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More than 130 artists and critics have signed a petition calling for cultural institutions to close on Friday, Jan. 20, the day of Donald J. Trump’s inauguration. Cindy Sherman, Richard Serra, Louise Lawler, Joan Jonas and Julie Mehretu were among the art stars signing the invitation for a “J20 Art Strike,” which urges museums, galleries, concert halls, art schools and nonprofit institutions to close to protest “the normalization of Trumpism,” according to a statement. “It is not a strike against art, theater or any other cultural form. It is an invitation to motivate these activities anew, to reimagine these spaces as places where resistant forms of thinking, seeing, feeling and acting can be produced. ” Ms. Jonas, who represented the United States at the 2015 Venice Biennale, said in an interview that she hoped people would attend protests on Jan. 20. “I’m interested in action and protest and people expressing their feelings about this situation that we’re in,” she said. “I’m concerned about minorities, immigrants, corruption and security. ” Cultural institutions around the country are still mulling their moves, with some, including the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1 and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) pledging to maintain their regular hours that day. “Our entire program and mission, every day, is an expression of inclusion and appreciation of every culture,” Miranda Carroll, Lacma’s director of communications, wrote in an email. The Whitney Museum will also remain open, but will implement admission for the day, hoping to encourage discussion. “The museum will offer programming that reflects our commitment to open dialogue, civic engagement and the diversity of American art and culture,” Danielle Bias, its senior communications manager, said in a statement. Melissa Parsoff, director of communications for the nonprofit Dia Art Foundation, said, “We plan to be open but we are continuing to discuss this and to see how the situation unfolds in the coming days. ” She added, “We are giving our staff the opportunity to take the time off if they want to attend the protest. ” Many universities will be closed anyway on Jan. 20 — it’s winter break. “If your school is open and relevant, you should go to school,” said Tom Eccles, the executive director of Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies. “Inauguration Day is symbolic but let’s not just make it a day of symbolism. What we have to worry about is the next four years. At a certain moment in history, one has to retrench and consider the forms of resistance one is promoting. The struggle is long, and I would say it is not our role to close. It is our role to watch, to listen, to encourage. ” | 1 |
By Pao Chang
Is the Universe electric in nature? Many researchers and scientists are arguing that mainstream science’s current understanding of the Universe is not accurate, because it does not acknowledge that electricity plays a very important role in the creation of the Universe. Does the Electric Universe theory have all the answers to explaining how the Universe works? I do not think it does but it does have a lot of essential information for helping us innerstand how the Universe works.
As described on ElectricUniverse.info :
The Electric Universe theory argues that electricity plays a more important role in the Universe, than is generally accepted (see also “ Electricity throughout the Universe “).
As a theory, it offers explanations of various natural and astrophysical phenomena, some of which it claims are better understood without the need for various ad hoc explanations. As with any theory, the Electric Universe makes predictions that have been tested, and is published in both peer-reviewed papers, and popular books.
The Electric Universe theory is interdisciplinary, integrating and supporting subject as diverse as the science (astronomy, geology, physics), with the soft sciences such as ancient history and comparative mythology.
Here is another excerpt from the same website :
The Electric Universe theory highlights the importance of electricity throughout the Universe . It is based on the recognition of existing natural electrical phenomena (eg. lightning, St Elmo’s Fire), and the known properties of plasmas (ionized “gases”) which make up 99.999% of the visible universe, and react strongly to electro-magnetic fields. Much of the material considered by the Electric Universe is peer-reviewed , but not all (see Speculative Theories, below).
The Electric Universe – Information They Don’t Want You to Know About
Source: Energy Fanatics
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There was no reason for the patients to receive vitamin D tests. They did not have osteoporosis their bones were not cracking from a lack of the vitamin. They did not have diseases that interfere with vitamin D absorption. Yet in a recent sample of 800, 000 patients in Maine, nearly one in five had had at least one test for blood levels of the vitamin over a period. More than a third got two or more tests, often to evaluate such complaints as malaise or fatigue. The researchers who gathered the data, Dr. Kathleen Fairfield and Kim Murray of the Maine Medical Center, were surprised. Perhaps they shouldn’t have been. Millions of people are popping supplements in the belief that vitamin D can help turn back depression, fatigue, muscle weakness, even heart disease or cancer. In fact, there has never been widely accepted evidence that vitamin D is helpful in preventing or treating any of those conditions. But so firm is this belief that vitamin D has become popular even among people with no particular medical complaints or disease risks. And they are being tested for vitamin D “deficiency” in ever greater numbers. The number of blood tests for vitamin D levels among Medicare beneficiaries, mostly people 65 and older, increased from 2000 to 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among patients with commercial insurance, testing rates rose 2. from 2009 to 2014. Labs performing these tests are reporting perfectly normal levels of vitamin D — 20 to 30 nanograms per milliliter of blood — as “insufficient. ” As a consequence, millions of healthy people think they have a deficiency, and some are taking supplemental doses so high they can be dangerous, causing poor appetite, nausea and vomiting. Vitamin D overdoses also can lead to weakness, frequent urination and kidney problems. “A lot of clinicians are acting like there is a pandemic” of vitamin D deficiency, said Dr. JoAnn E. Manson, a preventive medicine researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who helped write an Institute of Medicine report on vitamin D. “That gives them justification to screen everyone and get everyone well above what the Institute of Medicine recommends. ” In fact, the institute committee on which Dr. Manson served concluded in 2010 that very few people were vitamin D deficient and noted that randomized trials had found no particular benefit for healthy people to have blood levels above 20 nanograms per milliliter. Medical organizations, too, have repeatedly found that there is no reason to assess vitamin D levels in healthy adults, and recently two rigorous studies failed to find that high doses of the vitamin protect against heart disease or cancer. Still, vitamin D has become “a religion,” said Dr. Clifford J. Rosen, an osteoporosis researcher at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute and a member of the Institute of Medicine’s committee. Vitamin D is a nutrient needed to absorb calcium and phosphorus, and therefore to make bones strong. People do not make their own: We need sunlight to synthesize vitamin D. The vitamin also is found in oily fish and in a few other foods, including milk, which is fortified with the vitamin. Because many people have little exposure to sunlight, especially those living in northern climates in winter, some investigators became concerned more than a decade ago that large swaths of the population were not getting enough vitamin D. One is Dr. Michael F. Holick, a professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine and a leading proponent of the idea that just about everyone needs a vitamin D supplement. He points to studies that suggest an association between low vitamin D levels and higher rates of various diseases. While these observational reports do not prove cause and effect, he is persuaded by the fact that many point in the same direction, hinting that low blood levels of vitamin D are hazardous. Doctors, he believes, must take action. The recommended daily allowance is 600 international units up to age 70, and 800 I. U. for people who are older, Dr. Holick said. Diet cannot provide that much of the vitamin, he notes. And it would require nearly constant exposure to sunlight to reach the levels he recommends. Over the years, he acknowledged, studies in which people were randomly assigned to take a vitamin D pill or a placebo have failed to support claims for the vitamin’s benefits. But those studies tended to be too small to be definitive, he said. Yet recent trials, larger and more rigorous, also have not produced the results. One study with 5, 108 participants, published this month in JAMA Cardiology, found that vitamin D did not prevent heart attacks. Another study, published at the end of March, included 2, 303 healthy postmenopausal women randomly assigned to take vitamin D and calcium supplements or a placebo. The supplements did not protect the women against cancer, the researchers concluded. Other, more ambitious studies are underway, including a randomized study of almost 26, 000 healthy men and women directed by Dr. Manson and Julie Buring, who hope to answer once and for all whether taking vitamin D can prevent cancer, heart disease and strokes. The frenzy for vitamin D began not in natural food stores but in medical journals. Beginning around 2000, a series of research papers linked vitamin D levels that are lower, but considered normal, to multiple sclerosis and mental illness, then to cancer risk and bone health. Blood testing for the vitamin took off. “Patients began asking for it,” said Dr. Fairfield, the researcher in Maine. “A lot of people thought that if they were fatigued or sad or they did not feel well, they might be vitamin D deficient. ” In 2007, Dr. Holick published a paper in The New England Journal of Medicine asserting that vitamin D levels now considered normal — 21 to 29 nanograms per milliliter of blood — were linked to an increased risk of cancer, autoimmune disease, diabetes, schizophrenia, depression, poor lung capacity and wheezing. He also published books promoting the idea that vitamin D levels in that range were insufficient to promote good health. In 2011, a committee of the Endocrine Society, headed by Dr. Holick, came out with a recommendation that vitamin D levels be at least 30 nanograms per milliliter, which meant that most people were vitamin D deficient. The group recommended the taking of supplements but not widespread testing, on the grounds that this would not be . The new guideline had an immediate effect: Commercial labs began describing levels of 20 to 30 nanograms per milliliter as insufficient. Many continue to do so today. “There was a vitamin D bandwagon,” said Dr. Sundeep Khosla, an osteoporosis expert at the Mayo Clinic. Vitamin D tests “became incorporated into the general evaluation of patients,” he added. Ravinder J. Singh, who runs a testing lab at the Mayo Clinic, was taken aback by the sudden deluge. “Demand for vitamin D testing went through the sky,” he said. “It was almost as though there was nothing else serious in clinical practice. ” Dr. Fairfield, like many other general practitioners, began testing patients, trying to make sure they raised their vitamin D levels above 29 and became concerned that she and other doctors had been too cavalier about the vitamin. “We were worried that there was a lot we were missing,” she said. But when the Institute of Medicine report proved critical of the vitamin D craze, she started telling healthy patients there was no reason for them to be tested. Many did not want to hear that advice. “People were used to vitamin D monitoring, like with cholesterol,” Dr. Fairfield said. “They wanted to know what their number is. ” Although Dr. Fairfield stopped routine vitamin D testing, many others have not. Becky Rosen, 64, a nurse who is director of clinical services at a home health agency in Brunswick, Me. had a physical exam four years ago and was told she needed a vitamin D test. She declined. Her next physical exam was in February, with a different doctor. Once again, the doctor wanted to test her vitamin D level. “I said, ‘I don’t think I need it,’” Ms. Rosen said. The doctor persisted, explaining that Maine is so far north that people may not be exposed to much sunlight. Once again, Ms. Rosen politely but firmly declined. But she is a special patient: Her husband, Dr. Rosen, helped write the Institute of Medicine report that was critical of vitamin D supplements. “I can see other people getting persuaded,” Ms. Rosen said. | 1 |
(Before It's News)
An NSA Whistleblower says that Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails are easily accessible by the NSA and FBI should they desire to look at them, and he suggests that the hacks on the Democratic National Committee’s server was not done by Russia, as many pundits are claiming, but possibly by a disgruntled U.S. intelligence worker.
William Binney, the architect of the NSA’s surveillance program, resigned on October 31, 2001, after working for the agency for more than 30 years. He thinks that an intelligence worker may have hacked into the DNC emails due to concern about Hillary Clinton’s disregard of national security in her use of a personal email server and her continued lies about her activity. Once accessed, there’s no telling where the information could have gone.
The “Putin did it” story is a fable used to sway voters towards Clinton’s war-driven agenda.
On a talk radio show, he mentioned that there are numerous questions that are not being answered about the hacked DNC emails and the network log available to the NSA.
Binney explains that there was no evidence tying the alleged Russian hacks to Wikileaks, and he says that they would have access to this information through the network logs. “So, if the FBI really wanted them, they can go into that database and get them right now,” he said.
He finds their reluctance to speak to this matter highly suspicious.
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(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Turkey declared martial law as military factions attempted a coup. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose whereabouts was previously unclear, flew back to Istanbul. It was a sign that the coup was failing as factions fought for control. “There is no power higher than the power of the people,” Mr. Erdogan said earlier, using an iPhone to broadcast messages. Our live coverage is here. _____ 2. World leaders expressed solidarity and outrage as France reeled from its third major terrorist attack in 19 months. “The times have changed,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls said, “and France is going to have to live with terrorism. ” The weapon was chillingly mundane: a refrigerator truck, driven into a crowd of people watching holiday fireworks in the Mediterranean city of Nice. At least 84 people were killed — including children — and more than 200 injured in a trail of carnage. _____ 3. The police shot and killed the driver. He was identified as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a Tunisian who moved to France about 10 years ago. _____ 4. In the U. S. the attack prompted Donald Trump to pledge to seek a declaration of war from Congress against Islamic terrorists. He also delayed an appearance with his newly named running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, above. Newt Gingrich, whom Mr. Trump passed over for vice president, stirred controversy by saying that American Muslims who believed in Shariah law should be deported. _____ 5. Plans for the Republican National Convention, which starts Monday, were still taking shape. The football player Tim Tebow denied reports that he would be speaking, and the rabbi of Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka backed out of delivering the invocation. More than a dozen senators also say they have better things to do next week. (Jeff Flake of Arizona said he would be “mowing my lawn. ”) _____ 6. Congress released 28 pages of its 2002 inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks, which list possible links between Saudi officials and Qaeda operatives. Lawmakers and families of victims fought for years to declassify the pages, which were kept secret to protect U. S. relations. Repeated investigations failed to confirm any official Saudi role, and Saudi officials welcomed the release as a way to “clear up, once and for all, any lingering questions or suspicions. ” _____ 7. In theaters this weekend: “Ghostbusters. ” Our reviewer calls it cheerfully silly — and a lot like the 1984 comedy hit, “except that it stars four funny women instead of, you know, four funny men. ” The Paul Feig, she writes, is “one of the best things to happen to American comedy. ” And here are more recommendations from our entertainment experts on TV and streaming options. _____ 8. Herbalife, the supplements company, avoided being classified as a pyramid scheme by the Federal Trade Commission but agreed to pay $200 million to resolve accusations of deception. Herbalife’s stock rose 11. 7 percent, to $66. 15. _____ 9. Researchers made inroads on understanding just how much harsher the misery of jet lag is going east than west. The team’s mathematical model of the body’s cells shows that a westward trip across nine time zones can take eight days of recovery, because lengthening a day is easier to handle. The eastward parallel may take a person 13 days to bounce back from. _____ 10. Finally, China’s farmers think they can offer customers something even better than organic. They are adapting the herbal elixirs in traditional Chinese medicine for their cows, pigs and ducks. One farmer said that what’s good for the goose is good for those dining on the goose. “In the old days, we used traditional methods to feed the animals,” one farmer said. “People’s longevity was very long. ” Have a good weekend. _____ 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 |
Former FBI director James Comey opened his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday by complaining about “shifting explanations” for why he had been fired, and by attacking the Trump administration. [Comey said that he had originally intended to accept his firing quietly, but then found that the administration’s statements about the matter “confused me and increasingly concerned me. ” He said that President Donald Trump had assured him that he was doing a good job, and that he had assured the president in return that he intended to stay. “I was extremely by the FBI workforce,” Comey said. “So it confused me when I saw on television the president saying that he actually fired me because of the Russia investigation. ” Under questioning, Comey would later admit that the president did not ask him to stop the Russia investigation, an admission already contained in Comey’s prepared written testimony. Comey continued: “I was also confused by the initial explanation that was offered publicly: that I was fired because of the decisions I had made during the election year. ” He had assumed that was “water … under the bridge,” he said. “The administration then chose to defame me, and more importantly the FBI, by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader. Those were lies, plain and simple, and I am so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them, and I’m so sorry that the American people were told them. ” Comey closed his remarks by offering words of praise for his former colleagues at the FBI. But his remarks left little doubt that his motivations for testifying were deeply personal. And they created an impression that he intended to exact a political price from the president for doing what he acknowledged the president had every right to do. Joel B. Pollak is Senior at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | 1 |
Financial Markets , Gold , Housing Market , Market Manipulation , U.S. Economy Comex , LBMA , Shanghai Gold Exchange , silver eagles admin
Gold was pushing $1230/oz overnight, as the methodical take-down of gold and silver in the NYC and London paper markets has triggered an avalanche of demand for physical gold in the eastern hemisphere.
Last night ex-duty import premiums in India were $14 over spot gold. In Shanghai the premium to world gold was $9.76. Delivery volume into the Shanghai Gold Exchange rocketed to an extraordinary 86.55 tonnes (it was 35.9 tonnes on Wednesday). The open interest on the SGE was 807 tonnes. To one observer’s recollection, John Brimelow of John Brimelow’s Gold Jottings, this is the first time the open interest has been over 800 tonnes.
In Viet Nam the premium paid by the public was $90 over world gold. The spread has been wider over the last 15 years, but not much and only during times when there’s been high “backwardation” between the physical delivery bullion markets in the east vs. the fraudulent paper gold markets in London and NYC.
To reinforce this nebulous idea of gold flowing from west to east, and unusually high amount of gold was shipped out of the Comex kilo bar vaults yesterday. 320,434 ozs left the Comex. Over 12,000 kilobars have left JP Morgan’s kilobar vault account in the last two days. This is being attributed as evidence of Asia’s voracious demand right now, as NY and London – when those two conduits actually clear real metal – trade 400oz LBMA grade bars whereas Asia prefers kilobars.
The price of gold is being attacked right now in a manner that is quite reminiscent of the way it was attacked in the summer of 2008, right before the global financial markets collapsed, led by the fall of Lehman.
Something really ugly is coming toward the global economic and financial system. The dollar index soared from 72 to 86 between June 2008 and October 2008, while gold and silver were systematically taken a lot lower. We know how that played.
Similarly, the dollar has gone parabolic in the last week without any visible news or events that would have triggered this move. Too be sure, if Trump implements his borrow and spend program for infrastructure projects, the Fed will have to print a lot of money to monetize the avalanche of Treasury debt issuance, given that the rest of the world is now dumping their Treasuries.
Both of those factors should be dollar-bearish and gold-bullish. In good time that’s how this will play out.
In the latest episode of the Shadow of Truth, we discuss the extraordinary “backwardation” that has developed in the price of gold between the west and the east. We also discuss evidence of the ongoing collapse in the U.S. economy. Share this: | 0 |
A Verizon service disruption unleashed travel chaos at a terminal at Kennedy International Airport on Sunday night, grinding the process to a near halt and forcing airline employees to boarding passes for thousands of unhappy passengers. Large numbers of travelers were affected by the disruption, which began around 4 p. m. in Terminal 7, which is operated by British Airways, said Neal Buccino, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport. The line stretched to an estimated 1, 500 people at one point, he said. Mr. Buccino said the server that provided wireless Internet and other computer services for the terminal had “some kind of problem. ” An airport official said the services were provided by Verizon, which did not offer a comment when reached on Sunday night. “We apologize for any inconvenience caused as a result of a system outage,” a spokeswoman for British Airways wrote in an email. “Our colleagues are working as quickly as they can to assist all customers traveling tonight. ” A line of frustrated passengers could be seen stretching out the terminal doors, snaking up the sidewalk all the way back onto the elevated roadway that leads to the terminal. Inside, airline employees were writing boarding passes by hand, sometimes in pencil. Terminal 7 is operated by British Airways, not the Port Authority, but Mr. Buccino said Port Authority police officers had been dispatched there to help control the crowd. He described the scene as “orderly,” but said tensions had sometimes flared. | 1 |
Despite President Donald Trump’s promise to stop companies from outsourcing production to Mexico by imposing a significant border tax on goods sold in America, some businesses ignore this threat. [Following his election in November, the Trump administration assembled a group of 28 business and labor leaders to advise on “on how best to promote job growth and get Americans back to work again,” as well as launching a Manufacturing Jobs Initiative. The Wall Street Journal published a report on Wednesday on some of the companies planning to outsource production. Here is what they found: Rexnord of Indiana is moving to Mexico and rather viciously firing all of its 300 workers. This is happening all over our country. No more! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2016, Despite these apparent failures to persuade companies to remain in America, Trump has had some significant successes in ensuring the continuation, or even creation, of jobs in America. As well as assurances from Ford and General Motors to expand production, companies such as Apple, Intel and Amazon have all told the administration they will continue to invest in America. Since Donald Trump’s election in November, Department of Labor figures show the economy has gained 227, 00 jobs, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has eclipsed 20, 000. You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com | 1 |
Corrente.
TPP/TTIP/TISA/NAFTA
“[Trump] has many tools to reverse the post World War II consensus on liberalizing U.S. trade without needing congressional approval. For instance, he can withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, as he has threatened to do, by simply notifying the U.S.’ Nafta partners, Mexico and Canada, and waiting six months. Withdrawing from the World Trade Organization, which sets rules for global trading and enforces tariffs, has a similar provision” [ Wall Street Journal , “Donald Trump Will Need to Leverage Size, Power of U.S. Economy to Remake Global Trading System”]. “‘Our major trading partners are far more likely to cooperate with an America resolute about balancing its trade than they are likely to provoke a trade war,’ wrote Trump economic advisers Peter Navarro [ here ] of the University of California-Irvine and investor Wilbur Ross in September. ‘This is true for one very simple reason: America’s major trading partners are far more dependent on American markets than America is on their markets.'”
TPP: “To take effect, TPP must be ratified by February 2018 by at least six countries that account for 85 percent of the 12 members’ aggregate economic output. This effectively means that the U.S. and Japan, the world’s third-largest economy and the second-largest that is a signatory nation, must both be on board” [ DC Velocity ].
TPP: “Mr. Trump’s win also seals the fate of President Barack Obama’s 12-nation trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. The president-elect blamed the TPP on special interests who want to “rape” the country” [ Wall Street Journal , “Donald Trump Win to Upend Trade Policy”]. “Mr. Obama had hoped to work with Republican lawmakers to pass the TPP during the ‘lame duck’ session of Congress after the election, where they faced an uphill battle even if Tuesday’s vote had favored Hillary Clinton, who previously backed the TPP negotiations. Now Republicans have little incentive to bring the TPP to a vote, since Mr. Trump could easily threaten to unravel the deal when he takes office and block its implementation, as well as punish lawmakers who vote for it.”
TPP: “Donald Trump’s historic victory Tuesday has killed any chance of Congress voting on President Barack Obama’s signature Asia-Pacific trade agreement while raising the odds of a damaging trade confrontation with China — just two ways a Trump presidency could upend the global trading system and usher in a new era of U.S. protectionism, analysts say” [ Politico ]. “‘This is the end of globalization is we knew it … because what the U.S. is going to do is certainly going to impact other countries’ and their decisions on negotiations,’ Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Politico. ‘TPP is now in the history dustbin for sure,’ Hufbauer said.”
TPP: “House GOP election outcomes will be key as House Speaker Paul Ryan decides whether to bring the TPP to a vote in the lame-duck session with GOP voters strongly against and the GOP ‘s high-donor base demanding action. With an eye to conservative GOP threats to withhold support for his speakership and a possible 2020 presidential run, Ryan’s decision is complicated. Whether the TPP will get a lame-duck vote is his call. Beyond whether he can muster the votes of representatives who weathered the wrath of trade voters in this cycle and worry about the 2018 primaries lies the longer-term implications of his even trying to do so with the GOP voter base so intensely against the pact” [Lori Wallach, Eyes on Trade ].
2016
The Rending of Garments and Gnashing of Teeth
“People’s net worth has been crippled, if you were directly, in a 401K, through a mutual fund, or through a pension, invested in capital markets” [TeacherKen, Daily Kos ]. Bathos.
Money
“Allies on the ground complained for weeks that they weren’t getting the resources they needed” [ The Hill ]. “‘The big question is ‘How much money did you spend? And what’s left in the bank?’ said one Clinton surrogate. ‘Because there were states like Michigan that kept sounding the alarm and no one was taking it seriously until the very end. They never really got everything they wanted.’…“Russ Feingold sent a flare up and said ‘I need help,’ [Democratic strategist Jim Manley] said, but it went largely ignored.” Huh? Clinton spent the month of August fundraising. The Clinton Victory Fund scam turned the state parties into a money laundries for cash passed through to the Clinton campaign. Clinton raised $154 million in September for her campaign and the party. And people “getting the resources they needed”? Seems odd.
Policy
“Majority Leader Mitch McConnell signaled the Senate would move swiftly to repeal Obamacare now that the GOP Congress will have a Republican president next year” [ Politico ].
Polling Debacle
“While the [Trump] campaign had expressed confidence in public, their own data showed only a narrow path to the 270 electorates needed to win the White House” [ NBC ]. And: “RNC staffers thought Trump would win 240 Electoral College votes, 30 short of the 270 needed to win. They cautioned reporters that these numbers could change. And it was noteworthy that their projections were more optimistic than much of the public polling. But Trump was down 2 points in Florida, down 2 points in Iowa, down 2 points in New Hampshire and down 3 points in Wisconsin. Trump won Florida, won Iowa, won Wisconsin, and as of the publishing of this story was in a tight race for New Hampshire” [ Yahoo News ]. Which, interestingly, is what I kept saying. When I cut through the triumphalism and looked at the polling, and threw those numbers against the “paths to victory,” it was always (except for one week) a horse race. So I seem to have channeled the Trump team’s thinking on the data. It’s been an interesting year, and I’ll critique my approach tomorrow. An interesting data point: “The best data inside the Trump campaign was just as pessimistic. Even the most optimistic models run by Cambridge Analytica for Trump showed him losing. But as Cambridge’s Matt Oczkowski tweeted late Tuesday, Trump’s support and turnout among rural voters was 10 percentage points higher than they had expected .” Ten points is rather a lot.
“Donald Trump’s win was predicted by Allan Lichtman — the US election expert who has called every result since 1984” [ Independent ]. “‘[The 13 keys method] is a historically based prediction system. I derived the system by looking at every American presidential election from 1860 to 1980,’ Professor Lichtman has said.” And: “Lichtman believes election analysts err by studying campaign as a series of battlefields — northern versus southern Florida, western versus eastern Pennsylvania, and so on. He prefers likening it to dominoes, toppling one way or the other. He says U.S. campaigns are contests of momentum. In the early 1980s, he and a colleague examined election results dating back to the Civil War and found a pattern. They drew up 13 true-false statements, and if the answer to six or more was ”False,” the incumbent party always lost the White House” [ HuffPo ]. And: “LICHTMAN: I don’t call [the 13 keys] data-driven. I have no problem with data. My prediction system is based on a huge amount of data, you know. But I do object to poll-and-pundit-driven analysis, which is not meaningful because it’s not based on any kind of systematic assessment of how elections work” [ NPR ].
“I Answer Your Questions About Predicting President Trump” [ Scott Adams Blog ]. “Clinton’s team of cognitive scientists and professional persuaders did a terrific job of framing Trump as scary. The illusion will wear off – albeit slowly – as you observe Trump going about the job of President and taking it seriously. You can expect him to adjust his tone and language going forward. You can expect foreign leaders to say they can work with him. You can expect him to focus on unifying an exhausted and nervous country. And you can expect him to succeed in doing so. (He’s persuasive.) Watch as Trump turns to healing. You’re going to be surprised how well he does it. But give it time.” Scott Adams is looking pretty good right now. But is he only as good as his last trade?
“Silver is just guessing. And, in the run-up to this election, he made so many guesses that at least one of them has to be correct” [ WaPo ].
Downballot
“The 2018 election cycle has started and Republicans find themselves in an interesting place. On the one hand, the tables are turned as they will get to play offense. There are 33 races in 2018 and Democrats will defend 25 of those seats while Republicans will defend just eight of them” [ Cook Political Report ].
The Voters
Anecdotes but well-chosen: “It was never enough to say that the Trump phenomenon rested only on whites without a college degree. They were part of Trump’s surprise, but not all of it. The real shocks were the fence-sitters, the late-breakers, the Bush-family types, and the suburban women. They would, we were so often told, recoil from Trump. Outside the Silverbrook Elementary School, a polling station in the affluent community of Fairfax Station, I encountered Jaclyn Miller, a genial tax accountant in her mid-thirties. I asked how she voted. She winced and laughed. ‘I voted for Trump, begrudgingly,’ she said” [ The New Yorker ]. “‘It was the lesser of two evils, in my mind. I’m definitely a fiscal conservative, and the corruption and everything from Hillary, just, I couldn’t do it,’ she said. “She’s not trustworthy.’ The ‘Access Hollywood’ tape did not matter much to her. After all, she said, Bill Clinton was ‘with an intern in the Oval Office.; Of Trump, she added, ‘I’m sure there’s things that I’ve said that I would never want public.’ Miller went on, ‘A couple weeks ago, I had decided, at that moment, that I was going third party. And I really wish that there was a valid third-party option. I think a lot of Americans don’t fall into one category.'” Amen to that last comment.
“The Democratic Party Deserved To Die” [Krystal Ball, HuffPo ]. “Well, those jobs are actually gone for good, we knowingly told them. And we offered a fantastical non-solution. We will retrain you for good jobs! Never mind that these ‘good jobs’ didn’t exist in East Kentucky or Cleveland. And as a final insult, we lectured a struggling people watching their kids die of drug overdoses about their white privilege. Can you blame them for calling bullshit? ”
“The ‘Deplorables’ Got the Last Laugh” [David Dayen, The New Republic ]. “[T]he lesson for Democrats is ultimately clear enough: You cannot write off half the country, much less spend an election cycle deriding it, and expect success.”
“Despite the unexpected triumph of Donald Trump, Democratic state legislative candidates held their own Tuesday in their efforts to close the gap on Republicans in the nation’s statehouses” [ RealClearPolitics ]. But: “Overall, after netting more than 800 state legislative seats during the Obama years, Republicans are hugely dominant in the nation’s statehouses, controlling 66 of the nation’s 98 partisan legislative chambers. Democrats control 30. There are two ties, pending the outcome in the New York Senate. (Nebraska has a nominally non-partisan unicameral legislature.) ”
Our Famously Free Press
“But I’ve come to think that the rise of fake news — and of the cheap-to-run, ideologically driven aggregator sites that are only a few steps up from fake — has weaponized those filter bubbles. There were just too many people voting in this election because they were infuriated by made-up things they read online” [ Nieman Labs ]. Dunno about that (see below). But this rings true: “One thread running through the countless profiles of Trump voters this cycle was the loss of community institutions. The factories shut down; the church pews were emptier than they used to be; the braided fabric of their towns had unraveled. Don’t forget that, particularly in smaller communities, the local newspaper was one of those key institutions — the daily or weekly package of stories that connected you to your neighbors.”
“Facebook’s algorithm and whatever ‘echo chamber’ or ‘filter bubble’ or whatever it may have created did not lead to this result. This was the result of a very large group of people who are quite clearly — and reasonably — pissed off at the status quo…. This was a “throw the bums out” vote, and many of the bums deserved to be thrown out” [ Tech Dirt ]. “But that’s not Facebook’s fault. And the idea that a better or different algorithm on Facebook would have made the results any different is just as ridiculous as the idea that newspaper endorsements or ‘fact checking’ mattered one bit. People are angry because the system has failed them in many, many ways, and it’s not because they’re idiots who believed all the fake news Facebook pushed on them (even if some of them did believe it). Many people don’t think Trump will be any good, but they voted for him anyway, because the status quo is broken.”
Legitimacy
Trump meets with Obama: “‘We discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful and some difficulties. I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel,’ Trump said. ‘Mr. President, it was a great honor meeting with you. And I look forward to meeting with you many, many more times in the future'” [Olivier Knox, Yahoo News ].
Sanders: “To the degree that Mr. Trump is serious about pursuing policies that improve the lives of working families in this country, I and other progressives are prepared to work with him. To the degree that he pursues racist, sexist, xenophobic, and anti-environment policies, we will vigorously oppose him” [ Variety ].
“Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg appeared to be wearing her infamous “dissent jabot” on the bench Wednesday morning. The move is being widely interpreted as a repudiation of Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election a night earlier” [ The Hill ]. “Ginsburg typically wears the collar when issuing dissenting opinions in the court, as she explained to Yahoo News in 2014. But no opinions were read Wednesday.” This isn’t like Kremlinology. It is Kremlinology.
“The audience for our glib analysis and contempt for much of the electorate, it turned out, was rather limited. This was particularly true when it came to voters, the ones who turned out by the millions to deliver not only a rebuke to the political system but also the people who cover it. Trump knew what he was doing when he invited his crowds to jeer and hiss the reporters covering him. They hate us, and have for some time” [ CBS ]. “What’s worse, we don’t make much of an effort to really understand, and with too few exceptions, treat the economic grievances of Middle America like they’re some sort of punchline. Sometimes quite literally so, such as when reporters tweet out a photo of racist-looking Trump supporters and jokingly suggest that they must be upset about free trade or low wages.” Yglesias being a prime offender.
“My mom-in-law was watching CBS all night, so that’s what we watched. All the pundits/anchors spoke in the hushed tones of a funeral. For two hours, the only images of campaign workers shown were the sad faces of Clinton supporters; not one image of jubilant Trump supporters was broadcast until Trump gave his acceptance speech” [ Of Two Minds ]. “When one of the talking heads noted that Hillary never generated the enthusiasm of the Sanders or Trump campaigns, his comment was followed by a stony silence. That he had given voice to a self-evident truth was not welcome.
“The White House on Wednesday refused to rule out the possibility that Obama would pardon Clinton to prevent Trump from prosecuting her when he takes office” [ The Hill ]. And: “‘There are deep and disturbing issues there,’ [Rudy] Giuliani, a top Donald Trump adviser and former federal prosecutor, said Thursday on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends,’ citing the Clinton Foundation. ‘That’s why I don’t think President Obama should pardon her,’ Giuliani added. ‘I think President Obama should leave it to the system that we all believe in to determine is she innocent or is she guilty?'”
“Within a few weeks of winning the White House, President-elect Donald Trump could face another group of U.S. citizens, a federal jury in California, courtesy of a lawsuit by former students of his now-defunct Trump University who claim they were defrauded by a series of real-estate seminars” [ Reuters ].
Stats Watch
Jobless Claims, week of November 5, 2016: “Employers are holding tightly onto their employees as jobless claims remain steady at or near record lows” [ Econoday ]. And: “lower than the consensus forecast” [ Calculated Risk ]. But: “The trend of the 4 week moving average is continuing to marginally worsened – and catch up to the rolling averages of a year ago – and this trend historically indicates a weakening GDP” [ Econintersect ].
Employment Situation: “Despite largescale hiring announcements from numerous major retailers, the number of October employment gains in the sector declined 21 percent from a year ago to 154,600. That was the fewest job gains to kick off the holiday hiring season since 2012” [ Econintersect ].
Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, week of November 6, 2016: “The consumer comfort index, at 45.1 in the November 6 week, is accelerating” [ Econoday ]. “Strength in consumer confidence is tied closely to strength in the labor market. ”
Shipping: “[“Smart containers”] can be tracked, managed and monitored remotely using special hardware such as relay antennas which allows the lines to collect, store and analyse data even while the ship is in high seas.. Based on this data, lines can take relevant remedial action where required, especially with regards to reefer cargo” [ Shipping & Freight Resource ]. “In a lot of the cases digital technology has become a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) and shipping lines while competing on price have also started competing on ease of UX (User Experience) and through this have managed to transfer a lot of the work from their desks to the customers desks…. Of course there are humans involved in these processes in the background, but the fact remains that in a lot of the cases you don’t have any visible human interaction as the system takes care of everything.”
Shipping: “Cargo transportation by sea in 2015 saw its slowest rate of growth since 2009 amid the prolonged slowdown in global trade.Figures from the UN Conference on Trade and Development indicated that seaborne shipping had risen 2.1% year on year to exceed 10bn tons” [ Lloyd’s List ].
The Bezzle: ” Yahoo describes massive data breach, doesn’t explain two-year disclosure gap” [ FCPA Blog ]. “Yahoo said in a securities filing Wednesday that employees knew in late 2014 a state-sponsored hacker entered its network and stole names, birth dates, and encrypted passwords for more than 500 million accounts… Wednesday’s disclosure didn’t say which employees knew about the attack or who they informed. Yahoo first disclosed the 2014 data breach in September this year. The board is now investigating the attack with the help of forensic experts, Yahoo said Wednesday. The company didn’t say when the board first learned about the attack or which executives, if any, knew about the attack when it happened. Yahoo disclosed the attack in September, two months after entering into an agreement to sell itself to Verizon for $4.8 billion.”
The Bezzle: “̌Republican Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential race puts a new rule on retirement advice in limbo, even after Wall Street’s biggest wealth management firms have spent millions preparing for it, lawyers and analysts said this week. The U.S. Department of Labor fiduciary rule, which is set to start taking effect in April, is meant to promote the best interests of retirement savers by eliminating conflicts of interest for brokers” [ Reuters ]. “On the campaign trail, Trump has said that ’70 percent of regulations can go,’ and an adviser, Anthony Scaramucci [ here ], told Reuters the fiduciary rule ‘would likely be stopped.'”
The Bezzle: “We decided to examine the descriptions of [thousands of companies that received venture capital investment since 2010] to get a better look into the ever-changing startup landscape. We used natural language processing to identify trends by looking at which words are more or less common today than at the beginning of the decade” [ Priceonomics ]. “We found that social media, mobile apps, and email startups are on their way out, while messaging, healthcare, tools, and artificial intelligence are gaining momentum. By and large, startup descriptions are tech-heavy, featuring words like ‘app,’‘cloud,’ and ‘network.’ Our data also shows that no word has seen a bigger jump in usage than ‘virtual reality’ and no word a bigger decline than ‘electronics.'”
Political Risk: “‘The rapid rise of political and social populism and accelerating global migration are causes of concern,’ [AG CEO Joe] Kaeser said. [ Wall Street Journal , “Siemens Warns of Populist Threat to Business as Profit Jumps”].
Political Risk: “The global shipping industry is bracing for a Donald Trump presidency, fearing the antitrade rhetoric in the campaign could turn into international showdowns that cripple the flow of goods” [ Wall Street Journal ]. “The betting in Mr. Trump’s camp is that trading partners will believe that access to the U.S. market is too precious to give up without negotiating new deals. Until that happens, however, ocean carriers will have to watch the political winds.”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 40 Fear (previous close: 30, Fear) [ CNN ]. One week ago: 18 (Extreme Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Nov 9 at 11:38am. Life goes on.
Gaia
“Sex is far from a perfect way to reproduce. It imposes a huge cost on a species, and that cost is called “males.” If roughly 50 percent of a species is made up of males who are incapable of producing babies, it is at a serious reproductive disadvantage relative to another species made up mostly of females capable of reproducing on their own” [ Nautilus ]. “Despite its drawbacks, sex does seem to offer a species an incontrovertible advantage. It recombines individuals’ genes so that the species as a whole can maintain the diversity of traits it needs to survive whatever challenges—faster predators, changing climate, giant comet impacts—the future may throw at it…. By this logic, parthenogenesis is an evolutionary cul-de-sac.” But: “Earlier this year, a team from the American Museum of Natural History compared easily measurable traits such as scales along the belly, or pores on the right leg, from seven generations of one line of parthenogenic whiptails with a sexually reproducing species. The parthenogens showed just as much physical variability as sexually reproducing whiptails, even though the parthenogens all had identical DNA.” Hoo boy.
News of the Wired
“A life in ruins” [ New Criterion ]. “On the architectural vision of John Soane.” Random quote: “Around 1850, Baudelaire was the first to use modernité in the sense of a unique aesthetic sensibility.”
“How Japan Prepares Its Children for Independence” [ Savvy Tokyo ]. “By five and six, Japanese children often take public transit or walk to school without their parents.”
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Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here . And here’s today’s plant (ChiGal):
ChiGal writes: “[A] hornbeam tree, never seen in the Chi but all over Carrboro, the ‘Paris of the South.’ If croissants were biscuits…”
Readers, Water Cooler is a standalone entity, not supported by the very successful Naked Capitalism fundraiser just past. Now, I understand you may feel tapped out, but when and if you are able, please use the dropdown to choose your contribution, and then click the hat! Your tip will be welcome today, and indeed any day. Water Cooler will not exist without your continued help. Donate
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Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here . And here’s today’s plant (ChiGal):
ChiGal writes: “[A] hornbeam tree, never seen in the Chi but all over Carrboro, the ‘Paris of the South.’ If croissants were biscuits…”
Readers, Water Cooler is a standalone entity, not supported by the very successful Naked Capitalism fundraiser just past. Now, I understand you may feel tapped out, but when and if you are able, please use the dropdown to choose your contribution, and then click the hat! Your tip will be welcome today, and indeed any day. Water Cooler will not exist without your continued help. Donate 0 0 0 0 0 0 This entry was posted in Water Cooler on by Lambert Strether . About Lambert Strether
Lambert Strether has been blogging, managing online communities, and doing system administration 24/7 since 2003, in Drupal and WordPress. Besides political economy and the political scene, he blogs about rhetoric, software engineering, permaculture, history, literature, local politics, international travel, food, and fixing stuff around the house. The nom de plume “Lambert Strether” comes from Henry James’s The Ambassadors: “Live all you can. It’s a mistake not to.” You can follow him on Twitter at @lambertstrether. http://www.correntewire.com | 0 |
Chips ‘do not need to be cooked three times’ 03-11-16 ONCE-COOKED chips are perfectly fine, it has been confirmed. Researchers at the Institute for Studies decided to forego the now-standard ‘triple-cooking’ of chips and found that potatoes only need to be fried once to produce the desired result. Professor Henry Brubaker said: “If you slice potatoes and fry them a single time, you get chips. Perfectly delicious chips. “I have no idea why you’d do it twice more, unless you are some sort of imbecile.” Professory Brubaker confirmed that even if you were deep-frying a horse you would only need to do it once. He added: “Get oil, make hot, put thing in oil, take thing out, eat thing. “If Heston Blumenthal told you to punch yourself in the ear would you do that too?”
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President Donald Trump appears disappointed in China’s efforts to stop continued aggression from North Korea. [“While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out,” he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon. “At least I know China tried!” After meeting with President Xi Jinping in April, Trump appeared optimistic that China would help North Korea’s actions in the region, even stalling some of his aggressive actions on trade. “Look, I’ve been talking about China for years,” he told Fox News host Martha MacCallum during an interview. “Now, I speak nicely about China because I really do believe they’re trying to help out with respect to North Korea. ” Trump also addressed reports of North Korea launching missiles in May, asserting that China was “trying hard” to get them to stop. Trump’s new focus on North Korea might have been sparked by the death of Otto Warmbier — an American student who died, despite coming home to the United States after spending more than a year in a coma in a North Korean prison. “It’s a total disgrace what happened to Otto,” Trump said on Tuesday. “It should never, ever be allowed to happen. And frankly, if he were brought home sooner, I think the results would have been a lot different. ” | 1 |
at 11:11 am 5 Comments
While most Americans were captivated by last night’s World Series Game 7, some very, very big news broke. Normally, I’d summarize the news and provide my perspective before highlighting source text, but in this case I want to provide the information first.
The real blockbuster came from Fox News’ Bret Baier, who released some serious information courtesy of two sources at the FBI. Real Clear Politics summarized Bret’s primary conclusions based on his conversations:
1. The Clinton Foundation investigation is far more expansive than anybody has reported so far and has been going on for more than a year.
2. The laptops of Clinton aides Cherryl Mills and Heather Samuelson have not been destroyed, and agents are currently combing through them. The investigation has interviewed several people twice, and plans to interview some for a third time.
3. Agents have found emails believed to have originated on Hillary Clinton’s secret server on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. They say the emails are not duplicates and could potentially be classified in nature.
4. Sources within the FBI have told him that an indictment is “likely” in the case of pay-for-play at the Clinton Foundation, “barring some obstruction in some way” from the Justice Department.
5. FBI sources say with 99% accuracy that Hillary Clinton’s server has been hacked by at least five foreign intelligence agencies, and that information had been taken from it.
Here’s Bret Baier saying it in his own words:
While Friday’s bombshell alerted the American public to the reopening of Hillary Clinton’s private email server probe, the Clinton Foundation investigation is a totally separate beast. It’s now clear that Hillary Clinton, and much of her close circle, are subject to two very serious ongoing investigations. As I explained in the post, Another Black Swan Hits the U.S. Presidential Election , this is very material to the Presidential election for the following reason:
The problems with Hillary Clinton will never go away. They will always resurface or new problems will emerge, and it has nothing to do with a “vast rightwing conspiracy” (or Putin). It has to do with her. It has to do with the fact that her and her husband are career crooks, warmongers, and shameless looters of the American public. This re-opening of the FBI investigation just hammers all of that home for everyone. We know what 4 years of Hillary will look like. It’ll be Obama cronyism on steroids, plus endless investigations with a side of World War 3. I don’t think people want that, and so more Americans than the pundits realize will take a gamble on Trump.
The latest revelations about the Clinton Foundation investigation just further hammers home the above point.
Moreover, it’s becoming increasingly clear that political appointees at the Injustice Department like Loretta Lynch and Peter Kadzik (John Podesta’s close friend since the 1970s) have been trying to thwart probes into the dirtiness of the Clinton Foundation. I covered this earlier in the week in the post, The Story of How the DOJ Tried to Thwart an FBI Investigation Into the Clinton Foundation , but additional details have started to emerge.
As we learned from yesterday’s CNN article, Turmoil in the FBI :
Behind the scenes over the past 15 months, infighting among some agents and officials has exposed some parts of the storied bureau to be buffeted by some of the same bitter divisions as the rest of American society.
This account is based on interviews with more than a dozen officials close to the matter who spoke anonymously because they’ve been ordered not to speak to the news media.
Tensions have built in particular over the handling of matters related to Hillary Clinton. Some of the sharpest divides have emerged between some agents in the FBI’s New York field office, the bureau’s largest and highest-profile, and officials at FBI headquarters in Washington and at the Justice Department.
Some rank-and-file agents interpreted cautious steps taken by the Justice Department and FBI headquarters as being done for political reasons or to protect a powerful political figure. At headquarters, some have viewed the actions and complaints of some agents in the field as driven by the common desire of investigators to get a big case or, perhaps worst, because of partisan views.
Much of the turmoil centers not only on the handling of the probe into Clinton’s use of a private server while secretary of state, but also another case some FBI agents wanted to pursue into the Clinton Foundation and whether there was any impropriety in dealings with donors.
In both cases, some FBI investigators felt stymied by headquarters and Justice Department officials and they interpreted roadblocks as politically partisan.
During the Clinton email server investigation, investigators and prosecutors debated whether to issue subpoenas to Clinton’s aides, officials say. Leaders at the FBI and at the Justice Department thought it would be faster to come to voluntary agreements with aides. Subpoenas could cause delays, particularly if litigation is necessary, officials said. And the FBI and Justice Department wanted to try to complete the probe and get out of the way of the 2016 election.
Now here’s where the Clinton Foundation probe comes into focus…
In the Clinton Foundation probe, at least one FBI field office also received notification of a possible suspicious bank transaction. The transaction involving a Clinton Foundation donor was flagged in what is known as a suspicious activity report, routine notices sent through the Treasury Department’s financial enforcement arm.
By early this year, FBI agents from four field offices — Los Angeles, Little Rock, Arkansas, Washington, D.C., and New York — had open files on the Clinton Foundation and were seeking to get permission to formally conduct investigations of the Clinton Foundation.
In February, as CNN first reported, FBI criminal division leaders and lawyers met with the lawyers from the Justice Department’s public integrity section to present what was known so far and to seek permission to conduct full-blown investigations, including the ability to subpoena records.
At that time, the Justice officials in the meeting advised FBI officials that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to move forward and declined to give the authorization for overt investigative techniques. Some officials described a contentious meeting with strong disagreement on both sides.
Officials leading the meeting told the FBI that investigators hadn’t turned up much more evidence beyond that contained in “Clinton Cash.”
FBI lawyers at headquarters concurred with the Justice Department’s view that agents be allowed to continue their work with the option to return if they found more evidence.
In July, Comey made his announcement to recommend no charges against Clinton.
At a Capitol Hill hearing days later, Comey told members of Congress that he was proud there had been no leaks of his decision.
But blowback from some current and former agents was immediate. As Comey made his rounds of visits to field offices around the country, he heard stinging criticism, particularly from retired agents.
At one meeting in Kansas City, Comey was confronted with stinging criticism of the probe. He pushed back, saying the career agents who knew the most of the case arrived at the conclusion that the case against Clinton wasn’t even a close call.
FBI agents again pressed to take more overt steps in the Clinton Foundation probe, including possibly issuing subpoenas.
Justice Department officials again opposed such moves. They cited, again, a lack of evidence to warrant more investigative steps. And they expressed concerns that with the election close, any overt actions shouldn’t be made until after Election Day.
“It’s just a (message of) ‘hold right now until after the elections — no subpoenas issued, no interviews,” one law enforcement official familiar with the July decision said.
So what conclusions can we draw from the above? First, it seems to confirm some of what Fox reported, namely that there is an ongoing investigation into the Clinton Foundation. That’s important in its own right for the reasons I explained earlier. The second bit of information is new. We learned that Justice Department officials “ expressed concerns that with the election close, any overt actions shouldn’t be made until after Election Day.” The pieces are finally coming together…
Specifically, one of the more interesting aspects of last night’s news is the increased willingness of FBI agents to break protocol and speak to the media about ongoing investigations. Why would they do that? They seem to be doing it due to continued concerns over political interference from the Justice Department (and possibly FBI headquarters) into various investigations into the workings of an extremely powerful political-oligarch family. They are rightly troubled by what a President Clinton could do to any investigation if she’s elected. As such, they are trying to get their concerns out to the public ahead of time.
I’ve been watching all of this develop for some time, and I wrote two prior articles on the topic. Here they are in case you missed them:
October 18, 2016: Internal Anger at the FBI Over Clinton Investigation Continues to Grow
So what’s going on is extremely serious, and many within the FBI appear to be acutely concerned that the perception of the rule of law will be permanently destroyed if Clinton gets into the White House and shuts down all investigations into her and her inner circle. Martin Armstrong summarized the situation perfectly in a blog post earlier today:
The Department of Justice is so compromised with Lynch at the head it is getting to be absurd. Peter J. Kadzik is the Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs at the Department of Justice (DOJ). Clearly, there is an internal war going on as I reported. Now that the FBI has over the 650,000 emails uncovered in Anthony Weiner’s notebook, which Huma Abedin failed to turnover to Congress claiming she had no idea how they got there. The US Justice Department announced it is now also joining the probe to dedicate all necessary resources to quickly clear Hillary, up pops the conflict of interest. In the letter to Congress, the DOJ person to aid this investigation to clear Hillary by the election, is Assistant Attorney General Peter J. Kadzik who wrote to the House and Senate lawmakers.
This is Podesta’s friend for dinner who goes to his house. Plus, Peter Kadzik donated $250 to Hillary also noted in Podesta’s spreadsheet . Kadzik and Podesta were classmates at Georgetown Law School back in the 1970s and have been good friends ever since. In fact, Kadzik represented Podesta during the Monica Lewinsky investigation and Podesta wrote that Kadzik was a “fantastic lawyer” who “kept me out of jail.” It was also Kadzik who lobbied Podesta for Marc Rich to obtain a pardon for a fugitive when you have to show remorse to get a pardon. Never has a Pardon been granted to a fugitive in this manner. Then Kadzik’s wife, Amy Weiss of Weiss Public Affairs, worked on the 1992 Clinton/Gore Campaign as a Press Secretary. She was the Communications Director for the Democratic National Committee, and on top of that, she was White House Deputy Assistant to the President Bill Clinton. It gets better. Another email sent on May 5, 2015 , Kadzik’s son asked Podesta for a job on the Clinton campaign. This is the independent person appointed by Lynch to clear Hillary? Come on! This is outright in your face corruption.
Why would the DOJ pick such a conflicted person? The answer is obvious. They want to CLEAR Hillary no matter what. Kadzik is there to now counteract anything Comey does because there is really an internal war waging in Washington. The screams from behind the curtain are getting deafening. It is so disgusting that we are witnessing the complete collapse of anything pretended to be the rule of law. The status quo, including George Bush Sr, are all backing Hillary so there is NOTHING that will change and they all live fat and happy off of our taxes and legal oppression. This is really becoming a battle to save the country from the privileged establishment. They milk us like cows and send our boys into battle with lies and propaganda to enrich themselves. I lost half my school friends to Vietnam when Lyndon Johnson even said in 1965 the Vietnamese never attacked us; “For all I know, our navy was shooting at whales out there.” ( source )
I also covered the disturbing crony relationships between the DOJ/FBI and Clinton’s inner circle in recent weeks. For more on that, see: | 0 |
Eisenhower's Meetings With Extraterrestrials Are Only The Tip Of The Iceberg Please scroll down for video
On December the 11th 1984, a television producer and UFO researcher called Jamie Shandera was surprised to find an envelope left anonymously for him to find. The envelope would prove to be a revelation for Shandera who found that it contained copies of top secret documents intended for the former President Dwight Eisenhower. These documents referred to the presence of extra-terrestrials here on Earth and strongly suggested that the president had been dealing with them. President Eisenhower’s great-granddaughter speaks out about the secret alien meetings
The FBI took it upon themselves to investigate the documents but following a thorough investigation they claimed that the documents were nothing more than an elaborate hoax. Most people accepted the FBI’s explanation at face value and it might have been the case that nothing more would have been said about these unusual documents. However, this story has remained prominent for ufologists over the years because of the regularity in which other credible individuals have elaborated on Shandera’s story and furnished it with important details.
One of these individuals is Timothy Good – a former government consultant in the United States.
President Eisenhower suddenly went missing on the evening of February 20th 1954. In order to dispel the rumours that he was taken ill or that he had died, his official staff said that the president was undergoing emergency dental work. But according to Good, this story is nonsense. Eisenhower had actually been hurried away to an emergency meeting with delegates from an alien race from the Pleiades star cluster. These aliens, whose vivid blue eyes, pale skin and blonde hair has earned them the sobriquet of the ‘Nordics’ are believed to be a peace loving species. They offered humanity assistance with technology and medical knowledge so long as human beings agreed to turn away from fossil fuels and nuclear weapons technology. Their terms were not agreed to at this meeting.
Following the refusal of the Nordics proposals, a second alien race is said to have made contact with humanity and offered their own deal. This race, known as the Tall Greys (or simply the Greys) offered Eisenhower access to highly advanced technology on the proviso that the United States would give the Greys leeway to abduct and perform experiments on civilians before wiping their memories and returning them to Earth. It is said that Eisenhower grudging accepted this deal .
While it might seem extraordinarily callous for a sitting president to put his civilians in such danger, others have been sympathetic to Eisenhower’s dilemma. The deal came as the Cold War was growing tenser and it is assumed that if Eisenhower had refused the offer from the Greys that they would have contacted his counter-part in the Soviet Union and gifted them with extraordinarily advanced technology instead.
The Nordics continued their contact with human beings despite the fact that the government of the United States had entered into a pact with the Greys, an alien species the Nordics distrust. One such Nordic alien is referred to as ‘Valiant Thor’ who first appeared in 1957 in a quiet field, where he found a policeman and demanded to be taken to the president. Over the next three years, he attended meetings of high political importance in the United States and met with various other private individuals, including the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry.
Perhaps most compellingly of all is the testimony from Eisenhower’s own great-granddaughter, Laura who says that she has no doubt that the meetings between her great-grandfather and the two alien races took place. “It’s like there is this whole other reality going on that we don’t hear about!” she said, “These timelines and the deeper history connected to secret societies, connected to these deeper ET agendas that have been around for thousands of years!” According to Laura Eisenhower, the deal with the Greys has led the United States into a number of bizarre and highly dangerous secret space programs. She says that the actions of her great-grandfather should now serve as a warning about the dangers of the power and influence of the military industrial complex.
This article (Eisenhower's Meetings With Extraterrestrials Are Only The Tip Of The Iceberg) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with full attribution and a link to the original source on Disclose.tv 136316 | 0 |
“What difference, at this point, does it make?”
Remember those infamous and wretched words? Of course you do. We all do. Those were the words uttered by Hillary Clinton when she was desperately trying to spin her way through a committee hearing on Benghazi.
And as anyone not named Hillary Clinton or anyone not on her corrupt payroll knows, it makes a lot of difference . This because Americans died. They died at the hands of terrorists on Hillary’s watch.
New information is now out about some of the individuals who were paid to guard/protect state department employees at the special missions compound where the terrorist attack occurred and it’s not pretty. Turns out Hillary’s state department spent $9.2 million on a contract for guards, many of whom turned out to be the very terrorists who attacked the compound, killing our ambassador and other Americans in the process.
Via Fox News .
“Many of the local Libyans who attacked the consulate on the night of Sept. 11, 2012, were the actual guards that the State Department under Hillary Clinton hired to protect the Consulate in Benghazi,” Tiegen told Fox News. “The guards were unvetted and were locals with basically no background at all in providing security. Most of them never had held a job in security in the past.
“Blue Mountain Libya, at the time of being awarded the contract by our State Department, had no employees so they quickly had to find people to work, regardless of their backgrounds,” he said.
One former guard who witnessed the attack, Weeam Mohamed, confirmed in an email sent to the Citizens Commission on Benghazi and obtained by Fox News, that at least four of the guards hired by Blue Mountain took part in the attack after opening doors to allow their confederates in.
“In the U.S. Mission, there were four people [who] belonged to the battalion February 17,” Mohamed wrote to the Commission, an independent body formed with Accuracy in Media to investigate the attack and the administration’s handling of it.
Again, it makes a lot of difference.
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Trump: I’m Reopening 9/11 Investigation
If this account is true–unless Trump merely intends to blame the Saudis which would be a continuation of the cover-up in different clothes–the CIA, Mossad, and the neocon nazis will kill him before he is inaugerated.
http://investmentwatchblog.com/trump-im-reopening-911-investigation/
The post Trump: I’m Reopening 9/11 Investigation appeared first on PaulCraigRoberts.org . | 0 |
During a time when sports journalists seem to be getting laid off left and right, Tim Tebow, between playing minor league baseball, analyzing college football for the SEC Network, and writing books, has established himself as perhaps the most man in sports media. [On Monday, Tebow received news that he will stay busy for the foreseeable future. According to Pro Football Talk, “ESPN announced (Monday) that it has extended Tebow’s contract, and he’ll keep working on the SEC Network as a college football studio commentator, and also work on the college football playoff. ” ESPN Senior VP of Event and Studio Production, Stephanie Druley explained the network’s decision to extend Tebow, “Tim brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to his analysis of college football and surprised many fans with his strong opinions and engaging presence on SEC Nation. His unique experiences within the SEC and his broad national fan base are huge assets to SEC Nation and ESPN’s larger CFP coverage. ” Tebow, understandably, approves of ESPN’s decision. The former Heisman winner said, “Over the last three years, ESPN and the SEC Nation crew have become like family. I love the passion that SEC fans bring to our set every Saturday morning, and I look forward to continuing to share my own love of the game with fans on ESPN and SEC Network. ” ESPN laid off a lot of good people over the last couple weeks, while retaining too many of the personalities who gave the network a dirty name. However, in this case, they got it right. Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn | 1 |
A Russian spacecraft carrying 2. 6 tons of food, fuel and supplies — but no astronauts — to the International Space Station failed to reach orbit on Thursday and largely burned up in the atmosphere as it fell back down. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, reported that a Soyuz rocket carrying the Progress 65 cargo ship successfully lifted off from Kazakhstan. The first six minutes and 22 seconds of the flight proceeded normally. But shortly after the upper stage separated from the core booster, flight telemetry stopped, leaving ground controllers confused about what had happened. Roscosmos later confirmed that the Progress 65 and its cargo had been destroyed, with the failure occurring about 120 miles over Tuva, a Russian republic in southern Siberia. The six astronauts at the space station — three Russian, two American and one French — are safe and have adequate supplies, Roscosmos and NASA said. The cargo included 1, 400 pounds of propellant, 112 pounds of oxygen, 925 pounds of water, and 2, 750 pounds of spare parts, supplies and scientific experiment hardware. NASA said the Progress was not carrying any supplies crucial for the United States side of the space station. A Japanese cargo ship is scheduled to launch and head to the space station on Dec. 9. Space station managers will have to do some juggling of plans and adjust coming cargo flights. This is the fourth loss of a spacecraft carrying cargo to the space station in the past 25 months. In October 2014, an Antares rocket built by Orbital ATK exploded six seconds after it lifted off in Virginia. Six months later, a Russian Progress cargo ship spun out of control. Then, a Falcon 9 rocket built by SpaceX disintegrated during flight. Before that, the space station program had experienced the loss of only one cargo ship — another Progress, in August 2011 — in nearly 16 years. This fall, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called for accelerated construction at a new launch site to replace the current Cosmodrome, which Russia leases from Kazakhstan. The financially ailing Russian space program will temporarily reduce the number of crew members to two from three at the space station next year. In recent months, the flow of supplies to the space station appeared to be getting back on track. An Antares rocket with different engines successfully reached the space station in October. Several Progress ships successfully ferried cargo to the space station before Thursday’s failure. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 also resumed flights but then was grounded again after one of the Falcon 9 rockets exploded on the launchpad during fueling for an engine test. SpaceX is now aiming to resume the launching of commercial satellites this month, and its next cargo flight is planned for January 2017. NASA officials now seem prescient in asking Orbital ATK to launch its next cargo mission with an Atlas 5 rocket, built by United Launch Alliance, rather than an Antares rocket. Although the redesigned Antares worked well, the Atlas 5 has a long, successful track record and it can lift a heavier payload, allowing NASA to pack in more supplies. That mission is to take off in the spring. | 1 |
Posted on October 29, 2016 by Baxter Dmitry in News , US // 0 Comments
Hillary Clinton proposed rigging a foreign election in a 2006 meeting with Jewish Press editors, and now the leaked audio has been posted on the web to prove it.
Speaking to the editorial board of the Jewish Press at their office in Brooklyn, Clinton also said it was a mistake to allow Palestinians to hold a democratic election.
“ I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake ,” said Senator Clinton. “ And if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win. ”
The audio tape was never released and has only been heard by the small handful of Jewish Press staffers in the room. According to Eli Chomsky, an editor and writer, his audiocassette is the only recording of the meeting.
Nobody had heard it since 2006 – until today when he released it to the world. However mainstream media have attempted to blacklist the story, and Control The Record employees have been actively working to remove it from internet forums and social media.
The tape is 45 minutes and contains much that is no longer relevant, but Clinton’s casually delivered comments about denying Palestinians democratic elections – stating that if they must have them, they should be rigged – has taken on new relevance in the midst of persistent allegations from Republicans that the Clinton camp is attempting to rig the Nov. 8 election.
Fixing foreign elections
Recalling the 2006 meeting, Chomsky says he was taken aback that “ anyone could support the idea—offered by a national political leader, no less—that the U.S. should be in the business of fixing foreign elections .”
Clinton also discussed the problem of global terror, and articulated phrases that Trump has accused her being reluctant to use publicly.
“ I think you can make the case that whether you call it ‘Islamic terrorism’ or ‘Islamo-fascism,’ whatever the label is we’re going to give to this phenomenon, it’s a threat. It’s a global threat. To Europe, to Israel, to the United States…Therefore we need a global response. It’s a global threat and it needs a global response.
Chomsky is then heard asking Clinton a question about potential conflict in Syria – and Clinton gives him an entirely different answer to the public position she is pushing now. In fact, she sounds just like Donald Trump does in 2016.
“ Do you think it’s worth talking to Syria—both from the U.S. point [of view] and Israel’s point [of view]? ”
Clinton replied, “ You know, I’m pretty much of the mind that I don’t see what it hurts to talk to people. As long as you’re not stupid and giving things away. I mean, we talked to the Soviet Union for 40 years. They invaded Hungary, they invaded Czechoslovakia, they persecuted the Jews, they invaded Afghanistan, they destabilized governments, they put missiles 90 miles from our shores, we never stopped talking to them.”
The conversation moves on, but then Clinton returns to the topic. “ But if you say, ‘they’re evil, we’re good, [and] we’re never dealing with them,’ I think you give up a lot of the tools that you need to have in order to defeat them…So I would like to talk to you [the enemy] because I want to know more about you. Because if I want to defeat you, I’ve got to know something more about you. I need different tools to use in my campaign against you. That’s my take on it. ”
Chomsky said that he held onto the tapes for all of these years due the Jewish Press’s reluctance to “ say anything offensive about anybody, ” but in the current election rigging climate he considered the contents of the tape to be in the national interest.
“ I went to my bosses at the time, ” Chomsky said. “ The Jewish Press had this mindset that they would not want to say anything offensive about anybody—even a direct quote from anyone—in a position of influence because they might need them down the road. My bosses didn’t think it was newsworthy at the time. I was convinced that it was and I held onto it all these years .” | 0 |
Worst Of Saudi Economic Slump Yet To Come 11/07/2016
PRESS TV
Experts say the outlook for Saudi economic recovery will remain murky for many months to come with some even warning that the worst of the economic slump for the kingdom is yet to come.
Reuters in a report quoted several Riyadh-based experts as saying that there would be a high degree of uncertainty over the status of the Saudi economy in 2017. That would mainly be a result of the remaining challenges from the private sector.
The Saudi economy may appear to have escaped a fiscal and currency crisis that loomed at the start of 2016. However, experts said, threats from certain basic problems still remain and will haunt the kingdom next year.
The government owes its success to temporarily escape crisis to unpaid bills rather than sustainable spending cuts.
The government has reduced or suspended payments that it owed to construction firms, medical establishments and even some of the foreign consultants who helped to design the economic reforms, Reuters added quoting the experts. The estimated unpaid dues for construction firms alone totaled 80 billion riyals.
Experts further warned that this could store up obligations for Riyadh in the future.
Reuters elsewhere emphasized that signs of the economic slump could be seen in Riyadh and other major cities, where discounts of 50 percent or more are offered by stores selling clothes and consumer electronics, and there is a surge in people offering second-hand cars for sale.
The biggest uncertainty may be how authorities can push through a key part of their reform drive, added the report. The most important issue for the Saudis may be determining how they plan to foster a vibrant private sector that does not depend on oil revenues while at the same pushing ahead austerity policies that are suppressing private demand.
Experts also warned that the status of the Saudi job market over the next few years. Between 1 million and 2 million of Saudi Arabia’s 10 million foreign workers may leave over the next couple of years as the economic slowdown causes lay-offs and the government seeks to steer Saudi citizens into jobs previously held by foreigners, Reuters added. | 0 |
Obamacare might work if you're getting a subsidy but it is killing the folks who have no subsidies or no employer who helps pay for costs but even they are getting hit hard. Part of the reason wages are stagnant is because wage increases have to go into health care increases.
Premiums would be rising faster without Obamacare? What I know is that friends who don't qualify for Obamacare have a $10,000 deductible and $1500 monthly premium. Some tell me their out-of-pocket costs have doubled. How does one budget for Obamacare?
And now Hillary wants to open up the exchanges to illegal aliens. Sure, we can pick up the tab for that, too. | 0 |
A large share of fans responded to the NFL’s tacit endorsement of Colin Kaepernick’s message by refusing to to games, prompting a huge decline in TV ratings. [Aside from his disrespect for the national anthem, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback also sparked outrage by donning socks embroidered with pigs wearing police uniforms. Early in the season, ESPN and network broadcasts never missed an opportunity to spotlight Kaepernick and his followers taking a knee during the ritual. Fans, though, saw Kaepernick’s protest as thumbing his nose at America. As a result, regular season ratings for 2016 dropped 8% to 16. 5 million viewers per game from the 17. 9 million who watched games during the 2015 NFL campaign. The NFL and its associate broadcasters preferred to blame the decline in this year’s viewership on the presidential election, but the data doesn’t support their claim. Although a pickup in ratings occurred after the election ended, viewership compared to the same duration in 2015 still showed a drop. As Breitbart News reported last week, “When you compare viewership numbers after this year’s election against last year’s 2015 NFL season numbers during the same period of time, per game viewership declined by approximately 4 percent from 19. 24 million viewers in 2015 to this year’s 18. 43 million. Quick arithmetic calculates the NFL lost over 800, 000 viewers since last year during the same period. ” Nevertheless, the Daily Caller reports that despite the steep decline in viewership the NFL takes in more revenue than any other professional sports league thanks to dollar TV contracts. NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN coughed up a stunning $7. 3 billion to broadcast the gridiron gladiators in 2014 alone. | 1 |
A new report from U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Office of Inspector General (OIG) reveals startling failures during the Obama Administration that allowed 2. 2 million deportable aliens to remain on the streets in a “supervised” status. Aliens with criminal convictions accounted for nearly 400, 000 of that total. [The report (attached below) issued by ICE Inspector General (IG) John Roth last week details several failures under the previous administration that built a tremendous backlog for deportation officers (DO). Those failures include imbalanced workloads for DOs, unachievable goals, a lack of clear policies and procedures, and insufficient training. ICE deportation officers work on deporting aliens who are in a detained or status. This report focuses on the efforts by ICE DOs working with the immigration court’s docket. The aliens are considered to be under “supervision,” Roth states in his memorandum dated April 13. His report covers the period where massive numbers of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) and Family Unit Aliens (FMUA) began crossing the borders in 2014. During FY 2014, Border Patrol agents apprehended nearly a illegal border crossers, a 16 percent increase over the previous year and a 34 percent increase over FY 2012, the report states. The surge led to a tremendous increase in workload for ICE DOs charged with detaining, deporting, and supervising these aliens. As a result, the Obama Administration announced its “Priority Enforcement Program” (PEP) in November 2014 claiming to focus on the removal of certain criminal aliens including those convicted of felonies, multiple misdemeanors, and “significant” misdemeanors (e. g. domestic violence, sexual abuse, and sexual exploitation). It also prioritized aliens who entered, or the country illegally and could not prove continuous presence since January 1, 2014. Breitbart Texas Brandon Darby reported on the PEP, calling it “catch and release 2. 0. ” Border Patrol agents and sheriff’s across the southwest complained that the Obama Administration placed handcuffs on law enforcement instead of the criminals. As a result of this failed program, ICE DOs are now supervising more than 2. 2 million aliens as of the end of August 2016. Of that number, 368, 574 of the aliens are convicted criminals. During FY 2015, the first year of the PEP, ICE DOs removed or returned only 235, 413 aliens — including 139, 368 convicted criminals. The ICE OIG report details systematic failures within the organization that creates inefficiencies in capturing and removing “supervised” aliens. ICE does not collect and analyze data about employee workloads to determine where resources should be applied and apply reasonably achievable caseloads for DOs, the report concludes. Roth continues, stating that ICE failed to provide “ policies and procedures” to its employees. The agency also neglected to communicate the department’s priorities for deportation to its officers. “These management deficiencies and unresolved obstacles make it difficult for ICE to deport aliens expeditiously,” Roth stated. “ICE is almost certainly not deporting all the aliens who could be deported and will likely not be able to keep up with growing numbers of deportable aliens. ” Case Workload Disparity, Roth cites an imbalance between caseloads assigned to DOs working aliens and those assigned to supervise detained aliens. He said that despite the different requirements for supervising the two classifications of aliens, ICE could not explain the reasons for manpower assignments in the locations visited during the inspection. “Many of those working with aliens reported they had difficulty fulfilling all their responsibilities, such as working with embassies and consulates to obtain travel documents necessary for deportation, interviewing aliens under their supervision, and running criminal checks on aliens in their docket,” Roth wrote in the report. “Yet, ICE has not collected or analyzed workload data to determine the time and effort DOs need to adequately supervise and facilitate the deportation of aliens. Without workload data, ICE cannot ensure its caseload distribution is balanced and that workloads are achievable. ICE also cannot measure performance and apply lessons learned to ensure effective and efficient supervision and deportation of aliens. ” “ICE personnel at all four field offices agreed that the workloads of DOs supervising aliens are unmanageable, yet ICE has not tried to determine what is achievable and what would alleviate the burden,” the IG continued. The OIG report supports this, stating that DOs are frequently asked to perform “collateral” duties including: Across the board, Roth reported that DOs report they do not have the time necessary to obtain required travel documents to deport the aliens under their supervision. “According to the DOs, their collateral duties leave them time only to deal with daily scheduled appointments and unscheduled visits by aliens, answer phone calls from aliens, and input new cases into the electronic system,” the report explains. “One DO also reported that because of competing work responsibilities criminal background checks are not conducted every time a alien checks in with the field office. ” Roth states in the report that ICE management fails to adequately collect data to determine how much staff is needed to handle the aliens under their supervision. He continues explaining that in 2009, ICE did develop a staffing model to reorganize the DOs throughout filed offices. However, the staffing model “has never been used to allocate human resources at field offices. ” Unclear Policies and Procedures Combines with Insufficient Training, Roth’s report points out the agencies failure to adequately communicate its policies or to provide DOs with readily accessible guidelines to assist the DOs in supervising and deporting aliens. “Guidance is often communicated to field office personnel orally or by email, rather than through formal, documented policies and procedures,” the IG report states. “These deficiencies hinder proper supervision of aliens, including those who may be fugitives or who commit crimes. Field office staff confirmed that ICE’s available policies and procedures did not help them properly manage their cases. ” The report confirms that the ICE deportation policies and procedures are “outdated and unclear. ” “Officials we interviewed said ICE considers the 2003 Detention and Removal Operations Policy and Procedure Manual (manual) ‘the official guide’ to operations,” Roth explained, “but ICE has not periodically reviewed the manual or revised it since 2008. ” He said that rather than properly amend and update the manual, ICE officials would simply “affix a memo to the front of the appropriate chapter” to indicate changes in policies. Because of the failure to properly manage and communicate policies and changes, ICE field office policies and procedures tended to vary widely from office to office. The report accuses management providing inadequate training and incomplete documentation of training for DOs. “From July to September 2016, ICE headquarters scheduled training for all 24 field offices but did not plan for recurring training nor document training attendance to ensure all required staff attended,” Roth stated. “In our opinion, the training did not fully cover all necessary information. ” Complicated Deportations, The report explains complications in attempting to deport aliens to certain countries. It states that for some nations, it is nearly impossible to repatriate foreign nationals. The report stipulates: For ICE to deport an alien to his or her home country, the country must agree to repatriation. As of August 2016, ICE had identified 23 “uncooperative” countries to which it generally cannot deport aliens. To help deport aliens to these countries ICE may request diplomatic intervention by the Department of State, which determines whether and what action to take against the country. ICE officials also said that some countries, such as China, Bangladesh, and India, restrict the number of aliens for whom they will issue travel documents and accept for repatriation. Finally, ICE has identified 62 countries that are cooperative, but with which it has experienced delays in obtaining required travel documents. Deporting aliens to these 62 countries also requires more time and effort working with embassies and consulates to obtain travel documents and approval for alien repatriation. In July 2016, Senator John Cornyn ( ) introduced a bill to provide remedies for countries that refuse to accept the deportation of their citizens, Breitbart Texas’ Lana Shadwick reported. The measure is similar to legislation filed by Representative Ted Poe ( ) that called for restricting diplomatic visas to countries that deny or unreasonably delay the repatriation of their citizens subject to deportation from the U. S. “The bill would require that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) establish procedures to determine whether a foreign country systematically and unreasonably refuses or delays the repatriation of nationals who are in the United States, and have been convicted of a felony or crime of violence, or are a threat to national security or public safety,” a statement from the Senator Cornyn’s office reported. “Once it has been established that a country meets this criteria, DHS and the State Department would then notify their government that the United States may deny visas to their citizens. ” That same month, the Center for Immigration Studies’ Jessica Vaughn reported that nearly 1, 000, 000 illegal aliens ignored deportation orders from an immigration judge, including nearly 200, 000 criminal aliens. Her report confirms the refusal of countries to accept repatriation as one of the primary causes contributing to the hi number of by ICE. Report Conclusions: Roth’s report concludes with a statement indicating inadequacies in ICE’s management of the agency’s deportation operations. “These weaknesses are hampering ICE’s ability to adequately supervise aliens awaiting immigration hearings, as well as efforts to deport those who should be deported, including some convicted criminals,” the IG concluded. “Factors beyond ICE’s control may virtually prohibit www. oig. dhs. gov 9 OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Department of Homeland Security deportation to some countries. In general, however, a more organized, diligent, and complete approach to management would help ICE deport aliens expeditiously and keep up with growing numbers of aliens who should be deported. ” The report, attached below, lists a series of recommendations: Recommendation 1: Comprehensively review, revise, update, and maintain ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations policies, procedures, and guidance to address gaps and outdated information. Recommendation 2: Comprehensively review Deportation Officer functions at field offices to determine staffing allocations for units and identify appropriately sized caseloads for Deportation Officers working with nondetained aliens. Recommendation 3: Based on a completed comprehensive review, develop a plan to identify and implement appropriate staffing of Deportation Officers. Recommendation 4: Develop a standardized training curriculum for all current and future Deportation Officers, including recurrent refresher training courses for docket review and detained and case management. Recommendation 5: Collaborate with the Department of State to identify potential mechanisms to address issues that hinder deportation efforts. ICE officials concurred with all five recommendations contained in the report, Roth stated. Management states they have begun implementing changes to correct the identified weaknesses. 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. ICE OIG Report on Deportation Operations — 13APR17, | 1 |
WARSAW — The bodies of Poland’s former president and his wife were exhumed Monday evening as part of an investigation into an April 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed the couple — after years of speculation, backed by little evidence, that the crash was not an accident. Over the next two months, prosecutors appointed by Poland’s governing party plan to examine the remains of 83 of the 96 people who died in the crash, starting with the former president, Lech Kaczynski, and his wife, Maria. The couple’s bodies were interred in a crypt in a cathedral in Krakow, near the tombs of Poland’s kings and heroes like the military commander Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the poet Adam Mickiewicz. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the former president’s twin brother and the leader of the ruling Law and Justice Party, was on hand for the ceremony, at the Wawel Cathedral. The party has long insisted that investigations by Poland’s former government and the Russian authorities failed to unearth the true cause of the crash. Reopening the investigation was one of the first acts of the new government after assuming power a year ago. So far, the party has offered little more than speculation about what might have caused the crash, pointing to discrepancies in paperwork and supposed missing seconds on flight data recordings to hint that something nefarious must have occurred. Two previous investigations — one by the Polish authorities under the previous government and one by the Russian authorities — found that the crash was an accident. But supporters of the Law and Justice Party have offered other potential theories. Some believe that Russians caused the plane to crash in heavy fog at a disused military airfield near Smolensk as the Polish leaders were arriving to join a commemoration of a massacre of thousands of members of Poland’s military and political elite in the Katyn Forest in 1940. Others suspect that a bomb was hidden on the plane, and still others say the crash resulted from negligence by the former Polish government. So far, though, no credible evidence has been released to support those theories. A film called “Smolensk,” based on the bomb theory, was released this year in Poland and given a gala premiere at Warsaw’s opera house, attended by President Andrzej Duda. And some Law and Justice officials have talked about putting the former Prime Minister Donald Tusk — now the president of the European Council, which comprises the leaders of the 28 member states of the European Union — on trial for what they say is his role in the crash. One of Mr. Tusk’s top aides is already on trial over claims of negligence in preparations for the visit. The aide faces up to three years in prison. The Kaczynskis were exhumed in the presence of prosecutors, priests and family members. Marek Pasionek, the deputy prosecutor general of Poland, said the autopsies were crucial because of “numerous violations” found in medical documents prepared by the Russian authorities six years ago. Despite initial claims made by Mr. Tusk’s government that Polish representatives had participated in the initial autopsies in Russia, Mr. Pasionek said that only Russian officials had conducted the examinations. He also said the coffins were sealed before the bodies were returned to Poland. Mr. Pasionek, who is responsible for the investigation, said that court medical experts had found mistakes in 90 percent of the medical records sent by Russia. Further, he said, when nine bodies were exhumed by prosecutors under the previous government, it turned out that six had been misidentified. The decision to exhume the bodies has been vigorously opposed by many of the victims’ families. More than 200 relatives of 17 victims wrote an open letter last month to the Roman Catholic Church, which holds significant influence over Poland’s government, to join them in opposing the exhumations. “Six years after those tragic days, we are standing alone and helpless against a ruthless and cruel act,” they wrote. “Our loved ones are to be taken out of their graves, in spite of a sacred taboo that forbids disturbing the peace of the dead. ” Pawel Deresz, a journalist whose wife, a leading politician, died in the crash, was one of the signers of the letter. He said he had also complained to the Mr. Pasionek’s boss, Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro. If that complaint is denied, he said, he plans to sue. “I think it would be fair to exhume bodies of those victims whose relatives support this action, but the rest of us should be left alone,” Mr. Deresz said. Mr. Pasionek said there would always be doubt in some minds until every stone is turned. “If we don’t examine and gather all the evidence that is possible to retrieve at this stage, there will always be some doubts,” he said. “We will look for possible traces of explosives, but if we don’t find them, we will eliminate the possibility of an attack on the plane. ” Magdalena Merta — whose husband, Tomasz Merta, a Culture Ministry official, died in the crash — said that she wanted to know if “it is my husband who lies in our family vault. ” “Six years ago, the previous government blatantly lied to us when they claimed that they had witnessed the autopsies performed by Russians,” Ms. Merta said. “I don’t know why they lied, but it is clear that they defended Russian interests. They acted as an ally of Russians, not Poles. ” In the years after the crash, a team of experts led by Antoni Macierewicz, who is now the defense minister, claimed that the plane had been brought down by explosives brought on board. Experts working with Mr. Macierewicz even suggested that Russia had pumped artificial fog over the runway. They tried to prove their theories, in one instance, by boiling sausages and noting that the split along the length of a cooked sausage matched a gash in the plane’s fuselage, indicating that high heat was involved. Independent experts found this evidence dubious at best. And while Mr. Macierewicz claimed over the years to have “irrefutable evidence” of explosives, his experts have yet to produce it. Since 2010, Law and Justice supporters have gathered outside Poland’s presidential palace every month to commemorate the crash and remember its victims. At the most recent gathering, last Thursday, Mr. Kaczynski told the crowd that “Poland will not be truly free without learning the truth” about the crash. “We want our fight for the truth to be revealed, for the victims of the Smolensk tragedy to be venerated, for monuments to be put up,” he said. Critics of Mr. Kaczynski’s inquiry into his brother’s death say it has been used by the governing party to rally its base, divert the public’s attention and discredit opposition politicians. Mr. Deresz said Mr. Kaczynski’s party had won parliamentary elections by “dividing the Polish people and promising to find the truth” about the crash. “They claim that it was a terrorist attack” orchestrated by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and Mr. Tusk, he said. “I mean this is madness. This is true Smolensk insanity. ” | 1 |
Dow higher as Boeing gains offset Apple's fall 'The fact of the matter is the oil market is rebalancing itself' Published: 58 mins ago
(CNBC) — U.S. stock closed mostly lower on Wednesday as earnings season continued, while solid economic data helped financials and oil extended its losing streak despite bullish supply data.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 21 points after briefly dropping more than 100 points, with Boeing contributing gains to the tune of 38 points, offsetting sharp losses in Apple, which took about 20 points off the index.
The S&P 500 momentarily eked above breakeven before holding 0.22 percent lower, with real estate falling 1.32 percent to lead decliners while industrials and financials outperformed. The Nasdaq lagged, falling 0.64 percent as Apple shed about 2.7 percent. | 0 |
Michelle Wallace kisses her baby. Photo source: Love Eva Rose Facebook page .
by Health Impact News/MedicalKidnap.com Staff
A couple in West Texas was devastated when they were accused of abusing their 6 week old daughter. Michelle and Elliot Wallace began seeking answers after the explanations given by doctors placed the blame on the parents and landed their baby in foster care. They have since learned that baby Eva sustained injuries at birth, injuries which are known complications of the kind of difficult birth that their baby had. These injuries were overlooked at the time of her birth, but are now the very injuries that doctors are claiming are caused by Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Here is their story:
On Jan 29, 2016, Michelle came home from the grocery store when Elliot met her at the door with their six-week-old daughter Eva, who was crying—a high-pitched, wailing type of cry. Her eyelids were fluttering, and her eyes were pointed left and upward, not focusing on anything.
Suddenly, Eva’s body went limp, and she passed out.
When they placed Eva on the bed to examine her, she woke up crying but quickly passed out. While lying there, the baby woke up crying, and passed out again. The couple loaded Eva in the car and took her to the Shannon Medical Center emergency room in San Angelo, Texas.
The hospital staff ran tests, took x-rays, and did a CT scan. While waiting for the results, Michelle fed Eva a bottle. But, Eva could not keep it down. She projectile vomited.
The hospital staff began a round of antibiotics, which is standard protocol in an infant presenting with a fever. Also, a CT scan showed she had a blood clot in her brain. The hospital staff determined that Eva needed a specialist, so they airlifted her and Michelle to Cook’s Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. Elliot drove the 4 and 1/2 hours to join them. Hospital Staff Stopped Looking for Cause of Injuries
That night Eva suffered from intermittent fevers. A lumbar puncture was done to check for meningitis. However, it failed—no fluid was drawn. The staff said that they would hydrate Eva for up to 24 hours and try again. However, when Michelle inquired about it later, she was told that they were not going to try the lumbar puncture again because they had ruled out meningitis as the cause of Eva’s injuries.
Afterwards, an MRI was done which showed a ligament injury to her upper neck. The staff believed that it was also a result of abuse.
Reportedly, the consensus among hospital staff was that Eva’s injuries were trauma-related, and they stopped looking for other causes.
While waiting on the neurologist, Eva had another seizure and was moved to the intensive care unit. There, she was sedated and given anti-seizure medication. Throughout the night Michelle never left Eva’s side, and she looked on as Eva was inundated with hospital staff handling her.
During the night, a CPS worker approached Michelle and pointed at a light-colored bruise on Eva’s cheekbone that Michelle had not seen before. Michelle’s thoughts went immediately to the hospital staff checking on the thrush in Eva’s mouth, and that their fingers were placed in the exact location of the bruise on Eva’s cheekbone. Michelle wondered if the bruise had come from the hospital staff handling her face.
While the family awaited Eva’s diagnosis, Child Protective Services (CPS) separated everyone present, including their guests, and interrogated them. Then they asked for information to run background tests, as well as names of people with whom they could place Eva. Michelle approached a CPS worker, saying that this was premature and uncalled for, since they had yet to receive a diagnosis. But, Michelle said that she was told that this was to get “ahead of the game.” Michelle holding baby Eva. Photo source: Wallace family.
Michelle requested a conference with the Child Advocacy Resources and Evaluation (CARE) team to ask questions. In the meeting, Neurologist Dr. Adrian Lacy said the staff would look at the birth records the following day. He said that Eva had “bilateral subdurals, areas of stroke, bruising on her head, [and] retinal hemorrhaging,” but that the skeletal survey showed no broken bones. He informed them that the ophthalmology department said that the bruising was “consistent with shaken baby or child abuse.”
He said that Eva had multiple bleeds of different ages in her brain, alleging that Eva had been abused repeatedly over time.
Michelle asked if Eva’s injuries could have been caused by vacuum extraction delivery. Dr. Lacy said, “Talking to neurosurgery [department]…they don’t believe that it’s from any kind of vacuum delivery.” He said that this is because “retinal hemorrhages” could not possibly be result of vacuum extraction. Dr. Lacy went on to say that Eva had undergone “a significant trauma.”
His assertion is contradicted in the medical literature regarding vacuum extraction. Many medical journals and medical resources mention that retinal hemorrhaging is a known complication of birth via vacuum extraction. An article in Reviews in Obstetrics & Gynecology lists retinal hemorrhaging in the list of neonatal complications:
Vacuum-assisted vaginal deliveries can cause significant fetal morbidity, including scalp lacerations, cephalohematomas, subgaleal hematomas, intracranial hemorrhage, facial nerve palsies, hyperbilirubinemia, and retinal hemorrhage.
As Michelle pondered the possible events that could have occurred to cause Eva’s injuries, Dr. Lacy interjected, “These are things that are severe enough [that] you would have told me. You know, [like] she was in a bad car wreck.” He went on to say that, the children who come to the hospital emergency room who were in car wrecks “don’t have the degree of retinal hemorrhages” that Eva had. He and the hospital staff suspected that Eva had been repeatedly shaken. Michelle said that they equated it with “the force equivalent to being in a car crash at 40 mph.”
Dr. Lacy concluded, “There’s nothing in the story, as far as the history, her history, that explains the history that we see.” He said that there was no other explanation but Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Not long after that, Cook’s Children’s Medical Center Child Abuse Specialist Dr. Sophia Grant said that Eva’s injuries must be non-accidental trauma. She said that she found the “classic Shaken Baby Syndrome triad.” The accusation of abuse came despite Michelle informing the hospital staff that Eva had been born via vacuum extraction. Further, reportedly, Dr. Grant expressed concern over the scratches on Eva’s face, and said that a child at six weeks old was not capable of inflicting them upon him or herself.
It was at that point that the staff stopped looking for other causes, Michelle said. CPS arrived and served her and Elliot an order for emergency removal. The couple was then escorted out of the hospital by security guards.
Afterwards, Eva was discharged from the hospital wearing a c-collar. It left a large dent in the back of her head, and she had to wear a helmet for a couple of months to reshape her skull.
Eva now suffers from dysphasia and is at risk of choking. She also only has 20% of her peripheral vision. Currently, Eva is in therapy and is walking and crawling. Eva still faces challenges today. Photo source: Wallace family. Difficult Birth
During pregnancy, Michelle experienced excessive fatigue, swelling, discomfort, nausea, etc., but she was told it was normal. Also, under doctor’s orders, Michelle received the Tdap and flu shots while pregnant.
On December 13, 2015, the OB/GYN, reportedly “roughed up” her cervix in an attempt to bring on labor. Two days later, at 8:30 pm, Michelle was admitted to Shannon Medical Center Women and Children’s Labor and Delivery Unit with excessive bleeding. The next day, around 2:00 am her doctor administered Pitocin and an epidural.
During labor Michelle was shaking a lot, and Eva’s heartrate kept dropping. About ¾ of the way in, Michelle was given an oxygen mask and was told to keep it on because the baby was not getting enough oxygen. Eva’s medical records indicate that she had hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, which meant that she was oxygen deprived. There was no mention of staff attempting to change the mother’s position in order to help facilitate oxygen flow to the baby.
After about eight hours, the placenta began detaching prematurely. She had a 30% placental abruption. The doctor opted for vacuum extraction instead of an emergency C-section. Eva was born at 7:00 am, after about eight hours of labor and 15 minutes of pushing, weighing 5 lbs. 11 oz.
Birth records indicate that Eva’s hands and feet were blue, and her coloring was gray. Eva’s pathology reports indicated infection, as well as inflammation of the fetal membranes and connective tissue of the umbilical cord.
Photos taken after her birth indicate a red, bruised and molded head with vacuum marks. They also reveal swollen eyes with cuts on and above them, as well as bruising that started over her right eye. Also, at birth Eva received Hepatitis B and Vitamin K shots and erythromycin eye drops. Pattern of Medical Concerns
When Eva’s pediatrician, Dr. Elizabeth Young, came by during her rounds, Michelle mentioned that Eva slept poorly the night before. However, reportedly, Dr. Young dismissed it and said that “it was normal for a newborn to do that.”
Michelle attempted to breastfeed Eva for three days, but it was unsuccessful. As a result, Eva was put on formula.
At Eva’s one-week checkup, everything seemed normal. Eva had been sleeping well, as well as feeding every two to three hours. That day she received the standard vaccines. Afterwards, Eva’s fussiness escalated. She had a lot of gas and was sleeping poorly. Eva with sunglasses during a visit. Photo source: Wallace family.
Michelle suspected an allergy to formula, so she changed brands—to one that was for sensitive digestive systems. However, it did not seem to make a difference. Eva began sleeping poorly and crying excessively, as if she was in pain. Even talking and soft noises were waking her.
Michelle called Medical Exchange Hotline and was told by the nurse that it sounded like constipation. The nurse advised Michelle to add a bit of Karo Syrup to her bottle and use glycerin suppositories when needed, and then follow-up with the doctor the next business day.
The nurse’s suggestions helped some. Once Eva would have a bowel movement, she would settle down some. But, within few hours, she would begin crying again. She seemed to be in pain. Michelle also gave Eva gripe water, which sometimes brought some temporary relief.
At the follow-up appointment with Dr. Young, Michelle was told to try putting Eva on soy formula with an extra ounce or two of water to help with constipation. The doctor also showed Michelle how to lay Eva down on her stomach to help ease gas pain.
The soy formula helped for a few days, and then the colic-like symptoms returned “as bad as ever.”
At Eva’s one month checkup, Michelle told the doctor that Eva was not sleeping and had inconsolable crying spells, severe constipation, and gas. Also, she told the doctor that she had seen Eva making “jerky, circular arm movements,” and that she had seen Eva’s chin quivering. When Michelle expressed concern, the doctor said that there was nothing to worry about.
Eva was prescribed Zantac for possible acid reflux. The doctor sent them home with a sample of another formula that was hypoallergenic. After about five bottles of it, Michelle discontinued using it because it gave Eva “explosive diarrhea” and worsened her gas problem.
Michelle tried other formulas, in hopes that she would find one that agreed with Eva’s system, but the problems only worsened. Eva’s sleeping deteriorated, as well. Even the slightest sound would wake her, and she rarely slept for more than an hour at a time.
Michelle and Elliot continued giving Eva gas drops, gripe water, glycerin suppositories, and adding water to her formula. They tried giving her Zantac, but they could not get Eva to swallow it. Eva began spitting up with more frequency.
The morning of January 29, 2016, Eva started getting very fussy and crying inconsolably. Michelle got her to settle down for a nap. But, within half an hour, she awoke. When Michelle went to pick her up, she noticed that Eva had two little scratches on her face, with a bruise behind each of them. She figured that Eva had scratched herself.
Later that day, Michelle went to the grocery store to get formula. She returned to find Elliot trying unsuccessfully to comfort Eva, and that’s when they saw her go limp with the strange cry and fluttering eyelids. Father Charged but Not Indicted
Because Elliot was the last person to be around Eva when the symptoms occurred, he was arrested in April and charged with first degree felony assault on an infant with a $75,000 bond. Though he has been charged, there has been no indictment. A no-contact order has been issued against him. Elliot adores his daughter, but he can no longer see her. Photo source: Wallace family.
Elliot has been out on bond. He would like to meet with his court-appointed attorney to make a plan to fight the charges and to challenge the no-contact order. However, since there is no indictment and no case file opened by the district attorney, his attorney will not meet with him.
Meanwhile, he is banned from seeing his daughter. Foster Care Placement Is Five Hours Away
When Eva was discharged from the hospital, she was placed with family friends, who live five hours away from her home. Michelle and Elliot have been trying to get Eva placed with blood relatives instead who live closer to them. It has been a difficult road for the Wallaces because of Eva’s special needs. Since coming off the anti-seizure medication, under doctor’s orders, the baby must have 24/7 care for a year.
Because Eva’s placement is five hours away, and visitation must be supervised with a CPS staff, the only time available for visits has been during the week, when Michelle was working. She is only able to go once a month for a three hour supervised visit. Michelle has to abide by strict attendance guidelines by her employer. She would readily visit Eva more often if it were possible. Missing and missed by her parents. Photo source: Wallace family.
Additionally, Michelle has had to be the breadwinner since Elliot’s ability to find work has been hindered by the criminal charges against him. He has been working as a contractor laying cable, and his last contract finished at the end of August.
At their recent hearing, on November 2, 2016, the Wallaces were given a reprieve, and the judge removed the supervised visit requirement and approved visits with a caregiver. This was met with opposition from CPS. However, the Guardian ad Litem (GAL) and Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers recommended it, stating that it was in the child’s best interests to have the opportunity to bond with her mother. This means that Michelle is not restricted to weekday visits and can be with Eva on her birthday and Christmas. CPS Seeks to Terminate Parental Rights
Despite the fact that Elliot and Michelle have faithfully worked their service plan, last July CPS notified the couple that they are seeking to terminate their parental rights. This is allegedly because they believe that Elliot is guilty. Additionally, the couple had agreed to separate, if it meant bringing Eva home to live with Michelle. However, CPS will not consider the option, since Michelle still believes that Elliot is innocent and that Eva has been misdiagnosed.
Further, the Guardian ad Litem and CASA volunteer are parroting CPS’ recommendation of termination of parental rights because the “medical professionals” say that Eva was shaken. This is especially concerning to the Wallaces because neither the GAL nor the CASA volunteer has met with Elliot and Michelle to interview them or discuss their daughter. Medical Expert Says This is a Birth Injury
Eva was born via vacuum extraction, which is the use of a cup that attaches to the baby’s head and creates suction. According to Healthline , the risks of vacuum extraction or vacuum-assisted delivery, “range from minor scalp injuries to more serious problems, such as bleeding in the skull.” It lists the following injuries:
hematoma, cephalohematoma, subgaleal hematoma, intracranial hemorrhage, retinal hemorrhage, and neonatal jaundice.
Eva suffered from a retinal hemorrhage, something that Dr. Adrian Lacy said could not be a result of vacuum extraction. She also had intracranial hemorrhaging as well as a subgaleal hematoma.
According to Medical Child Abuse Investigator Anne Renk-Bernardo of Ohana Advocacy Center , who was obtained by the parents to look at this case:
“This is a birth injury case, plain and simple,” and “vacuum extraction could’ve easily caused the injury.”
She said that the cup is required to be in a “very specific position,” and as a result, “any excessive or repetitive pressure” or incorrect position could easily cause injury to the infant. Michelle holding newborn Eva. Photo source: Wallace family.
Renk-Bernardo said that the Pitocin that Michelle was given caused the baby’s oxygen levels to drop, and then go back up again, making it difficult for the baby to regulate the oxygen going back into its system. She said that amount of Pitocin was “too much, too fast,” causing hyper stimulation. As a result, she said that it produces a “constant squeezing,” which can cause complications while the baby’s head is engaged in the birth canal using vacuum extraction. Additionally, medical records show that Eva experienced a couple of episodes of severe bradycardia, which is a slowing of the heartbeat caused by a deficiency of oxygen.
Another contributing factor to the complications is the placental abruption. According to the Mayo Clinic :
Placental abruption can deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients and cause heavy bleeding in the mother.
With regards to the scratches on Eva’s face, she said that Eva could have done that herself, and that they are “not significant enough” to warrant abuse. She said that Dr. Sofia Grant said in her affidavit that Eva had bruising on her forehead, two 0.5 cm bruises, and a small scratch, which were a result of abuse.
Renk-Bernardo said that Dr. Grant’s opinion was issued without reviewing Eva’s records. Further, she said that the bruising she is referring to is actually on Eva’s cheek. Further, she describes it as “superficial” and “over the fatty part” of her cheek, not on Eva’s head. She said that Eva, at the time, “was moving her extremities,” and that she could have easily scratched herself.
Renk-Bernardo said that the wide fluctuations in autonomic functions during labor and significant feeding intolerances correlate with those types of complications, indicating that she was in pain. Additionally, her eyes were swollen.
She said that hematomas are not atypical with vacuum extraction, including progressive bleeds. It is possible that Eva had a bleed that could have been slowly bleeding since birth. She pointed out that Eva was irritable and had trouble feeding from birth, including choking episodes. Renk-Bernardo said that the choking episodes are a result of the hypoxia from the subdural hemorrhages and cerebral edema.
Renk-Bernardo believes that Eva’s ligament injury was probably a result of the vacuum extraction. She referred to the fact that the baby was “high up” in the pelvis and “never progressed” out of the birth canal. As a result, she said that the baby had to be forcefully pulled out. According to American Family Physician , this is a risk factor for complications while giving birth.
Lastly, with regards to the multiple bleeds on Eva’s brain, Renk-Bernardo said that they are a result of “probably a bleed from birth that re-bled.” She pointed out that there are several things that can cause a re-bleed, such as choking, coughing, and illness. She said that vacuum extraction injuries can manifest up to three months after birth. If This is Abuse, “How Did They Shake the Baby?”
After examining Eva’s medical records, Renk-Bernardo said that the accusation of Shaken Baby Syndrome begs the question, “How did they shake the baby?” She pointed out that Eva had no fractures or bruising on the arms, chest, etc., that would be evidence of such abuse. She also said that, to her knowledge, there was no soft tissue damage. Further, Renk-Bernardo said that if there were blunt force trauma, then there would have been evidence, such as significant bruising. “Miniscule bruising is not from impact,” she said.
Lastly, in her expert opinion, there is no evidence that Eva has been violently shaken. She pointed out that when the Wallaces took Eva to the emergency room, both the trauma and neurology department refused to admit Eva because they said that the cause of her injuries was not trauma-related. “Problems All Along, but Nobody Paid Attention”
According to Michelle, about a month after Eva’s release from the hospital, new bleeding was found in a follow-up MRI that the doctor ignored. Further, he did not relay the information to anyone, not even the foster mother.
Further, nowhere in the medical records from Cook’s Children’s Medical Center does it say anything about a chronic bleed. However, during the CARE team meeting, Dr. Adrian Lacy told the family that Eva had multiple bleeds.
Michelle had expressed concerns since Eva’s birth, but they were dismissed. She said, “There had been problems all along, but nobody paid attention.” For instance, Eva was born with meconium in the amniotic fluid, which means that she is at risk for developing Meconium Aspiration Syndrome (MAS). MAS is associated with neonatal seizures and chronic seizure disorders. Renk-Bernardo said, “Normally, it’s a concern. But, they [medical professionals] didn’t seem concerned.” Further, Eva’s family history includes heart problems, bleeding and bruising disorders, as well as nephrotic syndrome, which involves seizures.
Now, Elliot and Michelle want to share their story to “help spread awareness of the plague of false allegations based on junk science that destroys innocent families.” Eva – her parents’ little Superhero. Photo source: Wallace family.
At the November 2, 2016, hearing, the CPS attorney told the Wallaces that she had contacted the district attorney about Elliot’s criminal charges and that his case is to go before a grand jury in the next month or two. She went on to say that CPS had secured their own medical expert to testify against the Wallaces. Elliot and Michelle plan to request assistance from the court for securing their own medical expert testimony.
There is a pretrial hearing on December 12, 2016, and a permanency hearing on February 15, 2017. There is a family court bench trial date set for March 23-24, 2017. However, the Wallaces are considering requesting a jury trial instead. If granted, it will take place in late April of 2017. How You Can Help
There is a Facebook page set up for the family called Love Eva Rose where supporters can follow the Wallaces’ story and help.
Supporters are asked to contact legislators on behalf of the family.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott may be reached at (512) 463-2000 or contacted here . His Facebook page is here , and here is a link to his Twitter page.
The Texas state representative for the Wallaces’ district is Rep. Drew Darby. He may be reached at (512) 463-0331, or contacted here .
The US representative for the Wallaces’ district is Rep. Mike Conway. He may be reached at (325) 659-4010, or contacted here .
Charles Perry is the Senator for their district. He may be reached at (512) 463-0128, or contacted here .
Courts and judges across the U.S. are increasingly overturning Shaken Baby abuse convictions, as most of these cases do not present the science against “Shaken Baby Syndrome,” and the medical evidence that can support injuries apart from parental abuse.
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There is an epic clash of two cultures -- one with a guiding ethic of harmony between people and nature, the other driven by an ethos that encourages the exploitation of both. Yet, for months, our clueless media gave this match-up little coverage.
For the face-off is between Energy Transfer Partners, one of the world's largest pipeline corporations, and the Standing Rock Lakota Sioux Tribe. It's not merely big news, but the panoramic story of America itself. It's a real reality show -- a cultural, political and moral drama featuring raw greed, grassroots courage, class war, ancient rites, human rights, defenders of the common good, the most nefarious Texas oilman since J. R. Ewing, a historic gathering of Native tribes and a Bull-Connor-style sheriff -- all on location near a North Dakota town named Cannon Ball!
The Dakota Access Pipeline is a massive 1,172-mile-long pipeline being constructed by EPT. It will cut through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. This pipeline, owned by oilman Kelcy Warren, crosses 200 rivers and countless farms, and it cuts through the ancestral lands and burial grounds of the Tribe.
DAPL risks economic and environmental disaster. The corporation plans to bury its oil pipeline under the Missouri, beneath the Lakota people's main source of water for drinking, bathing, irrigation, fishing, and recreation. As a Lakota phrase says -- water is life -- and one rupture could be ruinous.
In April, the Standing Rock Sioux made their stand. Some 35 tribal leaders established Sacred Stone Camp, just off their reservation and near where ETP's engineers intend to tunnel under the river. After the tribe's social media network spread word of the rebellion, a spontaneous migration of Native people -- not coordinated by anyone -- began arriving at the camp to stand in solidarity against ETP. - Advertisement -
They came in cars, campers, and caravans -- some even paddled down the Missouri in traditional canoes. By August, representatives of 280 Native American tribes had joined, making this the largest, most diverse, cross-tribal action in U.S. history. Sacred Stone Camp pulsated with a sense of rediscovered power, ancestral duty, and indigenous culture. Not only were spirits high, but the extraordinary unity of so many diverse Native cultures -- boldly gathering in a show of strength and shouting "NO" to yet another arrogant act of gross injustice -- seemed to herald a reawakening.
As the protest gained strength -- and was joined by thousands of progressives and covered by independent media -- ETP and its political minions responded predictably: with panic, whining, lies, and brute force.
North Dakota's governor, Jack Dalrymple falsely wailed that "unlawful acts associated with the protest near Cannon Ball have led to serious public safety concerns and property damage." He declared a state of emergency, set up road blocks to seal off the reservation, brought in riot-clad troopers, removed state water and health services from the protest area, and used his state PR machine to demonize the activists as a violent threat to surrounding towns of white people.
ETP's legal beagles have attempted to silence protesters by filing hokey lawsuits against several tribal leaders and activists that may be aimed at bankrupting defendants with legal fees; seeking a federal injunction against anyone interfering with pipeline construction; and threatening to prosecute Native Americans for -- Oh, the irony! -- trespassing on land that was theirs before it was stolen from them.
On Labor Day weekend, a DAPL crew suddenly started construction on the under-river tunnel, reportedly damaging tribal burial sites. When unarmed protesters put their bodies in front of the machinery, a line of private "pipeline guards" showed up and blasted at least 30 protesters with pepper spray and sicced a pack of attack dogs on them. At least six people were bitten, including a child and a pregnant woman. - Advertisement -
At least four reporters have been charged with everything from criminal trespass to conspiracy for trying to cover what the mainstream media won't touch. Charges are still pending for some of these journalists.
Standing Rock tribe's chair, Dave Archambault has made clear that the Native people are committed to the higher values of "our lands, people, water, and sacred sites." As they have been for millennia, the tribe's actions today must be based on the common good of their grandchildren and their grandchildren-generations into the future. The Standing Rock Sioux are in this fight for the long haul: "Our fight isn't over until there is permanent protection of our people and resources from the pipeline. We won't stop until they [EPT] stop." To find out more and join the fight, go to www.SacredStoneCamp.org . | 0 |
It’s back to Square 1 for the oil markets. The failure of major producers to agree on an output freeze at a highly anticipated meeting in Doha, Qatar, this weekend underscored the still long and painful road to stabilize energy markets. The news pushed down oil prices as traders were caught by the lack of agreement. The markets had assumed that a deal was close when energy ministers from members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as Russia met on Sunday. But the absence of Iran, one of OPEC’s biggest producers, helped scuttle any deal after Saudi Arabia insisted that the entire group participate in an agreement. Eager to increase oil output to its levels, Iran had ruled out a production freeze and on the eve of the meeting decided not attend the Doha gathering. While the Doha meeting might have helped set the stage for a smooth recovery in energy markets, the road ahead promises to be much more bumpy, given the glut of oil in the system. Energy analysts now expect oil markets to take longer to rebalance, as production ebbs more slowly and demand growth eventually catches up. Without a deal, uncertainty weighed on the markets on Monday. Crude oil futures in New York fell 1. 4 percent to $39. 78 a barrel. In London, Brent crude futures fell almost 7 percent in early trading but recovered most of their losses by the end of the day. Monday’s declines were limited because of an oil workers’ strike in Kuwait that significantly crimped production there. The failure of the Doha meeting highlighted once again that energy markets — and particularly oil — remained largely hostage to the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran for leadership and influence in the Middle East. In what might be seen as a warning shot, the Saudi deputy crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, said ahead of the meeting on Friday that Saudi Arabia could raise its crude output by more than a million barrels a day immediately. “If this is the starting shot of a new price war, then we will not get the inventory draw we were projecting this summer, and we will have building inventory in the fall instead, and then that will invite the risk of new price lows,” said Jan Stuart, global energy economist at Credit Suisse. Oil prices collapsed over the last year after major producers, led by Saudi Arabia, decided to flood the market and pump flat out to secure more market share. Ostensibly, the policy was aimed at pushing producers in the United States out of the market. But by producing full out, Saudi Arabia was also hurting other oil producers within OPEC, including Iran and also Russia, which is not an OPEC member. Both need higher prices to balance their budgets. But the strategy backfired, and it led to a glut in the oil markets that has pushed prices to their lowest levels in years. The idea of a freeze in production came up in February, as prices fell below $30 a barrel, and initially helped provoke a rebound in the market. At the time, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela had agreed in principle on a freeze but made it contingent on participation by other major producers. After the meeting, officials from countries said they would work on a new agreement for the next OPEC meeting, to be held in Vienna in June. At the same time, lower prices are beginning to bite. Last week, the International Energy Agency said that global oil markets would “move close to balance” in the second half of the year as lower prices hurt producers outside of OPEC. The global oil glut is expected to drop to 200, 000 barrels a day in the last six months of the year, from 1. 5 million in the first half, the agency said in its monthly oil report released on Thursday. The group found that outside of OPEC, output will decline by the most since 1992 as the American shale oil boom falters. “There is no doubt as to the direction of travel for the balance,” according to the energy adviser to industrialized nations. “There are signs that the slide in production of light, tight oil in the U. S. is gathering pace. ” For that reason, the outcome of the Doha meeting might be moot, according to a report by HSBC titled “Much about nothing. ” “The agreement would only have been of symbolic significance, in our view, and would not have altered the supply fundamentals,” according to the report. “We continue to see clear evidence that the market rebalancing is drawing near and expect prices to trend higher as the market tightens in the second half of the year. ” Still, much uncertainty remains, particularly what happens with Saudi Arabia and Iran. Prince Mohammed’s comments on Friday suggested that the current standoff between Saudi Arabia and Iran could last for several more months, posing renewed uncertainty on the direction of energy markets. “I don’t suggest that we should produce more, but we can produce more,” Prince Mohammed who is the country’s defense minister and chairman of the Supreme Council of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, which sets the country’s oil policy, said in an interview with Bloomberg News. Saudi Arabia produced about 10 million barrels a day in the first three months of the year. Analysts doubt how long the kingdom could be able to ramp up production in a sustainable manner and pump 11 million barrels a day, something it has never done before. “The weekend headlines will further support the already high level of price volatility,” analysts with Goldman Sachs wrote in a report. | 1 |
According to a retired Episcopal bishop, the Catholic church invented hell to control the populace through fear. What are your thoughts?
Via TrueActivist
Without a doubt, religion is one of the more difficult topics to discuss. After all, the majority of wars that have taken place on this planet stem from religious differences. But when a retired bishop speaks out about practices conducted and condoned by the world’s largest religious institution, his thoughts on the matter are worth hearing and considering.
Video Below. Regardless of your opinion on religion, spirituality, and the Catholic church, we implore you to keep an open mind as you listen to the interview between retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong and Keith Morrison of Dateline NBC. Originally recorded in August of 2006, the clip has gone viral numerous times because it features Spong explaining that the Catholic church invented Hell in order to control the populace through fear.
During a nationally televised interview, Spong explains why ‘Hell’ is essential for the church’s survival. He says,
“Religion is always in the control business, and that’s something people don’t really understand. It’s in a guilt-producing control business. And if you have Heaven as a place where you’re rewarded for your goodness, and Hell is a place where you’re punished for your evil, then you sort of have control of the population. And so they create this fiery place which has quite literally scared the Hell out of a lot of people, throughout Christian history. And it’s part of a control tactic.”
“The church doesn’t like for people to grow up, because you can’t control grown-ups. That’s why we talk about being born again. When you’re born again, you’re still a child. People don’t need to be born again. They need to grow up. They need to accept their responsibility for themselves and the world,” Spong adds.
A partial transcript of the interview follows: Spong: I don’t think Hell exists. I happen to believe in life after death, but I don’t think it’s got a thing to do with reward and punishment. Religion is always in the control business, and that’s something people don’t really understand. It’s in a guilt-producing control business. And if you have Heaven as a place where you’re rewarded for you goodness, and Hell is a place where you’re punished for your evil, then you sort of have control of the population. And so they create this fiery place which has quite literally scared the Hell out of a lot of people, throughout Christian history. And it’s part of a control tactic .
Morrison: But wait a minute. You’re saying that Hell, the idea of a place under the earth or somewhere you’re tormented for an eternity – is actually an invention of the church?
Spong: I think the church fired its furnaces hotter than anybody else. But I think there’s a sense in most religious life of reward and punishment in some form. The church doesn’t like for people to grow up, because you can’t control grown-ups. That’s why we talk about being born again. When you’re born again, you’re still a child. People don’t need to be born again. They need to grow up. They need to accept their responsibility for themselves and the world.
Morrison: What do you make of the theology which is pretty quite prominent these days in America, which is there is one guaranteed way not to go to hell; and that is to accept Jesus as your personal savior.
Spong: Yeah, I grew up in that tradition. Every church I know claims that ‘we are the true church’ – that they have some ultimate authority, ‘We have the infallible Pope,’ ‘We have the Bible.’… The idea that the truth of God can be bound in any human system, by any human creed, by any human book, is almost beyond imagination for me.
I mean, God is not a Christian. God is not a Jew or a Muslim or a Hindi or Buddhist. All of those are human systems, which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God. I honor my tradition. I walk through my tradition. But I don’t think my tradition defines God. It only points me to God.
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WARNING: ADULT CONTENT] Friday night during his “New Rules” segment of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher urged Democrats to go low against the Republicans and “kick them in the nuts. ” Maher said, “‘When they go low, we go high,’ is a great applause line but as a tactic? What country do you think you live in now? Wake up and smell the asshole. Because it turns out when they go low they get reelected, they take the Congress, the Supreme Court, the presidency. From now on the Democratic motto should be when they go low we kick them in the nuts. Democrats have to start winning elections. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
The recent presidential election inspired a notable amount of accessorizing, with hats and as impassioned voters wore their positions on their sleeves (or head or chest). The postelection atmosphere suggests this trend is not slowing down any time soon. The latest political fashion statement? The safety pin, an object that’s been adopted in the past by celebrities (remember Elizabeth Hurley’s Versace dress?) and the punk movement. After the election of Donald J. Trump, fears are growing that segments of his base may physically or emotionally abuse minorities, immigrants, women and members of the L. G. B. T. community. As a show of support, groups of people across America are attaching safety pins to their lapels, shirts and dresses to signify that they are linked, willing to stand up for the vulnerable. “It’s a matter of showing people who get it that I will always be a resource and an ally to anyone and everyone who wants to reach out,” said Kaye Kagaoan, 24, a graphic designer from the Philippines who lives in Brooklyn. “When I saw it on Facebook, it was so simple. It resonated with me. ” On Friday, the actor Patrick Stewart posted a photo of himself to Twitter wearing a pin on his jacket, and the photographer Cass Bird shared an Instagram post about why she’s wearing one that started with “If you wear a hijab, I’ll sit with you on the train” and ended with: “If you need me, I’ll be with you. All I ask is that you be with me, too. ” Between the two statements, sentences began with “If you’re a person of color … ” and “If you’re a refugee … ” and offered various forms of support. The actress Jaime King posted the same words to her Instagram account. In wearing the safety pin, participants are taking a page from protesters of the Brexit referendum results. After British citizens voted to leave the European Union in June, the nation experienced a 57 percent rise in reported xenophobic incidents. An American woman living in Britain tweeted a suggestion that people wear safety pins to show support to those experiencing abuse. Two days later, #safetypin was trending on Twitter. The woman, who used a Twitter account, @cheeahs, that has been deleted, had been inspired by the #illridewithyou movement in Australia, in which people offered to take public transportation with Muslims fearing a backlash after a Muslim gunman held people hostage in a cafe in 2014. Those who’ve donned the pin over the last week are quick to point out that their message isn’t necessarily in opposition to the . “More than anything, it’s ” said Sabrina Krebs, 22, a Barnard student from Guatemala City. “I wouldn’t say it’s resistance towards Trump. It’s a form of resistance to hate and to negativity. ” It is also, Ms. Krebs noted, a readily accessible item. “Everyone has safety pins in their house,” she said. “It’s something everyone can join. ” (But in case someone wants a more haute kind of protest, fashion has already jumped on the movement, with Fashionista suggesting “13 Safety Pin Brooches to Wear Now and for the Next Four Years,” with items ranging from a pin to one with crystal embellishments.) And it’s easy to put on. “It doesn’t take much to wear a safety pin,” said Robert Clarke, 52, a truck driver from Harrington Park, N. J. “I have them on several jackets, so I don’t have to think about it. ” Some Twitter users voiced criticisms of the trend, calling it “slacktivism,” a word that blends “slacker” and “activism. ” They expressed concern that wearing something doesn’t equate to action. Christopher Keelty, an author and nonprofit denounced the safety pins as something white people are wearing to assuage their guilt. “They’ll do little or nothing to reassure the marginalized populations they are allegedly there to reassure marginalized people know full well the long history of white people calling themselves allies while doing nothing to help, or even inflicting harm on, Americans,” he wrote. Wearers responded by acknowledging the critique. “I recognize that wearing a #safetypin is not sufficient action and does not supplement provide active, constructive work,” @OliviaHungers wrote. “Donate time. Donate money. Support people in your community with action. If you still wear the pin be sure to be ready to back it up. ” For his part, Mr. Clarke said that the pin isn’t just a signal of allegiance to those he encounters, but a constant reminder to himself. “A big part of wearing it is the mental preparation on my part,” he said. “If I do see something, I’ve thought it through, and I’ll stand up and say something and not be a silent witness. ” | 1 |
Third of Four Parts … A Defining Event in Everyone’s Healthcare Let’s start with the central moment of healthcare as experienced by most Americans. The patient goes to a medical office and says, “Please, doctor, I have this ache, pain, or lump. Is there anything you can do to help me?” We can quickly see that this healthcare experience — including, also, seeking advice for wellness and overall longevity, for oneself or for a loved one — almost always comes prior to any consideration of paying the bill. Instead, one’s instinctive and immediate focus is on health that is, we are more naturally interested in the fruits of medical science — is there anything you can do? — than in the of accountancy finance. To put the issue another way, the patient regards his or her problem as, first and foremost, a health issue and then, and only then, a financial issue. After all, the reason for going to the doctor in the first place is not to wrangle over the eventual bill that might come later. In the here and now, the purpose of the visit, of course, is to get better. We can observe that this is basic human nature: If you’re in a theater and someone yells “Fire!” your first instinct is flight, to survive worrying about getting a refund on your ticket can wait till you’ve escaped the danger. Thus the implicit science of a medical situation — can the doctor help me or not? — is prior to the finance flesh, blood, and pain take priority over money, debt, and numbers on a ledger. “Healthcare Policy Is a Loser for Whichever Party Is in Charge” The Value of Hanging Out with a Better Crowd, So is there hope that a Republican Cure Strategy will emerge? We’ll have to wait and see, of course, but it certainly seems that the cures approach — as highlighted by Trump and Cruz, and as legislated by Upton and Wicker — offers Republicans more upside and less downside. In the meantime, we only know this much: The fusion of science, technology, and vision has worked in the past to promote progress, and it can be made to work, yet again, in the future. Why so optimistic? We’ll take up that question in the next installment. | 1 |
October 31, 2016 Al-Qaeda's Attack On West-Aleppo Continues Despite Lack Of Progress
For four days now al-Qaeda in Syria (aka Jabhat al Nusra aka Fatah al-Sham) and assorted other "rebel" groups have tried to attack Aleppo from the west to break the siege on al-Qaeda associated groups in east-Aleppo. The New York Times in now openly admitting that CIA supported groups are acting under al-Qaeda's operational command. The piece though, which belonged on page one, was in the back of the paper. There is no public outcry over this disturbing fact.
The attack on west-Aleppo had been talked about for over two weeks and the defenders are well prepared. bigger
As can be seen on the map above the areas al-Qaeda and its allies managed to capture so far are only small rural outskirts. Every attempt to attack actual city estate under roof was repelled by the defenders. Small infiltrations like shown in the map were immediately cleaned up. The marked area is back in the hands of the Syrian army. It is estimated that the several thousand attackers have so far lost more than 500 men. A 1,000 more are likely injured. Every attack has to be carried over mostly open land and is received by heavy artillery fire. Air attacks ravage their supply and preparation ares.
The attackers launched over 20 suicide-vehicle bombs so far but only a few reached their targets and their damage was limited. Yesterday one suicide vehicle bomb, ready to be launched for a new attack, was hit by a missile from a Syrian helicopter and exploded at its preparation and launching position. Over 60 "rebels" were killed by it and their attack had to be call off.
The good news is that the defense is holding. The bad news is that the al-Qaeda "rebels" received huge amounts of artillery missiles and launchers from their "western" and Gulf sponsors. Several hundred have been launched at the densely populated areas of west-Aleppo. More than a 100 civilians have been killed by them and several hundred civilians were wounded. Some of the missiles contained gas and people had to be taken to hospital with extreme breathing difficulties. The UN envoy condemned these attacks as "possible war crimes".
The whole attack operation was launched under the direct supervision of al-Qaeda in Syria leader Abu Muhammad al-Golani. He was shown in pictures at the "rebel" headquarter of the attack discussing further operations.
Despite any progress on their part the al-Qaeda forces seem far from giving up. More attacks to break the siege are expected. We can be sure that some of their surprises are still in store. But the defenders are ready and the Syrian army is said to prepare for a large counter operation which may include a serious effort to liberate east-Aleppo of the al-Qaeda occupation.
Other fronts in Syria are relatively quiet. The Turks have been told by Russia to stop all air attacks within Syria. The message has been received. The Turkish plan to occupy Al Bab east of Aleppo is unlikely to happen as it would be out of range of the Turkey based artillery and have no air support. The U.S. would like to go to Raqqa but has no proxy ground force to do that. Some Obama officials are now arguing for more U.S. boots on the ground in Syria. Will Obama agree to that mission creep? Posted by b on October 31, 2016 at 02:08 PM | Permalink | 0 |
No doubt she prefers it doused liberally with hot sauce from the bottle she carries in her purse at all times .
It’s one thing to kiss up to different voting blocs when you’re running for elective office: It’s the currency of politics. But when you do it in as transparently crass a manner as Hillary Clinton, you have to wonder why the other guy isn’t beating her by 50 points .
Here she is, making a guest appearance on the Univision show “El Gordo y La Flaca.” The title translates to “The Fat Man & The Thin Lady,” as the abuela-in-chief could on doubt tell you. See for yourself by watching the portion of the video below beginning at 2:18. As the Thin Lady addresses her audience in rápida e spañol , Clinton nods along as though she has the first clue what the woman is saying.
Before the panderfest is over, Clinton also adds that her granddaughter is already learning Spanish , which is frankly quite an achievement since the child turned two at the end of September.
Clinton’s stomach-turning hijinks know no limits. The day after her appearance on Univision, she joined black radio host Charlamagne Tha God live on air where she claimed that rappers had influenced her fashion sense . Tha God was apparently too gracious to ask, “What sense?” | 0 |
Politico is reporting late Sunday that White House chief of staff Reince Priebus has an Independence Day deadline to clean up the messes he is responsible for in the White House. [“President Donald Trump has set a deadline of July 4 for a shakeup of the White House that could include removing Reince Priebus as his chief of staff, according to two administration officials and three outside advisers familiar with the matter,” Politico’s Tara Palmeri wrote late Sunday night: While Trump has set deadlines for staff changes before, only to let them pass without pulling the trigger, the president is under more scrutiny than ever regarding the sprawling Russia investigation, which is intensifying the pressure on his White House team. Days after his return from his first foreign trip late last month, Trump berated Priebus in the Oval Office in front of his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and deputy campaign manager David Bossie for the dysfunction in the White House, according to multiple sources familiar with the conversation. Palmeri joined Breitbart News Sunday on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 to discuss the breaking news on Priebus out of the White House. Palmeri wrote that Bossie has been considered for deputy White House chief of staff and Lewandowski has been considered for a White House senior adviser role with a “portfolio that includes Russia,” but Trump told Lewandowski and Bossie they would not be going into the White House just yet — that Priebus deserves one last chance to get things under control in there. “I’m giving you until July 4,” Trump told Priebus, Palmeri wrote, citing a source with knowledge of the conversation. “I don’t want them [Lewandowski and Bossie] to come into this mess. If I’m going to clean house, they will come in as fresh blood. ” White House press secretary Sean Spicer — a staunch ally of Priebus — denied this claim. “Whoever is saying that is either a liar or out of the loop,” Spicer told Palmeri. But Spicer has previously been wrong about Palmeri. Back in March, Spicer told Breitbart News that Palmeri was “an idiot with no real sources” when she previously reported accurately that Priebus was in jeopardy of losing his job then. It turns out that is not accurate as, the very next day, Palmeri quoted an conversation she had with chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon. Palmeri added that Independence Day is hardly the first deadline that Priebus has faced — and he has succeeded in surviving for now. “The Independence Day timeframe is timed with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s deadline for passage of the health care bill through the chamber, which is also the start of the July 4th recess,” she wrote: Priebus took the brunt of the blame for the first failure to get a vote on the bill through the House, though the White House and Speaker Paul Ryan were ultimately able to secure its passage on a second try. Talk of Trump’s July 4th deadline has made the rounds in the White House, but insiders and those close to the president are not holding their breath, given the perpetual talk that Priebus and other senior staffers are on the way out. Trump’s first deadline for the firing of Priebus and many staffers that he brought on from the Republican National Committee was the mark. The president then considered the idea of a Memorial Day shakeup when he returned from the foreign trip, and then most recently, July 4. People who have been considered as potential upgrades from Priebus, Palmeri wrote, include campaign adviser David Urban and Blackstone executive Wayne Berman — among others who have been considered. Other names that have been floated publicly but are not mentioned in this piece include House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and White House National Economic Council director Gary Cohn. McCarthy’s role in Congress, since Congress has not done much in the way of helping Trump succeed, could be an impediment to him getting the job. Cohn’s leftist tendencies, meanwhile — as exhibited by his comments bashing the coal industry while in Europe last month — are a sign that the selection of Cohn would be a setback to the administration. Cohn is reportedly interested in other positions, too, including Federal Reserve chairman. An adviser to the president mocked Priebus’s predicament in a statement to Palmeri. “It’s become comical that every holiday becomes a referendum on Reince,” the adviser said. Priebus has even joked about how bad his situation is, per Palmeri, telling one person recently, “I’ve got one foot on a banana peel and another out the door. ” Now, Trump is considering sending him to Greece as ambassador. “Trump has weighed the idea of moving Priebus to the role of ambassador to Greece, because of his Greek descent,” Palmeri wrote. “Trump told Bossie, ‘that Priebus will enjoy Greece,’ according to two people with knowledge of the comment. ” But at least two advisers questioned whether Priebus was indeed on his way out on July 4 if he does not fix the place soon. “The White House is different [than the Trump Organization],” Sam Nunberg said. “You can’t make quick changes, it’s an institution. Once someone is gone from there, they’re gone. With that said, I think Reince will be there for the long haul. ” Roger Stone, another longtime confidante of the president, told Palmeri that two “drastic personnel decisions” that Trump made in his business career were when he fired Trump Organization CEO Edward Tracy and Trump Atlantic City Associates CEO Nicholas Ribis. “He likened the firings to Richard Nixon’s ‘Saturday Night Massacre’ and called it ‘sudden,’” Palmeri wrote of her conversation with Stone. “He suggested that if and when Trump removes Priebus, it will be at an opportune time and with a landing pad. ” Stone told Palmeri, too, that after the fallout from the president’s firing of now former FBI director James Comey, he will likely remove Priebus more carefully if he does end up doing so. “I think it would be fair to say, that with the entire Comey controversy, that’s a pretty good reason not to make a change at this exact moment,” Stone said. LISTEN TO POLITICO’S TARA PALMERI ON BREITBART NEWS SUNDAY: | 1 |
By wmw_admin on October 29, 2016 Pat Buchanan — The Unz Review Oct 28, 2016
Should Donald Trump surge from behind to win, he would likely bring in with him both houses of Congress.
Much of his agenda — tax cuts, deregulation, border security, deportation of criminals here illegally, repeal of Obamacare, appointing justices like Scalia, unleashing the energy industry — could be readily enacted.
On new trade treaties with China and Mexico, Trump might need economic nationalists in Bernie Sanders’ party to stand with him, as free-trade Republicans stood by their K-Street contributors.
Still, compatible agendas and GOP self-interest could transcend personal animosities and make for a successful four years.
But consider what a Hillary Clinton presidency would be like.
She would enter office as the least-admired president in history, without a vision or a mandate. She would take office with two-thirds of the nation believing she is untruthful and untrustworthy.
Reports of poor health and lack of stamina may be exaggerated. Yet she moves like a woman her age. Unlike Ronald Reagan, her husband, Bill, and President Obama, she is not a natural political athlete and lacks the personal and rhetorical skills to move people to action.
She makes few mistakes as a debater, but she is often shrill — when she is not boring. Trump is right: Hillary Clinton is tough as a $2 steak. But save for those close to her, she appears not to be a terribly likable person.
Still, such attributes, or the lack of them, do not assure a failed presidency. James Polk, no charmer, was a one-term president, but a great one, victorious in the Mexican War, annexing California and the Southwest, negotiating a fair division of the Oregon territory with the British.
Yet the hostility Clinton would face the day she takes office would almost seem to ensure four years of pure hell.
The reason: her credibility, or rather her transparent lack of it.
Consider. Because the tapes revealed he did not tell the full truth about when he learned about Watergate, Richard Nixon was forced to resign.
In the Iran-Contra affair, Reagan faced potential impeachment charges, until ex-security adviser John Poindexter testified that Reagan told the truth when he said he had not known of the secret transfer of funds to the Nicaraguan Contras.
Bill Clinton was impeached — for lying.
White House scandals, as Nixon said in Watergate, are almost always rooted in mendacity — not the misdeed, but the cover-up, the lies, the perjury, the obstruction of justice that follow.
And here Hillary Clinton seems to have an almost insoluble problem.
She has testified for hours to FBI agents investigating why and how her server was set up and whether secret information passed through it.
Forty times during her FBI interrogation, Clinton said she could not or did not recall. This writer has friends who went to prison for telling a grand jury, “I can’t recall.”
After studying her testimony and the contents of her emails, FBI Director James Comey virtually accused Clinton of lying.
Moreover, thousands of emails were erased from her server, even after she had reportedly been sent a subpoena from Congress to retain them.
During her first two years as secretary of state, half of her outside visitors were contributors to the Clinton Foundation.
Yet there was not a single quid pro quo, Clinton tells us.
Yesterday’s newspapers exploded with reports of how Bill Clinton aide Doug Band raised money for the Clinton Foundation, and then hit up the same corporate contributors to pay huge fees for Bill’s speeches.
What were the corporations buying if not influence? What were the foreign contributors buying, if not influence with an ex-president, and a secretary of state and possible future president?
Did none of the big donors receive any official favors?
“There’s a lot of smoke and there’s no fire,” says Hillary Clinton.
Perhaps, but there seems to be more smoke every day.
If once or twice in her hours of testimony to the FBI, grand jury or before Congress, Clinton were proven to have lied, her Justice Department would be obligated to name a special prosecutor, as was Nixon’s.
And, with the election over, the investigative reporters of the adversary press, Pulitzers beckoning, would be cut loose to go after her.
The Republican House is already gearing up for investigations that could last deep into Clinton’s first term.
There is a vast trove of public and sworn testimony from Hillary, about the server, the emails, the erasures, the Clinton Foundation. Now, thanks to WikiLeaks, there are tens of thousands of emails to sift through, and perhaps tens of thousands more to come.
What are the odds that not one contains information that contradicts her sworn testimony? Cong. Jim Jordan contends that Clinton may already have perjured herself.
And as the full-court press would begin with her inauguration, Clinton would have to deal with the Syrians, Russians, Taliban, North Koreans and Xi Jinping in the South China Sea — and with Bill Clinton wandering around the White House with nothing to do.
This election is not over. But if Hillary Clinton wins, a truly hellish presidency could await her, and us. Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of the new book “The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Majority.” | 0 |
Now that washed up Democratic “Consultant” Carville is finding a “conspiracy” between Trump and the KGB…that was disbanded in 1991.
“Time Traveling KGB” they were labeled at RT article.
You know, maybe 2 years ago, I made a few comments about some Kevin Costner movies, where the plot was “Russians destroying our Dollar” in one of them, and another where he was a CIA operative “because someone has to do it” along with passages about the “Federal Reserve keeps our economy safe and sound” and a bunch of other obvious CIA-injected Narrative…everyone is aware that Hollywood has a CIA Liaison officer approving the scripts, and injecting lines in it, right?
Kevin “Hollywood Rose” Costner…a paid propagandist. Working against America. For the younger generation, I am referring to “Tokyo Rose” of WW II.
“When everything America believes is true, is a lie, I know we’ve done our job” A CIA Director William Colby a few days before he “drowned” in a canoeing accident. Too bad JFK wasn’t able to “break the CIA into a thousands pieces” and Eli-Min-ate it. Yes, that is where these words originated: in demonic/satanic behavior..and I am a confirmed atheist.
Illu of Sais-On….be aware patriots. Illusion and Programming take vigilance to battle. | 0 |
Wednesday’s attempted baseball massacre by alleged shooter James Hodgkinson appears to be just the latest in a series of violent outbursts from the Left. Here’s a list of just some of those incidents to highlight a boiling climate of hate that has amplified dramatically during the 2016 election and Donald Trump’s presidency. [1. Protesters Attack Trump Supporters Outside a Rally in San Jose, California, Above: A Trump supporter has eggs thrown at her (Noah Associated Press) NOW: #Trump supporter attacked and left bleeding in San Jose pic. twitter. — Tim Pool (@Timcast) June 3, 2016, Above: A Trump supporter gets sucker punched On June 2, 2016, extreme left groups converged on a Trump rally in San Jose, California with various messages including “America was Never Great” “Get off soil” and “F*ck Donald Trump. ” Some of the protesters threw eggs at a Trump supporter. Others snuck up and punched Trump supporters leaving the rally. The ensuing havoc led to the victims of this assault to sue San Jose, the city mayor, and the city police chief over negligence in failing to prevent the chaos. 2. Trump Fundraiser Attacked, Above: Protesters trying to stop Donald Trump’s motorcade after his Minneapolis fundraiser ( @EmmaSapong) Some protesters got aggressive at the end of the night as Trump supporters left Minneapolis fundraiser. @StarTribune pic. twitter. — Renee JonesSchneider (@reneejon) August 20, 2016, Above: A video of the protesters, A group of Leftists assaulted Donald Trump’s motorcade and spat on his supporters in Minneapolis on August 19. The local media reported the raucous reception with the headline, “Donald Trump Fundraising Event in Minneapolis draws GOP Donors, Protesters to Convention Center. ” With no mention of the protesters, the report went on to claim, “Donald Trump roiled Minnesota politics for a few hours Friday night. ” 3. Terrorists Firebomb GOP HQ in North Carolina, Above: The interior of the Republican Party office in Hillsborough, North Carolina after the attack (Dallas Republican Party of North Carolina) “Nazi Republicans, leave town or else” was the message scrawled on a neighboring building to the out GOP HQ. Pat McCrory called the outburst “political terrorism. ” In response to the attack, Donald Trump tweeted out, Animals representing Hillary Clinton and Dems in North Carolina just firebombed our office in Orange County because we are winning @NCGOP, — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016, 4. Trump Supporter Punched and Kicked During High School Protest, Above: @RamirezReports, “They jumped him and beat him up pretty bad,” a witness recounted to WTOP radio. The victim, wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, was beaten during a walkout protest from Montgomery High School in Rockville, Maryland. Police officers claimed the victim displayed no signs of aggression during the attack. 5. “F*ck Donald Trump, F*ck White People” WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT, Above: A young, mentally disabled man had his torture live streamed as his captors shouted and epithets. In what is perhaps the most sinister example on this list, a young with schizophrenia was beaten and tortured in a Chicago home in January of 2017. His torturers live streamed the affair on Facebook Live. He was forced to drink toilet water and part of his head was scalped. While the young man’s political affiliation remains unknown, his attackers shouted, “F*ck Trump” and “F*ck white people. ” The whole episode was so horrendous that it drew significant mainstream media attention and condemnation from Obama. 6. Antifa Rioters Lay Waste to DC in Response to Trump Inauguration, Above: Antifa terrorism in Washington following Trump’s inauguration ( @nicknbcboston) Antifa’s representatives and members of organizations such as BAMN, proudly engage in violence with the justification that any speech they do not like is, in fact, against future violence. Their rage was on full display in Washington, DC in the days surrounding Trump’s inauguration. Rioters smashed the windows of cars and businesses. One Trump supporter was assaulted as he attempted to put out fires. As Breitbart News reported: protesters wearing black masks clashed with police officers in front of the National Press Club Thursday night, January 19, 2017. The “DeploraBall” event inside drew the ire of the hundreds of anarchists and their associates. Many of the protesters physically resisted police efforts to clear the sidewalk as others shot their middle fingers to the police officers. 7. Antifa Goes on Rampage in Berkeley to Protest Milo Yiannopoulos Above: Burning Berkeley (The Associated Press) Above: A Trump supporter is pepper sprayed by while giving an interview at UC Berkeley, A student got pepper sprayed, fires raged across campus, windows got smashed and dozens of Milo fans were assaulted on February 1, 2017. Leftist responses to the Berkeley maelstrom (the first of many for 2017) ranged from praise, to conspiracy theories and to blaming Trump. Many were quick to point out that the iconic flashpoint of free speech protests had now become a symbol of suppression of free speech. 8. Antifa Assaults Trump Supporter with Bike Lock in Berkeley, WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT, Above: A video depicting the assault of a Trump supporter, On April 15, an assailant later identified as a college professor, Eric Clanton, reportedly beat a Trump supporter with a bike lock. Clanton snuck up on him and quickly ran away after the blow to the head. He was later identified and arrested. He faces three counts of suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon that is not a firearm and assault causing bodily injury. 9. Antifa Throws Urine at March, Above: Scenes at an march on June 10, 2017 ( @StarTribune) Above: Video of the attack, Members of Antifa threw urine on Libertarian blogger Lauren Southern and her friends as she was being interviewed during a march against Sharia law on June 10. She responded: I guess it makes sense the people throwing chemicals or bodily fluids at chicks faces would be protesting the #MarchAgainstsharia, — Lauren Southern (@Lauren_Southern) June 10, 2017, This list is by no means exhaustive. Indeed, it does not even scratch the surface of calls for violence in rhetorical discourse. To give perspective, over 12, 000 tweets have called for Trump’s assassination since his inauguration. This list merely highlights significant incidents of Leftist violence to illustrate heightening divisions in a country increasingly fractured on political fault lines. These divisions have grown to the point where it is not improbable that Wednesday’s alleged shooter could have been influenced by partisan rhetoric to shoot up a Congressional baseball game after rationalizing that “It’s time to destroy Trump Co. ” (His attempts were met with praise on the corners of Twitter.) These events and others have led commentators on both the right and the left to postulate whether America is perhaps in the beginning stages of Civil War. | 1 |
Share on Facebook Widespread outrage over both the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline and violent police crackdowns rages on. That outrage is spreading even to police agencies now returning from deployment to the reservation. Two departments have already refused to return, citing personal and public objections. As if that wasn't enough, an army of sympathizers is re-purposing social media to combat police efforts in Standing Rock. Minnesota's Hennepin County Sheriff's Department is among that group. Lawmakers, according to MPR News , found police activities in Standing Rock “inappropriate.” It's to the point where they're considering rewriting legislation to avoid future deployments to incidents like the pipeline resistance. Police officials, of course, declined to comment on their return from North Dakota or their feelings on what's happening there. It's also made the task of rebuilding trust with the community an even loftier uphill battle. “I do not support Sheriff Stanek's decision to send his deputies to North Dakota,” says LT. Governor Tina Smith, “nor did we approve his decision to begin with. I do not have any control over the Sheriff's actions, which I think were wrong, and I believe he should bring his deputies home if he hasn't already.” Smith's comments split the state's government, however, and she was targeted. Minnesota State Rep. Tony Cornish condemned Smith for prioritizing “the rights of protesters over the needs of law enforcement,” saying she should apologize to the cops. Sheriffs from Wisconsin's Dane County were more empathetic, pulling out and refusing to return. According to the Bismarck Tribune , Sheriff Dave Mahoney made the decision after a “wide cross-section of the community” decried the deployment. “All share the opinion that our deputies should not be involved in this situation,” says Mahoney. Dane County's deputies were deployed to Standing Rock for around a week. Sources report Dane County wasn't involved in recent arrests, a string of which scooped up an alderwoman from Madison Wisconsin. Ald. Rebecca Kemble traveled to North Dakota as a “legal observer,” filming and participating in prayer ceremonies. When Morton County officers–if they cans till be called that–grabbed and arrested her for engaging in a riot. According to Kemble, no riot was happening. Other Wisconsin departments have been recalled, with at least one staying behind for a more couple weeks. Many other citizens have been charged for trespassing and participating in non-existent riots, including journalists. One of the most renowned reporters who's faced DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline)- related charges was Amy Goodman of Democracy Now . Goodman's team filmed dog attacks by DAPL contractors who lacked proper K9 licenses. The contractors have also been accused of unethical surveillance, intimidation, and sabotaging the movement by attempting to make authorities believe the protesters have finally turned violent. Other journalists, including documentarian Deia Schlosberg, face decades in prison for filming climate activists at a separate oil project. Journalists from the independent outlet Unicorn Riot, who recently reported use of a sound cannon on water protectors, have also been arrested. Thousands of opponents to the pipeline have flooded Standing Rock to repel construction and police brutality. More still have taken to the internet, spreading information in the form of writing, video, photography, and art. Among the renegade tactics is using Facebook to “check-in” at Standing Rock. According the Guardian , over a million people–even people I know–have joined the action. It began with a Facebook post, disclosing that Morton County sheriffs are allegedly using Facebook check-ins to track protesters. “Checking in”– whether you're at a friend's, restaurant, or escalating resistance–pinpoints your location to a tee. Once you check in, a notification is sent out to, yes, your friends, but theoretically anyone who's capable of watching. It's yet another tool in the bag of tricks authorities have deployed against civilians, and are likely utilizing in Standing Rock. Some detractors have dismissed the social media action as a waste of time. An editor at The Fifth Column challenged these in a Facebook post, narrating a debate on the subject he'd had. Editor Justin King pointed out that even if the check-in's wasted two minutes of time, multiplied by hundreds of thousands, that equates to two months of wasted police work. Now imagine how ineffective the surveillance may be with millions continuously checking. Morton County Sheriff's, Guardian reports, called claims of police surveillance misguided “rumors.” Morton County, by their own account, isn't “ monitoring Facebook check-ins for the protest camp or any location for that matter .” Before you trust them, consider that Facebook access for water protectors was reported as “blocked’ during a military-style raid on a camp. Data Collection Nationwide Other police departments are similarly sketchy when pressured to speak on their surveillance technologies. Wisconsin's Milwaukee PD hid the use of cell site simulators , or Stingrays, from courts for months. Stingrays mimic cellphone towers, thus tricking phones into providing all manner of user information and data. Nearby, the Wauwatosa Police Department , despite having admitting to “collecting and analyzing cell phone data ” in its public reports, denied ever even coming close to a Stingray. It took the department 5 weeks to respond to that open records request, which is considered unusually long. It remains unknown how Wauwatosa PD, which has been blasted for lack of transparency before , collects cell phone data. The Hand's Fingers In Open Rebellion In addition to the general retreat of departments, two officers have already turned in their badges in support of the protesters. North Dakota water protector Redhawk, MintPress reports , disclosed the revelation. The individual also pointed out “you can see it in some of them, that they do not support the police actions.”“Some are waking up,” they continued, “we must keep reminding them that they are welcome to put down their weapons and badge and take a stand against the pipeline as well.” Hints of shame could be seen in the faces of officers who confronted protesters as they blocked them from prayer grounds. As the protesters condemned officers , some of whom looked down or off to the horizon in shame. The modern era of internet and technology gifts us with a plethora of ways to express ourselves, and help one another. Standing Rock is quickly becoming a stand out of that fact. Citizens, journalists, and activists are all using the internet to achieve their own goals. Whether that be spreading information being blocked, tracking police movements, sending food and rations or just voicing opinions. Standing Rock's resistance is spreading globally, with protests occurring in Europe and elsewhere. As long as construction doesn't stop, the movement won't rest. Related: | 0 |
After 100 years of selling cookies, the Girl Scouts have come up with two new flavors. It may seem odd that it took a century when the inspiration was right under their noses: s’mores. The Girl Scouts first published a recipe for the quintessential campfire snack in 1927. The two newcomers share the same name, Girl Scout S’mores, but play separate variations on the theme of chocolate, marshmallow and graham cracker. In a bit of hairsplitting worthy of a merit badge for marketing, one is billed as “crispy” and the other as “crunchy. ” The crispy cookie is a thick slab of graham cracker coated with a fine layer of sweet white frosting and a much thicker one of chocolate, produced by ABC Bakers, of Richmond, Va. The crunchy cookie is a graham sandwich filled with a layer of chocolate and another of marshmallowlike icing, produced by Little Brownie Bakers, of Louisville, Ky. Why two versions? The Girl Scouts need two manufacturers to meet the demand for two million boxes of cookies a year presented with the idea for S’mores, each bakery took its own approach. As connoisseurs know, there are regional variations in the popular Thin Mint cookies, and strong similarities between Samoas and Caramel deLites. Neither of the S’mores has been seared over embers under the stars, as prescribed in that 1927 recipe for “Some More. ” But early taste tests online, and among The New York Times’s Food staff, showed a slight preference for the sandwich cookie, for its balanced sweetness and tender, fudgelike center. Girl Scout cookie season typically opens in January and ends in April, though each local council has its own traditions, which means that a lone council in Michigan and one in Maryland were selling cookies last fall. Timing and availability of the new offerings will vary, since councils in different parts of the country have contracts with different manufacturers. Councils in Los Angeles and New York will sell the sandwich cookies, while those in Philadelphia and Orange County, Calif. will sell the grahams. This may not matter to Thin Mint purists, but not every council will have a S’mores cookie on the menu. In 1922, Florence E. Neil, a Girl Scout director in Chicago, published a recipe for sugar cookies flavored with vanilla, and many of the earliest Girl Scout cookies sold to raise funds for activities and community projects were baked in home kitchens, based on Ms. Neil’s recipe. But the first Girl Scout cookie sale took place even earlier, in 1917, in a high school cafeteria in Muskogee, Okla. Since then, this business has expanded to become a national phenomenon, with devoted fans buying cult flavors in bulk, or stashing extra boxes in the freezer to last until the next cookie season. This hoarding surely contributes to the average $800 million in cookie sales each season. Whether the cookies are for home delivery, or picked up at booths in parking lots, fairgrounds and grocery stores, every council handles the process its own way. Finding the cookies doesn’t have to be a matter of luck: Plug a ZIP code into the Girl Scout website (girlscouts. org) for a list of local sales booths. | 1 |
By John Pilger on October 31, 2016 John Pilger — Russia Today Oct 28, 2016
The American journalist, Edward Bernays, is often described as the man who invented modern propaganda.
The nephew of Sigmund Freud, the pioneer of psycho-analysis, it was Bernays who coined the term “public relations” as a euphemism for spin and its deceptions.
In 1929, he persuaded feminists to promote cigarettes for women by smoking in the New York Easter Parade – behavior then considered outlandish. One feminist, Ruth Booth, declared, “Women! Light another torch of freedom! Fight another sex taboo!”
Bernays’ influence extended far beyond advertising. His greatest success was his role in convincing the American public to join the slaughter of the First World War. The secret, he said, was “engineering the consent” of people in order to “control and regiment [them] according to our will without their knowing about it.”
He described this as “the true ruling power in our society” and called it an “invisible government.”
Today, the invisible government has never been more powerful and less understood. In my career as a journalist and film-maker, I have never known propaganda to insinuate our lives and as it does now and to go unchallenged. Imagine two cities.
Both are under siege by the forces of the government of that country. Both cities are occupied by fanatics, who commit terrible atrocities, such as beheading people.
But there is a vital difference. In one siege, the government soldiers are described as liberators by Western reporters embedded with them, who enthusiastically report their battles and air strikes. There are front page pictures of these heroic soldiers giving a V-sign for victory. There is scant mention of civilian casualties.
In the second city – in another country nearby – almost exactly the same is happening. Government forces are laying siege to a city controlled by the same breed of fanatics.
The difference is that these fanatics are supported, supplied and armed by “us” – by the United States and Britain. They even have a media center that is funded by Britain and America. 'US, UK sabotage any attempts at Syria settlement'– Political writer Dan Glazebrook https://t.co/diHrxk1wnG pic.twitter.com/ZXh3NAXFfg
— RT (@RT_com) October 27, 2016
Another difference is that the government soldiers laying siege to this city are the bad guys, condemned for assaulting and bombing the city – which is exactly what the good soldiers do in the first city.
Confusing? Not really. Such is the basic double standard that is the essence of propaganda. I am referring, of course, to the current siege of the city of Mosul by the government forces of Iraq, who are backed by the United States and Britain and to the siege of Aleppo by the government forces of Syria, backed by Russia. One is good; the other is bad.
What is seldom reported is that both cities would not be occupied by fanatics and ravaged by war if Britain and the United States had not invaded Iraq in 2003. That criminal enterprise was launched on lies strikingly similar to the propaganda that now distorts our understanding of the civil war in Syria.
Without this drumbeat of propaganda dressed up as news, the monstrous ISIS and Al-Qaeda and al-Nusra and the rest of the jihadist gang might not exist, and the people of Syria might not be fighting for their lives today BREAKING: 6 children killed, over a dozen injured in rebel shelling of #Aleppo school (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/aw0a3f9ydn
— RT (@RT_com) October 28, 2016
Some may remember in 2003 a succession of BBC reporters turning to the camera and telling us that Blair was “vindicated” for what turned out to be the crime of the century. The US television networks produced the same validation for George W. Bush. Fox News brought on Henry Kissinger to effuse over Colin Powell’s fabrications.
The same year, soon after the invasion, I filmed an interview in Washington with Charles Lewis, the renowned American investigative journalist. I asked him, “What would have happened if the freest media in the world had seriously challenged what turned out to be crude propaganda?”
He replied that if journalists had done their job, “ there is a very, very good chance we would not have gone to war in Iraq.”
It was a shocking statement, and one supported by other famous journalists to whom I put the same question – Dan Rather of CBS, David Rose of the Observer and journalists and producers in the BBC, who wished to remain anonymous.
— RT America (@RT_America) October 27, 2016
In other words, had journalists done their job, had they challenged and investigated the propaganda instead of amplifying it, hundreds of thousands of men, women and children would be alive today, and there would be no ISIS and no siege of Aleppo or Mosul.
There would have been no atrocity on the London Underground on 7th July 2005. There would have been no flight of millions of refugees; there would be no miserable camps.
When the terrorist atrocity happened in Paris last November, President Francoise Hollande immediately sent planes to bomb Syria – and more terrorism followed, predictably, the product of Hollande’s bombast about France being “at war” and “showing no mercy.” That state violence and jihadist violence feed off each other is the truth that no national leader has the courage to speak.
“When the truth is replaced by silence,” said the Soviet dissident Yevtushenko, “the silence is a lie.”
The attack on Iraq, the attack on Libya, the attack on Syria happened because the leader in each of these countries was not a puppet of the West. The human rights record of a Saddam or a Gaddafi was irrelevant. They did not obey orders and surrender control of their country. From ‘mad dog’ to ‘model’ and back: How West changed its mind on Gaddafi https://t.co/eAoKoxYdaW pic.twitter.com/IwaiToi8O3
— RT (@RT_com) October 20, 2016
The same fate awaited Slobodan Milosevic once he had refused to sign an “agreement” that demanded the occupation of Serbia and its conversion to a market economy. His people were bombed, and he was prosecuted in The Hague. Independence of this kind is intolerable.
As WikiLeaks has revealed, it was only when the Syrian leader Bashar Assad in 2009 rejected an oil pipeline, running through his country from Qatar to Europe, that he was attacked.
From that moment, the CIA planned to destroy the government of Syria with jihadist fanatics – the same fanatics currently holding the people of Mosul and eastern Aleppo hostage.
Why is this not news? The former British Foreign Office official Carne Ross, who was responsible for operating sanctions against Iraq, told me: “We would feed journalists factoids of sanitized intelligence, or we would freeze them out. That is how it worked.”
The West’s medieval client, Saudi Arabia – to which the US and Britain sell billions of dollars’ worth of arms – is at present destroying Yemen, a country so poor that in the best of times, half the children are malnourished.
Look on YouTube and you will see the kind of massive bombs – “our” bombs – that the Saudis use against dirt-poor villages, and against weddings, and funerals.
The explosions look like small atomic bombs. The bomb aimers in Saudi Arabia work side-by-side with British officers. This fact is not on the evening news.
Propaganda is most effective when our consent is engineered by those with a fine education – Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Columbia – and with careers on the BBC, the Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post.
These organizations are known as the liberal media. They present themselves as enlightened, progressive tribunes of the moral zeitgeist. They are anti-racist, pro-feminist and pro-LGBT. And they love war.
While they speak up for feminism, they support rapacious wars that deny the rights of countless women, including the right to life.
In 2011, Libya, then a modern state, was destroyed on the pretext that Muammar Gaddafi was about to commit genocide on his own people. That was the incessant news; and there was no evidence. It was a lie.
In fact, Britain, Europe and the United States wanted what they like to call “regime change” in Libya, the biggest oil producer in Africa. Gaddafi’s influence in the continent and, above all, his independence were intolerable.
So he was murdered with a knife in his rear by fanatics, backed by America, Britain and France. Hillary Clinton cheered his gruesome death for the camera, declaring, “We came, we saw, he died!” .
The destruction of Libya was a media triumph. As the war drums were beaten, Jonathan Freedland wrote in the Guardian: “Though the risks are very real, the case for intervention remains strong.”
Intervention – what a polite, benign, Guardian word, whose real meaning, for Libya, was death and destruction.
According to its own records, NATO launched 9,700 “strike sorties” against Libya, of which more than a third were aimed at civilian targets. They included missiles with uranium warheads. Look at the photographs of the rubble of Misrata and Sirte, and the mass graves identified by the Red Cross. The UNICEF report on the children killed says, “most [of them] under the age of ten.” As a direct consequence, Sirte became the capital of ISIS.
Ukraine is another media triumph. Respectable liberal newspapers such as the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Guardian, and mainstream broadcasters such as the BBC, NBC, CBS, CNN have played a critical role in conditioning their viewers to accept a new and dangerous cold war.
All have misrepresented events in Ukraine as a malign act by Russia when, in fact, the coup in Ukraine in 2014 was the work of the United States, aided by Germany and NATO.
This inversion of reality is so pervasive that Washington’s military intimidation of Russia is not news; it is suppressed behind a smear and scare campaign of the kind I grew up with during the first cold war. Once again, the ‘Ruskies’ are coming to get us, led by another Stalin, whom The Economist depicts as the devil. NATO’s ‘force projection’ on Russia’s doorstep undermines European security – Moscow https://t.co/7hjTJ0oIyv
— RT (@RT_com) October 28, 2016
The suppression of the truth about Ukraine is one of the most complete news blackouts I can remember. The fascists who engineered the coup in Kiev are the same breed that backed the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Of all the scares about the rise of fascist anti-Semitism in Europe, no leader ever mentions the fascists in Ukraine – except Vladimir Putin, but he does not count.
Many in the Western media have worked hard to present the ethnic Russian-speaking population of Ukraine as outsiders in their own country, as agents of Moscow, almost never as Ukrainians seeking a federation within Ukraine and as Ukrainian citizens resisting a foreign-orchestrated coup against their elected government.
There is almost the joie d’esprit of a class reunion of warmongers. The drum-beaters of the Washington Post inciting war with Russia are the very same editorial writers who published the lie that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
To most of us, the American presidential campaign is a media freak show, in which Donald Trump is the arch villain. But Trump is loathed by those with power in the United States for reasons that have little to do with his obnoxious behavior and opinions. To the invisible government in Washington, the unpredictable Trump is an obstacle to America’s design for the 21st century.
This is to maintain the dominance of the United States and to subjugate Russia, and, if possible, China.
To the militarists in Washington, the real problem with Trump is that, in his lucid moments, he seems not to want a war with Russia; he wants to talk with the Russian president, not fight him; he says he wants to talk with the president of China.
In the first debate with Hillary Clinton, Trump promised not to be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into a conflict. He said, “I would certainly not do first strike. Once the nuclear alternative happens, it’s over.” That was not news.
Did he really mean it? Who knows? He often contradicts himself. But what is clear is that Trump is considered a serious threat to the status quo maintained by the vast national security machine that runs the United States, regardless of who is in the White House.
The CIA wants him beaten. The Pentagon wants him beaten. The media wants him beaten. Even his own party wants him beaten. He is a threat to the rulers of the world – unlike Clinton who has left no doubt she is prepared to go to war with nuclear-armed Russia and China.
Clinton has the form, as she often boasts. Indeed, her record is proven. As a senator, she backed the bloodbath in Iraq. When she ran against Obama in 2008, she threatened to “totally obliterate” Iran. As Secretary of State, she colluded in the destruction of governments in Libya and Honduras and set in train the baiting of China.
She has now pledged to support a no-fly zone in Syria – a direct provocation for war with Russia. Clinton may well become the most dangerous president of the United States in my lifetime –a distinction for which the competition is fierce.
Without a shred of evidence, she has accused Russia of supporting Trump and hacking her emails. Released by WikiLeaks, these emails tell us that what Clinton says in private, in speeches to the rich and powerful, is the opposite of what she says in public.
That is why silencing and threatening Julian Assange is so important. As the editor of WikiLeaks, Assange knows the truth. And let me assure those who are concerned, he is well, and WikiLeaks is operating on all cylinders.
Today, the greatest build-up of American-led forces since World War Two is under way – in the Caucasus and Eastern Europe, on the border with Russia, and in Asia and the Pacific, where China is the target. ‘US succeeded only in creating chaos in Syria, Iraq’ – Middle East expert Marwa Osman https://t.co/HpWwbpHS9G
— RT (@RT_com) October 27, 2016
Keep that in mind when the presidential election circus reaches its finale on November 8th, if the winner is Clinton, a Greek chorus of witless commentators will celebrate her coronation as a great step forward for women. None will mention Clinton’s victims: the women of Syria, the women of Iraq, the women of Libya. None will mention the civil defense drills being conducted in Russia. None will recall Edward Bernays’ “torches of freedom”.
George Bush’s press spokesman once called the media “complicit enablers.” Coming from a senior official in an administration whose lies, enabled by the media, caused such suffering, that description is a warning from history.
In 1946, the Nuremberg Tribunal prosecutor said of the German media: “Before every major aggression, they initiated a press campaign calculated to weaken their victims and to prepare the German people psychologically for the attack. In the propaganda system, it was the daily press and the radio that were the most important weapons.” | 0 |
For decades, Patricia Lewis toiled as a security guard for NYC Health Hospitals, a duty she performed along with a second, and sometimes a third, job. “I showered in the hospitals, I slept on gurneys and hardly came home,” Ms. Lewis, 68, recalled. All that work was to ensure her children’s potential would be realized. Ms. Lewis raised them by herself after a divorce in 1984, motivated by her vow to keep them safe and pay for their college educations. “These children, I cannot lose them to drugs, I cannot lose them to crime,” she said. “And today, my children, all three of them, are successful. But their success, the way the world is, they cannot help me. ” Ms. Lewis left her security guard job in 2009, a year and a half after tests showed she had cancer in her left breast. The disease has returned four times since, most recently in August, despite repeated treatments of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to remove cancerous tissue. “It takes a whole lot of effort to psych yourself that you’re not going to die,” she said. Ms. Lewis must scrape together every dollar to cover medications, hospital bills and other expenses, including rent and groceries. She receives a combined $2, 089 a month from her Social Security and pension payments. “I can’t look to my kids to contribute and help me because they will go under,” she said. They have homes, responsibilities and children of their own, she said. Ms. Lewis’s two sons are police officers, one in Texas and the other in upstate New York. Her daughter is a teacher in New Jersey. Ms. Lewis tries to see them and her nine grandchildren whenever she can. “I’m fighting the cancer because it’s fighting me,” she said. “I know I want to live. I worked so hard. I want to enjoy my grandkids. ” In 2011, Ms. Lewis contacted Community Health Advocates, a program run by the Community Service Society of New York, one of the organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. It helped Ms. Lewis buy medication at a lower price. This year, she sought its help again. The Community Service Society used $1, 380 in Neediest funds to pay an outstanding medical bill and back rent, and to buy a special mattress that allows Ms. Lewis to elevate her legs and sleep more comfortably. The yearslong fight against cancer has taken a toll on her body, if not her spirit. Her grip is so feeble she requires a neighbor’s help to open a can of tomato sauce. Part of a tooth broke off simply chewing a carrot. Even if the cancer goes away, she will need to wear a wig for the rest of her life because her hair has grown back in unsightly patches. “You never know how cold you are at night until you have no hair,” Ms. Lewis said. When it came time to select a wig, she balked at fancier ones because she worried they would make her look like Tina Turner or the Lion King. “I just want something where when my grandkids look at me, I’m still grandma,” she said. A desire for normalcy sealed her decision not to remove her left breast, especially after doctors told her the cancer could return anyway. She does not care what her reconstructed breast looks like now. “It looks distorted,” she said. “But it’s mine. ” She added: “I’m not looking for a husband, but I like to go swimming with my kids and grandkids. I want to be normal, as normal as I can be. ” She has covered the walls of her Harlem apartment, which she calls a cage, with photographs of her grandchildren, as well as artwork they have made for her, turning the sterile, austere space into a shrine to her family. Doctors have told Ms. Lewis that after her current radiation treatment, which will run through December, her condition could stabilize for five years. She absorbed the news with skeptical optimism, aware that her health has fluctuated and that she is unlikely to keep living on her own. “Eventually I’ll be in an assisted living home,” Ms. Lewis said. She has already started looking at options. “I’ve made peace with myself with the way I’m going. ” For now, Ms. Lewis, often tired and sick from treatments, leaves her apartment as often as she can. She visits her mother once or twice a week, attends services at the Ephesus Adventist Church in Harlem and is a regular at her neighborhood’s senior center. “I have my bad days,” Ms. Lewis said. “But I have my good days, too. I look at my bad days, the good days overrule. If I stay in this bed, I will surely die. If I get out of this bed, I can make myself do. ” | 1 |
MINNEAPOLIS — Three friends were found guilty on Friday of federal charges that they tried to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State, a plan that prosecutors said unfolded through propaganda videos and social media exchanges, and while they played basketball and paintball. The verdicts against the three men — Guled Omar, 21 Abdirahman Daud, 22 and Mohamed Farah, 22 — came after an emotional trial in which onetime friends from Minnesota’s large Somali community testified against one another, family members squabbled in the hallways and spectators were occasionally ejected from the courtroom. On Friday, the three defendants — who had all pleaded not guilty — sat impassively in dark suits as a court clerk began to read a litany of “guilty” verdicts, the most serious being conspiracy to commit murder overseas. They were also convicted of conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization. The sobs of family members broke the silence. One woman, weeping, rushed from the courtroom, and others used their colorful head scarves to wipe their eyes and cover their faces. As the three men were led from the courtroom, Mr. Farah waved to the relatives and supporters in the gallery. The convictions capped an investigation that began in 2014 and has led to six other young men pleading guilty to terrorism charges, and once again shined a harsh light on radicalization among young men in the country’s largest Somali community. authorities have said that more than 20 young men from Minnesota have left to join the Shabab militant group in Somalia and that more than 15 have tried or succeeded in leaving to join the Islamic State. At a news conference, United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger called the case “one of the most important trials” in recent years, one that illuminated the problem of terrorism recruiting “in our own backyard. ” “They were not misled by a friend or tricked into becoming terrorists,” Mr. Luger said. “Rather, they made a deeply personal decision. They wanted to fight for a brutal terrorist organization, kill innocent people and destroy their families in the process. ” Federal officials also rejected criticisms of one of their witnesses, a friend of the men named Abdirahman Bashir, who worked as a paid informant for federal investigators and provided hours of audio recordings of the defendants. At one point, when they were planning to reach Syria by first crossing into Mexico, one defendant said he wanted to “spit on America” at the border crossing, according to Minnesota Public Radio. Some Somali community members and relatives of the defendants have criticized Mr. Bashir’s role, suggesting the defendants were entrapped. Prosecutors rejected that claim. “This conspiracy began back in 2014,” Mr. Luger said. “The informant Bashir did not work with the government until early 2015. These people have been long involved with this conspiracy. ” Prosecutors accused the men of being part of a larger group who met to plot ways to get to Syria. In his closing arguments, the assistant United States attorney, John Docherty, said the three were “exceptionally persistent” and “exceptionally violent. ” A lawyer for Mr. Daud, Bruce Nestor, suggested that an appeal could be filed. The verdict was not much of a surprise to Burhan Mohumed, 26, a friend of the defendants who had been banned from the courthouse by the judge. He called the process “purely political. ” “I left a little hope that they wouldn’t be convicted on a conspiracy to murder charge,” he said. “I didn’t think they had enough evidence to convict them on that. I think that was an overreach. ” During the trial, the defense argued that the three young men had been manipulated by the F. B. I. ’s informant, and attacked the credibility of the members of the group who earlier pleaded guilty and testified for the government. In addition to the six who have pleaded guilty to various charges, a seventh man charged is believed to be in Syria. Outside the courtroom, Omar Jamal, a Somali community activist, worried that the Somali community would find little solace or justice in guilty verdicts handed down by an jury that was shown violent Islamic State propaganda videos. “This decision will reinforce the perception in the community that the system is rigged,” Mr. Jamal said. But after the verdicts were read, Judge Michael J. Davis thanked the jury, saying, “You have come back with a fair and just verdict. ” As the jurors left the courtroom, the three young men looked toward the gallery at a row of female relatives. He laid out the details for sentencing, engaging in a brief colloquy with each defendant. They would be able to read reports, he said, before being sentenced. “Do you understand what the verdicts were?” Judge Davis asked Mr. Farah. “Yes sir,” Mr. Farah responded quietly. “Do you have any questions of me?” “Not at this time sir. ” | 1 |
Viva La Trumpinistas!!!! | 0 |
WASHINGTON — Henry A. Kissinger slipped into the State Department last week for a quiet lunch in his old office with Rex W. Tillerson, the former Exxon Mobil chief executive, who has all but covered himself in a cloak of invisibility in his first six weeks as secretary of state. Describing his impressions, Mr. Kissinger, perhaps America’s most famous diplomatic strategist, chose his words judiciously. “The normal tendency when you come into that job is to increase your visibility and to show that you are present and in charge,” he said in an interview. “He wanted to first inform himself of all the nuances. I was impressed by the confidence and that he showed. ” But in the Washington of Donald J. Trump, where foreign policy proclamations often appear first on Twitter, and where White House advisers are still battling for dominance, this approach can be seen as brilliant, mystifying or a prescription for powerlessness. Mr. Tillerson has skipped every opportunity to define his views or give guidance to American diplomats abroad, limiting himself to terse, scripted statements, taking no questions from reporters and offering no public protest when the White House proposed cutting the State Department budget by 37 percent without first consulting him. He suffered in silence, State Department officials said, when President Trump called, in a way, to reject Mr. Tillerson’s choice for deputy secretary of state. He has been absent from the White House meetings with key world leaders, and when the State Department issued its annual report on human rights — usually a major moment for the United States to stand up against repression around the world — he skipped the announcement. Defenders say Mr. Tillerson has been accomplishing far more behind the scenes, including arranging for the first trip of a Saudi foreign minister to Iraq in more than a — his first foray into the sinkhole of Middle East politics. “He’s already developing plans to begin ratcheting back Putin’s nefarious behavior,” Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in an interview — steps that would represent the first known effort by the new administration to face off against President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. “He’s won status and respect of the president, of McMaster, and talks all the time to Jared,” the senator said, referring to the national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s who has emerged as a prominent voice on American foreign policy. “He doesn’t mind at all that these stories are being written about him being missing,” Mr. Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said about Mr. Tillerson. “When he’s ready to talk, you will be very highly impressed. ” On Tuesday, Mr. Tillerson will leave for his first truly fraught diplomatic mission: a trip to Japan, South Korea and China, at a moment when open conflict with North Korea is a growing possibility, and when the administration is planning Mr. Trump’s first meeting with President Xi Jinping of China. The trip is so vital that the “principals” committee of the National Security Council is set to convene on Monday to discuss the North Korean threat and how to deal with China, so that Mr. Tillerson speaks from a consensus strategy. But do not expect to hear much about that strategy from the secretary before he arrives in Asia: The State Department has told reporters that they cannot ride on the plane. The decision appears to be unprecedented for a major diplomatic trip — even four decades ago, when Mr. Kissinger was conducting shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East and opening up China, he was delivering spin to reporters on the plane and offering up diplomatic tutorials. “All his predecessors have traveled with press,” said R. Nicholas Burns, who served as spokesman, ambassador and under secretary of state in both Republican and Democratic administrations. Failing to do so, he noted, creates the risk that the secretary of state will be defined by the country he is visiting — especially a place like China. Within the State Department, Mr. Tillerson, 64, got off to a promising start with a warm, humble greeting to staff members in the drab headquarters’ foyer on his first day on the job. He talked about his upbringing and his wife’s belief that he had been preparing for this job his whole life, even if he had not known it. But few have heard from him since. Those who have say they regard him as an impressive manager who knows how to run a crisp meeting, take in a variety of views and give little away about his own. “He forces everyone to boil their memos down to a page or two, so they really have to think about what their message is,” said one official who has dealt with him frequently in recent weeks. “He’s already met with two of the most important Chinese officials. He knows a lot about some countries many secretaries don’t know about,” including Indonesia and others that have energy assets. He understands what embassies do, because Exxon Mobil often relied on them for help. But he is also introverted, a bit standoffish. He never met in person with John Kerry, his predecessor. “These guys came in to drain the swamp,” one career State Department official said, “and it’s clear that they are under orders not to cooperate or deal with swamp creatures. ” So, for thousands in the State Department, Mr. Tillerson has come to be viewed as the phantom of Foggy Bottom, scarcely glimpsed and known mostly for his directives to wipe out some of the department’s top jobs. Longtime career officials who expected to stay in their jobs or remain long enough to show their successors the ropes were ousted in Mr. Tillerson’s first two weeks. He is talking to members of Congress about further cuts, and while there are plenty of opportunities in a department that has not exactly embraced technological change, the major reductions proposed by the administration are a nonstarter with many lawmakers. The biggest concern among diplomats and many in Congress is that when Mr. Trump talks about bolstering America’s commitment to its national security, he does not have diplomacy in mind. Longtime diplomats often cite — or email to reporters — a line uttered four years ago by the new defense secretary, Jim Mattis, when he was in charge of Central Command. “If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition,” Mr. Mattis said at the time. As one diplomat who has met frequently with Mr. Tillerson since he took office noted recently, “Rex clearly agrees with that. He just won’t say it. ” (A senior State Department official said Mr. Tillerson did say it, to Mr. Trump, over dinner a little more than a week ago.) On his first trip, to Europe, Mr. Tillerson went out of his way to reassure allies of the United States’ commitment to NATO, doing little to repeat the “America First” notion that Mr. Trump has promoted. In Asia, Mr. Tillerson is scheduled to visit the Demilitarized Zone on the border with North Korea, and it seems almost unimaginable that he would repeat Mr. Trump’s warning as a candidate that the United States may pull back from the region. So why is the man many in the State Department call T. Rex so quiet? Secretaries of state from both parties have relished their role as chief spokesman for American values. Madeleine K. Albright made her name describing the United States as the “indispensable nation” that needed to intervene in the Balkans. Colin L. Powell took the lead in making the case for invading Iraq (words he later regretted). Hillary Clinton, under President Barack Obama, highlighted human and women’s rights in particular. Mr. Kerry narrated his own role as relentless negotiator, sometimes using background briefings to read aloud from copious handwritten notes he had taken while haggling over the Iran nuclear deal and the removal of chemical weapons from Syria. In indiscreet moments, he talked about his differences of view, mostly on Syria, with Mr. Obama. There are several theories about Mr. Tillerson’s reticence. One is that his silence is highly strategic: He wants to cement key relationships in private, make sure he is aligned with a mercurial president and let the policy process at the National Security Council play out before making any grand pronouncements. The second is that he is waiting for the battles at the White House to burn out. In short, he wants to sidestep Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s top strategist, who believes that China’s rise can be halted and that Iran should be vigorously confronted, and work with Mr. Mattis, Mr. Kushner and Mr. McMaster. Mr. Corker said that “he’s already reached an agreement with Mattis to come to agreement and present ideas together,” something that Condoleezza Rice and Mrs. Clinton often did with their defense counterpart, Robert M. Gates. The third is that he sees the job as more akin to what he did at Exxon Mobil: Cut your deals, say as little as possible and take the heat. One of the first tests may come in the arena of human rights, where he caused alarm during his confirmation hearings in January by declining to criticize the killings ordered by the Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, in an antidrug campaign. Speaking out against repression has always been fraught Mr. Kerry often danced around the topic when visiting Egypt. But Mr. Tillerson took up the issue on a recent call with Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland, who was pressing him to link arms sales to Bahrain — home of the Fifth Fleet of the United States Navy — to measurable human rights improvements. “When we get the notifications of arms sales, it will be interesting to see if he has something to say on the issues we talked about,” Mr. Cardin said in an interview. He attributed some of Mr. Tillerson’s problems to the fact that “he doesn’t have his team in place. ” “Having a subcabinet to back up your views,” Mr. Cardin added, “gives you the confidence to be more direct. ” Clearly, Mr. Tillerson will not have much of a staff for a while not a single under secretary or assistant secretary — the people who make the policy wheels turn — has been nominated, and only a couple of ambassadors have been named. Some say the problem is not with Mr. Tillerson, but those he works for. “Rex Tillerson is off to a slow start, but the White House is partly to blame,” said Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, whom the administration briefly considered for a top post. “The president needs to give the secretary the staff he wants protect, not decimate, his budget and make clear to the world that it is the secretary and no one else who speaks for the administration when it comes to foreign policy. ” Mr. Kissinger, at 93, is philosophical about most things, including Mr. Tillerson. “I would expect that as foreign policy evolves, Rex Tillerson will become an increasingly prominent exponent of it,” he said. “When I first came to Washington” as national security adviser to President Richard M. Nixon, “you would find me mentioned in The New York Times maybe 10 times. ” A computer index suggests that the actual number in his first year was around 228, but who’s counting? Mr. Tillerson, in a sign of progress, has already exceeded that figure this year. | 1 |
For a nation of immigrants, the United States has worked hard to keep foreigners out. The Statue of Liberty was less than 40 years old when President Calvin Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924. It barred immigration from most of Asia. It cut the overall quota of immigration from countries outside the Americas in half. And it limited immigrants from other countries to 2 percent of the number of people of that country’s ancestry in the United States in 1890 — restricting immigration mostly to people from Northern and Western Europe. Those from Eastern and Southern Europe, not to say Africans, brought too many “types of social inadequacy. ” “Physically, the bodies of recent immigrants are sounder than those of the average American stock,” Harry H. Laughlin, appointed “expert eugenics agent” to the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, noted in 1922 testimony. “But with this sound body we have recently admitted inferior mental and social qualities of a constitutional nature which neither education nor better environment can be expected to raise above, or even to approximate, the average of the American descended from older immigrants. ” The quota system was overhauled in 1965, and immigration law today is more evenhanded. Still, the suspicion of immigrants as threats to society remains close to the surface. By claiming that people from Muslim nations threaten national security, that Mexicans are drug dealers and rapists, that immigrants take the jobs of Americans or burden taxpayers by reliance on welfare, President Trump has drawn it back to the center of political debate. This time, suspicion is being buttressed by some economists with a proposition not too dissimilar to Laughlin’s: that immigrants could sap America’s vitality by bringing inferior cultural traits from their dysfunctional home countries to erode American social norms. It’s an unsettling assertion. It is laid out with striking candor by Paul Collier, the noted British development economist from Oxford, in his 2013 book “Exodus: How Migration Is Changing Our World” (Oxford University Press). “Migrants bring their culture with them,” he wrote. Countries that receive them run the risk “that the social model will become blended in such a way that damagingly dilutes its functionality. ” This idea has gained more currency in Europe — which until the recent influx from North Africa and the Middle East had experienced comparatively little immigration from poorer nations. But it is getting a hearing in the United States, too, giving shape to an argument that immigration, by bringing inferior norms and culture from abroad, may be eroding American productivity. Not unlike Laughlin in his time, George J. Borjas, a prominent Harvard economist who has written innumerable publications making a case for stricter immigration policies, argues that the quality of immigrants has deteriorated since the old days. To him, however, the dividing line is set in 1965. In his recent book “We Wanted Workers: Unraveling the Immigration Narrative” (Norton) he argues that “the new and the old arrivals are different kinds of workers, with the new arrivals being less productive. ” Contagion by immigrants from the global South is top of mind: “Imagine that immigrants do carry some baggage with them, and that baggage, when unloaded in the new environment, dilutes some of the North’s productive edge. ” Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, architect of the administration’s turn against immigration, might be drawn to some of this scholarship. The proposition that immigrants hamper productivity in their newfound homes could make a case for far more restrictive immigration controls than the United States has in place today. “Analogous to climate change, we do not know how large an unabsorbed diaspora would need to be before it significantly weakened the mutual regard on which the societies depend,” Professor Collier wrote. It is true that people from other countries sometimes carry sketchy norms with them. A 2006 study by the economists Raymond Fisman and Edward Miguel found that diplomats from more corrupt countries like Egypt and Pakistan were much more likely to park illegally in New York City than those from more places like Australia and Norway. Many studies have found that ethnic and racial heterogeneity reduces support for public goods, like trash collection and public education. The sociologist Robert Putnam, while noting many benefits from immigration, proposed that in the short to medium run, “immigration and ethnic diversity challenge social solidarity and inhibit social capital. ” And as Mr. Borjas points out, it is true that the gap between wages of immigrants and natives is larger than it was a few decades ago, and that immigrants take longer to catch up. This may suggest that their productivity may not match that of previous waves of immigrants. Still, the proposition that immigration weighs on productivity is in tension with many studies that show that immigration tends to raise productivity and increase economic output, mostly by multiplying the earnings of immigrants themselves. Immigration to the United States increases innovation, slows the aging of the work force and opens new opportunities for some domestic workers. The growing wage gap identified by Professor Borjas may relate to things other than the immigrants’ own qualities — like rising income inequality in the United States. Critically, those asserting that immigrants bring a contagious decline in productivity have yet to provide any evidence that this has happened, only conjecture. Is there a threshold where further immigration starts doing real damage? How close is the United States to it? What is the mechanism whereby productivity in the United States might be reduced by immigrants’ weaker attributes? If productivity growth comes from better technology or production capabilities, how could immigrants sap it? If immigrants’ culture affects American productivity — say, by reducing investment or undermining belief in private property — how big would immigration have to be to yield that effect? It doesn’t seem the United States is anywhere near the threshold. So far, empirical evidence suggests that countries with a larger variety of immigrants are richer, more productive and more innovative. Regions that receive more immigrants grow faster. And immigration may actually improve the institutions of the countries immigrants go to. In a rebuttal of Mr. Collier’s and Mr. Borjas’s proposition, Michael A. Clemens of the Center for Global Development and Lant Pritchett from the Kennedy School at Harvard note that there is no meaningful relationship between the share of immigrants from poor countries and productivity growth in the rich countries they immigrated to. Even if unfettered immigration from, say, Mexico, were at some point to transmit low productivity to the United States, today the evidence suggests that restrictions on immigration are too tight, not too weak. This is not to say that there is no conceivable case to slow immigration down. But the case has nothing to do with contagion. If anything, the xenophobia that powered Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign suggests that the more problematic cultural consequence of immigration is the eruption of bigotry among the natives. That could well impose a hefty cost. | 1 |
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Linda Mulligan set off from her home around lunchtime, pushing a grocery cart, with her grandson Marcine at her side. It was a quiet day, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 2014. The end of a holiday weekend, it was a fruitful day to scrap for cans. They came upon an alley lined with trash receptacles stuffed full. Mulligan had mapped out a specific route that would take her past about 20 Dumpsters and 45 smaller bins. A few blocks away was the drag of shops and bars that represented the eastern edge of the Ohio State campus, on North High Street. For the last few days, a search team had been combing the area, knocking on doors and handing out fliers. Kosta Karageorge, an Ohio State wrestler and football player, had gone missing. Mulligan stopped at each of the Dumpsters, kicking them to make sure no animals were inside, before she got her footing, climbed in and sifted through the mess. Marcine, 8, mostly watched. They looped around to another alley and then a third, wedged between Courtland Avenue and Indianola Avenue. Karageorge had last been seen at his apartment at the end of the lane. At the Ohio football game the day before, the administration had shown his picture on the scoreboard, hoping for leads. The only clue about his whereabouts had been a few text messages Karageorge had sent his mother the night he went missing. “im sorry i hope im not an embarrasment. ” “my heads been so [expletive] latly from a these concussioms i really am sorry. ” In the alley, Marcine wandered ahead of Mulligan and checked a receptacle. The green Dumpster, coated in graffiti, did not typically yield anything of value. Mulligan usually skipped it. Marcine lifted the lid, got on his tiptoes and peeked inside. He shut it immediately and ran to his grandmother with tears in his eyes. “Grandma,” he shouted, “there’s a body!” Mulligan peered inside. Next to three clear trash bags and a flattened cardboard box, a large man lay on his side, wearing all black, the hood of a sweatshirt pulled over his head. Kosta Karageorge, age 22. A gun rested next to his right hand, and blood dripping from his mouth had dried on his chin. Kostadinos Karageorge was born a hefty 10 pounds 13. 4 ounces, the second child and only son of George and Susan Karageorge. From early on, the Karageorges found their son to be a bundle of energy, physical and always moving. George and his brother, Jim, had grown up hooked on football and wrestling, the sport of their Greek ancestors. Jim cracked three helmets in high school, wrestled at Ohio University and withstood so many injuries that the trainer essentially had to beg him to quit. Once, George was knocked out while covering a punt and woke up in a hospital, disoriented. Someone had to pull off his leg hair to rouse him. He resumed playing two weeks later. Together, George and Jim Karageorge started young Kosta on the same path they took: contact sports at age 10, at 12, weight lifting at 14. They taught him football and coached him through wrestling, always looking over his shoulder, giving advice. Family functions often ended with spontaneous wrestling matches in the living room, Kosta Karageorge trying to pin his uncle. In eighth grade, after Karageorge failed to qualify for the state wrestling tournament, he became motivated to lift and wrestle more and more. He wrote his weight class on his hand, between his thumb and index finger, right where he would grip the barbell. Around the same time, the family noticed Karageorge was developing small bald spots. He was so that he kept his hair buzzed short to hide them. A doctor diagnosed alopecia, attributed to all the pressure he was experiencing. That pressure only intensified in high school, once Karageorge hit his growth spurt, showed big potential and started wrestling for Thomas Worthington High. He exercised with his longtime wrestling coach, Jeremiah Webber, following lifting sessions with hourlong runs, stopping only to vomit. After a knee operation, Karageorge showed up in the weight room in a wheelchair. “I can lift my arms, can’t I?” he told Webber. A growing force in football and wrestling, Karageorge obsessed over getting bigger. He snacked on grilled chicken during class for protein. He ate so much at lunch that he kept a trash can next to his table in case his gag reflex kicked in. Over four years of high school, he gained about 100 pounds, transforming himself from a short and stocky youth into a tall, athlete, a legitimate heavyweight. For at least a few months, Karageorge and a friend, Mitch Crocker, tried taking prohormones, a testosterone booster they bought hoping it would help them achieve faster muscle growth. But, Crocker said, the substance made them “just angry at everything. ” Karageorge and his friends took out their aggression by starting a fight club, modeling it after the one in the 1999 movie. They gathered in backyards and had two people brawl with their bare knuckles until someone quit or was knocked out. Karageorge would not stop until his opponent squealed. “He could never find anyone big enough to fight him,” Crocker said. “He would always want to fight. He would take on two guys at once, and no one even wanted to do that because he was so big and strong and just mean. ” Karageorge eventually quit football to focus on wrestling. He dreamed of winning a state title and competing in the Olympics. One summer he trained in Russia with a renowned coach, wrestling against men. His senior year, Karageorge drew interest from two premier programs, Iowa and Oklahoma. Entering the state tournament, he was undefeated, . “The matches were ridiculous,” Webber recalled. “He had at least 10 kids forfeit, not even willing to wrestle him because he was such a monster. He had to treat these other wrestlers like children. It was like watching a bear play with children. ” Karageorge lost twice in the state tournament. After the first loss, he said he was quitting and started walking home. After the second loss, he threw his medal in the garbage. In the weeks prior, he had shown signs of mental instability. He was stressed about the tournament, choosing a college and raising his standardized test score so he could qualify academically to compete at a Division I program. Before one of the final wrestling practices, Webber noticed Karageorge was absent. Webber drove to Karageorge’s house, let himself in the back door and found Karageorge alone in the basement. He was sitting on his weight bench, cleaning two of his guns, a pistol and a rifle, with tears streaming down his face. “I don’t know if I can win the state title,” he said. Alarmed, Webber wanted an explanation. Karageorge said cleaning his guns helped him relax, and Webber persuaded him to return to practice. Webber later pulled Karageorge aside. “What’s going on in your head? Are you O. K.?” “I don’t know,” Karageorge said. “I’m just so nervous. I’m so scared. ” “Were you going to hurt yourself today?” “No. I don’t know. No. ” One of Karageorge’s first concussions — at least that his parents knew about — he sustained early in high school when he accidentally his opponent, a fairly common occurrence when wrestlers grappled. “Got his bell rung pretty good,” his father said. Karageorge started his wrestling career at Oklahoma and then transferred to Ohio State, joining the team there without an athletic scholarship. He sustained more blows to the head as he faced opponents his own size. But he learned to hide his concussion symptoms from his parents and his coaches, partly because the stakes were higher and also because he believed it was important to always do what he deemed most manly. That became the general rule by which he lived his life. His senior year in college, he lived in an apartment with five other wrestlers and earned the title “alpha male of the house. ” He challenged his roommates to outlift him, to outeat him, to beat him in the video game Call of Duty. He had a weight bench installed on the porch and made his roommates lift in their downtime. He surprised them with wrestling moves, breaking furniture in the living room. Everything was a competition, so he kept a running score of everyone’s Man Points, awarding or deducting them as he saw fit. On the wall of his room, Karageorge hung a poster of Arnold Schwarzenegger, his idol. He also kept at least one of his guns, a . pistol, safely tucked away in a case. He had become something of a gun connoisseur. Following his father’s and his uncle’s lead, he took his first gun safety course at 11 and went on his first hunting trip as a young teenager. He brought his friends skeet shooting and to the gun range for fun. He attended gun shows, built his gun collection and bought and sold guns on Craigslist. “He was very much into the machinery — the power behind them,” his sister, Sophia, said. Karageorge felt similarly about trucks and motorcycles. Around campus, he was instantly recognizable, riding his chopper, his hair long, wearing a leather jacket adorned with the American flag. And those tattoos. On his back he had Atlas holding up the globe because, he said, he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He had an image of Zeus, and of Hades next to his dog, Cerberus. Down the back of one arm, he had “Pain is temporary. ” On the other: “Pride is forever. ” On the inside of his lower lip he tattooed the word “Brutal. ” “If you didn’t know him, he looked scary,” said Bo Jordan, a roommate. “In my mind he was the manliest guy I knew, the toughest guy I knew. ” Karageorge joined the Ohio State football team as a his senior year, almost as if he wanted to prove he could. At 6 feet 6 and 285 pounds, he had the requisite size. Those close to him also knew he felt ashamed that, as a senior, he was merely a backup on the wrestling team. After graduation, he planned to go into business with his uncle move to Athens, Ohio, into a house next to his sister and transition into a quieter life. He seemed to view playing football as perhaps his last chance to achieve the athletic glory he craved. But Karageorge had not played football in more than four years. On the defensive line, one of the deepest position groups on a team that eventually won the national championship, he was lost in the shuffle. He did not play a single snap all season. On the last night of Karageorge’s life, he went to a party with his girlfriend and a football teammate, Craig Fada. It was the Tuesday before the Michigan game, the night of the Mirror Lake Jump, an Ohio State tradition. Thousands of students would be leaping into the lake at midnight. Many of them would keep warm by drinking beforehand. Karageorge seemed upbeat. He kept talking about the game. First thing that morning, he had called Webber, his wrestling coach, wondering aloud whether he might finally play that weekend on Senior Day. “Maybe I’ll get a couple of snaps,” he had said brightly. Midway through the party, Karageorge and his girlfriend got into a heated argument. She locked herself in a bathroom. When she emerged, she said she was leaving and marched out the door. Karageorge, Fada and her friends trailed behind. The yelling continued outside. Suddenly, Karageorge’s girlfriend struck him in the head and left. “Man,” Karageorge said, turning to Fada, “she just hit me in the face really hard. ” “He shot himself here,” Karageorge’s father said, holding his right hand in the shape of a gun and pointing his finger at his forehead, between the eyes. “Was he leaning his head against the gun in the Dumpster because his headaches were so bad? You don’t know. ” After the coroner ruled Karageorge’s death a suicide and an Ohio State doctor examined his brain, the family had it shipped to a brain bank in Bedford, Mass. The brain bank — operated in partnership with Boston University, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Concussion Legacy Foundation — had handled the brains of dozens of former football players. The Karageorges told the researchers that their son had sustained about 15 concussions. But they were not certain. He had rarely shared details of his injuries. He sustained his last known concussion during football practice about two months before he died. It kept him out for about three weeks, his parents said. Ohio State doctors handled his treatment. Dr. Andrew Thomas, the chief medical officer for the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, declined to discuss Karageorge’s care specifically, saying that his family had not given proper authorization. But Thomas expressed confidence in Ohio State’s team of medical providers. He said they were required to follow a detailed procedure in evaluating a concussed athlete before allowing the athlete to return to action. “It’s really in the hands of the trainers and doctors to make that decision,” Thomas said in a telephone interview. After Karageorge died, Michael Bennett, a friend on the football team, told reporters he thought that Karageorge did not report more potential concussions because he wanted to keep practicing. At one point that fall, Karageorge had called Webber, apologizing for not being in touch. He explained that he had not been able to look at his phone’s bright screen because it gave him a headache and made him dizzy. He had to ask his girlfriend to dial the phone for him. Karageorge told Webber about the headaches, the vomiting, the symptoms that scared him. Once, while shopping with his girlfriend, he had broken down crying for no apparent reason. Around the house, he stopped playing video games as often as he had and spent more time in his room. His roommates said he seemed moody, fighting over small things like the cable bill. He told friends that he felt as if someone were following him. He told others about a buzzing noise in his head. He often stopped conversations midsentence, having lost his train of thought. “We raised our son to be a strong man, and maybe that was his downfall,” George Karageorge said. “He wasn’t complaining and crying. My wife coddled him, but I was more: ‘One of these days you’re going to be depended upon to step forward. ’” Rubbing his forehead, George said, “There’s a ton of guilt there. ” After the concussion in football practice, Kosta Karageorge seemed to understand the gravity of the situation. He asked his mother for a ride to the doctor because he knew he was not supposed to drive. She took him every day for a few weeks, she said. “They wanted him to come back sooner than he was ready,” Susan Karageorge said, referring to the football team, “and I remember telling him, ‘Do not go back. ’” Her voice trailed off, and she started crying. Mascara ran down her face. “I should’ve just told him not to play,” she said. “I should’ve just said, ‘You’re going to our doctor.’ I should’ve told him not to play. But I just told him, ‘Don’t play until you’re ready you’ll know when you’re ready.’ That’s what I told him. ‘No, mom, I’m fine.’ He could convince you of anything, you know? And hindsight’s right? You go back, and you look at that, and that’s why this is so hard for us. What was there that we missed? I thought we were good parents. ” After his girlfriend stormed off, Karageorge, Fada and a few other friends sat on a hill overlooking Mirror Lake, watching their classmates jump in. Fada tried talking about the Michigan game, but Karageorge was clearly preoccupied. He returned to the apartment and found Jordan, one of his roommates, sitting on the couch. Karageorge proposed they go find his girlfriend. Karageorge hopped into the passenger seat of Jordan’s Pontiac Grand Am, his head brushing against the ceiling. He had shaved his hair again to hide five bald patches. He had confided in another friend that those spots were where his head throbbed. About a year later, the Karageorges received a report from Ann McKee, the neuropathologist who posthumously examined his brain. She said there were traces of past microhemorrhaging in Karageorge’s prefrontal cortex. Damage in that area, McKee explained, usually leads to cognitive issues involving “impulsivity, poor judgment and maybe even suicidal ideation. ” She pointed out, though, that it was impossible to definitively link his suicide to any brain trauma he had sustained in sports. McKee also found a single focus of Tau — the protein associated with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease found in dozens of former football players. She diagnosed Stage 1 C. T. E. on her scale of 1 to 4. The Karageorges interpreted the report as an explanation for their son’s erratic behavior. Several players who had committed suicide were found to have had C. T. E. In those cases, though, the disease had usually progressed to more advanced stages. In the car, Kosta Karageorge directed Jordan to a house where he thought his girlfriend was. Karageorge paced across the porch, calling and texting her, but was unable to persuade her to come outside. As they drove back, Karageorge sounded defeated. That was it, he said his relationship was probably over. Jordan tried consoling him, but it did not seem to help. At home, they said good night, and Jordan retired to his room and went to sleep. In the living room, Karageorge retold the story to Mark Martin, another roommate. Martin tried comforting Karageorge, too, but Martin had never seen him like this. Karageorge was not acting angry or upset or aggressive. He sounded depressed. Karageorge excused himself, went to his room and emerged wearing black pants and a black hoodie, his hands stuffed in its pouch. He said he was going to see his girlfriend. Later, the police matched the pistol that Karageorge had with him in the Dumpster to the one he had kept in the case in his room. “I’ll see you, Mark,” Karageorge said, walking out the door. That was the last time anyone saw Karageorge alive. He had been texting his girlfriend all night, and around the time he left the apartment, he sent her a series of emotional messages. “i nvr felt this dark. ” “bc i got nothing eles” “i am gonna kill myself” “i deserve to die anyways” “all time low” Then Karageorge reached out to those closest to him, opening up about the pain he was experiencing in his head in a way he never had before and saying his goodbyes. “man im breakin my head isnt right,” he texted Webber around 1:25 a. m. Webber was asleep at home. He was still sleeping when Karageorge sent him another message about five minutes later: “love u man. ” Karageorge texted his mother, apologizing if he had been an embarrassment to the family, blaming the “concussioms” for messing with his head. Karageorge messaged Jordan, too, urging him to fulfill his dream and win four national championships, telling him he loved him. The last text that Karageorge received, before his phone went dark, came from his mother, Susan, who had been awakened by his message and had quickly typed a response in bed. “When did you get another concussion? Are you doing okay?” | 1 |
By Amanda Froelich This tree-like skyscraper is capable of growing 24 acres-worth of crops and will be powered entirely by renewable resources. By 2050, the world’s population is estimated to reach... | 0 |
LONDON — The effect on the value of the pound of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union has rarely been out of the headlines since the June 23 referendum. But while the markets panicked — an estimated $2 trillion was wiped off world markets the day after the vote — the decline of the currency has proved a boon for Britain’s luxury watch retailers. With watches priced in pounds — particularly those at the high end — suddenly much more attractive to the international market, customers from all over the world have been buying in Britain. London has felt the biggest “Brexit” boom. According to the global market research company GfK, sales of watches priced at more than 10, 000 pounds, or about $12, 320, were up 67 percent in the British capital in September, compared with the same period last year. And the figure was almost as high outside London, up 56 percent. The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry reported that exports to Britain were up 32. 4 percent year over year in September, making the country the world’s importer of Swiss watches. In 2015, it was eighth. “Brexit has been hugely beneficial,” said Brian Duffy, chief executive of Aurum Group, which he said accounts for 46 percent of all British watch sales through its network of Watches of Switzerland, Mappin Webb and Goldsmiths stores. “There are undoubtedly more tourists, and they’re looking to spend, because they’re confident in the value they’re getting. Luxury watch sales across the group are up by 40 percent, end of June to Week 1 of October. ” David Coleridge, chairman of The Watch Gallery, which operates showrooms in Selfridges on Oxford Street and in Manchester, as well as a Rolex boutique in the ultraluxury apartment building One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, said Brexit had created “the perfect storm. ” “In July, Arab customers arrived after Ramadan and discovered that London was almost free,” he said. “Then there was publicity around the world that the pound had slid and it was cheap to go to London, and visitor numbers leapt up. And then terrorism in Europe meant more people coming here. ” Sales by a rival retailer in Paris are down 50 percent, Mr. Coleridge noted, adding that even the highly publicized Oct. 2 robbery of Kim Kardashian West, in which jewelry worth millions was stolen while she was visiting Paris, has had an effect. Brands agree that Britain’s market has improved. Vacheron Constantin opened its Bond Street boutique in 2013 and while it had a slow start, the company’s brand manager in Britain, Celine Larose, said sales are picking up . “Our clients are very ” she said. “But they are no longer waiting. ” And those sales increases have come despite what brands, including all the houses such as Cartier and Montblanc, are calling inevitable price increases as they try to offset the global imbalance caused by the falling pound. “We put our prices up by 10 percent at the beginning of August,” said Mark Hearn, Patek Philippe’s managing director for Britain. “We try to ensure the playing field is level all around the world. If you have one market that is dramatically cheaper than everywhere else, there are customers who will gravitate to whichever market is significantly cheaper. ” In Britain, for example, Cartier announced a 10 percent rise after the June vote. Roger Dubuis followed an 8 percent price rise in August with a further 6 percent increase taking effect Nov. 1, the same day that Rolex, which had not increased prices in Britain for three years, announced a 10 percent rise. Now the challenge that brands face is convincing the domestic market that it is still a good time to buy. “While increasing U. K. retail prices will mean that a fine watch purchase needs to be even more considered by a domestic client than usual,” said Helen David, Harrods’s chief merchant, “generally, watch purchases, particularly at the higher end, are investment purchases, and as such we continue to see upward movement. ” She added that Harrods’s luxury watch division is experiencing high growth this year. Richard Mille, whose watches frequently sell for six figures, takes a different approach. “We have a price list in Swiss francs, and we sell at the spot rate on the day,” said Peter Harrison, the company’s chief executive for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “It’s the fairest way for our customers — that way, whether they’re spending in pounds, euros or dollars, it’s up to them when they spend. ” Not all brands are bowing to the pressures created by the weakening of the pound: Swatch Group and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton brands such as TAG Heuer and Hublot have held prices stable, absorbing shrinking margins in a bid to protect local business. Retailers, however, are expecting LVMH’s watch division to raise prices in the new year. “Omega and Swatch Group are not opportunistic,” said Raynald Aeschlimann, Omega’s president and chief executive. “To increase sales would go against our domestic market. For British customers, nothing has changed and we want to keep momentum with those local customers. Raising prices would send a wrong signal. ” Mr. Hearn said Patek Philippe’s price increase had not affected local business and said that despite the increase, Britons would continue to buy at home. “If it’s cheaper in the U. K. for tourists, it’s also cheaper for U. K. customers to buy here, as opposed to buying abroad,” he said. “Certainly, there are Patek Philippe owners in the U. K. who would have been interested in shopping in Hong Kong, the U. S. or Switzerland who choose to buy in the U. K. now. ” The question that brands and retailers are asking themselves is how long the Brexit boom will last. Sales of luxury watches in Britain were on an upward curve before the vote, plumped up by London’s improved reputation as a tourist destination over the past decade and by investment by brands and retailers in retail experience in the city, as well as by redirected sales because of security issues on the Continent. GfK’s figures indicate British sales of watches that cost more than £1, 000 grew 19. 5 percent between January and August, with significant growth even before the departure vote. “Without considering Brexit, our business has dramatically increased in the U. K.,” said Ricardo Guadalupe, Hublot’s chief executive. “Brexit was the icing on the cake, but other geopolitical variables such as terrorist attacks and the current feeling of insecurity have more severely jeopardized business in Europe. ” London also benefits from the variety of its tourist customers. “Compare London to Hong Kong — it’s suffering because it’s so reliant on Chinese customers,” Mr. Coleridge said. “London has a mix. We’re even selling to Americans, now. Rolexes are 35 percent cheaper here than in New York. ” Many experts predict a further fall in the value of the pound, posing a continuing problem for brands looking to manage a balanced global pricing strategy. But confidence among British retailers is high. “The U. K. will remain advantaged for the future,” Mr. Duffy said. “We were doing well before Brexit, despite being disadvantaged by a strong pound and visa restrictions. The consumer has confidence in the U. K. market. ” | 1 |
2016 presidential campaign by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Barack Obama tried to woo Republicans into a “Grand Bargain” that would have gutted Social Security. Bill Clinton let loose the banks. But Donald Trump’s destruction of the Republican Party will allow Hillary Clinton to “gather the whole of the ruling class under the same party banner, in one Big Tent, where the grandest of bargains can be conceived and achieved without crossing an aisle.” The rich are about to get their best deal yet. Hillary’s “Big Tent” is Obama’s “Grand Bargain” on Steroids by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
“ The exodus from the GOP has suddenly transformed the Democratic Party into the primary political instrument of the ruling class.”
When Donald Trump took a wrecking ball to the Republican Party he provided the unexpected catalyst for completion of the corporate project begun by Bill Clinton, Al Gore and other white Democrats in the 1980s, with the founding of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). To counter relentless attrition of whites to the GOP in their home states, these beleaguered, mostly southern Democrats sought national corporate funding to turn their party decisively to the right. They reckoned, correctly, that a steady stream of corporate capital would allow them to control the new wave of Black voters and politicians that had been mobilized by Rev. Jesse Jackson’s two presidential campaigns, while strengthening the hand of the South in national Democratic Party calculations.
Bill Clinton became the first DLC president in 1992, and moved swiftly and methodically to narrow the ideological differences between the duopoly parties. He completed much of Ronald Reagan’s agenda, claiming it as his own; destroyed welfare “as we knew it”; vastly expanded the mass Black Incarceration regime; pushed NAFTA through Congress over the objections of majorities in his own party; engineered the corporate monopolization of broadcast media; and removed the last safety straps from Wall Street banks.
“Clinton arranged the deployment of thousands of foreign jihadists to Bosnia and Kosovo.”
In foreign affairs, Clinton initiated what was to become the doctrine of “humanitarian” military intervention, dismantling and partially occupying the socialist nation of Yugoslavia. In the process, Clinton arranged the deployment of thousands of foreign jihadists to Bosnia and Kosovo, thus keeping operational the network created by the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Pakistan during the previous decade in Afghanistan. In Africa, Clinton conspired with Uganda and exiled Tutsi rebels to overthrow the Hutu majority government in Rwanda, setting off a bloodbath in 1994, followed two years later by an invasion of Congo that has killed more than six million people -- and still counting.
Barack Obama was the second DLC president (although he lies about his membership). He, too, moved with unseemly haste to reach a “Grand Bargain” with the GOP -- not of necessity, since he had won a huge electoral mandate with the overwhelming financial backing of Wall Street, but as a matter of ideological principle. In January of 2009, before even taking the oath of office, Obama told the editorial boards of the New York Times and the Washington Post that all “entitlements,” including Medicare and Social Security, would be “ on the table ” for cutting in his administration. Obama’s first project, now considered the centerpiece of his legacy, was to resurrect the rightwing Heritage Foundation’s corporate health insurance scheme, adopted by Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole in 1996, and made into state law by Republican Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, in 2006. Obama’s Affordable Care Act was, literally, written by lobbyists for the insurance and drug industries, and is now collapsing like a poorly constructed house at the end of its mortgage.
“For the better part of two years Obama debased himself, all but begging the Republicans to consummate his ‘Grand Bargain.’”
With the Democratic majority in Congress in no mood to tamper with Social Security and Medicare, Obama tried to maneuver the targeted entitlements into a financial crisis trap. He named two dependable reactionaries, Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, as co-chairmen of his National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility, also called the Commission on Deficit Reduction. They dutifully recommended $4 trillion in budget cuts, mostly to social programs, including cuts to Social Security. Although the full commission did not endorse the chairs’ recommendations, and the Congress failed to pass bills modeled on the document, Obama used the Simpson-Bowles formula as a basis for negotiating what he hoped would be a “bipartisan” (GOP plus Obama and a minority of Democrats) massacre of entitlements. For the better part of two years Obama debased himself, all but begging the Republicans to consummate his “Grand Bargain.” Congressional Black Caucus chairman Emanuel Cleaver, of Kansas City, called the deal a “ Satan’s Sandwich ,” but Obama continued to pursue a political marriage made in hell until the 2012 reelection campaign clock called a halt to the spectacle.
“A de facto super-party of the bourgeoisie.”
The quest for a Grand Bargain was Barack Obama’s failed attempt to best Bill Clinton in erasing the distinctions between the two major parties – to create a de facto super-party of the bourgeoisie. It was the Republicans who ran away from the altar. And the Democrats did eat much of the Satan’s Sandwich, through sequestration and austerity that ravaged social programs by other means.
Why did the Republicans reject the deal? Although both halves of the duopoly ultimately answer to Wall Street, the Republicans, like any other party, have an institutional interest in winning office. It is true that Obama had crafted a deal that any Republican would love, but it was still his deal, and he planned to run for reelection as an historical dealmaker. Probably just as importantly, the Republican Party is the White Man’s party, meaning, white supremacy is its organizing principle, central to its identity among much of the masses. To embrace Obama, no matter how advantageous to their big business patrons, was a hug too far for the GOP. Racism doomed the Grand Bargain – Hallelujah!
A New, Bigger Bargain
Recently released Wikileaks emails reveal Hillary Clinton speaking to bankers at Morgan Stanley in 2013, a year after the debacle. “The Simpson-Bowles framework and the big elements of it were right,” she said.
Thanks to Donald Trump’s demolition of the Republican Party, the conditions have been created for Hillary Clinton, as DLC President #3, to achieve what #1 and #2 could not: gather the whole of the ruling class under the same party banner, in one Big Tent, where the grandest of bargains can be conceived and achieved without crossing an aisle. With most of the ruling class and its attendants having vacated the building, the Republican Party has been reduced to Donald Trump and his “deplorables,” as Hillary calls them. Trump’s opposition to corporate trade deals violated the Holy Grail against prohibiting capitalists from moving money and jobs around the world as they see fit, and his reluctance to support regime change as an inherent right of American exceptionalism has frightened and outraged the military industrial complex, the national security establishment, and all sectors dependent on the maintenance of empire.
“An inherently unstable arrangement.”
Clinton’s Big Tent is not a temporary, election season dwelling. It is how she plans to govern. The exodus from the GOP has suddenly transformed the Democratic Party into the primary political instrument of the ruling class, while at the same time the party nominally represents most of the folks who are abused and misused by that ruling class. It is an inherently unstable arrangement, and will soon be wracked by splits, as a post-Trump GOP attempts to lure its fat cats back and the darker and poorer constituencies consigned to the latrine area of Hillary’s high class tent break to the Left for air.
But in the interim, Clinton will have a unique opportunity to cut grand austerity deals with all the “big elements” of Simpson-Bowles, to renege on her corporate trade promises, and to wage war with great gusto in the name of a “united” country. Ever since the Democratic National Convention it has been clear that the Clintonites are encouraged to consider everyone outside of their grand circle to be suspect, subversive, or depraved. Their inclusive rhetoric is really an invocation of a ruling class consensus, now that Trump has supposedly brought the ruling class together under one banner. In Hillary’s tent, the boardrooms are always in session. BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at [email protected] . | 0 |
Well, that explains the deafening silence from President Obama. [All these months, it turns out, it was his hatchet gal and exposed serial prevaricator Susan Rice who was behind the scenes in his administration working all the levers of the most powerful espionage machine on planet Earth to spy on Mr. Obama’s political enemies. This is bombshell information. Not because it exposed the Obama administration as the most nakedly partisan presidency in modern history, willing to use even the most sacred powers of the federal government for political purposes. We already knew that too. What is so astonishing about the revelation that Ms. Rice was the one unmasking Donald Trump and his campaign before, during and after he won the presidency is that it doesn’t get any closer to Barack Obama himself. Ms. Rice was Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, one of his closest aides. They spoke all the time. She worked directly for him. Here she was spying on Mr. Obama’s political enemies while in daily contact with him at the very height of the most contentious presidential election in memory. You don’t think she and the president discussed this? The revelation that Ms. Rice was the operator behind the spying answers just one question. But it raises a thousand more. When, exactly, did Ms. Rice start using the U. S. government’s spy operation as a weapon against Mr. Obama’s political opponents? What conversations did she have with the president about the intel gleaned about Mr. Trump and other political enemies of Mr. Obama? As was asked of an earlier president amid far smaller crimes: What did the president know, and when did he know it? What other opponents running for the Republican nomination was the Obama administration spying on? Were any of those political enemies “unmasked” and disseminated across government agencies? Was any of that intelligence leaked to the press? Did the Obama administration spy on Sen. Bernie Sanders during the long, messy Democratic primary, when the Vermont socialist refused to get out of the way for Hillary Clinton? Remember, we now know the lengths the entire Democratic National Committee went to rig that primary for Mrs. Clinton. If there was nothing wrong with “unmasking” the identities of Mr. Obama’s political opponents and disseminating the intel, Ms. Rice, why did you flat out lie about it on national television last month? “I know nothing about this” is not exactly a robust defense of one’s actions. Most of the media, of course, is so desperate to destroy Mr. Trump and cover up anything that might reflect poorly on Mr. Obama that they would rather talk about phantom “Russia” connections instead. Fine. Investigate Russia all you want. Even if that inquiry bears fruit, it will be about as scandalous as Richard Nixon going to China. But an administration actively spying on political opponents during a presidential election, unmasking U. S. citizens and then punishing them with selective leaks to the press? That is a real scandal. And a constitution crisis that raises dire questions about whether any American citizen is safe from the espionage thuggery of the politically powerful. • Charles Hurt can be reached at churt@washingtontimes. com follow him on Twitter via @charleshurt. | 1 |
Короткая ссылка 27 октября 2016, 03:36 Постоянный представитель РФ при ООН Виталий Чуркин выступил против идеи «технического продления» мандата совместной миссии ООН и Организации по запрещению химического оружия (ОЗХО) по расследованию случаев применения химических веществ в военных целях в Сирии
«Мы считаем, что рамки этого механизма были слишком узкими, и ценность их результата сомнительна, при всем уважении к тяжелой работе, которую они проделали. Необходимо серьезное обсуждение. Некое быстрое техническое продление не будет работать», — приводит РИА Новости заявление Чуркина.
Ранее постпред Франции при ООН Франсуа Делаттр заявил, что Франция выступает за продление мандата миссии, срок которого истекает 31 октября. При этом глава миссии Виргиния Гамба сообщила, что не считает целесообразным продление мандата миссии.
Ранее стало известно, что в четвёртом экспертном докладе механизма ООН и ОЗХО, который будет рассмотрен на заседании Совета Безопасности ООН 27 октября, признаётся ответственность властей Сирии за химическую атаку в провинции Идлиб 16 марта 2015 года. Подписывайтесь на наш Telegram , чтобы быть в курсе самых важных новостей. Для этого достаточно иметь Telegram на любом устройстве, пройти по ссылке и нажать кнопку Join. | 0 |
BEIJING — It took all of five minutes for Wang Lei, a gruff veteran of the People’s Liberation Army, to start humming and stomping his feet. The curtain had just risen on “The Long March,” a new opera celebrating the early days of the Chinese Communist Party, and a chorus of performers dressed as soldiers was rushing onstage at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. “We come from different places,” they sang as they took their places. “Some wear straw sandals. Some wear gowns. Some are barefoot. Some are hungry. We differ in status, but we have the same aspiration: to join the Red Army. To change the world!” Mr. Wang, 73, seated next to me in the upper balcony, closed his eyes in bliss. “These are the songs of our homeland,” he told me at intermission. “They might be lost now, but they reflect the true feelings of the Chinese people. ” These are triumphant times for the Communist Party. President Xi Jinping, the general secretary, governs with seemingly unobstructed authority. The balance of power in Asia and the Pacific appears to be shifting in China’s favor. Extreme poverty, especially in rural areas, is nearing eradication. And yet the Communist government seems intensely vulnerable at times as it confronts a slowing economy and a society in the throes of staggering change. In a country still working to find its place in the world, the party whips up nationalism as an elixir. Lately, it has gone into overdrive, inventing new forms of agitprop. Across China this fall, the party is turning the obscure anniversary of a cherished political touchstone into a cause for passionate celebration. It has been 80 years, we are told again and again, since the end of the Long March, the retreat of Communist forces that established Mao’s and gave the party its soul. More than 80, 000 people died in the march, which began in 1934, but the bravery of the soldiers inspired generations of Chinese people to rally behind the party and its leader. On television, Long March soap operas, documentaries and variety shows abound. Tour agencies offer packages retracing the soldiers’ routes. Students put on virtual reality goggles to relive famous battles. Joggers use a Long fitness app to measure their steps against the Red Army’s. In Beijing, it is impossible to miss the patriotic fervor. Outside my office, a giant LED screen flashes every few minutes with scenes from “Red Star Over China,” a new about the Long March. At home in Beijing on a recent Saturday night, I was bombarded with Long March coverage on nearly every TV channel. On one network, a troupe of child performers, dressed in gray military uniforms, sang of the power of the “bright red star to shine through the generations. ” On a financial channel, commentators offered analysis of the economic impact of the march. President Xi has been making the case for a “new long march,” using the anniversary to rally the public and warn against creeping complacency, especially among the young. “A nation that forgets its origins will find itself in a blind alley,” he said in a speech late last month. On the whole, the spirit of the propaganda campaign is unambiguous: Chinese citizens should seek to emulate the ideals of and perseverance that the soldiers of the Long March embodied. Above all, the messaging makes clear, people should show unwavering loyalty to the Communist Party. The Long March allowed the Red Army to escape defeat at the hands of the Kuomintang forces of Chiang in southern China. The Communists regrouped in the north before going on to victory in the civil war in 1949. Brady, a professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, has challenged the official narrative, which portrays the march as a victory for the Communists and a turning point in their efforts to win over the public. Pointing to testimonials of foreign missionaries captured by Communist soldiers, she argues that it was instead a humiliating moment in which Red Army soldiers ransacked villages and abused peasants. But by invoking the journey, she said, Mr. Xi is betting that the party’s idealized version of history will resonate across generations. “This is a heroic narrative that is meant to inspire young people in China,” Professor Brady said. “Xi wants to remind people what is unique and distinctive about China and to ask: ‘How did we get to where we are today? What is this journey that we’re on? What are we aiming toward?’ ” Mr. Xi has used the Long March more expansively than his predecessors, linking it to his signature slogan of a “China Dream,” a call to build a prosperous, more powerful nation with a deeper respect for traditional culture. The propaganda might help rally the public behind the party as it asserts Chinese military might abroad, in the disputed South China Sea and elsewhere. And the Chinese government has also tried to draw connections between the Long March and social issues. A book released in conjunction with the anniversary promotes the Red Army’s support for gender equality. (“Women demand liberation! Who says they are inferior to men? ”) A concert to mark the anniversary showed the Red Army being greeted by an adoring crowd of ethnic minorities, a stark contrast to the ethnic tensions that plague parts of China today, including Tibet and Xinjiang. Some hope the Long March will become a call to arms that helps China overcome challenges such as a slowing economy and rampant social inequality. “Nowadays, the younger generation is very fickle and impetuous,” said Xie Haishan, 32, an employee at a social welfare organization in Beijing who attended the opera and a Long March museum exhibit. “Many people are shortsighted and lack the kind of commitment seen during the Long March. That’s what we need nowadays. ” “The Long March” opera, in development for four years, is a highlight of the government’s unfolding spectacle, featuring a cast of nearly 200 and a score that blends Chinese folk songs with arias. It is one of the grandest political operas to debut in Beijing since the Cultural Revolution, when Mao and his wife, Jiang Qing, made works celebrating the Communist Party a mandatory part of the repertoire at Chinese concert halls. Yan Weiwen, a prominent tenor who plays the leading role of Commissar Peng, a military official, said the tenacity of Red Army soldiers set an example for all Chinese people. “The Long March spirit will help Chinese people forge ahead,” he said in a telephone interview. “Our lives will only be better if we have conviction and dreams. ” Near the end of the opera, as Red Army soldiers confront the scourges of disease and starvation, eating tree bark to survive, a young soldier named Ping Yazi is poisoned by wild vegetables. He becomes lost in a swamp, firing a shot into the air to warn away his fellow troops. “I’m not afraid of death,” he sings, sinking underground. “I’m just reluctant to leave the Red Army. ” Soon after, red lights illuminate the theater, revolutionary flags fill the stage, and a routine breaks out. “Long live the Red Army!” the soldiers sing. “Long live the Long March!” Mr. Wang, the P. L. A. veteran sitting next to me, rose to his feet. He looked to the stage, squinted his eyes and shouted, “Bravo!” | 1 |
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As the Iraqi army advanced further into east Mosul today, Isis fighters responded by firing mortar shells into the Gogjali district that had been freed earlier in the week. We met the families fleeing the mortar barrage crammed into their battered cars and pick-ups at an army checkpoint at Bartella a dozen miles down the road. We had been told we could not go any further because it was too dangerous and Isis fighters were firing at the road not far ahead between Bartella and Mosul.
“We thought we had got rid of Daesh [Isis] and then they started firing mortars at us,” said one middle-aged woman in black robes. She added that a rocket had landed on her neighbour’s house in the morning and killed him and three women. She expressed hatred for Isis and said that when Iraqi soldiers had knocked at her door and asked for information about Isis positions, her small son Yusuf, who looked about eight, had gone to show them the nearest Isis headquarters.
The people escaping from the eastern side of Mosul give a convincing picture of what is happening there as the army moves forward. Mehdi, a former metal worker but jobless since Isis captured Mosul in June 2014, said that the shelling had started at 8am and had gone on for an hour. He had put his wife and seven children into their car and driven out of the city without much idea of where they were going, so long as it was safe.
Mehdi confirmed reports that Isis were withdrawing from the eastern side of Mosul, which is separated from the western side by the Tigris River. “They are leaving some two or three fighting positions behind in every district and the fighters there are being killed,” he said. All the local Iraqi fighters were leaving and those who stayed behind were foreign members of Isis. Asked about their nationality, Mehdi said he did not know because he never went near them. He pointed to a cigarette packet in his shirt pocket and said: “We cannot talk to the foreigners because as soon as they smell cigarette smoke from you, they send you off to be whipped.”
There is no doubt that the great majority of people in Mosul will be glad to get rid of Isis with its cruelty, violence, subjugation of women and religious bigotry. But it is not at all clear what comes next. Isis is likely to lose Mosul, but it will not go wholly out of business in Iraq or anywhere else. It is already resorting to guerrilla raids such as one today when a group of Isis fighters took over a mosque and part of the town of Shirqat, 60 miles south of Mosul, and were resisting counter-attack. They did the same in Kirkuk last month when 100 Isis fighters mysteriously invaded the centre of the oil city.
But the effect of the recapture of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, on the morale and war-making capacity of Isis should be great. Isis will no longer have the human and financial resources of the self-declared Caliphate, at its peak a powerful administrative machine, to support its campaign of slaughter at home and abroad. The very fact of defeat is likely to be damaging for a movement that claimed its victories were divinely inspired.
Another point seldom noticed will make it difficult for Isis to revert to guerrilla warfare of the type that it has waged in the past. The secret network of supporters and helpers that once sustained al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Isis in its early days, no longer exists. When Isis became the ruler of the area where it had previously had a hidden presence, its local activists came out of hiding and became the new rulers. But with Isis on the retreat and losing its territory, its old guerrilla networks are paying a price for becoming too visible during their day of triumph.
Isis may be weaker, but this does not mean that it is no longer to be feared. Security may be greater for the minorities living in the Nineveh Plain, the flat land east of Mosul city that was once home to half a million people who might be Christians, Sunni Arabs, Shabak (who speak their own language and mostly Shia), Yazidis or Kakai. The security for these people has improved, but only by comparison with what went before when they were persecuted and driven out by Isis.
The television pictures since the anti-Isis offensive began on 17 October are deceptively similar to newsreel of French villagers greeting allied armies in France in 1944. “The media is full of talk of the ‘liberation’ of Mosul and the surrounding Nineveh villages,” comments one expert on the area. “I will not speak about ‘liberation’ until the displaced civilians, and especially the powerless minorities, are able to go back to their homes and live in peace and dignity, with a credible guarantee of security.”
There were no signs of any such guarantee being given anywhere on the Nineveh Plain today. People who wanted to go back to Bartella, for the first time in two years, were being held back at army checkpoints and those who were hoping to welcome relatives trapped in Mosul for two years were left staring at an empty road. There were only a few vehicles with frightened drivers and poles bearing ragged white flags sticking out of the windows.
Not far from Bartella, there is the empty Syrian Catholic town of Qaraqosh which once had a population of 44,000 who fled in 2014. Yohanna Towara, a local community leader, explains that when they come back they will find that their homes have been destroyed. He says that “my brother’s house was destroyed by an airstrike [by the US-led coalition] and my house was damaged. Daesh [Isis] burned the other houses before they left and they have all been looted a long time ago.” Even where houses are still standing, there is no water or electricity or likelihood of it being restored any time soon. Many of the former residents have already migrated to Australia, France and other parts of the world.
The chances of restoring any form of security to the Nineveh Plain depends on first of all capturing Mosul from which Isis has destabilised the whole of northern Iraq. It will take time to discover if Mosul is going to be destroyed as well as “liberated”, as has already happened to the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani in Syria and the Sunni Arab city of Ramadi in Iraq. It is also unclear if Isis will be able to revert to guerrilla warfare, to which its tactics of using suicide bombers alongside well-trained and fanatical infantry, are well-suited.
It was difficult not to wonder today how soon the Sunni Arabs, who were fleeing Mosul because of a mortar barrage, would be able to go back. It may be that the conflict in Iraq is not going to end with any form of power-sharing, as so often recommended by foreign powers, but because the war has finally produced winners and losers – and the people of Mosul will be among the latter. (Reprinted from The Independent by permission of author or representative) | 0 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was assassinated by a lone gunman who shouted “Don’t forget Syria!” at an art opening in Ankara. A photographer from The Associated Press who was attending the event captured the image above. Russian officials called it a terrorist attack. The gunman was killed by the Turkish police. Russia’s extensive military intervention in Syria has given President Bashar the decisive upper hand against his opponents in the civil war. _____ 2. Just hours earlier, the United Nations Security Council voted to monitor evacuations from Aleppo, with an adjustment to win Russian backing that means Syrian soldiers and allied Shiite militias may be able to block monitors’ access. Aid groups say about 50, 000 civilians may still be trapped in besieged areas of the city. Among those evacuated was Bana Alabed, the girl whose Twitter feed about life in wartime has led some to call her a Anne Frank. _____ 3. The 538 members of the Electoral College convened in every state and the District of Columbia and made the final determination of president and . Amid protests, the votes piled up for Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence. Mr. Trump’s victory, despite his loss of the popular vote, has refocused attention on the complicated system America uses to select presidents. Former President Bill Clinton, above, was one of the electors. _____ 4. Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, was found guilty of criminal charges linked to the misuse of public funds during her time as France’s finance minister. Ms. Lagarde will not face jail time. But the verdict could destabilize the fund at a crucial time. _____ 5. Nine people were killed when a truck plowed into a holiday market in Berlin. The authorities said they believed it was an attack. Germany has not seen a terror attack in recent years. _____ 6. A new study found that pregnancy alters the size and shape of a woman’s brain. The changes may help the brain specialize in tasks tied to motherhood, like recognizing an infant’s needs, recognizing threats and bonding. The study found no loss of memory, verbal skills or working memory, providing what one doctor called “evidence against the common myth of ‘mommy brain. ’” _____ 7. For the second year in a row, our article (besides our election coverage) was about love. Specifically, about the messy parts of it. The essay “Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person” argues that everyone does just that. And what should be discarded, instead of the partner, is the notion that a perfect being exists who can satisfy every need and yearning. Here’s the full list. _____ 8. A scathing attack on global health advice to eat less sugar as “unscientific” set off a storm of criticism. The authors of the paper, published in a prominent medical journal, have ties to the food and sugar industries, and the review was paid for by a group funded by companies including Hershey, General Mills, Kraft Foods, Kellogg’s and Monsanto. Critics said the episode recalled how the tobacco industry enlisted scientists for decades as “merchants of doubt” about the hazards of smoking. _____ 9. Snap away this holiday season. You can transform your pictures into artwork. New online services offer printing on surfaces like burlap, wood boards, acrylic and fabric. And for older prints, we include advice on digitizing services. _____ 10. Finally, we asked some notably avid readers — who also happen to be poets, musicians, diplomats, filmmakers, novelists, actors and artists — to share the books that accompanied them through 2016. Let Junot Díaz, Mary Oliver, Ava DuVernay and other inspiring minds help you build your next reading list. _____ Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s Friday’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 1 |
Every soldier that ever went to war for these turkey's should be out there screaming the place down . What an insult . | 0 |
MACAPÁ, Brazil — The pirates of the Amazon River relish striking after nightfall. Wearing balaclavas, 15 of the marauders stormed Merinaldo Paiva’s riverboat as dozens of his passengers dozed in their hammocks. Suddenly, they woke to find rifles pointed at their heads. The gunmen took cash, jewelry, smartphones, fuel and even food, forcing everyone to lie facedown on the deck. Then they disappeared on speedboats into the Amazon, a waterway so vast that some in Brazil’s frontier call it the . “Every riverboat captain knows they’re at the mercy of these bastards,” said the captain, Mr. Paiva, 41, who has been plying the rivers of Brazil’s rain forests since he was a teenager. “We’re lucky it wasn’t worse,” he added of the robbery in April, listing other attacks in which passengers had been raped, tortured or killed. Piracy has long been a fact of life on the rivers of Brazil’s anarchic wilderness. But as the population in the Amazon surges and drug gangs expand their sway over the region, hijacking opportunities have flourished. And police forces are struggling to keep up with the crime, culminating in a series of recent attacks that have terrorized riverboat crews and their passengers. In October, four masked pirates with rifles took over a fuel ship on the Solimões River and stole more than 2, 600 gallons of diesel fuel, along with the cash, watches and clothing of the crew. In September, 10 masked men stormed a passenger ship near the city of Belém, robbing 260 passengers at once. The attackers used one woman aboard as a human shield during the ordeal. The month before, the police released a video of men from one crew — the Pirates of the Solimões River — interrogating a rival gangster next to a dead body, putting riverbank dwellers on edge throughout the Amazon Basin. In a previous case near the city of Manaus, Huederson Paulino, a pirate who used the nom de guerre Mohican, confessed to killing and dismembering two men on a boat selling ice and salt. He led a gang that stole cash and fuel from the victims, and said his aim was to get spending money for Christmas. “I needed the money, so I did what was best for me,” Mr. Paulino, 24, told reporters. The growing alarm over piracy dovetails with rapid changes in the region. Far from an empty expanse of rain forest dotted by tiny outposts, the Brazilian Amazon has nearly 25 million people, with about two million in Manaus alone. The region’s population surged 22 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to census figures — nearly double the rate of the country as a whole. But the Amazon is also one of the poorest parts of Brazil, and organized crime has spread, feeding a sense of lawlessness in the vast river basin. In remote riverbank villages, residents complain that police boats rarely venture into the waterways where many of the pirate attacks take place. The authorities say they are trying. Here in Macapá, a city of 370, 000 in northern Brazil, an elite squad of police officers from the Environmental Battalion regularly patrol the Amazon River for pirates, often called water rats in local parlance. “Just as highwaymen prey on road travelers elsewhere in Brazil, pirates are the scourge we face here in the Amazon,” said Lt. Col. Protásio Barriga Caldas, 47, the commander of Amapá State’s Environmental Battalion. Robbers have stalked these waterways for years. In one notorious case, pirates fatally shot Sir Peter Blake, the world champion yachtsman from New Zealand, in 2001. The gunmen boarded his vessel, the Seamaster, and robbed and attacked the crew. Mr. Blake managed to shoot one of the assailants in the hand, but died after being shot in the lung and heart. These days, with more targets on the rivers and more criminal groups involved, riverboat operators warn that the pirates are growing even more ruthless and sophisticated. In one case this year, the police in Amazonas State captured José Conceição de Souza, a pirate who confessed to killing two Colombian drug traffickers and stealing 573 pounds of cocaine the traffickers were taking by boat to Manaus. Galdino Alencar, the president of the Union of River Navigation Companies of Amazonas State, said that pirates were increasingly targeting ships carrying large cargoes for the growing population of the Amazon, including cooking gas, electronic devices, cement and dried beef. But the most coveted cargo for pirates, he said, is fuel. “It’s a product they can steal and go on to sell to gold miners operating illegally in the forest,” Mr. Alencar said. He added that pirates were also stepping up attacks on ships docked in large cities like Manaus, spurring calls by his organization to create a federal river police force. Colonel Caldas said the pirates usually traveled on speedboats, giving them a quickness and agility that bulkier riverboats lack. He added that they often came from impoverished urban areas or riverbank villages, and preyed on forest dwellers who rely on riverboats to purchase food, visit relatives or obtain medical care in Amazon cities. Patrolling the Amazon’s colossal rivers for pirates can resemble a futile game of . On one river mission in October, police officers questioned residents of a settlement near the Port of Santana who described living in constant fear of pirates. “There’s no law on the Amazon River,” said Odete Souza França, 49, whose family makes its living by fishing and cultivating açaí, the coveted purple fruit that is a staple here. She described a recent attack in which pirates boarded the canoe of her son, tied him up, and stole his GPS device and a cylinder of cooking gas. Catching such culprits involves immense challenges. To start with, the rivers of the Amazon Basin course through a region almost the size of the contiguous United States. Ships on the main waterways can go days without seeing the police or navy boats. Pirates often know the rivers and surrounding terrain better than security forces, and can drop out of sight into villages. Police officers here in Amapá State also complain that pirates often carry out their attacks in one state, only to dart over the border into a neighboring one with a different jurisdiction. “Catching pirates is like waging war against guerrilla fighters,” said Capt. Lúcio Lima, the chief of a special operations unit of the Amapá police force that hunts down river bandits. “They are elusive foes who make the most of their knowledge of river currents, geography and topography. ” When two Polish explorers — Dawid Andres, 41, and Hubert Kisinski, 33 — traveled the length of the Amazon River this year on pontoons outfitted with mountain bikes, they faced challenges from waters to whirlpools. Still, they said their scariest moments came when pirates in Brazil approached them on three occasions. Each time, they said, they were able to talk their way out of daunting situations. “It’s the stuff of a nightmare when a crew in holding huge guns approaches you on the river,” Mr. Kisinski said. Recalling one episode, he said that he and Mr. Andres had calmly explained that they were traveling without valuable items, and then asked the pirates if they had any beer to relieve the stress of the situation. “That calmed them down a bit they even started to laugh,” Mr. Kisinski said. “One needs to keep a clear head when facing pirates in the Amazon. ” | 1 |
Poll Released 36 Years Ago Today Had Reagan Down by 8… He Won in a Landslide
Most of the money spent on these expensive steak dinners was spent outside Alaska, in an effort to butter up her special-interest friends.
“The cavalier attitude Lisa Murkowski has used in spending contributors’ dollars reflects a Big Government mindset she has employed in spending taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars in Washington, D.C,” Joe Miller said.
She is a typical liberal fat cat who cares more about upholding a failing establishment than spending taxpayer dollars on the issues her constituents voted for her to address. She cares more about keeping her job so she can hang out with her special-interest friends than she does about actually doing her job.
If Alaskans really want a responsible government that is going to work for the people and not for the establishment, it’s time to let Murkowski go.
It’s not just good for Republicans, it’s good for the country, because since Murkowski succeeded her father in the Senate in 2002, the national debt has increased by over $13 trillion. Now she spends nearly a quarter million on eating out.
She is the most liberal Republican up for reelection and has voted with President Barack Obama over 72 percent of the time during the last Senate. With the possibility of Hillary Clinton taking office, do Americans really want Murkowski in that seat?
“The 36-year Murkowski dynasty has led Alaska and helped lead the nation down a dead-end road,” Miller stated. “If we want to change the course of our state and nation, we must change the people we send to Washington, D.C.” | 0 |
The failure of Republicans’ recent health care reform bill to pass through Congress and win popular support means there will be no changes to America’s crumbling health care system as lawmakers head into a recess. [The bill, the chief architect of which was Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, was dubbed Obamacare 2. 0, as it failed to fully repeal parts of Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Some of the problems with the bill included persistent rising health care costs and maintaining certain health care provisions for illegal aliens, potentially leaving both Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration vulnerable to an electoral backlash. Throughout his presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised to fully repeal and replace Obamacare, making it a priority during his first months in office. Having taken office, Trump’s first executive order called on federal agencies to “ease the burden” of Obamacare by giving states “more flexibility and control to create a more free and open healthcare market. ” ObamaCare will explode and we will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2017, However, Trump supported the recent bill, stating that he was “100 percent” behind it and blaming the Republican Freedom Caucus for its failure. He has since said that when Obamacare “explodes,” a new healthcare plan will be put in place. On Wednesday evening, Paul Ryan was seen entering the White House to discuss redrafting the bill, which was called the American Health Care Act. One of the key issues of contention surrounding a redraft are regulations imposed on insurance companies, which opponents say are driving up the cost of healthcare for everyone, besides those with conditions. The failure to secure a deal on health care has left both Trump’s and Republicans’s approval ratings at record lows just months into a new administration. With a crowded agenda of tax reform, immigration enforcement, as well as preventing a potential government shutdown, Republicans must prioritize securing a good healthcare deal if they are to hold onto both their House and Senate majorities. You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook, on Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart. com | 1 |
November 18, 2016
An oily spokesman for MailOnline said that the post-truth age had left red-top journalists with nowhere to go: ‘They’ve got to be prepared to believe even more ridiculous things now, what with truth being such a fluid concept. Speaking of fluids, is it 10am yet? I make it a rule never to have a drink before then’
Taking a break from doorstepping a recently bereaved mother, a Sun reporter said that since the paper had never to his knowledge printed anything truthful, to find that we are now supposedly living in age in which truth was largely irrelevant left him confused and drunk: ‘What are we supposed to do now? Make stuff even more made up? Make up stuff about stuff we’ve already made up? Hang on, here she comes. Show us yer tits love and smile for fuck’s sake! Where was I?’ | 0 |
Some of Massachusetts’s top politicians said on Wednesday that they would not attend the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in South Boston after organizers told a group of gay and transgender military veterans that they would not be allowed to march on March 19 after two years of L. G. B. T. inclusion in the event. The governor, Charlie Baker, and the mayor of Boston, Martin J. Walsh, both announced their decision to skip the parade over its decision to bar the group, OutVets. In a statement, the mayor encouraged the public to do the same. “I will not tolerate discrimination in our city of any form,” Mr. Walsh said. “I will not be marching in the parade unless this is resolved. Anyone who values what our city stands for should do the same. ” Mr. Baker said it “doesn’t make any sense” to exclude the group. “If veterans’ groups aren’t allowed to march in that parade for whatever reason, then I’ll probably do something else,” he told reporters on Wednesday. The controversy began on Tuesday night when the parade organizers, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, voted 9 to 4 to exclude OutVets. Dan Magoon, the executive director of Massachusetts Fallen Heroes, resigned as the parade’s chief marshal over that decision. Mr. Magoon, who voted in favor of including OutVets, said there was “strong opposition” to the group’s participation. He said opponents cited the group’s late application as well as a past code of conduct violation. “They didn’t tell us anything detailed or specific about the incident, but it was enough to swing the vote,” Mr. Magoon said. According to the code of conduct published by the Allied War Veterans Council, the parade does not ban L. G. B. T. groups, but it also “will not allow the advertisement or display of one’s sexual orientation as a topic that should in any way be depicted as a theme of our parade. ” Bryan Bishop, the founder of OutVets, said parade organizers told him on Wednesday night that a small rainbow patch that has been part of the group’s logo since 2014 was found to be in violation of that rule. “My jaw just dropped on the floor,” he said. Marchers from his group wore jackets with the logo in 2015 and 2016 without incident, he said. Organizers told him Wednesday that they had violated the rules two years in a row. “They said people felt that rainbows represent the gay community,” Mr. Bishop said. “I told them if that’s the case, then every picture of a rainbow in the parade that leads to a pot of gold needs to be removed. ” Mr. Bishop said parade organizers told him they would allow his group to march only if it removed the rainbow patch or did not display its logo, which he refused. “They refuse to change their minds,” he said. “They are stuck in an arcane time in our history. ” He said parade organizers also complained that allowing OutVets to march had cost them support from the Roman Catholic Church. Leaders of the veterans council did not respond to emails or return phone calls on Wednesday evening seeking comment. “This is an issue that didn’t need to exist because OutVets has marched consecutively for the last two years with no incident,” Mr. Magoon said. It was the first L. G. B. T. group to march in the Boston parade. The decision in Boston represents a backsliding on gay and transgender rights in one of the most liberal cities in the country, and it appeared to take many there by surprise. Michael Flaherty, a Boston city councilor, said the decision was “disgusting,” adding, “Whoever voted for this is a nitwit. ” United States Senator Edward J. Markey said he would boycott the parade, too, unless the veterans council changed its decision, which he called “a stunning and inexplicable reversal. ” “We all believed we’d moved beyond a time when the St. Patrick’s Day Parade was used as an occasion to exclude people, in this case veterans, from our community just because of who they are or who they love,” he said in a statement. Sponsors of the parade began to drop out on Wednesday as well. The supermarket Stop Shop said it would no longer sponsor the parade, and said it was “evaluating” its continued participation in the event. As politicians and sponsors began to object, The Associated Press reported on Thursday that the veterans council would hold an emergency meeting on Friday to reconsider their decision. Gay and transgender groups campaigned for years to be included in St. Patrick’s Day parades in Boston, New York and other cities. Organizers historically told gay and transgender people they could not march under their own banner but could march with other groups in the parades, which celebrate Irish heritage and were traditionally organized by groups often deeply influenced by the Roman Catholic Church. When an L. G. B. T. group marched in the New York parade with Mayor David N. Dinkins in 1991, spectators shouted epithets and threw beer bottles at them for nearly 40 blocks. The mayor told reporters the experience reminded him of marching in Birmingham, Ala. during the civil rights movement. “I knew there would be deep emotions, but I did not anticipate the cowards in the crowd,” he said. The conflict over the New York parade came to a head in 2014 when Mayor Bill de Blasio boycotted it — the first mayor since Mr. Dinkins to do so — over its ban on L. G. B. T. groups. Guinness, a leading sponsor of the parade, also cut ties that year. The first L. G. B. T. group marched in New York in 2015. Niall O’Dowd, the publisher of several news media outlets, said some in Boston objected to the participation of OutVets in 2015, but when the group returned in 2016 “there was no problem. ” He compared opponents of L. G. B. T. participation in the parades to Japanese soldiers who refused to surrender at the end of World War II and kept fighting for decades from isolated positions. “This is just insane. This fight has been won. There’s no question,” he said. “Everyone thought this would be part of the usual historical progression, but now they’ve banned them again, which is extraordinary. ” | 1 |
Videos 1,000 Children Face Uncertain Future In Destroyed Calais Jungle Volunteer refugee aid organizations report that children being housed in a shipping container park have inadequate access to food and water. | November 1, 2016 Be Sociable, Share! A migrant stands next to his tent burnt in the makeshift migrant camp known as “the jungle” near Calais, northern France, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. As French authorities finished demolishing Monday the embattled Calais refugee camp, known as the “Jungle,” the fate of over 1,000 children reportedly living in dismal conditions in shipping containers in the cleared camp remained unclear, while thousands of others have been forced into precarious living in the streets of Paris.
French officials have said that the camp will be completely razed by Monday evening, according to AFP. The infamously-nicknamed “Jungle” previously housed some 6,000 refugees and migrants from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and other war-ravaged countries.
But while authorities tear down the remaining make-shift shelters, it remains unclear what will happen to the more than 1,000 children that volunteer aid organizations claim are still living in the camp in shipping containers without access to proper food and water.
“Once again it seems there were only volunteers on hand to look after the 1,500 residents of the shipping container camp most of whom are minors,” the organization Help Refugees wrote on Facebook Sunday. “Water and food seem not to have been provided by the state. Children have no idea what is happening to them and volunteers equally don’t know what to say and themselves are not allowed into the containers.”
French authorities have also begun to crack down on other settlements where displaced refugees and migrants have flocked in the face of no formal options. Workers began evicting people Monday by clearing tents and mattresses from Paris’ Stalingrad district, where some 2,000 migrants had been seeking refuge under an overhead transit route, AFP reported. Police in riot gear guarded the area.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has urged federal authorities to take concrete steps to address the “dramatic humanitarian and sanitary situation” surging in parts of the city, especially the northeast, the extremity of the city closest to Calais.
Meanwhile, President Francois Hollande has said that France will “no longer tolerate” make-shift refugee camps like the Calais Jungle, saying they are “unbecoming of what a French welcome should be.”
The children housed in the shipping container park are reportedly awaiting relocation — the details of which remain unclear. Authorities say they will not demolish a church and mosque in the cleared camp as long as children remain housed in the area.
Hundreds of refugees and migrants are still hoping to be transferred to the United Kingdom. Advocates have called on the U.K. government to restart and speed up the processes of transferring unaccompanied asylum seeking children from the Jungle in particular.
U.K. authorities claim they are addressing the situation, but refugee advocated fear children are being lied to and placed on buses to be shipping elsewhere in France to uncertain conditions. | 0 |
What a completely worthless organization, UNESCO. Israel has an undisputed claim to the land. God said so. | 0 |
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter “This is the way the system works, it’s a rotten system, and I see elections as so much of a charade. So much deceit goes on. . . . whether it’s a Republican or a Democrat president, the people who want to keep the status quo seems to have their finger in the pot and can control things. They just get so nervous so, if they have an independent thinker out there, whether it’s Sanders, or Trump, or Ron Paul, they’re going to be very desperate to try to change things. . . . More people are discovering that the system is all rigged, and that voting is just pacification for the voters and it really doesn’t count.” advertisement - learn more Above are the words of Dr. Ron Paul, three-time presidential candidate and a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Similar to Bernie Sanders, Dr. Paul attracted significant attention while he was in the running, appealing to the intellect of the masses and helping to wake people up to the realities of the U.S. electoral system. U.S. presidential elections are rigged. This is the truth that he, and Sanders, and so many others, hope to make clear. Voting only provides the illusion of democracy, it does not actually serve democracy. In the video below, Dr. Paul goes on to describe how the electoral process has become a giant charade, meant to entertain rather facilitate democracy. He also argues that who exactly is chosen for president is irrelevant, because corporate interests will always prevent them from effecting real change. In a recent debate with Hilary Clinton, Bernie Sanders made the same arguments, saying that “no matter who is elected to be president, that person . . . will not be able to succeed because the power of corporate America, the power of Wall Street, (and) the power of campaign donors is so great that no president alone can stand up to them.” ( source ) It is an uncomfortable truth, as Bernie himself admits, but it is a reality we must face. And hearing this for the first time can be jarring, to be sure. We’ve been told that the world operates in a specific way, that we decide who our political leaders will be, but as with anything in life, it’s important that we discover the truth for ourselves rather than trusting blindly the words of others. We have been programmed to believe everything we are told, and corporate media is not telling us the truth. Dr. Paul and Bernie Sanders are not the only major political figures to speak out about this issue. Various presidents and politicians have been saying this for decades. For example, Theodore Roosevelt, the 26 President of the United States, told the world that “behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.” He also stated that “presidents are selected, not elected.” Even the very first British MP, Benjamin Disraeli, warned us that “the world is governed by very different personages to what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.” Here is a very memorable quote from former New York City (1918-1925) Mayor John F. Hylan: advertisement - learn more The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government, which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation . . . The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both parties . . . [and] control the majority of the newspapers and magazines in this country. They use the columns of these papers to club into submission or drive out of office public officials who refuse to do the bidding of the powerful corrupt cliques which compose the invisible government. It operates under cover of a self-created screen [and] seizes our executive officers, legislative bodies, schools, courts, newspapers and every agency created for the public protection. ( source )( source ) Here is another great one from the 28th president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, taken from his book The New Freedom : Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United State, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it. ( source ) As you can see, the idea that the system is corrupt and ruled by outside influence is not a new one, but it is only recently that the general population has begun to see it for themselves. Your Inbox Will Never Be The Same Inspiration and all our best content, straight to your inbox.
“Democracy is popular because of the illusion of choice and participation it provides, but when you live in a society in which most people’s knowledge of the world extends as far as sports, sitcoms, reality shows, and celebrity gossip, democracy because a very dangerous idea. Until people are properly educated and informed, instead of indoctrinated to be ignorant mindless consumers, democracy is nothing more than a clever tool used by the ruling class to subjugate the rest of of us.” – Gavin Nascimento. Presidents now seem to be little more than figureheads, meant to capture the hearts and attention of the people while leaving corporations (controlled by the big banks) free to do as they will, polluting and destroying our planet in their endless quest for profit. Barack Obama was a big time celebrity, and there is no doubt in my mind that Hillary Clinton will be the same by taking on the role of “first female president.” While this is obviously a commendable and much-needed step forward for gender quality, I think we need to take a step back and consider the bigger picture. We can’t look to our political leaders for change, we have to look to ourselves, because our desires are not being represented or addressed in the political sphere. The ongoing GMO debate is just one example of this, but there are many. If we want to change the things which matter the most — the degradation of the environment, the military industrial complex, poverty, among others — we can’t keep looking to political ‘leaders’ like Obama or international organizations like the UN, all of whom give empty speeches, year after year, like they’ve always done, without taking real action. And nothing ever seems to get done. Don’t let them fool you any longer. Change will not come from them; it never has and it never will. Change can only come from you and from me, and the first step is awareness. See the circus for what it is and choose not to participate. If we keep looking to ‘them’ to provide the solutions we need to take care of our planet, we will continue down this road to destruction. It’s how we got here in the first place. I will leave you with these words from the late Carl Sagan, which neatly explain how it is we continue to be blinded by those in control: “ One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. The bamboozle has captured us. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.
You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.
"If “Survivor” was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and “The Sacred Science” hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group." - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune | 0 |
President Donald Trump plans to visit Speaker Paul Ryan’s district in Wisconsin on Tuesday, but the Speaker will not join him. [According to a spokesman appearing on Fox 6, Ryan will be traveling in Europe to meet with NATO allies. Trump is expected to visit the tools headquarters in Kenosha, Wisconsin to highlight his agenda. Ryan had visited the innovation center in 2015 to host a Congressional listening session. Ryan won his campaign in the 1st Congressional District of Wisconsin in 2016 with 65 percent of the vote in 2016 after defeating his primary challenger Paul Nehlen with 84 percent of the vote. Trump won Wisconsin in the 2016 presidential election by about 22, 000 votes over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. | 1 |
Ed Ou, a Canadian freelance photojournalist, spent 10 years covering the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. He endured aggressive interrogations at border crossings in some of the world’s most authoritarian nations. But he says a recent confrontation at the United States border has left him shaken. The incident has been criticized by advocates of privacy and press freedom. Mr. Ou, 30, said he was detained on Oct. 1 for more than six hours when he tried to fly from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Bismarck, N. D. to cover the protests of an oil pipeline project near the Standing Rock reservation. He was ultimately denied entry, and he said though he was not given a reason, he was told his name matched that of a “person of interest. ” During the hours of detention, he was asked to describe how and why he had traveled to each country he had visited in the past five years, and questioned about whether he had seen anyone die. Agents requested access to his phones and to look through his photos so that they could make sure he was “not posing next to any dead bodies,” he said. When he refused, citing the need to protect his sources as a journalist, they took the phones, he said. The phones were later returned and showed signs that the SIM cards had been replaced, he said. Giving up the contents of his private phone would be akin to a doctor giving up confidential patient information, he said. “I’m not going to open my phone for any other country,” Mr. Ou, a New York Times contributor who was an intern for the news organization in 2010, said in a phone interview on Thursday from Nunavut, Canada. “I can’t be expected to do the same for the U. S. ” Jason Givens, a United States Customs and Border Protection spokesman, declined to comment on Mr. Ou’s case, citing privacy laws. But he said agents had inspected 4, 444 cellphones and 320 other electronic devices in 2015, amounting to 0. 0012 percent of the 383 million arrivals. “Keeping America safe and enforcing our nation’s laws in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully examine all materials entering the U. S.,” Mr. Givens said in a statement on Thursday. The American Civil Liberties Union wrote a letter to Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security, protesting Mr. Ou’s treatment and calling it “harassing and exceptionally intrusive. ” It demanded an explanation of his detention, and asked for a guarantee that any copies of his belongings had been destroyed. Agents made photocopies of several documents in his possession, including a personal journal, Mr. Ou said. It should have been clear to agents that Mr. Ou was a working journalist who had traveled freely to the United States in the past and had longstanding connections to American news agencies, Hugh Handeyside, a lawyer, wrote in the A. C. L. U. letter. “We believe that C. B. P. took advantage of Mr. Ou’s application for admission to engage in an opportunistic fishing expedition for sensitive and confidential information that Mr. Ou had gathered through his activities in Turkey, Iraq, Somalia and elsewhere,” he wrote. Electronic privacy advocates said the episode illustrated a governmental loophole that’s especially problematic for journalists but that could apply to anyone: Without a warrant, American border agents can legally search digital devices that they wouldn’t be able to touch anywhere else. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, but the Supreme Court carved out space for border patrol agents to examine personal property without a warrant, said Sophia Cope, a staff lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization that defends civil liberties in the digital age. Security officers at United States airports don’t need a judge’s permission to search a traveler’s backpack before he or she boards a flight the way a police officer would when stopping someone on the street. But it has to be for the narrow purpose of assuring immigration or security compliance, she said. The privacy implications of examining a cellphone are entirely different from rifling through a suitcase, which contains limited personal information, Ms. Cope said. The law regarding digital devices is “really unsettled,” she said. “The government is saying the old rule at the border applies to digital devices, even though our entire lives are on these devices,” Ms. Cope said. A Homeland Security policy from 2009 says that searching digital devices requires the owner of the digital device to be present during the search, though it doesn’t guarantee the owner can monitor the search. Agents can make copies of the data, but the copies must be destroyed within seven days if there is no probable cause to seize it. Devices can be detained for up to five days, barring “extenuating circumstances. ” The policy’s assurance that agents would “protect that information from unauthorized disclosure” is not particularly comforting for journalists, who fear the contents of their devices could unmask sources who would be in danger if the government learned their identities. Maria a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, recounted a similar episode in a Facebook post in July after she was detained at Los Angeles International Airport and asked to turn over her cellphones. The request was eventually withdrawn after Ms. a United States citizen traveling on an American passport, objected and asked to call lawyers for her newspaper. Trevor Timm, the executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said that for journalists like Mr. Ou who have worked in the Middle East to be treated with suspicion, potentially forcing them to break promises of confidentiality to sources just to enter the country, sets a poor international precedent, he said. “If this is requisite for journalists who are not U. S. citizens to enter the U. S. that is an enormous violation of press freedom,” he said. Mr. Ou was assigned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to cover the Standing Rock protests as part of a project on indigenous health care in North America. He said the agents knew he intended to cover the protests, which have prompted the police to use rubber bullets, pepper spray and water cannons against hundreds of people. His experience at the border led to an “awful realization,” Mr. Ou said: “That wall of naïveté that I had about the freedom of the press in the U. S. kind of shattered at that moment. ” | 1 |
E-post – Hillary Clinton og Den muslimske brorskapen av Thierry Meyssan FBI-etterforskinga av Hillary Clinton sin private e-post er ikkje retta mot ei forsømmingssak gjeldande tryggleiksrutinar, men mot ein konspirasjon der ein prøver å eliminere eitkvart spor av korrespondansen hennar som skulle ha vore arkivert på serverane til den føderale staten. Denne kan innehalde utveksling om illegal finansiering eller korrupsjon, og om samband mellom Clinton-familien, Den muslimske brorskapen og jihadistane.
Voltaire Network | Damaskus (Syria) | 3 novembre 2016 ελληνικά English Español français Türkçe русский Deutsch Português italiano عربي Hillary Clinton og stabssjefen hennar, Huma Abedin Reprisen på FBI-etterforskinga av Hillary Clinton sine private e-postar handlar ikkje lenger om tryggleiksspørsmål, men heller om lureri og juksing på eit muleg høgforrædersk plan.
Teknisk sett så hadde utanriksministeren, i staden for å bruke ein av dei sikra serverane til den føderale staten, ordna med installasjon av ein privat server i heimen sin, for å kunne bruke internett utan å etterlate seg spor på noka maskin tilhøyrande den føderale staten. Fru Clinton sin private teknikar hadde tømt serveren før FBI kom, så det var umuleg å vite korfor ho hadde sett opp eit slikt nettverk.
Først la FBI merke til at den private serveren ikkje var beskytta med same tryggleikssystem som utanriksdepartementet sin server. Såleis hadde fru Clinton berre gjort seg skuldig i brot på tryggleiken. Deretter konfiskerte FBI datamaskina til tidlegare Kongress-mann Anthony Weiner, eksmannen til Huma Abedin som er stabbsjef for Hillary. FBI fann e-postar frå utanriksministeren på datamaskina hans.
Anthony Weiner er ein jødisk politikar med svært nære band til Clinton-familien som hadde ambisjonar om å bli borgarmeister av New York. Han måtte trekke seg etter ein svært puritansk skandale – han hadde sendt erotiske SMS’ar til ei ung kvinne som ikkje var kona hans. Huma Abedin separerte seg offisielt frå han under skandalen, men i røynda gjekk ho ikkje frå han.
Huma Abedin er ein US-amerikansk statsborgar som vaks opp i Saudi-Arabia. Far hennar er direktør for eit akademisk tidsskrift – der ho var medredaktør i mange år – som regelmessig trykker kommentarar frå Den muslimske brorskapen. Mor hennar er president for den saudiske foreininga for kvinnelege medlemmer av Brorskapen, og arbeidde saman med kona til den egyptiske presidenten, Mohamed Morsi. Bror hennar Hassan arbeider for sjeik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, det religiøse overhovudet til Brorskapen og andeleg rådgjevar for Al-Jazeera.
På ei offisiell reise til Saudi-Arabia besøker utanriksministeren høgskulen Dar al-Hekma, akkompagnert av Saleha Abedin (mor til stabbsjefen til Hillary), president for organisasjonen for syster-medlemmane til Brorskapen. Huma Abedin er i dag ein sentral figur i Clinton-kampanjen, ved sidan av kampanje-direktøren John Podesta, eks-generalsekretær av Det kvite hus under Bill Clinton. Podesta er også den utnemnde Kongress-lobbyisten for Kongedømet Saudi-Arabia – for den nette sum av $200 000 per månad. Den 12. juni, 2016 publiserte Petra, det offisielle pressebyrået til Jordan, eit intervju med kronprinsen av Arabia, Mohamed Ben Salmane, der han fortalde om kor moderne familien hans er, som hadde finansiert Hillary Clintons presidentkampanje i storleiksordenen 20%, sjølv om ho er kvinne. Dagen etter denne publiseringa kansellerte byrået dette telegrammet og hevda at internettsida hadde blitt hacka.
I følge Jordans offisielle pressebyrå Petra, publisert den 12. juni 2016, finansierte den saudiske kongefamilien 20 % av Hillary Clintons presidentkampanje. Fru Abedin er ikkje den einaste medlemmen av Obama-administrasjonen med band til Brorskapen. USAs presidents halvbror, Abon’go Malik Obama, er kasserar for Brorskapen sitt misjonsarbeid i Sudan, og også president for stiftinga Barack H. Obama Foundation. Han tar sine ordrar direkte frå Sudans president Omar el-Béchir. Ein Muslimsk bror er medlem av Det nasjonale tryggingsrådet – den høgaste administrative stillinga i USA. Frå 2009 til 2012 var dette Mehdi K. Alhassani. Vi veit ikkje kven som kom etter han, men Det kvite hus nekta for at en Muslimsk bror var medlem av Rådet inntil bevis kom fram i lyset. Ein Muslimsk bror, Rashad Hussain, er også US-amerikansk ambassadør til Den islamske konferansen [OIC, ein organisasjon med 57 medlemsstatar, stifta i Saudi-Arabia i mai 1971, til fremje av muslimsk solidaritet]. Dei andre Brørne som har blitt identifiserte innehar mindre viktige verv. Men vi må nemne Louay M. Safi, noverande medlem av Syrias nasjonalkoalisjon og tidlegare rådgjevar for Pentagon.
President Obama og halvbroren Abon’go Malik Obama i Det ovale kontoret. Abon’go Malik er kasserar for misjonsarbeidet til Den muslimske brorskapen i Sudan. I april 2009, to månadar før talen sin i Kairo, tok president Obama i løyndom imot ein delegasjon av Brorskapen på Det ovale kontoret. I løpet av sine første månadar som president hadde han allereie invitert Ingrid Mattson, presidenten for organisasjonen Association of Muslim Brothers and Sisters in the United States [organisasjonen for muslimske brør og systrer i USA].
Frå si side hadde Clinton-stiftinga sett inn Gehad el-Haddad som direktør for sitt eige «Klima»-prosjekt – han er ein av verdsleiarane for Brorskapen, og hadde inntil då vore leiar for eit koransk TV-program. Far hans var med på å stifte Brorskapen, då den vart skapt av CIA og MI6 i 1951. Gehad forlot Stiftinga i 2012, då han vart talsmann for kandidat Mohammed Morsi i Kairo, og deretter den offisielle talsmannen for Den muslimske brorskapen globalt.
Sidan alle dei jihadistiske leiararne i verda har kome frå enten Den muslimske Brorskapen eller Den sufistiske ordenen til Naqshbandî [ei militant grein av islam] – dei to komponentane til Den muslimske verdsligaen, den saudiske anti-arabiske nasjonalist-organisasjonen – skulle vi likt å vite meir om fru Clinton sine relasjonar til Saudi Arabia og Den muslimske brorskapen.
No har det seg faktisk slik at på laget til utfordraren hennes, Donald Trump, finn vi general Michael T. Flynn, som prøvde å motsette seg at Det kvite hus danna Kalifatet, og trakk seg ifrå leiinga av Forsvarets etterretningsbyrå (Defense Intelligence Agency) for å signalisere motstanden sin. Han arbeider jamsides med Frank Gaffney, ein historisk «kaldkrigar», no kvalifisert som «konspirasjonsteoretikar» for å ha dratt til felts mot nærværet av Brorskapen i den føderale staten.
Det er underforstått at all støtte til jihadistiske organisasjonar frå FBI sitt synspunkt er kriminelle brotsverk, uansett kva for retningslinjer CIA måtte ha. I 1991 hadde politiet – og senator John Kerry – provosert fram kollapsen til BCCI, ein pakistansk bank (sjølv om den er registrert på Cayman Islands) som CIA brukte til allslags hemmelege operasjonar i fellesskap med Den muslimske brorskapen og også Latino-narkokartell.
Thierry Meyssan Oversettelse
Monica Sortland | 0 |
TEL AVIV — Instead of convening a summit on the ongoing civil war in Syria, or the migrant crisis threatening Europe, or the rampant plaguing its own country, France on Sunday held a convention attended by over 70 nations to affirm the international community’s commitment to creating a Palestinian state. [At the end of the farcical display, and with neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority in attendance, the Paris summit representatives released a brief concluding declaration unanimously agreed to after negotiations between the countries. Reports here credited Israeli diplomats with helping to water down the language of the final declaration, calling the text a “significant weakening” and “less harsh than was initially expected. ” Still, the text was anything but fair. Here are five offenses in the final declaration: 1 — The text draws a moral equivalency between “violence,” which would include Palestinian terrorism targeting civilians, and “settlement activity,” meaning Israelis building homes in the West Bank or eastern sections of Jerusalem. The text states: They emphasized the importance for the parties to restate their commitment to this solution, to take urgent steps in order to reverse the current negative trends on the ground, including continued acts of violence and ongoing settlement activity, and to start meaningful direct negotiations. 2 — The declaration calls for Israel to “fully end the occupation that began in 1967,” language that seems to mean that Israel would need to withdraw from the entire West Bank and eastern Jerusalem and thus shrink the country to indefensible borders. Those are the territories that Israel captured in the defensive war of 1967. Withdrawing “fully” would seem to imply that Israel should evacuate those territories in their entirety. Some of the holiest sites in Judaism are located in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank, including the Western Wall and Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City the Cave of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in Hebron, which was home to the oldest continuous Jewish community in the world until the Jews of Hebron were massacred and expelled the Tomb of Rachel in Bethlehem and Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus — biblical Shechem. The diplomats who convened in Paris, however, seem unaware of the text of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which today’s declaration affirms as the basis of a future deal. After stating that Israel should “fully end the occupation that began in 1967,” the Paris declaration then references Resolution 242. The declaration states: They reiterated that a negotiated solution should meet the legitimate aspirations of both sides, including the Palestinians’ right to statehood and sovereignty, fully end the occupation that began in 1967, satisfy Israel’s security needs and resolve all permanent status issues on the basis of United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and also recalled relevant Security Council resolutions. Resolution 242 calls on Israel to withdraw under a future solution “from territories occupied” as a result of the 1967 Six Day War. The resolution does not call for a withdrawal from “all territories,” a designation deliberately left out to ensure Israel’s ability to retain some territory for security purposes under a future deal. The Jewish Virtual Library explains: The Security Council did not say Israel must withdraw from “all the” territories occupied after the War. This was quite deliberate. The Soviet delegate wanted the inclusion of those words and said that their exclusion meant “that part of these territories can remain in Israeli hands. ” The Arab states pushed for the word “all” to be included, but this was rejected. They nevertheless asserted that they would read the resolution as if it included the word “all. ” The British ambassador who drafted the approved resolution, Lord Caradon, declared after the vote: “It is only the resolution that will bind us, and we regard its wording as clear. ” 3 — The declaration patronizes Israel by calling on both parties to “restate” their commitments to the solution. Only one side has not been committed to peace. Israel has offered the Palestinians a state in much of the West Bank and Gaza Strip with a shared capital in Jerusalem numerous times. These offers were made at Camp David in 2000, Taba in 2001, the Annapolis Conference in 2007, and more offers were made in 2008. In each of these cases, the PA refused generous Israeli offers of statehood and bolted negotiations without counteroffers. The PA has failed to respond to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s unprecedented attempts to negotiations aimed at creating a Palestinian state, including freezing Jewish construction in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem and releasing Palestinian prisoners. 4 — The declaration gives credibility to the Arab Peace Initiative, which threatens Israel’s security. The declaration states: “They underscored the importance of the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 as a comprehensive framework for the resolution of the conflict, thus contributing to regional peace and security,” states today’s declaration. This reporter previously exposed the Saudi “peace” initiative: The Saudi Initiative, originally proposed by Saudi Arabia in 2002, states that Israel would receive “normal relations” with the Arab world in exchange for a full withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem, which includes the Temple Mount. … The Saudi plan also demands the imposition of a U. N. resolution that calls for Palestinian refugees who wish to move inside Israel to be permitted to do so at the “earliest practicable date. ” Palestinians have long demanded the “right of return” for millions of “refugees,” a formula Israeli officials across the political spectrum warn is code for Israel’s destruction by flooding the Jewish state with millions of Arabs, thereby changing its demographics. When Arab countries attacked the Jewish state after its creation in 1948, some 725, 000 Arabs living within Israel’s borders fled or were expelled from the area that became Israel. Also at that time, about 820, 000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries or fled following rampant persecution. While most Jewish refugees were absorbed by Israel and other countries, the majority of Palestinian Arabs have been maintained in 59 U. N. camps that do not seek to settle its inhabitants elsewhere. There are currently about four million Arabs who claim Palestinian refugee status with the U. N. including children and grandchildren of the original fleeing Arabs Arabs living in Jordan and Arabs who long ago emigrated throughout the Middle East and to the West. According to Arab sources close to the Saudi Initiative, Arab countries are willing to come to an agreement whereby Israel absorbs about 500, 000 “refugees” and reaches a compensation deal with the PA for the remaining millions of Palestinians. 5 — The Paris declaration “welcomed” UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which passed last month when the U. S. abstained and refers to the entire West Bank and eastern Jerusalem as occupied Palestinian territories while demanding a complete halt to all Israeli construction in those areas. Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. ” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook. | 1 |
Just c all it the Sheik shake down…
* * *
In one of the more prominent early Podesta email revelations , we learned that Sheik Mohammed Hussein Ali Al-‘Amoudi , a Saudi Arabian and Ethiopian billionaire businessman, whose net worth was estimated by Forbes at $8.3 billion as of 2016, was one of the very generous donors to the Clinton Foundation… up to a point.
As a November 2011 email from Ira Magaziner, Vice Chairman and CEO of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, sent to John Podesta and Amitabh Desai, Director of Foreign Policy at the Clinton Foundation, revealed, the “CHAI [Clinton Health Access Initiative] would like to request that President Clinton call Sheik Mohammed to thank him for offering his plane to the conference in Ethiopia and expressing regrets that President Clinton’s schedule does not permit him to attend the conference.”
To this, the response by Desai was a simple one: “ Unless Sheikh Mo has sent us a $6 million check, this sounds crazy to do. ”
At this point, Doug Band, Bill Clinton’s former chief advisor and current president of the infamous Teneo Holding Doug Band, chimed in that it probably is a good idea: “If he doesn’t do it Chai will say he didn’t give the money bc of wjc” an assessment which John Podesta agreed with: “this seems rather easy and harmless and not a big time sink.”
* * *
To be sure, this exchange suggested that a substantial amount of cash had or was about to be exchanged between the Clinton Foundation and the Saudi “Sheikh Mo”, as shown in the photo below.
However, the details were missing: the original email from Ira Magaziner referenced a specific briefing memo which contained in it the talking points updating on the relationship between the Clinton Foundation and The Saudi billionaire:
Ed Wood has prepared a briefing memo for President Clinton about the call which is attached
Now, courtesy of today’s latest Podesta email release, we have access to the missing memo .
The leaked memo lays out the facts on the Clinton Foundation trying to collect on Sheik Mohammed’s overdue donor commitment to CHAI. Notably, the memo gives the inference of the Sheik being shaken down by the Foundation in that the Foundation was demanding an immediate $6 million payment in return for WJC attending the 2011 International Conference on AIDS and STIs (ICASA) event. Additionally the Foundation apparently enlisted the assistance of the US Ambassador to Ethiopia to obtain payments from the Sheik.
The memo initially lays out Bill Clinton’s history with the Sheik:
In the first bullet point we find what the initial “bid” and “ask” would be between WJC/CF and the Saudi billionaire: $2 million for every year that Bill Clinton visit Ethiopia. This, however, was subsequently changed to an agreement whereby the Saudi would give $2 million per year but without any reference to visiting Ethiopia:
Sheik Mohammed approached CHAI in 2006 shortly after we opened an office in Addis Ababa. He proposed that he would give $2 million to CHAI every year that YOU visited Ethiopia . We eventually negotiated an Agreement with his Washington attorney, George Salem, in which he agreed to fund CHAI at a rate of $2 million per year for 10 years . They rejected any proposals to put a payment schedule in the agreement, but dropped any reference tying the donation to YOU visiting Ethiopia .
The next bullet lays out the initial fund transfer of $2 million in London, as well as the broad terms of the agreement whose “requirement is that the money be spent within Ethiopia.” Amusingly, the memo then notes that during negotiations the Saudi delegation “rejected our proposal that some of the money could be used for global overhead. ”
The Agreement was officially signed at a meeting in London in May 2007 by the Sheik and Bruce, after which the Sheik presented you with a a check for $2 million for the 2007 payment. The Agreement is very general and does not require any specific proposals from CHAI for how the money will be spent or any reporting. The only requirement is that the money be spent within Ethiopia. During negotiations they rejected our proposal that some of the money could be used for global overhead.
We then learn that more cash transfers took place in the coming years, despite the Sheik having “cash flow problems” which resulted in a bulk payment of $4 million in 2010 for missed payments in 2008 and 2009.
Through 2008 and early 2009, we were told the Sheik was having some cash flow problems and that he was delaying payments for many commercial and philanthropic commitments he had in Ethiopia. In January 2010 at a Foundation donors meeting in Harlem, Ambassador Irvin Hicks, one of the Sheik’s representatives in the U.S. and a former Ethiopian ambassador appointed by YOU presented to YOU a check for $4 million representing payment for 2008 and 2009.
The memo then tells WJC just why the relationship was created in the first place: “The Sheik’s contribution supports most of CHAI’s activities in Ethiopia, one of its most important and successful country programs.”
A section then follow which reminds Bill Clinton just who Sheikh Mohammed is, and that the two had spent time together in his “private suite at a nightclub attached to the Sheraton” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:
YOU first met the Sheik in July 2006 during a visit to Addis. He visited your suite in the Sheraton Hotel, which he owns, for coffee and then after dinner YOU dropped into his private suite at a nightclub attached to the Sheraton. He had invited YOU there especially because he thought you would enjoy the saxophone player . You chatted with the Sheik and played the saxophone with the band. Shortly after this visit negotiations began in earnest regarding the $20 million commitment the Sheik has made to CHAI.
YOU met the Sheik in London in May, 2007, at which time the Agreement was signed and the first $2 million check was received.
YOU stayed at the Sheraton in July 2008 during your last Ethiopia visit, but the Sheik was not in Ethiopia at the time. The Sheik donated the rooms and meals for the large party during an extended four-day visit, two days longer than originally planned because of aircraft problems .
Where things get interesting is in the memo’s discussion of the current (as of November 2011) situation, in which we learn that once again the Saudi billionaire was behind on his payments due to the current economic downturn:
Once again, we are told that the current economic down turn has caused the Sheik to delay payments for several commitments. CHAI has not received the 2010 or 2011 payments . We have contacted both George Salem, the lawyer, and Ambassador Hicks regarding payment. Both say that the Sheik will make the payment but they have not been able to pinpoint an exact date.
Recent complications did not make matters any easier, although the Sheikh had enough cash to provide Bill with a plane to attend the upcoming African AIDS conference:
In the past two months the effort to collect the payments for 2010-2011 has become complicated by factors surrounding ICASA, the biennial large African AIDS conference that will be held in Ethiopia the first week of December. The previous two ICASA conference in Nigeria and Senegal were beset by logistical and financial problems and Prime Minister Meles and Minister of Health Tedros have worked hard to make the Ethiopia ICASA the most successful ever. They have enlisted Sheik Mohammed to help and he has donated the venue and paid for an additional $8-10 million of expenses.
Minister Tedros invited YOU to participate in ICASA, and apparently he or someone else connected with ICASA asked the Sheik if he would provide a plane to bring YOU to Ethiopia for the event. The Sheik agreed to provide a plane, and instructed Ambassador Hicks to tell CHAI one would be available.
Where things get hot, and where the Clinton Foundation is accused of “coercion” by the Sheik’s Washington attorney George Salem, is in the negotiation over whether Clinton should come to Ethiopia without having been wired the funds up front, or if he should assume that the billionaire is “good for the money” and just fly out there on good will.
When George Salem spoke with the Sheik about the payment, he was told by the Sheik to make sure YOU knew that the Sheik would very much like for you to attend ICASA and that he would provide transportation. In response, Bruce told George that if the Sheik would wire $6 million to the Foundation for 2010-2012 that he would make sure YOU attended ICASA. After Bruce’s stroke, George told Ed Wood of CHAI that the Sheik said he did not like “coercion” and that we should know that he was “good for the money .” George reiterated that the money would be paid, but could not give a date.
The Sheik seems to feel that we asked him for transportation and then decided not to use it. George and Ambassador Hicks have been told that the request for transportation did not originate with us, but we are not sure that the message reached the Sheik.
Ultimately the negotiations for Clinton flying to Ethiopia stalled, and appear to have fallen apart, leading to the original quote from the Clinton Foundation’s Amitabh Desai in which he said, as we noted earlier this month, that “ Unless Sheikh Mo has sent us a $6 million check, this sounds crazy to do. ” As a result, the memo gives WJC the following action point:
George Salem, Ambassador Hicks, and CHAI feel that it would be helpful if you would call the Sheik and thank him for offering the plane and saying you are sorry you can’t attend ICASA. We don’t think it is necessary for YOU to bring up the payment issue directly.
The memo concludes with the following talking points:
YOU should thank the Sheik for his support of all our efforts in Ethiopia, and especially for offering to provide a plane to bring you to the ICASA meeting. YOU should express your regrets that you were not able to arrange your schedule to attend the ICASA meeting since you know how important it is to Ethiopia and to the Sheik. You should express your appreciation that he has helped make this event possible during a difficult time for the international AIDS effort. YOU should say you hope to be able to visit with the Sheik again soon either in Ethiopia or elsewhere. * * *
This memo provides valuable insight into just how the “charitable” Clinton Foundation truly operated: absent being made whole on millions of dollars in payments – by a donor who had already provided it with $6 million in the past – the “so very concerned” about AIDS and African welfare Foundation, would not even bother to fly Bill Clinton for a 1-2 day trip – on someone else’s dime – to something as simple, yet noble, as a healthcare conference: precisely what the Foundation, and Bill Clinton’s presence, is supposed to represent and support.
It also shows that when the Foundation found itself in arrears to a prominent donor, it first and only concern was how to get paid; all else – up to and including doing the absolute minimum such as appearing for a good cause, was secondary and – as the memo documents – ultimately irrelevant unless Clinton and the CF were both generously compensated for their efforts.
And that, in a nutshell is what the “generous and charitable” Clinton foundation was all about: make sure to get the money, the rest simply did not matter.
The full hacked memo is below and the source email can be found here .
WJC Sheik Talking Points 11 22 11 by zerohedge on Scribd
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Military Operation to Retake Mosul From Daesh ( 92 ) 0 15 0 0 Iraqi forces lost some 60 soldiers in the operation to liberate Mosul from the Daesh, while about 250 others have been wounded, US Central Command commander Gen. Joseph Votel said on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On October 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi announced the start of a military operation to recapture Mosul from the terror group with air support provided by the US-led coalition. About 30,000 Iraqi soldiers and 4,000 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are reportedly taking part in the operation. © Sputnik/ Hikmet Durgun Hope Amid Chaos: Yazidis Waiting to Reunite With Hostages After Mosul Liberation "What the Iraqi leadership reported this evening is that they have sustained 57 of their soldiers who have been killed, and about 250 that have been wounded in the offensive so far," Votel said in an interview with NBC News. "The Kurdish numbers are probably in about the same ratio as that one."
US-led coalition against the Daesh commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend later added that the Kurdish Peshmerga forces sustained 20 to 30 killed in action and about 150 wounded.
According to media reports, an Daesh suicide bomb attack on an Iraqi convoy near Mosul on October 17 killed some 70 soldiers. ... | 0 |
Members of Congress returned from a recess on Tuesday in a rush to get out the door yet again to campaign for . Still, they have a few items they must address and some optional items. Think of it as a dinner menu at a party voters were not invited to attend: _____ A bitter pill. The first major issue on the congressional plate is how to deal with the increasing spread of Zika. Money allocated to fight the disease is rapidly running out. On Tuesday, Senate Democrats blocked a measure that would have allocated more than $1 billion to fight the virus, but was loaded with provisions Democrats consider unacceptable. _____ Broccoli burger. Congress has again failed to pay for government operations through the appropriations process, and is headed back toward a spending bill, known as a continuing resolution. This is going to be a fight, possibly nasty, against the backdrop of the race for the White House. Expect the Zika fight to be resolved in this course. Wine pairing: Water Resources Development Act, lots of minerals. A very bipartisan bill would authorize water infrastructure projects in 17 states. The bill would also provide money to fix the water system in Flint, Mich. Expect this to hit the Senate floor as soon as this week. _____ Hot potato. Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus want to impeach John A. Koskinen, the Internal Revenue Service commissioner, for what they claim was unfair scrutiny of Tea Party groups seeking status, even though he wasn’t yet commissioner. (Republicans also charge that he was complicit in the destruction of I. R. S. emails pertinent to the alleged targeting, and that he lied about the emails in testimony to Congress.) But Speaker Paul D. Ryan is not keen on the idea of impeachment, so it is possible the kitchen will 86 this item. Freedom fries. A bill that would allow the Saudi Arabian government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks passed the Senate before the recess. Because the Obama administration and many Republicans don’t like this bill, expect this order not to be filled, even though there will be pressure from victims’ families. _____ Apple pie. House Republicans will offer legislation to address the Obama administration’s $400 million payment to Iran after a broad nuclear agreement was reached by requiring the Treasury secretary to submit a report to some congressional committees. Republicans say the payment was basically ransom. The administration differs. Petits fours. The House is likely to consider a host of bills that support its conservative agenda, including one that would modernize the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s offshore leasing process and remove some regulations and tax burdens from various businesses. _____ Whiskey and water, optional. Congress could pass a final version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, but it is more likely to go into the lame duck session, as has been the case for a few years now. | 1 |
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday turned up the pressure on recalcitrant Republicans to support a sweeping bill to overhaul the health care system, threatening wavering lawmakers in his party with political payback if they failed to get behind a measure that has become an early test of his negotiating power. In a series of meetings and phone calls at the White House and on Capitol Hill, Mr. Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Republican congressional leaders haggled with holdouts over details as they struggled to assemble a majority to support a bill that would repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The legislation is scheduled for a floor vote on Thursday in the House. But at a private meeting with House Republicans at the Capitol, the president also delivered a blunt warning that many of those present would lose their seats in next year’s midterm congressional elections if the effort failed. “I’m going to come after you,” Mr. Trump told Representative Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina, a prime holdout and the chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus, a hotbed of concern about the legislation, according to several people in the room who described his comments on condition of anonymity because the session was private. “I believe Mark and his group will come along, because honestly, a loss is not acceptable, folks. ” Mr. Trump told Republicans at the meeting that after voting repeatedly to repeal the health care law and campaigning in 2016 on doing so, they had an obligation to back the bill and would lose their majority if they “blow it,” attendees said. Despite the day’s feverish efforts — a combination of cajoling, browbeating and that recalled Democrats’ efforts to pass the law in 2010 — White House and congressional officials conceded Tuesday that they still lacked the votes to pass the bill. As many as three dozen Republicans remain opposed or unpersuaded, according to one aide with knowledge of the process, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. It is not clear whether Mr. Trump would be able to exact a political price from Republicans who opposed the measure conservative groups including the Club for Growth and Heritage Action for America were lining up against the legislation and pressuring lawmakers to oppose it, raising questions about whether it would be possible to mount a successful primary challenge to defectors. And some Republicans said the political peril would be greater if they supported the health care bill, which they said failed to achieve their goals or those of their constituents. “I think if we do do this, we lose the majority,” said Representative Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican and a member of the Freedom Caucus, who said he remained opposed. Representative Leonard Lance of New Jersey, one of the nearly two dozen Republicans from districts that Mr. Trump lost in 2016, said he was leaning strongly toward a “no” vote. “I campaigned in support of a bill that would make health care more affordable and accessible and provide a smooth transition to those who were forced into Obamacare through no fault of their own,” Mr. Lance said. “The bill, as currently drafted, does none of these things. ” It is also not clear whether Mr. Trump, whose popularity has fallen from what was already a historically low point since he took office, is capable of rallying the public behind a plan that is also viewed negatively. Mr. Trump’s approval rating sank to 37 percent in Gallup’s daily tracking poll on Monday. That is only slightly higher than the 34 percent who favor the health measure, according to a Fox News poll last week, compared with 54 percent who were opposed. The use of a political threat was a classic tactic for Mr. Trump, who keeps a running mental tally of his backers and detractors, and frequently boasts of his efforts to exact revenge from those who have crossed him. “We’re going to make sure to remember those who stood by us, and who stood by the word that they gave to their voters,” said Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary. Mr. Trump has not focused on the specifics of the health care bill, arguing in recent days that he is more concerned with pushing it through Congress so he can move on to issues he cares more about, including a large tax cut. At a for House Republicans on Tuesday night, Mr. Trump said he was eager to cut taxes, but had “no choice” but “to go with the health care first. ” But he has been putting the full power of the White House behind the effort to sell the health bill. Besides his meeting at the Capitol on Tuesday, he met at the White House with about a dozen members of the centrist Tuesday Group. On Wednesday morning, he is scheduled to meet with members of the Freedom Caucus. Over the weekend, he summoned three prominent conservative critics — Mr. Meadows, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Mike Lee of Utah — to his estate in Florida for meetings with Stephen K. Bannon, his chief strategist, to discuss their concerns about the bill. “He made it very clear he’s all in on this legislation,” said Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas and the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. “This is a historic moment and a historic promise for Republicans to deliver on this Thursday. ” Speaker Paul D. Ryan was upbeat after the Capitol meeting. “The president just came here and knocked the ball out of the park,” he said. “He knocked the cover off the ball. ” But Mr. Meadows said he was neither bothered nor persuaded by Mr. Trump’s warning that he would lose his constituents’ support if he did not fall in line. “I believe that I’m representing them in opposing this bill, because it won’t lower premiums,” he said. “Until it does, I’m going to be a ‘no,’ even if it sends me home. ” A prime concern for holdouts was the measure’s lack of provisions to relax federal health insurance regulations that require insurers to provide certain minimum benefits and to spend certain percentages of premium revenues on medical care. White House officials argued privately that if they included such language in the bill, they would run into procedural problems in the Senate, where the measure is to be considered under special rules that apply to “budget reconciliation” bills. Those rules allow such legislation to be approved with a simple majority — meaning Republicans could push the bill through without any Democratic backing — but to qualify, the provisions must affect spending or revenues. For other House members, the health bill has been an opportunity to deal. As part of the discussions, Representative Mario Republican of Florida, made it clear to White House officials that he wanted assurances that the president would hold to his pledge to consider reversing President Barack Obama’s opening with Cuba, the White House official said. Mr. backed the measure in the Budget Committee last week, although the official said there had been no explicit discussion of trading his vote for a promise on Cuba. Representative Claudia Tenney, Republican of New York, said she was likely to support the bill after House leaders added a section that would shift Medicaid costs from New York’s counties to the state government. House leaders also included provisions to allow states to impose a work requirement for certain Medicaid beneficiaries, and to allow states to choose a block grant to fund Medicaid. Both of those provisions were meant to win over conservatives, and Mr. Ryan presented the health bill on Tuesday as an improved product that had been refined as much as possible to reflect lawmakers’ concerns — and that now needed to be approved so lawmakers could fulfill their promise to repeal the health law. “In this day and age, and in this business, in politics, if you get 85 percent of what you want, that’s pretty darn good,” he told reporters. | 1 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Democrats seemed relieved and pleased a day after Hillary Clinton used a major speech to ridicule Donald J. Trump. Some Republicans fretted that Mr. Trump might not be up to the task of repelling such attacks. “I thought it was one of the most important speeches Secretary Clinton has made throughout this campaign,” said Leon Panetta, the former defense secretary under President Obama and chief of staff for Bill Clinton. _____ 2. The judge hearing a lawsuit by former students of Trump University is a cool customer, his friends say. That temperament is said to be helping the judge, Gonzalo Curiel, weather unusual public criticism by Mr. Trump. His attacks on Judge Curiel, including calling out his Mexican heritage, are part of a pattern of behavior that has led some scholars to question Mr. Trump’s respect for the rule of law. _____ 3. Officials in Chicago released videos and other materials from 101 cases in which police officers had shot or otherwise injured civilians. The officials said many of the videos were not illuminating, but the disclosure was unusual for a city whose police department has a reputation for secrecy. The head of the investigative agency behind the release said it represented “an important step” toward increased transparency. _____ 4. As flooding in Paris threatened the Louvre, staff members and volunteers worked to remove art from harm’s way. Nearly 160, 000 works were moved to higher floors from storage areas and galleries. Rain has lifted the Seine River to its highest levels since 1982. _____ 5. The U. S. economic recovery isn’t quite as robust as analysts had hoped: Employers added just 38, 000 workers in May, the lowest monthly growth since September 2010. But the numbers aren’t as foreboding as they seem, our analyst writes. Averaging job growth over the past three months shows a more modest slowdown. _____ 6. Nest, a digital device maker Google bought for $3. 2 billion in 2014, drew comparisons to Apple with its innovative approach to bringing unglamorous household devices like thermostats into sync with a digital world. Its Tony Fadell said Friday that he was leaving because Nest was in “maintenance mode. ” But the departure came after reports that Nest had a harsh corporate culture and Mr. Fadell an abrasive style. _____ 7. It’s a big weekend in sports, kicking off tonight at 9:30 Eastern time with the first game of the Copa América soccer tournament, pitting the United States against Colombia. On Saturday, Serena Williams goes for her 22nd major championship in the French Open final, and the Pittsburgh Penguins shoot for a lead over the San Jose Sharks in the Stanley Cup finals. Sunday brings Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray competing in the French Open final, while the Cleveland Cavaliers, down to the Golden State Warriors in the N. B. A. finals, try to tie the series. _____ 8. If you’re looking for a movie to watch this weekend, our critics say the mockumentary “Popstar: Never Stop Stopping” is one of your best bets. It features Andy Samberg as a Justin pop idol, and “takes aim at everything that is artificial and plastic in contemporary pop in a spirit of love rather than spite,” A. O. Scott writes. Ostensibly more serious fare: “Me Before You” is the story of a romance between a paralyzed aristocrat and the woman hired to keep him company. But Mr. Scott finds it to be ridiculous. _____ 9. Most West African capitals are scenes of sartorial flair, but the bright patterns adorning skirts and dresses worn by women there are more than just eye candy. Messages ranging from the playful to the political are encoded within the prints. During election season, clothes sporting the face of a politician can signify support — although that depends on where the face is placed. _____ 10. A Japanese boy survived six nights alone on the island of Hokkaido. He had wandered off after being left on the side of the road by his parents as a disciplinary measure, and was found by soldiers on a military base about three miles away. “I’m full of gratitude. From now on, I’m going to take better care of him as he grows up,” the boy’s father said. _____ 11. In other rescue news, a Florida fisherman who fell out of his boat without a life jacket was saved by the Coast Guard after 20 exhausting hours treading water, a local news channel reported. The man, William Durden, said the night was an ordeal but when the sun came up, he felt a surge of optimism. He felt fish hitting his legs, but his fears that a shark “would come out and decide to have me for dinner” went unrealized. 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 |
Edmondo Burr in Conspiracies // 0 Comments The two earthquakes that hit Italy Wednesday were “ retribution ” for the country’s support of a UNESCO resolution that disregards the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, according to Israeli Deputy Minister Ayoob Kara (Likud).
Israel suspended its ties with the UN cultural agency after it adopted a draft resolution this month, that Israel says denies Judaism’s connections to the religion’s holiest sites.
The deputy minister, who was in Italy when the earthquakes struck, ascribed the natural disasters to divine will.
RT.com reports:
“ I’m sure that the earthquake happened because of the UNESCO decision, ” Kara, a member of the ruling Likud Party, wrote in a memo, Ynetnews website reported.
Ironically, the Israeli politician was on a state visit to the Vatican when the quakes hit central Italy on Wednesday, killing one and injuring 10 people.
Earlier the same day, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), passed a resolution criticizing Israel for its handling of the holy site in Jerusalem – called Temple Mount by Jews, and Haram al-Sharif by Muslims.
The document was adopted after heated debate over its wording, and particularly the Arabic names used in the document. Italy was among the nations voting in favor of the resolution.
Israel blasted UNESCO and its Arab members for trying to undermine Jewish connections to the holy site.
Kara arrived in the Vatican in a fruitless effort to avert the resolution, but still managed to have a small chat with the leader of the Catholic Church.
According to Kara, Pope Francis “ strongly disagreed ” with the resolution.
“ He (the Pope) even said publicly that the holy land is connected to the Nation of Israel, ” the deputy minister stressed.
As for surviving the natural disaster, the Israeli politician said that “ going through the earthquake was not the most comfortable of experiences, but we trusted that the Holy See would keep us safe. ” | 0 |
GENEVA — North Korea’s latest test of an atomic weapon leaves the United States with an uncomfortable choice: Stick with a policy of incremental sanctions that has clearly failed to stop the country’s nuclear advances, or pick among alternatives that range from the highly risky to the repugnant. A hard embargo, in which Washington and its allies block all shipping into and out of North Korea and seek to paralyze its finances, risks confrontations that allies in Asia fear could quickly escalate into war. But restarting talks on the North’s terms would reward the defiance of its young leader, Kim with no guarantee that he will dismantle the nuclear program irrevocably. Speaking in Geneva early Saturday morning after announcing a deal with Russia over the Syrian conflict, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States was willing to negotiate with North Korea, but only if it agreed that the goal of those talks was for it to give up its weapons. “We have made overture after overture to the dictator of North Korea,” he said, including on normalizing the country’s relationship with the West and a formal peace agreement to replace the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War but not the state of hostilities. “All Kim needs to do is say, ‘I’m prepared to talk about denuclearization,’” Mr. Kerry said. Mr. Kim has rejected that, making it clear that whatever his grandfather and father intended, his nuclear program is for deterrence and strength, but not a bargaining chip. For more than seven years, President Obama has adopted a policy of gradually escalating sanctions that the White House once called “strategic patience. ” But the test on Friday — the North’s fifth and most powerful blast yet, perhaps with nearly twice the strength of its last one — eliminates any doubt that that approach has failed and that the North has mastered the basics of detonating a nuclear weapon. Despite escalating sanctions and the country’s technological backwardness, North Korea appears to have gotten past a rocky beginning with its nuclear tests, and enjoyed a burst of progress in its missile program over the last two years. American experts warn that it is speeding toward a day when it will be able to threaten the West Coast of the United States and perhaps the entire country. “This is not a cry for negotiations,” said Victor Cha, who served in the administration of President George W. Bush and now is a North Korea expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “This is very clearly a serious effort at amassing real nuclear capabilities that they can use to deter the U. S. and others. ” Mr. Cha said the usual response from Washington, Seoul and Tokyo — for another round of sanctions — was not likely to be any more successful at changing the North’s behavior than previous rounds. That means Mr. Obama’s successor will confront a nuclear and missile program far more advanced than the one Mr. Obama began grappling with in 2009. In a statement Friday, Mr. Obama condemned the North’s test and said it “follows an unprecedented campaign of ballistic missile launches, which North Korea claims are intended to serve as delivery vehicles intended to target the United States and our allies. ” “To be clear, the United States does not, and never will, accept North Korea as a nuclear state,” he said. Many experts who have dealt with North Korea say the United States may have no choice but to do so. “It’s too late on the nuclear weapons program — that is not going to be reversed,” William Perry, the defense secretary under President Bill Clinton during the 1994 nuclear crisis with North Korea, said in August at a presentation in Kent, Conn. The only choice now, he argued, is to focus on limiting the missile program. Yet the latest effort to do that, an agreement between the United States and South Korea to deploy an advanced missile defense system in the South, has inflamed China, which argues the system is also aimed at its weapons. While American officials deny that, the issue has divided Washington and Beijing so sharply that it will be even more difficult now for them to come up with a joint strategy for dealing with the North. China has been so vocal with its displeasure over the deployment of the American system that Mr. Kim may have concluded he could afford to upset Beijing by conducting Friday’s test. Fueling that perception were reports that a North Korean envoy visited Beijing earlier this week. “North Korea almost certainly sees this as an opportunity to take steps to enhance its nuclear and missile capabilities with little risk that China will do anything in response,” Evans J. R. Revere, a former State Department official and North Korea specialist, said in a speech in Seoul on Friday. The breach between China and the United States was evident during Mr. Obama’s meeting with President Xi Jinping last week. “I indicated to him that if the Thaad bothered him, particularly since it has no purpose other than defensive and does not change the strategic balance between the United States and China, that they need to work with us more effectively to change Pyongyang’s behavior,” Mr. Obama said, referring to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, as the advanced missile defense project is known. But Mr. Obama noted that sanctions had failed at having much effect. That is largely because the Chinese have left open large loopholes that have kept the North Korean economy alive and, by some measures, enjoying more trade than at any time in years. The United Nations Security Council, meeting in emergency consultations, agreed early Friday evening to work “immediately” on drafting a resolution imposing new sanctions on North Korea, the council’s president for September, Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen of New Zealand, told reporters. In a recent paper, two researchers concluded that sanctions so far “have had the net effect of actually improving” North Korea’s procurement capabilities for its weapons program. To evade sanctions, the North’s trading companies opened offices in China, hired more capable Chinese middlemen and paid higher fees to employ more sophisticated brokers, according to the scholars Jim Walsh of M. I. T. and John Park of Harvard. The sanctions, Mr. Cha noted, “are supposed to inflict enough pain so the regime comes back to the negotiation table, and that’s clearly not working or it’s supposed to collapse the regime until it starves, and that’s not working either. ” “Unless China is willing to cut off everything, which they don’t appear willing to do, the sanctions may be politically the right thing to do and a requisite response, but they are not the answer to the problem,” he said. That means the choices facing Mr. Obama’s successor will be stark. One option is to choke off all trade, in part by telling banks that conduct transactions with North Korea that they will be shut out of dealing in dollars around the world — an effective tactic against Iran before last year’s nuclear deal. But that would enrage the Chinese, and probably cut into cooperation on other issues. At the same time, an attempt to intercept all shipping could quickly escalate into a conflict, something neither Mr. Obama nor the South Koreans and Japanese have been willing to risk. On the other hand, reopening negotiations, which Donald J. Trump has indicated he is willing to consider, could mean paying North Korea again to freeze nuclear activities that the Bush administration and the Clinton administration had already rewarded it for stopping years ago. On Friday, the test became fodder for the American presidential campaign. Mr. Trump’s campaign issued a statement that read, in part, “North Korea’s fifth nuclear test, the fourth since Hillary Clinton became secretary of state, is yet one more example of Hillary Clinton’s catastrophic failures as secretary of state. ” A statement from Mrs. Clinton said that she supported Mr. Obama’s approach on sanctions, and that “this is another reminder that America must elect a president who can confront the threats we face with steadiness and strength. ” The nuclear program dates back to Mr. Kim’s grandfather, Kim the country’s founder, who emerged from the Korean War more than 60 years ago mindful that the United States had considered using nuclear weapons in that conflict and determined to get his own arsenal. The missile program also has a long history, mostly to deliver conventional arms. But now the two are converging, as the North races to develop a weapon small, light and durable enough to be launched into space and survive into the atmosphere. The explosive energy unleashed during the test on Friday, estimated at 10 to 12 kilotons of TNT, was nearly twice that of the North’s last test, conducted in January, said Yoo a senior seismologist at South Korea’s National Meteorological Administration. And the fact that North Korea’s fifth test came only eight months after its fourth is another indication that it is making fast progress toward fitting its ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, said Choi Kang, a senior analyst at the Asan Institute. The North had waited about three years between each of its previous tests. North Korea’s advances have unnerved its neighbors in South Korea and Japan, and Mr. Trump’s suggestion that the two nations should pay more for the United States to defend them has not helped. In both South Korea and Japan, a small but increasingly vocal minority has begun to advocate developing nuclear weapons to counter the North instead of relying on the United States. Cheong a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute in Seongnam, south of Seoul, argued that a South Korean nuclear program might distract the North from its efforts to build a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the mainland United States. “If South Korea arms itself with nuclear weapons, North Korea will regard the South Korean nuclear weapons, not the distant American nukes, as the most direct threat to its security,” Mr. Cheong said. | 1 |
Friday on CNN’s “The Situation Room,” while discussing Sen. Rand Paul ( ) calling the U. S. missile strikes in Syria unconstitutional, Sen. John McCain ( ) said he does not “pay any attention” to what Paul says because, “He doesn’t have any real influence in the United States Senate. ” McCain said, “I don’t really react to Senator Paul. We’re just too different, and he doesn’t have any real influence in the United States Senate. ” He continued, “I don’t pay any attention, frankly, to what Senator Paul says. ” “He’s wrong,” McCain added, on “every other issue that I know of that has to do with national security. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
posted by Eddie Recently, a New York VA hospital denied a 76-year-old veteran of the United States Navy health care when he needed it most. He was in so much pain, he committed suicide in the parking lot after they threw him out because he knew that the system had failed him. He sat in his car and ended his life. Now the hospital is denying that he even showed up… After serving in the Navy from 1958 to 1962, Peter A. Kaisen shot and killed himself in the parking lot outside the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center on August 21. His reason? The hospital had allegedly denied him care even though he was a recurring patient who always paid his bills on time. Now his family and friends are outraged that the VA failed their beloved Peter. They pray that his death could help make the system better. Scroll down to learn more about how the VA failed this man… “He went there for help with depression,” Thomas Farley, a friend of Kaisen’s for 40 years, told Fox News. “That was his last hope, and he didn’t get any help.” After Kaisen served in the Navy, he joined the police force as an officer in the Long Beach Police Department. But in the 1960s, he got involved in a car crash. Injuries from the accident left him permanently disabled. And for the rest of his life he required constant medication and care. Sources told The New York Times that Kaisen was upset with the VA hospital. They had not allowed him to see an emergency room physician for a mental health condition – so he ended his life. “He went to the E.R. and was denied service,” one person who currently works at the hospital, told the paper. “And then he went to his car and shot himself.” “Someone dropped the ball,” the source said. “They should not have turned him away.” Kaisen’s family prays that his death will make VA services better. “Maybe he can be used as an example to make things better,” Farley, speaking on behalf of the family, said. “Maybe we can save someone else’s life.” “That way, he would not have died in vain,” he said. Meanwhile, the VA hospital denies that Kaisen came to their hospital before killing himself. Over the last two years, reports about issues with VA hospitals have surfaced. These included rejected medical claims, delays in treatments, numerous deaths of veterans when treatment is delayed, and fraudulent bookkeeping to hide the VA’s shortcomings so the executive can still qualify for their bonuses. A recent investigation by Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma found that more than 1,000 veterans over the last decade have died while waiting for medical treatment. Farley, Kaisen’s long-time friend, is heartbroken by the man’s suicide. “I’m a Vietnam vet — disabled from Agent Orange — and he was always looking out for me. He was such a faithful guy,” he said. “He was such a big advocate for veterans and that’s what makes it’s so sad.” Do you think the VA needs to offer better services to veterans? Source: | 0 |
Written by Robert Parry Two weeks after Donald Trump’s shocking upset of Hillary Clinton, the imperious and imperial neoconservatives and their liberal-interventionist understudies may finally be losing their tight grip on US foreign policy. The latest sign was Trump’s invitation for a meeting with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, on Monday. The mainstream media commentary has almost completely missed the potential significance of this start-of-the-work-week meeting by suggesting that Trump is attracted to Gabbard’s tough words on “radical Islamic terrorism.” Far more important is that Gabbard, a 35-year-old Iraq War veteran, endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries because of his opposition to neocon/liberal-hawk military adventures. She starred in one of the strongest political ads of the campaign, a message to Hawaiians, called “The Cost of War.” “Bernie Sanders voted against the Iraq War,” Gabbard says. “He understands the cost of war, that that cost is continued when our veterans come home. Bernie Sanders will defend our country and take the trillions of dollars that are spent on these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars and invest it here at home.” In the ad, Gabbard threw down the gauntlet to the neocons and their liberal-hawk sidekicks, by accusing them of wasting trillions of dollars “on these interventionist, regime change, unnecessary wars.” Her comments mesh closely with Trump’s own perspective. After the meeting on Monday, Gabbard released a statement confirming that the focus of the discussion had been her opposition to escalating the war in Syria by following neocon/liberal-hawk suggestions for a “no-fly zone” that would require widespread US military destruction of Syrian government installations and the killing of a large number of Syrians. “President-elect Trump asked me to meet with him about our current policies regarding Syria, our fight against terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as other foreign policy challenges we face,” Gabbard said. “I felt it important to take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect now before the drumbeat of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of the war to overthrow the Syrian government — a war which has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions of refugees to flee their homes in search of safety for themselves and their families. … “While the rules of political expediency would say I should have refused to meet with President-elect Trump, I never have and never will play politics with American and Syrian lives. … “I shared with [President-elect Trump] my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by implementing a so-called no fly/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian people, our country, and the world. It would lead to more death and suffering, exacerbate the refugee crisis, strengthen ISIS and al-Qaeda, and bring us into a direct conflict with Russia which could result in a nuclear war.” Trading Places So, the surprise election results on Nov. 8 may have represented a “trading places” moment for the neocons and liberal hawks who were eagerly counting the days before the “weak” President Barack Obama would turn over the Commander-in-Chief job to former Secretary of State Clinton who had made clear that she shared their hawkish agenda of escalating the war in Syria with a “no-fly/safe zone,” and ratcheting up the New Cold War with Russia. There was even speculation that one of Clinton’s neocon favorites within the State Department, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland, might be rewarded with State’s top job for her “regime change” in Ukraine that sparked the start of the New Cold War in 2014. Nuland, the wife of arch-neocon Robert Kagan , sabotaged President Obama’s emerging strategy of collaborating with Russian President Vladimir Putin on sensitive global issues. In 2013-14, Putin helped orchestrate two of Obama’s brightest foreign policy successes: Syria’s surrender of its chemical weapons arsenal and Iran’s guarantee that it would not develop nuclear weapons. But those agreements infuriated the neocons who favored escalating both crises into direct US bombing campaigns aimed at Syria and Iran – in accordance with the desires of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Saudi monarchy. Yet, there was perhaps even greater alarm at what the next move of the Obama-Putin tag team might be: demanding that Israel finally get serious about a peace deal with the Palestinians. So, the neocons took aim at Ukraine, which neocon National Endowment for Democracy President Carl Gershman identified as “the biggest prize” and an important stepping stone to an even bigger prize, a “regime change” in Moscow removing Putin . While Gershman’s NED funded (with US taxpayers’ money) scores of projects inside Ukraine, training anti-government activists and journalists, Nuland took the point as the key organizer of a putsch that removed elected President Viktor Yanukovych on Feb. 22, 2014, and replaced him with a fiercely anti-Russian regime. Given the geopolitical sensitivity of Ukraine to Russia, including its naval base on the Crimean peninsula, Putin had little choice but to react, supporting a referendum in Crimea in which 96 percent of the voters favored leaving Ukraine and rejoining Russia – and assisting ethnic Russian rebels in the east who resisted the violent ouster of their president. Of course, the mainstream Western news media presented these developments as simply a case of “Russian aggression” and a “Russian invasion.” And, faced with this new “group think,” Obama quickly abandoned his partner, Putin, and joined in the chorus of condemnations. Nuland emerged as a new star inside the State Department, a hero of the New Cold War which was expected to funnel trillions of tax dollars into the Military-Industrial Complex. Trump’s Heresy But Trump surprisingly adopted the position that Obama shied away from, a recognition that Putin could be an important asset in resolving major international crises. The real-estate-mogul-turned-politician stuck to that “outside-the-mainstream” position despite fierce attacks from rival Republicans and Democratic presidential nominee Clinton, who even mocked him as Putin’s “puppet.” After Trump’s upset victory on Nov. 8, many pundits assumed that Trump would fall back in line with Washington’s hawkish foreign-policy establishment by giving top jobs to neocons, such as former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and ex-CIA Director James Woolsey, or Netanyahu favorites, such as former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney or ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. So far, however, Trump has followed a different course, more in line with the libertarian thinking of the Koch brothers – not only the more famous ones, Charles and David, but also their long-estranged brother William, who I’m told have become behind-the-scenes advisers to the President-elect. Though Trump did offer high-profile meetings to the likes of Romney and Giuliani, he has yet to hand over any key foreign-policy job to the Republican neocon wing. His one major announcement in that area has been naming as National Security Advisor retired Gen. Michael Flynn, who led the Defense Intelligence Agency when it produced a prescient warning that US policy in Syria would lead to the creation of an “Islamic State.” Though Flynn is regarded as a hardliner in the fight against Islamic jihadist terror, he is seen as an independent thinker regarding how best to wage that war. For instance, Flynn has objected to the notion that drone strikes, i.e., killing off individual jihadists, is a route to success. “We’ve tended to say, drop another bomb via a drone and put out a headline that ‘we killed Abu Bag of Doughnuts’ and it makes us all feel good for 24 hours,” Flynn said . “And you know what? It doesn’t matter. It just made them a martyr, it just created a new reason to fight us even harder.” That leaves open the possibility that a President Trump might eschew the “whack-a-mole” approach that has bedeviled the “war on terror” and instead go after the “mole nest” – if you will – the Saudi monarchy that has long financed Islamic extremists both through the fundamentalist Wahhabi brand of Sunni Islam and by supplying money and weapons to jihadists dating back at least to the Afghan mujahedeen in the 1980s, the origin of modern Islamic terrorism. Traditional US politicians have recoiled from facing up to the hard reality that the Saudi monarchy is the real “terror central” because of Saudi Arabia’s enormous riches and influence, which is now enhanced by its quiet alliance with Israel in their joint campaign against the so-called “Shiite crescent,” from Iran through Syria to Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Taking on this Saudi-Israel nexus has long been regarded as political suicide, given Israel’s extraordinary lobbying power and Saudi Arabia’s exceptional wealth. But Trump may be assembling a team that is “crazy” enough to take on that mission. So, while the fight over the future of US foreign policy is far from over – the neocons will surely flex their muscles at the major think tanks, on the op-ed pages and inside the halls of Congress – the Trump transition is showing some creativity in assembling a national security team that may go in a very different direction. Much will become apparent in Trump’s choice of Secretary of State. If it’s someone like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, or Rep. Gabbard or a libertarian from the Kochs’ world, that would be bad news for the neocons. If it’s someone like Romney, Giuliani, Bolton or Woolsey, then that will mean that President-elect Trump has blinked and the neocons can breathe a sigh of relief. Reprinted with permission from Consortiumnews.com . Related | 0 |
The man who the police say planted bombs in New York and New Jersey had a YouTube account that listed his favorite videos, two of which related to jihad, according to a criminal complaint filed in Federal District Court in New York on Tuesday. The man, Ahmad Khan Rahami, had the account under the user name yaafghankid786, the complaint filed by Peter F. Licata, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, said. One of the videos is labeled “jihad nasheed ya shahid,” a reference to a martyr’s anthem, the complaint said. Another video, “best jihad nasheed,” is nearly three minutes long and includes subtitles as images of battles on a desert appear. The subtitles read in part: “Our sanctuaries would not have been desecrated had the lions surrounded them. The filthiest of bandits have attacked us. So where are the swords? They have forgotten we are defiant ones who defend like lions. We are those who built our forts out of skulls. ” These battle hymns glorify the violent struggle in religious terms and are meant to instill piety and inspire jihadis. The 96 videos listed among Mr. Rahami’s favorites are ones produced by others and not ones the authorities say that he himself created. Two were set to private and 17 others were deleted. Those that were publicly accessible reflected diverse interests. Many videos were of love ballads, with depictions of couples in romantic embraces. Others featured a cat doing back flips on a couch, scary clowns, instructional videos on tying a Windsor knot on a tie, replacing the bumper on a 2002 or 2003 Acura, configuring the settings on a DVR, and one that featured an episode from the television show “Judge Judy. ” | 1 |
Tweet Widget by BAR editor and columnist Dr. Marsha Adebayo
Lead kills brain cells, but it took a federal judge to order that households in Flint, Michigan, be delivered four cases of bottled water to prevent further damage to their health. Meanwhile, the perpetrators of the mass poisoning “were rewarded with blanket immunity and protection by the State.” One wonders, “How different the reaction of the Obama administration would have been had ISIS claimed responsibility for poisoning Flint?” Federal Judge Orders Water Delivery to Flint Residents by BAR editor and columnist Dr. Marsha Adebayo
“ The Flint water crisis is the pathway for future genocidal acts against Africans in America just as the Tuskegee experiment was the pathway to Flint.”
For nearly one year, EPA and state officials (and presumably the president) knew, according to Congressional testimony, that residents of Flint, Michigan, were drinking, bathing, washing dishes in lead-poisoned water, and providing formula laced with poisoned water to infants. There is little hope for Flint’s predominantly black children who have ingested, and absorbed dangerous levels of lead. The poisoning of Flint’s water supply was simply the latest act of domestic terrorism towards Africans in America.
But, the horror of the Flint water crisis has not stopped. What has stopped is the corporate media coverage of the carnage. This week, a federal judge, David Lawson, ruled that residents of Flint who continue to face lead contamination of their water supply are entitled to delivery of free bottled water to their homes. State officials must deliver each week four cases of bottled water to Flint households that don’t have “properly installed taps.” This ruling, while important, clearly falls short of the dignity and respect Flint residents deserve. In fact, the State of Michigan, without remorse or shame, has argued against such provisions.
“If the residents of Flint were considered fully human or valued citizens why should they have to fight for the provision of clean water?”
Flint residents have complained that the approximate $234 million that has been committed by the state of Michigan is inadequate to replace lead service lines, provide additional healthcare, clean water and water filters. Victims of this crisis have voiced concern that phone lines to arrange for water delivery and staffing at water stations have proved insufficient to meet the needs of the community. In addition, the State reduced service hours and eliminated service at water supply stations altogether on Sundays. One resident complained:
“Most of the people who’ve called [the phone service] never had people come out. It’s just not staffed.”
The State has argued that water delivery to qualifying households is an additional unnecessary expense costing $9 million. It was this same kind of argument that led the City Manager appointed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder in April, 2014, to switch the city’s water supply to the polluted Flint River and then failed to require the city, because of financial considerations, to use corrosion controls to prevent lead from leaching off water pipes to private homes. If the residents of Flint were considered fully human or valued citizens why should they have to fight for the provision of clean water? As humans and citizens this is their right! The State has shown, once again, that Black lives do not matter in Flint and that residents will have to fight for life-sustaining water.
The poisoning of Flint water should be considered an act of terror and should have been prosecuted under US terrorism laws and all involved indicted for domestic terror. But not one senior EPA or state official was fired or indicted -- criminal blame was reserved for low-level technicians. The poisoning was never treated as an “emergency” situation. In fact, until residents of Flint started to protest, federal and state officials were content to allow the poisoning to continue.
“Victims of this crisis have voiced concern that phone lines to arrange for water delivery and staffing at water stations have proved insufficient to meet the needs of the community.”
What this crisis has clearly exposed is that Flint was a deliberate poisoning of a low-income Black community. The perpetrators of this terrorist act were rewarded with blanket immunity and protection by the State. The EPA Administrator and Governor of Michigan will soon reap the benefits of being “good Germans” as they leave public service for lucrative private sector positions.
It took President Obama nearly two years to travel to Flint for what was promoted as a “briefing.” How different the reaction of the Obama administration would have been had ISIS claimed responsibility for poisoning Flint.
The EPA had the power to issue a cease and desist order against the State of Michigan under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA Section 1431) that allows the EPA to seize control of State’s water system:
“… Upon receipt of information that a contaminant that is present in or likely to enter a public water system or an underground source of drinking water … that may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of persons, the EPA administrator may take any action she deems necessary to protect human health.”
According to congressional testimony by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, the EPA’s paltry excuse for not invoking congressionally mandated emergency powers was that they wanted to allow Michigan State agencies enough time to settle this matter. In the interim, women suffered miscarriages, Flint residents suffered strokes, and children developed neuro-toxic levels of lead poisoning that impact their intellectual and cognitive function.
“ The EPA Administrator and Governor of Michigan will soon reap the benefits of being ‘good Germans’ as they leave public service for lucrative private sector positions. ”
Members of Congress called for the resignations of both the Michigan Governor and the EPA Administrator. While Obama did not have the power to unseat an elected Governor, he has the power to fire EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy who serves at the pleasure of the president. His decision was to leave McCarthy in place presumably because of the good job she performed in Flint. What is perhaps most revealing about the background story of the poisoning incident is that President Obama, by leaving McCarthy as head of the EPA, reaffirmed his faith in her abilities to carry out the mandate of his administration, including handling the more than over 300 additional water systems throughout the country, primarily in Black and low income communities, that indicate toxic levels of lead in the water.
History will judge that the Flint water crisis is the pathway for future genocidal acts against Africans in America just as the Tuskegee experiment was the pathway to Flint. One should note that the Tuskegee experiment (1932-1972), conducted by the US Public Health Service, consisted initially of a sample size of 399 Black men. The Flint water poisoning “experiment” (starting in 2014) consisted of a city of nearly 100,000 residents. The escalation of organized violence, such as Tuskegee and Flint should trigger a mass movement to protect African life particularly as we contemplate policies of the Trump Administration. Dr. Marsha Adebayo is the author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated: No FEAR: A Whistleblowers Triumph over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA . She worked at the EPA for 18 years and blew the whistle on a US multinational corporation that endangered South African vanadium mine workers. Marsha's successful lawsuit led to the introduction and passage of the first civil rights and whistleblower law of the 21st century: the Notification of Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (No FEAR Act). She is Director of Transparency and Accountability for the Green Shadow Cabinet and serves on the Advisory Board of ExposeFacts.com. | 0 |
Man Wearing ‘Jewmerica’ T-Shirt Never Dreamed He’d See This Day Close Vol 52 Issue 44 · Politics · Politicians · Election 2016 · Donald Trump
SAND SPRINGS, OK—Feeling a mixture of intense pride and abject disbelief after news networks called the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, local man Terry Williams, who is currently wearing a T-shirt adorned with the word “Jewmerica,” told reporters late Tuesday night that he never dreamed he’d see this day during his lifetime. “This is so incredible—not in a million years did I think I’d ever get to watch a historic moment like this,” said the unemployed 43-year-old, who has worn the T-shirt featuring the Star of David overlaid atop the United States flag throughout the 2016 election season as he closely followed Trump’s campaign for the presidency and encouraged voters like him to head to the polls by writing regular posts on white nationalist forums. “I won’t forget this feeling as long as I live. I’m so happy I might cry. Honestly, I’ve never been more proud to call myself an American.” At press time, a visibly elated Williams was reportedly searching for his “Trump That Bitch” hat to wear while watching Hillary Clinton’s concession speech. Share This Story: WATCH VIDEO FROM THE ONION Sign up For The Onion's Newsletter
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(Before It's News)
Rigging the Election – Video IV: $20K Wire Transfer From Belize Returned – YouTube
In the effort to prove the credibility of the undercover donor featured in the videos and to keep the investigation going, Project Veritas Action made the decision to donate twenty thousand dollars to Robert Creamer’s effort. Project Veritas Action had determined that the benefit of this investigation outweighed the cost. And it did. In an unexpected twist, AUFC president Brad Woodhouse, the recipient of the $20,000, heard that Project Veritas Action was releasing undercover videos exposing AUFC’s activities. He told a journalist that AUFC was going to return the twenty thousand dollars. He said it was because they were concerned that it might have been an illegal foreign donation. Project Veritas Action was pleased but wondered why that hadn’t been a problem for the month that they had the money.
View the first part of this series here: https://youtu.be/5IuJGHuIkzY
View the second part of this series here: https://youtu.be/hDc8PVCvfKs
View the third part of this series here: https://youtu.be/EEQvsK5w-jY | 0 |
Written by Robert Parry If Hillary Clinton hangs on to win the presidency, liberal Democrats have vowed to block her appointment of Wall Street-friendly officials to key Cabinet and sub-Cabinet jobs. But there has been little organized resistance to her choosing hawkish foreign policy advisers. Indeed, Washington’s foreign policy establishment has purged almost anyone who isn’t part of the neoconservative/liberal-interventionist “group think.” That’s why pretty much everyone who “matters” agrees about the need to push around Russia, China, Syria, Iran, etc. Reflecting that attitude, Sunday’s lead editorial in the neocon Washington Post hailed the broad consensus within the Establishment for more warlike actions once President Obama is gone, taking with him what the Post calls Obama’s “self-defeating passivity.” The Post praised a new report from the liberal Center for American Progress which calls for bombing the Syrian military and getting tough to “counter Iran’s negative influence” in line with what all the neocons — as well as Israel and Saudi Arabia — want the next President to do. The absence of any significant counter to this neocon/liberal-hawk “group think” represents one of the greatest dangers to the future of the human species, since this new hubris comes with a cavalier assumption that nuclear-armed Russia and China will simply accept humiliation dished out by the “indispensable nation.” If they don’t, we can expect Official Washington to ratchet up tensions in a game of nuclear chicken with the expectation that the leaders in Moscow and Beijing will bow down to US “exceptionalism’ and slink away with their tails between their legs. Surely, that is what the armchair warriors at The Washington Post will demand and they have, of course, a spotless record of infallibility, such as their certainty that Iraq was hiding stockpiles of WMD in 2003. Editorial-page editor Fred Hiatt was so sure of that he wrote it as flat fact . Given the Iraq War catastrophe and the failure to find the WMD, you might have assumed that Hiatt was summarily fired and has never worked in journalism again. But, of course, you’d be wrong. He is still the editorial-page editor of The Washington Post continuing to ladle out his extraordinary wisdom and brilliant insights. The New McCarthyism And, if you dare question those new certainties or note the risks of stumbling into a nuclear conflagration, the Post’s editorial pages label you a Moscow stooge repeating Russian propaganda. That is what Post columnist Anne Applebaum wrote about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump when he warned about the risks of World War III if a President Hillary Clinton starts shooting down Russian planes over Syria. Rather than acknowledge the genuine risk of getting into a shooting war with Russia, neocon Applebaum declares such concerns unacceptable and offers a whiff of McCarthyism toward anyone who thinks such a thing. “Why is Russian state media using such extreme language?” she asks darkly. “And why is Trump repeating it?” Then, with the typical perceptiveness of a neocon ideologue, Applebaum determines that the Kremlin is warning its citizens about the growing risks of nuclear war to scare them into line amid a recession that the US helped create as part of its “regime change” strategy to destabilize Russia by making its economy scream. A thoughtful person might stop here and wonder if the use of economic sanctions and other means to destabilize nuclear-armed Russia is such a good idea, but no mainstream person is allowed to raise such questions inside Official Washington. That would just make you a Russian puppet, in Applebaum’s view. Applebaum then rants on with some wild conspiracy theories about Russian plans to exploit the US presidential transition: “Whatever the outcome on Nov. 8, political uncertainty will follow: the months of transition, a change of White House staff, perhaps even the violent backlash that Trump may incite. This could be an excellent moment for a major Russian offensive: a land grab in Ukraine, a foray into the Baltic states, a much bigger intervention in the Middle East — anything to ‘test’ the new president. “If that’s coming, Putin needs to prepare his public to fight much bigger wars and to persuade the rest of the world not to stop him. He needs to get his generals into the right mind-set, and his soldiers ready to go. A little nuclear war rhetoric never fails to focus attention, and I’m sure it has.” Reckless Drivel Perhaps the more immediate question here is why a major American newspaper runs such crazy and reckless drivel from one of its regular columnists. But the fact that the Post does so indicates how dangerous the moment is for humanity. For those of us who read the Post regularly, such insane rhetoric barely registers since we see similar nuttiness on a daily basis. But the “group think” that the Post and other mainstream publications create and then enforce explains why there is such unity among the Establishment as it presses ahead with these dangerous policies in much the same manner that almost the same cast of insiders “group thought” their way into the disastrous Iraq War. So, the wannabe insiders at the Center for American Progress and the more established pooh-bahs at the Brookings Institution and other preeminent think tanks know they have to promote “regime change” strategies and other forms of warmongering to appease Hiatt and his fellow neocon editorialists and columnists. In Washington, this “group think” has moved beyond the usual careerist and conformist “conventional wisdom” into something more akin to totalitarianism, at least on foreign policy issues. That is why it is hard to even come up with a list of sensible people who could survive the onslaught of character assassinations if they were to be proposed as senior advisers to a President Hillary Clinton. That is also why the attention of progressives, such as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, only on vetting domestic officials in a prospective Hillary Clinton administration is so insufficient. If a hawkish President Clinton surrounds herself with like-minded neocons and liberal hawks, the costs of their warmongering would surely swallow up the tax dollars necessary for domestic priorities – on infrastructure, education, health care, the environment and other pressing concerns. And, if the McCarthyistic intolerance of The Washington Post influences or infects her administration, the genuine risks of World War III will dwarf any other worries. Reprinted with permission from ConsortiumNews.com . Related | 0 |
The Obama administration is delaying deportation proceedings for recent immigrants in cities across the United States, allowing more than 56, 000 of those who fled Central America since 2014 to remain in the country legally for several more years. The shift, described in interviews with immigration lawyers, federal officials, and current and former judges, has been occurring without public attention for months. It amounts to an unannounced departure from the administration’s widely publicized pronouncements that cases tied to the surge of 2014 would be rushed through the immigration courts in an effort to deter more Central Americans from entering the United States illegally. The delayed cases are those of nearly half of the Central Americans who entered the United States as families since 2014, and close to a quarter of the total number of Central Americans who entered during that period, according to figures from the Justice Department. The delays are being made as a measure, federal officials said, because of a lapse in enforcement that allowed immigrants who were supposed to be enrolled in an electronic monitoring program to go free. Some of those affected had failed to report to government offices to be fitted with GPS ankle bracelets, according to a February memo from the chief immigration judge, Print Maggard, in Arlington, Va. Now that the government will not have to pay the daily fee of $4 to $8 a person to monitor such bracelets, the immigrants’ cases have been pushed back for years, some until 2023, judges and federal officials said. The cases of those who met their reporting obligations are still being expedited, with some cases moving faster than lawyers and judges had expected. “The whole thing is docket chaos,” said Paul Schmidt, who retired in June after a career working for federal immigration agencies, the last 13 years as an immigration judge. It was not clear whether the immigrants’ failure to report was intentional or the result of unclear instructions. Deportations are carried out by two government agencies: the Department of Homeland Security, which arrests people charged with violating immigration laws, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a branch of the Justice Department that adjudicates deportations. It is common, lawyers and judges said, for immigrants who do not realize that the two agencies are distinct to betray their obligations out of confusion. The Department of Homeland Security began using GPS ankle monitors in 2015 after determining that many recent immigrants were not appearing in court as required, said Sarah Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Officials at the agency acknowledged that immigrants whose cases were being delayed might also fail to appear. Along with the cases being postponed, other cases are being catapulted forward, sometimes by years, onto the dockets of judges who were recently hired to address the immigration system’s backlog of cases, which has reached record levels. Yet even this attempt to speed things along, lawyers say, could lead to more delays. “In all of these cases, I’m going to go into the court date and say, ‘I was not given any chance to say whether or not I was available, so you have to adjourn this,’” said Bryan S. Johnson, a private immigration lawyer in New York. Many immigrants whose cases will now move faster and who would have sought pro bono counsel may also have to go to court unrepresented. “We can’t take on someone else who is on a waiting list because someone we thought was going to be completed is now still our case for four years,” said Eleni the immigration program director at the Centro Legal de la Raza in Oakland, Calif. a legal services agency for immigrants. She said dozens of her cases had been pushed to as late as 2020. The immigrants affected by the delay are primarily families who entered the United States illegally since 2014, when record numbers of Central American migrants crossed the southern border, many seeking asylum status because of gang violence and lawlessness in their home countries. Deportation proceedings for unaccompanied minors who entered the United States during that time are still being expedited. But despite these deterrent efforts, the number of Central American families that will come into the country illegally this year is expected to exceed that of 2014, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security. | 1 |
Family Remembers Queens Sucker Punch Victim ‘He Was The Best Man I Knew’ CBS New York, October 2, 2016
The NYPD is looking for a killer who walked up to a stranger and punched him for apparently no reason.
Authorities are looking for two suspects in connection with the sucker punch attack of a Queens man just after midnight on June 26th. His family says he had taken a bus home after attending a Baltimore Orioles game.
The NYPD released new surveillance video Wednesday of the assault, which police said happened outside 64-year-old Patrick Gorman’s home on the corner of Queens Boulevard and Main Street just after midnight on June 26.
In the video, police said a man can be seen approaching Gorman and punching him in the head, knocking him to the ground. The man is then joined by a woman and calmly walks away as Gorman is seen struggling to get up.
Gorman was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he died nine hours later after suffering a stroke and brain hemorrhage. {snip} Patrick Gorman
{snip}
Police described the first suspect as a black man in his 30s with short hair. {snip}
{snip} | 0 |
Written by Melkulangara Bhadrakumar The battle of Mosul has been joined, finally, as Iraqi Special Forces entered the city limits earlier today from the east. ( BBC ) The early reports suggest that the Islamic State fighters responded with guided anti-tank missiles and small arms to block the Iraqi advance. Al Jazeera reported that the battle is “intense” and IS fighters are putting up “stiff resistance” against the approaching forces.The IS has set the oil wells on fire to obscure their positions from possible air attacks. Nonetheless, US air strikes are continuing. Another Iraqi column from the south is still 35 kms away from Mosul city. To the north, Kurdish forces and Iraqi army units are approaching the city, while the Shi’ite militias are covering the western flank to cut off any escape route for the IS fighters in the direction of Syria. There is a tacit understanding that the Iran-backed Shi’ite militia known as the Popular Mobilisation Force will not enter the Sunni-dominated Mosul city.The US military estimates that there could be up to 7500 IS fighters in Mosul, including 1000 foreigners. The Iraqi forces and their Kurdish allies, Sunni tribesmen and Shia militias converging on Mosul are 40000-strong. The top US commander in Iraq Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend in a video conference last week from Baghdad had exuded optimism that “the Iraqis will be successful”. The general said: The Mosul offensive is a large and extraordinarily complex operation that the Iraqis have been planning for a very long time. They’re the ones making the decisions and their forces are the ones who will enter Mosul and raise the Iraqi flag in the center of the city. We assisted them with the planning and preparation of forces and have provided advice and assistance such as air and artillery strikes and intelligence to support the Iraqi operations.A few days before Mosul operations began, I attended the Iraqis’ final operational briefing where each commander responsible for a different axis of advance provided their plan to the prime minister. I can tell you that it was clear to me that night that the sovereign nation of Iraq owns this fight. There’s a lot of hard fighting ahead, but we’re confident the Iraqis will be successful. ( Transcript ) However, coming days may well throw up nasty surprises, when house-to-house fighting begins. In a graphic field report from Baghdad two days ago, the Xinhua correspondent had noted: IS militants appeared well-trained for urban combat, and they showed stubborn fighting when they continued sporadic clashes for two days after Friday, as the troops searched for unknown number of militants holed-up in some buildings and houses and possibly would attack again or flee the city.Heavier resistance is anticipated by some 3,000 to 5,000 IS militants once the anti-IS forces enter populated neighborhoods located on the eastern side of the Tigris River that bisects the city… IS group has evacuated most of its fighters from its headquarters in the eastern side to the western side where the old city located… The battles in the eastern side of Mosul would mainly depend on suicide car bombs, roadside bombs and snipers attacks, which aimed at hindering the progress of the troops, while the fierce battles are expected to be on the western side.Mosul is the IS last major stronghold in Iraq, the group more likely is unwilling to surrender without a fight. Over the past two and a half years, they have dug an extensive network of tunnels to transport equipment and fighters, and rigged roads and bridges with bombs and digging trenches to be filled with burning oil to impede the Iraqi forces’ movements. Then there is the human toll of an estimated over one million civilians who are still living in the city, and IS apparently to use them as human shield.” ( Xinhua ) The ‘known unknown’ will be as regards Turkey’s role. Baghdad has resisted any Turkish involvement in the fighting, whereas, Ankara is raring to go. It is reasonably certain that at some point, Turkey will find an alibi to intervene. There are reports that tanks and armoured vehicles from the 28th Mechanized Brigade of Turkish armed forces are being deployed in the border town of Silopi on the border with Iraq. A Turkish incursion into Iraq seems to be in the making. ( Hurriyet )If Turkey enters the Battle of Mosul, all bets are off, as things can take an unexpected turn. Both Iraq and Iran (and the US and Russia) would know that Turkey has geopolitical objectives. Indeed, Turkish media is for the first time opening challenging the Lausanne Treaty of 1923 under which Britain had handed over Mosul to Iraq. President Recep Erdogan himself staked claim recently to the former Ottoman territories: “We are not happy with these borders. Our territory which was 2.5 million square kilometers in 1914 shrank to 780 thousand square kilometers nine years later, when Lausanne was signed… Those who are trying to imprison Turkey in a vicious circle since 1923 want to erase our thousand-year history in this region.”Clearly, so much remains in the womb of time. The Arab world will feel uneasy if and when Turkey begins to reclaim former Ottoman territories. An incredibly complex situation is unfolding as the contestation over Mosul’s post-IS future begins. Read an excellent analysis by the European Council on Foreign Relations titled Mosul operation sees Turkey flex its muscles . Indian Punchline . Related | 0 |
350 ml (12 fl.oz.) milk One pumpkin, big enough to produce 400g (1.6 cup) pumpkin pulp – without seeds 50g (0.3 cup) dried apricots, 50g (0.3 cup) raisins (feel free to use other dried fruit to your taste) Spices to taste (we used nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger)
To cook this awesome millet pumpkin porridge, just follow these 3 simple steps: Step 1. Cut out the lid and open the pumpkin. Remove the guts and seeds. Carve out the pulp and store it for the time being. Rub the empty pumpkin with spice and put it into the oven. Bake for 25 minutes at 170C. Step 2. While your pumpkin is in the oven, let's prepare the millet. Boil water in the pot, put the millet in the boiling water and cook at low heat for 25 minutes. Take another pot and boil milk in it, then add the chopped pumpkin pulp and cook for 10 minutes. When the millet porridge is ready, mix it with the pumpkin blend and cook on low heat for another 10 minutes. Step 3. Put the porridge inside the pumpkin cavity. Put dried fruit on top. Enjoy!
Russian Oven is a video series devoted to Russian pastries, featuring traditional age-old pies and cakes, inventive cookies and tarts of recent years, plus Soviet classics and much more. Stay tuned! | 0 |
RIO DE JANEIRO — It was 1:30 a. m. Saturday, and Mathieu Peisson, a French water polo player, had just come through the security gates at Club France — the same Olympic gathering spot where Ryan Lochte had started a night that became a diplomatic incident. “We finished competing on Sunday, and we’re now into Day 5 of our Olympic vacation,” said Peisson, a and bearded . “There are parties everywhere. Every night we’ve been to a different one, but this place is the best. ” Athletes and officials from other countries are entitled to disagree. There are more than 30 such national hospitality houses operating in Rio during the Games, coming in all vibes and architectural styles, from Denmark House, a chic tent next to a lifeguard station on Ipanema Beach, to Portugal House, which is actually a naval ship moored in the harbor, to the British House, a mansion set in ornamental gardens. The hospitality houses act as promotional vehicles for sponsors, federations, future Olympic cities, Olympic cities and even the countries themselves. The House of Switzerland is on the edge of the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon — as it was during soccer’s 2014 World Cup — and has a synthetic ice rink and a snow globe. But the Olympic houses are above all social hubs: places for officials to meet and greet outside the stadiums and arenas, places for athletes to decompress from the Olympic Village after their competitions are over. “I think it was probably the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992 where the trend started in earnest,” said Michael Payne, a former marketing director of the International Olympic Committee. “It’s become an important part of the Olympic experience. ” The crowd streaming into Club France in the early hours Saturday included numerous 2016 Olympians, among them Dutch swimmers and French athletes from multiple sports. Many headed directly to the dance floor, a vast space located inside a converted indoor riding ring that had been used earlier in the day to fete four French medalists — a celebration complete with video highlights, onstage interviews, an a cappella rendition of La Marseillaise and, finally, confetti dropping from the ceiling. But from midnight to 5 a. m. the hall is transformed into an Olympic discotheque with reserved seating near the back for Olympic athletes, who are given a special bracelet to reach the V. I. P. area. “Look at this,” said Peisson, whipping out the new smartphone he had received as part of his Olympic welcome package. “This is last night at about 3 a. m. Just incredible. ” He pulled up a photo of several thousand people packed onto the dance floor, the same spot where Lochte said he and other American swimmers had stayed late into the night before taking the taxi ride that ended so badly. “What happened after they came here is above all regrettable,” said Denis Masseglia, president of France’s Olympic and Sports Committee. “It’s a shame for the image of swimming and for swimmers in general, who are exceptional athletes. You can say to err is human, but that was a whopper. ” Yet it did not dampen Masseglia’s enthusiasm for the French hot spot. “The Olympics are above all for the athletes to express themselves on the field of play,” Masseglia said. “But I’m very happy to see here every night that we have Australians, Canadians, Americans, all the athletes coming here to celebrate their performances and to have a good time. ” At Austria House, organizers expressed particular pride that, in what has been a downbeat Olympics for their country, they had managed to tempt medal winners from Germany inside (if you can’t beat your neighbors in the medal count, you can at least top them in the party department). The Austria House scene features an outdoor dance party that has been attracting a big crowd, which earlier in the week was jamming not to Brazilian samba but to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer. ” Club France, located in the Sociedade Hípica Brasileira, is rare in this parallel Olympic universe in that it is open to the public. Visitors pay a small fee to get in and enjoy sports activities during the afternoon, food trucks and sponsor pavilions all day and entertainment all night. The crowd on Friday afternoon into early Saturday was overwhelmingly Brazilian. Masseglia said the club was attracting about 10, 000 visitors a day — not enough to break even on the project, although he insisted that profit was not his goal. “Club France started at the Seoul Olympics in 1988,” he said. “And it stayed private until 2008 in Beijing, where I met with a lot of athletes who asked me why can’t we have our fans with us and why can’t we celebrate our medals with the supporters?” He said the club in London, located near Tower Bridge, drew 85, 000 visitors during the 2012 Games. He expects double that in Rio and the club is also a subtle promotional vehicle for Paris’s 2024 Summer Olympic bid. “There were 300, 000 French people who lived in London plus all the French who could go across the Channel,” he said. “That’s not the case in Rio. So we knew we had to interest the Brazilians and all the overseas visitors here. ” Club France and the Danish, Dutch and Swiss houses are among the few open to the public. The majority, including U. S. A. House in Ipanema, are or offer restricted access. “The U. S. A. House is far more about serving the athletes, family and sponsors it’s more internal looking,” Payne said. Bethanie a American Olympian, went to U. S. A. House on Sunday night to celebrate winning the gold medal in mixed doubles tennis with her partner, Jack Sock. “It was a great little setup: good food, good drinks and a lot of the athletes were just hanging out,” she said. “You walk around, see an athlete with a medal around their neck, ask them what it was for and how they got it. It’s a pretty cool atmosphere. “I know some of the houses can get rowdy. I talked to my regular doubles partner, Lucie Safarova, who is Czech, and she said after they had gotten the bronze medal she went to the Czech House, and they were dancing all night. ” Other hospitality venues are not linked to national delegations. Companies like Nike, Oakley and Red Bull have their own places, typically reserved for the athletes they sponsor and their entourages. “Basically, the athletes are going to their own house, other national houses or to their sports booths like Nike or Red Bull,” Payne said. “I don’t think the team leaders of the national Olympic committees are encouraging them to wander around to party elsewhere, evidence the latest news stories. ” Not all athletes have stayed inside the bubble. But Payne estimates that some companies have spent over $10 million on their projects. Nike reportedly spent over $3 million just to rent its vast and luxurious location on a private golf course. “I went to Nike after my gold medal and enjoyed a great presentation and recognition,” said Christian Taylor, the American triple jumper. Others have established a Rio presence for significantly less investment, including the International Volleyball Federation, which is using a primary school along Copacabana Beach as its Olympic hub in exchange for doing some renovations. “It is paying no rent but investing a dollars in improvements that will leave a nice and simple legacy for the Games,” said Payne, who is a consultant with the federation. There are also less visible corporate efforts to connect with the athletes, one by Apple and its recent acquisition, the headphone company Beats. “Completely below the radar,” Payne said. “No P. R. nothing, just a private retreat where they invite a few hundred athletes each day. ” Peisson, the French water polo player, said he had visited. “They are not official partners of the Games, so they have done it by ” he said. “They have villas in Rio, and they bring in athletes and they have headphones, massage and relaxation. It is very cool. ” As he spoke, the Christ the Redeemer statue was visible high overhead, illuminated atop a peak that was a dark silhouette against the sky. “But we always keep coming back here,” Peisson said of Club France. And with that, Peisson headed off in the direction of the dance floor, which, at 1:30 a. m. was just beginning to get crowded. | 1 |
NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan consumers have long suspected a little monkey business when it comes to their power bills, but the news making its way around the country on Wednesday was almost too much to believe. A nationwide blackout that knocked out lights, severed internet service and paralyzed countless businesses for more than three hours on Tuesday was caused by a monkey, the electricity company announced. The monkey, which appeared to be of the Vervet species, with a collar of white fur, climbed onto the roof of the Gitaru Power Station and fell or jumped onto a transformer. The transformer tripped, which in turn tripped other machines at the hydroelectric power station, setting off a nationwide blackout, the Kenya Electricity Generation Company, or KenGen, said. “KenGen power installations are secured by electric fencing, which keeps away marauding wild animals,” the company said. “We regret this isolated incident and the company is looking at ways of further enhancing security at all our power plants. ” The monkey survived and was given to Kenya’s wildlife services, KenGen said. The company posted a photograph on Facebook showing the animal on the transformer, crouching shyly. Vervet monkeys, which are usually about two feet long, not including the tail, can be pesky creatures. They can be seen everywhere in Kenya, and they often travel in packs, scampering along power lines, snacking on mangoes in backyards and even sneaking into kitchens through open windows to pinch a banana or two. KenGen, which has been criticized over what some call Kenya’s high electricity costs, said late Tuesday that the failure had been fixed. Some homes in Nairobi were still without power on Wednesday. | 1 |
Donald Trump Jr. defends father’s tweets on London mayor to @GMA: ”He’s been proven right about it every time.” https: . pic. twitter. Tuesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Donald Trump, Jr. defended his father’s response to the London terrorist attack over the weekend that has resulted in at least seven people dead. Trump, Jr. argued it was time to be more proactive in taking on terrorism rather than to “keep calm and carry on. ” “Every time he puts something out there, he gets criticized by the media, all day every day,” Trump, Jr said. “And then guess what? Two weeks later, he’s proven to be right. It happened again, and we keep appeasing it, and we keep saying OK it’s going to be great, we’re going to hold fast, and we’re going to keep calm and carry on. ” “Maybe we have to keep calm and actually do something,” he continued. “And I think that’s what he’s trying to say, because he’s been proven right about it every time. This is a recurring theme and we’re attacked. But maybe, rather than the mayor of London attacking, maybe he should do something about it. Maybe he should do something to fix the problem rather than just sit there and pretend there isn’t one. ” Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor | 1 |
The U. S. military confirmed a military exercise by Air Force Lancer bombers over the South China Sea Thursday, a move that prompted Beijing, which illegally claims most of the sea, to remind Washington that it remains “vigilant” before U. S. exercises. [“China always maintains vigilance and effective monitoring of the relevant country’s military activities in the South China Sea,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday. “China’s military will resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and regional peace and stability. ” The Chinese government typically responds to American exercises in the region rapidly. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, including the sovereign territories of Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, and the waters off the coast of Indonesia. The Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague ruled last year that China’s claims on the Spratly and Paracel Islands — sovereign territory of Vietnam and the Philippines — were not valid, and China must cease its construction of military facilities in the region. China vowed to ignore the ruling and any other such international legal resolution. The United States has participated in challenging these illegal territorial claims through a variety of measures, from Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs) within 12 nautical miles of the territory China claims, and military exercises both unilateral and joint with allied nations in the region. U. S. Pacific Command described the exercise on Thursday as part of a greater “continuous bomber presence” program, which included the participation of the bombers and the USS Sterett. According to an extensive report in the Japan Times, the mission lasted ten hours and was launched out of U. S. territory in Guam. The goal of the operation was to improve coordination between the ship and the bombers “by refining joint tactics, techniques and procedures while simultaneously strengthening their ability to seamlessly integrate their operations,” Pacific Command said. The statement explicitly did not refer to the operation as an FONOP. The report also did not address recent reports suggesting that the Chinese government has continued to expand its military presence in the region. The Pentagon recently submitted a report to Congress detailing advances in the militarizing of the Spratly Island chain. “China’s Spratly Islands outpost expansion effort is currently focused on building out the capabilities of its three largest outposts — Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief Reefs — after completion of its four smaller outposts early in 2016,” the report read, according to the South China Morning Post. “Once all these facilities are complete, China will have the capacity to house up to three regiments of fighters in the Spratly Islands. ” Among the new facilities are 24 “ hangars, positions and other infrastructure” on the reefs mentioned. The Chinese Foreign Ministry rejected the report. “China pursues the path of peaceful development and a national defense policy. China’s defense development is aimed at safeguarding state independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying said this week, according to the Global Times. As the report also mentioned potential Chinese expansion into Pakistan, Hua chided the United States and claimed cooperation with the Pakistani government “is not targeted at any third party. ” | 1 |
Vitamin D Deficiency, Dirty Air Doubles Your Risk of Dementia 1 in 4 Americans will struggle with Alzheimer's by 2050 Image Credits: geralt/Pixabay .
Dementia is one of the most common and debilitating illnesses that older Americans face today.
However, recent studies have suggested that air pollution may be one of the top causes for the contribution of the disease’s growth.
By 2050, 1 in 4 Americans will suffer from Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is the most potent form of dementia, and often ends in the patient unable to remember how to do daily and necessary tasks like eating or using the restroom. This will rival the current diabetes and obesity crises seen today.
Recent studies have confirmed that a variety of environmental factors are at play when it comes to dementia.
Doctors have noted that those who are deficient in vitamin D are 125% more likely to develop dementia than those who get in the necessary amount.
A vitamin D deficiency can also be associated with brittle or soft bones as well as depression. It is recommended that everyone gets at least 10 minutes of sunlight per day in order to ensure they have enough vitamin D, as well as eat fortified dairy products or salmon, liver and red meat. Vitamin D can also be obtained through supplementation or fish oil.
However, doctors have found that the biggest environmental risk for dementia lies in air pollution.
In fact, the problem is so great that those who live in a city with high pollution can double their risk of develop dementia within 1 or 2 months living there.
Recent studies have also shown that post-mortem examinations of the brains of those who have lived in highly polluted areas contain traces of magnetite. This chemical compound may be partially responsible for the memory impairments associated with dementia.
The risk of developing dementia if you are exposed to air pollution increases exponentially if you are obese.
Researchers say that those concerned about the epidemic can combat it by living somewhere with as little pollution as possible, maintaining a health intake of vitamin D and exercising.
According to research, exercise is imperitive when it comes to staving off the illness. Dr. Laura Baker, who ran a study on dementia and exercise stated:
“These findings are important because they strongly suggest a potent lifestyle intervention such as aerobic exercise can impact Alzheimer’s-related changes in the brain. No currently approved medication can rival these effects.” NEWSLETTER SIGN UP Get the latest breaking news & specials from Alex Jones and the Infowars Crew. Related Articles | 0 |
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have invited two widows of slain police officers killed in the line of duty by an illegal immigrant to watch his first address to a joint session of Congress. [Jessica Davis and Susan Oliver are the widows of Detective Michael Davis and Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver from California who were killed in 2014 by Luis Enriquez Bracamontes. According to the White House, Bracamontes is an illegal immigrant who was arrested and deported twice but successfully the country. The Trumps have also invited Jamiel Shaw, Sr. whose son Jamiel Jr. was shot and killed by an illegal immigrant in 2008. Shaw endorsed Trump during the campaign, praising him for vowing to deport criminal illegal immigrants. Many Democratic lawmakers have announced that they are inviting refugees and illegal immigrants to Trump’s speech to protest his strict border enforcement measures. | 1 |
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JIDDA, Saudi Arabia — My father was on the phone from Australia, giving gravely voiced advice on preparing for the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. “Have you paid the dentist?” he asked. “He ruined my teeth!” I shrieked. “No matter, Baba,” he said, using an Arabic endearment. “This is the hajj. You have to clear your debts, even if you don’t think they are fair. ” The hajj is a pilgrimage of rites that honor a birth story of Islam, a trek every Muslim is supposed to undertake at least once. It is a spiritual as well as physical journey, and requires preparations in both spheres. So I had to buy new shoes suitable for long days of walking and safe to wear in surging crowds. I was supposed to seek the forgiveness of anyone I have wronged — and forgive everybody who had wronged me. And I had to clear my debts. There is a dentist in the West Bank city of Ramallah who badly damaged my teeth this year, costing me thousands of dollars, days of pain and lasting emotional distress. This dentist has sent me nasty notes, threatening to use his “connections” to destroy my reputation if I did not pay him his outstanding bill of about $1, 000. I protested to my father, crying a little. “God will compensate you,” he soothed. “And then when you see that man again, you can raise your head up high and know he has nothing on you. ” Angry and resentful, I paid the dentist. I also made amends with the greedy landlord who refused to return my $2, 650 security deposit. Eventually, I landed here in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, only to find that my suitcase containing my clothes, reader, computer charger, and contact lenses had been lost, and I had to forgive the luggage handlers, too. For hundreds of years, pilgrims have come to Saudi Arabia to sanctify God in Islam’s holiest site, heeding the command of the Quran: “And proclaim to mankind the hajj. They will come to you on foot, on very lean camel, they will come from every deep and distant mountain highway. ” Today, they also come by bus and aircraft. They traverse between sites in corridors with lanes for those who are older and disabled. They eat in modern malls nearby, and some pay $2, 700 a night to stay in towering hotels with views of the Haram, the sprawling mosque built around the black, building known as the Kaaba. Last year, more than 2, 300 people were killed in a crush during the hajj. The pilgrimage has also become a petri dish for disease many return home with a heavy cough Muslims call the “hajj flu. ” I grew up in a observant Muslim family in Canberra, Australia, and at 15 started wearing the hijab. I prayed regularly, memorized the Quran and sought to study Shariah, Islamic law. But my faith began to shatter in college. I was 20 when I took off my head scarf, feeling I could no longer visibly represent a religion that did not allow women to preach before men, lead them in prayer or serve as witnesses in some judicial matters. Now, at 38, I have a tangled relationship with Islam. It is the bedrock of my values. It informs how I smile at strangers, give to charity and try to be patient with dentists and landlords. But I date, I own a (modest) bikini, and while I still fast during the holy month of Ramadan, I do not exactly adhere to Islam’s other prescriptions. Still, I had always dreamed of doing the hajj. My oldest sister, Marwa, a farmer in rural New South Wales, and I planned to take a year off and walk to the Kaaba, as the great Sufi woman Rabia did in the eighth century, from Basra, Iraq. It was one of those items that got kicked back as life happened. Then a few months ago, a colleague suggested that I apply for a journalist visa to cover the hajj. I posed for a fresh passport photo wearing a black head scarf, red lipstick, and a scowl. “Are you a Muslim, sister?” the man at the Saudi Embassy in Jordan asked, looking suspiciously at the photo. “Yes, sir,” I said, pointing to my rather poetic name, Diaa the Light of Radwa. Radwa is a mountain in Medina, the city in Islam. The man stamped my passport with the visa. Suddenly, it was real. In the weeks since, I have sometimes found myself crying as I realized I would soon lay my own eyes on the Kaaba, which is empty — a reminder that the heart of Islam is the worship of a singular, inimitable God. I am also dreading the crowds, the heat and the logistics, and especially the minder whom the Saudi Ministry of Information assigns to follow journalists everywhere. And I’m anxious about my parents’ expectations. Then there was the matter of footwear. I had been planning to wear hiking boots — sturdy, comfortable, and nobody would squash my toes. My mum quickly nixed that notion. “If you wear shoelaces,” she warned in halting English, “men will try grab you as bend over to untie them. ” Mum has undertaken the pilgrimage several times, and said nothing worked better than socks and Crocs — easy to slip on and off. Crocs I got. But socks? Because, she explained, people pee everywhere, and you want to avoid stepping in that. Instead, I bought braided leather sandals. And socks. I have taken my sister Arwa’s advice of wearing a long robe with a zipper, instead of buttons, so nobody can rip it open. Per my mother’s instruction, I tailored it to sit above my ankles, so I won’t trip. (It’s much harder for men, who may wear only two seamless white sheets. That’s it. No underwear, nothing. I can’t imagine working like that.) Hijab is of course required I have added an elastic band, so if the scarf slips, I won’t reveal any strands. My brother Saif says people get really angry at women who look immodest. In the bag I will keep clutched to my chest I have a camera, a notepad, an iPhone, disinfectant gel, medicine for diarrhea, and antibiotics. My brother says it’s too dangerous to let my camera or anything else dangle from my neck it could get snagged. “I cannot begin to describe the crowds,” he wrote on our family WhatsApp group. “You will often be stuck in human traffic moving only by the will of people around you, almost like a wave carrying you. ” Saif undertook the hajj four years ago, when he was 31. “You may get shoved out of the way by a burly Turkish woman,” my brother continued. “A man might think it is his right to pee in front of you. Just be patient and know why you are there in the first place. ” He called a few days later: “Listen, I forgot to tell you something. ” “Do your business before you go anywhere,” my brother said, describing how he once had to wait two or three hours to move perhaps 50 yards to a hotel. “Toilets, toilets, be very conscious of where they are and how you can get there. ” Diarrhea is an threat. “You might need to find a quick escape route to a bathroom. ” My father chimed in: “Buy your dates in Taif,” a Saudi city near the holy sites. There, he said, “they only cost a couple of dollars a kilo. If you buy them in Mecca or Medina, it’s around $35 a kilo. Everything is more expensive there. ” And then, Arwa, who made the journey in 2004, refocused me. “The spiritual feeling overtakes” these earthly issues, “the people that rip you off, the men that are sexually assaulting people in front of you,” she wrote on WhatsApp. “It takes over all of that. It’s beautiful and unforgettable. ” | 1 |
Donnerstag, 10. November 2016 10 radikale Vorhaben, die Donald Trump sofort nach Amtsantritt durchsetzen wird Er wird der mächtigste US-Präsident seit Jahren: Mit republikanischen Mehrheiten im Repräsentantenhaus und im Senat kann Donald Trump die nächsten vier Jahre praktisch durchregieren. Doch welche Pläne will der sympathische Milliardär eigentlich genau umsetzen? Hier erfahren Sie, was Präsident Trump in den ersten 100 Tagen seiner Amtszeit vorhat: 1. Weißes Haus zu Weißem Hochhaus ausbauen "Make America Great Again" – so lautete Trumps Wahlslogan. Anfangen mit der Greatmakerei will der neue Präsident direkt bei seinem Amtssitz. Das Weiße Haus, auf dem künftig in großen, goldenen Lettern "Trump White Tower" stehen wird, soll direkt nach Trumps Amtsantritt im Januar 2017 um 345 Etagen aufgestockt werden. Den lukrativen Auftrag zur Errichtung des Weißen Hochhauses soll Trumps eigene Baufirma erhalten. 2. Austritt aus der EU (USAxit) Trump will die Vereinigten Staaten schnellstmöglich aus der EU austreten lassen. "Es kann nicht sein, dass irgendwelche Bürokraten in Brüssel dem kleinen Mann diktieren, welche Krümmung sein Gewehrlauf maximal aufweisen darf! Ich sage raus aus dieser EU!", so Trump im Wahlkampf. 3. Alles, was Obama je getan oder gesagt hat, rückgängig machen Darauf haben Republikaner lange gewartet: Trump will alle Gesetze und jede einzelne Amtshandlung Obamas so schnell wie möglich rückgängig machen. Doch nicht nur das: Auch Barack Obamas private Leistungen sollen nachträglich revidiert werden, darunter auch seine Doktorarbeit aus dem Jahr 1991. Zudem soll eine im Jahr 2005 von Obama gerettete angefahrene Katze ausfindig gemacht und getötet werden. 4. Rückzug aus Krisengebieten Donald Trump will, dass die Vereinigten Staaten aufhören Weltpolizei zu spielen und sich mehr auf sich selbst konzentrieren. Hierzulande wird das zur Folge haben, dass unsere Politiker behaupten, Deutschland müsse nun international mehr Verantwortung übernehmen, was zu mehr Aufrüstung und Kriegseinsätzen führen wird. Ganz anders sähe es aus, hätte Hillary gewonnen: Sie hätte Deutschland zu mehr internationaler Verantwortung gedrängt, woraufhin deutsche Politiker bereitwillig aufgerüstet hätten, um mehr Kriegseinsätze bewältigen zu können. 5. Burkapflicht für alle Frauen, die keine Sieben oder höher sind Diese Maßnahme liegt Donald Trump besonders am Herzen: Alle Frauen, die von dem Milliardär visuell weniger als sieben von zehn möglichen Punkten erhalten, sollen dazu verpflichtet werden, ihre unförmigen Körper künftig unter einer Burka zu verstecken. Wer der Verhüllungspflicht entgehen will, kann mit Schönheitsoperationen auf der Skala nach oben klettern. Verwechslungen mit Frauen aus der Gruppe der 3,3 Millionen in den USA lebenden Muslime sind ausgeschlossen, da sie am ersten Tag nach Amtsantritt geschlossen in Guantanamo interniert werden. 6. Alaska an Wladimir Putin abtreten Donald Trump will kein Kalter Krieger sein: Als Zeichen des guten Willens und der Zusammenarbeit mit Wladimir Putin will Trump den Bundesstaat Alaska an Russland abtreten. Trump ist an Alaska ohnehin nicht viel gelegen, weil die Frauen aufgrund des kühlen Klimas dort so gut wie nie sexy Klamotten tragen. Im Gegenzug wird Putin dann die Lösung sämtlicher Krisen im Nahen Osten übernehmen. 7. Umbau des Yosemite-Nationalparks in einen Luxus-Golfplatz Mit der Umweltpolitik seines Vorgängers Barack Obama hat Donald Trump nichts am Hut. Das erkennt man auch daran, dass er den über 3000 Quadratkilometer großen Yosemite Nationalpark in einen Luxus-Golfplatz mit dem Namen Trumpemite National-Golfplatz umwandeln wird. Den lukrativen Auftrag zur Errichtung des Golfplatzes soll Trumps eigene Baufirma erhalten. 8. Waffenpflicht für alle Als kleines Zugeständnis an seine Unterstützer von der NRA plant Trump schon in den ersten 100 Tagen seiner Amtszeit die Einführung einer Waffenpflicht ("mandatory right to bear guns") für alle US-Amerikaner, die imstande sind, eine Waffe zu halten. Säuglinge unter 6 Monaten sind ausgenommen, müssen aber eine Kuschelwaffe besitzen. Durch die Waffenpflicht sollen Amokläufe und Schießereien in den USA endgültig der Vergangenheit angehören, da bewaffnete Wahnsinnige sofort erschossen werden können. 9. Steuersenkung auf 0%, um den verdammten Staat endlich auszubluten Um die amerikanischen Bürger endlich vor der Tyrannei des raffgierigen Staates zu befreien und ein angenehmes Investitionsklima für Unternehmen zu schaffen, hat Trump angekündigt, alle Steuern auf 0 Prozent zu senken. Statt von einer milliardenschweren Bürokratiemaschinerie sollen alle Staatsgeschäfte dann von einem Büro mit maximal drei Mitarbeitern bewältigt werden, das sich über einen eigenen Limonadenstand in der Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington finanziert. 10. Mauer um die USA Eine Mauer zu Mexiko reicht Trump schon lange nicht mehr, seit er gehört hat, dass Flüchtlinge auch über das Meer oder Kanada in die USA einwandern können. Darum will er das gesamte Land entlang der Grenzen und der Küstenlinie mit einer 32.143 Kilometer langen und fünf Meter hohen Mauer umgeben. Das hat noch einen weiteren Vorteil: Nicht nur kann niemand mehr rein, es kommt auch keiner mehr raus. Den lukrativen Auftrag zur Errichtung der Mauer soll Trumps eigene Baufirma erhalten. ssi, dan; Fotos: Meistens Shutterstock; Foto Trump: Gage Skidmore , CC BY-SA 2.0 Artikel teilen: | 0 |
link Years ago I came here for the UFOs and after a small amount of time I stopped believing, mostly due to nothing being 'real' anymore, most stuff is faked, at least in my opinion... The below is true, even if it's not as exciting as CGI videos... My main reason for posting is about one of the (very few) times I saw 'stuff'. Back in Summer of July,1974 I went on a camping trip to Possum Kingdom Lake in West Texas with a friend Robert, (my last trip as a single guy before I got married the following month). The trip was a lot of canoeing, swimming, cliff diving, snorkeling, and camping out at night beneath the stars, no tent, just star gazing while we eventually drifted off to sleep nightly. (Robert and I were best friends and also worked together too) Anyway, one really, REALLY dark chilly and moonless night about 9:30pm or so, we had tucked ourselves in our sleeping bags and had a really good spot (elevated with no distractions) to look at the night sky, I had excellent vision then and could see pretty danged good, (I was 21) my friend was 20. He partook of the herb and drank beer daily and I consumed a few beers daily, by nightfall we were tuckered out and wanted nothing more than to just go to sleep, the heat of the West Texas day really took it out of us. The campsite was only accessed by boat, we used a rental canoe, so we paddled our way to this place that was a fairly large and very rugged rocky peninsula with some cliffs being 20-30 foot high. (They seemed a LOT taller to me!) We camped on the top of the cliffs at night and played down on the water by day. So this one night I was looking at a particular spot up there above us and he was looking at another, I then saw, it, and said, "Look right there!", he having binoculars he looked at where I had pointed, saw "it" and got pretty excited. He finally let me look at it through his binoculars and what I saw was the following... Slightly larger than what we normally see a satellite was a transparent, or semi-transparent and faint bluish looking sphere, a clear 'bubble really, moving at a speed I remember as being slightly faster than what a satellite would be going, but not so much faster or slower than any plane/jet traffic would be, in my estimation. It was going South and we watched it by passing the binoculars back and forth. We both assumed it was a satellite. Exciting stuff, but then one of us (I really can't remember who) noticed another one, this time coming from the East, they appeared to be on a course that appeared to us that would be really a close call if they were at the same altitude. When they were getting a little too close for comfort (at least for us!) the one that came from the East shot a light bluish light at the Southbound sphere, it wasn't laser-like at all (I don't think) but it appeared more like a v-shaped beam from a flashlight shot at it. It lasted all of a second, and I am positive that it happened due to we both saw it at the same time. The light flash made the Southbound one turn Westward, now going almost the same direction as the one from the East, making them both going in the same direction, actually the one that got flashed didn't make a 90 degree turn, it was really going more of a path more like West-southwest more like 87 degrees or so, just guessing now. When I say that it turned, it turned abruptly, not at all anything like any plane would do, that struck us both as being odd, no curving involved at all. We watched them until they both grew dim from the distance, both staying in a straight line to their (intended?) destination. Of course we kept thinking that the one that flashed the beam would turn and follow the other, but nope. I could be wrong on the speed and the directions, but the rest is completely accurate. The really sharp turn back then was unheard of, we hear it all of the time now, years ago though it wasn't talked about at all, not even in the tabloids. This is why this really stood out out to me all of these years, that almost 90 degree turn. To be honest I just didn't understand what we had just seen. We finally got to sleep that night, I don't know how long it took us, but we did, but after a few hours (around 3-ish am) Robert woke me up and said, "Listen!", and I heard footsteps, that scared us pretty good 'cause we had gotten so worked up earlier, I guess. heheh We listened to the small branches and small gravel rocks moving beneath whatever it was that was about to kill us, well, we did until we finally scared ourselves to sleep. (I have to admit, O.K., yeah, I did partake myself, but only a little bit, I wasn't into it like him but I was on vacation, that made us both VERY paranoid, I guess) Anyway, the next morning we found our bread and peanut butter missing, the bread's plastic wrapper was there but no bread. CREEPY. A few years later my boss (who I had told all of this to and he made fun of me) told me that the same thing happened to him, his peanut butter and bread went missing while camped on a river, they determined that it was a raccoon, which, they do this sort of thing, I know now. Now to regular people that might not seem like much, especially now days, here on this forum more spectacular claims are made daily. Still, for back then it was REALLY something. My older brother (by 3-1/2 years) and I were camping with no tent underneath the starry sky of Caddo Lake in East Texas around 1981 in the Spring, May I think, and we were looking at a patch of sky surrounded by silhouetted trees actually talking about when we were kids looking for flying saucers. (That's all they were known as back then) Our entire family would look out at the sky in our backyard, it was a common thing for us to do back in the fifties, after all, that was its heyday. As we stared at the sky in the back of my pick-up I mentioned the bluish sphere that I had seen years before at Possum Kingdom Lake, he being quiet through the entire story, he wasn't that talkative really, and within 5 minutes of me mentioning this to him we saw one. (I had my own binoculars this time!) I was really amazed, it was exactly as what I had seen before, I mean exactly! Nothing major happened though, it just quietly slid across the sky in front of us and disappeared behind the trees to our right, and that was that. My brother was never a believer anyway, maybe had it landed it would change his mind. We saw several regular ol' satellites afterwards too. Why I even bring this up is that when I first started coming here around 2008 (lurking) I read a thread of a guy here that saw the exact thing I did, with the slightly v-shaped flashlight looking beam and the other blue sphere turning away, I'd REALLY love to read that again, it was a good feeling to be somewhat confirmed. I say, "confirmed" because that friend, Robert that witnessed the sphere denied it in front of a LOT of people at work. We hardly talked about anything else on that trip, and especially on the way home too. Assuming he felt as I did I brought it up when a bunch of guys were taking a break at work, maybe 10-12 people, I didn't see the harm in telling what we saw. After I said my piece I said, "Ask Robert". Robert said I was crazy and he didn't see a thing, I thought he was kidding but he was being serious, you'd think that on the way back he'd say that he wasn't wanting to tell anyone, but, Nooo... edit on 26-10-2016 by recrisp because: Typo | 0 |
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Conan O’Brien asked comedian Louis CK who he’s choosing between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in this years election, his answer was amazing! He said:
“I’m going to vote for Hillary because… I think she’s great! It’s not a lesser of two evils. I think she’s great, she’s really talented and I think she’s super smart, I would take her over anybody else that would do it. To me it’s really exciting to have the first mother in the White House, it’s not just about the first woman, it’s about the first mom. Because a mother she’s got it! A mother just does IT. She feeds you, and teaches you, she protects you. She takes care of shit.”
“We’ve had 240 years of fathers. Father after father. Bald Father. Fat Father. Every kind of Father. Fathers are ok. I’m a dad, you’re a dad. A GREAT father can give his kids about 40% of their needs. Any mother, even a not even trying mother can give 200%!”
Watch the rest here, because the ending is truly the best part: | 0 |
La Russie, la Chine et l’Arabie saoudite mettent en échec l’hégémonie du dollar par Ariel Noyola Rodríguez Les États-Unis rencontrent de plus en plus d’obstacles sur leur chemin pour maintenir l’hégémonie du dollar comme monnaie de réserve mondiale. Ces derniers mois, des pays émergents ont vendu de nombreux bons du Trésor US, principalement la Russie et la Chine, mais aussi l’Arabie saoudite. En outre, afin de se protéger contre les fluctuations violentes du dollar, les banques centrales de plusieurs pays ont acquis d’énormes volumes d’or pour diversifier leurs réserves de devises. En bref, l’offensive mondiale contre le dollar repart avec la vente massive de la dette états-unienne et, en parallèle, des achats colossaux de métaux précieux.
Réseau Voltaire | Mexico (Mexique) | 5 novembre 2016 Español italiano La suprématie de Washington sur le système financier mondial a subi un terrible coup en août dernier : la Russie, la Chine et l’Arabie saoudite ont vendu des bons du Trésor des États-Unis pour la somme de 37,9 milliards de dollars, selon la dernière mise à jour des données officielles publiée il y a quelques jours [ 1 ]. Dans une perspective globale, les investissements mondiaux dans la dette publique des États-Unis ont chuté à leur niveau le plus bas depuis juillet 2012. De toute évidence, le rôle du dollar comme monnaie de réserve mondiale est de nouveau remis en question.
En 2010, l’amiral Michael Mullen, ancien président du Comité des chefs d’état-major US a averti que la dette était la principale menace contre la sécurité nationale de son pays [ 2 ]. À mon avis, ce n’est pas tant le niveau élevé de la dette publique — maintenant au-dessus 19 000 milliards de dollars [ 3 ]— qui est une pierre dans la chaussure de l’économie états-unienne, mais bien plutôt qu’il est essentiel pour Washington, d’assurer un énorme flux quotidien de ressources, provenant de l’étranger, pour couvrir ses déficits jumeaux, commercial et budgétaire. Pour le département du Trésor, il s’agit d’une question de vie ou de mort de pouvoir vendre des titres de créance dans le monde entier, et ainsi financer les dépenses des États-Unis.
Rappelez-vous que, après la faillite de Lehman Brothers en septembre 2008, la Banque populaire de Chine (PBOC, selon son sigle en anglais) a été fortement incitée, par Ben Bernanke, alors président du Système de la Réserve fédérale (FED), de ne pas vendre ses titres de la dette US. Dans un premier temps, les Chinois ont décidé de soutenir le dollar. Mais, dans un second temps, la PBOC s’est abstenue d’acheter plus de bons du Trésor des États-Unis et a, en même temps, lancé un plan visant à diversifier ses réserves en devises.
Pékin a massivement acheté de l’or au cours des dernières années, et la Banque centrale de Russie a fait de même. Au cours du deuxième trimestre de 2016, les réserves d’or de la Banque de Chine ont atteint 1 823 tonnes contre 1 762 tonnes enregistrées au dernier trimestre de 2015. La Fédération de Russie, pour sa part, a augmenté ses réserves d’or d’environ 290 tonnes entre décembre 2014 et juin 2016, elle a clôturé le deuxième trimestre de cette année, avec un total cumulé de 1 500 tonnes.
Face aux brutales secousses du dollar, il est crucial d’acheter des actifs plus sûrs, comme l’or. En période de grande instabilité financière, il s’agit d’un refuge sûr. Donc, la stratégie de Moscou et de Pékin consistant à vendre des bons du Trésor US, pour ensuite acheter de l’or, a été suivie par de nombreux pays. Selon les estimations du Fonds monétaire international (FMI), les réserves d’or des banques centrales du monde entier ont déjà atteint leur plus haut niveau des quinze dernières années après l’inventaire, au début d’octobre, d’un volume total de près de 33 000 tonnes [ 4 ].
L’évolution des relations internationales joue également son rôle dans l’élaboration d’un nouvel ordre financier mondial. Suite à l’imposition de sanctions économiques contre le Kremlin, à partir de 2014, la relation avec la Chine a pris une grande importance pour les Russes. Depuis lors, les deux puissances ont approfondi leurs liens dans tous les domaines, de l’économie, des finances, et de la coopération militaire. En plus de garantir la fourniture de gaz à la Chine pour les trois prochaines décennies, le président Vladimir Poutine a construit avec son homologue Xi Jinping une alliance financière puissante qui cherche à mettre fin une fois pour toutes à la domination de la devise états-unienne.
Actuellement, les hydrocarbures que Moscou vend à Pékin sont payés en yuans, pas en dollars. Ainsi, la « monnaie du peuple » ( renminbi en chinois) est en train d’émerger progressivement dans le marché mondial des hydrocarbures à travers le commerce entre la Russie et la Chine, les deux pays qui, à mon avis, sont à la tête de la construction d’un système monétaire multipolaire.
La grande nouvelle est que la course à la dé-dollarisation de l’économie mondiale a été rejointe par l’Arabie saoudite, un pays qui depuis des décennies était resté un allié fidèle de la politique étrangère de Washington. Étonnamment, au cours des douze derniers mois Riyad s’est débarrassé de plus de 19 milliards de dollars de bons du Trésor des États-Unis, devenant ainsi, avec la Chine, l’un des principaux vendeurs de la dette US [ 5 ]. Pour aggraver les choses, la fureur du royaume saoudien contre la Maison Blanche a augmente d’intensité.
Il se trouve en effet qu’à la fin de septembre dernier, le Congrès est passé outre le veto du président Barack Obama à une loi qui empêchait les États-uniens d’attaquer l’Arabie saoudite en justice pour son implication présumée dans les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 [ 6 ]. Simultanément, l’Organisation des pays exportateurs de pétrole (OPEP) a conclu un accord historique avec la Russie pour réduire le niveau de la production de pétrole et favoriser ainsi une augmentation des prix [ 7 ].
Il est frappant de constater que, à l’époque, Pékin a ouvert des négociations directes avec l’Arabie saoudite pour commercer directement entre les deux monnaies, le yuan et le riyal, sans passer par le dollar, ceci à travers le système chinois d’échange de devises étrangères (CFETS, pour son sigle en anglais) [ 8 ]. Par conséquent, il est fort probable que, tôt ou tard, la compagnie pétrolière Saudi Aramco acceptera les paiements en yuans au lieu des dollars. Si cela se réalise, la Maison des Saoud jouera à fond le pari du petroyuan [ 9 ]. Le monde est en train de changer sous nos yeux.
Ariel Noyola Rodríguez Traduction
JJ
site : Le Saker Francophone
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Russia Today (Russie) | 0 |
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