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Rapper Waka Flocka Flame showed fans enjoying his concert in Athens, Georgia this week what he really thinks about Donald Trump — by pausing the show to wipe his butt with a jersey bearing the ’s name. [Video captured by a fan at the Georgia Theatre shows the rapper and former presidential candidate — real name Juaquin James Malphurs — pausing the show to inspect a jersey another fan had held up. “Throw that sh*t up here,” Flame instructs the audience after identify the object as a Trump jersey. [Warning: Clip contains nudity] A fan showed @WakaFlocka a trump jersey while he was performing. Here’s what Flocka thought about it.. #georgiatheatre pic. twitter. — Dro (@LifeofDro) January 17, 2017, He proceeded to wipe his bare butt with the jersey before throwing it down on the stage and exclaiming, ‘F*ck Trump. ” The rapper was mostly silent during the 2016 presidential campaign, but did draw attention when he tweeted in November that he couldn’t wait for America to get its first black president, “because Obama don’t count. ” He later issued a tweet clarifying the comment. In April 2015, Flame announced his own presidential candidacy with a campaign video produced for Rolling Stone. The rapper and his running mate, DJ Whoo Kid, promised to immediately legalize marijuana nationwide, outlaw walking in public for those with feet over Size 13 and focus on education reform. “Education is important. We need to start teaching these kids more reality, skills, traits,” he said in his campaign video. “So we’re gonna teach the kids more reality skills, and they gotta learn my lyrics before they get out of school, or else they f*cking fail and they gotta start from third grade all over again to twelfth. ” Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 0 |
Over 100 people gathered in front of the Hall of Justice in Downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday evening to protest L. A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell’s opposition to State Senate Bill 54, which would declare all of California a “sanctuary state. ”[According to the Los Angeles Daily News, protesters held up signs that read, “One struggle, united” and “We demand immigrant rights. ” David Abud, with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, reportedly spoke over a loudspeaker against SB 54. He said McDonnell’s “argument is that if we don’t pass this, ICE is going to our community with deportation. That is a ridiculous argument. ” Last month, 161 illegal aliens were arrested throughout Southern California by federal immigration authorities. (Some raids are reportedly ongoing.) The raids took place over the course of several days and resulted in the arrests of 680 illegal aliens across multiple states. That, in turn, upset many of the state’s Democratic lawmakers. SB 54 was introduced by California State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León ( Angeles) in December. In February, Breitbart News reported that de Léon said that “‘half his family’ was in the country illegally, using false documents, and eligible for deportation under President Trump’s new executive order against ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions. ” According to the Daily News, McDonnell wrote to De León earlier this month: “SB 54 would not allow the safe transfer of custody rather it would force immigration enforcement agents into our communities in order to search out and find the person they seek. While doing this, they will most surely cast a wide net over our communities, apprehending and detaining those not originally the target of the enforcement actions. ” Breitbart News reported that on Tuesday, newly L. A. Mayor Eric Garcetti released a new set of protections for illegal aliens that cement the city’s status as a sanctuary city, and defy the Trump administration’s efforts to ensure compliance with federal law. SB 54 is likewise cast as a direct rejection of President Trump’s recent executive crder, “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States. ” The January 25 Executive Order states: “Sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States willfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States. These jurisdictions have caused immeasurable harm to the American people and to the very fabric of our Republic. ” | 0 |
Media skeptic 'America Has Lost' in the Philippines as Duterte Calls for Alliance with Russia and China
'Maybe I will also go to Russia and talk to Putin, and tell him there are three of us against the world - China, Philippines, and Russia' Strategic Culture Foundation
«Your honors, in this venue I announce my separation from the United States… both in military and economics also».
Thus Philippines President Rodrigo «The Punisher» Duterte unleashed a geopolitical earthquake encompassing Eurasia and reverberating all across the Pacific Ocean.
And talk about choosing his venue with aplomb; right in the heart of the Rising Dragon, no less.
Capping his state visit to Beijing, Duterte then coined the mantra – pregnant with overtones - that will keep ringing all across the global South; «America has lost».
And if that was not enough, he announced a new alliance – Philippines, China and Russia – is about to emerge; «there are three of us against the world».
Predictably, the Beltway establishment in the «indispensable nation» went bananas, reacting as «puzzled» or in outright anger, dispersing the usual expletives on the «crude populist», «unhinged leader» .
The bottom line is that it takes a lot of balls for the leader of a poor, developing country, in Southeast Asia or elsewhere, to openly defy the hyperpower. Yet what Duterte is gaming at is pure realpolitik; if he prevails, he will be able to deftly play the US against China to the benefit of Filipino interests.
«The springtime of our relationship»
It did start with a bang; during Duterte’s China visit, Manila inked no less than $13 billion in deals with Beijing – from trade and investment to drug control, maritime security and infrastructure.
Beijing pulled out all stops to make Duterte feel welcomed.
President Xi Jinping suggested Manila and Beijing should «temporarily put aside» the intractable South China Sea disputes and learn from the «political wisdom» of history – as in give space to diplomatic talks. After all, the two peoples were «blood-linked brothers».
Duterte replied in kind; «Even as we arrive in Beijing close to winter, this is the springtime of our relationship,» he told Xi at the Great Hall of the People.
China is already the Philippines’ second-largest trade partner, behind Japan, the US and Singapore. Filipino exports to these three are at roughly 42.7 percent of the total, compared to 22.1 to China / Hong Kong. Imports from China are roughly 16.1 percent of the total. Even as trade with China is bound to rise, what really matters for Duterte is massive Chinese infrastructure investment.
What this will mean in practice is indeed ground-breaking; the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will definitely be involved in Philippine economic development; Manila will be more involved in promoting smooth China-ASEAN relations in all sorts of regional issues (it takes the rotating chair of ASEAN in 2017); and the Philippines will be more integrated in the New Silk Roads, a.k.a. One Belt, One Road (OBOR).
Three strikes; no wonder the US is out. And there’s even a fourth strike, embedded in Duterte’s promise that
he will soon end military cooperation with the US, despite the opposition of part of the Filipino armed forces.
Watch the First Island Chain
The build-up had already been dramatic enough. On the eve of his meeting with Xi, talking to members of the Filipino community in Beijing, Duterte said, «it’s time to say goodbye» to the US; «I will not ask but if they (the Chinese) offer and if they’ll ask me, do you need this aid? [I will say] Of course, we are very poor».
Then the clincher; «I will not go to America anymore … We will just be insulted there».
The US was the colonial power in the Philippines from 1899 to 1942. Hollywood permeates the collective unconscious. English is the lingua franca – side by side with tagalog. But the tentacles of Uncle Sam’s «protection» racket are not exactly welcomed. Two of the largest components of the US Empire of Bases were located for decades in the Philippines; Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay Naval Base.
Clark, occupying 230 square miles, with 15,000 people, was busy to death during the Vietnam War – the main hub for men and hardware in and out of Saigon. Then it turned into one of those Pentagon «forward operating» HQs. Subic, occupying 260 square miles, was as busy as Clark. It was the forward operating base for the US 7th Fleet.
Already in 1987, before the end of the Cold War, the RAND corporation was alarmed by the loss of both bases; that would be «devastating for regional security». Devastating» in the – mythical - sense of «defending the interests of ASEAN» and the «security of the sea-lanes».
Translation; the Pentagon and the US Navy would lose a key instrument of pressure over ASEAN, as protecting the «security of the sea-lanes» was always the key justification for those bases.
And lose they eventually did; Clark was closed down in November 1991, and Subic in November 199
It took years for China to sense an opening – and profit from it; after all during the 1990s and the early 2000s, the absolute priority was breakneck speed internal development. But then Beijing did the math; no more US bases opened untold vistas as far as the First Island Chain is concerned.
The First Island Chain is a product, over millennia, of the fabulous tectonic forces of the Ring of Fire; a chain of islands running from southern Japan in the north to Borneo in the south. For Beijing, they work as a sort of shield for the Chinese eastern seaboard; if this chain is secure, Asia is secure.
For all practical purposes, Beijing considers the First Island Chain as a non-negotiable Western Pacific demarcation zone – ideally with no foreign (as in US) interference. The South China Sea – which in parts is characterized by Manila as the Western Philippine Sea - is inside the First Island Chain. So to really secure the First Island Chain, the South China Sea must be free of foreign interference.
And here we are plunged at the heart of arguably the key 21st century hotspot in Asian geopolitics – the main reason for the Obama administration’s pivot to Asia.
The US Navy so far counted on the Philippines to oppose the proverbial, hyped up «Chinese aggression» in the South China and East China seas. The neocon/neoliberalcon industrial-military complex fury against «unhinged» Duterte’s game-changer is that containing China and ruling over the First Island Chain has been at the core of US naval strategy since the beginning of the Cold War.
Beijing, meanwhile, will have all the time needed to polish its strategic environment. This has nothing to do with «freedom of navigation» and protecting sea-lanes; everyone needs South China Sea cross-trade. It’s all about China - perhaps within the next ten years - being able to deny «access» to the US Navy in the South China Sea and inside the First Island Chain.
Duterte’s game-changing «America has lost» is just a new salvo in arguably the key 21st century geopolitical thriller. A Supreme Court justice in Manila, for instance, has warned Duterte that, were he to give up sovereignty over the Scarborough Shoal, he could be impeached. That won’t happen; Duterte wants loads of Chinese trade and investment, not abdicate from sovereignty. He’d rather be ready to confront being demonized by the hyperpower as much as the late Hugo Chavez was in his heyday. | 1 |
Albert Ogletree, a food handler with Forte Food Service, was working in the cafeteria at Cantor Fitzgerald in the north tower of the World Trade Center when a hijacked jetliner careered into the skyscraper. He is one of the 2, 983 people killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and Feb. 26, 1993, when the trade center was bombed. He is also one of only 10 victims whose portraits are not in the vast gallery at the National September 11 Memorial Museum, on the trade center site in Lower Manhattan. Museum officials have tried for years, without luck, to find someone who can furnish a picture of Mr. Ogletree — on vacation, perhaps under a mortar board at graduation beaming with happiness at his wedding or hunched over a sketch pad drawing cars, something he loved to do. Faces have defined the events of Sept. 11 since the earliest hours. On lampposts, bulletin boards and hospital walls, “Missing” posters beseeched to recall whether they had seen this face or that. Faces filled the pages of The New York Times and other publications and websites. Portraits were carried, facing the public, by survivors at memorial services and protest gatherings. The museum’s goal is simple and increasingly challenging: to gather every face and weave it into the overwhelming tapestry of grief, loss, life and joy on display in the memorial gallery. “Our objective from the was to make sure that anyone declared a victim is depicted on that wall,” Jan Seidler Ramirez, the museum’s chief curator, said. Those victims include everyone killed on Sept. 11 in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa. as well as the six people killed in the 1993 bombing. “To make that connection to the names outside, that’s really at the heart of our mission,” Dr. Ramirez said. “We’re not about abstract statistics. We’re about honoring each and every person who was killed that day, creating an opportunity for friends and family to see the faces they loved. ” Three families have told museum officials they do not want their relatives’ portraits shown publicly. That leaves seven to find. The gallery has room for 3, 000 portraits, arrayed in 250 columns and 12 rows. The 10 victims whose portraits are missing can be found in their alphabetical spots. Instead of a face, each is represented by a single leaf, green tinged with red, of a swamp white oak, the kind planted on the plaza, where the victims’ names are inscribed in panels around twin memorial pools. The missing pictures the museum seeks are of Gregorio Manuel Chavez, 48 Kerene Gordon, 43 Michael William Lomax, 37 Wilfredo Mercado, 37 Mr. Ogletree, 49 Antonio Dorsey Pratt, 43 and Ching Ping Tung, 44. (Visitors to the gallery can pick out the other three by finding the oak leaves and accompanying names. Given their families’ wish for privacy, The Times is not identifying them.) Four of the seven — Mr. Chavez, Ms. Gordon, Mr. Ogletree and Mr. Pratt — worked in food service, suggesting that they came from families whose public footprint may not be too large. And whether those killed were poor or rich, their survivors might well have moved away from New York. Addresses have grown out of date. Telephones have been disconnected. Trails have gone cold. It has been 15 years, after all. Gathering nearly 3, 000 portraits, an extraordinary enterprise in itself, began long before the museum opened. The first cache, Dr. Ramirez said, came from the Justice Department, which had assembled photographs to introduce as evidence at the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 plot. Those proceedings ended in 2006. Then came head shots from the New York Fire and Police Departments, the Port Authority Police Department and companies or institutions with a large presence at the trade center, like Cantor Fitzgerald, Aon, Marsh McLennan and the Windows on the World restaurant. of all those killed at the trade center on Sept. 11 were either firefighters or Cantor employees. The biggest step forward came with the collaboration of a group called Voices of September 11. Its Living Memorial is composed of images and remembrances from family members. The group asked contributors if the content of their tributes could be transferred to the museum. Nearly 500 said yes, Dr. Ramirez said. By the time the museum opened in 2014, 21 portraits were missing. More than 100 have either been added or replaced with better pictures or versions of existing portraits. “We’re constantly trying to figure out how to find somebody who keeps the memory candle lit who can help us,” Dr. Ramirez said. This month, The Times’s research desk joined the search. Mr. Chavez. Born in the Dominican Republic, he worked at Windows on the World. Calls to his widow were not returned, Dr. Ramirez said, and attempts to reach a niece and a nephew were fruitless. The Times found a woman living in Manhattan who may be his sister and forwarded her contact information to the museum it did the same with information for a man who may be Mr. Chavez’s son. Ms. Gordon. She came to New York from Kingston, Jamaica, and worked for Forte as a food handler. Dr. Ramirez said the museum had been in touch with her son and her sister in 2012 and 2014, but no picture had materialized. The Times found the name of a woman in Queens who may be a relative and sent it to the museum. Mr. Lomax. A native of Manchester, England, Mr. Lomax was an executive at Aon. He lived in Brooklyn. Three efforts to reach his widow were unavailing, Dr. Ramirez said, and the September 11 U. K. Families Support Group did not have his picture. The Times printed a head shot of Mr. Lomax in 2002 and provided the museum with leads to his widow and to his father. Mr. Mercado. He was a purchasing agent for Windows on the World and was killed in the 1993 bombing. Born in Lima, Peru, Mr. Mercado lived in the East New York section of Brooklyn. Dr. Ramirez said the museum had “tried extensively” to reach his widow. The Times found what appears to be a picture of Mr. Mercado on the Facebook page of one of his daughters and forwarded what may be her telephone number to the museum. Mr. Ogletree. He came from Michigan. A “distant cousin” has told the museum he might be able to locate a photograph and send a copy to the museum, Dr. Ramirez said. Mr. Pratt. A native New Yorker, Mr. Pratt worked as a food handler for Forte. “The next of kin had a disconnected phone,” Dr. Ramirez said. “There was no email address and nothing but returned letters from the address of record. ” She said the museum was now working on leads with the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund, which serves survivors of those who worked in the food, beverage and hospitality industries. Mr. Tung. A resident of Queens and native of Hong Kong, Mr. Tung was employed at the First Commercial Bank. Letters to his widow were returned as undeliverable in 2012, 2013 and 2014, Dr. Ramirez said, and there was no answer at a home telephone number. The Times learned that Mr. Tung might have gone by an Anglicized first name and provided the museum with the phone number of someone in Queens whom he may have known. “There is no trail we will not pursue,” Dr. Ramirez said. Now there are a few more. | 1 |
This post was originally published on this site
southfront.org Donate Photo from the scene by @RedheadNomad/Twitter
At least one person has been injured in a shooting at an anti-Trump protest in Portland, the United States.
The incident took place on Morrison Bridge in Portland, police said. “One person down. Everyone needs to leave the area immediately!” police wrote on Twitter. However, nobody leaved the scene.
According to Police, the possible suspect in the shooting is an “African-American male, late teens, 5’8″, thin, wearing black dark hoodie and saggy blue jeans.”
The violent protest with protesters throwing projectiles at officers and police deploying tear gas is ongoing the third nigh in a row. Thousands of people have been out in the streets across the US since Trump won the 2016 presidential race on November 8, defeating Hillary Clinton. The protests are massively supported by the mainstream media and Soros-linked non-governmental organizations .
According to aviable information at least part of protesters is paid to participate in the riots ($15-$18 per hour) .
Some experts believ ethat the ongoing events in the US look similar to the developments in Ukraine in 2014 when ‘unknown snipers’ shot in the crowd to provoke an additional violence during the protests.
[embedded content] | 0 |
The Congressional Budget Office report states that under the American Health Care Act (AHCA) 14 million people will lose insurance in 2018 and 23 million will lose insurance by 2026. [The Congressional Budget Office reported that the legislation would reduce federal deficits by $119 billion between 2017 and 2026, mainly because of its cuts to Medicaid and Obamacare insurance subsidies. The final version of the AHCA reduces the deficit by less than $32 billion compared to the previous version. The House passed the AHCA without a CBO score that would allow lawmakers and the American people to evaluate the bill’s effects on costs and health insurance coverage. Previous versions of the AHCA estimated that 24 million Americans could lose insurance by 2026, while the previous version would save $150 billion over the next ten years. The CBO believes that there are several factors that the AHCA could contribute to the stability of the individual market, including subsidies to purchase insurance, grants patients for patients through the Patient and State Stability Fund. The budget office added, that although the AHCA’s tax credits are less generous compared to Obamacare’s subsidies, the tax credits would lower average premiums enough to attract enough healthy people to stabilize the individual health insurance market. The House pushed through the AHCA after they added the MacArthur amendment, which allows states to obtain waivers to repeal Obamacare regulations that raise the cost of premiums, known as community ratings and essential health benefits. Essential Health Benefits require that health insurance plans must cover certain services such as doctors’ services, inpatient or outpatient hospital care, prescription drugs, pregnancy, childbirth, and mental health. Community ratings regulations prevent health insurers from varying premiums within a certain area based on age, gender, or health status. According to the CBO, healthy patients would be able to purchase individual health insurance with relatively low premiums, however, less healthy Americans might have to pay higher premiums, and might lose insurance in states that choose to eliminate Obamacare’s community ratings and essential health benefits regulations. The CBO projected that in 2018, average premiums would rise by about 20 percent in 2018, and 5 percent in 2019, however, in 2020 states will be able to obtain waivers that would rescind Obamacare regulations. The CBO projects: The CBO estimates that the AHCA will reduce Medicaid spending by more than $834 billion over the next ten years, primarily through ending Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion and creating a limit on Medicaid payments. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden ( ) and Health Subcommittee Chairman Michael Burgess ( ) released the following statement, saying that the AHCA will reduce premiums and stabilize the health care market. “The American Health Care Act is the first step in our efforts to repeal Obamacare and rebuild our broken health care system. CBO continues to find that through our bill, premiums will go down and that our reforms will help stabilize the market,” said chairmen Walden and Burgess. “Our plan puts states and patients in the driver’s seat, creating an innovative fund to help lower premiums and other costs. As the Senate continues its work on this vital bill, we encourage them to further these critical principles. ” The Department of Health and Human Services released a new report that noted that under Obamacare individual health insurance premiums doubled. House Republicans passed the AHCA earlier this month without waiting for the CBO score. Read the rest of the CBO report here: | 0 |
The result of the 2016 election has thrown this country for a loop. Some celebrate the win of President-elect Donald Trump while others continue to mourn the current president’s ultimate transition of power. A number of Americans are excited to see what a non-politician will do in a political environment, while others are worried that he will maintain the antics that awarded him the Oval Office. The country continues to experience a great divide that has many Americans trapped between fear and faith.
The previous perspective of the nation, according to some, included a series of victories and a country on an incline. However, others disagree by saying President Barak Obama is the worst “thing” to ever happen to the White House. Ironically, many of these same people “believe” racism did not exist until he became president. In the same vein, others feel the division crisis, which includes race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation among other issues will increase with the induction of Trump as the leader of the free world. Today, America is shrouded in a most un-American pessimism as many within this great country remain trapped between fear and faith.
On one side of the divide, there are people who are fed up with the mistreatment and injustice they have experienced. These millennials have decided to take matters into their own hands with protests and other questionable behavior patterns. Undoubtedly, if hope continues to decrease, violence will increase and blood will continue to spill in the earth.
On the other side, there are people who embrace the faith of a changed country “made great again” with the entrance of new authority. As such, Trump serves as a beacon of hope to his core supporters. He seemingly indulges their ambitions to maintain America’s system of oppression and inspires them in dangerous ways that have the potential to lead to serious consequences. Instead of seeking unity, Americans from all sides are fighting to be right. However, when hate overpowers love, no one is right.
In order to understand the fear surrounding the election results, a conversation would need to take place in search of real issues. Not enough people are interested in problem-solving. Onlookers who criticize and judge a generation that is destroying their town as they march through the streets, only serve as fuel for their fury. People have called them animals and all sorts of derogatory statements, without realizing that it is a terrible thing to feel trapped or caged. Before adding insult to injury, it may help if “outsiders” were more empathetic to their experience.
The crisis of America will not change simply by the transference of power; it can only be made better by the conveyance of love. It is time for Americans join together and bridge the gap between fear and faith with the spread love as they continue to seek change. Otherwise, things will get worse.
In many corners of the country and across the globe, the calamity has been met with love, compassion, and sympathy as people from all lifestyles join in a time of celebration and mourning. Even still, if people are not careful hate will find a way to slide through the cracks. However, if given the chance love will always prevail.
People’s view of the election is based on their experiences. Allow them to embrace their feelings and encourage them to find peace. Today the sitting President and President-elect met for the first time and did just that! Why? Because love still trumps hate.
Opinion by Cherese Jackson (Virginia)
Source:
Politicus USA: Trump Supporters Saying ‘Give Him A Chance’ Forget How They Treated President Obama
Photo Credits:
Top Image Courtesy of Max Goldberg – Flickr License
Inline Image Courtesy of DonkeyHotey – Flickr License
Featured Image Courtesy of KAZ Vorpal – Flickr License America , election , Hope , Protests | 0 |
The Rise of the Robots Written by John T. Larabell Email
San Francisco: the home of Haight-Ashbury, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Pier 39; an icon of neoliberalism and left-wing policies, homosexual activism, and countercultural movements. It’s also an incredibly expensive place to live that is becoming increasingly gentrified by young urban tech-sector workers. Now, a new revolution is coming to the City by the Bay: a fully automated “gourmet” fast-food restaurant opening at 680 Folsom Street in the SoMa neighborhood.
Yes, you read that right. Imagine walking into a “fast-food” restaurant and ordering a burger using a tablet at the counter. Your burger can have practically any combination of fresh toppings you want, a variety of seasonings, a nice toasted gourmet bun, and — get this — a custom blend of gourmet meat. Want beef and pork? No problem. How about beef and bison? Coming right up. You can even pick how lean or fatty you want the meat blend. No, this is not a fantasy: Momentum Machines of San Francisco has produced a burger-making machine that can crank out nearly 400 burgers per hour. It can do everything from grilling the patties, toasting the buns, loading on the toppings, and bagging the finished product all without human interaction. According to a Craigslist ad posted by the company, “This location will feature the world-premiere of our proprietary and remarkable new advances in technology that enable the automatic creation of impossibly delicious burgers at prices everyone can afford.” The ad states that burgers “will be fresh-ground and grilled to order, served on toasted brioche, and accented by an infinitely personalizable variety of fresh produce, seasonings, and sauces.”
According to a 2014 Huffington Post article, Momentum Machines “plans to sell its invention to restaurants and, eventually, open its own chain to sell gourmet burgers at fast-food prices by eliminating the cost of paying line cooks. This, the company’s website claims, will ‘democratize access to high quality food, making it available to the masses.’” “Our device isn’t meant to make employees more efficient,” Momentum co-founder Alexandros Vardakostas told the website Xconomy in 2012, “It’s meant to completely obviate them.”
We are now at a crossroads in the relationship between technology and human labor. Machines are now so advanced that, according to some experts, they are likely to replace a substantial portion of human workers in the next 20 or 30 years. Consider this from a March 18 LA Times op-ed by Bryan Dean Wright: A viral video released in February showed Boston Dynamics’ new bipedal robot, Atlas, performing human-like tasks: opening doors, tromping about in the snow, lifting and stacking boxes. Tech geeks cheered and Silicon Valley investors salivated at the potential end to human manual labor. Shortly thereafter, White House economists released a forecast that calculated more precisely whom Atlas and other forms of automation are going to put out of work. Most occupations that pay less than $20 an hour are likely to be, in the words of the report, “automated into obsolescence.” In other words, the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution has found its first victims: blue-collar workers and the poor. The general response in working America is disbelief or outright denial. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 80% of Americans think their job will still exist in 50 years, and only 11% of today’s workers were worried about losing their job to automation. Some — like my former colleagues at the CIA — insist that their specialized skills and knowledge can’t be replaced by artificial intelligence. That is, until they see plans for autonomous drones that don’t require a human hand and automated imagery analysis that outperforms human eyes. Human workers of all stripes pound the table claiming desperately that they’re irreplaceable. Bus drivers. Bartenders. Financial advisors. Speechwriters. Firefighters. Umpires. Even doctors and surgeons. Meanwhile, corporations and investors are spending billions — at least $8.5 billion last year on AI, and $1.8 billion on robots — toward making all those jobs replaceable. Why? Simply put, robots and computers don’t need healthcare, pensions, vacation days or even salaries.
Sound scary? If what Wright writes is true, this could understandably be terrifying to many people. To get a deeper understanding of this issue, we’ll take a look at the history of technology and human labor, the situation as it stands today, and what can be expected in the future.
Man vs. Machine
The relationship between technology and human workers has always been a mixed bag. Technology has nearly always brought advancements in standards of living for the majority of people, but in doing so, some human labor has always been replaced by that technology. This displacement of labor has not always been a bad thing, as new technologies have often led to jobs being created elsewhere. Let’s take a trip back through history and find out how increased mechanization has led to shifts in human employment, and what’s different with our situation today.
The invention of the printing press in 1440 was an early technological game-changer for human labor. While scribes were made obsolete, new jobs sprang up almost overnight as people were needed to run print shops, and all the ancillary industries supporting book production. Furthermore, books, while still expensive by today’s standards, were within reach of the common man, whereas before, the hand-copied manuscripts were prohibitively expensive for all but the wealthy.
The next great technological advancement that led to massive shifts in human employment was in the realm of agriculture. Strictly speaking, the very first technological advancements in agriculture involved the use of animal labor, such as horses or teams of oxen used for plowing fields or turning mills, and this freed humans from backbreaking, unpleasant work. But as agriculture became more mechanized in the 19th and 20th centuries, animal labor was displaced, and increased efficiency meant fewer people were needed on farms. In the 1800s, for instance, over 80 percent of Americans worked on farms in some capacity. Today, less than two percent of Americans work on farms. This massive shift in human capital, of course, was absorbed by the growing industrial and service economy.
Along with the shift in agriculture came a technological revolution in the textile industry. The industrial revolution saw the rise of power looms and other equipment that obviated much of the human labor involved in textile manufacture. In England, this led to an uprising of displaced textile workers known as Luddites, hence the pejorative “Luddite” for someone in modern times who resists technological or other forms of societal advancement. The Luddites went so far as to destroy those very machines that took their jobs. Of course, industrialization opened up many new jobs for people, and the Luddites’ fears were largely unfounded. As an aside, there are almost no textile mills in Western countries anymore; they’ve all moved to poorer nations, mainly in Central America or Southeast Asia.
By and large, industrialization and its attendant advances in technology have always provided more employment and raised people’s standards of living, not the other way around. But is this about to change? Many fear that we are entering an era when technology has advanced to the point where machines are capable of doing so many tasks that are currently done by humans that there won’t be any “other jobs” for people to do. And what about building and servicing these machines? Again, most of that could soon be done by other machines , or a small number of very specialized human workers.
Amy Webb, a digital media futurist and founder of Webbmedia Group, predicts at least eight career fields are “ripe for disruption” very soon — most likely in the next 10 to 20 years. She points to toll booth operators and cashiers, marketers, phone-based customer service, factory workers, financial middlemen, journalists, non-litigation lawyers, and telephone installation/maintenance workers as jobs that could be phased out soon.
University of Oxford researchers Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne estimated in 2013 that 47 percent of total U.S. jobs could be automated and taken over by computers by 2035. Said a March 24, 2015 article for Tech Times regarding this prediction: If you want to stay employed by then, you better think about a career shift into software development, higher level management or the information sector. Those professions are only at a 10 percent risk of replacement by robots, according to Osborne. By contrast, lower-skilled jobs in the accommodation and food service industries are at a 87 percent risk, transportation and warehousing are at a 75 percent risk and real estate at 67 percent. The researcher warns that driverless cars, burger-flipping robots and other automatons taking over low-skilled jobs is the way of the future.
There’s potentially a real problem on the horizon. Let’s take a more detailed look at what economists and tech experts say about the types of jobs that will be replaced, or are already being replaced, by machines.
Blue-collar Blues
Blue-collar, manual-labor jobs are obvious candidates for being replaced by machines in the near future. In fact, this has already happened to some extent, as robots have been used in assembly lines (think automotive manufacturing) for a few decades. But as the capability of such industrial robots increases, so will their ability to replace more and more human laborers.
As we noted above, fast-food workers will most definitely be some of those whose jobs are on the chopping block. As noted in the U.K. Mirror on May 25: A former McDonald’s CEO warned that robots will take over staff jobs at the fast food empire — because it’s cheaper than employing humans. Ed Rensi has said that buying highly skilled robotics is a cheaper alternative than employing people on minimum wage to work in the company’s worldwide restaurants. He warned that huge job losses are imminent, and commented that it would be “common sense” to replace humans in the workplace.... Rensi said: “I was at the National Restaurant Show yesterday [and looked] at the robotic devices that are coming into the restaurant industry. It’s cheaper to buy a $35,000 (£24,000) robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who’s inefficient making $15 (£10.20) an hour bagging French fries. [A $15 minimum wage is] nonsense and it’s very destructive and it’s inflationary and it’s going to cause a job loss across in this country like you’re not going to believe.” He told FOX: “It’s not just going to be in the fast food business. Franchising is the best business model in the United States. It’s dependent on people that have low job skills that have to grow. Well if you can’t get people [at] a reasonable wage, you’re going to get machines to do the work. It’s just common sense. It’s going to happen whether you like it or not. And the more you push this it’s going to happen faster.”
Along with service-sector jobs, manufacturing jobs will be among the hardest hit by the coming robot revolution. Again, these are mostly repetitive, low-skill labor jobs that lend themselves well to mechanization. In Chinese factories, robots are currently being brought in to replace human workers who are seeking higher wages. At a production line based in Guangdong province for German optical system manufacturer Carl Zeiss AG, robots are being used for applying protective films, cutting, polishing, and packaging — jobs that used to be performed by humans. What’s happening at the Carl Zeiss factory is illustrative of a larger trend in China. As MIT Technology Review observed April 26: Countless manufacturers in China are planning to transform their production processes using robotics and automation at an unprecedented scale. In some ways, they don’t really have a choice. Human labor in China is no longer as cheap as it once was, especially compared with labor in rival manufacturing hubs growing quickly in Asia. In Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia, factory wages can be less than a third of what they are in the urban centers of China. One solution, many manufacturers — and government officials — believe, is to replace human workers with machines.... The goal is to overtake Germany, Japan, and the United States in terms of manufacturing sophistication by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. To make that happen, the government needs Chinese manufacturers to adopt robots by the millions. It also wants Chinese companies to start producing more of these robots.
To ship all those robot-made Chinese products to the United States requires cargo ships and dockworkers at both ends. What about those jobs? Well, they’re being replaced by machines, too. For instance, at TraPac LLC’s shipping terminal in Los Angeles, dozens of robots move shipping containers about, setting them in precise spots with little need for human interaction. Despite strong opposition from longshoremen’s unions, other U.S. ports may soon follow TracPac’s example and become more automated, as many overseas ports have already done.
Robots are already being used to provide greater efficiency in warehouses. Amazon uses its Kiva Systems robots (to which the Internet retail giant has exclusive rights), and Locus Robotics has created a warehouse order-picking robot that it says is superior to Kiva’s. In a warehouse in Devens, Massachusetts, owned by Quiet Logistics, Locus robots silently zip around a warehouse bigger than six football fields, transporting orders 24 hours a day with no need for lunch breaks, vacations, or a paycheck. “We developed a system where the robots do all the walking,” Locus Robotics CEO Bruce Welty told Tech Insider in February. “As retailers continue to exceed expectation around next-day shipping, they’re going to look to technology to help them provide an even faster turn-around,” Welty said. In some warehouse applications, Quiet Logistics being one of them, robots won’t replace any human jobs — yet . But one could imagine that as fewer humans are needed, fewer will be hired.
Some say that within a decade or two we could see fleets of driverless trucks on the road, guided by GPS navigation and onboard radar. Big companies are eager to streamline their shipping operations by cutting down on hours lost owing to human drivers, and are spending big money on R&D in the hope to ship their products using self-driving trucks. Take Walmart, for example. The retail giant is already developing “semi-autonomous” trucks that are mostly self-driving, only requiring a human driver to take the reins in heavy traffic or inclement weather. Semi-autonomous or even fully autonomous trucks are also being sought to mitigate a shortage of human truck drivers on the horizon.
In addition to driverless trucks, a future with electric-powered, self-driving cars functioning as “taxis” for people is not far from reality. In fact, the “big three” Detroit automakers (GM, Chrysler, and Ford) are already rolling out self-driving cars, or “autonomous vehicles” (AVs) in limited markets for testing. All plan to have fully autonomous cars by 2020 or 2021. And the Europeans aren’t being left in the dust: Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes are all developing AV lines of their own.
Assuming any bugs and safety issues can be worked out, will there even be a market for such vehicles in the near future? There already is. Ride-hailing service Uber is currently offering self-driving cars in certain markets as part of a pilot program, with the goal to eventually axe all of its drivers in favor of AVs. Young entrepreneurial Uber drivers will probably not be too excited about that, but such is life. And Uber’s main competitor in the United States, San Francisco-based Lyft, plans to use self-driving cars for the majority of its rides within five years. To start with, such self-driving taxis will only operate at speeds up to 25 miles per hour in limited areas, and won’t operate in bad weather. That is, until the technology improves enough to allow them to operate in all conditions at higher speeds. Lyft co-founder John Zimmer believes that personal car ownership, at least for city dwellers, will come to an end as using AV “taxis” quickly becomes a less-costly alternative to owning a vehicle.
White-collar Woes
It’s not just blue-collar jobs that are being threatened. As Business Insider noted in May of 2015, “Artificial intelligence and robots are not just challenging blue-collar jobs; they are starting to take over white-collar professions as well. Financial and sports reporters, online marketers, surgeons, anesthesiologists, and financial analysts are already in danger of being replaced by robots.” And as a March 16 article for Christian Science Monitor noted: If you think being a “professional” makes your job safe, think again. The two sectors of the economy harboring the most professionals — healthcare and education — are under increasing pressure to cut costs. And expert machines are poised to take over. We’re on the verge of a wave of mobile apps for measuring everything from your cholesterol to your blood pressure, along with diagnostic software that tells you what it means and what to do about it. In coming years, software apps will be doing many of the things physicians, nurses, and technicians now do (think ultrasound, CT scans, and electrocardiograms). Meanwhile, the jobs of many teachers and university professors will disappear, replaced by online courses and interactive online textbooks.
Leigh Watson Healy, chief analyst at market research firm Outsell, has this to say about the capability of machines to make market predictions as financial advisors: “Now with machine algorithms and big data disrupting, stock and equity analysts will have to figure out what their value ad is going to be.” The fact of the matter is, machines are able to process so much data so quickly that they could theoretically make market predictions much better than human advisors. Particularly for many younger clients or others with simple investment needs, robo-advisors could very well be the wave of the future.
Regarding legal jobs, as noted in a 2015 Fortune article, new software systems “use syntactic analysis and keyword recognition to comb through emails, texts, databases, and scanned documents to find those that one party in a lawsuit would be obliged to turn over to the other through the legal discovery process.” This, conceivably, could replace associates and paralegals in law firms.
With such legal jobs being threatened, it should come as no surprise that writing and research jobs are also in danger of being automated. The Internet wiped out countless newspapers, and new technology could kill even more journalism positions. The next innovation will be algorithms that allow news outlets to automatically create stories and place them on websites without human interaction. Robot journalists are already writing thousands of articles a quarter at the Associated Press. And it should come as no surprise that machines have the potential to be better researchers than humans, provided they are given the correct search parameters. The speed at which they are able to access data and the fact that they don’t get tired make them ideal researchers.
But what about the medical field? Surely this requires a great deal of hands-on, human-controlled interactions. Not so fast: Robots are already used in surgeries, and are able to perform operations with greater precision than human surgeons. A human surgeon controls the robot remotely, and in this way can “amplify” his or her surgical ability. According to the above-mentioned article in Fortune : Johnson & Johnson’s Sedasys system, already FDA approved, can automate delivery of low-level anesthesia in applications like colonoscopies at [a] fraction of the cost of a dedicated anesthesiologist. A doctor can supervise multiple machines at the same time to keep the human element. IBM’s Watson, well known for its stellar performance in the TV game show Jeopardy! , has already demonstrated a far more accurate diagnosis rate for lung cancers than humans — 90 percent versus 50 percent in some tests. The reason is data. Keeping pace with the release of medical data could take doctors 160 hours a week, so doctors can’t possibly review the amount of new insights or even bodies of clinical evidence that can give an edge in making a diagnosis.
Pharmacists aren’t safe either. As Business Insider noted in 2012, The [University of California, San Francisco] Medical Center recently launched an automated, robotics-controlled pharmacy at two UCSF hospitals. Once computers at the new pharmacy electronically receive medication orders from UCSF physicians and pharmacists, the robotics pick, package, and dispense individual doses of pills. Machines assemble doses onto a thin plastic ring that contains all the medications for a patient for a 12-hour period, which is bar-coded. The pharmacy system, which was phased in over the past year, so far has prepared 350,000 doses of medication without error.
This is not to suggest robots will take all jobs. There will still be a number of things that robots will not be able to do as well as humans. For instance, jobs requiring creativity, “people skills,” or human interaction will likely stay with human employees. Nurses, managers, salespeople, entrepreneurs, and artists come to mind. Unfortunately, politicians won’t be done away with.
In truth, jobs will likely align themselves around several loci. There will be demand for hands-on, “caregiver” type jobs such as nurses, nursing home caregivers, physical therapists, massage therapists, etc. There will be opportunities for “creative” jobs such as artists, musicians, entertainers, athletes, fiction writers, public speakers, and the like. “Managerial” jobs such as C-level corporate jobs and politicians will exist. Finally, “tech” jobs such as programmers, web developers, and software engineers will obviously be in demand.
What Does It All Mean?
So what will this Brave New World look like when machines do most of our work for us, and humans are needed for very few jobs? How will people even be able to buy all of the goods and services produced by these robot workers if they don’t have jobs to begin with? Naturally, many economists and futurists are suggesting that government will be the solution.
There have been talks of having government give every adult person a “basic income” regardless of their employment status or current income level. Some have suggested giving people a paycheck of more than $2,000 per month, just for being human. And where would this money come from? Why, the rich folks who own the companies that either produce or “employ” the machines that took the people’s jobs, of course. Since, as the argument goes, money will be concentrated in fewer and fewer hands if companies no longer have to employ people, those who benefit from this arrangement should support those who have been displaced.
Some European countries have actually toyed with the idea over the last few decades, with Switzerland actually having a referendum on the issue in June. Under the proposed scheme of a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG), all Swiss adults would have received a monthly check of 2,500 Swiss francs, or slightly over $2,500. Children would have received 625 francs per month. The fiscally conservative Swiss roundly rejected the idea, with nearly 80 percent voting against a BIG. As Charles Wyplosz, an economics professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute, remarked, “If you pay people to do nothing, they will do nothing.” Member of Parliament Luzi Stamm of the Swiss People’s Party voiced another concern: “Theoretically, if Switzerland were an island, the answer is yes. But with open borders, it’s a total impossibility, especially for Switzerland, with a high living standard.... If you would offer every individual a Swiss amount of money, you would have billions of people who would try to move into Switzerland.” But proponents of the idea aren’t giving up: They’ve vowed to keep pressing the issue, and keep having referendums, until it becomes a reality. The Dutch city of Utrecht, on the other hand, is experimenting with a basic income among its current welfare recipients. One-third of the recipients will receive welfare as currently administered, one-third will receive the welfare albeit with different rules, and the remaining third will simply receive a $1,000 check every month whether or not they even attempt to find a job. And Finland will conduct its own experiment in 2017, with 180,000 Finns set to receive a basic income of 500 to 700 euros a month.
The idea of a guaranteed basic income is nothing new. In fact, it has been proposed by progressives for more than a century. Martin Luther King, Jr. even suggested that some form of basic income would eliminate poverty. Bill Gross of Janus Capital Group wrote for the Wall Street Journal in May, “Millions of jobs will be lost over the next 10-15 years,” and that the usual solutions to this problem won’t work anymore. “Four years of college for everyone might better prepare them to be a contestant on Jeopardy , but I doubt it’ll create more growth,” Gross contends. The former bond king recommends a “Universal Basic Income.” Gross points out that welfare already exists in other forms, such as food stamps and the earned-income tax credit. “If more and more workers are going to be displaced by robots, then they will need money to live on, will they not? And if that strikes you as a form of socialism, I would suggest we get used to it,” he said. Gross says it’s not a matter of “if,” but “when,” and the way to pay for it is, in his words, “helicopter money.” Yep, that’s right: Have central banks crank up the printing presses and start creating money to give to people, no strings attached.
Let’s move into the realm of the hypothetical here and imagine an entire world where, say, 95 percent of the population is supported by a government income. Even if more than five percent of the populace could find employment, there would be little incentive to do so. People would demand that government provide for their very existence. Government-provided food, entertainment, housing, income, etc. would be akin to the Roman policy of “bread and circuses” for the poor. The glaring problem with this is the fact that government will effectively be a parent who controls everyone’s life. The old adage, “He who pays the piper calls the tune” comes to mind. A society where a wealthy, property-owning, technocratic elite supports and cares for the masses would necessitate those elites “managing” society and the masses. After all, the masses would effectively become the “property” of the elite. Bearing that in mind, such “management” would undoubtedly include management of the world’s human population.
Government-supplied “free” contraceptives and abortions (heavily promoted by media and public schools, of course), adding sterilants to the municipal water supply or infertility-causing substances to food and/or vaccines, and even controlling the birth rate by fiat as in Communist China, have all been suggested as ways to limit, and reduce, world population. Far-fetched? Perhaps, but one must admit that much of this is not outside the realm of possibility.
But what might happen if government did not get involved (as difficult as that might be to imagine)? A truly free market would find ways to keep people employed. More precisely, people themselves, acting out of their own rational self-interest, would find ways to get by, whether this means working as an employee at a “job” or something else entirely. Realistically, many people could revert back to being entrepreneurs producing small quantities of artisan, hand-made items such as crafts, tools, artwork, food, beer, clothing, etc. People could either pay or barter for such items. Such “niche” businesses already exist, to be sure, but more could flourish under an economy where machines do most of the mundane jobs for large employers that people currently perform now. Indeed, people could return to the days of being more self-reliant, growing their own food in either private or communal gardens and raising small livestock, and bartering for items they don’t produce themselves.
If, for the sake of argument, half of all jobs in America were taken by machines, many people might choose to return to single-income households, with one parent (typically the mother) staying home to raise the kids. In this scenario, becoming more self-reliant and producing artisan goods for sale or barter would certainly help to make ends meet, especially since inflation has made it very difficult for most American families to live comfortably on one income. Plus, having a parent stay at home would offer many families the opportunity to homeschool their children and give children experience in producing homemade crafts and goods. Education is becoming increasingly Internet-based anyway, so keeping kids at home would not prevent them from having excellent educational opportunities. Of course, owing to the breakup of the “nuclear family” in America, many households are already single-income because they are single-parent. Such situations would be difficult in a world of reduced human employment. But again, if people are allowed the freedom to act in their own rational self-interest, they will find ways to make it work. Human creativity knows no bounds, and when government planners step out of the way and let people follow their desires and creativity, who can foresee what amazing new products, inventions, and jobs might emerge? And truly, this was the desire of the Founding Fathers of our Republic: to have a nation where a self-reliant people were free to use their creativity to pursue their own interests and desires. Such an attitude is illustrated in a letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, written May 12, 1780: I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Painting and Poetry Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine.
So what will the future bring after the rise of the robots? The answer, really, depends upon whether or not government interferes. If people are allowed to use their own ingenuity and creativity, society and humanity in general could flourish, and indeed enter a true “golden age” of civilization. Or we could see the masses reduced to absolute servitude beneath a technocratic elite who control every aspect of human life. Sadly, if our current trajectory is not changed, the latter scenario seems most likely. This underscores the need to restore and preserve our American system of constitutional limited government; humanity’s future literally hangs in the balance.
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Регион: Европа В своей новой статье французский обозреватель Жан Перье напоминает недавно опубликованный им сюжет « Marlbrough s ’ en va - t - en Guerre » на фоне последних политических событий и растерянности европейского политического истеблишмента от выборов в США нового 45-го президента. В числе политиков, продемонстрировавших замешательство от победы Трампа, оказался и Ф.Олланд . Тем не менее он призвал «извлечь уроки» из результатов американских выборов, значение которых «выходит далеко за пределы Соединенных Штатов». Эти слова французского президента, по мнению автора, оказались пророческими и за ними последовало предложение от 152 депутатов из 199 от правоцентристской республиканской партии за импичмент президенту Франсуа Олланду . Правые парламентарии обвиняют Олланда за разглашение государственной тайны, которое, по их мнению, он допустил в своей книге « Президент не должен был этого говорить ». По их мнению, президенту Франции не следовало говорить о многих опубликованных в книге сведениях и оценках, особенно об операциях французских спецслужб по физическому устранению в других странах особо опасных исламских радикалов. Указанные шаги парламентариев, не зависимо от дальнейшего решения вопроса по объявлению импичмента Ф.Олланду, фактически ставят крест на его дальнейшей политической карьере. То есть можно сказать словами все той же народной французской песни: «… Monsieur Malbrough est mort » (т.е. «Мальбрук теперь мертв»). Однако это предложение французских парламентариев об импичменте Ф.Олланда вряд ли можно считать неожиданностью. Достаточно вспомнить недавнее подведение итогов пятилетнего пребывания Ф.Олланда в Елисейском дворце журналом Le Figaro . Уровень доверия президенту достиг исторического минимума в 11% респондентов. Никогда Президент Республики не падал так низко! Автор отмечает, что участь Олланда в ближайшие месяцы может разделить и ряд других политических лидеров Европы, чьей основной задачей последнего времени была активная поддержка агрессивных планов администрации Обамы в ущерб европейским ценностям и международному праву. С полным содержанием статьи вы можете ознакомиться здесь . Популярные статьи | 0 |
Scott McConnell, The American Conservative, October 31, 2016
[Editor’s Note: This article is worth reading in its entirety. A redacted version is below.]
Twenty-one years ago I was assigned by Commentary to write about Jared Taylor–today known as one of the eminences of the “alt-right.” Taylor had written a grim book on American race relations, Paved With Good Intentions , which had been published by a mainstream house and was widely, if critically, reviewed. Though unusually skeptical about the prospect of blacks and whites living together harmoniously in the United States, it stopped well short of any systematically racist argument. The book had several fans among New Yorkers I knew prominent in journalism and city politics.
When I referred to it in passing in a New York Post column, we quickly received a fax from Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League stating that Taylor was far more extremist than I had let on. Curious to explore further, I queried Commentary –where I then did most of my non-newspaper writing–and they were interested.
I interviewed Taylor, read back issues of his monthly newsletter, American Renaissance ( AR ), and drafted a piece. AR was devoted primarily to demonstrating that in American history racism was as accepted as apple pie and that this was by no means a bad thing. It contained large doses of the evolutionary and biological racial thought fairly commonplace amongst American elites in the ’20s and ’30s. A central contention was that the United States could not thrive as an increasingly multiracial and multicultural country and that American whites were facing a kind of cultural dispossession.
I summarized this, quoting liberally, and concluded that the endgame vision of the AR crowd was potentially horrific, leading to national dissolution or civil war, while adding that continued mass immigration really would put the common culture of America under grave stress. If immigration rates went down, Taylor and AR would remain fringe players. If they rose, white racial anxieties would bubble to the surface, and Taylor might one day have his moment.
The piece was never published: Neal Kozodoy, Commentary ’s editor, told me I had indulged Taylor too much and asked for a shorter, tighter rewrite. By then my brief summer vacation had ended, other tasks intervened, and I eventually lost interest.
Jared Taylor’s moment has not arrived, but clearly he has edged into the national conversation. He has been pictured and quoted in an anti-Trump attack ad produced by Hillary Clinton’s campaign, he has been a guest on Diane Rehm’s show on NPR, and his core ideas have been broadcast–and excoriated–in magazines and websites great and small. He is now touted as one of the intellectual leaders of the alt-right, a diffuse movement of uncertain significance, but one deemed sufficiently important by the Clinton campaign for Hillary to devote a large portion of an August campaign speech to it. Donald Trump–who has almost surely never read a single article by an alt-right figure–is claimed by Clinton and other liberals to be under its influence and propagating its doctrines.
The truth is quite different: parts of the alt-right have raised their own visibility by attaching themselves to Trump. At the same time, Trump and his unanticipated success in winning the Republican nomination are symptoms of the same political and civilizational crisis that makes alt-rightish themes–at least in a more or less bowdlerized and soft-core form–compelling to a growing number of people.
♦♦♦
Taylor, 65, is old by alt-right standards, and is an atypical representative, though just how much so is difficult to discern, for much of the alt-right is anonymous. The movement fields no candidates, publishes few books or pamphlets. It is a creature of the web, strongest on Twitter. Pepe, an internet cartoon frog, is an alt-right character–and has actually been formally denounced by the Clinton campaign. Alt-right internet trolling, sometimes ugly, blatantly racist and anti-Semitic, is also part of the movement. There is some debate whether it should be taken as an offensive and unfunny joke–merry keyboard pranksters who enjoy pretending to be internet neo-Nazis, rather like punk rock bands of the late ’70s deploying Nazi imagery for shock effect–or is something more sinister, a genuine resurgence of hardcore racism and anti-Semitism. Likely it’s more the former, but it’s also likely that the alt-right banner has given the minute number of genuine neo-Nazis in the country a kind of protective shield.
Richard Spencer may serve as a bridge between older white nationalists such as Taylor and a younger alt-right internet crowd. It’s mistaken to call him or anyone else a leader–the movement has no procedure for choosing leaders–but he is clearly a pole of influence. He’s an intellectual entrepreneur who arrived in DC roughly ten years ago from a Duke graduate program. He worked at TAC for seven or eight months, where he was kind of a square peg in a round hole. Sometime thereafter his ideology began to crystallize. He started a website called AlternativeRight.com and later revitalized a white-nationalist think tank, the National Policy Institute, and launched a journal, Radix .
Spencer can be engaging and amusing, but his core doctrine is likely to remain, barring some sort of Mad Max-type Armageddon, well outside what most Americans would consider plausible or desirable.
What is the doctrine? At a recent press conference in DC, Spencer explained that the core of alt-right thought is race. Race is real, race matters, race is foundational to human identity. You cannot understand who you are without race. Many people would agree–at least privately or partially–with the first two assertions, but the third is the critical one, and has never been true historically or sociologically. (Not that there haven’t been groups of self-proclaimed pan-Asian or pan-African intellectuals who sought to make it true. Spencer fits into their tradition.) In any case, Spencer hopes somehow to spur whites into a kind of pan-white racial consciousness and galvanize them to become “aware of who we are,” and to prepare themselves, one day somehow, to form a white ethnostate. He refers to Theodore Herzl’s propagation of Zionism as a model for how such an ethnostate, seemingly a distant dream, could be eventually achieved. He fails to add that it took a Holocaust to make a Jewish State a reality.
{snip}
Prior to last fall, and before Hillary introduced the alt-right to a national audience, Spencer and Taylor held periodic conferences that could gather perhaps 200 people. (These were often held under shameful harassment by the leftist anti-First Amendment crowd, but that’s a different issue.) Spencer says he sees the alt-right as a vehicle that will influence politicians and intellectuals, taking as its model neoconservatism. {snip}
{snip}
What spurred this sudden emergence? It was not white-nationalist conferences or doctrine, which had been around forever, but events. Last year the West received a nasty high-voltage shock of political reality. The first jolt was the Charlie Hebdo attack in January. France had experienced jihadist murders before, but this time, the strike came in the center of Paris, and France was alarmed to find no small amount of support for the killing among its five million Muslim residents, many of them second- and third-generation citizens.
That spring and summer, European newspapers began to fill with reports of intensifying migrant and refugee flows, driven partially by the Syrian civil war and partially by the expansion and streamlining of people-smuggling routes from Africa. {snip}
By 2016 the welcome had grown cold. Hundreds of migrants sexually assaulted German women in and around the central train station of Cologne on New Year’s Eve, a mass assault that German authorities initially tried to cover up. {snip}
If the sexual assaults could be seen as the cultural edge of the migrant surge, it was more difficult for even liberal “anti-racist” European leaders to ignore or explain away the terrorism aspect. The Charlie Hebdo attack was followed by the mass slaughters at the Bataclan theater in Paris, at the Brussels Airport, then on a seaside promenade in Nice, culminating in the execution by knife of an aging French priest by two “assimilated” Muslim migrants in his church outside of Rouen. {snip}
{snip} Richard Spencer may be incorrect about America, but one remark from his press conference in DC last month was arresting:
The refugee crisis in Europe is something like a world war. It is in many ways a race war. In terms of direct violence it does not resemble World War I or II. It is a demographic struggle, a struggle for identity, a struggle of who is going to define the continent, period. It is a new kind of war, a postmodern war, a war through immigration. There are no trenches, no guns. But it is a world war.
Of course, it is not primarily a race war. Religion, or religious culture, plays a major and perhaps decisive role in the conflict, and conflict between Christendom and Islam is not new by any means. Still, there is something in the bluntness of Spencer’s depiction that rings more true than 90 percent of what appears in the American media, which invariably depicts the refugee crisis in humanitarian terms and terrorism as a barely related law-enforcement issue. It is surely not a coincidence that the alt-right began making strides into American consciousness precisely at the moment Muslims were surging into Europe as refugees, while others were blowing up Parisian rock concerts or mounting mass sexual assaults on European women.
{snip}
Whatever one might say about the alt-right, it is not perplexed. Few other political factions in America had a vocabulary ready for–or even made an effort to interpret seriously–what was going on in Europe, at a time when many people were seeking one.
{snip}
American developments in the fall of last year, while less critical than those in Europe, also spurred the alt-right. The rise of Black Lives Matter put into question one of the outstanding domestic-policy advances of the past generation, the dramatic reduction in urban crime rates, which has made possible the revitalization of many cities. The lie which held that America’s police forces were chock full of marauding racist murderers suddenly became mainstream, repeated endlessly on television and pushed in only slightly more subtle fashion by Obama’s own attorney general. Meanwhile, some urban neighborhoods were looted by rioters, and others saw dramatic spikes in their murder rates.
{snip}
It was predictable that such developments, touching on visceral areas of personal security, national sovereignty, and freedom of expression, would stir desire for a muscular response. Donald Trump filled the bill, if not always eloquently. So too, occasionally, did segments of the more established conservative media. But there was a market for a pushback as scathing and polemically unafraid as the left’s own polemicists, which might not have been the case four years earlier. This, as much as anything, accounts for the emergence of the alt-right, at least in its less ideologically extreme iterations.
{snip}
And though [Samuel] Huntington was a famous and deeply respected Harvard political scientist and a life-long Democrat, the concerns of Clash are those raised implicitly by Trump and explicitly by what I call the soft-core elements of the alt-right. There is, of course, much racism in American history, and there are enormous crimes for which Europe continues to strive to atone. But neither anti-racism nor respect for other cultures should be turned into a national or civilizational suicide pact. Here what Irving Kristol famously wrote about Sen. Joseph McCarthy comes to mind: “There is one thing that the American people know about Senator McCarthy: he like them is unequivocally anti-Communist. About the spokesmen for American liberalism, they feel they know no such thing.”
In the now global faceoff between Western civilization versus mass immigration fused with multiculturalism, Kristol’s words describe with uncanny accuracy the dichotomy between Donald Trump and his supporters on one hand and those most feverishly denouncing him on the other. Among the former, for all their faults, are those who want, unequivocally, Western civilization to survive. About the latter, no such thing is certain. | 1 |
November 7, 2016 at 2:08 pm
Thanks, Lasha We’ll know for sure if, by some miracle, Trump becomes President. It’s just a plausible theory at the moment. I’d love to see Hellary fry for what she and her crime syndicate have done to the US. Remember the Rosenberg’s got the electric chair for their treason, giving atomic secrets to the Soviets. | 0 |
They read like descriptions of props from the script of a Hollywood heist caper, with promises to ward off “attacks” on all six sides from the usual suspects: hammer, crowbar, drill, blowtorch, nitroglycerin. That is the language of the brochures and websites of the city’s safe dealers, a small but longstanding industry that manages fears in and around the diamond district not only of disasters like fires or explosions, but also of hypothetical supervillains. When a safe is breached, word travels quickly. What happened? Whose safe was it? How did they get in? Those were the sorts of questions raised last week after a team of burglars broke into a jeweler’s office on West 36th Street on New Year’s Eve. The crime was widely reported for its scope — the thieves made off with $6 million in diamonds and other gems — and its brazen timing, occurring as the ball dropped six blocks away in a neighborhood teeming with police officers. Surveillance video showing two people hitting a door with hammers was taken immediately after midnight, the police said, when the sound of cheers would have most likely drowned out any banging. But what happened next is, to many in the safe industry, more important than the forced entry. The two safes that held the valuables, the police said, showed no sign of forced entry. The police have not provided further details on the safes. News reports have suggested investigators are looking into whether someone working for the dealer who provided the safes gave the thieves the combinations. A man answering the telephone at the office of the dealer, Lacka Safe in New Jersey, said on Friday that the owners declined to comment. As that investigation unfolds, the burglary — or “attack,” in security parlance — draws attention to the last line of defense for the city’s many jewelers, an object that, for all the advances in technology over the years, remains a box with three sides, a top, a bottom and a door. safes evoke exciting scenes from the movies, with steely safecrackers listening for clicks or drilling into dense steel with lasers. In reality, though, making safes is a hushed trade built on discretion and trust. “I get calls all the time, ‘Are your people O. K.?’” said Richard Krasilovsky of Empire Safe in Midtown. “How safe is it — all puns intended — for your people to do the work? The people know where the safe is going. I say it’s a legitimate question to ask. ” Dealers carry an array of safes and locks, including digital locks with keypads and time locks that prevent anyone from opening the door, with or without the combination, while they’re activated. The jewelers of Manhattan historically prefer more traditional designs for their safes, dealers said last week, with mechanical combination locks. “It’s an older industry,” said Dov Israeli of Precision Lock and Safe in Floral Park, N. Y. “They’re focused on price and less on what’s new. ” A jeweler typically requires a certain level of protection to satisfy its insurance company. These levels shown in ratings by Underwriters Laboratories, such as or indicate that safecrackers at the lab, using tools and torches, were unable to breach any of the six sides of the safe in 60 or 30 minutes. That is probably a greater margin of safety than the standard jeweler needs. “ point nine nine nine percent of burglars out there can’t penetrate a properly made ” Mr. Krasilovsky said. A brochure for a line of safes at Empire states that they are made of “ and armor” for “greater protection against attack,” and that they protect against everything from “hammers and simple drills, to thermal and electrical equipment, such as oxyacetylene torches and disk cutters. ” Mr. Krasilovsky said he met potential clients to offer a risk assessment based on what they were protecting and other factors, looking for what he called “an Achilles’ heel. ” “It’s very easy to sell somebody protection, which is a safe,” he said. “I try to sell prevention. Protection is a science. I don’t want the schmucks coming onto the premises. ” A cheaper safe may meet the requirements of an insurance company, while appearing to a burglar to be vulnerable. A technician sets the combination for a safe’s lock for the first time. “We have you write it on a piece of paper,” and hand it to the technician, Mr. Israeli said. Some dealers may keep a copy for a period of time, in case the safe’s owner should need it. “We tear it up — we won’t keep a combination for you,” he said. “It’s not even a service we will provide. ” | 1 |
Opinion: Hillary is the Whore of Babylon and is not Human 11/06/2016
TRACY TWYMAN
I put some of this information in an article I published yesterday morning about a larger subject. Today I have decided to isolate these segments and add more for a comprehensive piece on the subject because other relevant information has emerged.
People in the FBI think Hillary Clinton is the Anti-Christ . They are close. She is the Whore of Babylon.
Hillary was born in 1948, supposedly. I looked for this information on a hunch, after noticing several clues. And sure enough, back in 2008, someone on David Icke’s forum speculated that Hillary may have been the “Moonchild” that, according to artist Marjorie Cameron , was implanted into her own womb by rocket scientist, occultist, and Crowley associate Jack Parsons during a ritual called the “ Babalon Working .” The purpose was to birth a child to be an incarnation of what Crowley called “ Babalon ,” the Scarlet Whore with the cup of blood foretold in St. John’s Revelation that rides the Beast.
Cameron actually claimed that this fetus, after being taken from her womb, was delivered to people involved in the military’s nuclear weapons progranm, who were apparently in cahoots with Parsons, and placed inside of a nuclear bomb that was tested. But the fetus “survived,” she said, because it had been placed inside of a special canister made exactly for this purpose. For the 1945 “Trinity” bomb test they made a special canister called “Jumbo” that was supposed to to preserve the plutonium if the bomb did failed to go off. They reportedly didn’t end up using it for that, but it has been suggested that this is what preserved the fetus of the Moonchild. Presumably, it grew up to be somebody.
Crowley named one of his female consorts (who he always called his “Scarlet Women”) “Hilarion.” Her name was Jeanne Foster. Crowley’s attempt to conceive an heir as a “magical child” with Hilarion resulted, supposedly, in the child’s spirit being attached to his protege Charles Stanfield Jones back in 1909. The “attachment” allegedly occurred when Jones went through the ritual for “Crossing the Abyss” in the 11th degree of the O.T.O., which involves being ritually sodomized by everyone in the group.
Jack Parsons, another person who had willingly subjected himself to this ritual, channeled The Book of the Antichrist in 1949, where he foretold:
And within seven years of this time, BABALON, THE SCARLET WOMAN HILARION will manifest among ye, and bring this my work to its fruition.
I also believe that Hillary, with her notorious cracking voice, and possibly her rival Trump, were foretold in another document channeled by Parsons, the Book of Babalon :
Her voice is sure as the judgement trump to crack the house of wrong, Though walls are high and stone is hard and the rule of hell was long The gates shall fall and the irons break in the Birth of BABALON.
In Rome the Hilaria was a festival to the goddess Cybele (worshipped in the form of a black meteorite stone) to celebrate the “resurrection” of her son, who, as the legend states, she had been having sex with. She then became jealous of his love of others, castrated him, and let him die of bleeding (the reason why all of her priests, the Galli, were castrated, and actually considered women). She later regretted this and caused him to be brought back to life, then forced everyone under her rule to celebrate by laughing and partying joyously, as commemorated in this festival. Consider this next time you notice Hillary Clinton laughing “inappropriately.”
Also note that Hillary Clinton has made several self-depricating jokes about herself being “ not even human ” and “short-circuiting” when she gets herself twisted up in her own lies. Specifically, in October 2015, when her interviewer at Buzzfeed noted that she seemed to not be sweating, even though it was a hot day (odd, because Hillary has notoriously bad B.O.), she asked Hillary what kind of deodorant she used. Clinton’s reply was astounding.
You guys are the first to realize that I’m really not even a human being. I was constructed in a garage in Palo Alto a very long time ago… I mean, a man whose name shall remain nameless created me in his garage.
Palo Alto is the location of Stanford University, Jack Parsons’ Alma Mater. | 1 |
Alec Baldwin’s mocking parody of President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live has helped propel the show to its strongest ratings in years — but the actor denies that the impression helped Trump win the White House in November. [In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph to promote his latest animated film, The Boss Baby, the actor said that people had approached him after the election to tell him that his impression helped smooth out Trump’s edges and had helped “humanize” him. “There were people who came to me after the election and said, ‘Well, how do you feel that you are, to some degree, responsible for Trump winning the election? ’” he told the outlet. “I thought they were kidding, but they said, ‘You humanised him. You took the edges off and made him more personable. ’” “I don’t agree with that,” he added. Baldwin debuted as Trump during the 42nd season premiere of SNL in October last year. The show’s skits initially mocked the debates between Trump and former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and after Trump won, they took aim at the president’s penchant for tweeting and for his confrontation with the 9th Circuit Court over his executive orders on immigration. Baldwin has previously said that playing Trump is “not always fun,” and recently said he planned to retire the impression in the near future. “As an actor who studies other people, I was completely convinced that when Trump won, he would completely transform himself,” the actor told the Telegraph. “Like in sports, when you beat the hell out of somebody and you win, you shake hands, maybe have a beer together, and you’re a more polite, obliging person. But with Trump, there was none of that. ” “He was as bitter and miserable after he won as he was before. That is a complete mystery to me,” he added. Offscreen, Baldwin has been a fierce critic of the president. On the eve of Trump’s inauguration, the actor appeared at a rally outside Trump Tower in Manhattan alongside other celebrities including Michael Moore, Robert De Niro and Mark Ruffalo. Baldwin has also teased Trump on Twitter. But the actor says that despite his skewering of the president, he does not see his impression as being part of a larger “resistance” against Trump. “People thank me for ‘the resistance’ that I’m participating in, but I don’t see it that way,” he told the Telegraph. “I don’t mind if people do, but I don’t do it for that reason. I do it to entertain people. It’s purely about entertainment. ” Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 0 |
November 11, 2016 Syria conflict: Food rations run out in rebel-held Aleppo
The last remaining food rations are being distributed in besieged rebel-held eastern districts of the Syrian city of Aleppo, the UN has said. Humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland warned that without a resupply there would be no food left to hand out next week to the 275,000 people living there. Mr Egeland ruled out airdrops of food, explaining that they were not possible in densely-populated urban areas. Government forces launched a major assault on eastern Aleppo in September. Since then, troops have pushed into several outlying areas with the help of Iranian-backed Shia militias and Russian air strikes. Rebels launched a counter-attack in an attempt to break the siege in late October. But their progress slowed after early gains. | 0 |
As President Trump finished his first 24 hours in office by attending an interfaith prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral, German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to seek compromises with the new President on trade and military spending issues. [Speaking at a news conference in Germany, Merkel sought to be a peacemaker after the German Vice Chancellor and leader of the Social Democrats, Sigmar Gabriel, lashed out against Donald Trump’s election the day before as the result of “a bad radicalization. ” Gabriel scoffed at the new president’s inaugural speech as nationalist and protectionist. He boasted that although Trump may be a rough ride, “We should neither be submissive nor have fear. ” He threatened that if President Trump wants a trade war, “Europe and Germany need a strategy geared toward Asia and China and we have new opportunities. ” But with $111 billion in exports to the U. S. and only $49 billion of U. S. imports, Chancellor Angela Merkel fully understands that the German economy would risk great damage in a trade war with the America. In trying to chart a conciliatory posture toward Trump, Merkel acknowledged: “He made his convictions clear in his inauguration speech. ” She expressed a new willingness to compromise on trade and NATO military spending by stating: “I say two things with regards to this (speech): first, I believe firmly that it is best for all of us if we work together based on rules, common values and joint action in the international economic system, in the international trade system, and make our contributions to the military alliances. ” The political follows a joint by President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel confronting Donald Trump that “there will be no return to a world. ” The two world leaders emphasized, “We have a responsibility to our companies and citizens — actually, the entire global community — to enhance and deepen our cooperation. ” Germany has long considered a strong alliance with the United States to be a cornerstone of its foreign policy, and it will do everything it can to protect that partnership, according to Stratfor Global Intelligence. From a balance of payments deficit 15 years ago, Germany’s trade surplus with the United States has grown to almost 9 percent of Germany’s Gross Domestic Product. Despite a $62 billion surplus with the U. S. in 2016, America still funds and operates the 174 “base sites” in Germany, according to the Pentagon Budget. President Trump is not the first U. S. president to demand greater defense spending from NATO’s European members, but he is the first openly to label the alliance as obsolete and hint America might refuse to protect members that fail to contribute 2 percent of GDP. In a sign of arrogance just two days before the Trump inaugural, Germany’s defense minister announced that Berlin would increase 2017 military spending by $2. 1 billion to $39 billion in 2017, only 1. 2 percent of its GDP. With Germany enjoying the world’s largest current account surplus at $281 billion, President Trump, under existing U. S. law, can introduce “temporary safeguards” such as tariffs, to protect domestic industries threatened by certain imports. Although Trump cannot designate a country without new congressional legislation, he can luxury cars and basically shut down German exports of Mercedes and BMW to the U. S. The Trump team has not announced if they will attend the Munich Security Conference from Feb. . But Germany will try to leverage its current presidency to secure more face time with U. S. leaders during a conference of foreign affairs ministers in Bonn from Feb. and a larger summit with President Trump and top heads of state in Hamburg on July . Chancellor Merkel has promised to visit the United States this spring to meet President Trump for the first time, as preparation for the Hamburg summit. | 0 |
Obama Admits to Rigged Elections back in 2008 10/27/2016
TRUTH REVOLT
There’s a lot of accusations going around that the 2016 election is rigged. From Democrats suggesting Russia is tampering with the presidential election to a plethora of documents and undercover video that proves Democrats are trying their darnedest to sway the outcome.
President Obama has laughed off the notion that Bernie Sanders was forced out by the DNC and believes Donald Trump is out of his mind for suggesting elections are rigged. And of course, Obama would never admit that Hillary Clinton could do something wrong. But candidate Obama, in 2008, sure was concerned that the election might be rigged against him.
Video of him answering a campaign question has surfaced to put to rest the notion that he doesn’t believe in the possibility:
“Well, I tell you what: it helps in Ohio that we’ve got Democrats in charge of the machines. [Cheering] But look, I come from Chicago, so I want to be honest, it’s not as if it’s just Republicans who have monkeyed around with elections in the past, sometimes Democrats have too. You know, whenever people are in power, they’re — you know, they have this tendency to try to, you know, tilt things in their direction.”
Watch above.
The Freedom Center is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Therefore we do not endorse political candidates either in primary or general elections. However, as defenders of America’s social contract, we insist that the rules laid down by both parties at the outset of campaigns be respected, and that the results be decided by free elections. We will oppose any attempt to rig the system and deny voters of either party their constitutional right to elect candidates of their choice. | 0 |
(REUTERS) — After 15 years of development, an Israeli tech firm is optimistic it will finally get its 1, 500 kg (1. 5 tonne) passenger carrying drone off the ground and into the market by 2020. [The Cormorant, billed as a flying car, is capable of transporting 500kg (around half a tonne) of weight and traveling at 185 km (115 miles) per hour. It completed its first automated solo flight over terrain in November. Its total price is estimated at $14 million. Developers Urban Aeronautics believe the dark green drone, which uses internal rotors rather than helicopter propellers, could evacuate people from hostile environments allow military forces safe access. Read more here. | 0 |
November 9: Daily Contrarian Reads Wednesday, November 9th, 2016 My daily contrarian reads for Wednesday, November 9th, 2016. You need to login to view this content.
David Stockman’s Contra Corner isn’t your typical financial tipsheet. Instead it’s an ongoing dialogue about what’s really happening in the markets… the economy… and governments… so you can understand the world around you and make better decisions for yourself.
David believes the world -- certainly the United States -- is at a great inflection point in human history. The massive credit inflation of the last three decades has reached its apogee and is now going to splatter spectacularly.
This will have lasting ramifications on how governments tax and regulate you… the type of work you and your family members will have available and what you get paid… the value of your nest egg… and all other areas comprising your quality of life. Login
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ST. PETERSBURG, November 8. /TASS/. Russian researchers plan to resume drilling works at the world’s deepest well of about four kilometers which leads to Lake Vostok, the biggest subglacial lake in Antarctica, chief of the Russian Antarctic expedition Valery Lukin told TASS on Monday.
“We plan to resume drilling works at Lake Vostok, despite the fact that funding of the entire program of the expedition has remained at the last year’s level, or slightly more than one billion rubles ($15.67 million),” he said, adding that last year saw a break in the works at Lake Vostok as the most money consuming in the entire expedition’s program.
According to Lukin, the plan for this Antarctic summer season is to expand the well’s lower section to prevent water rise in the well during the next, third, drilling attempt to reach the lake’s water, like it happened during the first two attempts.
It is not yet decided whether the third attempt to reach the lake’s water will be made this year. “Most likely, we will not have enough time for that during this season but still there is a chance for that,” he said.
Researchers plan to arrive at the Vostok station located near the subglacial lake on December 6 and finish their mission in early February.
This year, the Russian Antarctic expedition will use three ships to get to the destination. Thus, the Akademik Fedorov is scheduled to sail off on November 12, the Akademik Tereshnikov — on November 19, and the Akademik Karpinsky — in late November. The seasonal expedition, according to Lukin, will include 120 specialists. As many as 110 polar explorers will spend the next winter at five round-the-year Antarctic stations.
Lake Vostok, measuring 250 by 50 kilometers, was discovered by the 33rd Russian Antarctic Expedition in 1987. It lies beneath some four kilometers of ice. Drilling was launched in 1989. In February 2012, researchers reached the watershed and took the first samples of water, which were found to contain traces of living organisms, hitherto unknown cold-resistant bacteria. However there was no 100% guarantee that these bacteria had originated from the subglacial lake, since water samples were polluted with priming water from the well. Months later, however, the water in the lake rose and froze at the level of 363 meters. The explorers had to drill a new well parallel to the old one from the depth of 3,406 meters.
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CHICAGO — President Obama, delivering a farewell address in the city that launched his political career, declared on Tuesday his continued confidence in the American experiment. But he warned, in the wake of a toxic presidential election, that economic inequity, racism and threatened to shred the nation’s democratic fabric. “We weaken those ties when we define some of us as more American than others,” Mr. Obama said, “when we write off the whole system as inevitably corrupt, and when we sit back and blame the leaders we elect without examining our own role in electing them. ” Speaking to a rapturous crowd that recalled the excitement of his campaign in 2008, Mr. Obama said he believed even the deepest ideological divides could be bridged. His words were nevertheless etched with frustration — a blunt coda to a remarkable day that laid bare many of the racial crosscurrents in the country. On Capitol Hill, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama presented himself as a moderate in his confirmation hearing for attorney general, while his critics denounced him as a racist. In Charleston, S. C. Dylann S. Roof, the white supremacist who shot nine black churchgoers, was sentenced to death. And here, in the cavernous convention hall where Mr. Obama celebrated his in 2012, the nation’s first black president — still popular, still optimistic — bade America goodbye 10 days before turning over his office to Donald J. Trump, who ran what his critics labeled a racist campaign. Mr. Obama pledged again to support his successor. But his speech was a thinly veiled rebuke of several of the positions Mr. Trump staked out during the campaign, from climate change and barring Muslims from entering the country to repealing his landmark health care law. “If every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hardworking white middle class and undeserving minorities,” Mr. Obama said, “then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclave. ” “If we decline to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don’t look like us, we diminish the prospects of our own children — because those brown kids will represent a larger share of America’s work force,” he added. In giving a farewell address, Mr. Obama invoked a privilege of presidents going back to George Washington. He staked his claim as the leader who steered the nation through the storms of the Great Recession to a growing economy and job market. He claimed credit for reducing the rate of uninsured Americans to record lows, while keeping a cap on health care costs. In a pointed reference to Republicans determined to repeal the health care bill that was one of the signature accomplishments of his presidency, Mr. Obama said, “If anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements we’ve made to our health care system — that covers as many people at less cost — I will publicly support it. ” There were also nostalgic moments, as well. He recalled the 2008 campaign that started him on his improbable journey to the White House. He thanked the army of volunteers and staff members who swept him into the Oval Office, ending with the iconic chant, “Yes, we can. ” And reflecting on all they had accomplished, he added, “Yes, we did. ” “It has been the honor of my life to serve you,” Mr. Obama said. “I won’t stop in fact, I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my remaining days. ” He drew some of the most thunderous applause of the night when he paid tribute to his wife, Michelle — “my best friend” — and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. — “a brother. ” As the crowd of 18, 000 clapped and stamped their feet, Mr. Obama dabbed his eyes. Afterward, Mrs. Obama and her elder daughter, Malia, appeared onstage with the president, along with Mr. Biden and his wife, Jill. The Obamas’ younger daughter, Sasha, stayed in Washington because she has an exam in school on Wednesday morning, the White House said. But Mr. Obama clearly wanted to use his last major turn on the national stage to send a message. Americans, he said, should not take their democracy for granted. Lamenting the perennially low voter turnout rates, Mr. Obama urged people to become involved. “If you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the internet,” he said, “try to talk with one in real life. ” “America is not a fragile thing,” the president said. “But the gains of our long journey to freedom are not assured. ” The White House had meticulously planned this event, from the location to the tone and cadence of the speech, which clearly reached for the oratorical heights of his addresses. The president was still rewriting his remarks on Tuesday afternoon, one of his aides said, after being up very late Monday night scrawling edits on what was then already the fourth draft. Mr. Obama’s chief speechwriter, Cody Keenan, pored over previous farewell addresses for inspiration. George Washington used the occasion to disclose he would not run for a third term and warned Americans to steer clear of foreign entanglements in Europe, while Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of the influence of the “ complex. ” Mr. Obama’s message recalled his final State of the Union address last year, as well as speeches he gave in Springfield, Ill. at the commencement ceremonies at Howard University and Rutgers University and during the Democratic National Convention. Dozens of alumni from the White House and Mr. Obama’s political operation converged on Chicago to cheer their boss. With parties all over town, the atmosphere felt like a wistful version of 2012, or even more so, of 2008, when Mr. Obama’s election drew a people to a jubilant victory celebration in nearby Grant Park. There was, however, an undeniable tinge of sadness to Mr. Obama’s — the dread among many in this crowd that his legacy will be undone by Mr. Trump, and the disappointment that, for all his political gifts, he was unable to hand over his office to his chosen successor, Hillary Clinton. “Beers and tears,” said Ben LaBolt, who served as the national press secretary for Mr. Obama’s campaign. Many said they had waited hours in the cold to get tickets, like McGee, an elementary school teacher from the Chicago suburb Country Club Hills. Those hours had a purpose. She wanted to demonstrate to her students that seeing Mr. Obama was worth the wait. “Better than waiting to shop on Black Friday. Better than waiting in line for gym shoes,” she said. But Ms. McGee was troubled by Mr. Trump’s inauguration, and the damage it could do to Mr. Obama’s legacy. “There’s so much to say about him,” she said. “He maintained class, he maintained dignity. Honestly, I don’t want him to leave, but I’m sure it will be a load off his shoulders. ” Alvin Love, a Baptist minister, walked through the crowd holding the hand of his granddaughter, Bayleigh Love, who wore a red sequined party dress. He and Mr. Obama go back 30 years, when the president was a young community organizer on the South Side. “It’s mixed emotions for me,” he said. “I’m sad to see it come to an end, but proud and happy to see the work that he’s done. ” Mr. Love said he believed Mr. Obama’s work could be sustained, even with the advent of a Trump presidency. “Any time right is done, it will sooner or later stand up again. ” | 1 |
The president of Portland State University, Wim Wiewel, met last week with 10 prospective students in Hyderabad, India. But what started as a visit quickly turned into more of a counseling session, as the students expressed fears about coming to the United States this fall. One student, who is Muslim, said his father was worried that America had an attitude, Mr. Wiewel recounted. “Several others said they were concerned about the ‘Trump effect,’” he said in an email. “I’d say the rhetoric and actual executive orders are definitely having a chilling effect,” Mr. Wiewel wrote, referring to the Trump administration’s travel ban. Like many universities across the country, the Oregon university is getting fewer international applications. Nearly 40 percent of colleges are reporting overall declines in applications from international students, according to a survey of 250 college and universities, released this week by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. The biggest decline is in applications from the Middle East. Many officials cited worries among prospective students about Trump administration immigration policies. “International student recruitment professionals report a great deal of concern from students all over the globe,” the study said. On Wednesday, the federal judge in Hawaii who blocked the latest version of the administration’s travel ban cited the financial harm the executive order posed to the state’s university system, which recruits students and hires faculty members from the six target countries. (Washington State officials raised similar concerns in successfully challenging the first travel ban.) Graduate schools appear to be feeling the worst pinch, with nearly half reporting drops. “Our deans describe it as a chilling effect,” said Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools. The numbers — while not yet final — are provoking anxiety in some programs that rely on international students, who bring more than $32 billion a year into the United States economy. International enrollment at American colleges has been on the rise over the past decade, and for the first time exceeded one million students last year. Still, despite the steady increase, the movement of students from one country to another is sensitive to fluctuations tied to political and economic forces. So some officials cautioned that a “Trump effect’ is just one possible explanation for this year’s application figures. Beyond that, many schools, including New York University, the University of Southern California and Northeastern University, reported that their international numbers are up. Purdue University reported a 1. 2 percent decline in graduate school applications. Mr. Wiewel made his trip to Hyderabad not long after residents of the city held funeral services for a young Indian man who was killed in a bar in Olathe, Kan. where he worked as an engineer. The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime. Mr. Wiewel reassured the students — all admitted to Portland State’s graduate engineering program — that his university’s environment was safe and welcoming. He was a bit surprised by their concerns, he said, because students he visited earlier in New Delhi and Bangalore had been more anxious about financing their graduate studies, apparently a reaction to India’s recent currency shortage. Other economic factors may also be involved in the application declines, Ms. Ortega said, including crude oil prices in Saudi Arabia. Also at play: uncertainty about the future of a visa program called that international graduates frequently rely on to remain in the United States to work. For several graduate schools, the Trump administration’s travel ban, which initially affected seven predominantly Muslim countries, could not have been more poorly timed. It was announced in late January as deadlines loomed for applications to some graduate programs, and it came on the heels of Mr. Trump’s virulently rhetoric during the campaign. Slumping graduate school applications can now be seen at universities ranging from giant Big Ten public universities like Ohio State and Indiana University to regional programs such as Portland State, with just over 27, 000 students, including more than 1, 900 international students. At Indiana University, international applications for undergraduate programs increased 6 percent, but graduate applications for some programs are posting big drops, said David Zaret, vice president for international affairs. Mr. Zaret said international applications to the masters program in business were down 20 percent, and down 30 percent in both the master of law program and at the School of Informatics and Computing. The university will not have problems filling the programs, but the drop might affect the overall quality of the applicant pool, he said. Ohio State has also seen an increase in international undergraduate applications but a significant overall drop — 8. 4 percent — in international applicants to its graduate programs, a university spokesman, Chris Davey, said. The biggest decline was among students from China — a fact Mr. Davey said did not support the “Trump effect” theory. In 2016, he said, there were 2, 412 graduate applications from China this year the number was down to 1, 952. “We’re inclined to say that the overarching factors that might be influencing this are probably global economic factors and it would be premature to conclude that it’s the travel ban,” Mr. Davey said. “But it certainly could be. ” Because application deadlines at several larger colleges had passed before Mr. Trump’s travel ban was announced, some universities are more worried about the “yield” — the number of students offered admission who end up enrolling, said Frances Leslie, vice provost for the graduate division at the University of California, Irvine. Applications at Irvine are not down, but students have expressed concerned about coming to the United States, Ms. Leslie said. “We’re hearing from students, even beyond the seven countries, expressing concern,” Ms. Leslie said, referring to Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, which were singled out in the first travel ban. “This year, even when students are admitted, they may not be willing to accept the offers. ” The university will not have those numbers until April 15, a national deadline for students to make a decision. At Portland State, where undergraduate international applications are up 4 percent but international graduate applications are down 15 percent, the vice provost for international affairs, Margaret Everett, said she had heard recently from a Chinese student who canceled his application, citing the political climate. “Obviously we’re concerned about the climate and the rhetoric and the administration policies and travel ban,” Ms. Everett said. | 1 |
Cyrus Mistry renames himself Rohit Sharma-Mistry, gets job back Posted on Tweet (Image via intoday.in)
Deposed chairman of Tata Group, Cyrus Mistry, has hit upon a great idea to get back his job. At a press conference earlier in the day, Mistry announced that he shall no longer be known as Cyrus Mistry, and instead asked everyone to call him Rohit Sharma-Mistry.
Fifteen minutes after Sharma-Mistry’s press conference, Ratan Rata called for a press conference and announced the group’s decision to reinstate Cyrus Mistry as the chairman of Tata Group.
“Mr. Sharma-Mistry is a rare talent who will be groomed for the future,” said Tata. “The Trustees and other directors of Tata Sons are convinced about Mr. Sharma-Mistry’s ability and firmly believe that when he gets going, he can turn around any business within one quarter.”
Later, our correspondent reached out to the jubilant Sharma-Mistry and asked him what gave him this idea. Sharma-Mistry said that the emotional atyachar at Tata Sons was irking him, but then he met an inspired god man from Chennai, Cheeni Mama, who gave him guidance.
Mr Sharma-Mistry is now considering building a temple for Cheeni Mama. “After all, our organization is known for its charitable acts, and in TN it is accepted practice to build a temple for actors, so this is very well in line with our organizational ethos,” Sharma-Mistry was quoted as saying.
(Submitted by Citizen Satirist Badri Narayanan ) | 0 |
Appearing on the Jason and Burns show on KIRO Radio, Breitbart Senior editor MILO described himself as “what the future of conservative politics has to look like. ”[“So when we talk about Milo Yiannopoulos,” began show host Zak Burns, “the brand is often defined as this racist, member who spouts hate speech and should not be allowed on college campuses. When you look back at how you’re targeted, particularly your content, do you see any points that the left is making that may be valid?” “Ah, no, not really!” replied MILO. “They’re determined to smear and lie and misrepresent at every available opportunity anyone who dares to be even slightly right of center. Now they’re particularly upset with me because I happen to be a conservative gay guy and have black boyfriends and God knows what else so they can’t get me on racism, they can’t get me on sexism, they can’t get me on homophobia, they can’t get me with any of their usual strategies. ” MILO continued, “They are left with the horrifying prospect of actually having to argue on the facts, on the merits and reasoned logic and data and they’re not very good at that. Because they haven’t been doing that for about thirty years and they’ve forgotten how. ” MILO further stated, “The name calling strategies and the smear tactics simply don’t work on me, they haven’t worked for some time actually it’s just that nobody really realised. This last election we saw exactly what the results are when the media goes after people they’re and baselessly calls them names, people tend to vote almost out of spite and mischief and defiance of the politically correct establishment. They vote for somebody, even somebody like Donald Trump. ” “I think my success is part of that too, there’s sort of two MILO’s really, there’s the MILO that the Breitbart fans know, my readers know, the people who come to my shows know which is a sort of slightly waspish, trolly, mischievous provocateur who thinks very deeply, reads very widely, and asks people to reconsider things that they thought they knew. And then there’s the version in the media which is some sort of bizarre, white supremacist monster. Nobody recognises that picture in the same way that they didn’t really recognise the picture of Donald Trump painted by CNN and The New York Times. ” “Trust me, nobody at Breitbart cares about having a token gay on staff,” said MILO discussing what it’s like to be a non stereotypical conservative. “They couldn’t give two tosses one way or the other, the fact is they like me because I’m mischievous and fun and interesting and smart and they just want me around to start conversations. You know there’s always this sort of assumption, which comes precisely from the identity politics that I’m attacking, that there must be something wrong with you, there must be some sort of tokenism going on, you’re somebody that was sort of acquired and broken into, you’re a black guy who somehow accidentally ended up Republican or you’re a gay who somehow accidentally ended up Republican and there’s something wrong with you so they’re using you because you’re atypical of the whole, well I’m not atypical of the whole. ” MILO continued, “In the last election in the UK, 50% of gay men said that they were voting for the conservatives, for the party in the UK. There are vast numbers of homosexuals, not just in the Republican party but who love Donald Trump because of course they do! He’s bombastic, he’s fantastic and camp and all the rest of it but he’s also, A) very strong on Islam and B) very strongly against political correctness. Things that are very important to gays. ” “Now nobody covers that,” said MILO. “No one really pays attention to it, you’ll never really see it in the New York Times, but it is a fact, and I’m very much not a token, in fact I’m what politics looks like now and because the media has been covering this so badly for so many decades you just haven’t worked that out yet. This is what young conservatives look like, they’re fun, mischievous, dissident, punk, trolly, good looking, fashionable. The trendy direction to go, if you want to irritate your parents, you want to get tossed out of polite society, all the things that you would have done if you were a punk in the 60’s or 70’s or you were looking at Madonna in the 90’s who was being banned from MTV, well what do you do now? You put on one of Donald Trump’s red MAGA hats. ” “I’m not a token, I’m what the future of conservative politics has to look like,” he stated. Listen to the full interview here. | 1 |
SEOUL, South Korea — A special prosecutor investigating the corruption scandal that led to President Park ’s impeachment summoned the de facto head of Samsung for questioning on Wednesday, calling him a bribery suspect. The de facto leader, Jay Y. Lee, the vice chairman of Samsung, will be questioned on Thursday, according to the special prosecutor’s office, which recommended that he also be investigated on suspicion of perjury. Mr. Lee effectively runs Samsung, South Korea’s largest conglomerate he is the son of its chairman, Lee who has been incapacitated with health problems. He is expected to be asked whether donations that Samsung made to two foundations controlled by Choi a longtime friend of the president, amounted to bribes, and what role, if any, he played in the decision to give the money. Investigators at the special prosecutor’s office have questioned other senior Samsung executives as suspects about the bribery accusations. Neither Samsung nor Mr. Lee responded immediately to the announcement on Wednesday. Allegations that Ms. Park helped Ms. Choi extort millions in bribes from Samsung and other companies are at the heart of the corruption scandal that led to the National Assembly’s vote to impeach her last month. Since then, Ms. Park’s powers have been suspended, and she is on trial at the Constitutional Court, which will ultimately decide whether to end her presidency. Last month, Mr. Lee testified at a National Assembly hearing that he was not involved in the decision by Samsung to make the donations. He also said that the donations were not voluntary, suggesting that the company was a victim of extortion, not a participant in bribery. The reference on Wednesday to possible perjury charges against Mr. Lee stemmed from that testimony. The special prosecutor’s office said it had evidence that Mr. Lee had “received a request for bribery from the president and ordered Samsung subsidiaries to send bribes to destinations designated by the president. ” It asked the National Assembly to file a perjury complaint against Mr. Lee, which would authorize the special prosecutor to open an investigation of that charge. Asked whether investigators would seek to arrest Mr. Lee on bribery charges, a spokesman for the special prosecutor’s office, Lee said, “All possibilities are open. ” In November, state prosecutors indicted Ms. Choi on charges of coercing 53 big businesses, including Samsung, to contribute $69 million to her two foundations. They identified Ms. Park as an accomplice but stopped short of filing any charges against the businesses, all of which insisted that they were under government pressure to donate. In its impeachment bill, the National Assembly asserted that the donations were bribes, made with the expectation of political favors from the president. The special prosecutor, which took over the investigations from the state prosecutors last month, has been looking into possible bribery charges against not only Ms. Park but the businesses, particularly Samsung. Ms. Park cannot be indicted while in office. Samsung gave the largest donations to Ms. Choi’s foundations, totaling $17 million. Unlike the other corporate contributors, it went beyond support for the foundations, signing an $18 million contract with a sports management company that Ms. Choi ran in Germany, to fund a program for training Korean equestrians, which mainly benefited Ms. Choi’s daughter. Samsung also contributed $1. 3 million to a winter sports program for young athletes that Ms. Choi and her nephew ran. Also on Wednesday, the special prosecutor’s office said it had acquired a tablet computer used by Ms. Choi that contained emails she exchanged with a Samsung executive. The emails contained information about the financial support provided by Samsung, the prosecutor’s office said. The special prosecutor has been investigating whether Samsung gave its support to Ms. Choi in exchange for a decision by the National Pension Service to support a contentious merger of two Samsung affiliates in 2015. Moon chairman of the pension fund, was arrested last month on charges that he illegally pressured the fund to back that merger when he was South Korea’s health and welfare minister. The national pension fund’s support was crucial for the merger, which analysts said helped Mr. Lee inherit control of Samsung from his father. | 1 |
On Friday, Tom Van Flein, chief of staff to Rep. Paul Gosar ( ) and legal counsel to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, discussed with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam the recent effort to overhaul the House ethics system. [Flein said the problem with the reform package presented, and then withdrawn, this week was that “it lacked transparency, so it was sort of dropped on the American public without any hearings, without any discussion, and that ultimately led to its failure. ” “It was a failure of process and the lack of transparency,” he emphasized. “It wasn’t because it did not have merit, however. And it was not, as the New York Times falsely stated in their Fake News, that it was ‘gutting’ the OCE [Office of Congressional Ethics] at all. It was modifying that agency to install some basic due process rights. ” “As it’s been going now, members of Congress have been subjected to secretive proceedings, abusive proceedings,” he explained. “There is a presumption of guilt. There’s a failure to disclose charges so people are not even aware of what the details are of the charges against them. They’ve been punished for simply hiring an attorney to represent them. And it’s being used for partisan purposes to get bad headlines and make people look bad. So the reforms were needed. ” “I’m very familiar with that, by the way, having represented Governor Palin,” he added. “I think I handled 23 or 24 ethics complaints, of which we got all of them dismissed, but they all caused headlines, negative headlines. And then when the matter gets dismissed, after tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and six months of proceedings, you don’t get any news update on that. It’s certainly not on the front page, which is where the complaint goes. ” Van Flein estimated that the ethics reform plan would resurface in Congress in “six months to a year. ” “When Trump sent out his tweet that said, ‘Hey, we need to focus on some other issues first,’ I think the members of Congress heard that loud and clear and said, ‘You know what? He’s right. Before we clean up our own house here, let’s get our economic package going. Let’s get our tax reform going. Let’s get the things that matter to the new President and to the new Congress. Let’s get the important issues going in the next six months. And then we can clean up messes like this at some point later,” he said. Kassam asked if it was wrong for Congress to have different priorities than the White House. “Not at all,” Van Flein replied. “It’s a separate branch of government, and they have their own priorities and their own problems to deal with. But I do think it’s been a great sign of respect to the what they did. ” He said it was hard to tell if concern about bad press, a conflict with the White House, or conflict with “vindictive” Democrats were motivating factors in withdrawing the ethics reform proposals, as Kassam suggested. “I think what was motivating is, now that there is a clear majority in the House and Senate, and a President that might sign it, that they took the opportunity to say this is long overdue. And by the way, it was bipartisan, prior to earlier this week. You would think that only the Republicans wanted to reform this. There were many Democrats previously calling for the same reforms that were presented in this package. It did not gut this agency, by the way. It just made it more transparent,” Van Flein argued. “They’re going to pursue it. It’s going to come up again,” he predicted. “Because it affects every member of Congress, and it’s extremely unfair, and they at least have the power in their lives to change the law — unlike, you know, the rest of us, when an administrative agency or a bureaucracy is unfair to the average person it takes a lot sometimes to get these changes made. ” Kassam asked if Van Flein thought the existing ethics system was abused more frequently to damage Republicans than Democrats. “In general, that appears to be the case,” he said. “Why don’t the Republicans do it back?” asked Kassam. “I would like to believe that the conservatives, at least, believe that there has to be merit before signing your name on a complaint, saying that somebody did something wrong, that there’s some factual basis for this,” Van Flein suggested. “And I would like to believe that at least the conservatives are dealing with the world of facts, rather than a world of delusion. That may not be the case, but I think it is, or at least I think the majority is that way. ” He said using spurious ethics complaints and lawsuits to preoccupy opponents and drain their financial resources implements “at least two of Alinsky’s tactics,” referring to Rules for Radicals author Saul Alinsky. “You can isolate the person and personalize it, even though what we’re really talking about are policy issues that they disagree with. They want to isolate a target and make it personal,” he explained. “And then they want to use the state’s own rules — in part that have been written by members of Congress — against themselves — hold other people accountable to the very rules that they later destroy or abandon or don’t comply with, with impunity, it seems. ” Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. LISTEN: | 1 |
Channel list
Following hurricane Matthew's failure to devastate Florida, activists flock to the Sunshine State and destroy Trump signs manually
Tim Kaine takes credit for interrupting hurricane Matthew while debating weather in Florida
Study: Many non-voters still undecided on how they're not going to vote
The Evolution of Dissent: on November 8th the nation is to decide whether dissent will stop being racist and become sexist - or it will once again be patriotic as it was for 8 years under George W. Bush
Venezuela solves starvation problem by making it mandatory to buy food
Breaking: the Clinton Foundation set to investigate the FBI
Obama captures rare Pokémon while visiting Hiroshima
Movie news: 'The Big Friendly Giant Government' flops at box office; audiences say "It's creepy"
Barack Obama: "If I had a son, he'd look like Micah Johnson"
White House edits Orlando 911 transcript to say shooter pledged allegiance to NRA and Republican Party
President George Washington: 'Redcoats do not represent British Empire; King George promotes a distorted version of British colonialism'
Following Obama's 'Okie-Doke' speech , stock of Okie-Doke soars; NASDAQ: 'Obama best Okie-Doke salesman'
Weaponized baby formula threatens Planned Parenthood office; ACLU demands federal investigation of Gerber
Experts: melting Antarctic glacier could cause sale levels to rise up to 80% off select items by this weekend
Travel advisory: airlines now offering flights to front of TSA line
As Obama instructs his administration to get ready for presidential transition, Trump preemptively purchases 'T' keys for White House keyboards
John Kasich self-identifies as GOP primary winner, demands access to White House bathroom
Upcoming Trump/Kelly interview on FoxNews sponsored by 'Let's Make a Deal' and 'The Price is Right'
News from 2017: once the evacuation of Lena Dunham and 90% of other Hollywood celebrities to Canada is confirmed, Trump resigns from presidency: "My work here is done"
Non-presidential candidate Paul Ryan pledges not to run for president in new non-presidential non-ad campaign
Trump suggests creating 'Muslim database'; Obama symbolically protests by shredding White House guest logs beginning 2009
National Enquirer: John Kasich's real dad was the milkman, not mailman
National Enquirer: Bound delegates from Colorado, Wyoming found in Ted Cruz’s basement
Iran breaks its pinky-swear promise not to support terrorism; US State Department vows rock-paper-scissors strategic response
Women across the country cheer as racist Democrat president on $20 bill is replaced by black pro-gun Republican
Federal Reserve solves budget crisis by writing itself a 20-trillion-dollar check
Widows, orphans claim responsibility for Brussels airport bombing
Che Guevara's son hopes Cuba's communism will rub off on US, proposes a long list of people the government should execute first
Susan Sarandon: "I don't vote with my vagina." Voters in line behind her still suspicious, use hand sanitizer
Campaign memo typo causes Hillary to court 'New Black Panties' vote
New Hampshire votes for socialist Sanders, changes state motto to "Live FOR Free or Die"
Martin O'Malley drops out of race after Iowa Caucus; nation shocked with revelation he has been running for president
Statisticians: one out of three Bernie Sanders supporters is just as dumb as the other two
Hillary campaign denies accusations of smoking-gun evidence in her emails, claims they contain only smoking-circumstantial-gun evidence
Obama stops short of firing US Congress upon realizing the difficulty of assembling another group of such tractable yes-men
In effort to contol wild passions for violent jihad, White House urges gun owners to keep their firearms covered in gun burkas
TV horror live: A Charlie Brown Christmas gets shot up on air by Mohammed cartoons
Democrats vow to burn the country down over Ted Cruz statement, 'The overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats'
Russia's trend to sign bombs dropped on ISIS with "This is for Paris" found response in Obama administration's trend to sign American bombs with "Return to sender"
University researchers of cultural appropriation quit upon discovery that their research is appropriation from a culture that created universities
Archeologists discover remains of what Barack Obama has described as unprecedented, un-American, and not-who-we-are immigration screening process in Ellis Island
Mizzou protests lead to declaring entire state a "safe space," changing Missouri motto to "The don't show me state"
Green energy fact: if we put all green energy subsidies together in one-dollar bills and burn them, we could generate more electricity than has been produced by subsidized green energy
State officials improve chances of healthcare payouts by replacing ObamaCare with state lottery
NASA's new mission to search for racism, sexism, and economic inequality in deep space suffers from race, gender, and class power struggles over multibillion-dollar budget
College progress enforcement squads issue schematic humor charts so students know if a joke may be spontaneously laughed at or if regulations require other action
ISIS opens suicide hotline for US teens depressed by climate change and other progressive doomsday scenarios
Virginia county to close schools after teacher asks students to write 'death to America' in Arabic
'Wear hijab to school day' ends with spontaneous female circumcision and stoning of a classmate during lunch break
ISIS releases new, even more barbaric video in an effort to regain mantle from Planned Parenthood
Impressed by Fox News stellar rating during GOP debates, CNN to use same formula on Democrat candidates asking tough, pointed questions about Republicans
Shocking new book explores pros and cons of socialism, discovers they are same people
Pope outraged by Planned Parenthood's "unfettered capitalism," demands equal redistribution of baby parts to each according to his need
John Kerry accepts Iran's "Golden Taquiyya" award, requests jalapenos on the side
Citizens of Pluto protest US government's surveillance of their planetoid and its moons with New Horizons space drone
John Kerry proposes 3-day waiting period for all terrorist nations trying to acquire nuclear weapons
Chicago Police trying to identify flag that caused nine murders and 53 injuries in the city this past weekend
Cuba opens to affordable medical tourism for Americans who can't afford Obamacare deductibles
State-funded research proves existence of Quantum Aggression Particles (Heterons) in Large Hadron Collider
Student job opportunities: make big bucks this summer as Hillary’s Ordinary-American; all expenses paid, travel, free acting lessons
Experts debate whether Iranian negotiators broke John Kerry's leg or he did it himself to get out of negotiations
Junior Varsity takes Ramadi, advances to quarterfinals
US media to GOP pool of candidates: 'Knowing what we know now, would you have had anything to do with the founding of the United States?'
NY Mayor to hold peace talks with rats, apologize for previous Mayor's cowboy diplomacy
China launches cube-shaped space object with a message to aliens: "The inhabitants of Earth will steal your intellectual property, copy it, manufacture it in sweatshops with slave labor, and sell it back to you at ridiculously low prices"
Progressive scientists: Truth is a variable deduced by subtracting 'what is' from 'what ought to be'
Experts agree: Hillary Clinton best candidate to lessen percentage of Americans in top 1%
America's attempts at peace talks with the White House continue to be met with lies, stalling tactics, and bad faith
Starbucks new policy to talk race with customers prompts new hashtag #DontHoldUpTheLine
Hillary: DELETE is the new RESET
Charlie Hebdo receives Islamophobe 2015 award ; the cartoonists could not be reached for comment due to their inexplicable, illogical deaths
Russia sends 'reset' button back to Hillary: 'You need it now more than we do'
Barack Obama finds out from CNN that Hillary Clinton spent four years being his Secretary of State
President Obama honors Leonard Nimoy by taking selfie in front of Starship Enterprise
Police: If Obama had a convenience store, it would look like Obama Express Food Market
Study finds stunning lack of racial, gender, and economic diversity among middle-class white males
NASA: We're 80% sure about being 20% sure about being 17% sure about being 38% sure about 2014 being the hottest year on record
People holding '$15 an Hour Now' posters sue Democratic party demanding raise to $15 an hour for rendered professional protesting services
Cuba-US normalization: US tourists flock to see Cuba before it looks like the US and Cubans flock to see the US before it looks like Cuba
White House describes attacks on Sony Pictures as 'spontaneous hacking in response to offensive video mocking Juche and its prophet'
CIA responds to Democrat calls for transparency by releasing the director's cut of The Making Of Obama's Birth Certificate
Obama: 'If I had a city, it would look like Ferguson'
Biden: 'If I had a Ferguson (hic), it would look like a city'
Obama signs executive order renaming 'looters' to 'undocumented shoppers'
Ethicists agree: two wrongs do make a right so long as Bush did it first
The aftermath of the 'War on Women 2014' finds a new 'Lost Generation' of disillusioned Democrat politicians, unable to cope with life out of office
White House: Republican takeover of the Senate is a clear mandate from the American people for President Obama to rule by executive orders
Nurse Kaci Hickox angrily tells reporters that she won't change her clocks for daylight savings time
Democratic Party leaders in panic after recent poll shows most Democratic voters think 'midterm' is when to end pregnancy
Desperate Democratic candidates plead with Obama to stop backing them and instead support their GOP opponents
Ebola Czar issues five-year plan with mandatory quotas of Ebola infections per each state based on voting preferences
Study: crony capitalism is to the free market what the Westboro Baptist Church is to Christianity
Fun facts about world languages: the Left has more words for statism than the Eskimos have for snow
African countries to ban all flights from the United States because "Obama is incompetent, it scares us"
Nobel Peace Prize controversy: Hillary not nominated despite having done even less than Obama to deserve it
Obama: 'Ebola is the JV of viruses'
BREAKING: Secret Service foils Secret Service plot to protect Obama
Revised 1st Amendment: buy one speech, get the second free
Sharpton calls on white NFL players to beat their women in the interests of racial fairness
President Obama appoints his weekly approval poll as new national security adviser
Obama wags pen and phone at Putin; Europe offers support with powerful pens and phones from NATO members
White House pledges to embarrass ISIS back to the Stone Age with a barrage of fearsome Twitter messages and fatally ironic Instagram photos
Obama to fight ISIS with new federal Terrorist Regulatory Agency
Obama vows ISIS will never raise their flag over the eighteenth hole
Harry Reid: "Sometimes I say the wong thing"
Elian Gonzalez wishes he had come to the U.S. on a bus from Central America like all the other kids
Obama visits US-Mexican border, calls for a two-state solution
Obama draws "blue line" in Iraq after Putin took away his red crayon
"Hard Choices," a porno flick loosely based on Hillary Clinton's memoir and starring Hillary Hellfire as a drinking, whoring Secretary of State, wildly outsells the flabby, sagging original
Accusations of siding with the enemy leave Sgt. Bergdahl with only two options: pursue a doctorate at Berkley or become a Senator from Massachusetts
Jay Carney stuck in line behind Eric Shinseki to leave the White House; estimated wait time from 15 min to 6 weeks
100% of scientists agree that if man-made global warming were real, "the last people we'd want to help us is the Obama administration"
Jay Carney says he found out that Obama found out that he found out that Obama found out that he found out about the latest Obama administration scandal on the news
"Anarchy Now!" meeting turns into riot over points of order, bylaws, and whether or not 'kicking the #^@&*! ass' of the person trying to speak is or is not violence
Obama retaliates against Putin by prohibiting unionized federal employees from dating hot Russian girls online during work hours
Russian separatists in Ukraine riot over an offensive YouTube video showing the toppling of Lenin statues
"Free Speech Zones" confuse Obamaphone owners who roam streets in search of additional air minutes
Obamacare bolsters employment for professionals with skills to convert meth back into sudafed
Gloves finally off: Obama uses pen and phone to cancel Putin's Netflix account
Joe Biden to Russia: "We will bury you by turning more of Eastern Europe over to your control!"
In last-ditch effort to help Ukraine, Obama deploys Rev. Sharpton and Rev. Jackson's Rainbow Coalition to Crimea
Al Sharpton: "Not even Putin can withstand our signature chanting, 'racist, sexist, anti-gay, Russian army go away'!"
Mardi Gras in North Korea: " Throw me some food! "
Obama's foreign policy works: "War, invasion, and conquest are signs of weakness; we've got Putin right where we want him"
US offers military solution to Ukraine crisis: "We will only fight countries that have LGBT military"
Putin annexes Brighton Beach to protect ethnic Russians in Brooklyn, Obama appeals to UN and EU for help
The 1980s: "Mr. Obama, we're just calling to ask if you want our foreign policy back . The 1970s are right here with us, and they're wondering, too."
In a stunning act of defiance, Obama courageously unfriends Putin on Facebook
MSNBC: Obama secures alliance with Austro-Hungarian Empire against Russia’s aggression in Ukraine
Study: springbreak is to STDs what April 15th is to accountants
Efforts to achieve moisture justice for California thwarted by unfair redistribution of snow in America
North Korean voters unanimous: "We are the 100%"
Leader of authoritarian gulag-site, The People's Cube, unanimously 're-elected' with 100% voter turnout
Super Bowl: Obama blames Fox News for Broncos' loss
Feminist author slams gay marriage: "a man needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle"
Beverly Hills campaign heats up between Henry Waxman and Marianne Williamson over the widening income gap between millionaires and billionaires in their district
Biden to lower $10,000-a-plate Dinner For The Homeless to $5,000 so more homeless can attend
Kim becomes world leader, feeds uncle to dogs; Obama eats dogs, becomes world leader, America cries uncle
North Korean leader executes own uncle for talking about Obamacare at family Christmas party
White House hires part-time schizophrenic Mandela sign interpreter to help sell Obamacare
Kim Jong Un executes own " crazy uncle " to keep him from ruining another family Christmas
OFA admits its advice for area activists to give Obamacare Talk at shooting ranges was a bad idea
President resolves Obamacare debacle with executive order declaring all Americans equally healthy
Obama to Iran: "If you like your nuclear program, you can keep your nuclear program"
Bovine community outraged by flatulence coming from Washington DC
Obama: "I'm not particularly ideological; I believe in a good pragmatic five-year plan"
Shocker: Obama had no knowledge he'd been reelected until he read about it in the local newspaper last week
Server problems at HealthCare.gov so bad, it now flashes 'Error 808' message
NSA marks National Best Friend Day with official announcement: "Government is your best friend; we know you like no one else, we're always there, we're always willing to listen"
Al Qaeda cancels attack on USA citing launch of Obamacare as devastating enough
The President's latest talking point on Obamacare: "I didn't build that"
Dizzy with success, Obama renames his wildly popular healthcare mandate to HillaryCare
Carney: huge ObamaCare deductibles won't look as bad come hyperinflation
Washington Redskins drop 'Washington' from their name as offensive to most Americans
Poll: 83% of Americans favor cowboy diplomacy over rodeo clown diplomacy
GOVERNMENT WARNING: If you were able to complete ObamaCare form online, it wasn't a legitimate gov't website; you should report online fraud and change all your passwords
Obama administration gets serious, threatens Syria with ObamaCare
Obama authorizes the use of Vice President Joe Biden's double-barrel shotgun to fire a couple of blasts at Syria
Sharpton: "British royals should have named baby 'Trayvon.' By choosing 'George' they sided with white Hispanic racist Zimmerman"
DNC launches 'Carlos Danger' action figure; proceeds to fund a charity helping survivors of the Republican War on Women
Nancy Pelosi extends abortion rights to the birds and the bees
Hubble discovers planetary drift to the left
Obama: 'If I had a daughter-in-law, she would look like Rachael Jeantel'
FISA court rubberstamps statement denying its portrayal as government's rubber stamp
Every time ObamaCare gets delayed, a Julia somewhere dies
GOP to Schumer: 'Force full implementation of ObamaCare before 2014 or Dems will never win another election'
Obama: 'If I had a son... no, wait, my daughter can now marry a woman!'
Janet Napolitano: TSA findings reveal that since none of the hijackers were babies, elderly, or Tea Partiers, 9/11 was not an act of terrorism
News Flash: Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) can see Canada from South Dakota
Susan Rice: IRS actions against tea parties caused by anti-tax YouTube video that was insulting to their faith
Drudge Report reduces font to fit all White House scandals onto one page
Obama: the IRS is a constitutional right, just like the Second Amendment
White House: top Obama officials using secret email accounts a result of bad IT advice to avoid spam mail from Nigeria
Jay Carney to critics: 'Pinocchio never said anything inconsistent'
Obama: If I had a gay son, he'd look like Jason Collins
Gosnell's office in Benghazi raided by the IRS: mainstream media's worst cover-up challenge to date
IRS targeting pro-gay-marriage LGBT groups leads to gayest tax revolt in U.S. history
After Arlington Cemetery rejects offer to bury Boston bomber, Westboro Babtist Church steps up with premium front lawn plot
Boston: Obama Administration to reclassify marathon bombing as 'sportsplace violence'
Study: Success has many fathers but failure becomes a government program
US Media: Can Pope Francis possibly clear up Vatican bureaucracy and banking without blaming the previous administration?
Michelle Obama praises weekend rampage by Chicago teens as good way to burn calories and stay healthy
This Passover, Obama urges his subjects to paint lamb's blood above doors in order to avoid the Sequester
White House to American children: Sequester causes layoffs among hens that lay Easter eggs; union-wage Easter Bunnies to be replaced by Mexican Chupacabras
Time Mag names Hugo Chavez world's sexiest corpse
Boy, 8, pretends banana is gun, makes daring escape from school
Study: Free lunches overpriced, lack nutrition
Oscars 2013: Michelle Obama announces long-awaited merger of Hollywood and the State
Joe Salazar defends the right of women to be raped in gun-free environment: 'rapists and rapees should work together to prevent gun violence for the common good'
Dept. of Health and Human Services eliminates rape by reclassifying assailants as 'undocumented sex partners'
Kremlin puts out warning not to photoshop Putin riding meteor unless bare-chested
Deeming football too violent, Obama moves to introduce Super Drone Sundays instead
Japan offers to extend nuclear umbrella to cover U.S. should America suffer devastating attack on its own defense spending
Feminists organize one billion women to protest male oppression with one billion lap dances
Urban community protests Mayor Bloomberg's ban on extra-large pop singers owning assault weapons
Concerned with mounting death toll, Taliban offers to send peacekeeping advisers to Chicago
Karl Rove puts an end to Tea Party with new 'Republicans For Democrats' strategy aimed at losing elections
Answering public skepticism, President Obama authorizes unlimited drone attacks on all skeet targets throughout the country
Skeet Ulrich denies claims he had been shot by President but considers changing his name to 'Traps'
White House releases new exciting photos of Obama standing, sitting, looking thoughtful, and even breathing in and out
New York Times hacked by Chinese government, Paul Krugman's economic policies stolen
White House: when President shoots skeet, he donates the meat to food banks that feed the middle class
To prove he is serious, Obama eliminates armed guard protection for President, Vice-President, and their families; establishes Gun-Free Zones around them instead
State Dept to send 100,000 American college students to China as security for US debt obligations
Jay Carney: Al Qaeda is on the run, they're just running forward
President issues executive orders banning cliffs, ceilings, obstructions, statistics, and other notions that prevent us from moving forwards and upward
Fearing the worst, Obama Administration outlaws the fan to prevent it from being hit by certain objects
World ends; S&P soars
Riddle of universe solved; answer not understood
Meek inherit Earth, can't afford estate taxes
Greece abandons Euro; accountants find Greece has no Euros anyway
Wheel finally reinvented; axles to be gradually reinvented in 3rd quarter of 2013
Bigfoot found in Ohio, mysteriously not voting for Obama
As Santa's workshop files for bankruptcy, Fed offers bailout in exchange for control of 'naughty and nice' list
Freak flying pig accident causes bacon to fly off shelves
Obama: green economy likely to transform America into a leading third world country of the new millennium
Report: President Obama to visit the United States in the near future
Obama promises to create thousands more economically neutral jobs
Modernizing Islam: New York imam proposes to canonize Saul Alinsky as religion's latter day prophet
Imam Rauf's peaceful solution: 'Move Ground Zero a few blocks away from the mosque and no one gets hurt'
Study: Obama's threat to burn tax money in Washington 'recruitment bonanza' for Tea Parties
Study: no Social Security reform will be needed if gov't raises retirement age to at least 814 years
Obama attends church service, worships self
Obama proposes national 'Win The Future' lottery; proceeds of new WTF Powerball to finance more gov't spending
Historical revisionists: "Hey, you never know"
Vice President Biden: criticizing Egypt is un-pharaoh
Israelis to Egyptian rioters: "don't damage the pyramids, we will not rebuild"
Lake Superior renamed Lake Inferior in spirit of tolerance and inclusiveness
Al Gore: It's a shame that a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of polar bears
Michael Moore: As long as there is anyone with money to shake down, this country is not broke
Obama's teleprompters unionize, demand collective bargaining rights
Obama calls new taxes 'spending reductions in tax code.' Elsewhere rapists tout 'consent reductions in sexual intercourse'
Obama's teleprompter unhappy with White House Twitter: "Too few words"
Obama's Regulation Reduction committee finds US Constitution to be expensive outdated framework inefficiently regulating federal gov't
Taking a page from the Reagan years, Obama announces new era of Perestroika and Glasnost
Responding to Oslo shootings, Obama declares Christianity "Religion of Peace," praises "moderate Christians," promises to send one into space
Republicans block Obama's $420 billion program to give American families free charms that ward off economic bad luck
White House to impose Chimney tax on Santa Claus
Obama decrees the economy is not soaring as much as previously decreeed
Conservative think tank introduces children to capitalism with pop-up picture book "The Road to Smurfdom"
Al Gore proposes to combat Global Warming by extracting silver linings from clouds in Earth's atmosphere
Obama refutes charges of him being unresponsive to people's suffering: "When you pray to God, do you always hear a response?"
Obama regrets the US government didn't provide his mother with free contraceptives when she was in college
Fluke to Congress: drill, baby, drill!
Planned Parenthood introduces Frequent Flucker reward card: 'Come again soon!'
Obama to tornado victims: 'We inherited this weather from the previous administration'
Obama congratulates Putin on Chicago-style election outcome
People's Cube gives itself Hero of Socialist Labor medal in recognition of continued expert advice provided to the Obama Administration helping to shape its foreign and domestic policies
Hamas: Israeli air defense unfair to 99% of our missiles, "only 1% allowed to reach Israel"
Democrat strategist: without government supervision, women would have never evolved into humans
Voters Without Borders oppose Texas new voter ID law
Enraged by accusation that they are doing Obama's bidding, media leaders demand instructions from White House on how to respond
Obama blames previous Olympics for failure to win at this Olympics
Official: China plans to land on Moon or at least on cheap knockoff thereof
Koran-Contra: Obama secretly arms Syrian rebels
Poll: Progressive slogan 'We should be more like Europe' most popular with members of American Nazi Party
Obama to Evangelicals: Jesus saves, I just spend
May Day: Anarchists plan, schedule, synchronize, and execute a coordinated campaign against all of the above
Midwestern farmers hooked on new erotic novel "50 Shades of Hay"
Study: 99% of Liberals give the rest a bad name
Obama meets with Jewish leaders, proposes deeper circumcisions for the rich
Historians: Before HOPE & CHANGE there was HEMP & CHOOM at ten bucks a bag
Cancer once again fails to cure Venezuela of its "President for Life"
Tragic spelling error causes Muslim protesters to burn local boob-tube factory
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu: due to energy conservation, the light at the end of the tunnel will be switched off
Obama Administration running food stamps across the border with Mexico in an operation code-named "Fat And Furious"
Pakistan explodes in protest over new Adobe Acrobat update; 17 local acrobats killed
White House: "Let them eat statistics"
Special Ops: if Benedict Arnold had a son, he would look like Barack Obama | 1 |
11/15/2016 at 6:06 am
Even after the election the Clinton side continues with lawless agitation, intimidation and violence in the streets, demonstrating to reasonable people everywhere that Americans did make the right choice. Thank you MSM and Mr. Soros for showing everyone just how free, democratic, big hearted and open the globalist new world order would really be if Hillary had won.
If the US election rules had been that the candidates had to win the popular vote in order to be elected, then Trump would have campaigned more vigorously in the large cities and likely also would have won that contest in a landslide. But how much more of a landslide that would have been can be seen by considering what really happened.
The people who supported Trump mainly voted for jobs and to save core values and constitutional rights from a misguided globalism being imposed upon them. They were essentially voting to save their nation from an establishment which has been systematically outsourcing just about everything which matters to them. However, despite the stakes they were and remain essentially principled people adhering to the electoral rules of fair play for lawful democratic change. The Clinton side on the other hand appeared devoid of any real principles other than their own interests. During the election the Clinton side used intimidation tactics of paid agitators. They cheated by swelling voters lists by opening the border and signing up droves of illegal immigrants. Even voter fraud and rigged voting machines were acceptable to them. But most of all they were supported by an absolutely biased, corrupt and lying mainstream media. The effect of the media was so pervasive that Trump supporters were generally so ridiculed and shunned that few made their views known. Without such dishonest, illegal and oppressive tactics by the Clinton side, the Trump vote would most certainly have been much much greater. In the circumstances the Clinton loss could not be more embarrassing for her, her party and the MSM.
Paul Formby | 0 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Donald Trump is under fire for his choice of Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist. Civil rights groups, Democrats and some Republicans warn that Mr. Bannon, above at Trump Tower, represents racist and nationalist views. Kellyanne Conway, another adviser, defended Mr. Bannon as a “brilliant tactician. ” Mr. Bannon’s former home, Breitbart News, meanwhile, is reveling in Mr. Trump’s victory and eyeing expansion. Critics say it could play an unprecedented role in a modern presidency. ____ 2. In Washington, President Obama stressed the importance of a peaceful transition. He described Mr. Trump as a “pragmatist” rather than an ideologue. He said he would encourage Mr. Trump to allow immigrants who came as children to stay. Then he set off on his last major foreign trip as president. The journey will include stops in Greece, Germany and Peru, and meetings with European leaders, China’s president and Australia’s prime minister. White House officials have said he is prepared to spend the trip talking about Mr. Trump. ____ 3. Since Election Day, there has been a wave of reports of bias attacks, harassment and vandalism. And the F. B. I. reported that hate crimes surged last year, led by attacks on Muslims. Many attacks have also been countered by acts of public support and solidarity, as in the case of the Iraqi family living in Maryland, above, after they found a threat taped to their door. Mr. Trump said he was surprised to hear that some of his supporters were making racial threats and told them to stop it. ___ 4. The International Criminal Court is considering a investigation in Afghanistan, after a prosecutor said she had a “reasonable basis to believe” that American soldiers there committed war crimes, including torture. The U. S. is not a party to the court, but Afghanistan is. So allegations of crimes committed in its territory are considered fair game. ___ 5. Interviews with more than two dozen medical personnel who served or consulted at the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, reveal how secrecy, mistrust and the shadow of interrogation limited doctors’ ability to treat detainees who became mentally ill, some after being subjected to torture or other harsh coercive practices. ___ 6. Gwen Ifill, the PBS journalist and debate moderator, died of cancer in Washington. She was 61. “She not only informed today’s citizens, but she also inspired tomorrow’s journalists,” Mr. Obama said. Ms. Ifill had a long career, reporting for NBC and The New York Times, and moderated the Democratic presidential primary debate between Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders in February. ____ 7. Since Cuba and the United States began to normalize relations two years ago, Cuba has become a destination for cancer patients seeking an immunotherapy vaccine developed there. Dozens of Americans suffering from lung cancer have slipped into Havana and smuggled vials of the drug Cimavax back home. And judging from online patients’ forums, more are making plans to do so. ____ 8. Apple’s new MacBook Pro is the latest generation of a laptop beloved by creative professionals and coders. It’s light and fast, but is not for everyone, our critic writes, given its sole type of connection port, an unhelpful Touch Bar and a big price tag. ____ 9. There will be no female president come January. But in the days leading up to the election, there was a distinct possibility that this gender barrier would be breached. So we asked women to tell us about their own vividly recalled barriers. Almost 1, 200 responded. Here are some of their stories. ____ 10. Michael Stipe is ready to return to music. Since R. E. M. broke up five years ago, he has spent most of his time working on sculpture. But then he performed in tributes to David Bowie this year. He also got involved in the reissue of R. E. M. ’s hit album “Out of Time,” coming Friday, which includes demos, an acoustic live recording and the record’s eight ambitious music videos. ____ 11. Finally, when it comes to heart disease, terrible habits erase about half of the benefits of good genes, a new study found. Thankfully, the phenomenon works the other way, too. For people with a genetic risk of heart disease, healthy habits like abstaining from smoking, moderate exercise and a diet heavy in fruits, vegetables and grains are potent weapons to defy your DNA. ____ 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 Friday’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 1 |
This is what the future looks like. This is beyond our control.
The inexorable logic of consolidation now operates beyond what used to be reciognizable industry boundaries. It is only a matter of time, possibly very little time, before consolidated corporate entities employ national militaries to openly operate against each other. | 0 |
WASHINGTON, D. C. — New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind ( ) has penned an open letter and accompanied it with a video titled, “Questions for Linda Sarsour from Assemblyman Hikind,” asking the leftist Sharia advocate why she allegedly supports terrorism.[ “Your support for terrorism on many different occasions,” Hikind says in the video. “That’s the question that all of us have that we don’t understand. And, maybe, Linda you can respond to everyone so that we understand better. ” Sarsour, who was selected to deliver the keynote speech at CUNY’s School of Public Health on June 1, has held controversial positions and associations in the past. “I invite Linda Sarsour to publicly address these vital points about her past and her agenda,” Hikind says. WATCH RETWEET! Social justice activist or terrorist advocate? @lsarsour has some questions to answer. #ExposeSarsour pic. twitter. — Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) May 1, 2017, Hikind noted that Sarsour stood on a stage with convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh last month and said she was “honored and privileged” to do so. Odeh, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was convicted by an Israeli court for her role in the murder of Israeli students Leon Kanner and Eddie Joffe. Odeh is scheduled for deportation from the United States after she pled guilty to falsifying information on her U. S. immigration papers. “The actions of Rasmea Odeh who you praise, Linda Sarsour. You need to explain it,” Hikind said. He then asked Sarsour to explain her reported glorification of rock throwing by Arab children at Israelis, calling it “the definition of courage. ” The definition of courage. #Palestine pic. twitter. — Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) October 12, 2015, “You think this is a courageous act to pick up rocks and throw them at cars?” Hikind posited. He noted that those rocks have seriously injured people and killed people in cars. In 2013, a girl died after the car she was in was attacked by rocks. Adele Biton was in a coma for two years before succumbing to her injuries and developing pneumonia. In a press release, Hikind noted, “I hope everyone who admires Sarsour’s association with the Women’s movement — which I also support — will watch this brief but important video. ” Follow Adelle Nazarian on Facebook and Twitter. | 0 |
Trump Launches Twitter Attack on Brazilian Beauty Pageant Terrorist Big Chimney, WV From the campaign trail, Trump took aim at terrorism Saturday morning at 3 a.m. Apparently, 1996 Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who Trump likes to refer to as "Miss Piggy," needed taking down so as to prevent her from committing terror... Trump Adds NDA to Pledge of Allegiance Always thinking ahead, presidential candidate Donald Trump added a non-disparagement clause to the American Pledge of Allegiance for when he is president. Reciting the new pledge will legally restrict citizens from criticizing Trump, his family or... Trump Campaign Reacts To Trump Sex Tape , "Not Everything Longer Than It Is Thick Out of Which White Fluid Comes Jetting in Successive, Pumping Streams Represents A Spasmodic Penis In The Undulating Throes Of A Massive Ejaculation" New York, NY - The Trump campaign today shot back at the Clinton camp over Clinton's characterizations of a year 2000 Playboy video in which Trump appears opening a bottle of champagne, surrounded by topless and scantily clad "broads" who bounce up a... Farage Schools Trump in the Art of the Ferret Nigel Farage, key political Brexit salesman, has been called in as debate coach to Donald Trump for the upcoming town hall style presidential debate on October 9. Farage is free to take on free-lance work since resigning in early July as leader... | 0 |
A chilling Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( MoFA ) “urgent action” report issued to all Federation ministries within the past hour is warning that the United States is now suffering a complete breakdown in its normal governmental functions after the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) notified President Obama that all of Hillary Clinton’s believed to be deleted and/or destroyed secret emails have now been completely recovered . [Note: Some words and/or phrases appearing in quotes in this report are English language approximations of Russian words/phrases having no exact counterpart.]
According to a Foreign Intelligence Service ( SVR ) addendum to this MoFA “urgent action” report, the FBI was able to recover all of Hillary Clinton’s once secret emails from the computer shared by her campaign vice chairman Huma Abedin and sexual deviant husband Anthony Weiner— both of whom are now under the protection of the FBI as “cooperating witnesses” against Hillary Clinton.
To exactly how all of Hillary Clinton’s secret emails and documents ended up on the Abedin-Weiner laptop computer, the SVR explains, was due to its use of the Outlook and IMAP email protocols that will sync any folder, on any device, they are told to monitor and can be told to make local copies of emails —which simply means that Abedin used the laptop computer she shared with her disgraced husband to back up every communication Hillary Clinton ever made—and that numbered 650,000 copies of emails, documents and other communications .
Unbeknownst, however, to both Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin, and everyone else aiding their criminality, this report continues, is that when the US Congress ordered all of these secret emails turned over to them, Clinton, in turn, ordered them all destroyed —but with her, and those aiding her, failing to realize that when these emails were “bleached” (a computer program used to destroy hard drives) from her secret private server they did so with it offline, meaning that it wasn’t able to “backtrack” to the Abedin-Weiner laptop to destroy all of the backups emails, documents and communications discovered by the FBI .
Though the exact contents of these now discovered Hillary Clinton secret emails it is not fully “known/understood” by the SVR, this report notes, the FBI agents who have been documenting their contents have become so horrified by what they’re discovering they are now reporting to the American press that Hillary Clinton is the “antichrist personified” .
Even worse, this report continues, with new Wikileaks showing that not only is Hillary Clinton and her criminal money laundering organization, known as the Clinton Foundation, being investigated by the FBI, nearly every other US intelligence and tax agency have, likewise, begun investigations too .
Thus leading, this report gravely explains, to a complete breakdown in the rule of law in the United States as the main investigators into Hillary Clinton’s crimes are all now known to be her supporters who have received tens-of-millions of dollars in “gifts/bribes” to protect her —and that led former CIA agent and American diplomat Dr. Steve Pieczenik to personally notify President Putin this past week that the US intelligence community has now launched a counter-coup against Hillary Clinton .
This report concludes by noting that not only did Dr. Pieczenik take the extraordinary “measure/step” of informing President Putin of this US intelligence community counter-coup, he also posted his warning to YouTube for all of the American people to see too—but that in spite of its extraordinarily being viewed by over 2.5 million of these peoples in less than 24 hours , the Hillary Clinton supporting global tech giant Google has suppressed this fact from its main trends— giving the top place, instead, to a video mocking Americans that has only 1.6 million views , and that stunningly doesn’t include Dr. Pieczenik’s warning video at all .
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Lookout Below! The Dream Is Ending By David Stockman. Our Tuesday discussion about the cracking sounds emanating from the global bond bubble turned out to be timely. In fact, yesterday's action in the casino provided further hints about the great unwind ahead. That's because the stock market sell-off did not confirm to the phony risk on/risk off dynamic that has prevailed since the financial crisis. That is, there was no robo-trader rotation into the bond market, even as the stock market was on "offer" most of the day. | 0 |
Sunday at the University of Notre Dame graduation ceremony in South Bend, IN, dozens of students marched out of the stadium moments after Vice President Mike Pence took the stage. Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 0 |
President Donald Trump’s and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, played a key role in the Trump administration’s decision to back down from its threat to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). [Exactly what that role involved, however, is a matter of dispute. Kushner was a conduit between Canadian officials and the Trump administration but accounts differ about the details. Last month, various news reports said that Trump was preparing to invoke Article 2205 of NAFTA, the first step in withdrawing from the trade agreement that the U. S. president had attacked so fiercely on the campaign trail. Several hours later, however, the administration appeared to reverse course, saying Trump had been persuaded by the leaders of Mexico and Canada to stay in the deal. “Two people that I like very much, the president of Mexico, prime minister of Canada, they called up, they said, can we negotiate? I said yes, we can renegotiate,” Trump explained at a rally in Pennsylvania a few days later. The events of April 26 set off a torrent of speculation about what really happened inside the White House. Some said that the administration had been bluffing all along, using the talk about the withdrawal to get Canada and Mexico to take seriously its plans to renegotiate the trade agreement. Others said the turnaround reflected a struggle within the White House between economic nationalists like chief strategist Steve Bannon and National Trade Council chief Peter Navarro and globalist hardliners such as National Economic Council head Gary Cohn. Bannon and Navarro had reportedly drafted an executive order that would have initiated the withdrawal process. The globalists in the business community had sprung into action following reports on the imminent order from from the New York Times, CNN and others. Now reports have emerged that put Kushner at the center of the globalist effort to save NAFTA. According to the news service The Canadian Press, Kushner called the chief of staff of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to suggest that the prime minister immediately call Trump. The staffer, Katie Telford, called the prime minister who then called Trump, according to the Canadian Press. White House officials tell a slightly different story. They say that Kushner was contacted by Trudeau or his aides earlier in the day, and that Kushner agreed to set up a time for a phone call later in the day. The two stories differ about who reached out to whom first. They agree, however, that Kushner’s call to the Canadians is what prompted the call between Trump and Trudeau that the U. S. president says convinced him to back away from exiting NAFTA. | 0 |
Written by Daniel McAdams Thursday October 27, 2016 Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of President George W. Bush signing the PATRIOT Act into law. It was supposed to be only a temporary measure to address the emergency situation caused by the attacks of 9/11. Fifteen years later it has been re-authorized many times and last year some of its worst parts were codified into law in the USA FREEDOM Act. From the War Powers Resolution, to the FISA Court, to the "reform" USA FREEDOM Act, bills that were designed to rein in government abuses end up just giving government more power. Is there anything we can do about it? RPI Senior Fellow Adam Dick joins today's Liberty Report to discuss: Copyright © 2016 by RonPaul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given. | 0 |
The winner of the feature race on Monday at Aqueduct, it was noted, ran starting in front and ending that way as the race’s second wagering choice. And yet, despite the bettors’ confidence, the outcome was extraordinarily unusual, and all but unnoticed. The winning owners are brothers who were born in Jamaica: Gaston and Anthony Grant. Gaston Grant served as the horse’s trainer — a labor of love that he juggles with his job as a driver for UPS. The rider, Kendrick Carmouche, was a jockey from Louisiana. All are black. On a rare Monday of live horse racing at Aqueduct, in South Ozone Park, Queens, the sight in the winner’s circle was rarer still, in a sport with few black participants and on a holiday card that coincided with Martin Luther King’s Birthday. The winner’s trophy for the race, the Toboggan Stakes, was even presented by Sentell Taylor Jr. a placing judge who has worked at New York tracks for more than 50 years Mr. Taylor is also black. “After the race, I said, ‘Would you look at this?’ ” Mr. Taylor remarked. “It all fell into place. I was surprised. ” Still, the significance and rarity of the moment seemed lost. It went unmentioned in various accounts of the race the New York Racing Association, which runs Aqueduct, did not note it on its social media accounts or in its news release. It even mostly escaped Gaston Grant, the owner and trainer of the winner, Green Gratto, a thoroughbred. For Mr. Grant, who currently trains six horses, the import of the day was more in the victory than the holiday. “I didn’t even really think about it until just now,” Mr. Grant said. Mr. Grant keeps his horses on the backstretch at Aqueduct, tending to them in the morning before heading off to his other day job delivering packages. He was introduced to the track by his father, but his involvement in the sport was confined to gambling until about 20 years ago, when he picked up work as a groom and a a person who cools down a horse after a race. He finally obtained his trainer’s license two years ago. From 2005 to 2014, the feature race on this January holiday was the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes, named for the black jockey who won the Kentucky Derby in 1901 and 1902. Winkfield would go on to be an international star after racism in his native country forced him to pursue his career overseas. More than a century later, there are still few black jockeys at most American racetracks, and the Winkfield Stakes, which will take place next month, was never won by a black rider when it was held on the day honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Anytime something like this happens, and I’m involved, and my people are involved, it’s significant and I’m happy,” Mr. Taylor said of the victory for Green Gratto’s connections. Indeed, the outcome of the Toboggan Stakes — first run in New York in 1893, and the replacement for the Winkfield Stakes — created an unexpected commemoration of the holiday. “It seems like it was bound for us to win that race,” Mr. Carmouche said. “My birthday is Wednesday and it always falls near Martin Luther King Day, and it seems like everything I do this week is for him. ” The son and grandson of jockeys, Mr. Carmouche remembers being placed onto a horse for the first time when he was 7 or 8 years old. By the time he was 16, he had gotten his jockey’s license. His first win came in 2000 for Shelton Zenon, a black trainer, on a horse called Earl N Erin at Evangeline Downs in Louisiana. But since he left that state, where black jockeys and trainers are more common than they are at Northern tracks, his mounts for black trainers have been less frequent. “There are very few,” Mr. Carmouche said. “To be honest, I think that black families don’t bring their kids around the racetrack as much. You have to really love horses and to be around them for a long time, to not feel afraid of them to ride them. ” After leaving Louisiana, Mr. Carmouche rode at tracks in Texas and the before making the move to New York to try to make an impact in one of the toughest jockey colonies in the country. He will be 33 on Wednesday, and is in second place in the jockey standings for the current Aqueduct meeting. “I have a dream, to become a top rider,” he said, deliberately invoking Dr. King. “From the day I was born until now, and I’m living my dream. ” | 1 |
WASHINGTON – A new report and scorecard grades 20 of the largest food retailers in the U.S on their policies and practices regarding pollinator protection, organic offerings and pesticide... | 0 |
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a new report that reveals that individual health insurance premiums doubled under Obamacare. [Health insurance premiums doubled since 2013, the year before many Obamacare regulations and mandates took effect. The Obama administration compiled the data for the report, which was produced by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). HHS spokesperson Alleigh Marré stated, “With data that shows average premiums doubling nationwide and Americans paying nearly $3, 000 more for health insurance per year, this report is a sobering reminder of why reforming our healthcare system remains a top priority of the Trump Administration. The status quo is unsustainable. ” According to the report: See the rest of the HHS’s report here: | 0 |
FBI Sources believe Clinton Foundation case is “likely moving toward an indictment” Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier reports the latest news about the Clinton Foundation investigation from two sources inside the FBI. He reveals five important new pieces of information: 1. The Clinton Foundation investigation is far more expansive than anybody has reported so far and has been going on for more than a year. 2. The laptops of Clinton aides Cherryl Mills and Heather Samuelson have not been destroyed, and agents are currently combing through them. The investigation has interviewed several people twice, and plans to interview some for a third time. 3. Agents have found emails believed to have originated on Hillary Clinton’s secret server on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. They say the emails are not duplicates and could potentially be classified in nature. 4. Sources within the FBI have told him that an indictment is “likely” in the case of pay-for-play at the Clinton Foundation, “barring some obstruction in some way” from the Justice Department. 5. FBI sources say with 99% accuracy that Hillary Clinton’s server has been hacked by at least five foreign intelligence agencies, and that information had been taken from it. | 0 |
November 21, 2016 - Fort Russ News -
- Ronald ZONCA , in Boulevard Voltaire, translated by Tom Winter -
It has to be said: the International Criminal Court is just another means of repression and oppression of sovereign peoples.
Russia has just signified its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in view of its inefficiency and its partiality in choosing what to investigate. A reading of the "Report on Preliminary Examination Activities in 2016" proves that it's a matter of justice by fiat.
The case of Ukraine is particularly revealing. This country is not a signatory to the Rome Statute and therefore does not recognize the ICC. But it intervenes on complaints filed by the current government, even though the current government came out of a coup d'etat.
The investigations concern only the snipers of the Maïdan, the Donbass, and the Crimea. There were no investigations into the Odessa fire, where 50 people were burnt alive, nor on the cut-off of water and electricity in the Crimea, which could be described as a crime against humanity.
The case of Ukraine's winter power cut deserves our attention.
This has done serious injury to the inhabitants of Crimea because it means an end to water distribution, the pumps being inoperative, and to heating, as the boilers can not function. Responsibility for this cut is claimed by Tatar activists. The leaders of these activists are not only not prosecuted but are heard on allegations of abuse of the Crimean Tatars.
Let us recall that Crimean Tatars also live in the Crimea and have suffered the consequences of cuts in electricity and water.
Among the few convictions, the Milošević case is exemplary. He is a man who suffered eleven years of pre-trial detention, died in suspicious prison conditions, and who has just been cleared this year by the same court that sentenced him.
Though the ICC aspires to world jurisdiction, given that major states such as China, India, and Russia are not or are no longer signatories to the Rome Statute that founded the ICC, the legitimacy of this body is therefore only Western. African states such as South Africa, Guinea and Burundi have left the institution, tired of seeing Africa hosting all the ICC field offices. The New York office acts in a liaison role, not to say a directory, nor an investigative role.
The ICC, the UN, the IMF and other institutions of coercion fulfill their missions. These institutions were created by the US, for the US, and they support them in their attempt to dominate the world.
The peoples are no longer able to turn away from the values of humanism, justice, the right to self-determination, and they see multipolarity as a prerequisite for existence and independence. A free world is first and foremost a multipolar world.
The United States is a great nation. Paraphrasing Churchill, we can say that i f other nations are ready to learn from this great and respectable people, they do not intend to be taught every day.
After 14 years of operation, it is clear that the ICC is just one more organ for the repression and oppression of sovereign peoples.
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Ending the drought environmentalists called “permanent,” the heavy rains that hit California over the last few months have spawned a wildflower super bloom that can actually be seen from space. [California has suffered a drought that threatened the whole state — draining reservoirs, forcing water bans, and threatening farms — but after seeing over ten inches of spring rains, the state is in bloom again, The Washington Post reported. The best proof of the amazing change brought by the rains is the satellite photos taken across the state, photos that show the amazing greening of California. The California Poppy Reserve is a perfect example. A satellite photo of the region taken in 2016 shows a giant brown patch spotted in a few mottled green spaces. Yet, a photo taken this year shows rich greens and large swaths of poppy orange blooms covering vast areas. Photos from the Carrizo Plain show a similar change. In 2016 the whole area was a dismal brown. Now it rebounds with green. The images of the Los Padres National Forest are even more dramatic, going from the very definition of barren to an area covered in lush greens. Even as environmentalists insisted that California was in a permanent drought that would never again be relieved, after the rounds of massive storms that covered the state in water, now only two percent of the state is still experiencing drought. Indeed, in a major turnaround, instead of worrying about a lack of water, many portions of the Golden State are experiencing flood warnings. Some additional photos of the super bloom: Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 0 |
Home / Badge Abuse / Cop Fired After Shooting Own 11-year-old Daughter at a Halloween Party Cop Fired After Shooting Own 11-year-old Daughter at a Halloween Party Matt Agorist November 1, 2016 Leave a comment
Lincolnton, NC — Time and again, police prove that the government having a monopoly on the use of weapons is a terrible idea. A glaring example of this incompetence is evidenced through a recent case in North Carolina in which a police officer shot her own daughter.
On Monday, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office announced that deputy Misty Michelle Flowers, 38, was terminated after she shot her 11-year-old daughter over the weekend.
The shooting happened as Flowers, who is entrusted by the state to act responsibly with a firearm, was showing off her service weapon to friends Saturday night when she squeezed the trigger. The bullet then went through the wall and hit her daughter in another room.
“I find gross negligence and the disregard for the safety of others was displayed in the incident Saturday night and therefore Officer Flowers was terminated today,” Sheriff David Carpenter said. “This is totally separate from the SBI investigation into the incident that occurred at her residence.”
According to WNCN:
Lincoln County deputies said they were called to the home at 11:23 p.m. and started tending to the girl’s injury. The child was taken to CHS-Lincoln and then airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte for surgery. According to deputies, she was in stable condition after treatment.
Neighbors say there was a Halloween party going on at the house where this happened.
Flowers has been with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office since 2015 and worked for the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office before that.
“During this entire situation, my focus has been on the well-being and condition of the child involved and am of the understanding the child is going to be ok after the surgery. This is a very tragic situation for all involved, the officer, her family, her career and everyone that has been touched by this,” Carpenter said. “We continue to pray for healing of the child and the entire family as the investigation continues over the next several days.”
According to the SBI, an investigation into the incident is still ongoing. It is unclear whether or not Flowers will face any charges.
This is the second such incident in only a week in which a police officer accidentally fired their weapon endangering the lives of children. Last week, the Free Thought Project reported on the Ohio cop who fired his weapon into a daycare center while it was fully occupied.
Despite the officer clearly admitting to committing the misdemeanor offense of discharging a firearm within city limits, police have yet to charge him.
“Right now our law department has it and they are reviewing it to see if there should be any charges,” Police Chief Jack Davis said last Wednesday morning.
“It was a very unfortunate incident for the school, as well as him,” he added.
Outside of skating out of the misdemeanor charge so far, this officer also seems to be avoiding the felony offense of discharging a weapon in a gun-free school zone.
Imagine for a moment that you were showing off your pistol to friends at a Halloween party and all of the sudden, you accidentally squeeze off a round and shoot your own daughter.
There are two possible scenarios that would take place; the first one being that a SWAT team responds and you are killed. The second, less lethal result would be your inevitable arrest and charges of public endangerment, unlawful discharge, illegal use of a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon, terrorism, or a myriad of other charges associated with sending a deadly projectile hurling through a wall and into a child. You would immediately be facing fines, jail time, probation, and firearms restrictions.
However, if you are a government agent who’s trusted with carrying a deadly weapon into places others cannot, you needn’t worry about any of those repercussions. Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter and now on Steemit Share | 1 |
Iconic fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld claims Meryl Streep wanted to be paid to wear one of his Chanel dresses to the 2017 Academy Awards. [Streep was reportedly set to wear Chanel on the red carpet before one of her handlers allegedly informed the fashion house to halt production of the dress. “I made a sketch, and we started to make the dress,” Lagerfeld told WWD. The German designer said someone from Streep’s team called days later and said, “Don’t continue the dress. We found somebody who will pay us. ” “A genius actress, but cheapness also, no?” he said. Streep, who’s nominated for Best Actress for her role in Florence Foster Jenkins, denied that she demanded money to wear a dress at Sunday’s awards ceremony. A representative for the three time said the claim is “absolutely false,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. Lagerfeld told WWD that it is Chanel policy not to pay entertainers to wear their couture to awards shows, despite what other fashion houses might do. “After we gift her a dress that’s 100, 000 euros [$105, 000] we found later we had to pay [for her to wear it]. We give them dresses, we make the dresses, but we don’t pay,” Lagerfeld explained. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson | 0 |
A message from @HillaryClinton: ”Let resistance plus persistence equal progress for our Party and our country.” #DNCFuture pic. twitter. Friday, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton delivered a video message to the Democratic Party ahead of Saturday’s vote to choose the next chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Clinton said, “Ideas we championed are now inspiring leaders and activists across out country. Nearly 66 million votes are fueling grassroots energy and activism. And everywhere, people are marching, protesting, tweeting, speaking out and working for an America that’s hopeful, inclusive and big hearted. From the women’s march to airports where communities are welcoming immigrants, refugees and people of every faith, to town hall meetings where people are speaking up for health care, the environment, good jobs and all the other issues that deserve our passionate support. ” She continued, “The challenges we face as a party and a country are real. So now, more than ever, we need to stay engaged. In the field and online. Reaching out to new voters, young people and everyone who wants a better, stronger, fairer America. We as Democrats must move forward with courage, confidence, and optimism, and stay focused on the elections we must win this year and next. Let resistance plus persistence equal progress for our party and our country. ” She added, “Keep fighting and keep the faith. And I’ll be right there with you every step of the way. ” ( RCP Video) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN, | 0 |
Bad news for men popped up in news media all over the country this week, based on a study from Northwestern University reporting that cases of advanced, aggressive prostate cancer had risen sharply from 2004 to 2013. Newsweek, NBC, CBS, Fox News and United Press International were among the organizations that covered the study. The reports suggested that recent medical advice against routine screening might be to blame for the apparent increase in advanced cases, by leading to delays in diagnosis until the cancer reached a late stage. Another factor cited was the possibility that prostate cancer had somehow become more aggressive. But the frightening news appears to be a false alarm — the product of a study questioned by other researchers but promoted with an incendiary news release and initially reported by some news media with little or no analysis from outside experts. The claim of an increase in advanced cases does not hold up, according to the American Cancer Society, which posted a statement on its website challenging the findings. The main concern is that the study’s methods do not pass muster with statistics experts, so the increase may not be real. In an interview, the cancer society’s chief medical officer, Dr. Otis W. Brawley, called the study “misguided epidemiology” and said its authors “don’t know that they don’t know. ” The episode began late last week when Northwestern University emailed an news release to reporters. “Metastatic Prostate Cancer Cases Skyrocket,” it said, and described a study published Tuesday in the journal Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases. The study’s authors wrote that routine use of blood tests to screen for prostate cancer had declined, and that they wanted to find out if the decline had led to changes in the incidence of advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. Prostate screening has long been a subject of intense debate, with advocates insisting it saves lives and detractors saying it leads to too much unnecessary treatment of tumors that would never have progressed. The operation can leave men incontinent and impotent. In recent years, expert groups have advised against routine screening, saying the risks outweigh the benefits. But some doctors worry that the drop in screening will leave some men with disease that is found too late to be easily cured. The senior author of the study, Dr. Edward Schaeffer, a prostate cancer oncologist and the chairman of urology at Northwestern, said in an interview that he believed screening saved lives. In the study, the doctors examined the records of 767, 550 men with prostate cancer diagnosed from 2004 to 2013. Using the number of cases of metastatic disease in 2004 (1, 685) and 2013 (2, 890) they reported an alarming increase of 72 percent. But for the United States population, that percentage could be meaningless. On the cancer society website, Dr. Brawley said that to measure whether a disease was becoming more common, researchers could not rely on just the absolute number of cases. They need to calculate rates, meaning the number of cases per a certain number of people. “Epidemiologists learned long ago that you can’t simply look at raw numbers,” he wrote. “A rising number of cases can be due simply to a growing and aging population among other factors. ” Another expert expressed similar doubts. Dr. Christopher Filson, an assistant professor of urology at Emory University School of Medicine, said: “I don’t want to claim their results are wrong. They may be true, but the way they looked at the question brings in too many possible alternative explanations. ” The authors acknowledged in their report that the lack of rates was a “limitation. ” But they said that because the number of patients was large, their findings probably reflected national patterns. Dr. Schaeffer emphasized that the researchers did not claim a link between their findings and the advisories against screening they noted that advanced cases started rising even before those. Most of the initial news articles about the study reported the supposed increase without caveats, and few quoted the cancer society or outside experts. In some cases, online versions of the articles were amended to tone down the message and add comments from Dr. Brawley. Maggie Fox, a reporter for NBC, said she reported on the study because “prostate cancer is a huge issue in this country, and the question of screening has been greatly controversial. ” Dr. Schaeffer, she said, is influential. “What he says will make waves, and we felt it was important to report and include criticism of the study. ” Dr. Brawley said that even if further analysis found an increase in advanced cases, it would probably be from improvements in magnetic resonance imaging scanning. In other words, rather than reflecting more cases of advanced disease, the increase would mean doctors had become better at finding it. | 1 |
She watched as her friends were killed in gang wars. She knew others who took lives. Dania Williams, 23, grew up around crime in East New York in Brooklyn, trying to resist the calls to join a gang and trying to survive the violence that waited outside her front door. Without attentive parents, the temptations were everywhere. “They weren’t as involved as they should be as parents,” Ms. Williams said. “So I did what I wanted to do. ” That included truancy and the occasional theft and no concerns about securing money in illicit ways. Retail jobs put cash in her pockets, but the work was always seasonal. Selling drugs offered a steadier source of income. “I always had this thing for having stuff that I couldn’t normally have, materialistic things that I didn’t need,” she said. “I just wanted to keep up with the latest fad. ” She remembered the warnings to correct the path she had chosen or she would wind up dead or in jail. She dismissed them as harsh judgments and hollow words from people she did not trust. Change seemed impossible. She accepted her fate. “You don’t want to get too deep, but you don’t know how to get out of whatever deep you’re in,” Ms. Williams said. But there was one person in her life whom Ms. Williams could not just brush off: her grandmother. “She actually put in my head, ‘You need to change,’” Ms. Williams said. “But where do I start? Where do I go? What do I do? Who do I talk to?” In early 2016, she saw a path out. She attended an informational meeting for Green City Force, an AmeriCorps program that prepares young people living in homes for careers in the renewable energy industry. Green City Force is a partner of the Community Service Society, one of eight organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. Lawrence Harris, a program operation manager at Green City Force, was a team leader when he met Ms. Williams, an encounter he remembers vividly. Mr. Harris immediately set out to convince her a better life was possible and to break down her apparent skepticism about changing. “I told her I’d never lie, even if I’m joking,” Mr. Harris recalled. “Once they find you told them something untrue or not the whole story, they’ll never listen to anything you have to say. ” He urged Ms. Williams to give the program a chance and worked closely with her to help build her confidence, holding her accountable for her choices and helping her be more accepting of others. On one occasion, Ms. Williams arrived to the program late — punctuality has never been easy for her — and was quite hard on herself. Mr. Harris knew then she was changing. “Everything they said, they followed through with,” Ms. Williams said. “They never told me anything and then it didn’t happen. ” After completing the Green City Force training, Ms. Williams began a plumbing training program. She was also offered a porter’s job. Community Service Society used $349. 50 in Neediest Cases funds to buy Ms. Williams three months of MetroCards last spring for traveling to her job. “I was never a dummy,” she said. “I was always book smart and street smart. I didn’t use it in a good way. I used it to get money in the wrong way. Now, I’m using it to get money in the right way. ” She said she had since quit her illegal activities and was fully focused on getting her plumbing certification and excelling at her porter job. She has even tried to recruit friends into Green City Force. “They made me want to turn my life around,” Ms. Williams said. “They said from the jump, we can’t do anything for you, you have to want to do it yourself. You’ll either take it and run with it or you’ll just leave it at the door. So, I ran with it. I’m running far. ” | 1 |
After lending his celebrity to help Hillary Clinton win the White House, Hollywood screen legend Morgan Freeman now says Donald Trump has no choice but to be a “good president. ”[“As for politics today, I supported Hillary in the election, and now it feels like we are jumping off a cliff,” Freeman said in interview with AARP: The Magazine. “We just have to find out how we land. I’m not scared, though. ” But Freeman, who narrated a campaign ads for Clinton during the primary and the general election, says he’s being positive about Trump’s presidency. “I’m holding out hope that Donald Trump has to be a good president,” the actor said. “He can’t not be. What I see is a guy who will not lose. ” Freeman’s comments were made before Trump’s signed an executive order temporarily prohibiting the arrival of Syrian refugees into the United States and halting the entry of most citizens from Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Libya. Freeman went from a short career in the United States Air Force to being nominated for three Academy Awards and winning one. He’s played God once, and POTUS a couple of times, along the way. “Some people thought Hollywood wasn’t ready for a black president, but I didn’t consider it,” said Freeman, who played U. S. President in Deep Impact (2008) and Olympus Has Fallen (2013). “I’m not a professional black actor I’m a professional actor. I can remember only once in the movies playing black, and that was Driving Miss Daisy. ” The actor recently kicked off the second season of National Geographic’s The Story of God, which follows Freeman as he explores various religions and cultures around the world. Freeman is being honored with AARP’s “Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Award. ” You can read Freeman’s full cover story in the 2017 AARP: The Magazine. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson | 0 |
By M. JAGGERS LD: We discussed yesterday the various reasons why Trump won the election. Mr Jaggers thinks Trump won because he promoted the interests of the vast underclass of disenfranchised Whites who were sick to death of the (((neoconservative liberal elites))), as typified by the loathsome Hillary Clinton. It is in Trump’s own interests, Jaggers believes, not to betray the Whites who voted for him by reneging on his promises. There must be no U-turns, no cuddling up to the Zionist enemy, no wishy-washy compromises or backslidings. Trump is now expected to “make America great again” — or else. A tall order? We’ll see. [LD]
: In certain times, there is a surreal feeling of “being a part of history,” which is perhaps to say, we are living in a time period of dynamic change. However unthinkable for the left it may be, Trump has been elected. We can add this to Brexit and other “unthinkable” events to come. To contemplate the details of what this may entail, such as the selection of cabinet members and policy priorities , which do indeed include “building that wall,” has something of a Christmas morning feeling—everyday.
To paraphrase an from Die Welt , in Western Democracies, the status quo seems stable, and it is not generally considered possible for “extremes” to transpire. But that is what we have seen, however we may want to quibble about what exactly is “extreme.” Can Donald Trump, or the Alt-Right for that matter, be considered “extreme” after that electoral show of consent? Regardless, when there is an endless back and forth between stultifying, uncourageous Republicans and the frankly anti-White agenda of the Democrats, “extreme” does not carry such a negative connotation, but instead implies a kind of deliverance.
We have been locked in a middle-class complaisance, and that is precisely why societies such as ours “are often surprised by the foreseeable and obvious.” And alas, though it may be “unspeakable” to liberals, and though he was the object of such ridicule in our media, Trump is now “the most powerful man in the world,” as Die Welt puts it, perhaps with some apprehension. Just let that sink in. Explanatory Factors
Trump’s appeal may have been equally a reaction to Black Lives Matter protests as to immigration. According to exit polls, 74 percent of Trump voters feel that Blacks are treated fairly by the criminal justice system, which by definition means that these voters are not sympathetic to Black Lives Matter. Overall, half of White voters (Democrats and Republicans) opined that Blacks are treated fairly by police. Likely most of us will have anecdotal evidence that our non-Alt-Right family members and acquaintances were not amused by Black Lives Matter. Trump voters were especially unamused.
Of Trump supporters, 86 percent favor building the wall on the southern border, compared to less than half of all voters (54 percent oppose, 41 percent favor). So antipathy towards both Black Lives Matter and immigration can be said to have catapulted Trump to the presidency , in part by turning off mainstream middle-class White people, who are normally content with the status-quo. Moderates may not want a wall per se , but they also may not complain too loudly when it’s being built. And again, Trump’s actual voters want it built—unequivocally.
While losing some steam amongst college-educated Whites, Trump won the White working class by 39 points , an increase from Romney’s 26 point spread. Ultimately, there is no simple narrative that emerges; Trump increased White support in different key swing states from different rural and suburban demographics in order to dominate the electoral college. I won’t pretend to be Nate Silver, so let’s just say he won because of White people.
“Among his supporters,” opines Thomas Friedman on Real Time with Bill Maher , “this was 80 percent about race, and the other 20 percent was about race.”
Good then, let’s accept the premise of liberals and draw the necessary conclusions. If Trump triumphed on the basis of race issues, he now has a mandate on immigration, law and order, the wall, etc.
For the NYTimes David Brooks holding forth on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Trump voters are “just going with their gene pool ,” a rather bald statement that Trump voters are voting their ethnic interests. After the election, Brooks predicted that the country would be split into two factions, with one faction advocating ethnic separatism, what many on the Alt Right are already advocating. Would that it were so.
Nixon became known to history as the “law and order” candidate, which accurately characterized his proclivities vis-à-vis crime. Trump, on the other hand, to leave no doubt, self-identified as the “law and order” candidate. As liberals will complain, and as the alt-right will readily admit, “law and order” is understood to mean that we will not tolerate Black violence and civil unrest. Trump’s support, therefore, was premised on his intolerance for the very violence which his election has provoked (once again) from Blacks and other malcontent minorities, in the protests following his victory, which continue as I write this.
It is ironic that Blacks report feeling “scared” at the prospect of the Trump presidency, while they are in fact the progenitors of violence, and so far as I know, Trump never made any negative statements explicitly about Blacks. Their violence and disorder has indeed “scared” the rest of civil society, contributing to Trump’s election. Perhaps Blacks are expressing their fear by attacking innocent Whites, in this inverted reality. How can we assuage these sensitive Blacks’ sense of fear? Shall we become human punching bags? You Can’t Always Get What You Want
If there is one thing that minorities have learned over the last eight years, it is that they get what they want, and Whites (perhaps as a natural corollary) do not. Hence the indignation following this surprise victory.
Some journalists noted with amusement that Trump often played the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at his campaign rallies. I hypothesized that Trump liked the song for its beautiful choral section, which has a celestial quality that built anticipation for his arrival on stage. Surely he paid little heed to the message of the lyrics, which discordantly seemed to suggest he was voters’ second choice. But now it all makes sense. I suggest that for our “underprivileged” people of color, it’s time you learned: you can’t always get what you want.
Not only is the People of Color (POC) attitude of entitlement and aggrievement ridiculous, it is also presumptuous.
While the MSM claims that the onus is now on Trump to reach out to those who didn’t vote for him; i.e., Blacks and Hispanics, it would seem that he was given a mandate to serve the interests of those who did vote for him . It follows logically that he would now carry that project through and enact the policies which mobilized his base and put him in the Oval Office. Sourced from the Occidental Observer Like this? Share it now. 2 thoughts on “ Trump won because of White people ” György says: November 18, 2016 at 11:48 am
You Can’t Always Get What You Want
If there is one thing that minorities have learned over the last eight years, it is that they get what they want, and Whites (perhaps as a natural corollary) do not. Hence the indignation following this surprise victory.
Problem has been favouring certain ethnic groups beyond reasonability. People are people. For example, employment should go to the best qualified candidate regardless of race or ethnic creed. An assumption is made on the government’s part, that an employer will unfairly select Anglo Saxon over other races, which is wrong. Therefore, the employer must use race based quota agendas to effect equality.
This is a form of dictating morality by an amoral government. This is one area that Mr. Trump ought to behove. | 1 |
College threatens police response for students wearing 'offensive' costumes Source: Fox News
Tufts University has sent out a letter that is sure to spook Greek life students ahead of Halloween weekend.
Students involved in fraternities and sororities at the Massachusetts school are being told to not wear anything that could offend others during Halloween celebrations – or risk getting investigated by campus police and being slapped with “serious disciplinary sanctions.”
The order came in a note written by the leaders of the four Greek life councils on campus. It contained few specifics.
“The costumes that people choose to wear have an effect on everyone around them whether they realize it or not,” the letter says .
It goes on to state that “outfits relating to tragedy, controversy, or acts of violence are also inappropriate. We need to set a precedent that people’s customs cannot and will not be our costumes.”
Tufts was far from the only university calling out costumes it deemed offensive. The University of Florida offered counseling for students "troubled" by incidents involving Halloween costumes. And the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's Bias Incident Team last year claimed some students' "Three Blind Mice" costumes mocked the disabled . | 0 |
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This election is one to be studied for years to come. I cannot, with certainty, predict the outcome, although my gut tells me that Hillary will APPEAR to win, via massive vote and electronic machine rigging and hacking, but that Donald Trump CAN successfully litigate to prove this and thus reverse such an outcome. Rest assured there is more than enough skullduggery to go around (on the Democratic side, and limited on the Republican side to the Bush Dynasty and their neo-con front.) I admit my gut feeling may be absolutely wrong: Donald Trump may win by such a landslide that the Soros-Hillary strategy may be “aborted.” This would be good! (I would also relish the humiliation of the Bush Machine! I want to see them gnash their teeth!) I also follow Dr. Steve Piecenzik, who declared on Alex Jones’s radio show on Tue., Nov. 1st, that a “silent coup” is under way in America. He announced that various intelligence sources in the U.S. have been the source of the Wikileaks program. He said that there are certain elements in the intelligence community that have made it clearly known to the Hillary Camp that she will not be allowed to serve. Let us hope that this maintains.
In the meantime, we still have our own bubbles to pop out of. I admit I do. There is so much more to study and learn. And it shall be HIGH TIME for the former Goldwater Girl (gone Mad!), Hillary, the Klownish Koughing Kween, to be dumped into the Ashbin of History. Once this happens, the bubble her supporters are living in will finally be popped. For this, History “don’t need no stinking Supreme Court!” IT’S COMING. | 0 |
We Are Change
The Democratic National Committee has filed a lawsuit against the Donald Trump campaign, state Republican parties, and Roger Stone’s “Stop the Steal” group — asking the court to bar “citizen journalists” from the polls.
A Bernie Sanders delegate at the DNC in July.
“The campaign of Donald J. Trump, Trump’s close advisor Roger J. Stone, Jr., Stone’s organization Stop the Steal Inc., the Ohio Republican Party (‘ORP’), and others are conspiring to threaten, intimidate, and thereby prevent minority voters in urban neighborhoods from voting in the 2016 election,” the lawsuit claims.
In reality, Stop the Steal is simply planning to have volunteers conduct their own exit polls outside of polling stations. Despite their never having mentioned targeting minorities, or intimidating anyone, multiple outlets picked up the Democrat’s version story after Stop the Steal announced their effort.
“The Clintons had to cheat and rig the system to steal the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders. Why wouldn’t they try to steal the election from Donald Trump?” Stop the Steal’s website states. They are calling for “targeted EXIT-POLLING in targeted states and targeted localities that we believe the Democrats could manipulate based on their local control, to determine if the results of the vote have been skewed by manipulation.”
Democratic outlets such as the Huffington Post and Media Matters have posted breathless articles claiming that exit-polling, which is conducted by every major media outlet, is somehow intimidation if done by an organization that favors the Republican candidate.
“Trump and Stone appear to be of like minds when it comes to deploying citizens to the polls on Election Day to watch other citizens vote. Trump regularly encourages his mostly white supporters to stand guard on Election Day at polling stations in areas where the population is largely made up of minorities and ‘watch’ the polls,” the Huffington Post wrote.
The article the quoted Trump himself, where he makes absolutely no mention of targeting minority voters.
“You’ve got to go out, and you’ve got to get your friends, and you’ve got to get everyone you know,” they quoted Trump saying at a rally in Pennsylvania, “and you’ve got to watch your polling booths. I hear too many bad stories, and we can’t lose an election because of, you know what I’m talking about.”
We Are Change spoke to Jack Posobiec of Stop the Steal to learn more about their efforts, and the lawsuit.
“Our exit polling plan is very simple, we are going to dress in neutral, non-partisan clothing and request voters take the survey after they are finished voting. We are using the same types of questions that the AP uses regarding how someone voted, their top election issues, and asking their demographic info. The only difference is we are going to focus on one party rule precincts that have been reported to have irregularities in the past, such as in inner city Philadelphia,” Posobiec explained.
When asked to clarify whether or not they intend to campaign, or harass, voters before they enter the polls, Posobiec stated that is not their intention.
“We are only talking to people after they have completed voting, and will be dressed in neutral clothing. We also requested our volunteers to not wear Red, as there is a large movement of Trump supporters to wear red on election day, and we want to remain neutral,” he explained.
Posobiec then referenced the infamous case of the New Black Panther Party actually intimidating voters , with weapons, in 2008. Many believed that the case was mishandled before being dropped.
“I was involved in filming the Black Panthers dressed in black military clothing swinging billy clubs at white voters in Philadelphia in 2008, so I am very surprised our neutral exit polling plan would be seen as ‘intimidation’ by the Democrats,” he continued.
Justice officials who served in the Bush administration argued that the department had enough evidence to pursue the case, and that it was dropped for political reasons.
“Holder’s officials argued that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 did not apply to white people, only for minorities,” Posobiec stated. “In retrospect, this was the first sign that Obama would politicize the DOJ. Explains why they blocked the FBI from investigating the Clinton Foundation, or sending 100 FBI agents to Ferguson.”
When asked if they would be fighting the lawsuit, Posobiec stated that they absolutely will be.
“We absolutely are. These tactics were used against Citizens for Trump to shut down our rally in Cleveland in July, and we received the aid of the ACLU and won in court,” he said.
In the lawsuit, the DNC asks the court to “declare that defendants’ ‘exit polling’ and ‘citizen journalist’ initiatives are contrary to law,” and bar them from encouraging anyone to do so, or from doing it themselves.
“They are fighting scrutiny from independent citizens, but our elections are the fundamental cornerstone of American democracy, and should be held to the highest standard possible,” Posobiec stated. “Given the depth of collusion we have seen between mainstream media and establishment partisan political operatives this election through Wikileaks, we need citizen journalists and independent exit polls more than ever now.”
During the primaries, there were unprecedented discrepancies between the exit polling and actual counted votes — always in Clinton’s favor.
“They cheated the debates, they cheated Bernie, so its perfectly reasonable to be concerned they would cheat in November,” he concluded.
Posobiec also stated that they are in no way coordinating with the Republican National Committee or the Trump campaign.
The post DNC Files Lawsuit to Bar Citizen Journalists From the Polls appeared first on We Are Change .
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JUST IN: FBI Reopens Hillary Clinton Email Probe Please scroll down for video
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has announced its plans to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails just 11 days before the presidential election, reigniting a massive controversy that has haunted the Clinton campaign for months.
Three months after the investigation was closed, FBI director James Comey said he found more emails that were "pertinent" to the investigation of Ms Clinton’s personal email server, which Ms Clinton had been accused of misusing during her tenure as secretary of state.
“In previous congressional testimony I refer to the fact that the FBI has completed its investigation of former secretary Clinton’s personal email server," Mr Comey said.
"Due to recent developments I am writing to supplement my previous testimony. Related Articles FBI Successfully Recovers Hillary Clinton’s Deleted Emails
"In connection with an unrelated case the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent, and I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday and I agreed the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation."
He said he "cannot yet assess whether or not this material may be significant", and did not say how long the investigation would take.
The new investigation is reportedly not related to WikiLeaks.
The email controversy has dogged Ms Clinton's campaign for months.
She repeatedly said she handed over 33,000 emails to the FBI and the Justice Department to determine whether she had sent or received top secret or classified information on an unsecured server.
The FBI also denied a "quid pro quo" arrangement with the state department to downgrade certain information in the emails from "classified" to "unclassified" .
Mr Comey told the Justice Department in July that although Ms Clinton had displayed "extreme carelessness" which could have lead to adversaries hacking her account, he did not recommend any criminal charges.
The Justice Department decided to clear the presidential nominee of all charges the same month.
It is not yet known where these new emails came from or what they say. The Clinton campaign has not yet commented.
As the news broke, Ms Clinton was flying to Iowa to speak alongside women's rights leaders at two rallies.
At a rally in New Hampshire, Donald Trump told the crowds: "Hillary Clinton’s corruption is on a scale we have never seen before. We must not let take her criminal scheme into the oval office.
"I have great respect for the fact that the FBI and the Department of Justice are now willing to have the courage to write the horrible mistake that they made."
He has previously said Ms Clinton should be behind bars and accused her of "deleting thousands of emails" to hide them from the FBI, which Ms Clinton denied.
The news was also jumped on by Republicans including house speaker Paul Ryan, who said Ms Clinton had "nobody but herself to blame but herself".
"She was entrusted with our nation's most important secrets, and she betrayed that trust by carelessly mishandling highly classified information," he said in a statement, renewing his call to exclude Ms Clinton from any classified briefings until the matter was "fully resolved".
Along with the investigation over her emails sent and received as secretary of state, the US government recently accused Russia of hacking emails from the Democratic National Convention, which exposed Ms Clinton's team's planned smear of former opponent Bernie Sanders. Related Articles | 0 |
EDITOR'S CHOICE VonDerFront 13.11.2016 - 189 views 0 ( 0 votes) Huthi-Saleh Allianz erlangt Kontrolle über weitere Ortschaften in Saudi-Arabiens Provinz Jizan 0 out of 5 based on 0 ratings. 0 user reviews. Huthi-Saleh Allianz erlangt Kontrolle über weitere Ortschaften in Saudi-Arabiens Provinz Jizan Donate
Die Huthi-Saleh Allianz hat die Kontrolle über mehrere strategische Dörfer in der Region al-Khobeh übernommen und Dutzende saudische Soldaten getötet und dessen militärische Ausrüstung zerstört.
Die Huthi-Saleh Allianz setzte in der im Süden gelegenen Saudi-Arabischen Provinz Jizan ihre Vorstöße fort und übernahmen die Kontrolle über mehrere strategische Ortschaften in der Region al-Khobeh, berichten arabischsprachige Medien am Samstag unter Berufung des ranghohen Kommandanten der Ansarullah, Nasreddin Amer
Laut Ameri verlor das saudische Militär Soldaten im zweistelligen Bereich und Dutzende flohen nach den 12 Stunden andauernden Kämpfen mit der Allianz. Er fügte hinzu, dass “sechs Infanterie-Kampffahrzeuge vom Typ Bradley und zwei Kampfpanzer des Typs Abrams der saudischen Armee zerstört wurden, während weitere militärische Ausrüstung der saudischen Streitkräfte durch die jemenitischen Truppen in Brand gesetzt worden”.
In der vergangenen Woche wurden Saudi-Arabiens Militärbasen in den Provinzen Assir, Jizan und Najran von der Artillerie der Huthi-Saleh Allianz beschossen, was zu erheblichen Verlusten unter dem saudischen Truppen führte.
Laut Berichten attackierten jemenitische Kämpfer und ihre Verbündeten saudische Truppen im nördlichen Teil der Midi-Wüste nahe der Ortschaft al-Mousem in der Provinz Jizan. Die im Süden des Königreiches gelegene saudische Militärbasis Mosan sowie der Grenzübergang Manfaz in der Provinz Assir wurden von der Allianz ebenfalls attackiert. Als Folge der Angriffe wurde eine große Anzahl von saudischen Soldaten getötet. Zwei gepanzerte Fahrzeuge des saudischen Militärs wurden von der Huthi-Saleh Allianz am Grenzübergang al-Khazra zerstört. Alle Mitglieder der Besatzung wurden getötet.
Anfang November berichtete die Webseite al-Ahad des 60 % der Bewohner von Siedlungen nahe der Grenze zum Jemen von Grenzsoldaten des Königreichs evakuiert worden waren. Nach Angaben des Oberbefehlshabers der al-Arezeh-Grenzwachen in der Provinz Jizan, Leutnant Ali al-Amri, wurde die Evakuierung auf Anordnung von Hochrangigen saudischen Beamten durchgeführt.
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[Photo: US missiles found in ISIS stronghold in Mosul, Iraq.] =By= Kurt Nimmo Editor's Note Reports continue of active U.S. support of ISIS while at the same time the U.S. serves a support role with Iraqi forces in their efforts to retake ISIS controlled areas in Iraq. Also reported by the Pentagon is that what is learned in the Iraqi actions will be applied in Syria. When the US has a jockey on every horse in the race, it does mean that U.S. interests are likely to be served no matter who crosses the finish line. T he Iraqis found missiles at an Islamic State base in Mosul stamped with USA and DOD.
The discovery did not warrant a headline on CNN or The New York Times.
“Several US-made missiles were found in al-Shoura region to the South of Mosul,” reports Iran’s al-Alam News Network , citing a local source.
“The ISIL terrorists have sent US-made TOW anti-tank missiles to Tal Afar and it is quite evident that they are preparing for a long-term war,” an Iraqi security official told an Arabic-language media outlet.
In early 2015 Qasim al-Araji, the head of the Badr Organization in Iraq, told parliament he had evidence the US armed the Islamic State, according to a report carried by the Arabic language Almasalah .
Iranian media and other sources claim US military aircraft dropped weapons in areas held by the Islamic State.
“The Iraqi intelligence sources reiterated that the US military planes have airdropped several aid cargoes for ISIL terrorists to help them resist the siege laid by the Iraqi army, security and popular forces,” Iraqi intelligence claimed in December, 2014.
“What is important is that the US sends these weapons to only those that cooperate with the Pentagon and this indicates that the US plays a role in arming the ISIL.”
In January 2015 Iraqi MP Majid al-Ghraoui said American aircraft delivered weapons and equipment to ISIS southeast of Tikrit, located in Salahuddin province.
“The Iraqi Parliament’s National Security and Defense Committee has access to the photos of both planes that are British and have crashed while they were carrying weapons for the ISIL,” the leader of the committee Hakem al-Zameli said, according to the Arabic-language information center of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.
Last February Iran’s FAR News Agency reported the Iraq Army shot down two British planes delivering weapons to the Islamic State.
Both the Islamic State and al-Nusra are in possession of US-made BGM 71E TOW anti-tank missiles.
The London-based organization Conflict Armament Research (CAR) previously reported that ISIS fighters are using “significant quantities” of arms including M16 assault rifles marked “property of the US government.”
CAR has documented a CIA-Saudi program begun in 2012 that has provided thousands of tons of weaponry to “insurgents” (jihadi mercenaries) in Syria. The weapons are shared with the Islamic State.
“Conflict Armament Research was able to trace the serial numbers of weapons recovered by Kurds battling ISIS in Eastern Syria back directly to the CIA-Saudi weapons airlift program,” notes Brad Hoff for Levant Report.
If Hillary Clinton is elected next week the restocking of the Islamic State’s arsenal and the war in Syria will continue.
“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waived restrictions at the State Department on selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar, all states that had donated to the Clinton Foundation. Saudi Arabia had chipped in at least $10 million, and Boeing added another $900,000 as Secretary Clinton made it her mission to get Saudi Arabia the planes with which it would attack Yemen,” writes David Swanson .
Clinton is well aware the Gulf Emirates arm and provide logistical assistance to the Islamic State.
“While this military/para-military operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region,” Clinton wrote in an email to John Podesta .
Clinton did not mention Obama’s secret authorization in 2013 that armed jihadis fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The deal allowed the Saudis to arm jihadis with US weapons. It also permitted the CIA to train the mercenaries on how to use the weapons, including anti-tank missiles, The New York Times reported.
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Tom Hayden, Courageous Warrior for Peace October 26, 2016
Exclusive: The death of Tom Hayden at age 76 marked the passing of a major progressive leader who championed causes from civil rights to Vietnam War opposition to the environment, as Marjorie Cohn recalls.
By Marjorie Cohn
When Tom Hayden died on Oct. 23, we lost a courageous warrior for peace and equality. Hayden was on the front lines of nearly every major progressive struggle for more than 50 years. Vilified by the Right and at times criticized from the Left, Hayden remained steadfast in his commitment to social, economic and racial justice.
An activist, political theorist, organizer, writer, speaker and teacher, Hayden was a Freedom Rider in the South during the 1960s; a founder of Students for a Democratic Society; a leader of the anti-Vietnam War movement; a community organizer; a negotiator of a gang truce in Venice, California; the author of more than 19 books; and an elected official in California for nearly two decades. Tom Hayden, anti-war activist and progressive leader.
“Tom made important contributions as a writer and a political leader, but his greatest strength was as a visionary strategist,” said Bill Zimmerman, who worked with Hayden in the Indochina Peace Campaign and later managed his 1976 U.S. Senate campaign. “Tom was able to see far over the political horizon, and was then able to create and lead political movements that were often ahead of their time. Whether it was radical opposition to war or mainstream support for candidates, progressive ballot initiatives and necessary legislation, he was a true leader, clay feet and all.”
The Indochina Peace Campaign (IPC), founded in 1972 by Hayden and Jane Fonda, who became his wife the following year, was a traveling road show that opposed the war in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Daniel Ellsberg, whose leak of the Pentagon Papers helped to end the war, traveled with Fonda, Holly Near and others for two weeks, speaking around the clock against the war.
According to Ellsberg, IPC was instrumental in ending the war. While some in the organization took to the road to organize opposition to the war, others lobbied Congress to cut the funding for combat operations. Although the Paris Peace Accord was signed in 1973, many, including Ellsberg, knew the war was not over.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was pressuring President Richard Nixon to restart the bombing. Congress cut the funding in 1975 and the U.S. war in Vietnam finally ended.
“IPC was a model of grassroots activism and lobbying,” Ellsberg said.
Hayden was steadfast in his opposition to the Vietnam War. He made several trips to North Vietnam, calling attention to the U.S. bombing of civilians. On one trip, at the request of the North Vietnamese government, Hayden returned to the U.S. with American prisoners of war. Since the U.S. government refused to recognize the government in Hanoi, the Vietnamese would only release the prisoners to Americans in the anti-war movement.
Advice from Dr. King
A transformative event in Hayden’s life occurred in 1960 when he was a college student. He interviewed Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on a picket line outside the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. The picket demanded that the Democratic Party include a strong commitment to civil rights in its platform. King told Hayden, “Ultimately, you have to take a stand with your life.” Martin Luther King Jr. meeting with President Lyndon Johnson at the White House in 1966.
Hayden took King’s exhortation to heart, dedicating his life to the struggles for peace, freedom, justice and equality.
Hayden will perhaps best be remembered for his lead authorship of the 1962 Port Huron Statement, which provided an ideological manifesto for the New Left. The 22-year-old began writing it while in an Albany, Georgia jail cell, after an arrest for trying to integrate a railroad station waiting room during a Freedom Ride from Atlanta.
The iconic document began, “We are people of this generation, bred in at least modest comfort, housed now in universities, looking uncomfortably to the world we inherit.” It focused on organizing students to oppose the Vietnam War, supporting the civil rights movement in the South, promoting campus student activism, and establishing community projects to fight poverty. The idealistic document concluded, “If we appear to seek the unattainable, as it has been said, then let it be known that we do so to avoid the unimaginable.”
After Hayden moved to Newark, New Jersey, in 1964 to be a community organizer, he did not escape the notice of local FBI agents, who sought increased surveillance of Hayden. They wrote, “In view of the fact that Hayden is an effective speaker who appeals to intellectual groups and has also worked with and supported the Negro people in their program in Newark, it is recommended that he be placed on the Rabble Rouser Index.”
Hayden’s effectiveness was also noticed by J. Edgar Hoover, the notorious director of the FBI. Hoover once wrote in a memo, “One of your prime objectives should be to neutralize [Hayden] in the New Left movement.” Hoover’s objective was never realized. Hayden continued to serve as a bulwark of the Left.
In 1968, in what a national commission later called a “police riot,” law enforcement officers in Chicago attacked and injured hundreds of demonstrators outside the Democratic National Convention. Hayden, who helped plan the protests, and seven others were charged with crimes. Although they were acquitted of conspiracy, five, including Hayden, were convicted of crossing state lines to incite a riot and sentenced to five years in prison. Their convictions were reversed on appeal for judicial bias.
Hayden’s work for economic justice and democracy was far-reaching. Marc Weiss, Chairman and CEO of Global Urban Development, worked with Hayden in the Campaign for Economic Democracy, which Hayden and Fonda founded in 1976. Weiss said Hayden “cared deeply about making progressive change for a more peaceful, prosperous, equitable, sustainable, innovative, inclusive, and much better world for everyone.”
Legislative Initiatives
Elected to the California State Assembly in 1982 and the state Senate in 1992, Hayden was dubbed “the conscience of the Senate” by the Sacramento Bee. He sponsored or co-sponsored 100 pieces of legislation, including laws to lower college tuition costs, prevent discrimination in hiring, and attach safety controls to guns. In 1993, he sponsored a bill to require electric-vehicle-charging stations and legislation to require the state to find alternatives to refrigerants that destroy the ozone layer. Image of Planet Earth taken from Apollo 17
“Tom had an amazing capacity and commitment to linking environmental issues to local communities and minority community struggles,” California Senate Majority Leader Bill Monning said. “He pushed a progressive agenda within the Democratic Party and continued to visit us in Sacramento with legislative ideas to address climate change,” Monning added. “We will miss his insight, advocacy, and friendship.”
Hayden co-founded Progressives for Obama in 2008. But, Hayden wrote, “No sooner had a social movement elected [Obama] than it was time for a new social movement to bring about a New Deal, lest his domestic initiatives sink in the quagmires of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and a new peace movement must rise as well.”
In his contribution to my recent book, Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues , Hayden wrote, “The limitations of the drone war should be clear from any study of history and strategy. Wars cannot be won from secret aerial launches against unknown forces and figures on the ground.”
Indeed, Obama’s use of armed drones in seven nations has made those countries more unstable and violent. And the resulting civilian casualties serve as an effective recruitment tool for those who would harm the United States.
In 2015, Hayden spoke at a commemoration of the 50 th anniversary of the end of the U.S. war in Vietnam. He said, “We gather here to remember the power that we had at one point, the power of the peace movement, and to challenge the Pentagon now on the battlefield of memory.”
Hayden was responding to the Pentagon’s attempt to sanitize the history of what the U.S. did in Vietnam. “President Obama has reminded us to remember, he said, Selma, Seneca Falls and Stonewall,” Hayden noted. “But not Saigon, not Chicago, not Vietnam. We have to ask ourselves collectively why that omission exists, and realize that only we can restore a place in the proper history of those times.”
Exhorting the audience to remember, and to “unify,” Hayden bemoaned “our collective refusal to admit that the Vietnam War was wrong and that the peace movement was right.”
Humanizing War Victims
Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies said, “I remain inordinately grateful to Tom for what I learned from him – most especially that if you’re going to build a powerful movement against a war waged against a nation far away, you have to build into the center of your organizing some understanding of that country, its people, its culture. Photos of victims of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam galvanized public awareness about the barbarity of the war. (Photo taken by U. S. Army photographer Ronald L. Haeberle)
“I learned that lesson first about Vietnam, working with Tom and Jane at the Indochina Peace Campaign for a couple of years right out of college.” Bennis added, “I worked with others later to build that same understanding into the work we did on Central America, on Iran, on Palestine and beyond.”
Many of the themes of the Port Huron Statement resonate today. In 2012, Hayden wrote in The Nation , “The Port Huron call for a life and politics built on moral values as opposed to expedient politics; its condemnation of the cold war, echoed in today’s questioning of the ‘war on terror’; its grounding in social movements against racism and poverty; its first-ever identification of students as agents of social change; and its call to extend participatory democracy to the economic, community and foreign policy spheres – these themes constitute much of today’s progressive sensibility.”
Hayden has been criticized by some on the Left for favoring reform over revolution. Most recently, Hayden switched from supporting Bernie Sanders to Hillary Clinton during the presidential primary. The main reason was his belief that Clinton has a stronger commitment to combatting racism than Sanders, citing the Congressional Black Caucus’ (CBC) support for Clinton. In fact, the CBC did not support Clinton. It was the CBC’s political action committee that favored her.
In refusing to wait for the general election to support Clinton, Hayden also overlooked Sanders’s record on civil rights. A leader in the Civil Rights Movement, Sanders served as president of the Congress of Racial Equality at the University of Chicago, organizing pickets and sit-ins, which led to his 1963 arrest for resisting arrest.
Before his death, Hayden worked with the Peace and Justice Resource Center, which he founded a decade ago. He published The Peace Exchange Bulletin , “critically following the Pentagon’s Long War in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, as well as the failed US wars on drugs and gangs, and US military responses to nationalism and poverty around the world.”
During Ellsberg’s 1973 Pentagon Papers trial (at which Hayden testified), Hayden’s book, The Love of Possession is a Disease With Them , was published. Ellsberg was struck by the parallels Hayden drew in the book between the U.S. anti-Indian campaigns and the U.S. “pacification” campaign in Vietnam. The book title, taken from a Sitting Bull quote, is still relevant today as the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their allies protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. Sitting Bull, a Lakota Indian leader who led resistance to U.S. government policies against the Native American populations before being killed by Indian agency police in 1890.
“Yet hear me, people, we have now to deal with another race – small and feeble when our fathers first met them but now great and overbearing. Strangely enough they have a mind to till the soil and the love of possession is a disease with them. These people have made many rules that the rich may break but the poor may not. They take their tithes from the poor and weak to support the rich and those who rule.” — Sitting Bull, at the Powder River Council, 1877
Hayden’s many books also include Radical Nomad (1964), Irish Hunger (1968), Rebellion and Repression (1969), Trial (1970), Tom Hayden: An Activist Life (1981), Irish on the Inside (2001), The Zapatista Reader (2002), Street Wars (2004), Ending the War in Iraq (2007), Writings for a Democratic Society (2008), The Long Sixties: From 1960 to Barack Obama (2009), and Listen Yankee: Why Cuba Matters (2015). His final book, Hell No: The Forgotten Power of the Vietnam Peace Movement, will be published posthumously by Yale University Press in March 2017.
As we face the daunting challenges of U.S. militarism abroad, militarization of the police at home, and persistent economic and racial inequality, the absence of Tom Hayden is an incalculable loss.
Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and former president of the National Lawyers Guild. A veteran of the Stanford anti-Vietnam War movement, she is a member of the national advisory board of Veterans for Peace. Her books include Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent. See http://marjoriecohn.com/ and follow her on Twitter @marjoriecohn. | 1 |
It was like a moment from a Disney movie. Mike Karas, a tourist from Honolulu, had his camera pointed toward an exquisite view of Yosemite when a bride and her groom stepped onto a rocky ledge high above a valley. She turned to him as the sun burst into an apricot hue on the horizon. “It was like wow, that’s amazing,” Mr. Karas, 31, said. He snapped a photo. But the mystery couple vanished down a trail before he could flag them down. Later, he posted the image to Instagram, where it spread like crazy and inspired reports as far away as New Zealand. It also fueled an effort to identify the couple that stretched for days. Then, late Tuesday, the mystery was solved. The bride was Catherine Mack, an Australian actress, and her groom Rick Donald, also an actor. Mr. Karas said he spoke to Ms. Mack by phone after she spotted the photo on social media and connected with him. “She was laughing and happy about the photo and the whole story and loved it,” he said. “She didn’t know how big exactly the story had become. ” Ms. Mack said in an email that the couple were married in the national park right before the photo was taken. | 0 |
Dakota Access Pipeline CEO Kelcy Warren Should Face the Music Posted on Nov 2, 2016
By Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan A Dakota pipeline protester recovers after being pepper sprayed by police near Cannon Ball, N.D. ( John L. Mone / AP )
President Barack Obama foreshadowed more complications for the Dakota Access pipeline this week, as he told an interviewer that “right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline.” With hundreds arrested in recent weeks at the Standoff at Standing Rock, North Dakota, the movement to halt construction of this 1,200-mile, $3.8 billion oil pipeline only builds. Musicians are increasingly joining the fray, striking an unexpected chord: pressuring oil billionaire Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, which owns the pipeline. Warren also owns a small music label and recording company , and is the founder and driving force behind the Cherokee Creek Music Festival in Texas. Many musicians, including folk/rock legend Jackson Browne, are banding together to confront Warren and help stop the pipeline. In a statement published in September by Indian Country Today Media Network, Jackson Browne wrote: “I met Kelcy Warren on one occasion, when I played at the Cherokee Creek Music Festival, held at his ranch. Later his company, Music Road Records, produced an album of my songs. Though I was honored by the ‘tribute’ and think highly of the versions—which were done by some of my favorite singers and songwriters, I had nothing to do with producing the recordings or deciding who would be on it.” Jackson continued: “I do not support the Dakota Access pipeline. I will be donating all of the money I have received from this album to date, and any money received in the future, to the tribes who are opposing the pipeline.” The album Browne referenced is titled, “Looking Into You: A Tribute to Jackson Browne.” Emily Saliers and Amy Ray, better known as the folk duo the Indigo Girls, have been to the Standing Rock resistance camps, where thousands have been facing off against an increasingly violent, militarized police force that is facing down the Native American water protectors with attack dogs, armored personnel carriers, pepper spray, concussion grenades and deafening acoustic cannons. In addition to raising awareness and funds for the land and water protectors at Standing Rock, the Indigo Girls are organizing musicians to challenge Kelcy Warren directly. “Kelcy Warren also happens to be a passionate music lover and owns a festival, Cherokee Creek music festival,” they wrote in a recent Facebook post. “Indigo Girls have played the festival and had a song on the [Jackson Browne] tribute record. When we participated in those events, we had no idea about Kelcy Warren’s connection to big oil and its imminent threat to the Standing Rock Sioux. Now we know.” They wrote a letter to Warren, which was co-signed by Jackson Browne, Shawn Colvin, Joan Osborne, Keb’ Mo’ and others. It read, in part, “We realize the bucolic setting of your festival and the image it projects is in direct conflict with the Dakota Access pipeline ... this pipeline violates the Standing Rock Sioux Nations’ treaty rights, endangers the vital Missouri River, and continues the trajectory of genocide against Native Peoples.” The letter concluded, “We will no longer play your festival or participate in Music Road Records recordings. We implore you to stop construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.” Kelcy Warren is a Texas oil billionaire several times over, and might not be easily deterred by a threatened boycott. In fact, when global oil prices began dropping, “Nobody was happier about the crash than Energy Transfer Chairman and CEO Kelcy Warren,” Bloomberg Markets reported. All his competition, Warren gloated, “vaporized.” He, like many analysts, anticipates that oil prices will rise, fracking in the Bakken shale region will boom again, and his Dakota Access Pipeline will be the only conduit to carry the crude oil to the Texas Gulf Coast for refining and export. “You must grow until you die,” Warren told Bloomberg. Jackson Browne also wrote in his statement: “I intend to support public resistance to the Dakota Access pipeline as much as I can. To quote a song of mine: ‘Which side? “—the corporations attacking the natural world, drilling and fracking, who do it with the backing of the craven and corrupt? “—Or the ones who fight for the earth with all their might, and in the name of all that’s right, “Confront and disrupt?’” In the press release about the Jackson Browne tribute album from Music Road Records, Kelcy Warren wrote, “I don’t know of anybody that admires Jackson more than me.” As Browne and other musicians rally with the land and water protectors at Standing Rock, and as President Obama signals post-election action on the pipeline, it’s time for Kelcy Warren to face the music.
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By his calculation, Jonathan Valena, a tattoo artist who goes by the name JonBoy, has given more than 20, 000 permanent souvenirs. The one that changed his life was inked on June 16, 2015. On that day, Mr. Valena placed a white dot on a woman’s middle finger. It took him about a second. “It was that little white dot that blew things up,” Mr. Valena, 36, said recently. “The phone started ringing off the hook. Talk about God’s grace. ” Mr. Valena once thought he had to choose between his love for tattoos and his love of God. But in this case, his good fortune may have more to do with another force in the universe: the family. The finger that Mr. Valena tattooed belonged to Kendall Jenner, a model and younger sister of Kim Kardashian. One Instagram post later, he found himself hailed as the latest cool tattooer, a Dr. Woo of the East Coast, a Sailor Jerry for the young Hollywood and fashion crowd. In the last year, he’s put a tiny cross near Justin Bieber’s left eye, the letters PR and AY on the hands of the model Hailey Baldwin and “Janette Duke” on the flesh of Chloë Grace Moretz, an actress who wanted to honor her grandmother. His trademark style is tattooing, what his fans simply call tiny tattoos: hearts and flowers and city skylines etched in black ink and shrunken to emoji size the names of loved ones and inspirational mantras rendered in his squiggly, miniature cursive. Many tattoo artists don’t like doing little tattoos because they are difficult to apply and can rub away. But Mr. Valena, sensing an attractive market, has made them his specialty. He is a favorite of models and actresses, who appreciate the delicacy and of his work. “I don’t want anything big on me,” said Sofia Richie, a model. “I’m shooting a lot. It’s important that it’s something I can hide. ” She has five tattoos by JonBoy, including her brother’s initials, the word “clarity” on her neck and the numerals 13:4, a reference to her favorite Bible verse, in First Corinthians. Ms. Richie, who described herself as “not the kind of person to have tattoos,” said that Mr. Valena’s etchings are nevertheless feminine and artistic, and that he’s a gentleman. “The first time I got tattooed by him we hung out for hours,” she said. “He made it an easy process where I felt relaxed. ” Like all newly successful people in Manhattan, Mr. Valena is on everyone’s invitation list. There he was with Coco Rocha and the Misshapes at a party celebrating Jeremy Scott’s collaboration with Google for its Pixel smartphone. And brands like Schott NYC and Coach have hired him to tattoo at store events and for social media campaigns. In recent weeks, he’s taken his needles and ink on work trips to Los Angeles and South Korea. “I feel blessed,” Mr. Valena said. “There’s a lot of people out there that can do the same thing I do, even better. It just so happens that I got to tattoo some famous people. ” Still, for all his accomplishments, Mr. Valena said at times he has struggled with his professional and life choices. Tattoo artist to the stars was not his original calling. He planned to join the ministry. “There’s almost that guilt of, you were going to be a youth pastor,” Mr. Valena said. “I fell away from church, and I really just wrestled with it. Just feeling, like, ‘Man, where am I? ’” On a recent weekday afternoon, Mr. Valena was at his work station at West 4 Tattoo, the Greenwich Village shop that is his base. Loud club music thumped as customers waited in chairs by the front desk. The place resembled a thousand other tattoo parlors, except for the wall of photos of Mr. Valena posing with celebrity clients, a paper collage of his Instagram account. Mr. Valena, who described himself as “a little Filipino guy,” sat on a chair. He wore black shorts and a black that revealed heavily inked arms and legs, and a black trucker hat that made him a few inches taller. His tattooed hands were weighted by two fistfuls of chunky gold rings by Gucci and Versace. A fluffy Pomeranian he named Gucci and is raising with his girlfriend and manager, Lauren Ledford, yipped at his feet. “I’ve always loved fashion,” Mr. Valena said. “And now living in New York City and being part of it is just a dream. ” On a break between appointments, Mr. Valena reflected earnestly on his life’s journey so far. There was a aspect to his storytelling, an emphasis on redemptive moments. The first came when Mr. Valena, who was raised outside Chicago in a divorced family, said he had a drug overdose at 17. He embraced Christianity and enrolled at a Bible college in Rhode Island. Two years later, he found himself working as a youth pastor and church coffeehouse barista in Decorah, Iowa, population 8, 000. “It was a college town, there were a handful of things to do, but it got old,” Mr. Valena said. He had a few tattoos already, and was interested in the art form. He started hanging out at a local parlor, Valhalla Tattoo and Piercing, run by a Irish biker and who taught him the ropes. “Yes, I had to start by doing grapefruits,” Mr. Valena said. “But the feeling you get when you have that vibrating piece of machinery in your hand and you’re creating something permanent on someone’s body — it started there. ” Some church leaders thought he was doing the devil’s work. There was pressure put on him to quit tattooing, he said. Instead, Mr. Valena quit the church and honed his craft at biker rallies throughout the Midwest. In short order, he followed a girl to Wisconsin and then Minneapolis, married, fathered a son, became a successful local tattooer, grew restless, had an affair, got divorced and made an impulsive leap with his young mistress to New York City, where he had trouble acclimating and became “the insecure JonBoy who is rarely tattooing because I had no clientele out here. ” After an altercation in the subway with a romantic rival, he was arrested and jailed, Mr. Valena said, prompting a dark night of the soul. “I felt, man, I failed at everything,” he said. “I failed my marriage. I failed my family. I’m failing this relationship here. I’m failing in New York City. I failed becoming a youth pastor. I felt lost. ” After being released from jail, he remembered being told about Hillsong Church, a global megachurch popular with celebrities like Mr. Bieber. It was through Hillsong that his life turned around, Mr. Valena said. He began inking the church’s hipster leadership, who approved of tattoos. And he met Ms. Baldwin, the daughter of the actor Stephen Baldwin and a Hillsong congregant, who asked Mr. Valena to give her a tattoo and recommended him to Kendall Jenner. A few years ago, Mr. Valena was so desperate for work that he took a job tattooing at a nightclub in the meatpacking district while drunk people cavorted around him. Now he sets his own schedule, sees as many as eight clients a day and charges a minimum of $300 an hour. In the Kardashian kingdom, Mr. Valena is pretty much official court scribe, having tattooed Kendall Jenner again (“meow” on her inner lip) as well as her younger sister, Kylie Jenner, repeatedly (most recently a miniature red “M” on her pinkie) and a family friend, Jonathan Cheban (“Foodgod” on his forearm). He has cemented his relationships with celebrities by asking many of them to tattoo him, which he likened to “getting their autograph, but not in a crazy fan way. ” Mr. Valena held out the crowded canvas of his arms, showing the spot where Kylie Jenner inked a tiny K with a crown and Ireland Baldwin tattooed a “L. A. ” “And Chloë Moretz — she’s, like, ‘I’m really good at doing stick figures with big penises,’” Mr. Valena added. He shrugged. “I give them liberty. When Hailey or Kylie come in here, I want to remember those times. ” Fridays are Mr. Valena’s day off, but an actress and model named Sabina Gadecki was in New York for a movie premiere and wanted a tattoo. So Mr. Valena, dressed in black and carrying Gucci the Pomeranian, rolled into the shop from his East Village apartment around 2 p. m. Soon Ms. Gadecki arrived with hugs, accompanied by her parents and her boyfriend. She wanted a tiny “R,” her father’s first initial, behind her ear, which would be her third JonBoy tattoo (like Happy Meal trinkets, tiny tattoos encourage a collection). Ms. Gadecki, who also belongs to Hillsong, was referred to Mr. Valena by a friend after an unpleasant experience with another tattoo artist. “I felt like they didn’t care,” she said. “It was just, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ JonBoy listened. He realized it’s important to me. ” After the letter design was agreed to, Mr. Valena began placing the stencil onto Ms. Gadecki’s skin. He stopped abruptly because he wasn’t feeling the music. “I need a new song!” he yelled, then ran to the front desk, cued up a track by Mr. Bieber and returned to his work, singing. Ms. Gadecki sat on the tattoo chair while her entourage watched. The actual tattooing took Mr. Valena exactly six minutes. Posing Ms. Gadecki afterward for his Instagram account took longer. “I never thought it would be like this,” Mr. Valena said. “I never thought putting a little white dot on Kendall Jenner would come to this. I’m living the dream. ” And what of his planned career as a youth pastor? Is his soul still divided? He answered, sounding at peace, “You have a path and a journey, and your life is going to take you where it’s supposed to take you. ” | 1 |
Despite being told by their unions not to vote for migration presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, many French police are voting for Le Pen, who they feel will restore law and order to France. [The police union “Alliance” have made it clear that they want officers in their union not to vote for Marine Le Pen on their website saying they want to, “block the candidate who challenges social democracy. ” The National Union of Independent Trade Unions have proclaimed the same message but many police say they will vote for Le Pen because they feel she can restore order to the streets of France plagued by violence and terrorism L’Express reports. One of these officers is Lucas who said that he had initially voted for the candidate Melenchon in the first round. Explaining why he will be voting for Le Pen he said, “I want things to change,” and didn’t believe that Macron’s policies were any different from the mainstream parties. Lucas said that he didn’t fully agree with Le Pen’s stance on migration, but her policies regarding law and order spoke to him as a police officer. At the moment, he said, “the rights of those held in police custody are more taken into account than those of the victims. ” Arnaud, an officer in Savoy, agreed with Lucas saying, “if the policemen vote Le Pen it is mainly for the security policies. I vote FN by default because there are no candidates who match me. ” The also had choice words for Le Pen’s globalist rival Emmanuel Macron saying he was, “haughty and typically corresponds to the Parisian city dweller. ” Arnaud noted that it was not just in Paris where terror attacks have occurred and he is afraid Macron will reduce the number of officers in the future. “When one knows the realities of the ground,” voting for Le Pen is the logical choice said Pierre who has been a Front National supporter for 30 years. “Security has to be a priority, everything stems from that,” he said. The officers are also supported by the majority of the armed police, known as the Gendarmerie, as a poll showed 51 percent supporting Le Pen in the first round and likely more in the second. Police are often on the receiving end of violence from extremists as was the case earlier this week when several officers were injured during an Pen march after extremists threw firebombs at them. Police are also targets for radical Islamic extremists and Islamic state terrorist fighters. Last month a police officer was gunned down on the Champs Elysee by a known Islamic radical and last year another Islamist invaded the home of a senior officer in Paris stabbing him and his wife to death. Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart. com | 0 |
Venezuela Throws In The Towel On Hyperinflation: Will Print 200x Higher-Denominated Bills Zero Hedge
While several years ago it was perhaps debatable in polite society that Venezuela’s socialist economy would collapse ultimately unleashing hyperinflation, any doubt was put to rest early this year when the IMF’s own inflationary forecast confirmed as much.
However, while the international community had long accepted the inevitable fate of Maduro’s socialist paradise, the local government sternly refused to admit reality and to avoid confirming what the local population already knew, it insisted on keeping the highest denomination bill in circulation at 100 bolivars, whose worth is approximately 8 cents on the black market, turning the most basic transactions into logistical nightmares and saddling banks with crippling money-handling costs. Economists and central bank employees say Mr. Maduro didn’t want to acknowledge the country’s inflation problem by printing bigger notes.
This has finally changed, and as the WSJ reports , Venezuela’s government, slammed by hyperinflation has finally thrown in the towel, and is planning to issue new bills in December with larger denominations—up to 200 times higher than the current biggest bill, according to people familiar with the plans. The move marks an implicit acknowledgment by the government that skyrocketing prices have slashed the value of the currency
The new coins and notes will go up to 20,000 bolivars, according to people close to the central bank, the finance ministry, the country’s banks and bill suppliers. This would make the biggest note worth $15 on the black market.
And since by doing so the government will tacitly admit that it has lost control over prices, It will also create a self-fulfilling prophecy of even higher prices, sending the country’s hyperinflation into overdrive.
As the WSJ adds, earlier this year, the government began informally allowing shops in the outer provinces to sell food at free market prices, reducing shortages at the cost of higher inflation, which the International Monetary Fund expects to rise above 1,600% next year. Further liberalization followed after the state oil company gradually rolled out higher-priced gasoline at gas stations in the border regions to reduce the cost of subsidizing the cheapest car fuel in the world, according to the company’s executives.
Venezuela’s loss, however, is a big gain for the companies contracted to print the money:
In recent weeks, several companies, including U.K.-based De La Rue, the world’s largest commercial printer, won contracts to print the new set of notes, which the government wants in time for the annual December spending spree, according to a person familiar with contract negotiations.
“It’s a very big deal. It’s a big package,” the person said.
Meanwhile, the central bank remains stuck in denial and hasn’t published price statistics for almost two years. Instead, Mr. Maduro has blamed the skyrocketing prices on the “economic war” waged against his government by shopkeepers and financiers. This has forced people to brave one of the world’s highest crime rates by shopping with backpacks full of cash and spend hours lining up outside ATMs, which give out less than $10 per withdrawal. Many provincial banks have reduced daily withdrawals to 30,000 bolivars, which would buy a Venezuelan couple a lunch at a mid-scale restaurant.
Amusingly, as we reported last year, the high demand for nearly worthless currency notes has also presented a financial burden for the cash-strapped government, which also lacks raw materials to print its own money. Since last year, Venezuela has had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to printing companies to feed its economy with bolivar currency. The shipments arrived to Venezuela from private printing presses around the world on several dozen windowless Boeing 747 jets. Given the crime risks, the air shipments arrive at the Caracas airport at night before the notes are loaded onto armored trucks and transported to the central bank vaults in Caracas, protected on the 18-mile route by soldiers.
Indicatively, a fully stocked ATM is emptied in just three and a half hours on average now, according to the Venezuelan Banking Association.
The good news for the insolvent nation is that all local denominated debts are now just as worthless as the currency, which incidentally is what the BOJ’s Kuroda would call: mission accomplished.
Sadly, Venezuela is the canary in the coalmine for what will happen to all currencies in a world where there is now simply too much debt. | 1 |
RALEIGH, N. C. — Amid a tense and dramatic backdrop of outrage and frustration, North Carolina’s legislature on Friday approved a sweeping package of restrictions on the power of the governor’s office in advance of the swearing in of the Democratic Roy Cooper. Protesters spent a second day chanting and disrupting debate, as some were arrested and led away from the state legislative building in plastic wrist restraints. Democratic lawmakers repeatedly referred to the move as a “power grab” carried out by a Republican Party upset that their candidate, Gov. Pat McCrory, had lost the governor’s race. Republicans countered by emphasizing that they had suffered similar indignities for many decades when Democrats controlled the legislature here. State Senator Chad Barefoot, a Republican, said that the changes return “power that was grabbed during Democratic administrations in the 1990s, and some in the ’70s. ” But some here said that Republicans’ effort to hobble the incoming governor had few parallels in recent North Carolina history. “Sure, the Democrats don’t have clean hands, but this is beyond anything I’ve seen them do,” said Bob Phillips, executive director of the nonpartisan group Common Cause North Carolina. “I think we’re in unprecedented, uncharted territory with this. ” Two major bills were approved by the legislature Friday. One of them, which was quickly signed by the departing Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, strips future governors of their power to appoint a majority to the State Board of Elections. The number of board members was expanded from five to eight, with the eight members to be evenly divided between the two major parties. It also changes the state court system, making it more difficult for the losers of some superior court cases to appeal directly to the Supreme Court. A second bill, which had not been signed by the governor as of Friday afternoon, strips the governor of his ability to name members of the boards of state universities, and it reduces the number of state employees the governor can appoint from 1, 500 to 425. Republicans, who once expanded the number of employees who serve at the governor’s pleasure in an effort to help Mr. McCrory, originally proposed shrinking the number of such workers to 300 in advance of Mr. Cooper’s inauguration. The number was increased in an amendment filed by Mr. Barefoot. In another change, and one that could have the greatest impact in the near term, the bill makes the governor’s cabinet appointees subject to approval by the State Senate. Republicans currently enjoy majorities in the House and the Senate, and the North Carolina governorship is historically a relatively weak office. Cabinet appointments are one of the major ways Mr. Cooper, a moderate Democrat, might be able to influence the direction of the state. The moves have mobilized North Carolina’s sizable Democratic contingent, who have been galvanized, over the last four years, by the “Moral Mondays” protest movement led by the Rev. William Barber II, the charismatic president of the state N. A. A. C. P. On Friday afternoon, Mr. Barber entered the state legislative building, triggering whoops and cheers from the roughly 200 protesters. With the aid of a cane he made his way into the space outside the legislative chambers, and encouraged the protesters to risk arrest by knocking on the locked doors of the State House viewing gallery. Police had forbidden protesters to knock. “You have to decide if you want to in fact knock on that door,” said Mr. Barber. Some knocked. A number of them were arrested. The building throbbed as the protesters chanted, “Let Us In. ” The raucous protests Friday, and the votes along strict party lines, virtually guarantee that hyperpartisan political turmoil will continue to be the norm in this deeply divided state. Democratic protests began to swell here in 2013, after Mr. McCrory took office, and Republicans, enjoying control of both the executive and legislative branches, began rolling out an aggressive conservative agenda that limited ballot access and, with the passage of the legislation known as House Bill 2, curtailed gay and transgender rights. That law, which set off boycotts and nationwide protests, is seen as a main reason Mr. McCrory lost his bid for a second term, despite the fact that he presided over an improving economy. Mr. McCrory further angered Democrats by refusing to concede the election for nearly a month as his allies filed challenges to the election results. In a news conference Thursday, Mr. Cooper, the state’s veteran attorney general, threatened to sue the legislature over the changes. “Once more, the courts will have to clean up the mess the legislature made, but it won’t stop us from moving North Carolina forward,” he said in a statement on Friday. Richard L. Hasen, a expert and professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine, has said that the changes to the elections board could be challenged in state and federal court. In a blog post, Mr. Hasen wrote that a federal case might allege violations of the Voting Rights Act, “in part because the legislature would potentially be diluting minority voting power and making minority voters worse off, just at the time that their candidate of choice (Gov. Cooper) is poised to assume power. ” Friday’s debates at times found Republicans arguing that they could make the changes, and Democrats questioning whether they should. Mr. Barefoot, on the Senate floor, argued forcefully that a number of the changes were well within the Republicans’ legal rights, citing specific passages from the state Constitution. State Senator Joyce Waddell, a Democrat from Mecklenburg County, echoed many other Democrats when she complained that the matters were being decided in a hastily called special session that allowed less opportunity for public input than normal. “Why are we rushing?” she said. “There’s no time to hear from voters. ” Republicans defended some of the moves as reform efforts. Representative David R. Lewis, argued that the provision changing the elections boards will instill greater confidence in the electoral process. In addition to changing the state board, the law will also make the state’s 100 county elections boards bodies evenly split between the two parties. Before, they were set up so that the governor’s party had a majority in each. “We have been told that one of the most important things is for our citizenry to have confidence and faith that the elections process is fair,” Mr. Lewis said, “and that it is overseen in a way that does not reflect the partisan bent, if you will, of those administering the elections. ” | 1 |
Bundy Brothers Acquitted For Takeover Of Oregon Wildlife Refuge (DETAILS) By Kay Smythe
A group of anti-government protesters, led by brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy have been acquitted of federal conspiracy and weapons charges. This comes after almost a year since the group staged an armed takeover of a federal wildlife sanctuary in Oregon last winter.
All seven defendants were acquitted by a Federal District Court. Swayed Jury
The decision came as a surprise to government prosecutors, who had argued that the group used force and threats of violence to occupy the reserve. Despite this, the jury was taken by the group’s protest of government overreach. They also believed the group posed no threat to the public.
Ryan Bundy’s wife, Angela Bundy , said this following the court’s decision: “I knew that what my husband was doing was right, but I was nervous because the judge was controlling the narrative. But they saw the truth. I am just so grateful they saw it.” What Happened?
The original crime of the group consisted of occupying a remote wildlife reserve in the south-east of Oregon. The group held the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters for nearly six weeks in 2015.
As a group, the defendants never denied their occupation. However, their lawyers argued that the prosecutors had failed to prove that they had committed any crimes.
Their lawyers also stated that the Bundy brothers and five friends did not engage in an illegal conspiracy to keep federal workers from doing their jobs.
Despite this, all members of the group were charged with conspiracy to impede federal employees from discharging their duties. They also faced federal weapons charges. Cleared Of All Crimes Except For One
Though the acquittals were unanimous, Ryan Bundy has still been charged with theft. He removed cameras around the refuge, which are government property.
Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown , has said she is disappointed in the court’s decision. Said said: “The occupation of the Malheur Reserve did not reflect the Oregon way of respectfully working together to resolve differences.” Religious Beliefs
Ammon Bundy testified in his defense for three days. He claimed the takeover was spontaneous and informed by religious beliefs. Many of the protesters that joined the brothers and their group also had a distrust of government.
Most of those involved have reportedly been very outspoken on their apprehensions of federal government. Many of them left their jobs and homes to join the protest.
Despite the verdict, the Judge moved to keep the brothers in federal custody as a result of pending charges in Nevada. About Kay Smythe
Kay Smythe is a freelance writer, social geographer, and senior writer at Anthony Gilardi's HIPPO LIFE. She was first published by Guardian Travel in the mid-2000s, which earned her the editorship at her college newspaper in 2010. From there, Smythe was opinion and news editor with The Tab, whilst maintaining a blog with Huffington Post. Her works featured interviews with Oscar and Emmy nominated actors. In early 2016, Smythe was awarded an O1 VISA. She lives and works in Venice, California, and loves it. Connect | 0 |
President Trump has repeatedly slammed pharmaceutical companies for “getting away with murder” on soaring drug prices, but he and his nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration have pledged to ease industry regulations and speed approvals for medicines and other consumer products. The nominee, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, has spent the bulk of his career working in the drug and health care industry, which experts say raises the potential for myriad conflicts of interest. If confirmed to head the F. D. A. he would wield considerable power over companies and investment firms that have paid him millions of dollars over the years. From 2013 to 2015, for example, Dr. Gottlieb received more than $150, 000 to advise Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a company whose two approved drugs are seen as breakthrough treatments for cystic fibrosis but carry list prices of more than $250, 000 a year. He’s the acting chief executive of Cell Biotherapy, an cancer biotech firm that he helped found. He has served for years as a consultant to pharmaceutical giants like GlaxoSmithKline and Squibb and is paid by other companies for his expertise. Dr. Gottlieb plans to recuse himself for one year from any agency decisions involving about 20 health care companies he worked with, according to an ethics agreement made public Wednesday. But that is unlikely to mollify critics who argue that someone with such close industry relationships should not be in charge of an agency whose mission is to protect consumers and uphold safety standards for products from lipstick to lifesaving cancer therapies. “If you have a commissioner who is that conflicted, recusal is a tricky business,” said Susan F. Wood, who resigned as the director of the F. D. A. ’s Office of Women’s Health in 2005 in protest over the agency’s decision to delay approval of the pill. Dr. Gottlieb’s nomination comes at a momentous time for the agency, which Mr. Trump has promised to significantly remake. The next commissioner will be charged with putting into practice a law, passed in December, aimed at bringing drugs to market more quickly. Congress also must reauthorize a set of bills this year that determine how much the drug and medical device industry will pay in user fees, which fund more than half of the agency’s budget to review new drugs. The president’s other appointments for health roles, such as Dr. Tom Price, the health and human services secretary, and Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, have also come under fire for being too close to the businesses they regulate or for their investments in health care companies. Dr. Gottlieb’s newly disclosed financial forms are likely to draw similar criticism at his Senate confirmation hearing on April 5. One line of inquiry could include a thorny issue that arose on Wednesday: The generic drugmaker Mylan announced that the F. D. A. had rejected its application to make a generic copy of the inhaler Advair Diskus, a product for GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Gottlieb has called for making it easier to market generic versions of complex drugs like Advair to reduce prices, but he also received close to $90, 000 in fees in 2016 and the first two months of this year as a Glaxo consultant, according to financial disclosures. Some say a yearlong recusal would not suffice. “The question is going to be, are you going to have to recuse yourself from all the decisions that are going to have an impact on that company?” said Dr. Wood, who is now an associate professor at George Washington University. Leslie B. Kiernan, a lawyer for Dr. Gottlieb, said that his recusal plan was approved by federal ethics officials and that F. D. A. commissioners do not typically get involved in matters involving individual companies. “Every individual who goes into government from the private sector with experience in the industry is going to have some recusals,” she said. “The key role of the commissioner is to set broad policies for the agency. ” Others who know Dr. Gottlieb, including Democrats, praise his intellect and independent thinking, even as they acknowledge that he is likely to bring a more worldview to a sprawling agency of more than 16, 000 employees. Dr. Gottlieb, 44, served as an F. D. A. deputy in the George W. Bush administration before leaving to do private consulting. With his medical training and government experience, he was considered the conventional choice over more radical candidates that Mr. Trump was said to be weighing. “I think he is not so easily put into a box,” said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, who was the agency’s deputy commissioner in the Obama administration. Dr. Sharfstein said he had sought Dr. Gottlieb’s advice when he took his job at the F. D. A. and the two have stayed in touch. “I think he has the capability to really grow into the role. ” In writings and speeches, Dr. Gottlieb has criticized the F. D. A. calling for more flexibility to permit access to drugs that provide strong clues — but not conclusive evidence — that they work. He has proposed ways to shake up the agency’s bureaucratic structure, suggesting that drug approvals be made by more seasoned senior staff members, and that a special team oversee drugs intended for rare diseases. In a departure from the agency position that it has little control over drug costs, Dr. Gottlieb has also shown a willingness to take on high prices by making it easier for certain generic drugs to be approved. Some said Dr. Gottlieb’s background is what qualifies him for the job. “The alternative is to have a leader who may have no conflicts because they’ve never been involved in the drug development process,” said Tim Coetzee, the chief advocacy, services and research officer at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which receives some funding from the drug industry and invests in drug development research. “We don’t think that is a sound approach. ” Dr. Gottlieb had little government experience beyond stints at the F. D. A. and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services when he became an F. D. A. deputy at age 33 in 2005. He had been a financial analyst and consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, and wrote the Gilder Biotech Report and the Forbes Gottlieb Medical Technology Report. Those industry associations soon became a headache. In late 2005, he was forced to recuse himself from proposals on the avian flu, The Boston Globe reported, because he had consulted for major vaccine players, including Roche and Sanofi. Around the same time, emails leaked to Time magazine showed him questioning career F. D. A. employees over a decision to stop a multiple sclerosis drug trial, and expressing surprise at the rejection of an osteoporosis drug. Back then, Dr. Gottlieb defended his actions, saying he had to understand the agency’s process. “The agency was being highly politicized by the Bush administration, and he certainly was part and parcel of that politicization,” Dr. Wood said. “I think for that subset of F. D. A. career staff, the physicians who worked there, I think there was suspicion of everyone in leadership at the time. ” While he was at the F. D. A. Dr. Gottlieb practiced medicine at a Connecticut hospital in his spare time, said John Taylor, a former F. D. A. lawyer who had worked with him. “Scott would work two shifts at a hospital and see patients on the weekends,” he said. “I thought he was Superman. ” In 2006, while he was a deputy commissioner, Dr. Gottlieb received a diagnosis of Hodgkins lymphoma, but he is now cancer free. In 2007, Dr. Gottlieb returned to the private sector, becoming a partner at New Enterprise Associates, where he advised the firm’s health care team, and began consulting for a range of companies. Dr. Gottlieb also held seats on a number of corporate boards, including Tolero Pharmaceuticals, a Utah company working on cancer treatments, and MedAvante, which assists pharmaceutical companies with clinical trials. According to the federal ethics filings, Dr. Gottlieb said he would resign from all outside boards. The yearlong recusal, he said, would remove him from decisions on all the companies he received payments from, including six that he held a financial interest in while at New Enterprise Associates, all health care providers or lab testing companies that are overseen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He also listed several biotech that he invested in through T. R. Winston Co. a merchant bank. Financial disclosure documents show Dr. Gottlieb made more than $3 million during 2016 and through March 1 of this year, including $1. 85 million from T. R. Winston and $280, 000 for consulting for New Enterprise, according to the disclosures, which were reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal. But the investments in T. R. Winston were not all in health care companies and included energy companies, as well as other firms. Dr. Gottlieb, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, has also been a prolific writer and public speaker, criticizing the agency’s approach. “In so heavily prioritizing one of its obligations — the protection of consumers — the F. D. A. has sometimes subordinated and neglected its other key obligation, which is to guide new medical innovations to market,” Dr. Gottlieb wrote in 2012 in National Affairs, a political journal. Some of Dr. Gottlieb’s views have alarmed researchers who argue that rigorous study of drugs and medical devices is the best way to ensure they work. In 2014, Dr. Gottlieb criticized a medical device study that used “sham,” or dummy, procedures as a kind of placebo. The sham procedure, he argued, was invasive and unnecessary, especially since the product, called renal denervation, was already approved in Europe to lower patients’ blood pressure. But at the time Dr. Gottlieb wrote the article, Medtronic, the device’s manufacturer, had already announced that the study had failed, and an article a month later in The New England Journal of Medicine showed that patients who underwent renal denervation did no better than those who received a fake procedure. “Had we not done a sham control, the erroneous belief that this procedure worked would have persisted,” said Dr. Deepak L. Bhatt, one of the study’s principal investigators. He said Dr. Gottlieb’s argument that the trial was unethical baffled him. “I would think after seeing the results, any scientist or physician who understands clinical trials would come to the same conclusion, not the opposite conclusion. ” These days, the F. D. A. has shown a willingness to approve products that have shown promise based on intermediate measures, like a shrinking tumor, rather than outcomes like survival rates — especially in cancer research. One recent study showed that the agency decides on drugs faster than its counterparts in Europe and Canada. In December, President Obama signed into law the 21st Century Cures Act, which further directs the F. D. A. to remove barriers to approval, requiring that the agency consider the “least burdensome” means of showing the safety of medical devices, and consider feedback from patients. One of the biggest jobs of the F. D. A. ’s next leader, said Dr. Jerry Avorn, a professor at Harvard Medical School who studies the drug industry, will be translating that law into reality. “Whoever is the new commissioner,” he said, “is going is have both marching orders, and a blank slate. ” | 1 |
Abu Omar Almaqdesi, a senior Islamic State jihadist, said the soldiers and supporters of the Caliphate must not permit the celebration of Christmas in Islamic countries. He went on to describe the festivities as depraved, lewd and based on the “blasphemous idea” that Allah had an equal in Jesus.[ “Isa (Jesus) may he rest in peace, is a prophet like all the others,” Almeqdesi told Breitbart Jerusalem “and in Islam we don’t discriminate between prophets for they are all the messengers of Allah, but the claim that Jesus is a deity represents a heresy that ought to be stamped out in Islamic states. ” “Those Christians who pay the jizya — the poll tax — and refrain from practicing these blasphemous celebrations should be given the security they deserve. But if somewhere there are Christians who insist on celebrating Christmas with the support of the heretic authorities, one must unleash upon them all one’s might and deploy all the available means. ” Asked what he means by that, Almeqdesi said that “all methods are admissible when it comes to preventing blasphemy against Allah and his commandments. Yes, including killing and blowing up. But, like I said, we believe that at first you should act politely and explain that living in Islamic countries is conditioned on accepting the Sharia and refrain from openly practicing rituals other than Islam. ” Asked whether Christians should be allowed to enjoy alcoholic drinks in the privacy of their homes during the holiday, Almeqdesi replied in the negative, “as the alcohol was bought somewhere, whereas selling it and consuming it is forbidden, so you can’t drink it. Whoever’s caught breaking this law will be whipped and jailed. ” Almeqdesi said the recent terror attacks in Jordan, Turkey and Germany “are part of the price these states must pay for positioning themselves as part of the Crusader Coalition of the infidel countries fighting against Islam. ” Almeqdesi added that the Islamic State’s claiming responsibility for the recent terrorist attacks in Jordan and Berlin “was only to be expected seeing as the organization’s leadership pledged to punish all the states that form the coalition against it. While the attacks on Islamic states are ongoing, so will be the (terror) activity of our mujahideen brothers. ” | 0 |
Arnold Palmer, the champion golfer whose style of play, thrilling tournament victories and magnetic personality inspired an American golf boom, attracted a following known as Arnie’s Army and made him one of the most popular athletes in the world, died on Sunday evening in Pittsburgh. He was 87. Doc Giffin, a spokesman for Palmer’s business interests, said the cause was complications of heart problems. Paul Wood, a spokesman for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said Palmer died at UPMC Shadyside Hospital, about 40 miles from Palmer’s home in Latrobe, Pa. From 1958 through 1964, Palmer was the charismatic face of professional golf and one of its dominant players. In those seven seasons, he won seven major titles: four Masters, one United States Open and two British Opens. With 62 victories on the PGA Tour, he ranks fifth, behind Sam Snead, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan. He won 93 tournaments worldwide, including the 1954 United States Amateur. But it was more than his scoring and shotmaking that captivated the sports world. It was how he played. He did not so much navigate a course as attack it. If his swing was not classic, it was ferocious: He seemed to throw all 185 pounds of his muscular body at the ball. If he did not win, he at least lost with flair. Handsome and charming, his sandy hair falling across his forehead, his shirttail flapping, a cigarette sometimes dangling from his lips, Palmer would stride down a fairway acknowledging his army of fans with a sunny smile and a raised club, “like Sir Lancelot amid the multitude in Camelot,” Ira Berkow wrote in The New York Times. And the television cameras followed along. As Woods would do more than 30 years later, Palmer, a son of a golf pro at his hometown Latrobe Country Club, almost stimulated TV coverage of golf, widening the game’s popularity among a postwar generation of World War II veterans enjoying economic boom times and a sprawling green suburbia. His celebrated rivalry with Nicklaus and another champion, the South African Gary Player — they became known as the Big Three — only added to Palmer’s appeal, and more often than not, he, not the others, had the galleries on his side. “Arnold popularized the game,” Nicklaus said. “He gave it a shot in the arm when the game needed it. ” Hitching up his pants as he marched down the fairways or before lining up a crucial putt, Palmer put the word “charge” into golf’s vocabulary in 1960. In the final round of that year’s Masters, he birdied the 17th and 18th holes to win by one stroke. Two months later, in the United States Open at Cherry Hills, near Denver, he shot a 65 to win by two over Nicklaus. “I seem to play my best in a big tournament,” Palmer said. “For one thing, my game is better adapted to the tougher courses. For another, I can get myself more keyed up when an important title is at stake. I like competition — the more rugged, the better. ” And if he lost, his army did not desert him. In the 1961 Los Angeles Open at Rancho Park, he recorded a 12 on the ninth hole when he hit four balls out of bounds. Palmer’s fans were deflated, like him, but somehow his flubs enhanced his appeal. He was human he could blow a lead or a shot like any duffer. And they liked that he went down swinging, with his lunging, play. If he hit a wayward tee shot to an awkward spot, he usually went for the green, rather than chip the ball safely back to the fairway, as other golfers would have done. “You can make mistakes when you’re being conservative, so why not go for the hole?” he said. “I always feel like I’m going to win. So I don’t feel I’m gambling on a lot of shots that make other people feel I am. ” His nickname among tour pros was the King, although he never basked in the title. But it fit. He was the first athlete to receive three of the United States’ civilian honors: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal and the National Sports Award. And he became a conglomerate. As the president of Arnold Palmer Enterprises, he supervised the design and development of more than 300 new or remodeled golf courses worldwide, as well as golf clubs and clothing. He popularized a drink known as the Arnold Palmer, a mixture of iced tea and lemonade now sold under his name on supermarket shelves. He was a major for the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Women in Orlando, Fla. and for Latrobe Hospital. He was the original chairman of cable television’s Golf Channel and a longtime corporate spokesman, notably in a Pennzoil commercial featuring a tractor he had driven growing up on the Latrobe golf course. After buying his first plane, a used Aero Commander, for $27, 000 in 1962, he became one of the first golf pros to pilot his own plane from tournament to tournament. He graduated to jets in 1966. The Latrobe airport is named for him. With two and an observer, he circumnavigated the globe in 1976 in 57 hours 25 minutes 42 seconds, a world record for jets in the category. He spent more than 20, 000 hours in the cockpit. “Flying has been one of the great things in my life,” he said. “It’s taken me to the far corners of the world. I met thousands of people I otherwise wouldn’t have met. And I even got to play a little golf along the way. ” He was a part owner of the Pebble Beach Resort in California and principal owner of the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, the site of the annual Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament on the PGA Tour. True to his roots, he made his primary home in Latrobe, spending winters at Bay Hill. His handshake agreement with Mark McCormack, a Cleveland lawyer he met while playing golf against him in college, led to McCormack’s forming the International Management Group, now the world’s foremost sports agency. Palmer was its premier client. One of Palmer’s disappointments was that he never won the P. G. A. Championship to complete a career Grand Slam — titles at the four major tournaments. That failure especially hurt because his father, the Latrobe Country Club pro, was a P. G. A. member who had taught him the game. “I should have won it a couple times,” Palmer said. “I wanted it too bad. Everyone was calling it to my attention. ” Palmer competed in the top ranks of a demanding, exacting game against some of history’s greatest players, so heartbreakers were probably inevitable. At the 1961 Masters, Palmer needed only a par 4 on the 18th hole to become the first golfer to win at Augusta National in consecutive years. But after a good drive, he skidded his approach into a bunker, blasted out over the green, chipped 15 feet past the cup and for a 6 to lose by a stroke to Player. Palmer also lost three United States Open playoffs — in 1962 to Nicklaus at Oakmont, near Pittsburgh (it was Nicklaus’s first major victory) in 1963 to Julius Boros at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass. and, in a particularly crushing defeat, in 1966 to Billy Casper at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, after he had led Casper by a seemingly insurmountable seven strokes with nine holes to go in the final round. Palmer was nonetheless the PGA Tour’s leading money winner in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1963 and its player of the year in 1960 and 1962. In 1968, he became the first golfer to earn more than $1 million in career prize money on the PGA Tour. The award for the leading money winner each year is now named for him. He was voted The Associated Press’s athlete of the decade for the 1960s. Palmer was 77 when he played his final competitive round, on Oct. 30, 2006, at the Administaff Small Business Classic in Spring, Tex. on the Champions Tour. After hitting two balls into the water on the fourth hole, he withdrew with a sore lower back, although he finished his round — without keeping score — because he owed it to his fans, he said. “The people, they all want to see a good shot,” he said, “and you know it, and you can’t give them that good shot. That’s when it’s time. ” Arnold Daniel Palmer was born in Latrobe, a steel town southeast of Pittsburgh, on Sept. 10, 1929, the first child of Milfred and Doris Palmer. (A sister, Lois Jean, who was known as Cheech, was born when Arnold was 2.) His father, who was known as Deacon, then Deke, worked in the steel mills and as a laborer and greenskeeper at the Latrobe club, which was a course then. The family lived in a modest house on the edge of the course. Deke Palmer was named the club pro in 1932 or ’33, and Arnold’s mother kept the books. Arnold was about 3 when he began to swing a with a shaft. His father told him, “Hit it hard,” and he did. At age 9, he shot a 45 for nine holes. He went on to win the Western Pennsylvania Junior three times and the Western Pennsylvania Amateur five times before he entered Wake Forest after graduating from Latrobe High School. In college, he played on two Atlantic Coast Conference championship teams. “I don’t think I have any stronger nerves than the next man,” he once said. “I suppose it’s just the patience I got from my mother, Doris, and the ornery bullheadedness I got from Pap. ” His relationship with his father ran deep, and Palmer would grow emotional in recalling him. Deke Palmer had polio as a child and walked with a limp, and in 2014 the P. G. A. of America made him the first recipient of an award established in his honor, citing a P. G. A. member who had overcome personal adversity to contribute to the game. He died of a heart attack at 71 in 1976 after playing 27 holes at Bay Hill. As a Wake Forest student, Palmer was shattered by the death of his classmate and close friend Bud Worsham, the brother of the 1947 United States Open champion, Lew Worsham, in an auto accident. Palmer soon withdrew from college during his senior year and served three years in the Coast Guard. After his discharge, he was working as a salesman in Cleveland (where he met McCormack) when he won the 1954 United States Amateur at the Country Club of Detroit. At an eastern Pennsylvania tournament a few weeks later, Palmer met Winifred Walzer, a who was studying interior design at Pembroke College, an arm of Brown University, in Providence, R. I. Her father was an institutional food distributor in Bethlehem, Pa. She and Palmer hit it off at dinner the next evening, and he proposed to her three days later. After eloping, they were married in Falls Church, Va. before a small group of Palmer family members and friends on Dec. 20, 1954. (The Walzers stayed away, convinced that their daughter had made a mistake.) The couple traveled the 1955 pro tour in a secondhand trailer. “For years,” McCormack said, “Winnie handled the family finances and handled them well while heeding certain rules set down by Arnold, whose ideas about money do not follow common practice. She balanced the books, paid the bills, made the travel arrangements, mailed the entry blanks and, in short, devoted her entire attention to one goal: making sure that her husband’s mind was free to concentrate on golf. ” On her husband’s 37th birthday, in 1966, Winnie Palmer arranged for one of Arnold’s special friends to attend the family party in Latrobe as a surprise guest — former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Arnold and the president had occasionally played golf together at Augusta National, where the president, an avid golfer, was a member. Winnie Palmer died of a malignant tumor in her abdomen in 1999 at 65. Arnold Palmer married Kathleen Gawthorp, a Californian known as Kit, in 2005 in Oahu, Hawaii. It was her second marriage as well. She survives him, along with two daughters, Peggy Wears and Amy Saunders two sisters, Lois Jean Tilley and Sandra Sarni, both of Latrobe a brother, Jerry, a former general manager at Latrobe Country Club six grandchildren, including Sam Saunders, a pro who has played in several tour events and several . As a tour rookie, Palmer won the 1955 Canadian Open. He won twice in 1956 and four times in 1957 before earning the green jacket at the 1958 Masters after a controversial ruling. He was leading by one stroke when his tee shot on the 12th hole plugged behind the green. His request for a free drop was refused. Waiting for a ruling on his appeal, he played a provisional ball (for a par 3) and the original ball (for a 5). Two holes later, his appeal was allowed his provisional ball for a 3 counted. He won by one stroke over Ken Venturi. “My first Masters win was the toughest and also the most significant,” Palmer said. “The business with the ruling made winning the tournament as hard as anything I’ve ever done, because I wanted to win so badly and because of my feelings for the Masters. ” It was during the 1960 Masters that the name Arnie’s Army was born. Palmer was on his way to victory with a birdie putt at the 17th and a birdie putt at the 18th when an “Arnie’s Army” sign appeared on the scoreboard. “Some soldiers at Fort Gordon were acting as gallery marshals,” Palmer said later, alluding to the sign, “and a sportswriter picked up on their excitement. ” Two months later, at the United States Open at Cherry Hills, Palmer trailed the leader, Mike Souchak, by seven shots as he ate a hamburger in the locker room before the final round. In those years, the Open had a finish on Saturday, and when Palmer saw Bob Drum, the golf writer for The Pittsburgh Press, he had a question. “What would a 65 this afternoon do?” he asked. “For you, nothing,” Drum said. “You’re too far behind. ” “But a 65 gives me 280, and 280 wins the Open. ” Palmer was so angry at Drum, he never finished that hamburger. He went out and drove the first green on what was then a downhill hole, then for a birdie. He also birdied the next three holes, then the sixth and the seventh. He bogeyed the eighth but parred the ninth for a 30 going out, then played the back nine in 35 for a 65 that won that Open by two strokes over Nicklaus, a amateur at the time. Having won both the Masters and the United States Open, Palmer entered the British Open at St. Andrews, Scotland, hoping to extend his bid for an unprecedented Grand Slam of the four majors in the same year. Despite a 68 in the last round, Palmer lost that British Open by one stroke to Kel Nagle, an Australian. But he won the British Open in each of the next two years, at Royal Birkdale in England in 1961 and at Royal Troon in Scotland in 1962. In the 1962 Masters, Palmer trailed by two strokes with three holes remaining, but birdies at the 16th and 17th forced an playoff with Player and Dow Finsterwald. After a 38 on the front nine of the playoff, Palmer birdied the 10th, 12th, 13th and 14th holes for a 68 as Player shot 71 and Finsterwald 77. In 1964, Palmer won the Masters by six strokes as Nicklaus and Dave Marr tied for second. “This was my most satisfying Masters,” Palmer said. “I held the Masters in awe when I was young, and I hold it in awe now. ” That Masters title was his last victory in a major, but he won on the PGA Tour as late as 1973, at the Bob Hope Desert Classic. After he turned 50 in 1979, his mere presence on the Senior PGA Tour, then just formed, helped popularize it while lifting his total prize money on both tours to more than $3. 5 million. Even when he struggled on the Senior PGA Tour after surgery for prostate cancer in 1998, his galleries were often the largest, just as they had been four decades earlier. “I feel the strength of the gallery, especially on a critical shot,” he said in his prime. “Silence is louder than any noise on a golf course — the deathly silence that I sometimes feel and hear when I’m out there. That will tell you how powerful the galleries really are. They have an appreciation of what you’re going through, of what’s happening, and they understand. ” He had a shelf full of honors, and then some. He won the Vardon Trophy for lowest average score on the PGA Tour in 1961, 1962, 1964 and 1967. He was a member of six United States Ryder Cup teams he was twice the captain, in 1963 and 1975. He was the Presidents Cup team captain in 1996. He was on six victorious World Cup teams, four with Nicklaus as his partner and two with Snead. Palmer is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fla. the P. G. A. of America Hall of Fame and the American Golf Hall of Fame. He also won 10 Senior PGA Tour events, including the 1981 United States Senior Open and two Senior P. G. A. Championships. President George W. Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a White House ceremony in 2004. But perhaps no pro golfer enjoyed the simple pleasure of playing the game as much as Palmer did. Including friendly matches and tournaments, he estimated at age 70 that he had played 260 rounds a year. And even though he was hardly the Arnold Palmer who won those seven majors over seven seasons, he still identified with the galleries. “I did that naturally,” he once said, “because my father told me, ‘Those people in the gallery are all the same as you. ’” | 1 |
Conservative talk radio personality Laura Ingraham is eyeing a Senate run in Virginia to challenge Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, the Washington Examiner reports. [Sources say that several party insiders have approached her with the subject and she is considering it. Peter Anthony, Ingraham’s business partner, has already snatched up several website domains in preparation for her Senate run, such as ingrahamsenate. net, ingrahamsenate. com, ingrahamforvirginia. com and ingraham2018. com. Ingraham did not comment on the rumored run. Ingraham is in Virginia and inside the Washington, D. C. beltway, brings a wealth of media experience to the table. In addition to her radio show, she heads up news site Lifezette. com, is a Fox News contributor, and is a New York Times bestselling author, the Blaze reports. Ingraham, if she chooses to mount a bid, will face a crowded primary field. So far, Rep. Barbara Comstock ( ) Rep. Dave Brat ( ) and Carly Fiorina are all reportedly exploring runs for the Senate seat. | 0 |
Behind the headlines - conspiracies, cover-ups, ancient mysteries and more. Real news and perspectives that you won't find in the mainstream media. Browse: Home / Top US General Pleads With Troops Not To Revolt Over 2016 Essential Reading General Ivashov: “International terrorism does not exist” By wmw_admin on February 24, 2007
Gen. Leonid Ivashov was Chief of Staff of Russian armed forces when the 9/11 attacks took place, but he says, they weren’t carried out by Osama or al-Qaeeda. The most likely culprits, says the General, were transnational mafias and international oligarchs Waco: The Untold Story. By wmw_admin on May 6, 2006
The real story behind Waco. A shocking revelation that ultimately led to the death of the man who sought to expose it, attorney Paul Wilcher. Bilderberg Meeting – Media Should Be Ashamed By wmw_admin on July 12, 2003
Why do the Bilderberg meetings receive so little coverage. Victor Thorn examines why, and how, real news is suppressed by the mainstream media BBC Report (Subsequently Deleted): Ukrainian Fighter Shot Down MH17 By wmw_admin on July 31, 2014
On the anniversary of its downing: BBC reporter interviews eyewitnesses (with English subtitles) who saw jet fighters fire on MH17. The BBC has since deleted the report They Live By wmw_admin on August 19, 2012
Considered by some as prophetic, many will find eerie echoes of present day concerns in John Carpenters 24-year-old ‘They Live’. View the cult classic here Juri Lina – In the Shadow of Hermes By wmw_admin on July 15, 2011
Fixed and a “must see” for all serious students of REAL history. This outstanding video from the author of “Under the Sign of Scorpio” challenges many modern myths. With English subtitles The Mastermind Behind 911? By wmw_admin on February 11, 2005
He recieved hardly any media attention while chief financial officer at the Pentagon, but he might just be THE KEY FIGURE behind the events of 911 The Anglo-Saxon Mission Part II By wmw_admin on March 1, 2010
Former City of London insider reveals that the depopulation program would begin with a planned war between Israel and Iran. More importantly, he goes onto to describe how we can derail their plans for global dominance America Before Columbus By Rixon Stewart on September 1, 2006
Could it be that certain powers have a vested interest in keeping our real history under wraps? Because a great deal has been unearthed which is completely at odds with conventional notions regarding the origins of what we know today as America The Essene Gospel of Peace II By wmw_admin on April 26, 2007
Translated by Purcell Weaver and Edmond Szekely from its original Aramiac, a language that today few know but 2000 years ago was the language that Christ spoke and taught with | 0 |
Trump Wins Presidency, Duke falls short in absolutely heroic effort November 9, 2016 at 1:46 am
Trump Wins Presidency, Duke falls short in absolutely heroic effort
CNN has reported that Hillary will call Donald Trump to concede. CNN and some other networks still have not called all the states, but it is clear that Pennsylvania will go for Trump and put him over the top. Life is good! | 0 |
Mall of America to Close for First Time Ever on Thanksgiving Nov 11, 2016 0 0
For the first time ever the Mall of America will close on Thanksgiving Day. This represents a sea change. Instead of fighting crowds on Black Friday to buy the latest gadgets, hundreds of thousands of Americans will instead be home spending time with their families and friends, and 15,000 employees will enjoy the same opportunity which many consumer-focused shoppers have often taken for granted.
Mall of America officials just announced that they were veering from their tradition of staying open from the morning of Thanksgiving day into Black Friday. The super mall, home to 520 stores in Bloomington, Minnesota, will stay closed on November 24th except for certain operations like the Walk to End Hunger fundraiser. The mall will reopen the following morning at 5am with a ribbon cutting ceremony for anxious customers. Americans are Drowning in Their Stuff The Average American Household Contains 300,000 Items
You don’t have to be an extreme minimalist to appreciate the fact that Americans, more than in almost any other country, have too much stuff. The LA Times reports that there are more than 300,000 items in the average American home. Even the size of the average home has tripled over the last ten years. You’ve got to have the space to put all that stuff! And yet, one in five Americans rents an off-site storage space to put their overflow. This is the fastest growing sector of commercial real estate in the past four years, according to the NY Times, even though America is home to 50,000 storage facilities – more than five times the number of Starbucks. It could do us good if malls closed their doors more often.
Americans spend trillions on goods and services that they don’t really need. This includes booze, jewelry, and sports paraphernalia. We spend more on shoes, jewelry and watches than we do on education.
While this fact alone doesn’t necessarily point to a habit of overt consumerism, in many cases it does point to an ethos of unsustainability. Much of Our Stuff is Toxic
As the Story of Stuff details, many of the products we purchase contribute to the degradation of our environment – from the petro-chemicals used in our cars, and in our hand lotions, to a seemingly benign glass of water which comes from a plastic bottle.
From non-stick cookware, to hand-sanitizer, shower-curtains, to furniture , we are living with a multitude of consumer purchases that are not good for us. Our children’s toys are toxic, and even our carpets and the paint we put on our walls is health-destroying , yet we’ve come to expect that ‘more’ is better, without demanding quality. Moving Toward a Shared Economy
What is more, many of the things we use can be shared. Why do we need to ‘own’ something that we only use sporadically? This goes for garden tools, and sports equipment as well as human resources, even. House swapping and Uber were based on people’s growing realization that sharing works.
Ask yourself – how many times are you actually going to watch that DVD? Are you children really going to play with that plastic toy for more than ten minutes before its tossed aside? Then there’s the clothes we wear for special occasions. Often a dress or suit is worn once, and then never again. Companies are now capitalizing on the trend to re-use and share resources, and the trend couldn’t have come at a better time.
Services and space are also growing into the shared-economy. If you have a garden only you and a handful of people enjoy, why not open it up to the community? Are you taking your dog for a walk? Why not offer to take the neighbor’s too? Or share the fees of a dog-walker with dog-loving friends. Looking for the Root Cause
Through repetitive advertising, we have been subconsciously programmed to believe that our lives are empty without more things in them. We unknowingly seek quantity over quality in everything we purchase because we are trying to fill an emotional void. By playing on our innate emotional responses, and our base urges, the advertising industry overarchingly promotes the products and services of companies which pollute the planet, divide communities, rape the earth of its resources, and promote slave and child labor.
If a ruling elite can create docile, easily controlled subjects, they don’t question the goods and services they are being sold, let alone its geo-political agendas. This is the undercurrent of an ogilopolistic , mechanized system designed to make consumers – not dreamers, thinkers, and doers.
When we start to pull out this programming at the roots, and see it for what it is, we can start making more informed choices. Does this mean we can never buy a new pair of shoes again, or travel to a foreign country? Absolutely not, but it means you can make wiser (hopefully fewer) purchases, and share resources where applicable. Instead of staying in a hotel you can make a new friend overseas, and trade houses. You can purchase goods from companies that give back to their communities and uphold fair trade practices. The sustainable company is indeed peeking out from our consumer-based programming, and if the Mall of America is closing, even for one day, it portends a brighter future for Americans who have been obsessed with spending money they don’t have for things they don’t need.
Image credit: StartatSixty.com , Featured image: source Vote Up Christina Sarich Christina Sarich is a musician, yogi, humanitarian and freelance writer who channels many hours of studying Lao Tzu, Paramahansa Yogananda, Rob Brezny, Miles Davis, and Tom Robbins into interesting tidbits to help you Wake up Your Sleepy Little Head, and *See the Big Picture*. Her blog is Yoga for the New World . Her latest book is Pharma Sutra: Healing The Body And Mind Through The Art Of Yoga . | 1 |
MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams was utterly unaware that a victory on Saturday night would put her back at No. 1. Her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, did all he could to keep her in the dark. But there was no hiding the other statistical stakes as Williams walked back into Rod Laver Arena, headphones around her neck and in place, to play her older sister Venus Williams in the Australian Open final. The tennis circuit can be an echo chamber where the same questions and themes reverberate from week to week as the locations change, but the protagonists do not. So even if Serena Williams refused to entertain questions during the tournament about the possibility of winning her 23rd Grand Slam singles title and breaking her tie for the record with Steffi Graf, there was no dodging that number in her own head. Now, after her victory over her sister, she can celebrate No. 23 instead of fret over it. “I’ve been chasing it for a really long time,” Williams said. “When it got on my radar, I knew I had an opportunity to get there, and I’m here. It’s a great feeling. No better place to do it than Melbourne. ” She and her sister made their first visit to Melbourne in 1998. They were teenagers with braces on their teeth and braids in their hair and a clear sense that they were special, but no idea of just how far their talents and confidence would carry them. Much has changed in 19 years. Rod Laver Arena now has a wraparound digital screen at court level and electronic line calling. The court, once green, is now a deep blue. The beads and the braces are long gone, but the sisters’ power tennis remains. And though their father, Richard Williams, in one of the great sports predictions, saw the future clearly when he said the younger, fiercer Serena would turn out to be the better player, perhaps not even he realized how wide the gap would eventually grow. Serena Williams now has 23 major singles titles to her sister’s seven, and has won seven of their nine Grand Slam finals and eight of their last nine matches. Those figures brook no argument. Williams 2. 0 has the better operating system when it comes to locating the lines and creating the angles under the greatest pressure. She also has the purer service motion. But Williams 1. 0 certainly gave it her all Saturday night, throwing herself into the groundstrokes and displaying more emotion when a return struck the net or a rally failed than she has perhaps ever shown in a major final. “It was palpable how much Venus wanted it,” said Isha Price, the Williamses’ half sister. An final is always an emotionally complex affair, which is all the more reason to admire how the older sister has so often handled the disappointments. “That’s my little sister, guys,” Venus Williams said, pointing at Serena during the ceremony. She then spoke to her sister directly. It was quite a riff. “Congratulations, Serena, on No. 23,” Williams said. “I have been there right with you. Some of them I lost right there against you. I guess that’s weird, but it’s been an awesome thing. Your win has always been my win. I think you know that. And all the time I couldn’t be there, wouldn’t be there, didn’t get there, you were there. I’m enormously proud of you. You mean the world to me. ” Serena Williams is now within one victory of Margaret Court’s career record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles. “Good on her if she’s good enough to do it,” Court said during the week in Melbourne. Williams has closed in on Court with an unprecedented run of success at an age when most great women’s tennis players of the past had already retired. Graf, for example, was done by 30. But Williams has now won 10 major singles title since turning 30. On Saturday, she became the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam singles title in the Open era, breaking her own record set at Wimbledon last year. Venus, 36, was the oldest Australian Open finalist in the Open era. “There’s no way I would be at 23 without her there’s no way I would be at 1 without her,” Serena Williams said of her sister in the ceremony. “There’s no way I would have anything without her. She’s my inspiration. She’s the only reason I’m standing here today, and the only reason that the Williams sisters exist. So thank you, Venus, for inspiring me to be the best player I could be and inspiring me to work hard. Every time you won this week, I felt like I’ve got to win, too. ” This final was edgy from the start, beginning with four straight breaks of serve and with Serena Williams angrily breaking a racket in just the third game after she lost her footing trying to change direction when one of her sister’s shots struck the net cord. The quality of play fluctuated considerably, but the match ultimately was determined by Serena Williams’s returns. Venus Williams had won over 50 percent of the points on her second serve in her surprise run to the final. She won just 29 percent Saturday. “Serena always expects a tough match against her sister, but I don’t think she expected it to be quite that tough from the start,” Mouratoglou said. At 35, Williams is back on top after playing little in 2016 except for the Grand Slam events and losing the No. 1 ranking to Angelique Kerber, who defeated her in last year’s Australian Open final. Williams looked shocked when it was announced after her victory that she would return to No. 1. Mouratoglou later explained, a tad sheepishly, that he had not answered truthfully when Serena had inquired about it. He said he wanted to avoid putting extra pressure on her at an already fraught moment. “Actually, I think she’s happy I did it now,” he said. The Open could easily have gone awry for Serena Williams. In her return to the circuit earlier this month at a tournament in Auckland, New Zealand, she was upset in her second match by Madison Brengle, making 88 unforced errors on a blustery day. But Williams has often proved that she can click into a higher gear without much match play, and she did not drop a set in seven matches as she won her seventh Australian Open singles title. Venus Williams, seeded 13th here, remains one of the great players of this era, but she has not won a major singles title since she beat Serena to win Wimbledon in 2008. In the intervening years, she received a diagnosis of Sjogren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disorder, that limited her training and contributed to her falling from the top 100 in 2011. But she has learned to manage her health problems and is having a renaissance that might be a much bigger talking point if it were not for her younger sister’s surge. Venus Williams will be at No. 11 in Monday’s WTA rankings. The sisters have become, through experience, adept at compartmentalizing, even if facing each other across the net is still not entirely natural. Their family members struggle with it, too. Their parents, Richard Williams and Oracene Price, did not make the long journey to Melbourne this year, but Isha Price did. And she decided that she preferred to watch the match at her hotel until it was nearly over instead of putting herself through the crucible of watching in person. “Long story short, I don’t think people actually understand the significance of what they see, these two players, who literally for generations have been able to transcend what they do,” Price said. “And it’s very difficult to watch, listen, hear commentary, all of that. We watch tennis on mute. It’s hard. To keep your body in optimal shape to be able to perform at this level consistently over 20 years is an incredible feat. But you still have the conversation where it’s not enough. ” It is becoming increasingly difficult to quibble with the record books, however. Serena keeps moving the bar higher, but the poignant part on Saturday night, was that despite all of Venus’s talent and staying power and eloquence, only one Williams sister has managed to win the singles championship at Melbourne Park. | 1 |
First lady Melania Trump and first daughter Ivanka Trump made headlines when they arrived Saturday morning in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia sans headscarves. [The first lady wore a long black, flowing jumpsuit with a gold collar, along with a matching gold belt, with her long, brown hair uncovered. The first daughter wore a long dress with a and purple pattern, and her blonde hair also was uncovered. The decision followed the recent tradition of visiting western dignitaries. There was media buzz over whether they would wear headscarves, due to a tweet by the president two years ago that was critical of lady Michelle Obama’s decision to forego the headscarf. Many people are saying it was wonderful that Mrs. Obama refused to wear a scarf in Saudi Arabia, but they were insulted. We have enuf enemies, — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2015, When asked why neither wore a headscarf, the White House responded they were not required to wear them, according to CNN. It is the president’s first foreign trip while in office, and he and his delegation are being closely scrutinized for any missteps. The Trumps were greeted by a lavish welcome ceremony, and received by King Salman himself and other top Saudi officials. A military brass band played, and a fighter jet flew overhead, highlighting the importance of the visit. Shortly after his arrival, Salman presented Trump with a gilded necklace and medal, the country’s highest honor. | 0 |
Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile has made headlines for her blatant favoritism towards Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, even abusing her former position as a CNN contributor to help out her preferred candidate. | 0 |
(Image courtesy ddees.com )
It is no longer a question of whether or not financial markets and the U.S. economy will collapse. That, according to a host of experts, both mainstream and alternative, is a given.
The only question now is “when” that moment will come.
According to Christine Hughes, chief investment strategist at Otterwood Capital , it will be very soon. Basing her assessment on historically dead-on yield curve analysis, Hughes says in her latest update to clients that we’re looking at a maximum breaking point of 2020, but that some time in the next 12 – 15 months is the more likely scenario, which pegs the next crisis right at the beginning of 2018 .
First, the chart, which has been near perfect in its accuracy thus far and shows just how rapidly the yield curve has collapsed in the last 12 months:
Hughes explains what it means for you and why you can expect 2018 to be the year of reckoning:
As the bond market sees a recession slower growth means lower interest rates and it [the yield curve] collapses. So let’s assume we’re like every other time in history and that happens. Then it moves forward to 2018…
So, 2018, according to the yield curve, is pretty much the last gasp we have for this economic cycle. We’re closing in on 2016 now… we basically have a year… maybe a year to 15 months before we have the next crisis on our hands.
So if you are levered personally or corporately… if a lot of your assets are in illiquid stuff… the Canadian housing market comes to mind… You might want to think about existing and liquefying yourself.
Watch the video report:
Wolf Richter of Wolf Street explains why the Treasury Yield Curve is so important:
Since early July, the 30-year US Treasury Bond Price Index has plunged 8.3%. It’s now called “the rout” in longer-dated government bonds. One of the specters is rising inflation at a time of ultra-low yields.
What has become the number one predictor of a bear market in stocks over the past many decades? The US Treasury yield curve. It drives bank lending – which can strangle the economy. But this time, the risks are much higher, and the potential economic consequences steeper.
We know it is only a matter of time at this point.
Greg Mannarino of Traders Choice has made similar warnings, noting that the bond markets are signaling a massive crash ahead. And when that crash finally takes place the fall out after the debt bubble bursts, according to Mannarino, could lead to extremely serious consequences:
So, when the debt bubble bursts we’re going to get a correction in population. It’s a mathematical certainty.
Millions upon millions of people are going to die on a world-wide scale when the debt bubble bursts. And I’m saying when not if…
…
When resources become more and more scarce we’re going to see countries at war with each other. People will be scrambling… in a worst case scenario… doing everything that they can to survive… to provide for their family and for themselves.
There’s no way out of it.
Source: Analyst: “Millions Upon Millions of People Are Going to Die on a World-Wide Scale When the Debt Bubble Bursts”
If Mannarino and Hughes are right, you have about a year to get ready for the next leg of the collapse .
Also See:
The Prepper’s Blueprint: A Step-By-Step Guide To Prepare For Any Disaster
Bank of America Warns of Imminent Recession: “Market So Fragile… It’s Downright Scary”
Video: Conspiracy Confirmed In FBI Files: There Really Is A “Shadow Government”
5 Urgent Warnings From Big Banks That the “Economy Has Gone Suicidal”
Russia’s Most Potent Weapon: Rapidly “Hoarding Gold” As Global Currency War Is Upon Us | 0 |
Posted on October 27, 2016 by Dr. Eowyn
Hillary Clinton is like a chameleon .
Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams , who’s a trained hypnotist and observer of facial nuances, calls it an “unusual level of variability” in her physical appearance. In his words, Hillary “looks like an entirely different person every few days. See “ Chameleon Hillary Clinton is back to looking like sh*t — and the return of her medical handler ” and “ Hillary Clinton’s teeth, tongue-hole & now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t wrinkles ”
On Monday, October 24, 2016, Hillary Clinton was in St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire for a rally , accompanied by “Fauxcahontas” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
Close-up images of her face show that she’s morphed again, back to yellow teeth and a face crisscrossed with wrinkles. What happened to the porcelain-doll Hillary with dazzling-white teeth of the July 2016 Democratic National Convention?
But this time, at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, there’s something even stranger.
Tuesday, Matt Drudge tweeted two close-up images of Hillary at the NH rally, which show something embedded under the skin of her right cheek . Here’s the tweet:
Here are the two images again, enlarged. I painted yellow arrows pointing to the lumps:
According to plastic surgeons , Botox injections don’t cause lumps under the skin. Dr. Richard Baxter explains that “Botox relaxes muscles that are hyperactive and so wrinkles caused by those muscles are smoothed,” but don’t lead to lumps. Dr. Janet Turkle says that although “Botox injections can result in temporary bumps due to the injection,” the bumps last “only a few minutes”.
According to the American Academy of Facial Esthetics , however, “some of the risks of facial injections are lumps (granulomas/nodules) which are a potential risks [sic] associated with Radiesse, Sculptra, Juvederm, and ArteColl.”
Facial injections are injections of facial fillers such as collagen, hyaluronic acid and calcium hydroxyl apatite that rejuvenate facial skin by reducing or eliminating wrinkles, raising scar depressions, enhancing lips and replacing soft-tissue volume loss.
H/t FOTM ‘s TPR
Dr. Eowyn’s post first appeared at Fellowship of the Minds Don't forget to follow the D.C. Clothesline on Facebook and Twitter. PLEASE help spread the word by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks. Share this: | 0 |
Turkey’s Islamist president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has stepped up his war of words against Europe, accusing Germany of “employing Nazi measures” against Turks in Germany. [The Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader levelled the accusation at Chancellor Angela Merkel personally, according to EU Observer, while addressing a rally in Istanbul. “You are right now employing Nazi measures,” he declared. “Against who? My Turkish brother citizens in Germany and brother ministers. ” The “Moderate Islamist” was referring to the Merkel administration refusing to allow the AKP to organise political rallies in Germany ahead of a Turkish referendum on 16 April. Germany is home to around three million Turks, and Erdoğan has been keen to court them, as well as other European diaspora communities, in support of his bid to increase executive powers. Chancellor Merkel said the slurs broke “every taboo” and disrespected genuine victims of the Nazis. She said she would consider revoking permissions for AKP campaign events which have already been granted if the insults continued. Erdoğan has shown no signs of deescalating his rhetoric, accusing the Germans of “harbouring terrorists” from Turkey’s embattled Kurdish minority. Turkey’s Erdogan accuses Germany of ’harbouring terrorists’ https: . pic. twitter. — FRANCE 24 (@FRANCE24) November 3, 2016, The Kurds have faced brutal oppression at the hands of the Erdoğan regime, with the United Nations criticising the Turkish authorities for using summary execution, rape, and torture as tools of suppression, and liquidating Kurdish population centres in the country’s . SOURCE: via Associated Press, In recent days, Turkish authorities have also attacked Kurds celebrating Newroz, a traditional New Year celebration which predates Islam. This is how #Turkey’s dictator Erdogan treats Kurds who want to celebrate their old tradition #Newroz in Kurdistan pic. twitter. — NieuwsBlog (@nieuwsblog) March 18, 2017, Germany has not been alone in opposing political activities by the AKP in Europe, with Turkish migrants and dual nationals sympathetic to Erdoğan rioting in the streets after the Dutch government refused to allow Turkish ministers to attend a rally in Rotterdam. Dutch police used water canons to break up a crowd of more than 1, 000 #Erdogan protesters outside the Turkish consulate in #Rotterdam. pic. twitter. — dwnews (@dwnews) March 12, 2017, Not every European country is holding the line, however. Sweden and France have both succumbed to Turkish pressure and allowed the AKP to hold rallies in their territories. ”Why should we tolerate speeches on our soil that other democracies refuse? No #Turkish electoral campaign in #France !” #AKP #METZ #Marine https: . — Marine in English (@Marine2017_EN) March 12, 2017, Erdoğan has responded to the unexpected resistance by urging Turks in Europe to colonise the continent. “Have not just three but five children,” he told supporters, echoing the former Algerian leader Houari Boumediene’s infamous speech to the United Nations in 1974. “One day, millions of men will leave the Southern Hemisphere to go to the Northern Hemisphere,” Boumediene said. “And they will not go there as friends. Because they will go there to conquer it. And they will conquer it with their sons. The wombs of our women will give us victory. ” Erdoğan was less explicit, saying: “The place in which you are living and working is now your homeland and new motherland. Stake a claim to it. ” Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has also threatened to terminate its migrant deal with the European Union, open its borders, and “send the 15, 000 refugees to [Europe] that we don’t send each month and blow your mind”. The President of the European Commission, Juncker, attempted to downplay the threat, saying “it is not in Turkey’s interests to have smuggling rings and bandits in charge along its coast”. He added that many Turks in Europe are not interested in undermining their host nations, asserting: “Not all Turks are little Erdoğans. ” Germany’s population, infuriated by the Islamist president, organised a rally opposing any increase in his powers on 18 March. #Turkey furious as 30, 000 Kurds rally in Frankfurt with PKK insignia, urging ”no” to referendum on Erdogan’s powers https: . — AFP news agency (@AFP) March 18, 2017, | 1 |
Photo by fsgm
The ‘defense’ budget is three quarters of a trillion dollars. Profits went up last year well over 25%. I guarantee you: when war becomes that profitable, we’re going to see more of it. – Chalmers Johnson
Until it is no longer the case that M ost US C itizens H ave N o I dea W hat O ur G overnment D oes O r W ho I t S erves , I am just going to continue to insist that #muchniwogdowis is simply the GREATEST ACRONYM EVAR ™!!!11!!! Today’s demonstration of its awesomeness is an Op-Ed in The Nation by former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) entitled Why Is the Foreign Policy Establishment Spoiling for More War? Look at Their Donors . He is “fed up with the DC policy elite who cash in on war while presenting themselves as experts, at the cost of other people’s lives, our national fortune, and the sacred honor of our country.”
It’s kind of adorable that Kucinich thinks our country has some sort of “sacred honor” going for it. Nevertheless, I have always liked this d00d.
Kucinich brought Articles of Impeachment against Dick Cheney and George W. Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors in connection with the Iraq war. His efforts went precisely nowhere (“impeachment is not on our agenda.” -Nancy Pelosi). When he ran for president in 2008, Kucinich’s platform included : single-payer universal health care; bans on offshore drilling, toxic pesticides and privatizing Social Security; legalizing pot and ending the War on Drugs; and—my personal favorite—creating a cabinet-level “ Department of Peace ” to foster international cooperation. That last one naturally made him the laughingstock of the beltway press, punditocracy and Congress. There’s no money in peace FFS! Well, not for the right people anyway. NO ONE WANTS THAT. When Kucinich ran for a newly redistricted House seat in 2012, he was defeated in the Democratic primary by Marcy Kaptur (D- Forced Birth Brigades ).
In the Op-ed Kucinich goes after DC’s so-called “think tanks,” and the Brookings Institute in particular. He notes that Brookings, “ in a report to Congress , admitted it received $250,000 from the US Central Command, Centcom…Pentagon money to think tanks that endorse war?” And the Generals’ preferred war policies isn’t the only thing Brookings is shilling for: as Kucinich notes, the Food and Drug Administration, the US Department of transportation and the US Department of Health and Human Services all give money—taxpayer money—to Brookings, which in turn promotes these agencies’ preferred policies to Congress and the press with the sheen of academic gravitas and objectivity.
Kuchinich says:
“It is our patriotic duty to expose why the DC foreign-policy establishment and its sponsors have not learned from their failures and instead are repeating them, with the acquiescence of the political class and sleepwalkers with press passes.”
Why? Because from their perspective these are not failures—not at all. See, what informed, rational citizens who value the security and wellbeing of humanity here and around the globe might call “fucking epic foreign policy disasters,” are instead for the bipartisan DC establishment wicked smart, wildly successful, solid business decisions.
Dennis Kucinich knows this of course; the point of his article is to shed some light on the real winners of our wars, and some of the dynamics at work that virtually ensure their continued victory. He’s just connecting the dots into a picture that anyone can see if we cared to look. Generally speaking, we don’t. It’s an ugly picture.
I think I’ll just close with the hallowed words of preeminent 20th century philosopher Boy George :
War is stupid, and people are stupid And love means nothing in some strange quarters.
Have a nice day. This is box title
Iris Vander Pluym is a writer, artist and activist based in New York City. A self-described “unapologetic, godless, feminist lefty,” she blogs at Perry Street Palace , is a regular columnist at TPJ Magazine , a contributor at Secular Woman , Worldwide Hippies / Citizen Journalists Exchange and Pharyngula , and has written professionally for Keyboard and Electronic Musician magazines (print editions). Indoctrinated with the notion that Nice Girls™ never talk about politics, sex or religion, it turns out these are pretty much the only subjects she ever has any interest in discussing. Follow Iris not being nice on Twitter @irisvanderpluym =SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN.= free • safe • invaluable If you appreciate our articles, do the right thing and let us know by subscribing. It’s free and it implies no obligation to you— ever. We just want to have a way to reach our most loyal readers on important occasions when their input is necessary. In return you get our email newsletter compiling the best of The Greanville Post several times a week. [email-subscribers namefield=”YES” desc=”” group=”Public”] | 1 |
WASHINGTON — The F. B. I. director, James B. Comey, asked the Justice Department this weekend to publicly reject President Trump’s assertion that President Barack Obama ordered the tapping of Mr. Trump’s phones, senior American officials said on Sunday. Mr. Comey has argued that the highly charged claim is false and must be corrected, they said, but the department has not released any such statement. Mr. Comey, who made the request on Saturday after Mr. Trump leveled his allegation on Twitter, has been working to get the Justice Department to knock down the claim because it falsely insinuates that the F. B. I. broke the law, the officials said. A spokesman for the F. B. I. declined to comment. Sarah Isgur Flores, the spokeswoman for the Justice Department, also declined to comment. Mr. Comey’s request is a remarkable rebuke of a sitting president, putting the nation’s top law enforcement official in the position of questioning Mr. Trump’s truthfulness. The confrontation between the two is the most serious consequence of Mr. Trump’s weekend Twitter outburst, and it underscores the dangers of what the president and his aides have unleashed by accusing the former president of a conspiracy to undermine Mr. Trump’s young administration. The White House showed no indication that it would back down from Mr. Trump’s claims. On Sunday, the president demanded a congressional inquiry into whether Mr. Obama had abused the power of federal law enforcement agencies before the 2016 presidential election. In a statement from his spokesman, Mr. Trump called “reports” about the wiretapping “very troubling” and said Congress should examine them as part of its investigations into Russia’s meddling in the election. In addition to being concerned about potential attacks on the bureau’s credibility, senior F. B. I. officials are said to be worried that the notion of a wiretap will raise the public’s expectations that the federal authorities have significant evidence implicating the Trump campaign in colluding with Russia’s efforts to disrupt the presidential election. Mr. Comey has not been dealing directly with Attorney General Jeff Sessions on the matter, as Mr. Sessions announced on Thursday that he would recuse himself from any investigation of Russia’s efforts to influence the election. It had been revealed on Wednesday that Mr. Sessions had misled Congress about his meetings with the Russian ambassador during the campaign. Mr. Comey’s maneuvering is certain to invite contrasts to his actions last year, when he spoke publicly about the Hillary Clinton email case and disregarded Justice Department entreaties not to. It is not clear why Mr. Comey did not issue a statement himself. He is the most senior law enforcement official who was kept on the job as the Obama administration gave way to the Trump administration. And while the Justice Department applies for warrants, the F. B. I. keeps its own records and is in a position to know whether Mr. Trump’s claims are true. While intelligence officials do not normally discuss the existence or nonexistence of surveillance warrants, no law prevents Mr. Comey from issuing the statement. In his demand for a congressional inquiry, the president, through his press secretary, Sean Spicer, issued a statement on Sunday that said, “President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016. ” Mr. Spicer, who repeated the entire statement in a series of Twitter posts, added that “neither the White House nor the president will comment further until such oversight is conducted. ” A spokesman for Mr. Obama and his former aides have called the accusation by Mr. Trump completely false, saying that Mr. Obama never ordered any wiretapping of a United States citizen. “A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,” Kevin Lewis, Mr. Obama’s spokesman, said in a statement on Saturday. Mr. Trump’s demand for a congressional investigation appears to be based, at least in part, on unproven claims by Breitbart News and conservative talk radio hosts that secret warrants were issued authorizing the tapping of the phones of Mr. Trump and his aides at Trump Tower in New York. In a series of Twitter posts on Saturday, the president seemed to be convinced that those claims were true. In one post, Mr. Trump said, “I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!” On Sunday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy White House press secretary, said the president was determined to find out what had really happened, calling it potentially the “greatest abuse of power” that the country had seen. “Look, I think he’s going off of information that he’s seen that has led him to believe that this is a very real potential,” Ms. Sanders said on ABC’s “This Week. ” “And if it is, this is the greatest overreach and the greatest abuse of power that I think we have ever seen and a huge attack on democracy itself. And the American people have a right to know if this took place. ” The claims about wiretapping appear similar in some ways to the unfounded voter fraud charges that Mr. Trump made during his first days in the Oval Office. Just after Inauguration Day, he reiterated in a series of Twitter posts his belief that millions of voters had cast ballots illegally — claims that also appeared to be based on conspiracy theories from websites. As with his demand for a wiretapping inquiry, Mr. Trump called for a “major investigation” into voter fraud, saying on Twitter that “depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!” No investigation has been started. Senior law enforcement and intelligence officials who worked in the Obama administration have said that there were no secret intelligence warrants regarding Mr. Trump. Asked whether such a warrant existed, James R. Clapper Jr. a former director of national intelligence, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” “Not to my knowledge, no. ” “There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the at the time, as a candidate or against his campaign,” Mr. Clapper added. Mr. Trump’s demands for a congressional investigation were initially met with skepticism by lawmakers, including Republicans. Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, said he was “not sure what it is that he is talking about. ” “I’m not sure what the genesis of that statement was,” Mr. Rubio said. Pressed to elaborate on “Meet the Press,” Mr. Rubio said, “I’m not going to be a part of a witch hunt, but I’m also not going to be a part of a . ” | 1 |
People living in areas where the Zika virus is circulating should consider delaying pregnancy to avoid having babies with birth defects, the World Health Organization has concluded. The advice affects millions of couples in 46 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean where Zika transmission is occurring or expected. According to a recent study, more than five million babies are born each year in parts of the Western Hemisphere where the mosquitoes known to spread the virus are found. At the moment, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands and American Samoa are the only parts of the United States with local transmission of the virus. But clusters of cases are expected to appear in Florida and along the Gulf Coast this summer. The governments of five countries have issued similar advice, as has the health secretary of Puerto Rico, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has decided against this approach on the grounds that government doctors should not intrude on personal decisions best made by women and their partners. The virus, carried by the yellow fever mosquito, has been linked to abnormally small heads and brain damage in infants, a condition called microcephaly. In rare cases, the infection has caused paralysis and sometimes fatal complications in adults. The W. H. O. ’s new guidelines essentially acknowledge that, with no vaccine available and mosquito eradication efforts failing to stem the spread of the infection, delaying pregnancy may be the best way that women in affected areas can avoid having children with severe brain damage. More than 1, 500 babies have been born with microcephaly in Brazil. Six other countries and Puerto Rico have reported cases of microcephaly resulting from locally acquired Zika infections. The W. H. O. says men and women of reproductive age “should be correctly informed and oriented to consider delaying pregnancy. ” The guidance was originally issued last week but did not garner wide notice among experts until Thursday, when the W. H. O. issued a clarification, distinguishing between people who visit countries and those who live in them. People living in those countries are not advised to delay for any specific amount of time, but that guidance “means delaying until we have more answers, more evidence, more science,” said Nyka Alexander, a W. H. O. spokeswoman. “But it’s important to understand that this is not the W. H. O. saying, ‘Hey everybody, don’t get pregnant.’ It’s that they should be advised about this, so they themselves can make the final decision. ” Dr. Peter J. Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, said of the W. H. O. recommendation, “It’s about time. ” His medical school is in Houston, and he has urged that women in areas where the virus is circulating or may circulate this summer avoid pregnancy if they can. “What happens when Zika hits Texas and the Gulf Coast this summer?” he asked. Dr. William Schaffner, head of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, called the W. H. O. ’s advice “excellent. ” “Now we just have to provide both the education and the means so that couples can implement,” he added. Brazil has noted the W. H. O. ’s new guidance in a statement for its citizens, a spokesman for the Health Ministry said. But the ministry itself has now taken a softer stance, saying, “Pregnancy is a personal decision that should be evaluated and considered by a woman together with her family. ” Some Brazilian virologists have pushed for emphatic advice to delay. The W. H. O. guidelines “understand the gravity of the situation,” said Dr. Artur Timerman, president of the Brazilian Society of Dengue and Arbovirus. His society recommends that women living in areas of active transmission postpone getting pregnant and that men who return from such areas use condoms for six months. Brazilian health officials did not provide enough leadership on the issue, he said. Dr. Celso Granato, a virologist at the Federal University of São Paulo, called the new W. H. O. guidelines “an important recommendation. ” “At this moment, what we know for sure is that the infection of the fetus may be catastrophic,” he said, “so I think that all the possible ways to avoid these situations have to be taken. ” In Atlanta, a C. D. C. spokeswoman said officials thought the W. H. O. guidelines were largely in line with the C. D. C. ’s. On the issue of how long a man should wear a condom after visiting a country, they are now identical, which they were not before. For people living in areas with Zika transmission, C. D. C. guidelines say doctors or nurses “should discuss the risks of Zika, emphasize ways to prevent Zika virus infection, and provide information about safe and effective contraceptive methods. ” Some women and their partners, they note, “may decide to delay pregnancy. ” When the epidemic began, health officials in Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Jamaica and El Salvador asked women in their countries to delay pregnancy if they could. In some cases, they suggested waiting a few months officials in Jamaica suggested a year, and those in El Salvador suggested waiting until 2018. The advice was sharply criticized by reproductive rights’ groups, which said it was hypocritical coming from governments that often outlawed abortion and made it difficult for women to get birth control. Some Roman Catholic archbishops also objected. Some infectious disease experts, however, said delaying pregnancy is the only sure way to prevent birth defects. Mosquito control had not previously stopped viruses such as dengue or chikungunya, they pointed out, and a Zika vaccine is years away. If women were able to delay pregnancy for just one season in which Zika was widely transmitted, it is likely that so many people would gain immunity from having been bitten that the virus would either completely disappear — as happened in previous Pacific island outbreaks — or would circulate at only very low levels the following year. From the outset, the W. H. O. did endorse making birth control more available. Until recently, however, it had stopped short of advising women to consider delaying pregnancy. “Theoretically, many have thought it may work,” Dr. Bruce Aylward, the organization’s chief of emergency responses, said in February. But, he said, at that time experts thought the best approach was to fight mosquitoes while scientists worked on a vaccine. The revised guidelines are a result of meetings of global experts in “and further input from experts in the editing process,” said Ms. Alexander of the W. H. O. They were issued May 30, and the recommendation that some couples be “oriented” to consider delaying pregnancy was included in Section 4, Paragraph 1. c. But the agency drew no attention to it, and the new section was confusingly worded. On Thursday, the W. H. O. issued a clarification saying: “Men and women of reproductive age living in affected areas should be informed and orientated to consider delaying pregnancy. This was the original intention of the guidance. The correction makes this more clear. ” Later Ms. Alexander said, “We should have done a better job of highlighting it. ” | 1 |
Region: USA in the World The world economies are in a crisis. They cannot provide for the needs and well being of the people, guarantee them peace, nor act in effective concert to stop and reverse the rapid global warming that these have economies created and which will utterly destroy civilisation in our lifetime. The crisis in capitalism has been evident for a century and resulted in two world wars and threatens a third. The remaining socialist countries that provide another model of economic development and another view of humanity cannot reach their potential as they are surrounded by an international system of capital that cannot tolerate any interference in its search for profit and aggressively undermines and attacks peoples who have chosen the socialist path. We have seen what the socialist republics in the USSR had to suffer when they succeeded. Only a return to a mixed economy, a revival of some state industries, and the defeat of the gangsters that first appeared as the representatives of capital have improved conditions for the people of those republics, in particular Russia. The new Russian state still holds onto some of the principles, the hopes for international law and sovereignty of nations and peoples, that were a defining characteristic of the Soviet Union. It still believes that the world’s peoples are all one and should live in cooperation with each other. The Communist Party and other left parties are still strong and have an influence among the people and the government. The lingering legacy of the socialist epoch has produced a leadership that seems, at least in comparison to those in other capitalist countries, rational and even, in some ways, enlightened. But still, Russia is also now part of the capitalist international and subject to its laws. So are the people of the United States and the other NATO countries. Those laws are cruel and criminal. They stipulate that to make more profit working people have to be paid less, for profit does not come out of thin air as western economists would have it; it comes from the value added to products by labour power that is forced from workers without compensation. In other words, the profit is ours but they take it. This fact dictates that the only way in which President-elect Trump can “bring back jobs to America” is to lower wages to the level that we now see in China, or worse Africa where workers are paid about a dollar a day. American companies moved their production out of the US and Canada with “free” trade to cheap labour markets to increase their profit. They are not going to return to the USA just because Donald Trump promised the people that they will. To return and pay higher wages, even those which are relatively low by the standards of the 50’s and 60’s, is to return and lose money. If Trump is serious about “creating jobs” then the only way he can succeed is to force the cost of labour down, that is reduce wages. We can expect more attacks on unions and union organising, a freeze or a lowering of the minimum wage, an influx of more cheap labour from Mexico and other countries. His promise to “build a wall” along the Mexican border is a lot of hot air, for to build it will raise the cost of business. Too many small industries and services in the US depend on this cheap labour and its presence depresses wages for the rest. We have seen this happen across the western world since the capitalists seized power in the USSR. As soon as that occurred every western country began the roll back of all the gains that working people had achieved after the Second World War. This roll-back, this rapid lowering of the standard of living of the mass of the people, in every country, followed by recessions, overproduction and more war as they fight for resources, using our money and bodies, is accelerating. The rise of the far right parties in Europe and the United States reflects this decline in the lives of the majority. Since the mass media has effectively convinced too many that the socialist path has failed, or as in the United States, cannot even be considered, people seek a remedy with the right-wing populist demagogues who promise them a chicken in every pot and peace in our time. We have seen where this leads; to nationalism and to war and these are always accompanied by xenophobia, racism, and other scapegoating techniques to divert attention from the root causes of the situation and create the atmosphere for war. Those who hope for better relations between Russia and the United States have the right to hope, but the international situation has not changed overnight. The United States still seeks to dominate the world, and Trump’s promise to “make America great again” in contrast to Clinton’s “America is great” bragging, reflects the struggle inside the United States between those who think it can still succeed in dominating the world with its current structure and resources and those who have decided that a transformation has to take place for the United States to stay top dog in the world. The internal struggle in the United States has been a bitter one and it still is not settled which faction of the ruling elite will assume the power needed to make such a transformation possible. But the only people to benefit from that struggle, a struggle in which the people are and will be used as pawns to support one faction or the other, will be the already powerful and the already wealthy. The mass of the people will be the playthings of people in dark shadows and will turn on each other before they expose those shadows to the light. The American election was not about left or right, for there is no effective, organised left in that country. There are only degrees of the right. It was not about making lives better for its people. A large section of the voting population did not vote for there was nothing for them to vote for. The remainder took part in the theatre, played their part, few understanding the role they played and are still playing. The world stands on edge, wondering if we have been saved from the corrupt, venal war-monger that is Clinton or shackled with another corrupt nationalist reactionary in Trump, who will send us all down the same violent path. But, of course, both are true. For the world crisis continues and can only continue when leaders use “terrorism” to play upon the peoples’ weaknesses and fears, when the peoples doubts are used against them, when a man like Trump wears a mask of peace for one sucker and then is just a businessman for another, a straight talker, misunderstood; who knows how to get to this man with his wallet, this woman with her hatred for her boss, this one through ignorance and that one through the bribe, while offering everything because the offering’s cheap, but who works for those satisfied with nothing less than making the world their personal domain. In reality the world stands on edge because the dominant ideology in the west offers no solutions to the crisis because it is itself the crisis. Capital cannot rule for the benefit of the people. It does not matter what brand of capitalism they are selling. It produces for profit not for need. The only way out of this crisis is for working people to start to once again sit down with each other and discuss what the cause of their problems is, and what needs to be done to change that. In Europe, and Latin America, Asia, and Africa, the left has a rich and proud history that most have not forgotten and so, perhaps, we can hope they will push back against the forces of the right that are being drawn out of the mud to fool and oppress the people. But in the United States where the left is weak and in disarray and the far right is rising without effective opposition, the situation is very bleak, for the American election did not resolve the crisis but only increased it; and in reaction I can only repeat what the great American poet, Stephen Vincent Benet, once wrote, “Life have mercy on us.” Christopher Black is an international criminal lawyer based in Toronto, he is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and he is known for a number of high-profile cases involving human rights and war crimes, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.” Popular Articles | 1 |
President Donald Trump went with the media in a lengthy press conference, accusing them of covering the first weeks of his administration unfairly. [“The press has become so dishonest that if we don’t talk about [it] we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people,” Trump said during his press conference in the East Room. “We have to talk to find out what’s going on, because the press honestly is out of control. ” Trump said he wanted to take his message “straight to the people,” as the cable news programs ran his entire hour and seventeen minute press conference live. The president went back and forth with network and cable news reporters representing news companies that have spent the majority of their energies disparaging the president and his performance during the first weeks of his presidency. Trump specifically cited CNN for their negative coverage of his administration. “I watch CNN, it’s so much anger and hatred, and — just the hatred,” he said, calling the negative coverage “fake news. ” “I turn on the T. V. open the newspapers, and I see stories of chaos. Chaos,” he said. “Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a machine, despite the fact that I can’t get my cabinet approved. ” Trump lashed out at Democrats, asserting that he had inherited a mess from former President Obama, and criticized them for trying to stall his presidency. “The only thing they can do is delay, because they screwed things up royally,” he said. | 0 |
The Hostility and Hypocrisy of Left-Wing Israeli NGOs Where are the condemnations of the PA’s efforts to prevent “normalization” with Israel? November 2, 2016
Originally written for the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem recently appeared before a special session of the United Nations Security Council, excoriating Israel and pleading with the body to act against Israel’s settlements.
In 1975, the UN famously declared that “Zionism is racism” and, four decades later, the organization continues to hound Israel. In each of the last four years, as the Syrian bloodbath claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, there were at least five times as many resolutions condemning Israel as those rebuking the rest of the world.
The UN’s cultural body, UNESCO, recently passed a motion ignoring any Jewish (or Christian) historical ties to East Jerusalem holy sites, referring to the Temple Mount and Western Wall only by their Muslim names and condemning Israel as “the occupying power.” It turns out that some of Israel’s left-wing NGOs worked to help produce the UNESCO motion.
Given the UN’s chronic hostility, efforts by Israeli NGOs to persuade the UN to act against Israel are arguably treasonous. Indeed, one attorney and activist for Israel’s left-leaning Labor party filed a police complaint alleging treason against B’Tselem, arguing that the NGO has harmed state sovereignty, tried to give land away to a foreign entity, and taken steps that could cause a war.
Israeli democracy is extremely tolerant, to the point of allowing its members of parliament to openly support terrorism and terrorist groups. Last March, several Israeli Arab Knesset members condemned Arab states for labeling Hizballah a terrorist organization, even though it has been at war with Israel for decades and regularly threatens new hostilities.
Last February, members from the Joint (Arab) List paid a solidarity visit to relatives of Palestinian terrorists whom Israeli security forces had killed to stop them from murdering Israelis. In 2014, MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) drew praise from Hamas after she asserted that the kidnappers of three missing Israeli youths were “not terrorists.” Hamas’s connection to the young men’s abduction and murder helped to spark the third war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Thus, Israel already has plenty of dissenting voices and activists without foreign intervention. Nevertheless, foreign interests have identified Israeli NGOs as the soft underbelly of Israeli democracy and have leveraged them to promote their own agendas. The problem became so acute that a watchdog, NGO Monitor, was formed in 2002 to track the self-hostility being funded largely by European and other foreign sources. As the organization notes: “NGOs lack a system of checks and balances, and…provide accountability to their funders and activist members, and not to the citizens or societies whose lives are directly impacted by their activities.”
NGO Monitor also notes that, even though most of the foreign government funding for these Israeli NGOs is “formally designated for ‘educating the Israeli public’ and ‘changing public opinion’ (both in violation of the norms on non-interference in other democracies), these Israeli NGOs are very active externally, in the delegitmization and political warfare against Israel.”
These left-wing Israeli NGO’s receive money from about two dozen foreign governments , and some private organizations . That includes millions of dollars from billionaire George Soros.
In Catch the Jew , author Tuvia Tenenbom exposed how foreign-funded “human rights” and “cultural” organizations in Israel tend to serve as vehicles for attacking Israel. By presenting himself to interview subjects as “Tobi the German,” Tenenbom elicits some surprising confessions. For example, the New Fund for Cinema and TV, a foreign-funded Israeli cultural NGO, told him that that about 80 percent of political documentaries made in Israel are co-produced by Europeans. That includes a documentary called “10%—What Makes a Hero,” which equates Israel’s military with the Nazis. Such films would be too scandalous to be produced in Germany, but German-sponsored NGOs can safely pay left-wing Israelis to make such movies.
Some foreign funders of Israeli NGOs have even unwittingly enriched Hamas. Last August, Hamas allegedly siphoned off “tens of millions of dollars” from World Vision, a U.S.-based charity, and used the funds for weapons purchases, tunnel construction, and other military activities.
The Knesset passed a law in July requiring disclosure of foreign funding sources for NGOs that get more than half of their money from overseas. The law is “clearly aligned with the American Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA),” wrote legal scholar Eugene Kontorovich, who defended the legislation in response to critics.
“Israel is unique in the sheer scale of the foreign government sponsorship of domestic political groups,” he wrote. “For example, the European Union alone has in recent years given roughly 1.2 million Euro a year for political NGOs in the US and roughly an order of magnitude more in Israel—a vastly larger per capita amount.”
The Obama administration opposes foreign influence only when that influence promotes a dissenting view. Obama opposed Netanyahu’s speech to the U.S. Congress against the Iranian nuclear deal, but was happy to give a speech to the UK parliament against Brexit. The Obama administration critiqued Israel’s NGO-funding-disclosure law , perhaps because it had sent U.S. taxpayer money to an Israeli NGO working to oust Israel’s prime minister.
The same hypocrisy seems to prevail among Israel’s foreign-funded NGOs. They ostensibly exist to promote democracy and peaceful co-existence, but are conspicuously silent when Palestinian institutions violate those ideals. Such silence enables abuse by Palestinians and promotes a distorted and incomplete picture of the complex reality in which Israelis operate. Foreign-funded Israeli NGOs remained silent after the Palestinian Authority arrested Palestinians who visited a Sukkah in a symbolic peace event promoting coexistence.
“These organizations are silent when the Palestinian leadership pays salaries to the families of terrorists, glorifies murderers and calls streets and city centers after them,” Netanyahu said. “These organizations prove again and again that they are not actually interested in human rights, but only in shaming Israel and libeling it around the world.”
If Israel’s left-wing NGOs truly are committed to democracy and peace, why haven’t they condemned the PA’s efforts to prevent “normalization” with Israel? In 2014, Jibril Rajoub, the deputy secretary of the Fatah Central Committee and the head of the Palestinian Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs, condemned a coexistence-promoting soccer match between Israeli and Palestinian youths on a southern kibbutz, as “a crime against humanity.”
Last week, a Palestinian newspaper came under intense criticism for publishing an interview with Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. The Jerusalem-based newspaper Al-Quds was denounced by Hamas , the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the supposedly “moderate” PA. The “chilling effects” and anti-peace message implicit in the harsh reactions to the interview have yet to catch the attention of any left-wing NGOs supposedly working for peace and democracy. | 1 |
The Yale Record Just Published The BEST Non-Endorsement Of A Candidate EVER! By Marty Townsend on October 27, 2016 Subscribe
The Yale Record , America’s Oldest College Humor Magazine, has NOT endorsed Hillary Clinton – in a most spectacular way.
The Yale Record is based in the college town of New Haven, Connecticut and was founded by Edward Anthony Bradford , James Heartt VanBuren , Samuel J. Elder , E.H. Lemis , and Henry Ward Beecher Howard in 1872, publishing their first weekly issue on September 11, 1872. They gleefully point readers to their lengthy Wikipedia page to prove their validity, claim the invention of the word “hot dog,” and ponder whether the face of the New Yorker would look different if they hadn’t been doing what they’re doing.
The Record adopted “Old Owl” as their mascot over a century ago, but the actual date of acquisition wasn’t recorded anywhere. The mascot , described as a connoisseur of Cutty Sark , is: “… a congenial, largely nocturnal, 360-degree-head-turning, cigar-smoking bird who tries to steer the staff towards a light-hearted appreciation of life and the finer things in it.”
From Wikimedia Commons available under a CC Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.
With such an illustrious past, how could anything they produce not be spectacular? Let’s see what Old Owl had to say.
The non-endorsement begins with a simple explanation of why they aren’t endorsing any candidate: “In its 144-year history, The Yale Record has never endorsed a Democratic candidate for president. In fact, we have never endorsed any candidate for president. This is, in part, due to our strong commitment to being a tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization, which mandates that we are ‘absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.'”
And: “The Yale Record believes both candidates to be equally un-endorsable, due to our faithful compliance with the tax code.”
With that explained, one would ordinarily assume they were done. But no, they had a bit more to say : “In particular, we do not endorse Hillary Clinton’s exemplary leadership during her 30 years in the public eye. We do not support her impressive commitment to serving and improving this country—a commitment to which she has dedicated her entire professional career. Because of unambiguous tax law, we do not encourage you to support the most qualified presidential candidate in modern American history, nor do we encourage all citizens to shatter the glass ceiling once and for all by electing Secretary Clinton on November 8. “The Yale Record has no opinion whatsoever on Dr. Jill Stein.”
So there it is… absolutely the best non-endorsement EVER.
Featured image courtesy of Heat Street . About Marty Townsend
Active in Michigan with several groups and organizations, including the National Action Network (NAN), Occupy Detroit, Save Michigan Public Schools, Dearborn PTA Council, Michigan Petitioners, and several other small groups working together to make Michigan a better place. Concentrates on educational issues, but also covers human interest, liberal politics, Michigan, environmental issues and Detroit, including the fight against Emergency Managers, the Education Achievement Authority, and fighting the corporate take-over of Michigan and the United States. Buy me a <a href=" cup of coffee Connect | 0 |
California’s broad landscape suggests endless possibility, a chance to realize your dreams. You can backpack in the Klamath National Forest within Siskiyou County. You can find a slice of Denmark in the Santa Ynez Valley. Or you can immerse yourself in the glittery landscape of the Hollywood hills, the place that has applied a practicality to its dreams by making an industry of them. You tend to forget about reveries, though, when the 101 freeway slows to a crawl, as it did when I began to navigate the road in Hollywood this spring. Time on my hands, I looked up and caught a glimpse of the U. S. Bank Tower, referred to as Library Tower by many locals for the actual library and architectural gem across the street that it dwarfs. Completed in the late 1980s, the iconic Bank Tower is one of those structures that sneak up in vistas to remind you that yes, you’re in Los Angeles, in case you were wondering. It was the tallest building west of the Mississippi for 27 years, until the Wilshire Grand Center’s spire was added this year. Designed by the architect Henry N. Cobb, the building is topped with a distinctive crown that hints at downtown’s Art Deco past. Despite its size, it is not exactly the first building that comes to mind when people think of Los Angeles. Some cities have a single architectural identity but Los Angeles is known for many. It was an incubator of the American Craftsman style, and it embraced as well as Spanish Colonial Revival and Mayan Revival, which found a powerful advocate in Frank Lloyd Wright. But then Art Deco arrived and proliferated during the decades when movie studios became the cornerstone of an economy that had previously relied primarily on oil. It left a stunning cache of public buildings in its wake. Several of them have been razed, and a few of the surviving ones are underused or vacant. Tourists gravitate toward the Bank Tower, which has an observation deck, or Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. But before being literally overshadowed, these Art Deco treasures were once icons of downtown Los Angeles. And they still should be. Most of the Art Deco buildings are smaller than the modern skyscrapers rising in the area, but they still soar. To explore them is to witness a grandeur that inspires you, unlike many skyscrapers, which merely surprise you. Because they arrived at a moment of economic expansion, they suggest the sense of endless possibility that permeated the city. I set off to get a glimpse of what those architectural dreamers were able to accomplish. On an otherwise mild morning, I found myself holding an umbrella in Pershing Square, a public park. The rain quickly tapered off, sparing me the embarrassment of having chosen to visit California on a weekend when the weather was worse than it was in New York. Pershing Square, originally known as La Plaza Abaja and dedicated in 1866, is one of the oldest parks in the city. Taking up an entire city block and almost centrally located downtown, the park is a perfect starting point for exploring Art Deco in Los Angeles. In the early 1920s, Los Angeles was in an enviable position. There was a burgeoning retail market downtown, with stores including A. Hamburger Sons, Bullock’s and the J. W. Robinson Company strengthening their economic footholds. Automobiles brought so many people here that multiple parking garages were constructed to alleviate the constant traffic backups. The robust Pacific Electric Railway system connected downtown to nearby cities like Pasadena and Whittier, as well as more places such as Colton and Redlands in San Bernardino County. These developments made the area all the more attractive for architectural innovation. The Paris Exhibition of 1925, officially L’Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, was held from April to October of that year and was instrumental in promoting Art Deco as a design style that stressed modernity and progress. The industrial arts exhibit influenced a wave of architects to deviate from the formal style popular at the time to a style that was punctuated by features like colorful terra cotta, stucco, decorative crowns, zigzags and flat roofs with parapets. For years, this style was loosely called Art Moderne. However, it would become known as Art Deco, a term fashioned by the British art critic Bevis Hillier in 1968. From the late 1920s until the early 1940s, Art Deco was at the height of its popularity in the city. The design style included Zigzag Moderne — characterized by classic zigzag patterns and setbacks, where buildings featured a wide base, becoming narrower as they rose in height. It also included Streamline Moderne, a subdued style that emphasized horizontal design elements and often had flat roofs and curves. As I walked to the northeast edge of Pershing Square, one the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the city came into view. The Title Guarantee and Trust Company Building, at Hill and West Fifth Streets, a beautiful glazed terra cotta structure with a granite base, has a way of drawing your attention. Built in 1930, the building still radiates an architectural regalness. At 12 stories, it has a tower that recedes from the larger structure and features stylized buttresses. The recessed tower design is a flourish that allowed the building to exceed the established height limit, dramatically rising to 240 feet. It soared, just not excessively. Citywide height ordinances, in place from 1905 until 1957, were enacted to prevent Los Angeles from becoming a carbon copy of cities like New York and Chicago. “People in early Los Angeles were interested in the design of the city,” said Paul Gleye, author of “The Architecture of Los Angeles” and a professor of architecture at North Dakota State University. “San Francisco was still the city in California, but there was a great civic pride in Los Angeles. ” As I looked up from the base of the Title Guarantee Building, I took in the sculptures depicting two kneeling men and a central figure that adorned the exterior. John B. Parkinson and Donald Parkinson, the influential team of architects who designed this building and several others, commissioned the artist Eugene to design the sculptures. Hugo Ballin, a noted American muralist, designed six panels in the lobby that chronicle the history of the city. I admired the zigzag motif that formed part of the design above the main entrance on West Fifth Street. Because the building is now private, only residents and their guests can enjoy its full glory. Still, the facade alone was engrossing, so it was hard to leave. The Bunker Hill neighborhood, which offers some of the most commanding views of the surrounding area, is just a few paces from the Title Guarantee Building. There, the extent of Art Deco craftsmanship in downtown Los Angeles was on full display. One Bunker Hill, built as the headquarters for Southern California Edison, the electric supply behemoth, rests on a steep slope. When completed in 1931, it was one of the first buildings with an heat and cooling system in the Western United States. An illuminated “Edison” sign at the top of the building solidified the region as an emerging economic power. One Bunker Hill is now almost surrounded by the U. S. Bank Tower and the 400 South Hope building, two skyscrapers. It now looks diminutive by comparison, many say. But I was drawn to it, rather than to its tall bookends. The granite and limestone building was designed in a setback style, with architectural offsets on two lower floors, along with two of the upper floors. The central tower at the top of the building is fronted with terra cotta. The corner entrance, featuring a stately octagonal rotunda, has three figures on the exterior. The figures, created by the sculptor Robert Merrell Gage, depict power, light and hydroelectricity. One Bunker Hill was envisioned as a monument to energy. The lobby only reaffirmed the intent of architectural grandeur. Natural light poured into the multicolored room, highlighting its indelible features: over a dozen types of marble ornamentation on the ceiling and murals by the artists Barse Miller, Conrad Buff and, once again, Hugo Ballin. Mr. Ballin’s mural, “The Apotheosis of Power,” features the English physicist William Gilbert, a pioneer in the research of magnetism and electrical attraction, and Benjamin Franklin. The building gives you a sense of what Los Angeles wanted to be, and what it has become, part of a huge megalopolis that still shows no signs of slowing down. When I saw the Los Angeles Central Library building from a distance, I first thought it was a temple. It had Byzantine, Egyptian, Spanish Colonial and Roman architectural influences and, at 90 years old, it truly exemplifies the grandeur of early Art Deco. Bertram Goodhue, designer of the Nebraska State Capitol, and Carleton Winslow Sr. were the architects of the Central Library. The building is topped with a mosaic tower. Limestone figures, including a bust of Leonardo da Vinci, are featured on the exterior. The interior of the main rotunda has prominently arched ceilings. The Central Library incorporated so many architectural styles, in addition to Art Deco, that it was almost an early precursor to what the city has become: one of the most culturally diverse places in the world. Beginning in the 1960s, the threat of demolition loomed over the Central Library. In 1978, the Los Angeles Conservancy, a nonprofit organization committed to the preservation of historic buildings in the city, was established largely because of opposition to the proposal. The bulldozers never came. This was an almost civic victory in an era when downtowns were rapidly depopulating. As I walked into the rotunda, I noticed that people were enthralled with murals designed by the illustrator Dean Cornwell. Each mural depicts an aspect of the history of California, including the 1781 founding of El Pueblo de los Ángeles, the Spanish settlement that eventually grew to be modern Los Angeles. The murals prompted conversation, even among strangers. I overheard a man recall being taken to the library as a child, influencing him to do the same for his children. Not all of the buildings survived long enough to inspire memories of family legacies. The Richfield Oil Company Building, which was demolished between late 1968 and 1969, according to Mr. Gleye, “was one of the most magnificent Art Deco structures anywhere. ” Richfield Tower was clad in glazed black architectural terra cotta and gold trimming, with the top of the building resembling an oil derrick. It was the epitome of Zigzag Moderne. But it wasn’t so appealing at the time of its demolition. “In 1968, people looked back at Art Deco and thought it was ugly and too decorative,” Mr. Gleye said. “A generation has to pass before things are appreciated. After modernism became the leading style, there were very few defenders of Art Deco. ” In place of Richfield Tower sprouted twin skyscrapers now known as City National Plaza. You can still get a hint of Richfield Tower from two tall zigzag elevator doors that were salvaged in the demolition and have been incorporated near a lobby entrance at the Plaza. The one Art Deco building allowed to exceed height restrictions was City Hall. The architectural team of John C. Austin, Albert C. Martin and John Parkinson created a tall central tower, built with concrete mixed with sand from each of California’s 58 counties. It rises majestically. The building’s upper floors feature symmetrical setbacks, with an eccentric ziggurat top. An observatory on the 27th floor is free and accessible to the general public. From this perch, the city is devilishly inviting. If the visibility is good, you can see Santa Catalina Island. I was not as lucky. However, I did see Los Angeles Union Station, my next stop. Union Station, the largest passenger train station in the Western United States, was completed in 1939. Approached from North Alameda Street, the station’s Art Deco, Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival architectural influences are immediately apparent. Marlyn Musicant, author of “Los Angeles Union Station,” said that the building’s Art Deco elements “come across so clearly, yet are subtle. ” The white entrance signs have an aesthetically pleasing Streamline Moderne look. In the main waiting area, the vaulted ceiling, which gives the appearance of simple wooden beams, radiates a collegiate feel. The roof, interior courtyard spaces, arched windows and white stucco create a distinct Mission Revival look. “The architects wanted to go with a more modern influence,” Ms. Musicant added, “so instead of utilizing chandeliers, the designers went with bronze chandeliers. ” Union Station was designed to serve as a combined rail terminus for the Santa Fe, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific railways. With automobiles becoming the dominant form of transportation in Southern California, along with the advent of commercial air travel, rail ridership began to decline sharply in the . The station was becoming a place that, while still remarkable, was seemingly lost in another place and time. “By the 1960s, Union Station was neglected and had fallen into a sad state,” Ms. Musicant said. “At one point, there were only 15 trains going out of the station each day. ” Beginning in the 1970s, increased Amtrak service gave Union Station some energy. The building was restored in 1992, the same year that Metrolink, a regional rail service, began to operate in the station. Metro Rail, the rail system that serves Los Angeles County, has three lines with stops at the station. At some train stations, a cold bench would be a prize, but not in Union Station, which reveals the romanticism of rail travel. Its waiting room has upholstered wooden chairs on the main floor. The travertine walls, doors with Moorish accents, and colorful glazed floor tiles have alluring patterns. The long exterior walkways and outside tower evoke Spanish Missions, while the courtyard areas maintain an aura of tranquillity. As I headed back closer to Pershing Square, the Oviatt Building on South Olive Street came into view. The Art Deco building, named for the entrepreneur James Oviatt, incorporates Italian Romanesque elements, with tiled roofs, cornices, marble and a clock. With his business partner Frank Alexander, Mr. Oviatt opened the upscale Alexander Oviatt haberdashery in 1912. Inspired by a 1925 visit to the Art Deco Exhibition in Paris, Mr. Oviatt commissioned his namesake 1928 building, which housed his store on the lower floors, along with an ornate penthouse apartment where he lived. The penthouse, which also played host to many luminaries during Hollywood’s golden age, is now a popular venue for private events. When the building opened, it featured work from the French designer René Lalique and the glassmaker Gaëtan Jeannin. Much of their original work is gone but the entrance arcade still radiates an Art Deco feel. The arcade, with unique panels, immediately caught my eye. Intricate mailbox and elevator doors made from maillechort, an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc, were designed by Lalique. The footprints of the retail past of downtown Los Angeles are one of the more interesting characteristics of the neighborhood. The area around South Hill Street and South Broadway near Pershing Square boasted some of the busiest and most fashionable stores in the entire region in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1960s, urban decline and rapid population growth in the western edges of the city lured many customers away from downtown, but the buildings remained. The area’s Art Deco legacy gave me a true sense of the walkable nature of downtown. In addition to residential and retail developments, there are various markets and restaurants that have sold ethnic food in the neighborhood for many years. Robert D. Herman, a retired professor of sociology at Pomona College, stressed the importance of the work of the urban studies activist Jane Jacobs and her belief that “ ” developments maintain the vitality and viability of cities. “Uniformity and isolation will kill a neighborhood,” Mr. Herman said. “People in urban areas expect streets to be part of the urban environment. ” The buildings, though, are what draw your eye. On South Hill Street, the Sun Realty, William Fox, and Harris Frank buildings are all part of the city’s jewelry district. The buildings opened between 1925 and 1932, and while many of the upper floors featured office space for various businesses, the lower floors all had jewelry stores. And just as I expected, the Art Deco elements were still there. Private lofts now occupy the Eastern Columbia Building, the 1930 classic designed by Claud Beelman. Formerly the headquarters of the Eastern Outfitting and Columbia Outfitting companies, which sold appliances and clothing, respectively, the building sets the tone for decorative architecture in the city. The entrance extended inward, with a terra cotta sunburst detail that evoked optimism. Topped by a clock tower that loomed over the immediate area, the building staked its position as a center of commerce. There are many other hidden treasures downtown like the Roxie Theater, the only theater built in downtown Los Angeles solely in Art Deco style the Title Insurance and Trust Building, now being converted into modern offices and the beige terra cotta Ninth Broadway Building, an anchor of the revitalized retail core. The Foreman Clark Building, formerly the flagship location of the Foreman Clark department store and recently acquired by a developer, and the Garfield Building, now vacant, await new futures. As I walked on South Broadway, I noticed an Art Deco building that at one time housed a F W Stores retail location and a Hartfield’s Department Store. Now being renovated, the handsome midblock building in many ways represents the resurgence of downtown. Art Deco defined the heights that downtown Los Angeles sought to reach in its infancy as a major city. Generations later, those heights are being unveiled once again. Perch (448 South Hill Street perchla. com) is a rooftop restaurant and bar serving French fare with stunning views of the upper floors of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company Building, as well as the surrounding downtown landscape. Recent main courses included gnocchi with pesto, crème fraîche and squash ($19) and salmon, with smoked eggplant purée, vegetables Provençal and artichoke chips ($27). For a unique drink, try the Hemingway on the Beach, a mix of gin, Luxardo, lemon juice and Angostura bitters ($12). Cicada Restaurant (617 South Olive Street cicadarestaurant. com) is a refined Art Deco space inside the Oviatt Building, with dark wood paneling and zigzag motifs. Entree options recently included chicken breast with Marsala mustard sauce ($32) and wild black bass with roasted potatoes and a lemon virgin olive oil sauce ($40). Inside Union Station, Traxx (800 North Alameda Street traxx. la) is an ornate restaurant and bar. Have a glass of Clos du Val Carneros pinot noir and take a break from all the bustle. The Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles (929 South Broadway acehotel. ) is in a 1927 Spanish Gothic structure that evokes classic Los Angeles. From about $199. The Los Angeles Conservancy (laconservancy. org) offers several walking tours on weekends, including separate Art Deco and Union Station tours each Saturday ($15). | 1 |
Nike, a company whose brand is estimated to be worth $27 billion, understands the difference apparel can make to an athlete. And like any viable business, it knows the world is full of potential customers. And so in its latest market expansion, the brand has turned to the Middle East, where female athletes have begun to come into their own over the last few years. This week, Nike announced that it would release a Pro Hijab for female Muslim athletes in spring 2018. The hijab, which is expected to cost $35, is made of a lightweight, stretchy mesh polyester and will come in gray, black and obsidian. Throughout several stages of development, the product was tested by a group that included Zahra Lari, the first figure skater from the United Arab Emirates to compete internationally Manal Rostom, a runner and triathlete currently living in Dubai and Amna Al Haddad, an Olympic weight lifter from the United Arab Emirates. The move followed Nike’s release of an Arabic version of its Nike Training Club app early last year and the beginning of a campaign featuring five female athletes from the Arab region with the tagline “What will they say about you?” last month. “There weren’t any hijabi athletes to look up to when I was growing up, and I had to be my own pioneer, and now girls today have women like Amna Al Haddad and Zahra Lari to look to as role models, which is so inspiring,” Ms. Rostom wrote over WhatsApp. “For young girls to see these women and to see this revolutionary shift will change the face of sport for Muslim Arab girls, whether they wear hijab or not. ” Female athletes in the Middle East are a young but growing group. In the 2012 Summer Games, Brunei, Qatar and Saudi Arabia became the last three countries competing at the Olympics to send women. That same year, Egypt’s contingent included 37 women, the highest number of female athletes representing the country since it entered the games in 1912. The presence of athletes like the boxer Arifa Bseiso, the fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad (who became the first hijabi American to compete at the Olympics for the United States last year) and the triathlete Najla Al Jeraiwi has become increasingly common at international competitions. But it was only in 2014 that FIFA, the international soccer organization, lifted its ban on religious headgear. The basketball organization FIBA maintains its ban and has postponed a vote on the matter until May. Beyond bans, there is the issue of comfort. Female Muslim athletes have struggled with finding headgear that will not slow them down or distract them from arduous physical exercise. It was Ms. Haddad’s difficulty in acquiring a hijab that met her requirements for competition — namely, that it would not shift when she moved and that it would be more breathable — that inspired the Pro Hijab project. “The one obstacle that’s always there if you’re a hijabi is, what is she going to wear on her head?” Ms. Rostom wrote. She explained that she usually buys a special hijab in Kuwait that is made with polyester and cotton. “Cotton is extremely uncomfortable, especially if you are training outdoors or if you are running long distances, and especially when we live in one the hottest countries in the world,” she said. There are companies that manufacture hijab, like Capsters in the Netherlands and Friniggi in Botswana, but none of them have as global and as visible a reach as Nike. “For us, we come up with ideas, and ways to be comfortable in what we wear, but to have the No. 1 sport and fitness brand in the world facilitate this process for us?” Ms. Rostom wrote. “To provide something we can grab and wear in 10 seconds? It’s going to change everything. ” | 0 |
Boycott targets Trump family on retail front Participants shun GOP nominee's products, retailers who carry them Published: 18 mins ago
(CBC) An eye-catching shoe piques your interest and draws you in. Upon closer inspection, the label leaps out at you — Ivanka Trump, in simple gold lettering — and you recoil as if stung.
That’s the kind of reaction behind a growing boycott of the products emblazoned with the brand of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as well as the popular, working women-targeted fashion line from his eldest daughter — who has arguably been his most influential and effective family member during the current election campaign. | 0 |
On the Thursday edition of Breitbart News Daily, broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM Eastern, Breitbart London Raheem Kassam will continue our discussion of the Islamic terror attack in Manchester, England. [Fred Fleitz, the Senior Vice President for Policy and Programs at the Center for Security Policy and former CIA analyst, will discuss the Manchester terror attack, as well as former CIA Director John Brennan’s testimony before Congress. Former UN Ambassador John Bolton will also discuss the Manchester attack and his latest Wall Street Journal on President Trump’s first foreign visit and the need for a tougher policy on North Korea and Iran. Michael Steele, former RNC Chairman and of “Steele and Ungar” on SiriusXM POTUS Channel 124, will weigh in on Trump’s foreign trip and the new Congressional Budget Office score of the American Health Care Act. Live from London, Rome, and Jerusalem, Breitbart correspondents will provide updates on the latest international news. Breitbart News Daily is the first live, conservative radio enterprise to air seven days a week. SiriusXM Vice President for news and talk Dave Gorab called the show “the conservative news show of record. ” Follow Breitbart News on Twitter for live updates during the show. Listeners may call into the show at: . | 0 |
Home › WORLD NEWS › CHRISTIANS IN SYRIA LESS THAN 500,000 CHRISTIANS IN SYRIA LESS THAN 500,000 0 SHARES
[10/31/16] As the Islamic State, insurgents, and government forces battle in Syria, the population of Christians there continues to decline, from 1,250,000 in 2011 to less than 500,000 this year, according to ADF International , which advocates for religious freedom worldwide.
In a sub-report submitted with the report Genocide Against Christians in the Middle East to Secretary of State John Kerry in March, the ADF International details the ongoing genocide of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East.
It notes that “Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world” and that in at least 104 countries Christians are harassed and persecuted by governments and organizations.
The harassment includes “physical assaults, arrests and detentions, the desecration of holy sites and discrimination against religious groups in employment, education or housing,” reads the report.
Harassment of Christians “was the highest in the Middle East and North Africa (90% of countries),” reported ADF International. In Syria and Iraq, the persecution of Christians is carried out largely by radical Muslims, such as the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, said the ADF. Post navigation | 0 |
The National Basketball Association on Thursday dealt a blow to the economy and prestige of North Carolina by pulling next February’s Game from Charlotte to protest a state law that eliminated protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The move was among the most prominent consequences since the law, which also bars transgender people from using bathrooms in public buildings that do not correspond with their birth gender, was passed in March. The league, which has become increasingly involved in social issues, said that both it and the Hornets, the N. B. A. team based in Charlotte, had been talking to state officials about changing the law but that time had run out because of the long lead time needed to stage the game. The N. B. A. said it hoped the game could be played in Charlotte in 2019, with the clear implication that the law would have to be changed before then. “While we recognize that the N. B. A. cannot choose the law in every city, state and country in which we do business, we do not believe we can successfully host our festivities in Charlotte in the climate created by the current law,” a statement by the league said. Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina issued a blistering statement soon after the announcement by the N. B. A. He said “the sports and entertainment elite,” among others, had “misrepresented our laws and maligned the people of North Carolina simply because most people believe boys and girls should be able to use school bathrooms, locker rooms and showers without the opposite sex present. ” Mr. McCrory did not specifically refer to the N. B. A. in his statement, but he said that “American families should be on notice that the selective corporate elite are imposing their political will on communities in which they do business, thus bypassing the democratic and legal process. ” Others weighed in in support of the N. B. A. ’s move, including two of its broadcast partners — Turner Sports and ESPN. In taking the action it did, the N. B. A. is following the path already taken by others. A number of musicians, including Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr and Itzhak Perlman, canceled concerts in North Carolina to protest the law, and there have been calls for repeal of the legislation by a number of businesses, some of which have canceled plans to create new jobs in the state. weekend is one of the flashiest and most lucrative events on the league’s annual schedule. In addition to the game, the league arranges three days full of activities for fans. There is a separate game for the league’s rising stars, a dunk contest and a contest. Now all of that will be held elsewhere next February, with the N. B. A. to announce a new site for the game in the next few weeks. The decision by the N. B. A. comes after its commissioner, Adam Silver, had strongly hinted that such a move might be coming and again thrusts the league into the middle of social issues now gripping the nation, setting the league apart, at least for now, from Major League Baseball, the National Football League and other sports entities. In recent weeks, a number of the N. B. A. ’s top players have spoken out in dismay as they reacted to shootings around the country that have left police officers dead in two cities and the police accused of deadly recklessness in several other cases. And last December, the N. B. A. participated in a series of television advertisements denouncing gun violence that aired during its long Christmas Day schedule of games. Players in the N. B. A. ’s sister league — the W. N. B. A. — have also become vocal. In recent weeks, players on several W. N. B. A. teams wore during before games that addressed the recent shootings. On Thursday, just hours before the N. B. A. announced it was pulling the Game out of Charlotte, the W. N. B. A. fined the players on three teams $500 apiece, and the clubs $5, 000, saying it had no problem with the players’ public “engagement’’ with difficult social issues but drew the line at violating the guidelines on team uniforms. A number of W. N. B. A. players stated their unhappiness with the fines and they drew support from the Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, who has been one of the most outspoken N. B. A. players this past month. He said Thursday that he saw no reason for “anybody to get fined. ” The action by the N. B. A. is also certain to inject new fervor into the debate about North Carolina’s law, which many people still refer to as House Bill 2. Before its adjournment this month, and in defiance of pleas from public officials and corporate executives in Charlotte, the General Assembly resisted demands that it back away from some of the most contentious elements of the law, which supporters have argued is about public safety, not discrimination. The fate of the law, which the United States Justice Department has challenged as a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, will most likely be settled in court. A federal judge in N. C. will hear arguments next month about whether to block the law while the litigation is pending. Even before the N. B. A. ’s action on Thursday, Republicans in North Carolina had signaled repeatedly that the league’s misgivings about the law were unlikely to persuade its supporters. “Our values are not shaped by the N. B. A. or Bruce Springsteen or some opinion poll,” state Representative Phil Shepard, a Republican and a Baptist minister, declared at a rally in April. “We’re standing strong. ” But it was also in April that Mr. Silver was spelling out how problematic the N. B. A. thought the law was. He noted at the time that the league had a “long record of speaking out where we see discrimination. ’’ Last week, Mr. Silver weighed in again, saying of North Carolina’s legislators: “We were frankly hoping that they would make some steps toward modifying the legislation and frankly I was disappointed that they didn’t. ” It remains to be seen whether any other major sports organization may take action in connection with the North Carolina law. Notably, the N. C. A. A.’s Division I men’s basketball tournament has and games scheduled for North Carolina in 2017 and 2018, but has given no indication that it might move them elsewhere. However, Mike Krzyzewski, the coach at Duke, which is in Durham, N. C. and has long been one of the N. C. A. A.’s most prominent basketball teams, has been sharply critical of the North Carolina law. He has been in Las Vegas this week coaching the men’s national basketball team as it trains for next month’s Summer Olympics, and Thursday he said North Carolina had “lost a lot” because of the legislation. He had previously described the law as “embarrassing. ” Chris Sgro, the executive director of Equality North Carolina and the only openly gay member of the state’s General Assembly, said in a telephone interview Thursday that the N. B. A. was making a strong statement by removing one of its marquee events from Charlotte. “The state of North Carolina grossly overreached by passing the worst . G. B. T. bill in the nation, and they have cost us the N. B. A. Game,” Mr. Sgro said. “The blame for $100 million in economic loss and the impact that it has on the city of Charlotte and the entire state is squarely at the feet of the McCrory machine. ” State legislators are not scheduled to reconvene until January. “I could very well see a special session to deal with this issue,” Mr. Sgro said. “We’re going to continue to sustain incredible economic harm if we don’t repeal House Bill 2. ” | 1 |
Donald Trump is going to win a second term in 2020: you read it here, first. [I, in turn, heard it straight from the lips of an administration insider — Dr Ted Malloch, the business economics professor and prospective US ambassador to the European Union, who advised Trump from the early stages of his presidential campaign, and whom I’ve interviewed for this week’s Delingpole podcast. Malloch is an ardent conservative of impeccable pedigree. I asked him what message he had for all those NeverTrump conservative types who still maintain that Hillary would have made the better President. Malloch: Get over it and move on. It’s what we’ve got. And guess what? It’s not for four years — it’s gonna be for eight years. He has already instigated his campaign and I think I’ll break to you what the motto’s going to be. Can you guess? Delingpole: Um — Make America Great Again Again? Malloch: Keep America Great. Which has a certain assumption built into it: that during the next four years we’re going to achieve a great deal. And that then we just have to maintain that kind of trajectory. So this argument about what kind of conservative Trump is — is he a purist? — first of all he’s not a political philosopher and doesn’t purport to be an intellectual … This is not your father’s Oldsmobile. This is not your father’s Republican party. This is Donald Trump’s Republican party and it’s going to be a party that is more pragmatic, that is less ideological, that is more oriented towards national identity, towards international relations and towards a degree of populism. So I would say ‘Like it or leave it.’ Forthright, supremely and articulate, Malloch talks a good game. He would, no question, be a very entertaining US ambassador to the EU. But his appointment is being aggressively resisted by the EU establishment, which hasn’t taken kindly to his subtle hint in a BBC interview that, like the Soviet Union, it’s an empire ripe for collapse. I asked him why he thinks the war against Trump and his supporters has become so vicious. Malloch, a keen student of political history — he’s currently Professor of Strategic Leadership and Governance at Henley Business School in the believes that we are in the throes of a revolution and that the losers (who until recently were the political establishment) just aren’t enjoying losing. The Brexit and Trump shocks of 2016, he believes, are the to the global takeover by the in 1968. Malloch: In leftist circles and in academia both in Europe and the United States, the question has often been ‘Where were you in May of 1968?’ And the question was, of course: ‘Were you in Paris on the barricades? Were you part of the left? Were you taking that revolution to the streets?’ So we can ask this question, in a few years: ‘Where were you in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected president?’ Now we didn’t have any barricades on the street — although there were protests. We used mostly election booths to bring about our democratic means. But I think there is a significant change — both a watershed in world history and a change in the direction of American politics, that people will be writing about, frankly, hundreds of years from now. I’ve jokingly said that there are four faces carved into the mountain in South Dakota called Mount Rushmore. And they might have to find some more rock if this all goes as planned. ” Yup, you’re going to enjoy this podcast. Listen to it here. Or, if you do iTunes, here. | 0 |
WILLEMSTAD, Curaçao — The dark outlines of land had just come into view when the smuggler forced everyone into the sea. Roymar Bello screamed. She was one of 17 passengers who had climbed onto the overloaded fishing boat with aging motors in July, hoping to escape Venezuela’s economic disaster for a new life on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. Afraid of the authorities, the smuggler refused to land. Ms. Bello said he gruffly ordered her and the others into the water, pointing toward the distant shore. In the panic, she was tossed overboard, tumbling into the predawn blackness. But Ms. Bello could not swim. As she began to sink under the waves, a fellow migrant grabbed her by the hair and towed her toward the island. They washed up on a rocky cliff battered by waves. Bruised and bleeding, they climbed, praying for a lifeline: jobs, money, something to eat. “It was worth the risk,” said Ms. Bello, 30, adding that Venezuelans like her “are going after one thing: food. ” Venezuela was once one of Latin America’s richest countries, flush with oil wealth that attracted immigrants from places as varied as Europe and the Middle East. But after President Hugo Chávez vowed to break the country’s economic elite and redistribute wealth to the poor, the rich and middle class fled to more welcoming countries in droves, creating what demographers describe as Venezuela’s first diaspora. Now a second diaspora is underway — much less wealthy and not nearly as welcome. Well over 150, 000 Venezuelans have fled the country in the last year alone, the highest in more than a decade, according to scholars studying the exodus. And as Mr. Chávez’s revolution collapses into economic ruin, as food and medicine slip further out of reach, the new migrants include the same impoverished people that Venezuela’s policies were supposed to help. “We have seen a great acceleration,” said Tomás Páez, a professor who studies immigration at the Central University of Venezuela. He says that as many as 200, 000 Venezuelans have left in the past 18 months, driven by how much harder it is to get food, work and medicine — not to mention the crime that such scarcities have fueled. “Parents will say, ‘I would rather say goodbye to my son in the airport than in the cemetery,’ ” he said. Desperate Venezuelans are streaming across the Amazon Basin by the tens of thousands to reach Brazil. They are concocting elaborate scams to sneak through airports in Caribbean nations that once accepted them freely. When Venezuela opened its border with Colombia for just two days in July, 120, 000 people poured across, simply to buy food, officials said. An untold number stayed. But perhaps most startling are the Venezuelans now fleeing by sea, an image so symbolic of the perilous journeys to escape Cuba or Haiti — but not Venezuela. “It has all totally changed,” said Iván de la Vega, a sociologist at Simón Bolívar University in Caracas. About 60 percent more Venezuelans fled the country this year than during the year before, he added. “The earnings of these people are low,” Mr. de la Vega said of the recent migrants. “The only option left to them is the nearby countries, ones they can get to on foot, or by rafts, or go on boats with tiny motors. ” Inflation will hit nearly 500 percent this year and a 1, 600 percent next year, the International Monetary Fund estimates, shriveling salaries and creating a new class of poor Venezuelans who have abandoned professional careers for precarious lives abroad. “Venezuelans like myself are coming to Brazil for a simple reason: It’s easier to survive here,” said Reinier Salazar, 30, an industrial engineer who moved to Brazil last year. Now he cooks at a restaurant for about $400 a month — much more than he made back home in Venezuela, he said. The exodus is unfolding so quickly that since 2015 about 30, 000 Venezuelans have moved to the border region that includes the Brazilian state of Roraima, officials say. Now the Brazilian Army is bolstering patrols along highways and rivers, bracing for even more arrivals. “We’re at the start of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in this part of the Amazon,” said Col. Edvaldo Amaral, the state’s civil defense chief. “We’re already seeing Venezuelan lawyers working as supermarket cashiers, Venezuelan women resorting to prostitution, indigenous Venezuelans begging at traffic intersections. ” Some are paying smugglers more than $1, 000 a person to reach cities like Manaus and São Paulo, officials say, while others just manage to cross the border into Brazil. In Pacaraima, a small Brazilian border town, hundreds of Venezuelan children are now enrolled in local schools and entire families are sleeping on the streets of town. “It’s hard to see a solution to this problem because hunger is involved,” said the mayor, Altemir Campos. “Venezuela doesn’t have enough food for its people, so some are coming here. ” The small Caribbean islands neighboring Venezuela are far less hospitable, saying they simply cannot absorb the onslaught. The closest to Venezuela’s coast, Aruba and Curaçao, have effectively sealed their borders to poor Venezuelans since last year by making them show $1, 000 in cash before entering — the equivalent of more than five years of earnings in a job. Both countries have increased patrols and deportations, and Aruba has even set aside a stadium to hold as many as 500 Venezuelan migrants after they are caught, according to the authorities. It’s a dramatic reversal of fortune for Venezuelans, who once went to Curaçao to spend money as tourists, not to plead for work. “They all say, ‘You are from Venezuela. You are from a rich country that has everything,’ ” Ms. Bello said of her encounters on the island. “And I say, ‘No longer.’ ” Empty homes now dot the streets of the fishing town of La Vela, Ms. Bello’s hometown in Venezuela, their owners having set off by sea. They have mortgaged property, sold kitchen appliances and even borrowed money from the same smuggling rings that pack them on the floorboards alongside drugs and other contraband. The journey to Curaçao takes them on a crossing filled with backbreaking swells, gangs of armed boatmen and coast guard vessels looking to capture migrants and send them home. Then, after being tossed overboard and left to swim ashore, they hide in the bush to meet contacts who spirit them anew into the tourist economy of this Caribbean island. They clean the floors of restaurants, sell trinkets on the street, or even solicit Dutch tourists for sex, forced by the smugglers to pay for their passage by working in a brothel, the authorities in Curaçao say. Countless families in Venezuela are like the Bellos now. Unable to scrounge together more than a meal a day, they are scattered across seas and borders. Ms. Bello’s brother Rolando works construction in Curaçao and his wife recently joined him, leaving their daughter with relatives back home. An uncle of Ms. Bello’s was not so lucky: He sits in a Curaçao prison, accused of smuggling migrants like his relatives. Then there is Wilfredo Hidalgo, Ms. Bello’s cousin, who studied business administration in Venezuela but never found a job. Two years ago, he was deported from Curaçao after coming by plane. Now he is trying to return by boat, having saved half of the $350 he needs to pay the smugglers. “What can I do?” he said. There is also Ms. Bello’s brother Roger, whose girlfriend, Yaisbel, is six months pregnant. He, too, said he would go to Curaçao to support his child. Yaisbel said she would stay behind but take a loan from smugglers to pay for her boyfriend’s journey, using her mother’s house as collateral. Hopefully, she said, her mother would never find out. “I am just watching her stomach,” Roger Bello said. “Before the child is here, I will be in Curaçao. ” And finally there is Ms. Bello’s mother, Maria Piñero, who gave her a life vest just before she left, knowing that she could not swim. But the smuggler ripped it off Ms. Bello just before she was thrown into the sea, saying that the swells were so high she was better off swimming under the waves. Now, despite Ms. Bello’s ordeal, her mother vowed to make the journey by boat, too. “I’m nervous,” she began. “I’m leaving with nothing. But I have to do this. Otherwise, we will just die here hungry. ” One evening at the end of September, Ms. Piñero, 47, climbed aboard a boat in a small town on the country’s northern coast. She dropped to her knees, praying to God that she would survive the journey and find a better life in Curaçao. The other passengers, tears in their eyes, began to pray too, some joining hands in a circle on the beach. They muttered hopes that the coast guard would not catch them, that they were good people, that they were mothers and fathers. They waded into the water, hoisting their few possessions overhead, and climbed into the boat. Its motor started and it steered toward the horizon. Even the smuggler seemed distraught at the misfortune bringing him profits. “I would prefer that the crisis ended and my business was over,” the smuggler said after they had left. “I would prefer a thousand times that there was no crisis and we could live in the Venezuela from yesterday. ” Jesús Ramos knew he would have to swim ashore from the smuggler’s boat. So he spent his last weeks in Venezuela doing laps in the sea in front of his home in La Vela, his mother recalls. His friend William Cordero, 29, went too. He spent that month applying for a business license for the salon he planned to open with all the money he expected to make in Curaçao. He had already bought a sign. “My Faith In God Barbershop” it said. But the boat carrying the men never made it. The two friends, along with three other migrants and a captain, vanished somewhere off the coast of Venezuela last year. No wreckage was found. The only evidence that their journey even occurred is a few selfies sent from their smartphones just before they departed. The men posed on the side of the skiff with big smiles. “I try not to cry I tell myself, ‘He’s well, that’s it,’ ” said Florangel Amaya de Ramos, Mr. Ramos’s mother. The plan had been a simple one: A journey in a speedboat. If they were stopped by Curaçao’s coast guard, they would pose as tourists. And with their documents in plastic bags, they were ready to swim ashore, knowing that the smuggler wanted to make a quick getaway. Then they could find their contacts using cellphones tucked in empty rice porridge jars. Mr. Cordero already had a Curaçao chip. Two years before, he had boarded a plane to Curaçao and worked illegally as a barber there, earning several thousand dollars that he sent to his wife and two children in La Vela. But in 2015, Mr. Cordero was deported. He returned to a new, grimmer Venezuela. Long lines for food were becoming startlingly common in La Vela and inflation hit triple digits. Even in big cities like Caracas and Maracaibo, staples like corn flour, the cornerstone of the Venezuelan diet, have become increasingly hard to find, while a growing black market for other goods has driven prices beyond the reach of many. In rural towns like La Vela, residents are even more squeezed, with fewer goods than large cities and a poorer population with less money to pay for them. Mr. Cordero tried to make the best of things by opening a barbershop on his sister’s patio, wearing a white uniform like the one he wore in Curaçao. But he earned only about 40 cents per haircut, compared with $35 or more per day in Curaçao. The lure of the island grew more intense than ever. But the country had put the new visa restrictions on Venezuelans, and the door was shut behind him. The only way back was with a smuggler by boat. Mr. Ramos, Mr. Cordero’s friend, knew a man who was collecting 200, 000 bolivars each, or about $200 at the time, to run a smuggling boat. Mr. Ramos, a lanky had also been deported recently after working as a gardener in Curaçao, but had not managed to find work back in Venezuela. Once the money ran out from his first trip, his wife and three children were spending many days hungry. The smuggler found two other men from the area, and a fifth migrant named Jessica Márquez who had come from Mérida, a city nearly 400 miles away. The five waited anxiously in La Vela for several days as the smuggler got reports from other fishermen in Curaçao about coast guard patrols, trying to decide which night would be safest to leave. Mr. Cordero’s sister, Saribeth Cordero, recalled the group sitting in her brother’s barber shop on her porch one afternoon as a movie played on the television about a shipwreck. “What if there are sharks?” asked Ms. Márquez, Ms. Cordero recalled. “You can’t be negative like that,” Mr. Cordero said, his sister recalled. But she said her brother was scared too. “He was nervous about the ocean,” Ms. Cordero said. The group finally headed off in good spirits. Mr. Ramos had sold his motorcycle to pay the smuggler, telling his mother he would not need it anymore. She packed him a waterproof bag with some meager belongings: soap, toothpaste, antibiotics and a few clothes. A van arrived and they left. That afternoon, they arrived at the rendezvous point with the smuggler, a town called Tucacas. They stayed the night in a hostel there. The motor of one of the boats had failed recently, something that worried Mr. Ramos when he wrote to a friend who had agreed to meet him in the jungle once he landed in Curaçao. “It’s O. K. man … just relax, you’ll be here soon,” the friend wrote in Facebook message that Mr. Cordero forwarded to his mother. “Yes bro, tomorrow, God willing,” Mr. Ramos wrote back. Mr. Cordero climbed aboard the boat and sent a selfie to his sister. He wore yellow board shorts and no shirt, making a peace sign with his hands. It was the last anyone heard from anyone in the group. The first to know something had gone wrong was Ms. Ramos. The friend in Curaçao wrote over Facebook that he had waited all night but her son never arrived. “I cried all night,” she said. Questions haunt the families of the lost migrants each time they look out toward the sea. Could the men still be alive somehow? Will Venezuela ever return to the country that it was, one where it was not necessary to swim to the shore in Curaçao after being tossed from a fishing boat? Ms. Ramos is still waiting for her son and speaks of him in the present tense. Each Sunday, she goes to Mass to pray for his return. “I always speak to God,” said Ms. Ramos. “I am always looking up at that picture of the Virgin. I am scared one day she will yell back at me, ‘Enough, already. That’s enough. ’” Rolando Bello sat on a pier in Curaçao, worrying about his mother. It was September, a week before she stepped aboard a boat to join him in Curaçao. He knew the dangers well, having made the journey twice himself. Last year, he says, Mr. Cordero and Mr. Ramos had approached him to join their doomed trip before they set off. “I was this close to going,” he said. “You see what would have happened to me. ” Now his family was being subjected to the dangerous whims of the passage once more. His mother’s boat was getting ready to set off. His sister, who had been dragged ashore by her hair, had been caught by the Curaçao authorities and deported back to Venezuela over the summer. Desperate to work, she had sneaked into Aruba instead, taking a loan from a smuggling ring to get there. But at least his wife was with him. She came to Curaçao that month under a new scheme. Because she did not have the $1, 000 needed to pose as a Venezuelan tourist at customs, smugglers rented her the money to satisfy the new cash requirement, which is imposed only on Venezuelans. The smuggler’s agents in Curaçao then quickly approached her at the airport to take back the money — and to collect the $100 rental fee. Mr. Bello’s wife, Lennymar Chávez, sat next to her husband and the two ate a large lunch. A boat sailed past a row of colonial facades, and Venezuela felt a world away. “I haven’t eaten an arepa for three months,” she said, referring to the Venezuelan staple of corn flour, which has become increasingly hard to find at home. “I ate one here in Curaçao for the first time. ” They had left their daughter in La Vela with relatives. Mr. Bello had trained to be an engineer in Venezuela’s oil industry. Now he was a construction day laborer, happily earning about $65 a day. Ms. Chávez trained to be a nurse, but held few hopes of working in her profession in Curaçao. “I don’t mind cleaning now,” she said. “The important thing is that I’m working here. ” But the authorities in Curaçao, like many tiny islands, fear the immigrants will undercut the local labor force or bring violent crime. “My preoccupation is what kind of people are entering Curaçao,” said Nelson Navarro, the island’s justice minister who argued that the increase in Venezuelans coincided with a 15 percent rise in crime, particularly armed robberies. “In Venezuela, they don’t hesitate to shoot a police officer, but here, this is news. ” Alex Rosaria, a legislator on the island, worries that the migrants will further strain Curaçao, where unemployment is at 11 percent. “We have only a limited capacity to deal with refugees,” Mr. Rosaria said. For now, the task has been left to the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard. Rob Jurriansen, a Dutch naval officer who heads operations in Curaçao, says his small fleet intercepted only a tiny fraction of the migrants, perhaps just 5 percent to 10 percent of the illegal immigrants arriving in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, the islands the fleet patrols. Now, he says, officials in the Netherlands, the former colonial power that is still formally tied to Curaçao within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, fear they will also get stuck with the bill of caring for a migrant tide. “They want to prevent a situation like Libya,” he said, referring to the much larger flow of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe. His station is close to Caracas Bay, now the landing point of many who flee Venezuela. Dense, thorny brush covers the island for miles in each direction, forming a maze through which the migrants wander as they enter Curaçao. Far across the passage, the seas had calmed and Mr. Bello’s mother was preparing for her second attempt. After nearly reaching the island in September, her boat turned back, fearing it was being pursued by the Coast Guard. It set out again on a clear October night at 9 p. m. Mr. Bello’s mother, Ms. Piñero, sent a message to relatives just before taking off. It had been a choppy ride on the first voyage, but this time the 13 passengers glided smoothly over the waves. But the flat ocean also meant they were visible when they arrived early the next morning, before dawn. Somewhere on shore, Coast Guard officials say they saw what they called a “strange blip” on the water. Ms. Bello was the first in the family to learn what happened next, when a friend called at 6 a. m. “Girl, they got your mother,” the friend said. “They caught the boat with drugs. ” Ms. Bello didn’t want to believe the news, but opened her computer to see what she could find online. Already, images were circulating of the passengers being apprehended by the authorities. Ms. Bello recognized her mother. “Yes, it was her with the red hair, the one covering her face so she could not be seen,” she said of her mother. Ms. Bello’s mother landed with a dozen other passengers in detention, she said in a brief telephone interview, watched over by guards. She sounded desperate and tired, her voice cracking. “I thought that trying would be worth it, but in the end it wasn’t, because I’m headed back,” she said, before the line clicked and she was gone. Her son Rolando Bello remains in Curaçao with his wife, but his mother’s capture casts a heavy shadow in the small home they share with another Venezuelan migrant family. The couple was trying to gather the money for Ms. Piñero’s plane ticket back to Venezuela, which deportees are required to pay. They would send it through a third party to avoid being discovered themselves. One evening last month, Mr. Bello was alone, wondering if the promise of Curaçao had been worth the damage to his family. “Only God knows the sacrifice one makes,” he said. “But fine. This is life. ” Her daughter, Ms. Bello, was angry. “It’s so sad because we hope we will arrive in one piece,” she said. “And then suddenly, after a journey so long, they catch you. And just send you back to Venezuela. ” “Just imagine the despair my mother is in,” she added. “She has no money. Now she may have to sell her house. What a crazy thing. ” | 1 |
Clinton perversion of electoral procedures, manipulation of media and the Justice system should make every American voter think twice about Hillary
Before we get into the meat of this thing, let me make two things very clear: The evidence presented here is not the usual half-checked/chosen at random/doctored stuff we’re used to in madcap conspiracy rumours. Everything shown here is a matter of undisputed public record – a rare thing in this Presidential campaign I’m not trying to prove a theory here, as I lack the resources to do so. I am merely using informed logic to establish those four things required to build any credible case: behavioural track record, means, motive and opportunity. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that in terms of capability of performing dirty tricks, the Clinton campaign ticks all four boxes. The Clintons’ track record on dirty tricks
Negative advertising, smear rumour, making rally halls look more full/empty on TV and innate media bias have all been obvious for many years in Western election campaigns. Not surprisingly, during Presidential campaigns this is heightened by the physically more personal nature of the contest.
Huffington Post banned The Slog from commenting in 2012 after I alleged the use of troll swarms by Obama to mess up Republican sites. Three months later, his White House CoS casually confirmed the story.
This is truth bending, and isn’t illegal. But the Clinton track record against Bernie Sanders is of a quite different order. I was given first-hand evidence, for example, of blatant threats to Democratic National Convention (DNC) workers that anyone helping organise Sanders rallies would have no future or place in a Clinton White House. But there is also disturbing evidence of electoral irregularity as well. October 2015 – over 120,000 voting registrations lost in Brooklyn – & rock solid Sanders neighbourhood, plus nearly a third of Sanders supporters complaining that, on pitching up to vote, their Party registrations had been changed Over nine straight 2015 primaries, Sanders won seven: in the other two, “massive voter irregularities” were reported. Hillary won them. The supposedly neutral DNC is stuffed with overt Clinton activists. The private company collecting sensitive poll/registration information NPG van has close ties to Bill Clinton and worked for him in 1992. Leaks from NPG are, to say the least, recurrent. On the eve of the Democratic party’s convention in Philadelphia, a whopping 20,000 emails were made public by Wikileaks showing supposedly ‘neutral’ senior party officials tried to undermine Mr Sanders’s insurgent left-wing campaign by publicly portraying him as an atheist. Solidly Sanders locations in Arizona’s Maciopa County found their polling booths available reduced from 200 to 60. Odd behaviour during a Primary campaign. Undercover videos just four days ago showed two senior DNC operatives openly admitting to paid interference with Trump rallies and voter registration manipulation.
These days, one talks to Washington pundits who – sadly – shrug and say “both sides are at it – they cancel each other out”. But what I’ve shown above is just a fraction of highlights compared to the total media exposure of Clinton criminality. Doing a quick count from 78 sites, press titles and broadcasters last night, allegations against the Clinton campaign outnumber all others by 5/2.
However, it’s at this point that we go beyond even electoral irregularity and into suggestions of Hillary Clinton perverting the course of events at the Department of Justice (DoJ). Here, we segue neatly into ‘means’. The means to destroy Trump
Without any shadow of doubt, the biggest bubbling-under scandal of the campaign (until complaints about Trump’s locker-room and sex abuse behaviour ‘surfaced’) was that involving emails sent by Hillary Clinton during her time as Secretary of State.
The headline here is this: while heading up State, she only used her own personal and heavily abuse-protected server to send official emails – rather than official State Department email accounts maintained on federal servers. On leaving that job, the State Department hurriedly classified all the emails retrospectively.
This suggestive of the fact that Ms Clinton has something to hide. Her behaviour was also highly irregular, and cannot solely be explained by national security concerns: if there are fears about how secure State is, then we may as well all pack up and go home. (There are as it happens; but their security is a hundred times more sophisticated than hers).
Hillary maintains that her behaviour did not break federal rules, and there are precedents to show that. The hole in her defence is that there are no precedents for all the emails to have produced on her private server.
Having seen the content of some 150 emails, the FBI began by being quite bullish on the subject of an investigation. But then suddenly it wasn’t. An anodyne report was eventually issued in July 2016, criticising her “extreme carelessness”.
Her behaviour does not support that finding. Over at the DoJ, Dan Metcalfe, head of the Justice Department’s Office of Information and Privacy (FOIA), said this gave her even tighter control over her emails by not involving a third party such as Google, and helped prevent their disclosure by Congressional subpoena. He added: “She managed successfully to insulate her official emails, categorically, from the FOIA, both during her tenure at State and long after her departure from it—perhaps forever”, making it “a blatant circumvention of the FOIA by someone who unquestionably knows better” .
But neither State nor the DoJ did anything. The former issued a report making it clear that Secretary Clinton had lied to employees about the ‘permission’ she had, and confirmed that permission had never been sought. She also lied to the media about never sending classified material via her own server: a review of the 55,000-page email eventually released found “hundreds of potentially classified emails”.
There is a clear – very clear – scenario that scopes out here: that of an ambitious wannabe US President conspiring to hide her guilt about stuff in perpetuity. Among the forty emails held back by US security agencies are those assumed to refer to the Benghazi Compound disaster, during which the Ambassador lost his life in the most bestial manner.
However, the FBI having been quietly told to pipe down, the job facing the Clintons now was to get the DoJ onside. Bill went right to the very top.
In late June 2016, it was reported that Bill Clinton met privately with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on her private plane on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Three days later, a Justice Department official categorically told the media that Attorney General Lynch will accept “whatever recommendation career prosecutors and the F.B.I. director make about whether to bring charges related to Hillary Clinton’s personal email server”.
Washington sources confirm that Lynch “already pretty much knew what the FBI would say”. Did the Clintons have a strong motive?
Nothing is ever conclusive in these areas. But the overwhelming suggestion from these events is that the Clintons most certainly do have the means to influence the activities and output of the Justice Department.
However, it’s easy to argue that Candidate Clinton had little to fear from Trump; the media almost universally dismissed him as a no-hoper. So why take the risk of, potentially, using the DoJ to put her adversary in a spot?
It’s easy to argue that, but the US media have been wrong about Donald Trump since Day One. And the facts don’t support the argument.
Last night, the BBC released this trend map of the poll support for each candidate throughout the campaign:
On this diagram, I have indicated in green ink the two points at which Clinton and Trump are neck and neck. In early to mid July – following embarrassing email revelations – Clinton’s support dips, and Trump briefly overtakes her.
From the word go, the Clinton campaign saw Trump’s financial background, practices and exposure as an obvious weakness. Having pressed hard for his tax returns, once his official election as the GOP presidential nominee was confirmed – June 19th 2016 – they began demanding to see his financials.
In fact, they already knew of one unfortunate link: on March 20th, the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal had featured a piece showing Donald Trump’s massive dependence on Deutsche Bank as a credit supplier. The Murdoch press is campaigning solidly for Hillary, and Rupert himself has given substantial donations to her presidential bid. His motives towards her and Deutsche have been detailed by The Slog elsewhere .
The dates here are key – particularly the dates from which Deutsche Bank ceases to be ‘troubled’ in the background, and increasingly becomes a foreground, front-page crisis .
In early to mid June, Trump racks up his support and closes the gap with Clinton.Other financial papers pick up on the WSJ story….despite the fact that Trump’s cash flow and personal salary alone would be enough to pay off all the Deutsche loans. At this point, the International Monetary Fund releases a report saying that Deutsche Bank “appears to be the most important net contributor to systemic risks in the global banking system.”
The IMF – and its boss Christine Lagarde – are prime movers in aiding Clintonian foreign policy relating to the EU and North Africa. But still Trump’s support leaps from 34-40%. Then early July, S&P Global Ratings lowers its outlook on Deutsche Bank to negative. At the same time, Deutsche Bank’s U.S. unit fails the U.S. Federal Reserve’s stress test. The story filters down into non-specialist media. Clinton consolidates her lead.
But by this time, DB is starting to look like a basket case – which it has been for years – and the ‘ailing’ bank gets kicked out of the STOXX blue-chip Europe 50 index.
And yet, the Donald starts to recover momentum. By mid September, he’s back to almost neck and neck. It’s now that the DoJ Establishment goes for the throat.The Justice Department chooses this precise moment – September 16th – to splash with the news that Deutsche Bank faces a whopping $14.5 billion malpractice fine. Within hours, its shares go into freefall.
Between September 20th and 28th, a broader media blitz and online campaign openly calls Trump “massively dependent on Deutsche loans”. Counterspin from the Deutsche camp claims negotiations to reduce the DoJ fine are well in hand. Two days later Justice splashes again: no, it alleges, they haven’t even started yet.
But still, general awareness of the Trump-Deutsche link remains low….and Trump himself steadies his poll ratings. Locker rooms, pussy grabbing abuse allegations suddenly sprout via close Clinton ally David Farenthold. Donald’s poll ratings dive.
Donald Trump is just beginning to recover his position. Already pro-Democrat sites are switching tack to say that Trump “is a puppet candidate of foreign banks” – a silly allegation, given that he only works with one, and it’s more dependent on his business than vice versa. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice has Deutsche CEO John Cryan by the balls; as far as the Clintons are concerned, it holds all the cards. Opportunity
For myself, I doubt very much that Hillary & Co will go any further down the ‘dodgy credit’ road. With only two weeks to go to Election day, an imminent Deutsche collapse would play into Trump’s allegedly wandering hands: it is, after all, the US unit that faces the fine, and Trump’s populism is anti Wall Street.
I think an equal (if not bigger) force behind pushing Deutsche Bank into the limelight is that of forcing it into a Middle East role where it can be a Rottweiller controlled by State, its old boss Hillary Clinton, and massive regional investor Rupert Murdoch.
But while the opportunity was there, it’s obvious that Bill Clinton had all the influence his wife needs to help her get elected. Indeed, by being so unpopular in his own Party, Donald Trump has made this a much easier task: nobody but nobody in the US élite wants Trump in the White House.
As I endeavoured to stress at the outset, the object in this post is not to prove a conspiracy, but rather to present an avalanche of evidence to support one simple – and widespread – observation about the Hillarybillies: as their power has increased, so too has their megalomania inflated to a frightening degree.
Where once there were only crooked land deals and cigars to go on, today it is easy to argue that this creepy couple are operating at the kind of level where the American systems of Law, foreign policy, power separation and democracy itself are being perverted. This much has been obvious for some time; but American voters need to make their minds up by November 8th which they want least – Donald Trump in the White House, or Mr and Mrs Clinton doing the bidding of corporate globalism…while dragging the US further and further towards geopolitical confrontation.
Looked at in that way, while this has probably been the most superficial and childish Presidential contest in American history, it will probably also turn out to have been the most important. | 1 |
A concerned citizen videotaped a swerving pickup truck in the moments before a horrific crash with a church bus that left 13 people dead. The driver allegedly admitted to texting as the cause of his reckless driving. Twelve seniors on the bus, including the church bus driver, died at the scene. The thirteenth victim succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.[ Jody Kuchler, 55, recorded the revealing video as he called police to report the hazardous driving of Jack Dillon Young, the pickup truck’s driver. The San Antonio released the video showing the white Dodge pickup truck repeatedly crossing the center line and right shoulder marker. Kuchler recorded for approximately 20 minutes while attempting to get police to respond, the Daily Mail reported. A total of fourteen members of the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels, Texas, traveled to the Garner State Park area in Uvalde County, west of San Antonio, Breitbart Texas reported. The church bus collided with a white pickup truck at about 12:30 p. m. on Wednesday. DPS Spokesman Sergeant Conrad Hein told the Associated Press two passengers in the bus and the driver of the pickup truck sustained injuries in the crash. An ambulance transported the survivors to a hospital where they underwent treatment for their injuries. KSAT ABC12 in San Antonio obtained audio of Kuchler’s calls to police. “‘He’s going to hit somebody head on or he’s going to kill his own damn self. Somebody needs to get this guy off the road,” he told Real County sheriff’s office dispatchers. “He’s going like 80 miles an hour right now. ” The dispatcher told the caller they were unable to respond as the driver was still in Uvalde County, the Daily Mail reported. Real County dispatchers contacted neighboring Uvalde County. The Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office dispatched officers to the scene but the crash occurred before they could arrive, CBSDFW reported. Kuchler told reporters he recorded up to the moment of the collision with the church bus. He said they driver, Young, told him, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was texting. ” Kuchler said he responded, “Son, do you know what you just did?” to which Young responded, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. ” The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. 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. | 0 |
Главная » News » «Χαστούκι» ΟΗΕ στην Τουρκία: Δεν έχει «λευκή επιταγή στην καταπάτηση ελευθεριών «Χαστούκι» ΟΗΕ στην Τουρκία: Δεν έχει «λευκή επιταγή στην καταπάτηση ελευθεριών Friday, 18 November, 2016 - 15:30 | 0 |
Home » Headlines » Finance News » Bond Super Nova: Boston Econ Professor Admits US in Worse Shape Financially Than Russia, Greece, or Italy
Occasionally, a bit of truth escapes…
From Greg Hunter, USAWatchdog :
Boston University Economics Professor Laurence Kotlikoff says, “ So, if you put everything on the books, we’re broke, and we’ve been printing money out the wazoo since 2007 to pay Congress’s bills. That’s the truth about quantitative easing. We need to have somebody who knows what’s going on in the big picture here and has a game plan to get rid of this fiscal gap, and do it without total chaos. If we leave things the way they are, people will view the country as leaderless fundamentally and printing money to pay its bills.
Then, the expectation will occur, and that’s going to raise rates, and that’s going to drop bond prices, and that will sink the banks, and, yes, you can have another great recession like Bill Gross is referencing (bond super nova). I’ve been saying this for decades. The time for the last straw to drop on the camel’s back, and when it’s going to drop that camel is hard to say. If you look at the fundamentals, and the fundamentals look like that of an emerging country, we are the most indebted developed country relative to GDP of any country around.
We are in worse shape, I believe, than Russia or Greece, and far worse shape than Italy . ” On Sale At SD Bullion… This Week Only… | 0 |
Страна: Сирия Как отмечает в своей новой статье пакистанский исследователь Салман Рафи, Вашингтон объявил о начале операции «Сирийских демократических сил» (СДС) по взятию сирийского города Эр-Ракка, которая считается «столицей» ДАИШ. По признанию представителей Вашингтона, СДС состоят из местных боевиков, которых Вашингтон готовил собственноручно. Автор отмечает, что можно с уверенностью сказать, что Запад пытается одержать пропагандистскую победу, раньше, чем сирийские войска при поддержке российских ВКС возьмут город Алеппо. В то же время из Ирака поступают сообщения, что боевики ДАИШ в массовом порядке покидают Моссул, который Вашингтон «штурмует», и движутся в направлении Эр-Ракки. Автор отмечает, что когда подчиняющиеся Вашингтону «Сирийские демократических силы» начнут штурм Эр-Ракки, едва ли что-то помешает боевикам ДАИШ, которые также подчиняются Вашингтону, влиться в их ряды. Нужна столь сложная схема для того, чтобы оттянуть как возвращение Алеппо под правительственный контроль, так и самой Ракки. Ведь в случае, если эти два города будут освобождены, ничто не сможет помешать правительственным войскам одержать решающую победу в Сирии, и Вашингтон об этом знает. С полной версией статьи вы можете ознакомиться здесь . Популярные статьи | 0 |
by Jerri-Lynn Scofield
Jerri-Lynn here: I first became aware of the consequences of Hanjin’s collapse via Lambert’s coverage in Water Cooler. The South Korean government’s bailout strategy– a version of kick the can down the road– looks worrying and unsustainable, given the ongoing slowdown in world trade , with little cause for optimism that trend will reverse anytime soon. As Richter indicates, much more pain is sure to follow.
By Wolf Richter, a San Francisco based executive, entrepreneur, start up specialist, and author, with extensive international work experience. Originally published at Wolf Street,
The ravaged shipbuilding industry in South Korea, deemed too big to fail, is getting its largest taxpayer bailout yet, totaling $9.6 billion, on top of the bailout funds already handed out last year, and on top of another $9.6 billion this year to bail out state-owned banks that were getting slammed by defaulting loans extended to the shipping industry.
Their problem: according to trade ministry, cited by the Wall Street Journal , orders for new ships to be built in South Korea have collapsed by 87% over the past nine months from the already terrible 9-month period last year, to almost nothing.
South Korean container carrier Hanjin was allowed to collapse in August. It “shattered the complacency” that TBTF carriers “are immune to failure.” It is now getting chopped into pieces to be sold off under bankruptcy court orders. Its rival, Hyundai Merchant Marine, was bailed out and restructured earlier this year. Other carriers around the globe have been sunk by two years of excruciating low shipping rates, triggered by rampant overcapacity and stagnating world trade. Larger carriers are consolidating to survive. Just on Monday, Japan’s Big Three – Nippon Yusen, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha – announced that they would merge to form the world’s sixth largest container carrier.
These carriers have stopped ordering ships, and many have canceled orders, and Chinese shipbuilders have muscled into the market years ago to grab share by slashing prices, and they too are going bankrupt .
But the shipbuilding industry is special to South Korea, a country whose economy depends on exports. The world’s three largest shipbuilders by erstwhile order volume are Korean: Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, and Samsung Heavy Industries. In 2015, the industry accounted for 7.1% of South Korea’s manufacturing jobs and 7.6% of exports.
The beleaguered Big Three have already sold noncore assets and sloughed off employees as part of prior bank-led restructuring plans.
They’re dealing with terrible economic dynamics. Global orders for ships peaked in 2007 at over 90 million compensated gross tonnage (CGT), of which about one-third went to Korean shipbuilders. Orders crashed during the Financial Crisis to a low of 18 million CGT in 2009, then recovered. In 2013, orders maxed out at 60 million CGT, still down 33% from the prior peak. Those were the good times.
In 2016 so far, orders have collapsed to only 9 million CGT, according to the Wall Street Journal. That’s about half of the orders during the worst part of the Financial Crisis. And South Korea’s share of this pittance in orders has fallen from one-third to just a tiny sliver.
So on Monday, South Korean Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho announced another big bailout program: to help the shipbuilding industry deal with the “order cliff,” the government would directly order vessels and also provide financing for shipping companies to order vessels. In total, this would generate orders for 250 vessels through 2020, valued at 11 trillion won ($9.6 billion) funded by the government.
But these ships won’t be the big traditional money makers, such as large containerships and dry-bulk carriers, of which the world is already vastly oversupplied. Instead, these will be vessels for the fishing industry and for small shipping companies, along with ferries, patrol boats, warships, and coastguard vessels. The hope is this will carry shipyards into the next glory period, when world trade and shipbuilding would resurge.
For now, the government is hoping to keep the Big Three shipbuilders alive. They will have to shed 32% of their workforce by 2018, cut their operations by 23%, sell more noncore businesses, and take other measures.
This bailout comes on top of prior bailouts, including the one of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in October 2015, when the state-owned Export-Import Bank of Korea and the Korea Development Bank (which already owned a controlling 31.5% stake) handed it a $3.7 billion bailout package of new loans, a rights offering, and debt-to-equity swaps.
The South Korean shipbuilders weren’t just sunk by the collapse of the global shipping industry, but also by their expedition into new territories: Seeing over the years that orders for big vessels would be heading south, and that prices were under pressure from competition in China, they decided in 2010 to get into the nirvana of profits: building offshore oil rigs. But that turned into a nightmare, and heavy losses, even before the price of oil crashed.
In June, the government and the Bank of Korea set up a special fund of 11 trillion won ($9.6 billion) to recapitalize state-run banks which were getting hit by defaulting loans from carriers and shipbuilders.
In addition, the finance ministry said the government would offer 6.5 trillion won ($5.6 billion) for South Korean carriers to order new bigger vessels to improve their profit margins and survive a little longer. And then there are plans to create a state-backed ship-financing company with initial capital of 1 trillion won ($880 million).
No one knows for sure how long the misery in the shipbuilding and shipping industries will continue. Overcapacity is a terrible condition. Creating it benefits many on the way up. It enriches them and makes the economy look good. But when it comes home to roost, the price is stiff. People lose their jobs. And many of the costs will be socialized. It’s only then that you see just how much capital has already gone down the drain, and how much more will follow.
The pain will continue, with many more false-hope-ups and brutal smack-downs, and more carriers will crack under their debt. Read… Why Hanjin’s Zombie Collapse Won’t Be the Last One . 0 0 0 0 0 0 This entry was posted in Guest Post on | 1 |
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