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In the Western World Respect for Law No Longer Exists Two of the Most Important Journalists in the World Emphasize the Criminality that Rules in the US, UK, and Sweden https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wdoHXVJPta8&feature=youtu.be The post In the Western World Respect for Law No Longer Exists appeared first on PaulCraigRoberts.org .	0
NTEB Ads Privacy Policy Crooked Hillary Campaign Chairman John Podesta Took Part In Satanic Blood Rituals And Black Magic The revelation that John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, is presumably interested in weird, gory occult ceremonies was too juicy for even Wikileaks to ignore. by Geoffrey Grider November 4, 2016 In what is undoubtedly the most bizarre Wikileaks revelation to date, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta was invited to a “spirit cooking dinner” by performance artist Marina Abramovic, to take part in an occult ritual founded by Satanist Aleister Crowley. In an email dated June 28, 2015, Abramovic wrote, “I am so looking forward to the Spirit Cooking dinner at my place. Do you think you will be able to let me know if your brother is joining? All my love, Marina.” Tony Podesta then forwarded the email to his brother John Podesta (Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman), asking him, “Are you in NYC Thursday July 9 Marina wants you to come to dinner.” What is “spirit cooking”? Spirit cooking refers to “a sacrament in the religion of Thelema which was founded by Aleister Crowley” and involves an occult performance during which menstrual blood, breast milk, urine and sperm are used to create a “painting”. The Podestas’“Spirit Cooking” dinner? It’s not what you think. It’s blood, sperm and breastmilk. — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 4, 2016 According to Marina Abramovic , if the ritual is performed in an art gallery, it is merely art, but if the ritual is performed privately, then it represents an intimate spiritual ceremony. The video embedded above depicts the bizarre nature of the ceremony. Abramovic mixes together thickly congealed blood as the “recipe” for the “painting,” which is comprised of the words, “With a sharp knife cut deeply into the middle finger of your left hand eat the pain.” The ceremony is, “meant to symbolize the union between the microcosm, Man, and the macrocosm, the Divine, which is a representation of one of the prime maxims in Hermeticism “As Above, So Below.” Marina Abramovic ‘Spirit Cooking’: “Abramovic is known for her often-gory art that confronts pain and ritual. Her first performance involved repeatedly, stabbing herself in her hands. The next performance featured her throwing her nails, toenails, and hair into a flaming five-point star — which she eventually jumped inside of, causing her to lose consciousness,” writes Cassandra Fairbanks. Another image shows Abramovic posing with a bloody goat’s head – a representation of the occult symbol Baphomet. Spirit cooking is also an “occult practice used during sex cult rituals, as explained in the book “Spirit cooking with essential aphrodisiac recipes,” notes Mike Cernovich. The revelation that John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, is presumably interested in weird, gory occult ceremonies was too juicy for even Wikileaks to ignore. “The Podestas’ “Spirit Cooking” dinner? It’s not what you think. It’s blood, sperm and breastmilk. But mostly blood,” the organization tweeted. Some are even linking the spirit cooking revelation to claims that the Podesta emails contain “code for child sex trafficking” that is hidden behind mentions of types of food. Others are connecting it to Laura Silsby , the missionary who was jailed for six months after her organization, New Life Children’s Refuge, attempted to smuggle 33 children out of Haiti into the Dominican Republic after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Significant, if partisan, find showing how the Clintons supported child stealer Laura Silsby https://t.co/7nULjOgmzr pic.twitter.com/NCgsVWTF2W — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 3, 2016 Wikileaks emails reveal that Hillary’s top aide Huma Abedin forwarded numerous articles about New Life Children’s Refuge to Clinton. “Julian Assange claimed that the Wikileaks would send Hillary Clinton to prison,” writes Cernovich. “The releases initially disappointed many people, this reporter included, as the evidence of corruption was slim. Assange was right. The real story was hidden in view.” While the child trafficking and pedophile connections to Clinton remain unproven, the fact that her campaign chairman is apparently into spooky occult rituals involving menstrual blood and semen is easily one of the most disturbing Wikileaks revelations to date. source SHARE THIS ARTICLE Geoffrey Grider NTEB is run by end times author and editor-in-chief Geoffrey Grider. Geoffrey runs a successful web design company, and is a full-time minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition to running NOW THE END BEGINS, he has a dynamic street preaching outreach and tract ministry team in Saint Augustine, FL. NTEB #TRENDING	0
On June 20, Rep. Brian Babin ( ) put forward legislation that will allow members of Congress to carry gun for “in nearly every conceivable scenario. ”[Meanwhile, average Americans have been waiting since January 3, 2017, for Congress to get behind Rep. Richard Hudson’s ( ) national reciprocity legislation so concealed carry permit holders from one state can legally possess carry their guns in every state for . Babin’s office announced the legislation, titled “Bill to Enhance Safety and Protection of Members of Congress. ” The bill would: Babin’s legislation would even open “areas under the director jurisdiction … . [of] commercial airliners” to Congressional members. Yet under the current patchwork of concealed carry laws, average Americans with a concealed carry permit from Arizona or Idaho commit a criminal act if they carry a gun for in California. If they have a permit from Arkansas, Florida, or Kentucky, they commit a crime by carrying a gun for in Illinois. UPDATE: After publication of this story Babin’s office reached out with this quote: Rep. Babin is a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment who fully supports reciprocity rights for every American. He is a proud cosponsor of Rep. Hudson’s national reciprocity legislation and believes all law abiding American citizens should be able to conceal carry across state lines. AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com.	1
The chairman of the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence told reporters at the Capitol Monday he has yet to see evidence of contacts between President Donald Trump’s campaign and individuals in the Russian government or part of its extensive network of affiliated persons. [“As of right now, we have no evidence, but we will continue to ask for evidence and look for evidence,” said Rep. Devin Nunes (R. .) who called the press conference to deal with a number of issues, including a New York Times report that the members of the Trump campaign were in contact with Russian intelligence and that he was pressured by the White House to call reporters to knock down the Times story. ” Nunes said his committee had not concluded its probe into contact between Russian operatives and any of the presidential campaigns. “Not only the three Americans named in that story but also any Americans with the Russians. ” Trump’s national campaign chairman Paul Manafort was named in the Times report, but the other two individuals were not named. Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign Aug. 19, shortly after the Republican National Convention. The hauling of citizens before a congressional hearing based on media reports would bring back the days of McCarthyism, he said. “I am trying to be very careful,” he said. “We can’t have the government — the U. S. government — the Congress or another branch of the government chasing down American citizens, calling them before the Congress as if they are some sort of secret Russian agents,” he said. “That is what I am concerned about here — that we go off on some witch hunt against American citizens just because they appear in a press story somewhere. ” The congressman said he has yet to see any sign that members of the Trump campaign or transition team broke any laws dealing with foreign governments. There were, however, contacts between the Trump camp and the Russians that were completely he said. After President Barack Obama issued his Dec. 29 sanctions against Russia, retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, then designated to serve as Trump’s National Security Adviser, spoke to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak a number of times. Those conversations were wiretapped by the Department of Justice and transcripts of the conversations were given to media outlets. If anything, the FBI should focus on how a DOJ wiretap transcript that had to be approved by the classified Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court went public, which is indisputably a crime, he said. Nunes said that even if Flynn discussed Obama’s December sanctions, he would have no problem — even if Flynn told the Russians that the incoming Trump administration would ignore or ease that round of sanctions. Flynn has maintained that he did not discuss the sanctions. “If the discussions occurred around ensuring that there was no overreaction by the Russian government, so that the new administration could do like all the other previous administrations, who thought they could work with Putin, all three have been wrong,” Nunes said. “If that is just what General Flynn did, to try and keep the lines of communications open,” he said. “That did us a big favor. ” This comment incensed CNN reporter Jim Sciutto. Sciutto called out to the congressman: “Do you want an administration negotiating against another? Isn’t that one U. S. administration negotiating — ” The congressman subdued a smirk as he cut Sciutto off, saying, “You want to investigate the Logan Act? You’re a Logan Act guy?” The 1799 Logan Act bans American citizens from negotiating with a foreign power without the approval of the federal government. Sciutto: “I didn’t mention the Logan Act, I’m just saying that if one administration — ” Nunes cut him off again: “The Logan Act is ridiculous. You guys all know that. ” No one has ever been prosecuted for violating the Logan Act. The other contentious was between the chairman and reporters, who kept insisting that there was something nefarious about the White House asking Nunes to talk to a reporter about the New York Times story. “It was kind of an odd story, I thought,” the congressman said. CNN reporter Manu Raju asked Nunes if he felt that his integrity was compromised when he spoke to the reporter at the behest of the White House. Nunes said he was not compromised at all. “If the White House asked me to talk to a reporter — it was one reporter — if the White House asked me to talk to you? Would that be OK or not OK?” Raju was silent for a long moment, then asked, “What is your response to that?” Raju: “You’re investigating this matter, the White House is urging you to knock down these stories that are leaving questions — ” Nunes: “That doesn’t happen. That absolutely doesn’t happen. ” Following the press conference, Nunes met with other Republican members of the intelligence committee. As the committee moves forward with its investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election cycle, he pledged to hold regular press availabilities.	1
The Obama administration, rushing to secure its environmental legacy, has increased protection for a humble bumblebee. The bumblebee, once common across the continental United States, has been designated an endangered species by the Fish and Wildlife Service: the country’s first bumblebee, and the first bee from the lower 48 states, to be added to the register. Seven bees were previously listed as endangered, but they are found only in Hawaii. Since the late 1990s, the population of the bumblebee has declined by nearly 90 percent, a result of a combination of factors, including exposure to pesticides, climate change, habitat loss and disease, federal wildlife officials said. The species, once found in 28 states, the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces, is found today only in small pockets of its habitat. The designation will accelerate efforts to protect the bees’ habitat and to reduce the use of pesticides that are killing them. It is the latest in a flurry of efforts to protect the environment and preserve President Obama’s legacy on climate change. In the last month, he has issued a permanent ban on offshore oil and gas drilling in large areas of the Arctic and much of the Eastern Seaboard announced two new national monuments in Utah and Nevada, protecting 1. 65 million acres of federal land and denied six permits for oil exploration in the Atlantic, partly because the seismic testing harms marine animals. And the announcement about the bee came a day after the Fish and Wildlife Service said that climate change is the biggest threat to the polar bear’s survival, and that without significant action to fight global warming, the bears will most likely vanish. Federal wildlife officials noted that the process of listing a species as endangered can take years, sometimes even decades. More than 300 species have been listed during the Obama administration, second only to the more than 500 species listed under President Bill Clinton. During the George W. Bush administration, just 62 species were added to the list. Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental advocacy group, said activists were worried “that we’re headed into another period like that, where hostility from the administration toward protecting endangered species causes them to shut the listing program down. ” The incoming Trump administration, however, would need to undertake a lengthy process to declare the bumblebee population recovered if it wished to reverse this week’s decision, and it would be required by law to justify its action on scientific grounds. The role of these bees and other insects is important, Tom Melius, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Midwest regional director, said in a statement. “Pollinators are small but mighty parts of the natural mechanism that sustains us and our world,” he said. “Without them, our forests, parks, meadows and shrub lands, and the abundant, vibrant life they support, cannot survive, and our crops require laborious, costly pollination by hand. ” Around the world, the populations of bees, butterflies and other insects that promote plant growth are crashing, a threat not only to biodiversity but also to the global food supply. A study last year from a group associated with the United Nations warned that an increasing number of species that aid the growth of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of food each year face extinction. “Obviously, it’s sad that anything has to get on the endangered list, but this really provides a great opportunity,” said Dennis vanEngelsdorp of the University of Maryland, a bee expert who applauded the government’s decision. “When you’re talking about saving the bumblebees, what you’re really talking about is saving the community. ” The kinds of measures that could protect the bumblebee could help many other pollinators, as well, by restoring habitats and food sources and restricting the use of pesticides — especially insecticides that have been linked to the decline in bee species. Such measures are especially important with native bumblebees, Dr. vanEngelsdorp noted, as opposed to honeybees, which are maintained in large colonies and trucked around the country for commercial pollination. The service is reviewing three other species of bees to determine whether they ought to be listed as endangered as well: Franklin’s bumblebee, the western bumblebee and the bumblebee. When a species is listed as endangered, the Fish and Wildlife Service is required to design a recovery plan, which is often carried out by other agencies, nongovernmental organizations, universities and tribes. Other federal agencies have to check that their actions will not hurt an endangered species or its habitat, particularly when it comes to land use planning. Bumblebees are particularly effective pollinators because, though they seem to prefer native flowers, they will pollinate pretty much anything and can fly in lower temperatures and lower light conditions than many other insects. They also use the technique of “buzz pollination,” in which they grab the part of the flower in their jaws and vibrate their wings, shaking the pollen loose, a process that seems to benefit plants like tomatoes, peppers and cranberries, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Bumblebees are particularly important to agriculture, but agriculture is often unkind to them. A number of factors have reduced the habitat available to bees, including the use of pesticides and other chemicals, the domination of vast amounts of farmland by a single crop, and the use of some genetically modified crops and herbicides that prevent the growth of weeds in fields and wildflowers along their borders. Climate change may also be shrinking the bees’ habitat, because of drought, rising temperatures, more storms and mismatches in timing: Plants may start to flower at times when the bees are not ready to pollinate. It also presents serious threats to the migration patterns of monarch butterflies and other pollinators, such as honeybees. While these species may not be as visible or as charismatic as polar bears or other mammals whose existences are threatened by a changing climate, placing them on the endangered list is a victory for the species and those who fight for it. “Now we have a symbol to rally around,” Dr. vanEngelsdorp said.	1
Draft-dodger Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, is at war with a military expert who had the audacity to point out Trump’s obvious ignorance about the military operation against ISIS in Mosul, Iraq. Today, in an ABC News interview with George Stephanopoulos, Trump sounded off about Mosul. “So you can tell your military expert that I’ll sit down and I’ll teach him a couple of things.” In Trump’s experience-free opinion, Mosul is a “total disaster” because we gave too much notice of the attack. The attack on Mosul is turning out to be a total disaster. We gave them months of notice. U.S. is looking so dumb. VOTE TRUMP and WIN AGAIN! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2016 Trump made similar comments during the last presidential debate . “The element of surprise. Douglas MacArthur, George Patton spinning in their graves when they see the stupidity of our country.” Unfortunately for Trump, real military experts disagree. The next day, the New York Times reported that such warnings reduce civilian casualties and instill fear within the enemy, among other benefits. Then there was this quote: “‘What this shows is Trump doesn’t know a damn thing about military strategy,’ said Jeff McCausland, a retired Army colonel and former dean at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.” Today, Stephanopoulos asked Trump about his tweet and McCausland’s comment. Trump doubled down . Oh, and check out how he first referred to General George Patton: “The Army War College – let me tell you, the element of surprise. I’ve been hearing about Mosul now for three months, ‘We’re going to attack. We’re going to attack.’ Meaning Iraq’s going to attack but with us, OK? We’re going to attack. Why do they have to talk about it? Don’t talk about it. Element of surprise. General George Patent [sic].” Trump subsequently correctly referred to Patton. But his later comments probably did nothing to reassure anyone about his suitability as commander in chief. Besides his desire to lecture McCausland, Trump brushed aside a challenge to his dire assessment of the Mosul operation. When Stephanopoulos noted that Defense Secretary Ash Carter has said 35 ISIS leaders have been killed, Trump insisted : “Excuse me: The resistance is much greater now because they knew about the attack. Why can’t they win first and talk later? Why do they have to say, three months before the attack, we’re going in?” Of course, Trump provided no evidence to support his argument that a surprise attack would have worked better. But why would he? In Trump’s mind, he knows better than anyone about fighting ISIS, as he said last year that: “I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me.” Fortunately, it looks like most Americans don’t believe him. Video via ABC News on YouTube . About Ellen Brodsky Ellen Brodsky is a long time blogger for NewsHounds.us and a contributor to Crooks and Liars. She has also worked as a researcher for Brave New Films' landmark documentary, "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" and "Iraq for Sale." Connect	0
Share on Twitter Chloe Lattanzi, actress and daughter of Grammy-winning singer and Hollywood actress, Olivia Newton-John, is talking openly about the body image struggles she had as a teenager—and the things she did to combat her poor self-image. Image Credit: Screenshot/ YouTube Appearing on Wednesday's episode of “The Doctors,” Lattanzi revealed that she had implants and plastic surgery when she was younger because she suffered from body dysmorphia . Body dysmorphia is a disorder which makes people obsess over parts of their body. People with the disorder imagine their bodies to be severely flawed, to the point that it makes it difficult for them to function normally. Lattanzi spoke about her particular experience with the disorder as a teenager, and the anorexia, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression that accompanied it: “I went through this sort of chubby phase [as a kid]- I ate to comfort myself. I would see comments in magazines about how I was chubby. So around 16 I started to restrict food, exercise more.” Image Credit: Chris Weeks/Getty Images Over one summer in particular, Lattanzi lost a lot of weight, but her new thinness brought with it problems, too. She said she turned to plastic surgery and implants: “When I was in the height of my body dysmorphia, I had a whole bunch of fillers. I’ve had that all removed from my face because I like the way I look naturally.” Recently, Lattanzi saw some photographs of herself as a teenager and doesn't understand why she thought her appearance was so defective. Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images She says she's never shown the pictures to anyone before, but that they're a valuable tool for providing context to the mental illness from which she was suffering. Now, having recovered from body dysmorphia and anorexia, the 30-year-old says she regrets making so many changes to her appearance: “I look back at myself and I as a teenager and I’m like, 'What a beautiful young woman.' What was I thinking? Why was I so insecure?” Image Credit: Screenshot/ YouTube Lattanzi feels that social media's focus on appearance is a major culprit when it comes to young women struggling with negative self-image: “I think so many young girls are going through body dysmorphia — we’re constantly told how we’re supposed to look via Instagram and filters. There’s constant pressure for us to look perfect.” Now, Lattanzi says she's “stable and in a loving relationship,” but she's still plagued by some anxiety. She says the memory of her illness is a wound that may never completely heal. Image Credit: David Livingston/Getty Images Body dysmorphia affects about 1.7% to 2.4% of the general population—or one in 50 people. It is often accompanied by eating disorders, depression, and anxiety disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. Surprisingly, according to some studies, cases of body dysmorphia are more often found in men than women.	0
This post was originally published on this site On October 26, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Namibian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who has come to Moscow on a working visit to attend the sixth session of the Russian-Namibian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation. The parties spotlighted the traditional high level of the two countries’ mutual political understanding. They discussed partnership prospects in many spheres, particularly energy, fishing, railway transport, mining, and supplies of food and equipment. They exchanged opinions on topical international and African issues, including the UN reform, and confirmed their shared determination to work for enhancing the United Nations’ role in global affairs. Ms Nandi-Ndaitwah highly evaluated Russia’s policy to promote peace and security, build up a broad international anti-terrorist front, and move towards a settlement in Syria. The parties expressed concern over the remaining hotbeds of tension in Africa – in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Western Sahara, Sahara-Sahel region and elsewhere, and spoke in favour of conflict settlement by political means through dialogue and compromise. Related	0
According to Sitchin’s interpretation of Mesopotamian iconography and symbolism, outlined in his 1976 book The 12th Planet and its sequels, there is an undiscovered planet beyond Neptune that follows a long, elliptical orbit, reaching the inner solar system roughly every 3,600 years. This planet is called Nibiru (although Jupiter was the planet associated with the god Marduk in Babylonian cosmology).According to Sitchin, Nibiru (whose name was replaced with MARDUK in original legends by the Babylonian ruler of the same name in an attempt to co-opt the creation for himself, leading to some confusion among readers) collided catastrophically with Tiamat (a goddess in the Babylonian creation myth the Enûma Eliš), which he considers to be another planet once located between Mars and Jupiter. This collision supposedly formed the planet Earth, the asteroid belt, and the comets. Sitchin states that when struck by one of planet Nibiru’s moons, Tiamat split in two, and then on a second pass Nibiru itself struck the broken fragments and one half of Tiamat became the asteroid belt. The second half, struck again by one of Nibiru’s moons, was pushed into a new orbit and became today’s planet Earth. According to Sitchin, Nibiru (called “the twelfth planet” because, Sitchin claimed, the Sumerians’ gods-given conception of the Solar System counted all eight planets, plus Pluto, the Sun and the Moon) was the home of a technologically advanced human-like extraterrestrial race called the Anunnaki in Sumerian myth, who Sitchin states are called the Nephilim in Genesis. He wrote that they evolved after Nibiru entered the solar system and first arrived on Earth probably 450,000 years ago, looking for minerals, especially gold, which they found and mined in Africa. Sitchin states that these “gods” were the rank-and-file workers of the colonial expedition to Earth from planet Nibiru. There is a lot of confusion about the origin of the word Nephilim and what it means. In Hebrew it literally means to fall. As in fallen angel. The Bible, the Talmud and the Koran (where they are referred to as Djinn) all speak of fallen angels. In the Book of Genesis in the Bible it relates how the Nephilim produced children with humans. One was even depicted as killing Japheth, Noah’s son, and taking his place whereupon he fathered many children with Japheth’s unsuspecting wife which eventually populated much of Northern Europe. In the following video, journey into the world of Fallen Angels, Satan, Shadow People, Aliens, Demons, Anunnaki, Archons, Ancient Giants, “Ancient Aliens” & Genetic Hybrids. Almost all of what we know about the Nephilim comes from the Holy Bible in Genesis Chapter 6. If you’ve studies or looked into the Nephilim at all, or even if you haven’t, I’m sure you’ll find the video below refreshingly different than many other videos on the topic. I certainly did, and I’ve seen a ton. WATCH THE VIDEO: Locklip SOURCE	0
Was the airstrike in Syria Killing 22 schoolchildren another US false flag? Russian defense says so By Joachim Hagopian Posted on October 31, 2016 by Joachim Hagopian The Western media seizes every chance to twist the truth in favor of another round of Putin bashing as its worn out flimsy excuse to escalate further hostilities against Moscow in order to trigger World War III. The pathological liars of the West never fail to deceitfully add fuel to their propaganda war machine fire. The latest hype is blaming a Russian airstrike for destroying a school in the rebel held Idlib Province in northern Syria, killing 22 children and six teachers. Immediately the UN, as the Washington vassal it is, through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), for added sensational effect no less, began opportunistically milking the tragedy for all it‘s worth, denouncing the killing as “an outrage” and probable war crime, adding that it’s the deadliest attack on a school in the near six-year Syrian conflict. What’s being left out of this heavily biased narrative is that the war in Syria was maliciously started by the United States, specifically the CIA funding protests in 2011 (actually as far back as 2005 ) targeting Assad as part of its infamous Arab Spring uprising in accordance with Empire’s illegal regime change policy. As an independent, secular leader unwilling to succumb to Empire’s pressure to allow a 2009 proposed Qatar gas pipeline to Europe be built through his country, the fixated neocons have been gunning for Assad’s removal ever since. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov explained that after closer examination and careful analysis, the video released to Western media allegedly depicting the airstrike in Idlib Province consists of more than ten separate pieces of footage fragmented together. Thus, it appears to be a hoax designed to incriminate the Russian aerospace group for killing innocent kids. He added, “As one can see on a photo from the Russian drone, the roof of the school is not damaged and there are no bomb craters in the area adjacent to the school . . . All this means that the UNICEF leadership fell a victim to a new deception of swindlers in White Helmets. That is why, before making loud statements, UNICEF officials should check sources of their information in order not to undermine reputation of a respected organization.” Of course, this latest false flag isn’t the first time Russia’s been falsely blamed for attacks in Syria. Through CIA and military intelligence, the West has an elaborate network of anti-Russian and anti-Assad provocateurs waging staged events to implicate and vilify Putin and Assad as the enemy. General Konashenkov mentioned the White Helmets as part of the organized setup of US false flag operations in Syria. A former UK military intelligence officer owns the private security company responsible for training and handling the so-called White Helmets, discredited Syrian provocateurs pretending to be Syria’s Civil Defense corps regularly staging fake photo-ops after US backed terrorist groups kill innocent civilians making it appear that Assad and Putin are willfully and inhumanely murdering them. This latest school tragedy appears no different as incident after incident has been exposed in recent months. Like last month’s attack on that UN humanitarian aid convoy north of Aleppo, engineered by Western intelligence working with the terrorists to accuse Russia of yet another airstrike that didn’t happen, covering up the a rocket attack perpetrated by the US backed al Nusra Front (forget their recent name change designed to distance themselves from being US proxy war terrorists no different from al Qaeda or ISIS/Daesh/Islamic State). Bottom line, Terrorists-R-US, Inc . In this latest propaganda ploy, on-the-ground eyewitness reports vis-à-vis White helmets state that 10 airstrikes around midday on Wednesday were responsible for striking the residential compound containing two schools in session at the time resulting in the bloodbath. Of course the go-to propagandist organization out of London that the Western media never fails to quote, the already outed fraudulent Syrian Observatory of Human Rights consisting of one anti-Assad expatriated Syrian, began immediately pointing the finger at Russia, like Clinton, Obama and all the Western axis-of-evil liars determined to demonize Putin and Russia as false justification for starting their next world war . In response to the tragedy, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Thursday called for an urgent international investigation without delay. She had this reaction to the Western pressitutes blaming her nation: “This is not surprising, but at the same time it deserves the strongest criticism. Al-Jazeera, The Independent, and other mass media sharing the same attitude to the journalistic profession at once blamed the tragedy on Russia, on the Russian aerospace group and on the Syrian armed forces. They claimed outright that it was a bombardment carried out by Russia and Syria. This is a lie. Russia has nothing to with that terrible tragedy, with that attack.” Zakharova also mentioned concern that the UN humanitarian relief in Syria has not nearly been enough to evacuate the wounded and sick from East Aleppo after Russia and Syria agreed to a humanitarian pause there several days ago. However, US backed rebels and snipers fired on civilians attempting to leave the city. Moreover, the US took full advantage of the lull in the Russian-Syrian fighting by opportunistically resupplying their terrorists on the ground with 50 ton airdrops of fresh ammo and weapons. Again, clearly it’s the US that’s the war crime culprit, needlessly causing only more war and more deaths in the war ravaged nation reeling from nearly a half million lives lost. Another reality check for the Washington neocon war maniacs determined to blame Russia for all the ills of the world (including the corrupt US political system responsible for the rigged election ) as their deceptive sleight of hand brainwash to feebly cover up their own slaughterhouse carnage raping our planet, just one day prior to the Idlib school violence, the Beirut branch of Amnesty International (AI) chastised the US led coalition pretending to fight the terrorists for its wanton killing of civilians in Syria as “collateral war damage.” The inhumanities that Empire commits is never admitted or acknowledged but instead constant lies claiming that Russian and Syrian forces are cold-bloodedly mowing down innocents continue nonstop. The hubris and hypocrisy stemming from Washington’s rotten core is American exceptionalism at its diabolical worse. Deputy Director for research at the Beirut Amnesty International office Lynn Maalouf , stated, “It’s high time the US authorities came clean about the full extent of the civilian damage caused by coalition attacks in Syria. We fear the US-led coalition is significantly underestimating the harm caused to civilians in its operations in Syria.” AI estimates that in 11 US coalition airstrikes since September 2014 killed more than 300 civilians in Syria. Maalouf maintains that in each case, “the coalition forces failed to take adequate precautions to minimize harm to civilians and damage to civilian objects.” So who’s really the inhumane kid-killing bad guy in Syria? Definitely not Russia nor the Syrian government but once again the enemy of the world, the US Empire. Ultimately to silence this never-ending US blame game against Moscow, the Russian ambassador to the UN on Thursday began circulating the original September 9 US-Russian peace treaty to the UN Security Council as well as to the UN Geneva branch. This document clearly shows that Russia has exhausted every sincere effort to bring an end to the war in Syria and stop global terrorism but the United States and its Western lackeys have willfully and deceitfully sabotaged that process at every turn in order to save their precious terrorists and endless war on terror. The evildoers behind the lifted curtain are exposed and guilty as charged. Or how can we forget that Obama staged false flag attack in August 2013 when the liar-in-chief falsely blamed Assad for sarin gassing his own Syrian children in the nearby Damascus suburb of Ghouta . Despite the real child murderers being Obama and his backed rebels, he and Hillary created soon to be named ISIS, the Manchurian president given the mission to destroy America and his then recently resigned secretary of state designated to be his successor to finish the job were trying to launch airstrikes on Syria to start World War III over three years ago. Putin outsmarted the US traitors in charge by brokering the last minute deal for Assad to turn in his chemical weapons arsenal. But with White House approval, US backed terrorists guilty of the Ghouta massacre are still using their Saudi and Turkish supplied chemical weapons to kill Syrian civilians even to this very day. Where are the humanitarian cries about those war crime atrocities? Or what about all the civilians dying in Syria from mortar shelling of residential neighborhoods in West Aleppo? A mere one day after the Idlib school bombing, the US backed al Nusra fired rockets in two locations in West Aleppo, one a school killing six children under the age of 16 and injuring more than a dozen others. In response to the Thursday school bombing in West Aleppo by US backed terrorists, the Aleppo police chief Zuher Said Aldin commented, “There are no military units there, only schools. Nevertheless, militants carried out a strike on this area, moreover, when classes were underway. Innocent children were killed, they just wanted to study.” But where are all the humanitarian cries against US financed and supported terrorists constantly murdering innocents throughout the Middle East and North Africa? Conveniently absent, because the US plotters of wars around the world couldn’t care less about any dead children anywhere on this planet. Or the 10,000 civilians in Yemen slaughtered by the US backed Saudi coalition consisting of US Special Force boots on the ground and more al Qaeda and ISIS terrorists, deployed there as well, in addition to Israeli and Gulf State airstrikes and now US destroyers pounding the Yemen coast killing more civilians with cruise missiles after yet more US false flag claims that the Houthis fired missiles at the US Navy without any evidence to prove it. Where are the sanctimonious humanitarian cries over dead Yemeni children? This historic, incessant use of false flags designed to bri Joachim Hagopian is a West Point graduate and former US Army officer. He has written a manuscript based on his unique military experience entitled “Don’t Let The Bastards Getcha Down.” It examines and focuses on US international relations, leadership and national security issues. After the military, Joachim earned a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and worked as a licensed therapist in the mental health field with abused youth and adolescents for more than a quarter century. In recent years he has focused on his writing, becoming an alternative media journalist. His blog site is at empireexposed.blogspot.co.id/ This entry was posted in Commentary . Bookmark the permalink	0
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TEL AVIV — The New York Times in recent days has run numerous articles and opinion pieces advocating against designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization amid reports the Trump administration is debating doing just that. [The Muslim Brotherhood openly seeks to establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate based on Sharia law. While many Brotherhood wings reject the use of violence as a strategic tactic, preferring instead a sophisticated gradualist strategy to achieve their aims, the Brotherhood has spawned terrorist organizations — most notably Hamas — that adhere to its philosophy of a world order based on Islam. The Brotherhood was also a central player in the Arab Spring, revolutions punctuated by violence across the Arab world. Designating the Brotherhood a terrorist organization would add the U. S. to the growing list of nations to do so, including Muslim countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The Times’ propagation of the Brotherhood culminated in an editorial board piece published Thursday titled, “All of Islam Isn’t the Enemy. ” In the editorial, the newspaper warned designating the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization “would be seen by many Muslims as another attempt to vilify adherents of Islam. ” The paper claimed that the possible designation “appears to be part of a mission by the president and his closest advisers to heighten fears by promoting a dangerously exaggerated vision of an America under siege by what they call radical Islam. ” The Times’ advocacy for the Brotherhood is particularly noteworthy since it separately posted a full Arabic document from 1991 in which an Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood member set forth a strategy for “eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within,” with emphasis on operations inside the U. S. In Thursday’s editorial, the newspaper laid out its case for the Brotherhood: There are good reasons that the Brotherhood, with millions of members, doesn’t merit the terrorist designation. Rather than a single organization, it is a collection of groups and movements that can vary widely from country to country. While the Brotherhood calls for a society governed by Islamic law, it renounced violence decades ago, has supported elections and has become a political and social organization. Its branches often have tenuous connections to the original movement founded in Egypt in 1928. Addressing the Brotherhood’s support for the electoral process and purportedly becoming a political organization, an extensive report on the Brotherhood by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel’s Center for Special Studies explained the group’s use of some tools of democracy to advance the aim of achieving a world ruled by Sharia law, which is by definition . Drawing from founding Brotherhood documents and original literature by Brotherhood leaders, the Center explained: Unlike the militant factions of other Islamist movements, which completely rule out democracy on the basis of it being a Western, pagan, and ignorant idea, the Muslim Brotherhood does use the term “democracy. ” In its view, however, it has two main connotations: a tactical, instrumental means of taking over countries through the use of the democratic process, and an “Islamic democracy” based on Sharia law (i. e. Islamic religious law) and a model of internal consultation within the leadership, [Brotherhood Founder Sheikh Hassan] listed seven stages to achieve these objectives, each to be carried out in a gradual fashion. The stages are divided into social and political: the first three are based on educating the individual, the family, and the entire society of the Muslim world to implement Sharia laws in every aspect of daily life. The next four stages are political in nature, and include assuming power through elections, shaping a Sharia state, liberating Islamic countries from the burden of (physical and ideological) foreign occupation, uniting them into one Islamic entity (“new caliphate”) and spreading Islamic values throughout the world. Sharia law is explicitly . For example, under Sharia, cannot rule over Muslims a Caliph can come to rule through force and seizure of power a woman inherits half that of a man and cannot inherit from Muslims. In the Times editorial, meanwhile, the newspaper claimed that those “advising Mr. Trump seem unwilling to draw distinctions” between the Brotherhood and its violent adherents. The paper continued: Stephen Bannon, the chief White House strategist, once called the Brotherhood “the foundation of modern terrorism. ” And Frank Gaffney Jr. an analyst who heads a small think tank, recently told the Times that the Brotherhood’s goals are “exactly the same” as those of the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. Both of these statements are true. The Brotherhood’s historic ideological principles of establishing a worldwide Caliphate are indeed shared by the Islamic State and although their tactics greatly differ. And Brotherhood ideology has served as the foundation for groups like . The defining works of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader, ideologue and theorist Sayyid Qutb, considered the Brotherhood’s intellectual godfather, greatly influenced Osama bin Laden and doctrine. An extensive March 23, 2003, article in the New York Times magazine by Paul Berman dissected Qutb’s writings as they relate to terrorist ideology. In the article titled “The Philosopher of Islamic Terror,” Berman documented the centrality of Qutb’s influence on : The organization ( ) was created in the late 1980’s by an affiliation of three armed factions — bin Laden’s circle of ”Afghan” Arabs, together with two factions from Egypt, the Islamic Group and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the latter led by Dr. Ayman Al Qaeda’s top theoretician. The Egyptian factions emerged from an older current, a school of thought from within Egypt’s fundamentalist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, in the 1950’s and 60’s. And at the heart of that single school of thought stood, until his execution in 1966, a philosopher named Sayyid Qutb — the intellectual hero of every one of the groups that eventually went into Al Qaeda, their Karl Marx (to put it that way) their guide. In recent days, the Times has featured numerous other articles arguing against branding the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. An article on Tuesday warned, “Officially designating the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization would roil American relations in the Middle East. The leaders of some American allies — like Egypt, where the military forced the Brotherhood from power in 2013, and the United Arab Emirates — have pressed Mr. Trump to do so to quash internal enemies, but the group remains a pillar of society in parts of the region. ” “Critics said they feared that Mr. Trump’s team wanted to create a legal justification to crack down on Muslim charities, mosques and other groups in the United States,” added the Times. “A terrorist designation would freeze assets, block visas and ban financial interactions. ” A Times article on February 1 was titled, “Trump Pushes Dark View of Islam to Center of U. S. . ” The article lamented a worldview that “conflates terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State with largely nonviolent groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots and, at times, with the 1. 7 billion Muslims around the world. ” A January 26 editorial titled “‘I Think Islam Hates Us’” informed readers the Trump administration “reportedly is considering designating the Muslim Brotherhood, which is involved in Muslim politics in a number of countries, as a terrorist organization. Some experts see the move as a chance for the Trump administration to limit Muslim political activity in the United States. ” Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. ” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook. With research by Joshua Klein.	1
Obama and Putin are playing on the same team. They have a mutual goal. A close examination of the facts reveal that Obama is in bed with the Communists and is intent on the destruction of America. Hillary Clinton is part of the same cabal. If you don’t think so, ask yourself how she was able to sell 20% of America’s uranium to the Russians? This article will demonstrate that B. Obama (Soetoro) is the manifestation of a decades-old plot designed to subvert the leadership of the United States, thus making America vulnerable to being conquered. Is America Worth Dying For? I loathe the government that we are forced to endure every day, donâ€™t you, with every communication you engage in being monitored by a bunch of government voyeurs? However, I do love my country, the American people and the ideals for which we stand (e.g. one nation under God). Americaâ€™s present government is not worthy of one ounce of respect. However, the American Constitution and our traditions are indeed worth fighting for, but not with Obama at the helm. I have often wondered if I had been a soldier in the Texan Army, would I have stayed, fought and died at the hands of Santa Annaâ€™s forces at the Alamo? If I had been a defender at Bataan, Wake Island, or Guam, in the early days of World War II and I knew death was certain, would I stand my post to the last minute? I would, if I knew my sacrifice was honorable and my leadership was patriotic and willing to make the same sacrifice. America Will Soon Stand Alone As I have documented over the past several weeks, America will soon stand alone , with perhaps, only England as our last ally. Europe will soon be under the Russian sphere of control because of energy dependence on Russia. As a result, NATO will disintegrate. China has married their economy to the Russians based upon gas and oil and we will someday soon face their soldiers on the battlefield which will take place in our neighborhoods. Seemingly all of Latin America has turned their backs on the US and is allowing for Russian military bases and accepting Russian military equipment, thus, making a Red Dawn scenario a near certainty. America stands on the edge of virtual extinction. The only question is whether Putin, after totally destroying the Petrodollar, will allow America to slowly crumble, or use the combined forces of the United Nations (e.g. North Korea, China, Latin America and Russia to invade). Either way, people like ex-CIA agent, Dr. Jim Garrow boldly proclaim that eventually 90% of all Americans will be left dead. And isnâ€™t that figure consistent with the globalist expressed desire to reduce the North American population by 90%? And how does Obama respond to these threats? He has announced that he is reducing the American military to pre-World War II levels in yet another act of treason against the American people. Back to the fundamental question, should we stand our ground and fight to the death? The answer is yes. However, I will not follow the psychopathic criminal that is in the White House. If America is to fall, and most of us will perish, we should not fall with a traitor at the helm. Though the heavens may fall, treason must not be allowed to prosper. The man with 11 social security numbers, several names (e.g. Barry Soetero) must not be allowed to remain in power. If I am to fall in defense of my country, I will do so with fellow Americans, not by following some mongrel masquerading as an American. Obama Is the Soviet Fulfillment of Generations of Planning After Viktor Suvorov, a former Russian intelligence analyst, defected to England, he revealed Russiaâ€™s top-secret plans to attack the United States at some future date after undermining the United States from within through the subversion of their political leadership. Suvorov had worked as a Russian intelligence analyst as well as having worked for the GRU and with elite Russian special forces, Suvorov, warned the Americans ofÂ Russiaâ€™s true intentions Â after the Russian high command had succeeded in getting Pentagon officials to let down their guard and engage in a high level, but mostly one-sided,Â technology transfer . And under the wrong President (i.e. Obama), America would be weakened to the point to where it could not adequately defend herself. Anatoliy Golitsyn, a high-ranking KGB defector fled to the United States in order to warn Americans about the secret Russian plan to attack the United States. Golitsyn is generally considered to be among the first and most revealing on the subject of the secret Russian plans to attack America after faking the demise of the old Soviet Union. He authored theÂ The Perestroika Deception Â in which Golitsyn wrote about the deceitful intent behind the Leninist strategy which the present-day Communists are actively pursuing as they fake American style democratization efforts in Russia. From within, American leadership would be compromised in key positions, and the fall of America would be orchestrated from within and under the leadership of an Obama type of President. Golitsyn and Suvorov were only two of dozens of Soviet defectors who told exactly the same story dating back to the 1960â€™s. Obama Is the Pawn of the Russians to Conquer America From the official files of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, we find Allen Hulton , a 39 year veteran of the postal service, who provided a sworn affidavit to Maricopa County, AZ. Sheriff investigators. Arpaio was leading an investigation to determine whether or notÂ former foreignÂ college student , Barack Obama, was eligible to be placed on Arizonaâ€™s 2012 election ballot. After reviewing Hultonâ€™s affidavit, it is apparent that 1960â€™s communist agitators and revolutionaries from the communist-inspired Weathermen Underground, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn were in fact the de facto adoptive parents to this foreign student destined to become the first illegitimate President of the United States. As a result, Obama was treated to the finest Ivy League education that communist backed money could buy as Hulton maintains that the Ayers told him that he was financing the education of a promising foreign student at Harvard. Hulton also testified that he met Obama while at the Ayerâ€™s home and he asked Obama what he going to do with all his education, to which Obama politely answered, â€œI am going to become the Presidentâ€. Readers should take note that this is an affidavit, and as such, is formally considered to be evidence, not conjecture or hearsay. There can be no other conclusion that the criminally convicted communist terrorist, Bill Ayers, began grooming Obama to become Americaâ€™s first communist President during Obamaâ€™s college years. Their relationship continues into the present time as it is on record thatÂ Ayers visited the White House Â in August of 2009. Please note the words â€œforeign studentâ€, which makes Obama ineligible to be in the White House. Obamaâ€™s communist affiliations continued well into his adulthood and because of the good work of Joel Gilbert Â who discovered that Obama was active with a Weathermen Underground Â support group known asÂ The May 19th Communist Organization, in New York. Â Perhaps, this is why Ayers was visiting the White House. And speaking of Ayers and Dorne, adding more fuel to this communist fire, it is interesting to note that both Senior White House Advisors, David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett were both Weatherman Underground â€œ Red Diaper Babies , in which they were the sonsÂ and daughters of well-to-do parents who desired communism and livedÂ out their dreams through their childrenâ€™s revolutionary activities. Other notable red-diaper babies also include such notables asÂ Rahm Emanuel Â andÂ Eric Holder . Jarrettâ€™s situation is particularly interesting in that her family and the Ayers family have been multi-generational friends which also included a marriage between the two families. Much of the Obama administration is a nest of communists and this should serve to gravely concern every American citizen. It was Ayers and Dorne who launched State Senatorial candidate Obamaâ€™s political career from their Hyde Park, IL. living room according to the late Larry Grathwohl a former FBI undercover operative who penetrated the Weathermen Underground. Hollywood could not write a movie this good, with this much intrigue. Frank Chapman , a communist activist and a member of the communist front group known as the World Peace Council. ChapmanÂ clearly used the term â€œmoleâ€ to describe Obama. He said Obamaâ€™s political climb and subsequentÂ success in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries was â€œa dialectical leap ushering in a qualitatively new era of struggle.â€ Chapman further stated that, â€œMarx once compared revolutionary struggle with the work of the mole, who sometimes burrows so far beneath the ground that he leaves no trace of his movement on the surface. This is the old revolutionary â€˜mole,â€™ not only showing his traces on the surface but also breaking through. â€œ The Communist Party USA backs Obama to the hilt. â€ It is clear that Obama is their man! Obama is Putin 2.0. The Middle East is turning away from the Petrodollar. Europe will soon abandon the dollar to buy Russian gas. The Petrodollar is the only thing of value backing the dollar. When the fall of the Petrodollar is complete, it will not take 30 days to witness the complete and utter destruction of this economy. Dr. Garrow believes when the economic collapse arrives, it will be masked with an EMP attack designed to accelerate the process of decline. In this scenario. the Naval War College predicts 90% of us will be dead within two years under these circumstances! And what is Obama doing about all of this? He is doing nothing! To those who think this is far-fetched, read on and see what the defectors tell us is coming and it will be hard to deny Obamaâ€™s complicity. Golitsynâ€™s Blueprint for Obama According to Golitsyn, the short-term strategic objective of the Russians is to achieve a technological convergence with the West solely on Russian terms and mostly through a series of one-sided disarmament agreements. He also stated that the Russians and the Americans would engage in joint military exercises just prior to Americaâ€™s fall and this is exactly what we find when we look at the historical record under Obama. â€œIn 2010, American soldiers participated in theÂ 2010 Moscow Victory Day Parade Â alongside its European allies and members of theÂ CIS , marking the first time American soldiers have ever participated in the annual event on May 9. In 2010, American and Russian special forces conduct their first joint operation in Afghanistan and destroy four drug-producing labs that make heroin on October 31.Â Â (S. Shuster (Oct.2010).Â Russia returns to Afghanistan for drug raid . TIME Â World. Retrieved 6 February, 2010). In 2012, the United States, Russia and NATO hold missile defense exercises in Ottobrunn, Germany from March 26 to March 30. In 2012, Russian troops are allowed into the United States for the first time to participate in a joint U.S.-Russia military drill in Colorado on April 25. In 2012, American and Russian navies participate in theÂ RIMPAC 2012 Â naval exercises from June 29 to August 3 and this process is ongoing. In 2012, The United States and Russia hold joint naval exercises in the Norwegian Sea on August 22. In 2012, Russia sends aid to the United States in the aftermath ofÂ Hurricane Sandy Â on November 11. In 2013, American, Russian and NATO military forces perform a counter piracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden on February 26. In 2014, The United States, Russia and NATO announce plans to conduct a joint naval operation in the Mediterranean to protect a U.S. ship that will destroy Syriaâ€™s chemical weapons on February 14.â€ There are literally dozens more of these bilateral cooperative efforts involving the military forces of Russia and the United States. This is following a time when leaders like George Bush placed a missile shield in Poland and beefed up our support of NATO. It is clear that Obama is in bed with the Russians. AND PUTIN, OBAMA AND CLINTON ARE IN BED WITH THE GLOBALISTS WHO WANT WORLD WAR III.Â Golitsyn and the Scissors Plan Golitsyn Â stated that Russia, after lulling America to sleep, will join with China in order to attack the United States from both the outside and inside as he detailed thatÂ â€œ In each of these the scissors strategy will play its part; probably, as the final stroke, the scissors blades will close. The element of apparent duality in Soviet and Chinese policies will disappear. The hitherto concealed coordination between them will become visible and predominant. The Soviets and the Chinese will be officially reconciled. Thus the scissors strategy will develop logically into the â€˜strategy of one clenched fistâ€™ to provide the foundation and driving force of a world communist federationâ€Śbefore long, the communist strategists might be persuaded that the balance had swung irreversibly in their favor. In that event they might well decide on a Sino-Soviet â€˜reconciliation.â€™ The scissors strategy would give way to the strategy of â€œone clenched fist.â€Â The enemies now are gathered from within . At that point the shift in the political and military balance will be plain for all to see. The inking of the recent energy deal which married the economies of the Russians and the Chinese is the manifestation of Golitsynâ€™s revelations. As I stated earlier, the death of the Petrodollar means that you will not a have job to go to tomorrow. Because of Obama, the Chinese own our money. Which means they own your mortgage, retirement and savings accounts. Everything you own, is controlled by the Chinese. Soon, they will be coming to collect. My insider military sources, as well as Dr. Garrow, tell me that plans for an American guerrilla warfare resistance are being put into play as we speak. This means that millions of us are going to die at the hands of foreign invaders and from being caught in the crossfire. Conclusion I no longer believe in the America political process and for good reason (e.g. electronic voting machines). George Soros has proven what a rigged system we live under. Remember, Traitor-In-Chief #1 is Obama. Traitor-In-Chief #2 is Clinton and Hillary is the closer. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SOLD OUT FROM EVERY POSSIBLE ANGLE. P lease Donate to The Common Sense Show PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND DONâ€™T FORGET TO â€œLIKEâ€ US This is the absolute best in food storage. Dave Hodges is a satisfied customer. Â Â Donâ€™t wait until it is too late.Â Click Here Â Â for more information.	0
6 ‘miracle’ drugs Big Pharma now regrets With Big Pharma, first they promote it, then they discover the risks. By Martha Rosenberg Posted on November 1, 2016 by Martha Rosenberg Are you depressed? It may have less to do with your mood than your birth control pills, high blood pressure pills, antibiotics or even anti-hair-loss drug, according to new research. New risks have also emerged with popular gastroesophageal reflux disease medicines and even the top-selling painkiller, Tylenol. There are two reasons the risks associated with popular drugs seem to trail their aggressive promotion. Certainly, as millions use brand name drugs, dangerous side effects and adverse events are seen that did not emerge in much smaller clinical trials. Who knew? But also, as Intrepid Report has noted before, dangerous side effects that might be considered major drawbacks to prescribing the drugs often emerge only when drugs have gone “off patent” and all their profit potential is realized. For both reasons, drug safety activists recommend waiting five years before taking a “new” drug—until it is not “new” anymore. Here are drugs and drug classes that have raised new concerns. 1. Proton Pump Inhibitors One of Pharma’s most successful gambits has been its proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) like Nexium (the “Purple Pill”) and Prilosec that reduce stomach acid. To sell the drugs, Pharma aggressively raised “awareness” of gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD a rare condition which, over time, can change the lining of the esophagus and lead to cancer. Actually, most PPI users have simple heartburn. Even babies are now given PPIs for “baby reflux” because they spit up 71 times a day—a normal occurrence that has been pathologized. are addictive. “Once a patient has taken a PPI for longer than a few weeks, acid hypersecretion can occur on discontinuation,” says a recent article in Pharmaceutical Journal. “This causes rebound symptoms, and frequently establishes a vicious cycle of drug reinitiation and long-term continuation.” Clostridium difficile (“C Diff”), bone thinning and fractures and vitamin and mineral deficiencies to chronic kidney disease and heart attacks. Now there is a new reported risk: dementia. JAMA Neurology of 73, 679 people 75 or older with no dementia and taking PPIs found the patients “had a significantly increased risk of incident dementia compared with the patients not receiving PPI.” Other studies have also found a link. fluoroquinolone class which includes Cipro and Levaquin. Even as the FDA tries to curtail use of antibiotics on the nation’s farms to make animals grow faster (a use which accounts for most U.S. antibiotic sales) drug use on the farm is actually increasing. The FDA’s 2014 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food Producing Animals reveals that cephalosporin sales increased by 57 percent between 2009 through 2014, sales of antibiotics like clindamycin increased by 150 percent and sales of antibiotics like gentamicin, a dangerous drug class, increased by 36 percent. 1974, Navy recruits were given antibiotics to see if they would gain weight, and after only seven weeks, they did. Similar results were seen in children in Guatemala and in babies . But making people fat or encouraging antibiotic resistant microbes like MRSA are the least of the risks, it turns out. the bacteria in our gut, the microbiome, which antibiotics compromise as they kill the “bad” bacteria, are responsible for much more than good digestion. Antibiotics also affect the brain and “influence our mood and temperament,” says food expert Michael Pollan. “If you transplant the gut microbiota of relaxed and adventurous mice into the guts of timid and anxious mice they become less stressed and more adventurous.” Antibiotic-affected microbiomes may also be behind asthma and autoimmune diseases, acn published reports. The Doctors’ Case Against the Pill by Barbara Seaman was published, Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson held hearings about clear links between the Pill and depression, blood clots and decrease in libido cited nowhere on the label. No women were asked to speak at the hearings, moving Alice Wolfson, a co-founder of the National Women’s Health Network, to say, “It must be admitted that women make superb guinea pigs. They don’t cost anything, they feed themselves, they clean their own cages, pay for their own pills, and remunerate the clinical observer. We will no longer tolerate intimidation by white-coated gods antiseptically directing our lives.” Fast-forward to this year, when medical studies again c links between birth control pills and depression, especially in young women, and corresponding higher use of antidepressant drugs. “The risk of depression has been recognized since women were able to get their hands on oral contraceptives,” says Cindy Pearson of the National Women’s Health Network. “It’s been reported by women for 50 years.” Sweetening the Pill: or How We Got Hooked on Hormonal Birth Control might also be vindicated, writes Lara Prendergast. The book was called “a dishonest anti-Pill treatise” because the author “dared to point out that hormonal contraceptives are ranked by the World Health Organization as a class-one carcinogen alongside tobacco and asbestos,” she writes. about Propecia, a popular treatment for male pattern baldness linked to disturbing side effects in men including sexual dysfunction and actual reduction in penis size. At the time, Propecia’s label assured users that sexual side effects “went away in men who stopped taking Propecia”; however, the current label warns about sexual dysfunction like “erectile dysfunction, libido disorders, ejaculation disorders, and orgasm disorders; male infertility and/or poor seminal quality” that continues after discontinuation of treatment. BMJ found “the risk of erectile dysfunction was not increased for users of finasteride 1mg compared with unexposed men with alopecia [hair loss],” but reports of the disturbing side effects abound in medical j ournals and popular magazines. Men’s Journal last year. Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation . & Johnson to increase warnings in 2014. Unintentional acetaminophen overdoses cause as many as 26,000 hospitalizations and 458 deaths per year reported the FDA. Soon after the increased warnings, medical journals linked acetaminophen to birth defects in the children of women the drug such as poor motor development, behavior problems and language delays. A study in JAMA Pediatrics identified an increased occurrence of ADHD by the age of seven in children whose mothers took acetaminophen. A study in the International Journal of Epidemiology found children more likely to have behavior problems and slow motor development by the age of three if their mothers had taken acetaminophen. Not all medical voices concur. Some said the studies were poorly designed or that fevers , for which the mother presumably took acetaminophen, are responsible for the birth defects. In recent years, acetaminophen has been found to have psychological and mental effects not before described. The pain reliever may “blunt individuals’ reactivity to a range of negative stimuli in addition to physical pain,” says study. Another study found acetaminophen reduced the psychological pain caused by social rejection. 6. Beta Blockers One out of Americans has high blood pressure and beta-blockers like atenolol (Tenormin), carvedilol (Coreg), metoprolol, propranolol (Inderal), sotalol (Betapace) and timolol (Timoptic) which treat the condition have been linked to depression for many years. early as 1967, the British Medical Journal reported that hypertensive patients treated with propranolol for cardiac arrhythmias experienced a rise in the incidence of depression. Still, it has not been known if patients’ depressions were caused by the actual actions of beta blockers (like blocking the effects of epinephrine/adrenaline and slowing heart rate) or mood conditions associated with the diseases for which beta blockers are prescribed such as hypertension and congestive heart failure. Hypertension found that beta blockers “may have a role in the pathogenesis or course of mood disorders” and increased hospital admissions for mood disorders. A “bidirectional relationship between depression and cardiovascular disease” exists, says the study , “because of the overlapping pathophysiological processes that underlie both conditions.” There is a lot of data that depression and cardiovascular disease are related . . . but current hypertensive practices do not consider depression,” said the study’s lead author Sandosh Padmanabhan. “There could be some people who are predisposed to depression who we should not be giving these drugs.” Martha Rosenberg is a freelance journalist and the author of the highly acclaim Facebook page.	0
Can normal transistors act like a qubit? page: 1 link Hi. I guess I have a question relating to quantum computing. Since qubits are what makes up quantum computers... That being a qubits can act like a transistor that can be either on, off, or both on and off at the same time. In usual computing... Transistors are either on or off. In quantum they can be both on and off at the same time... The question I have is simply this. Is it possible to make a transistor that can act as on, off, and on and off at the same time... Even if you had to add an extra layer of circuitry to get that same reading from that single transistor? I mean. A normal transistor operate that if it gets no voltage or low voltage then the transistor is in an off state. If it gets a certain voltage it is in an on state. Couldn't you make the voltage extra high to get a both on/off at the same time state? Or half voltage to get the same on/off state at the same time to essentially create a fake qubit scenario? There might have to be additional transistors to help make sure of that determination of a transistor appearing in an on/off state but couldn't it be possible? Perhaps a circuit of transistors could determine whether the proceeding transistor should act as both on/off by checking the voltage some how? Idk... Please answer me like I'm a drunk stupid idiot. Perhaps laymen terms? I can be quite the idiot sometimes. Thanks for hearing me out. I'm currently drunk and just pondering things link a reply to: DaRAGE I'm sure we could do weird stuff with circuitry to store more than one bit of data in the circuit, but that doesn't really give an advantage over just storing more bits with our conventional technology (which has been highly refined). The advantage of the qbit isn't really that it stores more information, it's that it can be used to process more information at the same time. Quantum + computing = quantum computing The key features of an ordinary computer—bits, registers, logic gates, algorithms, and so on—have analogous features in a quantum computer. Instead of bits, a quantum computer has quantum bits or qubits, which work in a particularly intriguing way. Where a bit can store either a zero or a 1, a qubit can store a zero, a one, both zero and one, or an infinite number of values in between—and be in multiple states (store multiple values) at the same time! If that sounds confusing, think back to light being a particle and a wave at the same time, Schrödinger's cat being alive and dead, or a car being a bicycle and a bus. A gentler way to think of the numbers qubits store is through the physics concept of superposition (where two waves add to make a third one that contains both of the originals). If you blow on something like a flute, the pipe fills up with a standing wave: a wave made up of a fundamental frequency (the basic note you're playing) and lots of overtones or harmonics (higher-frequency multiples of the fundamental). The wave inside the pipe contains all these waves simultaneously: they're added together to make a combined wave that includes them all. Qubits use superposition to represent multiple states (multiple numeric values) simultaneously in a similar way. Just as a quantum computer can store multiple numbers at once, so it can process them simultaneously. Instead of working in serial (doing a series of things one at a time in a sequence), it can work in parallel (doing multiple things at the same time). Only when you try to find out what state it's actually in at any given moment (by measuring it, in other words) does it "collapse" into one of its possible states—and that gives you the answer to your problem. Estimates suggest a quantum computer's ability to work in parallel would make it millions of times faster than any conventional computer... if only we could build it! So how would we do that? explainthatstuff.com If I understand correctly, a quantum computer will just be a smaller, more energy efficient version of a massive parallel computer.	0
by Alliance for Natural Health – USA Another in a long list of reasons to avoid this drug. A recent study found that boys exposed to acetaminophen (Tylenol) before birth were more likely to have symptoms of autism during childhood. This isn’t the first time that scientists have reported a connection between using this drug during pregnancy and brain and behavior abnormalities in children. Other studies show that exposure to acetaminophen raised the risk of developing ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) by 40%. Another study found that women taking it increased the risk of their child having behavioral problems by 70%. Pregnant mothers aren’t the only ones who should avoid acetaminophen and other common painkillers like NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)—a class that includes drugs like Advil, Celebrex, and Aleve. Consider the following: By the FDA’s own calculation , acetaminophen was the leading cause of liver failure in Americans between 1998 and 2003, and there’s no reason to think that this has changed in the years since. Every year, 78,000 people go to the emergency room from acetaminophen overdose , whether accidental or intentional. The problem is so bad that the FDA asked doctors to stop prescribing any medication that has more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per dose. Of course, this ignores the fact that if people feel the prescribed dose isn’t cutting the pain, many think nothing of taking an extra tablet or two. NSAID pain relievers like aspirin or ibuprofen are similarly problematic: One study conservatively estimated that 107,000 people are hospitalized each year for NSAID-related gastrointestinal complications and “at least 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur each year among arthritis patients alone.” Another study showed that patients who take NSAIDs have a 90% greater likelihood of dying from all causes. Daily or long-term use of aspirin doubles the risk of internal bleeding and does not reduce heart attack risk for people with no history of heart problems. Getting back to acetaminophen in particular—given all of its terrible side effects, why does the FDA remain silent? The most likely answer is simply that it is a very profitable drug to sell. Read the full article at ANH-USA.org. Published on November 1, 2016	0
A Capitol Hill source familiar with the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Rep. Devin Nunes ( ) told Breitbart News that Nunes stepped away from the committee’s investigation into Russia’s participation in the 2016 election cycle as a result of a coordinated political attack by the Left. [Nunes’ announcement came as the House Ethics Committee released a statement disclosing that the committee was investigating public allegations that Nunes made unauthorized disclosure of classified documents. “This was a coordinated attack by groups against Nunes,” the source said. “As the Ethics Committee does its inquiry, he could not have other Republican committee members constantly having to defend him instead of focusing on the Russia investigation and particularly the abuse of intelligence through the improper unmasking of Americans’ names for political purposes. ” Nunes was not pushed by House Republican leadership to recuse himself, but it was not helpful to have other Republicans, notably Sen. John McCain ( ) and Sen. Lindsey Graham ( ) join Democrats in questioning his motives and competence. Sunday, McCain told Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” Nunes was hindering congressional efforts to determine how the Russians interfered in the 2016 election cycle, when he communicated with the White House about information he gathered from a whistle blower with informing Democrats on his committee. “If we’re really going to get to the bottom of these things, it’s got to be done in a bipartisan fashion. And as far as I could tell, Congressman Nunes killed that. ” The Los Angeles Times reported March 22 that Rep. Adam Schiff ( ) top Democrat on the the Intel Committee told the paper: Schiff said he raised his concerns directly with Nunes after the Republican disclosed new information publicly and then to the White House. He stopped short of saying whether Nunes was improperly making classified information public, saying instead that his actions were “beyond irregular. ” Nunes’ actions further demonstrated the need for an independent inquiry into Russia’s actions during the campaign, Schiff said. “We’re the only investigation there is. If we don’t do it, no one is going to do it,” Schiff said. “Now, perhaps the White House would like it that way. But the American people, I think, want there to be a credible investigation. And if we’re not going to conduct it, then we need to have an independent commission do it. ” The recusal is temporary and as soon as possible, the chairman intends to resume full control of the committee as soon as the House Ethics Committee resolves the charges made by groups, the source said. The source said Nunes hopes the Ethics Committee will work on his case during the Easter recess so the investigation can be wrapped up as soon as possible. Capitol Hill conservatives are now watching to see if Nunes will also recuse himself from the probe into former national security adviser Susan Rice.	1
By Jonas E. Alexis on November 3, 2016 Putin: “Is this the result of erosion of the traditional national values? I don’t even know how to explain it. Maybe they have a guilty conscience because of the refugee crises. " “Why can’t those people get a simple concept through their heads?” …by Jonas E. Alexis No, the Khazarian Mafia and their lackeys will never report that Vladimir Putin, the man who has been called all sorts of disgusting names, is actually fighting in order to save the moral fabric of Europe. In 2014, he argued that “ a faith in God and a belief in Satan ” are incompatible. Putin moved on to argue that any policy that puts “multi-child family and a same-sex partnership” on the same level is on “the path to degradation.” More recently, there have been numerous rape allegations in Europe. In fact, many so-called refugees have been literally caught with their pants down. The British newspaper the Independent has recently reported: “ A man who raped a 10-year-old boy at a swimming pool in Austria has had his conviction overturned after judges found he may have believed the child consented. “Police said the 20-year-old Iraqi refugee, who has not been named, assaulted his victim in a toilet cubicle at the Theresienbad swimming pool in Vienna on 2 December last year. “The child reported the rape to a lifeguard and his attacker was arrested at the scene, reportedly telling officers in initial interviews that he was experiencing a ‘sexual emergency’ after not having sex in four months.” Obviously there is a problem here. Putin responded by saying: “ So, what’ going on now? A refugee raped a child in one of the European countries. The court let him free on two grounds: he doesn’t speak the language of the residence country, and he didn’t understand that [the] boy was against the rape. It’s just hard to imagine what Europeans are going… “Is this the result of erosion of the traditional national values? I don’t even know how to explain it. Maybe they have a guilty conscience because of the refugee crises. A society that cannot defend its children today, has no tomorrow. It has no future.” Indeed. We should add that the Neoconservative Mafia and their marionettes are largely responsible for the rape crisis in Europe. Never forget what flaming Neocon Daniel Pipes said. After postulating that “Western governments should respond by helping the rebels to prevent Assad from crushing them,” Pipes added back in 2013: “the West should prevent either side in the civil war from emerging victorious by helping whichever side is losing, so as to prolong their conflict.’” [1] Did you catch the diabolical proposition here? Pipes himself admitted that this ideology is really weird: “This policy recommendation of ‘helping whichever side is losing’ sounds odd, I admit, but it is strategic.” [2] Well, it is only “strategic” for Pipes and his minions, who have been waging a frontal war against the moral and political order from time immemorial. Their subversive movements across Europe have been responsible for Bolshevik Revolution, for Abu Ghraib, and indeed for the debacle in Syria. So, whenever people like Pipes beat the perpetual war drum, rest assured that rape will largely be the end result. Furthermore, if the so-called refugees are raping boys by the numbers, then European officials should fire a moral and political shot at people like Daniel Pipes and other people who don’t give a flip about saving both the Middle East and indeed Europe from slow destruction. If the late rabbi Ovadia Yosef was right, that Goyim are donkeys and that they “were born to serve” Jews, [3] then it doesn’t really matter who gets raped in the process at all. Yosef himself said that the Goyim “need to die, but [God] will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money. This is his servant… That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew.” [4] Well, the young Goyim are dying in Europe, and no serious politician gives a flip about them because those politicians, as we shall see in the next installment, are in cahoots with the Khazarian Mafia in Israel and other places. Putin again is trying to help Europe by indirectly appealing to an implicit moral law, which he says is imbedded in traditional values. [1] Daniel Pipes, “Support the Syrian Rebels?,” National Review , May 12, 2013. [2] Ibid. [3] “Tradition Today: Jews and gentiles,” Jerusalem Post , November 12, 2010. [4] Lazar Berman, “5 of Ovadia Yosef’s most controversial quotations,” Times of Israel , October 9, 2013. Related Posts:	0
Home / Be The Change / Government Corruption / Prominent Psychologist Says, ‘Google has power to control elections, can shift millions of votes to Clinton’ Prominent Psychologist Says, ‘Google has power to control elections, can shift millions of votes to Clinton’ The Free Thought Project November 1, 2016 1 Comment (RT) — People trust the “unbiased” internet search giant Google so much it can actually influence up to 10 million undecided voters to choose Hillary Clinton for president, prominent US psychologist and author Robert Epstein told RT following years of research. Despite being a supporter of the Democratic presidential nominee, Dr. Epstein believes Google’s unchecked algorithm of placing one candidate over the other in search results constitutes a “threat to democracy.” RT: Robert, how did you discover that Google is possibly in cahoots with the Clinton campaign? RE: Well I didn’t find out that they were necessarily supporting Hillary Clinton, that’s not what I found at first. First, through several years of research, I found that they had the power to control elections, the power to shift the votes. So, that was more than four years of experimental research with more than 10,000 people in 39 countries. So, we established through some very careful experiments that by favoring one candidate in search rankings Google can shift a lot of votes. More than 20 percent of undecided voters overall, and in some demographic groups up to 80 percent of undecided voters. People trust search rankings so much that if one candidate is favored in search rankings that shifts peoples’ votes. Now, more recently, many people have established that Google has a very close relationship with Hillary Clinton. That didn’t come from my research, that came from all kinds of investigative research by many people. RT: Are you going to take a look at Facebook and Twitter as well? It looks like social media play an even bigger role in the elections than televised debates. RE: Well, we know now that Facebook has the power to shift about 600,000 votes to Hillary Clinton on Election Day with no one knowing this is occurring. All they have to do is send out “Go out and vote” reminders to Hillary Clinton’s supporters, but not to Trump’s supporters. That would cause a lot of people to vote who would otherwise stay home. So yes, we’ve looked at Facebook, we’ve looked at Twitter. But again, Facebook can shift 600,000 votes, Google can shift somewhere between 2.6 and 10.4 million votes. RT: Have you been able to find abnormal search results by Google in some other countries intended to influence the outcome of elections? RE: We haven’t look carefully at too many countries. We’ve looked at the UK election in 2015, we looked at the national election in India, at the Lok Sabha election in 2014. What we do know is that it is the nature of Google’s algorithm to put one candidate ahead of another. That happens automatically. That happens, as Google would say, organically. So, this means that Google’s algorithm has probably been determining the outcomes of close elections around the world for many years, probably actually controlling the winner in as many as 25 percent of the national elections of the world. RT: What do you think about this threat of big data? Do you think Google and other search engines analyses all search results by an individual for a good purpose? RE: Well, big data at the moment is a threat. It’s a threat to democracy, at least as we have it in the United States, it’s a threat to human freedom, it’s a threat to civil liberties. This is mainly because the technologies are very new, and new means of control, of surveillance, of manipulation are being developed which at the moment are not regulated – they’re not covered by any laws or regulations. So, the problem is that these technologies have developed quickly, and we have not developed systems for monitoring these technologies, we’ve not developed systems for regulating these technologies. Obviously, we must do so. RT: You’ve said that unlike Europe, Russia and China were able to overcome the Google monopoly, but a lot of people are still using this search engine. Do you think that the US company can manipulate public opinion in Russia as well? RE: Well, it’s hard for them to manipulate opinion if they don’t dominate that country. Google dominates most of the countries in the world. The only countries it doesn’t dominate are Russia and China. So, Russia and China are protected a little bit from Google, but Russia and China have their own problems. Russia has Yandex, China has Baidu, and these companies can use techniques just as the ones that Google is using and perhaps they’re already using these techniques. These techniques can be used by any big tech company that provides a search engine. These techniques can be used by any big tech company that provides search suggestions. My newest research shows, for example, that Google seems to be favoring Hillary Clinton in its search suggestions, the suggestions it gives you when you first start to type an item, and from new research I’ve done, we know that if you suppress negative search suggestions from one candidate, that shifts votes and opinions towards that candidate. So, Google is not the only problem. Any of these big tech companies can use these techniques for surveillance, for manipulation, for control, and I think we have to be concerned about the big tech industries in general around the world, not just Google. RT: How do you oppose such great power being wielded by one corporation like Google? RE: Well, the problem with a lot of power being in the hands of one company is that the private company is not answerable to the public. The private company does not have people who we voted on. The private company might be run almost like a monarchy, with the CEO having enormous power and the public having no say whatsoever in what they do, even not having access to their internal records. So we would have no idea of exactly what they’re doing or how they’re doing it and how they’re making decisions. This is potentially very dangerous. The situation right now is unprecedented in human history. There has never been so much power placed in the hands of so few people who are beyond the reach of any laws, beyond the reach of any regulations, and who don’t necessarily have the public interest in mind. RT: What about Donald Trump? In your opinion, what methods and tricks has Donald Trump and his loyal media used in this presidential race? RE: Well, I’ve said in writing, repeatedly and in many interviews that I’m a very strong supporter of Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton is by far the better candidate, Donald Trump is a very weak candidate, he would not make a good leader, he would not make a good president. Plus, I know people in his family, it makes no sense to me that he is even running for president, I don’t think he wants to be president! I think he just wants to increase his celebrity so that he can start his own television network, and I think that steps are now already being taken for him to do that. The private company might be run almost like a monarchy, with the CEO having enormous power and the public having no say whatsoever in what they do, even not having access to their internal records. So we would have no idea of exactly what they’re doing or how they’re doing it and how they’re making decisions. This is potentially very dangerous. I made a prediction on Twitter recently, you can check this: I not only have predicted that he will set up his own television network but that he will launch his network with a guaranteed hit show. It will be a reality TV show about Donald Trump running for president, and that will be a hit show, so I think that’s his only interest here. Hillary Clinton will become our next president, it’s guaranteed and in my opinion Donald Trump has no interest, never had any interest in becoming president. RT: Do you believe that Hillary Clinton will become US president through the manipulation of public opinion? RE: Oh, Hillary Clinton is guaranteed to win this election, and I have said previously based on polls that seem to show a kind of a close vote, that those polls did not take into account the power that Google and other companies have to shift votes. That’s missing from these polls. So, once you realize the power that these companies have, Hillary Clinton is absolutely guaranteed to win, and she will win in the margin of somewhere between 2.6 million and 10 million votes. If we take the mean, the average of those two numbers, I guess you could say it’s pretty clear that she will win by approximately 6.5 million votes. RT: Given that the United States has such an expensive and powerful media industry, would you say that voters in the US have a real picture of the presidential campaign? RE: Well, voters in the United States I think do get a pretty good picture because we have so many different kinds of media and people are just bombarded with information from newspapers, magazines and the internet, more than 400 different television channels. So I think we do get a pretty complex and deep picture of things, but you have to remember that all of these forms of media are competitive. So, we’re getting one perspective from one magazine, another perspective from another magazine. But when you come to something like Google, there’s no competition. There’s no competitor. It’s a completely different kind of influence, it’s non-competitive. In other words, if you’re still trying to make up your mind and you go to Google and ask a question about the candidates or about some sort of issue related to the election, Google will show you whatever it wants to show you and that can easily, easily tip your opinion one way or the other and there’s no competitor, there’s no way for anyone to compensate what Google just told you. So, this is a completely new and very dangerous kind of influence. It has no competition, there’s no corrective for it, and people trust Google – we know this from surveys – people trust Google more than they trust any newspaper, any magazine or any television station. People trust information that they get from a computer much more than information they’re getting from television or a newspaper because they know that television and newspapers are biased, because they know that people are actually giving them the information. But when they get information out of a computer they mistakenly believe that that information is impartial, that information is objective and of course, that’s not really true, but that’s what people believe.	0
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Donald Trump offered details of his economic policies in a speech in Detroit. He promised to ease or freeze regulation, limit business income tax to 15 percent, and tear up the Paris climate agreement. He also said he would renegotiate trade agreements, end the estate tax, create jobs and exempt expenses from taxes. Protesters interrupted sporadically. Watch excerpts here. On the same day, 50 senior Republican national security officials issued a warning that Mr. Trump would be “the most reckless president in American history. ” _____ 2. Hillary Clinton’s campaign criticized Mr. Trump’s economic plans on Twitter: “1. Lower wages 2. Fewer jobs 3. More debt 4. Tax breaks for the 0. 1%. ” She will lay out more of her economic ideas in Detroit on Thursday. Mrs. Clinton is starting the week in Florida, where her campaign is opening more than a dozen offices in hopes of cementing her lead and denying Mr. Trump a state crucial to his own strategy. _____ 3. At the Olympics, the enthusiasm of Brazilian fans has been straining the boundaries of sportsmanship. Still, world records continue to fall. And there was a quieter groundbreaking moment. A fencer, Ibtihaj Muhammad of New Jersey, was the first U. S. Olympian to compete at a Games in a hijab. And a new athletic fad emerged: Michael Phelps and other swimmers are mottled with circular purple bruises because they are undergoing “cupping,” a technique used in Chinese medicine. It’s reputed, but not scientifically proven, to increase circulation. Our full coverage is here, and you can stream the Games here. _____ 4. Delta Air Lines canceled about 450 flights after the failure of a piece of electrical equipment at one of its Atlanta facilities caused its computer systems to crash worldwide. Aside from the toll on passengers, the airline is grappling with refunds, emergency accommodations and other expenses as yet untallied. Below, handwritten boarding passes. Southwest Airlines estimated its costs from a similar problem a few weeks ago at “tens of millions of dollars. ” _____ 5. Emperor Akihito of Japan raised the possibility of stepping down, a challenge to the cult of emperor worship created in the 19th century. At 82 and with a history of health problems, Akihito effectively urged the country to return to the temporal and temporary leadership of past centuries. _____ 6. Scores of people were killed and many others were seriously wounded in the latest burst of violence in the restive Pakistani city of Quetta. In an attack claimed by a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, a suicide bomber struck a hospital where dozens of lawyers had gathered to condemn the fatal shooting of a prominent colleague. _____ 7. Scientists are getting worried about how climate change is drying out peat bogs, making them more vulnerable to fire. Such bogs make up only about 3 percent of the earth’s land surface — mostly in northern Canada, Alaska, northern Europe and Russia. But, surprisingly, they contain more carbon than all the world’s trees and plants. _____ 8. Mexico has counted more than three dozen deaths and is still digging out from landslides after rains from Tropical Storm Earl. One town was hit with a month’s worth of rain over 24 hours. And another big storm is heading toward Baja California and Mexico’s Pacific Coast. _____ 9. One of our most popular stories today looks at the troubling frequency with which corporate consultants double as scholars with think tanks that shape government policy across the political spectrum. For instance, Carol Browner, above, a former top environmental adviser to President Obama, was a paid consultant to the nuclear power industry while she held an unpaid position as a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. _____ 10. Finally, a wedding in Pennsylvania included a very special guest. The father of Jeni Stepien, the bride, was killed in a robbery 10 years earlier, so she invited the man who received his heart to walk her down the aisle. When the recipient, Arthur Thomas, arrived from New Jersey, he held out his wrist. “I thought that would be the best way for her to feel close to her dad,” he said. “That’s her father’s heart beating. ” _____ 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 the Weekend Briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.	1
advertisement - learn more I am of no exception to this, as I have often found myself struggling with the demands of day-to-day existence, usually at the expense of my own well-being. Not wanting to perpetuate this lifestyle any further, I recently began making a more conscious effort to implement a number of habits into my routine in the hopes of bringing a little more peace and calm into my world. While many have proven ineffective, the following list of 10 habits did make the cut and have improved my life considerably. Why not try them out for yourself? They might just make your life easier, too. 1. Cut The Multitasking To me, multitasking is nothing more than a grand illusion of increased productivity. Doing several things at once may make us feel as if we are going to accomplish more and therefore have more free time afterwards, but in most cases multitasking ends up taking longer and resulting in poorer work. Rather than trying to cross 3 things off your To-Do List at once, instead really focus on one item at a time (with no distractions), and you might just surprise yourself by how proficient you can be. 2. Prepare Yourself The Night Before Life is full of the unexpected, but the majority of our days tend to feature predictable occurrences and tasks to be accomplished. A simple little habit that I’ve found helpful in mentally preparing myself for the next day is to quickly think about or write out what my day is likely going to offer the night before. I don’t have any science to back this up, but I’ve found it allows my mind to mentally prepare itself and handle the next day better. 3. Turn Off The Tech The continually expanding world of technology is a wonderful thing; however, the amount of time we spend connected to it daily is far past alarming. According to a report by Digital Trends , Americans spend an average of 4.7 hours per day on their phone, which is scary enough, but becomes frightening when we also factor in time spent on our computers and in front of a television. I’ve made a conscious effort to stay away from tech a half-hour before and after sleep as often as possible and have found that just that alone has had a drastic impact on my well-being. advertisement - learn more 4. Stay Hydrated… With Water! According to Sheila Tucker, MA, RD, LDN of Boston College , two-thirds of Americans do not drink enough water daily, meaning that we put our bodies (which are composed of approximately 60% water) through chronic dehydration. I personally can always tell when I’ve not consumed enough water in a day, largely through the difference in how well I can function. Staying properly hydrated can be one of the easiest and most powerful tools in feeling better and ultimately making your life easier. (Note: Remember that anything containing either caffeine or alcohol is a diuretic, meaning it fosters water loss rather than hydration.) 5. Get Rid Of What You Don’t Need We may not all be hoarders, but I’m sure that the majority of us have a number of things in our living space that we truly have no need for. I recently made the move from living in a house to a condo, and am amazed by how little I truly require to live my life happily. By getting rid of what you don’t need, you give what you do require more space to operate, ultimately making your life feel less cluttered and focused. 6. Don’t Be Afraid To Say “No” Saying “no” seems simple enough, but for many of us it is a struggle that makes our lives that much more complicated and unhappy. It may seem scary or confrontational at first, but saying “no” eventually becomes quite empowering, especially when what is turned down is replaced by something you are passionate about or would like to accomplish. 7. Plan Out Your Meals Finding time for this may sound like it wouldn’t make your life easier, but planning out your meals ahead of time has a number of great benefits, the first being that it allows you to save money when grocery shopping by only buying exactly what you need, which in turn limits food and money waste. A second benefit is that it results in you eating meals at home more often, which Michael Pollan spoke to the importance of in a 2007 Ted Talk . I’ve also found great peace of mind in always knowing what I am going to prepare ahead of time rather than having to come up with something on the fly every day. 8. Daily Movement Whether it be something as simple as an evening walk, or as stringent as a workout routine, I’m a huge believer in the importance of daily movement. This is especially important when we consider the amount of research that has emerged to show just how detrimental prolonged periods of sitting can be to our health. Amp up the benefit of your daily movement time by also cutting out technology while doing it. Need music to be active? Put your phone on airplane mode to limit its negative impact on you. 9. Meditate I hate to include it in the list because of how cliché the term has become, but the truth is, based on my first hand experience (and a wealth of scientific data), it really works. There are few things that I can say are capable of having as profound of a positive impact on my daily function as meditating does. We all have rampant minds, and taking even just five minutes a day to quiet it down can work wonders on your experience of peace and ability to handle life. Have trouble meditating? Here are 6 methods that can get anyone on board. 10. Remind Yourself Of What Gets You Going Sometimes it’s the quote, “if not now, when?” and other times it’s the words of accomplished individuals like Will Smith that get me fired up about life. We all have those people, sayings, or things that really speak to us and get our engines going at full steam. Take some time and think about what those things are for you, remind yourself of them daily, and see how much of an impact it has on your overall functionioning. What are your thoughts on these habits? Feel free to share any that you practice regularly through the comment section below to help make this article even more powerful for those who come to it next. The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle. You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here. "If “Survivor” was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and “The Sacred Science” hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group." - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune	0
By Jonas E. Alexis on October 30, 2016 What if China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Russia end up forging an alliance, since they all realize that they have a common enemy? Would that be good news for the New World Order? In order to deal with Soros, Malaysian officials need to give Vladimir Putin a call. …by Jonas E. Alexis George Soros has again shown that Jim W. Dean was right all along. Soros, Dean says, “ refuses to die and join his victims.” Soros, Dean moves on to declare, has been involved in the “the age-old pump-and-dump stock manipulation scam” for quite a while. As we have argued elsewhere, Soros was involved in destroying the Russian economy in the 1990s. But he has created other covert activities as well. He was behind the Black Lives Matter movement . He wants to flood Europe with so-called refugees from virtually all over the Middle East while remaining silent about US officials supporting terrorist organs in Syria. In short, Soros still wants to move and shake the world. Soros has recently turned his attention to Southeast Asia. He wants to taste economic blood in that region. He has been in that part of the world before. And government officials know him pretty well. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia declared back in 1997 that for people like Soros, “wealth must come from impoverishing others, from taking what others have in order to enrich themselves. Their weapon is their wealth against the poverty of others.” [1] The New York Times reported then: “Mr. Mahathir specifically blamed Mr. Soros for orchestrating Malaysia’s economic crisis—he told the assembled bankers and economists that Mr. Soros’s ilk had to be stopped.” [2] Mahathir said: “I am saying that currency trading is unnecessary, unproductive and totally immoral. It should be stopped. It should be made illegal. We don’t need currency trading.” [3] Mahathir was trying to articulate that rapacious usury is antithetical to the moral order and is therefore to be avoided. He has witnessed what usury, through “crony capitalism,” has done and how it precipitated the economic crisis in much of Asia, most specifically in South Korea and the Philippines. [4] The same “currency” has brought down economic progress in places like Thailand and Indonesia, where was a drastic decline in income. One scholar noted: “ The enormity of the shock is captured by the fact that in the worst-affected countries real GDP growth has turned abruptly from over 7 per cent per annum to negative. In Thailand growth fell from 6 per cent in 1996 to almost zero in 1997, with all the decline concentrated in the second half of that year, and has fallen by at least a further 5 per cent in 1998. In Indonesia the corresponding swing is from 8 per cent growth up to the third quarter of 1997 to an absolute decline of 15 per cent in 1998… “These huge aggregate income shifts were the result of a financial crisis reflected in precipitous currency devaluations and falls in equity prices. Currencies depreciated by up to 80 per cent in the worst case (the Indonesian rupiah) while equity and other asset prices fell by 50 per cent or more in the worst-affected countries. “The key factor behind this currency and stock market collapse was a massive reversal of foreign capital flows. It has been estimated that for Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines net private inflows dropped from US$ 93 billion to 12 billion – a swing of 11 per cent of GDP between the end of 1996 and the end of 1997.” Many countries in Asia were basically following capitalism by that time, and it was no accident that they had a huge debacle by 1997. [5] Mahathir, in that sense, was trying provide a response to that debacle. Soros didn’t like what Mahathir said because Soros is a capitalist and wanted to rip people in Southeast Asia off their labor. He fired back at Mahathir by saying: “Dr. Mahathir’s suggestion yesterday to ban currency trading is so inappropriate that it does not deserve serious consideration. Interfering with the convertibility of capital at a moment like this is a recipe for disaster. Dr. Mahathir is a menace to his own country.” [6] Mahathir seemed to have learned his lesson. By 2003, he created a storm of controversy by saying that “The Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.” [7] Some have said that Mahathir was promoting violence against Jews, but that itself is false. If a person says that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, it does not necessitate the illogical idea that every single Japanese person is responsible for Pearl Harbor at all. Mahathir was making a general claim, and many Jews, including Henry Makow, agreed with him. Elias Davidsson of Jerusalem concurred as well. He said: “As a Jew myself (but opposed to Zionism) I need no encouragement from Malaysain PM Mahathir Mohammed to observe what should be obvious to the blatant eye: Namely that Jews effectively rule US foreign policy and thus determine to a great extent the conductof most countries… “So it is with the proposition that Jews control the world. Surely the do not control every single action; surely it does not mean that every Jew participates in the ‘control.’ But for all practical purposes the proposition holds. “Mahathir has neither asked to discriminate against Jews, let along to kill Jews. It is shameful to equate him to the Hitlerites.” [8] Mahathir added elsewhere that “a U.S. dominated IMF was ‘trying to change the Asian system.” [9] Obviously that “U.S. dominated IMF” was in concert with capitalism, which has been refined in the twenty-first century by people like Milton Friedman. [10] But Mahathir probably wouldn’t expect Soros to come back to Southeast Asia for round two. It has been reported that Soros is looking for a “color revolution” through his Open Society Foundation in Malaysia because he seems to think that there is a lack of “constitutional democracy.” [11] Like Rodrigo Duterte, Malaysian Prime Minster Najib Razak has recently been trying to build an alliance with China: “Malaysian Prime Minster Najib Razak heads to China next week to build closer ties and seek investment, which may further dent US aims in Southeast Asia after a push by President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines to bolster China ties.” [12] Obviously this is not good news for New World Order agents at all. It gets worse: “Both Malaysia and the Philippines have long been in dispute with China over the South China Sea. However, Kuala Lumpur may follow in the footsteps of Manila, seeking to ease tensions with Beijing in exchange for economic benefits.” [13] Soros again does not like that, and this might be one reason why he declared that “There is no Business like the Revolutions Business.’” Mathew Maavak of Risk Foresight at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) comments: “NGOs and the West-friendly media constitute a major subsidiary of the global social revolutions enterprise. Together, they seek out, identify and amplify public discontent in nations not aligned to the United States. “Such US-engineered activisms have never led to more equitable societies; rather they have engendered endless bloodshed and global terrorism. To the agitprop entrepreneur, the returns on revolutionary investments are immense. “A wealthy hedge fund manager can short a targeted market before executing a pre-planned ‘revolution.’ The resultant stock market and currency meltdown would provide self-evidentiary ‘proof’ to an anxious public, exerting more pressure on the government of the day to either capitulate or concede to ‘popular demands’ that are actually drafted abroad, likely by the IMF!” [14] Maavak, like other experts in Asia, are well aware that Soros was behind the economic crisis in 1997. He writes, “The entire region was in turmoil, and the name of George Soros featured prominently in this sordid saga. The ‘Reformasi’ [protest] movement led by sacked [Malaysian] Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim — who had close to ties to Washington hawks — failed to topple the government of the day.” [ 15] Perhaps Malaysia needs to do what China and Russia did: they need to kick Soros out of for good. Or perhaps they need to give Vladimir Putin a call and ask him how he did it. But what if China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Russia end up forging an alliance, since they all realize that they have a common enemy? Would that be good news for the New World Order? I guess US Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work has good reason to say: ““Our adversaries [Russia], quite frankly, are pursuing enhanced human operations and it scares the crap out of us.” [16] [1] Edward A. Gargan, “Premier of Malaysia Spars With Currency Dealer,” NY Times , September 22, 1997. [3] Ibid. [4] For further studies on this issue, see David C. Kang, Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Philippines (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). [5] See Helen Hughes, “Crony Capitalism and the East Asian Currency Financial ‘Crises,’” Policy , Spring 1999. [6] Gargan, “Premier of Malaysia Spars With Currency Dealer,” NY Times , September 22, 1997. [7] Quoted in E. Michael Jones, The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit and Its Impact on World History (South Bend: Fidelity Press, 2008), 1064. [8] Ibid., 1064-1065. [9] Paul Blustein, The Chastening: Inside the Crisis That Rocked the Global Financial System and Humbled the IMF (New York: Public Affairs, 2001 and 2003), 164. [10] For a historical study on these issues, see E. Michael Jones, Barren Metal: A History of Capitalism as the Conflict Between Labor and Usury (South Bend: Fidelity Press, 2014). [11] “Leaked Memo: Is Soros Planning ‘Series of Color Revolutions’ in Southeast Asia?,” Sputnik News , October 28, 2016.	0
I left Manhattan in 1988, the morning after marrying a peripatetic advertising executive whose career would take us to six different cities over the course of 26 years. On the ascent out of LaGuardia, I turned my head to the clouds and cried. Following stints in the Midwest, the and New England, I eventually arrived in Texas with two babies, two dogs and the aforementioned husband. Last August, after delivering the younger daughter to college and graduating, myself, from the residential restriction in a divorce decree, I returned home. I was just one person, this moving day, one person and a new canine charge, Charles. Some people flee New York without reservation, while others depart uneasily, but certain that one day, they will make it back. The is inspired, typically, by the universal tug of home and family, along with the draw of the city’s singular street life, culture and sensibility. The notion of change is inherent in any return, though, since the city will have evolved in your absence and you, too, may be different from who you were when you left. I knew, in 1988, that I would come back to New York. I was born on York Avenue and East 70th Street and raised in Westchester County, but returned twice after graduate school, living first on Central Park West and later on the Upper East Side. This time, in search of reasonably priced space that would accommodate two college students during vacations and Charles the terrier daily, I landed near where I began, on East End Avenue. I didn’t know that it would take so long to get here, or that so much would happen before I did. But I counted down, the whole time. Other former New Yorkers have done the same. “Moving back was in my head, and my friends will say that I’ve been talking about it forever,” said David Kurtz, 58, a film and television composer who lived in Los Angeles for 35 years. “I am very grateful for L. A. but this was always home, whatever all that means. ” The emotional bond with a place, of course, does not develop simply because you may have emerged from a delivery room within its ZIP code. Native New Yorkers are not the only ones who may feel like expatriates anywhere else. Mr. Kurtz grew up in Sayville, N. Y. on Long Island, but he formed a connection to Manhattan when he was a child. “My grandmother worked in Columbus Circle at the Diners Club. She loved to take me to Radio City for movies. And my grandfather worked the counter at Katz’s Deli. ” During high school, Mr. Kurtz took the train to Penn Station almost every Saturday for class in the Juilliard School Division, and he credits his time there for solidifying his New York City identity. “It was more than a great musical experience,” he said. “It was my literal salvation. I blossomed in this city. ” While at the Manhattan School of Music in 1974, he lived on West 89th Street in the home of Isidore Cohen, then the violinist with the Beaux Arts Trio. “They rehearsed there all the time. Heaven!” The neighborhood, because of its proximity to Lincoln Center and its “European feeling,” was his first choice when he returned from California a year and a half ago. He had sold his Malibu house and bought an apartment on West 76th Street, off Central Park. “My L. A. friends say, ‘How are you going to live in that?’ and my New York friends say, ‘How did you find that?’ ” In March, he and Candace Bowes, a freelance advertising producer who spends weeks at a time working in Los Angeles, were married in the Ladies Pavilion in Central Park, down the street from their new home. “It was an iconic New York thing to do,” said Mr. Kurtz, who credits a confluence of events for his return, including his children leaving home, aging parents, immediate family who live here and a shift from composing for television programs to writing a screenplay. Like others who depart New York for places with more serenity and a quieter pace, Mr. Kurtz found he needed to create his own stimulation in California rather than find it in his surroundings. “The ocean, the environment, it became continuous and I lost the fascination,” he said. “Here, I’m in awe every day. I walk out the door, and the city is performance art. ” What a New York will feel like depends on how long the person has been away and what his life was like at the time he left, said Christine Haney, the executive vice president of global relocation for Douglas Elliman Real Estate. “They come here because they have always loved the city,” she said. There is a certain age when people are unafraid to make changes and move anywhere, she added, but after they’ve gone down that path, “they want to come back and just enjoy. ” Once back in town, where they choose to rent or buy an apartment is often determined by how they will now spend their days, in addition to their budgets. “I had a client who said to me, ‘I am ready to go to Lincoln Center. I want to live facing the steps,’ ” said Annie Cion Gruenberger, an associate broker with Warburg Realty. “We went out and bought an apartment facing the steps. ” Susan Adler Funk, 56, loves seeing plays. She has at least six subscriptions to Off and Off Off Broadway theaters and attends between 50 and 60 performances a year. This past September, she and her husband, Allen Funk, 55, rented a on Columbus Avenue and West 96th Street after selling a house in Sleepy Hollow, N. Y. where they had lived for three years following 18 years in and around Seattle and six in Washington, D. C. Also, the couple recently purchased a home in Flemington, N. J. where they intend to grow and sell grapes, “a retirement plan,” Ms. Funk said. “Every book that I own doesn’t have to be in this apartment. I am spoiled that way. ” When the grapes are in their infancy, the Funks will spend more time in New Jersey and keep their apartment as a . Ms. Funk views herself as a Manhattan expatriate, despite a Rockland County, N. Y. upbringing, attributing that status to the years she lived here during her formative 20s. After college, she rented two apartments, first on Sutton Place and then on West 82nd Street. Following Harvard Business School, where she met Mr. Funk, a Los Angeles native and former newspaper publisher, she rented a on West 77th Street. Now, as a “fully formed” adult, she has returned to the city and, specifically, to the Upper West Side, for its energy and its closeness to the stage. “Theater is the reason I’m here,” she said. “I don’t know how the passion began, but I remember going to Playwrights Horizons when I first lived here and was poor and didn’t see much. ” Nostalgia is not part of the for Ms. Funk, who, while in Seattle, started and ran a think tank focused on diversity issues in the technology industry and now is studying to become an accredited executive coach. “I actually tried to find where I used to live, but I couldn’t figure it out,” she said. Sometimes, though, returning to a place where childhoods happened, first jobs were held and mates were met can evoke strong sentiments about the passing of time and life choices. When people haven’t regularly seen the spots where seminal experiences occurred — both good and bad — they can feel walloped, emotionally. Across the street from the hospital where I was born is the hospital where my father died I have to bolster myself before walking by or choose a different route. “You have to be part psychologist,” said Ms. Haney of helping people relocate. “You have to be very sympathetic, very understanding of what they’re going through. ” In 1993, after six years of city life, Randy Gilman agreed to leave York Avenue and East 79th Street for Livingston, N. J. when her husband, Zvi Bolimovsky, expressed a desire to raise children outside Manhattan. “From Day 1, when I was pregnant, I was on a countdown to come back once my kids finished high school,” said Ms. Gilman, 63, who was born on Long Island and grew up near Hartford, Conn. After Ms. Gilman’s father died in 1990, her mother, Evelyn, moved to Manhattan, renting an apartment at Fifth Avenue and 60th Street, with a park view. Six years ago, when Ms. Gilman’s younger child was 15, the women bought, together, a apartment around the corner, on Park Avenue and East 65th Street, into which the elder Ms. Gilman moved. After Ms. Gilman’s daughter graduated from high school three years ago, Ms. Gilman and Mr. Bolimovsky joined Evelyn Gilman, who is now 91, on the premises. “My daughter left in August and we moved in by October,” Ms. Gilman said. “I felt like I always belonged here. ” While leaving New Jersey stirred little emotion, sharing space with her mother, who has her own suite, has prompted Ms. Gilman to reminisce. “I feel sentimental about living with the beautiful art and artifacts that she accumulated on her many trips with my father,” Ms. Gilman said. “Living here also helps remind me about when I was a child and my parents took my sister and me to museums, theater and dance performances. ” When Charles and I landed in New York, there was no party, no ticker tape. The confetti was in my mind, raining down feelings of finish lines, relief, exhilaration, promise. People here ask where I lived before, and when I mention my 17 years in Texas, they seem uniformly horrified. They crinkle up their faces and ask, “Did you like it?” expecting a certain response. I would have provided that reply, at first. Now, I feel that I should defend the place that I desperately did not like, and that I would want to do this surprises me a little, but makes me feel encouraged about my time there. I tell the people about the efficient and the civility of the children who shake hands when they are in preschool. I tell them that I raised two daughters there, two daughters who speak softly, saying y’all and ma’am and sir. I feel good about the place, standing in Carl Schurz Park on the East River, with Charles on a lead. I do, really, I do. This realization has played emotional tricks with my return, which, for years, I viewed as a simple construct, an escape from exile. Here, whatever was missing would suddenly exist, and I would feel energized, nurtured and safe. I would feel like me. I must say that this has happened, and in a magnified way — my old friends are more wonderful, the ballet more breathtaking, the brownstone facades more stunning. But is it home? Does it feel like home? I do not know. Sometimes, the transition is not what people envision it will be. After 40 years, Howard Bloomberg, 70, chose to return to Manhattan and his family’s Upper West Side neighborhood — not because he was nostalgic necessarily, but for its prewar architecture and residential ambience. “In 1976, I escaped. There was crime, filth, graffiti on the subway, you couldn’t see out the windows,” said Mr. Bloomberg, a retired investment banker who has lived in London, Boston and, most recently, New Hampshire. “But then, New York became a fabulous city, and it more closely resembled the time when I grew up. ” Mr. Bloomberg and his parents lived at 685 West End Avenue his grandparents, uncle and aunts lived at 697 West End Avenue. Mr. Bloomberg’s childhood apartment had bedrooms and baths on one side of a hall, and common rooms on the other. He hoped to duplicate that layout. But Mr. Bloomberg is not one to act rashly. He started his hunt in 2001, but it wasn’t until 2010 that he settled on Riverside Drive, across the street from Joan of Arc Park, where he used to play football. The apartment in a 1902 building designed by Ralph S. Townsend overlooks the Hudson, has ceilings and the details that Mr. Bloomberg was looking for. “I am very particular. It took three years to renovate. It didn’t even need a renovation,” he said. It took another two years to sell his house on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, delaying his return to the city until this spring. Mr. Bloomberg was ready to make the transition, to be less sedentary and more engaged in city life. “Over the decades, I’ve lost touch with just about everybody,” he said before he arrived in early May. “I look forward to having a big dinner party with them in my new apartment. It will be great fun, though we are no longer young men. ” Upon moving in, however, the anticipation turned rapidly to upset. Mr. Bloomberg walked into and out of five supermarkets, unable to navigate the narrow aisles. His phone wouldn’t work. His television and computer wouldn’t turn on. He was dismayed to see litter. After four days in the city, he thought to himself: “I can no longer cope. I don’t think I can possibly live here again. ” Now, some weeks later, Mr. Bloomberg is still here, though still out of sorts. He contemplated selling the apartment and leaving — where to, he was not sure — but the expense of such a turnaround dissuaded him. He did secure a New York City phone number. Adaptation, could it be? Expectations vary, according to Jeff Feuer, an associate broker with Douglas Elliman Real Estate and Mr. Bloomberg’s real estate agent for 10 years. Typically, he said, the adjustment is a lot more difficult if you are leaving New York than if you are returning. “I have a house in Woodstock, and I love it,” he said, “but even after a couple of days, I just want to come back. ”	1
Here are the movies and TV shows that received the top awards. Best picture, drama: “Moonlight” Best picture, comedy or musical: “La La Land” Actress, drama: Isabelle Huppert, “Elle” Actor, drama: Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea” Actress, comedy or musical: Emma Stone, “La La Land” Actor, comedy or musical: Ryan Gosling, “La La Land” Supporting actress: Viola Davis, “Fences” Supporting actor: Aaron “Nocturnal Animals” Director: Damien Chazelle, “La La Land” Screenplay: Damien Chazelle, “La La Land” Animated film: “Zootopia” Foreign language film: “Elle” (France) Original score: Justin Hurwitz, “La La Land” Original song: “City of Stars,” “La La Land” Best series, drama: “The Crown,” Netflix Best series, comedy or musical: “Atlanta,” FX Best television movie or : “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” FX Actress, or television movie: Sarah Paulson, “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story” Actor, or television movie: Tom Hiddleston, “The Night Manager” Actress, drama: Claire Foy, “The Crown” Actor, drama: Billy Bob Thornton, “Goliath” Actress, comedy or musical: Tracee Ellis Ross, “ ” Actor, comedy or musical: Donald Glover, “Atlanta” Supporting actress: Olivia Colman, “The Night Manager” Supporting actor: Hugh Laurie, “The Night Manager”	1
Five middle school students are facing charges for throwing objects at President Donald Trump’s motorcade in West Palm Beach, authorities have confirmed. [In a tweet, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office confirmed that they had “ID’d Juveniles who threw a 2 x 4 at Presidential Motorcade. ” We have ID’d Juveniles who threw a 2 x 4 at Presidential Motorcade. A juvenile from a local middle school confessed to throwing the 2 x 4. pic. twitter. — PBSO (@PBCountySheriff) February 18, 2017, “A juvenile from a local middle school confessed to throwing the 2 x 4,” it continued. Although originally believed to be a rock, the office confirmed that the object is a piece of wood. According to CBS, the children all attend a local middle school, meaning they cannot be identified due to their age. The announcement follows reports on Friday that the Secret Service were investigating the incident, where two separate objects were picked off the ground, having been thrown at the motorcade. You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com.	1
Chart Of The Day: Ratio Of Household Net Worth To Disposable Income At Pre-Crisis High By David Stockman. Posted On Thursday, November 3rd, 2016 David Stockman's Contra Corner is the only place where mainstream delusions and cant about the Warfare State, the Bailout State, Bubble Finance and Beltway Banditry are ripped, refuted and rebuked. Subscribe now to receive David Stockman’s latest posts by email each day as well as his model portfolio, Lee Adler’s Daily Data Dive and David’s personally curated insights and analysis from leading contrarian thinkers.	0
Hillary In Prison Costume Annoys Liberals After They See Whatâs Behind Her Posted on October 31, 2016 by Robert Rich in Politics Share This A womanâs Halloween costume is going viral after she snapped a quick picture and posted it to Twitter. Although a few panties were in a wad because she dressed as Hillary Clinton wearing a prison jumpsuit, liberals just about went into full meltdown after seeing what was behind her. The image was actually seen on the social media account of The Blaze reporter and famed conservative commentatorÂ Tomi Lahren Â after she shared one of her videos from Facebook. As it turns out, one of her subscribers had a picture that made for the perfect response. As can be seen, a woman decided to dress up as Hillary Clinton in a prison jumpsuit â but thatâs far from the complete picture. — Mr. Cards (@MrCards007) October 21, 2016 Hitting her point home, it seems as though the womanâs significant other decided to dress up as Donald Trump, who was actually hauling Hillary Clinton off to jail. The visual created reflects Mr. Trumpâs promise given during the second debate when he said that he would put her in jail. Of course, others seemed to have loved the idea so much that they decided to duplicate the idea while putting their own spin on things: so my parents dressed up as trump & Hillary for prison for the costume party… pic.twitter.com/9RVAx4834z — Faith Sampson (@Faithh_Sampsonn) October 29, 2016 Even a few kids got involved with the Halloween costume idea: Happy Halloween ! đťđ — Donald J. Trump (@P0TUSTrump) October 31, 2016 With everything thatâs come out during the recent days, thereâs only one place that Hillary Clinton deserves to be. Between compromising the security of the American people through the use of her illegal email server to whoring out our country to fill her pockets, there isnât a single person who can argue that this woman is a criminal. Fortunately, it seems that FBI Director James Comey recently found his backbone and decided to actually start holding Hillary accountable. Letâs just hope Trump wins this election by a landslide and can follow through with that promise to lock Hillary away once and for all.	0
A new Congressional Budget Office report for Speaker Paul Ryan’s revised American Health Care Act reveals that 24 million people would still lose insurance by 2026 and the plan saves less money than the previous version. [In the revised version of Speaker Ryan’s bill, 14 million people would lose coverage in 2018, and 24 million would lose coverage by 2026. These figures are similar to the CBO’s previous report on the Republican leadership’s bill. Speaker Ryan’s revised bill, however, saves less money than the previous version. The current version would save $150 billion between 2017 and 2026, compared to the original bill that would have saved $337 billion. The changes to the bill were part of a “manager’s amendment” offered by GOP leaders to win more House Republican votes. The new CBO report was revealed amidst rancor between conservatives frustrated by the Republican leadership’s inability to repeal Obamacare. Speaker Ryan canceled Thursday’s vote on Ryancare because House leadership lacked the votes to pass the bill. could be altered again, which might change the CBO score.	1
Taxpayers will file for $20 billion in tax credits for college expenses they paid in 2015, but while those who get them will no doubt be happy, new evidence shows they have no effect on encouraging people to attend college. The federal government provides over $30 billion annually in tax benefits for college. In addition to the two tax credits — the American Opportunity Tax Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit — benefits include a deduction for interest paid on student loans, a recently defunct deduction for tuition expenses, and the 529 and Coverdell savings accounts. That is a lot of money. It’s about half of what the federal government spends on elementary and secondary education and of what it spends on Pell Grants, which subsidize costs for college students. The tax benefits were created to get more people into and through college. But researchers at Stanford and the University of California, Santa Cruz, have now shown that the largest tax benefit, the tax credits, have no effect on increasing education. The economists George Bulman and Caroline Hoxby scoured hundred of millions of tax returns searching for an effect of the tax credits and tuition deduction. They inspected detailed, administrative data from the I. R. S. (The I. R. S. has developed secure mechanisms that allow these data to be analyzed without compromising the privacy of taxpayers.) These tax data have already generated a series of studies, including two that exposed enormous variation across the United States in life spans and intergenerational income mobility. Dozens of data sets, including the I. R. S. data, show that college enrollment rises with income. If the tax credits help to increase college attendance, we should see this positive relationship between income and college attendance weaken where the tax credits phase out. (The tax credits phase out within certain income ranges, with their value dropping with each additional dollar of income. The American Opportunity Tax Credit is worth up to $2, 500 per student, but above an adjusted gross income of $160, 000 for a married couple, the credit drops steadily, until it reaches zero at $180, 000.) The intuition is that, in the phaseout region, rising income is offset by the decreasing credit, blunting the positive correlation between income and attendance. Statistical analysts call this method design, because it relies on a change in the relationship between two variables. Mr. Bulman and Ms. Hoxby found the predicted relationship between adjusted gross income and the receipt of tax credits in the phaseout region: Credits drop as income rises. But they found no corresponding relationship between income and college attendance. College attendance rises unabated with adjusted gross income, with no change when the credits phase out. Why no effect? One explanation is that the credits primarily go to and families, whose decision on whether to send their children to college is unlikely to be affected by $2, 500. Another, compatible explanation is that the credits are delivered too late to affect enrollment. Families get them after tuition is due a family that pays tuition in September won’t get a tax credit until at least the following January. At that point the credit is a nice windfall, but has arrived too late to help pay the bursar. The complexity of the tax benefits also most likely undermines their effect. I discuss this in greater detail in a recent paper I wrote with Judith which provides a comprehensive overview of the tax benefits for education. If the billions spent on the tax credits are to have any effect on college attendance, you would want them delivered when tuition bills are due. One proposal suggested by Ms. Hoxby and Mr. Bulman is to compute eligibility for the credits automatically, using income tax information when a dependent approaches college age. Families could then be notified of their eligibility. The authors also suggest that colleges file to receive the benefits directly from the Department of Education, so that a student need only present evidence of eligibility to have an account credited immediately. An even more comprehensive approach would be to consolidate the tax credits with the Pell Grant, creating a single grant program that pays college costs at the time of enrollment. Eligibility could automatically be calculated using tax data, with money delivered by the Department of Education. Families could apply by checking off a box on their tax forms. This approach would cut back substantially on paperwork, a relief for the millions of students who complete both the 1040 and the dreaded Free Application for Federal Student Aid in order to get federal grants, loans and tax credits for college. With a simplified application, and dollars delivered at the right time, the $30 billion now spent on tax credits could open college to many more students.	1
Polityka zagraniczna USA Thierry Meyssan Działania różnych urzędów Stanów Zjednoczonych na arenie międzynarodowej są często nieskoordynowane. Na przykład w Syrii, gdzie formacje stworzone przez Pentagon walczą przeciwko formacjom stworzonym przez CIA. Natomiast w dwóch sprawach: podziału Europy na Unię Europejską i Rosję, oraz podziału Dalekiego Wschodu na ASEAN i Chiny – działają one całkowicie zgodnie. Jakie są cele polityki zagranicznej USA i czy można przewidzieć ową politykę? Sieć Voltaire \| Damaszek (Syria) \| 29 października 2016 Deutsch ελληνικά English Español فارسى français italiano Português Türkçe русский Nederlands عربي Prognozując politykę zagraniczną USA na przestrzeni niemal stulecia, politolodzy dzielili polityków na izolacjonistów i interwencjonistów. Tych pierwszych zaliczali do „Ojców-pielgrzymów”, którzy uciekli ze starej Europy i chcieli zbudować nowy świat, oparty na wartościach religijnych, a zatem pozbawiony europejskiego cynizmu. Drugich zaś, do „Ojców-założycieli”, którzy nie tylko chcieli uzyskać niepodległość, ale i kontynuować na swój sposób projekt Imperium Brytyjskiego. Dzisiaj taki podział nie ma już sensu, albowiem nawet tak wielkie kraje jak Stany Zjednoczone nie mogą być samowystarczalne. Dlatego w USA jest już regułą potępianie politycznych przeciwników izolacjonizmu, i jednocześnie nie ma tam ani jednego polityka, z wyjątkiem Rona Paula, który by tej [izolacjonistycznej] linii chciał bronić. Spory toczą się pomiędzy zwolennikami wiecznej wojny i wyznawcami wykorzystywania bardziej miękkiej siły. A jeśli wierzyć pracom Marcina Gilensa i Beniamina I. Paige’a, to dzisiejsza polityka Stanów Zjednoczonych jest prowadzona przez grupy interesów, niezależnie od woli obywateli [ 1 ]. Zgodnie z logiką, w sporach tych można dostrzec wpływy – z jednej strony – kompleksu wojskowo-przemysłowego, który dominuje w gospodarce Stanów Zjednoczonych, a z drugiej strony – firm korzystających z rozliczeń bezgotówkowych przy opłatach za swoją produkcję (oprogramowanie, hi-tech, rozrywka), która tak właściwie jest raczej produkcją wirtualną, niż realną, czyli firmy te pobierają haracz tam, gdzie nie ma wojen. Jednakże, taki punkt widzenia pozostawia z boku problem dostępu do użytecznych kopalin i źródeł energii, który był problemem dominującym w XIX i XX wieku, a dzisiaj, chociaż stracił swoją ostrość, to nie zniknął całkowicie. Po ogłoszeniu „Doktryny Cartera” [ 2 ], która zalicza dostęp do węglowodorów na „Wielkim Bliskim Wschodzie” do kwestii „bezpieczeństwa narodowego”, Waszyngton stworzył CentCom [United States Central Command – Centralne Dowództwo Stanów Zjednoczonych], skierował do Zatoki Perskiej ponad 500.000 ludzi i ogłosił sprawowanie kontroli nad całym regionem. Wszyscy pamiętają jak Dick Cheney, upewniwszy się co do nieuchronności „peak oil” [szczytu wydobycia ropy naftowej], zaczął przygotowywać „arabską wiosnę” i wojny przeciwko tym państwom, które nie zechciały poddać się kontroli. Jednakże, polityka ta straciła sens, gdy tylko zaczęto ją prowadzić, albowiem Stany Zjednoczone, oprócz własnego wydobycia gazu łupkowego i ropy naftowej, przejęły dodatkowo kontrolę nad węglowodorami Zatoki Meksykańskiej. Dlatego w najbliższych latach Stany Zjednoczone nie tylko zostawią w spokoju „Wielki Bliski Wschód”, ale będą też zmuszone rozpocząć wielką wojnę z Wenezuelą, która jest jedynym krajem średniej wielkości, zdolnym konkurować, a nawet zagrażać [amerykańskiej] eksploatacji złóż w Zatoce Meksykańskiej. W serii wywiadów dla „ The Atlantic ” prezydent Obama próbował uzasadnić swoją doktrynę [ 3 ]. Długo powtarzał jedno i to samo tym, którzy go oskarżali o niezgodność i słabość, zwłaszcza po sprawie „czerwonej linii” w Syrii. Rzeczywiście, powiedział on, że użycie broni chemicznej będzie czerwoną linią, której nie wolno przekroczyć, ale gdy jego administracja przekonywała go o tym, że Syryjska Republika Arabska zastosowała broń chemiczną wobec własnego narodu – Obama odmówił przystąpienia do nowej wojny. Nie wchodząc w dyskusję na temat zasadności tego oskarżenia, prezydent podkreślił, że Stany Zjednoczone nie powinny ryzykować życia swoich żołnierzy w tym konflikcie, i że zdecydował zachować ich siły do walki z prawdziwymi zagrożeniami dla narodowych interesów kraju. W tej powściągliwości tkwi cała istota „doktryny Obamy”. Czymże są zatem owe „prawdziwe zagrożenia”? Prezydent nic o tym nie powiedział. Najlepiej będzie przyjrzeć się pracom Rady Wywiadu Narodowego USA ( US National Intelligence Council , NIC), pamiętając o sile wymienionych wyżej grup interesów. Okazuje się, że Stany Zjednoczone porzuciły stworzoną po 11 września „doktrynę Jerzego Busha młodszego” o globalnej dominacji, powracając do doktryny jego ojca – o przewadze handlowej. Po zakończeniu zimnej wojny (z woli jej uczestników), cały świat zajął się rywalizacją gospodarczą w ramach liberalnego systemu kapitalistycznego. A dla większej pewności co do tego, że epoka konfrontacji ideologicznej jest już zakończona, prezydent Obama zbliżył się z Kubą i Iranem. Trzeba było zmniejszyć opozycyjność tych dwóch rewolucyjnych państw, które kwestionują nie tylko prymat Stanów Zjednoczonych, ale i zasady gry na arenie międzynarodowej. Nieuczciwość, jaką Stany Zjednoczone pokazały przy realizacji umowy 5+1, świadczy o tym, że nie chodziło im o irański program nuklearny, lecz jedynie o próbę przytrzymania na smyczy rewolucji chomeinistycznej. To właśnie w tym kontekście następuje powrót do „doktryny Wolfowitza”, zgodnie z którą dobre są wszelkie środki, które służą okiełznaniu konkurentów, w tym także Unii Europejskiej [ 4 ]. Strategia ta, jak się wydaje, była korygowana w miarę rosnących obaw Waszyngtonu, obserwującego uważnie przebudzenie się Chin. Dlatego mówi się o strategicznym „zwrocie na Daleki Wschód", który ma polegać na przerzuceniu tam wojsk z Bliskiego Wschodu, żeby kontrolować region dalekowschodni i powstrzymywać Chiny. I chociaż Pentagon nie wspomina już o szalonym neokonserwatywnym planie pokonania Chin, to jednak zamierza on ograniczyć rolę ekonomiczną tego państwa i nie dopuścić do rozszerzania się jego politycznych wpływów na świecie. Jednakże to, co teraz widzimy jest zupełnym zaprzeczeniem strategii „zwrotu na Daleki Wschód”. Stany Zjednoczone z pewnością zwiększyły (nieznacznie) swoją obecność w regionie Azji i Pacyfiku, ale przede wszystkim zadbały o swoją silną obecność militarną w Europie Środkowej. A w czasie, gdy wojna wciąż szaleje w Palestynie, Jemenie, Syrii i Iraku, gdy zagraża nową pożogą Libii – zostaje rozpalony nowy konflikt na Ukrainie. Taki rozwój wydarzeń możemy zinterpretować na dwa sposoby. Z jednej strony, możemy uznać, że zbliżanie się NATO do rosyjskich granic – i wojskowa reakcja Moskwy – niczym światu nie grozi. Rzeczywiście, angażowanie się w taki konflikt jest ryzykowne, a do tego zupełnie niepotrzebne. W takim wariancie, wojna na Ukrainie (wraz ze wszystkimi tymi sankcjami i kontr-sankcjami) nie będzie skierowana przeciwko Rosji, lecz będzie sztucznie sfabrykowaną – specjalnie dla Europy – projekcją rzekomego zagrożenia rosyjskiego, co pozwoli Stanom Zjednoczonym „bronić” swoich naiwnych sojuszników. Lecz, patrząc z drugiej strony, dobrobyt gospodarczy Stanów Zjednoczonych opiera się na ich kontroli nad światowym handlem, a w konsekwencji – na utrzymaniu morskich dróg handlowych [ 5 ]. Zaś Rosja i Chiny, chcąc się rozwijać, pragną uwolnić się od amerykańskiej kurateli, a w konsekwencji muszą otworzyć kontynentalne szlaki handlowe. Taka jest istota projektu [przewodniczącego Chińskiej Republiki Ludowej] Xi Jinpinga, zakładającego budowę dwóch jedwabnych szlaków, z których jeden ma docierać, jak w czasach antycznych, przez Azję Środkową, Pakistan, Iran, Irak i Syrię do Morza Śródziemnego, a drugi ma prowadzić przez Rosję do Niemiec. Obie te drogi są dziś zablokowane: przez IPIS (ISIS) w Lewancie i przez Ukrainę w Europie. Kwestia kontroli nad morskimi szlakami handlowymi stanowiła centralny punkt strategii amerykańskiej na początku XXI wieku, przy wsparciu piratów z Rogu Afryki [Półwyspu Somalijskiego] [ 6 ], a strategia ta skończyła się fiaskiem, gdy Moskwa i Pekin skierowały swoje okręty wojenne do tego regionu. Jednakże, mimo, iż Chiny mają do dyspozycji [od 2015 r.] dwukrotnie powiększone przez Egipt koryto Kanału Sueskiego, to przejście przez cieśninę Bab-el-Mandeb, pozostające oficjalnie pod kontrolą Republiki Dżibuti, kontrolowane jest w rzeczywistości przez Al-Kaidę za pośrednictwem Islamskiego Emiratu Mukalla [miasto Al-Mukalla na wybrzeżu Jemenu zostało zdobyte w kwietniu 2016 r. przez wojska Arabii Saudyjskiej – przyp. tłum.]. Oprócz kontroli morskich szlaków handlowych, należy też uwzględnić kontrolę nad operacjami finansowymi. W tym właśnie celu Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwości Stanów Zjednoczonych ogłosiło zasady, które Amerykanie starają się stopniowo narzucić bankom na całym świecie. Lecz tutaj także Rosja stworzyła swój własny system płatności Swift, natomiast Chiny zrezygnowały z wymienialności swojej waluty na dolary, by nie dać się skrępować amerykańskimi przepisami. Jeżeli ta analiza jest prawidłowa, to wojny w Syrii i na Ukrainie trwać będą dopóty, dopóki Rosja i Chiny nie utorują sobie chociaż jednego bezpiecznego kontynentalnego szlaku handlowego do Europy Zachodniej. Właśnie w tym kontekście należy postrzegać wysiłki Stanów Zjednoczonych, podejmowane dla przeciągnięcia do ich obozu Białorusi, przeciwko której Amerykanie tak długo występowali. – Jest to jedyny sposób na poszerzenie ukraińskiej zapory i zbudowanie szczelnej przegrody pomiędzy Europą Zachodnią i Wschodnią. Z tej perspektywy widzimy, że negocjacje handlowe, jakie Stany Zjednoczone prowadzą z Unią Europejską (TTIP) i państwami ASEAN (TPP) nie mają na celu umocnienia ich wymiany handlowej. Wręcz przeciwnie: ich celem jest wyeliminowanie z rynku Rosji i Chin. To niepojęte, że Europejczycy i Azjaci skupili się na wyborze standardów produkcyjnych, a nie na żądaniu udziału Rosji i Chin w tychże negocjacjach. I wreszcie, końcowy wniosek jaki należy wyciągnąć z wywiadów Obamy dla „ The Atlantic ” sprowadza się do tego, że Stany Zjednoczone zamierzają odnowić swoje sojusze i dostosować je do nowej doktryny strategicznej. Dlatego np. popieranie reżimu Saudów, którzy gwarantowali dostawy ropy naftowej z Bliskiego Wschodu, nie jest już dla Amerykanów żadnym interesem i staje się nawet ciężarem. Podobnie jak „specjalne stosunki” z Wielką Brytanią, które niegdyś miały wielkie znaczenie dla warunków kontroli nad oceanami (Karta Atlantycka) i przy próbie ukształtowania świata jednobiegunowego (wojna w Iraku) – lecz dzisiaj nie są już żadnym konkretnym interesem i muszą być ponownie przemyślane. Nie wspominając już o kosztownym popieraniu Izraela, które nie służy już realizacji celów na Bliskim Wschodzie, i które może nie być kontynuowane, jeżeli Tel Awiw nie okaże się przydatny w innych częściach świata. Powyższe uwagi nie uwzględniają obecnej kampanii prezydenckiej w USA, w której ścierają się: kompleks wojskowo-przemysłowy i ideologia WASP-owska, reprezentowane przez Hilarię Clinton, oraz, z drugiej strony, przemysł bankowych systemów płatności bezgotówkowej (toll industry) i zwolennicy umowy społecznej pt. „American dream”, reprezentowani przez Donalda Trumpa [ 7 ]. Agresywny charakter tej kampanii świadczy o konieczności przywrócenia równowagi między tymi siłami po okresie niepodzielnej dominacji militarystów (od 1995 r.). Gdy obóz reprezentowany dzisiaj przez Trumpa wreszcie wygra, to powinniśmy zobaczyć zakończenie wojen [ 8 ], ale i erupcję despotycznego przymusu wnoszenia opłat z powodu istniejących patentów i praw autorskich. W przypadku zaś, gdy zwycięstwo tej grupy zostanie odsunięte w czasie, Stany Zjednoczone będą miały do czynienia z powstaniem rozwścieczonej ludności i zamieszkami. A wówczas przewidywanie polityki zagranicznej USA stanie się szczególnie trudne. Thierry Meyssan Tłumaczenie Grzegorz Grabowski Polski blog	0
Podcast: Play in new window \| Download \| Embed You’ll no doubt remember the quotes from that 1998 60 Minutes piece on Soros from Episode 113 of The Corbett Report podcast. Well guess what? That clip actually emerged online this week. Let me walk you through a few of the highlights. SHOW NOTES	0
Dozens of asylum seekers who applied for resettlement in Australia have been rejected after failing security checks or being deemed economic migrants rather than genuine refugees, according to Sky News. [Federal Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton told the Australian parliament that thirty applicants had been rejected after being red flagged by Five Eyes — the intelligence sharing network formed by Britain, the U. S. Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. “We have taken a long period of time to look at the biometrics and look at individual cases,” Mr. Dutton told Sky News. “We have excluded a large number of cases and I think we have ended up with people who are deserving of support, who were targeted by the IS particularly in Syria and Iraq. We’ve chosen people who will make a big contribution and who will want to educate their kids and integrate into Australian society. ” “We should be very pleased and proud as a nation that we have been able to help,” he said, claiming that Australian government has placed an emphasis on sheltering refugees from the Middle East’s embattled Christian and Yazidi minorities. “We were very clear when we set up this programme that we wanted to concentrate on persecuted minorities. Like the Yazidi women who have watched family members slaughtered, their sisters and daughters abducted and murdered these are genuine refugees. ” Australia has experienced a number of terror events since Islamic State proclaimed a worldwide caliphate under Abu Bakr in June 2014. In September 2014, Abdul Numan Haider stabbed two police officers in Endeavour Hills, Melbourne. In December 2014 Iranian migrant Man Haron Monis took 18 people hostage in a Sydney cafe, killing one after a long before armed police stormed the premises. In October 2015 Farhad Khalil Mohammad Jabar shot and killed an unarmed police support worker at the News South Wales Police headquarters in Paramatta. At least another 15 major terrorist attacks have been foiled in Australia before they could take place since 2014.	1
Global investors have rendered their verdict on Donald J. Trump as president: Sell government bonds and pile into stocks that will benefit the most from a resurgent United States economy. From Indonesia to the United States, government bonds are undergoing a sharp as investors — large sovereign wealth funds and hedge funds, as well as the accounts of American retirees — restructure investment portfolios to try to capture the fruits of what they expect will be a Trump presidency. Across the board, the yields of these bonds, which move up as their prices decline, are pushing higher. The yield on the United States Treasury note — a benchmark for mortgages and other lending rates — has risen to 2. 2 percent from 1. 5 percent in less than two months. For such a widely held and traded security, that is an unusually abrupt move. Other bonds have had similar reactions. The yield on Germany’s notes has gone to positive. In just a week, it has gone to 0. 35 percent from negative 0. 15 percent. And the Swiss is now on the cusp of paying investors to borrow money after close to two years of trading in negative interest rate territory. If the trend continues, it will signify a jarring philosophical shift from the view put forward by many prominent economists, like the former Treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers, that the global economy is destined to stagnate for some time under a regime of low growth, zero interest rates and deflation. A series of earlier signals pointed to a move away from bonds in the weeks before the election, including higher wages in the United States and signs of increased inflation in Europe. But what has resonated deeply with countless investors who have been camping out in government bonds for years now is Mr. Trump’s promise to have the federal government take responsibility for stimulating the economy — in the form of infrastructure investments and tax cuts — away from global central banks. “It does not surprise me that the markets have reacted this way,” said Luciano Siracusano, chief investment strategist for WisdomTree asset management in New York. “This is a very agenda, and we have not had that in a while. ” After the financial crisis unleashed an unprecedented wave of activism on the part of global central banks, investors the world over followed the lead of central bankers and loaded up on government bonds. Until recently, it has been a trade, with global growth stagnant, governments divided and political risk omnipresent. The numbers tell the story. According to J. P. Morgan, central banks and financial institutions in developed markets are sitting on $26 trillion in bonds, or 49 percent of the tradable market for these securities. That figure is up from 40 percent in 2002, and it highlights the extent to which worries about deflation and stagnation (political and economic) have resulted in a nonstop bull market for government bonds. Most investors, and many policy makers as well, have become fed up with this stagnation trade and they have been calling for lower taxes and more government spending not just in the United States but also in Europe and Japan. “Investors have been frustrated with the limits of monetary policy,” said Michael Zezas, a bond strategist with Morgan Stanley. “There has been a presumption of the necessity of fiscal stimulus. With a Trump presidency, the political rationale aligns with the economic rationale. ” Soaring bond yields are not the only way that this new “reflation trade” is playing out. Investors are betting that a pickup in government spending will push up the price of basic building commodities like copper, the price of which was up 20 percent in the last month. Bank stocks have also gotten a lift because investors believe they will face less regulatory pressures and cash in on higher interest rates, which help their lending margins. Even the stock price of Deutsche Bank, for example, has bounced back by nearly 20 percent in the last week. More broadly, the Standard Poor’s index gained 3. 8 percent last week, while on Monday, the major market measures ended largely flat. Of course, such an investment trend carries with it serious risks. If bond yields shoot up too starkly, investors in the stock market will get jittery and all the fast money that has recently piled into stocks could turn tail, leaving chaos in its wake. For example, $22 billion has poured into funds that invest in the United States stock market in the last three days alone. Moreover, a sharp increase in bond market rates will put pressure on emerging markets, which have enjoyed a renaissance in recent months. Stock markets ranging from Brazil, India and Taiwan have been down sharply over the last week. The fund that invests in these and similar countries and is the market’s truest gauge of sentiment toward developing markets is off more than 7 percent since Mr. Trump was elected. It is worth recalling that the taper tantrum in 2013, when panicky global investors escaped en masse from most of the major developing economies, was driven by an expectation of higher interest rates and a strong dollar — which is exactly what the markets are factoring in right now. A inflationary surge could also force the Federal Reserve to be overly aggressive in raising rates, a dynamic that no investor wants to see. The trick, of course, for a Trump administration will be to ensure that fiscal stimulus proponents do not get a totally free hand and, in addition to pushing for a building boom, cut taxes radically and increase military expenditures. That could result in a yawning budget deficit and inflation spiraling out of control. For now, such a dire situation is far from the minds of investors who prefer to see in Mr. Trump an antidote to nearly a decade of low growth, low interest rates and intense regulatory scrutiny, all of which pushed them into the safety and security of government bonds. Some even suggest that a President Trump will not be unlike President Reagan in showing a devotion to bedrock principles, even if many of those philosophies were called into question when American investment banks nearly torpedoed the global economy. “The global impact of this stuff is that once you start it, you can’t stop it,” said Arthur Laffer, a evangelist who advised Ronald Reagan and was among a core group of economists who cobbled together Mr. Trump’s own program. “That is the way it was with Reagan. ”	1
More liberal crying over the outcome. What to tell your daughter? That the American people chose Trump. Not the hate filled American people, you condescending, clueless, divisive witch. The American people. As to the popular vote: California voted, as always, overwhelmingly Democrat. If you look at the other 49 states, he won their popular vote. And then there is California. Does anyone, besides Californians, want to allow California to choose our president each election?	0
BUFFALO — Fans grumbled loudly last March when the N. C. A. A. men’s basketball tournament’s selection committee declined to include Monmouth in the field, and Commissioner Bernadette McGlade of the Atlantic 10 denounced St. Bonaventure’s snub, declaring herself “shocked” and saying, “It’s a tremendous disservice. ” This year, though, officials from midmajor programs and conferences — those outside the five autonomous leagues that dominate the top level of college football, plus the Big East — mustered little beyond shrugs for a field even more lacking in teams from their cohort, which supply the vast majority of Division I’s 351 members. They seem to have made peace, or at least a truce, with an indisputable reality: The midmajor team selected for an berth is an endangered species. “The system is not designed to be totally fair,” Doug Elgin, the Missouri Valley Conference commissioner, said. “That’s the way of Division I basketball. It’s always been that way. ” Elgin once sat on the selection committee, and he currently serves on the men’s basketball oversight committee. “It’s not a complaint,” he added. “It is simply a statement about the current system. ” Elgin expressed respect for the “process and integrity” of the selection committee. That Illinois State, a member of his conference, did not receive a berth was “disappointing” but “understandable,” he said. “I’m not whining,” he said. “I’m just saying. ” The principle of equal access still exists: The tournament’s field consists of the champions of the 32 Division I conferences — meaning all 351 teams begin the season with a chance — and the 36 “best” remaining teams. But for the event that most prominently symbolizes the N. C. A. A.’s ethos — and that provides the vast majority of the association’s revenue — the trend line is striking. Midmajor teams received seven of those 36 bids in 2011, the year the tournament expanded to 68 teams. The next few years that number was 11, 11 and 10, before dropping back to seven again. Last year, there were six, this year four, and of the best four teams that did not make the cut, only one was a midmajor. “There seems to be a bias somewhat inherent in the structure,” Richard Ensor, the commissioner of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, said. It has become obvious that playing, and beating, other good teams is by far the most effective way to land in the committee’s good graces. The rating percentage index, or R. P. I. which situates teams’ winning percentages in the context of their schedules’ strengths, remains the committee’s primary mechanism for sorting teams. Since teams play the majority of their games those in power conferences have more opportunities to notch quality wins. Cutting a swath through one’s midmajor league, by contrast, can prove insufficient by itself. Illinois State was in M. V. C. play this season, but when it lost the conference tournament final to Wichita State, and didn’t have other quality wins to overcome that, it was out. The powerful influence of quality wins can be seen most clearly in certain seeding choices. Wichita State was and highly rated by advanced metrics that the N. C. A. A. has sought to embrace. Yet it beat just one tournament team — No. 16 South Dakota State — and wound up slotted on the No. 10 line, indicating that had it not won its tournament, it might not have qualified at all. Meanwhile, Gonzaga, another midmajor, was awarded a No. 1 seed not only for going but for beating two eventual champions and several other squads. “You have to have something that gives you the opportunity to do some of those comparisons,” Mark Hollis, this year’s selection committee chairman, said. Hollis, of Michigan State, added, presumably in reference to scheduling and defeating tough nonconference competition, that “programs that have done it have been recognized and have been rewarded in the tournament process over the years. ” It is natural that the power conferences would receive a disproportionate share of bids, since it is natural that they would produce more good teams tested against better competition. Wake Forest and Belmont, for example, have about the same enrollment, but only one receives tens of millions of dollars in annual conference payouts and plays North Carolina and Duke every year. Still, Cinderella’s carriage is probably not a permanent pumpkin. It has been less than a decade since a prominent midmajor, Butler, as a member of the Horizon League, made consecutive appearances in the national title game, and only four years since Wichita State mounted its own Final Four run. Some midmajors have become whether via realignment (Butler joined the Big East) or sui generis achievement (Gonzaga). But those are the lucky few. Observers now describe a vicious cycle in which fewer bids for leagues and teams lead to fewer resources and less exposure, leading to declines in recruiting and performance, leading to fewer bids. The resources that come with tournament berths are not only abstract. In addition to standard payouts, leagues receive “units” of roughly $250, 000 for each appearance a member makes in the tournament (one unit for a berth, a second if it wins its first game, and so on). Units from one appearance continue to pay for six years. There are also less immediately tangible benefits. For instance, Bloomberg found increases in donations to small colleges that pull off big upsets. “Getting selected has some significant impact on institutions, and even more on the smaller ones, like St. Bonaventure,” said the athletic director there, Tim Kenney. “You get financial benefit from the units. You get an increase in donations — having been part of schools that have won before, you definitely get an uptick — and you’re able to tell your story more. ” “It helps in recruiting,” Commissioner Amy Huchthausen of the America East Conference said. “All those downstream effects that can be generated from getting just two teams in are really helpful. ” Those few programs that have, against the odds, developed consistently competitive teams in midmajor conferences have their own challenges. Scheduling quality opponents frequently requires playing in their arenas, in a sport in which the home team wins of the time, and playing excellent basketball in November and December, in a sport in which teams can cohere over months, go on a run in February and March against their league rivals and still scramble into the bracket. And since playing hungry, ascendant midmajors carries the substantial risk of a loss, few good teams see an upside in agreeing to the games. “The better you get, the more difficult it is to get teams on your schedule,” Elgin said. “It’s a game. ” Illinois State Coach Dan Muller devised a quintessentially 2017 mousetrap on Monday, tweeting at the power conferences that he wished to schedule games. Mississippi’s athletic director took the bait, tweeting back, “We’d love to match up. ” On Tuesday, Illinois State’s athletic director, Larry Lyons, said he hoped to find a mutually agreeable date. Reflecting on the larger problem, though, Lyons joined his compatriots in stolid resignation. “I wish I had a better answer for how to fix this,” he said, “but I don’t. ”	1
At Rockefeller Center on Sunday, milling outside Christie’s sales rooms — where private clients sipped mimosas as they took in one of Monet’s grainstacks — people in the art world sounded guardedly optimistic about how the auctions will perform this week, after a period of uncertainty exacerbated by the contentious American presidential election, Britain’s “Brexit” vote in June and China’s slowing economy. “There has been a lot of insecurity and it’s hard to say exactly what will happen,” said Jay Gorney, a collector, curator and former dealer, predicting that “good things will do extremely well. ” The sales of Impressionist, Modern and contemporary art that start Monday offer the first test of how the art market will react to a Trump presidency and whether it will continue a softening trend that, for the past year, has had potential sellers reluctant to consign their best works. “If you’ve got something great, you don’t sell it because you’re uncertain what you’re going to get for it,” said J. Tomilson Hill, the vice chairman at the Blackstone Group and art collector, about the prevailing mood. “Sellers are largely sitting on their hands. ” The result is that each of the three major auction houses — Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips — are entering this week’s sales with fewer trophies of more than $20 million than they have had in the recent past. Over all, the estimated sales in postwar and contemporary art are half what they were last year. The evening auctions of postwar and contemporary art at the three houses, for example, are expected to draw about $536 million, compared with $1. 2 billion for the same auctions in November 2015. “They gathered the best material they could with a lot of sellers cautious and not willing to commit,” said Neal Meltzer, an art adviser. “Supply is the issue more than demand. ” In the days before the sales, collectors, art advisers and auction specialists were pointing to encouraging signs, citing the postelection stock market highs, the “Brexit” London sales in June and Sotheby’s London auction of David Bowie’s art collection last week, which had a rate of 100 percent and set new top prices for 59 artists. Moreover, many collectors are sanguine about the effects of Mr. Trump’s victory, both in the United States and around the world. “I feel great,” said the real estate developer Arnie Rosenshein. “I was for Donald Trump. ” Yet history suggests that single events rarely affect sales, art experts say. “The market has been pretty impervious to just about every event with the exception of the global meltdown of 2008,” said Robert Manley, who recently became Phillips’s new of 20th century contemporary art after 16 years at Christie’s. Donald B. Marron, a financier and longtime collector, said he expected the auctions to be largely business as usual. “Clearly this is a surprise and in one sense makes everybody cautious until they see how everything works,” Mr. Marron said. “On the other hand, if you want to judge by the markets, less regulation is seen as positive. My guess is, it will be like most auction seasons: good pictures will do well. ” Despite the challenging timing of the sales, the auction houses have managed to squeak out a few prizes. Sotheby’s secured Edvard Munch’s 1902 painting, “The Girls on the Bridge,” one of only two in private hands with this subject matter that is expected to sell in Monday night’s Impressionism and Modern auction for more than $50 million. It is one of only three works in the sale with a guarantee — a pledged minimum price the others are a Picasso and a van Gogh. The auction house also secured the collection of Steven and Ann Ames, New York arts patrons, for its Contemporary sale Thursday evening — albeit with the help of a $100 million guarantee. It includes two colorful paintings by Gerhard Richter (one from 1986 and one from 1988) each estimated at $20 million to $30 million. Christie’s’ highlights include a 1977 Willem de Kooning work, “Untitled XXV,” one of the artist’s large “pastoral” paintings, which is expected to sell for around $40 million on Tuesday night, at its Postwar and Contemporary sale. On Wednesday night, Christie’s Impressionist and Modern star lots include the Monet grainstack from 1891, which is expected to sell for more than $45 million, and a 1961 example of Jean Dubuffet’s Paris Circus series, estimated at $15 million to $20 million. Earlier the same night, Phillips has Mr. Richter’s “Düsenjager,” estimated at $25 million to $35 million, part of a small group of warplane pictures created between 1963 and 1964. (Paul Allen is the seller.) After Sunday’s brunch preview at Christie’s, not everyone came away impressed. “The estimates are 40 percent lower than last year,” said Jacques Seguin, a Swiss collector. “The electricity is not there. ” As for the auction houses, they say they learned from last year, when they priced estimates too high, and they are hopeful that the certainty of the election’s outcome could make some buyers more confident about bidding. “Some people are very happy with this result and will feel richer and more inclined to buy art, and some people will feel destabilized by the unknown and still more inclined to buy art,” said Simon Shaw, Sotheby’s worldwide of Impressionist and Modern art. “There’s a lot of demand out there. ” So much demand, auction houses say, that in many cases sellers — including the undisclosed consignor of the de Kooning at Christie’s, for example — have declined guarantees. “They’re not in need of selling,” said Brett Gorvy, Christie’s worldwide chairman for postwar and contemporary art. “They’d rather have the painting back” if it doesn’t sell. Given a shortage of masterpieces, auction houses have been forced to get creative. Phillips is selling Roy Lichtenstein’s “Nudes in Mirror” (1994) which was slashed by a deranged woman in 2005 while on exhibition in Vienna. Typically, an auction house would play down that kind of damage to a painting. Instead, Phillips has produced a separate section of the catalog detailing its history. “It may not add to the value but it adds to the story,” Mr. Manley, of Phillips, said. “We’ll find out on Nov. 16 what the market thinks. ”	1
WASHINGTON — Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said on Thursday that carbon dioxide was not a primary contributor to global warming, a statement at odds with the established scientific consensus on climate change. Asked his views on the role of carbon dioxide, the gas produced by burning fossil fuels, in increasing global warming, Mr. Pruitt said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that “I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so, no, I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see. ” “But we don’t know that yet,” he added. “We need to continue the debate and continue the review and the analysis. ” Mr. Pruitt’s statement contradicts decades of research and analysis by international scientific institutions and federal agencies, including the E. P. A. His remarks on Thursday, which were more categorical than similar testimony before the Senate, may also put him in conflict with laws and regulations that the E. P. A. is charged with enforcing. His statements appear to signal that the Trump administration intends not only to roll back President Barack Obama’s climate change policies, but also to wage a vigorous attack on their underlying legal and scientific basis. A report in 2013 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of about 2, 000 international scientists that reviews and summarizes climate science, found it to be “extremely likely” that more than half the global warming that occurred from 1951 to 2010 was a consequence of human emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. A January report by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concluded, “The planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 2. 0 degrees Fahrenheit (1. 1 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other emissions into the atmosphere. ” Benjamin D. Santer, a climate researcher at the Energy Department’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said, “Mr. Pruitt has claimed that carbon dioxide caused by human activity is not ‘the primary contributor to the global warming that we see.’ Mr. Pruitt is wrong. ” “The scientific community has studied this issue for decades,” Dr. Santer added. “The consensus message from many national and international assessments of the science is pretty simple: Natural factors can’t explain the size or patterns of observed warming. A large human influence on global climate is the best explanation for the warming we’ve measured and monitored. ” The basic science showing that carbon dioxide traps heat at the Earth’s surface dates to the 19th century, and has been confirmed in many thousands of experiments and observations since. Mr. Pruitt has faced frequent criticism for his close ties to fossil fuel companies. In his previous job as the attorney general of Oklahoma, he sought to use legal tools to fight environmental regulations on the oil and gas companies that are a major part of the state’s economy. A 2014 investigation by The New York Times found that energy lobbyists had drafted letters for Mr. Pruitt to send, on state stationery, to the E. P. A. the Interior Department, the Office of Management and Budget and even Mr. Obama, outlining the economic hardship caused by the environmental rules. But in a sign of how far outside mainstream views Mr. Pruitt’s remarks on Thursday have placed him, even executives of some of the nation’s largest fossil fuel producers said they were surprised by his comments. Interviewed at CERAweek, an annual conference of major energy producers this week in Houston, Wael Sawan, an executive vice president at Shell Energy Resources, said he was “absolutely convinced CO2 can cause serious damage to not only this generation but future generations. ” Mr. Pruitt spoke at the Houston energy conference on Thursday afternoon in a session moderated by Daniel Yergin, a prominent energy economist and a member of a White House advisory panel. Mr. Yergin did not ask Mr. Pruitt any questions about his remarks from Thursday morning, saying later that he had been unaware of the comments when interviewing him. Mr. Pruitt did not clarify his comments or respond to reporters who sought to question him. He said at the energy conference that the Obama administration had gone too far with some environmental rules and that he intended to work more closely with industry and individual states to address pollution issues. “The future ain’t what it used to be at the E. P. A. ,” he said. Mr. Pruitt’s remarks come as the Trump administration prepares to roll back Mr. Obama’s two signature policies to address global warming: a pair of sweeping regulations intended to curb carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles and power plant smokestacks. At the same time, the White House is considering a 17 percent cut to the budget of NOAA, one of the nation’s premier agencies of climate science research, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post. Mr. Pruitt’s remarks on Thursday were consistent with his past public statements questioning the established science of climate change, but in denying the role played by carbon dioxide, they go a step further. In addition to putting him at odds with the consensus of climate scientists, Mr. Pruitt’s remarks also raise the possibility that, as the Trump administration moves forward with unwinding Mr. Obama’s climate change regulations, it could put the administration in violation of federal law. In 2009, the E. P. A. released a legal opinion known as an endangerment finding concluding that, because of its contribution to global warming, carbon dioxide in large amounts met the Clean Air Act’s definition of a pollutant that harms human health. Under the terms of the Clean Air Act, one of the nation’s most powerful environmental laws, all such pollutants must be regulated by the E. P. A. A federal court upheld the finding, and the Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to it. Thus the E. P. A. remains obligated to regulate carbon dioxide. In his Senate hearing, Mr. Pruitt said that as administrator of the E. P. A. he would not revisit that 2009 legal finding. “It is there, and it needs to be enforced and respected,” Mr. Pruitt said. But energy lobbyists close to the Trump administration have since urged the new administration to consider building a legal case against the endangerment finding. Advisers to Mr. Trump’s transition team said they read Mr. Pruitt’s remarks as a signal that he intends to do just that. “President Trump’s campaign commitment was to undo President Obama’s entire climate edifice,” said Myron Ebell, who worked on Mr. Trump’s E. P. A. transition team but has no role in policy making. “They’re thinking through the whole thing, and based on what Scott Pruitt said this morning, I do think they are looking at reopening the endangerment finding. ” Mr. Trump is expected to announce an executive order next week directing Mr. Pruitt to begin the legal process of unwinding the climate change regulations on emissions from power plants.	1
Adelson boosts Trump with $25 million to defeat Clinton American-Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson has reportedly given $25 million to a super PAC dedicated to defeating Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Just a couple of weeks ago Adelson was frustrated with Donald Trump’s “lack of focus” and misdirected attacks at fellow Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. However, Fox News reported Monday that the casino magnate had added $25 million to the millions he’d already donated to Trump’s campaign. The report also indicated he may give more by the end of the week. His change of heart reportedly came in the wake of FBI Director James Comey’s announcement Friday that the bureau had discovered hundreds of thousands of emails that may be relevant to the bureau’s ongoing investigation into Clinton’s possible misuse of emails, and timing may indicate that Adelson now believes the GOP candidate has a real shot at winning the election. The donation, described to Fox News as a “massive” amount of money to be spent in the final week of the campaign, was given to Future 45, a pro-Trump super PAC. Future 45’s latest ad argues that the Democratic nominee cannot be trusted with the presidency as the Clinton Foundation has received millions of dollars from regimes around the world that persecute women and minorities. A source told Fox News that Adelson is considering contributing up to $25 million more as the White House race enters its final few days. In May, Adelson bucked a substantial number of Republican Jews who opposed Trump — even though by that time it was clear he would be the party’s presidential nominee — endorsing the pugnacious real estate magnate and reality TV star and appealing to other top Republican Jewish donors to follow suit. The New York Times reported at the time that Adelson was prepared to spend up to $100 million to elect Trump, a greater sum than he has invested in previous elections. In the following months, however, Adelson seemed to sour on Trump, instead focusing on congressional races amid fears of the Republicans losing control of Congress due to Trump’s weak polling numbers and numerous controversial statements. He gave at least $40 million to super PACs focused solely on the fight for Congress, and the $10 million he initially dedicated to a pro-Trump super PAC was spent only on advertising in states with competitive Senate races. Trump’s campaign has been plagued by charges of anti-Semitism, racism and sexism, and the nominee has been accused of running a divisive, hate-driven campaign. Adelson is a prominent donor to Jewish causes and a staunch supporter of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Related Posts: No Related Posts The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VT, VT authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians, or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. LEGAL NOTICE - COMMENT POLICY Posted by Ian Greenhalgh on November 1, 2016, With 955 Reads Filed under Election 2016 , Politics . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . Both comments and pings are currently closed.	0
made its case for mining platinum in space in a note to its clients. [According to the Business Insider report, Noah Poponak and a team of analysts have made a forceful argument for the costs versus benefits of chipping platinum from roaming asteroids: While the psychological barrier to mining asteroids is high, the actual financial and technological barriers are far lower. Prospecting probes can likely be built for tens of millions of dollars each and Caltech has suggested an spacecraft could cost $2. 6bn. They’re not wrong. Where once it could cost a whopping $35 million to put a single person in orbit, Virgin Galactic will soon be doing the same thing for about $250, 000. $2. 6 billion also isn’t that crazy when compared to the roughly $1 billion for a mine on our own planet. And if that’s not convincing enough, consider that even choosing a relatively small asteroid could yield between $25 and $50 billion worth of platinum: Space mining could be more realistic than perceived. Water and platinum group metals that are abundant on asteroids are highly disruptive from a technological and economic standpoint. Water is easily converted into rocket fuel, and can even be used unaltered as a propellant. Ultimately being able to stockpile the fuel in LEO [low earth orbit] would be a game changer for how we access space. And platinum is platinum. According to a 2012 Reuters interview with Planetary Resources, a single asteroid the size of a football field could contain $ $50bn worth of platinum. There’s only one real downside, and it’s a problem on the inverse: Access to that much platinum would essentially destroy its value. Poponak and his team estimate that “successful asteroid mining would likely crater the global price of platinum, with a single asteroid containing nearly 175X the global output, according to MIT’s Mission 2016. ” Yes, you read that right: that single asteroid could produce 175 times the platinum of every other mine on Earth combined. The report concludes that the project could be even less expensive than estimated, “given trends in the cost of manufacturing spacecraft and improvements in technology. ” And finally, that “given the [capital expenditure] of mining operations on Earth, we think that financing a space mission is not outside the realm of possibility. ” It is virtually inevitable that such a mining venture will occur, and the first to accomplish it will essentially seize control of the global platinum market. Only one question remains: Who will it be? Follow Nate Church @Get2Church on Twitter for the latest news in gaming and technology, and snarky opinions on both.	1
It might be easy to forget, now that he has endorsed and defended Donald J. Trump to the ridicule and anger of fellow Republicans he called friends, that Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was himself once a leading, if not the leading, presidential hopeful in his party. Then came revelations of a scheme so preposterous that it was hard to believe: Aides to the governor had deliberately created a traffic jam at the world’s busiest bridge as political payback. The trial in the George Washington Bridge scandal, which is scheduled to open on Thursday with jury selection, will play out like a documentary on the rise and fall of Mr. Christie’s presidential ambitions, a tale of how he and his aides built his administration and his 2013 campaign with an eye to winning the White House, then scrambled to contain the damage as inquiries into the lane closings began to wreck those hopes. Mr. Christie has not been charged. But he will loom large in the story laid out by both sides in the courtroom. The governor is expected to be on a list of people who federal prosecutors say knew about the scheme to create gridlock in order to punish a mayor who had declined to endorse him. And while prosecutors have fought back against a defense lawyer’s assertion that the case is “criminalizing normal politics,” their argument in court filings is that the lane closings were precisely that: normal politics. At least, normal Christie politics — aggressively transactional and focused above all on winning. In the prosecutors’ portrayal — and defense lawyers do not really disagree — the Christie administration treated the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the $8 bistate agency that operates the bridge, as an arm of the governor’s campaign for a second term, using it to cajole mayors into endorsing Mr. Christie and to discipline them if they did not. An entire department of the governor’s office was focused on gaining the support of local officials, as Mr. Christie sought the sort of landslide victory that would allow him to argue that he was the Republican best able to take the White House. “It offers a glimpse at the kind of machinations that went into shaping a candidate with national ambitions,” said Brigid Callahan Harrison, a professor of political science and law at Montclair State University. “Not just all of the kind of inside politics that many people find really distasteful, but the enormous extent to which the administration would flex its muscles to paint Chris Christie as this candidate that had such broad appeal. ” Nearly three years after the mystery of the lane closings captivated New Jersey, the trial will finally answer big questions. Perhaps biggest of all: When and how did Mr. Christie know about the plan, as the prosecution’s star witness has said he did? And who else was involved? Mr. Christie was always expected to coast to victory in his 2013 bid. But he wanted to break the record set by his mentor, former Gov. Thomas H. Kean, who won with 69 percent of the vote. And he wanted to demonstrate to national Republicans that he could win crossover support from women, Hispanics, black voters and Democrats, even in a state where they far outnumber Republicans. Mark Sokolich, the mayor of Fort Lee, the town on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge, was 47th on a list of 100 Democratic mayors that the Christie administration was especially hoping to win over. On Aug. 13, 2013, after confirming with an aide who had tried to court the mayor that he was not going to support Mr. Christie, Bridget Anne Kelly, a deputy chief of staff to the governor, sent an email to David Wildstein, a Christie ally at the Port Authority: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee. ” They waited a month — to achieve maximum impact, prosecutors say — until the first day of school, in a week that included Yom Kippur and the Sept. 11 anniversary, and closed two of the three access lanes from Fort Lee to the bridge. They did not tell local officials, who were soon overwhelmed by traffic, with ambulances, school buses and commuters gridlocked for hours. Mr. Wildstein went to the bridge to admire his handiwork in person, and texted Ms. Kelly about children stuck on buses. “Is it wrong that I am smiling?” she replied. As drivers fumed, the Port Authority police instructed them to call Mayor Sokolich, who in turn called, emailed and texted Bill Baroni, Mr. Christie’s top appointee at the Port Authority. Mr. Baroni refused to respond, as did the governor’s office. “Radio silence,” Mr. Wildstein wrote to Mr. Christie’s campaign manager. The lanes were closed for four days, until the executive director of the Port Authority, an appointee of New York’s governor, discovered a query from a traffic columnist about the delays and ordered the lanes reopened. That November, Mr. Christie won his huge margin of victory, with 60 percent, though he fell short of Mr. Kean’s record. In his victory speech, he urged Washington to learn from his electoral success. But reporters, and the State Legislature, which Democrats control, continued to press questions about the bridge. The governor’s office and Port Authority officials said the lane closings were part of a traffic study Mr. Baroni told a legislative committee that not telling the mayor or local police had been a “communications breakdown. ” That story came apart in January 2014, when a legislative subpoena revealed Ms. Kelly’s email. Mr. Wildstein began to cooperate with federal prosecutors, and pleaded guilty in May 2015 to conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy against civil rights. Ms. Kelly and Mr. Baroni were indicted later the same day. Mr. Wildstein will be the witness to watch during their trial, at the federal courthouse in Newark. Once the author of a widely read and widely feared (and anonymous) political blog, he was hired to be a kind of enforcer at the Port Authority, as New Jersey sought to take back some of the power Mr. Christie believed had been shifted to New York. Court filings suggest that Mr. Wildstein will help the government establish the traffic jam as part of a pattern of retribution. Christie officials had punished another Democratic mayor, Steven Fulop of Jersey City (No. 34 on the administration’s list of 100 mayors) after he reneged on what they thought was a deal to support the governor. Mayor Fulop had represented a Port Authority tenant in its bid to get a lease extension. Mr. Wildstein and Mr. Baroni had helped him get the terms he wanted and Mr. Christie’s campaign manager urged them to “continue throwing the name around when discussing this with him,” so the mayor would understand that the governor had helped him, and expected help in return. When Mr. Fulop told the Christie campaign he would not give his endorsement, the administration canceled a special “mayor’s day” of meetings between Mr. Fulop and Port Authority and Christie administration officials. Mr. Wildstein also said early on that “evidence exists” that Mr. Christie knew about the lane closings as they were happening. Court filings suggest that at least part of that evidence may be photographs of Mr. Christie laughing with Mr. Baroni and Mr. Wildstein at a Sept. 11 memorial service that week, during which, Mr. Wildstein has said, the lane closings were discussed. “The photos will provide corroboration,” a court filing explains, before proceeding into a lengthy redaction. The names of other unindicted — people who joined in the conspiracy but are not charged — are likely to come out at the trial. There is another list, of people who knew about the conspiracy but did not join in it, which almost certainly includes Mr. Christie. It was unclear whether that means the governor knew about the plot before it began, as he has strenuously denied, or while it was going on, which he has vacillated about in his public comments. Mr. Christie did not respond to requests for comment about the list. And lawyers for Mr. Baroni and Ms. Kelly have said the two were hardly alone in planning the scheme or covering it up. In court papers, Mr. Baroni’s lawyer pointed out that Mr. Christie acknowledged, in an internal report on the lane closings, that canceling the meetings with Mr. Fulop had been his idea. The lawyer also revealed a text from another witness expected to testify for the government, Christina Genovese Renna, to a Christie campaign aide, sent during a January 2014 news conference when the governor said his senior staff and campaign chief, Bill Stepien, did not know about the lane closings. “He just lied about senior staff and Stepien not being involved,” Ms. Renna wrote. (Mr. Christie and Mr. Stepien’s lawyer say this does not prove any involvement.) Ms. Kelly, in her only public statement after the indictment, said it was absurd to suggest that she would act on her own to order the lane closings or cover them up. In her lawyer’s telling, the governor’s office was less worried about figuring out what had happened with the lane closings — the senior staff all knew exactly what happened, they say — and more concerned with figuring out what evidence existed, and how it might damage Mr. Christie’s national ambitions. It did. Significantly. Mr. Christie’s approval ratings in New Jersey, commanding when he was in 2013, fell, and they have lagged at record lows since the bridge scandal. Speaking to reporters last month, Mr. Christie played down the importance of the trial. “I know you guys all hope for this story to go on forever,” he said. “But unfortunately for you, I suspect by the time we get to October or so, it will finally be over. ” Opening arguments are scheduled for Sept. 19.	1
Turkey’s opposition parties are demanding a recount following Sunday’s referendum to install a presidential system of government greatly expanding the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. [The Republican People’s Party (CHP) the secularist main opposition party, has demanded a recount. On Sunday, the Turkish newspaper Sabah, which typically published stories, reported that the CHP would seek recounts of up to 40 percent of the votes cast, alleging that bribery and intimidation had occurred to keep the “yes” votes high. Reuters had reported the CHP’s recount demands to be higher — a 60 percent vote recount — arguing that a number of unverified ballots had made their way into the vote totals. The Turkish Supreme Election Board (YSK) the electoral oversight agency, had announced it would count as valid unverified ballots lacking an official YSK stamp required from the voting stations, unless individual claims of fraud arose against them. “This referendum will always be remembered as illegitimate,” CHP deputy leader Bülent Tezcan argued on Monda. “The only way to end ongoing discussions over the referendum’s legitimacy is to annul it. What is necessary is the annulment of this referendum. ” Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the CHP, also condemned the move to validate ballots after they are counted. “You cannot change the laws of the game during the match,” he argued. “The electoral body has made the referendum’s legitimacy disputed. ” Hurriyet cites CHP leaders who say they are building a case, including video of suspicious activity at voting stations, to bring to both the YSK and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The Democratic People’s Party (HDP) a leftist party, will also contest the results. “There were ballot papers without stamps on their backs. This shows no commitment to the laws of the election process,” HDP spokesperson Osman Baydemir protested, estimating that more than 600 ballot boxes that the YSK ended up counting were “illegal” because of their improper lack of stamping. The stridently HDP entered the referendum vote at a greater disadvantage than any other party. After the Turkish Parliament elected to strip HDP members of legislative immunity, police arrested the party’s Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş, on charges of “aiding terrorism” by allegedly supporting Kurdish separatist groups. Another dozen HDP members were arrested in November along with Yüksekdağ and Demirtaş. The Organization for Security and in Europe (OSCE) which sent international observers to follow the election, has already condemned the vote as illegitimate. “We observed the misuse of state resources, as well as the obstruction of ‘no’ campaign events. The campaign rhetoric was tarnished by some senior officials equating ‘no’ supporters with terrorist sympathizers,” Tana de Zulueta, who observed the election on the group’s behalf, said. Cezar Florin Preda, another observer, argued the referendum “took place on an unlevel playing field and the two sides of the campaign did not have equal opportunities. ” Even before Sunday’s election, Erdogan had reportedly condemned the OSCE for meddling in Turkish affairs. “The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe says if the result is ‘yes,’ that means there are a lot of problems. Who are you?” Erdogan asked on Saturday, according to Iran’s PressTV. “First of all, you should know your place. This is not your duty. ” Official Turkish government numbers showed Erdogan’s push for a presidential system won by 51. 4 percent of the vote, with an estimated 48. 6 percent of the country voting “no. ” Electoral maps showed Erdogan winning big in the nation’s heartland and suburban areas, but the “no” vote sweeping the big cities — Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir — and the largely Kurdish Southeast. Following his victory, Erdogan delivered a speech praising the country: “For the first time in the republic’s history, Turkey changed its governmental system through civilian means. ” He added that efforts to “belittle” the election results would “be in vain. ”	1
Donald Trump’s immigration reform is getting strong majority support from the public, despite the left’s portrayal of the policy as hateful and incompetent, and despite Democratic voters’ determination to obstruct the new president. [Reuters commissioned the poll and then tried to hide the resulting good news for Trump under a misleading headline, “Exclusive: Only a third of Americans think Trump’s travel ban will make them more safe. ” But the most direct question in the poll showed a advantage for Trump’s policy, of 48 percent support to 41 percent opposition. However, that “blocking refugees and banning people” question is an unreliable guide because most Americans want to help both their fellow Americans and foreign strangers. Also, Americans’ generous attitude ensures that they are often reluctant to display favoritism to their fellow nationals or opposition to foreign migrants, so pollsters often use indirect questions to tease out their hidden views. One indirect question used by Reuters’ pollster asked if the United States should “limit the number of refugees allowed into the country. ” That question scored 66 percent support to 26 percent opposition, showing overwhelming yet hidden support for Trump’s new policy of welcoming a limited inflow of refugees while excluding hostile migrants. Better still for Trump, the “strong” support for his policy was three times as large as the “strong” opposition, 32 percent to 10 percent, and the GOP voters’ response was very similar to the response from independents. Trump’s policy has ignited a debate on refugee inflows from Muslim majority countries. But the core part of Trump’s policy is a shift towards rejection of migrants whose culture and ideas are hostile to Americans’ traditions of personal independence and small government. Here is the critical passage from Trump’s immigration policy: In order to protect Americans, the United States must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its founding principles. The United States cannot, and should not, admit those who do not support the Constitution, or those who would place violent ideologies over American law. In addition, the United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred (including “honor” killings, other forms of violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice religions different from their own) or those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation. The American public’s contradictory emotions slide in various directions, depending on minor changes to questions. For example, when asked by Reuters’ pollster if the U. S. should “open our borders to refugees of foreign conflicts,” the percentage of respondents strongly supporting an apparently unlimited number of refugees jumped up to 19 percent, almost double the 10 percent in the prior “limit the number of refugees” question. That question and answer suggests that Americans do not recognize the “open borders” term as a for mass migration by 100 million people from Africa, Arabia and Asia. The new poll was conducted by Ipsos polling, from Jan. 30 to Jan. 31, on behalf Thomson Reuters. It included roughly 1, 201 adults, with 453 declared Democrats, 478 declared Republicans, and 149 declared independents. Many polls show that the public wants the federal government to cap or shrink immigration. For example, a September poll by Ipsos showed that only 12 percent of respondents strongly opposed plans to “change the legal immigration system to limit legal immigration. ” Four times as many, or 57 percent, back reductions in legal immigration, while 13 percent did not take a position. In 2016, under policies set by President Barack Obama, roughly one new immigrant or foreign joined the U. S. workforce for every two Americans who entered the workforce. Follow Neil Munro on Twitter @NeilMunroDC or email the author at NMunro@Breitbart. com	1
0 Add Comment SOME people fail to plan their purchase and use of fireworks to such an extent that they don’t have the most basic knowledge on how to blow their hand or the hand of a friend, family member or stranger off. Luckily WWN has compiled a handy guide on the matter, leaving no one in doubt as to how to make counting to 10 on your hands that much harder. Where to buy If you want to guarantee your hand will be blown off, any lad selling fireworks out of the back of a van should do the trick. Not only are the prices low, but he will enforce a strict ‘if you lose a finger, I’ll be fucked if it’s my fault’ policy. Name brands Make sure to buy cheap name brands with the fake CE quality mark. The less it looks like the really trustworthy brand’s logo the better. And if your local firework merchant has the latest ‘massive yoke and that makes a huge bang and that’ from China, be sure to purchase 10 and strap them together. Don’t go up the North The drive up can be a hassle, there’s a lad we know, who knows the lad selling them out the back of his van, you’d be mad to buy them in an actual shop. Cut the fuse shorter to add a bit of danger into your life The fuses on fireworks and bangers are notoriously long, the wait for the bang and fizz can be agonising. Why not add the threat of a life changing injury into proceedings and reduce that fuse. Still don’t feel the buzz of the danger? You could always glue that firework to your hand before lighting it.	0
When I was reading the news this morning, I discovered a quote that was so very ironic, I wanted to think that it was satire. But it wasn’t. The Clinton campaign had the audacity to say that the FBI has double standards. “It is impossible to view this as anything less than a blatant double standard,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said. He also called on Mr Comey to “immediately explain this incongruence and apply the same standard to Donald Trump’s associates as he has applied to Hillary Clinton’s.” ( source ) BWHAHAHA. LOL. ROTFL. Excuse me, I can’t stop laughing…a nervous, manic kind of laughter that also makes one of my eyes twitch. Why? This is coming from the spokesperson of a woman who is trying to pull in young voters and calling them “F*&$ing dumb” behind their backs. This is coming from the spokesperson of a woman who is trying to connect with the American people at the same time as saying she has no clue about real life due to her background. This is coming from the spokesperson of a woman who preaches honesty and integrity and practices neither, saying in a paid speech that sometimes you have to lie. I have never heard a more ridiculous, two-faced audacious comment in my whole life. And considering I write about politics, I’ve heard a lot over the years. Speaking of double standards, did you hear the latest about the re-opened email investigation? The incestuous connection between the Clinton campaign and the Department of Justice continues. The person in charge of the new investigation is none other than Peter Kadzik. Kadzik has a long history with both the Clinton family and campaign manager John Podesta. And by long, I mean… Kadzik represented John Podesta after he perjured himself during the Monica Lewinsky case Kadzik lobbied for Marc Rich, a fugitive that was pardoned by then-President Bill Clinton Kadzik led the effort to nominate Loretta Lynch as Attorney General Kadzik had a celebratory dinner with Podesta the day after the Benghazi hearings Kadzik denied a request from Republicans to appoint special counsel in the last Clinton email investigation Kadzik and Podesta appear from Wikileaks to be the best of friends, celebrating birthdays and other occasions together Those are some of the links between Kadzik and Clintonland – check out this very thorough report on Zero Hedge for all of the details. Can you imagine the hue and cry if Donald Trump’s nearest and dearest ran the investigation about his alleged links with Russia? How is this possibly okay? Open letter to Peter Kadzik After stumbling across Kadzik’s email address in an online group (by the way, it’s [email protected] – don’t they every learn about email security?) I sent this very polite email suggesting that he recuse himself from the investigation. Dear Mr. Kadzik: When I learned that you were to be the person in charge of the investigation into Huma Abedin and her emails, I was curious to learn about your connections. With just a teeny tiny bit of Googling, I was aghast to discover that you have a close friendship with John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager.I was further discomfited by the fact that you have direct connections with the Obamas and the Clintons themselves. While I’m sure you take your job very seriously, it seems to me a direct conflict of interest for you to handle this investigation. I strongly urge you to do the right thing and recuse yourself from overseeing this investigation. If you find the emails without merit, there was always be a cloud over your findings due to your close connections with the Clintons, President Obama, and Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. Please hand this over to independent investigators who can do this job without the appearance of bias. Sincerely, Daisy Luther Surprisingly, I’ve had no response to my courteous request. He’s probably out there busily finding a non-biased replacement. Delivered by The Daily Sheeple We encourage you to share and republish our reports, analyses, breaking news and videos ( Click for details ). Contributed by Daisy Luther of DaisyLuther.com .	0
Vice President Mike Pence delivered words of encouragement to the class of 2017 at the United States Naval Academy on Friday. He told them to look toward their future, to write a heroic story of service, selflessness, and leadership with their lives, and that President Donald Trump is the best friend the armed forces of the United States will ever have. [“People follow people they trust,” said Pence. He admonished the graduates to cultivate in themselves what he considers to be among the most important qualities of leadership: “humility, orientation to authority, and . ” He told them to consider others more important than themselves and to be servant leaders. As for the president, Pence said, “President Donald Trump is the best friend the armed forces of the United States will ever have,” promising the graduates that no matter where they serve, Trump will always have their backs. He said that he and the President pledge to provide the armed forces with the resources they need. “Let me be clear, the era of budget cuts of the armed forces of the United States is over,” said Pence. He mentioned the $54 billion increase in defense spending in the President’s FY2018 budget, noting that a portion is allocated to “rebuild[ing] the Navy with 8 new battle force ships headed for the sea. ” The Vice President stated that President Trump is reaffirming America’s role as leader of the free world. While we must always work and hope and pray for peace. The best way to ensure peace is for our adversaries and our enemies to know America is prepared to lead and fight and win any contest, any struggle, anywhere on behalf of freedom. He told the graduates that they will be the “instruments of American policy. ” President Trump is currently on his first trip overseas as president, visiting Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Vatican. While in Saudi Arabia, Trump pushed for countries to fight against terrorism, mentioning terror 31 times in his speech to Arab leaders. Pence commented that just yesterday the Navy conducted Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) in the South China Sea. The Vice President urged the graduates to “act every day not for self, but for country. ” Pence encouraged the graduates, “if you’re of a mind, have faith that He who planted this miracle of Democracy on these wilderness shores and has seen her through every trial and has seen you through the challenges of the last four years, will never leave you, never forsake you and that no matter where your path may lead, He will always be there to calm the storm and guide you home. ” He concluded, “May God bless you with fair winds and following seas. God bless the Navy and the Marines and God bless the United States of America. ” Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana	1
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: • Electoral map shrinks for Sanders and Cruz. After Donald J. Trump’s sweep of five primaries in Eastern states on Tuesday, and Hillary Clinton’s victories in four of five, there are few chances for Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders to catch up in the delegate count. Here are our takeaways and what the candidates said after the results. Both are looking ahead to the general election. Mr. Trump is giving a speech on foreign policy in Washington today, while Mrs. Clinton is sharpening her pitch for November. • On Capitol Hill. The Senate is near a deal for at least $1. 1 billion to fight the Zika virus, but the measure faces resistance from House Republicans. Despite lawmakers’ bickering, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, can point to some legislative victories, complete with Democratic support. • Sentencing for former House speaker. J. Dennis Hastert, 74, the Republican House speaker in history, is expected to be sentenced today in federal court, after pleading guilty last year to a banking violation tied to accusations of sexual abuse. One of his accusers is suing him for $1. 8 million, the money he had been promised as compensation for the abuse. • Taking their lumps. Apple posted its first quarterly decline in revenue in 13 years, hurt by a drop in iPhone sales in China, the company’s most important market after the U. S. The restaurant chain Chipotle had its first quarterly loss as a public company, and Exxon Mobil was stripped of its top credit rating for the first time since the Great Depression. • At the Supreme Court. The justices will consider an appeal today from Bob McDonnell, the former Virginia governor who was convicted of public corruption for trading political favors for gifts and loans. The case could produce a major ruling placing limits on bribery laws. In a decision on Tuesday, they said it was unconstitutional to demote a police officer based on the mistaken assumption that he had engaged in political activity. • Iraq in turmoil. Iraq’s Parliament has begun voting on a cabinet after protesters demanded government reforms and leaders untainted by corruption or sectarian connections. The political stalemate and the drop in prices of oil, the country’s main source of revenue, aren’t helping the effort to defeat Islamic State militants. • Police playbook gains a chapter. Police departments around the U. S. are turning to crisis intervention training in response to shootings of people with mental illnesses. percent or more of people fatally shot by the police have had a mental disorder. Separately, John R. Kasich often speaks about mental health on the campaign trail, and as his brother, Rick, has struggled with bipolar disorder. Rick Kasich gave us his first extended interview. • A Volkswagen executive’s 2006 PowerPoint presentation laid out a strategy for rigging pollution tests. • Comcast is in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation, the boutique studio run by Jeffrey Katzenberg. • The founder of Chobani, a yogurt maker, surprised his 2, 000 employees with shares worth up to 10 percent of the company. • Here are snapshots of the U. S. and global markets. • Prince left no will, sister says. In newly filed court documents, the musician’s sister says that he died without a spouse, children or surviving parents, and that he had no will. That will surely complicate his financial estate and musical legacy, which includes a trove of unreleased songs. • Gaining new insights. Runners now have an exact schedule that will predict how their performance will decline as they age. Police officers are using artworks in museums to sharpen their ability to notice details. • Scoreboard. The Toronto Raptors and Atlanta Hawks are each one win away from advancing in the N. B. A. playoffs after their victories on Tuesday night. There were no N. H. L. games, which meant hockey players could work on having a good night’s sleep. • U. S. math scores decline. The average performance of the nation’s high school seniors dropped in math from 2013 to 2015, but it held steady in reading, according to results of a test released today. • Recipes of the day. Make a big batch of oatmeal and you’ll have breakfast for days. Radish sandwiches are great for lunch or hors d’oeuvres. Or try this classic tuna sandwich. While some Americans may snicker at snooker, it’s one of Britain’s most popular games, with millions who play and who watch live coverage on the BBC, and it’s growing in countries like China. The annual World Snooker Championship continues this week in Sheffield, England. The winner Ronnie O’Sullivan was eliminated on Tuesday. Like cricket, another British creation, it has complicated rules. Snooker uses a larger table, and narrower pockets than the older game of billiards. It’s played with 15 red balls, a white cue ball and six balls of other colors. In short, once all 15 red balls have been pocketed, the colored balls — each worth a different number of points — must be sunk in a specific order. A “snooker” occurs when a player’s cue ball gets boxed in and can’t make contact with the ball he is next supposed to sink without fouling. The game was invented in 1875 by a British military officer stationed in India named Neville Chamberlain (no, not that Neville Chamberlain). At the time, the word snooker was a derisive term for a new cadet. The game is believed to have adopted the name because of the cadets’ susceptibility to crafty play. Your Morning Briefing is published weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern and updated on the web all morning. What would you like to see here? Contact us at briefing@nytimes. com. You can sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox.	1
in: Mainstream Media , Multimedia , Propaganda , Sleuth Journal , Special Interests , US News “There is no evidence that anything described on these tapes actually took place”– CNN News Analyst, Gloria Borger Now is the greatest time ever to wake up politically to what is really happening in America and in the world. It’s the perfect time to wake up and see the corrupt ruling elite in action and in real-time. Mass deception is at an all-time high. Every day the deceivers speak on TV, boldly telling us more and more lies without shame. Your enslavement is at stake and they are the chosen mouthpieces to make this happen. These master deceivers and sorcerers are the reason humanity is where it is today. They are the reason why the 9/11 criminals got away with it and they are the reason for the post-9/11 march toward the new world order that we are in now. They (the deceptive mainstream media) are the reason for the alternative media and for the truth movement. I’m sure most readers already know this very well. It only follows then that historic revelations and leaks of corruption and lawlessness call for historic lies, deceit and counter propaganda in order to implement some level of damage control. And frankly that is exactly what we are seeing coming from CNN and the rest of the (Hillary supporting liberal left) corporate media in response to the recent Project Veritas Action bombshell revelation of corruption videos produced by James O’Keefe. The video tells a very clear story of corruption going all the way up to the DNC and now Hillary herself. The video conversation cannot expose Hillary and the DNC any more right? We’re all thinking, there is no way around these very damning videos right? Actually, there is one thing about the ruling elite and their play-along stooges, there is no situation, no accusation, no video or audio proof, no firsthand testimony, no form of evidence that is too much for them to outright deny, discredit, downplay, ignore or deflect. None whatsoever. So as truth seekers, rather than getting upset with the tactics employed by the criminal elite and their minions, let’s admire them and list them for all of us to see. The following are just some of the excuses and tactics being employed by the talking heads; in this case I will only quote two individuals from a recent CNN panel discussing the topic of the new revelations of Clinton, DNC corruption. First there’s Gloria Borger- CNN Chief Political Analyst who appears to be the “expert” propagandist being rolled out in front of the CNN cameras. The other being Van Jones- Clinton supporter and former Obama senior adviser. The quotes from these two individuals are not just a display of propaganda but examples of professional political damage control. That is, lies to keep the masses confused and in the dark to what is really happening: Below are some of Gloria Borger’s recent statements followed by my responses. 1- “We don’t know where the video was gotten” Since when does CNN carefully check their sources? Truth seekers that challenge the mainstream media’s sources all the time get accused of being “conspiracy theorists”, of “harassing” fake victim’s families and they get treated like criminals. All that aside, sorry Borger, but the source of the video is not the issue here to begin with. What is seen happening in the video and what is being said in the video is the main issue. We’re talking about DNC-Hillary associated criminals talking in front of the camera about things no one is supposed to know about corruption inside the Hillary-DNC team but now they do. 2- “We don’t know how it (the video) was edited” With this statement, senior CNN political analyst Gloria Borger attempts to push the conspiracy (without her actually saying it) that perhaps these videos are a fabrication with carefully constructed fake voice-overs, perhaps photoshopped images and video special effects that make this situation look like it’s really happening when it’s not. You know. The kind of stuff that THEY (the controllers) would do. Again, the authenticity of the video is not the issue. Remember this is the same CNN that tried to sell us on the laughable Bin Laden death hoax videos of 2011 and the fake ISIS beheadings in 2014. Did CNN question the authenticity of these videos? Now all of sudden all videos are hoaxes until somehow confirmed by CNN to be “authentic”. This may quietly be the most stunning thing Borger says here. Notice how they are slowly ushering a world where a firsthand video produced by we-the-people or the average person which SHOWS you their corruption is by default not “authentic” until proven otherwise by them (the mainstream media)! 3- “There are so many unanswered questions to this story” Really? What unanswered questions? This is Borger’s way of suggesting that there is a pile of “questions” out there that are not being asked that would immediately change the context of the reality of these damning videos. Of course we’re never told what are these “questions”. It’s like they are borrowing this term from the truth movement to defend themselves. When critical thinking truth seekers say they (we) have “questions” our questions are concrete and definitive. Borger thus floats the idea of “unanswered questions” without the need to be specific knowing that the concept of having “questions” sounds fundamentally very reasonable. 4- “You see this story, um, it first appears in Breitbart…” Again, Borger is appealing to the viewers emotions and hearts instead of their critical thinking mind by resorting to the notion that if the story first appeared on a website that our viewers are told not to believe or trust (“one of our enemies”) then the whole story is questionable solely on this premise. These are all tactics from a pro who knows how to twist the narrative to deceive the viewers who follow them. Of course Borger knows she’s blowing smoke at her viewers and that attacking the messengers in this case has no merit given the context of these videos but that’s all part of the propaganda tactic. 5- “I think however this is a story that needs a lot more reporting on it” As mentioned earlier, Borger is implying without actually saying it that since CNN or the Hillary-mainstream complex hasn’t acknowledged the videos then as a whole we are far from the point of being able to say these videos and thus the evidence in the videos are authentic. Because of this previously suggested delusional lie Borger adds to the point by suggesting that THEREFORE “a lot more reporting” needs to be done. In other words she’s saying- yeah, we’ve seen the videos but since CNN hasn’t approved it yet, who knows how real it actually is ? Now here is a statement made by Van Jones who adds his own layer of super damage control propaganda: 6 – Jones states that because the report comes from James O’Keefe that ALONE (get this) is “reason to withhold judgment”! Throughout the CNN report O’Keefe is repeatedly referred to as “discredited” and a “criminal” by several members of the CNN panel including Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and CNN Senior Investigative Correspondent Drew Griffin who tries to sound official when he announces the DNC official response that: 7 –“There is no evidence that anything described on these tapes actually took place” It’s amazing how the professional liars attempt to side-step reality in a generation (today in 2016) where the ruling elite are desperately trying to keep the masses dumbed-down smack in the middle of a historic information age where all corruption is now being fully revealed. How do you side-step reality under these circumstances? Question the authenticity of any evidence that exposes what you are doing. This is apparently the strategy including brushing off the revelations as “locker room talk” , another new term we can expect to see used much more frequently in the future (including “bar room talk” etc). The “locker room talk” tactic allows them to take anything said on camera and insert it into this imaginary box, the “locker room talk” box. The sheep will accept the new term not even knowing why. Because it’s what George Orwell described as newspeak . This was the biggest thing that jumped out at me after watching this CNN segment posted by Project Veritas Action. It doesn’t matter how much corruption and evil they (we) expose. We now know exactly how the establishment will respond every time. They will question the authenticity of that new revelation, they will demonize the messenger who exposes them, they will look to press criminal charges if possible on whoever exposes them, and they will present the evidence as “unproven” until they themselves approve of it. Then they will ratchet up their own counter “leaks” and allegations (beware, we should be expecting a huge counter propaganda move very soon!!) as a counterattack and to distract the public from the Clinton leaks that are coming out seemingly every day now. This, my friends, is how professional political propaganda works. This is similar to the careful skill and delicacy involved in the “plausible deniability” tactic described by Scott Foval in the recent videos. It’s subtle and it’s a skillful way of doing something without showing the strings that connect to the puppet master giving the orders, in this case Hillary and the DNC. What all of this means is that it really is time for everyone to wake up and realize once and for all that the mainstream media is constantly lying to us and we can’t expect them to turn on their own kind. We can’t expect the mainstream media to take our side and help us expose the corruption when they themselves are a large part of that corruption. It really is time to spread this awareness and to truly prepare for a new paradigm which is already well underway. Let’s signal to these liars at CNN that they are exposed and their time is coming. There is too much goodness in humanity for the dark and oppressive mainstream media led machine to continue doing what its doing to humanity. Their lies and deceit must be exposed. Endless wars must stop. The US empire and their global propaganda and information control must be acknowledged for what it is. Thankfully, one of the little things all of us can control which is very effective is our ability to share this information and help spread it across the globe. Let’s do that! Submit your review	0
The Times of Israel reports: BEIRUT, Lebanon — Dozens of Syrian students on Saturday gathered outside the offices of the United Nations in Damascus to protest a US missile attack on an air base. The protesters held banners and chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel. ”[One of the banners they carried read: “The Iraqi scenario will not be repeated in Syria. ” They were referring to the 2003 invasion of Iraq after Washington accused Saddam Hussein of hiding weapons of mass destruction — a belief that later turned out to be incorrect. University student Ashraf Fadel said he came to denounce “the unjust American aggression against Syria. ” He added that the UN was “created to support America instead of serving the wronged people. ” Tensions skyrocketed this week after an alleged chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government killed dozens of people. Read more here.	1
Don’t eat burnt toast or fish ‘n’ chips or over crispy roast potatoes — or you may end up getting cancer, a UK government agency has warned. [According to the warning by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) issued today in a campaign launched on its website, these foods should be avoided because they all contain higher levels of acrylamide, a chemical which has caused cancer in mice. The campaign — called Go For Gold — says that acrylamide is produced when starchy foods such as bread and potatoes are cooked for long periods at higher temperatures such as baking, frying, grilling, toasting, and roasting. The FSA claims: The scientific consensus is that acrylamide has the potential to cause cancer in humans. Which, according to its critics, is precisely the kind of junk science which gives junk science a bad name. As Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs says, this is a classic case of “mission creep” from a government agency. “They should be dealing with real safety issues like the handful of restaurants who are putting out genuinely dangerous food,” he said. “This sort of thing undermines public faith in scientific advice and terrifies people. “People just don’t know what to eat anymore because they’re not being given clear advice. ” Indeed. Neither Cancer Research UK nor the European Food Standards Agency have been able to find a major health risk issue, despite their best efforts. The quango was set up in 2000 under Tony Blair in response to a spate of food poisonings in restaurants. Few would argue that ensuring basic standards of hygiene and safety in the food supply is a legitimate public health goal, but the FSA soon got bored of that and became part of the nanny state. Amongst its dubious achievements are telling football fans to substitute sparkling water and grapes for beer and crisps when watching the World Cup, defining cheese as ‘junk food’ and lobbying for bans on advertising. It is a classic example of bureaucratic expansion. As its mission crept, its budget grew, and although it has been trimmed somewhat in the era of austerity its annual income exceeds £130 million and it apparently still has time to tell people not to fluff their roast potatoes.	1
Hundreds of thousands of service workers are planning an labor strike for May 1, BuzzFeed reported Saturday. [Nearly 350, 000 workers plan to strike President Trump’s agenda on International Workers’ Day on May 1. More than 300, 000 food chain workers and 40, 000 unionized service workers will walk off the job that day, according to a coalition of groups leading the strike. Multiple thousands of employees from the Service Employees International Union and United Service Workers West, led by David Huerta, will strike. “We understand that there’s risk involved in that,” Huerta told BuzzFeed News, “but we’re willing to take that risk in order to be able to move forward in this moment, while the most marginalized are in the crosshairs of this administration. ” A statement announcing the strike says that participants will be rejecting Trump’s policies on immigration and what they say is his “agenda of hate and greed. ” “We need to show this Administration, Congress and large corporate interests that our human and economic worth is more powerful than their agenda of hate and greed,” the statement reads. “Opposing Trump is not enough. We must stop him. ” The last time there was a major strike of this magnitude was when the first Day Without Immigrants took place in 2006.	1
Tatiana Ricardo is a single mother of four children, including two who have special needs. Her days mostly consist of cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and taking the children to and from school. But to Ms. Ricardo, “It’s all worth it. I’d do anything for them. ” Someday, she says, she would like to open her own day care center. Ms. Ricardo, 31, was born in the Dominican Republic. At age 11, she went to live with her mother in the Bronx. While growing up in a different country had its challenges, like being bullied for not being able to speak English at first, it taught Ms. Ricardo how to be strong and independent — traits she hopes to pass on to her children. Nashali, 11, is the oldest and loves to dance. Analie, who is 7 and a big fan of the movie “Frozen,” has a learning disability that she has been working to overcome with speech and occupational therapy. Michael was found to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (A. D. H. D.) three years ago. And then there is Xavier, who Ms. Ricardo said is “just a happy kid and always laughing. ” The older children also participate in a local runners’ club, which allows them to channel their energy into something productive. The family’s living situation changed last year after Xavier was born. Ms. Ricardo was able to find an affordable apartment in the Bronx, but it lacked proper furniture. The Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, a beneficiary agency of of New York, which is one of the organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, used $1, 198 in Neediest Cases funds to buy a bunk bed and a dining set. All donations made to the Neediest Cases Fund go to one of eight charities: Brooklyn Community Services Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New York Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens The Children’s Aid Society Community Service Society of New York Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies of New York and the International Rescue Committee. To help, please make checks payable to The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund and send them to P. O. Box 5193, New York, N. Y. 10087. Donations may be made with a credit card at or online at nytimes. .	1
November 1, 2016 Israel to build new settler homes in Shiloh, despite US objections Israel intends to move ahead with plans to construct 98 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Shiloh, despite harsh United States objections to the plan. On Monday the state informed the High Court of Justice it awaited final bureaucratic approval to develop the site within six months as a relocation option for the 40 families from the Amona outpost.	0
VIDEO : Rudy Giuliani “POLICE AND FBI KNOW CLINTON IS CORRUPT” VIDEO : Rudy Giuliani “POLICE AND FBI KNOW CLINTON IS CORRUPT” Videos By TruthFeedNews November 4, 2016 Rudy Giuliani speaks with Sean Hannity and discusses Crooked Hillary’s OBVIOUS CRIMES that should be disqualifying. Watch the video: Support the Trump Movement and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter.	0
Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Iger has quit his role on President Donald Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum in the wake of the president’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. [In a brief statement on his Twitter account, the executive said he would resign his position on the advisory council as a “matter of principle. ” As a matter of principle, I’ve resigned from the President’s Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal. — Robert Iger (@RobertIger) June 1, 2017, “Protecting our planet and driving economic growth are critical to our future, and they aren’t mutually exclusive,” Iger said in another statement issued through Disney. “I deeply disagree with the decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and, as a matter of principle, I’ve resigned from the President’s advisory council. ” Iger — who was a major contributor to former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful campaign — became the latest executive to resign his position from the council, after Tesla founder Elon Musk also announced he would quit the council in the wake of Trump’s decision. “Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” Musk tweeted Thursday. Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 1, 2017, President Trump announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris agreement in a speech from the White House Rose Garden Thursday afternoon. “This agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the United States, ” Trump explained. “I was elected to help the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris. ” The President’s Strategic and Policy Forum was established by Trump in December. The council is chaired by Blackstone CEO and Stephen A. Schwartzman and also includes JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, General Electric CEO Jack Welch, Boeing President and CEO Jim McNerney, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon and several other business and industry leaders. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum	1
By Joe Clark Crime , Election 2016 , Politicians Behaving Badly , Politics , Videos November 1, 2016 If You Thought The Trump Child Rape Case In NY Couldn’t Get Much Worse — You Were Wrong On November 9, 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump could become the first president-elect to be named as a defendant in a child rape case. A woman named Katie Johnson filed a 100 million dollar federal lawsuit against Trump in a New York federal court this summer. Johnson filed a similar federal lawsuit in California on May 2, but her case was thrown out due to a clerical error. The alleged victim later refiled her case in a New York federal court. Johnson accuses Trump along with his long time friend Jeff Epstein, who’s also a billionaire financier and convicted sex offender, of raping a woman when she was only 13-years-old in 1994. In a court affidavit, the alleged victim, who is identified in court documents as “Jane Doe,” said that Trump hit her and raped her while she was tied to a bed in Epstein’s posh upper east side New York apartment. Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting sex from an underage girl. He served 13 months of an 18-year prison term before being released. In the affidavit, Johnson also mentions that Trump threatened her life. The alleged victim’s accounts are corroborated by two witnesses (identified in court records as “Joan Doe” and “Tiffany Doe”), who allegedly worked as “party planners” for Epstein. “I personally witnessed four sexual encounters that the Plaintiff was forced to have with Mr. Trump during this period, including the fourth of these encounters where Mr. Trump forcibly raped her despite her pleas to stop,” Tiffany Doe alleges . Tiffany Doe also claimed to have witnessed Trump force Jane Doe and an unidentified 12-year-old girl (identified in court records as Maria) to perform oral sex on him, then continue to physically abuse the girls after the act concluded. In court documents, Tiffany Doe said that part of her job was to “personally witness and supervise encounters between the underage girls that Mr. Epstein hired and his guests.” According to the former “party planner,” both Trump and Epstein threatened Jane Doe if she ever revealed what they had done. They used Maria’s disappearance as collateral that they would make good on their threat, implying that they had the girl murdered. “I personally witnessed Defendant Trump telling the Plaintiff that she shouldn’t ever say anything if she didn’t want to disappear like the 12-year-old female Maria, and that he was capable of having her whole family killed,” Tiffany Doe alleged. When Tiffany Doe stopped working for Epstein in 2002, she said the billionaire threatened to kill her and her family if she ever came forward about his activities. “I fully understand that that the life of myself and my family is now in grave danger,” she said. A federal judge has ordered a hearing concerning Johnson’s case to be held on December 16. Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images Share this Article!	0
This post was originally published on this site About a hundred activists from the Ukrainian nationalist “Svoboda” party and several public organizations, on 17.11.16 in Kiev picketed the building of the constitutional court of Ukraine, which hosted a hearing on the fate of the “language law of Kivalov-Kolesnichenko” . Protesters held posters saying: “We will speak in Ukrainian so that Russia does not ‘defend’ Russian-speakers” “Don’t arrange yourself for someone else’s language in your own country” “Russian language is the weapon of Moscow, don’t speak in Imperial!” “The law on language Putin-Kivalov – in the trash!” “One language, One nation! One Ukraine!” “A United Ukraine, where there is only one national language” “Oust russifiers from state posts” “Let’s put an end to Russification!” “Down with Moscow’s written law of Kivalov-Kolesnichenko” “Only the evil enemies of Ukraine support Moscow language, Russian world, war!” “Let’s defend the Ukrainian language, it’ll be a native state” Deputies and public figures addressed those who gathered. “There, where there is the Russian language, there are occupiers,” said the Deputy of the Kiev City Council from “Svoboda” Igor Miroshnichenko” in his speech. “There, where there is Russian language, there are separatists and the ‘Russian world’, which the enemy with weapons comes to defend. There are no allusions that Moskals can trample our land. That’s why it is necessary to do everything to make on our land Russian-speakers to disappear, like ‘dew in the sun’. Russian language in Ukraine can only be in one status, it should be superfluous. It clings to our children like garbage – in schools, on the street, on television, in the media. That’s why it is necessary to do everything to throw this garbage out of our house. Russian language is needed in order to interrogate the occupiers. Russian language is needed in order to understand the intentions of the enemy. It is those who work in the security services who must possess it. Unfortunately, in our special services the Russian language is used.” T he Deputy compared the condition of the Ukrainian language in Ukraine and, in particular, the quota for Ukrainian content on radio and television, with a ghetto. “While it’s Russian language that we must drive into the ghetto, Russian songs. I want for them such ghettos in Ukraine that they were creating centuries back for us in their land. We don’t want to create ghettos in their house. You want to sing in Russian – go to Moscow”, he said. Another Kiev Deputy from “Svoboda” Yury Sirotyuk demand the President not to be busy with his chocolate factory in Lipetsk, but with national security – a key issue of which is language. Writer Larisa Nitsoy described her fight against the Russian language in the school where her child in studying. Copyright © 2016. All Rights Reserved. Related	0
by Yves Smith The law firm Akin Gump issued a warning that might chill the bones of some private equity general partners: clawbacks may be a-comin’. From the firm’s website : In recent months, managers of private equity funds in the energy sector have been facing a scenario they likely never imagined: having to return millions of dollars of their “carried interest” earnings back to investors. For newbies to this private equity practice, private equity funds typically pay the profit share, prototypically 20% once a target rate of return has been met. What creates the possibility of a clawback is the fact that for most US funds, the profit computation and any payouts are made every time a portfolio company is sold. By contrast, in “European” deals, the carry fees are paid only at the end of the fund’s life. The conventional US approach, combined with strong general partner incentives to realize profits on at least some promising deals early in the fund’s life, means that the general partners can pay themselves carry fees that are more than they deserved once the impact of doggy companies, which are sold late in the fund’s life, are factored in. Hence the limited partnership agreements provide for “clawbacks,” as in the recovery of overpayments of carry fees. Yet as we’ve written, clawbacks are almost never paid in practice. Why? First, the clawback provisions have tax language that is very favorable to the general partners, and has the economic effect that they can hang on what are excessive carry fees based on raw cash flows. Second, possession is 9/10ths of the law. In those instances where the general partner owes limited partner clawbacks, the general partner usually goes to the limited partners and offers them a special deal (details often unspecified!) on their next fund. Needless to say, this approach has the desirable effect of pre-committing those limited partners. Akin Gump flagged specifically the lousy performance of some unnamed energy funds. In light of the discussion above, the limited partners have been sufficiently burned that they have no intention of investing in energy funds any time soon, and may also be willing to be atypically forceful about getting money back. Recall that limited partners fetishize maintaining friction-free relationships with general partners. Again from the firm’s missive: Several energy-related funds that were formed in nascent stages of the boom now have terms ending during collapse-protracted downturns. Managers may feel as though they could recoup some losses if they could delay liquidating assets until oil recovers further. Many fund agreements provide for a one or two year extension of the fund’s investment period at the manager’s discretion; however, to the extent that this option has already been exhausted, some managers are now going back to investors to seek additional time and, potentially, additional capital. To placate investors in such cases, a manager may need to reduce or eliminate management fees charged to a fund for the duration of any extension period. Unfortunately, apart from extending a fund’s investment or harvest period, managers have little recourse after a fund’s inception. In other words, Mr. Market did not bail these funds out and a day of reckoning is coming. Interestingly, Akins Gump uses pain in the oil patch to argue that general partners should consider building in better means for assuring that general partners can pay clawbacks back if they are due and owing. What this document reveals is that limited partners have signed up for clawback agreements that are likely to be empty in practice. The money went years ago into the firm’s carry pool, and hence for payouts to senior and mid-level staffers. The top dogs may have tied the money up in investments or property (houses, art) that they can’t readily liquidate. Or the funds may be beyond their reach entirely by having gone to outlays (political fundraising or a campaign, big gifts to charities) or an ex-wife. People below the senior level may have moved on. And perhaps as important, all the true partners (owners of the management company) have vis-a-vis everyone else who is in the firm is moral suasion. How far do you think that is going to go in getting people to write checks to disgorge monies they banked or worse spent, years ago? What is striking about the Akins Gump article is that the firm is giving what amounts to marketing rather than legal advice: The best way a manager can avoid the predicament of having to return a large sum to investors in respect of a clawback is to build preventative measures into the organizational documents of the fund or the vehicle earning the carry at the outset (i.e., escrows at the carry level or the contractual ability to get any distributions back from employees). Mind you, the private equity business has been around for 40 years, and has had large and supposedly savvy institutional investors for 30 plus years. The general partners have always been expose to the risk of paying clawbacks when their limited partnership agreements allow for them. So what is different now? Perhaps it is that investors are more acutely aware of the risk of investing at the peak of cycle than in the past, and the example of what happened to energy funds has made them realize that they could see problems like that on a broader basis. Moreover, given that the mainstream media is much less reverential in its treatment of private equity than in the past, if a meaningful minority of funds were to post overall crappy returns, resulting in meaningful clawbacks due, the press is more likely to expose the failure of investors like public pension funds to get insistent about getting their money back. Limited partner suing general partners is unheard of, but in a weak returns environment, private equity would no longer be a “must have” portfolio allocation. So Akins Gump appears to be alerting the industry to a risk that they had been able to cavalierly ignore that may start to bite them. And another reason for concern: Further, although Section 956 of the Dodd-Frank Act relating to executive compensation could impose a mandatory return-of-incentive compensation scheme on certain financial institutions, it is unlikely that the proposed rules, in their current formulation, would apply to carried interest distributions, but they are subject to further clarification. The suggestions acknowledge that money-driven private equity professionals wouldn’t be happy with a “wait until the dust has settled” European structure. Some of the ideas include escrowing some carry but not so much as to demotivate staffers (30% was the suggested level), interim clawbacks that require the general partner “to reckon with any shortcomings as they occur.” A modified deal-by-deal structure would require the general partner to tally up losses and writedowns and earn back the shortfall before any more carry could be paid. Akins Gump curiously omitted another option: a performance bond. It’s not hard to imagine that Wall Street firms would be willing to insure this risk (or at least after the general partners paid a first loss amount) for a suitable fee. Nevertheless, this alert to general partners, as occurs so routinely in private equity, illustrates how remiss the limited partners have been. It would be gratifying if the underlying assumption in the Akins Gump piece were correct, that the deterioration in private equity profit generation is leading to contract terms becoming less one-sided in favor of general partners. But given the degree of complacency among limited, don’t expect these changes to take place any time soon. 0 0 0 0 0 0	0
Financial Markets , Market Manipulation , U.S. Economy accounting fraud , Elon Musk , Tesla , TSLA admin Tesla created massive confusion in the financial reporting and analyst community by allegedly coming clean and report actual GAAP quarterly financial results for its 3rd quarter. But of course, just like the entire U.S. Banana Republic, the use of extreme obfuscation, deceit, propaganda and lies once again is the norm with Tesla’s quarterly report. TSLA’s use of revenue recognition, deferred revenue and operating leases and its definition of “free cash flow” are enough to create a dedicated forensic accounting case study at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, where I did indeed nearly ace a forensic accounting course. I don’t have enough time to lay out all of specifics and I’m not getting paid to write this blog post – but suffice it to say that several items in Tesla’s financials this quarter serve as big red flag warning flares. Of course, the market probably won’t care, as it seems that the market cap of a company’s stock is directly proportional to the grandiosity of the Company’s accounting abuse and fraud. And there’s no one in DC to enforce the laws already in place that are designed to prevent this fraud because the guys running these companies make substantial contributions to the Establishment politicians – just ask Jeff Bezos and Hillary Clinton. But I’ll point out some of the glaring problems in TSLA’s “GAAP” accounting based on cursory sleuthing. First and foremost, in his description of the results for the quarter, Musk stated that “residual lease risk” exposure was 32% of deliveries, down from 36% in Q2. But this is a highly deceptive metric. IN FACT , deferred revenue as a percentage of total revenue for the quarter soared to 61.4% from 44% in Q2. Deferred revenue is the amount of revenue that is subject to “residual risk” from leasing financing. This number is found on the liability side of the balance sheet. The deferred revenue liability account went from $558 million in Q2 to $1.4 billion in Q3. This is a huge jump in amount of risk-infused lease-based financing used to generate sales. In and of itself, using deferred revenue accounting to this degree is highly subjective and susceptible to fraudulent risk assumptions. But the fact that Musk tries to mask the truth by using a bogus metric to make it seem like TSLA’s exposure to the residual risk embedded in the profoundly questionable leases used to generate revenues and unit sales is a loud signal that there’s fraud embedded in TSLA’s “GAAP” financials. When you look at what is being reported as “GAAP operating income” consider that a huge proportion of that income is subject to the risk of coming back at the company in form of “one-time” GAAP charges which result from having to reverse out a large portion of the “GAAP” revenues when the value attached to the cars that will likely come flying back at TSLA when the leases expire is substantially lower than the amount guaranteed by TSLA. This “GAAP” presentation makes a farce of bona fide accounting standards. Another huge red flag is the huge jump in accounts payable. In June, accounts payable were 87% of revenues. But by September, accounts payable were more than 100% of revenues. The only reason TSLA would stretch out its payables like this is if it needed the cash. Not paying bills for a company like TSLA is a source of free financing. But this is an extreme slow-down in bill payments. There’s no way to know for sure what’s going on, but something is wrong. A third huge red flag is the way in which Musk throws around the term “free cash flow.” His definition is just as fraudulent as Amazon.con’s definition. At this point in time, because TSLA has only released an 8k which does not contain an GAAP statement of cash flows, there’s no way to know the amount of free or negative free cash flow attributable to TSLA’s operations. That is, “free cash flow” in the context of the deceitful manner in which TSLA’s financials are presented. Having said that, Musk states in the 8k that TSLA generated “positive free cash flow.” No, Elon, you did not. Buried in the 8k is a section titled, “selected cash flow information.” He lays out his definition of “free cash flow” showing $176 million defined as cash flows provided by operating activities less capex. The GAAP definition of free cash flow, however, also includes debt repayment and other sundry items that drain cash. We won’t know the full extent of these items until the 10Q is released. However, TSLA reported that it payed down $178 million on its borrowing facilities. Using GAAP free cash flow, this takes Elon free cash flow negative. Furthermore, if TSLA had maintained accounts payable at 86% of revenues, this would have sucked another $324 million of cash from TSLA’s operations, leaving the Company with a free cash flow deficit of $326 million. There’s a lot more going on with TSLA’s operations that is deceitful, if not outright fraudulent. This is just the “low hanging fruit.” At some point the capital markets will stop funding this fraud and that’s when the fun begins. Of course, by that time insiders will have sucked $100’s of millions of wealth out this Company that will never be retrievable. In just the last 12 months, insiders have unloaded 4.1 million shares, or roughly $860 million worth of stock. Oh wait, there was one open market purchase of stock by an insider of a whopping 1,394 shares. It’s my view the idiotic shareholders who give money to TSLA deserve what they’ll get eventually. But then again, many of them are sheeple who have placed trust in financial fiduciaries, like pension managers and investment advisors, to invest their savings. Share this:	0
ISLAM NOT WELCOME: Obama just got TERRIBLE NEWS – THIS could END his MUSLIM “REFUGEE” Program… FOREVER! Oct 28, 2016 Previous post The brilliant lawyers at Judicial Watch just did something that is sending SHOCK WAVES through the Obama White House. They are filling official requests to learn every detail about President Barack Obama’s illegal and unconstitutional plan to import thousands of Muslim Syrian “refugees” into America. And they are already taking Obama to court to force him to turn over this information. This bold legal action will expose Obama’s corruption to sunlight, and could quickly be the end of the Syrian refugee program. Incredible! Judicial Watch is suing the Department of State for documents related to President Barack Obama’s Refugee and Resettlement program as part of an investigation into the Obama administration’s plan to admit at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next year, the conservative foundation announced Monday. The suit was filed in Washington, D.C., after the State Department failed to respond to two Freedom of Information Act requests from Judicial Watch in 2015. In May, Judicial Watch sought records related to the State Department’s agreements and interactions with voluntary agencies that help place and assist new refugees. In September, Judicial Watch sought records regarding an August meeting between State Department representatives and a South Carolina non-profit. “The Obama administration doesn’t want Americans to know about how it places refugees from terrorist states in their local communities,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton says in a statement Monday. “The fact we had to file a federal lawsuit to obtain basic information about Obama’s FOR ENTIRE ARTICLE CLICK LINK	0
WASHINGTON — The Trump White House appears to have backed off for now on its consideration of reopening overseas “black site” prisons, where the C. I. A. once tortured terrorism suspects, after a leaked draft executive order prompted bipartisan pushback from Congress and cabinet officials. On Thursday, the White House circulated among National Security Council staff members a revised version of the draft order on detainees that deleted language contemplating a revival of the C. I. A. prisons, according to several officials familiar with its contents. The draft order retains other parts of the original that focus on making greater use of the military’s Guantánamo Bay prison, which the Obama administration had tried to close. Those sections, reflecting repeated vows from President Trump, include a call to bring newly captured terrorism detainees there and to freeze plans for any more transfers. After news outlets reported details of the original draft on Jan. 25, lawmakers erupted in outrage, and both the defense secretary, Jim Mattis, and the C. I. A. director, Mike Pompeo, disavowed any prior knowledge of the contemplated order. Elisa Massimino, the president of Human Rights First, who had been among those who criticized the original draft, praised the revisions. “It sounds like a smart reaction to the reaction to the leaked draft,” she said. “Transparency is a good corrective to overreach, and it provides the opportunity for more careful consideration of the broader implications of an order like this. ” In addition to the change on C. I. A. prisons, the revised draft, unlike the original, would not revive a 2007 executive order issued by President George W. Bush, and later rescinded by President Barack Obama, that laid out a limited understanding of which torture techniques count as war crimes under the Geneva Conventions. Such a move would reduce the legal risk to interrogators who employ harsh tactics not on that list, like prolonged sleep deprivation. The revised draft would also not revoke two executive orders governing detainees that Mr. Obama issued in January 2009, as the original would have. The first bars the C. I. A. from operating prisons and requires all interrogators to adhere to techniques approved in the Army Field Manual. The other was Mr. Obama’s directive to close the Guantánamo prison within a year. However, the revised draft is said to have a provision asserting that all contradictory sections of previous orders are revoked, which would implicitly repeal the part of Mr. Obama’s Guantánamo order that declared an intention to close the prison by the deadline. The revised draft was circulated inside the National Security Council on Thursday, with a deadline for concurring or providing comment by Friday, one official said. The official said the draft had been held much more closely than the original one had been, apparently to prevent further leaks. The White House had distributed its original draft executive order on detainees in an email to council staff members at 8:41 a. m. on Jan. 24, giving them until 10 that morning to provide any comment. It was one of at least five significant draft orders distributed to them at the same time and with the same quick deadline, two of which Mr. Trump signed in the next few days. The staff members urged the White House to slow down and get input from affected agencies and departments. They forwarded the email with the draft executive order on detainees to other officials in the government, who provided it to still other people, until it was leaked. The text of the original draft was first reported by The New York Times on Jan. 25. In response to the news reports, the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, falsely said that the draft was not a “White House document. ” After The Times then reported details about when and how the White House had circulated it, Mr. Spicer said that it had not been “derived from White House sources” and suggested that its origins traced to input provided to the Trump transition effort. As BuzzFeed reported, the Trump draft order had lifted verbatim sections from a draft order written in 2012 by policy advisers to the Mitt Romney campaign. But the language in the Trump White House version had been revised, including to take account of subsequent legal and geopolitical developments and to substitute terms like “fight against radical Islamism” for “global war on terrorism. ” By Jan. 27, Mr. Trump foreshadowed that his flirtation with reviving a C. I. A. interrogation program had come to an end, at least for the time being. At a news conference, Mr. Trump said that while he personally supported waterboarding and thought torture worked, Mr. Mattis, who opposes torture, “will override because I’m giving him that power. ”	1
We Are Change Published on Oct 29, 2016 In this video Luke Rudkowski interview pioneer journalist Mike Cernovich about the rise of Donald Trump and fall of Hillary Clinton. We go over Mike’s predictions for this election and our political social landscape has changed and will never be the same again. To find out more about Mike check out https://twitter.com/Cernovich ————————————————————————————————- Support WeAreChange by Subscribing to our channel HERE http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c… Visit our main site for more breaking news http://wearechange.org/ Patreon https://www.patreon.com/WeAreChange?a… SnapChat: LukeWeAreChange Facebook: https://facebook.com/LukeWeAreChange Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange Instagram: http://instagram.com/lukewearechange Rep WeAreChange Merch Proudly: http://wearechange.org/store OH YEAH since we are not corporate or government WHORES help us out http://wearechange.org/donate We take BITCOIN too 12HdLgeeuA87t2JU8m4tbRo247Yj5u2TVP The post Interview With Mike Cernovich – Who and How The 2016 Election Will Be Won appeared first on We Are Change .	0
Bank Accounts for Paying Terrorists, Unseen Victims Finally Revealed. Contains images some viewers might find disturbing. Hillary Clinton used her power within Obama's state department, to control money for ISIS terrorists, and then to try to cover up the exposure of these Swiss and other bank accounts used for this purpose. This testimony by an officer in charge of tracking terrorist financing, is confirmed with recently leaked information (by WikiLeaks and others). "Accidental" attacks by misused US aircraft have been happening, in a desperate attempt to break out the US armed and paid (directly and indirectly) ISIS forces from Aleppo, to prevent further evidence from being captured. Both Kurdish and Syrian government forces encircling ISIS in Aleppo have been thus attacked so far. And, the US-backed ISIS forces themselves, have been ruthlessly attacking civilians in surrounding areas, with the same objective - with the consequences seen here. Tags	0
Tweet Home » Gold » Gold News » Here’s PROOF The Gold Price is Based On Cost, Not Supply and Demand Gold’s true value is not based on its cost of production, but rather it’s high-quality store of value as a basis of money in the global economy. The reason the value of gold will skyrocket going forward is quite simple: From SRSRocco : The notion that the gold price is based on the economics of “Supply & Demand” turns out to be incorrect as the cost of production is the leading factor. This is also true for most commodities and energy. Unfortunately, economists and most analysts in the precious metals community will continue to believe that the economic principle of supply and demand determines price. If we look at the data provided in this article, the individual will see how closely related the cost of gold production is to the spot price. That being said, the information in this article is only to show the “commodity pricing mechanism” of gold, not its true store of value. There’s a big difference which 99% in the Mainstream media do not understand… and probably a good percentage in the precious metals community as well. Top Two Gold Miners Cost Of Production vs. The Gold Price I decided to take the data from the top two gold miners, Barrick and Newmont, for this exercise as they are the largest two gold producers in the world. Yes, I could have spent several days compiling data from the top 20 gold miners, but I don’t have the luxury of being paid by a financial institution for my analysis. Regardless, Barrick and Newmont provide a good representation of the cost of producing gold in the entire industry. According to my “Adjusted Income Approach” in determining the full cost of production, I constructed the chart below. One thing that is not included in the adjusted income approach is dividend payouts. I included this in my total cost per ounce for Barrick and Newmont: Here we can see that as the price of gold increased over the past 15 years, so did the cost of production for these top two gold miners. In 2000, the total average cost to produce gold for Barrick and Newmont was $243 versus the spot price of $279. Thus, the average profit margin was 13% for these gold mining companies that year. As the average price of gold surged to a record $1,669 in 2012, the average cost to produce the yellow metal for Barrick and Newmont increased to $1,386 . Yes, it’s true that these two gold miners enjoyed a 17% profit margin that year, but what is wrong with that?? Companies must have profits so they can pay for new projects, shareholder dividends or surplus cash for lean years when losses are incurred. If we compare the increase in the gold price from 2000 to 2012 versus the cost of production, we will see a very interesting similar trend: Gold Price Increase vs Cost Of Production 2000-2012 Gold Price Increase 2000 – 2012 = 498% Gold Cost Increase 2000 – 2012 = 470% While the average gold spot price increased 498% from 2000-2012, the cost of production for Barrick and Newmont jumped 470%. To put it another way, the difference between the increased cost of production (470%) and the average spot price (498%) in the 2000-2012 time period, was a lousy 6%. Does the gold mining industry deserve a paltry 6% profit margin over that time period?? Which means… the economists can throw out the window the worthless principle of supply and demand. So, why did the cost of gold production increase so much since 2000?? Could it have anything to do with the increased cost of energy?? Well, yes it did. I wrote about this in my previous article, Why Most Analysts’s Gold & Silver Forecasts Are Wrong . In the article, I show how the price of a barrel of oil increased from $20 in 2000 to $112 in 2012. Thus, the gold cost of production increased nearly five times on the back of a five times increase in the price of oil during that time period. Now, if we look at the data for 2015, the top two gold miners profit margin fell to 3.8% as their cost per ounce was $1,116 compared to the $1,160 spot price. The reason the cost of production declined in 2015 versus 2012, was due to the oil price (as well as other energy inputs) falling more than 50%. Okay, I imagine many reading this article would wonder why I have stated that the gold price will skyrocket in the future as the price of oil collapses towards $12 by 2020. This doesn’t make sense because a lower energy price would also dictate a lower cost of production… hence the gold spot price will fall as well. As I stated in the beginning of the article, this information only pertains to the “commodity pricing mechanism” of gold, not is true “high-quality store of value.” Gold or silver (to a lesser extent) are not commodities, rather they function as money or stores of wealth. There is a much different way to attribute value to these precious metals than their cost of production. I will touch on that at the end of the article, but there is more information about the cost of gold production we need to understand first. Gold Cost Of Production Understated Due To Massive Share Dilution and Increased Debt The gold cost of production for Barrick and Newmont are understated due to the massive amount of share dilution and increased debt. First, let’s look at the change in outstanding shares for these two gold mining companies: Barrick and Newmont’s outstanding shares have more than tripled from 526 million in 2000 to 1,695 million (1.69 billion) shares in 2015. Basically, these two gold mining companies could not afford to expand production from just their surplus profits. Instead, they resorted to issuing more shares to purchase new gold mines or fund new projects. Which means, the shareholder took some of the burden for the increased cost or expanded production. While its hard to put a figure on how much higher the cost to produce gold would have been if the shareholder was not used to fund this activity, we can safely assume that it would be higher than it is today. Secondly, the total liabilities for these two companies have surged to $32.9 billion in 2015 versus $3.8 billion in 2000: Here we can see that Barrick and Newmont’s total liabilities are nearly ten times higher than they were in 2000. Of course, some readers will say that these companies expanded production and increased gold projects have also increased their total assets. Yes, this is true… but, if we look at their net increase in gold production since 2000, something seems very wrong here: The net result of the increased gold production for Barrick and Newmont since 2000, turns out to be 1.7 million oz, or 17%. Even though these two companies enjoyed higher production in past years, they only produced 17% more gold in 2015 than they did in 2000. Which means, a lot of their new projects were used to offset declines or shut-downs of other mining operations. We can clearly see from the data above, these two gold miners cost of production would be higher if shareholder dilution and the increased debt was removed from the equation. The Cost Of Gold Production is Not It’s True Store Of Value While the data proves that the mining industry has used its shareholder and debt increase to artificially lower the true cost of producing gold, this is not the ultimate methodology to value gold. Gold’s true value is not based on its cost of production, but rather it’s high-quality store of value as a basis of money in the global economy. The reason the value of gold will skyrocket going forward is quite simple. The world has been bamboozled by the Wall Street, Central Banks and the financial media to put 99% of its investment funds in Stocks, Bonds and Real Estate. As oil production and consumption increased in the past, this allowed Global GDP and net worth to grow. Unfortunately, the net energy of a barrel of oil supplied to the market has been declining which has pushed its price to record highs. The first warning light was the U.S. Housing and Investment Banking collapse in 2008. To prop up the system, the Fed and Central Banks have thrown in trillions of dollars of liquidity. This has inflated the value of most Stocks, Bonds and Real Estate. As the price of oil continues to fall, along with production, this will cause a huge DEFLATIONARY WAVE of destruction throughout the global economies. The 99% of investors finally getting PRECIOUS METALS RELIGION , will move into physical gold and silver to protect wealth. This will not be a matter of “Supply & Demand”, rather it will be due the world realizing how little high-quality stores of value there are in the world . As most Stocks, Bonds and Real Estate values continue to plummet, more and more investors will seek the safe-haven status of physical gold and silver. More details about this transition in upcoming articles. 2017 Gold Pandas and 2017 Silver Pandas Are Now Available! This entry was posted in Gold News , Silver News and tagged gold update , silver update , SRSrocco . Bookmark the permalink . Post navigation	0
Home › ECONOMIC › U.S. TRUCKING COMPANIES SLASH FLEETS AMID “TEPID SHIPPING DEMAND” U.S. TRUCKING COMPANIES SLASH FLEETS AMID “TEPID SHIPPING DEMAND” 0 SHARES [10/31/16] For months now we have been writing about the collapse of class 8 truck orders. For the month of September, net class 8 orders were down 16% YoY while LTM orders were down a staggering 41%. In fact, the level of trailing 12-month net orders is the lowest since January 2011 with YoY changes now in negative territory for 19 consecutive months. Therefore, it should come as little surprise that large trucking companies in the U.S. are being forced to slash fleets amid slumping demand and slack capacity. According to the Wall Street Journal , several U.S. trucking companies, including Swift, Werner and Covenant, have all been forced to cut 1,000s of trucks from their fleets as “overcapacity has driven down pricing.” Of course, all this means that class 8 truck manufactures are unlikely to see an uptick in new orders anytime in the near future with Werner promising it won’t add trucks “until they see meaningful improvement in the freight and rate markets.” “We haven’t seen any difficulty in finding trucks,” said Ken Forster, chief executive of logistics company Sunteck Transport Group, a broker based in Jacksonville, Fla., that finds and books trucks for freight shippers. “It’s clear that overcapacity has driven down pricing.” In quarterly earnings reports this month, Swift Transportation Co., Werner Enterprises Inc. and Covenant Transportation Group Inc. said they have pulled a combined hundreds of trucks from service since the second quarter. Idling trucks is a way large fleets can quickly reduce capacity to match demand, which has stagnated this year amid uneven retail imports and sluggish growth for manufacturers. Swift, the country’s largest truckload carrier, counted 581 fewer trucks in the third quarter than it did this time last year, and plans to cut an additional 200 trucks in the fourth quarter. The company’s fleet tops 19,000 big rigs. Werner, the fifth-largest U.S. truckload carrier, according to SJ Consulting Group, said it cut its fleet by 240 trucks in the quarter ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier. The company posted a 41% drop in third-quarter net profit, to $18.9 million, and said in its earnings statement that it won’t add trucks “until we see meaningful improvement in the freight and rate markets.” That said, we wouldn’t hold our breath waiting for demand and pricing to rebound. As Barclays points out, consumer goods imports have continued to remain very weak in 2016 which they think could “ presage a slowdown in household demand. ” Moreover, Barclays points out that amongst durable goods orders only autos have held up over the past several months amid overall declines for the larger basket though even autos have seemingly “ reached a plateau.” Post navigation	0
Continuing its business slump, a new review of Kellogg’s brand, as calculated on the value of the company’s name, shows the company took another dip, falling from 74th most valuable brand to 84th over last year’s rating. In addition, the company’s brand fell 24 spots since 2014. [According to calculations by Brand Finance’s Brand Directory, Kellogg has been steadily falling at least since 2014. According to the group’s ratings, the cereal giant figured in as the 60th most valued company in 2014. But over each of the ensuing years, that assessment has dropped. In 2015, Kellogg was the 68th most valued company in the country in 2016, it fell eight more slots to 76 and with its latest measurement, Brand Finance says Kellogg has fallen eight more slots to 84. The company has seen a drop of 24 slots in just four years. Brand Finance calculates a company’s brand on its earnings, stock, and profits and then measures all that to determine how much a given company would pay to license its brand as if it did not own it. The Brand Finance rating isn’t the only example of trouble for the breakfast food company. The company has also seen its stock falling since last year. Kellogg’s stock closed last week at $72. 61 per share, down from its high of $87. 16. Kellogg has been experiencing major business contractions, too, especially over the last year. The company has been desperately cutting its work force and downsizing facilities at least since last December. In January, Kellogg announced that it was cutting another 250 employees from its U. S. workforce, and by February, it had closed 39 distribution centers and laid off its entire U. S. sales force. The company’s contraction came after Kellogg decided to cut its advertising with Breitbart News at the end of 2016, thereby snubbing Breitbart’s 45, 000, 000 readers. In November, Kellogg noted that the conservative readers at Breitbart News are not “aligned with our values as a company. ” While the decision by Kellogg to cease advertising made virtually no revenue impact on Breitbart. com. it did represent an escalation in the war by leftist companies like Target and Allstate against conservative customers whose values propelled Donald Trump into the White House. After the cereal maker turned its back on conservative customers, Breitbart News launched its #DumpKelloggs petition, which has been signed by more than 450, 000 people. Finally, according to advertising industry watchdog, Adweek, Kellogg’s decision to pull advertising from Breitbart and the ensuing controversy over the move inflicted massive, damage to the cereal company’s brand online. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com.	1
We Are Change In today’s political climate even our beer is up for debate. And why shouldn’t it be? This is America. We debate things here. That’s how democracy works. (At least when the issues aren’t taboo.) Recently, it’s shown up in the state of Pennsylvania with Eric Trump, Donald Trump’s son, garnering an endorsement for the Republican candidate from Yuengling, America’s oldest brewery. And now the debate turns to political action. With the most recent statement from Richard “Dick” Yuengling Jr., the 73-year-old owner of D. G. Yuengling & Son’s, located in Pottsville, Pennsylvania — the seat of Schuylkill County — Yuengling said that his company was “behind” Trump. Inevitably, a lashing out occurred in the digital realm with regard to political correctness and expressively personal views. Customers weren’t pleased. They were offended. In fact, some even claimed that they’d never drink Yuengling again. This is what democracy is, and should be. Sure. And yet, something is lost in the politicized scramble of this ugly election year. A Pennsylvania state representative, Brian Sims, announced on his Facebook page that he was saying “GOOD BYE” to Yuengling Brewery. “I’m not normally one to call for boycotts but I absolutely believe that how we spend our dollars is a reflection of our votes and values! Supporting Yuengling Brewery, that uses my dollars to bolster a man, and an agenda, that wants to punish me for being a member of the LGBT community and punish the black and brown members of my community for not being white, is something I’m too smart and too grown up to do.” Sims represents the 182nd district of Philadelphia , which includes a majority of Center City, in addition to parts of Rittenhouse Square, Grays Ferry, and South Philadelphia. I live here. I walk those areas of the city. And I see, feel, and hear other elements of our society that go unnoticed or receive little to no attention. To observe this sort of outcry against a presidential candidate is expectantly what democracy was birthed upon, as we know in the city of Philadelphia. We take action. (We like to think.) However, along the way I’ve seen the incessant results of many issues that get buried, in favor of political expediency and trending topics that ultimately define our aggressive actions towards “voting with our dollars”. If that’s the case, then what about all the other detriments to our standard of living? For instance, the opiate epidemic that is sweeping Pennsylvania and the surrounding states and the rest of the country by storm. According to a June 2016 report from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health , entitled “The Epidemic of Overdoses From Opioids in Philadelphia”, drug deaths involving the fatal use of opioids, from 2000-2014, had tripled. In 2014, approximately 47,000 people died from overdoses in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). Sixty-one percent of that total was attributed to the use of opioids. “Since 1999, the number of prescriptions for pharmaceutical opioid pain relievers in the U.S. more than quadrupled.” Opioid-related overdose deaths in Philadelphia were nearly three times higher in men than among women in 2015. Those deaths were also more than two times as high among whites, as opposed to deaths among African Americans. Between 2003 and 2015, in Philadelphia, cocaine and benzodiazepines were detected in overdose deaths in tandem with opioids at a rate of 70% and 90%, respectively. During that same period, overdose deaths related to heroin more than doubled in the city, with approximately 400 deaths reported in 2015. In that same year, there were nearly 700 drug overdose deaths in Philadelphia. That’s more than twice as many deaths from homicide in that same year. From 2014-2015, 10% of the nearly 1,300 overdose deaths in Philadelphia were from non-residents. Most of those non-residents were people from New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and other parts of Pennsylvania. Once the president is elected, these issues won’t go away. In fact, they’re extant — some as a surrogate to the system we attribute to healthcare. (One of the most hotly contested issues of partisan bickering in the country.) Additionally, these effects are increasingly felt in Philadelphia hospitals. “The percentage of Philadelphia hospital emergency department visits related to opioid overdoses increased from approximately 0.4% in 2007 to nearly 0.7% in 2015. In 2015, there were over 6,500 emergency department visits for opioid overdoses. For each opioid-related death, there were approximately 12 hospital emergency department visits.” So while the country politically corrects itself — whatever that means — myriad issues get buried beneath picking and choosing a side, in response to the emotional disturbances of partisan bickering. Rather than dealing with facts, the web of society becomes entangled with He Said, She Said. Ultimately, this coercive cultural backwardness and evolutionary substandard, the rattle-mouthed bickering of intellectual thought and deceptive, manipulative action, that matches up more closely with the reptilian species, rather than the spirit of the human heart and the cultural celebration of life and all its wonder, is exactly what gave rise to Trump. And our opioid epidemic. Somewhere along the way, the facts were buried beneath the lie. And the truth has become something else, entirely. Sources http://www.phillyvoice.com/beer-drinkers-disavow-yuengling-after-owner-shows-support-for-trump/ The post Political Correctness for Yuengling Brewery; What About Our Opioid Epidemic? appeared first on We Are Change .	0
Introduction: Wall Street and the Pentagon greeted the onset of 2016 as a ‘banner year’, a glorious turning point in the quest for malleable regimes willing to sell-off the most lucrative economic resources, to sign off on onerous new debt to Wall Street and to grant use of their strategic military bases to the Pentagon. Brazil and Argentina, the most powerful and richest countries in South America and the Philippines, Washington’s most strategic military platform in Southeast Asia, were the objects of intense US political operations in the run-up to 2016. In each instance, Wall Street and the Pentagon secured smashing successes leading to premature ejaculations over the ‘new golden era’ of financial pillage and unfettered military adventures. Unfortunately, the early ecstasy has turned to agony: Wall Street made easy entries and even faster departures once the ‘honeymoon’ gave way to reality. ; The political procurers persecuted center-left incumbents but, were soon to have their turn facing prosecution. The political prostitutes, who had decreed the sale of sovereignty, were replaced by nationalists who would turn the bordello back into a sovereign nation state. This essay outlines the rapid rise and dramatic demise of these erstwhile ‘progeny’ of Wall Street and the Pentagon in Argentina and Brazil, and then reviews Washington’s shock and awe as the newly elected Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte embraced new ties with China while proclaiming, ‘We are no one’s ‘tuta’ (puppy dog)!’ Argentina and Brazil: Grandiose Schemes and Crapulous Outcomes The international financial press was ecstatic over the election of President Mauricio Macri in Argentina and the appointment of former Wall Street bankers to his cabinet. They celebrated the ouster of the ‘evil populists’, accusing them of inflating economic results, reneging on debt obligations and discouraging foreign lenders and investors. Under the Macri regime all market obstacles were to be removed and all the bankers trembled with anticipation at the ‘good times’ to come. After taking office in December 2015, President Macri unleashed the ‘animal instincts’ of the market and the carrion birds flocked in. US ‘vulture funds’ scooped up and demanded payment for on old Argentine debt ‘valued’ at $3.5 billion – constituting a 1,000% return on their initial investment. A devaluation of the peso of 50% tripled inflation and drove down wages by 20%. Firing over 200,000 public sector employees, slapping 400% price increases on utilities and transport, driving small and medium size firms into bankruptcy and enraged consumers into the streets ended the honeymoon with the Argentine electorate quite abruptly. This initial massive dose of free enterprise ‘medicine’ was prescribed by the local and Wall Street bankers and investors who had promised a new golden era for capitalism! Now that he had banished the ‘populists’, Macri was free to tap into the international financial markets. Argentina raised $16.5 billion from a bond sale taken up by the big bankers and speculators, mostly from Wall Street, who were eager to cash in on the high rates in the belief that there was no risk with their champion President Macri at the helm. Wall Street based its giddy predictions on a mere three-month experience with Mauricio! But then… some of the hedge fund managers began to raise questions about the viability of Mauricio Macri’s presidency. Instead of reducing the fiscal deficit, Macri began to increase public spending to offset mass discontent over his triple digit increases in utility fees and transportation, the mass layoffs in the public sector and the slashing of pension funds. The major banks had counted on the abrupt devaluation of the currency to invest in the export sector, but instead they were confronted with a sudden 11% appreciation of the peso and a skyrocketing inflation of 40% leading to high interest rates. As a result, the economy fell even deeper in recession exceeding minus 3% for the year. While most Wall Street bankers still retain some faith in the Macri regime, they are not willing to fork-over the kind of cash that might allow this increasingly unpopular regime to survive. What keep Wall Street on board the sinking ship are the political and ideological commitments rather than any objective assessment of their protégée’s dismal economic performance. Wall Street counts on free market bankers appointed to the ministries, the massive purge of social services (health and education) personnel and the lucrative bond sales to cover the burgeoning deficit. They hope the vast increase in profits resulting from increased utility fees and the sharp cuts in salaries, pensions and subsidies will ultimately lead them into the promised land. Wall Street has expressed dismay over Macri’s failure to stimulate growth – in fact GDP is falling. Furthermore, their ‘golden boy’ failed to attract productive investments. Instead thousands of Argentine small and medium businesses have ‘gone under’ as consumer spending tanked and extortionate tariffs were slapped on vital public utilities and transport – devastating profits. Inflation has undermined the purchasing power of the vast majority of households. Wall Street speculators, concentrating on fixed-rate peso denominated debt, are at risk of losing their shirts. In other words, the administration’s ‘free enterprise’ regime is based largely on attracting foreign loans, plundering the national treasury, firing tens of thousands of public sector workers and slashing spending on social services and business-friendly subsidies. Macri has yet to generate any large-scale investment in new innovative productive sectors, which might sustain long-term growth. Already facing growing discontent and a general strike of private and public sector workers, the ‘bankers’ regime’ lacks the political links with the trade unions to neutralize the growing opposition. ORDER IT NOW To hold back the growing tidal wave of discontent, President Macri had to betray his overseas investors by boosting fiscal spending, which has had little or no impact on the national economy. Wall Street’s hopes that President Mauricio Macri would inaugurate a ‘golden era’ of free market capitalism lasted less than a year and is turning into a real fiasco. Rising foreign debt, economic depression and class warfare ensures Macri’s rapid demise. Brazil: Wall Street’s Three Month ‘Whirl-Wind’ Honeymoon Most of the current elected members of the Brazilian Congress, Senate and the recently-installed (rather than elected) President, as well as his cabinet, are in trouble: The hero, Michael Temer and his argonauts, chosen by Wall Street to privatize the Brazilian economy and usher in another ‘golden dawn’ for finance capital, now all face criminal changes, arrest and long prison sentences for money laundering, bribery, fraud, tax evasion and corruption. In less than four months, the entire political edifice constructed to impeach the elected President Dilma Rousseff and then de-nationalize key sectors of the economy, is shaking. So much for the financial press’s proclamation of a new era of “business friendly” policies in Brazilia. The pundits, politicians, journalists and editors, who prematurely celebrated the appointment of Michael Temer to the Presidency by legislative coup, now have to face a new reality. The key to understanding the rapid collapse of the New Right project in Brazil lies in the growing ‘rap sheets’ of the very same politicians who engineered the ouster of Rousseff. Eduardo Cunha, the ex-president of the Congress in Brasilia, used his influence to ensure the super majority of Congressional votes for the impeachment. Cunha was godfather to ensuring the appointment of Michael Temer as interim president. Cunha’s influence and control over the Congress was based on his wide network of bribes and corruption involving over a hundred members of congress, including the newly anointed President Temer. Once Cunha secured the ouster of Rousseff, the Brazilian elite washed their collective hands of the ‘fixer’, overwhelmed by the stench of his corruption. In September 2016, Cunha was suspended from Congress and lost his immunity. One month later, he was arrested on over a dozen charges, including fraud and tax evasion. It was public knowledge that Cunha had squirreled away a ‘tidy nest’ of over $70 million in Swiss banks. Cunha directed (extorted) public and private firms to finance the campaigns of many of his political colleagues. He had intervened to secure bribes for President Temer, his foreign minister and even the next presidential hopeful, Jose Serra. One of the most powerful representatives of the new regime, Moreira Franco, Grand Wizard of the Privatization Program, was ‘in hock’ to Cunha. As all this has come to light, Cunha has been negotiating a plea bargain with the prosecutor and judges in return for his ’singing’ a few arias. He is facing over a hundred years in jail; his wife and daughter face trial; Eduardo Cunha is prepared to talk and finger political leaders to save his own neck. Most knowledgeable observers and judicial experts fully expect Cunha to bring down the Temer Administration with him and devastate the leadership of Temer’s Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, as well as ex-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s Brazilian Social Democratic Party. The Brazilian elite, Wall Street bankers and their mass media propagandists, who wrote and directed the impeachment plot scenario are now discredited and bereft of political front men. Their expectations of a new ‘golden era of free market capitalism’ in Brazil has turned into a political mad scramble with every politico and corporate leader desperate to save his own skin and illicit fortune by denouncing each other. With the demise of the ‘Brazilian takeover’, Wall Street and Washington are bereft of key markets and allies in Latin America. The Philippines: The Duterte turn from the US to China In April 2014, Washington ’secured’ an agreement granting access to five strategic military bases in the Philippines critical to its ‘pivot to target’ China. Under the outgoing President ‘Noynoy’ Aquino, Jr. the Pentagon believed it had an ‘iron-clad’ agreement to organize the Philippines as its satrap and military springboard throughout Southeast Asia. Washington even prodded the Aquino government to bring its Spratly Island dispute with China before the obscure Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague. Washington anticipated using the Court’s ‘favorable’ ruling as a pretext to confront the Chinese. All this has changed with the June 2016 ascent to the Presidency of Rodrigo Duterte: In only four months, all Washington’s imperial designs had been swept off the table. By October 21, 2016 President Duterte announced he would end military exercises with Washington because they threatened Philippine sovereignty and made his country vulnerable to a military confrontation with China. He promised to end sea patrols of disputed waters that the US uses to harass China in the South China Sea. In advance of the Philippines President’s meeting with China, he had already declared that he would not press the Dutch-based ruling over the South China Sea island dispute against Beijing but rely on diplomacy and compromise. During the China meeting President Duterte declared that the two countries would engage in a constructive dialogue to resolve the Spratly Islands as well as other outstanding issues. The ‘agreement’ over US access to bases in the Philippines was put in doubt as the President declared “a separation from the US” and promised long-term, large scale economic and investment ties with China. Undergirding the Philippines pivot to China were 13 trade and investment agreements worth more than $20 billion, covering financing of infrastructure, transport, social projects, tourism, industry and agriculture. ORDER IT NOW The military base agreement, signed by the notoriously servile ex-President Aquino without Congressional approval, was review by the Philippine Supreme Court and can be revoked by the new President Duterte by decree. Inside of four months, the US strategy of armed encirclement and intervention against China has been dealt a major blow. The newly emerging China-Philippines linkage strikes a fatal blow to Washington’s overtly militarist ‘pivot’ against China. Conclusion 2016 opened with great fanfare: The defeat of the two major center-left governments (Argentina and Brazil) and the advent of hard-right US-backed regimes would inaugurate a ‘golden era of free market capitalism’. This promised to usher in a prolonged period of profit and pillage by rolling back ‘populist’ reforms and creating a bankers paradise. In Southeast Asia, US officials and pundits would proclaim another ‘golden era’, this time of rampant militarism, encircling and provoking China on its vital sea lanes, and operating from five strategic military bases obtained through a Philippine Presidential decree by an unpopular and recently replaced puppet, ‘Noynoy’ Aquino, Jr. These dreams of ‘golden eras’ lasted a few months before objective reality intruded. By the autumn of 2016 the rightist regimes had been replaced in the Manila by a colorful ardent nationalist, while the ‘banker boys’ in Brasilia faced prison, and the ‘Golden Boys’ of Buenos Aires were mired in deep crisis. The notion of an easy Rightist restoration was based on several profound misunderstandings: 1) The belief that the reversal of social reforms and denial of popular demands would smoothly give way to an explosion of foreign financing and investment was shattered when private bond purchases profited the financial sector but did not bring in large-scale productive investment. Devaluation of the currency was followed by skyrocketing inflation, which led to fiscal deficits and the loss of business confidence. 2) Washington’s promotion of ‘corruption investigations’ started with prosecuting democratically elected center-left politicians and ended up with the arrest of Wall Street’s own protégés encompassing the entire right-wing political class and decimating the ‘Golden’ regimes. 3) The belief that long-term hegemonic relations, based on client regimes in Asia, could resist the attraction of signing trade and investment agreements with the rising Chinese mega-economy, while sacrificing vital economic development, and relegating their masses to more stagnation and unemployment, collapsed with the massive electoral of nationalist Rodrigo Duterte as President of the Philippines. In fact, these and other political assessments among the decision makers in Washington and on Wall Street were proven wrong leading to a strategic retreat of the empire in both Latin America and Asia. The policy failures were not merely ‘mistakes’ but the inevitable results of changing structural conditions embedded in a declining empire. These decisions were based on a calculus of power, rooted in class and national relations that may have held true two decades ago. At the dawn of the new millennium the US still dominated Asia and China was not yet an economic alternative for its neighbors eager for investment. Washington could and did dictate policy in Southeast Asia. Twenty years ago, the US had the economic leverage to sustain the neoliberal policies of the Washington Consensus throughout Latin America. Today the US continues to pursue policies based on anachronistic power relations, seeming to ignore the fact that China is now a world power and a viable economic trade and investment alternative successfully competing for markets and influence in Asia. Washington is failing to compete in that marketplace and, therefore, can no longer rely on docile client state. Washington cannot effectively control and direct large-scale capital flows to shore-up its newly installed rightist regimes in Argentina and Brazil as they crumble under their own corruption and incompetence. Meanwhile the world is watching a domestic US economy, mired in stagnation with its own political elites torn by corruption and scandals at the highest level, and staging the most bizarre presidential campaign in its history. Corruption has become the mode of governing under conditions of deregulation and rule by political warlords. Political allegiance to the empire and open doors to foreign pillage do not attract capital when those making political decisions are facing prison and the business ‘doormen’ are busy stuffing their suitcases with cash and making a mad-dash for the airports! For Wall Street and the Pentagon, Latin America and Asia are lost opportunities – betrayals to be mourned at the officers clubs and exclusive Manhattan restaurants. For the people in mass social movements these are emerging opportunities for struggle and change. The strenuous US effort to rebuild its empire in Latin America and Southeast Asia has suffered a rapid succession of blows. Washington can still seize power but it lacks the talent and the favorable conditions to hold it. The vision of a Brazilian state, build on the edifice of the privatized oil giant, Petrobras, and the political incarceration of its left adversaries, with foreign capital attracted and seduced by political procurers, pimps and prostitutes, has ended in a debacle. In this vacuum, it will be up to the new governments and peoples’ movements to seize the opportunity to advance their struggles and explore political and economic alternatives. The aborted rightist power grab inadvertently has done the peoples’ movements a great favor by exposing and ousting the corrupt and compromised center-left regimes opening the door for a genuine anti-imperialist transformation. ORDER IT NOW	0
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange recently discussed the topic of “fake news” and how WikiLeaks’ pure approach has prevented them from becoming “weaponized text. ”[CNET reports that Assange appeared via in a discussion with Australian comedian Chas Licciardello in Sydney, Australia this week. During the interview, Assange discussed the idea of “fake news” and how WikiLeaks’ refusal to editorialize their content and rather provide pure data to the public has allowed them to publish facts without bias. “What is special about WikiLeaks is that it’s not just another damn story,” said Assange, “it’s not just another damn journalist putting their damn byline, advertising themselves and their position on another damn story. ” “You’re not reading knowledge,” Assange said in discussing WikiLeaks vast database of information. “When you read a newspaper article, you are reading weaponised text that is designed to affect a person just like you … I think that is the real beauty of WikiLeaks … it is that sea of information, that treasure, that intellectual treasure, that rebel library of Alexandria you can go into. ” Surprisingly, Assange said that he was quite happy to see the narrative of “fake news” being pushed by the media, claiming so far WikiLeaks has a 100% correct record when it comes to verifiable information. “When the narrative of fake news came out and was then taken off effectively by the press and pushed around … I could see exactly where that was going. I was rather happy about it,” Assange said. “WikiLeaks is very happy that there is a narrative about fake news out there because we have a perfect record of having never got it wrong in terms of authentications. ” “The real value in WikiLeaks is it is a wonderful library that you can trust … But the library has to be marketed. And so the business, which we’re also in — I view that as a kind of marketing effort for what is much more substantial, which is our archive,” he continued. “We try and maximize the value of the information to readers. So that’s publishing it at the moment when they most want to read it, when they most want to know what it contains. And that’s definitely before an election rather than after election. ” When asked about the accuracy of the released emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, Assange said, “We had lots of critics in the Democratic Party, liars in the Democratic Party … saying that what we published was not accurate — trying to imitate it, sometimes saying it directly. And of course we could mathematically prove that they were liars. And it’s not every day that you can mathematically prove that your critics are full of it. ” Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart. com	1
Pope Francis has chosen Barbara Jatta as the first woman to direct the Vatican Museums. Currently the museums’ deputy director, Dr. Jatta, 54, will take over on Jan. 1, 2017, becoming the female administrator in the Vatican, where most senior positions are reserved for cardinals and bishops. The Vatican Museums, which include the Sistine Chapel, are among the most popular in the world. They drew six million visitors in 2015, and are also a major revenue source for the Vatican. Dr. Jatta succeeds Antonio Paolucci, the director since 2007. On his watch, the museums installed a new system in the Sistine Chapel and restored Raphael’s “School of Athens” frescoes. A professor of history of graphic arts at the University of Naples, Dr. Jatta has been at the Vatican since 1996, as curator of graphics in the prints department and the head of the Cabinet of Prints in the Vatican Apostolic Library.	1
Fox News Martha Maccallum SHREDS Hillary’s RUSSIAN Theory in ONE TWEET Fox News Martha Maccallum SHREDS Hillary’s RUSSIAN Theory in ONE TWEET Politics By Amy Moreno November 4, 2016 As the Wikileaks emails start getting more and more damaging the Clinton campaign is doubling down on their Russian conspiracy theory by now suggesting the Russians are writing FAKE emails. Que? However, Fox News’ Martha MacCallum pointed out a rather YUGE flaw in the logic of the Hillary camp claiming Russians created “fake” emails to try and interfere with the election. In one recently released email, Clinton campaign chair John Podesta writes that they needed to “dump emails.” After that had hit the news, Podesta tried explaining that by “dump” he meant the emails should be made public. Ha ha ha….O….K, pal. Afterward, Martha tweeted out a tweet that pretty much destroys the “Russians made fake email” story. Once you start haggling over what you meant in an email, the idea that it was written by the Russians kind of goes out the — martha maccallum (@marthamaccallum) November 2, 2016 This is a movement – we are the political OUTSIDERS fighting against the FAILED GLOBAL ESTABLISHMENT! Join the resistance and help us fight to put America First! Amy Moreno is a Published Author , Pug Lover & Game of Thrones Nerd. You can follow her on Twitter here and Facebook here . Support the Trump Movement and help us fight Liberal Media Bias. Please LIKE and SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter.	0
An Oregon man who worked for a tree service company is accused of trying to shove his coworker inside a wood chipper. [Scott Edward Iverson, 26, of Stayton, is being charged with attempted murder and assault, WSB reported. Police say that Iverson was with several other coworkers at a job site Thursday when he allegedly approached the victim, who was loading brush into the wood chipper, from behind. Iverson allegedly put him in a chokehold and pushed his upper torso into the mouth of the wood chipper. KPTV reported that the victim told police he tried to fight off Iverson while Iverson made another alleged attempt to shove his body into the machine — this time, head first. The station reported that another employee saw what was happening and intervened in the situation, separating Iverson from the man. Iverson fled the scene, but police found him the next day in a restaurant in Stayton. KPTV reported that the victim told police that he could not pinpoint the reason why Iverson attacked him but thought he would die as a result of the alleged attack. Iverson is being held in the Marion County Jail without bond, according to jail records.	1
The propaganda popsicle stand that is The New York Times is floating the idea that Trump supporters are calling for a new American Revolution if Hillary wins. But beneath the cheering, a new emotion is taking hold among some Trump supporters as they grapple with reports predicting that he will lose the election: a dark fear about what will happen if their candidate is denied the White House. Some worry that they will be forgotten, along with their concerns and frustrations. Others believe the nation may be headed for violent conflict. Jared Halbrook, 25, of Green Bay, Wis., said that if Mr. Trump lost to Hillary Clinton, which he worried would happen through a stolen election, it could lead to “another Revolutionary War.” “People are going to march on the capitols,” said Mr. Halbrook, who works at a call center. “They’re going to do whatever needs to be done to get her out of office, because she does not belong there.” “If push comes to shove,” he added, and Mrs. Clinton “has to go by any means necessary, it will be done.” What’s ominous about this level of programming is that we know the system is already gearing up for this possibility with an election military drill that could go live at any time until a month after the election, as previously reported: According to an unnamed source – who has provided accurate intel in the past – an unannounced military drill is scheduled to take place during a period leading up to the election and throughout the month after. It appears that the system is gearing up to handle outbreaks of violence, chaotic rallies and poll stations, and the possibility that the people of the United States may become very dissatisfied with the outcome by using military force and martial law. The drill could, of course, go live at any time; Homeland Security and the military are prepared to contend with a period of unrest, and restore order to a divided and broken country – regardless of whether people like their new leader or not. As you know, DHS is already monitoring this election and prepared to take over its ‘critical infrastructure’. The scope of this drill would, of course, take things much further: Hi Guys, I got some gouge from a former military colleague who is in contact with active duty personnel and he received an email about an upcoming drill. We need confirmation on this, but if we put it out there we might get a leaker to come forward and confirm: Date: October 30th – 30 days after the election Suspected Region: Northeast, specifically New York 1st Phase: NROL (No Rule of Law) – drill involving combat arms in metro areas (active and reserve). Source says active duty and reserve service members are being vaccinated as if they are being deployed in theatre. 2nd Phase: LROL (Limited Rule of Law) – Military/FEMA consolidating resources, controlling water supply, handing out to public as needed. 3rd Phase: AROL (Authoritarian Rule of Law) – Possible new acronym or term for “Martial Law”. Curfew, restricted movements, basically martial law scenario. Source said exercise involves FEMA/DHS/Military If the Powers That Shouldn’t Be are planning to steal this election for Hillary as hard as it appears they are , then it makes sense they’d be planning to try and clean up their mess afterward. Either way, the people have about reached their limit and are sick and tired of this level of corruption coming out of this government… and we know what happened the last time America finally got fed up with a tyrannical government. Piper writes for The Daily Sheeple . There’s a lot of B.S. out there. Someone has to write about it. 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
A California high school senior headed for the Army is not allowed to wear an Army sash with his robe and mortarboard at his graduation Friday. [Elias Velazquez made a decision to enlist in the U. S. Army after he graduated from Redlands High School, but his school’s policy states that students cannot decorate their graduation gowns or caps except for California Scholarship Federation chords and sashes, KTTV reported. “It means something really honorable to me, it’s a whole new life transition to me,” Elias said. Elias and his father are hoping the policy can be changed. “It’s kind of defeating the purpose of achieving that greatness,” Joe said. “We push our kids to strive and try to be better and do the best they can and then we tell them at their grad ceremony, ‘We need you all to be the same because we don’t want to hurt anyone else’s feelings. ’” His father, Joe, posted about the situation on social media to “open community dialogue” about the situation. “We’re simply trying to open some community dialogue and get people to understand some rules are okay to change,” Joe said. The Redlands School District said the reason for the rules is to promote fairness and has nothing to do with not supporting the military. “We are totally supportive of our men and women in the military. This has nothing to do with a lack of our support,” a spokesperson for the district said. Although Elias says he is not happy about not being able to wear the sash, he is “committed to following every order they give” him since he is not one to stray from the rules. The school said that students can wear sashes during other graduation events and before and after the ceremony. A high school senior in Indiana was also told not to wear her Army sash at graduation May 25 because the school district wanted to focus on “high school accomplishments” at the graduation ceremony. In 2016, a Maine high school senior was told by his school’s superintendent that he could not display his Army sash at graduation, but could display it at the school’s senior awards ceremony.	1
On the Wednesday edition of Breitbart News Daily, broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM Eastern, Breitbart Alex Marlow will continue our discussion of the Trump administration’s agenda. [Scott Uehlinger, former CIA operations officer and of “The Station Chief” podcast, will discuss the latest deep state leaked stories coming out of the Trump White House concerning the Comey firing and the Washington Post’s story alleging that Trump revealed classified information during a meeting with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister. Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton will also weigh in on the media’s coverage of the Comey firing and Washington Post story. Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy will discuss the Washington Post story and the recent global ransomware cyberattacks. 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: .	1
HONG KONG — Samsung Electronics is spending $8 billion to get inside your car. Samsung, the South Korean electronics giant — which already makes popular but recently smartphones — said on Monday that it had agreed to buy Harman International Industries, an American automotive technology company, in an ambitious push into a whole different kind of mobile. Harman is best known for making car audio systems under brand names popular with audiophiles such as and JBL. But Harman’s appeal to Samsung comes from what it calls its connected car business — an operation that supplies a car’s navigation services, its onboard entertainment systems and its connectivity to the rest of the world. “The vehicle of tomorrow will be transformed by smart technology and connectivity in the same way that simple feature phones have become sophisticated smart devices over the past decade,” Young Sohn, the president and chief strategy officer of Samsung Electronics, said in a news release. The deal marks the latest ambitious foray by an established name in the technology world into a new generation of smart objects sometimes collectively called the internet of things. Under this vision, everything from home security systems to refrigerators will be connected to the internet, gathering data and controllable at the touch of a smartphone icon. Much of that focus has come down to cars. Last month, the American chip maker Qualcomm agreed to acquire NXP Semiconductors for $38. 5 billion, which would give it a presence in the market for making a new generation of chips for smart cars. With cars likely to get more screens and more computers, the purchase gives Samsung a stake in what could be an industrywide boom. It also could provide insight for the company’s varied components businesses. Samsung can learn firsthand from Harman what it needs to do to sell its screens, chips and memory to carmakers. Other major technology names are also betting on mobile and smart gadgets. In July, SoftBank of Japan struck a deal to acquire ARM Holdings, a British chip designer with a focus on mobile devices, for $32 billion. Last year, Avago Technologies bought Broadcom, which provides chips for the Apple iPhone, for $37 billion. It is far from certain whether those technologies will end up being the ones that power the smart gadgets of tomorrow. Apple and Google have expressed interest in developing cars, while traditional automotive suppliers have also looked to move up the value chain. Samsung’s $ offer for Harman represents a 28 percent premium from where its shares traded on Friday, but that is still well below the roughly $145 that each Harman share was fetching early last year. Harman’s results from its professional solutions business — which makes sound and lighting for concerts and other events — have weakened. The company has said it will work to bring the operations back to their previous strength. Samsung has largely benefited from the new mobile world, as growing demand for smartphones bolstered sales of its displays and microchips. But the company has faced difficulties selling its own branded phones, including a drop in market share, as Apple captured more of the high end and a new generation of Chinese manufacturers increased pressure on the bottom. The company regained some ground with the Galaxy 7 line of curved phones. But last month, in an embarrassing turnabout, it discontinued its new, premium Galaxy Note 7 after several caught fire. The stumble wiped $2 billion off its profit and cast a shadow over the Samsung brand name. The deal for Harman is a rare one for Samsung, which keeps tight control of its supply chain — often owning its suppliers outright — and has mostly eschewed big deals to fill in holes in its portfolio. Samsung said that it would also have access to Harman’s designers and engineers, which would allow for more collaboration. It did not give details on what sorts of services they would aim to build together. It said that Dinesh Paliwal, Harman’s chairman and chief executive, would continue to run the operation, and that it would keep the company’s facilities. The deal is expected to close in . Samsung was advised by Evercore, with Paul Hastings as legal counsel. JPMorgan and Lazard advised Harman, with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen Katz as legal counsel.	1
Teens walk free after gang-rape conviction Judge said group who left girl, 14, for dead appeared 'repentant' Published: 20 mins ago (Deutsche Welle) In the wake of the news that a group of teenagers were unlikely to see any real punishment for gang-raping a 14-year-old girl and leaving her for dead, citizens of the German city of Hamburg called for new rules regarding violent crime committed by minors. On Monday, an online petition calling for the teens to see jail time had garnered some 21,000 signatures. “The sexual self-determination and integrity of a woman must have more weight than any concern for the perpetrators,” [of sexual crimes,] says the petition. According to an update on the Change.org petition, state prosecutors in Hamburg have said they will explore a way to make sure that the teens are punished despite laws that make it difficult for minors to be prosecuted and sentenced to detention.	0
TORONTO — Kiefer Sutherland was playing tour guide. On the set of the new ABC series “Designated Survivor” here earlier this month, he clutched a pack of Camels and walked, slapping, through a replica of the West Wing, pointing out where the president’s chief of staff sits, running his hand along the curved wall of the Oval Office. In front of a painting of George Washington, he offered this historical nugget: “He was actually quite handsome but the painter hated him. Unflattering. ” Later, while ruminating on President Washington’s dental problems, Mr. Sutherland stood in a hallway with his back to another presidential portrait: his own. The placard beneath read Tom Kirkman. After spending nearly a decade protecting the president on the Fox series “24,” Mr. Sutherland now requires his own detail. On “Designated Survivor” he plays a cabinet member who ascends to the Oval Office when Congress is wiped out by an attack during a State of the Union address. The actor leaves behind the antics of the counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer to play a policy wonk thrust into a job he never wanted. Mr. Sutherland hasn’t exactly disappeared since “24” ended its regular series run in 2010. Among other gigs, he did two “24” projects, and appeared in fare, including Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia,” and “Forsaken,” a western with his father, Donald Sutherland. And in August, he released his first album, “Down in a Hole,” filled with country songs that he helped write. He’s been touring extensively, recently appearing at the Grand Ole Opry. But these have mostly been quiet endeavors, at least relative to the cultural noise generated by “24. ” Mr. Sutherland’s first network series the “Touch” on Fox, failed to find an audience, and was canceled after two seasons. If the public wants a repeat of Mr. Sutherland leading a slick drama that giddily seizes the political moment, then “Designated Survivor” — a glossy of political thriller, “The West Wing” nation building and domestic drama — might be the show that delivers him back to the affections of the mainstream. Mr. Sutherland, 49, sat on a leather couch in the president’s private office — slight his arms tattooed prone to long, circular sentences — remarking on the difficulty of not appearing too presidential amid such surroundings (even if they are fake). “The set’s so good that you can’t help standing a little straighter,” he said. “There’s something about how significant that office is. We watched Kennedy’s kids play there, Nixon getting himself out of Watergate. It does have an impact on your performance. ” With an narrative driving this election cycle, Mr. Sutherland’s respectful nostalgia for political office seems surprisingly . Television politicians these days are mostly venal, their cutthroat egoism wrung for drama on “Scandal” and for laughs on “Veep. ” “BrainDead,” this summer’s satire from the creators of “The Good Wife,” targeted elected officials by planting space bugs in their skulls. But “Designated Survivor” leans more toward the idealism of “The West Wing. ” David Guggenheim, a writer known for “Safe House,” had long been intrigued by the concept of the designated survivor, the person in the presidential line of succession selected to wait in a secure, undisclosed location when all other members of government are gathered elsewhere. After his usually encouraging friend Simon Kinberg (a producer of films, including “The Martian”) expressed little enthusiasm about one of his movie pitches in a email exchange, Mr. Guggenheim — hoping to redeem himself — pulled out the designated survivor idea and hit send. Mr. Kinberg loved it, and Mr. Guggenheim wrote the script in two weeks. They took it to Mark Gordon, a veteran producer (“Grey’s Anatomy”) who immediately envisioned Mr. Sutherland as the lead. “Most actors are known for the thing that made them famous,” Mr. Gordon said. “Jack Bauer was active and macho, but Kiefer’s actually such a gentle, gracious guy. He can be the idealized president that we all wish we had. ” In Hollywood, an Everyman in the White House is often played for laughs: Chris Rock in “Head of State” Kevin Kline in “Dave. ” But the “Designated Survivor” premise — an entire government up in flames — is almost shockingly grim. Mr. Guggenheim needed Mr. Sutherland to tilt the story away from tragedy. “We were killing people right off the top but I didn’t want the show to live in that darkness,” he said. “I did want Tom to represent optimism. We pointed Kiefer toward ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. ’” The common sense that drives President Kirkman is, said Mr. Sutherland, a retort to cynics. “The lack of knowledge and understanding of how difficult it is to govern has led to some very poor ideas in our society,” he said. “Maybe showing the rebuilding of a government in action will help dial down the rhetoric that’s out there. ” Mr. Sutherland has found himself in the political fray before. “24” made its debut in November 2001 amid intense anxiety. Jack Bauer’s propensity for grisly torture methods meant “24” was read by some as a revenge fantasy for a grieving country, and eventually criticized by others for wallowing in violence at a moment where “enhanced interrogation techniques” became a national ignominy. “Once I was in an airport waiting to get on a plane and a woman looked at me and said: ‘How can you make that show?’ It’s like: What are you talking about? We had the first president on TV we had the first female president on TV,” Mr. Sutherland said. ‘‘When Jack Bauer was on his deathbed he didn’t ask for a priest he asked for an imam to apologize. I wish the show hadn’t become so politicized in the end, but I have no regrets. ” He may be particularly sensitive to the label because in Canada he’s considered royalty. To Americans, he’s known as Donald Sutherland’s son, but to many Canadians, he’s the grandson of Tommy Douglas, the Saskatchewan premier who brought universal health care to Canada and helped form the federal party that would become the New Democratic Party. As children, Mr. Sutherland and his twin sister, Rachel, spent time in Canada’s parliament in Ottawa. “I remember eating hot dogs in the House of Commons and waiting for my grandpa,” he said. “I loved the debates. ” His mother, the actress Shirley Douglas, continued the activist tradition. In 1969, when she was involved with the Black Panther Party, she was arrested in Los Angeles, said Mr. Sutherland, not without pride. Mr. Sutherland’s parents divorced when he was 4, and Ms. Douglas relocated the family to Toronto four years later. The city now passes for his hometown he takes the subway to the suburban set every day, and his mother and sister live here. But as a student Mr. Sutherland attended six schools in five years. He dropped out at 16 when he was cast in the Canadian film “The Bay Boy,” arriving in Hollywood soon after. The welcome mat was out for Packers: He roomed with Robert Downey Jr. and rose quickly, landing a string of 1980s hits: “Stand By Me,” “Lost Boys,” “Young Guns. ” “You think: ‘This is great, this is going to be the rest of my life.’ Then somewhere around 30 you get a knock back and realize, ‘Oh no, you should have held on tight. ’” He married and divorced young his daughter, Sarah Sutherland, now 28, plays Julia ’s daughter on “Veep. ” The career lull of Mr. Sutherland’s early 30s was followed by “24,” a show that Natascha McElhone had never seen when she signed on to “Designated Survivor” as first lady. She didn’t know what friends meant when they joked: “Jack Bauer becomes president?” “Kiefer has large reserves of vulnerability,” she said. “There’s something quite breakable inside, which I think is not just endearing but unusual. He’s also quite a worker bee. ” An executive producer on the show, Mr. Sutherland has made suggestions that have been incorporated into it, including having Kirkman wear glasses (for a Clark Kent effect) and making Kirkman an independent (circumventing Republican and Democratic baggage) according to Mr. Guggenheim. For a Canadian with a green card, Mr. Sutherland is oddly smitten with the mythic American West. In the 90s, he had a ranch in Montana, and roped in rodeos, feeding on country like Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash. After listening to one of Mr. Sutherland’s early efforts at songwriting, his friend and writing Jude Cole, encouraged him to record. “I said: ‘There’s a heartbreaking quality to your voice. No, you’re not this fantastic singer, but there are a lot of smooth singers out there, and there’s not a lot of Kris Kristoffersons,’” Mr. Cole said. An actor who crosses over into music can invite mockery or oblivion, but Mr. Sutherland was willing to take that risk. After years of playing guitar in his trailer, and with Mr. Cole running a music label, Ironworks, he was ready to put his own music out there. “I was prepared for a brutal beating, but the nice thing about finally getting to the age where I’m at is, well, as long as they’re not going to kill me, O. K. ” (The reviews have been mostly positive, if begrudging: “ … actually kind of decent,” read the headline on the A. V. Club’s take.) Loss and drinking are common themes the title track is about a friend who drank himself to death. Mr. Sutherland’s drinking has been a tabloid punch line in the past: In 2005, he hurled himself at a decorated Christmas tree in a London hotel lobby and a D. U. I. arrest led to a brief jail stint. Yet he seemed ambivalent when asked if his relationship to alcohol had changed. “It’s been a part of my life, there’s no denying that,” he said. “It’s not something I do alone. I like going out with friends after work. It’s a way of letting loose. Having said that, I can tell you that if I look back on my life any of the negative things that have happened usually have [drinking] as a root cause, whether it was a D. U. I. or fighting, or a breakup, a relationship not working. There’s a price to pay for it. If you take a look at the songs, none of them are positive. ” As an actor, Mr. Sutherland is used to telling other people’s stories. But the album is intensely personal a “journal,” he has said. The song “Calling Out Your Name” is about his split from Julia Roberts in 1991. Even after decades in the public eye, Mr. Sutherland said he found this level of exposure new, and perhaps liberating. “I would never ordinarily be that confessional, and when I first got onstage, it took me a moment to surrender,” he said. “But when I did that became one of the great experiences of my life. I’m grateful for how gracious people have been. It’s affected how I approached this part. I could let a bit more of myself into the character. It’s more personal. ” Whether this incarnation of Kiefer Sutherland — or any — can ever eclipse one of the most roles in television history, only the public will decide.	1
The Atlantic magazine has made only two presidential endorsements in its history: one for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and one for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. The third comes Wednesday afternoon, when the magazine posted an editorial endorsing Hillary Clinton for president and dismissing Donald J. Trump as “the most ostentatiously unqualified candidate in the history of the American presidency. ” For good measure, it calls him “a demagogue, a xenophobe, a sexist, a and a liar. ” One day earlier, the Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter wrote, in his editor’s letter for the November issue, “Through word or action, Trump has promoted gun violence, bigotry, ignorance, intolerance, lying, and just about everything else that can be wrong with society. ” That came after USA Today made the first presidential endorsement in its history — or, more accurately, a “disendorsement,” as it came out against Mr. Trump (“unfit for the presidency”) but not for Hillary Clinton or some other alternative. This is the time in the election cycle when media columnists write about whether endorsements have much to do with the outcome. The answer is usually, if not always, “no. ” But the question takes on another dimension this year because of the sheer weight of the endorsements against Mr. Trump. They are overwhelmingly against him, and they just keep coming, in language that is notable for its blunt condemnation of the candidate and its “save the Republic’’ tone. The endorsements are coming not only from the usual mainstream media suspects but also from newspapers that either never before supported a Democrat or had not in many decades — The Dallas Morning News, The Arizona Republic, The Cincinnati Enquirer — or had never endorsed any presidential candidate, like USA Today. The Wall Street Journal has not gone there, at least not yet, but a member of its editorial board has: Dorothy Rabinowitz, who called Mr. Trump “unfit. ” What’s most striking is the collective sense of alarm they convey — that Mr. Trump is a “dangerous demagogue” (USA Today) whose election would represent a “clear and present danger” (The Washington Post, The Cincinnati Enquirer) or, as The Atlantic editor Scott Stossel said in an interview Tuesday, “a potential national emergency or threat to the Republic. ” That’s the same base line the magazine used when it decided to break its founding vow to be “the organ of no party or clique” and endorse Johnson in 1964 and, more dramatically, Lincoln in 1860. And yet, for all the dismay in America’s editorial boardrooms, a huge portion of the country just doesn’t see it the same way at all. National polls aren’t great for predicting the final outcome in the Electoral College. But they do capture the sense of the country. And right now The New York Times’s polling average — of various national surveys — shows that 41 percent of the country would choose Mr. Trump over Mrs. Clinton if the election were held now. (With 45 percent, she still holds an edge.) The split between editorial opinion and a significant portion of voters, especially Republican voters, has been around for decades. But this campaign takes that schism to a whole new level — not just because of the mix of publications weighing in against the Republican nominee but also because of the contrast between their apocalyptic view of a Trump presidency and his supporters’ belief that he will indeed “make America great again. ” Then again, as the language of the editorial warnings hits decibel levels, so does the language of the attacks against the mainstream media. Mr. Trump is stoking those attacks, depicting the media as among the “special interests” that have “rigged the system against everyday Americans,” as he put it in New Hampshire last week. Which brings us to the question of how many minds it all changes. Trump supporters will no doubt view the editorials as more evidence for Mr. Trump’s case that the media fix is in. Mr. Trump recently said as much when he celebrated the loss of subscriptions the more surprising Clinton endorsements have caused in some cases, saying in a Twitter post: “The people are really smart in cancelling subscriptions to the Dallas Arizona papers now USA Today will lose readers! The people get it!” (The Fox Business host Charles Gasparino provided one possible motive: “A jealously rooted hate” over his wealth, “his beautiful wives” and his television success.) A driving question is whether they factor into the mix with truly undecided voters. That is, and will remain, hard to determine. I did stumble upon some interesting data from Google, which can provide a sense of what people look for on its ubiquitous search engine. Searches for Mrs. Clinton spiked by nearly 50 percent in Dallas County after the Dallas Morning News recommendation in early September, though not as much as they did for the American swimmer Ryan Lochte — after his legal trouble in Brazil — or for the game between the Cowboys and the Giants. She trended in Cincinnati’s Hamilton County after The Enquirer’s endorsement, and in all of Arizona after The Republic’s endorsement, though data from Hamilton County shows she was behind subjects like “Clown Sightings” and “National Coffee Day” on the list. Mr. Stossel of The Atlantic said he was aware of the divide in the country. “People who support Trump have legitimate grievances and he is speaking to them in ways that clearly resonate,” he said. (The editorial, whose language was shaped by the Atlantic correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg, addresses them by saying that Mr. Trump failed to present “realistic policies to address” their “legitimate anxieties. ”) Mr. Stossel knows that the power of endorsements can be limited. But, he said, “One hopes that our endorsement, along with many of these others, will have an amplification effect that sort of ripples out. ” “If it affects only a few people at margins in a few key states,” he said, “that may make a difference. ” “Given our previous endorsements, we’re two for two,” he noted. The streak will stand or fall Nov. 8.	1
Reality check media Breaking Trust, Breaking the Bank - The Inside Story of Russia's Biggest Bank Robbery Benedict Worsley is implicated in the disappearance of $3 billion from the Trust Bank of Moscow Originally appeared at Dances with Bears Investigators searching for $3 billion in funds missing from Trust Bank of Moscow, the biggest Russian bank fraud in history, have found Benedict Worsley, the Cyprus-based manager of the bank’s offshore operations, at a heavily fortified house in the south of France, where he is guarded by British gunmen formerly employed by the British secret services. The High Court in London has revealed that in return for cash and a promise of immunity from prosecution, Worsley has agreed to cooperate in the search for the missing money. He is now reported to be employed by Otkritie Bank, which is being financed by the Central Bank of Russia, to operate the old Trust Bank. However, sources close to the Central Bank say that officials at the bank are anxious to see Otkritie start repaying the bailout loans, and reluctant to soften the terms or extend the repayment dates as Otkritie is reported to be requesting. Suspicion is also rife in Moscow banking circles, according to one source, that “ well-known names in high places were beneficiaries of the Trust Bank loans. They don’t want to be identified or obliged to repay. ” They, according to a Cyprus source and another in London, who knows Worsley, are “threats to Worsley, and he knows it.” Worsley refuses to respond to emails, and he has closed the Cyprus office of Teos Management, where until late last year, he used to manage Trust Bank’s loans through dozens of companies he created and directed, on instruction from the bank, its control shareholder Ilya Yurov, and others. Yurov has testified in the London court that he ordered forensic accountants to trace what had happened to the bank’s loan funds. The Russian state Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) amd Otkritie Bank have also been searching. To substantiate their application to the High Court for a freeze on Yurov’s assets in the UK and Switzerland, they have reportedly identified asset value and bank accounts worth $830 million. For more details of the Yurov scheme, read this . For the High Court records, click to open . One source for Worsley’s operations has not been made public before. This is the archive known as the Panama Papers , compiled by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington. According to the ICIJ, it obtained its “ data through three massive leaks. The largest one comes from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, whose inner workings were exposed in the Panama Papers investigation published in April 2016 in conjunction with Süddetsche Zeitung and more than 100 other media partners .” It is far from easy to find Benedict Worsley in the Panama Papers data base assembled by the ICIJ. For example, here is what turns up when the search box cue is Benedict Worsley . Most of the listed entities were either deactivated before Yurov took over Trust Bank, or are unconnected to both Russia and Cyprus, where Worsley and Yurov have operated. One entity, Benedict Investment Corporation, was created by GSL Law in Cyprus in 2002, and is still active. GSL is a Russian law firm, based in Moscow, which provides offshore services. It doesn’t appear to have been involved with Worsley and Trust Bank. However, Benedict Worsley can be found in the Panama Papers, not by searching for his name, but by searching for companies he created, managed, and directs still. In order to open Worsley’s file in the Panama Papers, it is necessary to know the names of several of his companies first. Some of these names have not been detected in the Cyprus searches before. Here is the asset map for Worsley in the Panama Papers archive:	0
Email As a parent, you always have to be aware of what lessons your child is learning from the world around him or her. I know that I won’t be able to protect my 9-year-old James from every bad thing out there, but on a recent trip to the grocery store, I was utterly appalled by a disturbing trend: Our country has become desensitized to violence in hot-sauce names, and it’s a big problem. You can’t walk down your grocer’s sauce isle without being bombarded by hot-sauce names that romanticize violence. Tears of Blood, Nuclear Bombardment Chile Extract, and Death on the Toilet have become standard fare in the hot-sauce industry. An innocent trip to purchase a simple bottle of ketchup now subliminally exposes shoppers, and our impressionable children, to dozens of gruesome descriptions of burning flesh, brutal deaths, and massive ass damage. As soon as the hot-sauce industry agreed it was okay to allow names like Cremation in a Bottle Pepper Sauce and Ass Grave Cajun Sauce to appear on store shelves, any shred of decency went out the window. An arms race began to see who could come up with the most violent and gory sauce name, society be damned. And it needs to stop before our children internalize these sorts of brutal names as the norm for hot-sauce labels. Hot sauce has always been hot, but the names used to imply the hotness without going into the graphic detail you see today. I took my son James to my favorite Mexican restaurant this past weekend, and he didn’t even blink when he saw a bottle with “Volcanic Crucification” written out in flames. If he isn’t bothered by this, who’s to say if he would even think twice if he one day saw a hot sauce called Ghost Pepper Throat Thresher? I pray that we correct course in this country before anyone decides to make that hot sauce. It wasn’t always like this. Hot sauce has always been hot, but the names used to imply the hotness without going into the graphic detail you see today. Names like Frank’s Red Hot let you know you were in for some serious heat, but left something to the imagination. But there is no longer a moral standard for hot-sauce names. Now, all it takes to begin leading a child down a bad path is for them to glance at a sauce bottle in a friend’s refrigerator door. Whether it’s Screaming Suicide Moruga Scorpion Sauce or Habanero Holocaust Sauce, the lengths to which today’s sauces are going to outdo one another with disturbingly violent names has gotten out of control. And if you’re a parent, you know that we must do something to stop this, before it’s too late for our children.	0
On the Monday edition of Breitbart News Daily, broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM Eastern, Breitbart Alex Marlow will begin our discussion of President Trump’s first 100 days. [Breitbart’s Washington Political Editor Matt Boyle will join him to discuss the first 100 days. We’ll also hear from Breitbart Senior Joel Pollak about the report that President Trump will move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. He’ll also discuss the moving interfaith inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral. Breitbart London Raheem Kassam will discuss Europe’s reaction to President Trump’s inaugural address, as well as UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s upcoming meeting with President Trump. Breitbart Legal Editor Ken Klukowski will discuss the anniversary of Roe v. Wade this week. Public Interest Law Professor John Banzhaf of George Washington University Law School will discuss the violent inauguration day rioters who will face felony rioting charges that carry stiff fines and up to 10 year prison sentences, which should deter future illegal violent protests. 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: .	1
Amy Krouse Rosenthal, a prolific children’s book author, memoirist and public speaker who, dying of cancer, found an extraordinarily large readership this month with a column in The New York Times titled “You May Want to Marry My Husband,” died on Monday at her home in Chicago. She was 51. The cause was ovarian cancer, which she learned she had in September 2015, her agent, Amy Rennert, said. Ms. Rosenthal’s bittersweet paean to her spouse of 26 years appeared as a Modern Love column in the online Style section of The Times on March 3 and in the Sunday newspaper section on March 5. The column has drawn almost four and a half million readers online. “I want more time with Jason,” she wrote. “I want more time with my children. I want more time sipping martinis at the Green Mill Jazz Club on Thursday nights. But that is not going to happen. I probably have only a few days left being a person on this planet. So why I am doing this? “I am wrapping this up on Valentine’s Day,” she continued, “and the most genuine, gift I can hope for is that the right person reads this, finds Jason, and another love story begins. ” Her husband said in a statement afterward, “When I read her words for the first time, I was shocked at the beauty, slightly surprised at the incredible prose given her condition and, of course, emotionally ripped apart. ” Since 2005, Ms. Rosenthal has written 28 spirited children’s picture books, two quirky, poignant memoirs (“Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal,” in 2016, and an alphabetized “Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life,” in 2005) delivered TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Talks and NPR commentaries and produced short films and YouTube videos of what she called social experiments, with titles like “ATM: Always Trust Magic,” “The Money Tree” and “The Beckoning of Lovely. ” “I tend to believe whatever you decide to look for you will find, whatever you beckon will eventually beckon you,” she told one audience. She beckoned her readers and viewers. In a video called “17 Things I Made” — among them were her books and even a peanut butter and jelly sandwich — she welcomed fans to join her at Millennium Park in Chicago, on Aug. 8, 2008, at 8:08 p. m. to make an 18th thing. Hundreds showed up. “Amy ran at life full speed and heart first,” Maria Modugno, her editor at Random House, said in a phone interview. “Her writing was who she was. ” She started writing ad copy after graduating from Tufts University in 1987. After nine years at Foote, Cone Belding (now FCB) Ms. Rosenthal was on maternity leave with her two toddler sons and infant daughter at McDonald’s when she experienced what she called a “McEpiphany,” deciding to become an author. What she described as her plastic fork in the road led to countless dead ends, however, until she published “Little Pea,” about a pod denied his favorite dessert (spinach) until he finished all his candy (which he detested). The book received favorable reviews, and her course was set. Her other books included “Spoon,” “Duck! Rabbit!” and “Little Oink. ” In The New York Times Book Review in 2009 Bruce Handy said of her work: “For all I know, she may suffer torment upon torment in front of a blank screen, but the results read as if they were a pleasure to write. ” He added, “Her books radiate fun the way tulips radiate spring: they are elegant and . ” Amy Renee Krouse was born on April 29, 1965, in Chicago to Paul Krouse and the former Ann Wolk, both publishers. Both survive her. Besides her husband and parents, she is survived by her sons, Justin and Miles her daughter, Paris her sisters, Katie Froelich and Beth Kaufmann and her brother, Joe Krouse. “I was simply born with a fondness for letters and language and predisposed to enjoy playing around with them and it,” Ms. Rosenthal wrote in a memoir. Ms. Rennert, her agent, said Ms. Rosenthal had completed seven more picture books before her death, including a collaboration with her daughter called “Dear Girl. ” But even before her diagnosis, she suggested that her energy and imagination were not boundless. Her favorite line from literature, she once said, was in Thornton Wilder’s play “Our Town,” as spoken by the character Emily as she bids the world goodbye: “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?” When she reached 40, Ms. Rosenthal began calculating how many days she had left until she turned 80. “How many more times, then, do I get to look at a tree?” she asked. “Let’s just say it’s 12, 395. Absolutely, that’s a lot, but it’s not infinite, and I’m thinking anything less than infinite is too small a number and not satisfactory. At the very least, I want to look at trees a million more times. Is that too much to ask?”	1
Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead. 1. The latest primaries pushed Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton closer to their parties’ nominations — and added pressure on Mr. Trump to tone down his message. Most polls show both ahead in Indiana, which holds its primary on Tuesday. Ted Cruz, above in California on Saturday, sought an edge by choosing Carly Fiorina as his running mate. Many leading Republicans have recoiled from the idea of sharing a ticket with Mr. Trump. _____ 2. The Defense Department gave its first full account of a U. S. airstrike last year on a hospital in Afghanistan. Its report described a chain of human errors and equipment and procedural failures that led a gunship to repeatedly fire on the hospital, which was run by Doctors Without Borders, killing 42 people. Sixteen U. S. personnel were punished, but Doctors Without Borders and other groups insist that the episode should be handled as a war crime. _____ 3. Our Cairo bureau chief, Declan Walsh, was able to enter the Syrian city of Aleppo, where fighting resumed after weeks of relative calm. “Death,” he writes, “can fall from the sky in any corner of the city at any time. ” Here are some of the photos from his Instagram feed. _____ 4. A few market markers: U. S. stocks finished down for the week, but Facebook shares soared after the company reported profits triple those of a year ago and proposed a new stock class to maintain Mark Zuckerberg’s control. Apple’s stock dropped after it revealed falling iPhone sales in China and disappointing earnings. And Twitter’s price fell as well, after it again fell short of revenue projections. Two of our top tech writers discuss the developments here. _____ 5. Puerto Rico appears likely to default on a $422 million debt payment on Monday. Congress, rived by partisan dissension, is still haggling over the terms of a rescue bill. Urgency is growing because a $2 billion debt payment comes due July 1. Above, the Capitol in San Juan. _____ 6. “It’s the best thing because you’re getting a piece of this thing you helped build. ” That was a longtime employee of Chobani, the Greek yogurt maker, after his boss surprised 2, 000 workers by making them . Stock packages, prorated by tenure, will collectively be worth up to 10 percent of the company’s worth when it goes public or is sold. (Neither appears imminent.) _____ 7. For a special report, a New Yorker named Geri Taylor allowed a reporter to share the ups and downs of her life as she faces Alzheimer’s with grace, fortitude and humor. She told friends recently that she and her husband live in the present. “There’s none of that where you postpone saying something because he’s in a bad mood or something,” she said. “Right now I can’t remember to postpone something. ” _____ 8. Leicester City — pronounced — is viewed as soccer’s version of Cinderella. The team’s unexpected success this year has it on the verge of an English Premier League title. But its coronation was delayed on Sunday after it was held to a tie with Manchester United. There are also two final games today in Round 1 of the N. B. A. playoffs: the Charlotte Hornets were taken down by the the Miami Heat in the first. The Indiana Pacers face the Toronto Raptors tonight (8 p. m. Eastern, TNT). _____ 9. The biggest surprises of the N. F. L. draft: A video featuring smoke and a strange bong cost Laremy Tunsil, the offensive lineman above, millions of dollars. He dropped from potential top pick to 13th. And the admired linebacker Myles Jack wasn’t picked till Day 2, as teams worried about problems with his right knee. _____ 10. For us nonprofessional athletes, a new study offers a alternative to lengthy workouts. Ten minutes on a stationary bike with just one minute of intense exertion, researchers found, offers the same physiological benefits as 45 minutes of moderate exertion. This was how they did it: two minutes of three bursts separated by two minutes of slow pedaling, and a . _____ 11. Finally, two of horse racing’s most intense minutes come next Saturday: the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby. You have plenty of time to get a big hat, learn the first verse of “My Old Kentucky Home” and practice making mint juleps. Our favorite recipe: Pour the best bourbon you can afford into a glass with an ice cube. Separately, muddle spearmint and fine sugar. Now ignore it. Drink the bourbon. Have a great week. _____ Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Evening Briefing, weeknights at 6 p. m. Eastern. Want to look back? Here’s Friday’s Evening Briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.	1
WASHINGTON — A third Democratic senator announced his support on Sunday for President Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, though Republicans still face the difficult task of gaining enough Democratic votes to confirm Judge Gorsuch without potentially having to change longstanding Senate practice. The senator, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, is among a group of 10 Democratic senators who represent states that voted for Mr. Trump and who are up for in 2018. So far, two others — Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota — have announced their support for Judge Gorsuch. That leaves Republicans, who hold 52 seats in the Senate, five Democratic votes short of breaking any filibuster mounted by Democrats. If the Republicans do not have enough votes to break a filibuster, they could invoke the nuclear option, allowing them to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees and hold a floor vote. Judge Gorsuch could then be confirmed by a simple majority. Mr. Donnelly said in a statement that he would vote for Judge Gorsuch because “he is a qualified jurist who will base his decision on his understanding of the law and is well respected among his peers. ” Mr. Donnelly said he believed that the Senate should keep the threshold to end a filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee. Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats, said on the CBS program “Face the Nation” that he planned to decide Tuesday or Wednesday how he would vote. “I think the margin requires some level of bipartisanship, and whether it’s on legislation or a major appointment like this, that it isn’t bad for the country that you have to have people and ideas that have some level of from both parties,” he said. But Senator Jon Tester, Democrat of Montana — a state won by Mr. Trump — said Sunday evening that he would oppose Judge Gorsuch, dealing a big blow to Republicans’ hopes of reaching 60 votes. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote for Monday on whether to send Judge Gorsuch’s nomination to the Senate floor. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Judge Gorsuch would be confirmed this week. “How that happens really depends on our Democratic friends, how many of them are willing to oppose cloture on a partisan basis to kill a Supreme Court nominee — never happened before in history, the whole history of the country,” Mr. McConnell said. The top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, said on the same program that Republicans would not secure 60 votes. “So instead of changing the rules, which is up to Mitch McConnell and the Republican majority, why doesn’t President Trump, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate sit down and try to come up with a mainstream nominee?” Mr. Schumer said. Mr. McConnell said any change to the precedent on filibustering Supreme Court nominees would not endanger the filibuster that can be used for legislation, calling it “a longstanding tradition of the Senate. ” Another Senate Republican leader, John Cornyn of Texas, defended Mr. McConnell’s approach. “If they filibuster Neil Gorsuch, they are going to filibuster everyone that this president might propose,” Mr. Cornyn said on “Face the Nation,” referring to Democrats. “They realize that this is their last gasp to try to prevent him from being confirmed. But they won’t. ” Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri — a state that voted for Mr. Trump — announced Friday that she would oppose Judge Gorsuch’s confirmation. Ms. McCaskill published a post on Medium in which she described the “difficult decision” she faced. “I am not comfortable with either choice,” she wrote, but then added: “I cannot support Judge Gorsuch because a study of his opinions reveal a rigid ideology that always puts the little guy under the boot of corporations. He is evasive, but his body of work isn’t. ”	1
Connie Kopelov, whose wedding to Phyllis Siegel in 2011 was the first legal marriage in New York City, died in Manhattan on Saturday. She was 90. Her death was confirmed by Ms. Siegel, who said Ms. Kopelov had been in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Ms. Kopelov and Ms. Siegel had been partners for 23 years when they were married by the city clerk on July 24, 2011 — the same day that a state law took effect allowing couples to marry. That morning, Ms. Kopelov, then 85, and Ms. Siegel, 76, were the first couple through the door of the marriage bureau, on Worth Street in Lower Manhattan. The City Council speaker at the time, Christine C. Quinn, a lesbian and prominent gay rights activist, stood in attendance around 9 a. m. as the clerk, Michael McSweeney, said, “I now pronounce you married. ” Ms. Siegel held Ms. Kopelov’s head and kissed her on the left cheek. Ms. Kopelov smiled and held her marriage license aloft. “I lost my breath,” Ms. Siegel said in March, recalling the moment. “It was just the most exciting loss of breath I’ve ever had. I just was so happy. ” From that day on, Ms. Siegel said, people would stop them on the street and congratulate them. Constance Kopelov was born on April 14, 1926, in the industrial city of Kokomo, Ind. to Samuel and Bessie Kopelov. She graduated from Northwestern University in 1947 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and later earned a master’s from Goddard College in Vermont in 1974. In 1955 she moved from Chicago to New York City, where she held positions in union organizations, including the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and the Workers Defense League. Her work often focused on women’s issues, and she taught courses on women’s labor history at Cornell University and New York University. “She was always fighting for an issue,” Ms. Siegel said. “She was always for the underdog. ” Besides her wife, Ms. Kopelov is survived by a sister, Deborah Dorosin. Ms. Kopelov and Ms. Siegel met in the through their involvement with an advocacy group, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders. New York State’s legalization of marriage followed a multiyear legislative battle that ended with the State Senate’s narrow approval of the Marriage Equality Act in June 2011. The law took effect one month later, on a Sunday, after which hundreds of gay and lesbian couples turned up at town halls and city clerks’ offices across the state. New York became the sixth and largest state to allow couples to wed, a milestone that energized advocates as they pushed their campaign across the country. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees all Americans, including couples, a right to marriage. In 2012, just shy of their first wedding anniversary, Ms. Kopelov and Ms. Siegel were honored as grand marshals of New York City’s Gay Pride Parade, along with the singer Cyndi Lauper and Chris Salgardo, the president of the cosmetics company Kiehl’s. The couple were chauffeured down Fifth Avenue in a lime green convertible.	1
November 11, 2016 Nuclear weapons: how foreign hotspots could test Trump’s finger on the trigger On Donald Trump’s first day in office he will be handed the “nuclear biscuit” – a small card with the codes he would need to talk to the Pentagon war room to verify his identity in the event of a national security crisis. Some presidents have chosen to keep the “biscuit” on them, though that is not foolproof. Jimmy Carter left his in his clothes when he sent them to the dry-cleaners. Bill Clinton had it in his wallet with his credit cards, but then lost the wallet. Others have chosen to give the card to an aide to keep in a briefcase, known as the “nuclear football”, together with a manual containing US war plans for different contingencies and one on “continuity of government”, where to go to ensure executive authority survives a first nuclear strike. The “biscuit” and “football” are the embodiment of the awesome, civilisation-ending power that will be put in Trump’s hands on 20 January. They only become relevant in very rare moments of extreme crisis, but a US president’s ability to manage crises around the world will help determine whether they become extreme.	0
(Before It's News) As advanced as our Job Posting Analytics have become—including the ability to filter by keyword search, employer, region, title, skill, or certification—there’s something that no filter or datapoint can replace: viewing the actual job posting. Now within Job Posting Analytics reports in Analyst and Developer , users can view the full text of the most relevant and recent job postings tailored to their search. Not only will the viewable postings be filtered by the selected variables, but the keyword searched will also be highlighted in the full posting text. This extra detail makes it even easier to analyze how employers are asking for certain credentials. With the quick addition of new filters, the postings displayed can be narrowed from all in New York, to all in New York that mention “javascript,” to all in New York that mention “javascript” from Oracle Corporation. The real power of this new functionality is in the context it provides. Now, users can step into the shoes of the employer and understand exactly what kind of talent they’re seeking in prospective candidates. We’re thrilled to see how this new functionality will empower users to better align programs with employer needs, identify emerging skills and occupations, and more. Over the next few weeks, our development team will be working to increase the number of viewable postings from five to at least 50. The post Now Live: View Full Text of Job Postings appeared first on Emsi .	0
WASHINGTON, D. C. — On Wednesday Director Mick Mulvaney of the Office of Management and Budget gave some insight into the shift in department funding of President Donald Trump’s “America First Budget” ahead of its Thursday release. [“This is the America First Budget,” Mulvaney told reporters at a White House briefing. “In fact we wrote it using the President’s own words. We went through his speeches. We went through articles that have been written about his policies. We talked to him and we wanted to know what his policies were and we turned those policies into numbers. ” Mulvaney said increases like the $54 billion increase to the Defense Department would be offset in other areas of the budget blueprint to prevent any further increases in the budget deficit. The Director made clear that this does not mean that the budget is balanced. “There’s more money for enforcing security at the border. There’s more money for enforcing laws on the books just generally. There’s more money for things like private and public school choice. ” The State Department and and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will also see cuts according to Mulvaney. He went on to say that reductions in the State Department were not a reflection of the President’s support, but rather that areas like foreign aid that face cuts, simply fall under the State Department portion of the budget. The State Department reductions will be around 28 percent according to Mulvaney. Mulvaney went on to state that the budget being released is not a full budget, but rather a blueprint and only deals with the portion of the budget that makes up discretionary spending. He said that those who oversee the various departments are being given great flexibility in managing funds within their own departments. He also stated that the core functions and beyond of the EPA can be satisfied with the dollars included in this budget. Asked if the budget assumes passage of the House Republican Leadership’s American Health Care Act, Mulvaney said generally no, adding that will be dealt with in a budget to be released in May. The budget to be released on Thursday morning will also show suggestion for ending funding for public broadcasting according to Mulvaney. NASA will see a very slight reduction in funding around one percent, but Mulvaney was clear that some areas within that area of the budget will see increases. He said space exploration remains among the President’s priorities. This budget will not be a spreadsheet. Mulvaney said that the budget will show money allocated for moving forward with building a wall along the U. S. southern border. He said that the budget in May will show more, but that this budget includes allocation for pilot cases to find most cost efficient, safest and most effective ways to complete the wall. Director Mulvaney said that the budget will be available online starting at 7 a. m. Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana	1
It’s Over For Hillary After People See What She Snuck In Her Online Post Posted on November 1, 2016 by Amanda Shea in Politics Share This Hillary Clinton Social media seems to be a tricky tool for Hillary Clinton, as she made a major mistake in what she shared online when she was either inebriated or hopped up on medication to treat what’s been plaguing her throughout this election. Shocked viewers couldn’t believe what was seen in her post, which she didn’t catch until it was way too late. Although we’ve seen how good Hillary is at hitting the “delete” button, she didn’t get to it quick enough after what she mindlessly posted that proved what Americans have suspected. Evidently, she didn’t realize she was making a point against herself when she made the comment with the post that said, “A guide to help you make your choice for president,” which mad the mistake all the worse for her. Either Hillary takes full responsibility for being corrupt by apparently admitting to it, or the person that does her social media is paying a big price today. Without reading what she was sharing, Hillary blindly posted an article from the super liberal news site, Slate, assuming that if it was from them, it was pro-Hillary, when the title of the piece called her out for being one of the “most corrupt, least popular candidates of all time.” A guide to help you make your choice for president. https://t.co/QzK7XZYmJW — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 31, 2016 Urging her followers in the comment with the post to use it as a guide for making the best presidential pick, it was the best and most honest advice she’s ever given. It’s for this reason that the post was likely an accident since we all know that Hillary is incapable of being truthful, but karma, in this case, ensured she was. The irony of the situation isn’t lost on conservatives but apparently was on Slate, whose piece was actually meant to promote the Democratic candidate but came across as just the opposite. The truth has a sneaky way of coming out as it did in this headline, which calls attention to this woman’s lack of character and qualifications for the presidency. For once, there’s finally some common ground conservatives have found within this liberal publication’s pages, and that’s that Hillary Clinton is corrupt and incapable of being a leader.	0
Confronting China By John Pilger TJC: Please tell us about your new film, The Coming War on China . JP: The Coming War on China is my 60th film and perhaps one of the most urgent. It continues the theme of illuminating the imposition of great power behind a facade of propaganda as news. In 2011, President Obama announced a pivot to Asia of US forces: almost two-thirds of American naval power would be transferred to Asia and the Pacific by 2020. The undeclared rationale for this was the threat from China, by some measure now the greatest economic power. The Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter, says US policy is to confront those who see Americas dominance and want to take that away from us. The film examines power in both countries and how nuclear weapons, in American eyes, are the bedrock of its dominance. In its first chapter, the film reveals how most of the population of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific were unwittingly made into nuclear guinea pigs in a programme whose secrets and astonishing archive are related to the presence of a missile base now targeting China. The Coming War on China will be released in cinemas in the UK on December 1st and broadcast on ITV (in the UK) on December 6th. TJC: How do you assess Australias role in Americas Pivot to Asia? JP: Australia is virtually the 51st state of the US. Although China is Australias biggest trader, on which much of the national economy relies, confronting China is the diktat from Washington. The Australian political establishment, especially the military and intelligence agencies, are fully integrated into what is known as the alliance, along with the dominant Murdoch media. I often feel a certain sadness about the way my own country with all its resources and opportunities seems locked into such an unnecessary, dangerous obsequious role in the world. If the pivot proceeds, Australia could find itself fighting, yet again, a great powers war. TJC: With regards to the British and American media, how can the US get away with selling China as a threat when it is encircling China? JP: Thats a question that goes to the heart of modern-day propaganda. China is encircled by a noose of some 400 US bases, yet the news has ignored this while concentrating on the threat of China building airstrips on disputed islets in the South China Sea, clearly as a defence to a US Navy blockade. TJC: Obamas visit to Japan, and particularly to Hiroshima, was a really cynical act. What was your impression of Japan and the political situation there? JP: Japan is an American colony in all but name certainly in terms of its relationship with the rest of the world and especially China. The historian Bruce Cumings explores this in an interview in the film. Within the constraints of American dominance, indeed undeterred by Washington, Japans current prime minister Shinzo Abe has developed an extreme nationalist position, in which contrition for Japanese actions in the Second World War is anathema and the post-war peace constitution is likely to be changed. Abe has gone as far as boasting that Japan will use nuclear weapons if it wants. In any US conflict with China, Japan which last year announced its biggest ever defence budget would play a critical role. There are 32 US military installations on the Japanese island of Okinawa, facing China. However, there is a sense in modern Asia that power in the world has indeed moved east and peaceful Asian solutions to regional animosities are possible. TJC: Do you think the new trade and investment deals like the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and especially the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) will affect Chinas business operations? JP: Its difficult to say, but I doubt it. What is remarkable about the rise of China is the way it has built, almost in the blink of an eye, a trade, investment and banking structure that rivals that of the Bretton Woods institutions. Unknown to many of us, China is developing its New Silk Road to Europe at an astonishing pace. Chinas response to threats from Washington is a diplomacy thats tied to this development, and which includes a burgeoning alliance with Russia. T.J. Coles is the author of Britains Secret Wars (2016, Clairview Books). PIPR Š 2016	0
While discussing the New York Times’ report that President Trump called FBI Director James Comey a “nutjob” and told Russian officials that firing Comey relieved “great pressure” on Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” CNN Political Director David Chalian argued the Trump White House does have a point about leaks, and that while “It’s not going to save them from their real legal and political troubles,” “there are people in this government who seem pretty committed to taking him down. ” Chalian began by saying, “We saw that the White House tried to explain what he meant by pressure was that the grandstanding and politicization of Comey put such pressure — nobody is going to buy that excuse. … They — clearly, the president is saying here that he felt pressure was alleviated on this investigation by getting rid of Comey. So, that’s going to be legal problem one, potentially. ” He continued, “Secondly, think about this, Wolf. This is extraordinary. This is the official government document of a meeting of the president of the United States and Russian officials inside the Oval Office, and it’s being read to a New York Times reporter. They have a point about leaks. It’s not going to save them from their real legal and political troubles, but it is extraordinary to see and another warning sign to Donald Trump that there are people in this government who seem pretty committed to taking him down. ” Later on, Chalian added that Trump has “gone back and forth” about his rationale for firing Comey. Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett	1
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party is considering setting a flexible limit on the number of migrants allowed into the country each year. [In 2015, as the migrant crisis gathered pace, Mrs. Merkel told the German people there was “no limit” to the number of migrants she was prepared to allow into Germany annually. The possible change in policy follows a similarly stark shift in rhetoric from the chancellor towards mass migration and Islam in the past months — after her party suffered losses to the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in local elections and Mrs. Merkel prepares to stand for a fourth term as chancellor later this year. The CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) has also been pressuring for change, and the chancellor will need their support to win power this year. The CSU is advocating a 200, 000 limit, which has been rejected by Mrs. Merkel in favour of a less rigid “breathing benchmark”. CSU MP Stephan Mayer and his colleague Armin Schuster of the CDU wrote in a letter to the chancellor and CSU leader Horst Seehofer that “the proposal envisages a concept for the establishment of a ‘breathing’ benchmark for the possible admission of people in need of protection in Germany”. “I believe it is in the interests of both the CDU and CSU sister parties that we enter the federal election campaign united,” Mr. Mayer told CSU members at an annual retreat, according to Die Welt. At the beginning of December, the chancellor shocked many by announcing she believes the full Islamic face veil, or “burqa” has no place in her country and should be banned. A few months previously, the chancellor’s party had their worst election result ever in the famously liberal capital of Berlin. The AfD, by contrast, saw huge gains in the city, receiving just under 15 per cent of the vote.	1
FoxNews.com October 27, 2016 With less than two weeks to go, the race for the White House has narrowed as Hillary Clinton now has a three-point advantage over Donald Trump. That’s within the margin of error of the national Fox News Poll of likely voters. Clinton is ahead of Trump by 44-41 percent. Another one-in-ten back a third-party candidate and four percent are undecided. Last week she was up by six points (45-39 percent) and before that by seven (45-38 percent). The poll, released Wednesday, finds Clinton leads 49-44 percent in the head-to-head matchup. That 5-point advantage is at the edge of the error margin. She was up 7 a week ago (49-42 percent). This article was posted: Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 6:33 am Share this article	0
Florida Congressman Mario attacked the “double standard and hypocrisy” of opponents of President Donald Trump’s executive order on migrants from countries, noting that many did not oppose a similar move by President Barack Obama that stranded thousands of Cubans throughout the Western Hemisphere. [In a Monday post on Facebook, Rep. ( .) issued a statement clarifying the conditions of President Trump’s executive order implementing a hold on allowing migrants from seven countries to enter the United States. Noting that the “ban” — which has not stopped many from the seven nations who have cleared extra screening from entering the country — was “only temporary until the Trump administration can review and enact the necessary procedures to vet immigrants from these countries,” he added that he was disturbed by the lack of concern for Cuban refugees who suffered similar delays thanks to an Obama administration policy. “I am struck by the double standard and hypocrisy of those who are offended by this executive order, but who failed to challenge President Obama when he took similar action against Cuban refugees,” Rep. wrote, noting, “especially since President Obama’s action was meant to appease the Castro regime and not for national security reasons. ” Rep. concludes by clarifying that the seven nations mentioned in President Trump’s executive order — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and Libya — were part of a list compiled during the Obama years, and not the product of policy. The Trump administration chose the nations singled out in the Terrorist Prevention Act of 2015, adding an extra section on Syria given the rapid deterioration of that nation’s control of land in the face of a Islamic State onslaught and civil war between the forces of dictator Bashar and largely Sunni Muslim rebel groups. As Rep. notes, the Obama administration policy toward Cuba did not have a national security rationale. In his last week in office, President Obama repealed a longstanding executive order policy known as “Wet Foot,” which allowed Cubans who reach U. S. territory to remain here legally. The intent of the executive order was to protect Cuban refugees fleeing the political and economic oppression of the Communist Party that has ruled the island nation for over half a century. The execution of the “Wet Foot” repeal occurred hastily, and confused Custom and Border Patrol (CBP) officers into detaining Cubans with legal visas to enter the United States for hours. Among these were many elderly Cubans who had procured legal tourist visas from the U. S. embassy in Havana in order to visit their relatives at home. Elderly Cubans with health problems later told media in Miami that they had been detained and interrogated for hours, often without food, for suspicious behavior like mentioning the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act. In addition to those stranded at airports with legal visas thanks to Obama’s policy, thousands of Cubans attempting to reach the United States through Central America and Mexico now have no way to escape the dire conditions in detention centers in nations like Panama. This week, 18 Cuban refugees announced a hunger strike to be allowed to either move north or settle in Panama, neither of which they have been allowed to do. The Mexican government has also ramped up operations to deport Cuban refugees while publicly condemning the Trump administration for considering deportations of Mexicans illegal present in the United States. Rep. appears to be alone among members of the House of Representatives in highlighting the relative lack of support for Cuban refugees from the left compared to the outpouring of rage by small leftist groups in American airports this weekend. Rep. Carlos Curbelo ( .) for example, issued a “ ” statement, expressing hope that the Trump administration will modify its policies once a more streamlined mechanism for vetting refugees is put in place: One Miami Republican lawmaker, @RepCurbelo, has commented on Trump refugee order https: . pic. twitter. — Patricia Mazzei (@PatriciaMazzei) January 28, 2017, Reps. Ileana ( .) and Albio Sires ( . J.) meanwhile, have vocally opposed parts of the executive order. “I object to the suspension of visas from the seven named countries and of the U. S. Refugee Admissions Program because we could have accomplished our objective of keeping our homeland safe by immediate implementation of more thorough screening procedures,” the Congresswoman wrote in a statement on her website. Rep. did add a statement similar to Rep. Curbelo’s, noting that the executive order is meant to be temporary. Rep. Sires has taken his objections further, supporting a bill to undo the executive order entirely. I signed onto @RepZoeLofgren SOLVE Act to rescind Pres. Trump’s executive order banning refugees immigrants from certain Muslim countries, — Albio Sires (@RepSires) January 30, 2017, The fifth in the House of Representatives, West Virginia Republican Congressman Alex Mooney, has at press time not issued any statements regarding either the repeal of “Wet Foot” or the Trump executive order.	1
It’s well known President Trump loves gold. Well, he will be displaying that affinity once again, when he appears on a Golf Channel tribute to the legendary golfer, “The Golden Bear,” Jack Nicklaus. [A golf enthusiast, Trump, who claims to have won several club championships, will join the premier golf network in a salute to arguably the greatest golfer who ever walked the planet. Bloomberg reports that the program on Nicklaus, titled “Jack,” will air on Sunday, April 9 at 9 p. m. ET. The 45th president of the United States asserts in the special that, “People like Jack, they have a desire to win. They never give up, they never quit. He’s a man that’s led a truly exemplary life his family, his work ethic, his championship status. He’s a very exceptional man. ” During NBCUniversal’s 2016 Summer Press Day, golf’s record holder for major championships praised Trump, when the New York billionaire was running for the nation’s highest office: “I have known Donald for a long time, through the game of golf. He’s been very supportive of a lot of things I have done. ” Nicklaus added, “I think he’s going to be good in the office, going to do a good job. “But, I’m very supportive of all our presidents. ”	1
AMSTERDAM — When he read the sample of Astrid Holleeder’s memoir, “Judas,” in the spring, the Dutch publisher Oscar van Gelderen said he knew he had sensational material in his hands. A gangster boss who has become a celebrity criminal. A sister who knows his secrets, and fears for her life. A criminal justice system unable to keep him behind bars without her help. And the back story of a childhood that was “dysfunctional to the max,” Mr. van Gelderen said. Ms. Holleeder is the sister of Willem Holleeder, convicted of the 1983 kidnapping of the Dutch beer millionaire Freddy Heineken. He has been in and out of prison for years, but never for murder, though Ms. Holleeder calls him a “serial killer” in her book. Because she got close enough to tape him and agreed to testify against him, he is on trial again, this time facing six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. Mr. van Gelderen’s instincts were right. The book, released in early November, has been the No. 1 best seller in the Netherlands for eight straight weeks, according to the Dutch association CPNB. Rights have already been sold for publication in Danish, German and Swedish, and Little, Brown and Company in New York bought worldwide rights this month. “Judas” is not a recounting of Mr. Holleeder’s famous misdeeds, but the story of a childhood that included regular beatings by an alcoholic father, and, later, of Mr. Holleeder’s hold on his family. “In the writing, there’s this strangling feeling of a guy who is controlling everybody,” Mr. van Gelderen said. Ms. Holleeder, 51, a successful lawyer, describes in chilling detail how, a year after their father’s death in 1991, Mr. Holleeder was released from prison and took his place as the family abuser. She recounts how painful it was to interact with him after the murder of her Cor van Hout, Mr. Holleeder’s longtime friend and in the Heineken kidnapping. She contends that Mr. Holleeder ordered that killing, and plans to testify to that effect in court. Ms. Holleeder has been observing the success of her book from the secret location where she has been living under protection since February, after an inmate in a prison described being contracted by Mr. Holleeder to arrange for the killing of Ms. Holleeder their sister, Sonja Holleeder, who was married to Mr. van Hout and a Dutch crime reporter who helped Astrid establish contact with the police. (Another brother, Gerard, has remained uninvolved in the case.) Astrid Holleeder agreed to speak with The New York Times only from a separate, secure location, and she said that she did not think she would ever be safe as long as her brother was alive. “He will not rest until we’re dead,” she said. “It’s about his pride. He cannot let his little sister take him down. ” Ms. Holleeder said that she wrote “Judas” as a kind of “last will and testament” for her daughter, who is 31 and has two children of her own. She said that testifying in court during the pretrial phase of the current case had so far felt ineffectual. (The trial is scheduled to begin in early 2017.) “I want to tell everything, but they haven’t given me the chance yet,” she said. “The book is just about how I feel, how we grew up, what in fact made me and my brother into the opponents that we are now. ” Even when the manuscript was finished, Lebowski Publishers did not provide details of its contents to bookstores, for fear that Mr. Holleeder would try to prevent its release. But after the publisher disclosed information on a television talk show the day before the book’s publication, the first print run of 80, 000 copies sold out immediately. About 400, 000 copies have been bought so far — a milestone in a country of about 17 million, where sales of 5, 000 copies are considered strong. “Judas” is a narrative in the present, with flashbacks to the Holleeders’ childhood. The account begins in January 2012, when Mr. Holleeder was released from prison after serving six years of a sentence for extortion. Astrid Holleeder said she acted as a kind of consigliere for her brother — advising him on legal matters, arranging his safe house when he got out of prison and serving as a confidante — in an effort to get close enough to obtain material that she could share with the police. She started wearing a wire in 2013, and ultimately recorded hundreds of hours of conversations with her brother. Although the author describes the admiration she felt for her brother as a little girl, her adult attitude toward him is clear from an early passage in which she describes picking him up from a prison in Vught the last time he was released. “During his detention, my brother developed a serious heart condition,” she writes. “He barely survived, but he did because, as my mother used to say, a weed doesn’t perish. I was surprised he had a heart at all. ” Mr. Holleeder’s lawyers, Sander Janssen and Robert Malewicz, criticized the timing of the book’s publication. Mr. Holleeder has been back in the prison in Vught since December 2014, but he has appeared regularly at pretrial hearings. “It’s not very favorable for any criminal case to have a book like this come out during the proceedings,” Mr. Janssen said by telephone. “You never know if a witness will tell you something because he or she knows about it, or because he or she read it in a book. ” Franklin Wattimena, a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office, said that it learned about “Judas” only the day before it was released. The judges who will decide the case have said that they have not, and will not, read the book unless it is submitted as evidence. (There are no juries in the Netherlands trials are run, and decided, by three judges.) As for Mr. Holleeder, he reacted to the book with a brief statement for the panel of judges. “I have not terrorized my family,” he said. “If this book had not been about me, I would have been as shocked as everybody else is. What Astrid said is not the truth. ” Mr. van Hout, the turned foe, once called Mr. Holleeder “Judas,” which inspired the title of the best seller. But today, Ms. Holleeder says she feels it is she who betrayed her brother. She said that she “hates” herself for turning against her brother, and that, in spite of everything, she still loves him. She said she knew, however, that it was necessary to speak out, “to end the problem for everyone else. ” “I betrayed him,” Ms. Holleeder said of testifying against him. “He trusted me with his life, he would tell me everything, and I was the only thing he had when he got out of prison. ” When the news broke that she would testify, she said she thought: “No, he cannot survive this. He’s fighting back, of course, but I don’t think he can win this time. ”	1
Since 2011, VNN has operated as part of the Veterans Today Network ; a group that operates over 50 plus media, information and service online sites for U.S. Military Veterans. Democrats should ask Clinton to step aside By VNN on October 31, 2016 The newly opened FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton's private email server marks "a potential Constitutional crisis" for the country. Chicago Tribune Has America become so numb by the decades of lies and cynicism oozing from Clinton Inc. that it could elect Hillary Clinton as president, even after Friday’s FBI announcement that it had reopened an investigation of her emails while secretary of state? We’ll find out soon enough. It’s obvious the American political system is breaking down. It’s been crumbling for some time now, and the establishment elite know it and they’re properly frightened. Donald Trump , the vulgarian at their gates, is a symptom, not a cause. Hillary Clinton and husband Bill are both cause and effect. FBI director James Comey ‘s announcement about the renewed Clinton email investigation is the bombshell in the presidential campaign. That he announced this so close to Election Day should tell every thinking person that what the FBI is looking at is extremely serious. This can’t be about pervert Anthony Weiner and his reported desire for a teenage girl. But it can be about the laptop of Weiner’s wife, Clinton aide Huma Abedin , and emails between her and Hillary. It comes after the FBI investigation in which Comey concluded Clinton had lied and been “reckless” with national secrets, but said he could not recommend prosecution. So what should the Democrats do now? If ruling Democrats hold themselves to the high moral standards they impose on the people they govern, they would follow a simple process: They would demand that Mrs. Clinton step down, immediately, and let her vice presidential nominee, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, stand in her place. Democrats should say, honestly, that with a new criminal investigation going on into events around her home-brew email server from the time she was secretary of state, having Clinton anywhere near the White House is just not a good idea. Since Oct. 7, WikiLeaks has released 35,000 emails hacked from Clinton campaign boss John Podesta . Now WikiLeaks, no longer a neutral player but an active anti-Clinton agency, plans to release another 15,000 emails. What if she is elected? Think of a nation suffering a bad economy and continuing chaos in the Middle East, and now also facing a criminal investigation of a president. Add to that congressional investigations and a public vision of Clinton as a Nixonian figure wandering the halls, wringing her hands. The best thing would be for Democrats to ask her to step down now. It would be the most responsible thing to do, if the nation were more important to them than power. And the American news media — fairly or not firmly identified in the public mind as Mrs. Clinton’s political action committee — should begin demanding it. But what will Hillary do? She’ll stick and ride this out and turn her anger toward Comey. For Hillary and Bill Clinton, it has always been about power, about the Clinton Restoration and protecting fortunes already made by selling nothing but political influence. She’ll remind the nation that she’s a woman and that Donald Trump said terrible things about women. If there is another notorious Trump video to be leaked, the Clintons should probably leak it now. Then her allies in media can talk about misogyny and sexual politics and the headlines can be all about Trump as the boor he is and Hillary as champion of female victims, which she has never been. Remember that Bill Clinton leveraged the “Year of the Woman.” Then he preyed on women in the White House and Hillary protected him. But the political left — most particularly the women of the left — defended him because he promised to protect abortion rights and their other agendas. If you take a step back from tribal politics, you’ll see that Mrs. Clinton has clearly disqualified herself from ever coming near classified information again. If she were a young person straight out of grad school hoping to land a government job, Hillary Clinton would be laughed out of Washington with her record. She’d never be hired. As secretary of state she kept classified documents on the home-brew server in her basement, which is against the law. She lied about it to the American people. She couldn’t remember details dozens of times when questioned by the FBI. Her aides destroyed evidence by BleachBit and hammers. Her husband, Bill, met secretly on an airport tarmac with Attorney General Loretta Lynch for about a half-hour, and all they said they talked about was golf and the grandkids. And there was no prosecution of Hillary. That isn’t merely wrong and unethical. It is poisonous. And during this presidential campaign, Americans were confronted with a two-tiered system of federal justice: one for standards for the Clintons and one for the peasants. I’ve always figured that, as secretary of state, Clinton kept her home-brew email server — from which foreign intelligence agencies could hack top secret information — so she could shield the influence peddling that helped make the Clintons several fortunes. The Clintons weren’t skilled merchants. They weren’t traders or manufacturers. The Clintons never produced anything tangible. They had no science, patents or devices to make them millions upon millions of dollars. FBI’s Comey acted out of ‘obligation’ to lawmakers, fear of leak to media All they had to sell, really, was influence. And they used our federal government to leverage it. If a presidential election is as much about the people as it is about the candidates, then we’ll learn plenty about ourselves in the coming days, won’t we? Listen to the Chicago Way podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin. Guests are Tribune cartoonist Scott Stantis and former White House Chief of Staff William Daley: www.chicagotribune.com/kasspod	0
The “Shadow Brokers,” the group that pilfered and published the stolen National Security Agency hacking tools that turned the WannaCry ransomware virus into a global crisis, are threatening to sell more stolen cyber weapons in June. [AFP describes the latest communique from the Shadow Brokers as a “taunting online message in broken English,” which announced the group would “take payments beginning in June for monthly releases of computer hacks and vulnerability exploits. ” The Shadow Brokers always take pains to sound like cartoon versions of Russian spies in their messages. This particular missive includes Moose and Squirrel verbiage such as, “Is being like wine of month club. Each month peoples can be paying membership fee, then getting members only data dump each month. What members doing with data after is up to members. ” The Shadow Brokers spend much of their latest message taunting a particular adversary, another hacking team linked to the NSA called The Equation Group. The Shadow Brokers insist their goal in stealing and selling these NSA hacking tools was to embarrass The Equation Group. As the hackers put it, quoting an infamous Internet meme based on an old videogame, “All your bases are belong to us. ” “TheShadowBrokers is not being interested in bug bounties, selling to cyber thugs, or giving to greedy corporate empires. TheShadowBrokers is taking pride in picking adversary equal to or better than selves, a worthy opponent. Is always being about theshadowbrokers vs theequationgroup,” the message declares. The Shadow Brokers jeer at various governments and “bullshit security companies” that did not bother to place bids when they attempted to sell the stolen hacking tools in an online auction. The auction was canceled when no one submitted a bid equal to the high price the thieves demanded. The Shadow Brokers portray themselves as insulted by the lack of bids, releasing the EternalBlue worm tools that were later incorporated into the WannaCry ransomware virus to prove their claims of holding “75% of U. S. cyber arsenal” are serious. Speaking of WannaCry, the Shadow Brokers say they were “eating popcorn” and watching the spread of the virus with great amusement. They also enjoyed the firing of FBI Director James Comey, toward whom they seem to harbor great animosity. The title of their message, in fact, is “OH LORDY! Comey Wanna Cry Edition. ” The hackers imply WannaCry might have been a operation designed to provoke hostilities between the United States and North Korea, which has been linked to an early version of the ransomware code. “Is being very strange behavior for crimeware? Killswitch? Crimeware is caring about target country?” they write, referring to the code discovered by a cybersecurity researcher that greatly impeded the spread of WannaCry over the weekend. The communique is seasoned with contempt for Microsoft, for allowing the vulnerabilities exploited by viruses like WannaCry to exist unpatched for so long, and for users who waited too long to install the patches that would have inoculated them against WannaCry. Conversely, the Shadow Brokers fault the NSA and its Equation Group for waiting so long to tell Microsoft the vulnerabilities existed. Among the new wares (or “warez” to use the preferred hacker spelling) the Shadow Brokers claim they might soon put on sale are exploits that target vulnerabilities in Windows 10 and tools to hack web browsers, routers, and mobile devices. Also, they imply they are in possession of “compromised network data” from the Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and North Korean nuclear and missile programs. Since the Shadow Brokers are widely suspected of connections to the Russian government (that is why they mockingly use the broken Russian accent when they write) the threats to sell that nuclear and missile data might be disingenuous. A final extortion threat is leveled at the end of the message: if the rightful owners of the data and software stolen by the Shadow Brokers pay them an appropriate sum in Bitcoin, the group will “go dark permanently” because it will have “no more financial incentives” to continue its risky operations. notes that they probably have a very large sum in mind, as the price they demanded at auction for the NSA software was about $580 million in Bitcoin. It is increasingly clear that the NSA informed Microsoft of the Windows software vulnerabilities it had long kept secret when it realized its powerful hacking tools had been stolen and exposed to the world. This will naturally lead to mounting criticism that neither Microsoft nor the NSA informed the general public about the danger that a virus like WannaCry could unleash. Microsoft has been castigated for making a patch to the vulnerability in later versions of Windows available a month ago, without impressing upon users the urgency of downloading and installing that patch immediately. The older, officially obsolete Windows XP, which is still running on a large number of older computers around the world, was not patched until after the scale of the WannaCry infection became clear. The new threat from the Shadow Brokers could provoke a new crisis at the offices of Microsoft and the National Security Agency: should they credit the Shadow Brokers’ claims and come clean about vulnerabilities that might be exposed by the “dump of the month” program when it begins in June? If they don’t, and another global online pandemic is unleashed, the outrage directed their way will be deafening. Likewise, Microsoft and other tech firms will be furious at the governments of the United States and other countries if intelligence agencies are still hoarding exploits for their own purposes and putting computer users at risk. The Shadow Brokers could be bluffing, but after the astounding damage inflicted by WannaCry last weekend, tech executives and government officials may be reluctant to call their bluff.	1
Surrounded by her five grandchildren who live with her, Sandra Parker asserted her unconditional love for each one. The oldest, Akiea Brewer, 19, who identifies as transgender, interrupted to express her doubt. Ms. Parker’s reply was swift and unequivocal: “I was never mad at you for being who you are. What did I tell you? Be who you are. Don’t follow and try to be who someone else is. ” Ms. Parker has never been one to mince words. She believes her directness does not dilute her warmth and affection. “Sometimes I can be really harsh,” Ms. Parker acknowledged. “Sometimes you just have to say what you have to say. You can’t pussyfoot with kids. ” An unwavering dedication to family is what led Ms. Parker, 58, to take custody of many of her grandchildren over the years, stepping up when her children could not. For example, the mother of four of Ms. Parker’s grandchildren who live with her lives in Florida and is dealing with health issues. Ms. Parker credits her ceaseless devotion to the aunt who took her in at age 48, whom Ms. Parker calls her adoptive mother. “She was just a gem. She was precious,” Ms. Parker said. “I could never ask for a better mother. She loved me as if she birthed me into the world. ” Ms. Parker said she had showered her own four children with that same unrelenting affection. Her approach to motherhood was as tough as it was tender. If one of her sons was hanging out with the wrong crowd, she did not hesitate to yank him off street corners. One son’s friends were so worried that his mother was bringing attention to the group that they told him he could no longer associate with them. “I live what I live in front of the children,” Ms. Parker said. “They don’t see me robbing, stealing, doing all those things. They don’t see those things. ” Her parental role extended to several of her children’s friends, whom she welcomed into her home. Even now, her door is open to all. Friends regularly drop by her Bronx apartment to chat and laugh. Children in the neighborhood greet her on the sidewalk. Ms. Parker, a widow, moved to New York from Florida in 2012. She came for love — to be with a man she had met on vacation. They are now engaged. Because of the values she has instilled in them, Ms. Parker said, she does not worry for her grandchildren. “I was always told children emulate what they see,” she said. “If you raise them good and do the best that you can do, and they see this, then somewhere in their heart, it’s going to be stored. ” She has long demonstrated her willingness to care for them. That respect is returned to her, and she demands that her grandchildren offer it to their absent parents, too. “A lot of grandparents allow their grandchildren to call them ‘Mother,’ but that’s not who I am,” she said. “I’m their grandmother. I never allowed them to call me Mother. They have a mother. I’m just taking her place right now, but she’s still your mother. ” Health problems, including diabetes and heart disease, prevent Ms. Parker from working. Each month, she receives $630 from Social Security, $123 in survivor benefits and $376 in federal benefits for one of her grandchildren. She also receives $771 in food stamps and $310 in cash from public assistance. Ms. Parker is responsible for paying $246 toward her $1, 541 monthly rent the bulk of it is paid by a Family Eviction Prevention Subsidy provided by New York State. Through the Visiting Nurse Service, Ms. Parker contacted the Family Center, an affiliate of FPWA, formerly the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies. FPWA is one of the eight organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. A Family Center caseworker noticed that much of the family’s furniture was badly worn. The caseworker applied for a grant from FPWA, and Ms. Parker was approved for a grant for $1, 000 in August to buy new furniture. “It feels more like home because I didn’t have anywhere for people to sit,” she said. That home is still very close quarters, which leads to the occasional fight. But her family makes the most of it, Ms. Parker said, and has learned to navigate the different personalities in a limited space. Ms. Parker wishes she had moments of calm and solitude. “There’s never a moment,” she said. “Not even when I take a shower, because somebody’s knocking on the door. Oh, my Lord. ” Ms. Parker said her home was brimming with love, giving her reason to anticipate an even brighter future. “I hope the children do well, finish school and my fiancé and I get married and sail away somewhere,” she said.	1
[Hands Up installation by Basil Kincaid in Ferguson. heartacheandpaint.com] Henry A. Giroux Cultural Critic and Public Intellectual Editor's Note The institutions that drive and reinforce capitalism at its most direct and base level are not even considered by politicians – Hillary Clinton included – as needing dismantling in order to save children. Those institutions are (domestically) the so called “criminal justice” and “juvenile justice” systems, and (internationally) the military, mercenaries, and paid international forces that are hired to carry out US international policy where children are often collateral damage, and sometimes direct targets. The U.S. also uses poor children of all races, but disproportionately children of color, as front line expendable military troops. A s the distinction between the truth and lies fades in public life, politics appears to be increasingly emptied of any substance. As Lucy Marcus has observed , “Nowadays, facts and truth are becoming [more] difficult to uphold in politics (and in business and even sports).” Certainly, in the age of Trump there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that the appeal to reason, informed judgment and facts is at odds with the current political culture. That is, truth and evidence have gone the way of the electric typewriter, or so it seems. Americans seem to have a growing fondness for ignorance, an attitude that reinforces the downsizing of the civic function of language. Falsehoods and deceptions no longer appear marginal to political debate but now seem to shape much of what is said by the presidential candidates. This is shockingly true for Trump, who has organized much of his campaign around endless fabrications, sending fact checkers into a frenzy of activity. When Trump is caught in a falsehood, he simply ignores the facts and just keeps on lying. His followers could care less about whether he deceives them or not. On the other hand, Hillary Clinton has earned a reputation as a chameleon, willing to say almost anything to promote her political career, regardless of whether she sacrifices the truth in order to do so. Her email scandal is largely read as symptomatic of a more pronounced and deeper level of dishonesty. Consequently, she is viewed mostly by the general public as untrustworthy. In response, she has managed her truth deficit by invoking her lifelong defense of families and children. For instance, during the second debate she claimed she wanted “America to be for our children” and attempted to bolster her concern for the welfare of children by pointing to her early work with the Children’s Defense Fund. In the third presidential debate, she argued against Trump’s call for exporting 11 million immigrants by stating that she was against his deportation policies because she “didn’t want to rip families apart [and was against] sending parents away from children.” In her political television ads, she points to supporting policies that “will invest in schools and colleges [and will work to] develop an economy where every young American can find a job and start a family of their own.” Unfortunately, Clinton only focuses on managing some of the problems that young people face, rather than doing anything to change the conditions that produce them. For instance, she says nothing about what education should accomplish in a democracy when educational policies are driven by a neoliberal economy that she supports. And while she talks about providing jobs for young people, she has little to say about transforming rather than adjusting an economy marked by wide gaps in inequality, wealth and power. Matters of power, state violence, extreme poverty, institutional racism, a broken criminal justice system, the school to prison pipeline and the existence of the mass incarceration state, among other important matters, rarely if ever enter her discourse and yet these are major issues negatively affecting the lives of millions of children in the United States. And her alleged regard for children falls apart in light of her hawkish policies on global regime change, drone attacks and cyber-warfare, and her unqualified support for the warfare state. Her alleged support for children abroad does not capture the larger reality they face from when their countries are invaded, attacked by drones and subject to contemporary forms of indiscriminate violence. Rather than critique the US as a powerful engine of violence, Clinton expands its imperialist role around the globe. This is a key point in light of her defense of the rights of children, because her warmongering ideology puts children in the path of lethal violence. At the same time, Clinton’s promise to address the problems many children face in the United States reeks of a disingenuousness made visible by her history of siding with and supporting policies that were injurious to children. Not only did she once disparagingly call young people super-predators, but as the First Lady she strongly backed her husband’s campaign to “end welfare as we know it.” President Clinton’s welfare policies did great harm to poor children. They eliminated the Aid to Families with Dependent Children federal assistance program and infuriated Marian Wright Edelman, the president of the Children’s Defense Fund, to the degree that she ended her working relationship with Hillary Clinton. According to Edelman , the bill represented a frontal assault on the well-being of poor children and families. Yet as late as 2008, Hillary was still touting this pernicious welfare bill as a success. She also supported Bill Clinton’s “tough on crime” policies, which, according to Michelle Alexander , “resulted in the largest increase in federal and state prison inmates of any president in American history”— which has a devastating effect on the families and children of color. Finally, Clinton supported Bush’s invasion of Iraq, which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children. Occupying the right wing of the Democratic Party, Clinton has aligned herself with a war culture that supports drone warfare and continues to support military policies that result in the needless deaths of millions of children in the Middle East, Yemen, Somalia, and other places that bear the brunt of America’s foreign policy. It is difficult to imagine, given Clinton’s coziness with the financial elite, big corporations, the military-industrial complex and the reigning war culture, that she will do anything that will lessen the violence to which children, both at home and around the globe, will face under her potential reign as President of the United States. Clinton has nothing to say about the need for a collective struggle for economic and political justice. Given her past history, Clinton’s disingenuousness becomes even starker next to the images of war and violence that mark the bodies of youth both in the United States and abroad. Her commitments to war and security have been built on the misery, mutilation and deaths of young people and her recent alleged support for the welfare of children does little to cover up the many ways capitalism, militarism, state violence and racism are killing poor Black and Brown youth. Rethinking the Horrors of War The horrors of war became painfully visible when the image circulated of the lifeless body of Aylan (Alan) Kurdi, a three-year-old who washed up on a beach face-downin the coastal town of Bodrum, Turkey, on September 2, 2015, while traveling with other refugees toward the Greek island of Kos. A second haunting image appeared on August 17, 2016, showing five-year-old Omran Daqneesh, bloodied and covered with dust, sitting silently in an ambulance after an airstrike on Aleppo, a city in northern Syria. Ordinarily, such images of children dead, injured and suffering motivate public outrage and also incite people to act. Omran’s image was widely circulated by mainstream news organizations and in the social media. The image provoked so much international outrage that the governments of Syria, China and Russia claimed it was pure propaganda and was staged. One of the most powerful images in history to provoke moral outrage and public anger was the image that circulated in 1955 of the grossly mutilated body of Emmett Till. That depiction of the effects of brutal racist violence helped to galvanize the civil rights movement. Nick Ut’s “Napalm Girl” via E-rea . Another image that changed the course of history was on display in 1972 when an anguished and terrified young girl was photographed running naked after a Napalm bomb burned and disfigured her body. The iconic picture played a significant role in mobilizing protests that helped stop the Vietnam War. Reactions to such horrible images still exist, but the brutal and unthinkable acts of violence they portray now seem to produce short-lived outrage and blend into the all-encompassing spectacle of violence and the fog of war. What is crucial to acknowledge is that the war has come home and has trapped many young people in its spiral of accelerated violence, which has become a new form of domestic terrorism and the primary force promoting a machinery of literal and social death for many youths. Domestic terrorism is now exemplified every day in media stories focusing on the killing of unarmed young people by the police and in the gun violence that is turning poor urban cities into war zones. Violence has become a habitual response by the state to every social problem. This has become more and more evident as the application of militarized police power produces on a daily basis a growing number of images of dead bodies which increasingly find their way onto the screen cultures of the social media. In the US, according to Marian Wright Edelman’s Children’s Defense Fund column , “Seventy-eight children under 5 died by guns in 2015 — 30 more than the 48 law enforcement officers killed by guns in the line of duty.” In other words, Edelman writes, “guns killed more preschoolers in one year than they did law-enforcement officers.” In Chicago alone, in the first eight months of 2016, 12 people were shot daily. According to a Carnegie-Knight News21 investigation : For every U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan during 11 years of war, at least 13 children were shot and killed in America. More than 450 kids didn’t make it to kindergarten. Another 2,700 or more were killed by a firearm before they could sit behind the wheel of a car. Every day, on average, seven children were shot dead. A News21 investigation of child and youth deaths in America between 2002 and 2012 found that at least 28,000 children and teens 19-years-old and younger were killed with guns. Teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 made up over two-thirds of all youth gun deaths in America. Gary Younge observes that every day in the United States “seven kids and teens are shot dead” which adds up to 2,500 dead children a year. What is clear is that neither mainstream political party nor their respective political leaders, including Hillary Clinton, “has a thoroughgoing plan for dealing with America’s gun culture, [one] that goes well beyond background checks,” he adds. This level of violence has deep roots in systemic structures of racism, inequality and poverty that make visible a broken democracy. Rather than being viewed as a social investment, poor youth of color are now seen as excess, threatening, suspect and undeserving of either a society in which they are protected or a future in which they are treated with respect. Instead of educating them, America spends large sums of money to imprison them; instead of building schools, we invest more and more in prisons; instead of providing quality health care, jobs and housing for them, we consign them to dilapidated schools, push them into the underground economy, and criminalize their behaviors. There are few safe spaces left for poor youth of color — rather our society offers them the promise of immiseration and a jail cell. This suggests not only a politics that has turned into a pathology, but also a dystopian logic that is as cruel as it is morally indifferent. Children and the Politics of Disappearance The killing of children in America and by US forces abroad has become part of a politics of willful disappearance in which a culture of cruelty, immediacy and forgetting works in tandem to eliminate any trace of the factors behind the production of violence in the service of the unthinkable — a society willing to sacrifice its own children to the industries that trade and profit in the massive production and distribution of guns. Such extreme violence no longer appears to have a threshold that would make it intolerable. In part, this is because the business of violence has become standardized as part of the culture of business. Or, as Phil Wolfson puts it , “the business of violence has become a far too accepted part of the fabric of contemporary life in the United States.” Tamir Rice remembrance / protest march. War culture becomes visible in the extreme violence captured in videos of the police killing of children, such as 12-year-old Tamir Rice and adults, such as Walter Scott, who was shot in the back as he was running away from his car by Michael Slager, a white North Charleston, South Carolina policeman. The scope and visibility of such actions often promote policies further wedded to military solutions, such as suspending civil liberties, accelerating the militarization of society and employing counter-terrorism tactics that rely heavily on military force. As violence becomes both normalized and spectacularized in the media, a war machine and culture becomes so deeply embedded in American society that, as Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri write in their book Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire , “war has become … a form of rule aimed not only at controlling the population but producing and reproducing all aspects of social life.” Yet, war machines do more than produce extreme forms of violence; they also fix whole categories of people as disposable enemies and force them into conditions of extreme precarity, if not danger. This is especially true of undocumented immigrants, poor Black youth, Muslims and those young people who now inhabit a neoliberal social order that has substituted precariousness for social and economic protections. Young people today are told they are on their own and not to expect much from a society that offers them poor health care, a terrain of uncertainty and insecurity, a crushing burden of debt, no hope for the future, and a market-based value system that tells them that their security and survival is no longer a social responsibility but personal responsibility. If the future looks bleak for many young people, it is not because of their own doing. Yet, the ruling elite and mainstream media journalists continually label them as losers, suggesting that their failure is a character flaw rather than the outcome of wider structural and systemic forces over which they have no control. In this instance, intolerable violence is masked by a state that has been taken over by the financial elite and that has abandoned its social functions while emptying out politics for an entire generation of youth. Indifferent to their own criminal acts, financial elites unapologetically “give precedence to private financial gain and market determinism over human lives and broad public values,” in the words of William Greider , and in doing so, inhabit the dark side of politics. Youth in a Suspect Society Young people, especially those considered the most suspect, provide a startling and eye-opening referent for analyzing not only how violence is represented and experienced, but also how it is distributed across a variety of interrelated sites. The daily violence experienced by youths, especially the most defenseless, does not often make news, because it exposes the harsh brutalizing reality that many youth face in a racist, homophobic, carceral and market-driven society. Such indifference is all the more tragic since one of the most unspoken acts of collective violence in the United States resides in its treatment of its children. What I call the war on youth is alarming given that the fate of a society’s democracy is tied to the condition of its children. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Protestant theologian, once argued that the ultimate test of morality, if not democracy, is how a society treats its children. If we take this principle seriously, the US has failed its children, particularly those who are already underserved. Many face a bleak future filled with low-paying jobs, the effects of the collapse of the welfare state, the threat of a lifetime of unemployment, the paralyzing burden of high levels of debt and a political landscape that prioritized exchange relations over relationships built on trust, dignity and compassion. All of these factors make the future look bleak for young people, but there are also other more brutalizing forces at work that now bear down on many young people — forces that suggest that a distinctive type of hardness and culture of cruelty is now shaping American society and its view of young people. In this instance, young people marginalized by class, race and ethnicity are treated as disposable in a society in which the American dream has been turned into an American nightmare. Young people now inhabit a landscape of permanent uncertainty and crisis: one in which they are spied on, incarcerated, criminalized and written out of the discourse of democracy. No longer seen as a social investment, the most vulnerable youth have become a liability, subject to the harsh dictates of the neoliberal state and a symbolic reminder of a social order that offers youth no promise of an alternative and democratic future. The dictates of precarity and austerity have become repackaged and weaponized under neoliberalism and the ongoing morphology of violence normalized as the only possible mode of life. Under the reign of a war culture, America has arrived at a historical moment in which the war on children suggests that, as Stuart Hall, Doreen Massey and Michael Rustin have argued , “the very notion of a future seems to have been cancelled.” But the war on youth does more: it also reveals the raw reality of power politics and its willingness to crush early on all forms of resistance among young people. The Challenge Ahead for Progressives The current presidential race and the debates it has provided make clear that the Republican Party wants to eliminate whatever social provisions and public goods are available for young people while the allegedly more progressive Democratic Party puts forward reforms that do little to address the underlying economic, social and ethical conditions that produce them. Trump goes further and wants to accelerate the war on young people through a law and order campaign that expands the punishing state. Clinton points to some of the problems youth face, but in doing so fails to address a number of important issues, such as the high incarceration rates of poor Black youth, the neoliberal logic of financialization, the rise of the warfare state, massive poverty, systemic racism, the surveillance state, segregation, the militarization of the police, the destruction of the planet and a culture of institutional and symbolic violence that surges through society like an electric current. If children matter, as Clinton has argued, then it is crucial to recognize that her concerns are highly disingenuous because she refuses to dismantle capitalism as it exists and fight for a social order that is no longer ruled by the commanding institutions that serve the financial elite and the dictates of global neoliberalism. If young people are to be viewed as a crucial measure of a substantive democracy, it is important to take seriously what it means to create a society that addresses their needs and opens up a better future than the one the established political and financial elites have created for them. This is not a matter of reform; it is a matter of radical economic and political justice. Such a challenge must address the current struggles faced by young people by going to the roots of the problem. This will not happen by adopting the language of reform, which has no way of addressing why the plight of young people has dissolved into a domestication of the unimaginable. The real challenge for progressives is to build a broad-based movement and create a set of alternate educational public spheres to take on the task of transforming (rather than reforming) the existing capitalist social order and its poisonous relations of power and injustice. Children matter because they remind us of the need not only to create a more democratic future, but also to take seriously the collective struggle and modes of resistance that can make it happen. Henry A. Giroux, Contributing Editor C urrently holds the Global TV Network Chair Professorship at McMaster University in the English and Cultural Studies Department and a Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Ryerson University. His books include: American at War with Itself , Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino Capitalism (Peter Land 2011), On Critical Pedagogy (Continuum, 2011), Twilight of the Social: Resurgent Publics in the Age of Disposability (Paradigm 2012), Disposable Youth: Racialized Memories and the Culture of Cruelty (Routledge 2012), Youth in Revolt: Reclaiming a Democratic Future (Paradigm 2013). Giroux’s most recent books are America’s Education Deficit and the War on Youth (Monthly Review Press, 2013), are Neoliberalism’s War on Higher Education, America’s Disimagination Machine (City Lights) and Higher Education After Neoliberalism (Haymarket) will be published in 2014). He is also a Contributing Editor of Cyrano’s Journal Today / The Greanville Post , and member of Truthout’s Board of Directors and has his own page The Public Intellectual . His web site is www.henryagiroux.com . =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”]	0

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