling campuses, inching down from the even higher 1, 532 failing schools on the PEG list. According to the Texas Charter Schools Association, 129, 589 students were on charter school wait lists in 2014. Proponents say school choice affords children access to educational settings that best fit them while empowering their parents to become more involved in the education process. U. S. Senator Ted Cruz called school choice “the civil rights issue of the 21st Century” in 2014. He supports universal ESA’s. In September, Daniel Garza, president of the nonprofit Libre Initiative, spoke at a TCCRI summit in support of ESA’s and other similar tax credit scholarships and savings grant programs. He said they provided more educational opportunities to Texas’ Hispanic families. Garza cited the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) a Washington, D. C. private school student voucher program for children, which he maintained had a 91 percent graduation rate, 30 percent higher than their public school peers. At press time, ESA legislation was not filed yet but the issue already stirred up strong opposition from the state’s teacher unions and associations. They assert school choice undermines traditional public schools by diverting public taxpayer dollars away from their coffers, are not held to the same accountability standards, and are not unionized. Lobbyist organizations like the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) vow to stop vouchers. The Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) stand against school choice programs. also balked at the state’s new public school accountability ratings system. Advocacy groups like Texas Kids Can’t Wait only support public schools Raise Your Hand Texas also opposes school choice. Some homeschool parents also have expressed wariness of ESA’s fearing that privately funded school choice will have “strings attached” and bring government intervention and regulation that will impact the state’s for homeschooling liberties. As one parent told Breitbart Texas, “I love the idea of ESA’s, I just want to make sure we don’t lose freedoms we now enjoy (because of them). ” Event organizers include Texas for Education Opportunity, LIBRE Initiative, the Texas Private Schools Association, Texas Homeschool Coalition, Texas Charter Schools Association, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Texas Catholic Conference, ResponsiveEd, Families Empowered, Public School Options, Aspire Texas, EdChoice, Texans for Education Opportunity, Americans for Prosperity — Texas, The Justice Foundation, Agudath Israel, Texas Business Leadership Council, Texas Association of Business, Connections Academy, Institute for Justice, and the Texas Conservative Coalition. National School Choice Week is a nonpartisan, independent public awareness effort to raise public awareness about educational choices available to children such including traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. The first National School Choice Week, in 2011, consisted of only 150 events. Tuesday’s rally is one of 21, 392 nationwide events, including 1, 593 in Texas, to promote school choice over a week that kicked off on Sunday, January 22, and runs through Saturday, January 28. Follow Merrill Hope, a member of the original Breitbart Texas team, on Twitter. This article has been updated. | 1 |
Carol Adl in News , World // 1 Comment
Spain is having to review its decision to allow Russian warships to refuel at one of its ports amid international outrage.
“The latest stopover requests are being reviewed at the moment based on the information we are receiving from our allies and from Russian authorities,” the Spanish foreign ministry said.
A naval fleet headed by the Admiral Kuznetzov aircraft carrier, which passed through the English Channel last week, was expected to dock this morning in the autonomous enclave of Ceuta to take on fuel and supplies under a permit issued by Spain’s Foreign Ministry.
NATO, the British government & EU officials have expressed anger even though Spain says Russia’s warships have been mooring there “for years.”
The Independent reports:
Asked about Spain’s role in supplying the fleet, Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato Secretary-General, said he was “concerned”.
“I have expressed that very clearly about potential use of this battle group to increase Russia’s ability and to be a platform for airstrikes against Syria,” he added.
“I repeat those concerns today and I believe that all Nato allies are aware that this battle group can be used to conduct airstrikes against Aleppo and Syria.”
Guy Verhofstadt, president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament, called Spain’s decision “scandalous”.
He wrote on Twitter: “Spain signed EU statement on Russian war crimes in Aleppo last week – today [Tuesday] helps refuel fleet on way to commit more atrocities. Seriously?”
The UK said that although access to Spanish ports was a matter for local authorities, concerns had been raised.
“Her Majesty’s government has previously expressed concerns to the Spanish government about its hospitality to the Russian navy when we have concerns about Russia’s military activity,” a British Government spokesperson said.
Spain, a Nato member, regularly allows Russian war ships to stop in its enclave of Ceuta, which borders Morocco at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea.
A spokesperson for the foreign ministry told El Pais permission was granted on a case-by-case basis depending on the ship in question and possibly security risks.
“We are looking at the latest [supply] stops requested based on information requested by Russian authorities,” he added.
Intense international media coverage has followed the fleet’s progress from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean, with Royal Navy ships tracking it through the Channel. | 0 |
Email
The WikiLeaks e-mail releases are not the only revelations Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Campaign team are cursing these days. Official State Department documents released pursuant to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and lawsuits are also delivering severe body blows to Team Clinton’s White House aspirations.
On Wednesday, Judicial Watch, the government accountability watchdog group, released nearly 70 pages of Department of State (DOS) records confirming that, while secretary of state, Hillary Clinton and her top aides, Deputy Chiefs of Staff Huma Abedin and Jake Sullivan, received and sent classified information on their non-state.gov e-mail accounts. Former Secretary Clinton has repeatedly denied — in interviews, debates, testimony, and speeches — that she divulged any classified material, even though the e-mail evidence and FBI Director James Comey’s testimony contradict that claim. At other times she has fudged, waffled, and evaded questions on this subject, bringing to mind the infamous weasel quote of her husband, then-President Bill Clinton, “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.”
The new Judicial Watch e-mails are completely separate from the WikiLeaks e-mails, which the Clinton campaign and its allies have tried to discredit by claiming, without foundation, that they are the product of a Russian intelligence operation. The Judicial Watch documents were obtained recently in response to a court order from a May 5, 2015 lawsuit filed against the DOS after it refused to cooperate with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. That request was seeking: “All emails of official State Department business received or sent by former Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin from January 1, 2009 through February 1, 2013 using a non-‘state.gov’ email address.”
The newly released documents, which are now also available on the State Department website, were obtained after the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the watchdog group in January ( Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of State ). There are thus no grounds for questioning the provenance or authenticity of these recent Clinton e-mail revelations, since they come directly — albeit very reluctantly — from the State Department. Among the new documents are e-mails showing that Hillary Clinton used the clintonemail.com system to ask Huma Abedin (also on a non-state.gov e-mail account) to print two March 2011 e-mails that were sent from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (using the moniker “aclb”) to Jake Sullivan on Sullivan’s non-state.gov e-mail account.
The Obama State Department has redacted the Blair e-mails under the FOIA Exemption (b)(1) rule which allows the withholding of classified material. The material is marked as being classified as “Foreign government information” and “foreign relations or foreign activities of the US, including confidential sources.” The irony is beyond rich, is it not? Secretary Clinton says she didn’t send any classified material by private, unsecured e-mail — while the State Department refuses to release certain of her private e-mails, claiming exemption because, says DOS, the e-mails contain classified information. Reasonable observers might be inclined to take that as an official confirmation that Hillary Rodham Clinton has lied and weaseled — repeatedly, and under oath — on this important national security matter. Is there any other reasonable way to view it?
In another private e-mail, Clinton asks Huma Abedin how appointments in Washington, including a four-hour meeting concerning the Obama/Clinton war on Libya, would affect her vacation schedule in the Hamptons, the fabulous playground of the ultra-rich. As an aside, the Clintons have been longtime seasonal residents of the Hamptons, where many of their Wall Street and Hollywood billionaire cronies (and donors) own eye-popping mansions on sumptuous estates. Hillary, who regularly tries to make political hay by verbally attacking the rich “one percent,” apparently suffers no qualms of conscience about taking millions of dollars in speaking fees from the most notorious of the one percenters at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Blackstone, etc. Nor do she and Bill flinch at spending $50,000 per week for a beachfront mansion in the Hamptons near their movie mogul pal (and campaign contributor) Harvey Weinstein. Their populist rhetoric and faux working-class appeals notwithstanding, the Clintons are happiest and most comfortable consorting with the top one percent of the top one percent. But back to the e-mails. Responding to a message that details the sensitive Libya meetings in Washington, D.C., Clinton e-mails Abedin on August 26, 2011: “Ok. What time would I get back to Hamptons?” As with tens of thousands of Clinton DOS e-mails, this discussion relative to classified meetings, plans, and official policies, took place on private, unsecure e-mail accounts.
The new Judicial Watch documents also include advice to Hillary on Libya from veteran Clinton operative Sidney Blumenthal, more infamously known to friend and foe alike as “Sid Vicious,” a reference to the raunchy and rancorous bass guitarist of the punk rock group the Sex Pistols. A reliable hatchet man for the Clintons for three decades, Blumenthal could always be counted on to come up with, and to carry out, dirty tricks to discredit and undermine the Clintons’ opponents. Trouble is, he also attacked and alienated many of the Clintons’ closest confidants, friends, and staff members. When Hillary Clinton wanted to bring Blumenthal on staff at State, President Obama nixed the idea.
“President Obama would not allow it: key White House staffers had grown to detest the man,” writes James Warren, in an article on Blumenthal in Vanity Fair last July. “Two of them — Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Senior Adviser David Axelrod — threatened to quit if Blumenthal was hired. They believed that he had been involved in spreading unsubstantiated allegations against the Obamas during the 2008 Democratic primary, as detailed in the campaign chronicle Game Change , by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.”
Indeed, as has been firmly established, it was Hillary Clinton’s hit man Sid Vicious Blumenthal, not Donald Trump, who started the Obama “birther” controversy, during the 2008 campaign when Clinton and Obama were locked in a fight for the Democratic nomination. (See here and here .)But an operative with Blumenthal’s unique talents for intrigue is always in demand at Foggy Bottom and other shadowy dens of the DC Beltway netherworld. His official rejection at State didn’t mean he was totally out, nor did it prevent him from collecting a check from the Clinton Foundation, where he began pulling down a $10,000/month stipend as a key personal fixer/ambassador for Bill Clinton. He also began collecting a $200,000/year salary as a writer/staffer for Media Matters , the ultra-far-Left media group headed by an equally venomous viper, David Brock, and copiously funded by George Soros, and the Rockefeller, Ford, and Carnegie foundations — among others. But Blumenthal’s big payoffs would be in consultancy fees and partnerships with companies connected to the Clinton Foundation, who would get contracts through the good graces of Hillary Clinton’s State Department. And it is those DOS-Clinton Foundation ties that most interest Clinton’s critics concerned about the national security and conflict-of-interest implications of her relationship with the notorious political operator. Blumenthal had a personal financial stake in Libya, where he was using his connections to win U.S. government contracts for weapons providers, such as Osprey Global Solutions . The latest Clinton/Blumenthal e-mail release is sure to reignite the Blumenthal furor that erupted during last year’s incendiary hearings on Secretary Clinton’s role in the deadly 2012 Benghazi fiasco. House Benghazi Committee chairman Representative Trey Gowdy then grilled Secretary Clinton on her relationship with, and reliance upon, Blumenthal for important Libya decisions. “While Blumenthal, an old friend of the Clintons, admittedly knew little about Libya and had not ever been to Libya, Clinton seemingly read every one of his emails on the topic that began appearing out of nowhere in February 2011,” Gowdy wrote in a letter to Representative Trey Gowdy Elijah Cummings, a Democrat member of the Benghazi Committee who ran interference for Clinton.
“Nearly half of all the emails sent to and from Secretary Clinton regarding Benghazi and Libya prior to the Benghazi terrorist attacks involved Sidney Blumenthal,” Chairman Gowdy wrote. “That number — nearly half — is simply astonishing.” The 13-minute segment of the House Benghazi hearing imbedded below is one of the key sections of the hearings in which Representative Gowdy roasts Secretary Clinton to a fare-thee-well on her e-mails from Blumenthall that she insisted were “unsolicited” and were merely part of her effort to avoid Washington group-think, and not get “caught in a bubble.”
Obviously, for Clinton, Blumenthal, and partners, the dark money and blood money involved in these Libya deals would be best left in the shadows. Hence the need to resort to private e-mail. There are additional reasons, of course, for the clandestine activity. Since then-Secretary Clinton’s boss, President Obama, had forbidden Blumenthal’s employment at State, and since Sid Vicious had alienated top staff members in the administration, it is easy to see why Clinton would use a back channel to communicate with the hatchet man/bag man, so as not to tip off Blumenthal haters at DOS and the White House. For these reasons (and perhaps others) Clinton insisted Blumenthal’s March 9, 2011 Libya memo be printed “without any identifiers.”
Among the newly released Abedin e-mails is a lengthy exchange giving precise details of Clinton’s schedule using unsecured government e-mails, Judicial Watch notes. The e-mail from Lona J. Valmoro, former special assistant to Secretary of State Clinton, to Abedin and Clinton reveals exact times (including driving times) and locations of all appointments throughout the day. Yet another itinerary e-mail provides details about a meeting at the United Nations in New York at 3:00 on Tuesday, January 31, 2012, with the precise disclosure, “that would mean wheels up from Andrews at approximately 12:00pm/12:15pm.”
“These emails show that Hillary Clinton isn’t the only Obama official who should be worried about being prosecuted for mishandling classified information. Her former top State aides (and current campaign advisers) Huma Abedin and Jake Sullivan should be in the dock, as well,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The Obama State Department has now confirmed that Clinton, Abedin, and Sullivan used unsecured, non-government email accounts to communicate information that should now be withheld from the American people ‘in the interest of national defense or foreign policy, and properly classified.’ When can we expect the indictments?”
Indeed, when? Team Hillary’s “Run-out-the-clock strategy” has almost worked — and it may yet succeed. However, there are, undoubtedly, among the operatives in her inner circle many with white knuckles and faint hearts, wondering if they will make it to the November 8 finish line before the Clintonworld corruption and criminality spill out in eruptions too huge even for her Big Media allies to cover up. | 0 |
Donald Trump: Hillary’s Syria Policy Would Lead to ‘World War Three’ Joe Raedle/Getty Images by Breitbart News 26 Oct 2016 0
26 Oct, 2016 26
(REUTERS) U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Democrat Hillary Clinton’s plan for Syria would “lead to World War Three,” because of the potential for conflict with military forces from nuclear-armed Russia.
In an interview focused largely on foreign policy, Trump said defeating Islamic State is a higher priority than persuading Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, playing down a long-held goal of U.S. policy.
…
“What we should do is focus on ISIS. We should not be focusing on Syria,” said Trump as he dined on fried eggs and sausage at his Trump National Doral golf resort. “You’re going to end up in World War Three over Syria if we listen to Hillary Clinton.
“You’re not fighting Syria any more, you’re fighting Syria, Russia and Iran, all right? Russia is a nuclear country, but a country where the nukes work as opposed to other countries that talk,” he said.
Read the rest of the story at Reuters.com .
2016 Presidential Race , National Security , Bashar al-Assad , Donald Trump , Hillary Clinton , Islamic State , Russia , Syria | 0 |
I find it troubling that there is only rumor, and unsubstantiated speculation being reported. Until I see facts with sources I can not believe anything…It is how my brain is wired. This article requires facts. | 0 |
An influential French blogger has come in for heavy criticism after thousands of antisemitic, threatening and homophobic tweets he published under a pseudonym resurfaced over the weekend, sparking fierce debate. [The tweets included threats against Front National leader Marine Le Pen, who he threatened to kill, but their author Medhi Meklat, 24, and his supporters have shrugged them off as a joke. “I am going to slit your throat Muslim style” read the tweet threatening Le Pen. Another called for “Hitler to kill all the Jews” while a third said he wanted to “rape” former Charlie Hebdo Charb, one of the victims of the January 2015 terror attacks, with a “Laguiole knife”. The tweets were published under the pseudonym ‘Marcelin Deschamps’ described by Meklat as a “shameful” “fictional character” whose thoughts were “quite the opposite” of his own. ” But they remained on the account after Meklat switched it to his name in 2015. This weekend they were outed by a fellow Twitter user who was outraged after seeing Meklat on TV promoting his new book, Le Monde has reported. On Saturday Meklat cleaned the account, deleting around 50, 000 tweets spanning back over a number of years to leave just 503 remaining. He also used the platform to issue an apology, writing “I’m sorry if these tweets shocked some of you. they are obsolete” adding “through Marcelin Deschamps, I was questioning the notion of excess and provocation. ” But his claims have not convinced everyone. The secularist organisation Printemps Republicain [Republican Spring] have slammed the tweets as “serious” and “within the scope of the law”. They have accused the media of bearing some responsibility for the tweets, having “promoted” and “praised” Meklat. Had he been a member of France’s National Front, they said, Meklat “would have been instantly and quite rightly pilloried by the same media, and would certainly have found himself in court” they added in a statement. And they dismissed claims that Meklat, under the pseudonym Deschamps, was acting satirically in the same vein as the provocative magazine Charlie Hebdo arguing that Meklat had “only attacked certain categories of people [ … ] Charlie Hebdo attacks everyone. ” Born in the notorious Paris suburb of where riots have recently been raging, Meklat gained prominence through his writing for the Bondy Blog, a blog set up following the 2005 Paris riots and financed by George Soros’ Open Society Foundation. Lauded as the authentic voice of France’s migrant communities, Meklat has capitalised on his media exposure to escape the banlieues, spending summers aboard yatchs in Los Angeles, and networking with esteemed institutions such as the Cartier Foundation to work on joint projects. | 1 |
Wells Fargo is Rotting from the Top Down Wells Fargo is Rotting from the Top Down By 0 139
Just when you thought that, surely, big banker greed had bottomed out with 2008’s Wall Street crash and bailout, along comes Wells Fargo, burrowing even deeper into the ethical slime to reach a previously unimaginable level of corporate depravity.
It’s one thing for these finance giants to cook the books or defraud investors, but top executives of Wells Fargo have been profiteering for years by literally forcing their employees to rob the bank’s customers.
Rather than a culture of service, executives have pushed a high-pressure sales culture since 2009, demanding frontline employees meet extreme quotas of selling a myriad of unnecessary bank products to common depositors who just wanted a simple checking account. (Photo: Shutterstock)
Employees were expected to load each customer with at least eight accounts, and employees were monitored constantly on meeting their quota — fail and you’d be fired.
That’s why the bosses’ sales culture turned employees into a syndicate of bank robbers. The thievery was systemic, and it wasn’t subtle.
Half a million customers were secretly issued credit and debit cards they didn’t request, fake email accounts for online services were set up without customers’ knowledge, depositors’ money was moved from one account to another, signatures were forged, and — of course — Wells Fargo collected fees for all of these bogus transactions, boosting its profits.
CEO John Stumpf was recently forced out because of the scandal, but what about the other top executives and the board of directors — all of whom were highly paid partners in this crime?
Stumpf wasn’t the only rotten apple at Wells Fargo. This isn’t a case of a few bankers gone rogue, but of a whole bank gone rogue, rotting from the head down. | 0 |
ALERT – New Bill Clinton Mistress Confirmed, Hillary Camp Panics… Oct 28, 2016 Previous post The identity of one of Bill Clinton’s long-time mistresses was just revealed. The former president’s Secret Service detail nicknamed the mistress “Energizer” because of the way Bill always “perked up” and seemed revitalized after her visits. Julie McMahon has been outed by the press as Bill Clinton’s “Energizer,” a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Energizer Bunny. This mother of three and socialite has publicly denied being one of Clinton’s lovers, but a plethora of purported evidence is now unfolding online in an effort to refute McMahon’s claims of innocence, as per Bizpac Review . McMahon reportedly lives just a few minutes away from Bill and Hillary Clinton’s home in New York, which is called Whitehaven. If the Clintons were Republicans, the liberal mainstream media would be calling them racists over the chosen name of their luxurious estate. Always, Julia McMahon would arrive at Whitehaven via SUV. She would only stay a few hours sometimes, but other times she would spend an entire week at the Clinton residence. Julia McMahon reportedly met both Bill and Hillary in 1998 when he was president. Although the Clinton campaign has tried to label McMahon a friend to both of the Clintons, she only visited or spent the night at the house when Hillary wasn’t home, the Daily Mail reports. Sometimes, McMahon allegedly arrived just mere minutes after the departure of the former first lady. The Secret Service agents on the Clinton Whitehaven detail were reportedly not ever privy to the woman’s name, but they were allegedly under strict orders not to approach or stop her when she arrived. Every member of a president’s family is protected by a Secret Service detail. The Secret Service reportedly uses the same letter to assign a codename to protectees. Bill Clinton’s Secret Service name is reportedly “Eagle” and Hillary’s is “Evergreen.” The Secret Service may have run out of “E” codenames over the years thanks to all of Bill’s lady friends. Author Ron Kessler revealed the name of the Energizer mistress in his new book, The First Family Detail: Secret | 0 |
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he is cracking down on sanctuary cities cutting billions of dollars in law enforcement grants. [The Department of Justice will hand out $4 billion in federal law enforcement grants over the balance of this fiscal year which ends in September. Sessions told reporters at the White House he will be working to prevent any of it from going to sanctuary jurisdictions, The Washington Times reported. “Countless Americans would be alive today … if these policies of sanctuary cities were ended,” General Sessions told reporters. The AG stated he is using a tactic that began under AG Loretta Lynch. Not only can the Attorney General withhold grants from this year’s funding requests, the DOJ can actually claw back grants made in prior years to jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with immigration officials, U. S. Representative John Culberson ( ) told Breitbart Texas. Culberson began working on defunding sanctuary jurisdictions with General Lynch, Breitbart Texas reported in December. Using the “power of the purse” entrusted to Congress, Culberson told a group of supporters in December that he has been able to “step on the air hose” of Obama’s DOJ and force the certification of ten sanctuary jurisdictions as not being in compliance with 8 U. S. C. § 1373, an existing law that requires 100 percent cooperation from local and state jurisdictions in order to receive DOJ grant funding. That law was signed by President Bill Clinton in the 1980s to force local jurisdictions to cooperate with immigration officers. “99 percent is not good enough,” Culberson stated. “These jurisdictions must cooperate 100 percent in order to qualify for these DOJ grants. They must choose between protecting illegal aliens and receiving federal funds. ” The DOJ Office of Inspector General previously certified 10 jurisdictions as not being in compliance with that law and eligible for cuts in funding: These 10 jurisdictions received 65 percent of the law enforcement grants allocated in FY2015 as of March 2016. “It is not just future funds that are at risk for these sanctuary jurisdictions,” Culberson told Breitbart Texas. “The DOJ can force them to reimburse funds received from these grant programs in the past. This means, the State of California could be forced to repay the more than $3 billion in grants received over the past 10 years. ” The AG announced three funding programs that will be cut from sanctuary jurisdictions this year. Those include the COPS, Byrne, and State Criminal Alien Assistance Program grants. Last week, U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials began releasing a report showing criminal aliens released by sanctuary jurisdictions after immigration officers placed holds on inmates. Texas led the nation with well over 70 percent of those released. In the initial report covering January 25 through February 3, 206 criminal aliens were released. Many of these are violent felons. The jurisdictions listed in this report could find themselves ineligible to receive grants this year. Following President Donald Trump’s January announcement calling for a crackdown on sanctuary jurisdictions, County immediately reversed course and rescinded its sanctuary policy, Breitbart News’ Katie McHugh reported. “I want to make sure we don’t put in jeopardy the millions of funds we get from the federal government for a $52, 000 issue,” Mayor Carlos Giménez stated. “It doesn’t mean that we’re going to be arresting more people. It doesn’t mean that we’re going to be enforcing any immigration laws,” he added. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook. | 1 |
This is an Anthem for Our Times Share on Facebook Tweet I think the world deserves to see the truth about #NoDAPL I tried my best to portray what I felt at camp, I felt LOVE. Love for all people, all living things, Mother Earth herself, and concern for future generations. I felt what this world needs at this time, Unity beyond race, concern for one another, and togetherness. I felt peace and calm. Then when the police came I felt the opposite, I... read more
I think the world deserves to see the truth about #NoDAPL
I tried my best to portray what I felt at camp, I felt LOVE. Love for all people, all living things, Mother Earth herself, and concern for future generations. I felt what this world needs at this time, Unity beyond race, concern for one another, and togetherness. I felt peace and calm. Then when the police came I felt the opposite, I felt lies, setups, and oppression, but I'm trying not to dwell on the negative. My only wishes with this video is that it helps in some way. Wasn't sure how to help so I just started filming. Much love to everyone on the front lines!! Much love Standing Rock, Oceti Sakowin, Turtle Island, all Indigenous Nations overseas, all spiritual leaders, and all beautiful Human Beings of all colors (Black, Red, White, Yellow, Pink, and Orange haha! jk). You are all important and I love you all equally! When I was at camp I got the feeling that this is the beginning of something new, something that excited me and woke me up, learning a new way to fight injustice, something bigger than what I thought it was, and it's beautiful. The energy, courage, and unity I felt at camp is inspirational. To EVERYONE at home let's keep spreading truth for those on the front lines! If anyone seeing this goes to Standing Rock, I would encourage you to be humble, sit by the microphone where they talk and feed, and listen to the leadership teach good things. It's a beautiful happening, don't go to lead, go to help... Peace love and prayers to all including the police, sheriff, gov, and ETP, maybe they will have a change of heart. And if not I'll see you on the front lines! hahaha!!!
- Prolific The Rapper
Follow Red Warrior Camp , Sacred Stone Camp , Dr0ne2bwild Photography & Video and others for the latest news daily!!.... [watch video below] | 0 |
Posted on October 28, 2016 by Andrew Midkiff
Published on Oct 27, 2016 by Historia – Bel99TV The Great Swindle –‘Big business has no shame”– 1940s rationing & monopoly bank control of U.S. economy made farmers over-produce causing large stockpiles of food, and the prices plummeted, farmers became depressed and financially squeezed. “Sales Dollar Arguments”– history repeats… Share this: | 0 |
From Monster to Mr. President-Elect: Democrats Grovel Before Trump By Andre Damon
November 11, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " WSWS " - Within a day of the election of Donald Trump, leading Democrats have moved with extraordinary speed to declare their support for the president-elect.
President Barack Obama invited Trump to the White House for a friendly 90-minute meeting on Thursday. He declared afterwards that his number-one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president-elect is successful. He added, speaking to Trump, I want to emphasize to you, Mr. President-Elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeedbecause if you succeed, then the country succeeds.
Obamas declaration stands in stark contrast to his own statements just a few days ago. Then he asserted that Trump appears to only care about himself and doesnt know basic facts that youd need to know to be president. He added that Trump spent 70 years on this earth showing no regard for working people.
That was before the Democratic debacle on Election Day. Now he declares his highest priority to be ensuring that Trump is successful.
Obamas comments followed the statement by Hillary Clinton on Wednesday that she hoped [Trump] will be a successful president for all Americans. Senator Bernie Sanders, the supposed socialist, issued his own groveling statement, declaring, To the degree that Mr. Trump is serious about pursuing policies that improve the lives of working families in this country, I and other progressives are prepared to work with him.
With such declarations, the Democrats are in effect abandoning any pretense of acting as an opposition party to a President Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress.
The proclamations of support from top Democrats are made in relation to an individual whose election clearly marks a watershed in American politics. What is coming to power is a government of the extreme right, with fascistic characteristics. There are reports that Trump wants to appoint as his chief of staff Stephen Bannon, the head of Breitbart News, an ultra-right and fascistic media outlet. His top advisors and likely cabinet appointees include reactionary figures such as former New York Mayor Rudolf Giuliani and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
In their rush to lend the transition of power an aura of normalcy, the Democrats and the media have maintained a studious silence about certain quite striking elements of the election.
No one is noting that a principal factor in the election of Trump was a significant decline in voter turnout. For all of the media talk of a surge of white working class voters behind Trump, the Republican candidate actually received one million fewer votes than Mitt Romney received in losing the 2012 election to Obama. Clinton won 6 million fewer votes than Obama won in his reelection, when the outgoing president obtained significantly fewer votes than he had received in 2008. Also virtually ignored is the extraordinary fact that Trump failed even to win the popular vote. Clinton had a higher percentage of the national vote, but she lost in the Electoral College, which involves a complex and antidemocratic apportionment based on victories in individual states. Trump will take office having failed to secure a plurality, let alone a majority, of the overall vote.
In the entire 240-year history of the United States, there have been only five elections in which the incoming president did not win the popular vote. When this happened in 1876, the Republican, Rutherford B. Hayes, became president, though he had fewer votes than the Democrat, Samuel J. Tilden. The political conflict over the outcome was so intense that the Republicans were able to hold the White House only after agreeing to the effective end of post-Civil War Reconstruction, through the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.
After a split vote in 1888, when Grover Cleveland lost to Benjamin Harrison, the winner of the Electoral Vote was also the winner of the popular vote for the next 112 years. In the 21st century, this anomaly has now happened twicein 2000 and again in 2016. In the former case, the selection of George W. Bush as president required the intervention of the Supreme Court to halt the recount of ballots in Florida.
Had Trump found himself in the position of Clinton, he would have taken his time before conceding. His concession speech, when and if it came, would have stressed that he had won the popular vote and that Crooked Hillary could not claim a mandate.
The media message would have stressed the need for Clinton to be conciliatory and acknowledge that the majority of the voters had chosen Trump. One can easily imagine CNN announcing the breaking news that Clinton had withdrawn the nomination of Obamas choice for the Supreme Court and invited the Republicans to name the replacement for the deceased Antonin Scalia.
But the Democrats have done just the opposite.
What is behind this universal about-face? President Obama said perhaps more than he intended when he declared Wednesday that we have to remember that were actually all on one team. This is an intramural scrimmagethat is, a test competition involving players from the same school.
The United States does not really have an oppositional political system. The divisions between the Democrats and Republicans, and between Clinton and Trump, are of an entirely tactical character. They all defend the same basic intereststhose of the corporate and financial aristocracy that controls the political system.
Within this framework, the Democrats are always the more accommodating and conciliatory party, since their rhetorical references to defending the interests of working peopleincluding by the likes of Bernie Sandersare thoroughly vacuous and insincere. In relation to Trump and the dangers he poses, there is an element of complete complacency, which arises from the fact that the danger is not to the Democrats or the privileged social forces for which they speak, but to the working class.
The chief concern of the Democrats is to contain popular anger. Their moves to circle the wagons around Trump are above all a response to the danger they see of the emergence of popular opposition that threatens not only the incoming government, but the capitalist system itself.
Even as Obama, Clinton, Sanders and company prostrate themselves and pledge their loyalty to Trump, thousands of youth and workers are demonstrating around the country against the president-elect. These protests are only a pale and politically disparate foretaste of mass struggles of the working class that are to come.
What is critical is that the lessons of the 2016 election be drawn and all attempts to keep opposition to war and austerity chained to the political corpse of the Democratic Party be rejected. The task is not to take back the Democratic Party or push it to the leftthe inevitable result of that false perspective has already been demonstrated in the reactionary outcome of the Sanders campaignbut to break with both parties of big business and all forms of capitalist politics and build an independent socialist and internationalist movement of the working class.
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Officials in Seattle approved the nation’s first “ ” sites for illegal drug users Friday. [The sites offer illegal drug users clean needles, medical supervision, and quick access to drugs that reverse the effects of an overdose, the Washington Post reported. Sites like those approved for Seattle have been popular in Europe for a long time, and the idea is spreading to other cities in the United States such as Boston, New York City, and Ithaca, New York. Opponents of the new sites say that they only promote illegal drug use while supporters say the sites help keep people alive and can put those who are addicted on the path to treatment. “These sites save lives and that is our goal in County,” Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said in a statement. Kelly Dineen, a professor of health law at Saint Louis University School of Law, says the sites are illegal under federal law because the Controlled Substances Act makes it illegal to operate facilities where drugs are used. The King County Board of Health voted unanimously earlier this month to approve two sites, one in Seattle and the other in the surrounding county. Murray and King County Executive Dow Constantine gave the final approval Friday. In 2015, 132 people died of heroin overdoses in King County, according to the University of Washington’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute. Nationwide, 33, 000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2015, according to the CDC. Officials hope to open up the Seattle site within a year, and both sites will be aimed at homeless drug users and will focus on giving these people health services and ultimately drug treatment. “The real goal is not to open a day spa where people can come in and have a good time and use drugs, but to engage them in treatment,” Jeff Duchin, the health officer for Seattle and King County, said. “They inject in a place where there’s a worker who can save their lives if they overdose. ” | 1 |
WASHINGTON — Emergency financing to fight the Zika virus appeared likely to be delayed until after Congress returns from its Fourth of July recess, as Democrats on Wednesday sharply criticized a new Republican proposal to provide $1. 1 billion, but with $750 million redirected from other federal programs. Republican House and Senate negotiators have been working to resolve differences between a Senate plan to provide $1. 1 billion in emergency financing for Zika and a House plan that would provide $622 million but would take the money from other programs. Both proposals offered far less money to fight Zika than the $1. 9 billion requested by the Obama administration. Still, Senate Democrats and the White House had indicated some willingness to go along with the Senate plan. But as the Republican negotiators announced Wednesday evening that they had reached a tentative agreement — which the House approved early Thursday in a vote — Democrats lashed out. They said the proposal was layered with numerous unrelated provisions that they would never accept, including an effort to restrict government financing of Planned Parenthood, the women’s health organization. While Democrats did not have any sway over the negotiations, Republicans do not have sufficient votes in the Senate to overcome procedural obstacles and approve the agreement on their own. The White House also said the legislation appeared unacceptable and would further delay the effort to combat the Zika virus, which can cause serious neurological disorders and other deformities in infants born to infected mothers. “While we are still awaiting more details on the legislation, it is clear that once again, Republicans have put political games ahead of the health and safety of the American people, particularly pregnant women and their babies,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said in a statement. “This plan from congressional Republicans is four months late and nearly a billion dollars short of what our public health experts have said is necessary to do everything possible to fight the Zika virus and steals funding from other health priorities,” Mr. Earnest added. “The fact that the Republican plan limits needed birth control services for women in the United States and Puerto Rico as we seek to stop the spread of a sexually transmitted disease is a clear indication they don’t take seriously the threat from the Zika virus or their responsibility to protect Americans. ” In an announcement late Wednesday, Republicans said their proposal included important restrictions on how the emergency money would be used. “Unlike the administration’s request that allowed overly broad authority for federal agencies to use Zika dollars with little accountability, this legislation places tight controls and oversight on spending to ensure that every dollar is being used appropriately,” the statement from the House Appropriations Committee said. In a statement, Representative Hal Rogers, Republican of Kentucky and chairman of the Appropriations Committee, praised the legislation. “This is a solid agreement that will adequately and effectively fund resources for our troops and their families, our veterans, and to fight and prevent the spread of the Zika virus,” Mr. Rogers said. “It is the product of careful and thorough deliberations between the House and the Senate, and reflects a responsible compromise that can and should be signed into law. ” Mr. Rogers urged Democrats to approve the legislation given the expected arrival of mosquitoes in the United States. “Mosquito season is upon us these dollars must get out the door now to help control the spread of the Zika virus and continue efforts to stop this disease, such as vaccine and treatment development and deployment,” he said. But Democrats, including the party’s Senate leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, had nothing but sharp criticism. “A narrowly partisan proposal that cuts off women’s access to birth control, shortchanges veterans and rescinds Obamacare funds to cover the cost is not a serious response to the threat from the Zika virus,” Mr. Reid said in a statement. “In short, Republicans are trying to turn an attempt to protect women’s health into an attack on women’s health. We waited four months for Republicans to do anything to combat Zika. Their proposal would be comical except this a public health emergency and it deserves urgency. ” The money to fight the Zika virus was included in an $82. 5 billion annual appropriations measure covering military construction and veterans’ affairs programs for 2017. Republicans stressed that the legislation would provide $2. 6 billion more for those programs than in 2016, but Democrats said it still did not provide sufficient funding for veterans. It was not immediately clear how congressional leaders might resolve the impasse, or when the federal money for Zika would ultimately be approved. | 1 |
By Brianna Acuesta Beauty products that claim to be “organic” or “natural” are far from it. When it comes to the term “organic,” there’s actually not as much regulation... | 0 |
If you’ve been paying attention, you probably know that vaccines have been a huge topic of discussion for a long time now, and a very emotional one as well. But regardless of which side of the debate we are on, our worries are well justified. We have seen many diseases emerge over the course of human history that we want to protect ourselves and our children from, and so we came up with ways to do that. The challenge is, our methods may have also increased our risk for developing other diseases and health problems, and we need to look at that side of the story.
Right off the top, we need to stop looking at it from a pro or anti vaccine stance, relying on blind faith and emotion to support our views. Both sides of the coin use propaganda to bash the other and this actually reduces a very serious conversation to hate fuelled and fact deficient bickering. The media has also done a great job of ensuring that questioning this topic is seen as sheer heresy to begin with. But there are real concerns and very real information backing those concerns to consider.
As a human race, we need to come together, drop all the arguments, and simply figure things out for the betterment of all — not for pharmaceutical gain, not because we’re afraid to change (or because we’ve ‘always’ done things this way), and not because we want to prove the government or ‘the man’ was wrong. We need to approach all things openly like this, in the spirit of community and collaboration.
One thing I’ve always wanted to do is create a space for scientists to conduct unbiased research on this issue — to take 10 scientists whose research shows that vaccines are safe and 10 scientists whose research shows the opposite and get them in on an independently funded study, working together. This would ensure there is no fudging of science, results, data or anything by either side to produce desired results.
Education People have been very misled about a lot of public health issues in our world. This was made clear most recently when the Heart and Stroke Foundation released a new statement about heart health. They claim (finally) that saturated fats are actually not the problem, nor unhealthy, and it’s more about a well thought out diet than anything else.[1] The idea that saturated fats have been vilified and are actually very important to brain health has been going around for decades through people the mainstream considers quacks, yet as is so often the case, these people were proven correct a couple decades later when the mainstream finally caught up.
I believe we need to keep these types of track records in mind when we are presented with ideas that are new or alternative to what is currently accepted. We could start to slow the dissemination of poor health information in the mainstream, the belief in which is misleading people and causing them to lead less healthy lives.
Vaccine education is also very important. There’s plenty of misinformation out there on both sides of the coin and it’s causing confusion among the masses. Part of this is a result of lack of public knowledge, since it’s often difficult to find good information, and part of it is a result of the mainstream handing out inaccurate information to shape and manipulate public opinion.
A great example of that is with common diseases, which people believe vaccines eradicated completely. Yet in truth, they were either wiped out naturally or eliminated by some other societal upgrade. Why is this important to know? Because the more we know about what is ACTUALLY going on, the better we can stop responding to these issues emotionally and the clearer the picture becomes for how to move forward.
Here is a graph from the Journal of Pediatrics that illustrates how clean water and effective sewer systems caused the greatest decreases in most infectious diseases, not vaccinations.
Here is another key link for future reading that looks at vaccinations from an honest point of view.
Check out the video below.
Here is a transcript of the video for those who cannot watch it.
Ty Bollinger: But didn’t vaccines wipe out all the communicable diseases: the diphtheria, the pertussis, the polio, weren’t vaccines responsible for that?
Dr. Sherri Tenpenny (vaccine expert): You know, it’s interesting, because every time someone is new to this topic it always starts from, “Well, what about smallpox, what about polio?” Well, I do an hour and a half talk on that so I can maybe give you two sentences that say the answer is no. That less than 10 percent of the global population was actually vaccinated for the smallpox vaccine, and it was a virus that was dying out and becoming weaker over time, and when we introduced hygiene and refrigeration, that’s when the smallpox started to go away. And then, of course, it morphed into this other type of virus called monkeypox, and so smallpox is still around, it’s just given a different name.
The same thing with polio. The epidemic of polio in this country was well on its way out before 1954 when FDR released the polio vaccine. And we’ve seen nothing but travesty about that ever since. And the only places in the world that still report any polio are places that are using the oral polio vaccine, which is a live virus.
The other thing is that polio is not a synonym for paralysis, and that the vast majority of people don’t understand that 98 percent of people who actually were exposed to the polio virus, and maybe even contracted the infection [that] caused polio, it was nothing more than looking like a stomach flu. It was some diarrhea. It was maybe a little bit of fever, and it just passed through that you maybe thought you had food poisoning and then you had lifetime immunity to this gastrointestinal virus.
But we have done such an amazingly good job impregnating multi-generationally into people’s brains about iron lungs and little children with braces and people with deformed limbs. That happened so infrequently in the big picture, but yet we have this horrifying terror of polio when we really shouldn’t.
I mean we’ve spent billions of dollars around the world to eliminate that virus. What if we would have spent those billions of dollars on potable water and refrigeration and better hygiene? What could we have done with that?
Learn from some of the smartest people alive… doctors and scientists revealing information that is being suppressed from you by the mainstream media and the medical establishment. Please share this important truth about vaccines with friends and family below.
1. http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ikIQLcMWJtE&b=3485819&ct=14762937
Related CE Article that is heavily sourced: The Top 6 Reasons Why Parents Should Never Be Forced To Vaccinate Their Children.
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HONG KONG — The Chinese government plans to intervene in a legal dispute in Hong Kong over two politicians who have been prevented from taking seats in the local legislature, officials said on Friday, raising fears that the territory’s independent judiciary is under threat. A decision may come on Monday. What is this case about? Two politicians who advocate independence for Hong Kong — Yau 25, and Sixtus Leung, 30 — were elected to the city’s Legislative Council in September. On Oct. 12, as they were being sworn in, they deviated from the oath of office by saying “ ” instead of China. Many consider the term a derogatory slur against Chinese people because it was used by the Japanese in World War II. Ms. Yau also added a crude epithet. The clerk ruled their oaths invalid, preventing them from taking office, and the president of the Legislative Council scheduled another session for the pair to be sworn in. But the Hong Kong government went to court, arguing that Ms. Yau and Mr. Leung should not be allowed to take their seats on the council. What does the law say? Hong Kong, a former British colony, is governed by a charter known as the Basic Law, which was negotiated before the area returned to Chinese rule in 1997. One provision says legislators must “swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. ” There is also a local statute that says any person “who declines or neglects to take an oath duly requested” is disqualified from entering office, or must vacate the post if he or she has already done so. The Hong Kong government, which is led by a chief executive who is essentially appointed by Beijing, argued in court on Thursday that the two politicians have declined to take the oath and should be disqualified. But a lawyer representing the president of the Legislative Council argued that the question should be decided by the legislature, not the courts or the executive branch. How can the Chinese government intervene? The Basic Law gives Beijing the authority to issue interpretations of the charter. Specifically, it grants the power to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. It is rare, however, for the Chinese government to issue an interpretation of the Basic Law without being asked to do so by Hong Kong’s highest court or by the Hong Kong government. That has happened only once since 1997, and the committee has never issued an unsolicited opinion on a matter under active consideration by the courts in Hong Kong. On Friday, officials said the Chinese government planned to do just that, potentially issuing a ruling before the courts have finished hearing the case. What is at stake? Some say the independence of the courts in Hong Kong is at risk. The territory’s reputation for rule of law has been crucial to its success as an international financial hub, so any move that undermines its judicial system could have repercussions beyond this particular case. China promised “a high degree of autonomy” for Hong Kong in a treaty with Britain, but people have worried that it has been interfering in the territory’s affairs and undermining civil liberties. In the past year, five local booksellers who sold publications critical of Beijing disappeared and later showed up in Chinese custody. Two years ago, hundreds of thousands of protesters occupied major roads in Hong Kong demanding free elections to select the city’s top official. The Hong Kong Bar Association says intervention by the Chinese government would be “a severe blow” to the judiciary and to the principle of in the territory. Even the Hong Kong government says the case should be decided in Hong Kong’s courts. What might happen next? The Chinese government is worried that sentiment in Hong Kong is growing and wants it to stop. It has pilloried Ms. Yau and Mr. Leung in particular, and may issue a narrow ruling that bars them from taking office. But it might go further and try to block all candidates from running for office. Simon Young, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong, said a ruling by Beijing would probably be messy and incomplete because the country’s leaders do not appreciate and do not understand Hong Kong’s highly developed legal system, which draws on precedents set over hundreds of years. Many questions could be left unanswered. For example, what if a person who once supported independence for Hong Kong has a change of heart? Would he or she be eligible to serve in the legislature? Hong Kong’s courts will have to fill in the gaps, inviting further interpretations of the Basic Law by Beijing, “and that, of course, will create even more chaos,” Mr. Young said. | 1 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: • The second presidential debate. Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump spent nearly 90 minutes exchanging personal attacks Sunday night, suggesting that the final weeks before Election Day on Nov. 8 will be an ugly political brawl. Mrs. Clinton criticized Mr. Trump for not showing remorse after several provocative comments during the campaign, and Mr. Trump accused her of having “tremendous hate in her heart. ” He also repeatedly described recorded remarks from 2005, in which he boasted that he could grope women because he was a celebrity, as “ talk. ” Here are more highlights from the debate. • analysis. The takeaways: Mrs. Clinton stuck to a safe script and leveled no surprise attacks Mr. Trump widened his political vulnerabilities with comments. Who won? According to some pundits, Mr. Trump exceeded expectations and showed supporters that his campaign wasn’t over. Finally, we several of the nominees’ statements. • Fallout from lewd comments from 2005. Mr. Trump has threatened to retaliate against Republican lawmakers who withdrew their support for him. The list has grown to more than 160 prominent party members. And Billy Bush, the “Today” show host who was bantering with Mr. Trump on the recording, has been suspended by NBC. We look at why the network was slow to report its own story about the video despite knowing about it last Monday. • Hurricane Matthew’s toll. Nearly 900 people died in Haiti as a result of the storm that blasted the island last week, and more than 500, 000 remain stranded in the country’s south. “God gives and God takes,” a resident in one town said. “Mankind, for all the evil he does, could never do something like this. ” In the U. S. at least 17 people were killed by the hurricane, which caused record flooding in North Carolina. • More problems for Samsung. The world’s biggest smartphone maker temporarily suspended production of its Galaxy Note 7 devices after reports of fires in its replacement models. The company had previously said it would recall 2. 5 million Note 7 phones over reports that the battery could catch fire. • Nobel in economics science. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science was awarded this morning to Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom for their insights into how best to write contracts. • Choosing a voice for conversational computing, an emerging field in technology, reflects society’s preconceptions around race and gender. Companies are having to decide whether it is better to succeed by complying with a stereotype, or risk failure by going against type. • A automotive company is turning to an unlikely ally for advertising help: the satirical news outlet The Onion. • Resolving workplace conflicts with empathy and forgiveness can improve conditions at work, a business professor’s recent studies have found. • U. S. stocks finished down on Friday. Here’s a snapshot of global markets. • Two police officers in Palm Springs, Calif. were shot and killed while responding to a domestic disturbance. • Pope Francis named 17 new cardinals, including three Americans, the most he named from any one country. • Ethiopia has declared a state of emergency after months of antigovernment protests have left an estimated 500 people dead. • In sports, Tom Brady returned from his N. F. L. suspension and threw for over 400 yards to lead New England to victory. Toronto moved on to the American League Championship Series, and Cleveland and Chicago are a win away from advancing in the M. L. B. playoffs. • “The Girl on the Train” was the top movie at the North American box office. “The Birth of a Nation” had a disappointing opening. • Obama’s valedictory tour. President Obama made a rare stop in his adopted hometown, Chicago, spending Friday and Saturday there for a and some golf. He also spent time with supporters discussing plans for his presidential library and charitable foundation in the city. • New market for medical marijuana. Some owners of dogs and cats are giving their pets remedies to treat seizures, inflammation, anxiety and pain. The Food and Drug Administration, though, has not approved marijuana for domesticated animals, citing a lack of research showing its effectiveness. • Start the week with style. Here are 50 of our best photographs from fashion month. • Recipe of the day. Take it easy with this classic tuna salad sandwich. Columbus Day is being observed in the U. S. today. In Canada, it’s Thanksgiving. And new holidays seem to be invented every year. Today is also Handbag Day and Angel Food Cake Day. One event on this date, though, highlights a more serious subject: World Homeless Day. Started in 2010, the day seeks to bring attention to homelessness, a problem that affects tens of millions of people worldwide, according to the United Nations. In the U. S. more than a people live on the streets or in shelters for temporary stays. But national statistics show that homelessness is declining. And Salt Lake City has been held up as a model. The city’s approach is simple: Before tackling the problems that led someone to become homeless, those in need first receive a place to live. The program is credited with reducing the number of chronically homeless people across the state by 91 percent since 2005. Lloyd Pendleton, who leads Utah’s homeless task force, initially doubted the plan. “I get probably two to five calls a week now,” he said in an interview last year, “wanting to know how we did it. ” For information on how you can help, the National Alliance to End Homelessness and the National Coalition for the Homeless offer resources. Your Morning Briefing is published weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern and updated on the web all morning. What would you like to see here? Contact us at briefing@nytimes. com. You can sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox. | 1 |
One Veteran’s War on Islamophobia Nate Terani and Nick Turse, October 31, 2016 Share This
Originally posted at TomDispatch .
Recently, I was asked a question about Kill Anything That Moves , my history of civilian suffering during the Vietnam War. An interviewer wanted to know how I responded to veterans who took offense at the (supposed) implication that every American who served in Vietnam committed atrocities.
I think I softly snorted and slowly shook my head.
Already two books behind me, Kill Anything That Moves might as well have been written by someone else in another lifetime. In some sense, it was.
It takes effort for me to dredge up the faded memories of that work, a Kodachrome-hued swirl of hundreds of interviews on two continents over the course of a decade. But this particular question was easy enough to answer. Almost all the Americans I interviewed had seen combat, but most American veterans of the war hadn’t. Many had little or no real opportunity to commit war crimes. Case closed.
But that question caused me to recall a host of related queries that churned around the book. Questions by skeptics, atrocity-deniers, fair-minded interviewers attempting to play devil’s advocate. A favorite was whether the book was "anti-veteran." That, too, was a head-shaker for me.
"How could that be?" I would respond. After all, the book owed its genesis to veterans. Veterans were key sources for it. Veterans provided the evidence. Veterans provided the quotes. Veterans even supplied the title. The book was, to a great extent, the history of the war as described to me by veterans. The story I told was their story. How could that in any way be anti-veteran?
Many of the vets I spoke with viewed their truth-telling as a form of patriotism, of continuing service to country. Nate Terani’s inaugural TomDispatch essay follows in the same American tradition. His eyes were opened to the abuse of military power while living in Iran as a boy. Later he would join the U.S. Navy and wear the stars and stripes with particular pride. September 11th and all that came after – notably the demonization of his Muslim faith in his homeland – imbued him with a new mission, one he now views as no less sacred than his military service.
From Smedley Butler to Andrew Bacevich , Daniel Ellsberg to Chelsea Manning , Vietnam Veterans Against the War to Iraq Veterans Against the War , the U.S. armed forces have produced a steady stream of truth-tellers and whistleblowers, men and women willing to serve their country in profound ways during trying times. There’s no bronze star for activism, no Navy Cross for unpopular or contrarian opinions, no Purple Heart for the hard knocks involved in speaking out against war crimes or Islamophobia or laying bare information vital to the American public. Veterans who dare to do so have sometimes walked a cold, lonely road far from the warm glow enjoyed by summer soldiers and sunshine patriots. Those who do so exhibit a special form of courage that may even exceed the bravery of the battlefield, the courage to stand tall and make oneself a target, a courage deserving ( with a nod to Thomas Paine ) of the love and thanks of man and woman. ~ Nick Turse
Tehran, USA Fighting Fundamentalism in America By Nate Terani
I’m not an immigrant, but my grandparents are. More than 50 years ago, they arrived in New York City from Iran. I grew up mainly in central New Jersey, an American kid playing little league for the Raritan Red Sox and soccer for the Raritan Rovers. In 1985, I travelled with my family to our ancestral land. I was only eight, but old enough to understand that the Iranians had lost their liberty and freedom. I saw the abject despair of a people who, in a desperate attempt to bring about change, had ushered in nationalist tyrants led by Ayatollah Khomeini.
What I witnessed during that year in Iran changed the course of my life. In 1996, at age 19, wanting to help preserve the blessings of liberty and freedom we enjoy in America, I enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Now, with the rise of Donald Trump and his nationalist alt-right movement, I’ve come to feel that the values I sought to protect are in jeopardy.
In Iran, theocratic fundmentalists sowed division and hatred of outsiders – of Westerners, Christians, and other religious minorities. Here in America, the right wing seems to have stolen passages directly from their playbook as it spreads hatred of immigrants, particularly Muslim ones. This form of nationalistic bigotry – Islamophobia – threatens the heart of our nation. When I chose to serve in the military, I did so to protect what I viewed as our sacred foundational values of liberty, equality, and democracy. Now, 20 years later, I’ve joined forces with fellow veterans to again fight for those sacred values, this time right here at home.
"Death to America!"
As a child, I sat in my class at the international school one sunny morning and heard in the distance the faint sounds of gunfire and rising chants of "Death to America!" That day would define the rest of my life.
It was Tehran, the capital of Iran, in 1985. I was attending a unique school for bilingual students who had been born in Western nations. It had become the last refuge in that city with any tolerance for Western teaching, but that also made it a target for military fundamentalists. As the gunfire drew closer, I heard boots pounding the marble tiles outside, marching into our building, and thundering down the corridor toward my classroom. As I heard voices chanting "Death to America!" I remember wondering if I would survive to see my parents again.
In a flash of green and black uniforms, those soldiers rushed into our classroom, grabbed us by our shirt collars, and yelled at us to get outside. We were then packed into the school’s courtyard where a soldier pointed his rifle at our group and commanded us to look up. Almost in unison, my classmates and I raised our eyes and saw the flags of our many nations being torn down and dangled from the balcony, then set ablaze and tossed, still burning, into the courtyard. As those flags floated to the ground in flames, the soldiers fired their guns in the air. Shouting, they ordered us – if we ever wanted to see our families again – to swear allegiance to the Grand Ayatollah Khomeini and trample on the remains of the burning symbols of our home countries. I scanned the smoke that was filling the courtyard for my friends and classmates and, horrified, watched them capitulate and begin to chant, "Death to America!" as they stomped on our sacred symbols.
I was so angry that, young as I was, I began to plead with them to come to their senses. No one paid the slightest attention to an eight year old and yet, for the first time in my life, I felt something like righteous indignation. I suspect that, born and raised in America, I was already imbued with such a sense of privilege that I just couldn’t fathom the immense danger I was in. Certainly, I was acting in ways no native Iranian would have found reasonable.
Across the smoke-filled courtyard, I saw a soldier coming at me and knew he meant to force me to submit. I spotted an American flag still burning, dropped to my knees, and grabbed the charred pieces from underneath a classmate’s feet. As the soldier closed in on me, I ducked and ran, still clutching my charred pieces of flag into a crowd of civilians who had gathered to witness the commotion. The events of that day would come to define all that I have ever stood for – or against.
"Camel Jockey,""Ayatollah," and "Gandhi"
My parents and I soon returned to the United States and I entered third grade. More than anything, I just wanted to be normal, to fit in and be accepted by my peers. Unfortunately, my first name, Nader (which I changed to Nate upon joining the Navy), and my swarthy Middle Eastern appearance, were little help on that score, eliciting regular jibes from my classmates. Even at that young age, they had already mastered a veritable thesaurus of ethnic defamation, including "camel jockey,""sand-nigger,""raghead,""ayatollah," and ironically, "Gandhi" (which I now take as a compliment). My classmates regularly sought to "other-ize" me in those years, as if I were a lesser American because of my faith and ethnicity.
Yet I remember that tingling in my chest when I first donned my Cub Scout uniform – all because of the American flag patch on its shoulder. Something felt so good about wearing it, a feeling I still had when I joined the military. It seems that the flag I tried to rescue in Tehran was stapled to my heart, or that’s how I felt anyway as I wore my country’s uniform.
When I took my oath of enlistment in the U.S. Navy, I gave my mom a camera and asked her to take some photos, but she was so overwhelmed with pride and joy that she cried throughout the ceremony and managed to snap only a few images of the carpet. She cried even harder when I was selected to serve as the first Muslim-American member of the U.S. Navy Presidential Ceremonial Honor Guard . On that day, I was proud, too, and all the taunts of those bullies of my childhood seemed finally silenced.
Being tormented because of my ethnicity and religion in those early years had another effect on me. It caused me to become unusually sensitive to the nature of other people. Somehow, I grasped that, if it weren’t for a fear of the unknown, there was an inherent goodness and frail humanity lurking in many of the kids who bullied and harassed me. Often, I discovered, those same bullies could be tremendously kind to their families, friends, or even strangers. I realized, then, that if, despite everything, I could lay myself bare and trust them enough to reach out in kindness, I might in turn gain their trust and they might then see me, too, and stop operating from such a place of fear and hate.
Through patience, humor, and understanding, I was able to offer myself as the embodiment of my people and somehow defang the "otherness" of so much that Americans found scary. To this day, I have friends from elementary school, middle school, high school, and the military who tell me that I am the only Muslim they have ever known and that, had they not met me, their perspective on Islam would have been wholly subject to the prevailing fear-based narrative that has poisoned this country since September 11, 2001.
In 1998, I became special assistant to the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy and then, in 1999, I was recruited to serve atthe Defense Intelligence Agency. In August 2000, I transferred to the Naval Reserve.
In the wake of 9/11, I began to observe how so many of my fellow Americans were adopting a fundamentalist "us vs. them" attitude towards Muslims and Islam. I suddenly found myself in an America where the scattered insults I had endured as a child took on an overarching and sinister meaning and form, where they became something like an ideology and way of life.
By the time I completed my military service in 2006, I had begun to understand that our policies in the Middle East,similarly disturbed, seemed in pursuit of little more than perpetual warfare. That, in turn, was made possible by the creation of a new enemy: Islam – or rather of a portrait, painted by the powers-that-be, of Islam as a terror religion, as a hooded villain lurking out there somewhere in the desert, waiting to destroy us. I knew that attempting to dispel, through the patient approach of my childhood, the kind of Islamophobia that now had the country by the throat was not going to be enough. Post-9/11 attacks on Muslims in the U.S. and elsewhere were not merely childish taunts.
For the first time in my life, in a country gripped by fear, I believed I was witnessing a shift, en masse, toward an American fundamentalism and ultra-nationalism that reflected a wanton lack of reason, not to mention fact. As a boy in Iran, I had witnessed the dark destination down which such a path could take a country. Now, it seemed to me, in America’s quest to escape the verydemons we had sown by our own misadventures in the Middle East, and forsaking the hallmarks of our founding, we risked becoming everything we sought to defeat.
The Boy in the Schoolyard Grown Up
On February 10, 2015, three young American students, Yusor Abu-Salha, Razan Abu-Salha, and Deah Shaddy Barakat, were executed at an apartment complex in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The killer was a gun-crazy white man filled with hate and described by his own daughter as "a monster." Those assassinations struck a special chord of sorrow and loss in me. My mom and I cried and prayed together for those students and their families.
The incident in Chapel Hill also awoke in me some version of the righteous indignation I had felt so many years earlier in that smoke-filled courtyard in Iran. I would be damned if I stood by while kids in my country were murdered simply because of their faith. It violated every word of the oath I had taken when I joined the military and desecrated every value I held in my heart as a sacred tenet of our nation. White nationalists and bigots had, by then, thrown down the gauntlet for so much of this, using Islamophobia to trigger targeted assassinations in the United States. This was terrorism, pure and simple, inspired by hate-speakers here at home.
At that moment, I reached out to fellow veterans who, I thought, might be willing to help – and it’s true what they say about soul mates being irrevocably drawn to each other. When I contacted Veterans For Peace , an organization dedicated to exposing the costs of war and militarism, I found the leadership well aware of the inherent dangers of Islamophobia and of the need to confront this new enemy. So Executive Director Michael McPhearson formed a committee of vets from around the country to decide how those of us who had donned uniforms to defend this land could best battle the phenomenon – and I, of course, joined it.
From that committee emerged Veterans Challenge Islamophobia (VCI). It now has organizers in Arizona, Georgia, New Jersey, and Texas, and that’s just a beginning. Totally nonpartisan, VCI focuses on politicians of any party who engage in hate speech. We’ve met with leaders of American Muslim communities, sat with them through Ramadan, and attended their Iftar dinners to break our fasts together. In the wake of the Orlando shooting , we at VCI also mobilized to fight back against attempts to pit the Muslim community against the LGBTQ+ community.
Our group was born of the belief that, as American military veterans, we had a responsibility to call out bigotry, hatred, and the perpetuation of endless warfare. We want the American Muslim community to know that they have allies, and that those allies are indeed veterans as well. We stand with them and for them and, for those of us who are Muslim, among them.
Nationalism and xenophobia have no place in American life, and I, for my part, don’t think Donald Trump or anyone like him should be able to peddle Islamophobia in an attempt to undermine our national unity. Without Islamophobia, there no longer exists a "clash of civilizations." Without Islamophobia, whatever the problems in the world may be, there is no longer an "us vs. them" and it’s possible to begin reimagining a world of something other than perpetual war.
As of now, this remains the struggle of my life, for despite my intense love for America, some of my countrymen increasingly see American Muslims as the "other," the enemy.
My Mom taught me as a boy that the only thing that mattered was what was in my heart. Now, with her in mind and as a representative of VCI, when I meet fellow Americans I always remember my childhood experiences with my bullying peers. And I still lay myself bare, as I did then. I give trust to gain trust, but always knowing that these days this isn’t just a matter of niceties. It’s a question of life or death. It’s part of a battle for the soul of our nation.
In many ways, I still consider myself that boy in the school courtyard in Tehran trying to rescue charred pieces of that flag from those trampling feet. It’s just that now I’m doing it in my own country.
Nate Terani is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and served in military intelligence with the Defense Intelligence Agency. He is currently a member of the leadership team at Common Defense PAC and regional campaign organizer with Veterans Challenge Islamophobia . He is a featured columnist with the Arizona Muslim Voice newspaper.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook . Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Nick Turse’s Next Time They’ll Come to Count the Dead , and Tom Engelhardt’s latest book, Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World .
Copyright 2016 Nate Terani | 0 |
Every time I try to be mad at Trump, the media reel me back in by launching some ridiculous, unprovoked attack. This time, it’s the fake news story about Trump “leaking” classified information to the Russkies. [The president can’t “leak” classified information: It’s his to declassify. The big secret Trump allegedly revealed is that Muslims might try to blow up a plane with laptops. I already knew that. I read it in The New York Times. The New York Times, March 22, 2017: Devices Banned on Some Planes Over ISIS Fears, Intelligence showing that the Islamic State is developing a bomb hidden in portable electronics spurred the United States and Britain on Tuesday to bar passengers from airports in a total of 10 countries from carrying laptop computers … two senior American counterterrorism officials said. … This totally secret, Deep information has been widely published in thousands of news outlets throughout the civilized world. There was yet another round of stories last week with the update that the U. S. is considering a laptop ban on flights from Europe as well. Hey, you know what might make more sense than banning laptops? How about banning Muslims? Bear with me here, I’m still working out the details, but I’m almost certain a federal judge in Hawaii can’t block a president’s temporary ban on Muslim immigration just because he’s testy with Trump over some campaign statements. As Northwestern law professor Eugene Kontorovich explained in The Washington Post, courts have never examined a politician’s campaign statements for improper motive, because 1) campaigns are not part of the deliberative process and 2) to start doing so would open the door to “examinations of the entire lives of political officials whose motives may be relevant to legal questions. ” Nonetheless, Kontorovich says, that is the legal argument being advanced against Trump’s travel ban: “Trump is a bigot, and thus his winning presidential campaign in fact impeaches him from exercising key constitutional and statutory powers, such as administering the immigration laws. ” To preserve their judicial coup, this Monday, the 9th Circuit sent out the geriatric ward to hear an appeal of the Hawaii judge’s absurd ruling. At their ages, there’s a good chance the judges will be dead by the time the Supreme Court overturns them. Arguing against Trump’s exercise of his constitutional and statutory powers was American, Neal Katyal. (There are plenty of . You couldn’t get one of them to argue that we should end our country through mass immigration?) At oral argument before the three wheezing gargoyles, Katyal announced that, before enforcing federal immigration laws passed by generations of Democrats and Republicans working together in Congress, the president of the United States is required to profess: “Islam is peace. ” There’s a new legal principle! Asked by one of the if Trump is the only president who would be prohibited from issuing this precise travel ban because of his statements about Muslims, the smarmy, preening, pretentious Katyal answered: “I think the most important point is, if you don’t say all these things, you never wind up with an executive order like this. ” As lawyers say: Nonresponsive! But as long as we’re operating under these new rules for determining a U. S. president’s rights and responsibilities, how about looking at everything Trump has said about Muslims? For example, may the courts consider this quote from September 2015? Trump: “I love the Muslims. I think they are great people. … Would I consider putting a in my Cabinet? Oh, absolutely. No problem with that. ” Lawyers like Katyal aren’t telling the courts what Trump said they’re telling courts their own crazy interpretations of what Trump said. No liberal is capable of accurately reporting Trump’s position because the left never understood his position in the first place. As Peter Thiel said, the media take Trump literally, but not seriously, while the people take him seriously, but not literally. After the San Bernardino terrorist attacks in December 2015, Trump made the perfectly reasonable suggestion that we curtail our breakneck importation of Muslims, some of whom periodically erupt in murderous violence. The media concluded: TRUMP HATES MUSLIMS! Nothing Trump or anyone else said could persuade them otherwise. Here’s what Trump actually said: What’s happened is, we’re out of control. We have no idea who’s coming into our country. We have no idea if they love us or if they hate us. … I have friends that are Muslims. They are great people. But they know we have a problem. They know we have a real problem. ‘Cause something is going on. And we can’t put up with it, folks. … “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. … Where the hatred comes from and why — we’ll have to determine, we’re going to have to figure it out. We have to figure it out. We can’t live like this. It’s going to get worse and worse. You’re going to have more World Trade Centers. … ” Throughout the campaign, Trump supporters tried in vain to explain the “Muslim ban” to a hostile media dead set on interpreting everything out of Trump’s mouth in the ugliest possible way. For example, our general policy on Muslim immigration would be “No, thanks!” but there would be exceptions. So Charles Krauthammer can stop worrying about King Abdullah of Jordan. In March, Trump supporter Andy Dean told a dense CNN anchor: He’s talking about the culture of Islam in the Middle East. … We love Muslims in America and they love us. Why? We have a great culture that respects women’s rights. … The thing about Muslims in the Middle East is they don’t respect women’s rights. If a woman wants to get a divorce in the Middle East, that woman could be killed. If you want to leave the religion of Islam in the Middle East, you can be killed. It’s very real. To the same blockhead anchor, Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany had to fill in an edited quote the network had just shown of Trump: It’s important to know what happened 15 seconds later. Anderson Cooper said to him, “Are you speaking of radical Islam or are you speaking of Islam?” He said radical sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference, though. So he did say radical Islam. He said it repeatedly during his campaign. He said, “I have Muslim friends. I love the Muslim people. ” … One of Trump’s vast number of supporters told HLN’s Drew Pinksy: I love what (Trump) is doing with the Muslims getting out of the country, because if they really knew what that was about — if they knew that that was about freedom. It was about freedom versus enslavement. He’s right. It’s not about religion. It’s not about nationality. It’s about hitting the pause button on bringing in radical Islam’s dysfunctional, misogynist, violent, culture. The voters understood Trump. (At least some of us did — barely enough of us to elect him president!) Liberals didn’t. But now the courts are blocking Trump’s exercise of presidential powers based on the left’s own idiotic misinterpretations of what he said. | 1 |
LONDON — One way or another, Britain will have its second female prime minister. The governing Conservative Party took another step on Thursday in its process to replace Prime Minister David Cameron, winnowing the contest to two candidates: Theresa May, the home secretary, and Andrea Leadsom, the junior energy minister. When the contest is concluded in September, one of them will become the first woman to lead Britain since Margaret Thatcher, also a Conservative, stepped down in 1990. The winner will take over as Britain grapples with how to carry through with its stunning decision last month to withdraw from the European Union, a choice that Mr. Cameron opposed and that led him to announce he would step aside once the party chose a successor. Ms. May quietly supported remaining in the European Union but has since said that she respects the outcome of the June 23 referendum and that she will seek the best possible deal for Britain as it negotiates its withdrawal from the bloc. She dominated the first stage of the selection process, in which the field is narrowed to two candidates through voting by the 330 Conservative members of the House of Commons. Ms. May, 59, remains the favorite, but in the next round will be judged by a different constituency: registered party members, many of whom were vociferous supporters of leaving the European Union. Conservative Party headquarters has for days been unable or unwilling to disclose how many registered voters there are, but the House of Commons Library said that the latest published figure of 149, 800 stems from December 2013. Voters will mail in their ballots, with the winner, to be announced on Sept. 9, becoming party leader and prime minister without having to call a general election. Ms. Leadsom, 53, the in Thursday’s round of voting by members of Parliament, was a vocal advocate of leaving the European Union. In finishing second and qualifying for the final round, she eliminated Michael Gove, the justice secretary, who helped lead the Leave campaign. Mr. Gove had announced his candidacy just before the deadline last week, and in doing so torpedoed the hopes of his partner in the Leave campaign, Boris Johnson, the former London mayor, to succeed Mr. Cameron. Ms. May holds one of the posts in the British government and is considered the more experienced candidate — serious and competent but lacking charisma. Ms. Leadsom, who had a low profile and entered government as a junior minister only in 2014, has been accused of inflating her résumé. As recently as three years ago, she supported continued British membership in the European Union. Ms. Leadsom put her 25 years of working in financial services before becoming a legislator in 2010 at the center of her leadership campaign, but those who worked with her have told reporters that she exaggerated her role at Barclays Bank and Invesco Perpetual, a fund manager. She told Sky News, “My CV is correct. ” In Thursday’s voting, Ms. May received 199 votes, Ms. Leadsom 84 and Mr. Gove 46. Ms. May and Ms. Leadsom are both ideological conservatives whose backgrounds are far different from those of the male circle that has dominated Conservative politics since Mr. Cameron became party leader in 2005. Both women went to state schools, where Ms. May won a place at Oxford. Ms. Leadsom went to the University of Warwick. Ms. May said on Twitter that she was gratified by support from across the Conservative Party, including both people who favored membership in the European Union and those against it. “I’ve always said there should be a proper contest. Now is the time for me and my team to take our case out to members in the country,” she wrote. “We need proven leadership to negotiate the best deal as we leave the E. U. unite our party, and build a country that works for everyone. ” In a speech on Thursday, Ms. Leadsom said she would focus on “the continued success of the U. K. economy,” which has been hit hard by Brexit, raising fears of an increased budget deficit from lower growth and lower tax receipts. “Prosperity should be our goal, not austerity,” she said. She also said that “trade must be our top priority: continued free trade with the E. U. ” She added that she favored “fair but controlled immigration,” without explaining how trade with the European Union could be maintained while scrapping European rules on freedom of movement and labor, which she also has said she intends to do. European Union leaders have repeatedly said that access to the single market of the European Union is not possible without accepting freedom of movement and labor. Ms. Leadsom had initially agreed to back Mr. Johnson in return for the promise of a high government post. He was supposed to call or text her confirming their arrangement by a certain time, but failed to do so, prompting Ms. Leadsom to announce her own surprise candidacy. Simon Jenkins, writing in The Guardian, defended Brexit as the instrument of a great clearing out of a stagnant British politics. “It has got rid of a prime minister and is about to get rid of a leader of the opposition,” he wrote. “It will soon be rid of a chancellor of the Exchequer and a lord chancellor. It is also rid of two, if not four, Tory heirs apparent. ” Even more, Mr. Jenkins said, the Labour Party is in chaos and the Greens and the U. K. Independence Party have both lost their leaders. “An entire political class is on the way out. As Oscar Wilde said of the death of Little Nell, it would take a heart of stone not to laugh. ” | 1 |
REYHANLI, Turkey — After an airstrike on his village, a Syrian farmer hurried to rescue the initial victims of the attack, the residents of a home. But as Mohammad Nejdat Youssef neared the site, he ran headlong into what he described as “a winter fog — not quite yellow and not quite white. ” He started to lose his balance, he said. His eyes began to sting. His nose started to stream. Finally, Mr. Youssef said, he started to foam at the mouth. Mr. Youssef had been poisoned, one of the victims of Tuesday’s chemical attack in northern Syria, one of the deadliest chemical weapons attacks in years in the country, which killed dozens of people. A tall and burly man, Mr. Youssef, 23, was able to recover after being treated locally. But when the toxic cloud that had sickened him was blown downwind toward his farm outside the village, his pregnant wife, 20, and a nephew, 9, had a far more serious reaction and were evacuated by ambulance to a hospital in Turkey, said Mr. Youssef, who accompanied them. At the hospital in Reyhanli, a small Turkish border town that took in many of the victims, the mourners gathered outside mostly came from just two extended families, Mr. Youssef’s and the Abu Amash family. The families are connected by marriage and both come from Khan Sheikhoun, the village in Idlib Province that residents said had been hit with chemical weapons earlier that morning. “Just look at this!” Orwa Abu Amash, 33, said as he held up his phone. On the screen was a long WhatsApp message listing what he claimed were the names of 46 relatives who had died that day in Khan Sheikhoun. As Mr. Youssef paced around the parking lot outside the hospital, he said he was scared not just for his wife on the other side of the hospital wall, who had arrived lying motionless on a stretcher, but for his relatives on the other side of the border. Many of them had also been poisoned by the gas but had not been deemed sick enough to be treated in Turkey, whose border is closed to most Syrians. Earlier Tuesday, witnesses reached by phone in Syria described similarly traumatic scenes at the site of the attack. Warplanes had roared overhead just before 7 a. m. when many people in the town were sleeping after a night of intense sounds of bombing, said Othman an activist in Khan Sheikhoun who was reached via phone at a first aid station. He spoke after fleeing Rahmeh Hospital in Khan Sheikhoun, where many victims were being treated, after an airstrike hit part of the hospital. While he was speaking, another loud boom sounded, and the line went dead he called back to say it had been another nearby strike. The area’s minister of health, Mohamad Firas said in an online video that hospitals and clinics were overwhelmed. He said he had been in a field hospital at 7:30 a. m. when over 100 people arrived injured or sickened many others, he said, were sent to other clinics, with some left lying in the corridors. Symptoms, he said, included suffocation, fluid in the lungs with foam coming from the mouth, unconsciousness, spasms and paralysis. “It’s a shocking act,” he said. “The world knows and is aware of what’s happening in Syria, and we are ready to submit evidences to criminal laboratories to prove the use of these gases. ” Yasser Sarmani, a rebel fighter reached by phone in Idlib, said he collapsed while driving to the scene on his motorcycle to help the victims. “It became a routine for us that when we hear an airstrike to rush to the scene and try to rescue people,” he said. “I woke up to the sound of an explosion, but it was not as loud as usual. ” “Driving against the wind, my eyes started burning and I felt I was being suffocated,” he added. “People were running away from the site and falling on the ground. It was a cruel scene. At that point I fainted. ” He said he woke up an hour later at a clinic, after receiving injections and oxygen. “Kids were all over the floor, some dead and others struggling to breathe,” he said. “The noise of them trying to breath was loud, with foam all over their faces. ” As they watched the ambulances come and go outside the hospital in Reyhanli, Mr. Youssef and several of his relatives wondered what President Trump might make of all this. On Monday, Mr. Trump’s administration signaled that it no longer saw the departure of President Bashar of Syria as a priority. On Tuesday, Mr. Assad appeared to unleash one of the worst chemical attacks of the war. “If Donald Trump is happy for this to happen to his own people and his own children,” said Mr. Youssef, “then we’re happy to keep Bashar . ” Shuffling around in the hospital parking lot, several of Mr. Youssef’s relatives buried themselves in their phones, watching the videos of the morning’s atrocities over and over. The clips have been widely circulated on the internet. They show the pale corpses of dead toddlers, or the retching bodies of men who appear to be close to death. One woman lay on her back, her purple leggings exposed. A young boy, perhaps 12, lay motionless except for his mouth, gasping for air. None had visible marks of injury. Some of the sickened and dying were nearly naked, as rescuers, many with their bare hands, stripped them and hosed them down. A man narrating a video of motionless children, lined up as if sleeping, was able to come up only with sentence fragments. “A whole family,” he repeated. Unlike the people around the globe who found these videos on social media, several of those watching them outside the hospital in Reyhanli had witnessed the scenes in real life. You wouldn’t have known it, however, by looking at their blank faces. “We’ve seen so much of this,” Mr. Abu Amash said. “It’s normal. We see this every day. We had six years of it. ” | 1 |
posted by Eddie You know the Dakota Access Pipeline protests are working when oil interests start resorting to underhanded tricks to paint water protectors in a negative light. As the fight against the pipeline grows in North Dakota and around the country, dirty tricks are being deployed in an apparent attempt to delegitimize the opposition. Dakota Access Employee Tries to Incite Violence, Sheriff’s Department Makes False Report That He Was Shot by Protesters Mother Jones journalist Wes Enzinna, who was at the protests, says he witnessed a Dakota Access LLC employee try to infiltrate the Dakota Access Pipeline protests: “An armed security agent employed by the company behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline was arrested Thursday after he was caught entering the camp of activists protesting near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in southern North Dakota. After a car chase and a standoff during which he allegedly pointed his assault rifle at a local Sioux teenager, the man, whose ID indicated he was an employee of Dakota Access LLC, was arrested and handed over to the FBI.” According to an official statement from the tribe, the man fired several shots from his gun before being peacefully apprehended by tribal police. Witnesses at the scene say he pointed his gun at several protesters. The man was clearly trying to provoke violence that could later be used to demonize protesters who have so far remained peaceful. The Morton County Sheriff’s Department circulated a false report claiming the man was shot, presumably by protesters. As you can see in the images above, the man was not harmed. The Sheriff’s Department has since retracted that report. Anti-Media ’s attempts to obtain clarifying comments from Morton County Sheriff’s were ignored.
Fake Internet Trolls Slam Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, Promote Pipeline on Twitter
With very little organic support for the Dakota Access Pipeline remaining, groups allied with the pipeline builders now seem to be creating paid Internet trolls or bots to slam protesters while praising the pipeline. DESMOG , an environmental blog, conducted an investigation and found what it says are “sock puppet” accounts tied to an oil industry lobby operating on Twitter: “A DeSmog investigation has revealed the possibility that a front group supporting the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) — the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now (MAIN) — may have created fake Twitter profiles, known by some as ‘sock puppets,’ to convey a pro-pipeline message over social media. And MAIN may be employing the PR services of the firm DCI Group, which has connections to the Republican Party, in order to do so. “DeSmog tracked down at least 16 different questionable Twitter accounts which used the #NoDAPL hashtag employed by protesters, in order to claim that opposition to the pipeline kills jobs, that those protesting the pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s encampment use violence, and that the pipeline does not pose a risk to water sources or cross over tribal land. “On September 13, people began to suspect these accounts were fake, calling them out on Twitter , and by September 14, most of the accounts no longer existed.”
With the Dakota Access Pipeline builders resorting to backhanded trickery, it’s clear the tide is turning against the pipeline following law enforcement’s overwhelming militarized crackdown of the protests. source: | 0 |
Trump to star in ‘The President’ a new Reality TV show on Fox By Kilgoar , on November 17th, 2016 “Ye fyad”
TRUMP TOWER — Donald Trump announced he has assembled a press pool, in a move that shocked reporters. Traditional print and television journalists will not be given any access to Trump. Rather, he’s assigned several teams of reality television filmmakers to document his presidency.
Trump said, “I want to communicate with the American people. I want them to see the tough decisions I have to make and why I make them. That show will be The President on Fox, and it’ll start on the day I’m inaugurated. And on the very first day, you’re going to see. I’m going to be firing a lot of people . More than ever. It’ll be great tv and it’ll be a great America — just tune in and see it. I’m gonna Drain the Swamp.”
Other filmmakers will document his personal and family life. “Melania’s talking to Food Network. She’s a great cook. Wonderful. Another show, First Family, will air on NBC, and you’ll see the other side of me. I am a warm and caring father, and Melania’s just perfect. We’re good people. You’ll forget about all the lies of crooked Hillary. You’ll see.” Share this article | 0 |
As Sen. Cory Booker ( ) is set to testify against Sen. Jeff Sessions ( ) Donald Trump’s pick for U. S. Attorney General, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, it wasn’t that long ago that Booker praised Sessions. In a speech at the U. S. Capitol Visitors Center last February, Booker thanked Sessions for his effort to commemorate the “Foot Soldiers,” which were those who marched from Selma to Montgomery, AL in 1965. “I am humbled to be able to to participate here in paying tribute to some of the extraordinary Americans, whose footsteps paved the way for me and my generation,” Booker said. “I feel blessed and honored to have partnered with Senator Sessions in being the Senate sponsors of this important award. ” ( WFB) Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor | 1 |
CHASKA, Minn. — Ryan Moore was the last player to gain a spot on the teams for the 41st Ryder Cup. On Sunday, exactly a week after he found out he had made the United States team, he was 2 down with three holes to play in his singles match against Lee Westwood when two of his teammates, Patrick Reed and J. B. Holmes, showed up on the 16th hole in a show of support. As Reed and Holmes looked on, Moore produced an finish to hand Westwood a defeat and deliver the United States its 15th point, clinching the Americans’ first victory in the biennial event against a European team after losses. It did not matter, Moore said, that he was making his Ryder Cup debut while Westwood was making his 10th appearance. “I saw both of those guys,” Moore said, “and I said: ‘All right, I’m going to do it for my team. I’m going to try to flip this match somehow. ’” The Americans, who had lost eight of the previous 10 Ryder Cups, flipped their fortunes in the competition one man and one match at a time. Playing for one another, the United States turned a lead at Saturday’s close into a victory, its first against Europe since 2008 and only its third in the past 11 years. Patrick Reed, whose fiery demeanor and play earned him the nickname Captain America, gained the first point for the United States in Sunday’s singles matches with a victory against Rory McIlroy in a showdown of showmen that featured exquisite shotmaking, exchanges and a warm embrace when it was over. By sundown, every United States player had earned at least a point during the event. The last time that happened was in 1975, when an American team captained by Arnold Palmer dominated a squad from Britain and Ireland. It was the perfect tribute to Palmer, who died five days before this year’s competition got underway at Hazeltine National Golf Club. The United States captain, Davis Love III, whose 2012 squad squandered a lead and lost on the final day at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago, said he was proud of how his players competed in the face of immense pressure. “But mostly, proud of the way they came together as family and supported each other,” Love said. Brandt Snedeker, a player on that losing squad in 2012, said this team was closer. “I think this week the underlying theme was everybody had your back,” he said. Snedeker was the only American to go unbeaten. He said he could not have finished if not for the support of Bubba Watson, who helped him get past his singles opponent, Andy Sullivan, by 3 and 1. Watson walked with Snedeker during the match on Sunday and kept him loose and in a positive frame of mind after Snedeker fell two holes behind after three holes. Watson, the golfer in the world, was not playing because he had been bypassed for the 12th and final team berth in favor of Moore. Desiring to be included in the event, Watson volunteered to serve as part cheerleader, part errand boy for Love’s team. “I don’t know if I could have done it without him out there,” Snedeker said of Watson, one of the American team’s five vice captains. In truth, Love had six assistants, because everyone included Phil Mickelson — who, at 46, qualified for his 11th Ryder Cup — as part of the captain’s coterie. Perhaps no one, including Love, came into this competition with more pressure on his shoulders than Mickelson, who had spoken out against the status quo in the news conference after the Americans’ loss in Scotland in 2014. Mickelson criticized the leadership style of that year’s captain, Tom Watson, who was seated a few feet away. His insurrection led to an overhaul of the system for selecting the players and the captain. The players, past and present, got more input, and a more collaborative process was put in place. One of the changes instituted paved the way for the selection of Moore. Mickelson’s contributions to the victory ended with his record but started with that news conference in 2014. At Sunday’s session, the first question was for Mickelson. He was asked what he thought of Love’s leadership. Mickelson laughed along with everyone else on the dais. “We had a great week this week,” he said. “We had a lot of fun together as a team, and we played some great golf, and we are really excited to have won. ” When he was finished, Mickelson’s teammates and their support crew applauded him. “We can’t thank Phil enough,” Snedeker said, adding: “He realized how this week turned out was going to reflect on him 100 percent, and to have shoulders that big and go out there and realize you’re going to have to shoulder it one way or the other — we all felt invested in that. We were not going to let Phil go down as a scapegoat. ” Mickelson said he felt their support all week but especially Sunday, in his singles match against Sergio García. It was an epic contest, with the players combining for 19 birdies, 10 by Mickelson. He had one bogey for a 63 but made a clutch putt at the 18th hole to secure a halve with García and extend his career singles record to . His teammates, Mickelson said, “told me all the time they had my back, and it was an awesome feeling. ” “It elevated me to a different level of play having that type of support system,” he added. “I felt the support, the energy, and I played my best golf. ” After his last putt dropped, Mickelson’s feet left the ground. His jump was not as high as his putt was long, but it didn’t matter. He got his message across. The margin of victory was deceptive. Trailing by 3 points on Sunday morning, Europe’s captain, Darren Clarke, had in desperation his singles lineup. His strategy sent shivers through the partisan crowds when no American player in the first five matches held a lead after the first nine. The Europeans pulled to within a point of the United States with victories in three of the first four completed singles matches. But the Americans finished strong. Led by Moore and Snedeker, they won five of the last six matches while Mickelson sat with his wife, Amy, behind the 18th green soaking up the scene. The European team featured six Ryder Cup rookies, including Thomas Pieters, who compiled a record of . Pieters and McIlroy are not going anywhere, so the United States cannot afford to rest on this win. “We need to build on this,” Mickelson said. “Otherwise, it’s all for naught. ” | 1 |
James Rosen of Fox News reports that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee will be presented with “smoking gun” evidence that “the Obama administration, in its closing days, was using the cover of legitimate surveillance on foreign targets to spy on Trump. ”[According to the source for Rosen’s report, this evidence will come from the National Security Agency, which is supposed to produce documents for the House Intelligence Committee by Friday. It is expected to take a week or so for congressional investigators to assess these materials. The NSA material is said to be even more compelling than the evidence that prompted committee chairman Devin Nunes ( ) to announce on Wednesday that “incidental” surveillance of the Trump transition team was conducted by the intelligence community. Rosen’s report has a few more interesting developments in the aftermath of Nunes’ announcement: Because Nunes’s intelligence came from multiple sources during a span of several weeks, and he has not shared the actual materials with his committee colleagues, he will be the only member of the panel in a position to know whether the NSA has turned over some or all of the intelligence he is citing. However, Fox News was told Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Schiff, . had been briefed on the basic contents of the intelligence described by Nunes. CIA Director Mike Pompeo is also sympathetic to the effort to determine, with documentary evidence, the extent of any alleged Obama administration spying on the Trump team, sources said. Because so much criticism has been leveled at the media for basing reports hostile to the Trump administration on anonymous sources of uncertain motivation, it should be duly noted that the Fox News report relies heavily upon a single source, without a single clue to this person’s identity or position. It’s not clear if this individual is connected to the intelligence community, or to the House Intelligence Committee. The nature of the NSA’s “smoking gun” information is also left to the reader’s imagination. In fact, it’s described as “potential smoking gun” information. It should also be noted that on Thursday, a spokesperson for Nunes said the chairman is waiting to see “all the documents he requested” from intelligence agencies before he “knows for sure” what surveillance of the transition team or Trump was conducted. Perhaps the material coming from the NSA will positively establish which, if any, Trump transition team members were caught up in the “incidental surveillance” Nunes described on Wednesday. An unnamed intelligence official speculated to ABC News that surveillance on foreign officials might have caught them “talking about Trump transition team members, as opposed to transition team members participating directly in the communications. ” The NSA would seem to be the agency most likely to possess documentation resolving that question. | 1 |
Tens of thousands march for, against Venezuela government
Tens of thousands of pro and anti-government protesters have gathered on the streets of Venezuela's capital Caracas.
During Wednesday’s mass rallies, in which over 20 people were injured and 39 were detained, the opponents accused President Nicolas Maduro of violating the constitutional order and blocking a recall referendum aimed at removing him from power.
They also called for his immediate resignation.
“This is a way of pressuring Maduro so he understands that he has to go," said one protester. "Being passive is no use anymore. We have to apply more pressure," another one added.
Meanwhile, large numbers of pro-government protesters gathered near the Miraflores presidential palace in a show of support for Maduro.
As the protests were being held, the president engaged in crisis security talks in reaction to the demonstrators’ demands. In a televised speech after the talks, he called for "political dialogue and peace in Venezuela."
Maduro is adamant about Washington's role in his country’s political and economic woes, and has accused the opposition of conspiring with the US against the South American country.
"They are desperate, they have received the order from the north to destroy the Venezuelan revolution," he added.
On Tuesday, Maduro accused the opposition of attempting a “parliamentary coup” by voting to launch an impeachment process against him.
“There has never been a parliamentary coup in Venezuela, and we shall not allow anything like this to happen, the right-wing here and there should know this,” Maduro said during a massive rally by his supporters outside the presidential palace.
The opposition-controlled National Assembly agreed to initiate the impeachment process against Maduro earlier on Tuesday in reaction to blocking a bid to recall him last week.
The political standoff in Venezuela has worsened since the October 20 suspension of the opposition push to hold a referendum to try to recall Maduro. Back then, four state courts said the signature-gathering process for the referendum had been “fraudulent,” effectively blocking it. Share This Article... | 0 |
X Dear Reader! VDARE.com isn’t just a website. We are the voice of the Historic American Nation . Our goal is nothing less than to develop a full spectrum media network to speak up for our people during this difficult time for our country. Part of that means building institutions which are offline and in the real world. There’s something about a paper journal that suggests permanence, which inclines people to take it more seriously. And because the news cycle is so fast, some of the most important, substantial, and potentially influential writings fall through the cracks and don’t get the attention they deserve. For that reason, we’re proud to announce the creation of VDARE QUARTERLY, a print journal featuring the best material from our webzine. This will replace our yearly anthologies and ensure that the information and analysis you really don't want to miss will get in front of you as quickly as possible. However, we need your help. For us to unveil this exciting new product we need 600 magazines ordered to cover the print expenses. Fill out the form below to instantly receive a digital copy of VDARE QUARTERLY, and when we have the number of necessary subscribers it will go to print and your exclusive paper copy will ship directly to you! Depending on the package you choose, you will receive multiple paper copies (provided enough readers support the community effort). We encourage you to pass these around – they serve as an excellent gift for friends and family, while at the same time helping to build our community. VDARE QUARTERLY is aesthetically pleasing as well as ideologically powerful. But this isn’t just a service we are providing. VDARE QUARTERLY is a tangible manifestation of your investment in us, and in our country. A subscription is one of the most effective ways you can help us build our media network, expand our influence, and build the kind of movement we will need to take back our country and ensure our children have a recognizable America.
We count on your support! Yours sincerely, Peter Brimelow, Editor of VDARE.com VDARE QUARTERLY countdown: 182 already ordered, 418 still to go | 0 |
A group of prominent Democrats who served in recent administrations, including John Kerry and Madeleine K. Albright, have called on the courts to extend a ruling blocking crucial parts of President Trump’s travel ban, saying the White House executive order would “endanger U. S. troops” and disrupt antiterrorism efforts. The former officials expressed their concerns on Monday to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco, which is considering the matter after a judge in Seattle effectively ruled that travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations as well as vetted refugees from all nations could, for now, continue to enter the United States. With Mr. Trump’s executive order, “we risk placing our military efforts at risk by sending an insulting message” to Iraqis working with American forces battling the Islamic State there, the legal filing to the court said. “The order will likely feed the recruitment narrative of ISIL and other extremists that portray the United States as at war with Islam,” it said, using another name for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. In addition to Mr. Kerry, a secretary of state under President Barack Obama, and Ms. Albright, who held the same position under President Bill Clinton, officials behind the filing included Susan E. Rice, Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, and Leon E. Panetta, who served as secretary of defense and head of the C. I. A. The filing comes a week after Mr. Obama took issue with Mr. Trump’s order, saying in a statement that he “fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion. ” The former officials hope that adding their voice to the debate from a national security perspective undercuts a critical argument of the Trump administration: that the travel ban is meant to deter terrorist attacks by keeping the country safe from “very bad and dangerous people,” as Mr. Trump has put it. Noting that the 10 signatories to the filing “have all held the highest security clearances,” the letter asserts that Mr. Trump’s order “ultimately undermines the national security of the United States, rather than making us safer. ” The travel ban was dealt a stinging setback on Friday, when a federal judge in Seattle issued the broadest ruling to date blocking major parts of the executive order. The Trump administration appealed Saturday, leaving the issue in the hands of the court in San Francisco. After the appeals panel rules, the Supreme Court is likely to take up the issue. | 1 |
Pope: 'God promised the land to people of Israel' Statement seen as repudiation of UNESCO denial of Jewish ties to Temple Mount Published: 8 mins ago
(Jerusalem Post) God promised the Holy Land to the people of Israel, Pope Francis said during a public address at the Vatican in Rome on Wednesday in a speech about migration.
“The people of Israel, who from Egypt, where they were enslaved, walked through the desert for forty years until they reached the land promised by God,” he said.
Pope Francis spoke just before granting a brief audience to Israeli Deputy Minister for Regional Cooperation Ayoub Kara to thank him for his efforts on behalf of the Church and Christians in Israel. | 0 |
Thursday, former secretary of state John Kerry said President Donald Trump’s reasons to withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change were “fake news” that will end up putting “America last” in the renewable energy industry. Kerry said, “My immediate reaction is this is an abdication of American leadership, a shameful moment for the United States to have unilaterally walked away from an agreement which did not have one other country requiring us to do something. It was a voluntary program. We designed the program. The president was not truthful with the American people today and the president who talked about putting America first has now put America last. Together with Syria, which is in the midst of a civil war, and Nicaragua, which though the agreement didn’t go far enough. This is an extraordinary moment of fake news because the economy he described is not the economy of America. ” “America has been gaining jobs in solar,” he continued. “Solar has gained 17 times the rate of our economy. There are 2. 6 million jobs in our country in clean energy. Half of them are in the states that Donald Trump won. So he is not helping the forgotten American. He’s hurting them. Their kids will have worse asthma in the summer. They will have a harder time having economic growth. He’s made us an environmental pariah in the world. And I think it is one of the most moves I’ve ever seen by any president in my lifetime. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
El misterio de la extinción de 10.000 ranas gigantes en un río de Perú Publicado: 27 oct 2016 02:43 GMT
Según activistas medioambientales de la región, la muerte de miles de anfibios de esta especie autóctona del lago Titicaca fue provocada por la contaminación incontrolada del río Coata. Imagen Ilustrativa Pixabay / Couleur Síguenos en Facebook
Las autoridades peruanas están investigando la repentina muerte de al menos 10.000 ranas gigantes en el río Coata, que desemboca en el lago Titicaca. Se considera que la muerte de los anfibios fue provocada por la contaminación incontrolada del cauce de este río, informa el diario peruano ' Correo '.
El Servicio Nacional Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre (Serfor) de Perú "actuó de forma inmediata tras recibir una alerta sobre la muerte de las ranas", según un comunicado publicado en el sitio web del organismo. Sin embargo, los miembros del comité de lucha contra la contaminación del río Coata aseguran que las autoridades no han hecho todo lo posible para prevenir la tragedia .
Los activistas medioambientales llevaron unas 100 ranas muertas a la plaza central de la localidad más cercana, Puno, para atraer la atención sobre el problema. "Me tocó traer las ranas muertas para que nos creyeran. El gobierno no sabe cómo estamos viviendo acá", explicó la líder del comité, Maruja Inquilla. "No saben el nivel de contaminación que tiene el río. La situación se está saliendo de control ", añadió.
"El problema es que no cuidan el río", afirmó Roberto Elías, un experto en anfibios que lleva trabajando en un programa para la conservación de esta especie desde 2010. "Estos anfibios son muy sensibles y los llamamos centinelas ambientales, porque en cuanto se modifica algo en el ecosistema son las primeras especies en morir ", agregó.
Conocida científicamente como 'Telmatobius culeus', la rana gigante del Titicaca recibió su apodo por los enormes pliegues de piel que incrementan el volumen de su cuerpo. Esta especie autóctona del lago Titicaca , que comparten Perú y Bolivia, está declarada en peligro crítico de extinción desde el año 2004. | 0 |
Liberal Democrats and progressive activists have grown wary of the state of the 2016 presidential race, chafing at Hillary Clinton’s courtship of Republican leaders they have long opposed and fearing the consequences of shaping the contest as a referendum on Donald J. Trump. While few have questioned the electoral strategy of bringing Republicans into the fold by casting Mr. Trump as a singular threat to democracy, both skeptics and some admirers of Mrs. Clinton have come to view her decisive advantage in the polls with mixed emotions. She may win by a margin, they say. But what, exactly, would the mandate be for? In a matter of weeks, beginning with the party conventions, the debates that animated the Democratic primary race have largely disappeared from the political foreground, giving way to discussions of Mr. Trump’s temperament, his inflammatory remarks and even his sanity. “If she’s going to get anything done as president, she is going to have to have a mandate,” said Robert B. Reich, a secretary of labor in Bill Clinton’s administration who supported Bernie Sanders in the primary. The subject of Mr. Trump’s temperament was unavoidable, Mr. Reich said, “but temperament doesn’t give you a mandate to do anything. ” Mrs. Clinton’s dogged pursuit of Republican votes has especially rankled progressives, and highlights the divisions within the Democratic Party, even as they see a victory more likely. They have grumbled at her eager promotion of endorsements from veterans of the George W. Bush and Reagan administrations, including that of John D. Negroponte, a top diplomat and intelligence official under Mr. Bush. They worry aloud that Henry Kissinger, of whom Mrs. Clinton has often spoken fondly, could be next. “Secretary Clinton’s decision to aggressively court Mitt Romney’s base has her looking more and more like Mitt Romney every day,” said Benjamin T. Jealous, a former N. A. A. C. P. president who initially supported Mr. Sanders. “That’s not a good thing. ” By most measures, the Democratic Party’s left flank has had a banner year. Mr. Sanders’s primary challenge pushed Mrs. Clinton conspicuously left, coaxing her into policy shifts on trade and college tuition. The party platform was, by virtually all accounts, the most progressive in history, and Mrs. Clinton has not made any perceptible changes in substance recently. Notably, a major economic speech from Mrs. Clinton on Thursday in Michigan would not have seemed out of place in the primary race, with discussions of expanded Social Security, college and a higher minimum wage. And on Friday morning, her campaign, sensitive to any suggestion that Mrs. Clinton might waver on promises to the left, emailed reporters a collection of 22 sympathetic quotes and Twitter posts from leaders and organizations. “She is not just running as the alternative to the other guy. She is running on a progressive policy agenda that she seriously believes will make a difference in people’s lives,” Brian Fallon, a campaign spokesman, said in an email. “If she wins, it will not just mean a rejection of Donald Trump. It will be a call to action on the issues she has championed. ” But the campaign’s chief gambit since the start of the Democratic convention — depicting Mr. Trump as a menacing anomaly, disconnected from mainstream Republican thought — has already supplied conservatives with an opening: Even if Mrs. Clinton wins big, Republicans opposed to Mr. Trump’s rise may argue that Americans were not voting for her policy proposals. Some are not waiting. “Clinton is not likely to emerge with a legislative mandate,” said Rick Tyler, a former top aide to Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential run. “She will have to start from zero in terms of selling all her policy proposals. They will not have been sold through this process. ” Mr. Tyler, who believes the 2016 election has effectively been decided, predicted a common refrain from Republican legislators next year: “We didn’t see that the people voted for that we see that the people voted against Donald Trump. ” In interviews, elected progressive leaders, activists and local lawmakers made clear that their top priority remains defeating Mr. Trump. Most cautioned that the race was a long way from over, despite a wave of encouraging polls for Mrs. Clinton. Still, some liberals fear their leverage has been diminished, though the vast majority of Sanders supporters have rallied to Mrs. Clinton’s side, if sometimes tepidly. If she can win without generating excitement among that already distrustful wing of the party, they reason, she may be less inclined to accommodate it once in office. “We need the broadest popular front against Donald Trump,” said Bill Lipton, a founder of the Working Families Party. “The challenge for the left is, if that’s all we do, we’re saying anyone one degree to the left of David Duke is O. K. with us. ” Many of Mr. Sanders’s backers believe that two of the principal issues he raised during his primary contest against Mrs. Clinton — her foreign policy hawkishness and her Wall Street ties — remain central to her political core. “I fully expected that we would be at war with the Clinton administration, if there is one,” said Jonathan Tasini, a former union leader who challenged Mrs. Clinton in her Senate primary in 2006. “Once she is elected, I suspect she will go back to being what she is, which is a relatively moderate, centrist, corporate Democrat. ” Helen Gym, a Philadelphia City Council member who supported Mrs. Clinton in the primary, said the dynamics between Mrs. Clinton’s team and the party’s activist base reflected “a fragile negotiation. ” “The coalition has to hold together,” she said. “Is a Clinton victory synonymous with a progressive victory? It depends. I don’t think I can give a full yes or no. ” Megan Ellyia Green, a St. Louis alderwoman and Sanders delegate, said she feared Democrats were squandering “our New Deal moment” by not focusing voters’ attention more intensely on the issues that powered enthusiasm for Mr. Sanders. Mrs. Clinton and her team have long ago grown weary of any implication that she is not entirely committed to liberal causes, repeatedly presenting her as a fusion of pragmatism and idealism. She has called herself “a progressive who likes to get things done. ” In both of her presidential primary runs, Mrs. Clinton accused her opponents — first Barack Obama in 2008, then Mr. Sanders — of promising more than they could credibly deliver. But when approached at her rallies, even zealous Clinton supporters are often to name a signature policy proposal of hers. Her speech in Michigan touched on, among other things, a planned $275 billion infrastructure investment and green energy spending. Mr. Fallon noted that Mrs. Clinton has pledged to act on issues ranging from immigration reform to gun safety. On some such measures, she has promised to pursue executive action in the face of possible congressional resistance. Recent unease from the left has often centered more on presentation and messaging than on the merits of her proposals. “Her policy proposals are admirably detailed, but they cover so much ground that their whole is less than the sum of their parts,” Mr. Reich said. “She really needs to focus on a few big ideas. ” Some Clinton allies have argued that the most pressing goal should be to run up the largest possible margin of victory, which could enable the party to seize seats that might be unwinnable in an ordinary year. And a number of candidates in such elections, including some elevated by Mr. Sanders, have said it is incumbent on them to frame their races as something more than a Trump litmus test. “It’s up to us,” said Pramila Jayapal, a Washington state senator who recently won her primary in a run for Congress. Adam Green, a founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said Mrs. Clinton’s efforts to cast a wide net and train voters’ attention on Mr. Trump amounted to a “ sword. ” “Republicans in Congress won’t grant as easily after the election that we won a huge mandate on progressive issues, but thanks to Donald Trump, we might have more progressives and majorities in Congress,” Mr. Green said. “I’d rather have a Republican minority in denial about what just happened than a Republican majority standing in the way. ” | 1 |
0 30 0 3 The United States welcomed a report claiming the US-led coalition underestimated harm to civilians in Syria after killing some 300 in airstrikes in two years, US Department of State spokesperson John Kirby said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Amnesty International revealed in a report that the US-led coalition had killed hundreds of noncombatants in Syria during two years of airstrikes that were purported to target the Daesh. © Sputnik/ US Military on Ground in Syria Training Opposition for Raqqa Operation "We take all such reports seriously and we support the Defense Department as they do the proper investigations," Kirby told reporters. "We welcome that input."
When asked about the rights group suggesting that the US-led coalition underestimated harm done to civilians in Syria, Kirby claimed that the United States had no reason not to welcome that feedback because its military tries harder than any other to avoid civilian casualties.
Amnesty International said US authorities have failed to respond to a memorandum that raised questions about the conduct of coalition forces in Syria.
According to the group, the most recent deadly airstrikes, conducted in June and July, killed more than 100 civilians in the Syrian villages of Tukhar, Hadhadh and Ghandoura. ... | 0 |
President Donald Trump singled out members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus for refusing to support Paul Ryan’s bill to replace Obamacare. [“The irony is that the Freedom Caucus, which is very and against Planned Parenthood, allows [Planned Parenthood] to continue if they stop this plan!” Trump wrote on Twitter Friday morning. The effort would defund Planned Parenthood, although that part of the bill faces a tough hurdle in the Senate. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have signaled their opposition to that part of the bill. Thursday night, senior White House aides delivered a message to House Republicans from the president: pass the bill on Friday, or leave Obamacare in place. On Friday, Trump tried to rally support through Twitter. “After seven horrible years of ObamaCare (skyrocketing premiums deductibles, bad healthcare) this is finally your chance for a great plan!” Trump wrote. | 1 |
Rwanda & The Philippines rate better than UK for gender equality, study... Rwanda & The Philippines rate better than UK for gender equality, study shows By 0 127
Britain is lagging behind countries including Rwanda, the Philippines and Nicaragua in a global ranking of gender parity, slipping to 20th place on the World Economic Forum (WEF) index.
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The WEF, a not-for-profit based in Switzerland, analyzed data from 144 countries. It found the global gender gap has widened to its largest extent since 2008. It estimates economic gender parity won’t be achieved for at least another 170 years.
The US and Australia are even further behind than Britain, however, at 45th and 46th place respectively.
The UK’s 2016 rankings – which take into account key areas such as the economy, politics, education and health – mark a slide from ninth position in 2006.
Britain sits at number 53 for economic participation. This reflects a drop in the number of women in senior and technical positions, as well as a reduction in the estimated income women earn compared to men.
The UK is ranked 24th for political empowerment, because of a fall in the number of women parliamentarians, the WEF said. The figures do not take into account Prime Minister Theresa May’s rise to Downing Street.
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Rwanda, by contrast, has the highest share of women in parliament globally at 64 percent.
Jemima Olchawski, head of policy and insight at the Fawcett Society, told the Express: “It’s unacceptable that Britain is languishing at 53rd in the world for economic participation, is only 24th for political empowerment and performs below average compared to our region.
“The moral case for gender equality should be enough alone to motivate us to speed up the pace of change, but with evidence suggesting that improving gender equality could add £150 billion [US$183 billion] to our GDP it’s also clear that we simply can’t afford to wait.”
The Philippines scored full marks on a measure of the birth ratio and life expectancy of women.
WEF says the top 10 countries for gender parity are: Iceland | 0 |
As a liberal and a woman, Clinton did not lose because of her gender. That is a ridiculous and insulting excuse. Her history dictates that she is not a champion for women and minorities. She is definitely no role model I want my daughter to emulate. She lost because of her lies, her perchance at being non-transparent, her involvement with rigging the primaries against Senator Bernie Sanders (who would have won the general election), her poor judgment, and her Foundation’s influence when she was SOS. She lost because of her subhuman character and lack of morals and ethics. Her election night abusively violent tantrum speaks for volumes about her nature. Clinton is her own worse enemy.
If she is not guilt of any wrongdoing, why is there a desperate need to pardon her? All of us, including Clinton, are suppose to abide by the laws that govern this Nation. An innocence person would embrace his/hers right to face a jury of their peers proving beyond a reasonable doubt of their innocence. All a pardon will do is divide this Nation even more – nationwide civil unrest on both sides will erupt. It will be national chaos making us vulnerable to our real enemies. So no pardon and let the justice system takes it course. Innocent or guilty,let’s be done with this. | 0 |
A year after James S. Snyder announced his decision to step down as director, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem has chosen his successor: Eran Neuman, currently the director of the David Azrieli School of Architecture at Tel Aviv University, will begin the position on Feb. 19. Mr. Snyder, who served for 20 years and becomes director emeritus, will continue in the newly created role of international president, developing the museum’s network of organizations, programming, collections and facilities. Mr. Neuman is also the founder of the Azrieli Architectural Archive at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the of Open Source Architecture, an international research collaborative. “Eran is someone who knows how to build institutional resources, create collaborative initiatives and bring new ideas to life,” Mr. Snyder said in a statement. “He is both an innovator and a scholar. ” | 1 |
Posted on October 30, 2016 by DavidSwanson
Picture, if you will, video footage of vintage (early 2016) Donald Trump buffoonery with the CEO of CBS Leslie Moonves commenting on major media’s choice to give Trump vastly more air time than other candidates: “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.”
That’s the introduction to a powerful critique of the U.S. media. A new film screens in New York and Los Angeles this week called All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone .
The website AllGovernmentsLie.com has screening dates , a list of lies , and a list of good journalists who expose lies . The lists on the website are not identical to the content of the film, but there’s a good deal of overlap — enough to give you a sense of what this project is about.
I’d have made various changes and additions to the film. In particular, I’m tired of all the focus on Iraq 2003. This film touches on war lies since then, but still gives that one particular set of war lies prominence.
Still, this is a film that should be shown in cities, homes, and classrooms across the United States. It includes and is driven by Noam Chomsky’s analysis of how the media system is “rigged” without those doing the rigging believing they’ve done anything at all. It’s a survey of skullduggery by corporate media. It’s an introduction to numerous journalists far superior to the norm. And it’s an introduction to I.F. Stone. It includes footage of a presentation of the annual Izzy Award which goes to journalists acting in Stone’s tradition.
One of the lies listed in the film and on the website is that of the Gulf of Tonkin (non-)Incident. Anyone paying attention knows of it now as a war lie. And it was a transparent war lie at the time in a particular sense. That is: had the North Vietnamese really shot back at a U.S. ship off their coast, that would not have been any sort of legal, much less moral, justification for escalating a war. I’d love it if people could grasp that logic and apply it to the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and every other part of the earth today.
But the Gulf of Tonkin lies about Vietnamese aggression against the U.S. ships innocently patrolling and firing off the coast of Vietnam were not transparent to people with faith in the U.S. role of Global Policeman. Someone had to make the lies transparent. Someone had to document that in fact the Secretary of So-Called Defense and the President were lying. Sadly, nobody did that in the first 24 hours after the Congressional committee hearings, and that was all it took for Congress to hand the president a war.
And it was decades before White House transcripts came out and before the National Security Agency confessed, and additional years before former Secretary Robert McNamara did. Yet, those revelations simply confirmed what people paying attention knew. And they knew it because of I.F. Stone who just weeks after the (non-)incident published a four-page edition of his weekly newsletter exclusively about Tonkin.
Stone’s analysis is useful in looking at the incident or lack thereof this past month in the Red Sea off Yemen. And in fact it is to Yemen that Stone immediately turned on page 1 in 1964. The United Nations, including its U.S. ambassador, had recently condemned British attacks on Yemen that Britain defended as retaliatory. President Dwight Eisenhower had also warned the French against retaliatory attacks on Tunisia. And President Lyndon Johnson, even at the time of Tonkin, Stone notes, was warning Greece and Turkey not to engage in retaliatory attacks on each other.
Stone, who tended to look even at written laws that nobody else paid any heed to, pointed out that three of them banned these sorts of attacks: the League of Nations Covenant, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, and the U.N. Charter. The latter two are still theoretically in place for the U.S. government.
The United States in Vietnam, Stone goes on to show, could not have been innocently attacked but itself admitted to having already sunk a number of Vietnamese boats. And indeed the U.S. ships, Stone reports, were in North Vietnamese waters and were there to assist South Vietnamese ships that were shelling two North Vietnamese islands. And in fact those ships had been supplied to South Vietnam by the U.S. military and the good old American tax payers.
Stone did not have access to closed committee hearings, but he hardly needed it. He considered the assertions made in speeches by the only two senators who voted against the war. And then he looked for any rejoinders by the chairmen of the committees. He found their denials to be non-denials and nonsensical. It made no sense that the U.S. ships simply happened to be randomly hanging around in the vicinity of the South Vietnamese ships. Stone didn’t believe it.
Stone also filled in the background information. The United States had been supporting guerrilla attacks on North Vietnam for years prior to the non-incident. And Stone raised numerous suspicions, including the question of why the U.S. ships had supposedly made sure they were out in international waters for the (non-)incident to (not) occur, and the question of why in the world Vietnam would take on the United States military (something nobody could explain, though Eugene McCarthy proposed that perhaps they had been bored).
Missing from the film and website of All Governments Lie is I.F. Stone’s work on lies about the outbreak of the Korean War. We’ve learned more since he wrote it, but seen little more insightful, relevant, or timely for our understanding of Korea and the world today. This entry was posted in General . Bookmark the permalink . | 0 |
WASHINGTON, D. C. — President Donald J. Trump told Breitbart News in an exclusive Oval Office interview that the “intent” of the New York Times in its negative coverage of him is “so evil and so bad” and that “they write lies. ”[“If you read the New York Times, if you read the New York Times, it’s — the intent is so evil and so bad,” President Trump said in the interview on Monday afternoon. “The stories are wrong in many cases, but it’s the overall intent. Look at that paper over the last two years. In fact, they had to write a letter of essentially apology to their subscribers because they got the election so wrong. ” He went on to say about the newspaper that “they write lies. ” Trump’s comments came in a discussion about the media generally, in a part of the exclusive Oval Office interview focused on “fake news” and “fake media” versus journalists who are trying to get it right. The president specifically praised this reporter, and Steve Holland of Reuters, as two examples of journalists who do try to accurately report the news — and made a distinction between “fake” media and the media as a whole. Trump said that the “fake” media has made a concerted effort to conflate his distinction between “fake media” and the media generally, and that “there’s a difference” between the two. He said that his comments about the “opposition party” and the “enemy of the American people” were specifically about the “fake media,” not the media as a whole. This is a point that the president made in his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU) last Friday in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside Washington, D. C. Hope Hicks, the director of Strategic Communications at the White House, joined in part of the conversation with the president. The president also specifically singled out the New York Times for one embarrassing and egregious error the newspaper made during the course of the campaign, when it posted an article — and printed it on the front page — containing allegations from several women against him. The piece, by Michael Barbaro and Megan Twohey, was actually challenged by women quoted therein, prompting even the vehemently CNN to question the authenticity of the Times’ reporting, with CNN’s Kate Bolduan saying the piece was “concerning” to her “as a journalist. ” President Trump also declined to comment specifically on the looming Warner potential merger, a deal that would boost CNN’s parent company significantly, but did say generally speaking he believes there should be “competition in the marketplace” — especially in the media industry. Read a full transcript of this section of President Trump’s interview with Breitbart News, including the section with Hicks: BREITBART NEWS NETWORK (BNN): “The big thing I kind of wanted to zone in on right off the bat is ‘the opposition party,’ the media — “ PRESIDENT TRUMP (POTUS): “Well, it’s not the media. It’s the fake media. ” BNN: “That’s what I was going to — “ POTUS: “There’s a difference. The fake media is the opposition party. The fake media is the enemy of the American people. There’s tremendous fake media out there. Tremendous fake stories. The problem is the people that aren’t involved in the story don’t know that. ” HOPE HICKS: “Just the fact that they didn’t report that accurately proves your point. ” POTUS: “Which accurately?” HICKS: “They said ‘Oh Donald Trump said the press is the enemy of the American people. ’” POTUS: “Right. They take ‘fake’ media off. They say ‘the media is the enemy of — well, they didn’t say the ‘fake media.’ I didn’t say the media is the enemy — I said the ‘fake media.’ They take the word fake out and all of a sudden it’s like I’m against — there are some great reporters like you. I know some great honorable reporters who do a great job like Steve [Holland] from Reuters, others, many others. I wasn’t talking about that. I was talking about the fake media, where they make up everything there is to make up. ” BNN: “Right and that’s what I wanted to zone in on with you because I know you made that very clear in your CPAC speech. Can you kind of more clearly define what standards and quality we should expect from those who are doing reporting?” POTUS: “It’s intent. It’s also intent. If you read the New York Times, if you read the New York Times, it’s — the intent is so evil and so bad. The stories are wrong in many cases, but it’s the overall intent. Look at that paper over the last two years. In fact, they had to write a letter of essentially apology to their subscribers because they got the election so wrong. They did a front page article on women talking about me, and the women went absolutely wild because they said that was not what they said. It was a big article, and the Times wouldn’t even apologize and yet they were wrong. You probably saw the women. They went on television shows and everything. ” BNN: “Yes, it was pretty embarrassing for the Times. ” POTUS: “[They said] ‘we really like Donald Trump and he [the Times reporter] totally misrepresented us. He said he was going to say good and it was absolutely bad.’ This was a front page article, almost the entire top half of the New York Times, and it was false. It was false. Did they apologize? No. I call them the failing New York Times and they write lies. They write lies. Nobody would know that. For instance, when people read the story on the women — first of all, the reporter who wrote the story has a website full of hatred of Donald Trump. So, he shouldn’t be allowed to be a reporter because he’s not objective. It’s not all, but it has many negative things about Donald Trump. But he shouldn’t be allowed to write on Donald Trump. And, he writes that story. But that’s one of many. So, when you read the Sunday New York Times, it’s just hit after hit after hit. And honestly, I think people are wise to it because if you look at the approval rating, you see it’s down. You know, it’s gone. There’s very little approval. ” BNN: “Now, during the campaign, one of the things you and a lot of your campaign guys like Peter Navarro talked about was breaking up some of these oligopolies in the media. If you look at the media, part of the problem seems to be that a vast majority of the media companies are owned by just a handful of different companies. Obviously, there’s a looming merger between ATT and Time Warner. I wanted to see what your thoughts are on that and if CNN’s pretty bad behavior over the course of — they really don’t seem to be making an effort to get it right — does that give you hesitation in terms of approval of the deal?” POTUS: “I don’t want to comment on any specific deal, but I do believe there has to be competition in the marketplace and maybe even more so with the media because it would be awfully bad after years if we ended up having one voice out there. You have to have competition in the marketplace and you have to have competition among the media. And I’m not commenting on any one deal, but you need competition generally and you certainly need it with media. ” Specifically, this part of the interview came in the wake of the president’s CPAC speech, in which he delineated the difference between fake news and real news. At CPAC on this topic, Trump said: I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It’s fake, phony, fake. A few days ago I called the fake news the enemy of the people. And they are. They are the enemy of the people. Because they have no sources, they just make ’em up when there are none. I saw one story recently where they said, “Nine people have confirmed. ” There’re no nine people. I don’t believe there was one or two people. Nine people. And I said, “Give me a break. ” Because I know the people, I know who they talk to. There were no nine people. But they say, “Nine people. ” And somebody reads it and they think, “Oh, nine people. They have nine sources. ” They make up sources. They’re very dishonest people. In fact, in covering my comments, the dishonest media did not explain that I called the fake news the enemy of the people. The fake news. They dropped off the word “fake. ” And all of a sudden, the story became the media is the enemy. They take the word “fake” out. And now I’m saying, “Oh, no, this is no good. ” But that’s the way they are. So I’m not against the media, I’m not against the press. I don’t mind bad stories if I deserve them. And I tell ya, I love good stories, but we don’t get — I don’t get too many of them. But I am only against the fake news, media or press. Fake, fake. They have to leave that word. I’m against the people that make up stories and make up sources. They shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name. Let their name be put out there. Let their name be put out. “A source says that Donald Trump is a horrible, horrible human being. ” Let ’em say it to my face. Let there be no more sources. And remember this — and in not — in all cases. I mean, I had a story written yesterday about me in Reuters by a very honorable man. It was a very fair story. There are some great reporters around. They’re talented, they’re honest as the day is long. They’re great. But there are some terrible dishonest people and they do a tremendous disservice to our country and to our people. A tremendous disservice. They are very dishonest people. And they shouldn’t use sources. They should put the name of the person. You will see stories dry up like you’ve never seen before. So you have no idea how bad it is, because if you are not part of the story — and I put myself in your position sometimes. Because many of you, you’re not part of the story. And if you’re not part of the story, you know, then you, sort of, know — if you are part of the story, you know what they’re saying is true or not. This is the second part of President Trump’s exclusive interview with Breitbart News in the Oval Office on Monday. The first focused on the epic fail at the Academy Awards in Hollywood on Sunday night. More pieces from President Trump’s exclusive interview, including details about his Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress and key matters such as immigration, health care, taxes, trade, and national security are forthcoming. | 1 |
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The fourth video in a series has been released by James O'Keefe of Project Veritas from his undercover sting of the Hillary Clinton campaign and the election rigging and voter fraud tactics implemented by the Democratic National Committee. In this video, election rigging guru Robert Creamer is caught arranging an illegal $20,000 foreign contribution to Americans United for Change (AUFC).
Keep in mind that AUFC is the same organization that was behind all the hullabaloo at the Trump rallies. Take a look at the video.
According to the video's description:
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.
Project Veritas reports:
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.
"First thing, like I said, thank you for the proposal. And I'd like to get the $20,000 across to you. The second call I'm going to make here is to my money guy and he's going to get in touch with you and auto wire the funds to you," said the PVA journalist.
Creamer told the PVA journalist to send the money to Americans United for Change. Shortly after the money was released, the "donors" "niece" - another Project Veritas Action journalist - was offered an internship with Creamer.
In an effort to see how far Creamer would go with the promise of more money, another Project Veritas journalist posing as the donor's money liaison requested a meeting with Creamer.
Creamer, who has been to the White House at least 340 times and at least 45 of those times met with Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro Sobarkah, is heard saying, "Every morning I am on a call at 10:30 that goes over the message being driven by the campaign headquarters … I am in this campaign mainly to deal with what earned media with television, radio, with earned media and social media, not with paid media, not with advertising."
Creamer went on to speak about Obama, whom he claims to have known since the 1980s. During that time Obama was a community organizer in Chicago.
"Oh Barack Obama's was the best campaign in the history of American politics, I mean the second one, I mean the first was good too," said Creamer of Obama. "I was a consultant to both, the second one, was everything hit on every level and every aspect. He's a pro, I've known the President since he was a community organizer in Chicago."
"I was just at an event with him in Chicago actually, on Friday last. He is just as good as ever. I do a lot of work with the White House on their issues, helping to run issue campaigns that they have been involved in," he added. "I mean, for immigration reform for the… the health care bill, for trying to make America more like Britain when it comes to gun violence issues."
According to Project Veritas, "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."
If that was not enough, following the release of the previous videos, "Americans United for Change fired Scott Foval and Robert Creamer announced to the DNC that he was stepping down from campaign responsibilities."
O'Keefe has filed suit with the Federal Elections Commission regarding the DNC, Hillary Clinton and Robert Creamer.
Here is the documentation referenced in the video: | 0 |
On a muggy afternoon in April, Angelina Iles, 65, folded herself into my passenger seat and took me on a tour of her beloved Pineville, La. a sleepy town smack in the middle of the low, wet state. We drove past houses and businesses — shuttered restaurants, a decrepit gas station — as Iles, an retired lunchroom worker and community activist, guided me toward the muddy banks of the Red River. Near there stands the Art Deco shell of the Huey P. Long hospital, which once served the poorest of the poor in Rapides Parish — and employed more than 300 workers. When employers leave towns like Pineville, they often do it with a deaf ear to the pleading of state and local governments. But in the case of Huey P. Long, the employer was the government itself. Its demise began, arguably, in 2008, when Bobby Jindal was swept into the Louisiana governor’s mansion on a platform, promising to modernize the state and unleash the power of American private industry along the Gulf Coast. At the time, Louisiana was flush with federal funds for Hurricane Katrina reconstruction and running a budget surplus. Jindal and the State Legislature slashed income taxes and started privatizing and cutting. This was a source of great pride for Jindal. During his failed bid for the presidency last year, he boasted that bureaucrats are now an endangered species in Louisiana. “I’ve laid off more of them than Trump has fired people,” he said, “and I’ve cut my state’s budget by more than he’s worth. ” He laid off more than just bureaucrats. Jindal cut appropriations for higher education, shifting the cost burden onto students themselves. (State spending per student was down more than 40 percent between 2008 and 2014 just one state, Arizona, cut more.) And he shuttered or privatized nine charity hospitals that served the state’s uninsured and indigent. They were outdated and costly, Jindal argued, and private management would improve access, care and the bottom line. Huey P. Long was one of those hospitals. Iles, along with dozens of other workers and activists, helped organize a protest against the cuts, she told me. They held a vigil on the hospital’s front lawn. Iles even helped produce an documentary called “Bad Medicine” that was broadcast on local television. But it was all for naught. “The good governor did not want to listen to us,” Iles said, checking her constantly buzzing phone in the car. The hospital closed its doors in 2014, and its patients were redirected to other local medical centers and clinics. All of the hospital’s workers lost their jobs. Driving around Pineville, Iles and I dropped in on a friend of hers from church, Theresa Jardoin, 68, who worked in the hospital for 41 years, most recently as an EKG supervisor. Out of work, she spends most of her days at home, taking care of her family. Earlier, Iles had introduced me to another friend, Linette Richard, whose story was similar. She had been working as an ultrasound technician when the hospital closed. She lost much of what she had been expecting for her retirement, because she had not been there long enough. “Nobody’s jumping to hire a especially in my field,” Richard said. “You can get a job, like McDonald’s or Burger King. But higher up? We don’t have positions available. That’s the way it is. ” That’s the way it is across much of Louisiana. The state has added 80, 000 new jobs since the Great Recession officially ended in 2009. But at the same time, jobs have been shrinking at every level of government, with local offices losing 10, 600 workers, the state government 31, 900 and the federal government 1, 600. Louisiana is an exaggerated case, but the pattern persists when you look at the country as a whole. Since the recession hit, private employers have added five million jobs and the government has lost 323, 000. The country has recovered from the recession. But public employment has not. The public sector has long been home to the sorts of jobs that lift people into the middle class and keep them there. These are jobs that have predictable hours, stable pay and protection from arbitrary layoffs, particularly for those without college or graduate degrees. They’re also more likely to be unionized less than 7 percent of workers are represented by a union, while more than a third of those in the public sector are. In other words, they look like the jobs our middle class was built on during the postwar years. The public sector’s slow decimation is one of the unheralded reasons that the middle class has shrunk as the ranks of the poor and the rich have swollen in the years. This is certainly true in Louisiana, where five of the 10 biggest employers are public institutions, or health centers that in no small part rely on public funds. In Rapides Parish, which includes Pineville, the biggest employer is the school district. Across the country, when workers lose their jobs, the burden disproportionately falls on black workers, and particularly women — people like Theresa Jardoin and Linette Richard. “We felt middle class,” Richard told me. “Now we feel kind of lower. ” In the middle of the last century, a series of legal and legislative decisions — fueled by and fueling the civil rights movement — increased the number of black workers in government employment. F. D. R. ended official discrimination in the federal government and in companies engaged in the war effort Truman desegregated the armed forces Kennedy established the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and Johnson signed an executive order banning discrimination by federal contractors. As a result, black workers gained more than a quarter of new federal jobs created between 1961 and 1965. And the share of government jobs held by women climbed 70 percent between 1964 and 1974, and nearly another 30 percent by the early 1980s. Through the middle of the century, the wage gap between white and black workers narrowed as social forces and political pressure compelled private businesses to open up better jobs to black workers. “ work has been a backbone of the black middle class for many reasons,” says Mary Pattillo, a sociologist at Northwestern who studies race and class. Affirmative action helped bring marginalized groups into the public work force there, they benefited from more public scrutiny of employment practices. “The inability to fire people in a fashion has likely protected who are perhaps likely to be fired in a fashion,” she says. As of 2007, black workers were 30 percent more likely than workers of other races to be employed in the public sector. For any number of reasons, the Great Recession unraveled much of the progress made by the black middle class. Leading up to the mortgage crisis, black families tended to have a higher proportion of their wealth tied up in their homes. And regardless of their income, black families were much more likely to be rejected for conventional mortgages and pushed into subprime loans. All of this meant that when housing prices turned down, the wealth gap yawned. As of 2013, white households were, on average, 13 times wealthier than black households, the biggest gap since 1989, according to Pew Research Center data. Declining tax revenue led to tightened state budgets, which led to tens of thousands of layoffs for employees. And during the recovery, public workers became easy political targets precisely because of their labor protections. rights, pension funds and mandatory raises look like unnecessary drains on state coffers to a work force increasingly unfamiliar with such benefits. And when the layoffs came, black Americans experienced a disproportionate share of the ill effects. A graduate student of sociology at the University of Washington, Jennifer Laird, wrote a widely cited dissertation, examining the effects of layoffs on different races. She found that the unemployment rate climbed more for black men than for white men — and much more for black women than for white women, with the gap between the two groups soaring from less than a percentage point in 2008 to 5. 5 percentage points in 2011. “It may be that black workers are more likely to be laid off when the layoffs are triggered by a sudden and significant reduction in funding,” she wrote. “When the number of layoff decisions increases, managers have more opportunities to discriminate. ” Worse, once unemployed, black women were “the least likely to find employment and the most likely to make a full exit from the labor force. ” As a result of all these economic punishments, a recession that set America back half a decade may have set black families back a whole generation, if not longer. And because the public sector provides so many essential services, cuts to it have a cascading effect. Hospitals close, and people have to drive farther away for medical care. Teachers’ aides lose their positions, and local kids no longer have the same degree of attention. Angelina Iles, the retiree I met in Pineville, cited the loss of dental, and emergency medical services as being a particularly profound problem for her community. Other states and towns are electing to have smaller public work forces. Wisconsin, for instance, has thinned its ranks of government workers by some 5, 000 since its Republican governor, Scott Walker, led a push to abrogate public workers’ organizing rights — a political choice with profound economic and racial ramifications. “They try to say that collective bargaining is a drain on the economy, when it provides the ability and opportunity for folks to have a seat at the table,” Lee Saunders, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, told me. And the economic evidence does show that a higher concentration of unionized workers increases intergenerational mobility and raises wages for all workers, public and private. With time, government jobs should come back that pathway to the middle class should grow again. “Government jobs are always slower to come back after a recession,” says Roderick Harrison, a former Howard University demographer. It takes time for private businesses to rehire workers. It takes time for tax revenue to rise to a level at which cities and states feel comfortable adding public workers back onto their payrolls. “That means that the portion of the black middle class that was dependent on government jobs — police, schools, emergency workers and so on — is going to take longer to recoup and regain whatever positions they had,” he says. For Pineville, that recovery might come too late for many of its workers, especially those who were looking toward retirement. Because Linette Richard can’t find suitable work, she and her husband get by on what he makes as a car salesman. She has given up trying to find work again around Pineville. So has Theresa Jardoin, who has resigned herself to a tougher retirement than she thought she would enjoy. “All of a sudden, there’s nothing,” she said, sitting in an easy chair in her living room, just blocks from Huey P. Long, playing with her granddaughter’s hair. “You can’t enjoy retirement in this situation. ” “You didn’t even get a pocket watch, did you?” Iles asked. “No,” Jardoin said, with a resigned laugh. “Just aches and pains. ” | 1 |
Could you at least learn what a pattern is?
Thank you. | 0 |
You Could Be Unknowingly Killing the Hummingbirds! (Here’s How to Save Them) Oct 27, 2016 0 0
( Real Farmacy ) Hummingbirds are beautiful, delightful little creatures to have around your garden. Not only are they great pollinators, but they also bring fun life into your yard. Many home gardeners will put feeders up to keep these summer personalities around.
If you don’t take the necessary steps to provide healthy nectar and clean feeders, your favorite pollinators could catch deadly infections.
Hummingbird feeders must be kept clean and free from mold and fungus, or your tiny friend could develop a serious and deadly fungus infection. This infection causes the tongue to swell, making it impossible for the bird to feed. Losing the ability to consume nectar, the cute little bird faces starvation.
A mother hummingbird can pass a fungal infection to her babies who, in turn, could also face the possibility of dying from starvation due to swelling tongues.
Not changing out the nectar enough could create fermentation within the nectar. Fermented nectar can cause liver damage, which usually will lead to death. The Basics of Hummingbird Care
When looking to purchase a feeder, find one that is easy to clean.
To clean your feeder, flush it with hot tap water and use a bottle brush to scrub the sides of the glass jar. DO NOT use soap because it will leave residue behind. If you do use soap, use a bleach or vinegar and water solution to rinse and remove soap residue.
Inspect the feeder carefully for black mold. If you see any mold growth, soak the feeder in a solution of 1/4 cup bleach to one gallon water for one hour.
To make the nectar , mix one part ordinary white cane sugar to four parts water. Do not use store bought mixtures, or honey, or any other kind of sugar — just ordinary white cane sugar will work. Bring solution to a boil, stir to dissolve the sugar, then allow the mixture to come to room temperature before filling the feeder.
Boiling the water will help slow the fermentation process of the nectar, but as soon as a hummingbird beak dips and drinks, healthy microorganisms carried on the beak will be transferred into the nectar.
If the nectar becomes cloudy, it has gone bad and needs to be replaced. A sugar solution can spoil in as little as two days. If your feeder is hanging in the sun or outside where the temperatures are high, the nectar may start to ferment in only one day.
To avoid wasting nectar, only put out enough for the birds will consume in two or three days. If you mix up a large batch, you can keep it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Ariana Marisol is an avid nature enthusiast, gardener, photographer, writer, hiker, dreamer, and lover of all things sustainable, wild, and free. Ariana strives to bring people closer to their true source, Mother Nature. She is currently finishing her last year at The Evergreen State College getting her undergraduate degree in Sustainable Design and Environmental Science. Follow her adventures on Instagram. | 0 |
Sanders’ Democrats Call for Change November 14, 2016
The fallout from the imploded Hillary Clinton campaign is prompting demands from Democratic progressives for an immediate change at the top, in this case the resignation of interim DNC chairperson Donna Brazile, says Norman Solomon.
By Norman Solomon
It’s time for Donna Brazile to go. Like Debbie Wasserman Schultz before her, Brazile has lost credibility as an honest broker at the Democratic National Committee. The DNC chair should be evenhanded — but, thanks to leaked emails , Brazile’s cover is blown.
At the same time that Brazile was publicly claiming to be neutral in the fierce Clinton-Sanders primary battle, she was using her job as a CNN political analyst to give the Clinton campaign advance notice of questions that would be asked during a CNN debate between the two candidates. Donna Brazile, interim Democratic Party chairperson.
Yet Brazile seems tone deaf about her integrity breach — just as the Democratic Party establishment has been tone deaf about the corrosive effects of servicing Wall Street and wealthy contributors.
As the Washington Post reported a week ago , “Donna Brazile is not apologizing for leaking CNN debate questions and topics to the Hillary Clinton campaign during the Democratic primary. Her only regret, it seems, is that she got caught.”
Consider Brazile’s response after the email hack exposed the chasm between her public claims of being evenhanded and her furtive effort to help Clinton gain an improper debate advantage over Sanders. “My conscience, as an activist, as a strategist — my conscience is very clear,” Brazile said in a radio interview , adding that “if I had to do it all over again, I would know a hell of a lot more about cybersecurity.”
But the current DNC chair’s lack of encryption knowledge is hardly the problem. Brazile has functioned as a shameless cog in the Clinton political machine. That machine hasn’t just broken down; it is now kaput.
In the wake of Donald Trump ’s victory, the DNC must undergo a far-reaching shakeup. And — with no time to waste — we can’t wait several months until Brazile’s planned departure from the DNC chair job in March.
That’s why several hundred activists who were Bernie Sanders delegates to the Democratic National Convention just voted to “call for the immediate resignation of Donna Brazile as chair of the Democratic National Committee.”
A lopsided tally came in over the weekend, with 96 percent — 337 to 13 — in favor of pushing for Brazile to resign. The straw poll was conducted by the Bernie Delegates Network (which I coordinate), an independent group sponsored by the online activist organization RootsAction.org in partnership with Progressive Democrats of America.
“The DNC must either change or it will die,” says PDA executive director Donna Smith. “And that change starts with Ms. Brazile’s prompt resignation.”
RootsAction has launched a nationwide petition campaign calling for Brazile to resign immediately.
A Symbol and Symptom
Brazile’s duplicitous behavior is a symbol and symptom of the Democratic Party leadership — which remains unwilling to admit that its chronic alignment with Wall Street, big banks and harmful trade deals has been key to sagging electoral fortunes. Bernie Sanders supporters rally in Washington D.C. on June 9, 2016. (Photo credit: Chelsea Gilmour)
The national Democratic Party has long been in the grip of those who assume that following along Wall Street — with minor quibbles and facile populist rhetoric — is the pathway to the White House. That claim has now been thoroughly discredited, as election returns from the Rust Belt attest.
The old guard at the DNC should not be allowed to hang on. Despite all the pseudo-populist gestures, Donna Brazile and her Clinton Inc. allies can be expected to do little more than tinker with corporate-fueled DNC machinery that is long overdue for the junk heap.
The Democratic National Committee is now a relic of mechanisms spinning toward oligarchy. Every day that goes by with the old leadership in place is a day wasted for the essential work to come.
Norman Solomon was a Sanders delegate from California to the Democratic National Convention. He is co-founder of the online activist group RootsAction.org, which has 730,000 members. Solomon is executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. [This article originally appeared at The Hill, http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/305831-for-the-good-of-the-party-its-time-for-donna-brazile ] | 0 |
There’s a wheelchair onstage at the Belasco Theater, and it’s drawing an abundance of attention. There’s also a wheelchair onstage at a small theater not far away, and it’s drawing practically no attention at all. The gulf between the two says quite a lot. At the Belasco, the Broadway house on West 44th Street, the wheelchair is one of the conspicuous elaborations the director Sam Gold has brought to his production of “The Glass Menagerie,” the beloved Tennessee Williams drama. The chair isn’t just a prop it’s a necessity for the actress playing Laura, Madison Ferris, who has muscular dystrophy. That bit of casting is, of course, a significant change from the shy girl with a limp that Williams called for in his play. And Mr. Gold’s staging leaves no doubt that Ms. Ferris is not some actress pretending to have a disability. He has her enter by painstakingly climbing stairs, one of several times that he takes her out of the wheelchair and confronts the audience with the difficulties of having severely limited mobility. Some leading critics have objected to the transformation of Williams’s subtle play about a family enveloped in denial into something more strident. The kindest objections say that Mr. Gold’s interpretation simply doesn’t mesh well with the text harsher ones on theater chat boards have called his use of Ms. Ferris exploitative. Perhaps these detractors are focusing on moments like the one in which Amanda, Laura’s mother, tells her: “You’re not crippled. You just have a little defect — hardly noticeable, even!” How can such a line make sense when there’s a wheelchair onstage? For one thing, this is a “memory play,” told through the recollections of Laura’s brother, Tom (played by Joe Mantello). And memory is an interpretation of the past, not a literal playback of it. But, more than that, to live with a child with a disability is to be both isolated — as this family is — and susceptible to what seems to others like an unreality. My own daughter, who has a serious disability called Rett syndrome, is just three years younger than the Laura. Is it easy for me to imagine a parent who sees a vastly different child than the outside world sees? You bet. As for the charge of exploitation, I read that as, “It was unpleasant to see Ms. Ferris pull herself along the floor by her arms I prefer that people with disabilities remain invisible, as they so often are. ” Broadway audiences are accustomed to seeing perfect bodies doing entertaining dance steps. Guess what, Broadway? One in five Americans has a disability, according to the census bureau. Nine blocks north and four blocks west of the Belasco, at the A. R. T. York Theaters, Theater Breaking Through Barriers has a program of shorts running through Sunday. The company, which has been around since 1979, stages productions using actors with disabilities as well as actors. The five plays on its current program include works by Neil LaBute and Bekah Brunstetter, a producer of the TV series “This Is Us. ” Nicholas Viselli, the company’s artistic director, has put quirky interstitials between the plays — a song, some monologues. Ryan Haddad, who is gay and has cerebral palsy, steals the show with a funny, deeply personal piece called “Hi, Are You Single?” This is the type of production that’s most likely to showcase actors with disabilities: intimate theater, small audience, $25 ticket. The program (which is called “The Other Plays: Short Plays About Diversity and Otherness”) is but it feels 1, 000 miles from the mainstream represented by the Belasco, where the best seat for “The Glass Menagerie” can set you back more than $200. Mr. Gold’s brashest stroke in a production full of them may be the bridging of that divide — taking a theatrical universe that has existed for some time on the outskirts and putting it on a Broadway marquee featuring the names of Mr. Mantello and Sally Field, who plays Amanda. He’s not the first to do so — think back, for instance, to the breathtaking Deaf West reimagining of “Big River” in 2003, featuring a lot of deaf and actors and sign language, or to the same company’s 2015 “Spring Awakening” (which also had an actor who uses a wheelchair). But it remains a rare occurrence, and as a result Broadway remains unrepresentative of the full range of humanity. So do television, film and most other forms, though inroads are being made there, too. Does the casting of an actor with cerebral palsy to play a character with cerebral palsy on the ABC sitcom “Speechless” seem manipulative? How about the coming introduction of a character with autism on “Sesame Street?” Sometimes, what seems a cheesy gimmick or instance of exploitation is really just the front edge of needed change. Some theatergoers were probably outraged the first time a black Juliet was cast against a white Romeo. Did that change how some of Shakespeare’s lines registered and imbue the play with new meanings? Sure. Is casting now widely accepted and the theatergoing experience richer for it? Yes. Mr. Gold’s production is hardly perfect. If you figure out that thing with keeping the house lights up for a third of the show, let me know. But at least with the Laura character, he has done what he intended. “I’m not very interested in pretend,” he has said. “I’m interested in putting people onstage. I want people. And I want a world that reflects the real world. ” It’s worth contemplating what that means from the audience’s perspective. On those chat boards, some writers have complained that Ms. Ferris isn’t very good. Here’s the thing: We have been conditioned to define good acting in terms of facial expressions, comic timing, physical bits. An actor with a disability, especially one involving muscle control or cognitive impairment, isn’t necessarily going to be able to give the kind of performance we’re used to. Will Ms. Ferris impress someone looking for that kind of performance? Probably not. But she gives the most realistic portrayal of a person with muscular dystrophy that I’ve ever seen. In any case, the overall package worked for me and showed me a different play, just as Deaf West did with “Big River,” one of my favorite musicals. The Amanda of this “Menagerie” is more in denial than other Amandas the gentleman caller, played by Finn Wittrock, who sees past Laura’s disability, is all the nobler. And — especially given the time frame of the play, an era before curb cuts and the Americans With Disabilities Act, Tom’s decision to leave his family is not so much a personal liberation as a cruel abandonment. I don’t really care whether this is what Williams intended. What I admire is the attempt, and the fact that this production has people talking about something other than whether Ms. Field’s Amanda is better or worse than Cherry Jones’s in 2013 or Jessica Lange’s in 2005. Debates like that are the product of a theater of complacency. Debates like the one Mr. Gold has unleashed are what keep theater vigorous and challenging. | 1 |
The rain misted down and I had two choices: the road up the hill, or the one alongside the river. I stood next to some kind of cement plant, most of it hidden behind a corrugated metal fence dripping with moisture. My pack pulled down on my shoulders. The river, engorged by two days of rain, roared and echoed against the mountains. A man in blue overalls emerged from behind a small Fuso truck. Like many people I’d encountered in Japan, he wanted to help me. I was grateful. I put roughly 25 percent of my Japanese language skills to work. “Sumimasen?” I said (Excuse me). “Hai?” “Tsumago?” He gestured down the road, I thought along the river. He said quite a few things that I didn’t understand. I thanked him and strode off, pack on back, hands on straps, rain on head. A later, after continuing along the river and then beneath a highway overpass, pressing against the wall because there was no shoulder, and then doubling back in confusion — this can’t be right — I found myself outside the same plant, beside the same fence, talking to the same man. He seemed mildly frustrated with me. He gestured again, and this time I went up the hill. Of course — when you have a pack on your back, the destination is always up the hill. I soon came into Tsumago, a beautifully preserved town on the Nakasendo road in the Kiso Valley. I had wanted to visit for years — 35, actually — and had chosen to walk from the train so I could first experience the town as travelers had in the 19th century: on foot, the neat rows of wooden houses revealing themselves in diminishing perspective as I turned the corner. But it was 2011, so instead I entered via the parking lot, and had to negotiate my pack between an idling bus and a pair of vending machines featuring the image of Tommy Lee Jones. My obsession with Japan began in 1979 when my parents took me from our house in Brooklyn to see a show of woodblock prints at the Cooper Hewitt museum in Manhattan featuring works by the great landscape artist Hiroshige. The show featured prints from Hiroshige’s first famous series, the 53 Stations of the Tokaido, which chronicled life along the ancient coast highway that connected Edo, Tokyo, and Kyoto. Traveling the road was an envied, experience, and those who got the chance availed themselves of spectacular views, local culinary delicacies, hot spring baths and other more carnal pursuits along the way. Those who couldn’t go, or wanted souvenirs to remember their journeys, bought prints like Hiroshige’s for roughly the price of a double serving of noodles. The strikingly modern designs, the warm hues of the skies and trees, the towns nestled in the mountains or by the sea, the raucous joy of the travelers, and the almost palpable sense of the seasons lit up something inside me — I stood there transfixed. I was soon spending hours trying to draw like Hiroshige. I became obsessed by all things Japanese — books, movies I even took up Japanese fencing. The country had recovered from the war, but was not yet the economic powerhouse it would become in the 1980s — it was something of a blank slate for my imagination. This interest never quite faded away like others of adolescence. But over the decades, various events (college, jobs, children) seemed timed to prevent me from actually visiting Japan. Or maybe I just told myself that. I suppose, deep in my heart, I didn’t want modern reality to get in the way of my childhood fantasy land. So in 2011 when my wife and two children had finally had enough — Why don’t you just go? — I screwed up my courage and went, with one goal of recreating the Hiroshige experience. The Tokaido is mostly built over, but portions of the Nakasendo, which connects Tokyo and Kyoto via the interior, and which Hiroshige had also chronicled, are still preserved. The evening after my rainy wrong turn I clumped eagerly up the road from Tsumago to the town of Magome. I was in some kind of heaven that day, in either bright sunshine or cool, crisp shade, but was rarely out of earshot of a highway. At one point, deep in the woods, I encountered a vending machine (Tommy Lee Jones again). I had an iced coffee. Four years later, as I planned my return to Japan, I knew I had to travel beyond the populated heart of the country if I wanted to really replicate the world I had seen in those prints, going farther afield than Hiroshige himself. And so I chose the Kumano Kodo, a series of trails through deep forest and small towns on the Kii Peninsula several hours south of Osaka. It’s a religious pilgrimage that I came across in my obsessive reading. Pilgrims go to visit the numerous shrines along the way, worshiping the mountains themselves. They’ve done so since the sixth century. It’s said one can achieve spiritual powers by enduring the route’s physical challenge. Spirituality aside, this seemed to have everything I wanted: long walks deep in the woods, beautiful towns with little hotels promising hot baths, sake and great meals. The idea of going alone was intimidating (I could only imagine how little English was spoken) but I hated the idea of being part of a group with a guide. My Japanese obsession is a very private thing. And that’s when I discovered Oku Japan, and the tour. I found it online. The reviews were good. For $955, Oku would book my hotels and provide me with a guide to the trail. The company, based in Cheshire, England, had an office in Japan with an emergency phone number this made my wife feel better. I opted for a hike, paying a little more for a single supplement, but less because I’d take care of my own train tickets with a Japan Rail Pass. Oku provided me with timetables. And so with my trusty pack on my back, I set off for my second trip to Japan. First I spent two days in Tokyo. I visited print galleries during the day and wandered Shinjuku at night — to a New Yorker, it felt like 20 Times Squares — where I was carried along in a swirl of crowds, neon, blaring pop music, screeching overhead trains, weird bird tweets at walk signs and the approaches of touts who promised “100 percent naked women,” all the beer I could drink in 60 minutes or both. I deflected offers of the first by pointing to my wedding ring, and the second by feigning indignation and announcing that I did not drink. Then I went off in search of a quiet cocktail bar. I found several, including a tiny one in the decrepit but atmospheric Golden Gai section, where the bartender said I looked like Jack Bauer from “24. ” I don’t, but the name stuck, and the other drinkers exclaimed “Goodnight, Jack Bauer!” in tipsy unison as I returned to the alley an hour or so later. At my inn in Kyoto, a package awaited from Oku Japan: my itinerary, a booklet detailing the Kumano Kodo with directions (I would be taking the Nakahechi route) and several beautiful laminated color maps with height elevations. I was all set. The next morning, having condensed my essentials and a few of my favorite books about Japan into a shoulder bag, I grabbed a boxed lunch at Kyoto Station and got on the Super Kuroshia No. 7 limited express, nonreserved car, as per my instructions. I studied my itinerary and maps as the outskirts of Kyoto and then Osaka gave way to small towns and finally, the blue expanse of the Inland Sea, dotted with tiny islands as jagged and numerous as those portrayed by Hiroshige. The train hugged the west coast of the peninsula before arriving at the town of where I got off and found the bus that would take me into the interior. As I got on, I noticed a group of Westerners who seemed to be following the same instructions. This was something I had not considered: Others would be taking the same tour at the same time and I would be, by default, part of a group. The bus climbed away from the cluttered coastline into rich green mountains, and eventually along a wide, pebbly river. Soon enough, and right on time, we were in Takijiri, a tiny town in a deep ravine at the intersection of the Tonda and Ishifune rivers where the Kumano Kodo begins. I paid the 960 yen (about $8. 80) Oku had prepared me for, and went into a shop to get water and a bamboo walking stick. I also wanted to let the others get ahead of me. I followed my instructions. The first shrine, Takijiri oji, was just behind the shop. I walked toward it, and then to the left around it, and saw the beginning of the trail, a sharply ascending ladder of logs and tangled tree roots, slick with damp leaves, beside a steep . Up I went. Have I mentioned that I’m not much of a hiker? Beyond my phase, athletics have never been a priority. I’m not outdoorsy I’m indoorsy. But my Hiroshige fantasy propelled me onward, even as my chest started to ache awfully soon. I’m also a little anxious about heights. This was an issue that first day, and on the subsequent two days, as the trail was often atop a towering cliff on the right side, the left side, or at a few spots, both sides, the path crowning a precipitous land bridge. At one point, I kicked a small rock to determine how long it would take to the reach the bottom. It was still bouncing down, on and on, more and more distant, when I resumed my trek. I got into a rhythm, marking my progress on my map and at every wooden trail marker. Oku explained the history and legends associated with this or that shrine or landmark, kept me from taking several wrong turns, and warned me away from a detour that, while promising a great view, would have been exhausting. And anyway, there were already views at every break in the trees — layers and layers of mountains, some smooth, others rough with treetops, their ridges meeting in diagonal lines, each a different shade of . The first day was only 2. 8 miles. Soon I descended into the tiny town of Takahara. Here two roads met on a gliding slope, and there were a few shops and one hotel, the Organic Hotel Takahara . Every room in the place, from the room with its bare support beams to the men’s and women’s baths to the bedrooms, had spectacular views of the yawning valley below, now tinted gold. I tossed my bag in my room and went to have a beer and take some notes on the terrace. The afternoon cooled: The instant the sun dipped behind the mountains, it felt as if the valley became . I found the group from the bus, beers one of the women with a laptop, and discovered that after my solitary day, I didn’t mind a little company. After a bit I went for a bath, joined in the wooden tub by two chatty and elderly Japanese men, and enjoyed the view of the darkening mountains some more before getting dressed for dinner, set for precisely 6:30 p. m. One member of the group, Janet, invited me to sit with them, and I liked the idea, but my hosts said this would be impossible: We were different parties, after all. Sometimes in Japan, I’ve found, rules can be intractable. So I ate alone — pickles, beef I dipped in boiling water, and several other items including a very western avocado dish — at the next table over, my back to the others. It was equal parts awkward and comic. “How are you doing over there, Wendell,” Janet asked at one point over her shoulder. The rules were relaxed as the meal ended, and I shifted my chair around and joined the other table as I finished my sake (not included in Oku’s fee). There were five of them: Janet her husband, Stan her aunt Elvina her colleague Pat and Pat’s friend, also named Pat. We traded the basic details of our lives. They were from Canada, Edmonton and Vancouver, with jobs that included judges and lawyers in family court. It made for fascinating conversation. They were also fierce hikers, having tackled many ambitious walks, such as the Camino de Santiago in Spain. They were indeed following Oku’s instructions, and had found the first day’s walk a snap. “Have you seen the elevations for tomorrow, and the day after?” one asked me. I had and said that I was worried. The second day’s hike was 6. 5 miles, including 1, 575 feet of ascent. I went down to the village to take in the view from there, and to allow the Canadians to get a head start I still envisioned my hike as a solitary adventure. Soon enough I was deep in the woods, marveling at the towering and Japanese cedars and passing an abandoned house that looked like something out of a Japanese horror movie. Some trees were flecked with orange. I sat on a stump to eat two sandwiches the Organic Hotel had packed for me for lunch. At one point I paused beside an especially deep ravine. The cedars stood like an infinite army of stoic and towering sentries all around and above and below me, endless legions of them, falling away on my hill and then rising higher on the next one, their tops shimmering gently way, way up there in the occasional breeze. A few beams of sunlight slanted down, but otherwise all was in shade. There wasn’t a sound, not a bird, not a cricket even the branches swaying in the breeze could not be heard, as if they were in a silent movie. My hiking senses sharpened. I came to learn that a glimpse of blue sky near the bottom of the trunks ahead meant I was reaching the crest of a mountain, just as the increasingly loud gurgle of a stream meant I was reaching the bottom. There always seemed to be more up than down. I encountered the occasional solitary hiker flying by with scissoring poles, pilgrims with twinkling bells, and small groups. One was a gaggle of young women from Osaka who asked me to take their picture, asked me to appear in a picture with them, and gave me as a reward a selection of Japanese candies. After they thanked me and I responded “Sure,” they engaged in a contest to see who could best imitate my voice, each attempt getting deeper and of longer duration. “Sure. ” “Sure. ” “Suuuuure. ” At another point I was joined by a retired Japanese man who spoke nostalgically of the months he’d spent in Indiana studying engineering. He practiced his English on me while I practiced my Japanese on him. (Sumimasen?) Oku had warned that the Kii Peninsula could be rainy, but I never had anything but sun. My stamina followed an arc: I tired quickly, then got into a rhythm, magically energized. I felt my mind open up and go free — it wandered through time, over that print show at the Cooper Hewitt, my family, my first trip to Japan, even my job: Solutions to several vexing problems at work suddenly became clear. I tired again as I approached my destination, the town of Chikatsuyu, where Oku had booked me at a minshuku, a guesthouse, more modest than a traditional Japanese inn. It sat on the far bank of the Tonda. I had another long, hot bath, this one fed by a hot spring, again with two chatty and elderly Japanese men, though not the same ones as the evening before. I threw in once and for all with the Canadians at dinner. Maybe I’d already tired a little of my own thoughts. We agreed to stick together the next day. Another group at the guesthouse was from Spain, including a stocky bald man said to be a karate expert. We started early the following morning — Elvina was soon way ahead — and marked our progress on our maps. We had lunch in a small field next to a stream: I had two rice balls I’d bought at a shop in Chikatsuyu and an egg that Elvina made me take from the hotel, saying she was worried I wouldn’t have enough for lunch. We saw some wildlife. A snake zipped between the feet of one of the Pats. Three monkeys ruffled branches down a hill, warning us off with ghastly shrieks. And a deer with two short, antlers and a white tail froze on the trail ahead of us. I reached for my camera but not quickly enough: the karate master bounded up from behind — “Qué pasa?” — and the deer bolted into the cedars as if it had been launched from a catapult. The Canadians paid more attention to hiking times and progress than I did. I learned a lot from them, like how each of the many shrines we passed had a small box containing a stamp and an ink pad. Or how I shouldn’t swing my hands when I hiked, because they could become swollen. In return I shared some of the many small facts I’d picked up about Japan in my decades of reading, like that the egg with a velvety texture that we’d had at breakfast was an “onsen egg” cooked in a hot spring. “Where did you learn that?” Janet asked me. “I don’t know. It’s just one of the obscure facts I picked up in the last 35 years. ” That day’s hike was the longest at nine miles with roughly 2, 000 feet of ascent. I was glad for that extra egg. This was the moderate option suggested by Oku it included a quick bus ride. There was an easier option with a longer bus ride but that felt like cheating. Eventually, we came out of the forest and walked along paved roads in little farming towns. The hike ended in the magnificent Grand Shrine at Hongu, a key stop for many of those pilgrims. The shrine’s wooden buildings sat atop a towering stone staircase limned by hundreds of white flags blazing with Japanese characters, a fittingly dramatic finale. That night’s accommodation was a modern hot springs hotel. I had a bottle of Kirin from the refrigerator in my room before sampling all the various baths. I bathed inside, I bathed outside, and after a farewell dinner with the Canadians, found one of two private baths unoccupied, so I bathed there, too, finally alone. These baths were in a little house, the damp wood wall that separated them open near the ceiling. Two Japanese women — a mother and a daughter, I suspect — had gone into the other one as I went into mine, and I listened groggily in the near darkness to their mellifluous words and laughter, and occasional tiny splashes, as I sat in the steaming water up to my neck. If Hiroshige could see me now. The emotions I experienced after my first trip to Japan in 2011 — and here my parents and children might want to skip ahead — were distinctly similar to those I’d experienced after losing my virginity: something I’d imagined a million times had now taken place, and while it wasn’t exactly as I’d expected, it was still pretty great, and I was now a different person. And I wanted to do it again. My second trip made it all feel more real. The fantasy Japan of color woodblock prints and movies was being replaced by the actual country. Those little encounters, with the gang at the Golden Gai bar, the hiker from Indiana, the men in the baths, a friend I met for lunch at Tokyo Station on my race back to Narita Airport and home, brought Japan ever so slightly into focus. Hiroshige probably never visited the Kii Peninsula. In fact, recent scholarship suggests he never even traveled the length of the Tokaido, creating some of his most famous designs from guidebooks. I don’t know and I don’t care: I’m certain that in those solitary moments deep in the woods, my mind free, the cedars like endless rows of sentries, as I walked a path worn smooth by pilgrims 1, 400 years ago, the silence complete, enveloping, I saw him. A selection of favorite books, movies and websites about Japan. Hiroshige: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo I can’t find an book of the Tokaido series, but this volume features the artist’s high point capturing life in Edo. Spectacular prints from the Brooklyn Museum. (George Braziller 2000) The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi A detective in Japan solves all sorts of strange doings. Every word is wonderful. (University of Hawaii Press 2007) Seven Japanese Tales The novelist Junichiro Tanizaki spins tales in early Japan. (Vintage Books 2001) Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche Haruki Murakami collects oral accounts of the 1995 terrorist attack. As harrowing as it is riveting. (Vintage International 2001) Travels With Hiroshi Shimizu The Japanese love of strenuous hikes during the day and languorous hot baths at night is captured in these simple movies, all shot on location before the war. From the Criterion Collection. Kwaidan The Kumano Trail can be spooky, and no film captures Japanese horror folklore better than this 1965 Technicolor masterpiece by Masaki Kobayashi. It’s even better on . From the Criterion Collection. Oku Japan This company books guided and tours that really go deep into the Japanese countryside. Even if you can’t go, their website is filled with great photography and videos. Paul’s Travel Pics I have no idea who Paul is, but he’s a great photographer, writer and traveler, and this very detailed website acted as a crucial guide to my first trip to Japan, particularly the Nakasendo highway. | 1 |
The Jerusalem Post reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump held their first press conference together on Wednesday. It is the first time the two leaders have met since Trump’s inauguration on January 20th. [During the White House press conference, the two discussed the creation of a peace deal between Israel and Palestinians and the potential for a solution. Trump said that he’d “like to see [Netanyahu] hold off on settlements for a bit. ” He also added that he thinks “we are going to make a deal,” to which Netanyahu responded “We’ll see. ” Netanyahu said at the end of the conference that “there is no bigger support of Israel and the Jewish State than President Donald Trump. ” Read more here. | 1 |
MECCA, Saudi Arabia — “Sister, where are your socks?” one of the women I was sitting with demanded. “Don’t you know you have to cover your feet?” We were in the sprawling Grand Mosque that surrounds the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site, during the hajj, the pilgrimage of rites and rituals that ended on Wednesday. I could not decipher which of the four Saudi women in identical billowing black robes and black gloves was speaking to me because their faces were covered with not one but two veils, something I had never seen before. They made space for me. I discreetly covered my offending feet with my own long, black robe, which I bought specially for the hajj, my first. These women who looked like black ravens poured me golden Arabian coffee from their thermos and fed me crunchy yellow dates while we waited for Friday Prayer to begin. There it was again. I was at once frustrated by Islam’s nitpicky strictures on women’s dress and embraced by its warm sisterhood. Over and over again during this physical and personal journey, I was confronted by my conflicting feelings on how the faith I was raised in deals with gender, the very thing that had made me take off my hijab in college. At its founding, 1, 400 years ago, Islam was revolutionary for its time in seeing women as spiritual equals. But in its contemporary conception, the gender roles trouble me. My testimony in some Islamic court matters would count for half that of a male witness. Men can take four wives, women one husband each. Yet Muslim women have a right to an education, to be scholars and in some cases jurists. We have as an eternal role model the Prophet Muhammad’s first, beloved wife, Khadija, a successful trader who popped the question to a man 15 years her junior. “Treat your women well and be kind to them,” Muhammad himself urged in his last sermon, during his final pilgrimage to Mecca. “It is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you. ” So, kindness and rights, but also women as something less than men. It can feel patronizing, and diminishing of our full humanity. It is why I started to lose faith after a childhood in an observant family and what I still struggle with, at 38, living a life that is secular but guided by Islamic values. Each day in Mecca provided powerful reminders of a religion that seems to simultaneously embrace women and push them away. Another day at the Grand Mosque, I met Saraya, a woman who is from South Africa but lives in Australia, where I grew up. She had longed to make the hajj for years but was unable because she lacked a mahram, or male guardian — usually a husband, brother or father — to accompany her male pilgrims can come alone. “I never thought I’d get here,” said Saraya, beaming. She got here only because the Saudi government allows some women over 45 to come with an older female companion. (I got around the mahram requirement because I came on a journalist visa, which included a different kind of guardian, a Saudi minder named who accompanied me during all my reporting.) Saraya, whose last name and age I never had a chance to ask, said there had been “a few incidents” that detracted from the positive experience of her pilgrimage, like when someone in her delegation was “propositioned in a taxi,” and the fact that men frequently pushed in front of her. “But I’m a bit bohemian, so I trust the energies around me,” she added. “I just let it flow whatever is supposed to come is a learning. ” Once women overcome the obstacles to getting here, they are required to perform all the same rituals as men. The only real gender difference on the hajj is that men are supposed to wear two white sheets with nothing underneath (women have no specific dress requirement beyond modesty) and at the end, men shave their heads and women simply cut a lock of hair. Unlike in the segregated prayer spaces of mosques and the separate wedding celebrations of conservative Muslims, men and women mix freely during hajj rites: walking together seven times around the Kaaba climbing together to the top of Mount Arafat, where supplications to God are believed to be answered throwing stones together at the Jamarat, the three pillars that symbolize the devil. There was something lovely about watching that, doing that. But segregation — and unequal treatment — come back five times daily with the call to prayer. One night at the compound where my V. I. P. delegation was staying in Arafat, I was working when the men suddenly started kneeling in a large, carpeted room. I asked where the women should pray, and various officials kept directing me back through a parking lot crammed with buses until I realized there was no space set aside we were meant to bow alone in our rooms. Another night, as I tried to find room between worshipers, a security guard shouted that I was taking space where men needed to walk. Among other special rules around the hajj, there is a relaxation of some of Islam’s modesty strictures: Women are not supposed to cover their faces. But I met several female pilgrims who still shrouded themselves, either with thin gauze or with a cloth draped from a visor. One step forward, two back. Beneath the veils, though, were hardly oppressed chattel. One woman I met, Mervat, works as a cardiologist in Yemen, risking her life to save lives. Then there was Raghdah Hakeem, 27, a Saudi assigned by the Ministry of Culture and Information to care for the women in our delegation, which included 100 journalists (about 10 of them women, which the veterans said was the most they had ever seen covering the hajj). When Ms. Hakeem was ordered to sit at the back of the bus one night, she refused and stayed in her seat, a Muslim Rosa Parks. “I can sit wherever I want,” she recalled telling the elderly, bearded official. She grinned as she shared the rest: “All the men around me said, ‘I’m so glad you didn’t go.’ I stood for my opinion, and they supported me. ” Despite dire warnings from my mother and sister, who had done the hajj before me, I did not experience sexual harassment in any form — no groping, no gestures, no untoward or unwelcome comments. I felt safe. But also, too often, . When our delegation reached the rocky plain of Muzdalifa, we were ushered into a compound akin to mobile homes. It was starkly different from the accommodations of the rest of the pilgrims, who traditionally sleep under the stars on pieces of cardboard and sheets, men and women in separate but close quarters. In Muzdalifa, pilgrims are meant to gather stones to throw at the three Jamarat pillars. Instead, somebody left rocks near the entrance of our compound so we wouldn’t have to go out onto the plain. It was a thoughtful gesture for some of the women in our group, who rushed to cover themselves whenever a man approached our quarters, usually to deliver food or drinks. Once, one of my roommates, wearing a robe with strawberries, only had time to hold a veil up in front of her face. She looked as if she were deleting herself from a picture. But for me and a few other female Muslim journalists, the gesture felt like a slight. We wanted to gather our own stones, to experience the whole hajj. We strolled onto the plain, and I bent to pick up rocks and put them into an empty water bottle. As I rose, one of those veiled women handed me a yogurt drink to rehydrate. | 1 |
U.S. Economy Clinton Foundation , new world order , Trump admin Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the Government but illegal for the citizenry – Thomas Jefferson
The mainstream media tried it’s hardest to persuade the public that Hillary was a lock to win the election. Even the nefarious George Soros asserted confidently that Trump might win the popular election but Hillary would win the Electoral College.
But apparently the voters just weren’t ready for a tyrannical President yet. The perception of the two candidates shaped by the mainstream media led the unsuspecting – if not comatose – public to believe that Hillary Clinton was some liberal angel who would save the country from reality and that Trump is some kind of fascist monster who is going to force everyone with slightly tinted skin to leave the country.
Of course, nothing could be farther from the truth. Lost in the shuffle is the fact that the Dragon Lady, reincarnated, hid behind the veil of the tax-free status of the Clinton Foundation to steal $100’s of millions from the taxpayers and the Saudi royal family (the Huma Abedin connection, which is why she is Hillary’s “Igor”) and move it into the bank accounts of the Clinton family and friends of the Clinton family. The taxpayers got nothing in return – the Saudi family got use of the U.S. military to attack Syria.
Phony polls are just another form of insidious propaganda – it’s a tool designed to persuade the masses to go the direction of the poll and discourage the other side from voting. It worked for Hitlery and the DNC against Bernie in California. But the people woke up enough to see through the ruse in the big election.
The election results on Tuesday were not about giving Trump or the Republican Party a political and economic policy mandate. The only mandate issued on Tuesday – quite loud and clear – was this: “Someone please stop Washington DC and Wall Street from date-raping us in the bodily area where waste exits.” That was it. Obama had the same mandate in 2008 and completely betrayed his supporters.
Judging from the early indications from the Trump camp regarding Trump’s likely cabinet and advisor appointments, it’s going to be out with the old and in with the old. Currently it appears as if the new Attorney General will be Rudy Guiliani, who is a blatant Establishment hack; Larry Kudlow as an advisor, who is the worst economist in modern era; and Jamie Dimon, CEO, JP Morgan/Chase – who should be in jail – and Goldman Sachs alumnus Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary. More of the same. Neocon elitists, Establishment apologists and Wall Street thieves.
The Shadow of Truth hosted special guest, Eric Dubin of The News Doctors to review and dissect what happened on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, it’s not difficult to conclude that not much will change when Obama hands the Oval Office wand to Trump: Share this: | 0 |
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The excitement over the US election is culminating as the due date is getting closer. Each candidate is trying to use any device at hand to denigrate the other and morality is the last thing to strike the minds of the candidates. The fact of the matter is that morality is a dead circle in the American politics. Hillary Clinton, the democratic candidate, uses f-word in a debate ( http://en.institutomanquehue.org/publications/news/did-hillary-clinton-mutter-donald-trump-debate.html ) watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world and finds no shame in it. Even American religious leaders believe that Clinton is not competent to be the president of a religious country like United States ( http://en.institutomanquehue.org/publications/news/christian-right-leader-hillary-clinton-hostile-biblical-christianity.html ). On the other hand, the GOP candidate, Donald trump , has no better condition. His sexual harassments and violent ideas towards women were shocking not only for female victims, but also for the dominant male group in America. The violent use of words to address different groups of people, mainly in social media ( http://en.institutomanquehue.org/publications/news/as-first-lady-melania-trump-wants-to-save-you-from-her-husband.html ) , made it hard for the parents to allow their kids to follow him. Besides, the number of women that accused Trump of groping and rape ( http://en.institutomanquehue.org/publications/news/list-women-accused-donald-trump-of-sexual-assault.html ) is increasing day by day and the list is running on. The so-called locker-room video of Trump talking dirty about women and his attitude towards them leaked to the public to be the final shot on the republican candidate, but it did not have that much affect. It seems that even grabbing “the women by the p…y” could not change their idea about Trump.
All these information, some released by the opponent candidate and some by other sources mainly WikiLeaks, seems to have had little significance in the public orientation in choosing a candidate. This has less to do with the people than with the administration system and media empire in the United States.
The fact that Trump does not talk about a rigged-election for respecting democracy and exercising the law is clear as a truth. His words that “I will accept the result of the election if I were chosen” is more like a joke than the words of a would-be president. What Assange is trying to say in his tweet is that the rig is being done on a higher level than the polls or the voting system. The whole administration and political system is rigged in America and the people will not choose a candidate; they are chosen to choose. This is the truth behind the weird public orientation towards election in spite of all the information released about the corruptions of the two candidates in mass media. The fact that the media and the political system are rigging the election in a latent mode is the key to the question raised about the mysteries of the American election. | 0 |
In a preview clip of an interview set to air on Fox News Channel’s Tuesday broadcast of “Fox Friends,” President Donald Trump said Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were “outplayed” by North Korea. Trump said, “I don’t want to telegraph what I’m doing or what I’m thinking. I’m not like other administrations, where they say we’re going to do this in four weeks. It doesn’t work that way. We’ll see what happens. I hope things work out well. I hope there’s going to be peace, but they’ve been talking with this gentleman for a long time. You read Clinton’s book and he said, ‘Oh, we made such a great peace deal’ and it was a joke. You look at different things over the years with President Obama. Everybody has been outplayed. They’ve all been outplayed by this gentleman and we’ll see what happens. I just don’t telegraph my moves. ” ( The Hill) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
‹ › Arnaldo Rodgers is a trained and educated Psychologist. He has worked as a community organizer and activist. Field of Valor in Orange waves thank-you to veterans By Arnaldo Rodgers on November 9, 2016 veterans
BY JONATHAN WINSLOW
Handy Park has been dyed with a sea of red, white and blue as more than 1,700 flags have been placed to create the Field of Valor, honoring those who have fought and are still fighting for the country’s freedoms.
This is the second annual Field of Valor event, held by the Community Foundation of Orange. Susie Cunningham, executive director of the foundation, said it wasn’t certain if last year’s event would take off at all, but a powerful community response enabled this year’s event to be much more ambitious.
The main draw is the same as last year: 1,776 American flags lining the park. Each flag represents either a veteran or an active service member with a tag telling a bit about the person. These provided tags can be as detailed as listing out medals and commendations won in Vietnam, or as simple as remembering that a grandparent served in the Navy during World War II.
Read the Full Article at www.ocregister.com >>>> Related Posts: No Related Posts The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VNN, VNN authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. Notices Posted by Arnaldo Rodgers on November 9, 2016, With 0 Reads, Filed under Veterans . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry FaceBook Comments
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Russia has been increasing it’s weapons capabilities recently, adding a newly improved “ Super Satan Nuke ” to it’s arsenal and running test run drills with it. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin has proclaimed to American voters if they choose “Trump it’s peace, if they choose Clinton it’s war.”
This comes as no surprise and it’s something that many of us feared deep down, but knew that it was likely true. Now Putin has said it out his own mouth. It seems that things are heating up in Ukraine and Syria. With Russian battle ships moving towards Syria and tensions building up along Ukraine’s boarder with NATO, it seems like world war could break out any day. As We Are Change’s Luke Rudkowski recently pointed out, Russia isn’t playing games anymore.
With failure after failure of peace talks and cease fires things are getting dangerous and Russia is running out of options. To have Putin come out and say something so straight forward should scare all Americans — this is serious.
Especially since NATO wants to continue trying to push for war with Russia and the U.S. is a member of NATO. Putin has also vowed retaliation over the U.S. missile system that was setup in Syria.
“If Americans vote for Trump, they’re voting for peace! ”If they vote for Clinton, its war.” – Vladimir Putin.
It’s no wonder that Putin would make such a strong statement when Hillary Clinton has been for years bashing him. It’s additionally been revealed thanks to Wikileaks that Hillary Clinton would enforce a “no fly zone” in Syria . An instant declaration of war in Russia’s eyes. Washington has had troubled relations with Moscow starting from 2012 with Syria and in 2014, when the Ukraine coup was orchestrated by the U.S. — as a leaked Victoria Nuland phone call shows. Victoria Nuland answered to Hillary Clinton who was Secretary of State at the time of these discussions, and her leaked call is below.
A pre-Maidan video of former Ukraine Deputy Oleg Tsarov warning of a civil war coup before it broke out in Ukraine also makes this point. Maiden was the event where snipers shot at both sides of the opposition rebels and police. Polish MP Janusz Korwin-Mikke alleges that what occurred in Ukraine was a special op to provoke a riot.
Then we had the MH17 incident that has been blamed on Russia and Russian separatist despite the Ukrainian government being allowed to fabricate evidence.
Additionally a leaked phone conversation from the EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and Estonian foreign affairs minister alleges that the snipers were paid for by Maidan leaders .
Soros is also linked to the Ukraine uprising and he is someone that Vladimir Putin despises, so it’s again no surprise that Vladmir Putin would say “If Americans vote for Hillary it’s war,” since Hillary is George Soros’s puppet after all.
“Many of the participants in Kiev’s ‘EuroMaidan’ demonstrations were members of Soros-funded NGOs and/or were trained by the same NGOs in the many workshops and conferences sponsored by Soros’ International Renaissance Foundation (IRF), and his various Open Society institutes and foundations. The IRF, founded and funded by Soros, boasts that it has given ‘more than any other donor organization’ to ‘democratic transformation’ of Ukraine,” – William F. Jasper reports.
Does the U.S. really want war with Russia? No the U.S. as a whole doesn’t want war, no one likes war but oligarchs and the military industrial complex that profits off of it’s citizens blood.
That’s where Donald Trump sets himself apart, at least according to his campaign promises that he would work with Russia .
Putin recently expressed support for Trump, saying that “Russia’s not playing favorites but Trump does speak for the people.” Putin added, that “Elections have stopped being an instrument of change, and have been reduced to scandals, to mudslinging, to questions of who pinched whom and who is sleeping with whom,” during a WSJ interview.
If Hillary gets in the Oval Office she will continue her war mongering ways – after Libya and Ukraine, Syria is next as General Wesley Clark warned in his 2007 speech . Hillary is taking marching orders from the CFR which she admits herself . If the fix is in for Hillary like we detailed previously will Hillary Clinton be the president that starts World War III with Russia?
The post Putin: “If Americans Vote For Trump It’s Peace, Clinton It’s War” appeared first on We Are Change .
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Samsung killed the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones this week after the devices continued to burst into flames. But the tech behemoth has not extinguished scrutiny over its safety record. The South Korean manufacturer, which makes an array of consumer electronics, including kitchen appliances and television sets, is in the middle of juggling other safety problems. Those include a recall in Australia for more than 144, 000 Samsung washing machines that were prone to causing fires, and a potential recall of defective laundry units in the United States. Over the years, Samsung has faced other safety situations that have resulted in regulators taking action. The larger incidents include a 2003 recall of 184, 000 microwave ovens in the United States, and 210, 000 refrigerators in South Korea in 2009. There have been other smaller recalls, including one in 2009 of about 43, 000 microwave ovens in the United States because of a shock hazard and 20, 000 washing machines in 2007 because of a fire risk. Those episodes have been compounded by consumer frustration. People who have faced safety hazards with Samsung kitchen and home appliances said they frequently had to jump through hoops to get replacement products or refunds. To them, Samsung’s bungled handling of the Galaxy Note recall this week was not surprising. Ed O’Rourke, a resident of Boston, said that over the span of four years, Samsung replaced his malfunctioning induction range three times before the fourth one’s glass cooktop exploded in 2013. After that, Samsung declined to issue a refund until 2015, after his wife fought the company in court and won. The couple now uses an Electrolux range. The panoply of other Samsung product recalls shows that the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco was not an isolated case, though it was the company’s largest by far, with more than 2. 5 million devices. Combined with Samsung’s often bureaucratic process for rectifying these consumer issues, it raises questions about whether the company prioritized profit over customer safety. “I thought, why doesn’t this happen to Apple or G. E.? And is Samsung playing it a little too cute in pushing things to limits that other companies aren’t pushing in terms of ratio?” Mr. O’Rourke said. Product recalls are common among consumer electronics companies, so given the large portfolio of Samsung products and the size of the company, some problems to its lineup are to be expected. Apple, Samsung’s chief rival, has had a number of smaller recalls for products, including one for thousands of Beats speakers last year after receiving complaints of overheating, and a recall for some iPod Nanos in 2011 because of issues related to overheating. A Samsung spokeswoman pointed to an earlier statement about its washing machines in Australia, in which the company said thousands of refunds and replacements had been made and that customer safety was its top priority. Yet the scale and prominence of the Galaxy Note 7 problem renews the spotlight on Samsung’s safety record in other product areas, even as the company grapples with the smartphone recall. On Wednesday, Samsung revised its profit estimates to absorb $2 billion in losses. The company said it earned 5. 2 trillion won in the third quarter, 33. 3 percent less than the 7. 8 trillion won profit it had estimated last week. It said it had also cut its sales estimate for the quarter by 2 trillion won, to 47 trillion won. The revised profit for the third quarter showed a 29. 6 percent drop from the same quarter last year. Shares of Samsung fell 0. 65 percent on Wednesday after plunging 8 percent on Tuesday. “Samsung has not been communicative with consumers, regulators or the media as clearly as it should have during this recall, especially for a hazard as dangerous as this one where your phone can catch on fire, damage your property and harm your family,” said William Wallace, a policy analyst for Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports. The smartphone recall is most likely unrelated to other Samsung product recalls that are now unfolding, like the one for the washing machines. That is because consumer electronics like TVs and kitchen appliances are made by a different Samsung division than the mobility group that is responsible for the smartphones. In Australia, Samsung is in the process of a recall it started three years ago for washing machines that were prone to catching fire as a result of an internal electrical defect. Samsung said that as of last month, it had resolved the problem in 81 percent of the affected washers. Yet many owners of the troubled Samsung washing machines contend their problems are far from resolved. For the recall in Australia, Samsung repaired the machines by fitting plastic bags over some connectors. A Facebook group with more than 4, 000 owners of the recalled machines crowdfunded money to hire forensic experts to analyze the fix. The forensic reports concluded that the plastic bag was ineffective because it did not prevent moisture penetration of the connectors. “It’s quite extraordinary that consumers who are scared for their lives had to get these scientific reports done,” said Tarn Allen, an owner of a recalled Samsung washing machine who is an administrator for the Facebook group. Ms. Allen, who lives in Sydney, Australia, said the South Korean manufacturer had refused to issue refunds to many members of the Facebook group until an Australian government agency issued a statement saying it was looking into the matter. Samsung may also be preparing to recall washing machines in the United States. Some models of the washers made between 2011 and this year are at risk of causing property damage or personal injury when the machines wash clothing and bulky items including bedding, according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. “C. P. S. C. is advising consumers to only use the delicate cycle” with those items, the agency said late last month. “The lower spin speed in the delicate cycle lessens the risk of impact injuries or property damage due to the washing machine becoming dislodged. ” The affected units may experience abnormal vibrations, Samsung said in a statement. The commission and Samsung said they were working toward a fix. | 1 |
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almasdarnews.com
DAMASCUS, SYRIA (2:05 P.M.) – The Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) launched a large-scale offensive in the eastern countryside of the Homs Governorate on Thursday, targeting the Al-Mahr Gas Fields and key town of Jubb Al-Jarrah.
Initially, the offensive got off to a good start for the terrorist forces, as they managed to shoot down a Russian attack chopper near the Al-Sha’er Mountains.
Not long after shooting down the attack chopper, ISIS stormed both Jubb Al-Jarrah and the Al-Mahr Gas Fields, resulting in a heated battle with the Syrian Armed Forces that lasted for several hours on Thursday.
The Syrian Army’s stiff defenses proved impregnable on Thursday after the Islamic State suffered heavy losses to both military personnel and equipment in eastern Homs.
According to an Al-Masdar field correspondent in Damascus, the Syrian Armed Forces killed a total of 28 Islamic State terrorists at Al-Mahr and Jubb Al-Jarrah, forcing the aforementioned terrorist group to withdraw their assault before sundown on Thursday.
ALSO READ Turkish-backed rebels recapture key town in northern Aleppo Related | 0 |
Even with Facebook, Netflix and other digital distractions increasingly vying for time, Americans’ appetite for reading books — the ones you actually hold in your hands — has not slowed in recent years, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. percent of adults in the United States said they had read a printed book in the past year, the same percentage that said so in 2012. When you add in ebooks and audiobooks, the number that said they had read a book in printed or electronic format in the past 12 months rose to 73 percent, compared with 74 percent in 2012. percent said they had opted for an ebook in the past year, while 14 percent said they had listened to an audiobook. Lee Rainie, the director of internet, science and technology research for Pew Research, said the study demonstrated the staying power of physical books. “I think if you looked back a decade ago, certainly five or six years ago when ebooks were taking off, there were folks who thought the days of the printed book were numbered, and it’s just not so in our data,” he said. The 28 percent who said they had read an ebook in the past year has remained relatively steady in the past two years, but the way they are consuming ebooks is changing. The Pew study, based on a telephone survey of 1, 520 adults in the country from March 7 to April 4, reports that people are indeed using tablets and smartphones to read books. Thirteen percent of adults in the United States said that they used their cellphones for reading in the past year, up from 5 percent in 2011. Tablets are a similar story: 15 percent said that they had used one for books this year, up from 4 percent in 2011. While 6 percent said they read books only in digital format, 38 percent said they read books exclusively in print. But 28 percent are reading a combination of digital and printed books, suggesting that voracious readers are happy to take their text however they can get it. “They want books to be available wherever they are,” Mr. Rainie said. “They’ll read an ebook on a crowded bus, curl up with a printed book when they feel like that, and go to bed with a tablet. ” | 1 |
WASHINGTON — Security surrounding the inauguration of Donald J. Trump is proving to be the most challenging in recent history, according to senior officials involved in its planning, largely because of the same forces of political rancor that shaped the race for the presidency. On top of the daunting threats to any inaugural ceremony, the three dozen agencies responsible for security at the Jan. 20 festivities are preparing for the possibility of large numbers of protesters flooding the capital, along with what may be nearly a million supporters of Mr. Trump. The agencies are worried about the possibility of confrontations between groups of Americans still deeply divided over the election — and at a moment when millions of people around the world will be turning their attention to Washington. At the very least, officials said, protests would put additional pressure on the region’s security apparatus. “To paraphrase Tolstoy: Each inauguration is risky, but each is risky in its own way,” said Michael Chertoff, who was secretary of homeland security under President George W. Bush and oversaw the department for President Obama’s first inauguration, in 2009. “I can’t think of an inauguration that presented more security challenges than this one,” Mr. Chertoff said. There were, of course, heightened concerns for the second inauguration of Mr. Bush, in 2005, the first presidential to follow the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. And in 2009, Mr. Obama’s inauguration was the first transfer of power in the era — and the first in which an was taking the oath of office. Mr. Obama faced a rash of racist threats, as well as concerns about a terrorist plot that ultimately proved unfounded but sent the and top aides scrambling on the eve of his . Even so, Mr. Obama did not face the kind of large protests expected to greet Mr. Trump when he officially arrives in Washington. The 2009 crowd of nearly two million people, a record, included few, if any, protesters and did not lead to a single arrest, according to Christopher T. Geldart, the director of homeland security for the District of Columbia. The National Park Service, which controls much of the public land in Washington, from sidewalks to the National Mall, has already seen permit requests from groups hoping to host events both for and against Mr. Trump skyrocket to 23. In typical inauguration years, the agency receives just a handful of requests. Safeguarding the nation’s peaceful transfer of power is no easy task even under the most predictable of circumstances. There are few rituals in American public life than the of a new president. From the Metropolitan Police of Washington to the National Park Service to the F. B. I. a vast overlapping patchwork of intelligence analysts, military personnel and law enforcement officers numbering in the tens of thousands will be working to protect the inauguration and related activities. In total, more than three dozen agencies spread out across the capital will be working to prevent the occasion from becoming a platform for individuals or groups looking to do harm. Their work, begun months ago, has taken on a new urgency since Election Day and will soon include the imposition of a security perimeter around the Capitol, the Mall and large parts of the city. The costs of security alone are expected to exceed $100 million. Protecting the new president, the thousands of dignitaries who will be on hand and the crowds is the top priority of federal intelligence, law enforcement and military agencies, as it has been at inaugurations since the Sept. 11 attacks. Threats, from abroad and from homegrown extremists alike, remain a chief concern, current and former officials said. “What the intelligence community says publicly is what they say privately, and that is more threats from more directions than ever before,” said Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, who is chairman of the congressional committee planning the inaugural ceremony. “And that just means the Capitol Police and the security elements need to be more thoughtful and alert than ever to what could happen. ” But this time, security forces — particularly law enforcement officers who will be on the ground here — are also preparing to confront crowds of Americans who are unusually divided and anxious over the election results. The priority, officials said, is to avoid the kind of violent clashes that periodically flared up on the campaign trail between Mr. Trump’s supporters and those who opposed him, while allowing groups on both sides to carry on with events. “Everybody knows how contentious the campaign was,” said Mr. Geldart, the District of Columbia homeland security director. “Honestly, what really keeps me up at night around this is the ability for us to just allow folks to come in, express their views and leave safely. ” Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the National Park Service, said the agency was “actively reviewing” permit requests, with a goal of trying to accommodate as many events as possible. Groups that are granted permits will be spaced out to try to prevent mixing, Mr. Geldart said. The largest of those events, the Women’s March on Washington, was granted a permit for about 200, 000 people to rally and then march in protest against Mr. Trump on Jan. 21, the day after the inauguration. Boris Epshteyn, the communications director for Mr. Trump’s inaugural planning committee, said the group welcomed the “free exercise” of First Amendment rights “as long as it is done peacefully and within all applicable laws, rules and regulations. ” Just how many of Mr. Trump’s supporters will attend remains unclear. The planning committee said it was expecting two million to three million people. Such a crowd would be a record, though Mr. Geldart said his team had yet to see evidence that would cause it to revise its own estimates of 800, 000 to 900, 000 people. The security effort will require virtually the full strength of the region’s law enforcement agencies, as well as significant reinforcements. More than 3, 200 police officers from departments across the country and about 8, 000 members of the National Guard will be on hand to help with basic crowd and traffic control around the city. An additional 5, 000 active duty service members will be on hand to serve in ceremonial capacities. Mr. Geldart said those forces would allow local agencies better versed in crowd management tactics to monitor the protesters and groups, in person and with the help of social media. The security planning covers not just Inauguration Day itself but also a week of public and private events planned to celebrate Mr. Trump’s victory, beginning with a welcome concert on the National Mall on Jan. 19. Thomas Barrack Jr. a longtime friend of Mr. Trump’s who is leading the inaugural planning committee, said each of those events had been carefully negotiated with the Secret Service and its partners. Mr. Trump’s personal security was made somewhat simpler when he decided he would stay at Blair House, as his modern predecessors have, rather than at his new hotel in Washington, as was once under consideration. “It’s their party and we’re there to develop the operation security plan to make their party safe,” said James Murray, the deputy assistant director of the Secret Service’s office of protective operations, which has overall responsibility for inaugural security. “But by all means it’s certainly a kind of thing. ” | 1 |
ROME — Pope Francis waded into turbulent geopolitical waters once again on Friday during his first visit to Armenia when he made an unscripted remark referring to the World War massacre of an estimated 1. 5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a genocide. The prepared text of his speech did not include the politically contentious word, which generally draws furious reactions from Turkey. Instead, the text opted for the more veiled Armenian expression “metz yeghern,” which translates as the “great evil. ” But in keeping with his penchant for blunt talk, the pontiff said Friday that “that tragedy” had been “a genocide” and was “the first of the deplorable series of catastrophes of the past century, made possible by twisted racial, ideological or religious aims that darkened the minds of the tormentors even to the point of planning the annihilation of entire peoples. ” Francis’ words were met with a standing ovation by President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and other officials and diplomats who gathered at the presidential palace in Yerevan, the nation’s capital, to hear the pope. There was no immediate reaction from Turkish leaders. Turkey has disputed the genocide designation, arguing that it was wartime and that many Turks were killed as well. And it has insisted that there was never a systematic plan to execute Armenians. The last time Francis used the term in reference to the mass deaths of Armenians, in Rome in April 2015, Turkey reacted angrily, recalling its ambassador to the Vatican and not returning the envoy for 10 months. The suffering and resilience of the Armenian people was the main theme of the first day of the pope’s trip to the Caucasus region. His speeches also underscored the importance of dialogue and cooperation to overcome conflict — a tacit acknowledgment of Armenia’s continuing frictions with its neighbors Turkey and Azerbaijan. “May all join in striving to ensure that whenever conflicts emerge between nations, dialogue, the enduring and authentic quest of peace, cooperation between states and the constant commitment of international organizations will always prevail,” the pope said. Armenia has no diplomatic relations with Turkey. It has also locked horns with Azerbaijan over the disputed province of since they both broke free from the Soviet Union. The choice to begin the journey with Armenia is in line with the pope’s “different geopolitical map of the world,” said Alberto Melloni, a historian of the Vatican. Mr. Melloni noted that the pope has tended to “start with small countries, before approaching larger powers,” and that his visits to the Caucasus could be seen as a preliminary approach to Russia, “which is the Vatican’s real issue — what to do with Russia and China, the great superpowers of the century. ” Originally, the pope had planned to include Georgia and Azerbaijan in his trip, but visits to those countries have been postponed until autumn. As the leader of one billion Roman Catholics, Francis also spoke Friday about the plight of Christians in the Middle East, where he said they suffer persecution and discrimination “perhaps even more than at the time of the first martyrs. ” “It is vitally important that all those who declare their faith in God join forces to isolate those who use religion to promote war, oppression and violent persecution, exploiting and manipulating the holy name of God,” he said. Before leaving Rome, Francis said he would go to Armenia as a pilgrim “to the first Christian country. ” Armenia adopted the faith in 301, and the Armenian Apostolic Church, which broke with other Christian churches in the fifth century over a theological dispute, counts about 93 percent of Armenia’s population of three million as adherents. By contrast, the country has only about 280, 000 Roman Catholics. Msgr. Gabriel Quicke, a Vatican official who works to promote unity with other Christian churches, said relations with the Armenian Apostolic Church have been strong since the Second Vatican Council 50 years ago. While in Armenia, the pope plans to visit the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex, the country’s main monument to the Armenian genocide in Yerevan. He is expected to lay a wreath there and meet with descendants of Armenian orphans who were given refuge at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, during the years of the killings, from 1915 to 1923. He also plans to visit a monastery near Mount Ararat, where the Bible says Noah’s ark landed after the Great Flood. The pontiff’s recognition of the Armenian genocide has drawn praise from Armenians and Armenian Americans. Karekin II, the patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, told the pope on Friday that people remembered, “with gratitude,” Francis’ “historic sermon condemning the genocide” at St. Peter’s Basilica last year. And Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, issued a statement saying “the pope is both strengthening Christian solidarity with Armenia and taking a courageous stand for truth and justice. ” | 1 |
There’s courtroom drama, and then there’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing drama. As the Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil M. Gorsuch goes through his Senate confirmation hearings — which are taking place in an overheated political climate, and after Senate Republicans last year refused to consider Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick B. Garland — here are five books that capture dramatic nomination hearings from the past. Ethan Bronner’s “Battle for Justice” (1989) dissects the hearings for Robert H. Bork, who was nominated by Ronald Reagan in 1987. According to The Times’s critic Christopher the “mesmerizing” book lays out the intellectual and ideological reasons that Bork failed. (In short: Liberals got away with oversimplifying Bork’s ideas, and Bork himself did an ineffective job of articulating his philosophy and vision.) said the book, a “vital portrait of a political process,” was not overtly political, but was instead “more history than argument, and extremely dramatic history at that. ” Bork’s hearings were highly contentious at the time. Then came the 1991 hearings for Clarence Thomas, defined by Anita Hill’s accusations of sexual harassment, a spectacle fully recounted in “Strange Justice,” by Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson. (Mayer, now a staff writer at The New Yorker, and Abramson, who eventually went on to become executive editor of The Times, were then reporters for The Wall Street Journal.) Margo Jefferson, reviewing the book in The Times in 1994, said it recreated the hearings “in all their sleaze and silliness: the high stakes and the low blows, the moralizing punctuated by moments of street talk. . . . But Ms. Mayer and Ms. Abramson also take us behind the scenes, where fierce political maneuvering determined the outcome: The White House lobbied fiercely for Senate votes, and new alliances were forged between white and black evangelical ministers. ” Thomas succeeded Thurgood Marshall, the first to serve on the country’s highest court, and the story of Marshall’s own hearings is told in Wil Haygood’s “Showdown” (2015). Segregationist Southern senators, including Strom Thurmond, opposed Marshall’s nomination. (Thurmond would end up being the only Republican to vote against the confirmation.) “I didn’t want to write a traditional biography,” Haygood told Baltimore magazine in 2016. “When I looked at his 1967 Supreme Court confirmation hearings and looked at the other nominees who came before him, it struck me as stunning that all the other hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee lasted four hours or less. . . . I just thought everything that took place in room 2228, where the hearings were held, told this great story about this nation — how we got from there to here — and about the life of Thurgood Marshall. ” Marshall was not the first trailblazing justice to be subjected to the rigors of the confirmation process. Melvin I. Urofsky’s “Louis D. Brandeis: A Life” (2009) is a full, biography, but it does include a look at the controversy that ensued after Woodrow Wilson nominated Brandeis to the Supreme Court in 1916. As Alan Dershowitz wrote, reviewing the biography in the Book Review: “Urofsky believes that his religion played less of a role than his radical approach to the law, but it is impossible to separate the two, because the bigotry of the day associated his alleged radicalism with his Jewish heritage. ” For a broader take on the history of the nomination process, one can turn to “Advice and Consent,” published in 1992 by Paul Simon, of Illinois. In the Book Review, the legal scholar Ronald Dworkin wrote that Simon offered a “thoughtful, modest and shrewd appraisal” of his and the Senate’s performance during the nomination hearings for Thomas and Bork. The book also provided a history of other important confirmation struggles and made suggestions for reforming the process. | 1 |
If you’re making resolutions for a healthier new year, consider a gut makeover. Refashioning the community of bacteria and other microbes living in your intestinal tract, collectively known as the gut microbiome, could be a good investment in your health. Trillions of microbial cells inhabit the human body, outnumbering human cells by 10 to one according to some estimates, and growing evidence suggests that the rich array of intestinal microbiota helps us process nutrients in the foods we eat, bolsters the immune system and does all sorts of odd jobs that promote sound health. A diminished microbial ecosystem, on the other hand, is believed to have consequences that extend far beyond the intestinal tract, affecting everything from allergies and inflammation, metabolic diseases like diabetes and obesity, even mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. Much of the composition of the microbiome is established early in life, shaped by forces like your genetics and whether you were or . Microbial diversity may be further undermined by the typical American diet, rich in sugar, meats and processed foods. But a new study in mice and people adds to evidence that suggests you can take steps to enrich your gut microbiota. Changing your diet to one containing a variety of foods, the new research suggests, may be crucial to achieving a healthier microbiome. Altering your microbiome, however, may not be easy, and nobody knows how long it might take. That’s because the ecosystem already established in your gut determines how it absorbs and processes nutrients. So if the microbial community in your gut has been shaped by a daily diet of cheeseburgers and pepperoni pizza, for example, it won’t respond as quickly to a healthy diet as a gut shaped by vegetables and fruits that has more varied microbiota to begin with. “The nutritional value of food is influenced in part by the microbial community that encounters that food,” said Dr. Jeffrey Gordon, the senior author of the new paper and director of the Center for Genome Science and Systems Biology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Nutritional components of a healthy diet have to be viewed from “the inside out,” he said, “not just the outside in. ” One of the questions the study set out to answer was how individuals with different diets respond when they try to improve their eating habits. The scientists harvested gut bacteria from humans, transplanted them into mice bred under sterile conditions, and then fed the mice either or diets. The scientists then analyzed changes in the mice’s microbial communities. Of interest, the scientists harvested the gut bacteria from people who followed sharply different diets. One group ate a fairly typical American diet, consuming about 3, 000 calories a day, high in animal proteins with few fruits and vegetables. Some of their favorite foods were processed cheese, pepperoni and lunch meats. The other group consisted of people who were devotees of calorie restriction. They ate less than 1, 800 calories a day and had meticulously tracked what they ate for at least two years, sticking to a mostly diet and consuming far less animal protein than the other group, a third fewer carbohydrates and only half the fat. This group, the researchers found, had a far richer and more diverse microbial community in the gut than those eating a typical American diet. They also carried several strains of “good” bacteria, known to promote health, that are unique to their diet. “Their choices as adults dramatically influenced their gut community,” said Nicholas W. Griffin of Washington University, the paper’s lead author. The study, published in Cell Host Microbe, is not the first to report findings suggesting dietary shifts can induce persistent changes in a gut microbial community, said Dr. David A. Relman, a professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology at Stanford University, who was not involved in the current research. He noted that other studies had found even more profound effects. After the human microbiota was transplanted into the mice, the mice got to eat either like typical Americans or like the calorie restrictors. Mice that had a microbiota conditioned by the typical American diet had a weaker response to the diet. Their microbial communities didn’t increase and diversify as much. “They all responded in a predictable direction, but with not as great a magnitude,” said Dr. Griffin. Another aspect of the study suggests the company you keep may also enrich your gut microbiota — at least in mice. At first the animals were kept in separate cages. Then, when they were housed together, the microbes from the communities conditioned by plant diets made their way into the microbiome. It’s not clear how that translates to humans: Mice eat one another’s droppings when they live together, so they easily share the bacterial wealth. Still, it’s possible humans have other ways of sharing bacteria, Dr. Griffin said. “We know from previous work and other studies that spouses who live together will develop microbial communities that are similar to each other,” he said. Perhaps the best way to cultivate a healthier microbiome is to eat more fiber by consuming more fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts or seeds, said Meghan Jardine, a registered dietitian who was not involved in the current study but has published articles on promoting a healthy microbiota. (She is also affiliated with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which recommends a diet.) She urges people to aim for 40 to 50 grams of fiber daily, well above levels recommended by most dietary guidelines. “When you look at populations that eat real food that’s high in fiber, and more foods, you’re going to see they have a more robust microbiota, with more genetic diversity, healthier species and fewer pathogenic bacteria living in the gut,” she said. | 1 |
In a new book, “Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked,” the social psychologist Adam Alter warns that many of us — youngsters, teenagers, adults — are addicted to modern digital products. Not figuratively, but literally addicted. Dr. Alter, 36, is an associate professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University who researches psychology and marketing. We spoke for two hours last week at the offices of The New York Times. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity and brevity. Q. What makes you think that people have become addicted to digital devices and social media? A. In the past, we thought of addiction as mostly related to chemical substances: heroin, cocaine, nicotine. Today, we have this phenomenon of behavioral addictions where, one tech industry leader told me, people are spending nearly three hours a day tethered to their cellphones. Where teenage boys sometimes spend weeks alone in their rooms playing video games. Where Snapchat will boast that its youthful users open their app more than 18 times a day. Behavioral addictions are really widespread now. A 2011 study suggested that 41 percent of us have at least one. That number is sure to have risen with the adoption of newer more addictive social networking platforms, tablets and smartphones. How do you define “addiction”? The definition I go with is that it has to be something you enjoy doing in the short term, that undermines your in the long term — but that you do compulsively anyway. We’re biologically prone to getting hooked on these sorts of experiences. If you put someone in front of a slot machine, their brain will look qualitatively the same as when they take heroin. If you’re someone who compulsively plays video games — not everyone, but people who are addicted to a particular game — the minute you load up your computer, your brain will look like that of a substance abuser. We are engineered in such a way that as long as an experience hits the right buttons, our brains will release the neurotransmitter dopamine. We’ll get a flood of dopamine that makes us feel wonderful in the short term, though in the long term you build a tolerance and want more. Do the designers of the new technologies understand what they’re doing? The people who create video games wouldn’t say they are looking to create addicts. They just want you to spend as much time as possible with their products. Some of the games on smartphones require you to give money as you play, so they want to keep you playing. The designers will build into a game a certain amount of feedback, in the same way that slot machines offer an occasional win to hold your interest. Not surprisingly, game producers will often pretest different versions of a release to see which one is hardest to resist and which will keep your attention longest. It works. For the book, I spoke with a young man who sat in front of his computer playing a video game for 45 consecutive days! The compulsive playing had destroyed the rest of his life. He ended up at a rehabilitation clinic in Washington State, reSTART, where they specialize in treating young people with gaming dependencies. Do we need legislation to protect ourselves? It’s not a bad idea to consider it, at least for online games. In South Korea and China, there are proposals for something they call Cinderella laws. The idea is to protect children from playing certain games after midnight. Gaming and internet addiction is a really serious problem throughout East Asia. In China, there are millions of youngsters with it, and they actually have camps where parents commit their children for months and where therapists treat them with a detox regime. Why do you claim that many of the new electronic gadgets have fueled behavioral addictions? Well, look at what people are doing. In one survey, 60 percent of the adults said they keep their cellphones next to them when they sleep. In another survey, half the respondents claimed they check their emails during the night. Moreover, these new gadgets turn out to be the perfect delivery devices for addictive media. If games and social media were once confined to our home computers, portable devices permit us to engage with them everywhere. Today, we’re checking our social media constantly, which disrupts work and everyday life. We’ve become obsessed with how many “likes” our Instagram photos are getting instead of where we are walking and whom we are talking to. Where’s the harm in this? If you’re on the phone for three hours daily, that’s time you’re not spending on interactions with people. Smartphones give everything you need to enjoy the moment you’re in, but they don’t require much initiative. You never have to remember anything because everything is right in front of you. You don’t have to develop the ability to memorize or to come up with new ideas. I find it interesting that the late Steve Jobs said in a 2010 interview that his own children didn’t use iPads. In fact, there are a surprising number of Silicon Valley titans who refuse to let their kids near certain devices. There’s a private school in the Bay Area and it doesn’t allow any tech — no iPhones or iPads. The really interesting thing about this school is that 75 percent of the parents are tech executives. Learning about the school pushed me to write, “Irresistible. ” What was it about these products that made them, in the eyes of experts, so potentially dangerous? You have an son. How do you interact with your technologies when you’re with him? I try not to use my phone around him. It’s actually one of the best mechanisms to force me not to use my phone so much. Are you addicted to this stuff? Yeah, I think so. I’ve developed addictions from time to time to various games on my phone. Like many of the people in the survey I mentioned earlier, I’m addicted to email. I can’t stop checking it. I can’t go to bed at night if I haven’t cleared my inbox. I’ll keep my phone next to my bed, much as I try not to. The technology is designed to hook us that way. Email is bottomless. Social media platforms are endless. Twitter? The feed never really ends. You could sit there 24 hours a day and you’ll never get to the end. And so you come back for more and more. If you were advising a friend on quitting their behavioral addictions, what would you suggest? I’d suggest that they be more mindful about how they are allowing tech to invade their life. Next, they should cordon it off. I like the idea, for instance, of not answering email after six at night. In general, I’d say find more time to be in natural environments, to sit face to face with someone in a long conversation without any technology in the room. There should be times of the day where it looks like the 1950s or where you are sitting in a room and you can’t tell what era you are in. You shouldn’t always be looking at screens. | 1 |
Concealed carry permits rose 215 percent between 2007 and 2015, and the murder rate dropped 14 percent during that same time period. [In other words, more guns being carried for correlated with fewer murders. On May 22, Breitbart News reported that the demand for concealed carry permits witnessed its greatest surge ever between May 2016 and May 2017. Fox News referenced Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) data showing there were 14. 5 million permit holders in May 2016 and approximately 15. 7 million in May 2017. Now the NRA is tweeting data which shows that the bigger picture is not just the surge but a 215 percent jump in concealed carry permits between 2007 and 2015. Know the #facts about concealed carry, and urge your lawmakers to support national reciprocity! https: . #2A #DefendTheSecond pic. twitter. — NRA (@NRA) May 24, 2017, It is interesting to note that the murder rate dropped by 14 percent while concealed carry permits surged. And “the overall violent crime rate” dropped by 21 percent. This is not what the left tells us will happen if concealed carry expands. In fact, national reciprocity for concealed carry has been introduced in Congress, and Gabby Giffords, Senator Mark Warner ( ) Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, and many other gun control proponents have come out against national recognition of concealed carry for citizens. They all suggest national reciprocity would undermine gun control and make Americans less safe. Here is the problem with their claims — concealed carry surged by 215 percent between 2007 and 2015 and the murder rate fell and the violent crime rate fell with it. On December 4, 2013, Breitbart News reported a Congressional Research Study (CRS) which showed a similar correlation between gun ownership and plummeting murder numbers. Gun ownership climbed from 192 million firearms in 1994 to 310 million firearms in 2009, CRS found that murder rates fell sharply during the same time period. According to the report, the “ murder and homicide” rate was 6. 6 per 100, 000 Americans in 1993 but fell to 3. 6 per 100, 000 in 2000. By 2011, the murder rate was 3. 2 per 100, 000. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com. | 1 |
At a Donald Trump rally in North Carolina, a proud Ginger Glover waved a “Lyin’ Hillary Doll” with a special edition noose on it.
Watch a clip with Glover at the Wednesday rally here via NBC News :
Glover said the noose was her way of making a point that Hillary Clinton should be “incarcerated at the very least,” but when asked said she doesn’t think Clinton should be killed.
Yet her employees put the noose on the doll for her and she brought it out in public and waved it around. For “effect.”
Where is all of the Trump rallies’ violent rhetoric and imagery going?
Donald Trump seems to attract people who are angry and want someone to blame.
The Washington Post did an incredible story on Melanie Austin, a Trump supporter who said Trump sees the world like she does. She realized this days after she had been injected with something intended to “calm” her, after she was involuntarily committed for homicidal ideation against President Obama.
The first time she had seen him, at a rally in June, she was just beginning to realize how many people saw the world the way she did, that she was one among millions. At the time, her hips were still sore from a series of injections intended to calm her. She had gotten them in February, during a difficult time in her life, when she had been involuntarily hospitalized for several weeks after what she called a “rant,” a series of online postings that included one saying that Obama should be hanged and the White House fumigated and burned to the ground. On her discharge papers, in a box labeled “medical problem,” a doctor had typed “homicidal ideation.”
Donald Trump and the alt-right, and indeed way too many elected Republicans, have already pointed these folks at Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as Evil People Who Must Be Harmed. When you attract unstable people who are easily manipulated out of anger and fear and then direct them to harm someone, as Trump and his advisers have done suggesting Hillary Clinton might be shot and saying she should be executed with a firing squad, you are responsible for inciting violence.
Things are not going well for Trump supporters, and even buoyed as they are with unscientific online polls and delusions fed by the alt-right media and Fox News, they smell defeat.
Perhaps that’s not connected to this specific woman who brought a Hillary Clinton doll in a noose to wave at a Trump rally last night, but it is a trend we’re seeing in general – angry Trump fans using more and more violent rhetoric.
There will be more of this, not less, as Trump’s likely defeat becomes reality outside of tinfoil circles.
This is political intimidation that mimics Donald Trump’s despotic promises to jail Clinton even though she’s been cleared of wrong-doing in all of the relentless Republican investigations into her activities as Secretary of State.
Of which there will be plenty more, Republicans promise us, should she win — because just like the Trump camp doesn’t want you to vote, Republicans only want government to work when they’re not in power.
The potent mixture of tinfoil and rage is creating a toxic brew of violent fantasies and rhetoric among Trump supporters.
Image: Screencap from NBC News video | 0 |
Conservatives were effusive in their praise on Tuesday evening for President Donald Trump’s choice for the U. S. Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch. [Faith Freedom Coalition Chairman Ralph Reed said: President Trump won 81 percent of the evangelical vote in no small measure because he made an ironclad pledge that if elected he would fill the vacancy on the US Supreme Court with a strict constructionist who would respect the Constitution and the rule of law, not legislate from the bench. We never doubted Trump’s sincerity or commitment, and by nominating Judge Gorsuch, he has now kept that promise. Judge Gorsuch is a widely respected jurist whose intellect is complemented by his temperament and the knowledge of the law. He is exactly who the nation needs as a Supreme Court Justice in the model of the late Antonin Scalia. Faith Freedom Coalition is thrilled by this nomination and will work tirelessly for the confirmation of Judge Gorsuch. Michael A. Needham, CEO of Heritage Action for America, said: Judge Neil Gorsuch is a nominee ‘very much in the mold’ of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. President Trump deserves credit for fulfilling his campaign pledge by nominating an individual who will, based on his record, interpret the text of the Constitution rather than create unwritten rights supposedly hidden between the lines. The usurpations of the rule of law, substituting for the will of the people as embodied in democratically enacted legislation rights nowhere to be found in our Constitution itself, only serves to divide our nation. Judge Gorsuch is an outstanding choice, and now the Senate must prepare to carry out its “Advise and Consent” role as it has for the past 227 years. Tea Party Patriots President and Jenny Beth Martin said: Tea Party Patriots and our network of supporters and grassroots activists across the country thank President Donald Trump for nominating Neil Gorsuch to be our next Supreme Court Justice. President Trump promised to nominate someone who is both exceptionally qualified and has a demonstrated record of interpreting the Constitution and our laws and by nominating Judge Gorsuch, he has kept his promises. Judge Gorsuch has a distinguished record that demonstrates he will be fair to all Americans, no matter their background or beliefs. Like Justice Scalia, he believes that judges should base their decisions on the actual text of the Constitution and our laws, not on personal policy preferences. During the campaign, President Trump took the unprecedented step of sharing a list of names from which he promised to choose a Supreme Court nominee. Exit polls showed that one in five voters named the Supreme Court as their top issue. President Trump has a clear mandate to choose our next Justice, and our network of grassroots activists will work very hard to ensure the Senate quickly moves to confirm Judge Gorsuch. Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning said: The election of 2016 was a referendum on who would get to select the next Supreme Court justice to replace the late Antonin Scalia. President Trump’s wise and thoughtful selection of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court should be respected by the Senate, which has the constitutional responsibility to provide for a fair and expedited hearing process, and an up or down vote decided by a simple majority of the Senate. If Senate Majority Leader McConnell faces the sort of obstruction that has been promised by some in the minority, including the use of the filibuster, to block consideration of Gorsuch, it will be incumbent on him to use all means necessary to ensure that this qualified and outstanding jurist is confirmed. It is time for the Senate minority to reconcile itself to the fact their party lost the election, and stop behaving like spoiled children who didn’t get a candy bar in the grocery store. Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said: Neil Gorsuch is a mainstream conservative choice who fulfills President Trump’s promise to the American people to appoint a justice who represents their views. In this past presidential election, the American people gave their support to President Trump in large part because he vowed to appoint a justice in the mold of the great Justice Scalia. Neil Gorsuch’s sterling track record of faithfully interpreting the Constitution, protecting individual rights, and ensuring limited government is complemented by his discerning approach to every case and a high personal integrity. Democrats who plan on obstructing President Trump’s choice are only scheming to deprive the American people of their rightful voice on the nation’s highest court. Americans are clearly in support of this thoughtful and qualified choice, and it’s time for Democrats to honor the will of the people so the Supreme Court can once again have nine justices. Public Interest Legal Foundation President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said: Former colleagues speak of Judge Gorsuch’s tested adherence to the honorable tradition of strict constructionism just like the late Justice Antonin Scalia before him. The Rule of Law is on firmer ground tonight, and we will have Judge Gorsuch to thank for that. Former Senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum said: Judge Gorsuch has proven himself to be one of the great legal scholars of his generation. His rulings on the Circuit Court have shown that he understands our Founders’ intent and will rule with the strict constructionist legal mindset our nation needs. Justice Antonin Scalia was known for his robust legal rulings, and Judge Neil Gorsuch will surely follow in his footsteps. Carl Anderson of the Knights of Columbus said: We applaud the president’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. From his writings and his record it is clear that he will interpret the Constitution as it was written, including our first Amendment right to religious freedom, and the right to life of every person. Judge Gorsuch was confirmed without opposition to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006, and has received a “unanimously well qualified” rating from the American Bar Association. It is hard to imagine a better, and more qualified, candidate. The Senate should swiftly confirm Judge Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Balckwell said: President Trump hit a home run in his choice of Judge Gorsuch, an extremely well qualified and widely respected jurist with a deep commitment to upholding the Constitution and the vision of founders. President Trump took an unprecedented step during the campaign by sharing his list of potential nominees with the American public and the people responding by electing him president. With the nomination of Judge Gorsuch, the President has clearly delivered on his campaign commitment to appoint a Justice in the mold of Antonin Scalia who would be guided by the Constitution and not by their ideological or personal views. Gorsuch has been nominated to fill the seat vacated last year by Justice Antonin Scalia, who passed away suddenly on vacation. Some Senate Democrats say they want to force Republicans to overcome the filibuster threshold to confirm Judge Gorsuch. Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. His new book, How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | 1 |
Search What Will Replace ISIS? This is a war to determine whether the future will belong to the West or to Islam. October 28, 2016 Daniel Greenfield
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.
Before long the same administration that declared the fighting in Iraq over several times will claim victory over ISIS. The timetable for its push against the Islamic State appears to have less do with the victimized Christians and Yazidis who have been prevented from coming here as refugees in favor of Syrian Muslims than with the Clinton presidential campaign. Like Obama’s declarations that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were over, the announcement that ISIS has been defeated will be premature.
It is based on a profound misunderstanding and misreading of Islamic terrorism.
Long before its current string of defeats, ISIS had begun evolving into another Al Qaeda; a multinational alliance of Jihadists scattered around the world. Bombing Mosul isn’t hard, but try bombing Marseille, Brussels or London. There is no doubt that the ability of ISIS to temporarily establish a caliphate allowed it to build a network that could carry out terror attacks from New York to Miami to Nice to Munich. But it would be dangerous to assume that losing Iraq and Syria will stop ISIS.
ISIS doesn’t matter. The idea of ISIS does. And the idea of ISIS is Islamic supremacism.
The organization we think of ISIS has transformed and rebranded countless times. Even now our leaders vacillate between calling it ISIS, ISIL or, more childishly, Daesh, while it dubs itself the Islamic State. We have been fighting it in one form or another for over a decade. It would be unrealistically optimistic to assume that the war will end just as this old enemy has shown its ability to strike deep in our own cities.
The bigger error though is to think that we are fighting an organization. We are fighting an idea. That is not to contend, as Obama does, that we can debate it to death. It is not the sort of idea that argues with words, but with bullets, bombs and swords. But neither does it just go away if you seize a city.
Al Qaeda in Iraq not only survived the death of Zarqawi, but it became even more dangerous under Baghdadi. It would be risky to assume that ISIS will die with him. Instead it may very well grow into a new phase of Al Qaeda, one that ties together some of the world’s deadliest Islamic terror groups into a network that is decentralized enough that it will not suffer from Al Qaeda’s leadership fatigue.
The rise of Islamic terrorism has been an incremental process in which new groups learn from the mistakes of the old and supersede them. If ISIS does recede into a localized oblivion, reemerging only on occasion to suicide bomb something or someone in Baghdad, then a deadlier and even more effective group is likely to take its place. Each group will move one step closer to realizing the caliphate.
To break the cycle, we must confront the idea of the caliphate at the heart of Islamic terrorism.
ISIS is not un-Islamic. It is ruthlessly and uncompromisingly Islamic in that, unlike its predecessors in the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda, it makes the fewest compromises to civilizational sensibilities. Its goals are the same as those of every Islamic political organization, including those dubbed moderate. It seeks to restore and enforce an Islamic system in every part of the Muslim world before moving on to conquer and subjugate the non-Muslim world. If this were merely some fringe belief held by a tiny minority of extremists, then it could be bombed to pieces in some Syrian or Iraqi backwater.
But it’s the driving force of Islam. That’s why it won’t go away. No amount of appeasement will banish it.
Taking in more Muslim settlers, pressuring Israel and letting the Muslim Brotherhood colonize our foreign policy won’t do it. We’ve tried it and it actually makes Islamic terrorism much worse.
When the announcement is made, the usual suspects will pat themselves on the back for having defeated ISIS by mobilizing a Muslim coalition. But it wasn’t Obama who mobilized a Muslim coalition. The coalition, such as it was, mobilized them. Obama provided useful support to Islamic state sponsors of terror, such as Iran and Turkey, assorted Islamic Jihadists on the ground, some blatantly associated with Sunni and Shiite terror groups in their internal Jihadist conflict with ISIS over who will fight us.
The “allies” we are aiding today will be the ones bombing us tomorrow.
And that is why claiming credit for beating ISIS accomplishes nothing. ISIS is an expression of an Islamic impulse encoded in the Koran. Islamic groups differ in the tactical expression of that impulse. ISIS was nastier and uglier than most of the Islamic terror groups we had dealt with before this. Though even it found its Boko Haram affiliate in Nigeria occasionally a little too much to stomach.
If ISIS vanishes from the world stage, Islamic terrorism will be easier to dismiss. Or so the thinking goes. The Islamic State was better at viral videos than the media that tried to whitewash Islamic terror. It was hard to ignore. But a scattering of Islamic terror groups around the world will be forgotten by the public.
History suggests that’s wishful thinking.
Islamic terrorism has shown no signs of receding. Growing Muslim populations, both at home and in Muslim settlements in the West, and the increase in travel and communications, the infrastructure of globalism, spread it from the most backward to the most advanced parts of the world. Wealthy and unstable Muslim countries, rich in oil but poor in power, finance its spread through mosques and guns.
These are the ingredients that give us ISIS or any other combination or letters that stands for Islamic terror. To do anything meaningful about it, we would have to reverse the decline of the West.
Islam originally spread into a vacuum created by civilizational decline. Civilizational decline is why it is rising once again. An obscure local terror group eventually turned into ISIS by filling a power vacuum. Even as Obama performs another touchdown dance, some other group will be making that same journey. Its mission will be the familiar one of replacing our civilization with its own.
Until we come to terms with this civilizational struggle, we will go on fighting endless wars in the sand and coping with endless terror attacks in our own cities because we have failed to recognize the nature of the enemy. We are not fighting an acronym, whether it’s ISIS or ISIL; we are fighting an Islamic State.
This is a war to determine whether the future will belong to the West or to Islam. | 0 |
We Are Change
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????LL v§. K?LM? Produced by Dave Cahill & Brian Herman Engineered, Mixed & Mastered by Brian Herman Dave Cahill vocals, guitar, bass, synth & noise Brian Herman guitar, drums, bass, synth & noise Alex Radus backing vocals on tracks 1, 2, 6 & 8 Andy Janowiak drums on tracks 3, 5, 6, 8, & 10 Dallas Vietty accordion on track 3 Music written by Dave Cahill & Brian Herman Lyrics written by Dave Cahill Album artwork by Dennis Gatz Recorded sporadically between 2013 to 2016 SMT Studios NYC & Treefort Recording in Brooklyn ©2016 Dave Cahill & Brian Herman The post Cahill vs. Kalma Debut Album Available Now! appeared first on We Are Change .
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For more information and media requests , please contact Mr. Thibaut Guillet (+41 22 917 9674 / ) or write to For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts: Xabier Celaya, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / ) — U.N. Rights Expert Urges Nations Not to Sign ‘Flawed’ CETA Treaty GENEVA (28 October 2016) – The trade deal set to be signed by the European Union and Canada is a corporate-driven, fundamentally flawed treaty which should not be signed or ratified without a referendum in each country concerned, a United Nations human rights expert says. Alfred de Zayas, the UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, deplored the pressures brought on the Belgian regional parliament of Wallonia, which initially said it would not approve the treaty but later said its concerns had been met. “A culture of bullying and intimidation becomes apparent when it comes to trade agreements that currently get priority over human rights,” the expert said. In his reports to the Human Rights Council and General Assembly Mr. de Zayas has previously warned that CETA is incompatible with the rule of law, democracy and human rights, and substantiated how and why before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He believes that both CETA and TTIP – the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership currently being negotiated by the EU and the US – give undue power to corporations at the expense of national governments and human rights, and deplores that the mere existence of investor-state dispute settlement generates a regulatory chill. “The danger of CETA and TTIP being signed and one day entering into force is so serious that every stakeholder, especially parliamentarians from EU Member States, should now be given the opportunity to articulate the pros and cons. The corporate-driven agenda gravely endangers labour, health and other social legislation, and there is no justification to fast-track it” Mr. de Zayas said. “Civil society should demand referendums on the approval of CETA or any other such mega-treaty that has been negotiated behind closed doors,” he noted. The expert said the EU should have heeded expert warnings and strong civil society opposition to CETA. His specific concerns include provisions which he says could hamper States’ regulatory powers and could allow investment companies to sue over legislation affecting profits, even in cases where the laws were designed to protect workers’ rights, public health or the environment. States should not sign the agreement unless their powers to regulate and legislate in the public interest are fully safeguarded and the so-called “investment protection” chapter is removed. “This chapter creates privileges for investors at the expense of the public,” said Mr. de Zayas, noting that the new text may slightly amend this chapter but adding that the Investment Court System (ICS) is similarly incompatible with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which requires legal cases to be heard by transparent, accountable, independent public tribunals. “The associations of German and Spanish judges have already decried this kind of investor-State dispute settlement, which is a one-way street, and also discriminates against domestic enterprises, Moreover, ICS is not necessary when all participating States are parties to the ICCPR and already have public courts that are independent, transparent and accountable,” he said. “CETA – along with most trade and investment agreements – is fundamentally flawed unless specific provision stipulates that the regulatory power of States is paramount and must not be impacted by a regulatory chill. It must also be clear that in case of conflict between commercial treaties and human rights treaties, it is the latter that must prevail.” The expert said there was now a strengthened case for a legally binding instrument on corporate social responsibility, obliging transnational corporations not to interfere in the internal affairs of States, and imposing sanctions when they pollute the environment or shift their profits into tax havens. The Human Rights Council has established an inter-governmental working group on transnational corporations, which is holding its second session this week. Mr. de Zayas, who has participated in this working group, urges the prompt adoption of a treaty that makes the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights legally binding and enforceable. He also said it was time to discuss the secrecy surrounding the drawing up of the CETA treaty, and the anomaly that much of the information about it became available only through whistleblowers, in violation of State obligations to ensure open access to information. “The constitutionality of the CETA and TTIP agreements should be tested before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, and the human rights aspects before the European Court of Human Rights, which could be called upon to issue interim measures of protection,” said Mr. de Zayas. “National courts should also test the compatibility of the agreements with national constitutions,” the Independent Expert stated. “There is a legitimate fear that CETA will dilute environmental standards, food security, and health and labour protection,” he said. “A treaty that strengthens the position of investors, transnational corporations and monopolies at the expense of the public interest conflicts with the duty of States to protect all people under their jurisdiction from internal and external threats.” Mr. de Zayas said the EU should have paid greater attention to a warning from a committee of Members of Parliament from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development said earlier this month that CETA imposed unacceptable restrictions on the legislative powers of national parliaments, and called for the signing to be postponed. NOTE TO EDITORS: The UN Independent Expert devoted his 2015 report to the UN Human Rights Council to the adverse human rights, health and environmental impacts of so-called free trade agreements such as CETA, TPP, TTIP and TISA. Check the report (A/HRC/30/44): http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IntOrder/Pages/Reports.aspx Mr. de Zayas focused his 2015 report to the UN General Assembly on the incompatibility of Investor-state-dispute-settlement arbitrations with fundamental principles of transparency and accountability. Check the report (A/70/285): http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/70/285 ENDS Mr. Alfred de Zayas (United States of America) was appointed as the first Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order by the Human Rights Council, effective May 2012. He is currently professor of international law at the Geneva School of Diplomacy. Learn more, log on to: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/IntOrder/Pages/IEInternationalorderIndex.aspx The Independent Experts are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. For your news websites and social media: Multimedia content & key messages relating to our news releases are available on UN Human Rights social media channels, listed below. Please tag us using the proper handles: | 0 |
The anodyne welcome letter to incoming freshmen is a college staple, but this week the University of Chicago took a different approach: It sent new students a blunt statement opposing some hallmarks of campus political correctness, drawing thousands of impassioned responses, for and against, as it caromed around cyberspace. “Our commitment to academic freedom means that we do not support trigger warnings, we do not cancel invited speakers because their topics might prove controversial, and we do not condone the creation of intellectual ‘safe spaces’ where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own,” John Ellison, dean of students, wrote to members of the class of 2020, who will arrive next month. It was a rebuke to the protests calling for limits on what kinds of speech should be condoned on campus, and who should be allowed to speak, that have rocked Yale, Wesleyan, Oberlin and many other colleges and universities in recent years. Some alumni, dismayed by the trend, have withheld donations from their alma maters. The Chicago letter echoed policies that were already in place there and at a number of other universities calling for “the freedom to espouse and explore a wide range of ideas. ” But its stark wording, coming from one of the nation’s leading universities, and in a routine correspondence that usually contains nothing more contentious than a dining hall schedule, felt to people on all sides like a statement. Kevin Gannon, a history professor at Grand View University in Des Moines, dismissed the letter on his website as “a manifesto looking for an audience,” one that “relies on caricature and bogeymen rather than reason and nuance. ” The Heritage Foundation wrote on Facebook that the letter “will make you stand up and cheer. ” Other universities have made similar statements, but the message from Chicago is “clearer and more direct than I’ve seen,” said Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a leading critic of what it says are destructive speech restrictions at many campuses. “Sending a letter to freshmen is different than I’ve seen, at least in a long time, and certainly from a major university. ” Michael S. Roth, president of Wesleyan University, said the Chicago letter was, at least in part, a publicity stunt — “Gosh, is there any doubt?” he asked — and a way of “not coddling students, but coddling donors. ” Jeremy Manier, a University of Chicago spokesman, insisted there were no hidden motives behind the letter. And he said professors remained free, at their discretion, to use trigger warnings, the messages sometimes posted atop campus publications, assignments and other material, noting that they might be upsetting for people who have had traumatic experiences. Conservatives have been the loudest critics of campus political correctness, and hailed the Chicago statement as a victory. Mary Katharine Ham, a senior writer for The Federalist, a conservative website, wrote that it was “a sad commentary on higher education that this is considered a brave and bold move, but it is, and the University of Chicago should be applauded mightily for stating what used to be obvious. ” But while conservatives often frame campus free speech as a issue, the dispute is often within the left. “Historically, the left has been much more protective of academic freedom than the right, particularly in the university context,” said Geoffrey R. Stone, a University of Chicago law professor who specializes in free speech issues. Conservatives “suddenly became the champions of free speech, which I find is a bit ironic, but the left is divided. ” Mr. Lukianoff said he and his group are often mistakenly called conservative, adding, “I’m a former A. C. L. U. person who worked in refugee camps. ” The dispute over free speech has ricocheted off campuses and around the country. In a commencement speech this year at Howard University, President Obama said: “Don’t try to shut folks out, don’t try to shut them down, no matter how much you might disagree with them. There’s been a trend around the country of trying to get colleges to disinvite speakers with a different point of view, or disrupt a politician’s rally. Don’t do that — no matter how ridiculous or offensive you might find the things that come out of their mouths. ” The University of Chicago has long been associated with the conservative school of economics that is named for it. It also takes pride in a history of free expression, like allowing the Communist Party candidate for president, William Z. Foster, to speak on the ornate campus on the city’s South Side in 1932, despite fierce criticism. Mr. Obama taught constitutional law at the university law school. The university said Friday that Dean Ellision and the university president, Robert R. Zimmer, were not available to discuss the letter or what prompted it, but Mr. Manier referred queries to Professor Stone, a former university provost. Last year, a faculty Committee on Freedom of Expression, appointed by Dr. Zimmer and headed by Professor Stone, produced a report stating that “it is not the proper role of the university to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive. ” “We didn’t feel we were doing something, internal to the University of Chicago, that was in any way radical or different,” Professor Stone said Friday. It is clear that some colleges are retreating from the same free speech values, he said, “but my guess, if you asked most of these institutions 10 or 20 years ago, they would have said more or less what we said in our statement. ” Since Professor Stone’s committee produced its report, several other universities, including Princeton, Purdue, Columbia and the University of Wisconsin system, have adopted similar policies or statements, some of them taken almost verbatim from the report. And this week’s letter to University of Chicago freshmen draws from that and specifically cites the report as embodying the university’s point of view. Many academics say the concerns reflected in the University of Chicago letter, while real, are overblown. “I asked faculty if any had ever been asked to give trigger warnings,” said Dr. Roth, of Wesleyan. “I think one person said they had. ” There often seems to be a generational divide on campus speech — young people demanding greater sensitivity, and their elders telling them to get thicker skins — but a survey by the Knight Foundation and Gallup gives a murkier picture. It found that 78 percent of college students said they preferred a campus “where students are exposed to all types of speech and viewpoints,” including offensive and biased speech, over a campus where such speech is prohibited. Students were actually more likely to give that response than adults generally. But when asked specifically about “slurs and other language on campus that is intentionally offensive to certain groups,” 69 percent of college students said that colleges should be allowed to impose restrictions on such expression. Eric Holmberg, the student body president at the University of Chicago, said the letter suggested that administrators “don’t understand what a trigger warning is,” and seemed “based on this false narrative of coddled millennials. ” “It’s an effort to frame any sort of activism on campus as just young people who are upset,” Mr. Holmberg said, “when in reality I’d say the administration is far more fearful of challenge than any student I know. ” Sara Zubi, a Chicago junior majoring in public policy, said the dean’s letter seemed contrary to some of the support programs the university has created or endorsed, like a “safe space program” for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. “To say the university doesn’t support that is really hypocritical and contradictory,” she said, “and it also just doesn’t make sense. ” | 1 |
Fighting Racism Where White Workers Are Hurting, Too Fighting Racism Where White Workers Are Hurting, Too By 0 118
Since 2011, Maine’s bombastic Republican governor Paul LePage has given America a taste of what it might be like to live under a Donald Trump presidency.
Like Trump, LePage has made outrageous comments against immigrants and communities of color. They include telling the NAACP to “kiss my butt,” publicly complaining about “guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty” selling drugs and impregnating “young, white” girls , and blaming “illegals” for spreading diseases like HIV — all while cutting funding to cities that offered health care and other assistance to undocumented immigrants.
After five years of LePage practicing an extreme form of wedge politics, people like Ben Chin are working to heal the resulting divisions in Maine.
Chin, the 31-year-old grandson of an undocumented Chinese immigrant, has been working with the Maine People’s Alliance to rally support from white working class neighborhoods for a series of progressive ballot measures this November. (Photo: David McSpadden / Flickr)
Countering the racist and nativist appeals of candidates like LePage and Trump, their goal is to get people to reject the politics of scapegoating immigrants and people of color and to instead focus on the real causes of — and solutions to — their economic distress.
“We’re starting out a conversation in which we’re making it clear we’re on their side,” Chin said in a recent phone interview. “That’s the foundation that gets laid for whatever comes next.”
These conversations are based on the research and experience of a broad range of grassroots organizations that have been struggling to get working-class white voters across the nation to see beyond the color line.
Chin got a personal taste of division politics when he was racially caricatured during his 2015 run for mayor of Lewiston, Maine. During his campaign, a local businessman paid for billboards that said, “Don’t vote for Ho Chi Chin. Vote for more jobs not more welfare.”
Since then, Chin’s turned his political focus to ballot initiatives that include increasing the state’s minimum wage and levying a 3 percent tax on household incomes over $200,000 a year.
Chin and his fellow Maine People’s Alliance members don’t have a “silver bullet” set of talking points that disarms the people they encounter with racist or anti-immigrant attitudes. Instead, they focus on questions that get people to think about their economic anxieties in a deeper way.
One question they ask is, “Why do you think some people are poor and other people are rich?”
That opens up a discussion about the ways a small group of the wealthy and powerful are stacking the economic deck against ordinary people of all colors, with their black and brown neighbors feeling it the most because of America’s history of systemic racism.
Chin said he was particularly struck by a recent conversation with a voter in Auburn, Maine. The voter was undecided about whether to support a referendum that would increase the state’s wage to $12 an hour by 2020.
“One of his ideas was that ‘certain people’ were going to get a wage increase,” Chin said. “We tried to unpack that.”
They talked about his life experiences and whether he really believed that increasing the minimum wage was about helping some “certain” group of undeserving freeloaders.
Chin said that though this voter wasn’t a “raging justice activist” by the end of their conversation, he was more thoughtfully considering the minimum wage.
Conversations like these are happening in many states around the country this election season, as progressives grapple with the mainstreaming of racist and nativist appeals by Trump and other far-right politicians.
These types of empathetic conversations are the nemesis of the conservative-corporate elite who have engineered extreme wealth inequality and, for too many, the disappearance of the American dream.
The last thing politicians who benefit from wedge politics want to see is working people across the nation transcending racial and cultural lines, and realizing those same politicians are the common source of their pain. | 0 |
You have probably heard it yourself: the impression that millennials are financial freewheelers. The theory goes that today’s or spend with little regard for savings and even less regard for retiring. Retirement planning experts say that this assumption isn’t entirely accurate — though it is perennially true that most young adults don’t make retirement savings a financial priority. But, as the experts point out, millennials are in an ideal position to get started, because whatever they set aside will grow and accrue interest greatly over time. “The value of compounding means you’ll have to contribute less later,” said Maria Bruno, a senior investment strategist at Vanguard, the investment management company. She recommends that people open retirement accounts as early as they can — that way, the savings have more time to build and be reinvested. Eventually, the interest an account accrues will begin to earn interest of its own. The New York Times spoke to five people in the to age group, a small sample of millennial savers. Two experts from the retirement division of Prudential Financial offered advice and feedback on each person’s profile. Though advice differed based on the individual situation, advisers across the spectrum were consistent on two broader points: ■ Young investors should take advantage of Roth retirement fund options. Roth funds, which include individual retirement accounts and 401( k)’s, differ from traditional retirement accounts in that contributions are made after tax once money is invested, earnings and withdrawals are . ■ Younger workers should contribute at least as much as an employer is willing to match in a 401( k) or similar program. With this advice in mind, read a snapshot of millennials at various stages of retirement planning. Mr. LaCasse doesn’t see himself jetting off to exotic destinations at the end of his career, but he does hope to have some financial security and independence. He makes about $52, 000 a year and contributes 4 percent of every paycheck to a 403( b) account — a retirement account primarily for teachers. His school does not match his contributions, but he did receive an initial, contribution of $1, 200. He currently has about $6, 000 in a savings account he doesn’t touch, and he puts away a little from every paycheck. Though he would like to save more, Mr. LaCasse worries that he is not in a secure enough position to do so. “There’s kind of a feeling of short term versus long term, and unfortunately the short term comes first — I need to cover my expenses,” he said. “The long term takes a major back seat. ” For one thing, student loan repayments (of nearly $500 a month) represent about a fifth of his monthly expenses and hinder his ability to squirrel away more. THE ADVICE Stephanie Sherman, a certified financial planner at Prudential, said that Mr. LaCasse might be able to restructure his student loans to give himself more breathing room. “If he has a great credit score, he can refinance them and make the same payment and pay them off quicker, or free up more money for savings,” she said. Mr. LaCasse said he had already considered refinancing and was thinking about it more seriously after hearing Ms. Sherman’s advice. “The process seems so daunting, and it keeps getting pushed aside,” he said. “Now I feel more motivated to do it. ” If she is able to break into theater or film, Ms. Craven would like to keep working for a lifetime. “As an actor, I’m going to want to tell stories and do that as long as I can,” she said. Even so, she hopes by her late 60s or early 70s to prioritize family time and traveling. Though she has never had a job with retirement benefits, she would be comfortable putting aside 5 to 10 percent of her $45, 000 income on her own. She already has $7, 500 in savings, but not in a formal retirement account. Her main concern is seasonal fluctuations in her salary that could derail a savings plan. “I’m in a very busy season for work right now, so I’m making more money, but once the tourists go away, it’ll be back to scraping by,” Ms. Craven said. THE ADVICE Ms. Craven said she felt she wasn’t doing enough to save for retirement, but the experts saw things differently. “Mollie sounds like she has it all together,” Ms. Sherman said, noting how much she already has in savings. She didn’t deny that seasonal income fluctuations were a challenge, but said that there were many ways to plan around them. She suggested that Ms. Craven find a financial adviser to develop a personalized strategy and perhaps open an independent retirement account. Ms. Sherman also explained that many people in the entertainment field built retirement benefit credits through organizations that they worked for, but that these benefits were not always well advertised to contractors. Ms. Craven said that she was fairly certain she had not accrued retirement credits through her performances, but was interested in finding an adviser and considering a formal retirement account. “It does seem disheartening that the savings account that I have just sits there and doesn’t grow hardly at all, maybe a cent every month or so,” she said. “I’d love to put some of that away and not touch it. ” Although he has worked at his current company, Redwood Logistics, for more than three years, Mr. Ruger has been hesitant to invest in its 401( k). “It’s such a millennial thing, but I don’t want to have to commit to a job,” he said. His career goal is to wind up on Broadway. And while he does some singing gigs on the side, the older he gets, the less likely he figures he is to start a acting career. He doesn’t have a definite vision for his retirement, either. “If I’m being totally honest, I never saw myself as having that option,” Mr. Ruger said. He has a few thousand dollars in a checking account, but no specific savings. He also has a lot of college debt. “We’re paying off these crazy student loans with these crazy interest rates,” Mr. Ruger said. “Stuff that requires money — like houses and cars and retirement — are not in the cards. We can just pay off the interest on our student loans and our rent, and work until we die. ” Further on the topic of his company’s 401( k) Mr. Ruger said he was unsure how the plan worked and worried about losing his investment if he ever left the job. THE ADVICE Crystal Vacura, a retirement counselor at Prudential, said that Mr. Ruger’s feelings were not uncommon: Many people are hesitant to invest in a 401( k) for reasons like procrastination or confusion. She pointed out to Mr. Ruger that 401( k) contributions could usually stay invested in the original fund or could roll over into new accounts if he switched employers or went freelance. She also suggested that Mr. Ruger put aside all of the earnings from his singing gigs into a dedicated savings account: If he is really not comfortable with a 401( k) he should consider opening an I. R. A. she said. Mr. Ruger particularly liked Mrs. Vacura’s suggestion of investing the money he earned from singing, and said that if he had to choose between a 401( k) and an I. R. A. “I’d go with getting my act together and opening a retirement account through my job, because they offer one, and it’s ridiculous that I haven’t done that yet. ” As a state employee, Ms. King is eligible to invest in the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, and she anticipates staying with her employer for the duration. “I hope to retire at some point — my expectation is, after 30 years of service,” she said. “Because I am working for a public institution, 30 years is pretty much the standard. ” She has been in her current role for only three years, but was able to start contributing to Opers (the acronym for the Ohio retirement system) as a student employee and already has $15, 000 in her account. Though she has no other formal savings, Ms. King owns a house and contributes 10 percent of her $ salary to the account, with the university contributing an additional 14 percent. Ms. King is paying off student loans but expects to be by the end of the winter, at which point she will be able to diversify her savings plan and increase her contributions by as much as 25 or 50 percent. THE ADVICE “Cherita certainly seems on paying off her student loans,” Ms. Sherman said. “She also seems very focused on redirecting that to increasing her retirement savings. ” Ms. Sherman and Ms. Vacura agreed that Ms. King was in a good position for retirement, though they recommended that she open a separate “rainy day” savings account. Ms. King said the rainy day fund was her next priority after paying off her student loans. And she was happy her efforts had won good reviews. “It’s validating to hear that people who know about finance are saying I’m on the right track,” she said. Ms. Hamilton has been planning for her retirement since she was 17. “I took a class in high school, and they showed me the building of compounding interest,” she said. That prompted her to get a weekend job and put her earnings into an I. R. A. which has grown to about $30, 000. She also has a separate 401( k) through her employer, with a similar amount invested. “I want to work really hard now and save really hard so I can travel the world and not have to worry about finances” in retirement, Ms. Hamilton said. Her husband is a strong partner in her savings plan. When they married last year, they agreed to live on a single income and put the rest into savings: They already have more than $100, 000. Ms. Hamilton is very reluctant to touch her primary income for anything beyond basic necessities. When the time came to buy new furniture, she got a weekend job at Restoration Hardware to cover the expense. THE ADVICE Ms. Sherman of Prudential said that while Ms. Hamilton would seem to be a model of thrift, she could be even more proactive, perhaps by buying life insurance or opening a retirement savings plan. “Really start to address the things that could derail your retirement, as you’re a fabulous saver,” she suggested. Ms. Hamilton said that her personal financial adviser gave similar feedback and that she was encouraged to be receiving such consistent advice about reaching her goals. “I may not make a million dollars a year, but I feel like I can one day hopefully have a retirement that’s comparable,” she said. | 1 |
Dr. Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Trump and former national security editor for Breitbart News, joined SiriusXM host Lee Stranahan for Thursday’s Breitbart News Daily. [Stranahan brought up the outrageous allegation by a blogger that Gorka was a Nazi sympathizer, based on a medal he was seen wearing. The false story was eagerly repeated, without the slightest bit of by Chelsea Clinton and the Southern Poverty Law Center, among others. “My parents escaped Communist Hungary in 1956,” Gorka recalled. “My father actually escaped from a prison, a Communist prison, because he was an and he had been betrayed and given a life sentence at the age of 20. In exile, he was awarded a medal — it’s the Order of the Vitez — for his resistance to dictatorship in Hungary. ” “That Order, for some people, because it is associated with the regent, Admiral Horthy, they think that makes my father, who escaped from a Communist prison, a fascist, and, therefore, ” he explained. “It’s never about policies, Lee. It’s always about attacking the individual,” Gorka told Stranahan. “My father was tortured in the basement of what used to be the Nazi secret police headquarters, at the age of twenty. He was tortured by Communists who, just a few years before, had been members of the Arrow Cross. That’s the irony of central Europe. A lot of fascists became Communists. ” “Remember, on the radical Left, facts are optional. I am on TV. I’ve been a vocal supporter of President Trump during the campaign. They have to attack me. It’s about Steve Bannon. It’s about Jared Kushner. It’s about General Mike Flynn. It’s not about the policies. It’s not about the substance. It’s about ad hominem attacks. If you want to be effective, it’s about triangulation and isolation. That’s all it is, Lee. You know it better than anybody,” Gorka said. “The irony is, the first person who wrote this article about me was allegedly fired from his last employer for attitudes,” he noted. “That’s the reality. You read my book, Defeating Jihad. It’s about how Israel is our closest ally. Not only that, I have said, for me, groups like ISIS and are the new fascists. The linkage between groups that burn people alive, that behead people because they have the wrong passport, the linkage between them and the Communist and the fascists is the same. They’re all totalitarians. One of them may have worshiped Karl Marx. The other may have worshiped the Aryan purity and Mein Kampf. These people are totalitarians, as well, groups like ISIS. They’re just doing it in the name of their version of Islam. ” Gorka agreed with Stranahan that attacks on Trump administration officials like himself are actually attacks on his “audience. ” “It has to have that broader connection. Why? Because what I’ve seen in the last weeks of us being in office is all we have is a majority of the media reporting reflects one thing, Lee: they cannot believe, refuse to believe, what happened on November the 8th. The American people spoke. The ‘forgotten man’ was given a voice. And they can’t stand it, Lee. ” “As a result, what President Trump stands for must be attacked day in and day out. It’s not about policies. Remember, we never talk about Russia policy. It’s about who bugged Mike Flynn, and what he said to the vice president. It’s never about policy. It’s never about ISIS. It’s the classic attack, Lee: ‘When did you stop beating your wife?’ Remember? That’s what they’re doing,” he said. Dr. Gorka recorded a longer version of his father’s story in a video interview with Stranahan. See it here. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. LISTEN: | 1 |
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PALM BEACH, Fla. — On Friday night, Fox News aired an alarming segment in which the host, Tucker Carlson, interviewed a documentary filmmaker about a crisis of violence in Sweden ignited by the recent wave of Muslim migration. “The government has gone out of its way to try to cover up some of these problems,” declared Ami Horowitz, the filmmaker. “That is grotesque,” Mr. Carlson responded. One of his viewers agreed, and in that moment was born a diplomatic incident that illustrates the unusual approach that President Trump takes to foreign policy, as well as the influence that television can have on his thinking. After watching the program, Mr. Trump threw a line into a speech the next day suggesting that a terrorist attack had occurred in Sweden the night before. Just like that, without white papers, intelligence reports, an interagency meeting or, presumably, the advice of his secretary of state, the president started a dispute with a longtime American friend that resented his characterization and called it false. The president’s only discernible goal was to make the case domestically for his plans to restrict entry to the United States. The Swedes were flabbergasted. “We are used to seeing the president of the U. S. as one of the most persons in the world, also well aware of the importance of what he says,” Carl Bildt, a former prime minister of Sweden, said by email on Monday. “And then, suddenly, we see him engaging in misinformation and slander against a truly friendly country, obviously relying on sources of a quality that at best could be described as dubious. ” While aides sought to clarify that Mr. Trump’s remarks were about a rising tide of crime in general, rather than any particular event or attack, the president chose to escalate. In a Twitter post on Monday, he accused American journalists of glossing over a dark and dangerous situation in Sweden. “Give the public a break,” he wrote. “The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!” Sweden’s prime minister, Stefan Lofven, responded hours later at a news conference, noting that Sweden ranks highly on international comparisons of economic competitiveness and human development. “We have challenges, no doubt about that,” he allowed. But he added pointedly, “We must all take responsibility for using facts correctly and for verifying anything we spread. ” Sweden is hardly the first American friend to find itself uncomfortably at odds with the new president. Mexico’s president canceled a meeting with Mr. Trump over his plans to build a border wall and bill the United States’ southern neighbor for it. Mr. Trump reportedly lit into Australia’s prime minister over refugees in a telephone call that was said to have ended abruptly. But the episode underscored that Mr. Trump obtains, processes and uses information differently from any modern president. He watches television at night and tends to incorporate what he sees into his Twitter feed, speeches and interviews. “It begs the question of where the president gets his information as he articulates his administration’s global approach,” said Mark Brzezinski, the ambassador to Sweden under President Barack Obama. “To do so in an improvisational way, based on snippets picked up from cable news, is a major mistake. ” Immigration is a hotly debated issue in Sweden, Germany and many other European countries. Sweden, which prides itself as a humanitarian leader, processed a record 163, 000 asylum applications in 2015. But statistics in Sweden do not back up the suggestion that immigrants have created a major crime wave. Preliminary data released last month by Sweden’s crime prevention council found no significant increase in crimes from 2015 to 2016, even with the influx of migrants. The council did note an increase in assaults and rapes last year, but it also recorded a drop in thefts and drug offenses. Still, a Pew Research Center survey last year found that 46 percent of Swedes said refugees were more to blame for crime than other groups. Manne Gerell, a doctoral student in criminology at Malmo University in Sweden, said in an interview that immigrants were disproportionately represented among crime suspects, particularly in more serious and violent offenses. But he noted that many of the victims were other immigrants, whether members of criminal networks or simply residents of poor neighborhoods. “Immigration will come with some cost, and we will likely have a bit more crime — but that’s in a society with low crime rates and in a society that works really well, so in my opinion, it’s something we can live with,” he said. “I know everybody won’t agree with that. But immigration will not double the crime rate, make everybody go broke or turn Sweden into a living hell. ” Although terrorism is a concern for Sweden — an Swede blew himself up in central Stockholm in 2010 — the authorities say they are equally worried about racist hate crimes, including attacks on migrants. The Fox News segment featured an interview with Mr. Horowitz, whose short film, “Stockholm Syndrome,” depicted Sweden as a place where rape and violence have been on the rise since it began accepting more refugees from Muslim countries. In the Fox interview, Mr. Horowitz acknowledged that most Swedes do not see the situation as he does. “They’ll make excuses for it,” he said. “The majority of the population in Sweden still wants to have an policy. It’s confounding. ” Mr. Trump was clearly struck by the interview, and he cited Sweden at a rally in Melbourne, Fla. on Saturday as he argued for stronger borders. “You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden,” he said. “Sweden! Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They’re having problems like they never thought possible. ” Aides later said “last night” referred to the Fox program, not to an episode the night before. Mr. Carlson argued on Monday that although “the president ought to be precise in what he says, there should be no confusion about what he means. ” Mr. Carlson said that assimilation had failed and that immigration was “in the process of totally changing these ancient cultures into something different and much more volatile and much more threatening. ” Critics of Sweden’s migration policies have pointed to a Facebook post on Feb. 3 by a police officer, Peter Springare, who said that migrants were taxing Sweden’s pension, education and health systems and that they were the principal culprits in assaults. “Half of the suspects we cannot even be sure of because they don’t have any valid papers,” he wrote. “Most often this means they are lying about their country of origin and identity. ” But the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Monday quoted two police officers interviewed by Mr. Horowitz, Anders Goranzon and Jacob Ekstrom, as saying that the filmmaker had selectively edited and distorted their comments to prove his thesis. They said that Mr. Horowitz had asked them about neighborhoods and that they did not agree with his argument about links between migration and crime. “We don’t stand behind what he says,” Mr. Goranzon said. “He is a madman. ” Mr. Horowitz did not respond to a request for comment, but he went back on Mr. Carlson’s show on Monday night to defend his work, citing crime statistics and asserting that the police officers had recanted because they were under pressure. “My record stands for itself,” he said, “and what you saw on that video clear as day stands for itself. ” | 1 |
The members of the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce had broken their fasts and left the mosque near Florida’s eastern shoreline. In the waning minutes of Sunday, less than an hour later, a surveillance camera recorded a man as he approached the mosque. Then came a flash as flames damaged the house of worship where the man who attacked an Orlando, Fla. nightclub often prayed. The authorities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were investigating the fire as a potential hate crime, even as officials cautioned that they remained uncertain about the motive. The blaze occurred on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and nearly three months after Omar Mateen opened fire at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. It also happened around the beginning of Eid a Muslim holiday. “Today was supposed to be a day of this community exchanging gifts with their kids, visiting their family members, having dinners, having lunches,” Wilfredo Ruiz, a spokesman for the mosque, said at a Monday afternoon news conference in Fort Pierce, Fla. “Instead, they needed to go to another place to worship. ” No one was injured in the attack, and the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office sought help identifying the suspect, whom the authorities described as a white or Hispanic male. Video showed the man arriving at the mosque, which is in a former Presbyterian church, about 11:38 p. m. on Sunday, appearing to carry paper and a bottle of some type of liquid. The camera recorded a flash, presumably when the fire ignited, and the man waved his arms, perhaps from a burn, before he fled on a motorcycle. Officials refused to speculate about a connection between the fire and the anniversary of the terrorist attack. A spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, Bryan Beaty, declined to discuss whether Mr. Mateen’s ties to the mosque might have prompted the fire. With its painted star and crescent, palm trees and occasional protester outside, the Sunni mosque is central to Islamic life in Fort Pierce, a city of around 44, 000 people about an hour’s drive north of Palm Beach. Yet it has also been a hub of controversy, drawing attention twice in recent years as a place where young men who staged attacks had worshiped. In addition to Mr. Mateen, who was killed during the siege at Pulse, which left 49 other people dead, the Islamic Center was a frequent stop for Moner Mohammad Abusalha, who carried out a 2014 suicide bombing in Syria. (The F. B. I. director, James B. Comey, said the men had known each other “casually. ”) In June, the Islamic Center’s imam, Syed Shafeeq Rahman, distanced himself and the mosque from Mr. Mateen and, more generally, from extremist ideology. “There is nothing that he is hearing from me to do killing, to do bloodshed, to do anything, because we never talk like that,” the imam said of Mr. Mateen. The mosque, like many in the United States, has expressed concerns about security and the commitment of the local authorities to protect its members and property. Tensions mounted in July after the authorities arrested a man they said had repeatedly punched someone who had been at the Islamic Center to pray. The case is pending in the local circuit court, where a prosecutor said in a filing last month that the accused man had “evidenced prejudice” during the attack. Mr. Beaty said deputies had also investigated two suspicious vehicles and a harassing phone call at the mosque since the June 12 attack in Orlando. The fire at the Islamic Center is at least the third suspected arson at a Florida mosque this summer. A Tampa mosque was targeted twice in less than 24 hours last month, and a spokesman for the city’s Fire Department, Jason A. Penny, said Monday that the inquiry there remained active. In Fort Pierce on Monday, people responded to the attack with a mix of outrage and sadness. “An attack on any house of worship is an attack on all houses of worship,” said Ahmed Bedier, a Muslim activist in Florida. “It’s unacceptable. ” | 1 |
At last weekend’s round of movie and television awards, doled out by the producers’ and actors’ guilds, the likes of John Legend and Julia among others, swung hard at President Trump and his travel ban, to rapturous applause. The friendly reception to hostile fire represented a departure for awards shows, where political acceptance speeches have elicited reactions from eye rolls to noisy dissent. In 1973, the Native American actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather was met with jeers and later, she said, Hollywood blacklisting after Marlon Brando sent her to refuse an Oscar on his behalf. After Vanessa Redgrave, a supporter of Palestinian rights, deplored “Zionist hoodlums” while accepting her Oscar in 1978, the screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky drew hearty applause for upbraiding “people exploiting the occasion of the Academy Awards for the propagation of their own personal political propaganda. ” Boos rained down on Michael Moore, winner of the 2003 documentary prize, for tearing into George W. Bush’s newly started Iraq war. Getting political at the Oscars was risky, and the assorted causes were always scattershot. But now Hollywood finds itself in 2017. If current trends hold, using stage time at the Academy Awards to take a stand won’t be just de rigueur, but expected. Mr. Trump’s travel ban, along with his combative rhetoric and internet outbursts, have directly shaped this year’s awards race. And Hollywood’s ever more polarized with him has imbued the season with a heightened sense of both superfluousness and purpose. On the one hand, against a backdrop of geopolitical unrest, the monthslong circuit has felt, to whiskered campaigners, especially frivolous. On the other hand, stars are using the spotlight to broadcast their resistance, starting with Meryl Streep at the Golden Globes. Not everyone wants to hear actors bang on about politics, and audience reception depends on political bent. Many in America who are supportive of Mr. Trump already feel alienated by “Hollywood elites,” and might not be tuning in to the Oscars anyway. But as public arts funding is threatened with cuts, and Mr. Trump unveils other contentious policies, many actors suddenly feel that they must speak out, even if they’re preaching to a choir eager to lap up their every word. Matters came to a head when the travel ban went into chaotic effect over the weekend. One Oscar contender who was immediately affected was the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, whose drama “The Salesman” is up for the Academy Award for best film. (His “A Separation” won in 2012.) Now he’s subject to the ban, which sharply limits travel from seven countries. Mr. Farhadi said that even if he were granted an exemption to travel, he wouldn’t attend. “To humiliate one nation with the pretext of guarding the security of another is not a new phenomenon in history and has always laid the groundwork for the creation of future divide and enmity,” Mr. Farhadi said in a statement. He went on to condemn “the unjust conditions” the order had forced upon citizens of the seven nations. Will this affect Mr. Farhadi’s Oscar chances? You betcha. Not only has the fracas raised the visibility of his film, but it has also made voting for it a political act. The same goes for the nominated documentary short “The White Helmets,” about civilian Syrian rescuers. One of the film’s subjects and a cameraman were to attend the Oscars, according to the filmmakers, but now are shut out, too. The Swedish actress, Bahar Pars, a star in the Swedish entry “A Man Called Ove,” has said that she is determined to attend as a statement but that details were still being sorted out. The ban, which the United Nations says has imperiled 20, 000 refugees, also stands to raise the profile of nominated films that explore migrants’ plight, like the documentary feature “Fire at Sea” and the shorts “Watani: My Homeland” and The New York Times’s “4. 1 Miles. ” As widespread protests roiled airports last weekend, there were questions in Hollywood about whether speakers and winners would take aim at Mr. Trump at the Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday. Ms. Streep had already set a precedent at the Golden Globes in January: She publicly castigated Mr. Trump for being a bully. If that speech increased her chances at landing an Oscar nomination for her role in “Florence Foster Jenkins” — and Hollywood chatter holds that it totally did — Mr. Trump sealed the deal. His tweet the next day, calling her one of Hollywood’s “most overrated actresses,” fell smack in the middle of the voting window for Oscar nominations. And, lo, a few weeks later, Ms. Streep became a Oscar nominee. But she’s Meryl Streep, occupying the tippy top of Hollywood’s living pantheon. Awards strategists rarely want their clients to get political, for it could cost them their audiences, especially in red states. While this might not matter much for this season’s smaller films like “Moonlight” or “Loving,” it could hurt films with bigger ambitions, or television shows with outspoken stars. This year, though, Hollywood doesn’t seem keen to hold back. At the Producers Guild Awards, presenters and winners emphasized religious freedom, empathy and diversity. Mr. Legend, a presenter at the PGAs and a star of “La La Land,” said he and his wife, Chrissy Teigen, had wrestled with attending given the larger national controversy afoot, and then drew cheers for declaring, “Our vision of America is directly antithetical to that of President Trump. ” Then came the SAG Awards, which are way more lustrous, for they dole out prizes to glamorous actors and are televised. If the night’s winners were not emboldened by, erm, Ashton Kutcher, who kicked off the ceremony by welcoming “everyone in airports that belong in my America,” they surely were by the first winner, Ms. . A member of Hollywood royalty, and clearly comfortable in the spotlight as well as in her own skin, Ms. made the political personal by revealing that her father had fled religious persecution in France and by denouncing the immigrant ban as “ . ” This opened the door, making it O. K. for those who followed to speak out. And they did: Sarah Paulson, Bryan Cranston, Lily Tomlin, Emma Stone, David Harbour and Taraji P. Henson all made assorted impassioned pleas. The classiest one came from Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”) who, in a quavering voice, spoke of how he and his Christian mother had overcome their differences after he converted to Islam 17 years ago. Mr. Ali is favored to win the Oscar for best supporting actor, and his speech, perhaps the night’s most quietly profound, all but made that certain. If there was one consequence Mr. Trump probably didn’t foresee from his travel ban, it would be helping a Muslim American secure an Academy Award. Whether all of this portends a night of politicizing come the Academy Awards, on Feb. 26, depends on whether controversies set off by the White House or incendiary executive tweets settle down in the next three weeks. Will things calm down? Inshallah. | 1 |
Hamilton producer Miranda is “sobbing with gratitude. ” Why? Because President Obama announced his decision to free Oscar Lopez Rivera, a Puerto Rican domestic terrorist serving 55 years in prison. [Rivera was a leader of the FALN Puerto Rico terrorist group who claimed responsibility for more than 120 bombings, including the bombing of a New York bar that killed four people in 1975 and wounded 60 others. Rivera’s freedom is a cause for leftist Latinos, something that Senator Bernie Sanders seized during his presidential campaign to rally Latino activists. “Oscar Lopez Rivera has served 34 years in prison for his commitment to Puerto Rico’s independence,” Sanders wrote on Twitter in May 2016. “I say to President Obama: let him out. ” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also celebrated Rivera’s freedom on Twitter. “Thank you @POTUS for freeing #OscarLopezRivera,” he wrote in English and Spanish. “Congratulations to all who fought for this day. ” Rep. Luis Gutierrez was also emotional about the news. “I am overjoyed and overwhelmed with emotion,” he said in a statement calling Rivera a “national hero. ” “It will be a blessed day when I can walk and talk with my friend in the fresh air, far from prison walls, and I am so looking forward to that day,” Gutierrez continued. According to the White House, Rivera was serving prison time for the following crimes after FBI officials discovered dynamite and blasting caps in his apartment: “I have no regrets for what I’ve done in the Puerto Rico independence movement,” Rivera said in 1998. “The onus is not on us. The crime is colonialism. ” Thanks to Obama, Rivera’s prison term will expire on May 17, 2017, allowing him to walk free. | 1 |
By Whitney Webb A mistake during repairs to the Colonial pipeline, which ruptured in September, resulted in a massive explosion and started a wildfire, prompting Alabama’s governor to declare a... | 0 |
WASHINGTON — A fierce chorus of critics denounced Donald J. Trump on Monday for appointing Stephen K. Bannon, a nationalist media mogul, to a top White House position, even as President Obama described Mr. Trump as “pragmatic,” not ideological, and held out hope that he would rise to the challenge of the presidency. “It’s important for us to let him make his decisions,” Mr. Obama said. “The American people will judge over the course of the next couple of years whether they like what they see. ” Mr. Obama’s conciliatory remarks disappointed supporters who had hoped that he would add his voice to the criticism of the for naming Mr. Bannon as his chief strategist. Civil rights groups, senior Democrats and some Republican strategists have assailed Mr. Trump, saying that Mr. Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News, will bring nationalist and racist views to the West Wing. In the midst of the furor over Mr. Bannon’s appointment, Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, emerged as a leading candidate to be secretary of state, according to people familiar with the deliberations in the office in Trump Tower where Mr. Trump was ensconced throughout the day. That would make Mr. Giuliani, a contentious former prosecutor, the president’s emissary to a turbulent world. There has been intense jockeying among several of Mr. Trump’s campaign advisers, suggesting a competition to lead the new administration’s foreign policy, national security and agencies. Mr. Trump is also considering naming Mr. Giuliani or Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama as the next attorney general, according to the people familiar with the discussions. But Mr. Giuliani said Monday night at a Wall Street Journal election forum that he would not be going to the Justice Department. And if Mr. Sessions, a relentless critic of illegal immigration, is nominated for attorney general, he can expect opponents to bring up the fact that he was once rejected for a federal judgeship after officials testified that he had made racist comments. Mr. Giuliani seems more eager to be secretary of state, though John R. Bolton, a fierce foreign policy hawk who served as ambassador to the United Nations and under secretary of state under President George W. Bush, is also under consideration, the people familiar with the discussions said. Richard Grenell, who was Mr. Bolton’s spokesman at the United Nations, is being considered as ambassador there. People with knowledge of the process described a series of chaotic discussions and said Mr. Trump might also choose Mr. Giuliani or Mr. Sessions to lead the Department of Homeland Security, though neither has expressed interest in that job. In 1986, before Mr. Sessions became a senator himself, a Senate rejected his nomination by President Ronald Reagan to a federal judgeship. Several United States attorneys testified that he had made racist comments, including calling an lawyer “boy,” and that he had been hostile to civil rights cases. Mr. Sessions denied making most of the remarks, but apologized for once saying that he had thought the Ku Klux Klan was O. K. until he heard that some members smoked pot he called it a joke. As for Mr. Bolton, he was known in the Bush administration for his conservative and sometimes confrontational views. Before his nomination as United Nations ambassador, he once said of the United Nations building in New York, “If it lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference. ” If named to Mr. Trump’s cabinet, Mr. Bolton could clash with the president on Russia: He has accused the Obama administration of being weak in that area and recently wrote in favor of NATO membership for Ukraine, a move that would infuriate Moscow. Mr. Trump spoke by telephone on Monday with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, and according to a statement released by the Kremlin, the two men agreed “on the absolutely unsatisfactory state of bilateral relations” and vowed to improve them. Aides to Mr. Trump declined to comment on reports of the leading contenders for cabinet posts. But Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser, defended Mr. Bannon in brief remarks to reporters in New York, describing him as the “general of this campaign” and saying that “people should look at the full résumé. ” “He has got a Harvard business degree. He’s a naval officer. He has success in entertainment,” Ms. Conway said, calling him a “brilliant tactician. ” Ms. Conway denied that Mr. Bannon had a connection to nationalists or that he would bring those views to the White House. “I’m personally offended that you think I would manage a campaign where that would be one of the going philosophies,” she said. Mr. Bannon has said that while there are fringe elements associated with the nationalist movement, his critics are painting with too broad a brush. “These people are patriots,” he said. “They love their country. They just want their country taken care of. ” Even as Mr. Trump works to fill his administration, his team has yet to begin the real work of transitioning to the helm of the government because they have not completed the necessary paperwork. White House officials said Monday that Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who was in charge of Mr. Trump’s transition team until Friday, had signed a memorandum of understanding that ensured confidentiality. But Mr. Christie was dismissed on Friday and replaced by Vice Mike Pence, invalidating the agreement and leaving the transition process in a state of suspended animation. At a news conference before leaving on a weeklong trip to Greece, Germany and Peru, Mr. Obama appeared to be doing his best to give Mr. Trump space as he begins forming his administration. The president also continued his efforts to persuade Mr. Trump to preserve his legacy, pointedly reminding him that repealing the Affordable Care Act could be politically unpopular and that ripping up global agreements like the Iran nuclear deal or the Paris climate accord would be difficult. Mr. Obama refused to say whether he still considered Mr. Trump unfit to sit in the Oval Office and have access to the nuclear codes, and equated Mr. Trump’s shortcomings with his own troubles organizing paperwork on his desk. The closest he came to criticizing Mr. Trump was when he said the would have to temper his impulses to make explosive comments and lie once he was sworn in. “There are going to be certain elements of his temperament that will not serve him well unless he recognizes them and corrects them,” Mr. Obama said. “I think he recognizes that this is different, and so do the American people. ” Congressional Republicans remained largely silent about the appointment of Mr. Bannon, choosing instead to praise Mr. Trump’s choice of Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, as the new White House chief of staff. In remarks to reporters, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican majority leader in the House, said he would “not prejudge” Mr. Trump’s choice. But critics of Mr. Bannon continued to raise questions about his background and his tenure as the chairman of Breitbart News. A 2011 radio interview surfaced in which Mr. Bannon praised Ann Coulter, Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin by saying they were not “a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England. ” “That drives the left insane,” he added, “and that’s why they hate these women. ” The Council on Relations said the selection of Mr. Bannon “sends the disturbing message that conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology will be welcome in the White House. ” That view was echoed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups and said Mr. Trump “should rescind this hire. ” “In his victory speech, Trump said he intended to be president for ‘all Americans,’” the center said. “Bannon should go. ” Republicans who had long opposed Mr. Trump’s candidacy also took to Twitter on Sunday night and Monday morning to warn that his choice to rely on the advice of Mr. Bannon was an indication of the way he would govern. “The racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office,” said John Weaver, a Republican strategist who ran the presidential campaign of Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and previously advised Senator John McCain of Arizona. “Be very vigilant, America. ” But people close to Mr. Bannon came to his defense. Joel B. Pollak, an author and editor at Breitbart, called him an “American patriot who also defends Israel and has deep empathy for the Jewish people. ” Jewish leaders and supporters of Israel expressed alarm at Mr. Bannon’s appointment, pointing to writings on the Breitbart website. “In his roles as editor of the Breitbart website and as a strategist in the Trump campaign, Mr. Bannon was responsible for the advancement of ideologies antithetical to our nation, including misogyny, racism and Islamophobia,” said Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. “There should be no place for such views in the White House. ” Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, accused Mr. Bannon’s critics of sour grapes. On Twitter, he wrote that Mr. Bannon should embrace the criticism from the Council on Relations, or CAIR. “Critics of Steve Bannon know he’s smarter and tougher than they are,” Mr. Huckabee wrote. “When CAIR doesn’t like you, that is a good thing. ” | 1 |
In between her extensive debate prep and her final, frenzied bid to raise money and win over voters, Hillary Clinton has had to carve out time to answer 25 detailed questions about her use of a private email server as secretary of state. The questions came not from the F. B. I. which has closed its investigation into the issue, or from Congress, or even from a news outlet. They came from a nonprofit organization called Judicial Watch. If the 2016 election has brought forward a new generation of Clinton antagonists — WikiLeaks, Breitbart, Russia — it has also reintroduced America to an old one. Judicial Watch was one of the Clintons’ original tormentors, a charter member of what Mrs. Clinton famously called a “vast conspiracy” to destroy her and her husband by seizing on any potential scandal. The organization filed its first lawsuit against the Clintons shortly after its formation in 1994, and it pretty much never stopped. It is currently the plaintiff in more than 20 suits involving Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee. “People always used to say to me, ‘What are you going to do when the Clintons leave? ’” Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, said in an interview. “Well, the Clintons never really left. ” Neither has Judicial Watch, the indefatigable Clinton adversary that has probably done more than any other individual or organization to create the narrative that Mrs. Clinton is still battling: that she is untrustworthy. It is a narrative that her Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, has tried to exploit at every turn, whether he was labeling her “Crooked Hillary,” saying there was something “very fishy” about the suicide of her former law partner, Vincent W. Foster Jr. or suggesting that she might be concealing serious health problems. Judicial Watch’s strategy is simple: the federal courts with Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. A vast majority are dismissed. But Judicial Watch caught a break last year, when revelations about Mrs. Clinton’s private email server prompted two judges to reopen two of the group’s cases connected to her tenure as secretary of state. The lawsuits have since led to the release of hundreds of Mrs. Clinton’s emails — which have, in turn, spurred dozens of news releases and letters from Judicial Watch that hype the significance of these documents, while putting them in the least flattering light possible for Mrs. Clinton. The group’s lawyers were given permission to depose several of her senior aides from her time at the State Department. What is more, Mrs. Clinton herself will have to answer 25 detailed questions about her use of a private email server as secretary of state. The questions, some with multiple parts, ask her to explain her rationale for using the private server and her reaction to warnings about the potential for security breaches, among other things. Her answers, to be provided via written testimony to the court, are due by Thursday. Just getting this far has represented a victory for Judicial Watch, which operates out of a nondescript office building in the shadow of the Capitol. Suing the government, repeatedly, is an expensive proposition Judicial Watch has an annual budget of about $35 million that pays for close to 50 employees — a mix of lawyers, investigators and . Mr. Fitton says the group receives donations from nearly 400, 000 individuals and institutions every year. One of its biggest funders, according to public filings, is the Sarah Scaife Foundation, which was created by the banking heir Richard Mellon Scaife, who died in 2014. In the 1990s, Mr. Scaife was one of the leading financiers of the effort to bring down the Clintons, bankrolling conservative think tanks and publications — as well as Judicial Watch. Litigiousness is in the organization’s DNA: Its founder, Larry Klayman, once sued his mother. Mr. Klayman has described himself as a conservative Ralph Nader, but during Bill Clinton’s presidency, he often behaved more like a Kenneth W. Starr, papering Washington with subpoenas related to every Clinton scandal. His departure from the organization in 2003 was accompanied, unsurprisingly, by litigation: Mr. Klayman accused the organization, and his successor, Mr. Fitton, of “fraud, disparagement, defamation, false advertising and other egregious acts. ” Mr. Fitton responded that the allegations were “full of lies and distortions. ” The suit is still in the courts. Since he took over in 2003, Mr. Fitton has sought mainstream respectability for the organization. It describes itself as a “nonpartisan educational foundation,” but Mr. Fitton says it is also a media organization. “We’re filling multiple roles here in a Washington where the traditional vehicles for government accountability have broken down,” he said. Last year, he nominated Judicial Watch for three Pulitzer Prizes. He was told that because Judicial Watch was an advocacy group, it did not meet the Pulitzer committee’s eligibility criteria, a ruling he attributed to liberal bias. If Mr. Fitton is seen as less flamboyant than his predecessor, he has been no less dogged in his pursuit of Mrs. Clinton. In 2009, Judicial Watch sued to prevent her from becoming secretary of state, claiming that an obscure clause in the Constitution prevented former members of Congress who voted to increase the salary of a government position from being appointed to that position. For that matter, Judicial Watch is still suing the government to obtain a draft of the indictment against Mrs. Clinton that federal prosecutors prepared in 1998, when they were considering bringing charges against her in the Whitewater investigation. “I think to say that they are not partisan would not be accurate,” said Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. “Look at the way that they have dealt with the Clintons. It seems as if they’ve been out to do them harm. ” According to Mr. Fitton, however, Judicial Watch’s persistence has been rewarded. “The documents we have uncovered in the last year or so are gobsmacking in terms of what they say about what Mrs. Clinton was up to, the depths of her criminality,” he said. There is little doubt that the group has forced the release of government records that would otherwise have been kept from the public. More contentious is the claim that these documents illuminate Mrs. Clinton’s behavior, at least in the absence of the organization’s spin, which has broadly asserted that the Democratic presidential nominee used her position at the State Department to further the interests of her family’s foundation. A Judicial Watch news release from August highlighted a newly disclosed 2009 email from a Clinton Foundation official to two of Mrs. Clinton’s senior aides at the State Department, requesting a meeting between a foundation donor and the United States ambassador to Lebanon. “Clinton’s top aides’ favors for and interactions with the Clinton Foundation seem in violation of the ethics agreements that Hillary Clinton agreed to in order to be appointed and confirmed as Secretary of State,” the organization wrote. But the ambassador, Jeffrey D. Feltman, subsequently denied that the meeting had taken place. Judicial Watch is a polarizing group, even among advocates for greater government transparency. Critics accuse it of weaponizing the Freedom of Information Act for political purposes. They argue that its unending barrage of lawsuits does more harm than good by draining federal resources, tying up the courts and wasting public servants’ time. The Freedom of Information Act “is a legitimate tool for government transparency, but it’s possible to abuse it,” said Steven Aftergood, the director of the Project on Government Secrecy for the Federation of American Scientists. “There is a question about whether they are enriching or distorting political discourse. ” The group’s defenders argue that its success in bringing to light thousands of buried emails speaks for itself, and that people can ignore the organization’s spin and make their own decisions about what the records mean. “They are obviously not just going on fishing expeditions, because they are producing documents that are resulting in stories and public debates,” said Danielle Brian, the director of the Project on Government Oversight. Mr. Fitton, the Judicial Watch president, said his group fought just as hard for transparency during George W. Bush’s presidency. Notably, it teamed with the Sierra Club in an unsuccessful effort to obtain the records of Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy policy task force. Judicial Watch’s claims of nonpartisanship will be tested if Republicans win the White House next month. For now, anyway, Mr. Trump seems safe from the group’s scrutiny. Mr. Fitton, when asked if he was concerned about the Republican nominee’s unwillingness to release his tax returns, said he was far more troubled by the Internal Revenue Service’s decision to audit Mr. Trump. “I think the I. R. S. is a Sword of Damocles over the First Amendment, and I think it is a menace,” he said. And the pending federal action against Trump University for defrauding students? Mr. Fitton, whose organization has filed about 300 lawsuits against the Obama administration, described it as “ambulance chasing. ” As for Mrs. Clinton, she can expect to remain in the group’s sights whether she wins or loses. “Everyone wants to move on,” Mr. Fitton said. “We don’t move on. ” | 1 |
They hit the wire together in a blur, two gray horses that had shown promise on their way to the Kentucky Derby but once beneath those iconic twin spires looked as if they hardly belonged in America’s greatest race. Maybe they had excuses. The colt named Destin had broken poorly that day and was roughed up early in the race, and Creator, who had closed like a freight train in the Arkansas Derby, barely lifted a hoof in Kentucky, clunking down the track as if wearing concrete shoes. It was not a hard decision for the trainer Todd Pletcher to bring Destin home to his barn here in New York and start over. It was a for Steve Asmussen to try to retool Creator at Churchill Downs, where he perennially leads the trainers’ standings. As the placing judges puzzled over a rush to the finish of the 148th running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, each trainer remained on edge. One of them was going to look smart, the other not smart enough. Those in the grandstand clutching betting tickets on the grays were confessing their sins and saying their prayers: Destin went off at odds of nearly and Creator at . All, however, were in better spirits than the trainer Keith Desormeaux and his rider and brother, Kent, who saw the heavily favored Exaggerator first stall, then sputter at the top of stretch, ending his bid to take of the Triple Crown. The colt that had vanquished the Kentucky Derby champ Nyquist in the Preakness was nowhere near when the real running started. In the clubhouse, Kenny Troutt, the owner of WinStar Farm, was balancing thoughts of a Belmont Stakes that he lost two years ago, and a decision that he had made earlier in the week. In the 2014 Belmont, his colt named Commissioner hit the midstretch looking every bit of the winner, but he was run down and beaten by a head by Tonalist. In Creator, however, Troutt had a horse who turned in his optimal performances when a fast pace softened up the . So Troutt met with his WinStar brain trust and decided to enter a swift by the name of Gettysburg — a rabbit, in the parlance of the racetrack. “We needed a fast pace, and then Creator could run his race,” said Troutt, who had watched his colt come from 10 lengths back to win the Arkansas Derby. It was tricky, though. Troutt had to take Gettysburg from the barn of Pletcher, one of his main trainers (in fact, they won the 2010 Derby together) and give him to Asmussen to enter in the Belmont. Troutt knew that Pletcher already had Destin and Stradivari, another contender, in the race. “It was not an easy decision,” Troutt said. “I felt like it was the right thing to do was to realign the camps because Todd had the second and third choice in the race, and I just felt like it would be easier on him to answer to his other owners it would be easier on us if we realign the camp for this race. ” Pletcher became one of the nation’s leading trainers by keeping powerful owners happy so his large, stable remains that way. This time it cost him a third Belmont Stakes victory. Gettysburg’s rider, Paco Lopez, gunned his colt to the lead and laid down testing fractions of 48. 48 seconds for a and 1 minute 13. 28 seconds for a pace that more often than not wobbles the legs of horses trying Belmont’s distance for the first and usually last time. Through a mile, the pace thinned the ranks of challengers, who did not include Nyquist, who was withdrawn weeks ago because of illness. Governor Malibu and Stradivari could not keep up. And Exaggerator? He feigned a move coming around the turn. “I put him down for a mad drive and said, show me your stuff, but there was nothing there,” said Kent Desormeaux, who wrapped up the Preakness winner and allowed him to galumph home in 11th place. Through a mile, Javier Castellano, aboard Destin, had waited patiently for Lopez and Gettysburg to run out of gas. When they did, he shot past them like a bullet train and set Destin’s gaze on the finish line. Behind him, however, Irad Ortiz Jr. had Creator in full flight. They had been blasting past horses two at a time and were bounding down the middle of the stretch as if skipping from one trampoline to another. “When we got clear, he started running,” Ortiz said. In the clubhouse, Asmussen had watched Ortiz save yards by deftly slicing through openings without having to slow Creator down. Now he knew that it was going to be a matter of inches if his colt was going to pass the Test of the Champion, as this grueling marathon is known. Creator pulled alongside Destin, and they matched strides for 10, 20, 30 yards. Asumussen’s counterpart, Pletcher, meanwhile, was alternating between his binoculars and watching the video board, hoping the wire would get there. Soon. It did not. Ortiz extended his arms once, twice, and with a final surge got past Castellano and Destin by a nose. Pletcher’s onetime horse Gettysburg had done his job well enough to deprive him of another Belmont Stakes to go along with the ones he had earned in 2007 with Rags to Riches and in 2013 with Palace Malice. “Tough beat,” Pletcher said stoically. It was WinStar and Asmussen who looked like geniuses, bringing home an $800, 000 check to boost the colt’s earnings past $1. 5 million. His final time of 2. 28. 51 was good enough to deliver a $34. 80 win ticket to those who risked $2 on him. “He was the perfect horse by inches,” Asmussen said. “That’s how you have to be on big race days. ” | 1 |
The University of Texas at Arlington president told students they cannot become a sanctuary campus — for now. [“The answer right now is no,” said President Vistasp Karbhari on Wednesday during “Pizza with the President,” a regularly scheduled lunchtime gathering where the top admin serves free pizza and the student body tackle issues. Karbhari explained their campus is a public institution and fueled by state and federal dollars. He said it stands to risk losing its funding if the university does not follow all laws, according to student newspaper The Shorthorn. This comment follows recent city legislation that passed in the state Senate and next moves into the House. Senate Bill 4, which, if signed into law, would punish sanctuary cities, counties, and public colleges that fail to cooperate with federal immigration officials. Governor Greg Abbott placed banning sanctuary city policies on his emergency items for the 2017 legislative session. “The moment we don’t follow a law, we become a private institution,” said Karbhari, “and that is something we cannot do. ” Even without adopting sanctuary campus policies, Karbhari indicated the university would only give out information and data requested by government agencies like the U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with a court order or subpoena. Otherwise, they would not release the data, The Shorthorn reported. Karbhari said does not often receive subpoena requests. Interestingly, part of Duke University’s sanctuary campus policy is to withhold illegal immigrant students’ status from federal immigration officials unless they have a subpoena. Breitbart Texas reached out to Karbhari for clarification on his similar proposed action and awaits a response. “We will do everything we can to make sure that our students are safe and secure on this campus, he said. Mark Napieralski, a senior and Progressive Student Union president, attended and felt Karbhari did not address illegal immigrant student safety sufficiently, according to The Shorthorn. On January 20, Napieralski led an inauguration day campus protest to “reject Trump’s agenda” and delivered a sanctuary campus petition to Karbhari. The “union” again rallied for sanctuary status on February 9, railing against the U. S. suspending its refugee program or placing temporary travel restrictions on individuals from the seven nations named in President Trump’s recent executive order. The Progressive Student Union describes itself as an “intersectional activist community fighting for the rights of marginalized people on campus and beyond. ” Their Facebook profile links to a parent organization, the National Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) a reboot of the 1960’s radical group Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The SDS chapter at the University of California, Davis, staged a violent MILO protest, Breitbart News reported. The “union” hosts a link to the online petition to make a safe space. It states: In a recent email to the students of UTA, our president said “As the 5th most diverse college campus in the nation, we treasure the ethnic and cultural richness that makes UTA unique. We pride ourselves on the pivotal role we play in the community of Arlington, North Texas, and beyond, through the global impact that our tremendous scholarship, research, and outreach produces. It is you, our faculty, staff and students, who make this impact possible, and we cherish each and every one of you. ” We are calling the University President to hold his word and protect Muslim, refugee and undocumented students. On Facebook, the group shared its displeasure with Karbhari’s decision on Wednesday, calling it “unacceptable to put the needs of a system over the needs of students. ” The Progressive Student Union also had a meltdown over Trump backing the blue. On Facebook they posted: “And so — Trump shows he stands besides Police Brutality. Our fight and struggle to have UTA condemn Police Brutality will continue!” A petition to declare the flagship a sanctuary circulated in December. President Greg Fenves said the university had no legal authority to become a sanctuary campus but said he signed a petition supporting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) former President Obama’s 2012 executive amnesty for children of illegal immigrants brought into the U. S. illegally, The Daily Texan reported. The Arlington branch of the UT system is located within the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). enrolls slightly less than 40, 000 students on the campus, of which roughly 28, 200 of them are undergraduates, and nearly 25 percent are Hispanic, 12 percent international. They list total global enrollment as 55, 000. Follow Merrill Hope, a member of the original Breitbart Texas team, on Twitter. | 1 |
Elections stop being a tool for change - Putin Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he would "happily" retire when time comes. "When time comes, I will retire, and it will be the right thing to do. For the time being, I am not retired, I work as the leader of a large power, I have to be restrained, I do not need to show excessive aggression in what I say. I do not think that this is my style at all," Putin said Valdai Club.President Putin also noted that although attributes of democracy are still present in world's leading contemporary countries, but in reality, the majority of their citizens do not have any influence on power. " Elections stop being a tool for change, they are reduced to scandals, to discussions of, excuse me, who sleeps with whom and who pinched whom . This is beyond all boundaries. Frankly, if you look at candidates' programs, you get the impression that they are all made according to one and the same pattern," Putin said. "People feel that their interests come into contrast with the views of elites. Consequently, referendums and elections lead to more and more surprises for the authorities. People vote contrary to what respectable official media recommend, while social movements that were previously considered too leftist or too rightist come to the forefront, pushing political heavyweights aside," Vladimir Putin said, RIA Novosti reports. He noted that such uncomfortable results were considered as something very unusual at first. Afterwards, when they became increasingly frequent, they started saying that "people do not understand those in power, that they are too immature to assess the aspirations of the authorities, whereas some others may hysterically scream that this is a consequence of external, primarily Russian propaganda." Pravda.Ru Vladimir Putin Valdai Club speech: Russia's Mideastern Initiative | 0 |
BRACE Yourself! What Happens In Under 2 Weeks Will Be BAD & Elite Drops Paramount Election Secret by IWB · October 27, 2016 | 0 |
Un muerto y cuatro heridos dejan protestas violentas de la oposición en Venezuela 00:47 GMT
El ministro de Interior lamentó el homicidio de un funcionario de la policía de Miranda mientras intentaba dispersar una manifestación opositora que obstruía la vía que comunica los altos mirandinos con Caracas. Carlos Eduardo Ramirez Reuters
Un funcionario policial fue asesinado este miércoles mientras intentaba despejar una vía obstruida sin permiso por manifestantes opositores en el estado Miranda, informa AVN .
La información fue divulgada por el ministro de Interior, Néstor Reverol, en un contacto telefónico con el canal del Estado. El oficial José Alejandro Molina Ramírez falleció y otros dos funcionarios de Polimiranda resultaron heridos mientras trataban de restablecer el tránsito en el kilómetro 14 de la carretera Panamericana.
El ministro adelantó que ya se iniciaron las investigaciones del Ministerio Público para esclarecer el hecho. Asímismo, dio el parte de heridos en otras escaramuzas violentas de la derecha en el estado Zulia (Occidente).
En Maracaibo, la capital zuliana, hubo tres heridos por arma de fuego y uno por objeto contundente. Por los hechos violentos ocurridos en esa jurisdicción se destituyó al director de la Policía de San Francisco y se ordenó la intervención del organismo.
"Seguimos llamando a la paz, a la prudencia, a ejercer el derecho a protestar pacíficamente", enfatizó el ministro. Hoy la oposición venezolana convocó a la "Toma de Venezuela", una manifestación para solicitar la salida del presidente Nicolás Maduro. | 0 |
In his first live “Late Show” broadcast since the start of the Republican National Convention, Stephen Colbert promised the return of an old friend from his days, but instead, viewers got to see two familiar faces: first, Jon Stewart, the longtime host of “The Daily Show,” and then “Stephen Colbert,” the unctuous conservative commentator that Mr. Colbert portrayed for nearly a decade on his Comedy Central program, “The Colbert Report. ” The guest appearances from Mr. Stewart and that other Mr. Colbert appear to have paid off for “The Late Show. ” According to preliminary ratings information on Tuesday, “The Late Show” was the No. 1 broadcast show in overall viewership on Monday night, the first time the program has surpassed all its competitors (including Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight” show on NBC and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC) since Feb. 15. “The Late Show” announced in June that it would present two weeks of live broadcasts, Monday through Thursday, to air after each night of the Republican and Democratic conventions. Though the current iteration of the program made its debut to considerable fanfare in September, it has had trouble finding a consistent voice under Mr. Colbert, who succeeded David Letterman as host and who has tried to expand his horizons beyond the irreverent political comedy he performed on “The Colbert Report. ” Monday’s installment of “The Late Show” on CBS began with an elaborate, pretaped musical number performed by Mr. Colbert, paying satirical tribute to the Republican convention in Cleveland and the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump. (As Mr. Colbert sang: “This week, you and me, we will witness history As the R. N. C. crowns their orange manatee. ”) The host followed with a live monologue in which he riffed on moments from the first night of convention and Mr. Trump’s “60 Minutes” interview with his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana. Later, a taped comedy sketch followed Mr. Colbert to what appeared to be an isolated cabin in the woods, where he knocked on its door and was greeted by a bearded, Mr. Stewart, who was Mr. Colbert’s boss for many years at “The Daily Show” and is now an executive producer of “The Late Show. ” Alerting Mr. Stewart that it was once again time for a Republican convention, an animated Mr. Colbert told him, “You will not believe who the nominee is. ” He paused to let Mr. Stewart take a sizable drink of water from a mug, then told him, “It’s Donald Trump,” at which point Mr. Stewart doused him in a sizable spit take. The sketch revealed that Mr. Stewart had been sharing his cabin with the Colbert character (brandishing a sword and a Captain America shield). And then “Stephen Colbert” (still holding the sword and shield) returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater and performed a new edition of “The Word,” a recurring segment from “The Colbert Report,” which ran from 2005 to 2014. Just as “The Colbert Report” helped introduce audiences to the word “truthiness,” Mr. Colbert used this latest installment to contemplate the condition of “Trumpiness”: “Remember, elections aren’t about what voters think, it’s about what voters feel. And right now, at least half of Americans feel their voices aren’t being heard. ” (An onscreen graphic delivered the punch line: “Especially Mike Pence. ”) After a commercial break, Mr. Colbert returned as — presumably — himself. “It was really great to see Jon Stewart again,” he said. With a knowing smile, he added: “You know what would be nice? To have that happen again some time this week. ” | 1 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. The German authorities are searching for a Tunisian man in the deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. He is known to have used multiple aliases and is believed to be armed and dangerous. Local news agencies reported that he has ties to an Iraqi preacher arrested in Germany last month who is accused of recruiting soldiers for the Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the attack. Identification papers indicating that the Tunisian man had been denied asylum were found in the truck. A German official said prosecutors had been observing him on suspicion that he was plotting an attack. _____ 2. The jockeying has begun for ambassadorships under Donald Trump. Donors, loyalists and people close to his children are trying to put themselves in the running. There are some early favorites, including Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets, above with Vice Mike Pence, for Britain. _____ 3. Speaking of appointees, Mr. Trump’s pick for secretary of state, the Exxon Mobil chief Rex Tillerson, above left, was once a vocal critic of Russia’s justice system. Then he came to realize that the key to success in Russia, a country deeply important to the company’s future, was developing personal relationships with President Vladimir Putin and the head of the state oil company. _____ 4. Two YouTube stars said they were kicked off a Delta Air Lines flight at a London airport for speaking Arabic. Adam Saleh and Slim Albaher were on their way home to New York after performing their stage show, which mixes comedy and inspirational speaking. Social media erupted with anger against the airline industry, but also skepticism, since Mr. Saleh, above, has perpetrated video hoaxes in the past. He insisted that this was no prank. _____ 5. Extremely warm temperatures in the Arctic over the last two months could lead to record low levels of ice this summer, with cascading effects around the globe. Over all, 2016 broke the Arctic’s record for the warmest year. “We need people to know and understand that the Arctic is going to have an impact on their lives no matter where they live,” a scientist said. Above, a cruise ship off Alaska in August, on a journey made possible by diminished sea ice coverage. _____ 6. Executions, death sentences and public support for capital punishment in the U. S. have all fallen to their lowest levels in decades. State executions this year hit a low, and juries imposed the fewest death sentences since 1972. Executions halted that year and death penalty laws had to be rewritten after the Supreme Court struck down existing laws, saying that capital punishment as administered in the U. S. constituted “cruel and unusual punishment. ” _____ 7. We went out on patrol with Arizona Border Recon, which calls itself a nongovernmental organization. Others call a militia. Many members are armed — retired law enforcement agents or veterans who operate with little oversight. They say they’re protecting the border and hunt for migrants to hand over to Border Patrol. “Because we live out here, we do this ” one said. _____ 8. Muhammad Ali, Gwen Ifill, David Bowie and Natalie Cole are just a few of the notable figures lost in 2016. We remember them in our annual feature, “The Lives They Lived,” with portraits and essays about their remarkable stories. _____ 9. Finally, fodder for your good intentions for 2016: a year’s worth of scientific findings on the nearly incalculable benefits of exercise. One hits your wallet: Walking 30 minutes a day could save you $2, 500 annually on medical costs. And if that’s not enough to get you moving, take heart: Even fidgeting is beneficial. Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help. 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 |
We Are Change
Early Wednesday morning, Two Iowa police officers were ambushed and shot and killed in two separate ambush style attacks.
Police from Urbandale and Des Moines departments responded to a report of gunfire at the intersection of 70th Street and Aurora Avenue at approximately 1:06 a.m according to local news DesmoinesRegister.
Officers have not yet identified a suspect or suspects in the shootings and have not identified the deceased officers that were murdered.
One unnamed officer was found dead by fellow officers in Urbandale, at the intersection of 70th Street according to a press conference by Police Sgt. Paul Parizek.
Following by a second officer found in Des Moines, Merle Hay Road both roads and surrounding roads are closed off.
Both officers were gunned down in their squad cars.
Video has emerged of one of the crime scenes at 70th and Aurora.
The scene of the first shooting at 70th and Aurora where an officer was found shot early Wed morning. Some officers in combat gear here. pic.twitter.com/SJEUY4B3gh
— Brian Powers (@bpowersphoto) November 2, 2016
Police Sgt. Paul Parizek addressed the press and citizens of Iowa stating there is a clear and present danger if you’re a police officer. He believes the shootings were targeted.
“There’s literally a clear and present danger if you’re a police officer,”
~Police Sgt. Paul Parizek, said.
“I don’t even know where to begin on how bad this year is but this is what we do. We come in day in and day out, we go out there and provide the same level of service regardless of what’s going on in our personal and professional lives.”
~Police Sgt. Paul Parizek, said.
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad released this statement Wednesday, morning.
“An attack on public safety officers is an attack on the public safety of all Iowans. We call on Iowans to support our law enforcement officials in bringing this suspect to justice. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the police officers who were tragically killed in the line of duty as well as the officers who continue to put themselves in harm’s way.”
~Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, said, in a statement.
https://twitter.com/TerryBranstad/status/793773450670198785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Condolences started pouring in on twitter from all over including the Orlando police department’s twitter account which tweeted out – “Our hearts are broken for @ DMPolice @ UrbandalePolice – an officer from each agency shot & killed in ambush attacks in their cars overnight.”
Our hearts are broken for @DMPolice @UrbandalePolice – an officer from each agency shot & killed in ambush attacks in their cars overnight. https://t.co/d29JxiBGjX
— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) November 2, 2016
Our thoughts and prayers go out to @UrbandalePolice and @DMPolice officers and their families. pic.twitter.com/4ksZakXk1E
— Ames Police (@AmesPolice) November 2, 2016
(THIS IS DEVELOPING STORY WE WILL UPDATE AS MORE INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE.)
The post AMBUSH! Two Iowa Police Officers Dead Man Hunt Underway appeared first on We Are Change .
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President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has dropped a 2016 lawsuit against the state of North Carolina, marking another success for mainstream advocates who wish to preserve normal facilities and institutions. [The lawsuit was filed in May 2016 by deputies working for President Barack Obama, who was ideologically opposed to any civic or legal recognition that men and women are biologically different as well as legally equal. That hostility towards biological heterosexuality is deeply unpopular among Americans, who prefer that civic society help women and men cooperate to ensure the next generation is birthed and educated. For example, most Americans recognize that women and men have a civil right to prefer their institutions, including bathrooms, changing rooms and sports leagues. The decision to quit the lawsuit was denounced by groups who are trying to impose a nationwide “genderless society” which would suppress any civic or legal recognition of the differences between the two sexes. For example, Chase Strangio, a activist at the ACLU complained that the decision by Trump’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions means “there is no civil rights division” at the agency. There is no civil rights division at DOJ anymore. We are the civil rights division. We are the resistance. And we will win. — Chase Strangio (@chasestrangio) April 14, 2017, There is no civil rights division at DOJ anymore. We are the civil rights division. We are the resistance. And we will win. — Chase Strangio (@chasestrangio) April 14, 2017, ACLU, @LambdaLegal, @ACLU_NC condemn Trump Administration’s withdrawal of #HB2 lawsuit https: . — ACLU National (@ACLU) April 14, 2017, The May 2016 lawsuit was filed then by Obama’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and it demanded that the state’s residents give up their civil right to have public bathrooms and locker rooms for both biological sexes. The lawsuit was reinforced by Obama’s directions to the nation’s schools, which told administrators to accept and support any child’s claim they are transgender, to hide children’s sexual claims from their parents, and to punish other children who decline to use pronouns favored by a “transgender” child — such as “him” or her” — even in science class. In the lawsuit against North Carolina, Obama’s lawyers claimed facilities discriminate against men or women who want to live as members of the opposite sex. They insisted that 1970s civil rights laws actually require that a person’s feeling about their maleness or femaleness, dubbed “Gender Identity,” be treated as more important than their actual male or female heterosexual biology. “Transgender men are men — they live, work and study as men. Transgender women are women — they live, work and study as women,” declared Vanita Gupta, the acting assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s civic regulation division, in a May press conference. Gupta was forced out of the agency after Americans choose Trump as their new president in November. Since then, Obama has twice admitted that his focus on transgender ideology helped Trump win the election. On Friday, Gupta denounced the Justice Department’s decision. Sadly predictable. They can dismiss but they cannot erase. The fight for LGBTQ justice is strong. https: . — Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) April 14, 2017, Despite pressure from business, the establishment and the sports industry, North Carolina’s voters and legislators decided that the state officials will decide who is treated as a legal male or a legal female in the state. They passed HB2 in 2016, and then defeated a business boycott of the state by passing H142 in March 2017. Both laws were bitterly opposed by transgender activists because they reinforce the existing rules that treat men and women as equal, different and complementary in a heterosexual society, while also allowing people to flip their legal sex once they undergo a medical procedure. Transgender activists vowed to continue their lawsuit against the state, and their political campaign against the “gender binary. ” The state’s HB142 law is being defended in court by a Democratic Attorney General. But we’re not backing down. Our lawsuit with @ACLU and @ACLU_NC will continue. We will keep fighting. #WeObject https: . — Lambda Legal (@LambdaLegal) April 14, 2017, It is unclear if the Justice Department will fully switch sides and help defend the state’s HB142 law. The transgender hostility to heterosexual differences is deeply unpopular among Americans, and only about of Americans support the idea that people should be allowed to easily change their legal sex. The number of transgender Americans is very low. Advocates claim that a third of one percent of Americans are at least somewhat transgender. But a study of the 2010 census showed that only about 400 adults had changed their name from one sex to the other. | 1 |
We Are Change
In the last few days we have seen numerous tells that not only are the 2016 presidential elections rigged, but also the the so called main stream media is actively involved in the rigging. In a Email intercepted by Wikileaks from Todd Macklerr to Donna Brazile and John Podesta a telling exchange clearly mentions, the presetting of the [voting machines] along with a promise that they will be “humming in November”. If you can remember not long ago we published an article about a White House .Gov petition that received over 100 thousand signatures requesting that the government removes the voting machines connected to George Soros owned companies.
In this video during the Dr. Phil show the network appeared to ‘leak’ the poll results, the problem is that this video was shot 4 days before the elections, and while the live ‘polls’ seem to have Donald Trump in the lead, we also see that all the votes are yet to be counted.
http://wearechange.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Hillary-Media-collusion.mp4 This paranormal streak continues below, in this video by PayDay Monsanto, where WRCB a NBC affiliate news stations again appeared to have its own predictions about the poll results. This time officially declaring Hillary Rodham Clinton as the winner.
Things start to get even weirder when a woman who works in a book store discovered that
Newsweek already has an issue in print, boxed and ready to ship, declaring Hillary Clinton the winner.
Newsweek has reportedly shipped thousands of boxes of magazines all across the country. In these boxes are magazines congratulating Hillary on her election win. Congratulations, Madame President. This is less of an election, and more of a selection. The decision has been made. It was always Hillary. If you look at the Wikileaks emails, you will find ample support for collusion and corruption in the Democratic National Committee–why would anyone assume it stopped there?
Those who believe this is evidence of the rigged system point to the bar-code image on the magazine. That would be the last element added to a magazine before publication, and we are yet to see any evidence that Trump could have even the slightest chance of winning even though some polls, and most cyberspace discussion seems to have him in the lead.
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‹ › Arnaldo Rodgers is a trained and educated Psychologist. He has worked as a community organizer and activist. Phoenix Veterans Day Parade celebrates 20 years on Friday By Arnaldo Rodgers on November 10, 2016 Veterans Day
By Alison Stanton
It’s time to salute our troops and veterans, and Phoenix is doing it bigger than ever.
At 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11, 18 colorful floats, 15 marching units, dozens of color guards and military vehicles, seven bands and many others will begin to make their way down Central Avenue in Phoenix as part of the Phoenix Veterans Day Parade.
Paula L. Pedene, founder and parade organizer, said the event, which is produced by Honoring Arizona’s Veterans, is celebrating its 20th year.
“The highlight of our parade is truly our veterans,” she said, adding that they come from the World War II, Korea and Vietnam War eras to the present day.
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Nov 6, 2016 Axel Tillmann Opinion
There are plenty of talented Russians working in U.S. tech companies. Such partnerships are sure to create wealth and be beneficial for both countries.
Russians have a high chance of succeeding in Silicon Valley if they surround themselves with others whose talents complement their own. Photo: Theory and Practice
Although it may come as a surprise to many, Russians have long had a presence in the U.S., particularly in Silicon Valley . It’s a mistake, especially for businesspeople, to trust the picture politicians and the media paint of Russia. Many Russian IT companies view Silicon Valley as the promised land, and many Russians have much to contribute here.
Most Russians arrive in the U.S. with a strong education and a different way of looking at the world that enables them to “design” products. I speak from experience. In one of my startups, I partnered with a Russian named Vladimir who quietly worked away in his office. Occasionally he would get up from his chair and step to a white board to sketch out his design plans. Eventually there would be the sound of his keyboard clicking as he produced on his screen what he had designed in his mind. Eventually we created a great product. There are plenty of Vladimirs working away in U.S. tech companies. Recommended: " Russians in America: How to find success in Silicon Valley "
In other cases, whole Russian companies have found success in the U.S. market. One company worth highlighting is Kaspersky Lab . The Moscow-based firm was a dark horse in the software security business, up against such competition as McAfee and Symantec. Yet today, Kaspersky’s market share is in the top eight of all vendors in the sector, and it is twice the size of McAfee’s. Kaspersky is an important case study in what it takes to be truly successful in the market. The company had a great product, but what made the firm successful was its brilliant go-to-market strategy, crafted in cooperation with North American market managers.
Wisely, Kaspersky’s leadership chose to tap experts in the local market to craft the company’s strategy rather than trying to do it by themselves. I’m not ashamed to admit that as a German immigrant, I started down the path of launching a product with a limited sense of marketing skills, believing in The Field of Dreams theory, “if we build it, they will come.” Unfortunately, that’s just not so. After a long and painful journey of my own, I finally came around to seeing the benefits of hiring professionals who know how to play the game, but this required that I make a change in my way of thinking.
I have met many talented Russians during the last five years and they are hungry to succeed; but most need the same kind of awakening I had in order to create their own success stories. Not everyone will become Google co-founder Sergey Brin, or even Birger Steen, who created the extremely successful software platform Parallels, but the opportunity to be a success is available to all who can combine their love for technological achievements with excellence in marketing and sales. Here are few more examples of innovators with Russian who have found that success: Valentin Gapontsev (IPG Photonics), Yuri Milner (investor), Stepan Pachikov (Evernote), David Yan (ABBYY).
Silicon Valley is truly a magical place, and anyone who comes to work here learns quickly that the main advantage of the Valley is the network that exists. Russians have a high chance of succeeding in Silicon Valley if they surround themselves with others whose talents complement their own. One way to do this is to join a networking organization. Two of the larger networking organizations for Russian entrepreneurs and developers are AMBAR (American Business Association of Russian Speaking Processionals) and the Global Technology Symposium, led by the legendary Alexandra Johnson.
While current geopolitics is encouraging Russian entrepreneurs to take another look at China , culturally Russians are closer to the U.S. mentality . In the long-term, Russia and Russians have little to gain from China. What interests do the Chinese have in helping Russia develop a culture of innovation? Chinese companies have a clear track record of observing the ideas and the scientific research of others, and then reverse engineering it to create their own products.
I encourage investors to embrace Russian entrepreneurs and help them find a U.S. partner. Only if we encourage this free entrepreneurial spirit can we stop the long-standing intellectual brain drain that Russia has experienced for so many years.
Let’s work together to make some money.
The opinion of the author may not necessarily reflect the position of Russia Direct or its staff.
The article was initially published in Russia Direct’s special project “ U.S.-Russia Shared Frontiers ." Tags: | 0 |
WASHINGTON — American intelligence agencies have concluded with “high confidence” that Russia acted covertly in the latter stages of the presidential campaign to harm Hillary Clinton’s chances and promote Donald J. Trump, according to senior administration officials. They based that conclusion, in part, on another finding — which they say was also reached with high confidence — that the Russians hacked the Republican National Committee’s computer systems in addition to their attacks on Democratic organizations, but did not release whatever information they gleaned from the Republican networks. In the months before the election, it was largely documents from Democratic Party systems that were leaked to the public. Intelligence agencies have concluded that the Russians gave the Democrats’ documents to WikiLeaks. Republicans have a different explanation for why no documents from their networks were ever released. Over the past several months, officials from the Republican committee have consistently said that their networks were not compromised, asserting that only the accounts of individual Republicans were attacked. On Friday, a senior committee official said he had no comment. Mr. Trump’s transition office issued a statement Friday evening reflecting the deep divisions that emerged between his campaign and the intelligence agencies over Russian meddling in the election. “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” the statement said. “The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again. ’” One senior government official, who had been briefed on an F. B. I. investigation into the matter, said that while there were attempts to penetrate the Republican committee’s systems, they were not successful. But the intelligence agencies’ conclusions that the hacking efforts were successful, which have been presented to President Obama and other senior officials, add a complex wrinkle to the question of what the Kremlin’s evolving objectives were in intervening in the American presidential election. “We now have high confidence that they hacked the D. N. C. and the R. N. C. and conspicuously released no documents” from the Republican organization, one senior administration official said, referring to the Russians. It is unclear how many files were stolen from the Republican committee in some cases, investigators never get a clear picture. It is also far from clear that Russia’s original intent was to support Mr. Trump, and many intelligence officials — and former officials in Mrs. Clinton’s campaign — believe that the primary motive of the Russians was to simply disrupt the campaign and undercut confidence in the integrity of the vote. The Russians were as surprised as everyone else at Mr. Trump’s victory, intelligence officials said. Had Mrs. Clinton won, they believe, emails stolen from the Democratic committee and from senior members of her campaign could have been used to undercut her legitimacy. The intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia tried to help Mr. Trump was first reported by The Washington Post. In briefings to the White House and Congress, intelligence officials, including those from the C. I. A. and the National Security Agency, have identified individual Russian officials they believe were responsible. But none have been publicly penalized. It is possible that in hacking into the Republican committee, Russian agents were simply hedging their bets. The attack took place in the spring, the senior officials said, about the same time that a group of hackers believed to be linked to the G. R. U. Russia’s military intelligence agency, stole the emails of senior officials of the Democratic National Committee. Intelligence agencies believe that the Republican committee hack was carried out by the same Russians who penetrated the Democratic committee and other Democratic groups. The finding about the Republican committee is expected to be included in a detailed report of “lessons learned” that Mr. Obama has ordered intelligence agencies to assemble before he leaves office on Jan. 20. That report is intended, in part, to create a comprehensive history of the Russian effort to influence the election, and to solidify the intelligence findings before Mr. Trump is sworn in. Mr. Trump has repeatedly cast doubt about any intelligence suggesting a Russian effort to influence the election. “I don’t believe they interfered,” he told Time magazine in an interview published this week. He suggested that hackers could come from China, or that “it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey. ” Intelligence officials and private cybersecurity companies believe that the Democratic National Committee was hacked by two different Russian cyberunits. One, called “Cozy Bear” or “A. P. T. 29” by some Western security experts, is believed to have spent months inside the D. N. C. computer network, as well as other government and political institutions, but never made public any of the documents it took. (A. P. T. stands for “Advanced Persistent Threat,” which usually describes a sophisticated cyberintruder.) The other, the G. R. U. unit known as “Fancy Bear,” or “A. P. T. 28,” is believed to have created two outlets on the internet, Guccifer 2. 0 and DCLeaks, to make Democratic documents public. Many of the documents were also provided to WikiLeaks, which released them over many weeks before the Nov. 8 election. Representative Michael McCaul, the Texas Republican who is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said on CNN in September that the R. N. C. had been hacked by Russia, but then quickly withdrew the claim. Mr. McCaul, who was considered by Mr. Trump for secretary of Homeland Security, initially told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “It’s important to note, Wolf, that they have not only hacked into the D. N. C. but also into the R. N. C. ” He added that “the Russians have basically hacked into both parties at the national level, and that gives us all concern about what their motivations are. ” Minutes later, the R. N. C. issued a statement denying that it had been hacked. Mr. McCaul subsequently said that he had misspoken, but that it was true that “Republican political operatives” had been the target of Russian hacking. So were establishment Republicans with no ties to the campaign, including former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. Mr. McCaul may have had in mind a collection of more than 200 emails of Republican officials and activists that appeared this year on the website DCLeaks. com. That website got far more attention for the many Democratic Party documents it posted. The messages stolen from Republicans have drawn little attention because most are routine business emails from local Republican Party officials in several states, congressional staff members and party activists. Among those whose emails were posted was Peter W. Smith, who runs a venture capital firm in Chicago and has long been active in “opposition research” for the Republican Party. He said he was unaware that his emails had been hacked until he was called by a reporter on Thursday. He said he believes that his material came from a hack of the Illinois Republican Party. “I’m not upset at all,” he said. “I try in my communications, quite frankly, not to say anything that would be embarrassing if made public. ” | 1 |
Rep. Brad Sherman ( ) joined a fledgling effort to impeach President Donald Trump on Wednesday — even before former FBI director James Comey was set to testify on Capitol Hill on Thursday. [“The standard for ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ has been met,” Sherman declared to reporters, according to The Hill. He did not explain, apparently, what crimes Trump had actually committed. In fact, Sherman seemed to admit that the evidence against Trump was flimsy: “If articles of impeachment based on obstruction of justice were on the floor of the House today, they would not succeed,” he told The Hill. Nevertheless, he said, he planned to draft one article of impeachment to a process that he said would accelerate over time. Sherman is working with Rep. Al Green ( ) who is also submitting articles of impeachment to the House. Another California Democrat who has led calls for Trump’s impeachment is Rep. Maxine Waters ( ). Waters was spotted in the business class section of a flight from Los Angeles to Dulles International Airport on Tuesday evening, but declined to be interviewed by Breitbart News. Last year, Sherman found himself in trouble after he appeared to endorse a coup attempt against Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Military takeover in Turkey will hopefully lead to real democracy — not Erdogan Authoritarianism,” he tweeted at the time. As the coup effort faltered, Sherman had to scramble to explain himself. Evidently, Sherman hopes his prospects for removing a president from power will be brighter this time. However, Comey is not expected to offer any evidence that Trump tried to obstruct justice. In fact, a written version of his prepared remarks indicates that Comey will corroborate Trump’s claim that he told the president he was not under FBI investigation. Comey is also expected to describe his discomfort with being asked for his “loyalty” by the president. Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | 1 |
It is impossible to know what Grady O’Cummings III might have represented to the group of youngsters he was holding court with in this photo taken in September 1963. Mr. O’Cummings, who was photographed with the youngsters outside his office in Harlem, announced the next month that he would seek the Democratic nomination to run for president in 1964. He was one of the first to run for president. Certainly Mr. O’Cummings must have represented hope and possibility to the boys who had gathered around him that day. Dedicated to economic and political empowerment for blacks, Mr. O’Cummings founded the National Civil Rights Party in 1963 to foster black enterprise and to appeal to liberal whites. He said at the time that the organization had 450 members, with branches in Chicago, Cleveland and Philadelphia. The party designated him its presidential nominee days before he decided to run as a Democrat. It will never be known where Mr. O’Cummings’s ambitious political aspirations might have taken him. His dreams appeared to be cut short when it was reported that he had had a massive heart attack and died at home in November 1969, at just 36. The New York Times ran an obituary about the unexpected death of the promising political novice who, sadly, was lost in his prime. Or was he? Mr. O’Cummings was not quite the determined political that he seemed. He had faked his death and was very much alive when he bamboozled The Times and The Amsterdam News into publishing his obituary. In fact, this report might well also serve as the newspaper’s long overdue correction. For it was only during the reporting for this article that The Times realized it had written of Mr. O’Cummings’s hoax. This is what actually happened. Just four months after he sent in his obituary to The Times, he — at a news conference in Brooklyn, which went unnoticed by The Times. For an explanation of why he faked his death, Mr. O’Cummings said he had simply been trying to elude members of the Black Panthers, who he said had made death threats against him and his family, according to an article about the news conference in The Amsterdam News. “I had to get out because I was trying to protect my family,” The News quoted Mr. O’Cummings as saying. He explained that he had fled to Buffalo, where he remained for months. “My wife, Winnie, was assaulted by four Black Panthers, and it made me very angry. I didn’t go to the police because I am not an informer and didn’t want to get involved. ” The News’s account never explained why he had decided that the threat to his family had diminished enough in just four months for him to and in such public and dramatic fashion. Perhaps at least partly because he had misled the public, he never attained the political success he sought. Years before, Mr. O’Cummings’s presidential run had proved to be as as his faked death. In early March 1964, about five months after he was designated the presidential candidate of his National Civil Rights Party, he withdrew and said he would become his party’s candidate for the seat held by Representative John J. Rooney, a Democrat, in Brooklyn’s 14th Congressional District (as reported by The Times in a brief article). Several decades later, The Times did mention Mr. O’Cummings and his candidacy for City Council, in an article about the 1993 race. Even then, though, the newspaper did not correct the story of his death or run an editor’s note about it. Professionally, Mr. O’Cummings worked in public relations, including as the community relations representative for the Welfare Policemen’s Benevolent Association. He was a native of Greenville, S. C. who graduated from City College of New York. Mr. O’Cummings also was publisher of New York Speakout, a weekly newspaper in Brooklyn, where he lived. And he served as a president of the youth council of the Manhattan division of the N. A. A. C. P. Mr. O’Cummings went on to live a long life. As for his death, it is never too late to set the record straight. The Times can now report with the authority of having seen Mr. O’Cummings’s death certificate that he died of natural causes on June 2, 1996, at the age of 63. It was 27 years after his obituary appeared in this publication. The Times did not publish a second one. This series will be part of a book with additional unseen photographs, and new stories, titled “Unseen: Unpublished Black History From the New York Times Archives,” to be published by Black Dog Leventhal in the fall of 2017. | 1 |
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The LGBTQ Blog “Peacock Panache” threatened to sue MILO after he objected to their decision to falsely brand him as a “white nationalist. ”[After issuing a correction on a claim that MILO is a “white nationalist,” Tim Peacock, the managing editor of the Peacock Panache, claimed that he would and publish a negative story about MILO’s attempt to silence LGBTQ media. We have corrected our article. Please be aware that any further threats of initiating a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) will be met not only with (for that SLAPP) but negative media exposure for your firm and client for attempting to silence LGBTQ media. This is aside from the fact that SLAPP suits are illegal in many jurisdictions including New York. On Monday, The Peacock Panache published a story regarding MILO’s request that the publication remove the false references to him as a “white nationalist. ” In the story, Tim Peacock explained that their decision to issue the correction was based on the Gawker incident. Earlier this afternoon Jenny Kefauver at Capital HQ contacted us threatening to sue over language we used in this article about Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos published last year. With the costs of litigation being as prohibitive as they are (and seeing what Peter Thiel did to Gawker last year) we acquiesced with a caveat (in an editor’s note at the bottom of the article). We responded to the email noting the correction but also standing up for media reminding her SLAPP lawsuits can be (and that SLAPP suits are actually illegal in many jurisdictions). | 1 |
November 11, 2016 - Fort Russ News - RusVesna - translated by J. Arnoldski -
The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia has published footage of the arrest of saboteurs from the Ukrainian defense ministry in Sevastopol.
As reported earlier, a saboteur-terrorist group from the Ukrainian ministry of defense planning terrorist attacks on military targets in Crimea was arrested in Sevastopol. A source from Russian security agencies told Interfax: “All three of the arrested are citizens of Ukraine. They are suspected of preparing acts of sabotage on the peninsula.”
“Russian law enforcement had operative information on saboteurs’ infiltration of the peninsula around two weeks ago. Tight surveillance followed them to identify their contacts, routines of travel and communication, and the operation contributed to the identification of informants on the peninsula. In this regard, new arrests are not ruled out,” he added.
It is now known that the detainees in Sevastopol were staff officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. They pleaded guilty and offered confessions.
During the search of their apartments, a map was discovered with marked military facilities and infrastructure targets on the Crimean peninsula. The source added that “considering the interrogations of those arrested, it has been established that they were preparing acts of sabotage against power plants, water purification plants, and also gas distribution networks in Crimea.”
The video footage shows the capture of one of the Ukrainian terrorists and the search of his apartment, where FSB officers found weapons and ammunition. The clip also shows security forces recovered a package, presumably of explosives, from an underground safe.
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Home Leftist Corruption Wikileaks Gives Hillary An Ultimatum: QUIT, Or We Dump Something Life-Destroying Wikileaks Gives Hillary An Ultimatum: QUIT, Or We Dump Something Life-Destroying Freedom Leftist Corruption , Leftist Perversion , News 0
On Sunday, Wikileaks gave Hillary Clinton less than a 24-hour window to drop out of the race or they will dump something that will destroy her “completely.”
Recently, Julian Assange confirmed that WikiLeaks was not working with the Russian government , but in their pursuit of justice they are obligated to release anything that they can to bring light to a corrupt system – and who could possibly be more corrupt than Crooked Hillary?
“The Clinton camp has been able to project a neo-McCarthyist hysteria that Russia is responsible for everything. Hillary Clinton has stated multiple times, falsely, that 17 US intelligence agencies had assessed that Russia was the source of our publications. That’s false – we can say that the Russian government is not the source,” Assange said in a recent interview. “Hillary Clinton is just one person. I actually feel quite sorry for Hillary Clinton as a person, because I see someone who is eaten alive by their ambitions, tormented literally to the point where they become sick – for example faint – as a result of going on, and going with their ambitions. But she represents a whole network of people, and a whole network of relationships with particular states.”
“Hey, @HillaryClinton, you have until Monday to drop out, or we will destroy you completely,” the cryptic tweet says.
It is unknown what information WikiLeaks has that has not already been released. Is it proof that Bill molested children when he was with his friend Epstein? Is it something, dare I say, worse?
Part of me hopes that she stays in the race so we can find out what it is. The rest of me just wants her gone.
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