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Barack Obama Tells Alexis Tsipras That Rising Tide Of Nationalism Will Be A Threat To Globalism Speaking at a joint news conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras by his side, Obama refrained from criticizing President-elect Donald Trump directly as he discussed the impact of his electoral victory last week. Obama warned Tuesday that Americans and people around the world “are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism, or ethnic identity, or tribalism” taking root amid the populist movements that are gaining currency around the world.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Why did the British people vote for Brexit ? Why did Donald Trump win in a landslide ? Because free peoples from any nation, once woken, will rightly reject globalism as a threat to individual freedom. NWO elites like Obama hate displays of nationalism like Trump’s America First campaign because he doesn’t believe America should come first. The coming Trump presidency is America’s first ray of sunlight in over 8 years.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras by his side, Obama refrained from criticizing President-elect Donald Trump directly as he discussed the impact of his electoral victory last week. But the president made it clear that he sees a dark side to the kind of populist movements Trump’s campaign embodied — ideals that other conservative leaders are advocating in Europe and elsewhere. WHO IS ALEXIS TSIPRAS? – click here to visit the NTEB Archive
“We are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism, or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around an us and a them, and I will never apologize for saying that the future of humanity and the future of the world is going to be defined by what we have in common, as opposed to those things that separate us and ultimately lead us into conflict,” Obama said.
“Take Europe,” he continued. “We know what happens when Europeans start dividing themselves up and emphasizing their differences and seeing a competition between various countries in a zero-sum way. The 20th century was a bloodbath.” Obama Full Press Conference with Alexis Tsipras in Greece:
If you don’t wish to suffer through all the blather, fast-forward to 32:20 mark to hear his specific anti-America First mumbo-jumbo.
Obama, who made it clear during the course of the hour-long news conference that he did not view the recent U.S. election results as a referendum on his own tenure or world vision, suggested that targeting specific racial, religious ethnic groups could backfire.
“In the United States we know what happens when we start dividing ourselves along the lines of race or religion or ethnicity. It is dangerous. It is dangerous, not just for the minority groups that are subjected to that kind of discrimination, or in some cases in the past, violence, but because we then don’t realize our potential as a country when we are preventing blacks or Latinos or Asians or gays or women from fully participating in the project of building American life,” he said.
“So my vision is right on that issue, and it may not always win the day in the short term in any particularly political circumstance, but I am confident it will win the day in the long term,” Obama added. “Because societies which are able to unify ourselves around values and ideals and character, and how we treat each other, and cooperation and innovation, ultimately are going to be more successful than societies that don’t.”
Obama acknowledged that there was a common theme in the recent U.S. presidential election, Britain’s vote in June to leave the European Union, and other populist movements elsewhere.
“Globalization, combined with technology, combined with social media and constant information, have disrupted people’s lives, sometimes in very concrete ways,” he said. “But also psychologically, people are less certain of their national identities or their place in the world. It starts looking different and disorienting.” | 0 |
The Jews hold moral, historical and legal title to all Jerusalem including the Temple Mount. Zion, the City of David, the Apple of God's eye. The Islamos are interloping squatters there and I'm surprised Israel tolerates their presence.
There is also no history of anything called a palestinian people, language or culture. The argument is a 70 year old MB political construct simply to justify continual war against Israel.
Only one state solution exists: Israel. | 0 |
WASHINGTON — President Trump is poised in the coming days to announce his plans to dismantle the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s climate change legacy, while also gutting several smaller but significant policies aimed at curbing global warming. The moves are intended to send an unmistakable signal to the nation and the world that Mr. Trump intends to follow through on his campaign vows to rip apart every element of what the president has called Mr. Obama’s “stupid” policies to address climate change. The timing and exact form of the announcement remain unsettled, however. The executive actions will follow the White House’s release last week of a proposed budget that would eliminate climate change research and prevention programs across the federal government and slash the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 31 percent, more than any other agency. Mr. Trump also announced last week that he had ordered Scott Pruitt, the E. P. A. administrator, to revise the agency’s stringent standards on tailpipe pollution from vehicles, another of Mr. Obama’s key climate change policies. While the White House is not expected to explicitly say the United States is withdrawing from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, and people familiar with the White House deliberations say Mr. Trump has not decided whether to do so, the policy reversals would make it virtually impossible to meet the emissions reduction goals set by the Obama administration under the international agreement. In an announcement that could come as soon as Thursday or as late as next month, according to people familiar with the White House’s planning, Mr. Trump will order Mr. Pruitt to withdraw and rewrite a set of regulations known as the Clean Power Plan, according to a draft document obtained by The New York Times. The Obama rule was devised to shut down hundreds of heavily polluting power plants and freeze construction of new coal plants, while replacing them with vast wind and solar farms. The draft also lays out options for legally blocking or weakening about a additional executive orders and policies on climate change. At a rally on Monday in the state of Kentucky, Mr. Trump told a cheering audience that he is preparing an executive action that would “save our wonderful coal miners from continuing to be put out of work. ” Experts in environmental law say it will not be possible for Mr. Trump to quickly or simply roll back the most substantive elements of Mr. Obama’s climate change regulations, noting that the process presents a steep legal challenge that could take many years and is likely to end up before the Supreme Court. Economists are skeptical that a rollback of the rules would restore lost coal jobs because the demand for coal has been steadily shrinking for years. Scientists and climate policy advocates around the world say they are watching the administration’s global warming actions and statements with deep worry. Many reacted with deep concern to Mr. Pruitt’s remarks this month that he did not believe carbon dioxide was a primary driver of climate change, a statement at odds with the global scientific consensus. They also noted the remarks last week by Mick Mulvaney, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, in justifying Mr. Trump’s proposed cuts to climate change research programs. “As to climate change, I think the president was fairly straightforward: We’re not spending money on that anymore,” Mr. Mulvaney said at a White House briefing. “The message they are sending to the rest of the world is that they don’t believe climate change is serious. It’s shocking to see such a degree of ignorance from the United States,” said Mario J. Molina, a Nobel scientist from Mexico who advises nations on climate change policy. The policy reversals also signal that Mr. Trump has no intention of following through on Mr. Obama’s formal pledges under the Paris accord, under which nearly every country in the world submitted plans detailing actions to limit global warming over the coming decade. Under the accord as it stands, the United States has pledged to reduce its greenhouse pollution about 26 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. That can be achieved only if the United States not only implements the Clean Power Plan and rules, but also tightens them or adds more policies in future years. “The message clearly is, ‘We won’t do what the United States has promised to do,’” Mr. Molina said. In addition to directing Mr. Pruitt to withdraw the Clean Power Plan, the draft order instructs Attorney General Jeff Sessions to request that a federal court halt consideration of a lawsuit against the regulation. The case was argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in September, and the court is expected to release a decision in the coming months on whether to uphold or strike down the rule. According to the draft, Mr. Trump is also expected to announce that he will lift a moratorium on new coal mining leases on public lands that had been announced last year by the Obama administration. He is also expected to order White House economists to revisit an budgeting metric known as the social cost of carbon. Economists and policy makers used the metric to place a dollar cost on the economic impact of carbon dioxide pollution: about $36 per ton. That measure formed the Obama administration’s economic justification for issuing climate change regulations that would harm some industries, such as coal mining, noting that those costs would be outweighed by the economic benefits of preventing billions of tons of pollution. Eliminating or lowering the social cost of carbon could provide the Trump administration the economic justification for putting forth regulations. The draft order would also rescind an executive order by Mr. Obama that all federal agencies take climate change into account when considering any form of environmental permitting. Unlike the rollback of the power plant and vehicle regulations, which could take years and will be subject to legal challenges, Mr. Trump can make the changes to the coal mining ban and undo Mr. Obama’s executive orders with the stroke of a pen. White House staff members and energy lobbyists who work closely with them say they have been expecting Mr. Trump to make the climate change announcements for weeks, ever since Mr. Pruitt was confirmed to head the E. P. A. on Feb. 17, but the announcement has been repeatedly rescheduled. The delays of the announcement have largely been a result of disorganization and a chaotic policy and planning process, said people familiar with that process who asked to speak anonymously to avoid angering Mr. Trump. One reason for the confusion, these people said, is internal disputes about the challenging legal process required to dismantle the Clean Power Plan. While Mr. Trump may announce with great fanfare his intent to roll back the regulations, the legal steps required to fulfill that announcement are lengthy and the outcome uncertain. “Trump’s announcements have zero impact,” said Richard J. Lazarus, a professor of environmental law at Harvard. “They don’t change existing law at all. ” Much of that task will now fall to Mr. Pruitt. “To undo the rule, the E. P. A. will now have to follow the same procedure that was followed to put the regulations in place,” said Mr. Lazarus, pointing to a multiyear process of proposing draft rules, gathering public comment and forming a legal defense against an expected barrage of lawsuits almost certain to end up before the Supreme Court. | 1 |
Smoking will be prohibited in public housing residences nationwide under a federal rule announced on Wednesday. Officials with the Department of Housing and Urban Development said that the rule would take effect early next year, but that public housing agencies would have a year and a half to put policies in place. The rule will affect more than 1. 2 million households, the officials said, although some 200, 000 homes already come under smoking bans adopted voluntarily by hundreds of public housing agencies around the country. The nationwide ban will have its greatest impact in New York, where the New York City Housing Authority — whose 178, 000 apartments and more than 400, 000 residents make it the largest public housing agency in the United States, has lagged behind many of its counterparts in adopting policies. While HUD proposed the sweeping prohibition a year ago, it had been prodding public housing authorities to adopt such policies since 2009. The New York agency, which had asked HUD unsuccessfully for three years to phase in a ban, issued a statement on Wednesday saying it was “fully committed to providing an environment that promotes resident health as part of our vision of safe, clean and connected communities. ” advocates consider housing the latest major front in the campaign to curb exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. The rule covering public housing forbids cigarettes, cigars, pipes and hookahs (or water pipes) — but not electronic cigarettes — from being smoked in all living units, indoor common areas, administrative offices and all outdoor areas within 25 feet of housing and office buildings. Housing agencies that already ban smoking said they enforced their policies through warnings and fines coupled with education, including counseling and aids like nicotine patches. “The last thing that we want are evictions,” Julián Castro, the HUD secretary, said during a call with reporters. “We don’t see this as a policy that is meant to end in a whole lot of evictions,” Mr. Castro said. “We’re confident that authority staff can work with residents so that that can be avoided. ” Health officials said that a significant amount of smoke could be transferred between apartments and that alternatives, such as improving ventilation, did not eliminate the ills of secondhand smoke, including causing or aggravating conditions like asthma and lung cancer. Children are especially vulnerable 760, 000 of them live in public housing. Housing officials said that although the federal government would not help to pay for enforcement, the public housing authorities stood to save money in averted fire losses and reduced costs for painting and cleaning units. The final rule followed a period of public comment during which some opponents took exception to the government’s telling people what to do in the privacy of their own homes. In New York, there was also concern about whether police officers would be involved in enforcing the rule that will not be the case, Housing Authority officials said. Smoking is already prohibited in the lobbies and hallways of the city’s public housing buildings. In answer to a question, Mr. Castro said he was confident that the incoming Trump administration would not have a problem with the ban because “the public health benefit to this policy is so tremendous, and the residents’ support for going is so tremendous out there, that this rule will stick. ” “Public housing will go and remain and, because of that,” he said, “so many folks are going to live healthier lives and have a better shot at reaching their dreams because they have good health. ” | 1 |
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The government’s one-day ban on NDTV has come under heavy criticism from the media, sections of the Twitterati and those who criticize it for anything and everything anyway. Surprisingly, Dr. Swamy tore into the government for the decision. Check what happens:
[Black screen]: Wow! You are great, Swamy ji. By the way, which caste?
Yeh kya ho gaya? = What has happened?
Entra idhi? = What is this? | 0 |
source Add To The Conversation Using Facebook Comments | 0 |
Miranda’s final bows for his farewell performance in “Hamilton” on Saturday night seemed routine, if overly humble for the departure of the show’s star and mastermind. He even shared his bows with the other cast members also exiting the show, including Phillipa Soo and the Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. But then the theme song to “The West Wing” kicked in from the orchestra pit. Mr. Miranda giggled and took a couple of shy bows, only to turn around and be embraced then pushed back to the front of the stage by Christopher Jackson, who plays George Washington, for a proper bow. Still, the curtain call lasted no more than two and a half minutes, despite fervent applause, which had been consistent throughout the night. The opening number received multiple standing ovations, as did many others. But Mr. Miranda and other performers would pause for only a minute each time before moving the show forward. Afterward, in the pouring rain, hundreds and hundreds of fans filled West 46th Street, waiting for Mr. Miranda to emerge from the stage door at the Richard Rodgers Theater. Instead, Mr. Miranda appeared, “Evita” on a balcony atop the theater’s marquee. Holding an umbrella and waving to fans, he paced from one side of the marquee to the other, occasionally stopping to hold his left hand over his heart to show gratitude. Then he was gone. “It’s over, folks,” a police officer yelled as he tried to keep the crowd out of the street. “There’s no more. ” Despite the rain, many people were reluctant to leave, greeting other cast members at the stage door and holding out for another possible appearance by Mr. Miranda. Inside, he had gotten his hair cut, now that he no longer needed it long for the role. Fans had begun to wait for him much earlier in the day. An hour before the 8 p. m. curtain, hundreds of people flanked the stage door to watch cast members and V. I. P.s come and go, and others stood across the street. Many didn’t even have tickets. “Hamilton” merchandise abounded: posters and even a woman’s clutch that read “Talk Less,” the advice Aaron Burr gives Hamilton throughout the show. Around 7:10 p. m. Ms. Soo — who plays Hamilton’s wife, Eliza — entered through the stage door, escorted by her fiancé, the actor Steven Pasquale. He later walked out and approached a police officer, Mike Sullivan, who was standing near the box office and has been assigned to the theater’s block for six years. “Thank you for everything,” Mr. Pasquale said to him. Mr. Sullivan shook his hand, smiled and said, “Of course. ” Nearby, at the front of the line, was a family of four from Florida. They had bought their tickets in February when their daughters, Katie and Sarah Lafferty, fell in love with the cast recording. And their father, Mike, expected the show to be good, he said, because “the first lady says it’s the best art she’s ever seen in her life. ” So Mr. Lafferty looked ahead at a block of tickets. This weekend just happened to be the cheapest option. Not so much for recent ticket buyers. Clara Lacey, a from Los Angeles, flew to New York to see Mr. Miranda’s final performance, and her family bought her a single ticket just a few hours before the show. They paid about $1, 500. Once the house opened at 7:30 p. m. winners of the “Hamilton” ticket lottery — a small number of coveted $10 seats are distributed through an online system — could claim their prizes. Among them were a young actress, Haleigh Ciel, and her friend Byron Chang. Like many of the other winners, they were excited to have finally won and gotten a chance to see Broadway’s hottest show. But they had no idea this was Mr. Miranda’s farewell. “Oh my God,” Ms. Ciel said. “Now I feel so incredibly honored. ” Others did know, and they were understandably excited for the night. Michelle Foronjy, who works at a Toyota dealership on Long Island, said she screamed when she found out that she had won the lottery and expected to be squeezing her boyfriend’s hand with excitement all night. She was still holding on to him as they left the theater. Celebrities came through the box office doors at a steady pace. Jennifer Lopez, who recently collaborated with Mr. Miranda on a benefit song to aid those affected by the Orlando massacre, attracted attention with the flashes of paparazzi, as did John Kerry with his security detail. (Abigail, a dog, noticed them but seemed unfazed.) Spike Lee came for his eighth “Hamilton” performance. Mariska Hargitay showed up for the 10th time. No one seemed as devoted as Rosie O’Donnell, who said this was her 24th time, including performances Off Broadway at the Public Theater. Ms. O’Donnell lamented the cast departures, and Ms. Hargitay in particular was preparing for an emotional evening of saying goodbye to Mr. Odom. “There are going to be a lot of tears,” she said. “Oh no, I’m starting to cry just saying that. ” Among the stragglers was Charlie Rose, as well as two young women — one of whom, as she was walking through the lobby doors, looked at her ticket and said, “These aren’t great seats. ” Her companion replied: “Who cares? We get to see it. ” | 1 |
Share on Facebook Edward Snowden believed that the government fundamentally “had noble intents,” as did the American people. However, admitting he was naive, Snowden discusses the upper echelons of government and how they are pervaded with corruption, giving him the understanding that led him to do what he did – whistleblow on mass surveillance programs. Snowden insists that the importance of the citizen in having the right to know and understand the policies that govern us – namely, one in particular, surveillance – and that this right is vital to our democratic functioning. It's important to revisit this notion and ask the question ‘why?’ Why did Edward Snowden whistleblow on the government's surveillance program? Did he have an axe to grind? No. He simply saw a fundamentally flawed system, vitally wrong governing, and asked why haven't the citizens been told? As Snowden points out in a talk he gives, the vast majority of Congress knew nothing about the programs maintained and instituted, nor was the Senate and House fully briefed on covert actions. He points out the political unwillingness, post 9/11 , to confront difficult questions about what was right and wrong, in this regard. Why didn't the public have the opportunity to participate in debate about their security and wellbeing? Why were top officials unaware of this? Only a small handful of officials knew of these ongoing policies. The creation of mass surveillance programs behind closed doors “illustrates” an “institutional momentum” that is “changing the boundaries of the rights that we enjoy as free people in a free society,” Snowden says. Mass surveillance is a critical issue. It still continues to violate civil and political rights. Snowden, however, is arguably only a glitch on the top of the echelon's radar. He can only report on what he knew, not current behind the doors policy, which most government and legal bodies still know nothing about – or are only fed scraps. The system of government has essentially degraded our society. Our democratic processes have eroded away, not allowing us to know about the issues , let alone policy that is still being engaged in. Snowden doesn't claim to have all the answers., but he is able to assist in the steps along the way, ensuring that his efforts aren't in vain and that we don't forget. Snowden eloquently puts it “We have lost the freedom to associate with our judgement.” And that in itself, is where the real danger rests. Related: | 0 |
When Debbie Antonelli got the phone call from CBS Sports a month ago, asking her if she was interested in working this year’s N. C. A. A. men’s basketball tournament as an analyst, she said, “Yes, of course. ” How could she not be? After 29 years as a sideline reporter and analyst at hundreds of games, after thousands of miles traveling and thousands of hours studying teams and plays and players, Antonelli, 52, was being asked — finally — to be a leading voice at what she considers basketball’s Super Bowl. Her husband, Frank, congratulated her. Her three sons were excited, too. “My sons said a few ‘wows’ and ‘Ooh, I hope you get this team and that team,’” Antonelli said Wednesday in a phone call from the line at her youngest sons’ high school. “But my coolness factor lasted about three minutes. ” I like the way her sons think. In 2017, why must it be news that a woman like Antonelli, who has worked men’s games since the was chosen as a broadcaster for two rounds of men’s N. C. A. A. tournament games? Women have broadcast men’s games for years. Doris Burke, who calls N. B. A. games for ESPN and ABC, has been a staple of broadcast coverage for two decades, and Jessica Mendoza, the Olympic softball player, has had a leading role in ESPN’s baseball coverage since 2015. In 2015, Beth Mowins, who had called college football games for years, became the second woman to work as a announcer for an N. F. L. game. What makes Antonelli’s recent hiring remarkable, though, is just how long it has been since the last woman, Ann Meyers Drysdale, worked on an N. C. A. A. men’s tournament broadcast. Meyers Drysdale helped call two rounds — in 1995. I asked Antonelli about that yawning gap, and she couldn’t explain it, saying, “I don’t have the answer for that. ” I asked Meyers Drysdale about it, too, and she was just as perplexed. “To me, gender is not that big a deal,” she said. “A is a . There are plenty of people qualified to call the game, and plenty of them are women. “You might want to ask who’s in charge of the hiring. ” So I called Sean McManus, the chairman of CBS Sports, and did just that. “I don’t really know the answer to that question,” he admitted, “except probably it was easy to keep assigning the cast of regulars to the tournament. It just wasn’t on our radar screen. ” The thing is, McManus said he had watched and admired Antonelli, who is under contract with ESPN, for so many years that he couldn’t pinpoint the date when he had first noticed her. And when, he said, someone at CBS brought up her name this year — along with the idea to use her broad expertise in an analyst’s role, rather than for infrequent hits as a sideline reporter — the group decided, “Boy, that’s a ” But if it was a why did two decades go by without someone thinking of hiring her? It could be, McManus said, that Antonelli works for ESPN, and CBS Sports didn’t think it could hire her away for the tournament, which the network ended up doing quite easily this year. Or, he said, it was “probably just an oversight and a little bit of a lack of creativity, perhaps. ” McManus was clear that Antonelli had finally been hired because of her expertise, because of her reputation for preparation and good work — and not because she is a woman. Antonelli knows that her big chance will come with pressure to succeed, in terms of her getting another shot, and for all women who want to be treated equally in roles that remain, to many, male domains. “There’s no margin for error if you hear a woman’s voice during a broadcast,” Antonelli acknowledged. “If you make a mistake, they’ll say, ‘It figures.’ And they will blame it on me being a woman. ” Antonelli tries not to think about that. Instead, she thinks about basketball. A North Carolina native and starter on N. C. State’s team, she began her broadcasting career calling Ohio State women’s games. And from there, she never stopped. Dayton’s men. Missouri Valley Conference contests. Her Twitter bio reads like a bowl of alphabet soup: The W. N. B. A. CBS. ESPN. Raycom. She has called the Women’s Final Four on radio and worked the A. C. C. men’s tourney on television. One thing she has not done, though, is dwell on being a woman in sports. “I know this is a big issue for women, for me to work these games, and I think it’s a sad state of affairs that this is the case,” she said. “Just look at the generations of girls who have played this game and how far they have come. But this is still an issue? I don’t even think about the woman part of it. I think about being an athlete. ” Also on her mind: doing the job well. When CBS Sports announced that Antonelli would join its broadcasting team, she was in her car, trying to focus on the two games she would be working that night at the A. C. C. women’s tournament in Conway, S. C. Texts, phone calls and emails poured in, all offering congratulations. Antonelli marked the moment in a familiar way: She drove straight to a Waffle House and ordered her usual: a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich, with a cup of coffee. She will get her assignments after the bracket is filled on Sunday. Until then, Antonelli has no time to waste, no time to debate critics on Twitter, no time to pat herself on the back for breaking into a man’s realm. No time, because she has work to do. | 1 |
Black Turnout Soft in Early Voting, Boding Ill for Hillary Clinton Jeremy Peters et al., New York Times, November 1, 2016
African-Americans are failing to vote at the robust levels they did four years ago in several states that could help decide the presidential election, creating a vexing problem for Hillary Clinton as she clings to a deteriorating lead over Donald J. Trump with Election Day just a week away.
{snip}
The reasons for the decline appear to be both political and logistical, with lower voter enthusiasm and newly enacted impediments to voting at play. In North Carolina, where a federal appeals court accused Republicans of an “almost surgical” assault on black turnout and Republican-run election boards curtailed early-voting sites, black turnout is down 16 percent . White turnout, however, is up 15 percent. Democrats are planning an aggressive final push, including a visit by President Obama to the state on Wednesday.
But in Florida, which extended early voting after long lines left some voters waiting for hours in 2012, African-Americans’ share of the electorate that has gone to the polls in person so far has decreased , to 15 percent today from 25 percent four years ago.
The problems for Democrats do not end there. In Ohio, which also cut back its early voting, voter participation in the heavily Democratic areas near Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo has been down, though the Clinton campaign said it was encouraged by a busy day on Sunday when African-American churches led voter drives across the state.
{snip}
The Clinton campaign believes it can close the gap, especially in North Carolina and Florida, by Election Day. And Democrats are seeing substantial gains in turnout for other key constituencies like Hispanics and college-educated women, which have the potential to more than make up for any drop-off in black voting.
{snip} | 0 |
Home » Silver » Silver News » It’s Only A Matter of Time: THIS Is What Will Cause Gold Prices to Move in 2017
“If The Fed Has to Hike Interest Rates to Control Price Inflation, It’s GAME OVER!”
Alasdair MacLeod Joins Us From London to Warn“Its Only A Matter of Time”: THIS Is What Will Cause Gold to Move in 2017:
MacLeod Joins Us For A Crucial Market Update, Discussing:
No Gold and Silver Correction in Pound Sterling – Gold ROARS in 2016 Risk of Price Inflation Driven By MASSIVE Monetary Inflation – Signs Indicate It’s Already Beginning! MacLeod Makes The Case for Gold – Inflation Will Arrive in 2017 – Complete Replica of 1970’s Stagflation! Alasdair Explains Why Just 3% Inflation in America Could Trigger Banking Crisis and Financial Collapse! We’re In a Depression! If You Subtract Inflation, GDP Has Subtracted Ever Since the Lehman Crisis!
DOC’S GOLD & SILVER MARKET UPDATE: After delays reported at most of the AP’s and wholesalers on nearly all gold coins with gold’s dip under $1250, tightness in the physical gold market eased this week and most gold bullion investment coins and bars became readily available again at the wholesale level.
The Wholesale Silver Market Remains Tight, Mostly Unchanged:
Wholesale premiums rose again slightly on 90% Junk Silver Coins this week, with supply remaining scarce and delayed.
After reporting whopping sales last week of nearly 1.5 million 2016 Silver Eagles coins, the Mint reported only 250,00 Silver Eagles sold this weeking, bringing October Silver Eagle coin sales to 3,675,000, and Year to Date Sales to 34,250,500.
The Sunshine Mint has finally caught up on production of SD Bullion’s most popular silver round, the Sunshine 1 oz Walking Liberty rounds which is now back in stock after experiencing 3-4 week delays in early October.
No major changes to report for the rest of the wholesale silver market over the past week. | 0 |
ROME (AFP) — The Italian government said Sunday that dozens of rival tribes in southern Libya had agreed to cooperate on securing the country’s borders in an effort to curb the influx of migrants trying to reach Europe. [Italy’s interior ministry said the 60 tribal leaders — notably the Tuareg of the southwest, the Toubou of the southeast, and the Arab tribe of Awlad Suleiman — had reached the deal after 72 hours of secret talks in Rome. A representative from Libya’s Government of National Accord, which is based in Tripoli and controls western Libya, was also present. “A Libyan border patrol unit will be operational to monitor Libya’s southern border of 5, 000 kilometres (3, 100 miles),” Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper, one of several Italian media outlets reporting on the deal Sunday. “Securing Libya’s southern border means securing Europe’s southern border,” Minniti said. Southern Libya is by smuggling routes for people, drugs and weapons. Since the 2011 uprising that ousted Moamer Kadhafi, a mosaic of tribal and ethnic forces is fighting for control of illicit trade and oil fields in the region. Tuaregs control the border with southern Algeria, while further east, the Toubou operate along the borders with Chad and Sudan. Arab tribes in the region have supported the authorities in western Libya, but they also maintain ties with a rival administration that holds sway in the east — and regularly clash with the Toubou. Fayez chief of the fragile GNA, has struggled to impose the government’s authority, despite its backing by many political and military leaders. The accord, whose details have not yet been released, is the latest in a series of deals European countries have sought to reduce migration from Libya, which has increased sharply in recent months. The deal aims to combat “an economy based on illicit drugs, which causes hundreds of deaths in the Mediterranean, thousands of desperate people looking for a better life, a populist push (in Europe) and a jihadist threat in the desert,” according to the text of the agreement, quoted in the Corriere della Sera newspaper. It also calls for job training programmes to keep young people from criminal activities. Some 24, 200 people have been rescued from the Mediterranean and registered at Italian ports so far this year, according to the Interior Ministry. As part of an earlier agreement with the European Union, about 90 members of the Libyan coastguard are currently completing training under the EU, and Italy is preparing to return 10 coastguard boats to Libya that it seized in 2011. They are expected to be operational by the end of April or in early May. In March, interior ministers from several EU and North African countries reached a deal with the GNA to stem flow of migrant and human smuggling, which included pledges of money, coastguard training and equipment for Libya. | 1 |
Originally appeared at Pravoslavie.ru
A Siberian theatre triggered a storm today by cancelling a staging of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Jesus Christ Superstar after a pro-Kremlin nationalist group condemned it as blasphemy.
The touring production by Saint Petersburg’s Rock Opera theatre was due to open November 1 in the Musical Theatre of the city of Omsk, but the organisers cancelled it this week following protests by conservative activists.
In a report from Omsk, Regnum news agency wrote today that the scandal “has prompted a major public reaction”.
It quoted art critic Vadim Klimov as saying: “Today you cannot say that Russia is a secular state.”
An obscure group called Family, Love, Fatherland had appealed to regional authorities to stop the staging and applied to hold a demonstration, accusing the long-running musical of “non-stop blasphemy” and “mockery of faith”.
The closure comes as relatively small numbers of nationalist activists with Orthodox beliefs are voicing their views more and more stridently, supported by some officials.
Amnesty International called the cancellation of the show “the latest example of interference in Russian cultural life by nationalist ‘activists’.”
The region’s culture ministry distanced itself from the decision to stop the show, with a spokesman saying the promoter cancelled the show “for some reasons of its own,” RIA Novosti state news agency reported.
The Omsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church also denied any “interference” in the theatre’s repertoire.
Last year a director and the head of another Siberian theatre in Novosibirsk went on trial for “desecrating religious symbols” over a staging of Richard Wagner’sTannhauser opera. The case was dropped, but the theatre’s head was sacked.
Rossiya-24 state television reported the decision to close Lloyd Webber’s “legendary rock opera” was most likely taken by the theatre “fearing to repeat the fate” of the Tannhauser staging.
The musical was first staged in Russia in 1990 during Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika reforms.
Russia made offending religious believers a criminal offence after the Pussy Riot punk band performed a song slamming President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow church in 2012. | 0 |
Ron Paul: Blame Government, Not Markets For Monopoly 11/01/2016
EURASIA REVIEW
When Time-Warner announced it planned to merge with another major communications firm, many feared the new company would exercise near-total monopoly power. These concerns led some to call for government action to block the merger in order to protect both Time-Warner’s competitors and consumers.
No, I am not talking about Time-Warner’s recent announced plan to merge with AT&T, but the reaction to Time-Warner’s merger with (then) Internet giant AOL in 2000. Far from creating an untouchable leviathan crushing all competitors, the AOL-Time-Warner merger fell apart in under a decade.
The failure of AOL-Time-Warner demonstrates that even the biggest companies are vulnerable to competition if there is open entry into the marketplace. AOL-Time-Warner failed because consumers left them for competitors offering lower prices and/or better quality.
Corporate mergers and “hostile” takeovers can promote economic efficiency by removing inefficient management and boards of directors. These managers and board members often work together to promote their own interests instead of generating maximum returns for investors by providing consumers with affordable, quality products. Thus, laws making it difficult to launch a “hostile” takeover promote inefficient use of resources and harm investors, workers, and consumers.
Monopolies and cartels are creations of government, not markets. For example, the reason the media is dominated by a few large companies is that no one can operate a television or radio station unless they obtain federal approval and pay federal licensing fees. Similarly, anyone wishing to operate a cable company must not only comply with federal regulations, they must sign a “franchise” agreement with their local government. Fortunately, the Internet has given Americans greater access to news and ideas shut out by the government-licensed lapdogs of the “mainstream” media. This may be why so many politicians are anxious to regulate the web.
Government taxes and regulations are effective means of limiting competition in an industry. Large companies can afford the costs of complying with government regulations, costs which cripple their smaller competitors. Big business can also afford to hire lobbyists to ensure that new laws and regulations favor big business.
Examples of regulations that benefit large corporations include the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulations that raise costs of developing a new drug, as well as limit consumers ability to learn about natural alternatives to pharmaceuticals. Another example is the Dodd-Frank legislation, which has strengthened large financial intuitions while harming their weaker competitors.
Legislation forcing consumers to pay out-of-state sales tax on their online purchases is a classic case of business seeking to use government to harm less politically-powerful competitors. This legislation is being pushed by large brick-and-mortar stores and Internet retailers who are seeking a government-granted advantage over smaller competitors.
Many failed mergers and acquisitions result from the distorted signals sent to business and investors by the Federal Reserve’s inflationary monetary policy. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the AOL-Time-Warner fiasco, which was a direct result of the Fed-created dot.com bubble.
In a free market, mergers between businesses enable consumers to benefit from new products and reduced prices. Any businesses that charge high prices or offer substandard products will soon face competition from businesses offering consumers lower prices and/or higher quality. Monopolies only exist when government tilts the playing field in favor of well-connected crony capitalists. Therefore those concerned about excessive corporate power should join supporters of the free market in repudiating the regulations, taxes, and subsides that benefit politically-powerful businesses. The most important step is to end the boom-bust business cycle by ending the Federal Reserve.
This article was published by RonPaul Institute . | 0 |
TEL AVIV — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the U. S. House of Representatives on Friday for disavowing the UN Security Council’s resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity as a “flagrant violation of international law. ”[“After the outrageous resolution at the UN, the U. S. House of Representatives voted yesterday resoundingly to support Israel and reject this resolution,” Netanyahu said. “I want to thank the U. S. House of Representatives, which reflects the tremendous support Israel enjoys among the American people. They voted to either repeal the resolution at the UN or change it — and that’s exactly what we intend to do. ” “Democrats and Republicans alike know that the Western Wall isn’t occupied territory,” he added. A similar measure is expected from the Senate this week. House Resolution 11 called on the U. S. — which abstained from the Security Council vote — to “oppose and veto future United Nations Security Council resolutions that seek to impose solutions to final status issues, or are and . ” “The passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 undermined the longstanding position of the United States to oppose and veto United Nations Security Council resolutions that seek to impose solutions to final status issues, or are and reversing decades of bipartisan agreement,” the resolution continues, in reference to President Barack Obama’s decision to abstain from the vote. The resolution echoes Israel’s view that the UN vote will make peace even more elusive, saying it “undermines the prospect of Israelis and Palestinians resuming productive, direct negotiations, contributes to the politically motivated acts of boycott, divestment from and sanctions against Israel and represents a concerted effort to extract concessions from Israel outside of direct negotiations. ” House Speaker Paul Ryan urged the entire House to support the resolution. “I am stunned — I am stunned at what happened last month,” Ryan said in a statement on the floor. “This government, our government, abandoned our ally Israel when she needed us the most. ” State Department spokesman John Kirby said over the weekend that the Obama administration’s decision to abstain from the vote “was about preserving the solution, which we continue to believe is the only way to ensure Israel’s future as a Jewish and a democratic state — living in peace and security with a viable and independent Palestinian state. ” However, many Republicans have expressed the view that the solution is no longer viable. “The solution has run its course,” said Rep. Steve King ( ) who is a close confidant of the incoming Trump administration. Israel is concerned that Obama may seek more resolutions defining parameters for a peace framework at the UNSC during his final days in office. However, the president’s foreign policy adviser, Ben Rhodes, has denied this and said the administration intends to use its veto. Meanwhile, Israel announced on Friday that it was cutting funding as “an act of protest” against UN agencies that are considered to be . “It is unreasonable for Israel to fund bodies that operate against us at the UN,” Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said. “The UN must end the absurd reality in which it supports bodies whose sole intent is to spread incitement and propaganda. ” | 1 |
SAN FRANCISCO — As pitch after pitch played out, the goblins of past heartbreak began to creep back. If tales of goats, a fan named Steve Bartman and past playoff collapses and curses began to be revisited, another very real specter appeared in the head of Joe Maddon, the manager of the Chicago Cubs. It had dreadlocks, a barrel chest and a history of throwing darts at his team’s hitters. It was sitting in the home dugout on Tuesday night. “Johnny Cueto was etched all over my frontal lobe,” Maddon said of the San Francisco Giants pitcher who was itching for another shot at the Cubs in a game back at Wrigley Field. “And I didn’t like it. ” There was a lot for Maddon not to like. The Cubs’ defeat the previous night seemed to have awoken the Giants, their October mojo now in full force behind the pitching of Matt Moore, who had held the Cubs to two hits through eight innings. Three more outs remained, and three runs needed to be scored, or the Cubs would be forced to return home for a fifth game of this National League division series amid their fans’ anxious embrace. Then the Cubs made something happen that usually seems to happen only to them. They not only got up off the mat, they seemed to crawl out from underneath it, scoring four times in the ninth inning to finish off the Giants with a victory, winning the series, three games to one. When Aroldis Chapman, who gave up the lead on Monday night, blew a fastball past Brandon Belt for the final out, the Cubs emptied out of the dugout and mobbed one another on the infield grass, ecstatic to be back in the National League Championship Series for the second consecutive season. They will now await their next opponent — the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Washington Nationals — as they pursue their first World Series berth since 1945 and first championship since 1908. In the meantime, they can relish rebounding to vanquish the Giants, who had won the 2010, 2012 and 2014 World Series and a record 10 consecutive elimination games. “Any time you can survive like that against an October giant — it’s hard to finish any team in the postseason, let alone a team with that kind of character and competitors,” said Theo Epstein, the Cubs’ president for baseball operations. “What an amazing feat, to do it like that. ” When the Cubs came to bat in the ninth, their hopes were buoyed by the removal of Moore, who had allowed just two hits and two walks and struck out 10. He had also thrown 120 pitches. If a lead seemed like a comfortable one for the Giants to protect, it was not so with their bullpen, which was about to blow its 32nd save of the season. One by one, a parade of five relievers came to the mound, none of them able to stop the Cubs. Kris Bryant singled. Anthony Rizzo walked. Ben Zobrist lined a double down the line. When Willson Contreras singled up the middle, he pounded his chest with his fist as he rounded first base, knowing that Zobrist had come around to tie the score. If the relievers let down the Giants, so did shortstop Brandon Crawford, who made two errors, one of which gifted the Cubs a run in the fifth. The other one set up the . After Contreras’s hit, Jason Heyward bunted the ball back to pitcher Will Smith, who fired a strike to Crawford for a forceout. But Crawford, trying for a double play, sailed his throw past the first baseman, Belt, and into the Cubs’ dugout, sending Heyward to second. Javier Baez’s single up the middle scored Heyward, putting the Cubs in front. Baez jubilantly pounded his hands together as Heyward slid home. Zobrist understands well the power that a comeback like the Cubs’ can have in the playoff. Last year, he was with Kansas City, down by four runs in the eighth inning of an elimination game, when the Royals rallied to beat the Houston Astros and rode that momentum to a championship. “Every group has to find that identity,” Zobrist said. “We did it during the season, but you still have to find that identity in the postseason as well. ” That identity was forged on the eve of the playoffs, when the Cubs — who had the best record in the majors, with 103 victories — were gathered on the pitcher’s mound during a workout last Wednesday. “I said that something bad is going to happen, and we have to stay in the moment and maintain our composure,” said Maddon, who wore a customized wet suit during the team’s celebration in the clubhouse. “That was the exact message. ” Those moments have always been fraught for the Cubs, owing to their history of postseason heartbreak. In 1984, they ventured west to play the San Diego Padres with a lead in a National League Championship Series but lost three in a row. In 2003, they were again one win away from advancing to the World Series but lost three in a row, including the last two at home, to the Florida Marlins. For much of Tuesday night’s game, the Cubs seemed to be setting the stage for another one of those endings. Both starting pitchers, Moore and the Cubs’ John Lackey, arrived Tuesday having established almost immediately in their careers that they could rise to the occasion on a playoff stage — and they did so with Maddon on their bench. Moore’s second start in the big leagues was in the opener of a 2011 American League division series, when he rewarded Maddon, his manager at Tampa Bay, with a shutout over seven innings at Texas. Lackey became the rare rookie to start and win a World Series Game 7, helping the Anaheim Angels beat the Giants in 2002. Lackey, an irascible Texan whose teammates steer clear of him on days he pitches, boarded the team bus on Tuesday afternoon with a black cowboy hat pulled down over his eyes. “Nothing’s contrived or fabricated with him,” said Maddon, who was the bench coach with the Angels when Lackey came up. “That’s who he is. ” Lackey muttered a few cross words to himself when the Giants scored twice in the fourth to take a lead. After Crawford struck out, Conor Gillaspie and Joe Panik singled. Then Lackey walked Gregor Blanco, loading the bases. That brought up Moore, who did not have a hit in the big leagues until this season. After looking at the first two pitches for strikes, Moore lashed a single to right field, putting the Giants ahead and equaling his career R. B. I. total. It was the latest big hit by a pitcher in this series, though the first by one of the Giants. The Cubs’ pitchers had hit two home runs and driven in six runs in this series. Another run came across when Denard Span grounded to Rizzo at first base. Rizzo threw to second for a forceout, but Addison Russell’s return throw was just behind Lackey, who couldn’t keep his foot on the bag. Lackey retired Belt on a fly ball to avoid further damage, but it was his last pitch of the night. The Cubs closed to in the fifth, when Crawford’s throwing error on Baez’s grounder set up David Ross, who had earlier hit a solo homer. He lined an pitch from Moore deep enough to right field to score Baez. Crawford quickly atoned for his mistake, crushing the first pitch he saw from reliever Justin Grimm off the top of the brick wall in field, good for a double that keyed a rally, building the Giants’ lead to which Moore carried into the ninth. It seemed then as if it would be enough, but perhaps for the Cubs it was a prelude to when they can write an even more satisfying ending. | 1 |
The State of Connecticut said on Thursday that it would appeal a sweeping ruling in a schools funding case that ordered it to virtually the entire education system. “There are strong arguments that the trial court exceeded its authority and the standards articulated by the Connecticut Supreme Court, and so today we are asking that court to review this ruling,” Attorney General George C. Jepsen said in a statement. In the case, Judge Thomas G. Moukawsher of State Superior Court in Hartford found last week that Connecticut was “defaulting on its constitutional duty” to give all children an adequate education because the state was allowing students in poor districts to languish while those in wealthy districts excelled. Judge Moukawsher gave the state 180 days to revamp teacher evaluations and compensation, school funding policies, special education services and graduation requirements. The ruling was met with enthusiasm by elected officials in some of the state’s poorer cities, but others, including the state’s teachers’ union, objected. Sheila Cohen, the president of the union, the Connecticut Education Association, in a statement on Thursday called Judge Moukawsher’s decision “broad and overreaching. ” Advocates for people with disabilities were also troubled by aspects of the ruling, which suggested that some students might be too disabled for educational services, while also calling for more equitable access to services. Nancy B. Alisberg, managing attorney at Connecticut’s Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons With Disabilities, part of a national network of civil rights organizations, said she worried that “schools could say, ‘Oh no, this child is too disabled, they won’t benefit from an education, so we don’t have to provide them with anything.’ It is, frankly, terrifying. ” Ms. Alisberg added, “I think it boils down to a belief on the part of the court that there are certain students who, based on the level of their disability, don’t deserve an education. ” The state said in its appeal that Judge Moukawsher demanded changes to educational policies that could be enacted only by the Connecticut General Assembly. “This decision would wrest educational policy from the representative branches of state government, limit public education for some students with special needs, create additional municipal mandates concerning graduation and other standards and alter the basic terms of educators’ employment — and entrust all of those matters to the discretion of a single, unelected judge,” Mr. Jepsen, a Democrat, wrote in his statement. There have been dozens of school funding lawsuits across the country. But this one, known as Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding v. Rell, was set apart by the extent of the changes the judge required, which went far beyond dollars. The coalition said it was weighing its options. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, has stood on both sides of the case. When the lawsuit was filed in 2005, Mr. Malloy, then the mayor of Stamford, spoke out in support. Years later, he appointed Judge Moukawsher to his current seat on the bench. Now the state is resisting the judge’s decision. Mr. Malloy said in a statement that he accepted the attorney general’s decision to appeal and hoped systemic education problems could be addressed in the coming session of the General Assembly, calling a legislative approach “always preferable to a judicial decision. ” “We hope that this moment marks the start, rather than the stalling, of a statewide dialogue around finding a better way to fund our schools, which ultimately results in a better solution for our students and communities,” the governor said. “We should act together, and we should do it sooner rather than later. ” | 1 |
Tim Brown
Among the many Wikileaks emails that were dumped this summer, it was clear that Hillary Clinton is not as popular as the media would have you believe. In fact, it became clear that she has no real support in a hacked email to the point where she was forced to pay young voters to stump online for her.
The Gateway Pundit reported :
She’s the astroturfed candidate. Hillary is SOOO unpopular that she has to pay off young voters to support her and show up at her rallies.
5 Biggest Scoops from the #DNCLeaks WikiLeak
Wikileaks released nearly 20,000 hacked emails it says are from the accounts of Democratic National Committee officials on Friday.
The emails are devastating for Hillary Clinton. According to at least one hacked email Hillary Clinton has no real support and must pay youth voters to defend her online. She also pays millennials to show up at her rallies.
Hillary’s support is all a lie. It’s all astroturfed. Everything this woman does is all a lie – even her rallies are fabricated.
If Attkisson’s explanation were not enough, how about this tweet regarding the mainstream media putting their collective useful idiot heads together to pitch the same propaganda about Donald Trump. 5 Biggest Scoops from the #DNCLeaks https://t.co/vmTiepsPkj
— Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) July 23, 2016
This should have come as no surprise.
If you remember when her campaign kicked off in 2015, I reported on the fact that more than 50% of her Twitter followers were either completely fake or inactive .
Additionally, when she had her Iowa kickoff event, a whopping 22 people showed up . The majority of those were reporters!
Hillary Clinton only has the backing of the media and rabid anti-American liberals, and even then, it looks like she’s having to pay them to actually do anything to support her. In other words, her candidacy is completely contrived.
Courtesy of Freedom Outpost
Tim Brown is an author and Editor at FreedomOutpost.com , SonsOfLibertyMedia.com , GunsInTheNews.com and TheWashingtonStandard.com . He is husband to his “more precious than rubies” wife, father of 10 “mighty arrows”, jack of all trades, Christian and lover of liberty. He resides in the U.S. occupied Great State of South Carolina. Tim is also an affiliate for the Joshua Mark 5 AR/AK hybrid semi-automatic rifle . Follow Tim on Twitter . Don't | 0 |
A man whose penis was removed because of cancer has received the first penis transplant in the United States, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Thomas Manning, 64, a bank courier from Halifax, Mass. underwent the transplant operation on May 8 and 9. The organ came from a deceased donor. “I want to go back to being who I was,” Mr. Manning said on Friday in an interview in his hospital room. Sitting up in a chair, happy to be out of bed for the first time since the operation, he said he felt well and had experienced hardly any pain. “We’re cautiously optimistic,” said Dr. Curtis L. Cetrulo, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and a leader of the surgical team. “It’s uncharted waters for us. ” The surgery is experimental, part of a research program with the ultimate goal of helping combat veterans with severe pelvic injuries, as well as cancer patients and accident victims. If all goes as planned, normal urination should be possible for Mr. Manning within a few weeks, and sexual function in weeks to months, Dr. Cetrulo said. Mr. Manning welcomed questions and said he wanted to speak out publicly to help dispel the shame and stigma associated with genital cancers and injuries, and to let other men know there was hope of having normal anatomy restored. “Don’t hide behind a rock,” he said. He said he was not quite ready to take a close look at his transplant. He will have to take several drugs for the rest of his life. One of them, tacrolimus, seems to speed nerve regeneration and may help restore function to the transplant, Dr. Cetrulo said. Another patient, his penis destroyed by burns in a car accident, will receive a transplant as soon as a matching donor becomes available, Dr. Cetrulo said. Surgeons at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine are also planning to perform penis transplants, and have had a combat veteran, injured in Afghanistan, on the waiting list for several months. Dr. Cetrulo estimated the cost at $50, 000 to $75, 000. Both hospitals are paying for the procedures, and the doctors are donating their time. Worldwide, only two other penis transplants have been reported: a failed one in China in 2006 and a successful one in South Africa in 2014, in which the recipient later fathered a child. Veterans are a major focus of transplant programs in the United States because suicide rates are exceptionally high in soldiers with severe damage to the genitals and urinary tract, Dr. Cetrulo said. “They’re to guys, and they feel they have no hope of intimacy or a sexual life,” he said. “They can’t even go to the bathroom standing up. ” Given the psychological toll, he said, a penis transplant can be lifesaving. Dr. Cetrulo said the team would most likely perfect its techniques on civilian patients and then move on to injured veterans. It will also train military surgeons to perform the transplants. The Department of Defense, he said in an email, “does not like to have wounded warriors undergo unproven techniques — i. e. they do not want them to be ‘guinea pigs,’ as they have already sacrificed so much. ” His team is working on ways to minimize or even eliminate the need for medicines, which transplant patients typically have to take. That research is especially important for veterans, he said, because many are young and will risk serious adverse effects, like cancer and kidney damage, if they have to take the drugs for decades. From 2001 to 2013, 1, 367 men in the military suffered genitourinary injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense Trauma Registry. Nearly all were under 35 and had been hurt by homemade bombs, commonly called improvised explosive devices, or I. E. D. s. Some lost part or all of their penises. The Massachusetts General team spent three years preparing for the penis transplants. The team did meticulous dissections in a cadaver lab to map out anatomy, and operated on five or six dead donors to practice removing the tissue needed for the transplants. Mr. Manning’s operation involved about a dozen surgeons and 30 other health care workers. Dr. Dicken Ko, a team leader and the director of the hospital’s regional urology program, said the team had not planned a set number of transplants. Instead, he said, the hospital will evaluate candidates one at a time and decide whether to allow surgery. For now, he said, the transplants will be limited to cancer and trauma patients, and will not be offered to transgender people. An accident at work in 2012 brought Mr. Manning to the hospital, and ultimately to the transplant team. Heavy equipment had fallen on him, causing severe injuries. The doctors treating him saw an abnormal growth on his penis that he had not noticed. Tests revealed an aggressive and potentially fatal cancer. Penile cancer is rare, with about 2, 030 new cases and 340 deaths expected in the United States this year. If not for the accident, Mr. Manning said, “I would’ve been in the ground two years ago. ” Doctors said that to save his life, they would have to remove most of his penis, in an operation called a partial penectomy. Mr. Manning’s urologic oncologist, Dr. Adam S. Feldman, estimated that a few hundred men a year needed full or partial penectomies because of cancer. Mr. Manning was left with a stump about an inch long. He had to sit to urinate. Intimacy was out of the picture. He was single and was not involved with anyone when the cancer was found. After the amputation, new relationships were unthinkable. “I wouldn’t go near anybody,” he said. He continued: “I couldn’t have a relationship with anybody. You can’t tell a woman, ‘I had a penis amputation. ’” Some people close to him urged him to keep the operation a secret, but he refused, saying that was like lying, and he had nothing to be ashamed of. “I didn’t advertise, but if people asked, I told them the truth,” he said, adding that a few male friends made “guy talk” jokes at his expense, but that it toughened him up. “Men judge their masculinity with their bodies,” he said. Before he had even left the hospital after the amputation, he began asking Dr. Feldman about a transplant. No one at the hospital was considering the idea yet, and Dr. Feldman admits that he thought it was a bit outlandish. But Mr. Manning never gave up hope. “I kept my eye on the prize,” he said. Soon Dr. Cetrulo and Dr. Ko began talking about transplants. About three years later, Dr. Feldman called Mr. Manning to ask if he still wanted the operation. After a battery of medical tests, interviews and psychological grilling — typical for transplant candidates, to make sure they understand the risks and will take medicine — Mr. Manning was on the waiting list. Two weeks later, a donor with the right blood type and skin tone became available. Mr. Manning was stunned that it had happened so fast. Dr. Cetrulo credits the New England Organ Bank, which asks families of some dying patients to consider organ donation. The organ bank said the donor’s family wished to remain anonymous but had extended a message to Mr. Manning saying they felt blessed and were delighted his recovery was going well. Organ banks do not assume that families who donate internal organs like kidneys and livers will also be willing to give visible or intimate parts like a face, hands or a penis. Those requests are made separately. Several families have agreed to allow the penis to be removed, and none have declined, said Jill Stinebring, the organ bank’s regional director of organ donation services. So far, Mr. Manning has had one serious complication. The day after his surgery, he began to hemorrhage and was rushed back to the operating room. Since then, his recovery has been smoother, he said. He has no regrets. He looks forward to going back to work and hopes to eventually have a love life again. “If I’m lucky, I get 75 percent of what I used to be,” he said. “Before the surgery I was 10 percent. But they made no promises. That was part of the deal. ” | 1 |
@TonkinTaylor/Twitter / Via Twitter: @TonkinTaylor
Environmental and engineering consultants Tonkin and Taylor tweeted aerial shots of the destruction on Wednesday, two days after the quake. The scale of the “uplift” is estimated to be between two and two and a half metres. @TonkinTaylor/Twitter / Via Twitter: @TonkinTaylor
“This is not at all surprising as Kaikoura experiences the fastest uplift as it sits on the [tectonic] plates, which are pushing up under there,” marine geologist Neville Exon told BuzzFeed News.
“The kelp positioned on top shows it is an uplift of the seabed through the sand a couple of metres,” Exon said, commenting on a picture posted by Facebook user Anna Redmond. “The kelp positioned on top shows it is an uplift of the seabed through the sand a couple of metres,” Exon said, commenting on a picture posted by Facebook user Anna Redmond.
“So much devastation,” Redmond posted. One photo shows a disgruntled crustacean adjusting to life above sea level atop a bed of seaweed and abalone.
More than 600 Kaikoura residents were evacuated by boat and helicopter following the quake, which killed two people. But Kaikoura’s sewerage system is still not working and many train tracks and roads remain in ruins.
Some of the tourist town’s population of 2,000 residents have chosen to remain at home until the roads are cleared. | 0 |
November 10, 2016 UN Members Pass Nine Measures Targeting Israel
While Americans were voting in an election watched around the world Tuesday, at the U.N. in New York it was business as usual, as a key General Assembly body passed nine draft resolutions condemning Israel.
In most of those votes at the General Assembly’s fourth committee, the United States and Canada joined Israel and a small handful of others in rejecting the resolutions. The lopsided vote counts were 86-7, 158-6, 159-1, 156-6, 156-6, 155-6, 156-6, 151-7 and 153-1.
One of two resolutions which Israel stood alone in opposing was sponsored by Syria’s Assad regime, and demanded that Israel relinquish its control of the “occupied Syrian Golan” – a reference to the Golan Heights, the strategic ridge which Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War and formally annexed in 1981. | 0 |
Previous Phoenix TV Station Uncovers Soros Voting Machine Fraud
Independent TV station, News Channel 3 in Phoenix has uncovered problems with the George Soros voting machines. The machines are set to rig the election in Arizona, which one of 16 states that are using George Soros’ voting machines. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND DON’T FORGET TO “LIKE” US
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A young man was stabbed and had his throat slit in front of horrified shoppers on a busy west London street Friday afternoon. No arrests have been made so far. [Southall Broadway was sealed off by police officers after being called at 12. 20pm to the scene of the stabbing. The teenaged male victim was quickly given first aid, then rushed to hospital by air ambulance. His injuries were later confirmed by the police not to have been the Evening Standard has reported. An witness to the incident, who asked not to be named, told the paper: “There was a bit of a commotion and then this man just collapsed in the street. “Within seconds an ambulance and about four police vans arrived at the scene. They started giving him first aid around his neck. “It must have been within 30 seconds or so a helicopter arrived and two or three police cans started going around the side streets. ” “The man was outside walking and somebody came and randomly stabbed him in the side of his back and slit his throat. ” She added: “People were just completely shocked and some just started taking cover in the shops thinking it might be another terror attack. ” A spokesman for the Met Police has said that there was no reason to believe at this stage that the attack was terror related, and that no arrests have been made so far. “Police were called Southall Broadway, Ealing, at approximately 12. 20pm on 16 June to reports of a stabbing,” he said. “Officers, London Ambulance Service and London Air Ambulance attended the scene. A male, aged in his late teens, was taken to a west London hospital. ” The attack comes less than two weeks after a man was stabbed and slashed in nearby Southall Park at 11. 50am, during an altercation with two men. No arrests were made in connection with that incident. The victim was said to have suffered “superficial” wounds, including a slash across his chest. | 1 |
A Texas soldier stationed at Fort Hood stood in the pouring rain as a funeral procession for a fallen veteran passed by on the highway. [Kenneth Varnes, a construction engineering soldier assigned to Fort Hood, noticed a funeral procession approaching him as he drove along Highway 195 in Kileen, Texas. Recognizing the flags on the vehicles’ windows as a sign of a veteran’s funeral, Varnes exited his vehicle in the pouring rain and stood at attention, saluting the fallen veteran and the family members in the procession. Zachary Rummings snapped a photo of the soldier standing in the rain to honor a fellow veteran and posted it to Facebook. He asked if anyone recognized the soldier and to let him know who it was so that he could tag him in the picture. “He stood in the rain the entire time and saluted,” Rummings wrote. “Hats off and respect to that young man. Thank you. ” Not long after Rummings’ post, Varnes began receiving messages on social media alerting him to the photo, KWTX CBS10 reported. “This is probably going to make someone’s day, seeing me stand here, and I know how it is to go through a tough time like that, and I really just did it just to make someone’s day, that was it,” Varnes told the reporter. He said it was pouring when he stopped but lightened to a drizzle shortly after. “As soon as I got back in the truck, it poured again, which was really cool,” he explained. He said that after recognizing it as a veteran’s funeral procession, he did not think twice about his next move. Without even knowing whose funeral was driving by, Varnes honored his fellow vet. “I don’t care if they were 80 years old, they were in World War II, they were in Vietnam, they were in Iraq, I don’t care if they were 20,” Varnes continued. “It’s a brotherhood. ” The photo went viral on social media. After posting it on his Facebook page, comments quickly poured in. A very proud father, Kenneth Varnes, Sr. expressed his pride in his young soldier son. “I am so proud that my son has grew into a very young man, his Mom and me taught him no matter what you do in life always have respect, I love you SON. Poppa would be proud of you Son, Young people need to pay attention to this and learn. ” His Ashley Jacobs wrote, “My step son has gone viral. Not for attention or recognition but for respect to a soldier and his family. I love you son! I’m proud of the man you’ve become. ” Another Facebook user, Teresita Rey posted, “Please keep sharing this. Let’s make it go viral! This is what respect looks like. I am a proud cousin right now. No one asked Kenneth to do this. He just got out and ignored the rain to focus on thanking a soldier for protecting this country. We need to see more actions like this on a daily basis. ♡” And from Florida, Taylor Campa posted, “Love, love LOVE this. You have such a wonderful and caring soul, Kenneth. Don’t you ever change!” Even the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs piled on, honoring Varnes’ patriotism and sense of duty. “With a long line of patrol cars and vehicles with American flags hanging from their side windows, Kenneth Varnes, a Fort Hood soldier, knew it must be for a fallen Veteran. It was pouring rain and the sky roared with thunder, but Varnes felt compelled to do something. ” Varnes is married and has a newborn daughter. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook. | 1 |
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Voters in at least four states decided to nullify unconstitutional federal statutes and United Nations drug-control treaties by officially ending marijuana prohibition, a major victory for the U.S. Constitution and the 10th Amendment. Three states — California, Massachusetts, and Nevada — completely legalized marijuana, even for recreational use by adults. By press time, it appeared that Maine's initiative to do the same was on its way to being successful. In Arizona, where conservative nullification efforts on other issues have been popular, voters narrowly decided to keep pot prohibition in place. Still, regardless of one’s views on cannabis, states’ rights scored a string of impressive successes this week.
In Florida, voters overwhelmingly amended the state Constitution to end prohibition of medical marijuana for patients suffering from certain ailments. Recreational pot possession remains illegal. Joining Florida were Arkansas and North Dakota, two reliably conservative states where voters also decided to nullify federal and UN schemes by ending the criminalization of the controversial plant when used under doctors’ orders. Montana voters decided to further liberalize that state’s medical marijuana laws. Over half of American states have now in practice nullified unconstitutional federal cannabis policy, which generally prohibits the plant even for medicinal purposes.
In the successful referenda on cannabis this week, the states’ decisions to buck the U.S. government and the UN all rely — whether knowingly or not — on a proper constitutional tool known as “nullification.” Essentially, nullification is a time-tested legal strategy to check unconstitutional federal statutes and policies at the state level. It was promoted by some of America’s most prominent Founders, such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, two of the men responsible for the nation’s founding documents.
The idea behind nullification is simple: Under the U.S. Constitution, the federal government was delegated a few defined powers by the states. Prohibiting substances was not among those powers, hence the need for a constitutional amendment to ban alcohol. Ratifying UN treaties, whether on drugs or anything else, does not grant new powers to the federal government, as even the Supreme Court has made clear. As such, states have an obligation to interpose on behalf of their citizens by rejecting unconstitutional power grabs. In the past, numerous states have relied on similar strategies, including Wisconsin, which refused to return run-away slaves under the Fugitive Slave Act.
Under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, state governments and the people explicitly reserved all powers not specifically granted to the feds under the U.S. Constitution. Because drug policy is not constitutionally a federal power, states and the people retained all power in this field — unconstitutional federal statutes, regulations, and UN treaties notwithstanding. A constitutional amendment would be needed to legally change that. Regardless of one’s own feelings about marijuana, then, conservatives and constitutionalists concerned about federal lawlessness in other areas — everything from healthcare and environmental policy to gun control and abortion — should take a lesson.
"The lesson here is pretty straight forward," said Michael Boldin, executive director of the non-profit Tenth Amendment Center. "When enough people say, ‘No!’ to the federal government, and enough states pass laws backing those people up, there’s not much the feds can do to shove their so-called laws, regulations or mandates down our throats." The TAC, which advocates for state nullification of unconstitutional acts, said the feds would be unable to enforce the drug war without state help, essentially nullifying the UN-inspired federal ban .
California was, of course, the biggest prize for anti-prohibition forces. After becoming the first state to nullify federal and UN policies purporting to criminalize the plant for medicinal purposes some two decades ago, the most populous state in the union now joins Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington State, and the District of Columbia in totally ending pot prohibition — even for recreation. With 56 percent support, the Golden State’s Proposition 64 ending prohibition of marijuana possession and cultivation for those over 21, also known as Adult Use of Marijuana Act, cruised to an easy victory. A tax of 15 percent and a range of regulations were also part of the measure.
Some experts expect the trend to continue spreading. But not everybody is happy about it. While the federal government is constitutionally prohibited from interfering in state’s marijuana policies, the UN has been fuming about the anti-prohibition nullification wave for years . “I don’t see how [ending marijuana prohibition] can be compatible with existing [UN drug] conventions,” former Soviet diplomat Yury Fedotov, who serves as executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), complained in 2014 after years of demanding that the U.S. government violate the Constitution to crack down on the phenomenon. “Of course, such laws fall out of line with the demands of these conventions.”
Fedotov said the UN “Commission on Narcotic Drugs,” another globalist bureaucracy, shared his views. Speaking to reporters, the UN drug czar and former operative for the brutal communist regime ruling the Soviet Union, said it appeared to be part of a growing trend that the UN was monitoring. Asked whether there was anything the agency he runs could do about it, however, Fedotov promised merely to “raise the problem” with Obama’s State Department and other UN outfits next week. But even top Obama law-enforcement officials have publicly acknowledged that there is little to nothing they can do , and have “requested” a “flexible” interpretation of the crumbling UN regime . The Constitution is the reason why Obama has been powerless to stop the nullification.
Among those at the forefront of the movement to stop prohibition is Law Enforcement Against Prohibition , a non-profit group of police, judges, prosecutors, and others who oppose prohibition for a number of reasons. In a phone interview with The New American , LEAP Executive Director Major Neill Franklin, a retired 34-year law-enforcement veteran, pointed to the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights as among the key reasons why Americans from across the political spectrum should be celebrating the successful ballot initiatives to end marijuana prohibition from California to Massachusetts.
“The Constitution and the Bill of Rights call for small, limited, less expensive government,” he said, expressing concerns that there may be federal efforts to push back against the trend in the years ahead amid a potential renewed focus on “law-and-order” policies. “The rights of the states to set their own policy — that’s one of the foundational principles of this country. I’m really hoping that we continue moving toward this return of powers to the states. This is about the 10th Amendment and the states´ rights to implement these reforms.”
“We should be seeing this from the conservative perspective, to hold on to these constitutional principles, and the 10th Amendment,” he added, before wondering how many conservatives and average Americans in general today truly understand the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and what they mean. “If people understood this, we would support reducing the size and cost of government, doing everything possible to support the 10th Amendment, and all the amendments that are in the Constitution. We need to also ensure that our Fourth Amendment principles are upheld by our law-enforcement community.”
Expressing concerns about the militarization of law enforcement in recent decades — much of it fueled by the federal government and justified under the drug war — Maj. Franklin argued that a nationwide constitutional education campaign was needed. “All of our rights need to be afforded to everyone in our country,” he explained. “We need some education, and quick. We need a concerted effort to spread the principles of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and to undo any policy that upholds the federal war on drugs. These things need to be dealt with at state level.”
Having served on the front-lines of the war, first as a major in the Maryland State Police commanding as many as nine drug task-forces covering half the state, and later as a lieutenant colonel in the Baltimore Police Department, Major Franklin said he had seen the problems first-hand. “I’ve seen the carnage, the damage, the violence, the number of people we’ve put in prison,” he said. “Our criminal justice system for the last few decades has been a huge drain on our resources, not just at the federal level, but for our states as well. The war on drugs has been a huge driver of this.”
“Now the individual states are trying to roll back these types of policies that have strained our resources and harmed our communities,” continued Franklin, calling the policies counter-productive and expressing hope that the trends would continue to unfold across the country. “It would be extremely unpopular for the federal government to try to turn back the clock, if you look at the polls. But the constitutional principles at stake here are, again, foundational to America. We must not lose sight of that.”
Franklin also praised a group of law-enforcement and military personnel across America who have re-affirmed their oaths to defend the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights of America. While noting that not everyone agrees with everything when it comes to the Oath Keepers, the longtime police official said it was important that this was a group of lawmen and servicemen who really understand and stand by the U.S. Constitution they swore an oath to uphold.
“This goes for everybody, as a country: If we don’t have a concrete foundation to work from and stick to, despite how you feel about it — and in our country that’s the Constitution and the Bill of Rights — then anything goes,” Franklin cautioned. “And if there´s any group that needs to understand this 100 percent, and abide by it 100 percent, it is our law-enforcement officials, because of the power and the influence they have. That’s how I feel from over three decades in law enforcement, that is extremely important to me.... We have to ensure — the people and politicians do — that the laws we place in front of our law enforcement folks are based upon, and do not contradict, these foundational principles.”
Even some proponents of prohibition appear to have largely accepted the legitimacy or at least the inevitability of the growing nullification tsunami. Rather than try — and almost certainly fail — to get the feds to defy the U.S. Constitution in a bid to prod states into re-prohibiting the plant, anti-marijuana campaigners have vowed to fight pot use at the state and local level using a variety of methods. One group, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, has launched the “Marijuana Accountability Project” (MAP) that aims to “keep state officials and the industry accountable.” It will also seek to help municipalities rein in the marijuana businesses.
MAP officials, who have been fighting the growing wave of legalization, made clear that the fight was not over. “I’d be lying if I said election night/morning wasn’t tough,” said SAM President Kevin Sabet, a former White House drug advisor who said his side was drastically outspent by anti-prohibition forces. “But unlike with prior year losses, I am feeling (strangely, maybe) optimistic. We won in Arizona. We have a friendly governor in Vermont, which was the next target for the legalizers, and we won in a large handful of cities and counties in Oregon. And we know that no matter what happens in Maine, we will be in a very strong place to shape and restrict any policy that goes forward.”
Of course, there are plenty of critics of marijuana, many of whom cite studies showing that the drug can cause or at least contribute to memory problems, mental health issues, driving risks, and other concerns. Certainly, some constitutionalists were concerned that an end to prohibition might lead to increased marijuana use, though the evidence supporting this proposition is mixed . The sudden surge in the use of nullification to rein in the feds’ unconstitutional war on marijuana, then, was met with mixed feelings by some constitutionalists, who feel that states should continue to prohibit the plant even if the federal-UN war that underpins prohibition is illegal.
Still, the federal government has self-evidently grown far outside the bounds of the Constitution in virtually every policy area. The horrifying consequences of this lawlessness are becoming obvious for all to see — $20 trillion in debt, growing attacks on constitutionally protected rights, an out-of-control regulatory regime, and more. The dangers of tolerating continued anti-constitutional policies from Washington, D.C., and the UN are enormous, and represent a threat to even the most fundamental liberties.
As liberals and Democrat Party-controlled states increasingly rely on state nullification to protect self-government and their own states’ rights under the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, it is past time for conservatives, constitutionalists, Republicans, libertarians, and others to do the same. Whether one approves of marijuana or not is beside the point — the real issue is whether America will have lawful, limited, constitutional government, or lawless, unlimited, globalized tyranny .
Alex Newman is a correspondent for The New American , covering economics, education, politics, and more. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU. He can be reached at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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A leading bank regulator on Friday reversed course and revoked Wells Fargo’s right to shield the pay of former executives after a scandal. The regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, also said Wells Fargo must now seek advance approval before naming new bank leadership. Wells Fargo in September agreed to pay $185 million to settle charges that bank employees opened as many as two million accounts banking and credit card without customers’ knowledge. The agency, the main regulator for federal banks, exempted Wells Fargo from some controls on “golden parachutes” in that settlement. The move Friday evening voids those earlier allowances, the agency said. The bank was notified on Friday that the agency had revoked “relief from specific requirements and limitations regarding rules, policies, and procedures for corporate activities,” the comptroller’s office said in a statement on Friday. An official of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said the move put Wells Fargo under toughened standards for oversight which the agency had exempted in the original settlement. John G. Stumpf, Wells Fargo’s former chief executive, and Carrie Tolstedt, former head of retail banking, have relinquished about $60 million in stock after the scandal, according to a Reuters review of securities filings. But the pair also stood to take home more than $350 million in compensation, according to filings. | 1 |
In addition to his customary invective against European governments for refusing to allow his ministers to rally Turkish expatriates behind him, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that the EU’s new ban on headscarves in the workplace would launch “a struggle between the cross and the crescent. ”[“Where is the liberty of religion? They have commenced a struggle between the cross and crescent. There is no other explanation than this. I am saying this clearly: Europe is heading toward the days just before World War II,” said Erdogan, as rendered by Hurriyet Daily News. Euractiv transcribes Erdogan’s quote as, “The European Union’s court, the European Court of Justice, my esteemed brothers, have started a crusade struggle against the crescent,” which would be even more incendiary. Jihad and Islamist groups perpetually accuse Western powers of conducting another “crusade” against Muslims. “Shame on the EU. Down with your European principles, values, and justice,” Erdogan told his supporters. In a tirade on Wednesday, Erdogan said the “spirit of fascism is roaming the streets of Europe,” comparing the treatment of Muslims to how the Nazis treated Jews. “The fear of the Turks is beginning to appear. The fear of Islam is beginning to appear. They are even afraid of the migrants looking for asylum. They fear everything which originates elsewhere they are hostile to everything that is not from there,” he thundered. Also speaking on Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu predicted that “holy wars” would soon begin in Europe. As translated by Hurriyet Daily News, Cavusoglu said: Now the election is over in the Netherlands. … When you look at the many parties you see there is no difference between the social democrats and fascist [Geert] Wilders. All have the same mentality. Where will you go? Where are you taking Europe? You have begun to collapse Europe. You are dragging Europe into the abyss. Holy wars will soon begin in Europe. “They killed each other 100 years ago because they were of different faiths, but they learned a lesson from this and set up the European Union and the Council of Europe,” Cavusoglu continued, prompting a bit of from Hurriyet about exactly what he was driving at. Like Cavusoglu, Erdogan took some time on Thursday to thumb his nose at the Netherlands, taunting Prime Minister Mark Rutte: “O Rutte! You may have been first in the elections, but you have lost a friend like Turkey. ” He went on to needle Rutte about refusing to have dinner with him because “there is no such prime minister here — give it up, you have lost. ” Presumably, this was Erdogan’s way of treating Rutte as beneath his notice. Erdogan wrapped up his remarks by threatening to scuttle Turkey’s migrant readmission agreement with the European Union. “They have promised to remove visas. Now they are talking about a readmission plan. What readmission? Get over it! You did not let my minister enter the Netherlands, you did not give permission to my foreign minister to fly to the country and did not let the minister get into the consulate building, which is my territory. Then you are expecting readmission? There is no such thing,” Erdogan said. | 1 |
Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Security Question: What is 15 + 13 ? Please leave these two fields as-is: IMPORTANT! To be able to proceed, you need to solve the following simple math (so we know that you are a human) :-) Doom and Bloom | 0 |
Whoa! Amazing video. Hate to be inside that one!
The Russians have very good equipment, simple, easy to manufacture and obviously lethal. | 0 |
Posted on October 30, 2016 by Sean Adl-Tabatabai in Health // 0 Comments
The British government have finally admitted that marijuana has medicinal value in helping to treat a number of different illnesses and diseases.
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced that Cannabidiol (CBD) has restorative, correcting or modifying effects on “physiological functions” when administered to humans. In other words, cannabis has the potential to cure illnesses without the need for pharmaceutical drugs. Recommended
An official investigation has revealed that the British government directly funded and organised terrorists in the Loughinisland massacre in 1994. (58 mins ago)
Anonhq.com reports:
Observers say this new development in Britain is a potential milestone that will help marijuana campaigners to press for the country’s lawmakers to legalize the plant based on the available evidence.
Before this good news, some of the country’s politicians had pressed on the government to legalize marijuana for medicinal use. Currently, in the United Kingdom, it is illegal to possess marijuana in any form. Without a so-called appropriate licence, it is also illegal to grow, distribute or sell marijuana in the nation.
However, over the years, marijuana advocates have been gaining momentum in their quest to have the plant legalized and regulated in the country. In 2015, James Richard Owen, an economics student at Aberystwyth University, started a petition on the country’s official petitions website, calling for the legalization, cultivation, sale and use of the plant.
The petition gathered 218,995 signatures, far exceeding the 100,000 needed for it to be considered for debate in Parliament. On Oct. 12, 2015. the country’s Parliament debated the petition. Recommended
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According to the Independent , the latest findings by the MHRA are not directly applicable to the British government’s response to last year’s petition to legalize marijuana.
In a statement on the assessment done by the MHRA, the agency said: “The MHRA has now completed its review and has considered all information available to it relating to Cannabidiol(CBD) and having taken into account all the scientific advice and evidence, it has come to an opinion that products containing Cannabidiol will satisfy the second limb of the definition of a ‘medicinal product’ because it may be used by or administered to human beings either with a view to restoring, correcting or modifying physiological functions by exerting a pharmacological, immunological or metabolic action, or to making a medical diagnosis.”
The review of CBD, a cannabinoid accounting for up to 40% of the marijuana plant’s extract that doesn’t contain its psychoactive THC but has immense health benefits, came about following discussions with CBD vaporiser company MediPen.
The Managing Director of MediPen, Jordan Owen was quoted by the Independent as saying: “Since our inception we’ve worked hard to obtain our goal of breaking down the negative connotations surrounding Cannabis to lead to a reform in the law for medicinal use. Now this is finally becoming a reality, which will provide ground-breaking results.”
Past studies on marijuana have revealed its CBD helps to control brain and nerve activity, energy metabolism, heart function, the immune system and even reproduction. Recommended
The British Air Force has admitted to helping the US conduct airstrikes on the Syrian army, which Russia say has ignited World War 3 in Syria. (58 mins ago)
To add to the MHRA’s findings, the British pro-marijuana pharma company, GW Pharmaceuticals, has also announced it has just concluded a positive phase 3 clinical trial demonstrating the safety and efficacy of CBD, which has helped people with a variety of illnesses.
As a result of these new developments in the United Kingdom, many charities and pro-marijuana organizations have intensified their research into the use of the plant as a medical drug. Observers predict that the full legalization of the plant is imminent in the United Kingdom.
In all these positive developments regarding marijuana in the United Kingdom, the Mainstream Media (MSM) in the United States have refused to report on them. Despite the news being published by many British media outlets, in the United States, the corporate MSM have pretended not to have heard it. This should tell us that there is a grand agenda to suppress marijuana in the United States, with the help of the corporate media, in order to prevent people from benefiting from the medicinal value of the obviously wonderful plant; pushing the agenda of favor for Big Pharma products. | 0 |
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Looking over the global landscape, the areas most touched by US interventionist foreign policy are objectively in the worst, most desperate shape. The mainstream media will report that the current disaster in Syria came about because the people decided to stand up to a cruel dictator in the “Arab Spring” that swept through the greater […] | 0 |
We need to know more about this virus. We can lead a better life. | 0 |
The archivist stumbled across the file in a stack of boxes on the second floor of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The yellowing letters inside dated back more than half a century, chronicling the dreams and struggles of a young man in Kenya. He was ambitious and impetuous, a clerk who could type 75 words a minute and translate English into Swahili. But he had no money for college. So he pounded away on a typewriter in Nairobi, pleading for financial aid from universities and foundations across the Atlantic. His letters would help change the course of American history. “It has been my long cherished ambition to further my studies in America,” he wrote in 1958. His name was Barack Hussein Obama, and his dispatches helped unleash a stream of scholarship money that carried him from Kenya to the United States. There, he fathered the child who would become the nation’s first black president, only to vanish from his son’s life a few years after his birth. In 2013, the Schomburg Center invited President Obama to see the newly discovered documents, which included nearly two dozen of his father’s letters, his transcripts from the University of Hawaii and Harvard University, and references from professors, advisers and supporters. Nearly three years later, as Mr. Obama celebrates his last Father’s Day in the White House, the center is still waiting for a response. The trove of documents, described publicly here for the first time, renders a portrait of Barack Obama Sr. in his own words, sometimes in his own handwriting, as he describes his studies in the United States. But it also lays bare the beginnings of the fractured relationship between father and son. A senior White House official said President Obama would be interested in seeing the documents after he leaves office next year, but declined to comment on why administration officials had not responded to the letter or to correspondence. (After the publication of this article on Saturday, the official added that the president had not been “made aware of the collection of writing until recently. ”) “The papers are rich they tell a fascinating, traditional, man’s story,” said Khalil Gibran Muhammad, the director of the Schomburg Center, who said he hoped Mr. Obama would read them someday. “There’s a reason to bear witness to the personal legacy that is here. ” As president, Mr. Obama has spoken openly and repeatedly about the void his father left in his life. Barack Obama Sr. went home to Kenya in 1964, when Mr. Obama was 3 years old, and returned to visit his son only once, for a month, when Mr. Obama was 10. In an interview with The New York Times last month, the president said his father’s absence had left him struggling as a teenager to figure out “what it meant to be a man. ” Mr. Obama explored his sense of loss and longing more deeply in his memoir, “Dreams from My Father,” describing his quest to learn more about the man who shared his name. He found some answers on a visit to Kenya, when he was in his 20s, but not all of them. “I still didn’t know the man my father had been,” he wrote. “What had shaped his ambitions?” Barack Obama Sr. ’s letters, which span the period from 1958 to 1964, offer new insights, particularly about his years in the United States. But the records, which were preserved among the papers of a foundation that provided scholarships to African students at the time, may also resurrect old pain. It was while pursuing his undergraduate degree at the University of Hawaii in 1960 that Barack Obama Sr. met Ann Dunham, a classmate. Although he already had a wife and two children in Kenya, he married her the following year, after she became pregnant. Their son was born on Aug. 4, 1961. But Barack Obama Sr. never mentioned his new wife and son, not even in his scholarship applications. In 1963, as he applied for a grant to help cover his graduate studies at Harvard, Barack Obama Sr. was asked on a financial aid form about his marital status and number of dependents. He left the section blank. Relatives have described Barack Obama Sr. as a complicated man, brilliant and imperious, charming and brash, who began to drink heavily as his dreams of becoming one of Kenya’s leading government economists foundered. He died in a car crash at age 46 without ever fulfilling his early promise. The elder Obama’s youngest brother, Said Obama, noted in a telephone interview from Kenya this month that he hoped the records would help the family understand his sibling more fully. He said Barack Obama Sr. had never stopped caring about the son he left behind, recalling how he proudly showed off the photograph and school progress reports of the young man who would become president. “He loved his son,” Said Obama recalled. “I don’t think you do such things if you don’t love your son. ” President Obama often describes his life as an saga, the improbable rise of the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya to the American presidency. But his father’s ascent was astounding, too, as he journeyed from the dusty roads of his rural village to the halls of Harvard. As a boy, Barack Obama Sr. tended goats and walked to school barefoot, according to a biography about him, “The Other Barack,” by Sally H. Jacobs. He was a stellar student and dreamed big, even though opportunities were severely limited for blacks in Kenya, which was still a British colony then. He had not finished high school, he explained in one of his scholarship applications, “due to financial difficulties at home. ” “Due to poor health on the part of my father,” he wrote on another scholarship form, “I had to leave school to work and help. ” (His chronic misbehavior and defiance also played a decisive role, Ms. Jacobs said.) He found work as an auditor, an oil company surveyor, an office manager for an insurance company and a clerk for a literacy program. He married and had a child. His financial struggles did not dampen his aspirations. “Might open own firm on civil engineering and architecture or work for the government,” he wrote. He was determined to join the wave of young Kenyans seeking higher education overseas as calls for independence swept the African continent. His letters helped him gain admission to the University of Hawaii and to come up with the money he needed to cover his costs. (An unexpected personal connection helped, too. It turned out that an official of an American foundation had employed his father as a cook.) On Aug. 4, 1959, he boarded Flight 162 of British Overseas Airways Corp. and flew from Nairobi to Rome, records show. From there, he flew to Paris and then on to New York. A bus carried him to Los Angeles, where he caught a plane to Hawaii. A year later, he would meet Ms. Dunham, President Obama’s mother. By then, Barack Obama Sr. had immersed himself in campus life. He had joined the debating club and the International Students Association and had been named editor of the International Students Newsletter, all the while marveling at the Hawaiian climate where, he wrote, “one would not know that it is winter. ” “The people around here have made me feel at home,” he wrote, adding that they had “called upon me to give several speeches on Africa and on Kenya” and had invited him over for dinner. He seemed wistful at times for home — “I rarely get any news here about Africa,” he wrote — but he excelled in his classes, earning an undergraduate degree in economics with honors in three years. “He has impressed everyone with being a genuinely enlightened man and the peoples of Africa should be proud to have him representing them here,” wrote Lee E. Winters Jr. an English professor who praised his “superior” work. Most people on campus had no idea that the star student had married a second wife during his sophomore year or that he was the father of a baby boy. By 1962, when he headed to Harvard to pursue a graduate degree, his American family had already fallen apart. Immigration officials looked into rumors of his multiple marriages, his biography says, but the upheaval in his family life went unmentioned in his letters. Barack Obama Sr. wrote of his financial struggles, not his personal ones. “Rents are very high here,” he wrote from Cambridge, Mass. appealing for funds to help cover his living expenses. “Even a humburger is 50 cents here, a thing I never experienced before. ” He ended up with a master’s degree in economics from Harvard — not the Ph. D. he had hoped for — and headed home to Kenya without his little boy. Christine McKay, the archivist who discovered the letters, said she could not help but think about that son as she pored over the pages. “I thought it would be great if the president could see his father’s words,” she said. Said Obama, the president’s uncle, told The Times he would like to read the documents, too. He does not have to close his eyes to conjure up memories of his brother. He can see his genetic fingerprints every time he gets together with the president of the United States, in his voice and in his stride. But when asked whether he thought his nephew would read the letters, Said Obama hesitated. On such a sensitive matter, between father and son, he thought it best to demur. So for now, the records reside in Box 214 of the Phelps Stokes Fund collection in the Schomburg’s storage facility. Whenever Mr. Obama is ready, the center’s director said, his father’s file will be waiting. | 1 |
Nine Malaysians who had been barred from leaving North Korea were allowed to depart on Thursday in a deal giving the North the remains of Kim the slain half brother of its leader, the Malaysian government said. Under the deal, three suspects in Mr. Kim’s death were questioned in the case before being allowed to leave the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian police said Friday. The deal, announced by Prime Minister Najib Razak, ends a standoff that followed the Feb. 13 killing of Mr. Kim with a banned chemical weapon at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Angered by Malaysia’s investigation of the killing, North Korea said on March 7 that Malaysians could not leave North Korea. Malaysia responded in kind. “I am pleased to announce that the nine Malaysians who had been barred from leaving North Korea have now been allowed to return to Malaysia,” Mr. Najib said on Thursday in a statement. Mr. Najib said that North Koreans who had been prohibited from leaving Malaysia would now be free to go. Among those leaving were the three North Korean suspects in Mr. Kim’s death. The Malaysian police said that as part of their investigation into the killing they recorded statements from the three before their departure. The nine Malaysians, diplomats and their relatives arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, early Friday. The United States Embassy in Malaysia released a statement Friday saying it was pleased that the Malaysians had been allowed to return home and criticizing North Korea for prohibiting their departure, a violation of international protocol. North Korea has maintained that the man killed was Kim Chol, the name on the passport he was carrying, and not Kim the estranged brother of North Korea’s leader, Kim . The North also suggested that the victim had died of a heart attack. The Malaysian police have arrested an Indonesian woman and a Vietnamese woman, and charged them with murder, accusing them of smearing VX nerve agent on Mr. Kim’s face. The police also identified seven North Korean men who they said had been involved in the plot. Four left the country after the attack.. Mr. Najib said the Malaysian authorities had obtained a letter from the family of Mr. Kim authorizing the transfer of his body to North Korea. | 1 |
Forget the team of lawyers. First Lady Melania Trump may be the best hope for White House advisers who are trying to convince President Donald Trump to tweet less or, at the very least, more judiciously. The First Lady was apparently a big reason why Trump did not tweet as much while he was abroad for his first foreign trip as President, according to Politico’s White House reporter Annie Karni. She tweeted, “I’ve been told a factor in the lack of tweeting abroad overall was the presence of Melania Trump. ” I’ve been told a factor in the lack of tweeting abroad overall was the presence of Melania Trump. https: . — Annie Karni (@anniekarni) May 27, 2017, Melania Trump is expected to move into the White House next month, Trump’s advisers have told media outlets in recent days that they may want lawyers to vet Trump’s tweets so they “don’t go from the president’s mind out to the universe. ” According to the New York Times, Trump has “been told by his lawyers to limit his posts. Each one, they argue privately, could be used as evidence in a legal case against him. ” The Times wrote that Trump “went through his entire overseas trip without posting a single incendiary message. ” After former House Speaker John Boehner — who reportedly, at the urging of Trump’s chief of staff Reince Priebus, called Trump and persuaded him to sign the most recent spending bill that Trump may have wanted to veto — said last week that Trump’s presidency was a “complete disaster,” Trump reportedly wanted to hammer him on Twitter but refrained from doing so. None other than media pioneer Matt Drudge wondered a few months ago if Melania Trump would be to Trump what Nancy Reagan was to Ronald Reagan once she moves into the White House. While making a rare radio appearance on Michael Savage’s radio show for Savage’s 75th birthday on March 31, Drudge wondered, “could this help soften some of Trump’s edges?” Drudge mentioned that Nancy Reagan was known as the “secret behind Ronnie” because she “soothed him … she played watchdog. ” During the 2016 campaign, when asked what advice she gives to her husband, Melania Trump often told media outlets that she told him to stay away from tweeting things that could “get him in trouble. ” When he arrived back at the White House on Sunday, Trump fired off a series of tweets denouncing the “fake media” and calling the mainstream media the “enemy. ” He also said he thought “it is very possible” that the “fake news” mainstream media are making up their sources to harm his presidency. … . it is very possible that those sources don’t exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017, It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017, Does anyone notice how the Montana Congressional race was such a big deal to Dems Fake News until the Republican won? V was poorly covered, — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 28, 2017, | 1 |
The stench of decaying algae began rising from coastal waterways in southeastern Florida early this month, shutting down businesses and beaches during a critical tourism season. Officials arrived, surveyed the toxic muck and declared states of emergency in four counties. Residents shook their heads, then their fists, organizing rallies and haranguing local officials. In truth, there was little they could do: The disaster that engulfed the St. Lucie River and its estuary had been building for weeks. In May, a algal bloom crept over Lake Okeechobee, the vast headwaters of the Everglades. After an unseasonably wet winter, the Army Corps of Engineers was forced to discharge water from the lake to lower water levels, flushing the ooze along channels to the east and west until it coagulated along the shores of the famed Treasure Coast. The mess in Florida is only the latest in a string of algal blooms that some experts believe are increasing in frequency and in severity. An immense plume of algae last September covered a stretch of the Ohio River. A month earlier, the city of Toledo, Ohio, warned more than 400, 000 residents to avoid drinking tap water after toxic algae spread over an intake in Lake Erie. (Indeed, the Lake Erie bloom is now an annual event.) Almost exactly a year before the Florida bloom, another stretching 7, 500 square miles washed ashore in Qingdao, China, a popular beach destination. Government officials called in hundreds of boats and bulldozers to remove it. The green blob appeared again earlier this month. The largest and most dangerous algal bloom ever recorded, which ranged from Central California to British Columbia, produced high levels of a toxin that last year closed crab and clam fisheries along the West Coast. “The season didn’t open for four and a half months, which meant slip rents went unpaid, house payments went unpaid, guys were having trouble getting groceries to feed their families,” said Tim Sloane, the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. Algae is a catchall term referring to a wide variety of aquatic organisms that generally rely on photosynthesis for energy and reproduction. algae are cyanobacteria, for instance, while red tide is composed of tiny dinoflagellates. Seaweed is a sophisticated alga, as is kelp. Blooms are a natural occurrence. According to Dr. William Cochlan, a senior research scientist at San Francisco State University, Native Americans for centuries knew to avoid bioluminescent water. Scientists would later discover that the glow was caused by dinoflagellates that also produce a hazardous neurotoxin. Many algal species produce similar toxins. When vast blooms occur, these poisons may spread through the environment and up the food chain to fish and animals that feed on them. Cyanobacteria produce microcystins, for example, which can affect the liver and can be deadly to humans — one reason Toledo banned the drinking water. Although they occur naturally, algal blooms are being intensified by human activity in ways that scientists are still trying to quantify. Chief among the culprits: runoff from farms, feedlots and municipal sewer systems. “The bloom itself is the visual manifestation of nutrient overenrichment in lakes,” said Tim Davis, an ecologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich. “In freshwater systems, both nitrogen and phosphorus are the main nutrients. ” In Florida and the Great Lakes, nitrogen and phosphorus come mainly from fertilizers used in large farming operations, along with septic tanks, manure and storm water. Scientists have been aware of the nutrient problem for decades: It’s partly why phosphorus was removed from laundry detergents. The vast algal bloom in the Pacific last year was also fed in part by El Niño, the mass of warm water that forms periodically off the West Coast. But climate change may also be playing a role, some experts say. Warming atmospheric temperatures and wetter weather in some parts of the country increase the runoff into streams, lakes and the ocean. And as ice melts in the Arctic, sea temperatures are rising and more sunlight is filtering into the ocean. “Some of the features of climate change, such as warmer ocean temperatures and increased light availability through the loss of sea ice in the Arctic, are making conditions more favorable for phytoplankton growth — both toxic and nontoxic algae — in more regions and farther north,” Kathi Lefebvre, a biologist at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, wrote in an email. “It is likely that toxic blooms will continue to increase and expand as these features of climate change continue,” she added. Dr. Davis said he also believed that climate change was working against efforts to prevent algal blooms. “I certainly believe as a scientist that climate change will influence the size and intensity of these blooms,” he said. “If nothing changes — the increase of rainfall, the increase nutrient loads, warmer water — all of this could lead to larger blooms that last longer and are more toxic. ” Florida’s crisis is only the most recent example, Dr. Cochlan of San Francisco State University said — yet no new funds have been appropriated at the federal or state levels to study the growth and toxicity in these blooms, despite their increasing impact throughout the country. In a letter to President Obama on July 12, Florida legislators asked for federal funding to avert further disaster. Back in 2014, Florida voters approved Amendment 1, setting aside an estimated $650 million in the program’s first year for the state to buy agricultural land south of Lake Okeechobee as a new pathway for discharge into the Everglades. The hope was that the ecosystem would provide a natural filter for algae and other contaminants, as it once did. But in the end, the state decided not to buy the land, instead sparring with Environmental Protection Agency over its efforts to enforce the federal Clean Water Act. “A lot of this has to do with legislation, all the way from the watershed down into the lake,” Dr. Davis said. “It needs to be a mutual effort on all sides. The more we understand about the blooms, the more we can do to reduce their impact. ” | 1 |
There is every reason to think that there is some fudging going on at polls across the country tonight.
There may be too much to keep up with, but there is every reason to question how this irregularities could affect the outcome.
Fox News reports computer and electronic machine malfunctions in several key battleground states, including North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Utah and beyond:
Sporadic complaints of equipment failures and long lines greeted voters across the country Tuesday as they headed to their polling centers to cast their vote – though the largely routine glitches didn’t stop some from claiming the system was “rigged.”
Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has repeatedly claimed the election process is fixed, filed a lawsuit in Nevada alleging that last week, a Clark County polling station was illegally left open late , potentially boosting Democratic voter turnout. He also tweeted Tuesday evening about voting issues in Utah.
[…]
Election officials in Utah said voting machine problems in the southern part of the state forced poll workers early in the day to use paper ballots . A computer problem in Durham County, North Carolina — a Democratic stronghold in a state that has been a key battleground in the presidential race — triggered long lines when election officials had to rely on a paper check-in process.
CBS News is reporting on a number of issues as well, including broken voting machines – and last minute replacements – in Michigan, also a battleground state that could sway the election:
City Clerk Janice Winfrey says some voting machines in Detroit stopped working Tuesday morning and had to be replaced.
The delay caused long lines and waits of an hour or more to vote.
Winfrey says her office received about 50 calls for broken voting machines, but some were repeat calls for the same machines she describes as a decade old.
In Texas, poll watchers are reportedly being segregated and prevented from their duties of accountability. perhaps the above photo says it all:
According to Laura Pressley , who is closely tied to voting accountability efforts in the state:
Texas–Official poll watchers from the Republican and Libertarian Parties have been obstructed from monitoring the Central Counting Station main tabulation computers and the audit log printers in Travis, Dallas, and Bexar counties. See the Hill County sign that says it all. Watchers are battling with Secretary of State’s office on the interpretation of Texas Election Code statute 33.056…poll watchers are “entitled to observe any election activity.”
According to the Texas Election Code :
Sec. 33.056. OBSERVING ACTIVITY GENERALLY. (a) Except as provided by Section 33.057, a watcher is entitled to observe any activity conducted at the location at which the watcher is serving. A watcher is entitled to sit or stand conveniently near the election officers conducting the observed activity.
There’s a lot of weird stuff going on, and a lot to be gained and lost tonight.
In the end, it will be the electoral college votes, not the popular vote, or the polls that determine who takes office, and unfortunately, the tables are tilted towards Hillary. And the right amount of editing could tip the scales.
Here’s the latest projection map from 270towin.com:
Read more:
No One Can Stop Her… And She Knows It: “This Election Won’t Be Fair”
Divided America Poised For Riots: “95% Chance of Widespread Post-Election Violence”
This Is a Usurper, Not a Candidate: California Primary Was Stolen, And Hillary’s “Nomination a Coup”
Protesters Rage Against the DNC: “Hillary Didn’t Get the Nomination. The Nomination Was Stolen” | 0 |
Our complete coverage of the Tony Awards ] [ And our live blog of the Tony Awards ] These are the winners of the 70th annual Tony Awards. Musical: “Hamilton” Play: “The Humans” Musical Revival: “The Color Purple” Play Revival: “A View From the Bridge” Actor, play: Frank Langella, “The Father” Actress, play: Jessica Lange, “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” Actor, musical: Leslie Odom Jr. “Hamilton” Actress, musical: Cynthia Erivo, “The Color Purple” Book, musical: “Hamilton,” Miranda Original Score: “Hamilton,” music and lyrics, Miranda Featured actor, play: Reed Birney, “The Humans” Featured actress, play: Jayne Houdyshell, “The Humans” Featured actor, musical: Daveed Diggs, “Hamilton” Featured actress, musical: Renée Elise Goldsberry, “Hamilton” Scenic design, play: David Zinn, “The Humans” Scenic design, musical: David Rockwell, “She Loves Me” Costume design, play: Clint Ramos, “Eclipsed” Costume design, musical: Paul Tazewell, “Hamilton” Lighting design, play: Natasha Katz, “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” Lighting design, musical: Howell Binkley, “Hamilton” Direction, play: Ivo van Hove, “A View From the Bridge” Direction, musical: Thomas Kail, “Hamilton” Choreography: Andy Blankenbuehler, “Hamilton” Orchestrations: Alex Lacamoire, “Hamilton” Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater: Sheldon Harnick and Marshall W. Mason Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award: Brian Stokes Mitchell Regional Theater Tony Award: Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn, N. J. Special Tony Award: National Endowment for the Arts and Miles Wilkin Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theater: Seth Gelblum Joan Lader Sally Ann Parsons | 1 |
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During much of his 2016 presidential run, Donald Trump has struggled to gain the support of the black community.
Even in September, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found that “just 3 percent of blacks support Trump,” while 93% backed Hillary Clinton.
In recent months, however, one unexpected figure has stepped up his efforts to change all that: iconic civil rights figure, Clarence Henderson. Celebrate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on Wed. in chapel @SEBTS . Featuring a panel w/ Clarence Henderson (far right). pic.twitter.com/ybggcTF7VD — Walter Strickland (@w_strickland) September 15, 2014
During the 1960s, Henderson's name became a symbol of the fight to end segregation, when he participated in the peaceful sit-in at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
To be sure, supporting Republicans is nothing new for Henderson, as he credits them as the party “behind the constitutional amendments that abolished slavery, granted equal protection to freed slaves and gave blacks the right to vote.”
Henderson explained to The Associated Press that the first time he voted for a Republican presidential candidate was with George W. Bush, and he plans to continue his support for the GOP this year.
It's a trend he hopes other black voters will follow in this election. To those who say Trump isn't with the blacks, how come Clarence Henderson, one of the men involved with the Woolworth sit ins, supports him? pic.twitter.com/SMKuUBuT9N — chad (@chadmattk) October 16, 2016
As to why he specifically supports Trump, Henderson has said he believes that “America is a business,” and that Trump has the experience to run it:
"He has proved to be a leader in the business field. Has he done everything right? No, certainly not.
But I think that he has more at stake than Hillary does."
It's a stance Henderson expounded on during a CNN interview in August:
When asked by CNN’s Jim Sciutto how he could reconcile his civil rights background with Trump's “ ties to folks who have said and propagated some racist things,” Henderson responded :
"See I come from an era of time known as 'Jim Crow,' and I know what racism is and what racism isn't...
I'm not looking to like Donald Trump, I'm looking at what he will do.
I look at the history of the Republican party versus the history of the Democratic party, and for the last eight years we have been put in dire straights because the policies that have been put in place such as Obamacare...
We need jobs as opposed to things that are happening right now."
Though Henderson has faced criticism for his support of Trump, he says he doesn't mind, as he'd “rather be in the minority on the side of justice than in the majority on the side of injustice.”
Whether or not it's because of the support of men like Henderson, though, Trump has seen a sharp rise in his support among black voters.
A more recent poll , courtesy of Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California, put “Trump's support among black voters at 20.1 percent — up from 3.1 percent on Sept. 10.” | 0 |
Surgeons admit that mammography is outdated and harmful to women
Friday, October 28, 2016 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer Tags: breast cancer , mammography , harming women (NaturalNews) Every year, millions of women flock to their doctors to get their annual mammograms, a breast cancer screening procedure that involves pressing a woman's breasts between two metal platforms to scope out tumors. But surgeons everywhere are starting to question the controversial practice , which studies show isn't even an effective screening tool, and is actually harmful to the bodies of women who receive it.The public is told that mammograms are the only way to catch breast cancer early, but a review of eight scientific trials evaluating the procedure, found that mammography is neither effective nor safe. After looking at data on more than 600,000 women between the ages of 39 and 74 who underwent the procedure on a routine basis, researchers found that many women are misdiagnosed. Many of these same women are consequently mistreated with chemotherapy , resulting in their rapid demise.As published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews , the review concluded that mammography causes more harm than good , because many more women end up being misdiagnosed and mistreated than those actually avoiding the development of terminal breast cancer. Thus, the procedure known as mammography is an outdated scourge that belongs in the history books of failed medical treatments, and not at the forefront of women's medicine."If we assume that screening reduces breast cancer mortality by 15% and that overdiagnosis and overtreatment is at 30%, it means that for every 2000 women invited for screening throughout 10 years, one will avoid dying of breast cancer and 10 healthy women , who would not have been diagnosed if there had not been screening, will be treated unnecessarily," the authors concluded. Group of top medical experts admits mammography does more harm than good One year after this review was published, a second one published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) came to a similar conclusion. A team of medical professionals that included a medical ethicist, a clinical epidemiologist, a pharmacologist, an oncologic surgeon, a nurse scientist, a lawyer and a health economist, decided that the medical industry's claims about the benefits of mammography are essentially bunk.They found that for every 1,000 women screened in the U.S. over a 10-year annual screening period beginning at age 50, one breast cancer death would be prevented, while a shocking 490 to 670 women would have a false positive, while 70 to 100 would undergo an unnecessary biopsy. Between three and 14 of these women, the study found, would also be over-diagnosed for a non-malignant form of cancer that never even would have become "clinically apparent."This study out of Switzerland corroborates another out of Canada – the 2014 Canadian National Breast Screening Study – which concluded in lockstep with the others that mammography screenings do not reduce mortality rates from breast cancer any better than a simple physical examination. In other words, the procedure is completely unnecessary, and in many cases exceptionally harmful .And on and on the list goes, with data out of Norway and elsewhere confirming that mammography isn't all that it's cracked up to be. U.S. data spanning the course of nearly 40 years shows that more women are over- or misdiagnosed with breast cancer because of mammograms than are successfully early-diagnosed with breast cancer in such a way as to protect against metastasization. This represents an exceptionally poor track record that calls into question why mammography continues to be used when it clearly doesn't work."I believe that if you did have a tumor, the last thing you would want to do is crush that tumor between two plates, because that would spread it," says general practitioner Dr. Sarah Mybill, as quoted in the documentary film The Promise . Sources for this article include: | 0 |
KABUL, Afghanistan — A United States soldier was killed by a bomb near the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah, officials said on Tuesday, days after more than 100 American soldiers arrived there to help plan the strategic city’s defense against a fierce Taliban assault. The United States military has increasingly found itself drawn back to regular combat situations this year as the Afghan forces have struggled against Taliban offensives. The increased American presence around Lashkar Gah in particular, more than two years after British soldiers closed their last base in the city, highlights a scramble to prevent the fall of a major population center. For weeks before the Americans’ arrival, top Afghan generals were being sent from Kabul to hold the line as district after district came under attack, with the Taliban surrounding the city. In a statement on Tuesday, the United States military said the service member had died of “wounds sustained during operations near Lashkar Gah,” the capital of Helmand Province, when a joint patrol encountered an improvised explosive device. Six Afghan soldiers and another American soldier were wounded in the blast. It was the second death of an American soldier in hostile fire in Afghanistan this year, as the force here has mostly been reduced to a smaller advisory mission. In January, Staff Sgt. Matthew Q. McClintock was killed in Marja district, also in Helmand Province. Even as local Afghan officials were reporting the presence of American personnel near the battlefield in the area, about 10 miles from Lashkar Gah, United States military officials in Kabul insisted that the new team was there only to advise the leadership of the southern police zone based out of the city. “The troops that have gone down there are really focused on force protection of the advisers there, to make sure they are secure,” Brig. Gen. Charles E. Cleveland, a spokesman for the American military in Afghanistan, told reporters on Monday. “What you won’t see is — they are not about to go out and conduct operations. ” On Tuesday, General Cleveland said, “The service members killed and wounded today were not a part of the new advisory mission in Lashkar Gah,” suggesting that they were part of the regular advisory support the NATO mission has been providing Afghan special operation forces, often traveling with them in their raids. Still, the line between combat and advising has become remarkably thin as Afghan Special Forces, trained to conduct quick commando raids, have for weeks now been used as ground forces outside Lashkar Gah. Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand, said that joint operations by NATO forces — mostly Americans — and Afghan forces were continuing in the and Babajii neighborhoods outside Lashkar Gah, with the Westerners providing air and ground support. “NATO troops are now on the ground fighting with Afghan forces against the Taliban,” he said. As the top generals were busy in Helmand, the northern city of Kunduz, which was briefly overrun by the Taliban last fall, once again faced strong offensives at its gates. The district of Khanabad briefly fell to the insurgents, and fighting raged less than a mile from the city center. Residents of Kunduz city could hear constant airstrikes into the early hours of Tuesday, with bombings focused on trying to push back the Taliban from Zar Khared, an area less than two miles from the city center. A small group of American advisers is based at the airport in Kunduz, but local officials said Tuesday that they had not left the outpost to join operations. It was a small advisory team of American Special Forces troops that led a desperate effort to retake that city from the Taliban last fall. That American force also called in the botched airstrike that destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the city, killing 42 people. Most of the roads leading to Kunduz Province remained blocked on Tuesday, and despite continuous airstrikes, ground operations for recapturing the lost territories had not yet started, Afghan officials said. American military officials say they will not allow another Afghan city to fall, not just because of its symbolic implications to the 15 years of NATO presence here, but also because of the politically destabilizing effects it could have on the struggling government in Kabul. As Taliban gains in Helmand continued, an American military battalion was sent to the province this year to bolster the Afghan Army corps that were taking heavy casualties in the fighting. That was the largest deployment of American troops outside major bases in Afghanistan since the end of the NATO combat mission in 2014. In June, President Obama loosened combat restrictions in Afghanistan for the United States military, which remains mostly focused on missions to train and advise Afghan forces and to conduct counterterrorism operations against Al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates. He later slowed the withdrawal of American troops from the country. The overall military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John W. Nicholson, can now call for airstrikes more freely, and his advisory teams can accompany Afghan forces in offensive missions to try to turn the tide of critical battles. Under the new rules, the number of airstrikes, which Afghan forces often credit with slowing Taliban advances, have increased significantly. And strategic bombers returned for the first time in years, with American officials saying the huge warplanes supported missions against Islamic State affiliates in eastern Afghanistan. But American ground forces have increasingly been in the line of fire this year, as reflected in the casualty reports. In addition to the casualties on Tuesday near Lashkar Gah, and the death of Sergeant McClintock in Helmand this January, five American service members were reported wounded in fighting against the Islamic State in eastern Afghanistan last month. The haphazard nature of the Afghan forces’ defense against the Taliban was again on display after the fall of Khanabad district. The district was quickly taken back by an array of Afghan forces, each led by a official. The governor of Takhar Province was in the lead, marching in with his local forces and firing from a machine gun mounted on an armored vehicle as at least five other security personnel watched — clearly a display meant for the public. He returned to Takhar to a hero’s welcome, received with gifts and flowers. United States military officials have attributed much of the Afghan forces’ struggle to leadership woes in the face of Taliban offensives that they say normally amount to no more than 20 to 30 insurgents trying to overrun a vulnerable checkpoint. “In a perfect world, would you have senior military leaders moving around like that? Perhaps not,” General Cleveland said. “But at the end of the day, we find that most of the challenges facing the Afghan national defense and security forces are tied to leadership. We think it’s a positive thing to have good, strong leaders that are willing to get out, set an example, as well as take charge of what is going on. ” | 1 |
WASHINGTON — Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, politicians have periodically announced with fanfare that they would introduce a bill to strip the citizenship of Americans accused of terrorism. The idea tends to attract brief attention, but fades away, in part because the Supreme Court long ago ruled that the Constitution does not permit the government to take a person’s citizenship against his or her will. But on Tuesday, Donald J. Trump revived the idea and took it much further than the extreme case of a suspected terrorist. He proposed that Americans who protest government policies by burning the flag could lose their citizenship — meaning, among other things, their right to vote — as punishment. Mr. Trump wrote the post shortly after Fox News aired a segment about a dispute at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, which removed the American flag from its campus flagpole after protests over his election victory during one demonstration, someone burned a flag. Even if Mr. Trump were to persuade Congress to enact a criminal statute, a dramatic shift in the balance between government power and individual freedom, anyone convicted and sentenced could point to clear Supreme Court precedents to make the case for a constitutional violation. The obstacles include the precedent that the Constitution does not allow the government to expatriate Americans against their will, through a landmark 1967 case, Afroyim v. Rusk. They also include a 1989 decision, Texas v. Johnson, in which the court struck down criminal laws banning flag burning, ruling that the act was a form of political expression protected by the First Amendment. David D. Cole, a Georgetown University law professor who the Supreme Court briefs in the case and who is about to become national legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, said he wondered if Mr. Trump’s strategy was to goad people into burning flags in order to “marginalize” the protests against him. But he also called Mr. Trump’s proposal “beyond the pale. ” “To me it is deeply troubling that the person who is going to become the most powerful government official in the United States doesn’t understand the first thing about the First Amendment — which is you can’t punish people for expressing dissent — and also doesn’t seem to understand that citizenship is a constitutional right that cannot be taken away, period, under any circumstances,” he said. The 1967 case involving the stripping of citizenship traces back to a 1940 law that automatically revoked the citizenship of Americans who took actions like voting in a foreign country’s election or joining its military. The case centered on a man who had been born in Poland, became a naturalized American citizen, and later went to Israel and voted in an election there. When he subsequently tried to renew his American passport, the State Department refused, saying he was no longer an American citizen, and he sued. In a ruling, the Supreme Court called citizenship and the rights that stem from it “no light trifle to be jeopardized any moment” by politicians’ attempts to curtail it. The court said that the 14th Amendment, which guarantees due process of law, does not empower the government to “rob” someone’s citizenship. Americans, the ruling explained, can only lose their citizenship by voluntarily renouncing it. “The very nature of our free government makes it completely incongruous to have a rule of law under which a group of citizens temporarily in office can deprive another group of citizens of their citizenship,” Justice Hugo L. Black wrote. In a case in 1980, Vance v. Terrazas, the Supreme Court extended that precedent by a vote of 6 to 3. That case concerned a man who was born with both American and Mexican citizenship, and who as a student took an oath of allegiance to Mexico, renouncing his American citizenship in order to obtain a Mexican citizenship document. When the State Department said he had thus surrendered his American citizenship, he sued. The court majority said he was still a citizen because the government had to prove that he specifically intended to relinquish it, rather than having said those words with a different motivation, like fulfilling his desire to obtain the certificate. The 1989 case was also decided by a vote of 5 to 4. It centered on a protester who had burned a flag outside the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas as part of a political demonstration against Reagan administration policies. The protester, Gregory Johnson, was charged under a state law that criminalized desecrating the flag and appealed his conviction. The majority ruled that Mr. Johnson’s act was symbolic speech protected by the Constitution, effectively striking down state laws against flag desecration across the country. In response, Congress swiftly enacted a federal law against such desecration, but in 1990 the same majority struck it down, too. Just one of the justices who participated in the cases, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, is still on the court today he sided with the majority that struck down the bans. Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February and whose seat Mr. Trump will get to fill because Republican senators refused to hold a hearing for President Obama’s nominee for the vacancy, was also in the majority. After the 1989 decision, supporters of a ban tried to enact an amendment to the Constitution to make an exception to the First Amendment, but it twice fell short in the Senate. The issue flared again a decade ago. In 2005, Hillary Clinton, a senator from New York at that time, the Flag Protection Act. Arguing that desecration of the symbol “may amount to fighting words or a direct threat to the physical and emotional ” of onlookers, the bill would have banned flag burning if abusing the symbol was “intended to incite a violent response rather than make a political statement. ” The crafters of that bill sought to frame it as a compromise and an alternative to an amendment, saying “the Bill of Rights is a guarantee of those freedoms and should not be amended in a manner that could be interpreted to restrict freedom, a course that is regularly resorted to by authoritarian governments which fear freedom and not by free and democratic nations. ” But Congress did not act on the legislation. The following year, when the Senate again tried to approve a constitutional amendment to empower Congress to ban flag desecration and it fell one vote short of the necessary majority, Mrs. Clinton was among those who voted against that measure. | 1 |
Obama and Hillary are all about deceit and lies. Both should be tried for treason. If anyone thinks foreign countries have not hacked these emails they are living in a fantasy land. Both have unnessarily put our National Security at risk. Unexcusable and proper action should be taken against them. | 0 |
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Celebrities trashed President Donald Trump on social media Tuesday after his Education and Justice Departments announced that they would no longer instruct schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms according to their preferred gender identities. [Last year, the Obama administration offered federal protection to transgender students arguing that it was unlawful for public schools to discriminate against them based on sex. Following Wednesday’s announcement, talk show superstar Ellen DeGeneres tweeted, “Just seeing the news about removing laws protecting trans people. This isn’t about politics. It’s about human rights, and it’s not okay. ” NSYNC band member Lance Bass reacted by calling the President an “asshole. ” Trump inauguration singer Jackie Evancho — whose sister is transgender — said she was “disappointed” in the administration. The teenage classical singer also demanded to meet with Trump to discuss the policy change. Just seeing the news about removing laws protecting trans people. This isn’t about politics. It’s about human rights, and it’s not okay. — Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) February 23, 2017, Trans friend, if you are struggling tonight, please reach out to @TrevorProject and @Translifeline. Equality for all! #ISTANDWITHGAVIN pic. twitter. — KATY PERRY (@katyperry) February 23, 2017, What an asshole! Trump administration withdraws federal protections on transgender bathrooms in schools @CNNPolitics https: . — Lance Bass (@LanceBass) February 23, 2017, This is disgusting. This is unacceptable. I #StandWithGavin and every Trans person who deserve nothing less than protection and equality. https: . — Brie Larson (@brielarson) February 23, 2017, Ugly! Trump administration set to rescind protections for transgender students ➡️ by @aterkel https: . via @HuffPostPol, — Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) February 22, 2017, To the LGBTQ community, I’m sorry for the message that was sent today. They don’t speak for all of us. We love you. — Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) February 23, 2017, They can’t get enough of getting off on targeting the vulnerable. https: . — Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) February 23, 2017, Come on Trump, even God is celebrating Trans rights! pic. twitter. — Jay Duplass (@jayduplass) February 23, 2017, We need to protect trans youth and stand up against this cruelty that hurts our kids. Support @Translifeline, — Ellen Page (@EllenPage) February 22, 2017, If you support lifting fed protections of trans kids, you are supporting an act of cruelty towards kids who know enough cruelty already — Andy Richter (@AndyRichter) February 23, 2017, And if you do a little reading, you’ll find out you’re not protecting anyone, anyway. — Andy Richter (@AndyRichter) February 23, 2017, Deportations, the sick, and now trans kids the cruelty of this administration is boundless. — Timothy Simons (@timothycsimons) February 23, 2017, Everyday I tell my kid to be inclusive at school. Whether it be with the quiet kid or the boys or whatever. inclusivity is peace. harmony. — christina applegate (@1capplegate) February 23, 2017, trans kids lives now in danger after a very short sense of false security. THE BLOOD IS ON YOUR HANDS, TRUMP SUPPORTERS. WAKE THE FUCK UP, — michelle visage (@michellevisage) February 23, 2017, ”@POTUS” you sure you’re the best person to legislate the appropriate place for people to pee? — Danny Zuker (@DannyZuker) February 23, 2017, Transgender kids are among the most vulnerable of all children. Schools and all of us have a moral obligation to protect them. https: . — Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) February 23, 2017, To my trans community, stay hopeful and stand united! #ProtectTransKids 💜💜💜 pic. twitter. — Jazz Jennings (@JazzJennings__) February 22, 2017, Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson | 1 |
BREAKING: Trump Jumps in FL, Takes 4 Point Lead in OH
Williams, who has publicly stated that he was not a Trump supporter, is nevertheless a man of honor and integrity. He doesn’t sell his values to common thugs who use bylines as weapons.
According to both Williams and his attorney, Jonathan Franks, Jacob Bernstein from The Times approached Williams, asking for cooperation on a story alleging that people who live in Trump-branded buildings want the Trump name removed in light of the very difficult and contentious 2016 election season.
Williams, an independent who lives in a Trump-developed New York building, declined to cooperate.
According to Franks, Bernstein replied to a specific request not to print Williams’ address by stating he “would be more likely to extend that courtesy if Montel gave an interview.”
Protecting another person’s privacy, especially the privacy of the ballot box, is not a special courtesy. It’s simply common decency.
The Washington Examiner took their colleagues at The Times to task for this low-life journalism, noting that Williams identifies as a conservative but is not a registered Republican. He endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the 2016 GOP primary and has publicly credited Kasich for bringing him back into the conservative fold.
Please share this article on Facebook and Twitter to help expose the media’s liberal bias. | 0 |
Update: A federal jury has unanimously sentenced Dylann S. Roof to die. The white supremacist showed no remorse for killing nine members of a black church in South Carolina. Read more » • Mr. Roof, a white supremacist with no known ties to any organized group, was convicted of the assault on Dec. 15 by the same federal jury. • Mr. Roof’s guilt was never in question in the trial, and the jury deliberated for about three hours before assessing the death penalty. • Judge Richard M. Gergel has scheduled a formal sentencing hearing for Wednesday at 9:30 a. m. “We want to express our sympathy to all of the families who were so grievously hurt by Dylann Roof’s actions. Today’s sentencing decision means that this case will not be over for a very long time. We are sorry that, despite our best efforts, the legal proceedings have shed so little light on the reasons for this tragedy. ” “We are Dylann Roof’s family. We will always love Dylann. We will struggle as long as we live to understand why he committed this horrible attack, which caused so much pain to so many good people. We wish to express the grief we feel for the victims of his crimes, and our sympathy to the many families he has hurt. We continue to pray for the Emanuel A. M. E. families and the Charleston community. ” “No verdict can bring back the nine we lost that day at Mother Emanuel. And no verdict can heal the wounds of the five church members who survived the attack or the souls of those who lost loved ones to Roof’s callous hand. But we hope that the completion of the prosecution provides the people of Charleston — and the people of our nation — with a measure of closure. ” On the evening of Wednesday, June 17, 2015, Mr. Roof, a white man, walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S. C. and asked for the pastor, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney. Mr. Roof was directed to a Bible study session, where he sat down next to the pastor, and for nearly an hour, listened and took part in the discussion. Mr. Roof then pulled out a . Glock semiautomatic pistol, loaded with bullets, and according to witnesses, told the minister and parishioners, “You are raping our women and taking over our country. ” He shot and killed nine people, including Mr. Pinckney, before fleeing the church. He shot each victim multiple times, reloading his gun several times. Mr. Roof told investigators and friends that he had hoped to start a race war. He complained of what he saw as black corruption and takeover of the United States and what he said was an epidemic of crime. He owned a website that included an essay on his belief in the danger and inferiority of blacks and the value of segregation. In the essay, Mr. Roof, a dropout with few friends and no steady work, also gave his reasons for the attack: “We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me. ” The gunman could not have chosen a target more laden with symbolism about the nation’s tortured racial history, and he apparently knew it, singling out the church for that reason. Emanuel A. M. E. lies in the historic heart of Charleston, the capital of the slave trade in the United States, the cradle of the Confederacy and the place where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. The church, known as Mother Emanuel, occupies a place of pride in southern black history it is one of the oldest black congregations in the South, dating back two centuries. Many people were shaken because the shooting happened in a place of sanctuary and because of who the victims were: nine people who were described as gentle and deeply religious. Three of them were over age 70, and four were pastors. At Mr. Roof’s first court appearance a few days later, victims’ family members stunned and moved millions of Americans by speaking of forgiveness and redemption, rather than anger and vengeance. Black churches have been frequent targets of racist attacks for generations, and for people old enough to remember, the shooting carried reminders of the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. that killed four black girls. One of the Charleston dead, Mr. Pinckney, 41, was also a Democratic state senator and a leader of South Carolina’s black community whose warmth won him friends even among political adversaries. At his funeral, President Obama gave the eulogy, an impassioned plea to recognize and oppose prejudice, saying, “For too long, we’ve been blind to the way past injustices continue to shape the present. ” After decades of debate, a Confederate battle flag was removed from the grounds of South Carolina’s state Capitol with remarkable swiftness, lowered for good less than a month after the shooting, following an emotional debate in the Legislature. In previous fights over the flag, white conservatives defended it staunchly, but this time, conservative Republicans like Gov. Nikki Haley, Senator Lindsey Graham and State Senator Paul Thurmond — son of the United States senator and onetime segregationist champion Strom Thurmond — publicly opposed the flag, sealing its fate. But calls for stricter gun controls, including tighter background checks for buying weapons, fell flat. Under federal law, Mr. Roof’s record of drug abuse might have barred him from buying the gun he used, but the balky background check system failed to produce the needed information within three days, so he was able to go ahead with the purchase. Mr. Roof confessed to investigators soon after he was arrested, and more recently, he offered to plead guilty in return for a sentence of life in prison. But federal prosecutors decided to go to trial and seek the death penalty. At his trial last month, his lawyers conceded that he had committed the attack. A jury found him guilty of all 33 counts against him, including hate crimes resulting in death. The case then moved to the penalty phase, to determine whether Mr. Roof should be executed. (If he had not been sentenced to die, he could have still faced capital punishment in state court.) Acting as his own lawyer in the penalty phase, Mr. Roof declined to present any defense, and he refused any argument or evidence suggesting mental illness. In a journal he kept before the shooting, he had written: “I am morally opposed to psychology. It is a Jewish invention. ” The vast majority of capital sentences and executions stem from state courts, not federal. Of about 2, 900 people on death rows in the United States, just 68 face sentences meted out by federal courts, including six by military courts. The federal inmates under death sentences include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the brothers who carried out the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 and Nidal Hasan, who committed the Fort Hood shooting in 2009. When Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, was executed in 2001, he was the first federal inmate put to death in 38 years. There have been just two federal executions since then — in 2001 and 2003. It would be hard to find another crime where the toll was as high, the victims were as sympathetic, the premeditation was as evident and the defendant’s guilt was as . But Mr. Roof’s case has prompted a debate over whether he should be put to death. Some commentators and editorial boards have argued that a crime of this magnitude cries out for execution. Even some with doubts about how the death penalty is used say that if capital punishment is to continue, Mr. Roof warrants it. Death penalty opponents agree that if any defendant deserves the ultimate punishment, it is Mr. Roof, but they insist that the case against capital punishment should still outweigh the anger and revulsion over any particular case. They argue that its use has been wildly inconsistent and even arbitrary, and exonerations of convicted inmates show that the risk of putting an innocent person to death is high. A twist in this case is that a common argument against the death penalty is that it is more likely to be used when the victims are white and the accused are black — the reverse of the circumstances in the Charleston shooting. Another is that even some family members of those who were murdered have spoken out against executing Mr. Roof. Much less common than it used to be. States carried out 20 executions last year, the lowest figure in 25 years. Courts handed down just 30 new death sentences, down from more than 300 in 1996, the lowest figure since the early 1970s. | 1 |
DEFIANCE, Ohio — James Waltimire, a police officer on unpaid medical leave, has been going to the hospital in this small city twice a week for physical therapy after leg surgery, all of it paid for by Medicaid. Mr. Waltimire, 54, was able to sign up for the government health insurance program last year because Ohio expanded it to cover more than 700, 000 adults under the Affordable Care Act. He voted for President Trump — in part because of Mr. Trump’s support for law enforcement — but is now worried about the Republican plan to effectively end the Medicaid expansion through legislation to repeal the health care law. “Originally the president said he wasn’t going to do nothing to Medicaid,” Mr. Waltimire said the other day after a rehab session. “Now they say he wants to take $880 billion out of Medicaid. That’s going to affect a lot of people who can’t afford to get insurance. ” As Republicans in Washington grapple with how to meet their promise of undoing the greatest expansion of health care coverage since the Great Society, they are struggling with what may be an irreconcilable problem: bridging the vast gulf between the expectations of voters like Mr. Waltimire who propelled Mr. Trump to the presidency, and longstanding party orthodoxy that it is not the federal government’s role to provide benefits to a wide swath of society. If they push forward the health bill, which could come to a vote as early as this coming week, Republicans may honor their vow to repeal what they derided as Obamacare, but also risk doing disproportionate harm to the older, white voters who are increasingly vital to their electoral coalition. Many of those voters live in small Midwestern cities like Defiance and neighboring Bryan, home of a candy company that makes Dum Dum lollipops but has moved many of its jobs to Mexico. Though unemployment is low in the region, where farmland stretches for miles between towns, the slow erosion of manufacturing has taken a toll, and “what’s left in our communities are jobs,” said Dr. Neeraj Kanwal, the president of Defiance Regional Hospital. The region has voted Republican in presidential contests for decades, but its support for Mr. Trump — he took 64 percent of the vote in Defiance County and an even larger share in most of the surrounding counties — was more resounding than for any candidate since Ronald Reagan. Yet many people here tend to have conflicting values that make repeal of the health law appealing on its face but ultimately hard to swallow. “People in this community are very conservative. They struggle with the federal budget deficit, and they like the idea of personal responsibility,” said Phil Ennen, the president and chief executive of Community Hospitals and Wellness Centers, which has a hospital in Bryan. “But at the same time, we have a lot of friends and family and neighbors who just don’t have a lot going for them. There is a population out there that needs Medicaid. That’s the dilemma. ” It is a daunting paradox for a party that, at least in theory, was once unified around a belief that Washington should be tamed, not empowered. But by winning the White House under the banner of economic nationalism, and carrying a series of Rust Belt states, Mr. Trump has left his adopted party struggling to come to terms with the reality of who are now voting for Republicans — and what they expect from their government. Nearly a million Ohio residents gained coverage under the health care act, either through expanded Medicaid or via the new marketplaces created by the law. The governor, John Kasich, who has become one of his party’s leading pragmatists, was one of several Republican governors who carried out the Medicaid expansion. Late this past week, he joined some of them in a letter to the congressional leadership requesting that the new health care bill be changed so that the Medicaid expansion is not ended entirely. The state’s Republican senator, Rob Portman, has been among the most outspoken Republican lawmakers expressing concern over any attempt to quickly end the expansion. But the Republican congressman who represents Defiance and the surrounding area, Bob Latta, is an ally of the House leadership and has supported the replacement bill. For all the focus on demands by the party that the bill be less expansive, there is also rising concern among mainline Republicans from states with large numbers of whites about a backlash. The group includes Mr. Portman, as well as Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. “The folks who Hillary Clinton called the ‘deplorables’ are actually those who want better coverage, who we’d be hurting if we don’t change this bill,” Mr. Cassidy said, noting that Mr. Trump promised “he’d give them better care. ” The senator, a physician who once worked in his state’s charity hospital network, bluntly said that the philosophical debate was over and that his party ought to be pragmatic about how best to create a more and comprehensive health care system. “There’s a widespread recognition that the federal government, Congress, has created the right for every American to have health care,” he said, warning that to throw people off their insurance or make coverage unaffordable would only shift costs back to taxpayers by burdening emergency rooms. “If you want to be fiscally responsible, then coverage is better than no coverage. ” A new Pew Research Center survey indicated that the number of Republicans making below $30, 000 a year who believe the federal government has a responsibility to ensure health coverage for all had risen to 52 percent from 31 percent last year. And while just 14 percent of Republicans who make between $30, 000 and about $75, 000 last year said the government bore responsibility for health care, now 34 percent of such voters do. “This is a function of Donald Trump engineering a takeover of the Republican Party,” said Whit Ayres, a longtime Republican pollster. “It was takeover more than assimilation, and this is the eminently predictable result. ” But now that it is Mr. Trump’s Republican Party, those who elected him will expect him to fulfill his campaign commitments. Few Republicans can appreciate the political challenges of the Affordable Care Act like Davy Carter, a Republican and former speaker of the Arkansas House, who shepherded the law’s Medicaid expansion through his conservative legislature in a state where President Barack Obama was disdained. “If he doesn’t do what he said he was going to do, it will alienate the very voters that put him in office,” Mr. Carter said, referring to Mr. Trump. He has a warning for fellow Republicans who represent states with large populations that, like his own, have shifted away from their Democratic roots: They did not change parties because they suddenly became conservatives. Mr. Trump, who pledged repeatedly on the campaign trail to undo Mr. Obama’s “disastrous” health law, appears torn. He is struggling between the political imperative to fulfill that promise — essential both for symbolic purposes of notching a win and for procedural reasons to go forward with an overhaul of the tax code — and his assurances that “everyone will be covered” under the new system. “We will take care of our people or I’m not signing it,” he said when pressed in a Fox News interview last week about how his voters might fare. If Congress moves ahead with the House version of the bill, vulnerable voters might find some allies within the health industry: Hospitals that serve the rural regions in what could be called Trump country would be particularly vulnerable. Their patients tend to be older, poorer and sicker, and their profit margins much narrower, if they make any profit at all. Mike Abrams, president and chief executive of the Ohio Hospital Association, worries that repeal of the health law could force some hospitals to close. “But honestly,” he said, “even if they didn’t close, they would have to make some decisions that would be unwelcome by the community. ” At Defiance Regional, where Mr. Waltimire, the injured police officer, gets his care, Medicaid provides 22 percent of the revenue, up from 15 percent before the Affordable Care Act took effect. The hospital, part of the ProMedica Health System in Toledo, has expanded mental health services and is adding a second medical office building. Randy Oostra, ProMedica’s president and chief executive, said the Republican proposal to give states a fixed amount of money for each person on Medicaid, instead of a large share of whatever each state needs to spend, would be particularly wrenching. “It will drive down reimbursement over time, and we’re going to start stripping care away,” Mr. Oostra said. “They may have Medicaid, but it’ll be so stripped down that they basically won’t have coverage. ” For those who get private coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, the Republican plan would provide tax credits based on age instead of income to help with the cost. Independent analyses have found that people in their 50s and 60s would be especially likely to find coverage unaffordable under the new system, which would also allow insurers to charge older people five times as much as younger ones. Pegge Sines, 62, of rural Edgerton, Ohio, did not vote for president, but her husband, a longtime factory worker who died of lung cancer in December, was an ardent Trump supporter. They had subsidized private insurance through the health care law that covered virtually all his treatment, she said. Ms. Sines now pays $222 a month for her insurance from the Affordable Care Act marketplace, with a tax credit of $712 covering the rest. That $8, 544 annual subsidy is more than twice the $4, 000 annual tax credit she would get under the Republican plan. An aim of Republican legislation is to reduce private premiums, but Ms. Sines’s son, who along with her other two grown children signed up for Medicaid under the expansion, has been warning that their coverage could be “in trouble,” she said. She cannot believe Mr. Trump would allow that to happen. “I can’t imagine them not keeping it like it is now,” said Ms. Sines, who runs a group home for the elderly. Mr. Waltimire said he hoped to return to the police force, and the health benefits it provides, this year. But with no guarantee of good health — he was injured in a fall in 2009 and has had circulatory problems ever since — he also hopes other options remain available. “It’s kind of hard for me,” he said of having free government coverage. “I’ve always worked all my life. But like my counselor said, sometimes you just have to say thank you and move forward. ” Referring to Mr. Trump, he added, “I hope he makes it so that everybody can afford insurance. ” | 1 |
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Accompanied into the courthouse by a member of the TV family who cemented his image as America’s Dad, Bill Cosby went on trial Monday on sexual assault charges, his legacy and his freedom on the line. [Cosby, 79, is accused of drugging and violating an employee of Temple University’s basketball program at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004. The comedian could get 10 years in prison if convicted. His wife was absent as the TV star, using a wooden cane, hobbled past dozens of cameras into the courthouse. He chatted with actress Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played his daughter Rudy on the “Cosby Show,” as they walked together. Cosby smiled but said nothing when someone asked how he was feeling. Judge Steven T. O’Neill instructed the jurors for an hour, reminding them not to glance at news updates on their cellphones. The jury was selected in the Pittsburgh area because of the heavy publicity surrounding the case and is sequestered at a hotel for the duration of the trial, expected to last two weeks. Prosecutors and the defense were to give their opening statements later in the day. Cosby’s accuser, Andrea Constand, 44, of the Toronto area, is expected to take the stand this week and tell her story in public for the first time. The jury consists of seven men and five women. Two members are black. Cosby has suggested that the accusations against him may be racially motivated. Cosby built a reputation as a father and family man, on screen and off, during his extraordinary career in entertainment. He created TV characters, most notably Dr. Cliff Huxtable, with crossover appeal among blacks and whites alike. His TV shows, films and comedy tours earned him an estimated $400 million. Then a deposition unsealed in 2015 in a lawsuit brought by Constand revealed an unsavory private life marked by a long history of extramarital liaisons with young women. Dozens of women came forward to say he had drugged and assaulted them. The statute of limitations for prosecuting Cosby had run out in nearly every case. This is the only one to result in criminal charges against the comic. Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who showed up for the first day of the trial, told reporters she is hopeful “there will be justice in this case. ” Allred represents several of Cosby’s accusers, including a woman who worked for the comedian’s agent at the William Morris agency. She will be the only other accuser allowed to testify for the prosecution. “I’m not going to predict what the outcome is,” Allred said. “We’ll see what the evidence is. But this case is not going to be decided on optics, it’s going to be decided on the evidence, and finally, it’s Mr. Cosby who’s going to have to face that evidence and confront the accusers who are against him. ” The judge hopes to avoid the kind of media frenzy that surrounded O. J. Simpson’s murder trial in the 1990s. The cameras that dominated Simpson’s trial aren’t allowed in Pennsylvania courtrooms. “We’ve had an O. J. hangover for many years,” said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson. “What you worry about as the judge is that the lawyers don’t showboat, the evidence gets presented fairly, and that you have a jury that does its job and is not being thrown into the whole milieu of the trial outside the courtroom. ” Constand filed a police complaint in 2005 over the night a year earlier, when, she says, Cosby drugged her and put his hand down her pants. The district attorney at the time said the case was too weak to prosecute. But a new set of prosecutors charged Cosby a year and a half ago after the deposition became public and numerous women came forward. In one of the more explosive disclosures in the deposition, Cosby said he had obtained quaaludes in the 1970s to give to women before sex. Cosby’s lawyers have said that the encounter with Constand was consensual, and they tried repeatedly to get the case thrown out. They said Cosby testified in the lawsuit only after being promised he could never be charged. And they argued that the delayed prosecution makes the case impossible to defend, given that witnesses have died, memories have faded and Cosby, they say, is blind. The AP does not typically identify people who say they are sexual assault victims unless they grant permission, which Constand has done. | 1 |
Trump’s success shocks global markets 10.11.2016 Victory of Donald Trump at the US presidential elections has shaken up global markets, which staked on the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. For the latest 4 hours gold prices have grown 4.5% - up to $60 given serious fight between presidential candidates. While the January Brent oil futures decreased 2.2%. The Mexican peso has fallen to a record low against dollar, having lost 13.1%. The dollar itself dropped by 3.3% to 101.66 yen. And lost 1.9% against the Swiss franc. The Canadian dollar plummeted to 8-month low against the Australian dollar and decreased by 1.9%. The pound sterling gained 1.04%. The euro increased 2.2% as well. Experts believe that namely reports about Trump's leaving Clinton behind in one of the key states - Florida - acted as a catalyst for dollar's decrease. It should be noted that while XX century was marked with dollarization, today the reverse is gaining ground - more and more countries switch to national currencies in payments, bypassing the dollar. Pravda.Ru | 0 |
SALT LAKE CITY — Starting later this month, women in Utah seeking an abortion 20 weeks or more into a pregnancy will first have to be given anesthesia or painkillers — drugs that are intended not for them, but for the fetus. Those are the terms of a new law that has made Utah the first state in the country to require what doctors here are calling “fetal anesthesia” for the small percentage of abortions that occur at this point in a pregnancy. The law, passed by the State Legislature and signed in late March by Gov. Gary R. Herbert, a Republican, has opened a new front in the heated debate over fetal pain. The science examining when a fetus begins to feel pain is complex. Most scientists who have expressed views on the issue have said they do not think the neurological wiring to feel pain is in place until a fetus is further along in a pregnancy, past the point when nearly all abortions occur. But in recent years the issue has become political fodder in legislative battles over restricting abortions later in a pregnancy. groups and lawmakers in Utah said they were acting out of concern for the fetus. But abortion rights activists and some obstetricians and maternal care doctors in Utah said the law was bafflingly vague and scientifically unsound. They said that it intruded into confidential decisions between doctors and patients, and that it could put women’s health at risk by creating a broad requirement for them to take unspecified painkillers. “You’re asking me to invent a procedure that doesn’t have any research to back it up,” said Dr. Leah Torres, an who spends half of a Saturday each month working in Salt Lake City at one of Utah’s two licensed abortion clinics. “You want me to experiment on my patients. ” In recent years, abortion opponents have cited concerns over fetal pain to pass restrictions on abortions occurring at 20 weeks or later — or to pass laws requiring doctors to tell women that a fetus may feel pain at that stage of development. But many doctors reject those claims, saying a fetus’s brain and nervous system are not developed at 20 weeks to feel pain. They cite a 2005 study that found a fetus was unlikely to feel pain until the third trimester of a pregnancy, or about 27 weeks. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in 2013 that no subsequent research had contradicted that study. Curt Bramble, a Republican state senator in Utah who is also a certified public accountant, said he had sponsored the anesthesia law to extend “common decency” to a procedure he would rather outlaw altogether. He said an outright ban on abortions, or on those at 20 weeks, was unlikely to survive a legal challenge. Instead, he said he hoped Utah’s law would shift the focus of the abortion debate onto the fetus. “Who’s making the decisions for the child?” he said. “Who’s the doctor for the baby? It’s not the woman’s body we’re talking about. It’s a separate person. ” The law, which takes effect on May 10, contains exceptions for cases of rape and incest or if two doctors agree in writing that the fetus has a condition that is “uniformly lethal. ” It also exempts cases when a woman would die or have major, irreversible health problems without terminating the pregnancy. Mary Taylor, the president of Utah, who testified in support of the law, said she appreciated its focus on the condition of the fetus and on surgical abortions that she called “barbaric and horrific. ” Dr. Torres and other critics argued that the law was unworkable and made no medical sense. They said it offered no definition of what, in Utah’s view, legally constitutes a fetal anesthetic. Many women already receive anesthesia or painkillers if they have surgical abortions, and those drugs naturally pass to the fetus. Dr. Torres asked if that would be enough — if Motrin would suffice. And other doctors asked if they would have to specifically inject a fetus with an anesthetic through a woman’s abdominal wall. “We don’t know what to do,” Dr. Torres said. “What does it mean? How do we not break this law?” The law says that doctors who perform abortions at this stage of pregnancy — a rarity, according to a 2012 tally by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — must provide “anesthetic or analgesic to alleviate organic pain to the unborn child. ” It also requires doctors to tell women that “substantial medical evidence” shows that a fetus may feel pain during an abortion. Critics said scientific research did not prove that statement. A spokesman for Utah’s Health Department said it was leaving decisions about anesthetics and analgesics up to individual doctors. But the doctors are required to issue the warning about fetal pain as part of a long list of notifications women must be given before having an abortion. Doctors found guilty of violating the law could lose their licenses or face thousands of dollars in fines. People on both sides of the debate said it was likely to affect only a handful of women. In 2014, there were 17 abortions in Utah at or beyond 20 weeks, according to Karrie Galloway, the chief executive of Utah’s Planned Parenthood chapter. Abortions that late in a pregnancy often occur after doctors discover severe or lethal problems with how a fetus is developing, or after a pregnancy begins to pose a health risk to the mother, said Dr. Alexandra Grosvenor Eller, a physician in Salt Lake City specializing in maternal fetal medicine and an assistant professor at the University of Utah. Dr. Eller was among 24 physicians who wrote to the Legislature objecting to the law, citing the scientific research suggesting that pain could not be felt until later in a pregnancy. The physicians who objected to the law said doctors often induced labor to terminate pregnancies after 20 weeks. They said they did not administer intravenous painkillers or anesthesia to mothers to anesthetize a fetus during normal deliveries, and asked why they should do so during an abortion, or during the delivery of a fetus with profound problems that was expected to die outside the womb. “This is an egregious attempt to tell us how to practice medicine,” Dr. Eller said. “I can’t think of any other area where the Legislature tells us what medications to give to patients. ” Like more than a dozen other states, Utah prohibits any state money for abortions and has placed strict limits on what kinds of clinics and facilities can provide abortions, as well as the types of abortions they can perform. In her practice, Dr. Eller said she was limited to terminating pregnancies in which there was a lethal or severe problem with a fetus’s development. The conversations with couples can be wrenching, she said. They sometimes come into the office hoping to find out whether they are having a boy or a girl, and discover there is an untreatable problem with how its heart or brain is developing. “We make this devastating diagnosis,” she said. “You walk into that room and you’re going to change someone’s life forever. For the Legislature to tell me how to counsel that woman — these conversations are hard enough. ” | 1 |
November 17, 2016 - Fort Russ News - RIA Novosti - translated by J. Arnoldski -
Russia’s defense ministry’s official spokesperson, Major General Igor Konashenkov, has reported that Su-33 fighters based on the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier cruiser have killed no less than 30 militants from the Jebhat al-Nusra grouping in the Syrian province of Idlib. As Konashenkov reported on Tuesday, militants have suffered serious losses as a result of “massive fire strikes” and a large bandit grouping of al-Nusra has been destroyed.
According to General Konashenkov, the death of least 30 terrorists as been confirmed by multiple intelligence channels. Also confirmed among the dead were field commanders Muhammad Khelala, Abu Jaber Harmuja, and Abul Baha al-Asfari, who was planning an offensive on Aleppo. Al-Asfari was responsible for the unification of the remnants of Al-Nusra reserves in Aleppo and Hama.
As stated earlier this week by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, Russia has begun a large strike operation inflicting fire damage on Islamic State and Jebhat Al-Nusra positions in the Syrian provinces of Idlib and Homs.
The Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft carrier cruiser, the only cruiser of its class in the Russian Navy, has been engaged in the operation. The cruiser is now in the Mediterranean Sea at the head of the Northern Fleet.
Also participating in the operation is the Admiral Grigorovich frigate (a guard ship) which, according to defense ministry reports, has struck the positions of militants in Syria with Calibre cruise missiles.
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A LAID BACK and fun to work for Dublin business is forcing its employees to have fun with a mandatory Fancy Dress Friday in honour of Halloween.
Maintaining a chilled out work atmosphere in an effortless manner, several employees with pending deadlines have been forced to wear costumes in a bid to pretend to have fun at up and coming tech company SplattTrap.
“Yeah, I mean we’ll be down 25% in revenue if we don’t secure new customers by the end of next week and maybe face layoffs, but the boss said fuck that, if I didn’t bake a bunch of stupid fucking Halloween cupcakes that he could pose with on the company’s Facebook page I’d be in serious trouble,” explained junior sales executive Brenda Gowan.
“We run a really, really chill office, which allows people to be as productive as possible without all that pressure you see in conventional companies,” SplattTrap CEO Eoin Deveney shared with WWN, “and it’s shame some people thought they could ignore the 22 emails which stated we absolutely had to dress up and have fun today, I wasn’t fucking around,” Deveney added.
The CEO of the company not quite located in Dublin’s ‘Silicon Docks’ area had spent close to 42 hours fretting over his own costume, which only added to the hurt he felt when he noticed several casually dressed personnel desperately ringing clients, seeking new business in order to keep the lights on.
“I couldn’t even tell you what we do here at SplattTrap, in terms of product and services, but what I do know about SplattTrap is that we had been saying since the start of August people had to spend loads of money on a costume and have fun, it was mandatory. I’ll be calling a meeting in a minute to tear strips off some people” Deveney confirmed.
Employees at SplattTrap, who really needed to focus on their work, were told to up their charity donations to €50 each as part of Fancy Dress Friday as the current total ‘wasn’t worth boasting about on social media’. | 0 |
UNITED NATIONS — The American envoy to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, described the United States on Wednesday as the “moral conscience” of the world, and she dismissed the United Nations Human Rights Council as “so corrupt” without offering evidence. Ms. Haley said the United States would never close its doors to foreigners who flee persecution, even as she defended the Trump administration’s travel ban, which closed the door to refugees from six mainly Muslim nations. She insisted that American taxpayers should get value for the money they contribute to the United Nations. She said nothing about whether the United States would help head off a potential humanitarian disaster from famine that the United Nations has warned is looming over 20 million people abroad. Ms. Haley’s remarks, made at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York early Wednesday morning, were her first as ambassador to an audience of foreign policy experts. She called it “an intimidating crowd. ” She briefly channeled her boss, President Trump, by describing the United Nations as “basically a club” that needed to be disrupted. “The fact is, a wave is building throughout the world,” Ms. Haley said. “It’s a wave of populism that is challenging institutions like the United Nations, and shaking them to their foundations. ” Exactly how Ms. Haley proposes to disrupt the world body is not clear, beyond slashing American financial support, as Mr. Trump signaled with his budget outline. She declined to say how deep those cuts would turn out to be, saying she was in discussions with members of Congress who ultimately control the purse strings. “This is a time, in short, to show the people reasons to support the U. N.,” she said. Speaking to the council, Ms. Haley took a very different tone than she had with a different audience earlier in the week. On Monday night, at a policy conference held by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the lobbying group, Ms. Haley spoke of the utility of shoes in diplomacy: “If I see something wrong, we’re going to kick them. ” The remark was met with huge applause. In her remarks on Wednesday, Ms. Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, relied on familiar colloquial expressions and offered few specifics about the many foreign policy challenges facing the administration. “We’re not afraid to call out the governments that don’t have our backs,” she said in her opening remarks, without naming names. “The beauty of this administration is, all bets are off,” she said in response to a question. “We’re not going to look at how things were done in the past. ” Ms. Haley mentioned, as she has before, that the administration would closely scrutinize United Nations peacekeeping efforts, and said that the United States should bear no more than 25 percent of the total costs, a reduction from the current 28 percent. She cited what she called a “ridiculously biased report attacking Israel,” and criticized the Security Council for holding monthly meetings about the conflict. (The council also discusses Yemen every month and Syria three times a month.) Ms. Haley demurred when asked about proposals to expand the Security Council and about how to achieve peace in Syria, except to say that the country’s president, Bashar was “a big hindrance. ” She was not asked about two important challenges for the United Nations system, climate change and famine. She used her address to deliver a pointed attack on the United Nations Human Rights Council, the main international body meant to promote and defend human rights. “I mean, the Human Rights Council is so corrupt,” she said, adding that it includes “bad actors” who use it to protect themselves. Several countries with poor human rights records, including China and Saudi Arabia, have indeed won seats on the council. But the United States has itself used its seat to forcefully defend its allies, including Saudi Arabia, which has been accused of abuses in the war in Yemen. Ms. Haley said she would attend the Human Rights Council’s June session, but declined to say whether she favored withdrawing from the body. The United States withdrew from its predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights. Ms. Haley argued that the Security Council — where the United States has a veto — should be the United Nations body addressing human rights issues. She said she would organize a session on the topic in April when the United States takes its turn in the council’s rotating presidency. The Security Council has taken up human rights in the past, and sought to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, but Russia and China blocked the move with their vetoes. Perhaps the most uncomfortable moment of Ms. Haley’s speech on Wednesday came when she tried to defend Mr. Trump’s travel ban. She insisted that it was not meant to exclude Muslims, but to strengthen vetting procedures for asylum seekers. At one point, she cited this month’s London terrorist attack as a justification for the travel ban. The audience murmured audibly the London assailant was a Briton. | 1 |
WASHINGTON — In another puzzling twist to the Zika epidemic, the Utah Department of Health on Monday reported the diagnosis of a new case of the virus that did not appear to have been contracted through either of the known sources of transmission: a mosquito bite or sexual contact. The patient, who has fully recovered, was a “family contact” who helped care for an older man who had become infected with the virus after traveling abroad. That man, from Salt Lake County, died in June. He also had other ailments, and it was unclear whether the virus had contributed to his death. The Zika virus has caused more than 1, 500 cases of birth defects, mostly in Brazil, where the epidemic began last year. In the United States and its territories, several hundred pregnant women have been infected with the Zika virus, with the largest concentration in Puerto Rico many had traveled to countries where the virus is circulating. Zika is known to be transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and through sex, but neither seemed to be a plausible explanation for what happened in Utah. The infected caregiver, who tended to the ailing man at home and in the hospital, had not traveled to a country where Zika is circulating and had not had sex with him, officials said. Local health workers had been trapping mosquitoes since last year, but had found no Aedes aegypti. Joseph Conlon, a technical adviser to the American Mosquito Control Association, said neither Aedes aegypti nor a cousin, Aedes albopictus, is found in Salt Lake County. “We have found no evidence that mosquitoes here in Utah are transmitting the Zika virus,” said Dr. Angela Dunn, the deputy state epidemiologist at the Utah Department of Health on a call with reporters. She said that for that reason the case was not a danger to the broader public. Zika has surprised scientists with its ability to be transmitted by sex — both from men to women and, in a recent discovery in New York City, from women to men. But it is not known to be transmitted in any other way — without the help of a mosquito — so the Utah case is remarkable. Disease sleuths are sifting through clues. The Utah man who died had a very high level of virus in his body, which may have increased the risk that his bodily fluids could infect others. But while the virus has been detected in blood, semen, vaginal fluid, saliva and urine, it had not been known to infect others through nonsexual contact. “We don’t have any evidence that suggests Zika can be passed from one person to another by sneezing or coughing or kissing or sharing utensils,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has a team investigating the case. Dr. Frieden said other people who had come into contact with the Utah man were being tested. The results will take a few weeks. The continental United States has become a useful laboratory for unusual transmission of Zika. There has yet to be a local spread through mosquitoes, making sexual and other transmission easier to trace. There are more than 1, 300 case of the Zika in the continental United States — all acquired through travel abroad. “This raises some interesting questions,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist in Tennessee. “Was there a needle stick or injury? Or if not, possible contact with other bodily fluid like urine or saliva?” | 1 |
During a recent ABC News interview, President Donald Trump described Chicago as a “war zone” and warned that Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) and city officials must stop the “carnage” or get out of the way so the feds can do it. [Democrats like Representative Luis Gutierrez ( ) mocked Trump’s assessment, but a video published by the Independent Police Review Authority shows that the moniker “war zone” is àpropos. The video is a compilation of dash and body cam videos that were made while officers pursued and ultimately “shot and killed Richard Grimes, who was suspected of shooting a pregnant woman in the abdomen in the 4600 block of West Adams. ” The caption from the video sets the scene: The incident started about 11:30 p. m. on Nov. 27, [2016] as officers responded to a call of the domestic battery. After the initial shooting, Grimes left the scene but ran into officers in the first block of North Kenton, where he fired a handgun at the officers before running away, police said at the time. The officers chased Grimes and a perimeter of the area was established. Dashboard camera video appears to show Grimes shooting at one officer as he exited his police car. The officer immediately dropped to the ground as others arrived and looked to be checking to see if he was shot. Grimes was spotted again in a gangway in the 4500 block of West Washington, where he again shot at the officers, authorities said. The officers returned fire, striking him. Dozens of gunshots can be heard in the videos, with police dispatchers warning officers to “Watch the crossfire. ” A short time later, an officer yells “He’s down! He’s down! He’s down!” WARNING — SITUATIONS, President Trump’s ABC News interview aired on January 25, and the Wall Street Journal quoted Trump comparing Chicago to a “war zone. ” In fact, the president suggested Chicago is worse that some of the areas where our troops are currently deployed, saying, “Afghanistan is not like what’s happening in Chicago. ” 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 |
A strong earthquake struck Japan on Nov. 21, 2016, at about 20:59 UTC, also causing the issuance of a tsunami alert. The United States Geological Survey has reported that a magnitude 6.9 quake, originally reported as a level 7.3 tremor, struck near Honshu. This is on the country’s east coast. The seismic activity was geographically located at 37.392 north latitude and 141.404 east longitude.
This quake was near Fukushima region and arose from about six miles deep in the earth. The closest area was the city of Namie, about 150 miles northeast of Tokyo.
The location of the strong earthquake that rocked Japan caused a tsunami alert to be issued. Namie lies almost directly on the Pacific coast. Initial reports about the strong earthquake that rocked Japan and caused the tsunami alert have not been accompanied by reports of casualties, although reports may be scarce. At the time of publication, no further information was available.
Earthquakes are generalized as minor to great. Any tremor of a magnitude between 6.0 and 6.9 is considered strong and capable of doing much damage in populated areas. Despite the quake severity, scientific estimates reveal about 100 of these occurring each year throughout the world.
The movement of the earth can create a tsunami or tidal wave. The National Weather Service Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued the alert. Estimates are that waves could reach up to one meter above tide level. Uncertainties exist in providing a more accurate forecast because of local weather situations and oceanic conditions that cannot be adequately accounted for, such as reefs and atolls.
Written by Bob Reinhard
Edited by Cathy Milne
Sources:
United States Geological Survey: M6.9 – Near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan (Updated)
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Ewa Beach HI: Tsunami Threat Message
Michigan Tech University: Earthquake Magnitude Scale/Classes
Photo Courtesy of Bryan Jones’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License earthquake , fukushima , Japan , tsunami | 0 |
Drug smugglers are being helped by the Democratic leaders in Congress who are trying to block funding for a border wall, says President Donald Trump. [He is using Twitter to hit the Democrats as enablers for the criminal gangs that are smuggling deadly drugs into American cities and towns around the nation, and which are sending murderous gang members into Americans’ neighborhoods. … . the wall is not built, which it will be, the drug situation will NEVER be fixed the way it should be! #BuildTheWall, — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2017, The Democrats don’t want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017, Voters want safer communities as they see crime rates rising. The Opinion Research Corporation found that 58 percent of voters think politicians aren’t doing enough to keep drug traffickers off the streets, but only 30 percent thought we lock up drug traffickers for too long, a margin. Remarkably, female respondents expressed much more support for stronger enforcement than men, with 62 percent of women (mothers, daughters, wives) saying not enough is done to keep traffickers far from their families — indicating a law and order agenda is an issue that can win over significant numbers of women voters. Middle and Americans’ crime worries have dramatically increased since Obama launched his “ ” cops campaign: 68 percent of nonwhite respondents in a Gallup poll said they worried “a great deal” about crime, along with 53 percent of political independents. Cutting sentences for federal inmates is a bipartisan priority only in the Beltway — back in middle America, cracking down on crime unites diverse constituencies. Other polls also show a growing public concern about drugs and crime. In response, Democrats are saying Trump should get the Mexican government to pay for the wall . Trump counters by saying Mexico will pay for the wall, but he will not delay construction of the wall until Mexico starts paying. Eventually, but at a later date so we can get started early, Mexico will be paying, in some form, for the badly needed border wall. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2017, The Mexican government and many prominent Mexican leaders say they won’t pay for the wall, but the U. S. government has many means to extracting indirect payments, such as taxing ’ money sent via banking systems to relatives in Mexico. Another form of indirect payment is a reduction of Mexican aliens living in the United States, whose departure would reduce U. S. payments to families in Mexico and would also increase wages for Americans. Democrats leaders are determined to stop the wall because it would symbolically and literally interdict the flow of cheap workers, consumers, and apartment renters in the upmarket cities on the coastlines. GOP leaders are not fighting for Trump’s wall, partly because their donors and local supports also want the inflow. Democratic leaders are playing the role of victim in press conferences, and argue that Trump’s successful campaign promise to build a wall is actually a political “stunt” and a reckless “poison pill” which threatens to shut down government amid bipartisan budget negotiations. “The Democrats in the House and the Senate are ready to work and cooperate with the White House to keep the government open,” Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union. He continued: But we told the president weeks ago, don’t try any political stunts, don’t put any poison pills into this process. Let’s just do the responsible important work of funding this government. We know what this wall is all about. This was a promise made by the president during his campaign. Don’t you remember he said the Mexicans were going to pay for it? Now we know it’s going to cost $20 to $70 billion for this wall. We have Democrats and Republicans all along the border opposing this deal. It’s a political stunt, an obsession for the president that should not shut down our government. In backroom negotiations, Trump’s budget director is offering the Democrats $1 in Obamacare funding for every $1 that Democrats agree to spend on the wall. “We’ve finally boiled this negotiation down to something that we want very badly, that the Democrats really don’t like, and that’s the Border wall,” Mick Mulvaney told Bloomberg on Friday. He continued: At the same time, there’s something they want very badly that we don’t like very much, which are these reductions of the Obamacare payments. Ordinarily, in a properly functioning Washington, DC, as in any business, this would be the basis upon which a negotiated resolution could be achieved. The question is, how much of our stuff do we have to get, how much of their stuff are they willing to take? And that’s the way it should work. That is the way that we hope that it works. We’d offer them one dollar of CSR payments for one dollar of wall payments. Right now, that’s the offer that we’ve given to our Democrat colleagues. … If the Democrats come back to us and say, ‘Look, we can’t do that, we can do this,’ that’s a really, really good sign, not only in the but in the . If they simply walk away, and choose to not participate in the discussions, that’s a bad sign, not only in the but for the next several years. ” Each year, 4 million Americans turn 18 and enter the workforce, where they face job competition from roughly 1 million new temporary contract workers and 1 million legal immigrants, plus indirect competition from roughly 30 million unemployed Americans who are sitting on the sidelines while immigrants drive down wages. But business groups want the government to keep importing additional people, who serve as cheap workers, consumers, and apartment renters. | 1 |
Truthdigger of the Week: Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II Posted on Oct 29, 2016 Dave Archambault, outside the Washington, D.C., courthouse where appeals court judges heard his tribe’s challenge to the Dakota Access pipeline. (Jessica Gresko / AP)
Demonstrations against the construction of a $3.8 billion oil pipeline in North Dakota began to receive much-needed mainstream media coverage this week when law enforcement and protesters faced off in a tense confrontation that ended in at least 140 arrests. While many people only recently may have learned of the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), Standing Rock Sioux tribe Chairman David Archambault II has worked for two years to prevent its construction.
Some background: The proposed pipeline would cut across the Missouri River just upstream of land belonging to the Standing Rock Sioux. It could threaten the tribe’s only water source if a leak were to occur (and as many environmental activists note , leaks always occur.) Over the past several months, the tribe has begun to receive support from other “water protectors,” and peaceful demonstrations—such as prayer circles—have become a regular aspect of life on the Standing Rock reservation.
Archambault attended Standing Rock High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from North Dakota State University and a master’s in management from the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D. As chairman of the tribe, he has been at the forefront of opposition to the DAPL. In an August op-ed for The New York Times, Archambault wrote:
Our tribe has opposed the Dakota Access pipeline since we first learned about it in 2014. Although federal law requires the Corps of Engineers to consult with the tribe about its sovereign interests, permits for the project were approved and construction began without meaningful consultation. …
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The Dakota Access route is only a few miles shorter than what was proposed for the Keystone project, yet the government’s environmental assessment addressed only the portion of the pipeline route that traverses federal land. Domestic projects of this magnitude should clearly be evaluated in their totality—but without closer scrutiny, the proposal breezed through the four state processes.
Archambault represents his community and its fight to protect the water, eloquently expressing the racial, economic and political factors moving the construction of the DAPL forward. “Perhaps only in North Dakota, where oil tycoons wine and dine elected officials, and where the governor, Jack Dalrymple, serves as an adviser to the Trump campaign, would state and county governments act as the armed enforcement for corporate interests,” he writes in his op-ed. “It’s a familiar story in Indian Country. This is the third time that the Sioux Nation’s lands and resources have been taken without regard for tribal interests.”
In recent months, demonstrations against the DAPL have increased in size, and the police response has grown more intense. Law enforcement and DAPL officials have set dogs on protesters , used pepper spray , sound cannons and rubber bullets . As the situation intensifies, Archambault continues to speak powerfully on the injustices.
Earlier in October, for example, he explained the status of the ongoing legal challenges to the pipeline and urged President Obama to get involved.
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“Any time infrastructure projects like this come near, we are invisible,” he told Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! “We have lands, treaty lands, that are being encroached on. And we know that there are sacred places there, and we know that the pipeline needs to stay away from those sacred places, but they keep—they continue to come and desecrate those sacred places.”
Other protests against the government have ended in violence—take, for example, the armed standoff between Ammon Bundy and law enforcement in Oregon earlier this year. But the Standing Rock Sioux tribe remains committed to peace, even as police continue to escalate the confrontation. As tribal chairman, Archambault reinforces this commitment to peaceful and spiritual protest.
“[W]e’re asking everybody to remain prayerful and peaceful and not to react to any form of aggression that law enforcement brings,” he said in an interview on National Public Radio . “We don’t want to see the construction workers get hurt, we don’t want to see law enforcement get hurt, and we definitely don’t want to see people who are standing up to protect water to get hurt.” | 0 |
hope he nukes the hell out of CHINA disgusting race of people | 0 |
Tweet Widget by Tanya Golash-Boza
How will Donald Trump’s rhetoric on removing what he calls “illegal aliens” be put into actual policy? One thing is certain: It will take a lot more than even a tripling of the current ICE force of 5,000 to surpass President Obama’s record-breaking deportations. “ICE would still rely on local law enforcement to do the bulk of arrests.” Congress would also have to revise existing immigration laws. Donald J. Trump’s 10 Point Plan to Put America First: A Response by Tanya Golash-Boza
"It will be difficult for a Trump administration to exceed the 2011 levels and it will take time to rebuild this deportation machine."
With the election of Donald J. Trump to the Presidency of the United States, many undocumented immigrants and their family members are concerned about their future in this country. How much worse will the United States get with a Trump Presidency? Although politicians do not always live up to their campaign promises, it is worth taking a look at Trump’s proposals to see how likely and/or feasible they are.
1. “Begin working on an impenetrable physical wall on the southern border, on day one. Mexico will pay for the wall. ”
There is already a 700-mile wall along the border. Much of the remaining area where there is not a wall is impassable. Building more walls or fencing along the border will require Congressional appropriations. Congress may balk at the extraordinary cost, especially given the fact that border crossings are at a historic low . Whatever money ends up being spent will be a colossal waste of funds.
2. “End catch-and-release. Under a Trump administration, anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed out of our country.”
Detention centers are currently at full capacity, both at the border and in the interior. Detaining more immigrants would require building more facilities or finding places to detain people. This is possible, but will be costly. Stock in the two major private prison companies (CCA and GEO group) shot up with the announcement of Trump’s win. These companies likely are willing to sell additional detention capacity to the Department of Homeland Security, but there are limits to how much capacity they can provide immediately. It is also possible for the Trump administration to use tent camps in the borderlands deserts to enhance capacity. If it were up to Trump alone, this is not inconceivable. It is incumbent upon us to ensure that the United States does not go back down that shameful route.
3. “Move criminal aliens out day one, in joint operations with local, state, and federal law enforcement. We will terminate the Obama administration’s deadly, non-enforcement policies that allow thousands of criminal aliens to freely roam our streets.”
The Obama administration will have deported three million people by the time he leaves office, far more than any previous administration. Here, Trump is referring to the deportation of people with criminal convictions who live in the United States. These are called interior removals, and these reached a historic high in 2011, largely due to cooperation between local police and immigration law enforcement agencies. Returning to these high levels of interior removals would require cooperation with local law enforcement, who may not be on board. It will be difficult for a Trump administration to exceed the 2011 levels and it will take time to rebuild this deportation machine.
4. “End sanctuary cities.”
Trump could threaten to take away federal funding from sanctuary cities, which would likely lead to massive protest.
5. “Immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties. All immigration laws will be enforced - we will triple the number of ICE agents. Anyone who enters the U.S. illegally is subject to deportation. That is what it means to have laws and to have a country.”
Trump can (and likely will) end the Deferred Action to Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which has provided employment permits and relief from deportation for undocumented youth. The most likely scenario is that the Trump administration will not renew these permits and they will gradually expire.
There are currently about 5,000 ICE agents in the United States. Trump could triple that number to 15,000. That still would not be enough agents for ICE to engage in very many direct arrests, which require a lot of manpower. ICE would still rely on local law enforcement to do the bulk of arrests.
6. “Suspend the issuance of visas to any place where adequate screening cannot occur, until proven and effective vetting mechanisms can be put into place.”
This is likely a plan to try and exclude people from certain national origins from entering the United States as all places where visas are issued have extensive screening. Trump likely could do this relatively easily.
7. “Ensure that other countries take their people back when we order them deported.”
The countries he may be referring to here are Cuba, China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. These account for a relatively small number of deportees.
8. “Ensure that a biometric entry-exit visa tracking system is fully implemented at all land, air, and sea ports.”
A biometric entry system is largely in place. A biometric exit system would be much more complicated and costly to implement. It’s not impossible, but would require a lot of Congressional appropriations.
9. “Turn off the jobs and benefits magnet. Many immigrants come to the U.S. illegally in search of jobs, even though federal law prohibits the employment of illegal immigrants.”
Trump could expand e-verify , which is already in effect at many places of employment. DACA recipients who are employed may lose their jobs. This strategy would push undocumented immigrants to work under the table or to commit identity fraud. It would not make them leave.
10. “Reform legal immigration to serve the best interests of America and its workers, keeping immigration levels within historic norms.”
It is up to Congress to pass laws regarding immigration flows. A Republican-controlled Congress could re-haul immigration policy to reduce the number of visas that we issue annually, or change the nature of those visas from family-based to skills-based visas. Immigration reform has been stalled in Congress for the entirety of the Obama administration.
It is very unlikely that Trump will live up to his promise to deport all 11 million undocumented migrants. President Obama deported about three million people during his administration and it will be challenging for Trump to exceed those numbers. If Trump does exceed those numbers, he will do so by building on the massive deportation machine that President Obama has built. This effort will require a massive expansion in the number of ICE agents, the number of detention beds, and the number of immigration judges – an extremely costly endeavor. Tanya Golash-Boza is a Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Merced. Her most recent book is Deported: Immigrant Policing, Disposable Labor and Global Capitalism (New York University Press, 2015) | 0 |
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There are times that we need to gain clarity before there is a problem. We see something that might make for a situation later, and we decide to deal with it now. This is both wise and prudent. It can also allow us to work with confidence, knowing that we have avoided possible conflict in the future.
This seems to be the case in a recent lawsuit. As I reported, the Human Rights Commission of Iowa had worded the exemption of its new regulation on gender restroom availability very vaguely.
This led to an inquiry by several organizations and churches. These inquiries were met with vague and almost hostile responses from the Commission. Out of fear of persecution, one church had filed suit to place an injunction on the law.
This case has now been dropped.
Christian News reports :
A legal challenge that had been filed against the Iowa Human Rights Commission over its interpretation of local laws pertaining to gender identity has been dropped after a federal judge noted that churches are not generally considered places of public accommodation by the courts.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Rose responded to motions from both sides of the case on Oct. 14, denying the Commission’s motion to dismiss the suit, while also denying the Fort Des Moines Church of Christ’s (FDMCC) request for an injunction.
“[S]tate and federal courts have held that churches and programs they host are not places of public accommodation,” Rose wrote.
It seems that this was a waste of time. Nothing has changed, and the church still seems to be getting its right to exist from the state. I understand the desire to protect oneself, but we have to remember that if they cannot make a concerning religion, this was superfluous.
Article reposted with permission from Constitution.com Don't forget to Like Freedom Outpost on Facebook , Google Plus , & Twitter . You can also get Freedom Outpost delivered to your Amazon Kindle device here . | 0 |
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[11/3/16] ING Group ‘s plans to shed 7,000 jobs and invest in its digital platforms to make annual savings of 900 million euros ($1 billion) by 2021, drew swift criticism from unions of the Netherlands’ largest financial services company on Monday.
The layoffs represent slightly less than 12 percent of ING’s 52,000 workforce because nearly 1,000 are expected to come at suppliers rather than the bank itself.
But they are the heaviest since 2009, when ING was forced to restructure and spin off its insurance activities after receiving a state bailout during the financial crisis.
Labor unions were highly critical of the decision.
“I don’t think this was the intention of the (government) when it kept ING afloat with bailout money,” Ike Wiersinga of the Dutch CNV union said.
In Belgian, where the number of jobs lost will be highest, labor leader Herman Vanderhaegen called the decision a “horror show” in a statement published on the website of De Tijd, and said workers would strike on Friday.
Although other large banks have announced mass layoffs at branch offices in the past year to boost profitability, ING said the job cuts were partly to combine technology platforms and risk control centers as well to help it to contend with regulatory burdens and low interest rates.
“You have to announce these programs and these intentions at a time when you can afford them,” CEO Ralph Hamers told reporters on a conference call. “We’re strong right now, we have good results, we are growing and then you have to do the repairs, and not when you don’t have any choice anymore.” Post navigation Warning : array_key_exists() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in /home/content/p3pnexwpnas07_data02/05/3222705/html/wp-content/plugins/widget-options/core/functions.widget.display.php on line 182 Warning : array_key_exists() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in /home/content/p3pnexwpnas07_data02/05/3222705/html/wp-content/plugins/widget-options/core/functions.widget.display.php on line 182 Warning : array_key_exists() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in /home/content/p3pnexwpnas07_data02/05/3222705/html/wp-content/plugins/widget-options/core/functions.widget.display.php on line 182 Warning : array_key_exists() expects parameter 2 to be array, null given in /home/content/p3pnexwpnas07_data02/05/3222705/html/wp-content/plugins/widget-options/core/functions.widget.display.php on line 182 RESOURCES | 0 |
Watch: Police Viciously Attack, Arrest Peaceful Protesters at DAPL Including Children and the Elderly Home / Badge Abuse / Cop Fires Round From His 9mm Glock into a Daycare Center in a ‘Gun-Free Zone’– Yet to Be Charged Cop Fires Round From His 9mm Glock into a Daycare Center in a ‘Gun-Free Zone’– Yet to Be Charged Matt Agorist October 27, 2016 2 Comments
Cuyahoga Falls, OH — Authorities are only ‘contemplating’ criminal charges against an East Cleveland police officer today after he discharged his weapon sending a bullet hurling into a day care center.
The staff and children at the KinderCare Learning center were likely terrified when a bullet came blasting through the fence and lodged into the wall of the school around 3:35 pm on Tuesday.
Police have refused to release the name of the officer who negligently discharged his firearm. Authorities did, however, note that the officer was unloading his 9mm Glock inside his home, directly behind the daycare, when it ‘accidentally’ discharged.
Up until that point, the staff and parents of the children at KinderCare probably thought that their children were safer being neighbors with a police officer.
Despite the officer clearly admitting to committing the misdemeanor offense of discharging a firearm within city limits, police have yet to charge him.
“Right now our law department has it and they are reviewing it to see if there should be any charges,” Police Chief Jack Davis said Wednesday morning.
“It was a very unfortunate incident for the school, as well as him,” he added.
Outside of skating out of the misdemeanor charge so far, this officer also seems to be avoiding the felony offense of discharging a weapon in a gun-free school zone.
Imagine for a moment that you were cleaning your pistol and all of the sudden, you accidentally squeeze off a round sending the deadly projectile through the wall of a daycare center, in a gun-free zone.
There are two possible scenarios that would take place; the first one being that a SWAT team responds and you are killed. The second, less lethal result would be your inevitable arrest and charges of public endangerment, unlawful discharge, illegal use of a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon, terrorism, or a myriad of other charges associated with sending a deadly projectile hurling through walls and near the heads of innocent people. You would immediately be facing fines, jail time, probation, and firearms restrictions.
However, if you are a government agent who’s trusted with carrying a deadly weapon into places others cannot, you needn’t worry about any of those repercussions as this case will likely prove.
When the Akron Beacon Journal contacted the East Cleveland police department to inquire as to what would happen to this officer, they said their department was unaware of the incident.
“We’re just grateful that nobody was hurt,” KinderCare spokeswoman Colleen Moran told Ohio.com. So are we.
As the gun controllers call for guns to be taken out of the hands of US citizens, what they really mean is they only want cops to have guns. This cop proves how silly, and dangerous, that demand actually is. Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter and now on Steemit Share Google + TOPDOG1
It does not matter if he went in and shot several of the children. The prosecutors would still refuse to charge him. Phil Freeman
What a douchebag. Clearly no trigger awareness and muzzle control. ADs don’t accidentally happen, they’re caused by incompetence and nincompoopery. Social Trending | 0 |
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian insurgents seized several government positions on the outskirts of Damascus on Tuesday in the third day of their most ambitious offensive in the capital in years, sending a sharp reminder that the war in Syria is far from over. Fierce fighting broke out on the northeastern edge of Damascus, as a mix of Islamist rebel groups and jihadists seized an industrial area about a mile from the historic Old City near the heart of the Syrian capital. Rebel offensives erupted in several other parts of the country. Government forces have been scrambling to repel the attack since it began on Sunday, bringing troops and allied militias from other front lines to hold their territory in Damascus, as government warplanes pummel suburbs with scores of strikes. Rebel shells hit the city, wounding 15, and the authorities shut down many of the main roads. After the government seized the eastern half of Aleppo from rebels last year, it worked hard to create the impression that the war was essentially over. The recent activity, including a series of suicide bombings in Damascus and a rebel attack Thursday on the northern city of Hama, seemed to indicate that the war might be entering a new phase instead. While the government still seems to be consolidating control over major population centers along Syria’s western spine, it appears at a minimum likely to face a lingering rural insurgency and bombing campaigns in the cities by jihadist groups. At the least, the rebel assaults carried a political message: that the insurgents could still disrupt life in the capital and challenge the forces of President Bashar at several points around the country, while simultaneously attacking Islamic State fighters. By mounting a series of simultaneous assaults around the country, the rebels seemed intent on exploiting one of the government forces’ main weaknesses. While they have Russian air support and help on the ground from militias, they are spread thin after six years of war and the drain of so many men fleeing the country rather than serving in the army. It was not immediately clear if the rebels could maintain the offensive. Their forces around Damascus have been badly depleted in recent years and their territory rolled back as the government besieged districts and forced their surrender. And the new assaults raised political concerns, in that they continue the alliance between a spectrum of rebel groups and Islamists considered terrorists by Russia and the United States. The rebels are also walking a fine line with Syrian and international public opinion. To build leverage for imminent peace talks, they need to show they can still cause trouble for the government on the ground, undermining its claim that it can control territory and maintain security. Yet, they stand to pay a huge political price if they ally themselves with groups that have been intensifying insurgent attacks like the suicide bombing that killed more than 30 people last week in a historic courthouse in Damascus. No group immediately claimed responsibility for that attack. But fighters linked to Al Qaeda did say they had carried out two suicide bombings this month that killed dozens of Iraqi pilgrims near the Old City. Other rebel groups condemned both of those attacks. There were reports late Tuesday of several new insurgent assaults on government territory taking place at once: one in Hama Province and another on the western outskirts of Aleppo. In recent weeks, rebels have also launched attacks in Daraa Province to the south. Until recently, fighters there had lain low at the behest of foreign sponsors including the United States, but it now appears they have either decided to defy their patrons or persuaded them to heat up the front again. Rebel and jihadi groups were also advancing against the Islamic State in the Qalamoun region, north of Damascus. The government has been hitting areas to the east of Damascus with air raids and artillery for more than a month, despite a nominal that was supposed to be maintained during new rounds of peace talks in Geneva and in Astana, Kazakhstan. None of the rebel groups in the offensive on northeast Damascus are among the ones being backed in a covert C. I. A. program. But Mohammad the leader of the Army of Islam, one of the groups involved in the assault, is nominally the head opposition negotiator in the Geneva peace talks. With their monthlong offensive, government forces appeared to be trying to further isolate the besieged suburbs of East Ghouta, hoping to eventually force the rebels there to surrender or face a grinding battle with widespread humanitarian suffering, as happened in Aleppo. That makes the districts of Jobar and Qaboun, and neighboring Barzeh, critical territory for both sides. They are the gateway to the business and tourism center of Damascus, where relatively normal life has been a symbol of the government’s continuing control over the capital during six years of conflict. For the rebels, the area contains the smuggling tunnels that help supply East Ghouta, supplementing whatever food can be grown there. A main highway out of Damascus passes nearby, and during lulls in the fighting when it is passable drivers survey a landscape of jagged shells of destroyed buildings. Rebels initially gained ground in a surprise attack on Sunday. Government command posts were hit by two suicide bombs detonated by fighters from Tahrir the new name adopted by the Nusra Front after it claimed to shed its affiliation with Al Qaeda. Then rebel groups including Faylaq the Army of Islam and Ahrar advanced. The attacks took Damascus residents by surprise. Schools were closed for at least a day. Smoke could be seen rising over familiar landmarks. A reporter for Syrian state television, in the midst of assuring the audience that life was going on as normal in central Abasiyeen Square, flinched on air at the sound of a nearby projectile. When she was seen next, she was newly clad in a flak jacket and helmet. The government responded in force to the initial assault. Elite units, regular troops, irregulars in jeans carrying Kalashnikovs, members of foreign militias and armored vehicles could be seen near the front line on Sunday and Monday. They managed to take back the territory, but on Tuesday the insurgents hit back and regained much of the contested ground. Footage showed fighters with Ahrar entering a textile factory they had just seized. | 1 |
While discussing President Donald Trump’s tweets accusing former President Obama’s administration of wiretapping Trump Tower prior to the election on Monday’s edition of CNN’s “The Lead With Jake Tapper,” Senator Bob Menendez ( ) said, “I think a independent type commission” should investigate President Trump. Menendez said, “I’m for an independent commission. And I think we have the master of misdirection in the White House, evident — the suggestion that President Obama wiretapped him, and then, takes off the attention on what was happening with Russia and the attorney general and others. So, I’m for an independent commission. I think that’s the only way, across the entire spectrum. I respect the Intelligence Committee and our leadership on a bipartisan basis. but that’s one element of a much broader set of circumstances. I want to make sure that when President Trump is acting, he’s acting in the interests of the American people, not in any interests he might have. And that’s broader than the intelligence elements, broader than the whole issue of our elections. It’s a whole host of issues. And I think a independent type commission should do it. ” Follow Pam Key On Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
This week Congressman Steve King of Iowa made the following comment on his Twitter account about the outcome of the Dutch election contest between nationalist candidate Geert Wilders and the incumbent socialist Prime Minister:[Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies. By the ensuing mud fight, you would think Congressman King had praised the beheading of children or “honor killings. ” But, no: King had only committed a crime against “diversity” by saying American culture is different and is worth saving. Geert Wilders’ party did not win a majority in the Dutch national parliamentary elections on March 11 — actually, no party did — but he did increase his party’s share of the popular vote by about 30 percent. That means his views are attracting growing support, and to applaud that trend that arouses anger among progressives — and yes, hatred — against Steve King. Wilders is a leader among Europeans seeking to halt unrestricted immigration by millions of Muslims fleeing the Middle East’s civil wars and terrorist violence. Steve King Is watching the slow collapse of European civilization and suggesting that the United States follow a different course. Perhaps if his Republican critics bothered to examine the demographic assault on Europe they would not be so quick to condemn his Paul warning. Turkish President Erdogan tells Muslims in Europe to have “at least five children,” because, “You are the future of Europe. ” Do you think Erdogan is planning to win the 2040 World Cup — or something more “comprehensive. ” If the Muslim Brotherhood has its way, it is the future of America as well. Congressman King was attacked mercilessly for “racist Twitter comments. ” Really? “Racist”? Must every difference of opinion on important matters be reduced to a duel between white hat progressives and black hat “racists”? What is going on here? First to attack Congressman King were the like the Southern Policy Law Center, The New York Times, and the usual gang bangers. But the leftist watchtowers of political correctness were soon joined by mainstream media assassins, who painted a picture of a “white nationalist” politician who deserved to be pilloried as an enemy of diversity and civil rights. After the initial attacks, Rep. King went on CNN to defend his remarks. In an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, King explained: [I] meant exactly what I said. You cannot rebuild your civilization with somebody else’s babies. You’ve got to keep your birth rate up, and you need to teach your children your values. That is shocking: Congressman King believes parents should teach their children their values. Wow. Now there’s a radical idea. The globalists at CNN evidently think parents should either not teach values at all or should teach someone else’s values. Whose values? Maybe the values of the UN Human Rights Commission? Or the values spewed out bilingually by Jose Ramos at Univision? But, wait: something here does not add up. King wasn’t being attacked for advocating less immigration. He was attacked for saying our nation would be better off if we reproduced our own children and our own values — which implies — oh, my, God — implies our values might be superior to imported values! Okay, not everyone agrees with that, but how is it “racist”? Are Catholics racist if they oppose abortion — even if more black babies are aborted in New York City than are born there? We have entered an era of when opposition to any progressive policy — such as unrestricted migration across open borders, or unrestricted access to public welfare benefits — is pilloried and slandered as “racist. ” This new censorship is hailed as “progress,” when in reality, it is a hallmark of totalitarian repression. Steve King did not say that only white Americans should have more babies he wants more American babies, period. Yes, that’s an example of putting “America First,” and you can either agree or disagree with it. But to slander it as racist is, well, plainly . Congressman King’s statements were not racist any more than people who want secure borders are “ . ” Immigrants are people who arrive legally after a long process that takes many years. Proposing that there be no restrictions on who enters our country — and that we must take in all migrants who appear on our borders — is not a “humanitarian” policy, it is an unforgivably destructive and dangerous one. The ongoing debate over how many and what kind of immigrants America needs should be a policy debate, not a brawl, but that is what the globalists are doing — dragging everyone into a brawl. We have seen it over and over again, this orchestrated orgy or character assassination aimed at silencing all dissent from the globalist, multicultural agenda. If America is already the world’s “melting pot,” then the sons and daughters born inside that caldron of intercultural assimilation will necessarily represent those same races and colors. So, exactly how is it “racist” or “white nationalist” to suggest we need to pass on our values to the next generation of Americans — and not rely on young adults arriving from other cultures? How is Steve King’s statements any different than the values expressed in President Trump’s “American First” inaugural address? Of course, they are not, and indeed, attacking King is another way of attacking President Trump’s nationalism. Too many establishment Republicans run for the tall grass when an ounce of moral courage is needed. Republican criticism of Congressman King came quickly from some of the media’s favorite “ ” sources when patriotic heretics are spotted on the horizon. Quick on the draw was a “ ” amnesty bill supporter, Florida congresswoman Ileana who went to her Twitter tool to attack King, “Get a clue … . Diversity is our strength. ” Oh, but, let’s not have too much diversity in Congress. Iowa has got to go! Other Republicans who joined the lynch mob were current House Speaker Paul Ryan. “The speaker clearly disagrees and believes America’s long history of inclusiveness is one of its great strengths,” spokesperson Ashlee Strong said. Representative King is simply the latest victim of the merchants of globalism. His language may have been a little crude, but his point was not only valid but a necessary caution against the bitter fruit of open borders anarchy. The attempt to slander and demonize Steve King is more than an attack on a “border hawk. ” The vitriol hurled at Congressman King is more intense than normal not because he is criticizing other nations or other cultures — he did not do that — but because he is praising our own culture and values — American values — and saying we must preserve those values. THAT is what is unforgivable in “ America. ” Congressman King has touched a raw nerve and the progressive globalist counterattack has been visceral. To the American left, it is now racist to believe American values are worth defending, worth teaching to our children, worth preserving for future generations. Anyone who speaks out in praise of American values or suggests American values may be in danger of eclipse from massive immigration without cultural assimilation — that person and those ideas must be rejected, then marginalized, and then destroyed. I am proud to call Congressman Steve King my friend. Americans who care about constitutional liberty and the independence of the American homeland should care equally about preserving the unique culture that undergirds those liberties and our national sovereignty. That uniquely American culture is not the one embodied in United Nations High Commission on Refugees, nor the one enforced by repression the People’s Republic of China, nor the culture enforced by religious persecution in Turkey and Saudi Arabia. And it is not the culture celebrated in Hollywood in Bill Maher’s condescending monologues. | 1 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Britain voted to leave the European Union. The outcome highlighted the power of populist and nationalist sentiment at a time of economic and cultural dislocation. The value of the British pound plummeted as financial markets absorbed the news. Our live coverage is here. _____ 2. The Supreme Court, still missing a ninth justice, handed down two momentous decisions. One was a deadlock that kept President Obama’s signature immigration plan on ice, a blow to his hopes to shield millions from deportation. The second upheld affirmative action in admissions at the University of Texas at Austin. Here’s a guide explaining both rulings. _____ 3. In Washington, a Democrat in the House brought institutional disruption, a hallmark of national politics, to the heart of the legislature. But it failed to persuade the Republican leadership to agree to vote on gun control measures. Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed it as “a publicity stunt. ” Before Congress recessed for a week, the Senate voted to keep a compromise gun control bill alive, but in procedural limbo. _____ 4. The fracas turned into a watershed moment. Protesting Democrats reached out to constituents on social media after Mr. Ryan adjourned the session, cutting off ’s video feed. pivoted, picking up the live video the representatives were shooting on Periscope, Facebook Live and the like. “For one day and night,” our TV critic writes, “the hottest drama on cable was on . ” _____ 5. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both weighed in on the Supreme Court’s immigration ruling. He praised it and she called it “heartbreaking. ” Mr. Trump was in Scotland, taking a campaign break that some strategists called to attend the reopening of one of his golf courses. The campaign manager he fired this week, Corey Lewandowski, joined CNN as a political commentator. _____ 6. “Stairway to Heaven” is safe — or rather the pockets of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant will not be emptied of millions of dollars. A jury in Los Angeles ruled that Led Zeppelin did not steal the opening riff from a 1968 song by a band it crossed paths with early in its career. “I didn’t remember it then, and I don’t remember it now,” Mr. Plant testified. _____ 7. The Justice Department made a major move against mass incarceration, a phenomenon that has deepened tensions in the national debate over racial inequities, law enforcement and justice. A landmark agreement in Mississippi means that, for the first time, a local government must provide services to shrink jailings. Those include diversion programs, services and barring incarceration for some failures to pay fines. _____ 8. In Baltimore, protesters chanted “Freddie Gray should be here with us today” after a police officer was acquitted of all charges in Mr. Gray’s death. The officer, Caesar Goodson, above, drove the van in which Mr. Gray suffered a fatal spinal injury. The judge said prosecutors had not proved that Mr. Goodson had given or intended to give Mr. Gray a “rough ride,” making it the third trial in the case to end without a conviction. _____ 9. Summer trip coming? Our Personal Tech columnist came up with a shortlist of devices worth taking on vacation (and a long list of things you can leave behind). Sure, a small tablet for the plane, but you might consider Roku’s new Streaming Stick, to expand your hotel’s entertainment options, and a handy USB wall charger. _____ 10. Sheryl Sandberg added a new element to her campaign against cultural themes she finds damaging to women. She and her collaborator, Adam Grant, assert in one of our pieces today that women help one another in life and work and that the idea of the catty woman or selfish “queen bee” is a myth. “What’s the derogatory male equivalent?” they ask. “It doesn’t exist. ” _____ 11. Finally, forget the birds and the bees. Check out the coral. Scientists aiming to help the world’s struggling reefs are studying how entire reefs engage in what our science reporter describes as “primordial rites of mass spawning. ” Triggered by the moon and seasonal temperatures, the masses of tiny creatures that make up a reef release trillions of eggs and sperm simultaneously, a frenzy of fertility. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 1 |
The American Kidney Fund is one of the largest charities in the country, with an annual budget of over $250 million. Its marquee program helps pay insurance premiums for thousands of people who need dialysis, a lifesaving and expensive treatment for kidney failure. The organization has earned accolades for its efficient use of the money. Under an agreement with the federal government, the Kidney Fund must distribute the aid based on a patient’s financial need. But the charity has resisted giving aid to patients at clinics that do not donate money to the fund, an investigation by The New York Times has found. The actions have limited crucial help for needy patients at these clinics. The agreement governing the relationship between the group and the companies forbids choosing patients based on their clinic. In multiple cases, the charity pushed back on workers at clinics that had not donated money, discouraging them from signing up their patients for assistance. Until recently, the Kidney Fund’s guidelines even said clinics should not apply for patient aid if the company had not donated to the charity. “I watched many patients who were not able to get that assistance,” said Elaine Brecher, a former social worker at a small clinic in rural Arkansas. After an application for one patient was declined, she said, she did not apply for others, because a colleague believed that only clinics that donated could refer patients. Ms. Brecher now works at a clinic owned by Fresenius, one of the two largest dialysis companies along with DaVita. Together, the two companies provide nearly 80 percent of the charity’s funding. She said her current patients benefited from the Kidney Fund, whose assistance can amount to thousands of dollars in financial aid a year. “If our patients didn’t get that assistance, they would be owing great big huge bills to hospitals and doctors,” she said. The financial help is available to patients with kidney failure, known as renal disease, many of whom are unable to work. The money covers the insurance premiums for many types of coverage, including Medicare and employer and individual private plans. The Kidney Fund’s payments are part of an unusual deal it made with the government and the dialysis industry 20 years ago. The arrangement allows the dialysis companies to avoid violating laws. It allows dialysis clinics to donate to the Kidney Fund, treat patients whose insurance premiums are paid by the charity and then collect money from the insurers for those patients’ treatments — essentially guaranteeing a steady stream of paying customers for the companies. But the agreement also has a caveat: It requires that all patient applications be treated equally, regardless of whether their clinic donates. In an interview this month, LaVarne A. Burton, the Kidney Fund’s chief executive, said that the charity treated all patients equally, and that the fund had never denied anyone assistance if they qualified financially. “It is simply not true that we require any provider to contribute to the program,” she said. “Never have, and never will. ” She acknowledged, though, that the charity pushed clinics hard to donate, particularly if they applied on behalf of patients. “We believe there is a moral obligation for providers to contribute to the organization,” she said. Ms. Burton said the concerns raised by social workers like Ms. Brecher and others arose because many in the industry misunderstood how the charity worked. The charity recently updated its guidelines, she said, to provide more clarity. An examination of public documents, as well as interviews with more than a dozen social workers, employees of dialysis clinics, insurance officials and regulators, and a former executive at the charity, put the actions in a different light. Many of the clinic workers, from about a states around the country, were called randomly, to limit any chance of coordinated talking points. For years, The Times found, the Kidney Fund’s preference for patients at the biggest clinics has been an open secret among many social workers, who said that as a result they had stopped applying for assistance entirely. The findings also add to a list of concerns about the group’s relationship with the dialysis industry. This year, for example, the fund faced questions about whether it was helping dialysis companies game the Affordable Care Act. In some cases, insurers and government officials have argued, the dialysis clinics used the charity’s assistance program to push people who were eligible for Medicaid, government health insurance for the poor, into private health coverage available under the new law. The private plans pay the clinics much more than Medicaid — up to four times as much, adding up to an additional $200, 000 per patient per year — for the same dialysis treatment. In recent months, the federal government has raised concerns about how patients are steered into private plans. UnitedHealthcare sued one company, American Renal Associates, over the practice, claiming it was harming patients by converting them to less generous coverage. American Renal, which declined to comment for this article, has denied the claims and is fighting the suit. The suit against American Renal also says the Kidney Fund directed some donations directly back to patients at American Renal. As part of an investigation by Medicare, social workers and insurers have made similar accusations against the Kidney Fund. Ms. Burton denied those accusations and attributed the recent scrutiny of the insurance assistance program to insurers that want to avoid covering the often costly medical bills of people who need dialysis. “The insurance industry has let us have it full force,” she said. Dialysis filters toxins from the blood when a patient’s kidneys no longer work. The process is lifesaving, but also onerous, often requiring that patients be tethered to a machine for hours at a time, three times a week. Patients on dialysis often cannot hold jobs, studies have shown, and those receiving the treatment are disproportionately poor. The poorest people with kidney disease qualify for Medicaid, which covers all of their costs. But Medicare covers most of the 500, 000 or so Americans who need the treatment, regardless of their age, under a government program that has existed since the 1970s and that costs the federal government more than $30 billion a year. Even with help, people covered by Medicare are left with significant costs. Most must pay a monthly premium of about $120, as well as a portion of their medical expenses, which can add up to several thousand dollars a year. Until the late 1990s, the dialysis companies routinely paid these expenses. But a federal law outlawed that practice, out of concern that covering a patient’s bills might dissuade that patient from switching to another clinic that might provide better care. That was when the American Kidney Fund stepped in. In 1995, the charity was relatively small, with a $5 million annual budget and contributions from the dialysis industry that accounted for less than 10 percent of its donations. The Kidney Fund and the biggest dialysis clinics presented the government with a proposal that would allow the companies to indirectly pay insurance premiums for patients. The deal, reached with the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services in 1997, has had a profound effect on the charity. In 2015, the Kidney Fund reported revenue of $264 million, making it one of the country’s 100 largest nonprofits. The dialysis industry has also flourished. DaVita and Fresenius in particular have grown quickly, buying smaller chains, consolidating their market share and locking in profits. The Kidney Fund says it got 78 percent of its revenue in 2015 from two companies, which insurers, state regulators and others identified as DaVita and Fresenius. “There’s a long history of recognition of the unique needs of that patient population,” said Philipp Stephanus, a senior vice president at DaVita who handles patient support and insurance issues. The Kidney Fund, DaVita and Fresenius said the federal agreement prohibited them from disclosing what percentage of applications the fund approved from those companies’ clinics, or how much the charity paid in insurance aid for patients at those clinics. But the 1997 deal tried to prevent any preferential treatment, no matter how big the companies became. Kevin McAnaney, a former government lawyer who helped draft the original agreement, said fairness to patients was at the heart of the deal. Everyone understood that “they were covering free riders who weren’t contributing anything,” said Mr. McAnaney, a lawyer in private practice who previously worked at the Office of Inspector General. But if the rules are not followed, the Office of Inspector General has the right to end the agreement, which would profoundly change the relationship of the industry and the charity. “If all the conditions are not met, the opinion is without force and effect,” said Donald White, a spokesman for the agency. In keeping with the agency’s policy, he would not confirm or deny whether the agency was investigating the group. Tracey Dickey works as a social worker for a nonprofit dialysis clinic in rural Missouri with no connection to a big dialysis company, and many of her patients struggle to pay their medical bills, she said. They are exactly the kind of people the Kidney Fund says it is there to help. In November 2014, Ms. Dickey emailed an executive at the fund. She said she had heard that only clinics that donated to it could apply for financial aid for patients. Her clinic had not donated, she said — but she still had a patient in need. “I need to know the facts before I tell her there isn’t premium assistance,” Ms. Dickey wrote in an email to the fund. She provided a copy of the email to The Times. An executive at the fund wrote back the same day. He was noncommittal, but attached a set of guidelines that he asked her to review. “If your company cannot make fair and equitable contributions,” the guidelines read, “we respectfully request that your organization not refer patients. ” And so she didn’t. The patient, Ms. Dickey said, continues to struggle financially. This summer, after Ms. Dickey and other social workers shared their experiences in an industry discussion group, the Kidney Fund invited them to contact the charity about their concerns. When she followed up, the charity told Ms. Dickey that she would need some computer training to enroll in the program. She has not pursued it, she said. Ms. Burton said that Ms. Dickey had apparently misunderstood the exchange with the Kidney Fund employee and that had she applied, her patient would have been approved, assuming the person qualified financially. But Ms. Brecher and several workers at other nonprofit or independent clinics told similar stories. An administrator at an independent clinic in a Midwestern city said he had helped a handful of patients maintain their coverage through the fund after they transferred to his clinic from a large chain. He declined to be identified because, he said, he did not want to anger DaVita and Fresenius, who sometimes send him patients. Each time, he said, the charity’s workers later demanded that the clinic make a donation that at a minimum covered the amount it had paid for the patient’s premium. If he did not pay, he said he had been told, the patient risked losing the financial help from the charity for his insurance. The administrator said he had refused to donate to the charity. The Kidney Fund continued to help pay for the patients’ insurance, he said, but the aggressive approach angered him. Ms. Burton said the charity never declined a patient because a clinic did not donate. But she said the Kidney Fund did not hesitate to ask clinics for donations. “We are a charitable organization,” she said. “We for everything that we do. ” She said nearly 40 percent of the 213 dialysis companies whose clinics had successfully helped patients apply to the fund had never donated. She would not say, though, what percentage of the 80, 000 patients the fund helps annually comes from clinics that do not donate, or how many of those patients come from the biggest companies, which donate most of their revenue. Still, some social workers say the assumption at many clinics where they work is that the aid decisions are not always based on financial need. Jennifer Bruns, now a social worker at the St. John Transplant Specialty Center in Detroit, worked for years in dialysis clinics and said she had many clients who received assistance from the American Kidney Fund. She said sometimes patients would tell her that their insurance premiums — which the Kidney Fund had agreed to pay — had not been paid that month. Ms. Bruns called the fund to find out why, she said in an interview, “and they would say, ‘Well you haven’t made your contribution this month. ’” | 1 |
Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown warned Democrats that pushing for President Donald Trump’s impeachment could backfire. “As tempting as it is for the Democrats to push the idea that Trump could be guilty of obstruction of justice and push for impeachment, that could ultimately backfire on them — it raises public expectations, but if it doesn’t happen, it looks like you tried to do something and failed,” Brown wrote in his San Francisco Chronicle column over the weekend. “That wouldn’t just hurt the party this time. If a real Trump scandal comes along, the Democrats will be haunted by a decision to spend their political capital and credibility on a scandal that came up short. ” The legendary California Democrat said the “facts are not there” yet to make the case for impeachment. He added that former FBI director James Comey’s testimony “was great entertainment, but for all the hype,” the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings did not “deliver a knockout punch. ” “You are not going to get another ‘All the President’s Men’ out of this story,” he said, adding that “so far, there is no silver bullet that will bring the president down. ” California Democrats like Reps. Brad Sherman ( ) and Maxine “Get Ready for Impeachment” Waters ( ) have been leading the charge for impeachment. Rep. Ted Lieu ( ) has publicly stated that he is reading up on impeachment. And potential gubernatorial candidate and liberal megadonor Tom Steyer has also called for Trump’s impeachment. Brown’s advice to Democrats: “Let the questions hang out there in the public’s mind, and leave the speculation to MSNBC. ” | 1 |
Tara Wall was eager to help Donald J. Trump win over voters, just as she had for President George W. Bush. But when she met with his campaign staff, she learned that the candidate did not share her enthusiasm. “It was made clear to me that that was not their focus,” Ms. Wall told The in our latest podcast. “They weren’t focused on or weren’t planning to do any significant outreach to black voters,” Ms. Wall says. “They were focused on white — suburban, in some cases — voters. ” In this episode, we explore how Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee, is faring so poorly with black voters, according to polls. We also assess where both parties stand with the black electorate: whether the Republican Party is ready to have an honest conversation about race, and whether the Democratic Party, which has benefited so much from Mr. Trump’s blunders with black voters, deserves the overwhelming support of it has garnered this year. Ms. Wall, a veteran black campaign operative, offers a candid, assessment. Few have had her insider’s perspective: as an adviser to President Bush, the last Republican presidential candidate to carry, in 2004, 11 percent of the black vote — a relative mark for Republicans — and as an aide to Mitt Romney, who failed to match that level of support in 2012. We also talk with the New York Times columnist Charles Blow and the reporter Yamiche Alcindor, who have both covered the campaign and its racial dynamics for the past two years. Mr. Blow discusses the difficult choice this election. “One party approaches you with a philosophy of pain, and the other approaches you with a philosophy of pity,” he says. “And most black people, I would venture, don’t want either. ” But he warns about false equivalency. “Have Democrats been perfect? Of course they haven’t. But there are actual attacks on individual people of color in this country,” he says, speaking of efforts to enact stricter voter registration laws. “Everyone knows the net effect of them will be a disproportionate impact on poor people and minorities and, in particular, black people,” he said, “and those are, for the most part, Republican legislatures doing that. ” Despite not being perfect, as Mr. Blow says, the Democratic Party — Hillary Clinton in particular — has overwhelming support from black voters. A recent poll shows Mrs. Clinton with 91 percent of the black vote, compared to 1 percent for Mr. Trump. I ask Ms. Alcindor whether Mrs. Clinton has earned that. She thought back to what she heard while covering Bernie Sanders. “Bernie Sanders would say this thing: ‘People don’t know me, which is why they’re not flocking to me. don’t know me,’ ” she recalls. “I think that the voters that Bernie Sanders thought were ignoring him because they didn’t know him — I think they knew who Bernie Sanders was. “ that I interviewed, they knew exactly who Bernie Sanders was,” she says, “and they weren’t picking him. They were picking Hillary Clinton. ” Please let us know what you think of The . You can reach us at therunup@nytimes. com, or find me on Twitter. You can also rate and review us on iTunes. From a desktop or laptop, you can listen by pressing play on the button above. Or if you’re on a mobile device, the instructions below will help you find and subscribe to the series. On your iPhone or iPad: 1. Open your podcast app. It’s a app called “Podcasts” with a purple icon. (This link might help.) 2. Search for the series. Tap on the “search” magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen, type in “The ” and select it from the list of results. 3. Subscribe. Once on the series page, tap on the “subscribe” button to have new episodes sent to your phone for free. You may want to adjust your notifications to be alerted when a new episode arrives. 4. Or just sample. If you would rather listen to an episode or two before deciding to subscribe, tap on the episode title from the list on the series page. If you have an internet connection, you’ll be able to stream the episode. On your Android phone or tablet: 1. Open your podcast app. It’s a app called “Play Music” with an icon. (This link might help.) 2. Search for the series. Click on the magnifying glass icon at the top of the screen, search for the name of the series and select it from the list of results. You may have to scroll down to find the “Podcasts” search results. 3. Subscribe. Once on the series page, click on the word “subscribe” to have new episodes sent to your phone for free. 4. Or just sample. If you would rather listen to an episode or two before deciding to subscribe, click on the episode title from the list on the series page. If you have an internet connection, you’ll be able to stream the episode. | 1 |
By Whitney Webb at trueactivist.com
Cyndy Coppola was arrested for standing on her own property as she tried to block Dakota Access Pipeline construction equipment from crossing her land.
Once again, the repression of those against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is heating up, with 127 activists arrested in North Dakota over the weekend. However, North Dakota isn’t the only place where protests over the Dakota Access pipeline are coming to a head. In Iowa, farmers have had their land seized by the company behind the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners, through the use of eminent domain. Eminent domain has been legal in the US since 1888, thanks to the passage of the Condemnation Act . The law authorizes the federal government to take private property for public use. However, in 1906, the law was amended to allow for the seizure of private property even if it only benefited private parties (e.g., corporations), not the public. The argument for this was that corporate seizure of private land “helps” the public through economic development. Yet, what the law essentially means is that even your own land doesn’t belong to you if the government or government-supported corporations want it.
A sad, yet accurate example of eminent domain gone wrong took place last week in Calhoun County, Iowa. Cyndy Coppola was arrested over the weekend on her own property for trying to block access to DAPL trucks from hauling pipeline construction materials through her land. DAPL first received access to Coppola’s farm through the use of eminent domain, which granted Energy Transfer Partners easements to her property. Coppola remarked that watching the morally wrong seizure of the farm she worked so hard for was difficult to handle. | 0 |
With the year winding down and New Year’s resolutions just around the corner, it’s time to gear up for that clutter purge. But the thought of tackling the kitchen junk drawer — or even taking down the decorations — can be overwhelming. So to help motivate you, several organizing professionals offered tips on how to streamline your closets, beat back the toys taking over the living room and, yes, finally deal with that junk drawer. START WITH THE HOLIDAY TRAPPINGS To keep plastic ornaments and Hanukkah candles organized, use small containers you already have on hand, like popcorn and cookie tins or empty shoeboxes and egg cartons. Wrap fragile ornaments in leftover tissue paper or newspaper, or invest in storage containers like archival ornament boxes from the Container Store. For strings of lights and garlands, use zip ties to avoid tangles and put them in plastic bags labeled according to use (tree lights, porch lights, balcony, bushes, etc. ). Zip ties can also be used on wreaths, so that they can be hung on coat hangers and covered with plastic garment bags from the dry cleaner. To avoid a stockpile of holiday cards, “save only those that are meaningful and special,” Tova Weinstock, a professional organizer in Brooklyn, said. “For the others, appreciate them as you receive them and then kindly send them to the trash. ” EDIT YOUR CLOSET Eliminating clothes you never wear is easier said than done. “I don’t believe in ‘If you haven’t used or worn something in a year, get rid of it,’” said Laura Cattano, another organizer in Brooklyn. “How you want to live moving forward is a much better guide for editing than whether or not you actually have used something in the past. ” Focus on the image you would like to project, she said, then start at one end of the closet and review each piece, pulling out those you know you can toss, donate or sell. Try on anything you haven’t worn in a while and consider how it makes you feel or if it could be styled differently. Clothes you have forgotten about could be “your new favorite thing,” she said, while there may be some pieces you wear all the time that should be retired. (If you subscribe to the Marie Kondo method of decluttering, ask yourself, “Does it ‘spark joy? ’”) Sort clothes by type, grouping pants together, then shirts or blouses, jackets or dresses. “If you can’t see it, you won’t wear it,” said Sharon Lowenheim, an organizer on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and the founder of the Organizing Goddess. “So remove dry cleaning bags and hang only one item per hanger. ” Arranging shirts by sleeve length, with the shortest at the front, makes them easier to find, said Ms. Lowenheim, who also subscribes to a rotation method: selecting garments to wear from the front of each section, then hanging them up toward the back after they are cleaned. “If you find yourself continually bypassing an item at the front, that is a signal to you that you just don’t like that item,” she said. “Get rid of it. ” Another way to keep your closet streamlined is to store clothes out of sight, said Faith Roberson, an organizer in Manhattan and the founder of Organize With Faith. When clothes have been put away for half the year and you’ve done fine without them, “it changes your perspective,” she said. “You can honestly ask yourself, ‘Do I actually love this piece? And if I don’t, why am I holding onto it? ’” TACKLE THE TOYS Organizing pros agree that the best way to keep toys from taking over is to get children involved in selecting some to donate. “Finding a charity that provides toys to less fortunate children is very motivating for a child,” said Ms. Lowenheim, whose daughter purged her playthings in this manner before each birthday and holiday, starting when she was a toddler. Before that, Ms. Lowenheim said, she would sneak into her daughter’s room while she was sleeping to gather up the games and stuffed animals she was no longer playing with. “When she was around 3, she started noticing if something was missing and would ask me about it,” Ms. Lowenheim said. “At that point, I realized that I had to involve her in the process. ” If they cooperate, be sure to respect their decision, Ms. Roberson said, even if they choose something you wouldn’t have. “Parents think about the money they’ve spent,” she said, or the sentimental value, which can make them reluctant to let go of that American Girl doll or the train set from Aunt Joan. Another strategy is to encourage them to sell the toys they no longer play with, either online or at a garage sale, and keep the proceeds for themselves. Once the toys have been pared down, Ms. Roberson swears by clear shoe or sweater drawers for storage. “They are stackable, they have dividers, are easy to clean, easy to label, and they come in four different sizes,” she said. To help maintain order, “label where each toy goes,” said Ms. Lowenheim, who recommends installing a tall bookcase and putting paints, jigsaw puzzles and other games that tend to leave a mess on the highest shelf. If your child is too young to read, label the containers with stickers or pictures. If everything has “a home” to return to at the end of the day, she said, cleanup will be easier. AND THAT JUNK DRAWER . .. “Don’t waste your time standing over the drawer sifting through it piece by piece,” Ms. Roberson said. Dump everything onto the floor or countertop, divide it into piles and then ask yourself: Do I want it? Does it work? Does it need to be in the junk drawer? If not, where else could it go? “Take it easy, and go pile by pile,” she said. Put things where they belong (like that miniature tube of toothpaste you got from the dentist that should go in your toiletries bag) and discard things you don’t need, like old keys and expired batteries and coupons. To ward off atrophy, buy a drawer organizer, suggested Ms. Lowenheim, who uses expandable drawer organizers from Staples in her own home. “The key thing is to measure the drawer, then find the organizer that best fits the space,” she said. “If it’s too small, it won’t help. ” The reward? “Keeping everything sorted by type,” she said, “will make it easier for you to find something when you need it. ” | 1 |
Colombia’s government and the largest rebel group in the country have reached a deal to end more than 50 years of conflict, the two sides announced Wednesday, paving the way for an end to the war in the Americas. For four years, the Colombian government and the rebels have been locked in negotiations. Time and again, they have emerged from the negotiating table to assure a weary public that another impasse had been eliminated, another hurdle cleared. This time, the two sides declared that a final deal had been clinched. “Today begins the end of the suffering, the pain and the tragedy of war,” President Juan Manuel Santos said in a nationally televised address after the agreement was announced. “Let’s open the door together to a new stage in our history. ” The agreement, reached in Havana where the talks took place, effectively signifies the end of the last major guerrilla struggle in Latin America. It outlines a timetable in which the rebels, known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, will abandon their arms. It also sets out a pathway in which former fighters will enter civilian life again — and in some cases, run for office. But to most Colombians, the deal is simply a promise that the war, which has lasted 52 years, claimed some 220, 000 lives and displaced more than five million people, is at last coming to an end. Peace in Colombia now looks more likely than ever, but a big hurdle still needs to be cleared before the deal is ratified. Mr. Santos, who has staked his legacy on a deal, must now sell it to his people, who will be asked to vote in an referendum. Rallying against that approval is Mr. Santos’s predecessor, former President Álvaro Uribe, whose term ended in 2010 with the FARC diminished. Mr. Uribe is widely credited with the military gains that forced the rebels to the negotiating table. But he is now leading a growing campaign against the deal, saying it amounts to an unjust amnesty for the rebels. “They will spend zero days in prison, they will be awarded with political representation,” Paloma Valencia, a senator in Mr. Uribe’s party, said of the rebels. “This deal breaks the rule of law. ” Still, others hailed the deal as a major step for a country of 50 million people whose growing economy has long been hampered by the simple fact that the state does not control all of its territory. “It’s an enormous opportunity for the country to create a democratic state, which will allow us to live in peace,” said Maria Emma Wills, a political analyst at the National Center for Historical Memory, a government research group. She warned, “The deal has strong political opposition, and the next job is going to be public advocacy for it. ” The war remains one of the most emotionally charged issues in Colombia, characterized by kidnappings and the massacre of civilians caught between the rebels and the military. Waves of Colombians left the country fearing the violence. Few who remained were untouched by it. The rebels and the government had been inching toward a final deal for months. In June, the two sides announced a and said that the rebels had agreed to lay down their arms. A month before, the government and the FARC declared that they had reached an agreement to release child soldiers from rebel custody, another step that helped push the negotiations toward their final stages. Now the two sides say they have settled many of the last sticking points that kept them at loggerheads for years. But even if the deal is approved by the public, its success is anything but guaranteed. Will it be accepted by all rebels, who vowed to bring a Marxist revolution to Colombia but are being asked to accept far less? How will thousands of guerrillas — many of whom were kidnapped as children and know only life in the jungle — find their way into mainstream society, and will they be accepted there? And perhaps most crucially: Will the rebels give up not only their weapons, but their control of the lucrative drug trade as well? The State Department calls the FARC a terrorist organization that “controls the majority of cocaine manufacturing and distribution within Colombia, and is responsible for much of the world’s cocaine supply. ” The FARC’s top commander, Rodrigo Londoño, who uses the alias Timochenko, helped set the group’s policies for “the production, manufacture and distribution of hundreds of tons of cocaine,” and for the killing of hundreds of people who interfered, the State Department adds. Two FARC peace negotiators were named in a 2006 federal indictment, charged with helping to make the organization a narcotics powerhouse responsible for more than “60 percent of the cocaine sent to the United States. ” Still, the peace deal makes promises to reshape a Colombia. In a nod to longstanding grievances among the rebels, the government promised to make significant investments in rural areas, which the rebels say have long been neglected at the expense of cities like Bogotá. Far more contentious, however, has been the subject of what will become of the rebels themselves. For decades, the FARC financed its insurgency by kidnapping people and holding them for ransom, a business that terrorized thousands, including a former presidential candidate who was held for years. The agreement tries to resolve past grievances with the stroke of a pen: Under a transitional justice system, all but the most grievous crimes may be resolved with reduced sentences. Silvio Hernández, whose son Erik was a soldier killed by the rebels in combat in 2011, said he felt the agreement would not bring justice. “The FARC are not going to pay for the crime against my son,” he said. “It’s good that we are reaching peace, but this leaves me with many doubts. ” | 1 |
Kering, the French group that owns the brands Alexander McQueen, Saint Laurent and Gucci, among others, and has made something of a mission out of championing women’s rights — with initiatives like the Chime for Change campaign for female empowerment, the “Women in Motion” talks for film industry professionals and a partnership with the United Nations Women French National Committee — has put its policy where its cause is. Also, probably not coincidentally, where its customer base is. Last week, the conglomerate announced a new policy that, to many, might seem like a luxury itself: a minimum of 14 weeks of paid maternity or adoptive leave and five days of paternity or partner leave, beginning Jan. 1, 2017 for all employees who have worked there for more than a year. What made the move unusual was that the group, which operates in nearly 60 countries and employs more than 38, 000 people, established the policy across all brands and all locations. “These decisions are usually made country by country and not across borders,” said Ariane Hegewisch, the program director of employment and earnings at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. “Human resource management, such as benefit policies and pay levels, is very influenced by national legislation, labor markets and the union structures in different countries. ” Previously, Kering’s various brands set their own policies, in compliance with local regulations. That means its employees in the U. S. where federal law mandates only 12 weeks unpaid time off for new parents, were offered either no compensated time off or a combination of paid and unpaid leave. Meanwhile, Kering’s Italian contingent — about 7, 000 people — was given 22 weeks of maternity leave and three to four days of paternity leave with at least 80 percent of the salary paid out. That approach is not atypical in luxury, an industry focused on attracting women (80 percent of Kering’s consumers are women). Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, or LVMH, which owns fashion houses like Dior, Givenchy and Marc Jacobs, has different policies in different places, as does Prada Group, an umbrella organization for Prada, Miu Miu, Church’s and more, as well as Heusen, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, among others. But Kering’s move has placed it among a growing list of multinational companies, including Nestlé, L’Oreal and Spotify, that have set minimum standards across all geographic zones where their employees work in the last few years. LVMH is set to follow in Kering’s footsteps this spring with a program called “Coeur Social,” which will include a global policy. A report by the Center for American Progress argued that companies are taking these actions to balance out discrepancies in benefits across regions, in particular the unequal leave policies between the U. S. and most other nations (research focusing on members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and a few other nations found that the U. S. was the only one that didn’t mandate paid parental leave). “I think these companies realize they can retain women who leave and come back, and that is a real cost saver for them,” said Myra H. Strober, a professor of economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “It’s very much an economic decision for them, and that’s good, because those tend to stick. ” Among fashion, beauty and retail companies that have made their policies public, Kering’s offer of 14 paid weeks for mothers and parents who adopt stands out. “This is a private company, so an investment of 14 weeks is high,” said Ms. Hegewisch. By comparison, Patagonia, considered a leader in sustainability, gives its workers 80 days of maternity leave and 60 days of paternity leave, both paid. Toms Shoes offers eight weeks for all parents Jane. com gives 30 days of maternity or adoptive leave Old Navy allows 60 days of unpaid maternity leave and Heusen offers weeks paid for birthing mothers and six weeks paid for all other parents. Still, Ms. Hegewisch expressed surprise at the stark difference between Kering’s maternity and paternity leaves. Though Kering brands such as Gucci and Bottega Veneta have decided to merge genders on the runway, they haven’t made the same leap in leave policies. “Five days is really very minimal,” she said of the company’s paternity leave. According to someone familiar with the discussions at Kering who was not authorized to speak, the company based the number of days on recommendations from the International Labor Organization, which adopted a resolution in 2000 stating that women should be entitled to a minimum of 14 weeks maternity leave, but hasn’t established any formal guidelines for paternity leave. Kering declined to comment publicly on the policies beyond its announcement last week. Ms. Strober noted that there’s more of an uphill battle in getting fathers to take time off, even when it’s available to them. “Even when companies have more generous policies, fathers don’t always take advantage of them,” she said. “It took years of Sweden having a national program giving men paternity leave before they began to take it. ” She added: “Eventually — don’t ask me when — men and women will have the same parental leaves and they will all take them. But we’re not there yet. ” | 1 |
Okay, have it your way, it's weak and worthless.
Now will you please go away? | 0 |
The U. S. Supreme Court made headlines Monday with its acceptance of a case that argues whether legislative maps can be ruled unconstitutional simply due to the partisan advantages that may be gained from their designs. Some election law experts contend the matter is a means to an end in transferring redistricting powers — commonly held in legislative branches — to commissions not directly answerable to the electorate. [Picking up the case after a panel ruled that Wisconsin Republicans legislative boundaries in 2010 with the intent to dilute opposition voting strength, the Supreme Court paused the lower court’s immediate remedy that maps be reconfigured in time for the 2018 Election prior to the 2021 revamp. Court watchers of all varieties, including proponents of the lawsuit, took the halt as an early indicator that some groups’ hopes for a new weapon against largely Republican legislatures may not be handed down any time soon. Redistricting litigation is by no means a rarity, regardless of how far removed a case may be from the last decennial census or even if the boundaries are actually enforced at the time. Conventional scenarios allege that particular political jurisdictions are drawn presenting risks or evidence of racial discrimination, violating the U. S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act. Gill v. Whitford, however, offers a different framework that the Supreme Court has demonstrated great difficulty in tackling in the recent past. Rather than making a detailed, case that specific boundaries were drawn to harm minority voters, Whitford makes a broad argument against Wisconsin’s legislative boundaries statewide, arguing that Republicans are impermissibly tipping the scales at the expense of Democrat voters. Some critics of such maps also admit that a racial undercurrent can exist with a partisan gerrymandering complaint. In response, Wisconsin has pushed hard against the allegations and seeks a landmark ruling that partisan gerrymandering claims are not justiciable. The Supreme Court has been here before in 2004 thanks to a Pennsylvania case. The Court fractured on whether it should hear a partisan claim: Rehnquist, O’Connor, Scalia, and Thomas found the case was governed by the doctrine and lacked proper jurisdiction while Stevens, Ginsberg, Souter, and Breyer opted to proceed. Anthony Kennedy voted with the conservative bloc on the question of the Pennsylvania case’s hearing, but would not foreclose future challenges. Typically a niche area even among the most dedicated politicos, redistricting has demonstrated improving potential, especially as the Democrat Party continues to dedicate assets and architecture to chart a path out of the political wilderness. The Washington Post reported shortly after the court announcement Monday that former President Barack Obama would dedicate energy toward improving the party’s chances in the next mapping cycle. In addition, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, chaired by former Attorney General Eric Holder and Clinton campaign alum Marc Elias promises “a comprehensive, Democratic Party redistricting strategy over the next 5 years and beyond. ” Instead of fighting for the civil rights of all voters like previously advertised in ID campaigns, the Democrats make clear their intentions: [T]he NDRC was created in 2016 to build a targeted, strategy that ensures Democrats can produce fairer maps in the 2021 redistricting process. With fairer maps, Democrats can rebuild the party from the state level, and secure a stable federal majority for the decade to come. Looking beyond Whitford, some election law experts note that reform efforts are coalescing around the concept that removes legislators — and their constituents by extension — further from the redistricting process favoring of a commission approach like seen in a dozen states. Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington currently utilize such systems. The makeup of the bodies can range in size and placement mechanism — commonly relying on executive or legislative leadership to select participants. Iowa utilizes a hybrid format while Ohio is slated to join the cohort in the next mapping cycle. Critics argue that a disconnect from the full wrath of the electorate is harmful. “ independent commissions remove accountability — commissioners are not accountable to voters for what they do, unlike legislators,” says Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow for the Heritage Foundation. “Commissioners just move the politics of redistricting behind closed doors. ” Experts commonly note that the electoral yields of a map are not neatly predetermined by the political affiliation of its architect. Both the 2006 “Thumping” and 2010 “Shellacking” Elections occurred on largely the same body of legislative maps. Real redistricting reform, some argue, happens in the ballot box. “If you don’t like the partisan results in a redistricting plan passed by a legislature, go out and win more seats,” Public Interest Legal Foundation President J. Christian Adams explains. “The people should have the power to form their own legislative system and that should not be delegated to bureaucrats and commissions just because we don’t like the outcome. ” The Supreme Court recently waded into the redistricting wars in 2016 with a Texas case, Evenwel v. Abbott. Though not regarding any specific political boundaries, Evenwel sought a ruling that would prevent jurisdictions be drawn based on the total population of residents opting instead for lines based on citizenship data or registered voters. Plaintiffs argued that current practices gave densely populated areas a political subsidy of added representation thanks to the counting of noncitizens and others not eligible to vote. The court ruled unanimously against the plaintiffs, though Justice Clarence Thomas noted in a concurring opinion that it was not the Court’s place to weigh in on such matters — a sentiment that might be repeated in Whitford soon. Logan Churchwell is a founding editor of the Breitbart Texas team. You can follow him on Twitter @LCChurchwell. He also serves as the communications director for the Public Interest Legal Foundation. | 1 |
TOKYO — A powerful earthquake and multiple aftershocks rattled the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu on Saturday, killing at least 23 people, according to media reports, two days after another strong quake killed nine people on the same island. The largest of the new earthquakes had a magnitude of 7. 0, according to the United States Geological Survey, making it even more powerful than the .2 quake on Thursday night. The Japan Meteorological Agency assessed the new quake at magnitude 7. 3. Saturday’s quake, which struck just before 1:30 a. m. toppled houses and apartment buildings, buckled roads and caused numerous landslides. Aftershocks shook the area throughout Saturday, more than 70 of them strong enough to cause damage to buildings, the Meteorological Agency reported. NHK, the national public broadcaster, said 23 deaths were confirmed Saturday as a result of the quake and the aftershocks, bringing the toll since Thursday to 32. Most of those killed were elderly some were trapped under collapsed buildings, while several died in fires and landslides in the mountainous region. Yoshihide Suga, the government’s chief cabinet secretary, said rescue units were working to free people from more than 50 collapsed buildings. About 900 people were treated for injuries, NHK reported. Thousands fled their homes and spent the night outdoors or in temporary shelters. Power failures left about 160, 000 homes without electricity, the news media reported, citing local electric utilities. About 90, 000 people had left their homes for shelters by Saturday evening, the authorities said. Television footage showed dark smoke rising from Mount Aso, a large volcano about 20 miles east of the town of Mashiki, where the epicenters of the strongest of the recent quakes have been clustered. Earthquakes and volcanic activity are closely associated, but the authorities said the eruption at Mount Aso, the biggest active volcano in Japan, was minor and did not pose an immediate threat. Sections of a stone wall, centuries old, around Kumamoto Castle collapsed into the castle’s moat on Saturday morning. The castle had already sustained damage in the earthquake on Thursday. Several buildings at Aso Shrine, an ancient Shinto shrine on the north slope of Mount Aso that is considered a national treasure, also collapsed. The Meteorological Agency classified the quake that set the disaster in motion on Thursday as a “foreshock” of the even larger one on Saturday. It warned that strong earthquakes could continue for days until the seismic fault line under the area settled. Heavy rain was expected in the area starting Saturday night, which would increase the risk of landslides. In the town of east of Mashiki, landslides tore the moorings from a suspension bridge, causing it to plunge into a valley, and buried more than a dozen homes, NHK said. Two students in a university agricultural program died after a dormitory building in the town collapsed, the network said. The government said it was sending units from the army, known in Japan as the Forces, and from police departments around the country to help with rescue efforts. The earthquakes since Thursday have been concentrated along a cluster of fault lines that bisect the island of Kyushu at its center, from southwest to northeast. The island, somewhat larger than the state of Maryland, is home to 13 million people, though most of it is rural and sparsely populated. The quake Saturday was the strongest to strike Japan since a massive, 9. offshore earthquake in 2011, which unleashed a tsunami that killed 18, 000 people in the country’s northeast and triggered meltdowns at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Kyushu is home to the only Japanese nuclear power station currently in operation, the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant, about 75 miles southwest of Mashiki. Ground vibrations at Sendai were comparatively mild and were not threatening enough to trigger an automatic emergency shutdown, the Kyushu Electric Power Company said. The plant continued to operate normally on Saturday, the utility said. | 1 |
link a reply to: Profusion I must point out to you, that his statements are accurate. What is more, they are entirely appropriate to the situation. As we speak, proxy war is being fought by the destabilising forces of IS, sponsored by Western nations and interests by the back door, against the Assad regime. That regime is an ally of Russia. I am tired of pointing these things out, but to suggest that Russia is the problem, when for most of the last two decades, there has been western sponsored terrorism all over the most volatile region of the planet, smacks to me of the most unutterable witlessness. Russia is not the problem. I would not go as far as to say that it never was, and lets face it, the Russian government are not clean handed. But here is the thing... Russia cannot dishonour the British. It cannot dishonour the Americans. It can only make choices that make its nation look bad, and many of the choices it has made, with specific regard to its ACTUAL war effort against terror in Syria, have been absolutely legitimate, especially since they were not the cause of the problems there in the least. No... only OUR nations governments can dishonour us, and dishonour us they do. Every gun that makes its way from America and Britain, into the hands of a terrorist, dishonours us. Every time those weapons we sell the terrorists by the back door, are used to kill an innocent, we are dishonoured, stained with blood we would not wish to be shed. Our leaders, those of America and Britain not to mention other allies, THEY are the problem here. Their meddling, proxy warring, greed and hunger for power are the problem. They are the problem because we pay the taxes that make it possible. They are the problem because we did not give them permission to do these things in our name, because we would not want these things done in our name, and because they are supposed to be our representatives. No backstabbing, soft handed, work shy bastard represents me. No assemblage of schemers and game players represents me. No such mob represents my people on their best day, because on our best day the British people are not cold, evil, calculating and prepared to screw anyone to succeed. On our best day, even the least of us has more fair play and determination to do right than our government have. The same can be said a thousand fold for the leadership of the United States. We are not evil people, and yet we have allowed evil people to usurp the purpose of the tithe taken from our labour, to turn our effort, sweat and blood, into bloodshed overseas. We have had enemies made for us, by people we have mindlessly elected to positions with which they cannot be trusted. And we have the gall to be concerned about RUSSIA? I despair, I absolutely despair! This is not a game, this is not politics, this is real life. We should be doing better with it, and we are not. We should not be sliding ever further to the right, and yet we are. We should not be accepting the programming, and yet that is precisely what is happening all over the world, and in the OP of this very post. We MUST take back control of our governments. We MUST prevent our leaders from continuing these outmoded concepts of proxy war and destabilisation. We MUST mend the things our leaders broke in our name, we MUST take responsibility for those things, and we must NEVER allow them to happen again. In the meantime, we must leave Russia to deal with the crisis in Syria, so that the nation can be rebuilt, its infrastructure repaired, its homes and cities bought back to a livable state, and so that we are not distracted by a war that could turn from a pantomime into an even greater tragedy than it already is. I tire of this bizarre and ridiculous charade that we are apparently too stupid to stop, too uncaring to prevent. It needs to end, and end today, yesterday, TEN DAMNED YEARS AGO OR MORE! Can we stop accepting the lies, the obfuscations, the programming we have been fed? Can we PLEASE start doing that as a group? Would that be too damned much to ask? Because to be quite frank, if we cannot even do that, then we deserve to burn in nuclear fire for a hundred years, because we are not going to do ourselves any favours continuing such a pathetic existence as our leaders have created for us, cattle like and willing to believe whatever we are told, except that the sound of the bolt gun ahead is anything to worry about. edit on 27-10-2016 by TrueBrit because: grammatical error correction. | 0 |
Weather delays mean plenty of free time on our hands, but chances are, you fill it by checking flight information. How to make the most of your wait? You can settle in with a neck pillow and the latest Stephen King tome, of course, from the airport bookshop. Or check into a listen to a string quartet, visit a museum or explore the quick service efforts of a rash of celebrity chefs at many of the following domestic terminals in 10 major airports across the country. Layout: The nation’s busiest airport, Hartsfield is made up of domestic and international terminals that bookend seven perpendicular concourses. The underground Automated People Mover bisects the concourses, linking them to one another and the terminals. “For as busy as Atlanta is, it’s rather convenient,” said Seth Kaplan, managing partner of Airline Weekly. Security lowdown: There are three checkpoints in the domestic terminal, Main, North and South. The airport lists checkpoint wait times on its website. Alternatively, fliers can fill out an online form, providing an email address to which security updates will be sent. Best dining: Among many local choices, Atlanta’s landmark Paschal’s operates a satellite restaurant in Concourse B, serving Southern classics like fried chicken and catfish. Pick up pizza and hamburgers from Varasano’s Pizzeria in Concourse A and Grindhouse Killer Burgers in Concourse D. For meals, try One Flew South in Concourse E, which conjures rural Georgia with a photo mural of a forest. The menu offers sushi and upscale Southern fare such as pork belly sliders and pulled duck sandwiches, many labeled and available to go. Connectivity: The airport offers free . Other amenities: Work, sleep or watch TV in privacy at Minute Suites in Concourse B, offering with daybeds, desks and showers ($38 an hour minimum). The airport’s new iFlyATL app for iOS and Android devices provides updates on parking, security wait times and flight departures, plus information on restaurants and stores. Layout: O’Hare has three largely domestic terminals: Terminal 1, dominated by United Terminal 3, a hub for American and Terminal 2 for nearly all others. Once travelers are through security, they can freely walk among the adjacent terminals, which can be a hike. To take the train, however, requires leaving security. It also connects to the remote international Terminal 5. Security lowdown: The busiest security lines seem to be in the center of Terminals 1 and 3 (Terminal 2 has just one checkpoint). In 1 and 3, check security lanes on the outer edges. The Terminal 3 security lane to the right of American Airlines international is often less crowded, for example. Best dining: The celebrity chef Rick Bayless runs three Tortas Frontera outlets, in Terminals 1, 3 and 5. Dishes like Cochinita pibil sandwiches and guacamole and chips come in bulky but cardboard boxes. Another locally popular chef, Paul Kahan, has just opened a branch of his Publican Tavern in Terminal 3. Healthy snacks such as Kind bars, Greek yogurt, sushi rolls and boxed salads are available from Cibo Express Gourmet Market, which operates in Terminals 2 and 3. Less healthy but perhaps more popular, Garrett Popcorn Shops, also in 2 and 3, specialize in the Garrett Mix, a blend of cheese and caramel popcorn. Connectivity: The airport offers 30 minutes of free and higher speed access for a fee. Each terminal offers several Power Stations with four to eight stools. Other amenities: If you have children in tow, let them play at the Kids on the Fly play zone in 2. A mother’s room in 3 offers privacy for mothers. Get your om on in the Yoga Room, which offers free loaner mats and cleansing wipes, also in 3 (access is free). There are day spas in Terminals 1 and 3. Haven’t had your flu shot? During flu season, get one ($30) during your layover at clinics in Terminals 1, 2 and 3. Layout: An elevated train, Skylink, makes constant loops connecting the airport’s five terminals, A through E. American Airlines, which uses DFW as a hub, operates from Terminals A, C and D, and its affiliate American Eagle uses B and D. Other domestic carriers including Delta, JetBlue and United use Terminal E. Security lowdown: Fifteen security checkpoints are strung along gates that are generally arranged end to end. When one backs up, try the next one down T. S. A. staff members often direct travelers to uncongested checkpoints next door. Not all lanes have a T. S. A. PreCheck line if you are cleared, ask to be directed to the nearest appropriate security area. Best dining: Terminal A hosts a branch of Salt Lick famous in the Austin area. Cousin’s from Fort Worth is in B. From the many Mexican selections, Urban Taco in Terminal C offers a variety of tacos on corn or flour tortillas or a lettuce wrap, plus rice bowls and salads. Sky Canyon from the celebrated local chef Stephan Pyles does Texas cuisine including Pie, barbecued brisket in sandwiches or tacos, and some international options including a ceviche bar in Terminal D. If you’re a fan of Slurpees, the first convenience store is in Terminal A. Connectivity: is free throughout the airport. Free travel lounges, at B28, C8, C27 and E8 offer power outlets at each seat. Workstations (also free) with power outlets and USB connections are in Terminals A, C, D and E. Other amenities: If you need a nap, private office or shower, Minute Suites in Terminal D offers with daybeds and private bathrooms (fees range from $30 for a shower to $160 for an stay). Strike a pose in a Yoga Studio, equipped with mats, near Gates D40 and E31 (access is free). Children’s play areas known as Aquafina Junior Flyer’s Club are located in Terminals A and B. XpresSpa offers spa services in Terminals A, B, D and E. Terminals A and B have nursing rooms. In Terminal D, spruce up at new shops from the beauty brands Aveda, Jo Malone London and MAC Cosmetics. Layout: From the main Jeppesen Terminal, noted for its multipeaked roof, an underground train bisects three terminals, A, B and C Gates, making it easy to travel among them. United dominates B Gates Southwest and Delta park at C Gates. American, Alaska, Frontier, JetBlue and others are at A Gates. A pedestrian bridge links the main terminal and A Gates. Security lowdown: All fliers undergo security screening in the main terminal at one of three checkpoints. Check the airport’s website for estimated TSA wait times. Best dining: In addition to chains, DIA, as the airport is popularly called, salts its dining selections with local outposts. At C Gates, Root Down, a branch of the Denver restaurant, offers fare, including raw items and sandwiches packed for the plane. At B Gates, Elway’s steakhouse is popular for its burger as well as steaks, and New Belgium Hub serves microbrews from the Fort Collins brewer. Modernmarket at B and C gates caters to vegetarian, vegan and diets. In the B Concourse, the new SkyMarket sells healthy and locally sourced foods. Connectivity: The airport offers free and has just installed more than 2, 400 “power hubs,” each with two electrical plugs and two USB outlets, found at seating areas. The Sky Lounge at the Westin Hotel next to the airport offers outlets at each table. Other amenities: DIA is proud of its public art collection, which includes “Open Windows,” an interactive light tower triggered by a camera (near gate B51). The west end of the C Gates is the best place to catch the sun setting over the Rockies. The new Westin Denver International Airport Hotel, just beyond the main terminal, provides harbor for waylaid travelers and includes an indoor pool and hot tub. The new University of Colorado A line train provides direct service to downtown from the airport in 37 minutes. Layout: Laid out in linear fashion, Houston’s main airport is a hub for United, which dominates Terminals B, C and E. Terminal A houses the other North American carriers, including Air Canada, American and Delta. An underground subway links them all while an elevated Skyway train connects them . Security lowdown: There are T. S. A. checkpoints at each terminal. The airport’s website offers a handy guide to checkpoint wait times on its opening page. Best dining: In Terminal B, 3rd Bar Oyster Eating House is a of the popular Midtown restaurant Reef from the chef Bryan Caswell. Also in Terminal B, the Frutería features Mexican sandwiches and juices from the San Antonio chef Johnny Hernandez. The locally popular Ray’s Real Pit BBQ Shack operates in Terminal B. In Terminal E, Greek and Southern influences surface at Cat Cora’s Kitchen from the eponymous “Iron Chef. ” Connectivity: The airport offers free with speeds up to six megabits per second. Other amenities: Houston’s “Harmony in the Air” program seeks to minimize stress through live music performances. Programming ranges from string quartets to Baroque guitarists, usually at midday hours, Monday through Friday. IAH has more than 100 pieces of art arrayed around its terminals and publishes maps to them, available via download from the website. Handling longer layovers, the Houston Airport Marriott at the center of the airport has an outdoor pool. Layout: American Airlines uses Miami as a hub for its Caribbean and Latin American network, occupying Concourse D, also known as the North Terminal. Five more concourses, E through J (there is no A, B or C) swing around in a horseshoe shape and are grouped together as the Central (E, F and G) and South (H and J) Terminals. Corridors with moving walkways, known as the Skyride Connector, link them . It’s a commute from North to South. Concourse D has its own dedicated train to take passengers from one end of the milelong building to another. United and Frontier are in G, Delta is in H. Security lowdown: Most of the concourses have just one security checkpoint, though the large North Terminal (D) has three. American also uses Terminal E gates and E and D connect, allowing those departing from D to use that security lane. Best dining: There is a strong Cuban accent in Miami’s airport restaurants, beginning with four Café Versailles, branches of the Little Havana landmark (two in D, one each in E and F) serving strong café con leche, guava pastries and Cuban sandwiches. Also in D, specializes in ropa vieja and mojitos, and Lorena Garcia Cocina offers Caribbean fare and a mojito bar. Connectivity: MIA offers free access to select websites for airlines, hotels, car rental companies and the tourism bureau. Full access costs $4. 95 for 30 minutes and $7. 95 for 24 hours. Other amenities: Casey, a golden retriever and the airport’s goodwill ambassador, occasionally roves the halls, ready to be petted. Get quickie manicures, pedicures, facials and massages at Xpres Spa in D. Jetsetter spas in H and J also offer spray tanning. A branch of the Miami bookstore Books Books in D also stocks children’s games. Make a scavenger hunt for marine plants and vertebrates inlaid in D’s terrazzo floors by the artist Michele Oka Doner. A baggage storage service in Central Terminal E allows passengers with long layovers to park their bags while exploring Miami beyond the airport. Layout: New York’s Kennedy operates six remote terminals, numbered 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8, strung together by an Airtrain outside of security checkpoints. Transferring among them requires connecting fliers to pass through security again at their new terminal. Virgin America and Virgin Atlantic are in terminal 4 JetBlue and Hawaiian are in 5 Alaska, American Airlines and American Eagle are in 8 and Delta operates in terminals 2 and 4. Security lowdown: The domestic terminals at JFK are among the better equipped at the airport, with a dozen or more security lanes. Best dining: Terminal 5 offers a substantial and varied lineup of dining options, from tiny La Vie offering French bistro fare to the Spanish tapas specialist Piquillo and Deep Blue Sushi, which also offers fare. Terminal 2 recently got a dining upgrade to include Croque Madame, a French sandwich spot from the chef Andrew Carmellini, and BKLYN Beer Garden with tap beers and a menu by Laurent Tourondel. There are two branches of the restaurateur Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack in Terminal 4, and one of his barbecue place Blue Smoke on the Road. The chef Marcus Samuelsson recently opened Uptown Brasserie here with an eclectic menu including fried chicken and pasta. Cibo Express Gourmet Market in Terminals 2, 5 and 8 stocks healthy snacks including fruit, granola bars, yogurt and salads. In Terminal 5, Re: Vive Food Ordering Tables offers monitors for gateside meal delivery. Connectivity: The airport offers 30 minutes of free . There are charging stations at most Delta gates, and the central atrium of Terminal 5 offers many outlets. Other amenities: A suite for nursing mothers features a changing table, electrical outlet and a bench at Terminal 5 near Gate 12. Also at the terminal, or, rather, outside of it ( ) JetBlue operates the new T5 Farm on the departures level, a container vegetable garden, which passengers can visit curbside. Atop the terminal, all passengers can visit the outdoor terrace on the rooftop, which includes a dog walk. Layout: Four remote terminals, A through D, handle domestic traffic at La Guardia. Delta runs its shuttle to Chicago and Washington, D. C. from Terminal A. Delta also operates from C and D. The largest terminal, B, has four concourses: A, with United and JetBlue B, with Southwest and Spirit C with American, United and Virgin America and D with American. Security lowdown: Patience. Security stations tend to be narrow, especially in the Terminal B concourses, each with its own checkpoint. “It’s definitely worth springing for priority access that will get you through security faster, at least on American and Delta,” said Michael Alan Connelly, editor of Fodors. com, referring to premium economy seating that often offers a special security line. Best dining: In Terminal B’s common area, Bowery Bay Tavern trades in Philly cheesesteak and burgers, and Todd English’s Figs Restaurant does Mediterranean dishes. in the A gates, Metro Burger Bar uses Pat LaFrieda beef, and near the B gates, Six Blocks Bakery serves pastries from Balthazar Bakery in Manhattan. In the B and C concourses, Cibo Express Gourmet Markets stock healthy snacks including salads and nuts. Several acclaimed chefs are attached to restaurants in Terminal C, including Cotto, which offers Italian paninis and pastas from Michael White Victory Grill from Andrew Carmellini and Biergarten from Brooklyn Brewery, which also offers sandwiches and small plates. At its culinary rival, Terminal D, Bisoux will box your croque monsieurs and other bistro fare to go, and Taste of Tagliare offers pizza by the slice. Custom Burgers, also from Pat LaFrieda, grills to order. The Minnow, also by Mr. Carmellini, includes a raw bar and sushi. For healthy try Cibo Express Gourmet Market. Connectivity: The airport offers 30 minutes of free throughout its terminals. Other amenities: A suite for nursing mothers features a changing table, electrical outlet and a bench at Terminal A, Concourse A. Terminal B has been redesigned with newer upscale shops, including Tumi, Lacoste, Desigual and L’Occitane. American Express credit card holders can gain access to the Centurion Lounge for $50 a day (free for some card holders) children under age 18 are free. Layout: In the midst of a renovation to update and better link all terminals, LAX has nine terminals including the new Tom Bradley International Terminal (1, 2, 6, 7 and 8 are undergoing construction). American Airlines parks at Terminal 4, Delta at 5 and United at 7 and 8. While spread out, Terminals 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are accessible by walking without having to exit and security. Security lowdown: With construction inside and out, the airport has created a new LAX Is Happening website that offers travel tips for each terminal. Additional screening checkpoints have been added to Terminals 5 and 6, relieving congestion. Still, the proximity of checkpoints to gates will determine where you enter. “If you try another terminal and walk back, it doesn’t make sense. It’s just a worse schlep,” said Brett Snyder, who blogs about the airline industry at the Cranky Flier. Best dining: In American’s Terminal 4, the LA Gourmet Street Truck is designed to change concepts and currently hosts Grilled Cheez Please! serving from a parked vehicle. Real Food Daily features foods. In Terminals 5 and 7, Loteria Grill, which is also popular around town, serves tacos, enchiladas and burritos. Terminal 5 also has Ford’s Filling Station, a branch of the gastro pub by the chef Ben Ford, son of the actor Harrison Ford. Connectivity: LAX offers free throughout its terminals. Faster access is available for $4. 95 an hour or $7. 95 for 24 hours. Other amenities: Terminal 5 features a new nursing room. Seven indoor relief areas for pets means that there is at least one pet station at each terminal. Layout: Three domestic terminals, including recently renovated Terminals 2 and 3, are laid out in a semicircle. Southwest and Delta’s domestic operations are in Terminal 1, American Airlines and Virgin American are in Terminal 2, and United’s domestic flights are in Terminal 3. Some domestic carriers, including Hawaiian and JetBlue, are in the International Terminal. The people mover AirTrain links all terminals. Security lowdown: Each terminal has its own security, meaning that many travelers connecting to another carrier leave and screening areas. However, there are two walkways: one between Terminal 1 (Boarding Area C) and Terminal 2 and another from Terminal 3 to International. Best dining: SFO offers a ratio of restaurants. In Terminal 2, Burger Joint uses Niman Ranch meat, Napa Farms Market serves everything from local cheeses and wines to salads and hot meals, and Lark Creek Grill does seafood and steaks. Terminal 3 hosts the wine bar SF Uncork’d, Tomokazu for sushi and noodles and a branch of Buena Vista Café, famed for Irish coffee. In Terminal 1, Perry’s, like the Union Street original, is a grill. The local chain Peet’s Coffee Tea can be found in all terminals. Connectivity: The airport offers free . The just renovated East concourse in Terminal 3 offers three new boarding gates and seating with 230 electrical outlets and 200 USB outlets. Other amenities: SFO pioneered the airport Yoga Room, which it now offers, free of charge, in Terminals 2 and 3. There are no classes, but mats are provided and mobile devices banned. Terminals 1 through 3 offer private nursing rooms. For longer layovers and with children in mind, the airport has created tours that take place . The airport has an extensive exhibition program. | 1 |
TEHRAN — As Iranians woke on Saturday to the news that none of them would be able to enter the United States for at least 90 days, on the orders of President Trump, panic reigned. They were turned back from flights to the United States in Tehran and in the major transfer hubs of Istanbul and Dubai. Some of those who arrived in the United States after midnight, when the decree went into effect, were held or deported, rights groups and airline representatives said. No one, not passengers, airline representatives or even United States border control officials, seemed to know how to interpret the executive order that went into effect at midnight on Friday. Under the new policy, refugees, immigrants and almost anyone from seven countries deemed to be hotbeds of terrorism are banned from the United States for 90 days, pending a review of policies. Officials are just interpreting the directive by themselves, said one representative for an international airline who was based in Tehran. He said the airline did not know if Iranians could fly to the United States or not. On Saturday, three international airlines shuttling passengers between Iran and the United States — Emirates, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways — had stopped allowing Iranians with visas or even permanent residence cards to board their planes. The Qatar Airways office in Tehran confirmed that all Iranian passengers without United States passports were stopped from flying to the United States on Friday evening and sent back to Iran. In Istanbul, during a stopover on Saturday, passengers reported that security officers had entered a plane after everybody boarded and ordered a young Iranian woman and her family to leave the aircraft. Holders of green cards, which confer the right to live and work indefinitely in the United States, received conflicting information about whether or not they would be permitted to return to the United States. But on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security clarified the executive order, saying it applied even to permanent residents from the seven countries named in the ban: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. “It will bar green card holders,” Gillian Christensen, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting spokeswoman, told Reuters. Many were blindsided by the decree while on vacation in Iran. “How do I get back home now?” said Daria Zeynalia, a green card holder who was visiting family in Iran. He had rented a house and leased a car and would be eligible for citizenship in November. “What about my job? If I can’t go back soon, I’ll lose everything,” he said. It is unclear how many Iranians have green cards, but experts say the number runs into the hundreds of thousands. In an online survey tracking entry challenges, two out of 112 passengers holding green cards said they were not allowed into the United States, but the reasons were unclear. Card holders can be barred, for instance, if they owe back taxes. Others spent years preparing to study in the United States only to see their plans abruptly thwarted on Friday. About 4, 000 Iranians are granted study visas to attend American universities each year, often after a long and complicated process that can take years. Shadi Heidarifar, a philosophy student just admitted to New York University, said in a message on Twitter that she had spent three years trying to apply to universities in the United States. “I had to work to save money, gather documents. The application fees were so expensive that a whole family could live for a month” on them, Ms. Heidarifar wrote. When she was accepted recently, she was over the moon. “But now my entire future is destroyed in one second. ” | 1 |
Posted on October 26, 2016 by Barry Soetoro, Esq Published on Oct 26, 2016 by Barry Soetoro HILLARY SUPPORTER (PAID OR UNPAID?) SLEEPS THRU HILLARY’S RALLY IN COCONUT CREEK, FLA. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS SNOOZING FAN IS POSITIONED OVER HILLARY’S SHOULDER ON LIVE TV.
NOBODY COMES TO HILLARY CLINTON RALLIES — BECAUSE SHE’S BORING AND MENTALLY ILL. WHO WANTS TO WATCH A COMMUNIST WITH DEMENTIA SCREECH ABOUT ROADS AND BRIDGES?
HILLARY HAS FINALLY EMERGED FROM HIDING, JUST IN TIME TO STEAL ELECTION 2016 VIA VOTER FRAUD. BUT WILL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BELIEVE SHE “WON” AFTER SEEING HILLARY’S PATHETIC TINY RALLY CROWDS? BEFORE SHE RIGS THE ELECTION, SHE’D BETTER DO A BETTER JOB RIGGING HER RALLIES.
HILLARY’S EYEBALL GONE WILD: | 0 |
By Martin Winiecki / kosmosjournal.org
In the 1990s an unusual encounter took place in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In plant rituals, shamans of the Achuar, a tribe living in pristine forest that had never been in touch with Western civilization, received the warning that the “white man” would try to invade their lands, cut down the forest and exploit the resources. Deeply shaken, they called out to the Spirits for help. Soon after white people did approach them, coming to them however with supportive intentions – a group of activists from the United States, searching for ways to protect Indigenous Peoples from the oil industry. The Westerners found a deeply interconnected tribal society living in profound symbiosis with the Earth. Seeing the bulldozers coming closer and closer, they asked the Elders of the tribe how they could survive. Their answer was surprising and straightforward: “Don’t try to help us here. Go back to your own culture and change the dream of the modern world! It is because of this dream that we are perishing.” [i]
This experience gave rise to the Pachamama Alliance , an international educational network dedicated to changing the dream of the Western world.
What is the dream of the Western world? When asked, most young people say: A perfect partner, a beautiful house, successful career, lots of money and travel to exotic places. Amplified a million times a day by Hollywood and the advertisement industry, promoted by parents, self-help gurus, schools and fairytales, this lifestyle became the central motif of our collective longing, the blueprint of globalized society.
Fulfillment became a matter of possession, of how much wealth, fame, power and sex we earned for ourselves. Rewarding people with profit and status for the most competitive and destructive behavior, worshiping the golden calf of maximal economic growth, capitalism has effectively manufactured and then exploited people’s dream image. Humanity’s general ethical decline is the result of this collective corruption.
“Social being determines consciousness”– Marx
First Nation tribes from North America coined a term to describe the ‘disease of the white man’– wetiko. In their understanding, wetiko consists of two essential characteristics: chronic inability for empathy and an egoistic fixation on ones own personal benefit and profit. The First Peoples used this word specifically because they could not fathom any other explanation for the behavior of the European colonialists. While often declared as unchangeable psychological features of humanity, greed, selfishness and violent impulses may in fact not be our “human nature” as many claim, but rather the outcome of our alienation under capitalist conditions. Marx said, “Social being determines consciousness.” [ii] According to epigenetic research, our genetic programming contains many different possibilities of existence. Whether wetiko takes holds of our psyche or we become compassionate strongly depends on the social structures we live in. We only consider egoism, hatred and brutality to be “normal” because over the past few thousand years our civilization has been conditioned in this way – basing its economy on war, its social organization on domination and conformity, its religion on punishment, damnation and sin, its education on coercion, its security on the elimination of the supposed enemy, its very image of love on fear of loss.
Patriarchal conditioning – carried out worldwide, generation after generation, with the most aggressive means – has created a cultural matrix of violence and fear, which at present nearly all of humanity more or less unconsciously follows. This matrix, or more accurately ‘patrix’, steers the global processes of politics and economics in similar ways as people’s interpersonal relationships, families and love lives. As psychoanalyst Dieter Duhm writes, “Automatic, usually unconscious, habits of thinking stand behind our daily misery.” [iii]
Use of Agent Orange resulted in widespread birth defects in Vietnam
Duhm started out as a leading Marxist writer during the anti-imperialist struggles of the 1960s and 70s in Germany, when he asked himself how it could be that billions of people comply with and obey the rules of society without being forced to do so. Shaken by the horrors of the Vietnam War, he needed to find a credible answer for how to overcome the imperialist system causing these atrocities. Working as a psychoanalyst, he faced the same basic structure in all his patients – no matter whether they suffered depression, heartache or schizophrenia – deep-rooted existential fear. The further he inquired, the more he realized this fear is not only in the “mentally ill,” but also appears in the “sane” as fear of what others could think of them, as speech anxiety, as fear of authorities and institutions, fear before and after intercourse, fear of the future, of getting sick and so on. “This inconspicuous, socially omnipresent and ‘normal,’ fear is neurotic,” he writes. “Fear is not only the product of capitalism, but part of its foundation, an element without which this entire system would collapse.” [iv]
For Duhm, the consequence was clear: If we want to escape from the wetiko disease of our current capitalist culture, we need a credible concept for a new nonviolent global society and for transforming the old matrix of fear and violence into a new matrix of trust, compassion and cooperation. Healing wetiko would be nothing short of reinventing our entire civilization and basing human existence on new social, ethical, spiritual and sexual foundations allowing profound trust between people as well as between humans and animals.
In 1978 Duhm started out with a group of people to engage in an interdisciplinary research project for social and ecological sustainability to develop precisely such a concept. Having witnessed the failure of countless communes in the 1970s, most due to unresolved interpersonal conflicts around money, power and sex (i.e. the inability of the groups to resolve wetiko among one another), the project focused its cultural experiment on creating new social structures able to resolve the psychological substratum of fear. They knew the answer could not be found in therapies, spiritual exercises and rituals alone, as helpful and healing as they may be – but that a whole new way of communitarian coexistence would have to be developed, from which one would no longer need to retreat in order to become human. Rather, it would be designed in a way that would foster compassion, solidarity and cooperation.
The development of such a society would need to begin with initial models researching its basic structures and demonstrating its viability. Thereby, an adventurous research project began, establishing functioning communities of trust. The deeper they went the more they realized they needed to work on all basic areas of human existence: starting with the intimate questions of sexuality, love and partnership, questions of raising children, coexistence with animals, self-sufficiency in water, energy and food systems. From this experiment, the peace research center, Tamera , came into life along with the vision of creating “Healing Biotopes” as catalysts for planetary system change. Solar-powered village by Sunvention, via Tamera
For much of the last million years, human beings have lived in communities; in fact, the era in which we have not is only a tiny fraction in the entirety of human history. In order to subjugate people under their systems of dominance, patriarchal rulers systematically destroyed tribal communities, thereby inflicting a profound collective trauma onto humanity. Humanity thereby lost its spiritual, social and ethical anchor, drifting off in a self-destructive frenzy of atomization, self-interest and othering. As we are reaching the pinnacle of a culture of global wetiko , the last throes of late-stage capitalism, healing our collective trauma, re-establishing functioning communities based on trust, and making our human existence compatible with the biosphere and nature again, may well be our only opportunity to secure ourselves and our children a future worth living on Spaceship Earth.
Martin Winiecki was born 1990 in Dresden, Germany, and is coordinator of the Terra Nova School in Tamera Center, Portugal where 160 residents of the center are working for a society free of violence and greed.
[i] Speech by Lynne Twist at the “Awakening the Dreamer” Symposium. USA, Los Angeles. Sept. 2008.
[ii] Marx, Karl. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. New York: International, 1970. Print.
[iii] Duhm, Dieter. Beyond 2012. The Birth of a New Humanity? What Is the Shift of Consciousness? . Bad Belzig: Verlag Meiga, 2010. Print.
[iv] Duhm, Dieter. Angst Im Kapitalismus: Zweiter Versuch Der Gesellschaftlichen Begründung Zwischenmenschlicher Angst in Der Kapitalistischen Warengesellschaft. Lampertheim: Kübler, 1975. Print. 0.0 · | 0 |
Lifting weights could ward off dementia and make you smarter
by: Vicki Batts Tags: weight lifting , dementia , brain health (NaturalNews) There are many reasons to partake in strength training; weight-baring exercises are known for their health benefits. But, could lifting weights also boost your brain? Recent research indicates that may just be the case.To begin the study, researchers asked a group of people aged 55 to 86 to engage in a mix of weight lifting and brain training exercises. All of the people who partook in the study had been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, which is a precursor to Alzheimer's disease , and is an early sign of dementia.While this particular study did not examine whether the benefits of exercise could be extended to the general population, the results were quite impressive. Published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society , the study found that weight-baring exercises could indeed provide some brain benefits. The researchers found a casual relationship between an increase in muscle strength and an increase in brain function. On that basis, the team recommended that more people begin a strength training regime so that the world's aging population can hopefully be a little healthier. It is currently projected that about 135 million people will have dementia by the year 2050.The same team behind this most recent research also published a paper in 2014 that revealed that weight training provided cognitive benefits to just about every area of the brain – something cognitive training failed to do.While discussing their most recent data, one of the study's researchers, Dr. Yorgi Mavros of Sydney University, commented, "What we found in this follow-up study is that the improvement in cognition function was related to their muscle strength gains. The stronger people became, the greater the benefit for their brain."For the strength training, study participants were asked to lift weights that were equivalent to about 80 percent of their maximum capacity, twice a week for six months – similar to the way in which many athletes train. And, as the participants got stronger, the amount of weight they lifted went up as well, in order to maintain the desired 80 percent of their maximum effort.Brain scans revealed that certain regions of the brain actually increased in size for those who took part in the exercise regime. Dr. Mavros says that the benefits were profound enough to warrant recommending weight training for everyone."The more we can get people doing resistance training like weight lifting , the more likely we are to have a healthier ageing population," he told the Independent . Dr. Mavros also added that the best way to ensure that you get the most benefit from exercise is by maintaining a regular routine. Exercising frequently, and with some intensity, is key to getting the most out of what you're doing.This new research is not the first to suggest that exercise can provide benefits to brain health . The body of research linking physical exercise to better cognitive function has only continued to grow over the last several years. Science has indicated that in addition to better mental health, exercise can also promote both better memory and concentration.Dr. James Pickett, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, also had a few things to say about this new study. He noted, "New research is beginning to unravel how physical exercise may have benefits for the brain as people get older. This study suggests that people with minor memory and thinking problems, known as mild cognitive impairment, may benefit from weight training to improve their brain health."Pickett also noted that while it is not yet clear if exercise can reverse dementia, they do know that it is one of the most important factors in its prevention. Along with being active, he says that not smoking and eating a healthy, balanced diet are all essential to reducing the risk. Sources: | 0 |
In a interview with the Washington Post’s Daily 2020 Live on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton’s former campaign chief John Podesta said he does not see any indication that President Donald Trump will be impeached, despite the fact that so many in his party are calling for it. [“I see no sign that there’s any likelihood that he’ll be impeached,” Podesta, who recently joined the Washington Post as a columnist, told the publication’s Karen Tumulty. Issuing an indirect testament to the loyalty of the GOP, Podesta added: The Republican leadership has decided we’re in the boat with him, and the boat’s gonna sink, and we’re gonna sink with it. But we can’t really throw him out of the boat. So they’ve decided to, as I’ve said before, velcro their fate to him. I think they must be waking up in a sweat at night thinking about what the prospects of that are, but I think there’s no chance that the House would mount the kind of serious investigation that would lead to impeachment. Rep. Maxine Waters ( ) has been openly leading calls for the president to be impeached. Several Democrats have invoked the 25th Amendment as a springboard to introduce legislation that would allow former presidents and vice presidents to determine if Trump is mentally unfit for office. Addressing Tumulty’s question on the 25th Amendment, Podesta said, “Do you really think Mike Pence and Betsy DeVos are going to sign that paper relieving the president of his duty? I don’t see that either. ” In an interview with Breitbart News, Los cardiologist and internist Dr. Afshine Emrani said he thinks it is wrong for people, and especially politicians, to “belittle mental illness because they have a political agenda,” adding, “psychiatric and bullying is against their professional code. They should be exposed for what they are. I can guarantee an overwhelming majority of them voted against Trump. ” Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter. | 1 |
OAKLAND, Calif. — San Francisco is full of big dreams. Oakland is where people make them work. The city of about 400, 000 sits on the east side of San Francisco Bay and historically has served as a alternative to its more famous neighbor, a place where service workers could buy a home, young professionals could get an extra bedroom and artists lived in warehouses while sleeping beside their next installation. But over the past few years, as prices have surged across the Bay Area, Oakland’s pricing advantages have mostly eroded. Rents have increased 70 percent in five years, more than in any other big city in the nation, according to Zillow, the online real estate pricing service. The city’s $2, 899 median rent is now among the highest, and just short of median rents in Manhattan. The conditions that led to the fire that killed at least 36 people on Friday night was a result of a dangerous mix of factors in which dozens of partygoers were invited to a warehouse that was dark, congested and mazelike, with flammable art and a electrical system. The victims died because they were trapped in a tinderbox. Yet the economic backdrop of the tragedy is also important because it shows how rising rents and fears of eviction can push vulnerable people in a desperate search for housing to unsafe spaces. Oakland’s housing prices have always fluctuated with Bay Area booms and busts, and complaints about gentrification were part of the 1990s boom here as well. The effects are more pronounced this time around because as tech companies have migrated closer to San Francisco from places like Palo Alto and Mountain View, Oakland has been pulled deeper into Silicon Valley’s orbit. Uber, the service now valued at almost $70 billion, plans to open an office in downtown Oakland in the next year or so. This crisis isn’t limited to the Bay Area. Across the country, and especially in expensive cities like New York and Seattle, urban areas have been flooded with tech and finance workers who have pushed up rents. workers and families have been displaced to cheaper housing on the fringe, but many creative types have made do by finding alternative living arrangements like industrial property, recreational vehicles and even boats. In Oakland, where for decades warehouses have served as a haven for artists, this often means living at the whims of any landlord willing to look the other way. “There’s a kind of unholy alliance in which these buildings are leased with a ‘nod nod, wink wink, nobody lives there,’ ” said Thomas Dolan, an Oakland architect who specializes in spaces and helps building owners convert illegally occupied warehouses into legally occupied lofts. “It’s a precarious situation where tenants exchange cheap rent for substandard housing — and if they rock the boat, they’re out. ” In the aftermath of the fire, artists’ grief over lost friends quickly turned to anxiety that a crackdown could lead to widespread eviction from one of the Bay Area’s few remaining sources of affordable housing. “The fear is, ‘Does this mean the end of these spaces in the Bay Area and with it the last vestige of any kind of affordable artists community? ’” said Aaron Muszalski, an artist who has spent the past two decades living and working in warehouses across the region. Unlike San Francisco, whose waterfront has been transformed into a neighborhood where the San Francisco Giants play next to condominiums, Oakland can still lay claim to the Bay Area’s industrial past. There are bars still frequented by dockworkers, and hipsters wear emblazoned with the hulking white cranes that line the Port of Oakland. Many of the city’s industrial warehouses originally served as a waypoint where shippers stored cargo. But as international commerce was accelerated by “containerization” — the process by which rectangular crates full of products like California wine and Chinese electronics can be loaded by cranes between boats and trucks — warehouses went empty and artists moved in. The result has been a vast gray economy of spaces that, legal or not, are regarded as an important source of affordable housing and part of what makes Oakland, Oakland. “There have been efforts to legalize Oakland’s spaces for years,” said Joshua Simon, executive director the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation, a nonprofit that helps develop affordable housing. “Today it’s critical that we find ways to use every housing option that’s safe — the worst thing we could do would be to overreact and eliminate this type of housing as an option. ” The catch, however, is that once a loft becomes legal the rent becomes unaffordable. So while living in an illegal space may require things like coping with a makeshift kitchen with a sink that drains into a bucket, it’s better than living nowhere. “You bring these places up to code and you end up pricing out the people who make Oakland such a great place,” Mr. Dolan said. Cheap rent is not the only draw. Several current and former warehouse residents described being absorbed into a broad community centered on building and making noise, whether it’s daytime hammering and welding, or throbbing nighttime parties whose locations are secret. Part of the bonding experience is in maintaining the charade that nobody lives there. There are rituals like renting trucks to store mattresses on days when the building owner sends an insurance inspector over. If the fire department knocks, you ignore it. Before he became the owner of the Starline Social Club, an Oakland bar and music space, Adam Hatch, 38, was part of an illegal art gallery called Lobot. He remains connected with the scene, and on Monday night his bar was full of A’s hats, Raiders jackets and tears as patrons observed a moment of silence for a victim who painted nails there on Monday nights. “Sometimes it’s just sort of magical to be in a place you’re not supposed to be,” Mr. Hatch said of the warehouse scene. But there is also a risk, as the fire at the warehouse, known as the Ghost Ship, showed. Most of the power accrues to the master tenant — the person whose name is on the lease. The people who lived at Ghost Ship in the months preceding the fire painted varying pictures of that dynamic. Shelley Mack, 58, moved into one of several mobile homes housed inside the warehouse in October 2014, paying $700 a month. Soon, she said, the building’s head tenant, Derick Ion Almena, was asking her for another $700, this time for upkeep. She said he cut off electricity for people who disagreed with him and blocked an upstairs exit. Others, however, said they were just happy to have a place to live. Josh Hershberger, 31, a tattoo artist and muralist, had been homeless before he found the warehouse. Mr. Almena let him pay rent by the day — $10 or $20 — and provided him with a community. “This was my home. It was a foundation. ” Without the Ghost Ship, he said, he would have been on the street. | 1 |
BEIRUT, Lebanon — For millions of Damascus residents, concerns about the direction of the war in Syria have been replaced by worries about where to get enough water to do the dishes, wash clothes or take a shower. For nearly two weeks, the Syrian capital and its vicinity have been afflicted by a water crisis that has left taps dry, caused long lines at wells and forced people to stretch whatever thin resources they can find. “When the world gets hard for us, we work something out,” said a woman in a video posted on Facebook showing how she used a cola bottle to wash teacups. “When you cut off the water, we dig for water. When you cut off the tap, we make a tap. ” Like most of Syria’s problems, the Damascus water crisis is a symptom of the war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced about half the country’s prewar population of 22 million and left its territory divided into zones controlled by the government, armed rebels and jihadist groups. While a brokered by Russia and Turkey and announced last week has reduced overall violence across the country, it has not stopped the fighting everywhere, nor has it resolved what happens when resources needed by one side are controlled by its enemies, as appears to be the case with Damascus’s water. Historically, most of the water for the capital, which is controlled by the government of President Bashar has come from the Barada Valley north of the city, which is controlled by rebels who want to oust Mr. Assad. The crisis began on Dec. 22, when the water stopped flowing. Each side has accused the other of damaging infrastructure near the spring, halting the flow. Antigovernment activists have posted photos online, purporting to show structures around the spring that they say were damaged by exploding barrels dropped from government helicopters. The government first accused the rebels of polluting the water, then of damaging the infrastructure. Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the United Nations humanitarian office in Geneva, said by email Tuesday that the “deliberate targeting of the water infrastructure” had caused the . “But we are not in a position to say by whom,” he said. “The area has been the scene of much fighting, so we have not been able to access it. ” Now, 5. 5 million people in Damascus and the vicinity lack water, which has raised the risk of waterborne disease, especially among children, he said. Fighting near the Barada Valley has continued despite the . Antigovernment activists say that government forces, and fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah organization, have continued to attack the area in an apparent attempt to take it over. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the conflict from Britain through a network of contacts in Syria, said the government launched 15 airstrikes on the area Monday amid clashes between rebels and forces. Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, accused the Syrian government and its allies on Wednesday of violating the saying that the new violence could derail peace talks meant to be held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on Jan. 23. Rebel groups have threatened to boycott the talks if government attacks do not stop. Few Damascus residents expect much from the talks or have time to think about them. While generally safe from the violence that had reduced other parts of the country to rubble, they were struggling through a cold winter of high prices and scarce commodities before the water crisis, making things worse. The Syrian government has sought to ease the crisis by trucking water from wells around the city, and the United Nations has rehabilitated 120 wells to cover about of the city’s daily needs, Mr. Laerke, the spokesman, said. But many residents said they had received nothing. Some were buying water from men with private tankers, while others took advantage of whatever they could get. A shopkeeper said he had not had a shower in 10 days but that he and his sons went to the mosque every day to wash their hands, feet and faces, an option not available to the women of the house. At home, he said, they used plastic utensils because they could not wash dishes. One woman said she had not had running water in her home for 10 days. Her two sons have spent hours each day lining up to fill jugs from the well at their mosque. They use that to drink and to wash dishes, collecting the runoff to flush the toilet. “My family’s dream is to get a warm shower,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions for communicating with a foreign news outlet without government permission. “It has become our ultimate hope in Damascus to have enough water to take showers and wash clothes in the automatic washing machine. ” She expressed anger that Syria’s news media had said little about the water crisis, instead focusing on the military’s battles with rebels. “We are fed up with the news of military operations,” she said. “We want news about water and water supply schedules. ” Despite the water crisis, conditions in Damascus are far better than those in Aleppo, the northern city and former commercial epicenter of the country, where Syrian and Russian forces prevailed last month after prolonged bombardments of its eastern side. While the appears to be holding there, the formerly eastern quarters are abandoned wastelands, United Nations relief officials said. “Nothing prepared us for what we saw,” Sajjad Malik, the United Nations acting humanitarian coordinator for Syria, told reporters Wednesday in a telephone briefing from Aleppo. “The infrastructure was destroyed in almost every neighborhood. ” Mr. Malik said more than 100 United Nations relief workers from several agencies were helping civil defense teams remove debris and provide emergency food, water, shelter and medical care in the city, where four million people once lived. He estimated that 1. 5 million people remain in Aleppo, mostly on the western side, including roughly 400, 000 Syrians displaced from other areas. He also said thousands of displaced residents from the eastern side were starting to return, even if their homes and businesses were badly damaged or destroyed. “They’re beginning to talk about rebuilding their lives and livelihoods,” Mr. Malik said. But he cautioned that “Aleppo’s reconstruction is going to take a much longer time and way more resources than we have right now. ” | 1 |
0 4 0 1 Americans will not vote for Republican because his proposed vision for the future of the United States is divisive, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said at a campaign rally in Tampa, Florida on Wednesday.
During his presidential campaign , Trump pointed out that the US immigration system is very much in need of reform to prevent illegal immigrants, among which criminals, from entering the United States. Trump has also shared his plan to build a wall along the border with Mexico to that end and met in late August with Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto. © AP Photo/ Joe Raedle/Pool via AP, File Keep Calm and Demonize Trump: WikiLeaks Exposes Clinton Aides' Plan "The American people are going to reject Trump’s divisive vision of America," Clinton stated at the rally on Wednesday. "Florida is paving the way of what our country is going to look like."
Clinton argued that Trump's comments about illegal immigrants, minorities and women has shown divisiveness and brought more independent and Republican voters to the Democratic camp. "I am proud to have support from Republicans and independents across America who agree with me that we should reject hate and division," Clinton noted .
In September, the union of US National Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees endorsed Trump for president of the United States. ... | 0 |
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As an old SDS-er, I found it hard to see Tom Hayden go. However meandering his path, he was at the heart of radical history in the 60s, an erstwhile companion, if not always a comrade, on the route of every boomer lefty.
One of his finer moments for me, which I've never seen mentioned (including among this week's encomia) since he wrote it, was his 2006 article , published on CounterPunch with an introduction by Alexander Cockburn, in which he apologized for a "descent into moral ambiguity and realpolitick that still haunts me today." It would be respectful of Hayden's admirers and critics, on the occasion of his passing, to remember which of his actions "haunted" him the most.
The title of the article says it clearly: "I Was Israel's Dupe." In the essay, Hayden apologizes for his support of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, which was for him that "descent into moral ambiguity" More importantly, he explains why he did it, in a detailed narrative that everyone should read.
Hayden sold out, as he tells it, because, in order to run as a Democratic candidate for the California State Assembly, he had to get the approval of the influential Democratic congressman Howard Berman. Berman is a guy who, when he became Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was proud to tell the Forward that he took the job because of his "interest in the Jewish state" and that: "Even before I was a Democrat, I was a Zionist."
Hayden had to meet with Howard's brother Michael, who, acting as "the gatekeeper protecting Los Angeles' Westside for Israel's political interests," told Hayden: "I represent the Israeli Defense Forces"--a sentence that could serve as the motto of most American congress critters today. The "Berman-Waxman machine," Hayden was told, would deign to "rent" him the Assembly seat on the "one condition: that I always be a 'good friend of Israel.'"
But American congressmen were not the only "gatekeepers" through whose hands Hayden had to pass before being allowed to run for Congress. Other "certifiers" included "the elites, beginning with rabbis and heads of the multiple mainstream Jewish organizations," the American-Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC), "[and].. Israeli ambassadors, counsels general and other officials." - Advertisement -
In fact, Hayden had to, in his words, be "declared 'kosher' by the ultimate source, the region's representative of the state of Israel," Benjamin Navon, Israel's Counsul-general in Los Angeles.
In other words, in this article Hayden was describing, in an unusually concrete way, how the state of Israel, through its state officials and their compliant American partners, was effectively managing--exercising veto power over Democratic Party candidates, at the very least--American elections down to the level of State Assembly . In any constituency "attuned to the question of Israel, even in local and state elections," Hayden knew he "had to be certified 'kosher,' not once but over and over again."
This experience prompted Hayden to express a "fear "that the 'Israeli lobby' is working overtime to influence American public opinion on behalf of Israel's military effort to 'roll back the clock' and 'change the map' of the region." Hayden warned of the "trepidation and confusion among rank-and-file voters and activists, and the paralysis of politicians, especially Democrats," over support of Israel. He vowed to "not make the same mistake again," and said: "Most important, Americans must not be timid in speaking up, as I was 25 years ago."
Whatever else he did--and he was never particularly radical about Palestine--this article was a genuinely honest and unusual intervention, and it deserves a lot more notice--as a moment in Tom Hayden's history and that of the American left--than it has got. Looking back and regretfully acknowledging that one had been duped and morally compromised by what seemed the least troublesome path 25 years earlier, saying "I woulda, shoulda, coulda done the right thing," is a haunting moment for anyone. Doing it in a way that exposes in detail how a foreign country constantly manipulates American elections over decades is worthy of everyone's notice.
I doubt Hillary and her Democratic supporters will have anything to say about this "interference "in American elections, even local and state. But I do hope many of those who are touched by the loss of Tom Hayden heed these words from him, and don't wait another 25 years to overcome their "fear and confusion" about saying and doing the right thing regarding the crimes of Israel, troublesome as that might be. - Advertisement - | 0 |
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As the Syrian Civil War rages on, the Russians continue to back the Assad regime in the fight against myriad rebel groups. The bloody conflict has garnered international attention, including a refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe (which is quickly spreading to the United States, as well).
The United States has been involved in several military actions to aid the rebel groups in Syria, though much of this help has aided the rise of ISIS (smuggling weapons to these groups fighting Assad, only to end up with ISIS). Given US involvement, and Russian backing of the Assad regime, tensions between the two superpowers have risen to near Cold War levels.
One recent event demonstrating just how volatile the situation was a near-collision between two fighter jets, one American and the other Russian, in Syrian airspace. #BREAKING Russian, US jets had near miss over Syria: US officials
Zero Hedge has details:
The near miss occurred late on October 17, when a Russian jet that was escorting a larger spy plane maneuvered in the vicinity of an American warplane, Air Force Lieutenant General Jeff Harrigan said. The Russian jet came to “inside of half a mile”, he added. Another US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity , said the American pilot could feel the turbulence produced by the Russian jet’s engines.
“It was close enough you could feel the jet wash of the plane passing by,” the official said.
The incident appears did not take place out to malice, as the Russian pilot had simply not seen the US jet, as it was dark and the planes were flying without lights according to AGP. This incident was deemed unsafe, but not necessarily unprofessional, officials said. “I would attribute it to not having the necessary situational awareness given all those platforms operating together,” Harrigan said.
The incident raises serious questions about the extent to which pilots are able to track the complex airspace they operate in.
The US-led coalition has set up a hotline with Russian counterparts so the different militaries can discuss the approximate locations and missions of planes, and avoid operating in the same space at the same time. In this case, the American pilot tried unsuccessfully to reach the Russian jet via an emergency radio channel.
This close-call is one of several similar incidents in the past six weeks or so. The Russians have become increasingly brazen in the past few months, especially in the Syrian arena. Anything that threatens the Russo-Syrian alliance is not taken too well by the Kremlin, and responses are bold, dastardly, and provocative.
Luckily, there have not been any full-blown engagements between American and Russian military forces, but the number of close-calls in recent days is cause for concern. These are two of the world’s most prominent nuclear superpowers, one of whom is becoming more and more brazen and willing to incite conflicts when it suits their interests.
The other is a regime with massive military superiority, yet weak and flaky leadership.
At this point it is not totally clear what the Russians will do next. Undoubtedly, they will continue to prop up the Assad regime and bomb anywhere rebel forces may be, but whether or not they will harass American military forces in the area remains to be seen (though I predict that it will only continue to further escalate). | 0 |
DALLAS — Picture the next major American city to go bankrupt. What springs to mind? Probably not the swagger and sprawl of Dallas. But there was Dallas’s mayor, Michael S. Rawlings, testifying this month to a state oversight board that his city appeared to be “walking into the fan blades” of municipal bankruptcy. “It is horribly ironic,” he said. Indeed. Dallas has the fastest economic growth of the nation’s 13 largest cities. Its streets hum with supersize cars and its skyline bristles with cranes. Its mayor is a former chief executive of Pizza Hut. Hundreds of multinational corporations have chosen Dallas for their headquarters, most recently Jacobs Engineering, which is moving to Texas from pricey Pasadena, Calif. But under its glittering surface, Dallas has a problem that could bring it to its knees, and that could be an early test of America’s postelection commitment to safe streets and tax relief: The city’s pension fund for its police officers and firefighters is near collapse and seeking an immense bailout. Over six recent weeks, panicked Dallas retirees have pulled $220 million out of the fund. What set off the run was a recommendation in July that the retirees no longer be allowed to take out big blocks of money. Even before that, though, there were reports that the fund’s investments — some placed in highly risky and speculative ventures — were worth less than previously stated. What is happening in Dallas is an extreme example of what’s happening in many other places around the country. Elected officials promised workers solid pensions years ago, on the basis of wishful thinking rather than realistic expectations. Dallas’s troubles have become more urgent because its plan rules let some retirees take big withdrawals. Now, the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System has asked the city for a infusion of $1. 1 billion, an amount roughly equal to Dallas’’s entire general fund budget but not even close to what the pension fund needs to be fully funded. Nothing would be left for fighting endemic poverty south of the Trinity River, for public libraries, or for giving current police officers and firefighters a raise. “It’s a ridiculous request,” Mr. Rawlings, a Democrat, said in testimony this month to the Texas Pension Review Board, whose seven members are appointed by Texas governors, all Republicans for the last 20 years. The mayor — who defeated a former Dallas police chief to win his office in 2011 — added that he had nothing but respect for the city’s uniformed safety workers, five of whom were gunned down by a deranged sniper during a protest against police shootings in July. But that does not change the awful numbers. This month, Moody’s reported that Dallas was struggling with more pension debt, relative to its resources, than any major American city except Chicago. “The City of Dallas has no way to pay this,” said Lee Kleinman, a City Council member who served as a pension trustee from 2013 until this year. “If the city had to pay the whole thing, we would declare bankruptcy. ” Other ideas being considered include raising property taxes, borrowing money for the pension fund, delaying public works or even taking back money from retirees. But property taxes in Dallas are already capped, the city’s borrowing capacity is limited, and retirees would surely litigate any clawback. This month, the city’s more than 10, 000 current and retired safety workers started voting on voluntary pension trims, but then five people sued, halting the balloting for now. The city is expected to call for an overhaul in December. But it has no power to make the changes, because the fund is controlled by state lawmakers in Austin. The Texas Legislature convenes only every other year, and Dallas is preparing to ask the state for help when the next session starts in January. One state senator, John Whitmire, stopped by the pension building this month and urged the 12 trustees to join the city in asking Austin to scale back their plan. “It’s not going to be pleasant,” said Senator Whitmire, a Democrat in the statehouse since 1973. But without some cuts, “this whole thing will come crashing down, and we’ll play right into the hands of those who would like 401( k)s or defined contribution plans. ” To many in Dallas, the hole in the pension fund seems to have blown open overnight. But in fact, the fuse was lit back in 1993, when state lawmakers sweetened police and firefighter pensions beyond the wildest dreams of the typical Dallas resident. They added individual savings accounts, paying 8. 5 percent interest per year, when workers reached the normal retirement age, then 50. The goal was to keep seasoned veterans on the force longer.’ ”Guaranteed 8. 5 percent interest, on tap indefinitely for thousands of people, would of course cost a fortune. But state lawmakers made it look “cost neutral,” records show, by fixing Dallas’s annual pension contributions at 36 percent of the police and firefighters’ payroll. It would all work as long as the payroll grew by 5 percent every year — which it did not — and if the pension fund earned 9 percent annually on its investments.” ’Buck Consultants, the plan’s actuarial firm, warned that those assumptions were shaky, and that the changes did not comply with the rules of the state Pension Review Board. “The Legislature clearly ignored that,” Mr. Kleinman said. The plan’s current actuary, Segal Consulting, reported in July that 23 years of unmet goals had left Dallas with a hidden pension debt of almost $7 billion. Back in Dallas, the pension trustees set about trying to capture the 9 percent annual investment returns. They opted for splashy and exotic land deals — villas in Hawaii, a luxury resort in Napa County, Calif. timberland in Uruguay and farmland in Australia, among others. The projects called for frequent inspections by the trustees and their plan administrator, Richard Tettamant. The Dallas Morning News reported that officials were spending millions on global investment tours, with in places like Zurich and Pisa, Italy. Pension officials argued that their travel was appropriate and their investments were successes. It was an investment right in Dallas that led to the pension fund’s undoing: Museum Tower, a luxury condominium high rise. It went up across the street from the Nasher Sculpture Center, a collection housed in a Renzo Piano building surrounded by manicured gardens. The Nasher, opened in 2003, was integral to a city campaign to revitalize its downtown. Museum Tower started out modestly, with a $20 million investment from the pension fund. But as the downtown Arts District flourished, the pension fund raised its stake, then doubled the height of the building, and finally took over the whole development for $200 million. Mr. Tettamant became the general manager. As Museum Tower soared to 42 stories, its glass cladding acted as a huge reflector, sending the sun’s intensified rays down into the sculpture center. Mr. Piano had installed a filtered glass roof, designed to bathe the masterpieces in soft, natural light. The glare from the tower ruined the effect, killed plants in the garden and threatened to damage the sculptures. The center called on the pension fund to reduce the glare. Mr. Tettamant said nothing could be done and suggested the center change its roof. Mr. Rawlings, the mayor, brought in a former official of the George W. Bush administration, Tom Luce, for confidential mediation. But Mr. Luce resigned after five months, saying Mr. Tettamant had failed to adhere to “the conditions and spirit under which I agreed to serve. ” Before long, The Dallas Morning News published a long exposé of the fund’s holdings, raising serious questions about its claimed investment success. Some retirees began to clamor for a criminal investigation. The mayor demanded a full audit. When the audit was done, it showed that the investments were indeed overvalued, and that the fund was in deep trouble. Mr. Tettamant, who was dismissed in 2014, said he believed he was being blamed for problems he did not cause. “The Dallas mayor has a vendetta against me,” he said in an interview. “I never made any real estate investments. The board made all the investment decisions, and I was not a board member. ” In April, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the offices of CDK Realty Advisors, a firm that helped the pension fund identify and manage many of its investment properties. A spokesman for CDK declined to discuss the raid, but said the firm was working to resolve its differences with the pension fund. In his meeting with the trustees, Senator Whitmire recalled that in 1993 he had voted enthusiastically for the plan that sent the pension fund on its quest for 9 percent investment returns. “We all know some of the benefits, guaranteed, were just probably never realistic,” he said. “It was good while it lasted, but we’ve got some serious financial problems because of it. ” | 1 |
Hillary Clinton on Saturday cast blame for her surprise election loss on the announcement by the F. B. I. director, James B. Comey, days before the election that he had revived the inquiry into her use of a private email server. In her most extensive remarks since she conceded the race to Donald J. Trump early Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton told donors on a conference call that Mr. Comey’s decision to send a letter to Congress about the inquiry 11 days before Election Day had thrust the controversy back into the news and had prevented her from ending the campaign with an optimistic closing argument. “There are lots of reasons why an election like this is not successful,” Mrs. Clinton said, according to a donor who relayed the remarks. But, she added, “our analysis is that Comey’s letter raising doubts that were groundless, baseless, proven to be, stopped our momentum. ” Mrs. Clinton said a second letter from Mr. Comey, clearing her once again, which came two days before Election Day, had been even more damaging. In that letter, Mr. Comey said an examination of a new trove of emails, which had been found on the computer of Anthony D. Weiner, the estranged husband of one of her top aides, had not caused him to change his earlier conclusion that Mrs. Clinton should face no charges over her handling of classified information. Her campaign said the seemingly positive outcome had only hurt it with voters who did not trust Mrs. Clinton and were receptive to Mr. Trump’s claims of a “rigged system. ” In particular, white suburban women who had been on the fence were reminded of the email imbroglio and broke decidedly in Mr. Trump’s favor, aides said. After leading in polls in many battleground states, Mrs. Clinton told the donors on Saturday, “we dropped, and we had to keep really pushing to regain our advantage, which going into last weekend we had. ” “We were once again up in all but two of the battleground states, and we were up considerably in some that we ended up losing,” Mrs. Clinton said. “And we were feeling like we had to put it back together. ” Presidential candidates have a long history of blaming forces outside their control for their losses. In 2004, John Kerry linked his defeat to a videotape of Osama bin Laden that appeared days before the election, stoking fears about terrorism. In 2012, Mitt Romney told donors he had lost because President Obama had vowed to bestow “gifts” on Democratic special interests groups, namely Hispanics and young people. Mrs. Clinton’s contention appears to be more rooted in reality — and hard data. An internal campaign memo with polling data said that “there is no question that a week from Election Day, Secretary Clinton was poised for a historic win,” but that, in the end, “ developments in the race proved one hurdle too many for us to overcome. ” Mrs. Clinton lost narrowly in several battleground states, and by the time all ballots are counted, she appears poised to win the popular vote by more than two million votes. Still, Mrs. Clinton’s instinct to shun any personal responsibility angered some Democrats. Several donors on the call, while deeply bitter about Mr. Comey’s actions, said they believed that Mrs. Clinton and her campaign had suffered avoidable missteps that handed the election to an unacceptable opponent. They pointed to the campaign’s lack of a compelling message for white voters and to decisions years ago by Mrs. Clinton to use a private email address at the State Department and to accept millions of dollars for speeches to Wall Street. “There is a special place in hell for Clinton staff, allegedly including Cheryl Mills, that okayed the email server setup,” Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist and former senior aide to Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, wrote on Sidewire, a social media site, referring to a longtime aide and lawyer to Mrs. Clinton. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign was so confident in her victory that her aides popped open Champagne on the campaign plane early Tuesday. But that conviction, aides would later learn, was based largely on erroneous data showing that young, black and Latino voters and suburban women who had been turned off by Mr. Trump’s comments but viewed Mrs. Clinton unfavorably would turn out for her in higher numbers than they ultimately did. Exit polls conducted by Edison Research found that among people who said they had decided in the final week before Election Day, 47 percent voted for Mr. Trump and 42 percent for Mrs. Clinton. As early as Wednesday morning, aides began to explain to Democrats shaken by the loss that the campaign’s sophisticated data modeling had not taken into account the bombshell F. B. I. announcement. Mr. Comey’s letters to Congress went against the F. B. I. ’s longstanding tradition of avoiding decisions that could affect elections, but he told aides that he felt he had no choice because he had already weighed in on the case so publicly. In July, he had taken the unusual step of publicly announcing that the F. B. I. would not charge Mrs. Clinton. At the time, she believed she had finally put the issue to rest. And after the final debate on Oct. 19 in Las Vegas, she emerged in such a strong position that she began to focus on campaigning for Democrats and planned a campaign stop in traditionally Republican Arizona. “We felt so good about where we were,” Mrs. Clinton told donors. Before Mr. Comey’s first letter to Congress, she added, “we just had a real wind at our back. ” Mr. Trump seized on the letter, telling voters in Nevada the Saturday before Election Day that “the F. B. I. has reopened its criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton,” and that the matter “would grind government to a halt” should Mrs. Clinton win the White House. The F. B. I. ’s examination of the new emails did not in fact reopen the investigation. Democratic pollsters attributed Mr. Trump’s victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — states that President Obama had won — largely to a drifting of suburban women to the Republican nominee at the last minute, because of the renewed focus on Mrs. Clinton’s email server. “We lost with whites after leading with them all summer,” a Clinton spokesman, Brian Fallon, said on Wednesday. “Five more days of reminders about Comey, and they gravitated back to Trump. ” Before Mrs. Clinton spoke on Saturday, her finance director, Dennis Cheng, thanked the donors on the call, each of whom had raised at least $100, 000. The campaign brought in nearly $1 billion to spend heavily on data efforts, to disperse hundreds of staff members to battleground states, and to air television advertisements — only to fall short to Mr. Trump’s upstart operation. Donors conceded that, ultimately, no amount of money could match Mr. Trump’s crisp pitch, aimed at the economically downtrodden, to “make America great again. ” “You can have the greatest field program, and we did — he had nothing,” said Jay S. Jacobs, a prominent New York Democrat and donor to Mrs. Clinton. “You can have better ads, paid for by greater funds, and we did. Unfortunately, Trump had the winning argument. ” Mrs. Clinton has kept a low profile since her concession speech at a Midtown Manhattan hotel on Wednesday. On Thursday, a young mother with her daughter spotted Mrs. Clinton walking her dogs near her home in Chappaqua, N. Y. posting a photo of the defeated candidate on Facebook that quickly went viral along with the hashtag #ImStillWithHer. On Friday night, Mrs. Clinton thanked volunteers on a nationwide conference call. “Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” she said, sighing. “These have been very, very tough days. ” | 1 |
WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner, the of Donald J. Trump, has spoken to a lawyer about the possibility of joining the new administration, a move that could violate federal law and risk legal challenges and political backlash. Mr. Kushner, 35, the husband of Mr. Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, and an influential adviser to his during the presidential campaign, had been planning to return to his private businesses after Election Day. But on the morning after Mr. Trump won, Mr. Kushner began discussing taking a role in the White House, according to two people briefed on the conversations who requested anonymity to describe Mr. Kushner’s thinking. Mr. Trump is urging his to join him in the White House, according to one of the people briefed. The ’s sentiment is shared by Stephen K. Bannon, the chief strategist for the White House, and Reince Priebus, who was named chief of staff. Mr. Kushner accompanied Mr. Trump to the White House on Thursday, when the held his first meeting with President Obama. Mr. Kushner may be as influential, if not as well known, in Manhattan as his . Mr. Kushner is a real estate mogul in his own right who, like Mr. Trump, runs a company founded by his father. His influence extends to the news media: He owns The New York Observer. And his family’s wealth rivals that of the Trump clan, which he joined in 2009 when he married Ivanka. Mr. Kushner has already figured prominently in the tumultuous start to the transition. He was involved in the effort to oust Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who as a federal prosecutor jailed Mr. Kushner’s father, Charles B. Kushner, more than a decade ago. Trump officials have systematically fired those Mr. Christie had selected for the effort. Transition officials have rejected claims that Mr. Kushner was involved in a payback effort and pointed to Mr. Christie’s troubles after two aides were convicted in the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal in New Jersey. They also suggested that the preliminary transition work had been subpar. Mr. Trump’s desire to add Mr. Kushner to his administration gives weight to speculation that he intends to run the White House the way he runs his businesses, relying heavily on his children and delegating essential duties to them. And it adds another element of unpredictability to an unconventional handover of power, although there were signs on Thursday that Mr. Trump’s transition operation was edging toward normalcy after its chaotic first week. Mr. Trump sat down with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, his first session with a world leader since winning the White House. A clearer picture also emerged of the figures who have Mr. Trump’’s ear. Among them is Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, a retired intelligence officer who a top transition team official said was Mr. Trump’s choice for national security adviser, and Senator Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican who is under consideration to be attorney general or secretary of state. On Capitol Hill, Vice Mike Pence told House Republicans to “buckle up” in anticipation of a packed legislative session. Mr. Trump’s aides held their first scheduled daily conference call with reporters while transition officials whose work had been stalled by in Trump Tower began work with their Obama administration counterparts on a handover. But the prospect that Mr. Kushner might end up in the West Wing remained a concern to some people close to the who said he would instantly become a target for media and legal attacks if he took the unorthodox step. Mr. Kushner has consulted with at least one lawyer and believes that by forgoing a salary and putting his investment fund, his real estate holdings and The New York Observer into a blind trust, he would not be bound by federal nepotism rules, according to one of the people briefed. Ethics lawyers in both parties said that such an arrangement would violate a federal statute designed to prevent family ties from influencing the functioning of the United States government. Under a 1967 law enacted after John F. Kennedy installed his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, as attorney general, no public official can hire a family member — including one related by marriage — to an agency or office over which he has authority. A separate statute also makes it a crime, punishable by a fine and up to two years of prison time, for government employees to accept voluntary services that are not authorized by law, except in emergency situations. The law “would seem to block out Kushner flatly,” said Norman L. Eisen, who served as Mr. Obama’s ethics counsel during his transition and at the White House. If Mr. Trump were to try to skirt it by having Mr. Kushner advise him in a volunteer capacity, he added, he “would be treading upon very serious statutory and constitutional grounds. ” “When push comes to shove, on the very hardest calls that confront a president, you want the president’s adviser to remember that their oath or affirmation to the Constitution comes first, before family ties,” Mr. Eisen said. “You need to be able to say no. You need to be able to hold the line. You need to be able to threaten to resign, and you need to be able to actually resign. You can’t resign from being somebody’s . ” Richard W. Painter, an ethics counsel to George W. Bush, said he remembered having to inform a senior official serving Mr. Bush that he was legally barred from granting a White House internship to his son. Mr. Painter based his decision on a reading of the law by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel during Jimmy Carter’s administration, which barred the president from doing so for his own child. “I told him: ‘Jimmy Carter couldn’t do it. If the president of the United States couldn’t do it, I can’t do it for your kid,’” Mr. Painter recalled. “I got cussed out. ” Mr. Trump could try to circumvent the law, the lawyers said, by arguing that he has broad executive authority as president to choose his advisers. But that move would probably invite a legal challenge, forcing a court to decide whether the president’s executive authority to choose his advisers takes precedent over a law passed by Congress that bans nepotism in the government. Mr. Trump could also try to invoke the example of Hillary Clinton. A 1993 decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that Mrs. Clinton, whom President Bill Clinton had appointed to lead his health care task force, was acting as a government employee and therefore the panel could shield its meetings and records from the public. The decision hinted that the statute might not have been meant to apply to the White House or to unpaid positions. But the ruling also said the first lady had a unique and widely recognized role in helping the president to carry out his duties — she had an office in the White House and a staff — a distinction that would not apply to Mr. Kushner. The Clintons paid a steep political price for insisting that Mrs. Clinton had a right to serve on the task force, ultimately losing both the Senate and the House in 1994 as Republicans assailed what they portrayed as a White House run amok. “You can try to wiggle your way around the law, but you’ve got to realize the political reality that this is prohibited under the statute,” Mr. Painter said. “It’s a power grab. It’s an overreach. ” The question of Mr. Kushner’s role also highlights a broader challenge facing Mr. Trump and his children as he assumes the presidency: how to separate his role as leader of the country from his vast real estate and business empire and avoid conflicts of interest. Even if Mr. Kushner placed his own holdings in a blind trust, his marriage to Ms. Trump poses an inherent conflict, according to ethics experts, because he would have access through his wife to information about Mr. Trump’s businesses that the should be barred from knowing. | 1 |
What do the satin leotard of the Playboy Bunny, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis’s first wedding gown and a wool jacquard Savile Row suit from 2016 have in common? All were created by people of African descent, a new exhibition, called “Black Fashion Designers,” at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology will gently remind — or perhaps inform — its visitors. This is far from the first time F. I. T. which takes care to diversify its mannequins and hosted the Harveys Bristol Cream Tribute to the Black Designer in the 1980s, has honored minorities in the industry. But “a lot of contributions have been overlooked,” Ariele Elia, the assistant curator of costume and textiles, who conceived the show, said during a tour on Tuesday, the day before it opened. “We wanted to bring attention to the history that people have forgotten and show some of the new faces that people might not be familiar with. ” And name the names, which include, corresponding to the garments above: Zelda Wynn Valdes, Ann Lowe and Ozwald Boateng. Making no claim to comprehensiveness, the show nonetheless packs a wide cultural range into a relatively small space. It is easily navigated, should Ms. Elia be unavailable, with an app introduced by the booming voice of the Vogue contributing editor André Leon Talley, who served on the advisory committee (along with the longtime Ebony commentator Audrey Smaltz, one of many muses featured). “The show is about black makers, models and designers, as opposed to ‘black style,’ ” said Elizabeth Way, a curatorial assistant who worked with Ms. Elia, underscoring what might today be obvious but bears repeating: “There really isn’t a black style. ” Some designers draw consistently from ancient African traditions, like the Duru Olowu, whose ensemble opens the exhibition, and Mimi Plange, from Ghana and then California, whose quilting on a pink dress mimics the body art of scarification and who has been championed (among many other independent designers) by the first lady, Michelle Obama. “This is, like, our last tribute to Michelle,” Ms. Elia said with palpable wistfulness. There are items as casual as the printed shift designed by Laura Smalls that Mrs. Obama wore in July to do a “Carpool Karaoke” segment with the talk show host James Corden. And looks as formal as an evening dress designed by Eric Gaskins inspired by the painter Franz Kline, a white column adorned with what looked like big black brush strokes. “Done with tiny microbugle beads!” Ms. Way said. “He crushed them down into almost nothing. ” (In recent years, Mr. Gaskins has been known for crushing the hot klieg lights of the fashion industry down to almost nothing on his addictively candid blog, the Emperor’s Old Clothes.) Some pieces are familiar, thanks to show business celebrities, like a racy black lace gown by LaQuan Smith worn — barely — by Kim Kardashian to a yacht party in Cannes in 2015, and a and minidress by CD Greene that Tina Turner chose for her “Wildest Dream” tour in 1996. “She was having a problem showing up on stage, so she needed something that would really make her shine,” Ms. Way said. Perhaps intuiting their own obsolescence, stars are now requesting something that actually makes them light up, and the young “creative technologist” Madison Maxey has been working on such innovations at her lab in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. But her contribution here is subtler: a print on hemp whose belt incorporates recycled computer and headphone cords (radically revising the old phrase “waste not, no waist”). Ecological concern also crops up in a knit from yarn spun out of plastic ocean waste by Raw, the label by the musician Pharrell Williams. This is in a section devoted to protest through clothing that showcases Kerby ’s “They Have Names,” a homage to 13 unarmed black men who were killed by the police. “People are interested in this because it’s so timely,” Ms. Way said, “but we wanted to show that black designers have been working with activism for a very long time. ” Some of this activism centered around AIDS, which felled Karl Davis at 25 after only six collections, the last containing a sleek evening gown with Chanelesque back pockets that stands here as a sober monument to talent not fully realized. And in midcareer, Patrick Kelly, renowned not just for bright button embellishments but for his seizing back of racist figures like the pickaninny and golliwog, and Willi Smith, who found mass success designing for a new wave of working women, mixing patterns with joyful abandon. For a brief shining moment, after advancements in civil rights, there was also newfound freedom after hours at the disco, with its court costumers like Stephen Burrows, he of the lettuce edge (like the Toll House cookie, a happy accident) James Daugherty and Scott Barrie. “Designers were breaking away from structuralism of the ’60s, and getting into something more ” Ms. Way said, then made a sudden break from . “I think just really it was all about the music. ” But she acknowledged that in the current political climate the show’s title is a provocation — or, perhaps, an invitation. “You can say ‘black designers’ but that doesn’t give you any other information,” Ms. Way said. ”Except how much they’ve been left out. ” | 1 |
For years, scientists and others concerned about climate change have been talking about the need for carbon capture and sequestration. That is the term for removing carbon dioxide from, say, a power plant’s smokestack and pumping it deep underground to keep it out of the atmosphere, where it would otherwise contribute to global warming. C. C. S. as the process is known, has had a spotty record so far. While there are some projects being designed or under construction, only one power plant, in Canada, currently captures and stores carbon on a commercial scale (and it has been having problems). Keeping a lot of CO2 out of the atmosphere would require a costly expansion of the technology to many more power plants and other industrial facilities. Among the concerns about sequestration is that carbon dioxide in gaseous or liquid form that is pumped underground might escape back to the atmosphere. So storage sites would have to be monitored, potentially for decades or centuries. But scientists at Earth Observatory at Columbia University and other institutions have come up with a different way to store CO2 that might eliminate that problem. Their approach involves dissolving the gas with water and pumping the resulting mixture — soda water, essentially — down into certain kinds of rocks, where the CO2 reacts with the rock to form a mineral called calcite. By turning the gas into stone, scientists can lock it away permanently. One key to the approach is to find the right kind of rocks. Volcanic rocks called basalts are excellent for this process, because they are rich in calcium, magnesium and iron, which react with CO2. Iceland is practically all basalt, so for several years the researchers and an Icelandic utility have been testing the technology on the island. The project, called CarbFix, uses carbon dioxide that bubbles up naturally with the hot magma that powers a geothermal electrical generating plant 15 miles east of the capital, Reykjavik (Read more about it here). In 2012, they pumped about 250 tons of carbon dioxide, mixed with water, about 1, 500 feet down into porous basalt. The CO2 was laced with a radioactive isotope and there were other compounds in the water that helped the researchers trace its spread into the rock. Early signs were encouraging: Among other things, a submerged pump that was used to obtain samples of the mixture as it spread underground stopped working after a while because it got gummed up by calcite. And now the scientists have reported more authoritative evidence that their technology works, in a paper published in the journal Science. The scientists found that about 95 percent of the carbon dioxide was converted into calcite. And even more important, they wrote, the conversion happened relatively quickly — in less than two years. “It’s beyond all our expectations,” said Edda Aradottir, who manages the project for the utility, Reykjavik Energy. Rapid conversion of the CO2 means that a project would probably have to be monitored for a far shorter time than a more conventional sequestration site. There are still concerns about whether the technology will prove useful in the fight against global warming. For one thing, it would have to be scaled up enormously. For another, a lot of water is needed — 25 tons of it for every ton of CO2 — along with the right kind of rock. But the researchers say that there is enough porous basaltic rock around, including in the ocean floors and along the margins of continents. And siting a sequestration project in or near the ocean could potentially solve the water problem at the same time, as the researchers say seawater would work just fine. | 1 |
Tuesday on ABC’s “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg wondered if the “values” of Trump administration are “really much different than the Taliban’s?” Goldberg said, “We also keep hearing about terrorists hating our American values. We had this conversation yesterday. So let me ask you now — now, we have had a leader who’s repeatedly demeaned women, wants to defund organizations that benefit woman, calling on the media to shut up, specifically wants to give preferential treatment based on religion, are these values really much different than the Taliban’s?” When asked if she was talking about Trump’s values, Goldberg continued, “Well no, the values that we are listening to. One of the things that you read yesterday was the piece of the … the language in the ban, which was about if you disrespect women. So yesterday I was thinking about this. All of these things that I have been hearing, have our values changed? What’s happened? Are we still fighting — She continued, “I feel like, listen, if you’re saying to the media shut up — that’s what they do. Maybe they didn’t start out chopping people’s heads off, maybe they started out differently. I’m asking. It, it feels like it’s tricky. Because we’re saying to people, here are our American values, and then we’re saying on the same token stuff that sounds exactly like the stuff we’re fighting. ” She concluded, “That brings me back to this question, it brings me back to the question. So the question is, when you put some of these things side by side — what kind of religion you’re supposed to have, you’re supposed to have one religion … When he says there’s preferential treatment for Christians, forgetting the other religions out there … You know here’s the thing, we have a Constitution that says these are the things that we don’t do. This is what makes us different from everybody else. Our media, nobody tells our media to shut up and just take it. Nobody. That’s not American. That is the Taliban … My question is, what’s happening?” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
There are some things that we have learned about the United States from this election. We’ll need to keep these in mind as we make efforts to return sanity to society.
The federal government has been corrupted Probably the most shocking lesson of this election is that the entire federal government has been coopted to serve a single party—the Democrats. The best example of this was the behavior of FBI Director James Comey. The FBI is part of the Executive branch of government so Comey reports to Loretta Lynch, who in turn reports to Obama. Despite this fact, one expects that the FBI be allowed a high degree of discretion to honestly investigate individuals regardless of which political party they belong to. After all, the US was founded upon the idea that we are all equal before the law.
Comey’s actions reveal that the FBI has thrown equality before the law out the window. At first the FBI investigated Clinton’s use of an unsecure, personal email server to conduct national business while she was Secretary of State. But even though Clinton apparently violated several laws that have gotten other people severe jail sentences, Comey exonerated her back in July with a hand slap.
In a move that surprised everyone, Comey re-opened on October 28th the criminal investigation of Clinton after 650,000 emails State Department emails were found on pervert Anthony Weiner’s computer. Trump supporters rejoiced and Hillary supporters expressed outrage. But the White House calmly called Comey “a man of integrity.” Did they know something we didn’t?
It turns out the fix was in from the beginning because just 48 hours before election day, Comey exonerated Clinton again . The FBI director likely intended to clear Clinton of wrongdoing before the election to defuse Donald Trump’s criticism of her.
The big lesson is that the law is applied selectively. Wealthy, politically-connected people don’t need to play by the same rules as everyone else. Unless this situation is corrected, it means the rule of law is dead—and that is a very grave lesson indeed.
The elites are in control but… Elites want you to believe they are super smart and super powerful like the Great Oz.
I’ve written many times about the control that globalist elites exert on the country through their control of the media, educational institutions, and politicians through the form of bribes (donations, cushy job offers, speaking fees). By controlling the flow of information and setting the narrative, the globalists are able to control the masses like cattle. The good news is that their control is not complete. They are not omnipotent.
The weakness of the elites has been demonstrated in three ways. The first was with the Brexit vote. When Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to hold a referendum on the UK’s membership in the EU, he never dreamed that Britons would actually vote to leave. All the polls at the time showed that any movement to leave would go down in flames. Still, through the work of men like Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, the British populace voted to leave the EU. The Brits on the leave side had to endure being called racist and look past polling that said they had no chance to win.
The second way was the campaign of Trump himself. The GOP had planned a coronation for Jeb Bush. The rest of the GOP field was “me too” candidates who were virtually indistinguishable from Jeb. Trump came in with an uncompromising message and crushed Jeb and the rest of the little Jebs. The elite plan to have Hillary versus a weak conservative was completely thrown into disarray by Trump’s campaign. Even if Trump has lost the general, it is still a victory because now, instead of seeing the Great Oz, we see the globalists behind the curtain.
The third manifestation of the weakness of the elites is the rise of the Alt Right. A tiny group of young people on the internet was able to quickly wake up large segments of the population. Only a year ago, terms like nationalism and globalism were rarely heard in the US. Now, we have grandmothers in Texas tweeting about how we need to lay the axe to the globalists.
The overall lesson is that we should not fear the globalist elite. They exist and they are able to fool a majority of the population, but not all of us. With sound strategy, they can be defeated.
The Elite have completely divorced themselves from non-elites
In the past, Europe had an aristocracy. This aristocracy had a close relationship with the rest of the people in the country. The aristocracy was expected to defend the nation in case of war. They also had the same religion as the rest of the country. We already knew that the modern “aristocracy” of the globalist elites has no responsibilities toward the rest of us, but, thanks to WikiLeaks, we have now learned that they don’t even share the same religion.
WikiLeaks revealed that Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager are close friends with Marina Abramovic, a Serbian artist who performs occult rituals she calls “ spirit cooking .” Spirit cooking appears to be set of magical rituals that use bodily fluids such as menstrual blood, urine, and semen to achieve certain goals, usually sex-related. It also involves at least minor sacrifices: one “recipe” calls for cutting one’s figure and “eat[ing] the pain.”
While spirit cooking is certainly grotesque, it is not my intention to focus on it except to point out that it has become a sort of initiation ritual into the US globalist elite. Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and Gwen Stefani have all attended these rituals and I would not be surprised to learn that many other politicians, CEOs, and bankers also participate. Getting invited to one of these spirit cooking sessions means that you have gained entry into the wealthy elite in the US. There are probably similar groups or rituals for the modern day European elites.
There are several things at work here. Most of the spirit cooking participants probably don’t believe in the efficacy of the spirit cooking ritual. It is more like a college fraternity initiation. It only means something in terms of one’s social standing. Also, the satanic imagery of spirit cooking and its sexual overtones are big middle fingers to Christianity which our elite regard as the religion of the unwashed masses.
In both of these ways, our modern “elite” have separated themselves from the rest of us. They don’t share the same destiny as us. If the country starts going to hell, the wealthy elite can just pick up and move to another country or they can live in small, heavily guarded compounds, untouched by the damage their policies have caused. And they even lack a common morality with us. In their own eyes, their wealth has somehow put them beyond the traditional moral code that guides the rest of us.
The fact that the elites have no regard for the rest of the country does not bode well for them. The aristocracy of old knew that their fortune was bound up with that of their countrymen. The modern elite lack this wisdom. Once enough of the hoi polloi realize it, it is only a matter of time before these pseudo-elites are deposed from their pedestal.
Conclusion With Trump’s election, the problem of federal government being used for political purposes will be mitigated. However, the problems with our indulgent pseudo-elite will continue to be a force that prevents the patriarchy from returning. In any case, we can be grateful that the election of 2016 has exposed some of the cancers that are eating away at our society.
Read More: Rigged: FBI Reveals It Has Evidence Hillary Clinton Broke Law, But Will Not Prosecute
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The bombshells about this criminal are now breaking daily. It’s not a question of Trump, it is an imperative that Hillary be defeated. If the people choose Hillary, then they must and will be punished.
“Wikileaks: Bill Clinton Boasts of Hillary’s ‘Working Relationship’ with Muslim Brotherhood,” By John Hayward , Breitbart, October 26, 2016:
In a speech Bill Clinton gave at the home of Mehul and Hema Sanghani in October 2015, revealed to the public for the first time by WikiLeaks, former President Bill Clinton touted Hillary Clinton’s “working relationship” with the Muslim Brotherhood ’s Mohamed Morsi in Egypt as an example of her diplomatic skills.President Clinton also gave his wife a lot of credit for negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, in a passage that began with the standard Democrat “stuff happens” shrugging defense for foreign policy failures:
Finally, we live in a world, as I said, that’s full of good news and bad news. The United States cannot control it all, but we need a president who’s most likely to make as many good things happen as possible, and most likely to prevent big, bad things from happening. You can’t keep every bad thing from happening; who’s most likely to be able to get people involved in a positive way. Even the people who don’t like the Iran nuclear agreement concede it never would have happened if it hadn’t been for the sanctions. Hillary negotiated those sanctions and got China and Russia to sign off – something I thought she’d never be able to do. I confess. I’m never surprised by anything she does, but that surprised me. I didn’t think she could do it. The Chinese and the Russians to see past their short-term self-interest to their long-term interest and not sparking another nuclear arms race.
And when the Muslim Brotherhood took over in Egypt, in spite of the fact that we were (inaudible), she developed a working relationship with the then-president and went there and brokered a ceasefire to stop a full-scale shooting war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which on top of what was going on in Syria and the (inaudible) Jordan would have been a calamity for the world.
And when we were trying to reset our relations with Russia under President Medvedev, she and her team negotiated a New START Treaty, which limits warheads and missiles. And she lobbied it through the Senate. She had to get 67 votes, which means a lot of these Republicans who say that they don’t like her now are just kidding for election season. They trusted her, and she got it passed. You can’t get 67 votes in the Senate without a lot of Republican support. And I don’t know about you, but with all this tension and Mr. Putin trying to affect the outcome of the conflict in Syria, I think it’s a very good thing that we’re in a lower risk of any kind of accidental nuclear conflict with the Russians. She did that.
You’ll rarely find a more tortured political framing of the Iran debacle than Bill Clinton boasting that the sanctions Barack Obama lifted were super-awesome, as even those who don’t think those sanctions should have been lifted agree.
Mr. Clinton’s version of the Iran sanctions leaves out a few details , such as Russia’s keen financial interest in keeping Iranian energy out of the European market, and China’s desire to use Iran sanctions as a geopolitical bargaining chip.
But the part about the Muslim Brotherhood is most interesting. If anything, he is selling Hillary Clinton’s “working relationship” with Egyptian Islamists short, because she used American diplomatic leverage for Morsi’s benefit even before he got elected, warning Egyptians about “backtracking” to a military regime at a key moment of the post-Mubarak campaign, when Morsi was running against a former member of Hosni Mubarak’s military. There have long been rumors that more subtle forms of U.S. “ pressure ” were used to secure Morsi’s office, as well.
Then again, in public pronouncements, Clinton called Hosni Mubarak’s tottering regime “stable” and cautioned her Obama Administration colleagues against “pushing a longtime partner out the door.”
A few days ago, declassified State Department documents revealed Clinton’s talking points for a 2012 meeting with Morsi hailed his election as a “milestone in Egypt’s transition to democracy,” and stated that she was to offer the Muslim Brotherhood leader “technical expertise and assistance from both the U.S. government and private sector to support his economic and social programs.”
Clinton was also supposed to privately offer Morsi assistance with his police and security forces, which would be conducted “quite discreetly.”
After Morsi was gone, she declared herself exasperated with Egyptian political culture and declared herself a cynical “realist.” That is pretty much the opposite of what everyone in the Obama Administration was saying while the “Arab Spring” was in the midst of springing its little surprises on autocratic but America-aligned (or at least America-fearing) regimes, which we were all supposed to feel guilty about selfishly supporting for so long.
As for Clinton’s superb working relationship with Morsi, that eventually ended with Morsi’s wife railing against Clinton for supposedly dismissing him as “a simpleton who was unfit for the presidency,” and threatening to publish letters from Clinton to Morsi that would damage the former U.S. Secretary of State. Meanwhile, Mohammed Morsi is developing a solid working relationship with the Egyptian penitentiary system .
Egypt has one of those icky military governments again, and while it won’t have fond memories of Hillary Clinton’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood regime, it will most likely work with whoever wins the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Therefore, a prospective President Hillary Clinton probably won’t suffer too much from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s appalling lapses in judgment.
Article reposted with permission from PamelaGeller.com | 0 |
WASHINGTON — The iconic blossoming cherry trees that ring the Tidal Basin here have symbolized the arrival of spring for nearly a century. This year, they will be one more sign of wacky and warming weather. The National Park Service, which maintains the trees, said on Wednesday that the pink and white blossoms could reach their peak as soon as March 14, a full three weeks earlier than normal. If the flowers indeed pop on that date, it will be the earliest bloom on record. That is thanks to springlike weather that has made a roaring early advance across much of the United States in recent weeks, breaking records from New England to the Deep South and punctuating a mild winter. In Texas, which experienced temperatures in the high 80s on several days in February, flowers and trees are in bloom well ahead of schedule. Chicago has had only dustings of snow so far this year — far below the 9. 1 inches expected in February. And in New York State, maple syrup producers started tapping their trees two months before they normally do. “The key thing is it’s not just the East Coast and the blooming of cherry blossoms,” said Kevin Trenberth, a climatologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. “This is going on all over the world. ” Here in Washington, the warmth has organizers of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival, a monthlong series of performances and other events, racing to meet the early flowering. Diana Mayhew, the festival’s president, said officials made the decision on Tuesday to begin five days earlier than planned, on March 15, after representatives from the Park Service briefed them on their forecast. Ms. Mayhew said she expected as many as a million and a half people to take part in the festival, with many of them crowding the pathways that line the Tidal Basin from dawn to well past dusk. The cherry trees date to 1912, when Japan gave some 3, 000 of them to the United States as a gesture of friendship. Only a handful of the original trees remain, but thousands more have been planted since. Michael Litterst, a spokesman for the National Park Service, said the agency made its annual bloom prediction based on history, natural indicators on the trees and the weather forecast. The trees are considered to be in peak bloom when 70 percent of the basin’s most common variety, Yoshino, are in flower. In a typical year, that comes on April 4. But not this year. Given the mild winter and rare February warmth, the Park Service says the peak should come between March 14 and 17, depending on the weather in the coming weeks. The record, set in 1990, is March 15. Like much of the central and eastern United States, Washington has seen a winter of record and warmth. February here was the warmest on record, with average temperatures almost 9 degrees above normal and one degree higher than a normal March. This year may be a partial anomaly, Mr. Litterst said, but the average date of peak bloom has shifted forward by almost five days since record keeping began in 1921. On Thursday, as wind cutting across the Tidal Basin tossed heavy buds through the air, a small group of blossom hunters clustered near a lone, rippling flower that they said they were happy to welcome early. Ryan Cook was delighted to be among them. On a work trip to the capital with his son, Noah, Mr. Cook had been monitoring the blossoms’ development online in hopes of catching a glimpse before leaving town. As they stopped to take a picture, though, Mr. Cook said he was a bit uneasy with a winter that even at home in Morral, Ohio, has been unusually warm — “scarily so. ” “Just the fact that winter isn’t what it used to be — it just doesn’t make sense,” he said, saying it was almost certainly a sign of the changing climate that scientific studies describe. “I’ll go with the scientists. ” | 1 |
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