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Law enforcement authorities are searching for a foreign national who they say cut off his GPS monitoring bracelet right before he was set to go to trial. The Dominican national allegedly fled to avoid charges involving a fraudulent $1. 5 million food stamp racket. [Martin B. Santiago, a from the Dominican Republic did not show up for his criminal trial in Essex Superior Court on Thursday. He faces charges of fraudulently selling food stamps and laundering money out of his three stores in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the Boston Herald reported. The local newspaper reported Santiago to be an “illegal immigrant. ” When Santiago did not come to court, state investigators found that he “forcibly removed” the GPS monitoring apparatus about 6 a. m. that morning, the Boston newspaper reported. Despite being an illegal immigrant, court officials released the Dominican national on a $75, 000 cash bond. U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) investigators became suspicious of Santiago, and his after his stores reported counter sales they said were unusually high for a convenience store. The USDA oversees the food stamp program. Investigators found the majority of their individual sales in amounts greater than $100, the Eagle Tribune reported following Santiago’s arrest in 2015. “These are small convenience stores with no (grocery) carriages and a small checkout area,” Assistant District Attorney Philip Mallard told the Eagle Tribune. “It’s hard to get to $100 in groceries without a carriage. ” The stores also had unusual ratios, investigators said. The USDA reported Santiago’s businesses ran $2. 19 million in food stamp sales over a period. However, their expenses for inventory costs only totaled $300, 000. “It’s an astronomical rate of return for a convenience store,” Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said in a statement reported by the Eagle Tribune. The Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section of the Massachusetts State Police Department has issued a “Wanted” notice for Santiago. The inch Hispanic male weighs about 190 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. Santiago speaks Spanish and has used the names Mark Santiago and Martin Billone Santiago. Anyone having information about Santiago’s location can call the state police in Massachusetts at (800) . Santiago reportedly has connections to the city of Methuen, as well as Lawrence. These municipalities are both located in Essex County. Santiago faces charges of money laundering, three counts of food stamp trafficking, and three counts of larceny over $250. Food stamp fraud can be a big business for unscrupulous store owners. In late February, a federal judge sentenced George Rafidi, 62, to 33 months in prison for his $2. 8 million food stamp fraud scheme. Breitbart News reported that authorities investigated him after store audits revealed that his establishment redeemed more than ten times the amount of food stamps than larger stores in his area took in. Agents found that Rafidi would exchange food stamps for cash and allow food stamp recipients to use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to purchase tobacco and alcohol. A federal grand jury also indicted a store clerk and approximately 30 food stamp recipients. Rafidi is also serving an additional for brandishing a firearm at federal agents who were investigating him, In early April, a Mexican citizen in Hartford, Connecticut, was found guilty of food stamp fraud and sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. He also allowed customers to redeem food stamps for cash. He collected over $3. 2 million during an period. He was ordered to pay $1. 5 million in restitution. A New Jersey man, Miguel Antonio Azcona, pleaded guilty in late January to defrauding the federal government of more than $800, 000 in a food scam. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook. | 1 |
FBI finds no evidence to prove Trump's relations with Moscow. Clinton thinks otherwise Pravda.Ru The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was trying to find evidence linking US presidential candidate from the Republican Party Donald Trump with Russia. The search ended unsuccessfully, The New York Times wrote. The article in the newspaper said that the FBI was unable to find even one clue in the case. In addition, representatives of the FBI and US intelligence believe that hacker attacks on Democratic Party servers were most likely meant to undermine the election process, rather than the leadership of the Republican candidate. However, the FBI still said that the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email correspondence and Donald Trump's possible ties with Russia would continue. Interestingly, though, Hillary Clinton insists there is "irrefutable" evidence linking Trump and the Russian government. Pravda.Ru Read article on the Russian version of Pravda.Ru Donald Trump to make big friends with Vladimir Putin | 0 |
Live in the moment: If you’re skiing, surfing or scuba diving, that’s the way to go. But if you’re investing, that approach can lead to disaster. The numbers show that most people who are lucky enough to have money to invest end up underperforming the markets by staggering margins. A big reason for that is living in the moment — acting in response to ephemeral events. Most of us would be much better off we focused relentlessly on the far horizon, sticking with a simple and cheap plan for getting there. “When investors think and try to time the market, they haven’t done very well,” Louis S. Harvey, the president of Dalbar, a Boston research firm, said in an interview. “They have been leaving a lot of money on the table. ” His company has been chronicling mutual fund investors’ efforts to beat financial markets for many years, and it has found that as a group, typical investors almost invariably lose. The numbers are devastating. For the two decades through December, Dalbar found, the actual annualized return for the average stock mutual fund investor was only 5. 19 percent, 4. 66 percentage points lower than the 9. 85 percent return for the Standard Poor’s index. Bond investors did even worse, trailing the benchmark Barclays Aggregate Bond index by 4. 71 percentage points. In isolation, these figures, which aren’t adjusted for inflation, may seem small. But they aren’t when they recur year after year. In fact, because of the effects of compounding — in which a positive return in one year adds to your stash and can grow further in subsequent years — those annualized numbers translate into disparities. Consider a $10, 000 investment in the S. P. 500 index. Using the Dalbar rates, my calculations show that with dividends, that $10, 000 would grow to $65, 464 over 20 years, compared with only $27, 510 over the same period for the return of the average stock mutual fund investors. That gap grows over time. At those rates after 40 years, with compounding, the nest egg invested in the plain vanilla stock index would grow to about $428, 550, compared with only $75, 680 for the average returns of stock mutual fund investors, a $352, 870 difference. Disparities of this order have been showing up year after year in the Dalbar numbers. And with so many Americans forced to rely on their own investing acumen because of the decline of traditional pension plans and lax government rules about financial advice, these awful returns really matter. Why do typical mutual fund investors do so badly? For multiple reasons, and I’ve written about some of them in recent columns. Briefly, actively managed mutual funds over long periods tend to underperform the market, and, as a group, don’t do markedly better than would be expected from flipping coins. Expenses eat into returns. Buying — and holding — a index fund over an extended period would improve the returns of most people radically, the Dalbar numbers suggest. That’s where living in the moment comes in. People tend to make big mistakes in periods of big up or down market moves, when finance is in the news, Dalbar has found. And while chasing better returns, investors often buy into funds that don’t match market returns, once costs are included. When you factor in those choices, typical investors actually earn less “in many cases, much less — than mutual fund performance reports would suggest,” the Dalbar report says. By buying and selling too frequently and at the wrong times and not benefiting fully from compounding, people typically do even worse than they would have done if they simply held on to their investments — even if those investments were in mutual funds that themselves trailed the market, Dalbar found. In short, investors have been penalized multiple times — for buying funds that underperform, for selling those funds at the wrong times and, often, by generating unnecessary costs by trading relatively frequently. Some clues as to why this happens year after year appear when you review market returns. I did that, using historical data from Morningstar’s Ibbotson unit. I examined the monthly returns of a large capitalization stock index and an index modeling the United States Treasury market over hundreds of rolling and periods going back to 1926. I also looked at the blended returns of those two indexes in simple asset allocation portfolios. On the positive side, the numbers show the beneficial effects of simply buying and holding portfolios based on the simplest and most straightforward of plain vanilla market indexes over long periods. Over periods, if investors had been patient enough to wait that long, they could have had remarkably consistent, favorable returns, as the Dalbar study suggests. Over short stretches, though, the data shows that the pure stock portfolio produced variations. Looking at these numbers, it’s no wonder that investors have been alternately frightened and enticed, driving up their own costs by shifting their holdings incessantly into hot funds, usually at inopportune times. But if you had lengthened your perspective, it would have been easier to stay in the market. As the holding periods extended, the growth in the $10, 000 portfolio became more consistent. The $10, 000 stock portfolio, after 20 years of compounding, ranged in size from a bonanza of $286, 386 in the two decades through March 2000, to the modest sum of $14, 539 in the 20 years through August 1949. In every rolling period — and there were 833 of them — the returns were positive. Bond returns were generally lower but steadier, and when you mixed bonds with stocks, as modern portfolio theory suggests you should, you had extremely smooth returns. In fact, a simple portfolio composed of 60 percent stocks and 40 percent bonds never produced a loss over any stretch in nearly 90 years. The average annual return for those periods was nearly 9 percent, and it was more than 9 percent for the periods. It isn’t hard to set up a portfolio like this, either. It can be done by buying index funds, either as funds or mutual funds, and rebalancing them every so often many asset allocation funds will do all the work for you. Investors can diversify further by including foreign stocks and bonds but, as John Rekenthaler, vice president for research at Morningstar, said in an interview, “It’s not just about buying hot mutual funds. It’s important not to chase hot asset classes, either. and steady, both of them, are important. ” But to pull off a strategy like this, you would need to ignore the moment and take the long view. If you had done that, you would have beaten most investors and most comparable mutual funds, and you would have an impressive stash. Past performance definitely does not guarantee future returns, and this approach might not work as well over the next five, 10, or 100 years. But it’s a baseline. I’m not sure that anything else is better, at least not for those of us who don’t invest full time. The beauty of this method is that it can be accomplished at low cost by anyone with enough money and discipline, or obliviousness, to take a really long view. Live in the moment, by all means. But invest in the future. | 1 |
NEWARK — Bridget Anne Kelly discussed the George Washington Bridge lane closings with her boss, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, before they happened in September 2013, her lawyer asserted in federal court here on Tuesday. She also discussed them with him the week they were happening. The lawyer, Michael Critchley, did not elaborate on his cryptic claims, which he made while questioning a prosecution witness. Testimony in the trial has shown that in the months after the lane closings, several of Mr. Christie’s top advisers had told him that Ms. Kelly, his former deputy chief of staff, had emails about the closings. Those people included his chief of staff, chief counsel, press secretary, chief political adviser and an aide he had tapped to lead the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the bridge. Yet Mr. Christie, a Republican, convened a staff meeting in December 2013 and angrily demanded to know if anyone had knowledge or emails about the closings. An hour later, he held a news conference where he said he was certain that none of his staff members had any knowledge of or had been involved in the scheme. When emails with Ms. Kelly’s name appeared as a result of a legislative subpoena a month later, Mr. Christie held another news conference and declared that she had lied to him. It was, Mr. Critchley said in court on Tuesday, a “sham. ” According to testimony in federal court here, where Ms. Kelly and another former Christie aide, Bill Baroni, are on trial for authorizing the lane closings and then covering them up, the governor’s office was not much concerned about finding the truth about the shutdown in the months after they took place. Instead, the governor and his aides, keenly aware of Mr. Christie’s presidential ambitions and how a scandal could damage them, were more worried about keeping any evidence implicating his office hidden. a former top Christie aide, Mr. Critchley offered tantalizing clues as to what Ms. Kelly may say on the stand about what Mr. Christie knew about the closings, which prosecutors say were meant to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, N. J. for refusing to endorse the governor’s . Mr. Critchley asked the witness, Deborah Gramiccioni, who in 2013 was the governor’s deputy chief of staff for policy, if she recalled a lunch that she, Ms. Kelly and Mr. Christie had in August that year, on the day Ms. Kelly sent her email: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee. ” No one — not prosecutors, nor David Wildstein, the Port Authority executive who received the email and ordered the lanes closed and is now the prosecution’s star witness — has ever explained why Ms. Kelly would have sent the email that day when the mayor had said months earlier that he would not endorse Mr. Christie. Ms. Gramiccioni did not recall what was discussed that day. Ms. Kelly, who has never publicly given her account, is expected to testify this month. Her lawyers have argued that virtually the entire governor’s office knew about the closings and that she has been made a scapegoat. Mr. Wildstein, who has pleaded guilty to his role in the lane closings, has already testified that he told the governor about them as they were happening. Ms. Gramiccioni testified she first heard that Ms. Kelly was looped into emails about the lane closings in December 2013, from Mr. Baroni, Mr. Christie’s top staff appointee at the Port Authority, and that the governor had asked Ms. Gramiccioni to succeed Mr. Baroni. Ms. Gramiccioni said she shared the information with Charles McKenna, the governor’s chief counsel, who told her he had heard “something about that. ” But under she said Mr. McKenna did not mention that he had heard the same thing nearly two months earlier from Mr. Christie’s press secretary, Michael Drewniak, and had asked Ms. Kelly about it at the time. Ms. Gramiccioni said that she then told Mr. Christie’s chief of staff, Kevin O’Dowd, about what Mr. Baroni had said about the emails involving Ms. Kelly, and that Mr. O’Dowd said he would talk to Mr. Baroni about it. Mr. Critchley pressed her: Did Mr. O’Dowd tell her that he had discussed the same subject with Mr. Christie and Mr. Drewniak a week earlier? Did he tell her he had already had a talk with Ms. Kelly earlier that day, asking her to comb through her emails? “He did not,” Ms. Gramiccioni said. Ms. Gramiccioni spoke to Mr. O’Dowd again the next day, Dec. 13, after Mr. Christie’s news conference, to report that she had seen Ms. Kelly in her office and that she seemed upset. Mr. Critchley asked whether Mr. O’Dowd had told her that the governor’s political strategist, Michael DuHaime, had also told him about Ms. Kelly’s emails, and whether Mr. O’Dowd had told her Ms. Kelly had given him emails related to the lane closings. “He did not,” Ms. Gramiccioni said. Ms. Gramiccioni said she told Mr. Christie on Dec. 12 what Mr. Baroni had told her about emails including Ms. Kelly about the lane closings. Mr. Critchley asked if the governor had informed her that Mr. DuHaime had told him the same thing the previous day. “I did not know that, nor did anyone tell me that,” she said. On Dec. 13, Mr. Christie held his staff meeting, speaking in what Ms. Gramiccioni called a “thunderous” voice, telling his senior staff members that he would hold a news conference, and that “if we had any emails or any information about the lane closure, that we had one hour to get that information or those emails to Kevin or Charlie,” she testified, referring to Mr. O’Dowd and Mr. McKenna. “Did you know he was lying? All that sound and fury was just made up?” Mr. Critchley asked, prompting an objection from the prosecution. “Did he say, ‘the confessionals are open’?” Mr. Critchley asked. “Language like that,” Ms. Gramiccioni said. “Did you see the governor walk into one of those confessionals?” Mr. Critchley asked. The prosecution objected again. “Did you ever ask them, ‘Did anyone ever go talk to Bridget Kelly and ask her what she knows about the lane closures? ’” Mr. Critchley asked. Ms. Gramiccioni said she had not. And how long would it take for Mr. O’Dowd to walk from his office to Ms. Kelly’s, he asked her. “A couple of seconds,” Ms. Gramiccioni replied. | 1 |
Sustituyen la paloma de la paz por un dron EL MUNDO TODAY 24 HORAS El Mundo Today en tu buzón Tu Email Año 1875: La cucaracha empieza a cojear EFEMÉRIDES DE LA SEMANA Este sitio web utiliza cookies para analizar cómo es utilizado el sitio. Las cookies no te pueden identificar. Si continuas navegando supone la aceptación de la Política de Cookies. Estoy de acuerdo. Más info. | 0 |
By Lambert Strether of Corrente .
TPP/TTIP/TISA
TPP: A Podesta mail where Nikki Budzinski, Labor Outreach Director, discusses Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson: “I have received four calls from labor about a district meeting that Congresswoman Johnson (a HRC public supporter) held in Dallas, Texas where she discussed TPP. She claimed in the meeting that she speaks with HRC 2-3 times a week and that she was told by the Secretary that the only reason she opposes TPP is to get ‘labor off her back’ and that once she is elected President she will reverse position. I have worked with our Western Political Director Jessica Meija, and she has connected with the Congresswoman’s COS to clarify the inaccuracy of what she said and push back on her comments. This was not helpful with labor. [ Wikileaks (attachment)]. “Inaccuracy.” Of course, of course.
TPP: “[Our Revolution,] the progressive group founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders has begun a targeted campaign to sway at least five House Democrats to oppose the TPP in hopes it could change the outcome of a ratification vote — and it’s getting some results” [ Politico ]. “Our Revolution, which Sanders formed in late August to support liberal candidates, has set its sights on at least five other fence-sitting lawmakers. In a vote that’s expected to have razor-thin margins, plundering just a few Democratic votes the White House hoped to gain could make all the difference. The target list includes Reps. Seth Moulton (Mass.), Ed Perlmutter (Colo.), Beto O’Rourke (Texas), Derek Kilmer (Wash.), and Pennsylvania state Rep. Dwight Evans.”
TPP: “In Thursday, Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers published a report warning that if the TPP isn’t passed, a China-backed trade agreement will takes its place. That could put U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage when they try to sell to customers in Japan and other Asian nations. The report argues that if China’s Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership goes into effect, at least 35 U.S. industries as diverse as plastics, fishing and footwear will be at risk of increased competition from China in the Japanese market” [ FiveThirtyEight ]. So they’ve settled on this messaging, now? And: “[I]f Clinton wins, Obama might be able to put together a coalition of Republicans and trade-friendly Democrats* to support the treaty. In other words, TPP isn’t dead yet.” * Especially those looking for jobs on K Street.
TPP: “”If TPP is not passed and RCEP is enacted, which is what all these countries say they are planning to do, then U.S. businesses would face a direct loss of competitive position,” said Jason Furman, the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers” [ Reuters ]. “This would displace U.S. goods and be worse than simply maintaining the trade status quo, Furman said. The study identifies 35 industrial sectors employing 4.7 million people with $5.3 billion in sales to Japan that would face such a disadvantage.”
TPP: “Japan’s ruling parties push TPP through committee after opposition walkout” [ Nikkei Asian Review ]. “The next hurdle for the trade deal is a vote during a plenary session of the House of Representatives, expected early next week. It will then be sent to the Diet’s upper house, the House of Councillors.”
TPP: “Working-class U.S. residents already lose about $1,800 annually because wages have been depressed by global competition on labor rates, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. TPP would deepen this problem” [ Detroit Free Press ]. I know the cheap goods are supposed to make up for this, but when your jobs and and what you can afford to buy are both crapified….
2016
Days until: 3!
Corruption
“Two former Christie administration insiders charged in a bizarre scheme of political retaliation against a mayor who refused to endorse the governor for re-election were found guilty Friday on all counts in the long-running Bridgegate saga” [ Newark Star-Ledger ]. “‘In keeping with the disgrace that was this trial, one of the things the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be ashamed of is where it decided to draw the line on who to charge and who not to charge,’ Baroni’s attorney Michael] Baldassare said. ‘… They should have had belief in their own case to charge powerful people, and they did not.” Hmm. I wonder which “powerful people” Baldassare has in mind?
Our Famously Free Press
“Behind all the Times’ fawning profiles of Clinton — and the denigrating pieces not only on Trump but also Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders — was a cozy understanding between Times reporters and the Clinton campaign, WikiLeaks has shown us, that getting Clinton elected is something of a collaborative effort” [ MarketWatch ]. “Editors at the Times, the Washington Post and elsewhere justify this hostility because they have determined that Trump is an existential threat to democracy and the worst presidential nominee in history and can’t be treated as an ordinary candidate. So why do the polls show the worst nominee ever running neck-and-neck with the candidate President Barack Obama has praised as the most qualified person ever to run for president? Do these editors know something that tens of millions of American voters are missing? Whose job is it really to decide what poses a threat to our democracy — a handful of editors in the corporate media or the voters?”
The Voters
New Hampshire : Clinton 44%, Trump 44%, Johnson 5% ( UMass Lowell )
Iowa : Trump 44%, Clinton 41%, Johnson 5% ( RABA Research )
Virginia : Clinton 45%, Trump 38%, Johnson 5% ( Roanoke College )
Georgia : Trump 48%, Clinton 46%, Johnson 4% ( Landmark )
Missouri : Trump 52%, Clinton 41% ( PPP )
New Hampshire : Clinton 48%, Trump 43% ( PPP )
Nevada : Clinton 48%, Trump 45% ( PPP )
Wisconsin : Clinton 48%, Trump 41% ( PPP )
Pennsylvania : Clinton 48%, Trump 44% ( PPP )
North Carolina : Clinton 49%, Trump 47% ( PPP )
Wisconsin : Clinton 44%, Trump 38%, Johnson 7% ( Loras College )
If I plug all the states where Clinton is ahead into the New York Times “paths to victory” calculator , Clinton wins — even if Trump wins Florida. Of course, last I checked, NH was dead even, not Clinton up 4, and I don’t have the chops to assess how good any of these polls are.
“Trump is finishing the race the way many Republicans wished he could have run it from the start: fiercely on message and on offense” [ RealClearPolitics ]. “Trump has largely adhered to his teleprompters and resisted controversial tweets this week. As Clinton campaigned a few days ago with Alicia Machado, the former Miss Universe winner with whom Trump has infamously feuded, the GOP nominee focused primarily on higher costs for Obamacare and the revived FBI investigation into emails pertinent to Clinton’s private server. The campaign believes those issues bolster his closing argument that Clinton is corrupt and a vestige of old politics, while he says he’s an agent of change.”
“Our polling data suggests that the missing whites aren’t exactly conservative populists who support Mr. Trump. They’re just dissatisfied: They don’t like their candidate, and they don’t like the other party’s candidate much either” [ New York Times ]. “The registered white missing Democrats, for instance, support Mrs. Clinton by only 61 percent to 19 percent. The missing registered white Republicans support Mr. Trump by only 69 to 13.”
“Election Update: Why Clinton’s Position Is Worse Than Obama’s” [Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight ]. “In the table below, I’ve run a head-to-head comparison showing how many electoral votes each candidate was projected to have at various margins of victory or defeat. For instance, Obama had a lead in states (and congressional districts) totaling 332 electoral votes in our final 2012 forecast. Clinton leads in states totaling only 272 electoral votes, just two more than the minimum she needs to win the Electoral College.” In brief, Clinton is stronger than Obama among highly educated voters in states that she would win anyhow , and weaker among white voters without college degrees in states that are close.
War Drums
“The U.S. government believes hackers from Russia or elsewhere may try to undermine next week’s presidential election and is mounting an unprecedented effort to counter their cyber meddling, American officials told NBC News. The effort is being coordinated by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, but reaches across the government to include the CIA, the National Security Agency and other elements of the Defense Department, current and former officials say” [ NBC ]. ” Officials are alert for any attempts to create Election Day chaos, and say steps are being taken to prepare for worst-case scenarios, including a cyber-attack that shuts down part of the power grid or the internet. But what is more likely, multiple U.S. officials say, is a lower-level effort by hackers from Russia or elsewhere to peddle misinformation by manipulating Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. For example, officials fear an 11th hour release of fake documents implicating one of the candidates in an explosive scandal without time for the news media to fact check it.
The Trail
“With Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump breathtakingly close in polls of key states, analysts are beginning to factor in the possibility of recounts that would delay the outcome” [ MarketWatch ]. “Bear in mind that a candidate would have limited time to contest the vote. This year, the Electoral College is due to meet on Dec. 19. By law, electors meet on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December.” A recount would make Florida 2000 look like a walk in the park, especially because Clinton, bless her heart, is unlikely to let herself be rolled, unlike Gore.
Michigan: “Hillary Clinton is hanging onto a narrow 4-point lead over Donald Trump in Michigan heading into the last weekend before Tuesday’s election, with a new Free Press poll showing clear momentum for the Republican nominee in a state that several weeks ago was believed all but decided for the Democrat” [ Detroit Free Press ]. ” [T]he number of undecided voters — 13% — remains extraordinarily high for this late in an election cycle, speaking to the high unfavorable marks voters give both major party candidates.” Normally, I’d say a 4% lead is a lot, but those undecideds. Wowsers.
Realignment
“Who Broke Politics?” [Paul Krugman, New York Times ]. “So how did all our political norms get destroyed? Hint: It started long before Donald Trump. On one side….” Hint: You will read to the end of the column without finding the “On the other side” that “on one side” sets up. I mean, it wasn’t mean Republicans who prevented Obama from throwing the banksters in jail, was it?
“America and the Abyss” [Andrew Sullivan, New York Magazine ]. Of course, if Trump really were a fascist, the Democratic Establishment would fight him tooth and nail. Right?
“Donald Trump didn’t break one of our two great and ancestral political parties. He won the nomination because the Republican Party was already broken, and those responsible for the party, the elected officials and thinkers, didn’t know. Now they do” [Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal , “Democracy’s Majesty and 2016’s Indignity”]. “Soon they will begin that stage of political mourning known as the symposia process. They’ll discuss how to repair, renew, keep the party together. Or the party will, over the next few cycles, split apart… The Democratic Party and its lobbyist/think-tank/journalistic establishment in Washington have long looked to me to be dominated by people devoted mostly to getting themselves in the best professional position and their kids into Sidwell Friends School. They want to be part of the web, the arrangement. They want to have connections, associates, a tong. They want to be wired in. They don’t want to be I.F. Stone, alone, reading the fine print of obscure government documents. And Clintonism—for years the biggest web, the securest source of money, a real tong with enforcers and reward-dispensers—has long been a sound route to all of this. You may have to bend rules to be part of it, accept unsavory deals and characters, but it is warm and cozy in there.” And:
One thing I saw this year was that sincere conservatives wholly opposed to socialism had real respect for Bernie Sanders because they saw his sincerity. He wasn’t part of the web and they honored him for it.
I never thought I’d find myself writing this, but for punditry I’ll take Nooners over Krugman’s hackery or Sullivan’s hysterical ranting. It’s been quite a year.
Democrat Email Hairball
“The Podesta Emails Part 29” [ Wikileaks ].
“[A] meeting between POTUS and HRC at a critical time” [ Reddit (aliteralmind)]. From Podesta email drop #28. One of those timeline things that does make you go, hmm. Particularly the genesis of the meeting in previous meeting between Podesta and White House chief of staff Denis McDonough in an “offsite” Starbucks near the White House. If I were Putin, I’d have that Starbucks wired to the gills.
“What the WikiLeaks emails tell us about Hillary Clinton’s campaign (and what they don’t)” [ Los Angeles Times ]. Death of a thousand cuts.
“The real Clinton email scandal is that a bullshit story has dominated the campaign” [Matt Yglesias, Vox ]. Oh, Matty.
Stats Watch
Employment Situation, October 2016: Unemployment Rate – Level (4.9 %); Participation Rate – level (62.8%) [ Econoday ]. “Solid payroll growth is not the whole story of the October employment report. Average hourly earnings are rising, up an outsized 0.4 percent in the month with the year-on-year rate, at 2.8 percent, suddenly near 3.0 percent and at its recovery peak… The unemployment rate is down 1 tenth to 4.9 percent and, for some, is already signaling full employment for the labor market.But negatives are scarce in this report, where strength is emphatically underscored by the unexpected acceleration in average hourly earnings which further includes an upward revision to September. Today’s report marks a solid opening to fourth-quarter data and will raise talk of a wage-inflation flashpoint…” Gotta take the punchbowl away from lower orders! But: ” The number of persons working part time for economic reasons was essentially unchanged in October. This level suggests slack still in the labor market” [ Calculated Risk ]. Moreover: “t’s also worth noting that the standard measure of unemployment — now at 5 percent — doesn’t capture the lingering weakness in the market seen in the broader U6 measure, which includes discouraged workers, other workers marginally attached to the labor force and those in temporary jobs because they can’t get full-time work. The conventional unemployment measure is a hair below its mean from 2003-7, which is 5.2 percent. The broader U6, however, at 9.7 percent is higher than its 2003-7 mean of 9.1 percent. This is just another sign that there’s still slack in the labor market.” [ Bloomberg ]. And: “Should we believe the employment numbers in this report? There is little evidence of political bias in past election cycles” [ Econintersect ]. “To sum this report up – employment is continuing to tread water – growing little better than the theoretical working population growth. However, note that the household survey removed 43,000 to the workforce (which is the reason the unemployment rate declined). There was really nothing good or nothing really terrible – although manufacturing declined. The year-over-year rate of growth significantly declined this month.” Again, the Econoday summary is just a little too breathless for this Maine bear.
International Trade, September 2016: “A decline in imports helped pull down the nation’s trade gap sharply in September, to $36.4 billion from a revised $40.5 billion in August. Imports, reflecting declines for capital goods and also consumer goods, fell 1.1 percent while exports, showing an especially strong gain for capital goods, rose 0.6 percent” [ Econoday ]. “Declining imports are a plus for the GDP calculation but are not signals of strength for domestic demand, whether business demand for capital goods or business expectations for consumer imports ahead of the holidays.” And: “Declining imports are a plus for the GDP calculation but are not signals of strength for domestic demand, whether business demand for capital goods or business expectations for consumer imports ahead of the holidays” [ Econintersect ].
Jobless Claims: “However, comparing initial claims today with the past is the proverbial apples to oranges. An important fact in looking at claims data is that vastly fewer people today are eligible for unemployment benefits. In other words, the number of unemployed people who can’t receive jobless benefits — and thus are not in the initial claims data — has risen relative to those who have unemployment insurance” [ Bloomberg ]. As Mosler has been saying.
Housing: “Residential remodeling has recovered to 38% of the peak it attained prior to the Great Recession. New residential construction, on the other hand, is only at 17% of the peak” [ Econintersect ].
Retail: “The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has just announced that Samsung is having to recall its top-load washing machines due to a risk of impact injuries. The exact hazard listed was that the washing machine top can unexpectedly detach from the washing machine chassis during use, posing a risk of injury from impact” [ 247 Wall Street ]. “What matters here is that this will not be a cheap recall. You can drive a smartphone back to the store or mail it in cheaply. Have you ever tried moving a washing machine, or just dealing with getting a technician out to deliver or fix one? And the size of this recall is huge — about 2.8 million total units!” Korea is really having its troubles, isn’t it? Samsung is a failing national champion, Hanjin went bankrupt, and there’s a ginormous scandal with their President.
Shipping: “In August, the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) reported its first quarterly volume decline for the first time after 25 straight quarters of growth. Earlier this week, marked its second straight quarterly volume decline, officially extending more of an unwelcome streak” [ Logistics Management ]. “Total third quarter intermodal volume movements—at 4,348,634—were off 4.6 percent annually, following a 6.1 percent second quarter decline at 4,271,162. The first quarter of 2016 saw volumes rise 2.0 percent annually. … Like recent quarters, domestic containers were the lone metric to see an increase.”
Shipping: “Orders for heavy-duty commercial trucks in North America plummeted 46% in October from the same month last year, providing a grim outlook for truck manufacturers in the coming year” [ Wall Street Journal , “Truck Orders Tumbled 46% in October “]. “In an analyst note Thursday, Stifel said the October order total was the weakest since 2009, falling well below expectations. “October orders are critical as they represent the traditional start to the order season for trucks to be produced the next year,” the report said.”
Shipping: “After four days [!!!] firefighters have finally managed to douse the terrible tanker blaze that killed many workers at a shipbreaking site in Gadani, Pakistan. Rescue work inside the hull of the Indonesian ship cannot start however as the steel plates are still too hot” [ Splash 247 ]. “While there are now 21 confirmed dead, the eventual death toll could hit triple figures with many unaccounted for inside the hull of the ship and a number of the 60 workers sent to hospital deemed to have such severe burns that they are unlikely to survive.” The human cost of excess capacity.
The Bezzle: “GoPro’s forward statements are not believable, in light of its recent performance, and management’s ability to forecast. It is also essentially a one-product company, and that product does not sell very well” [ 247 Wall Street ].
The Bezzle: “the app economy may have passed its peak. CB Insights analyzed the company descriptions of thousands of startup companies receiving VC funding for the first time between 2010 and today, scanning for buzzwords that describe the companies’ field of focus. While ‘app] is still the keyword that shows up in the most company descriptions, the share of startups working with apps in some way has declined for three straight years” [ Econintersect ]. “Looking at the terms with the largest increase in mentions in startup company descriptions between 2010 and 2016 possibly allows us to glimpse into the future and gives us an idea of what the next big thing might be. According to CB Insights’ analysis, these terms are ‘virtual reality’, ‘machine learning’ and ‘natural language.'” I think reality is quite virtual enough already, thank you.
The Fed: “Central bank independence ‘comes from an understanding of the macroeconomic policy problem that is not relevant to current times,’ Summers said in a speech at the International Monetary Fund” [ MarketWatch ]. “During the question-and-answer session, Summers said he did not think that entitlement reform should be on the immediate agenda for the next administration. He said that policy makers should focus solely on accelerating growth. If they are successful in sparking demand, the long-run debt-to-GDP ratio will be sustainable, he said. If policy makers fail, it will not be.”
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 17 Fear (previous close: 18, Fear) [ CNN ]. One week ago: 46 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Nov 3 at 11:31am. Still waiting for single digits.
Corruption
“Prosecutors in the Singapore trial of a former BSI banker said this week the defendant and other former employees of the Swiss bank helped launder up to $2.3 billion looted from the Malaysia sovereign wealth fund 1MDB” [ FCPA Blog ] and “Two former executives of a Singapore-based defense contractor have been extradited to the United States in the massive bribes-for-secrets scandal that has rocked the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Command” [ FCPA Blog ]. Wait, what? I thought Singapore was supposed to be squeaky clean?
Standing Rock and #NoDAPL
“SEE IT: Journalist shot with rubber bullet while conducting interview at Standing Rock protests” [ New York Daily News ]. The journalist says “officer,” but it’s not clear to me whether “officer” means “cop” or “mercenary.”
Gaia
“The average U.S. family destroys a football field’s worth of Arctic sea ice every 30 years” [ Science ]. “If both the linear relationship and current emission trends hold into the future, the study suggests the Arctic will be ice free by 2045—far sooner than some climate models predict. The study suggests that those models are underestimating how warm the Arctic has already become and how fast that melting will proceed.”
Guillotine Watch
“In the seven years since, terror threats in Europe and political uncertainty from Britain to the U.S. have helped make [New Zealand] — a day by air away from New York or London — a popular bolthole for the mega wealthy” [ Bloomberg ]. Great. Cut the undersea cables, and they might as well be on Mars.
Class Warfare
“Instacart workers are earning a lot less money after changes to the company’s pay structure — changes CEO Apoorva Mehta told BuzzFeed News are necessary for the company’s continued growth, but that hundreds of vocal Instacart shoppers say are threatening their livelihoods. According to a Buzzfeed News analysis of 15 workers’ pay stubs, shifts that once earned shoppers $100 or more in 4–8 hours have dropped closer to $60 to $80 for similar shifts. These shoppers estimate their earnings have fallen by around 30% so far” [ Buzzfeed ]. Should have filed this under The Bezzle, maybe. Yet another Silicon Valley darling whose valuation depends on screwing over working people. Oh, and this is good:
The vast majority of shoppers who spoke with BuzzFeed News for this article asked to remain anonymous out of concern that their accounts would be deactivated for speaking with the press; Instacart said it has never deactivated workers for speaking publicly about their experience with the company.
Yikes!
“The case for social insurance begins with the recognition that capitalist economies are subject to boom-and-bust cycles. With a managed, socialist economy, business cycles are much less severe (though they can’t be eliminated entirely, for example, in years when agricultural production is unexpectedly low due to the weather) because the government manages production and employment. But these economies tend to grow slower than capitalist economies, and they often have substantial inefficiencies in the way resources and labor are used” [Mark Thoma, CBS ].
“”What Makes Scandinavia Different?” [ Jacobin ]. “The only way to get “Scandinavian levels” of redistribution and social protection is to start building powerful popular movements capable of advancing this agenda.”
News of the Wired
“Before Irv Teibel, listening to nature meant leaving the house. Here’s the story of the man who brought the rain, thunder, and crickets to your stereo, one satisfied, relaxed customer at a time” [ Pitchfork ].
“The People’s Code” [ code.gov ]. We’ve got the U.S. Digital Service, but not a National Health Service. Seems odd.
* * *
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 (b1whois):
That tree is a little ecosystem in itself…
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 |
SAN FRANCISCO — The United States Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday enacted a new flight restriction. Under the rule, passengers traveling on foreign airlines from eight countries to the United States are barred from bringing devices larger than cellphones onto the plane. Instead, they have to stow devices like computers and tablets in checked luggage. Who is affected, why are larger devices banned, and what should you do? Here is what we know so far. The new policy affects people flying to the United States from airports in Amman, Jordan Cairo Istanbul Jidda and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia Kuwait City Casablanca, Morocco Doha, Qatar and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The United Kingdom also announced a similar ban on devices larger than smartphones on certain airlines. The policy applies to flights coming into the U. K. from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. For business travelers on those airlines, the ban may disrupt productivity. “This is going to hurt all the serious businesspeople and academics,” said Osama Sharshar, an Egyptian lawmaker and journalist who frequently travels to the United States. “They are not going there to play and don’t have time to waste. ” Only physically, not technologically. A computer or a tablet is larger than a smartphone, which would theoretically provide more room for terrorists to cram in components like bomb parts or weapons, said Bill Marczak, a senior fellow at the Citizen Lab, a research group that follows technology and policy. Multiple terrorists could then each take a computer on a plane containing an explosive component and, hypothetically, put it together in the cabin, he said. Yet a smartphone may also pose threats. As Samsung demonstrated last year with its Galaxy Note 7, smartphones — and anything with a battery — are capable of exploding and causing safety hazards. Technologically, a smartphone is a miniature computer that is just as powerful as a laptop. There is also a risk that a terrorist could use a smartphone to remotely detonate a bomb that is hidden inside a computer checked in as cargo, said Nick Feamster, a computer science professor at Princeton University. Other than preventing terrorists from smuggling components onto planes, the device ban may create additional surveillance opportunities. It is common for airport security officials to search checked luggage. In theory, if a computer is checked, airport officials can do more thorough searches, including a data frisk. “Who, if anyone, takes control of your device while it’s not in your sight or possession?” Professor Feamster said. “A search of your device is not outside the realm of possibility. ” If you are flying on an affected airline and concerned about your privacy, consider the recommendations outlined in our guide to protecting your data while crossing the border. For one, you could encrypt your files with an app like BitLocker or FileVault. That way, if someone did try to gain access to your data, a passphrase would be needed to decrypt the files, Mr. Marczak of the Citizen Lab said. In addition, travelers could seal laptops in a bag, Mr. Marczak said. Once you reach your destination, you can see if anyone tampered with the laptop by inserting a physical surveillance device into it, for example. You could also consider traveling with an inexpensive computer that lacks any of your sensitive data, Professor Feamster added. And you could back up your data to the cloud and purge it from the inexpensive computer before checking it in with your luggage. If he were traveling to those countries now, Mr. Feamster said, “I wouldn’t even bother taking my main laptop. I’d take my clean laptop that doesn’t have any data on it. ” | 1 |
Donald J. Trump, confronting a daunting electoral map and a significant financial disadvantage, is preparing to fall back from an expansive national campaign and concentrate the bulk of his time and money on just three or four states that his campaign believes he must sweep in order to win the presidency. Even as Mr. Trump has ticked up in national polls in recent weeks, senior Republicans say his path to the 270 Electoral College votes needed for election has remained narrow — and may have grown even more precarious. It now looks exceedingly difficult for him to assemble even the barest Electoral College majority without beating Hillary Clinton in a trifecta of the biggest swing states: Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. President Obama won all three states in 2008 and 2012, and no Republican has won Pennsylvania in nearly three decades. With a divisive campaign message that has alienated many women and Hispanics, Mr. Trump appears to have pushed several traditional swing states out of his own reach. According to strategists on both sides of the race, polling indicates that Mrs. Clinton has a solid upper hand in Colorado and Virginia, the home state of Senator Tim Kaine, her running mate. Both states voted twice for George W. Bush, who assiduously courted Hispanic voters and suburban moderates. In addition, Trump allies have grown concerned about North Carolina, a state that has large communities of black voters and whites — two audiences with which Mr. Trump is deeply unpopular. While Mr. Trump is not ready to give up entirely on any of the major battlegrounds, advisers have become increasingly convinced that his most plausible route to the presidency, and perhaps his only realistic victory scenario, involves capturing all three of the biggest contested electoral prizes on the map, and keeping North Carolina in the Republican column. Mr. Trump and his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, are expected to campaign intensively across those four states, with Mr. Trump trumpeting a set of blunt slogans through mass media and Mr. Pence focused on shoring up support from conservatives and whites. There is no imminent plan, Trump advisers say, to match Mrs. Clinton’s spending on television ads. Instead, they intend to aim Mr. Trump like a battering ram at a small number of targets, to keep delivering his provocative message on trade, terrorism and immigration. The primary “super PAC” backing Mr. Trump, Rebuilding America Now, is taking an identical approach: It has reserved airtime only in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. The main outside group supporting Mrs. Clinton, Priorities USA Action, is advertising in those three states and half a dozen more. John Brabender, a Republican strategist who has worked extensively in Pennsylvania and the Midwest, said Mr. Trump had a real but tenuous path to victory, involving a smaller map of swing states than typical for a presidential nominee. Mr. Brabender said Mr. Trump would certainly have to seize Pennsylvania, which has not voted Republican since 1988. “Does Trump have to run the table of the top three targets? Absolutely,” Mr. Brabender said. “The fact that we have to worry about winning Pennsylvania to win the presidency tells you it’s a difficult task. ” Mr. Trump’s inability to broaden the Republican electoral map has heartened supporters of Mrs. Clinton, even as Democrats in general have been dismayed by Mr. Trump’s tenacity in national polls. In the aftermath of this month’s Republican convention, Mr. Trump appeared to enjoy a modest bounce, pulling even or slightly ahead of Mrs. Clinton in several national surveys conducted before the Democratic convention. Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, a longtime political ally of the Clintons, said that Mrs. Clinton could effectively throttle the Trump campaign by winning Virginia, where he is confident of her standing, and one other swing state. He named Florida as the most inviting option. “If you put a combination together of Florida and Virginia, it’s virtually impossible for Republicans to win the presidency,” Mr. McAuliffe said. “Electoral we are in a very strong position today. ” Each of the key states presents a mix of larger cities and less populated agricultural and former industrial areas, where Mr. Trump has most often gained traction. Mr. Trump’s message of clawing back lost jobs has resonated most in distressed manufacturing regions. But with the exception of Pennsylvania, where joblessness is slightly higher, the unemployment rate in each swing state hovers near the national average of 4. 9 percent or lower. Democrats caution that they view Mr. Trump as a candidate with unpredictable pockets of support, potentially capable of warping the political landscape even late in the election season. For now, though, Mr. Trump is grappling with a magnified version of the dilemma that threatens to stymie Republicans every four years. Democrats have won a consistent set of 18 states in every presidential election since 1992, giving them a base of 242 Electoral College votes even before counting some of the biggest swing states. As a result, the last two Republican nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, would have needed to capture nearly all the contested states on the map in order to win. At an earlier point in the campaign, Mr. Trump had hoped to leverage his support from whites and independent voters to put some overwhelmingly Democratic states in play, including New York and Massachusetts. Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman, said this month that Mr. Trump intended to compete in strongly Democratic states like New Jersey and Oregon. In an email on Thursday, Mr. Manafort said the political landscape offered Mr. Trump numerous paths to victory. “We have many different ways, much more than Romney had,” Mr. Manafort said. In private, Trump advisers say the campaign now takes a colder and more clinical view of the electoral map. Mr. Trump, Republicans believe, may have even fewer ways to count to 270 than Mr. Romney and Mr. McCain had, because of his debilitating unpopularity with women and nonwhite voters. Mr. Trump continues to fight at a severe financial and organizational disadvantage against Mrs. Clinton, leaving him without the funds to campaign effectively across all of the states Mr. Romney contested. At the end of June, Mr. Trump had less than half as much cash in reserve as Mrs. Clinton — $20 million to her $44 million. In several major swing states, Mr. Trump’s campaign has not yet approved final budgets for his operations, according to Republicans in communication with his campaign, leaving Republicans on the state and national levels uncertain about his ability to mount major advertising and operations. And in some of the most crucial states, Mr. Trump continues to face resistance within his own party: In Ohio, he has feuded openly with the popular Republican governor, John Kasich, a former primary opponent who has refused to endorse his campaign. In Florida, some of the most influential Hispanic Republicans in the southern part of the state have withheld their support, hobbling his candidacy there. The map is not entirely forbidding for Mr. Trump: Both Republicans and Democrats see him as holding an edge in Iowa, a heavily white state with six electoral votes that President Obama won twice. And some top Trump aides remain hopeful that the larger terrain of the election will shift in his direction. Trump advisers have argued to national Republicans that they are well positioned to compete in Michigan, a Rust Belt state that no Republican presidential candidate has won since 1988. Should Mr. Trump overtake Mrs. Clinton there, it would allow him a bit more room for error in one of the other cornerstone states. Strategists for Mrs. Clinton largely dismiss that possibility, pointing out that Mr. McCain and Mr. Romney also hoped to compete in both Michigan and Wisconsin, only to see the states slip away well before Election Day. Joel Benenson, the chief strategist for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, said Mr. Trump had not yet made inroads in any nontraditional swing states. “There isn’t any state that they’re making us play defense in, that we wouldn’t already compete vigorously in anyway,” Mr. Benenson said. Still, Mr. Pence campaigned on Thursday in the Detroit suburbs, in what amounted to an early prospecting expedition for the Trump campaign into Democratic territory. The Indiana governor intends to spend most of his time in the Rust Belt, including Ohio and Pennsylvania. Mr. Pence, who is popular on the right, is also expected to play defense for Mr. Trump in a few conservative states, like Georgia and Arizona, where Mrs. Clinton may be competitive. A former radio host, Mr. Pence will be a ubiquitous presence on conservative talk shows, to ensure that the Republican base stays loyal to its unorthodox nominee. Robin Hayes, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, said he anticipated that Mr. Pence, an evangelical Christian, would visit the state often to speak about “North Carolina values. ” Mr. Hayes, a former member of Congress and a friend of Mr. Pence’s, said it was essential for Mr. Trump to defend Republicans’ grip on North Carolina in order to win nationally. “There’s no substitute for winning, and it is a critically important state,” Mr. Hayes said. “It’s going to be an absolute, bruising kind of campaign. ” | 1 |
Channel list
Following hurricane Matthew's failure to devastate Florida, activists flock to the Sunshine State and destroy Trump signs manually
Tim Kaine takes credit for interrupting hurricane Matthew while debating weather in Florida
Study: Many non-voters still undecided on how they're not going to vote
The Evolution of Dissent: on November 8th the nation is to decide whether dissent will stop being racist and become sexist - or it will once again be patriotic as it was for 8 years under George W. Bush
Venezuela solves starvation problem by making it mandatory to buy food
Breaking: the Clinton Foundation set to investigate the FBI
Obama captures rare Pokémon while visiting Hiroshima
Movie news: 'The Big Friendly Giant Government' flops at box office; audiences say "It's creepy"
Barack Obama: "If I had a son, he'd look like Micah Johnson"
White House edits Orlando 911 transcript to say shooter pledged allegiance to NRA and Republican Party
President George Washington: 'Redcoats do not represent British Empire; King George promotes a distorted version of British colonialism'
Following Obama's 'Okie-Doke' speech , stock of Okie-Doke soars; NASDAQ: 'Obama best Okie-Doke salesman'
Weaponized baby formula threatens Planned Parenthood office; ACLU demands federal investigation of Gerber
Experts: melting Antarctic glacier could cause sale levels to rise up to 80% off select items by this weekend
Travel advisory: airlines now offering flights to front of TSA line
As Obama instructs his administration to get ready for presidential transition, Trump preemptively purchases 'T' keys for White House keyboards
John Kasich self-identifies as GOP primary winner, demands access to White House bathroom
Upcoming Trump/Kelly interview on FoxNews sponsored by 'Let's Make a Deal' and 'The Price is Right'
News from 2017: once the evacuation of Lena Dunham and 90% of other Hollywood celebrities to Canada is confirmed, Trump resigns from presidency: "My work here is done"
Non-presidential candidate Paul Ryan pledges not to run for president in new non-presidential non-ad campaign
Trump suggests creating 'Muslim database'; Obama symbolically protests by shredding White House guest logs beginning 2009
National Enquirer: John Kasich's real dad was the milkman, not mailman
National Enquirer: Bound delegates from Colorado, Wyoming found in Ted Cruz’s basement
Iran breaks its pinky-swear promise not to support terrorism; US State Department vows rock-paper-scissors strategic response
Women across the country cheer as racist Democrat president on $20 bill is replaced by black pro-gun Republican
Federal Reserve solves budget crisis by writing itself a 20-trillion-dollar check
Widows, orphans claim responsibility for Brussels airport bombing
Che Guevara's son hopes Cuba's communism will rub off on US, proposes a long list of people the government should execute first
Susan Sarandon: "I don't vote with my vagina." Voters in line behind her still suspicious, use hand sanitizer
Campaign memo typo causes Hillary to court 'New Black Panties' vote
New Hampshire votes for socialist Sanders, changes state motto to "Live FOR Free or Die"
Martin O'Malley drops out of race after Iowa Caucus; nation shocked with revelation he has been running for president
Statisticians: one out of three Bernie Sanders supporters is just as dumb as the other two
Hillary campaign denies accusations of smoking-gun evidence in her emails, claims they contain only smoking-circumstantial-gun evidence
Obama stops short of firing US Congress upon realizing the difficulty of assembling another group of such tractable yes-men
In effort to contol wild passions for violent jihad, White House urges gun owners to keep their firearms covered in gun burkas
TV horror live: A Charlie Brown Christmas gets shot up on air by Mohammed cartoons
Democrats vow to burn the country down over Ted Cruz statement, 'The overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats'
Russia's trend to sign bombs dropped on ISIS with "This is for Paris" found response in Obama administration's trend to sign American bombs with "Return to sender"
University researchers of cultural appropriation quit upon discovery that their research is appropriation from a culture that created universities
Archeologists discover remains of what Barack Obama has described as unprecedented, un-American, and not-who-we-are immigration screening process in Ellis Island
Mizzou protests lead to declaring entire state a "safe space," changing Missouri motto to "The don't show me state"
Green energy fact: if we put all green energy subsidies together in one-dollar bills and burn them, we could generate more electricity than has been produced by subsidized green energy
State officials improve chances of healthcare payouts by replacing ObamaCare with state lottery
NASA's new mission to search for racism, sexism, and economic inequality in deep space suffers from race, gender, and class power struggles over multibillion-dollar budget
College progress enforcement squads issue schematic humor charts so students know if a joke may be spontaneously laughed at or if regulations require other action
ISIS opens suicide hotline for US teens depressed by climate change and other progressive doomsday scenarios
Virginia county to close schools after teacher asks students to write 'death to America' in Arabic
'Wear hijab to school day' ends with spontaneous female circumcision and stoning of a classmate during lunch break
ISIS releases new, even more barbaric video in an effort to regain mantle from Planned Parenthood
Impressed by Fox News stellar rating during GOP debates, CNN to use same formula on Democrat candidates asking tough, pointed questions about Republicans
Shocking new book explores pros and cons of socialism, discovers they are same people
Pope outraged by Planned Parenthood's "unfettered capitalism," demands equal redistribution of baby parts to each according to his need
John Kerry accepts Iran's "Golden Taquiyya" award, requests jalapenos on the side
Citizens of Pluto protest US government's surveillance of their planetoid and its moons with New Horizons space drone
John Kerry proposes 3-day waiting period for all terrorist nations trying to acquire nuclear weapons
Chicago Police trying to identify flag that caused nine murders and 53 injuries in the city this past weekend
Cuba opens to affordable medical tourism for Americans who can't afford Obamacare deductibles
State-funded research proves existence of Quantum Aggression Particles (Heterons) in Large Hadron Collider
Student job opportunities: make big bucks this summer as Hillary’s Ordinary-American; all expenses paid, travel, free acting lessons
Experts debate whether Iranian negotiators broke John Kerry's leg or he did it himself to get out of negotiations
Junior Varsity takes Ramadi, advances to quarterfinals
US media to GOP pool of candidates: 'Knowing what we know now, would you have had anything to do with the founding of the United States?'
NY Mayor to hold peace talks with rats, apologize for previous Mayor's cowboy diplomacy
China launches cube-shaped space object with a message to aliens: "The inhabitants of Earth will steal your intellectual property, copy it, manufacture it in sweatshops with slave labor, and sell it back to you at ridiculously low prices"
Progressive scientists: Truth is a variable deduced by subtracting 'what is' from 'what ought to be'
Experts agree: Hillary Clinton best candidate to lessen percentage of Americans in top 1%
America's attempts at peace talks with the White House continue to be met with lies, stalling tactics, and bad faith
Starbucks new policy to talk race with customers prompts new hashtag #DontHoldUpTheLine
Hillary: DELETE is the new RESET
Charlie Hebdo receives Islamophobe 2015 award ; the cartoonists could not be reached for comment due to their inexplicable, illogical deaths
Russia sends 'reset' button back to Hillary: 'You need it now more than we do'
Barack Obama finds out from CNN that Hillary Clinton spent four years being his Secretary of State
President Obama honors Leonard Nimoy by taking selfie in front of Starship Enterprise
Police: If Obama had a convenience store, it would look like Obama Express Food Market
Study finds stunning lack of racial, gender, and economic diversity among middle-class white males
NASA: We're 80% sure about being 20% sure about being 17% sure about being 38% sure about 2014 being the hottest year on record
People holding '$15 an Hour Now' posters sue Democratic party demanding raise to $15 an hour for rendered professional protesting services
Cuba-US normalization: US tourists flock to see Cuba before it looks like the US and Cubans flock to see the US before it looks like Cuba
White House describes attacks on Sony Pictures as 'spontaneous hacking in response to offensive video mocking Juche and its prophet'
CIA responds to Democrat calls for transparency by releasing the director's cut of The Making Of Obama's Birth Certificate
Obama: 'If I had a city, it would look like Ferguson'
Biden: 'If I had a Ferguson (hic), it would look like a city'
Obama signs executive order renaming 'looters' to 'undocumented shoppers'
Ethicists agree: two wrongs do make a right so long as Bush did it first
The aftermath of the 'War on Women 2014' finds a new 'Lost Generation' of disillusioned Democrat politicians, unable to cope with life out of office
White House: Republican takeover of the Senate is a clear mandate from the American people for President Obama to rule by executive orders
Nurse Kaci Hickox angrily tells reporters that she won't change her clocks for daylight savings time
Democratic Party leaders in panic after recent poll shows most Democratic voters think 'midterm' is when to end pregnancy
Desperate Democratic candidates plead with Obama to stop backing them and instead support their GOP opponents
Ebola Czar issues five-year plan with mandatory quotas of Ebola infections per each state based on voting preferences
Study: crony capitalism is to the free market what the Westboro Baptist Church is to Christianity
Fun facts about world languages: the Left has more words for statism than the Eskimos have for snow
African countries to ban all flights from the United States because "Obama is incompetent, it scares us"
Nobel Peace Prize controversy: Hillary not nominated despite having done even less than Obama to deserve it
Obama: 'Ebola is the JV of viruses'
BREAKING: Secret Service foils Secret Service plot to protect Obama
Revised 1st Amendment: buy one speech, get the second free
Sharpton calls on white NFL players to beat their women in the interests of racial fairness
President Obama appoints his weekly approval poll as new national security adviser
Obama wags pen and phone at Putin; Europe offers support with powerful pens and phones from NATO members
White House pledges to embarrass ISIS back to the Stone Age with a barrage of fearsome Twitter messages and fatally ironic Instagram photos
Obama to fight ISIS with new federal Terrorist Regulatory Agency
Obama vows ISIS will never raise their flag over the eighteenth hole
Harry Reid: "Sometimes I say the wong thing"
Elian Gonzalez wishes he had come to the U.S. on a bus from Central America like all the other kids
Obama visits US-Mexican border, calls for a two-state solution
Obama draws "blue line" in Iraq after Putin took away his red crayon
"Hard Choices," a porno flick loosely based on Hillary Clinton's memoir and starring Hillary Hellfire as a drinking, whoring Secretary of State, wildly outsells the flabby, sagging original
Accusations of siding with the enemy leave Sgt. Bergdahl with only two options: pursue a doctorate at Berkley or become a Senator from Massachusetts
Jay Carney stuck in line behind Eric Shinseki to leave the White House; estimated wait time from 15 min to 6 weeks
100% of scientists agree that if man-made global warming were real, "the last people we'd want to help us is the Obama administration"
Jay Carney says he found out that Obama found out that he found out that Obama found out that he found out about the latest Obama administration scandal on the news
"Anarchy Now!" meeting turns into riot over points of order, bylaws, and whether or not 'kicking the #^@&*! ass' of the person trying to speak is or is not violence
Obama retaliates against Putin by prohibiting unionized federal employees from dating hot Russian girls online during work hours
Russian separatists in Ukraine riot over an offensive YouTube video showing the toppling of Lenin statues
"Free Speech Zones" confuse Obamaphone owners who roam streets in search of additional air minutes
Obamacare bolsters employment for professionals with skills to convert meth back into sudafed
Gloves finally off: Obama uses pen and phone to cancel Putin's Netflix account
Joe Biden to Russia: "We will bury you by turning more of Eastern Europe over to your control!"
In last-ditch effort to help Ukraine, Obama deploys Rev. Sharpton and Rev. Jackson's Rainbow Coalition to Crimea
Al Sharpton: "Not even Putin can withstand our signature chanting, 'racist, sexist, anti-gay, Russian army go away'!"
Mardi Gras in North Korea: " Throw me some food! "
Obama's foreign policy works: "War, invasion, and conquest are signs of weakness; we've got Putin right where we want him"
US offers military solution to Ukraine crisis: "We will only fight countries that have LGBT military"
Putin annexes Brighton Beach to protect ethnic Russians in Brooklyn, Obama appeals to UN and EU for help
The 1980s: "Mr. Obama, we're just calling to ask if you want our foreign policy back . The 1970s are right here with us, and they're wondering, too."
In a stunning act of defiance, Obama courageously unfriends Putin on Facebook
MSNBC: Obama secures alliance with Austro-Hungarian Empire against Russia’s aggression in Ukraine
Study: springbreak is to STDs what April 15th is to accountants
Efforts to achieve moisture justice for California thwarted by unfair redistribution of snow in America
North Korean voters unanimous: "We are the 100%"
Leader of authoritarian gulag-site, The People's Cube, unanimously 're-elected' with 100% voter turnout
Super Bowl: Obama blames Fox News for Broncos' loss
Feminist author slams gay marriage: "a man needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle"
Beverly Hills campaign heats up between Henry Waxman and Marianne Williamson over the widening income gap between millionaires and billionaires in their district
Biden to lower $10,000-a-plate Dinner For The Homeless to $5,000 so more homeless can attend
Kim becomes world leader, feeds uncle to dogs; Obama eats dogs, becomes world leader, America cries uncle
North Korean leader executes own uncle for talking about Obamacare at family Christmas party
White House hires part-time schizophrenic Mandela sign interpreter to help sell Obamacare
Kim Jong Un executes own " crazy uncle " to keep him from ruining another family Christmas
OFA admits its advice for area activists to give Obamacare Talk at shooting ranges was a bad idea
President resolves Obamacare debacle with executive order declaring all Americans equally healthy
Obama to Iran: "If you like your nuclear program, you can keep your nuclear program"
Bovine community outraged by flatulence coming from Washington DC
Obama: "I'm not particularly ideological; I believe in a good pragmatic five-year plan"
Shocker: Obama had no knowledge he'd been reelected until he read about it in the local newspaper last week
Server problems at HealthCare.gov so bad, it now flashes 'Error 808' message
NSA marks National Best Friend Day with official announcement: "Government is your best friend; we know you like no one else, we're always there, we're always willing to listen"
Al Qaeda cancels attack on USA citing launch of Obamacare as devastating enough
The President's latest talking point on Obamacare: "I didn't build that"
Dizzy with success, Obama renames his wildly popular healthcare mandate to HillaryCare
Carney: huge ObamaCare deductibles won't look as bad come hyperinflation
Washington Redskins drop 'Washington' from their name as offensive to most Americans
Poll: 83% of Americans favor cowboy diplomacy over rodeo clown diplomacy
GOVERNMENT WARNING: If you were able to complete ObamaCare form online, it wasn't a legitimate gov't website; you should report online fraud and change all your passwords
Obama administration gets serious, threatens Syria with ObamaCare
Obama authorizes the use of Vice President Joe Biden's double-barrel shotgun to fire a couple of blasts at Syria
Sharpton: "British royals should have named baby 'Trayvon.' By choosing 'George' they sided with white Hispanic racist Zimmerman"
DNC launches 'Carlos Danger' action figure; proceeds to fund a charity helping survivors of the Republican War on Women
Nancy Pelosi extends abortion rights to the birds and the bees
Hubble discovers planetary drift to the left
Obama: 'If I had a daughter-in-law, she would look like Rachael Jeantel'
FISA court rubberstamps statement denying its portrayal as government's rubber stamp
Every time ObamaCare gets delayed, a Julia somewhere dies
GOP to Schumer: 'Force full implementation of ObamaCare before 2014 or Dems will never win another election'
Obama: 'If I had a son... no, wait, my daughter can now marry a woman!'
Janet Napolitano: TSA findings reveal that since none of the hijackers were babies, elderly, or Tea Partiers, 9/11 was not an act of terrorism
News Flash: Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) can see Canada from South Dakota
Susan Rice: IRS actions against tea parties caused by anti-tax YouTube video that was insulting to their faith
Drudge Report reduces font to fit all White House scandals onto one page
Obama: the IRS is a constitutional right, just like the Second Amendment
White House: top Obama officials using secret email accounts a result of bad IT advice to avoid spam mail from Nigeria
Jay Carney to critics: 'Pinocchio never said anything inconsistent'
Obama: If I had a gay son, he'd look like Jason Collins
Gosnell's office in Benghazi raided by the IRS: mainstream media's worst cover-up challenge to date
IRS targeting pro-gay-marriage LGBT groups leads to gayest tax revolt in U.S. history
After Arlington Cemetery rejects offer to bury Boston bomber, Westboro Babtist Church steps up with premium front lawn plot
Boston: Obama Administration to reclassify marathon bombing as 'sportsplace violence'
Study: Success has many fathers but failure becomes a government program
US Media: Can Pope Francis possibly clear up Vatican bureaucracy and banking without blaming the previous administration?
Michelle Obama praises weekend rampage by Chicago teens as good way to burn calories and stay healthy
This Passover, Obama urges his subjects to paint lamb's blood above doors in order to avoid the Sequester
White House to American children: Sequester causes layoffs among hens that lay Easter eggs; union-wage Easter Bunnies to be replaced by Mexican Chupacabras
Time Mag names Hugo Chavez world's sexiest corpse
Boy, 8, pretends banana is gun, makes daring escape from school
Study: Free lunches overpriced, lack nutrition
Oscars 2013: Michelle Obama announces long-awaited merger of Hollywood and the State
Joe Salazar defends the right of women to be raped in gun-free environment: 'rapists and rapees should work together to prevent gun violence for the common good'
Dept. of Health and Human Services eliminates rape by reclassifying assailants as 'undocumented sex partners'
Kremlin puts out warning not to photoshop Putin riding meteor unless bare-chested
Deeming football too violent, Obama moves to introduce Super Drone Sundays instead
Japan offers to extend nuclear umbrella to cover U.S. should America suffer devastating attack on its own defense spending
Feminists organize one billion women to protest male oppression with one billion lap dances
Urban community protests Mayor Bloomberg's ban on extra-large pop singers owning assault weapons
Concerned with mounting death toll, Taliban offers to send peacekeeping advisers to Chicago
Karl Rove puts an end to Tea Party with new 'Republicans For Democrats' strategy aimed at losing elections
Answering public skepticism, President Obama authorizes unlimited drone attacks on all skeet targets throughout the country
Skeet Ulrich denies claims he had been shot by President but considers changing his name to 'Traps'
White House releases new exciting photos of Obama standing, sitting, looking thoughtful, and even breathing in and out
New York Times hacked by Chinese government, Paul Krugman's economic policies stolen
White House: when President shoots skeet, he donates the meat to food banks that feed the middle class
To prove he is serious, Obama eliminates armed guard protection for President, Vice-President, and their families; establishes Gun-Free Zones around them instead
State Dept to send 100,000 American college students to China as security for US debt obligations
Jay Carney: Al Qaeda is on the run, they're just running forward
President issues executive orders banning cliffs, ceilings, obstructions, statistics, and other notions that prevent us from moving forwards and upward
Fearing the worst, Obama Administration outlaws the fan to prevent it from being hit by certain objects
World ends; S&P soars
Riddle of universe solved; answer not understood
Meek inherit Earth, can't afford estate taxes
Greece abandons Euro; accountants find Greece has no Euros anyway
Wheel finally reinvented; axles to be gradually reinvented in 3rd quarter of 2013
Bigfoot found in Ohio, mysteriously not voting for Obama
As Santa's workshop files for bankruptcy, Fed offers bailout in exchange for control of 'naughty and nice' list
Freak flying pig accident causes bacon to fly off shelves
Obama: green economy likely to transform America into a leading third world country of the new millennium
Report: President Obama to visit the United States in the near future
Obama promises to create thousands more economically neutral jobs
Modernizing Islam: New York imam proposes to canonize Saul Alinsky as religion's latter day prophet
Imam Rauf's peaceful solution: 'Move Ground Zero a few blocks away from the mosque and no one gets hurt'
Study: Obama's threat to burn tax money in Washington 'recruitment bonanza' for Tea Parties
Study: no Social Security reform will be needed if gov't raises retirement age to at least 814 years
Obama attends church service, worships self
Obama proposes national 'Win The Future' lottery; proceeds of new WTF Powerball to finance more gov't spending
Historical revisionists: "Hey, you never know"
Vice President Biden: criticizing Egypt is un-pharaoh
Israelis to Egyptian rioters: "don't damage the pyramids, we will not rebuild"
Lake Superior renamed Lake Inferior in spirit of tolerance and inclusiveness
Al Gore: It's a shame that a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of polar bears
Michael Moore: As long as there is anyone with money to shake down, this country is not broke
Obama's teleprompters unionize, demand collective bargaining rights
Obama calls new taxes 'spending reductions in tax code.' Elsewhere rapists tout 'consent reductions in sexual intercourse'
Obama's teleprompter unhappy with White House Twitter: "Too few words"
Obama's Regulation Reduction committee finds US Constitution to be expensive outdated framework inefficiently regulating federal gov't
Taking a page from the Reagan years, Obama announces new era of Perestroika and Glasnost
Responding to Oslo shootings, Obama declares Christianity "Religion of Peace," praises "moderate Christians," promises to send one into space
Republicans block Obama's $420 billion program to give American families free charms that ward off economic bad luck
White House to impose Chimney tax on Santa Claus
Obama decrees the economy is not soaring as much as previously decreeed
Conservative think tank introduces children to capitalism with pop-up picture book "The Road to Smurfdom"
Al Gore proposes to combat Global Warming by extracting silver linings from clouds in Earth's atmosphere
Obama refutes charges of him being unresponsive to people's suffering: "When you pray to God, do you always hear a response?"
Obama regrets the US government didn't provide his mother with free contraceptives when she was in college
Fluke to Congress: drill, baby, drill!
Planned Parenthood introduces Frequent Flucker reward card: 'Come again soon!'
Obama to tornado victims: 'We inherited this weather from the previous administration'
Obama congratulates Putin on Chicago-style election outcome
People's Cube gives itself Hero of Socialist Labor medal in recognition of continued expert advice provided to the Obama Administration helping to shape its foreign and domestic policies
Hamas: Israeli air defense unfair to 99% of our missiles, "only 1% allowed to reach Israel"
Democrat strategist: without government supervision, women would have never evolved into humans
Voters Without Borders oppose Texas new voter ID law
Enraged by accusation that they are doing Obama's bidding, media leaders demand instructions from White House on how to respond
Obama blames previous Olympics for failure to win at this Olympics
Official: China plans to land on Moon or at least on cheap knockoff thereof
Koran-Contra: Obama secretly arms Syrian rebels
Poll: Progressive slogan 'We should be more like Europe' most popular with members of American Nazi Party
Obama to Evangelicals: Jesus saves, I just spend
May Day: Anarchists plan, schedule, synchronize, and execute a coordinated campaign against all of the above
Midwestern farmers hooked on new erotic novel "50 Shades of Hay"
Study: 99% of Liberals give the rest a bad name
Obama meets with Jewish leaders, proposes deeper circumcisions for the rich
Historians: Before HOPE & CHANGE there was HEMP & CHOOM at ten bucks a bag
Cancer once again fails to cure Venezuela of its "President for Life"
Tragic spelling error causes Muslim protesters to burn local boob-tube factory
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu: due to energy conservation, the light at the end of the tunnel will be switched off
Obama Administration running food stamps across the border with Mexico in an operation code-named "Fat And Furious"
Pakistan explodes in protest over new Adobe Acrobat update; 17 local acrobats killed
White House: "Let them eat statistics"
Special Ops: if Benedict Arnold had a son, he would look like Barack Obama | 0 |
Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott has immediately declared an apparently deliberate attack on pedestrians outside Finsbury Park Mosque terrorism — unlike the Westminster Bridge, Manchester Arena, and London Bridge attacks, which she called “incidents”. [Taking to Twitter after news broke that a man had crashed a van into a crowd of people leaving a Mosque in Finsbury the Labour was quick to label it a “shocking terror attack”. Shocking terror attack outside Finsbury Park mosque. Thoughts prayers with friends families of the victims #FinsburyPark, — Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) June 19, 2017, Abbott reiterated her description of the attack as terrorism, calling on police to “urgently review security for all mosques” minutes later, and retweeted a message from Shomrim London which also referred to the crash as a “horrific terrorist attack”. Terror attack outside #FinsburyPark mosque. Police must urgently review security for all mosques #StandTogether, — Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) June 19, 2017, Abbott’s rush to judgement on this occasion stands in sharp contrast to her pronouncements following the Islamist terror attacks at Westminster Bridge, Manchester Arena, and London Bridge. The Westminster Bridge attack, in which Muslim convert Khalid Masood ran down several pedestrians before leaping from his car and stabbing a police constable to death on March 22nd, was not acknowledged as a terror attack until the following day in a tweet which pointed followers in the direction of a Guardian article emphasising the fact that the migrant was “ ”. The following day, she released a statement in which she claimed it was “too early now to debate the cause or motivation for this attack”. She warned against “wild assertions about this attack by people claiming to know what the police can’t yet know, why this happened and who precisely was involved”. She added: “We should reject any false or lazy assertions and wait for the police to do their work. ” Westminster terror attack triggers rhetoric. But the attacker was actually British born https: . — Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) March 23, 2017, Following the Manchester Arena suicide bombing on May 22nd, in which the son an Islamist refugee murdered and maimed dozens of men, women, and children at a concert, Abbott would only go as far describing the attack as a “horrific incident”. My thoughts go out to all those affected by the horrific incident in Manchester. Our emergency services have acted swiftly and bravely. — Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) May 23, 2017, Abbott used similar language following the terror attack on London Bridge and Borough Market on June 3rd, in which former child refugee Khuram Butt, bogus asylum seeker Rachid Redouane, and EU national Youssef Zaghba ran down and stabbed dozens of people in London. The Jeremy Corbyn ally was careful to refer to the terror attacks as “incidents” in two separate tweets. My thoughts are with all those affected by the incidents in London tonight, — Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) June 3, 2017, Emerging news of frightening incidents tonight: London Bridge, Borough Market Vauxhall. Once again we owe so much to emergency services pic. twitter. — Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) June 3, 2017, Breitbart London has described all the attacks, including last night’s outside Finsbury Park Mosque, as terrorist attacks. | 1 |
STOCKHOLM (AFP) — Stockholm’s usually vibrant city centre was eerily silent on Friday evening with restaurants, bars and cinemas shuttered and streets emptied hours after a truck ploughed into a crowd outside a department store, killing four people and injuring 15. [Stockholmers appeared to be following police advice to stay indoors and avoid crowded areas, with a number of city streets deserted. The attack occurred just before 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) when a beer truck slammed into the corner of the bustling Ahlens store and the popular pedestrian street Drottninggatan, above ground from Stockholm’s central subway station. The initial scene was chaotic. After emergency responders rushed to the scene, several bodies could be seen lying on the ground covered with orange blankets. Shattered glass was scattered on the ground near a large blood stain on the asphalt. Shaken passersby described their horror at witnessing what police and Prime Minister Stefan Lofven described as a “terror attack”. “A massive truck starts driving … and mangles everything and just drives over exactly everything,” eyewitness Rikard Gauffin told AFP. “It was so terrible and there were bodies lying everywhere … it was really terrifying,” he added. — Trapped — Police cars and ambulances rapidly flooded the scene, as central streets and squares were blocked off amid fears that another attack could be imminent. Helicopters hovered overhead across the city, sirens wailed, and police vans the streets using loudspeakers to urge people to head straight home and avoid crowded places. But with the metro system and commuter trains shut down for several hours after the attack, other streets heading out of the city were packed with thousands of pedestrians trying to find a way home. Central Stockholm would on any other Friday be abuzz with locals queueing up outside glitzy bars and restaurants and upscale nightclubs. Haval, a sales clerk who didn’t want to reveal his last name, was in the metro at the time of the attack. His train stopped immediately and he had to get out, along with all the other passengers. They walked along the street before being ushered inside a nearby hotel for safety. “We were suddenly trapped inside a hotel and there was the worst kind of horror in there,” he told AFP. “We were scared, we were scared something else would happen, he added. — ‘Suddenly it happens’ — The attack was the latest in a string of similar assaults with vehicles in Europe that include the southern French city of Nice, Berlin and London. “I never thought that something would happen in Sweden, but then suddenly it happens,” Haval said. One witness identified only as Dimitris told the Aftonbladet daily the truck came “out of nowhere. ” “I couldn’t see if anyone was driving but it was out of control. I saw at least two people get run down. I ran as fast as I could away from there,” he said. — ‘You won’t break us’ — Marko was in coffee shop near the scene with his girlfriend when he saw the truck ram into the store. “He hit a woman first, then he drove over a bunch of other people … We took care of everyone lying on the ground,” he told Swedish daily newspaper Aftonbladet. Hasan Sidi, another passerby, told Aftonbladet he saw two elderly women lying on the ground. He said people at the scene urged him to help one of the women who was “bleeding to death”. “One of them died … I don’t know if the other one made it,” Sidi said. “The police were shocked. Everyone was shocked. ” Despite that shock, Sweden was determined to not let the attackers create fear. “Terrorists want us to be afraid, want us to change our behaviour, want us to not live our lives normally, but that is what we’re going to do. So terrorists can never defeat Sweden, never,” Prime Minister Lofven said. Shortly afterwards, he placed a bouquet of flowers near the scene, visibly shaken and wiping away a tear. In an editorial, Sweden’s biggest broadsheet Dagens Nyheter wrote: “What we feared for a long time finally happened. ” “The fear and panic right after the incident was inevitable. The images from the attack were terrible,” the paper said. But Stockholm managed to stay “ ” even though the attacker struck “Sweden and Stockholm’s heart” it added. “Stockholm stands strong. You won’t break Stockholm. ” | 1 |
Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” while discussing President Donald Trump executive order halting immigration from seven countries to the United States, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( ) said, “the extent they’re trying to improve the vetting process, I think that’s in order. ” “We need to bear in mind that we don’t have religious tests in this country and we also need to remember that some of our best allies in the war against Islamic terrorism are Muslims,” he added. Partial transcript as follows: RADDATZ: Do you support president Trump’s temporary immigration ban from these predominantly Muslim countries. SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL ( ) MAJORITY LEADER: Well, I think it’s a good idea to tighten the vetting process. But I also think it’s important to remember that some of our best sources in the war against radical Islamic terrorism are Muslims, both in this country and overseas. And we have had some difficulty in the past getting interpreters as you suggested in the earlier segment who are helpful to us treated properly. So we need to be careful as we do this. Improving vetting, something … RADDATZ: And yet right now they’re being detained so — do you support this or not support this. MCCONNELL: It’s hopefully going to be decided in the courts as to whether or not this has gone too far. I don’t want to criticize them for improving vetting. I think we need to be careful. We don’t have religious tests in this country. RADDATZ: In the past, you’ve called the Muslim ban completely and totally inconsistent with American values. The president says this is not an outright Muslim ban, even if this is temporary, how is this order consistent with American values? MCCONNELL: Well, if they’re looking to tighten the vetting process, I mean who would be against that? But I am opposed to a religious tests. The courts are going to determine whether this is too broad. RADDATZ: So it sounds to me like you are opposed to certain parts of this. If we’re detaining or holding back people who have helped Americans in the fight. MCCONNELL: Well, obviously I’m against that. RADDATZ: A religious test then you’re opposed to certain parts of this. MCCONNELL: Look, the president has a lot of latitude to try to secure the country. And I’m not going to make a blanket criticism of this effort. However, I think it’s important to remember, as I said, a lot of Muslims are our best sources in the war against terror. RADDATZ: So, do you think this will have blowback in the world? I mean, are you sensing that already? You’ve seen the reactions. MCCONNELL: Yeah, well, we’ll see. And it’s important, however, to emphasize it’s important to keep America as secure as possible and we’ll see how it plays out. RADDATZ: Just tell me again how you would summarize what happened with this executive order. MCCONNELL: How I would summarize. RADDATZ: Yes, how would you — what would you say about it? Others are saying it’s devastating, others are saying it’s . MCCONNELL: Well, I’m not saying either of those things, I’m saying what I just said a few minutes ago, which is to the extent they’re trying to improve the vetting process, I think that’s in order. We need to bear in mind that we don’t have religious tests in this country and we also need to remember that some of our best allies in the war against Islamic terrorism are Muslims. Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
Get short URL 0 2 0 0 The US military killed five suspected members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in an October 21 airstrike in central Yemen, the US Central Command said in a press release on Friday.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Earlier, US Central Command stated the previous airstrikes killed eight suspected members of al-Qaeda.
The first strike, on October 6, killed two people while a second strike conducted on October 19 killed six people. Both strikes were conducted in remote parts of the Shabwah Governorate.
"The United States military conducted a successful strike against members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on October 21, in a remote area of Marib Governorate, Yemen," the release stated. “Five AQAP enemy fighters were killed in the strike." ... | 0 |
Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Security Question: What is 4 + 2 ? Please leave these two fields as-is: IMPORTANT! To be able to proceed, you need to solve the following simple math (so we know that you are a human) :-) Doom and Bloom | 0 |
Get a first look at : Shadow of War‘s gameplay, the upcoming sequel to 2014’s Shadow of Mordor. [Developer Monolith is expanding the Nemesis System from the first game that caused enemies to remember past encounters with the player and change as a result. Now, orcs recruited to your army will be affected by the system as well, which looks to round them out into unique ally characters with their own skills, attributes, and personalities. “Your followers can create entirely new stories of loyalty, betrayal, rivalry, and even friendship,” the video explains. Shadow of War also adds Nemesis Fortresses, “where players must utilize different strategies to conquer dynamic strongholds and forge their personalized Orc army. ” In the walkthrough, the assault on one such fortress plays out, moving from the initial assault on the strongholds outer walls to intense fights and sneaking through the enemy keep before culminating in a massive boss fight against the fortress’s champion. “The Nemesis System means that every element of this mission was dynamic and unique. No two players of the game will experience the same story,” the video claims. : Shadow of War comes to Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC on August 22, 2017. | 1 |
(Before It's News)
Microsoft revealed a new all-in-one PC at its Imagine What You’ll Do event in New York City. The Microsoft Surface Studio is a desktop designed to rival Apple’s iMac. Built for creators and professionals alike, it features a 28-inch, 12.5mm thin touchscreen that’s capable of projecting a greater than 4K display. The Microsoft Surface Studio will run on Windows 10, […]
The post Microsoft Surface Studio Introduced, Looks to Challenge the Apple iMac appeared first on Pinoy Tech Blog – Latest Tech News and Gadget Reviews Philippines . | 0 |
The news can seem grim. Refugee crises, extreme weather and wars plague the globe. Cellphones have exploded. America is bitterly divided. Mary Tyler Moore died. Even the doomsday clock has been reset. But we thought you could use a break, whatever your politics, your fears, your troubles. The nation’s zoos agree. Welcome to the Great National Cute Animal of 2017. Over the past two days, zoos and aquariums have dominated the conversation on Twitter with photo after photo of adorable animals. And the world cracked a smile. It all started, according to The with a Smithsonian National Zoo announcement on Wednesday of the birth of a female gray seal on Jan. 21, a pup described as “nursing, moving and bonding well with mom. ” The baby’s mother, a gray seal named Kara, set a record for being the oldest seal of her kind to give birth in a zoo. (The Washington Post even had a Facebook Live presentation of her ultrasound in December.) The seal’s birth was a reminder that gray seals moved from the endangered list to being a species of least concern in 2016 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Their numbers rose to more than 600, 000 worldwide. The Smithsonian birth announcement set off a ripple online, and generated a hashtag — #CuteAnimalTweetOff — which grew into a viral phenomenon as zoos posted photos of cute and fuzzy pandas, otters, orangutans and tiger cubs. There is even a baby turtle, as well as a pun or two, in the fray. “Here we have an otterly adorable submission to #CuteAnimalTweetOff,” the Aquarium of the Pacific said on Twitter with a photo of otters. “Leapin’ Lemurs the #cuteanimaltweetoff is going strong,” the Maryland Zoo wrote with a photo of a lemur. The postings have gone international, suggesting that maybe, just maybe, we can find common ground across borders by looking at cute animals. The ZSL London Zoo raised the bar with a few seconds of video of its tiger cubs Karis and Achilles, born in June. Sarah Janet Hill, a host at Radio Free Radio in Hampton, Va. has been credited with giving the Smithsonian announcement the online bump it needed to spread. “I thought, ‘Our seals are cuter than that,’ ” Ms. Hill is quoted as saying in The . So she retweeted the announcement to the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center, which took up the challenge. The viral response to the pup’s birth announcement has been a pleasant surprise for the Smithsonian Zoo. Annalisa Meyer, a spokeswoman, said on Thursday that the seal pup had not yet been given a name, a process that includes taking suggestions from the public or giving a sponsor the opportunity to come up with one. “We have never set off a cute animal challenge,” Ms. Meyer said. “Will it be the last? Maybe not. We are open to more cute . ” But to what end? Maybe the point is just relief from the drumbeat of sober news. “It’s been a really fun day, and I’m just glad there was something light to talk about today,” Ms. Hill told The . “There’s been some heavy news lately, and it’s been fun to distract people with this fun stuff. ” “Everyone wants their zoo to win,” she added, but really, there were no winners or losers in the standoff. Just cute animals. | 1 |
Posted on April 4, 2016 by Dr. Eowyn | 34 Comments
Americans didn’t know about a curious species of fakery called Crisis Actors until the Dec. 14, 2012 Sandy Hook false-flag shooting massacre. (See “ Remarkable resemblance of Sandy Hook victims and professional crisis actors “)
Located in Denver, Colorado, a business that calls itself VisionBox Crisis Actors provides professionals (“trained players and actors”) who impersonate real-life people in simulations of mass casualty events, such as government drills, shootings and bombings, to help “schools and first responders create realistic drills, full-scale exercises, high-fidelity simulations, and interactive 3D films.” As an Oct. 31, 2012 feature story on the Crisis Actors website which I found on January 1, 2013, once boasted:
A new group of actors is now available nationwide for active shooter drills and mall shooting full-scale exercises, announced Visionbox, Denver’s leading professional actors studio.
Visionbox Crisis Actors are trained in criminal and victim behavior, and bring intense realism to simulated mass casualty incidents in public places.
The actors’ stage acting experience , ranging from Shakespeare to contemporary American theater, enables them to “stay in character” throughout an exercise, and improvise scenes of extreme stress while strictly following official exercise scenarios. […]
Visionbox Crisis Actors can also play the role of citizens calling 911 or mall management, or posting comments on social media websites.
For more, see my post “ Professional crisis actors simulate mass casualty events “.
Curiously, since the phenomenon of crisis actors was uncovered after the Sandy Hook false-flag, crisis actors seem to have gone underground. VisionBox revised its website, removing any mention of crisis actors. But this video that was uploaded to YouTube on Dec. 23, 2012, says the same things about VisionBox which I had reported:
Professor James Tracy also recently discovered that Crisisactors.org , the website established to represent the collaboration between the Visionbox professional actors studio and FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute , went dormant after August 2014. (See “ Where Have All the Crisis Actors Gone? “)
To add to the insanity, there are even amputee crisis actors, such as those from a business called Amputees in Action , which provides “trained professional amputee actors” who promise to “remain in character”“for the film and screen industries and for emergency and military services training simulations” with “special effects (SFX) make-up, moulage and prosthetic artists use cutting edge technology to enhance and extend the appearance and function of limb-loss scenarios.” (For more, see my post “ Did you know there are AMPUTEE crisis actors? “)
Alleged victim of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, Jeff Bauman, is an example of an amputee crisis actor. See the reasons why in “ Hollywood producer Nathan Folks says Boston Bombing’s a false flag ”.
Now add fake political protests and protesters to the things that crisis actors do.
Jamie Taete reports for Vice , Aug. 6, 2013, that Crowds on Demand is a company that will organize a crowd for you, on demand. The crowd can be fake fans for some celebrity or aspiring celebrity, or fake protesters for a cause.
Since the company’s fake fan events are “super secret,” Taete attended instead “a fake protest” called “Purge Day USA” (to purge mental health problems) which the company organized in Los Angeles “in coordination with a charity” to “raise awareness about mental health issues”. Here’s a photo of the fake protesters:
Crowds on Demand’s founder and CEO Adam Swart said that there were about 20 protesters at the fake protest and all of them were “provided by me”. The fake protesters were paid $15 an hour. Swart charges “a couple thousand dollars” to organize a fake protest with about 20 actors, but he gives discounts to charities.
To critics who say Crowds on Demand is unethical, Swart , who is only 24 years old , openly and brazenly admits: “Is it misleading? Yes. That’s the idea.”
A more recent example of fake protesters is an ad on Craig’s List soliciting actors to impersonate protesters at Trump rallies.
As reported by ZeroHedge on March 30, 2016, the ad was placed by “I’m feelin’ the Bern” Bernie Sanders supporters who promise to provide shuttle buses, parking, and protest signs, as well as $15/hour to the actors. Here’s a screenshot of the Craig’s List ad:
The above ad has since been removed by its author , but the Daily Caller points out the ad is part of a recurring pattern of anti-Trump Craigslist ads soliciting and paying people to protest at Trump rallies. But Daily Caller claims that the fake protesters are hired not by Sanders, but by Hillary Clinton’s people, and paid for by the usual suspects George Soros, MoveOn.org, and Progressive Auto Insurance ‘s Jonathan Lewis :
The Establishment on both the left and the right, who want to disenfranchise the millions of Republican voters who support Donald Trump, have blamed the staged riots near Trump rallies on Trump or on Bernie Sanders. That’s like blaming the Russians for the Reichstag Fire. Bernie has little to do with these manufactured protests. This is a Clinton operation, a faux protest.
False flag operations have long been common in politics, but these riots are poisonous to the electorate, intentionally designed to turn violent and stifle free speech.
This free speech-busting goon squad operation is directed by supporters of Hillary Clinton. It is paid for mostly by George Soros and MoveOn.org and pushed by David Brock at Media Matters for America. It’s also funded by reclusive billionaire Jonathan Lewis, who was identified by the Miami New Times as a “mystery man.” He inherited roughly a billion dollars from his father Peter Lewis (founder of Progressive Insurance Company).
A march and demonstration against Trump at Trump Tower essentially fizzled Saturday when only 500 “protesters” of the promised 5000 showed up. Infiltrating the crowd, I learned most were from MoveOn or the Occupy movement. Soap was definitely in short supply in this crowd. Several admitted answering a Craig’s list ad paying $16.00 an hour for protesters.
Hillary understands that Trump would lose the votes of certain establishment Republicans if he were the nominee. On the other hand, it doesn’t matter, because of his crossover outreach. In Michigan, Democrats and independents who have lost their jobs because of disastrous globalist trade deals like NAFTA are lining up to vote for Donald.
And so, when you see an anti-Trump protest or another mass shooting, don’t believe your eyes. The “protesters” and “victims”— including amputees! — you see may just be acting.
~Eowyn | 0 |
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s point man on negotiations is a longtime Trump Organization lawyer with no government or diplomatic experience. His liaison to leaders is a former villain with a penchant for résumé inflation. And his Oval Office gatekeeper is a former New York City cop best known for smacking a protester on the head. Every president sweeps into office with a coterie of friends and who sometimes have minimal experience in the arcana of the federal government. But few have arrived with a contingent more colorful and controversial than that of Mr. Trump, whose White House is peppered with assistants and advisers whose principal qualification is their long friendship with Mr. Trump and his family. There is Jason Greenblatt, the former Trump Organization lawyer, whose portfolio now includes peace in the West Bank, international trade deals and relations with Cuba. Omarosa Manigault, whose star turn on “The Apprentice” propelled the show’s breakout first season, is now among about two dozen aides with the rank of assistant to the president — and one of the few with privileges for the Oval Office. Most other staff members must go through Keith Schiller, who rose from security guard at the Trump Organization to its director of security. Mr. Schiller is now the director of Oval Office operations, controlling physical access to a president whose whims and frustrations routinely send aides throughout the building scurrying to deflect, defend and justify. The influence of longtime Trump friends and associates — some of them with vague portfolios — comes as a leadership void has been created by the Trump administration’s slow pace in filling top jobs in many agencies. It has also added to the confusion of a West Wing already legendary for its power struggles, while bewildering Washington policy hands. “Titles do matter,” said Paul C. Light, a presidential scholar at New York University. “You don’t say: ‘You are my buddy you are my friend you were with me on my television show. I’m going to give you a really great title.’ These are not things to be handed out like candy. ” To help him wrangle Silicon Valley chief executives and modernize United States government technology systems, Mr. Trump has hired Reed Cordish, the scion of a Baltimore real estate dynasty who is married to a close college friend of Ivanka Trump, who set them up. In a statement, Mr. Cordish said his real estate experience had taught him how to successfully meld public and private interests. The president also recently hired Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and a Trump family friend, to work in the White House Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs. Mr. Giuliani, 31, who made headlines after he sued Duke University for kicking him off the college golf team, previously worked in sales and marketing at a small suburban New York financial firm. Personal relationships with the president often bestow a power exceeding official West Wing job titles. Valerie Jarrett, a businesswoman, former city official in Chicago and longtime friend of the Obamas, was renowned for her unmatched access to President Barack Obama and reach into policy matters far beyond her official portfolio. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House press spokeswoman, said Mr. Trump had recruited highly skilled advisers with refreshingly different backgrounds. “Even though some of the staff doesn’t have government experience it doesn’t mean they are amateurs,” she wrote in an email. “President Trump has promised to change Washington and you can’t do that by putting Washington bureaucrats in charge of everything. ” If Mr. Trump appears more eager than past presidents to bring in longtime associates with limited Washington experience, friends said, it stems partly from his background of four decades at the helm of a closely held family business, with no experience in public service. He has had to assemble a White House team largely from scratch, tapping a party apparatus he believed had tried to deny him the nomination and a Republican policy elite that had largely opposed him. The bulk of his senior White House aides were unknown to him until two years ago. ”Trump doesn’t have a longtime staff of political aides these loyalists fill that vacuum,” said Christopher Ruddy, a friend and chief executive of Newsmax Media, the conservative news site. “He is figuring out who he can depend on. ” Mr. Schiller, 58, a former narcotics detective, has protected Mr. Trump for 18 years. The head of a Praetorian Guard of private security detectives, Mr. Schiller occupied a Trump Tower office on the same floor as his boss and learned, he said, to anticipate his wishes. A fierce protector of Mr. Trump’s image and interests, he physically removed a reporter from a 2015 news conference on the campaign trail after he repeatedly questioned Mr. Trump without being called on. Five activists later sued Mr. Schiller, the Trump Organization and other Trump security guards, claiming they had been assaulted during a protest outside Trump Tower in September 2015. Mr. Schiller has acknowledged hitting one man but said the man attacked him first. No longer responsible for Mr. Trump’s physical safety, he is now a combination gatekeeper, valet and security blanket — a familiar face for a president who detests solitude and whose wife and youngest son have remained at Trump Tower. But Mr. Schiller has not entirely shed his role as Mr. Trump’s enforcer. During a briefing on health care legislation on Friday, he shouted at reporters to clear out of the Roosevelt Room after they tried to question Mr. Trump about continuing controversies. Mr. Greenblatt’s ties to Mr. Trump have translated into more striking levels of power and prestige. A lawyer who helped Mr. Trump negotiate business deals for two decades, Mr. Greenblatt rose to become the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer and executive vice president. Now, as special representative for international negotiations for the White House, Mr. Greenblatt, 49, is charged with negotiating trade agreements and overseeing the conflict and United relations. Mr. Trump has called him “brilliant. ” But experts say it is hard to imagine how anyone, no matter how intelligent, could handle three such sensitive and complex assignments without previous experience. “Our sense is that the Trump White House views the foreign policy establishment as pretty feckless. They seem to think that applying a business approach can work better,” said Martin S. Indyk, the executive vice president of the Brookings Institution, who was President Obama’s special envoy to the Middle East. “Not to have experience or knowledge of the issues in dispute, nor any relationship with the Palestinians, will be a challenge,” he said. In announcing his appointment, Mr. Trump said Mr. Greenblatt’s success in negotiating complex transactions and building consensus made him the ideal roving global negotiator. Mr. Greenblatt has told reporters that after so many years at Mr. Trump’s side, “I know how he thinks I know how to get his bidding done. ” In a brief telephone interview, Mr. Greenblatt suggested calling back later when “I’ll have something to actually say that’s meaningful. ” Through the press office, he addressed the trade aspect of his portfolio, saying that working with Mr. Trump taught him how government can impede job creation. Still, C. Fred Bergsten, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a member of the president’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, said he had never known a White House official “outside of the trade policy network who has been assigned negotiation of trade issues. ” By law, the Office of the United States Trade Representative is charged with negotiating trade deals. Various secretaries also weigh in on policy. “So what would that leave for this guy?” Mr. Bergsten asked. “It’s very mysterious. ” A sign of Mr. Greenblatt’s expansive role came last month, not long after he traveled to Capitol Hill with Peter Navarro — a economist who is head of Mr. Trump’s newly created National Trade Council — to discuss trade policy with staff aides of the Senate Finance Committee. Mr. Greenblatt missed a session with senators because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was visiting the White House that day. “He’s got to negotiate Middle East peace,” Mr. Navarro quipped to the senators, according to a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “So he can’t be here today. ” Although Mr. Greenblatt has not been given the title of special envoy to the Middle East, he appears to be acting in that role too. Visiting the region this week, he met Mr. Netanyahu in Israel on Monday and is scheduled to meet the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. A State Department spokesman said Monday that a senior National Security Council official was accompanying Mr. Greenblatt, but was unsure whether a State Department official had been included. Mr. Greenblatt appears more independent of the State Department than at least some previous envoys he has told others he reports not to Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, but to the president’s Jared Kushner, 36, one of the most senior White House advisers. And where past envoys were foreign policy specialists, Mr. Greenblatt told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in April that his main sources of information were daily email alerts, material supplied by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and a weekly Jewish radio program. “There’s just a tremendous amount of literature out there, emails and all that, so I read all of those as often as I can,” he said then. Still, Mr. Greenblatt seemed at that point somewhat taken aback that Mr. Trump had identified him to the news agency as his principal adviser on Israel, telling reporters that Mr. Greenblatt was so passionate that “when he goes on vacation, he goes to Israel. ” “I knew that he was relying on me for certain aspects of Israel, but I didn’t know I was his top adviser,” he said. Ms. Manigault, 43, has no policy experience, a spotty history in her previous federal positions and a résumé that has cast her — inaccurately — as a university professor and a former top aide to Vice President Al Gore. Yet, to the consternation of the president’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and others, Mr. Trump has given her the same title of presidential assistant as Mr. Priebus and other senior aides — and regularly includes her in strategy sessions on the budget and other matters. She said in a January interview in Variety that Mr. Trump “really wanted me to have the freedom to work on many different things. ” In a statement from the White House press office, Ms. Manigault said that “while some people try to tear me down,” she was focused on giving women, minorities and other groups a voice in the White House. Nominally, Ms. Manigault directs the office of communications in the White House’s public liaison office, a midlevel post. She is also a bridge to groups, including the heads of more than 60 historically black colleges and universities who met with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office last month. She also joined a State Department delegation to the inauguration of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse. She said Mr. Moïse had invited her because of her previous hurricane relief work in the country. “She is the in the White House, and she has the ear of the president,” said Paris Dennard, a White House director of outreach under President George W. Bush. “That is a good thing. ” During the presidential campaign, Ms. Manigault cast herself as an insider, saying Mr. Trump has called her “his Valerie Jarrett. ” In an interview published last June in Essence magazine, she said, “I’m the person who pulls him back when he goes too far. ” In her White House post, she has already had a few reminiscent of her role on “The Apprentice,” including a much publicized confrontation with a veteran White House reporter. (Mr. Trump also sponsored a dating show called “The Ultimate Merger” in which she starred.) Ms. Manigault has told others that she earned her way to a White House position. She grew up on welfare in a housing project in Youngstown, Ohio, and lost her father to violence at age 7, but went on to earn a college degree and, at age 24, a job in the office of Vice President Al Gore. But while her ascent is impressive, it is not quite as she has described it. On a 2005 résumé provided by a former employer, she described herself as Mr. Gore’s “senior scheduling and advance coordinator” overseeing all aspects of his schedule. She continues to maintain that description is accurate and that she succeeded at the job. But numerous former staff members in that office said that she was pushed out of an $ job replying to invitations to Mr. Gore after 13 months, leaving a pile of unanswered correspondence under her desk. “She was the worst hire we ever made,” said Mary Margaret Overbey, Mr. Gore’s former office administrator. Ms. Manigault transferred to a job as deputy associate director of presidential personnel, then eight months later moved to the Commerce Department. In her statement, she said she performed well in that job. But Cheryl Shavers, then the agency’s under secretary for technology administration, disagreed, saying Ms. Manigault “was unqualified and disruptive,” so “I had her removed. ” On her official website and elsewhere, Ms. Manigault also has identified herself as a professor at Howard University in Washington. But Anthony D. Owens, a university spokesman, said she actually was a “facilitator and presenter. ” A letter from the university that Ms. Manigault provided states that she was an instructor, a temporary position. Ms. Manigault also maintains that the only requirement left for her to complete a doctorate at Howard is to defend her dissertation. But Carolyn M. Byerly, chairwoman of the university’s communications department, said that according to the university’s rules, the period for her to do that expired more than a decade ago. Ms. Manigault tweeted her support for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2014, but when Mr. Trump decided to run for president she joined his campaign and defended him vigorously. At an victory party in November, she gave a television interview during which she warned that Mr. Trump’s campaign was keeping an “enemies” list. Her “Apprentice” pugnacity notwithstanding, Mr. Trump insists there is a side of her that she keeps well hidden. “Omarosa’s actually a very nice person,” he joked at a Roosevelt Room breakfast that she helped organize last month to celebrate Black History Month. “Nobody knows that. ” | 1 |
LIMA, Peru — A former Peruvian president is a fugitive, charged with taking bribes. In Colombia, prosecutors say its president’s campaign accepted dirty money. And intelligence agents in Venezuela arrested journalists and researchers looking into scandals there. Latin America’s biggest corruption scandal is shaking the continent’s political establishment. It can all be traced back to Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction company, which has built major projects throughout the region and late last year settled with the United States, Brazil and Switzerland for up to $4. 5 billion under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for an elaborate bribe scheme involving $800 million in payoffs in exchange for lucrative contracts. It was the largest anticorruption settlement in history. Prosecutors said the company paid bribes on 100 projects in more than a dozen countries, from Mexico to Angola, in one case buying a local bank branch to hide the transactions, and even opening a division specifically dedicated to payoffs. Throughout Latin America, the company built bridges, dams, power plants, roads and stretches of a highway to link Brazil and Peru that went more than four times over budget. Nearly three years of investigations have resulted in 77 Brazilian Odebrecht executives signing plea deals, and the company’s former chief executive, Marcelo Odebrecht, is in prison. Now the charges are cascading across the region. “Once you start opening these cases, it’s a Pandora’s box — it could go on for years,” said Shannon K. O’Neil, an analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations. Yet she called it a positive development for the region, showing “the anticorruption movement in Latin America is gaining ground. ” Perhaps the most spectacular case so far involves Alejandro Toledo, the president of Peru from 2001 to 2006, and a wanted man since a judge issued an arrest warrant last week on charges that he had accepted up to $35 million in bribes. Mr. Toledo’s whereabouts was unknown, and Peruvians have been captivated. On Sunday night, he surfaced on Twitter, where he posted a statement attesting to his innocence and denied that he was hiding out. “I never fled from anything. When I left Peru, there were no Odebrecht charges against me, but they call me a ‘fugitive,’ ” he wrote, saying nothing of his location. The current Peruvian president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, has asked President Trump to extradite Mr. Toledo should he be found in the United States. In Lima, the capital, the legacy of Odebrecht is hard to miss. A statue of Christ with arms outspread that overlooks the city’s coast was donated by the company. But Odebrecht has also reaped the benefits of its connections to the country. The Interoceanic Highway, for example, begun under Mr. Toledo’s administration, cost $4. 5 billion, four times over budget. The overruns were approved by an official who is also under investigation by prosecutors. Under Ollanta Humala, Mr. Kuczynski’s predecessor, Odebrecht began a $7 billion natural gas pipeline to connect the Amazon to the coast by cutting through the Andes Mountains. Another former president, Alan García, oversaw the bidding for a subway line in Lima, which Odebrecht won and constructed. If Mr. Toledo is apprehended and convicted, he would be the second Peruvian president behind bars, after Alberto K. Fujimori, the country’s former dictator, who was convicted of human rights abuses. “For Peru, like any other country, even the possibility of having two presidents as prisoners is an embarrassment,” Marisol Pérez Tello, the country’s justice minister, said in an interview. But she added, “I think this is an important moment to think about our ability to institutionalize the fight against corruption. ” Farther north, in Colombia, leaders were on the defensive as prosecutors said they had evidence that Odebrecht had donated $1 million to President Juan Manuel Santos’s campaign in 2014. Speaking to reporters last week, the country’s attorney general said a former lawmaker, Otto Bula, had funneled Odebrecht money through an intermediary to the campaign. Mr. Bula is currently under arrest on charges of having paid about $4. 6 million in bribes for various projects in Colombia, including a road linking the country’s interior to the Magdalena River and Caribbean highway known as the Ruta del Sol. Mr. Santos had said he did not do anything wrong and is interested in a full investigation of the case. Roberto Prieto, Mr. Santos’s campaign manager, said in a statement last week he had not met Mr. Bula, “not even for a coffee. ” Investigators are also looking into dealings involving other politicians’ campaigns, including Oscar Iván Zuluaga, a candidate for president in the 2014 election. Ivan Garzón, a political scientist at Colombia’s University of La Sabana, said Odebrecht had shown how easy it was to hijack the country’s elections for its own gain. “It shows that the problems of exorbitant campaign costs, ones so high the candidates are ready to make a pact with the devil,” he said. In Venezuela, the authorities seem to be taking a different tack toward the revelations: cracking down on outsiders trying to investigate them. Hugo Chávez, the former president of Venezuela, was one of Odebrecht’s principal patrons, steering $11 billion toward Odebrecht for infrastructure projects, including public housing, that undergirded his revolution. But many of the projects, from bridges to agricultural buildings, were never finished. On Saturday, two researchers from Transparency International and two Brazilian journalists were arrested by Venezuelan intelligence agents while looking into an unfinished bridge Odebrecht was meant to construct over Lake Maracaibo, one of the company’s biggest projects. Jesús Urbina, one of the researchers, said they were questioned but not harmed. The Brazilian journalists were later deported. Juan Guaidó, an opposition lawmaker involved in investigating bribes, said the country’s secret police, controlled by President Nicolás Maduro, fears any attempts to document the unfinished projects. “I think the images of the projects as they look now with nothing done would leave them looking naked,” he said of the government. | 1 |
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher ( ) spoke with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam regarding the CIA and recent Wikileaks revelations and the current state of America’s spy state combined with a growing government bureaucracy. [“We are not immune to authoritarian government in this country,” said Rohrabacher, citing the Obama years and adding “I think we are sliding … into an authoritarian mode where the government is running the lives of the people and we have a bureaucracy that is spiteful and jealous about their own power, even over the public, much less over other government entities. ” “Back when I was younger,” said Rohrabacher, “the book was ‘1984,’ George Orwell’s book was showing how … well, a lot of that is coming true. ” “If we are not jealous of our own privacy from government intrusion, at the very least, we’re going to find we’ve lost our freedom,” he concluded. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. | 1 |
Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton is thundering against the House Republican effort to dismantle the Office of Congressional Ethics. [In a strongly worded statement, Fitton says: “It is shameful that House Republicans are trying to destroy the Office of Congressional Ethics, the most significant ethics reform in Congress when it was established nearly a decade ago. ” Judicial Watch focuses on the transparency, accountability and integrity in government and politics and remained a thorn in the side of the Obama administration, the Clintons, and Democrats for many years. “This effort to eliminate the Office of Congressional Ethics, which provides appropriate independence and transparency to the House ethics process, is a poor way for the Republican majority to begin ‘draining the swamp,’” Fitton says. Although the office was created under then Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2008, Judicial Watch worked with her to create an investigative body with independent power. “The American people will see this latest push to undermine congressional ethics enforcement as shady and corrupt,” Fitton said. “The full House should seriously consider whether it wants to bear the brunt of public outrage and go through with the rule change this afternoon. ” Although House Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy reportedly opposed the rule changes, they allowed the vote to take place. | 1 |
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh’s government is moving forward with a plan to relocate Rohingya refugees staying in camps near the country’s largest tourist resort towns to a remote island that is underwater for much of the year. A cabinet order on Thursday directed officials to have the refugees transferred to Thengar Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal that is lashed by high tides and submerged during the monsoon season. The suggestion that they be moved to the largely uninhabitable marshland several hours by boat from the mainland drew criticism from around the world. The relocation plan was last proposed in 2015, but the government quietly suspended it after criticism from international aid groups and rights activists. Its reinstatement follows the arrival of about 65, 000 Rohingya from Myanmar in October and November, after a crackdown by Myanmar’s army and attacks on security forces by Islamic insurgents. The United Nations has called the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group denied citizenship in Myanmar, the world’s most persecuted minority. John McKissick, head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar, near the Burmese border, said in November that Myanmar’s government was trying to achieve an “ultimate goal of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minority. ” Since 1992, about 32, 000 registered Rohingya have been living in two United Nations camps near Cox’s Bazar, but estimates of unregistered refugees range from 200, 000 to 500, 000. Many of them live in two sprawling makeshift shelters close to the official camps, while others are scattered across southeast Bangladesh. Talk of forced relocation worries refugees who have lived in the Cox’s Bazar area for more than two decades. “We have been here for a long time,” one of them, Shafiul Mostafa, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday from one of the camps. “We have gotten to know our neighbors, and we can speak the local dialect, which is similar to our language. If we are taken to a new place, it will be very difficult for us. We won’t be able to communicate with anyone. ” The United Nations refugee agency, which runs the camps, criticized the relocation proposal in 2015, calling it “complex and controversial” and saying that departures would have to take place with the migrants’ consent. Now, the return of the plan has taken aid groups by surprise. “U. N. H. C. R. is concerned about this news and seeking details from the authorities,” Shinji Kubo, a representative of the United Nations refugee agency in Bangladesh, said by email. “Any move must be carried out through a consultative and voluntary process, and the feasibility of the proposed site must be assessed. ” Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say a recent crackdown in Myanmar indiscriminately targeted the Rohingya, citing satellite imagery showing 1, 500 Rohingya homes burned down and widespread reports of mass killings and rapes. The cabinet in Bangladesh has directed officials to take steps to stop further “illegal entry of Myanmar nationals” and to prevent existing refugees from “mixing in with local populations. ” It also ordered officials to keep all illegal immigrants from Myanmar in designated areas, and to arrest them or push them back into those areas if they tried to leave. The order, which was posted on the cabinet’s website, said the arrival of Rohingya in recent months had raised tensions, created “physical risks” for local people, and caused social and economic problems in Cox’s Bazar. Critics of the relocation say the order has more to do with a desire to develop Cox’s Bazar, home to what the government promotes as the longest beach in the world, into a booming tourism destination to rival others in Asia. “Right now, people here are only building hotels and guesthouses,” said Hayat Khan, an executive at the Ocean Paradise Hotel in Cox’s Bazar. “You go to the beach for half an hour, and then there’s nothing more to do. You need cable cars, and theme parks like the Window of the World in Shenzhen,” he added, referring to a city in southern China. “For that, you will need a lot of investment, and a lot of land. ” Rohingya refugees and their leaders say that they were not consulted about the plan. “If the government wants something, we will have to obey them,” said Mr. Mostafa, the refugee. “At the end of the day, what we want or don’t want is not going to matter to anyone. ” | 1 |
Bombings, Surprise Attacks Force 'Golden Division' to Spread Out
Iraqi officials are never shy about talking up their military successes, and that has been especially true in the Mosul offensive, where they have regularly noted they are far ahead of schedule. The arrival of the first Iraqi troops into the outskirts of Mosul’s city limits was heralded as the start of the “true liberation.”
Iraq’s most elite fighters, the so-called Golden Division, has talked up their high morale, bragging that ISIS forces seem to be in full retreat as soon as they see them. That may, however, be the plan for ISIS, with reports that the fast advances and staggered pockets of resistance are stretching the forces thin .
ISIS is letting the Golden Division advance rapidly in some areas, and slowing their progress with IEDs and suicide car bombers in others. In some places, ISIS forces have hidden in tunnels and appeared behind the advancing troops. The Golden Division’s limited numbers have forced them to rely on the national police to hold territory that they have captured.
This is a familiar strategy for ISIS forces, particularly in Iraq, where previous offensives and counter-offensives have seen them withdrawing from some areas and reinforcing others specifically to widen the front lines, forcing the other side to spread themselves around.
And while there are a lot more troops attacking Mosul than in most previous cases, the number of actually well-trained, highly disciplined troops is relatively small. Indeed, Iraqi officials are already saying they are counting on local civilians to rise up against ISIS when they arrive, which has happened in some cases, but notably did not happen in other offensives against major cities, where the locals were more concerned with surviving in a warzone than convincing their “liberators” of their loyalty. | 0 |
MEXICO CITY — Two days after Jorge Antonio Parral Rabadán was kidnapped by a criminal gang, the Mexican Army raided the remote ranch where he was a prisoner and killed him. As he instinctively raised his hands in defense, the soldiers fired over and over at range. A brief army communiqué about the event asserted that soldiers had returned fire and killed three hit men at the El Puerto ranch on April 26, 2010. But Mr. Parral had fired no weapon. He was a government employee, the supervisor of a bridge crossing into Texas, when he and a customs agent were abducted, according to a 2013 investigation by the National Human Rights Commission. The case, which is still open, has volleyed among prosecutors, yet his parents persist, determined that someone be held accountable. “Tell me if this looks like the face of a killer to you,” said Alicia Rabadán Sánchez, Mr. Parral’s mother, pulling a photograph of a happy young man from a plastic folder. In the years since the Mexican government began an intense military campaign against drug gangs, many stories like Mr. Parral’s have surfaced — accounts of people caught at the intersection of organized crime, security forces and a failing justice system. They are killed at military checkpoints, vanish inside navy facilities or are tortured by federal police officers. Seldom are their cases investigated. A trial and conviction are even more rare. But are these cases just regrettable accidents in the course of a government battle against drug violence? A new report by the Open Society Justice Initiative, which works on criminal justice reforms around the world, argues that they are not. Instead, the study says, they point to a pattern of indiscriminate force and impunity that is an integral part of the state’s policy. And in the framework of international law, the study argues, the killings, forced disappearances and torture constitute crimes against humanity. The evidence is “overwhelming,” said James A. Goldston, the executive director of the New Justice Initiative, which will release the report on Tuesday. “In case after case, army actors and federal police have been implicated. ” But in all but a few cases, the allegations languish, are dismissed or are reclassified. “The impunity is a loud signal that crimes against humanity are being committed,” Mr. Goldston said. The Justice Initiative report is the first time an international group has made a public legal argument that the pattern of abuses amounts to crimes against humanity. The finding is significant, Mr. Goldston said, because under the lens of international law, an investigation would seek to determine the chain of command behind the policy. The government of President Enrique Peña Nieto rejected the conclusions. “Based on international law, crimes against humanity are generalized or systematic attacks against a civilian population which are committed in accordance with a state policy,” the government said in a statement. “In Mexico the immense majority of violent crimes have been committed by criminal organizations. ” The report does not dispute that last point. Its analysis, which covers the administration of former President Felipe Calderón and the first three years of Mr. Peña Nieto’s government, also looks at the Zetas, the most violent of Mexico’s drug gangs. Their brutal actions constitute crimes against humanity as well, the report concludes. The government said that in the “exceptional cases” in which public officials have been shown to be involved in the use of excessive force, human rights abuses or torture, they have been tried and sentenced. But human rights and international organizations have argued for years that these cases are not exceptional. Rather than ask the International Criminal Court to begin an investigation, the Justice Initiative proposes that the crimes be investigated at home. “One of the things that we have learned is that Mexico is rich in financial resources and human capital in these issues,” Mr. Goldston said. The Justice Initiative has been working in Mexico for more than a decade. But the investigations “simply haven’t happened because in our view the political will is not there,” Mr. Goldston said. The report “explains how we have reached this state of impunity,” said José Antonio Guevara, the director of the Mexican Commission for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights. The government’s “understanding at the highest level is that what they’re doing is the right thing to weaken organized crime,” he said. The commission was one of five Mexican groups that helped prepare the Justice Initiative report. To break that impunity, the report proposes that Mexico accept international help from outside prosecutors with the authority to investigate and prosecute atrocities and corruption cases. Mexico’s human rights crisis has commanded international attention since 43 students from a local teachers’ college were abducted by local police officers working with a drug gang in the southern city of Iguala in September 2014 as the federal police and military stood by. “The impunity in Mexico and the circuits of corruption are such that they generate pacts so solid that international intervention is needed,” said Santiago Aguirre, the deputy director of the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Center for Human Rights. One model for what the report suggests is in neighboring Guatemala, where independent prosecutors uncovered a customs fraud scheme that brought down the president last year. The Mexican government rejected the idea. “Our country has the capacity and the will to meet human rights challenges,” it said. The government pointed to the drop in complaints to the National Human Rights Commission, to 538 last year from 1, 450 in 2012. It also described recent changes designed to reduce abuses, including proposed laws and protocols to prevent torture and investigate disappearances. A new law for victims is in effect, and this month courts will begin to switch from written to oral trials. Critics are skeptical that the changes will make much of a difference unless they are carried out effectively. As long as prosecutors in Mexico remain subject to political power, said Mr. Aguirre, the impunity will continue. “What’s the incentive for a prosecutor to be independent? None,” he said. Without real investigations, there are thousands of parents like the Parrals, who trudge from one government office to another in search of answers. It was only through a case file number that appeared on an army document 10 months after their son disappeared that they found his body. Tucked into the archives at the state prosecutor’s office was their son’s government ID, which had been found at the ranch. But his body had been tossed into a common grave. An army investigation dismissed the case, and it languished with federal prosecutors before it was turned back to state prosecutors. “We think the army is hiding something to protect the commanding officers from the atrocities they carry out,” said Mr. Parral’s father, Jorge Parral Gutiérrez. “We can see that the prosecutors are not free to act. ” “The message is that the army … ” began Mr. Parral. His wife finished the sentence: “ … has obstructed justice in every way. ” | 1 |
For all the years of worry that terrorists would develop more sophisticated methods, Thursday’s attack in Nice realized a fear that turned out to be far worse: a form of violence so crude that it renders many of our usual defenses useless. The attacker, in ramming a plain white truck through crowds of holiday revelers, killed 84 people and remade an everyday vehicle, a familiar sight on streets around the world, into an object of menace and fear. No group has claimed the attack. The attacker’s motivation remains unknown, as do questions of whether he acted alone. And yet this act, whatever its particulars, represents the culmination of trends, in which terror tactics become more rudimentary and the targets more random. It is forcing a recognition that security and intelligence measures, long the core of Western thinking, are of limited utility and can never provide total safety from an individual who decides to kill. This is shifting pressure onto more abstract and unproven counterterrorism methods that do not promise to halt violence but merely ameliorate underlying political or social drivers. And it is straining the politics of Western countries, where leaders have spent the past 15 years describing terrorism as a war that could be won. The populations targeted by terrorism are confronting a difficult new reality, in which the danger can be managed or policed but perhaps never entirely overcome. The attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, established a narrative that has shaped Western thinking on terrorism ever since, even as many analysts consider that view obsolete. The enemy, whether Al Qaeda or some other group, became seen as a cohesive group that operated from far away. That enemy coordinated complex, assaults against a subset of targets that, while civilian, held symbolic or political value. Governments could anticipate and defend the targets, monitor or disrupt the groups, and ultimately defeat them by targeting their leaders and seizing their territory. But the threat has evolved into something much harder to counter. Insurgent groups in Iraq, unable to defeat the occupation force, instead targeted Iraqi civilians wherever they gathered, establishing a method that terror groups now deploy internationally. In 2008, Pakistani militants killed 166 people in Mumbai, India, attacking what experts call “soft” targets: places such as hotels and train stations that are populated but, because of their seeming randomness, rarely defended. At security conferences in Western capitals, officials and analysts began to worry about whether they could prevent a “ attack” in their own countries. Then came the rise of “lone wolf” attackers who acted on their own, without training from or often even contact with the terrorist groups they claimed to serve. Attacks are planned within the minds of individuals whose intentions remain hidden until the shooting begins. Such attacks predate the Islamic State, though the group emphasizes them, disseminating propaganda that provides tactical guidance and ideological justification available to anyone with an internet connection. The use of a truck in Nice was new only in the specifics and in the degree to which it has forced a realization increasingly difficult to ignore: In the world of lone wolves and attacks, more barricades and metal detectors and monitoring programs can improve security, but can’t guarantee it absolutely. As terrorism itself becomes harder to prevent or defend against, policy experts say that governments should instead address two deeper but murkier problems: the ideology that calls for such violence and, even harder, the social and political factors that drive an individual to accept that ideology. But how do you defeat an ideology? Destroying the Islamic State’s “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria, some argue, would undercut its grandiose claims and dampen its appeal. It would also limit the group’s ability to coordinate attacks, which in turn help inspire lone actors who may, or may not, be driven by ideology. Still, even as the group loses territory, its propaganda would survive online. And the problems that contributed to that ideology’s rise in the Middle East would remain: authoritarian states that often use violence themselves, religious institutions often seen as complicit, stifled economies that grant young people few opportunities, and a cycle of conflict that encourages tribalism and extremism. This is why many analysts are urging Western governments to look at their own populations and ask not whether terrorist ideologies can be eradicated, but why individual citizens might become susceptible to messages telling them to kill on behalf of a foreign terrorist group. “It’s a social and political problem,” said Peter Neumann, a professor at King’s College London and the director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization. Mr. Neumann said that, increasingly, Western citizens who turn to terrorism “are not deeply ideological or even religious.” Rather, such individuals often seem to come to terrorism as a way to bring meaning to their lives or to explain their own sense of helplessness or isolation. Muslim or migrant populations have struggled to integrate into Western European countries, often left feeling excluded from national identities that stress secularism and are rooted in specifically European heritage. “Ghettoization, polarization, and alienation in a country like France are profound,” Mr. Neumann said. “Bottom line is: it’s about feeling like you belong. ” Western governments have tried to address this by providing greater welfare programs to disadvantaged communities or, often, by more forcefully policing them. But these, Mr. Neumann said, risk deepening the polarization between communities, which can be bridged only by building an “inclusive sense of national identity. ” European societies have resisted this, instead giving rise to politics that emphasize ethnic and religious heritage. “I think this will be with us for a long time, sadly,” he said. Since Sept. 20, 2001, the day that President George W. Bush declared a “war on terror,” Western leaders have used the terminology of war both to explain the threat and to articulate their response. “It is a war against terrorism, against jihadism, against radical Islam,“ Manuel Valls, the French prime minister, said after a terrorist attack in the Paris area in January 2015. A decade and a half of war has not delivered Western populations to safety, highlighting the gap between rhetoric and reality. But politicians have been constrained by this language, unable to acknowledge that, while war is a struggle that pulls a nation together and can eventually be won, the realities of terrorism can only be managed and the threats, at some point, merely endured. But political leaders, compelled to promise an answer to this week’s violence in Nice, returned to the familiar formulations. “We have an enemy that will continue to strike all people, all countries that have liberties as essential values,” France’s president, François Hollande, said. Hillary Clinton told CNN on Thursday that “we are at war with these terrorist groups and what they represent. ” Though she urged enhanced intelligence gathering to combat terrorism, she has previously called for more aggressive use of force against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Donald J. Trump, in an interview with Fox News, said he would ask Congress to declare war on terrorism. While this framing might reassure, it raises a question: Why does the war never feel as if it is approaching victory? This question’s unanswerability perhaps contributes to the fear that is increasingly destabilizing Western politics. And it creates space for populists, rising throughout Europe, to present more aggressive policies as the answer. “Nothing that we have proposed has been put in place,” Marine Le Pen, who leads the National Front party, told the French newspaper Le Figaro, calling for measures to revoke citizens’ nationality, close certain mosques and ban organizations. Mr. Valls, the French prime minister, perhaps sought to break this cycle on Friday when he said, “The times have changed, and France is going to have to live with terrorism. ” | 1 |
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Veterans Day is a time when our country comes together to honor our military service men and women who have sacrificed so much to protect our country. This year was no different at the VA hospital when 87-year-old Vincent Arnold, a veteran of three wars, was offered a complimentary serving of mashed potatoes in the cafeteria as a thank you for his 30 years of military service.
Normally, the “Patriot” combo meal includes 2 pieces of fried chicken , a side of mixed vegetables and a 12-ounce drink. On Veterans Day, all veterans are given a scoop of mashed potatoes free of charge. Purple Heart recipients are also given the option of brown or cream gravy as a special recognition for the physical suffering they endured while fighting for our freedom.
“We always make sure our veterans have a very special Veterans Day,” stated hospital administrator Nathan Bishop while opening a box of miniature American flags that will be placed in every patient’s room. “We pull out all the stops: stickers that say ‘We Love Our Veterans’; red, white, and blue crepe paper; and lots of smiles!” They may even roll out those patriotic Pyxis machines again.
At press time, witnesses reported seeing a Medal of Honor winner being given a T-shirt adorned with a billowing American flag and three bald eagles. 290 Shares | 0 |
October 27, 2016
By Dr. Mercola
A dense bush bearing tiny red berries, hawthorn bushes are common in wooded areas and fence rows across the U.S. and throughout the world. Many parts of the hawthorn (with the botanical name Crataegus), including its berries and flowers, have been used by traditional healers for centuries.
Resembling tiny sweet cherries, hawthorn berry “haws” have been used to make wine, jelly and flavored brandy for years, but not many people are aware of the impressive ways it remedies heart problems and many other physical ailments as well.
Increasingly, modern studies are pointing to the hawthorn plant as a valuable therapy for cardiovascular disease (CVD), which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states is the most prevalent cause of death in the U.S. In fact, more than 2.6 million people died of it in 2015. 1 Pharmacognosy Review reported:
”Results recorded from clinical trials, experiences of professionally qualified medical herbalists and the low/negligible incidence of side effects experienced by patients would indicate that Crataegus preparations hold significant potential as a useful remedy in the treatment of CVD.” 2
More About the Hawthorn Plant
The hawthorn berry bush belongs to the same family of plants as apples and roses, so it’s fitting that the fruit is usually brilliant red. Like roses on steroids, the berries are accompanied by long, woody thorns that can do a lot of damage if you’re not cautious.
One reason hawthorns are so common is because they send up suckers, so they get larger and denser as they age. Varieties crossbreed easily. They often grow into hedges as high as 25 feet, bearing small white, pink or red flowers with rose-like petals.
As a food, it was at one time known as the “bread and cheese tree” because the flowers, berries, and leaves are all safe to eat, so it was a lifesaver during famines. 3
Also known as mayblossom, hedge thorn, maybush, mayflower and whitethorn, there are hundreds of hawthorn species, and each has its own set of valuable healing compounds. Every part of the hawthorn bush was used to make medicines in ancient Greece and Asia: the flowers, berries, leaves, stems and even the bark.
Commission E, a branch of the German government that studies and approves herbal treatments, has endorsed the use of hawthorn as an herbal treatment. 4
Hawthorn Berries: A Long History of Heart Healing
One of the oldest known medicinal plants, hawthorn was first recorded as good for heart health in the first century by Greek herbalist Dioscorides. Later, Swiss physician Paracelsus (1493–1541) recorded similar observations. 5 French physician Henri Leclerc used it to treat heart conditions in the 17th century. In 1901, The British Homeopathic Review revealed that a Dr. Green, from Ennis, Ireland:
” … For many years had a reputation for the cure of heart disease that caused patients to flock to him from all parts of the United Kingdom. He cured the most of them and amassed considerable wealth by means of his secret.
For, contrary to the code, he, though a physician in good standing, refused to reveal the remedy to his professional brethren. After his death … (in 1894), his daughter, a Mrs. Graham, revealed the name of the remedy her father had used so successfully. It is Crataegus oxycanthus …” 6
Subsequently, homeopathic and alternative medical practitioners all over Europe used hawthorn very successfully for heart ailments in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Its use reached the U.S. by 1896, but it reportedly diminished in popularity in the 1930s.
Modern Uses of Hawthorn
Today, botanist, research scientist, and author Christopher Hobbs says hawthorn is an official herbal pharmaceutical in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Russia and Switzerland. It’s even an ingredient in 213 commercial European herbal formulas, mostly for the treatment of cardiovascular problems. 7
Herbalists in England, Eastern Europe, Poland and the U.S., as well, use the leaves and flowers from the common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and English hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata), but the entire plant is loaded with valuable phytonutrients. Herbal Supplement Resource notes several active ingredients and how they’re used:
“Hawthorn contains around 1 [to] 2 [percent] flavonoids, oligomeric proanthocyanidins (1-3%), saponins, phenolic acids (chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid), 2-(2-Phenylethyl) chromone derivatives (in the flowers, leaves and buds), amine (phenethylamine, metoksyfenetylamin, dopamine, acetylcholine and tyramine) and triterpenes based on ursolic acid and oleanolic acid.
Hawthorn is also believed to improve circulation in the arms and legs by reducing resistance in the arteries. This is partly due its ability to inhibit a substance in the body known as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE).
ACE is related to the formation of angiotensin II, a substance that has strong astringent effect on the blood vessels.” 8
Studies and Tests on Hawthorn Constituents
A study in 2009 reported that when volunteers took 900 milligrams (mg) per day of hawthorn extract for two months, it was as effective as low doses of captropril, a popular heart medication, particularly in improving symptoms of congestive heart failure. 9
In tests on hawthorn preparations, Pharmacognosy Review identified bioflavonoids and proanthocyanidins as two of their most important compounds due to their powerful antioxidant activity; some had more than others:
“Of 28 fruit pulps tested, the hawthorn pulp (Chinese hawthorn) produced the highest measure of antioxidant activity. A similarly high antioxidant activity in Crataegus aronia, a hawthorn indigenous to Israel, Jordan and the Palestine, has been found.” 10
Further, epicatechin and hyperoside in hawthorn extracts were found to be significantly more effective than those of established drugs. Herbal Supplement Resource noted:
“Several double blind tests have shown that patients with early stages of cardiovascular disorders have increased physical endurance and improved cardiac function (as measured by ECG) after using standardized hawthorn extracts for few weeks.” 11
In addition, hawthorn may be useful for angina, or chest pain caused by decreased oxygen to your heart muscle. A review in 1983 indicated that hawthorn extract could successfully treat patients suffering from angina.
Sixty patients were given either 180 mg extract or a placebo every day for three weeks. Those who took hawthorn showed better blood flow and oxygen supply to the heart in their ECGs and could train for longer periods without attacks than those taking the placebo. 12
Hawthorn Benefits More Than Just Your Heart
Your heart isn’t the only part of your body to profit from taking hawthorn berry. It’s used as a diuretic, which is commonly needed for symptoms of heart failure. It’s reported to be effective in other areas of your body and for other health complaints as well, including:
The phytonutrients of the hawthorn plant are the key to the way it helps your heart. It’s particularly valuable in the early stages of heart disease, from improving blood flow to the blood vessels around your heart and brain, to increasing tolerance to the heart muscle due to a lack of oxygen.
Related physical problems may also be alleviated, such as high blood pressure, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat). In fact, taking hawthorn may offset more serious heart disease and postpone prescriptions for stronger heart medications.
The Epoch Times suggested that when looking for a hawthorn supplement, you’ll likely get something similar to what researchers found effective in clinical studies with a combination of at least 1.8 percent vitexin and 10 percent procyanidins. Combining Hawthorn With Supplements for Greater Effect
Hawthorn is sometimes combined with other herbs for heightened effectiveness, according to Herbal Supplement Resource: Using hawthorn supplements with Coenzyme Q10 may curb early stages of heart disease. Hawthorn can be combined with ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) to improve blood circulation so more oxygen is transported to your brain. Used with garlic (Allium sativum) and arnica (Arnica montana) Hawthorn may remedy angina and low blood circulation. An herbal tea of hawthorn is said to calm your nerves and induce sleep, especially when used with lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) and St. Johns wort.
Recommended dosages of hawthorn are typically 160 to 900 milligrams two or three times a day. You can also use it as an herbal tea from 4 to 5 grams of the dried berries or 1 to 2 grams of the dried leaves and flowers. Liquid extracts are also available, with recommended dosages of 20 to 30 drops in a small glass of water.
As a side note, the effectiveness of hawthorn supplements may be lowered by asthma medications, Viagra, Clonidine (a blood-pressure-lowering drug) and other herbs for your heart.
The People’s Pharmacy reports that pregnant women should not take hawthorn. 19 Additionally, hawthorn may increase the effects of heart medications such as digitoxin, so it should not be used with herbs containing cardiac glycosides like foxglove and lily of the valley. 20
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(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. U. N. officials suspended all humanitarian convoys in Syria, a day after a deadly aerial attack on a convoy of 31 aid trucks authorized to travel in the country. “Just when we think it cannot get any worse, the bar of depravity sinks lower,” the United Nations secretary general, Ban said at the opening of the General Assembly in New York. Syria, Russia and the United States denied responsibility, but the U. S. officials said Russia may have carried out the attack. _____ 2. New details emerged about Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect in weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey, including that he was turned in as a terrorist to the F. B. I. two years ago — by his father, an Afghan immigrant, above. But officials said that the father had recanted, and that agents did not interview Mr. Rahami himself, who was in jail, accused of stabbing his brother. Friends said Mr. Rahami seemed to change after traveling abroad. He went to Pakistan several times, staying for nearly a year in Quetta, the headquarters of exiled Afghan Taliban leaders as well as generations of Afghans who fled the violence in their country. The woman he married there has been detained. Our reporter retraced his likely path from the train station in Elizabeth, N. J. to the doorway of a bar where he was found sleeping on Monday morning. _____ 3. The bombings came at a critical point for the presidential campaign, pushing national security to the forefront with the first presidential debate a week away and Election Day in just seven weeks. But it’s likely that neither Hillary Clinton’s counterterrorism plan nor Donald Trump’s would have prevented the attacks, and neither addresses the most common trajectory of radicalization in the U. S.: personal demons that morph into ideologically driven violence. At a time when polls are being intensely scrutinized, our statistical expert examines how different pollsters starting with the same data can make very different conclusions. _____ 4. Donald Trump’s campaign once again drew derision from critics, this time for Donald Trump Jr. ’s comparison of Syrian refugees to a bowl of skittles with a scattering of poisoned candies. And Samantha Bee clobbered NBC and her fellow TV host Jimmy Fallon for a friendly interview with Mr. Trump. “Network execs, and a lot of their audience, can ignore how very dangerous Trump is because to them, he isn’t,” Ms. Bee said. “They’re not going to be deported. ” _____ 5. President Obama, making his final address to the U. N. Nations General Assembly, said that globalization needed to make a “course correction. ” “A world in which 1 percent of humanity controls as much wealth as the other 99 percent will never be stable,” he said. He also cautioned against insularity, saying, “Today, a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself. ” Here is our full coverage of the General Assembly. _____ 6. Our book reviewer got an advance copy of Bruce Springsteen’s memoir, “Born to Run,” which he compares to one of Mr. Springsteen’s shows: “long, ecstatic, exhausting, filled with peaks and valleys” and “part séance and part keg party. ” And there’s even news: The singer has suffered depressions so deep that he’s turned to the powerful drug Klonopin. _____ 7. Senator Elizabeth Warren led a bipartisan chorus of censure against John Stumpf, the chief executive of Wells Fargo, for protecting senior managers’ jobs and his own compensation after revelations that workers had opened millions of unauthorized accounts in customers’ names. She accused him of driving workers “to the breaking point” with aggressive goals of “ ” — persuading customers to avail themselves of more bank services. “And when it all blew up,” she said, “you kept your job, you kept your bonuses. ” _____ 8. Video of the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man in Tulsa, Okla. has prompted federal and local investigations. The victim, Terence Crutcher, was shot after walking to his vehicle with his hands up. The view from a patrol car’s dashboard camera and a helicopter flying overhead was obstructed in the moments before he was Tasered and then shot. His family held a news conference, calling for charges to be filed against the white officer who shot him, Betty Shelby. _____ 9. We’ve been following the uproar over extrajudicial killings in the Philippines in the weeks since the new president, Rodrigo Duterte, inaugurated a war on drugs. One of Mr. Duterte’s most outspoken critics, Senator Leila de Lima, above, was just stripped of her post as head of a panel investigating the hundreds of killings and put under investigation over allegations that she had received payoffs from drug lords. She said she was the victim of a “new McCarthyism. ” _____ 10. A celebrity breakup doesn’t usually qualify as top news, but this one involves a Hollywood powerhouse and an influential international philanthropy. Yes, Brangelina is fracturing back into Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. No explanations were offered, and both individuals asked the media to respect the family’s privacy. _____ 11. Finally … enough. Just don’t. Play Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah. ” Anymore. _____ 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 |
Thursday on MSNBC, former Vermont Governor and DNC Chair Howard Dean said the Senate Democrats must filibuster President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court Justice nominee, Neil Gorsuch if they want to continue to be able to raise money from the base voters of their party. Partial transcript as follows: KORNACKI: An announcement by a Democrat — I know he’s one of the more moderate or conservative Democrats — but an announcement by a Democrat Joe Manchin that’s going to vote for this confirmation. What does this do, Howard Dean, to the question of a filibuster on the Democratic side? DEAN: Nothing. That’s baked n. I expect two or three or four Democrats to vote for Judge Gorsuch. That is what their constituency wants. I can tell you right now if Judge Gorsuch if he’s confirmed by Democrats — that is unless we force McConnell to exercise the nuclear option — if he’s confirmed straight up with 60 votes, 10 of which are Democratic, the Democratic Senatorial committee might as well hang it up ’cause they’ll never raise any money from our base. Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
Thursday 3 November 2016 Chicago Cubs go 24 hours without winning a World Series
Fans are blaming ‘some kind of curse’ for the Cubs’ failure to win a single World Series since yesterday.
The team, which has now not won a Series in as long as many of their severely drunken, staggering fans can remember, is worried that their failure to buy some lucky white heather from a mysterious gypsy who called at Wrigley Field in the early hours of this morning has in some way jinxed their success.
Infielder Chris Bryant, who answered the door to the peculiar crone, reported that he told her he felt they’d got enough good luck already – and then the witch told him ‘A curse be on this place and all within!’ before vanishing in a cloud of stale, brimstone-scented smoke.
“And we’ve not won a World Series since,” he concluded in a worried tone. “What have I wrought upon the club?”
Board chairman Thomas Ricketts has apologised to the people of Chicago for the lack of trophies in the last day, but pledged he was doing his hardest to bring ‘some kind, any kind’ of award to the city to placate concerned supporters.
When told of the club’s failure to bring home any silverware in almost 24 hours, fan Simon Williams looked up groggily and replied “What? Uh, oh God, here we go again.
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"Мы смогли быстро отвоевать приступы к городу, неизвестно, насколько сильно ИГ будет обороняться в самом городе. Но мы видим, что у них есть сотни смертников, должно быть, там целые фабрики по производству взрывчатки. При штурме это создаст большую опасность. Если все и дальше пойдет хорошо, я рассчитываю, что город удастся освободить самое позднее через три месяца", - сказал Барзани в интервью таблоиду Bild .
По его слвоам, отряды курдских сил самообороны "пешмерга" не участвуют в штурме самого города, так как связаны соглашением с Багдадом и международной коалицией. "Будет лучше, если в город войдет иракская армия, чтобы избежать конфликта среди населения между арабами и курдами. Но если нас попросят, и будет новое соглашение, мы, конечно, поможем, мы к этому готовы", - добавил президент.
Как пишет РИА Новости, на территории Иракского Курдистана находится 1,8 миллиона беженцев, в дополнение к этому еще до миллиона человек могут прийти из Мосула.
Напомним, 17 октября премьер-министр Ирака Хайдер аль-Абади заявил о начале военной операции по освобождению Мосула от боевиков ИГ. США и их союзники с 2014 года проводят в Ираке и Сирии операцию против ИГ. Иракские военные и силы полиции, а также курдские формирования при поддержке авиации коалиции во главе с США начали массированное наступление на город.
Однако это наступление может обернуться катастрофой на Ближнем Востоке. Об этом заявил, к примеру, кандидат в президенты США Дональд Трамп. Или вот мнение отставного полковника США Дэниэла Дэвиса, которое он изложил в статье, опубликованной в The National Interest : Америке и силам коалиции стоит поторопиться с проведением операции в Мосуле, в противном случае террористы могут разорвать этот альянс Чем дольше продержится ИГ и чем больший урон нанесет коалиции, тем более вероятно, что религиозные и политические различия между освободительными силами будут проявляться все сильнее", - пишет Дэвис.
Прокомментировать ситуацию Pravda.Ru попросила военного эксперта Бориса Подопригору.
В последние несколько месяцев официального пребывания американского президента в Белом доме, им захотелось организовать такой политический спектакль на тему американской приверженности в борьбе с терроризмом. Я так это вижу.
Что из этого получится, мне сказать сложно. Самое плохое, что я ожидаю, это новое столкновение по линии сунниты-шииты. Вот в чем самая большая проблема.
Если начнется резня, а такое исключать нельзя, то мало никому не покажется, хотя бы потому, что и Иран, и Саудовская Аравия в стороне от этого конфликта не будут. Можно лишь пожалеть, что в американском практическом востоковедении немного людей, которые задумываются о последствиях межрелигиозного столкновения.
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NUEVO LAREDO, Tamaulipas — The dream of arriving to the U. S. under the Wet Foot policy has turned into a nightmare after hundreds of Cubans have been left stranded at the border. The islanders have a permit from the Mexican government to travel north that leaves them subject to deportation thereafter. [More than 50 Cubans currently stuck in this border city are left only to hope that Donald Trump shortly reverses the recent decision imposed by President Barack Obama that ended the naturalization process for Cuban refugees. Some of the Cubans who spoke with Breitbart Texas expressed their surprise and disappointment upon learning that U. S. authorities would not let them enter the country legally. “A new president that wants to help the oppressed people of Cuba is our only hope,” said Carlos Martin, a stranded Cuban refugee. “We have nothing and we can not go back it was a very radical decision. ” Similar to the situation in Nuevo Laredo, in the border state of Nuevo León local authorities are preparing for hundreds of Cuban families to arrive with underage children as they attempt to reach Tamaulipas and eventually pass to Texas before their permits expire. The permits are given to the Cubans by Mexico’s National Immigration Institute, granting them a temporary stay in the country after which they must leave the country. The permit has generally been used by migrants from a variety of nations to make their way to a northern border checkpoint. “Many here think that the new Trump government will open the doors to the Cubans who arrive at the international bridges,” a Mexican immigration agent from Nuevo León told Breitbart Texas, “For them this is their only option, they don’t have money and they can’t return to Cuba. ” As Breitbart Texas reported, the new immigration policy by Obama paints a target on the Cubans who will likely be sought by criminal organizations or law enforcement once their permit expires. Tony Aranda is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas. | 1 |
Posted on October 27, 2016 by Ryan Banister
Project Hemisphere, a secretive program developed by AT&T, searches trillions of call records in order to analyze cell phone data, spying on the activity of private individuals in order to identify who they are speaking with and why, as well as GPS tracking on the location of each individual connected to the call, and it transmits this information to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
In 2013, Project Hemisphere was shown in a Powerpoint presentation produced by the Drug Enforcement Administration. The New York Times reported this as a partnership between AT&T and the DOJ, primarily deployed for drug-enforcement task-forces. All information collected in this program is accessible to the federal agencies authorized by the DOJ.
AT&T specifically developed and marketed this product for use by the DOJ, who would promise hundreds of millions in funds on behalf of taxpayers, using the taxpayers’ own money to spy on their every move. This is an invasion of privacy without a warrant. This is a federal spy program by proxy, working through corporations.
AT&T promises law enforcement that it will not disclose Project Hemisphere’s involvement in active investigations that are made public. AT&T is is attempting to lower liability for their customer and limit scrutiny to information transmitted to federal agencies through their network.
While it should not be surprising that your cell phone company is working with bureaucrats to collect incriminating evidence on you, there is a staggering number of people who still carelessly use their cell phone as if the information being transmitted through the device will be kept private.
News flash! It’s never been private. They have always wanted to use your information as a product to sell to the highest bidder. Your data is their product, and you are paying them to take it from you.
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LONDON — His voice sometimes close to cracking, his expression strained and grim, former Prime Minister Tony Blair spent much of the past two days responding to the damning judgment of an inquiry into how he led Britain into the Iraq war, engaging in an extraordinary public mix of soul searching, regret and defensiveness. Judging by much of the media reaction, he would have done better to save his breath. “A Monster of Delusion,” read the headline over a picture of Mr. Blair in The Daily Mail on Thursday. The Sun, another British tabloid, described him as a “Weapon of Mass Deception,” a reference to the incorrect assertions by Mr. Blair and President George W. Bush before the invasion that Iraq had an arsenal of unconventional weapons. Nine years after stepping down from office, Mr. Blair — the most successful politician of his generation, who led the Labour Party to three consecutive general election victories with a centrist message — is widely loathed in Britain, his legacy defined overwhelmingly by the Iraq war and its bloody aftermath. He has few defenders, especially within his own party, which was split at the time by his support for the war and has since shifted leftward again, repudiating much of what he stood for. Mr. Blair is such a pariah on the left, said Steven Fielding, director of the Center for British Politics at the University of Nottingham, that “if he says ‘black,’ almost everyone else will say ‘white.’ ” Mr. Fielding added, “In the party he once led, to be described as Blairite is the greatest insult that can be leveled. ” More broadly, Mr. Blair has failed to rehabilitate his image since leaving office, and in some ways has added to his problems. Though he set up the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, intended to counter religious conflict and extremism, its work has been overshadowed by his business interests. Mr. Blair’s wealth, and his willingness to advise nations with poor human rights records such as Kazakhstan, has fueled another strand of criticism: that he was always too impressed by those with power and money. And his diplomatic work, trying to bring peace to the Middle East, ran up against the intractability of the conflicts in that region. “There will not be a day of my life where I do not relive and rethink what happened,” Mr. Blair said, referring to the Iraq war. “People ask me why I spend so much time in the Middle East today. This is why. This is why I work on Middle East peace, on the dialogue between faiths on how we can prevent young people growing up with hatred in their hearts towards those who look, think or believe differently from them. ” The 2. report released on Wednesday was a savage indictment of Britain’s involvement in Iraq, condemning it as ill prepared and poorly executed, and concluding that it was based on flawed and unchallenged intelligence. In confronting the charges against him, Mr. Blair spoke sometimes in confessional terms, acknowledging those failings with “more sorrow, regret and apology and in greater measure than you can know or may believe. ” But what he did not do was to accept the fundamental premise of many of his critics: that he had been wrong to sanction military action against Saddam Hussein. The view of many of the protesters who gathered on Wednesday waving placards reading “BLIAR,” and of relatives of some of those who died in the conflict, is that he is culpable for taking Britain into a disastrous war on false pretenses. There have been attempted citizens’ arrests of him on war crimes charges. As one of his Labour Party critics, Diane Abbott, said on Thursday, Mr. Blair’s reputation had “bled to death in the sands of Iraq. ” Mr. Blair was always unpopular among the left of the party, who felt he had gone too far in abandoning core principles for the center ground while embracing central elements of Thatcherism. Even they would admit that he was good at winning elections: He scored his third victory in 2005, after the invasion of Iraq. Mr. Blair presided over a generally healthy economy and helped build peace in Northern Ireland. But many Britons found it inexplicable that he chose to go to war alongside Mr. Bush. In 2003, Mr. Bush was unpopular in Britain, and so was going to war in Iraq. Mr. Blair has sought to address his critics previously, but not at such length and with such public emotion as he has since the publication of the new report on Wednesday. The gist of his response was that his job as prime minister was to make tough decisions and that while he regretted many of the consequences of this one, he stood by it as the best available option at the time. “The world is better off without Saddam,” Mr. Blair told reporters in London, adding that had the Iraqi leader been left alone, he would have remained a threat to peace. And, had Mr. Hussein survived until the Arab Spring of 2011, he would have clung to power “with the same deadly consequences as we see in the carnage of Syria,” Mr. Blair suggested. “I will never agree that those who died or who were injured made their sacrifice in vain,” said Mr. Blair, while acknowledging that some of the families of those casualties “cannot and do not accept this is so. ” In that he is correct. After the report’s publication, Sarah O’Connor, the relative of one victim, called Mr. Blair “the world’s worst terrorist. ” Reg Keys, another victim’s relative, described Mr. Blair as a “consummate actor” and said that his long public statement resembled “the ramblings of a madman. ” While the report, seven years in the making, provides a damning indictment of sloppy cataloging a host of policy and other failings, it does not accuse Mr. Blair of lying — a point to which the former prime minister returned frequently. Over the years, Mr. Blair has been accused by critics of deceiving Parliament and the public, and on Wednesday he said accusations of “bad faith, of lying or deceit or deliberate misrepresentation” should be laid to rest. “I did not mislead this country,” Mr. Blair said. “I made the decision in good faith on the information that I had at the time. ” His unequivocal support for Mr. Bush was essential to prevent the United States from pursuing a unilateral foreign policy, Mr. Blair argued, rejecting the characterization of himself as the president’s “poodle. ” He defended a message sent to Mr. Bush, before the decision to invade, including the phrase: “I will be with you, whatever. ” That statement was, Mr. Blair said, “not a blank check. ” Yet 13 years after Mr. Blair ordered British troops into action, his response to the latest inquiry is unlikely to bring closure because he is not budging on one central point. “What I cannot do and will not do,” Mr. Blair said, “is say we took the wrong decision. ” Mr. Fielding said history’s judgment on Mr. Blair’s premiership may be more positive, but that Mr. Blair has refused to do the one thing that might soften the damning verdict of his contemporaries. “If he was ever going to, this was the moment for him to apologize and say, ‘We should not have done this,’ ” Mr. Fielding said. “If he isn’t going to say this now, he will take this to his grave. ” | 1 |
=By= Edward Curtain Editor's Note This article is so much more than just another paean for Dylan. It is an exploration of life and the hope than drives it. Curtain says in the following piece: “The news of one creative spirit’s death gave birth to another creative spirit’s gift to life.” And a recognition of the creative contribution of one has inspired an examination of creativity itself. “The song ‘Political World’ could have been triggered by current events. There was a heated presidential race underway …. But I had no interest in politics as an art form….The political world in the song is more of an underworld….With the song I thought I might have broken through to something. It was like you wake up from a deep and drugged slumber and somebody strikes a little silver gong and you come to your senses.” Bob Dylan, Chronicles W e live in dark times when the prison gates of seeming hopelessness clang shut around us. Endless U.S. led and sponsored wars, a New Cold War, nuclear threats, economic exploitation, oligarchical rule, government spying, drone killings, loss of civil liberties, terrorism, ecological degradation, etc. – the list is long and depressing. Awareness of a deep state hidden behind the marionette theatre of conventional politics has grown, even as the puppet show of electoral distractions garners the headlines. Readers of the alternative media learn the truth of government conspiracies involving assassinations – JFK, MLK, RFK, et al. – and countless other evil deeds without cessation. Excellent writers uncover and analyze the machinations of those responsible. Anger and frustration mount as people listen to a litany of bad news and propaganda spewed out by the mainstream corporate media. It is easy to be overwhelmed and disheartened. Despite the mute despair and apathy that fill the air, hope is needed to carry on and resist these destructive forces. Sometimes in such a dark time the eye begins to see and the ear hears hope in unexpected places. Doing so necessitates a bit of a sideways move to discover pockets of resistance hiding in the shadows. There are torches of illumination in the underworld, but we need to come to our senses to get there. “Emotion is the chief source of all becoming-conscious. There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion.” Carl Jung If you’ve ever played music or basketball, fell dizzyingly in love, or lapsed into a spell writing words or being engrossed in a passionate pursuit, you’ll easily grasp what follows. But maybe these specific experiences aren’t necessary. You’ve lived, you’re alive, and you can hear the pitter-patter beat of your dribbling heart. That’s probably plenty. You know the game can be a roller-coaster ride with all its ups and downs, and when it ends you will have won or lost something, exactly what being of the essence. Rhythm, melody, and movement: from these life is born and sustained. They are also integral to sports and art – music, writing, painting, sculpture, dance, etc. – even when they are apparently absent. Tall Walking Figure by Alberto Giacometti. (Credit: Billy Liar .) If, for example, one looks at Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture, Tall Walking Figure, its immobility implies movement. Such paradoxical inclusiveness pertains to still-life painting as well. While seemingly immobile, and defined by some as dead life, such paintings are encompassed by the presence of the absence of movement and change, the essence of all living things. To grasp the paradoxical nature of art – and life – one must approach them as an artist and see the wholeness in broken pieces. “Everything is broken,” Bob Dylan sings, “take a deep breath, feel like you’re choking.” “Life is the best play of all.” Sophie Michel, a 7 year-old musician I think it is fair to say that living is the ultimate art and as the artists of our lives our medium is time and space. And that it is in sound that time and space are epitomized. Musical sounds carry us through time and space in a reverberating vital impulse. Music brings us to our senses. Being emotional, it sets us in motion. We are moved. Sports, as the etymology of the word suggests (desporter – to divert), is a diversion from something. Sports involve us in movement through time and space to an unnecessary goal where someone wins and someone losses. In sports we choose to overcome superfluous obstacles for fun and for deeper reasons we may not realize. Sports only matter because they don’t. “What we play is life.” Louis Armstrong A few years ago my friends and I were playing in basketball tournaments for men over fifty and we qualified for the Senior Olympics at the University of Pittsburgh. We acquired a sponsor, a local funeral home that made warm-up jerseys for us. Being used to dealing with bodies at rest, these comedians knew we were a bunch of aging hoopsters intent on keeping our bodies in motion for as long as we could. So they had shirts made with that up-beat and adolescent cliché printed on the front, “Basketball is Life.” Lest we forgot, and being in the trade of taking bodies at rest to the underworld, on the back they had printed “Leave the Rest to Us: Flynn and Dagnoli Funeral Home.” Most of us found the juxtaposition hilarious (including one funny Irishman who ended up dead at the funeral home), but one teammate found it disturbing, which gave the rest of us additional sardonic laughs. Sex and death and one’s ongoing vitality are the stuff of uneasy laughter in the locker rooms of aging men. It’s a place for essentials. “He was like a great singer with a style all his own, a pacing that was different, a flair for the unusual.” Chick Hearn, play-by-play announcer for The Los Angeles Lakers about Pete Maravich I was reminded of this as I was rereading bits of Bob Dylan’s fascinating and poetic memoir, Chronicles: Volume I, and came upon his recounting of hearing of the news of the death of “Pistol” Pete Maravich, the greatest scorer in college basketball history and a magician without par on the court. It was January 5, 1988.
My aunt was in the kitchen and I sat down with her to talk and drink coffee. The radio was playing and morn- ing news was on. I was startled to hear that Pete Maravich, the basketball player, had collapsed on a basketball court in Pasadena, just fell over and never got up. I’d seen Maravich play in New Orleans once, when the Utah Jazz were the New Orleans Jazz. He was something to see – mop of brown hair, floppy socks – the holy terror of the basketball world – high flyin’ – magician of the court. The night I saw him he dribbled the ball with his head, scored a behind the back, no look basket – dribbled the length of the court, threw the ball up off the glass and caught his own pass. He was fantastic. Scored something like thirty-eight points. He could have played blind. Pistol Pete hadn’t played professionally for a while, and he was thought of as forgotten. I hadn’t forgotten about him, though. Some people seem to fade away but then when they are truly gone, it’s like they didn’t fade away at all. Dylan has the poet’s touch, of course, a hyperbolic sense of the fantastic that draws you into his magical web in the pursuit of deeper truth. In ways he’s like the Latin American magical realist writers who move from fact to dream to the fantastic in a puff of wind. He goes on to write that after hearing the news of Pistol Pete’s sad death playing pickup basketball, he started and completed the song “Dignity” the same day, and in the days that followed song after song flowed from his pen. The news of one creative spirit’s death gave birth to another creative spirit’s gift to life. (I am reminded of Shakespeare writing Hamlet after his father’s death.) “It’s like I saw the song up in front of me and overtook it, like I saw all the characters in this song and elected to cast my fortunes with them …. The wind could never blow it out of my head. This song was a good thing to have. On a song like this, there’s no end to things.” One can hear echoes of Hemingway, another artist obsessed with death, in those last few sentences. Unlike Hemingway, however, Dylan’s focus on death is in the service of life and hope. For him there is no end, while Hemingway is all ending – nada, nada, nada – nothing, nothing, nothing – “it was all a nothing and a man was nothing too,” he writes in his haunting story, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.” Dylan’s focus on the shadow of death is seen within the light of life – todo – all or everything. The darkness is there but is encompassed by the light. Nada within todo. As he told the AARP magazine last year in a fascinating interview, he’s been singing about death since he’s been twelve. And out of that singing – year after year for fifty plus years and counting – he has found and expressed the light of hope. Bob Dylan (Credit: Moderate Voice ) Dylan is our Emerson. His artistic philosophy has always been about movement in space and time through song. Always moving, always restless, always seeking a way back home through song, even when, or perhaps because, there are no directions. “An artist has got to be careful never to arrive at a place where he thinks he’s at somewhere,” he’s said. “You always have to realize that you are constantly in a state of becoming and as long as you can stay in that realm you’ll be alright.” Sounds like living, right. Sounds like Emerson, also. “Life only avails, not the having lived. Power ceases in the instant of repose; it resides in the moment of transition from a past to a new state, in the shooting of the gulf, in the darting to an aim. Thus one fact the world hates, that the soul becomes.” It was about ten years ago when we traveled to that Senior Basketball Olympics at the University of Pittsburgh. We drew many uneasy smiles as we paraded around with the backs of our shirts announcing the services of the men who take us to the underworld. We won a few games and lost others; were eliminated and left for home disappointed, some of us more than others, depending on each man’s competitive fire to defeat the foe. Like all athletes, losing felt like a small death. Even small deaths are hard to swallow, however, especially when knowing how way leads on to way and you doubt you will ever come back. As evening was darkening the Amish countryside, we departed east through country roads in silence, each lost in his interior monologue on the journey ahead. Playing low on the radio, from my back seat I could barely make out Dylan singing, “It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there.” Two years ago there was a short Grantland documentary, “The Finish Line,” about Steve Nash, the latest Pistol Pete. An uncanny player, Nash was battling injuries and age, and the documentary shows him pondering whether or not to retire or continue his rehabilitation and attempt a comeback. In the opening scene Nash goes out with his dog into the shadowy pre-dawn where he muses on his dilemma. His words are hypnotic. “I feel,” he said, “that there’s something that I can’t quite put my finger on that – I don’t know – I feel that it’s blocking me or I can see it out of the corner of my mind’s eye, or it’s like this dark presence ….is it the truth that I’m done?” Hobbled by a nerve injury that severely limited his movement, he played a few more games and retired within a year. Like Pete Maravich, he had brought an infectious joy to his playing, but he left without fulfilling his dream of winning an NBA championship. Of his retirement he said, “It’s bittersweet. I already miss the game deeply, but I’m also really excited to learn to do something else.” Unlike many athletes, Nash was moving on; his “dark presence” wasn’t a final death but a step on the road to a hard rebirth. It was a Dylanesque restless farewell: “And though the line is cut/It ain’t quite the end/I‘ll just bid farewell till we meet again.” “A song is like a dream, and you try to make it come true. They’re like strange countries that you have to enter. You can write a song anywhere …. It helps to be moving. Sometimes people who have the greatest talent for writing songs never write any because they are not moving.” Bob Dylan, Chronicles Dylan has long been accused of abandoning his youthful idealism and protest music. I think this is a bum rap. He was never a protester, though his songs became anthems of the civil rights and anti-war movements. There is no doubt that those songs were inspirational and gave people hope to carry on the good fight. But in turning in a more oblique and circumspect musical direction, following his need to change as the spirit of inspiration moved him, Dylan’s songs have come to inspire in a new way. You know his sympathies lie with the oppressed and downtrodden, but he doesn’t shout it. A listener has to catch his drift. If you go to the music, and dip into his various stylistic changes over the decades, you will find a consistency of themes. He deals with essentials like all great poets. Nothing is excluded. His work is paradoxical. Yes, he’s been singing about death since twelve, but it has always been countered by life and rebirth. There is joy and sadness; faith and doubt; happiness and suffering; injustice and justice; romance and its discontents; despair and hope. His music possesses a bit of a Taoist quality mixed with a Biblical sensibility conveyed by a hopelessly romantic American. He has fused his themes into an incantatory delivery that casts a moving spell of hope upon the listener. He is nothing if not a spiritual spell-binder; similar in many ways to that other quintessential American – the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, whose best work was a poetic quest for an inspired salvific poetry. If the listener is expecting an argument, a thesis, inductive reasoning, or a didactic approach from Dylan, he is out of luck, and rather than be inspired he will be disappointed. This is art, not theory, and art of a special kind since Dylan is an artist at war with his art. His songs demand that the listener’s mind and spirit be moving as the spirit of creative inspiration moved Dylan. A close listening will force one to jump from verse to verse – to shoot the gulf – since there are no bridges to cross, no connecting links. The sound carries you over and keeps you moving forward. If you’re not moving, you’ll miss the meaning. “A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.” Chinese Proverb So if the world is getting you down and all the news is bad to your ears, don’t lose hope. Step to the side, out of the glare of the sun, the blare of the headlines where lies and fears shout in our ears and echo down our days like a repetitive nightmare. Give Dylan a listen. As he has said of spiritual songs, “They brought me down to earth and they lifted me up all in the same moment.” His songs have the same paradoxical power because he excludes nothing. That is why they are truthful. It is fitting that his latest album, “Shadows in the Night,” comprised of ten beloved old ballads sung by Frank Sinatra, from “The Night We Called it a Day” to “Some Enchanted Evening,” has him changing again, going back to go forward. He is full of surprises, which any child will tell you bring joy because surprises and change are the core of living. To change this crazed world, we must change and find hope and joy along the way. Repetition will kill us. Dylan’s artistic metamorphoses and ingenious song writing offer offbeat sources of hope. Just listen. Having been compared to Frank Sinatra with these songs, he’s said, “You must be joking. To be mentioned in the same breath as him must be some sort of high compliment. As far as touching him goes, nobody touches him. Not me or anyone else …. But he never went away. All those things we thought were here to stay, they did go away. But he never did.” Sinatra, like Pistol Pete, didn’t fade away because he too inspired Dylan to inspire us to hope and carry on. If it feels dark and night-like to you, move sideways into the shadows. Look away and you’ll see the light. Or if you like basketball or dancing, like to move to the beat, listen to Dylan singing “Hurricane,” a long narrative song about the framing of the boxer Ruben “Hurricane” Carter. It will get your blood flowing, your passions riled, and your body moving. It’s perfect for practicing all the dribbling tricks Pistol Pete performed. I thought of using it at the Senior Olympics, but the beat seemed a little too rapid and excitable for the over fifty AARP crowd. The shirts were sending an undertaking message that I didn’t want made real. Hope is one thing, but traveling too fast is another. Anyway, one of my teammates was in swift pursuit of a woman there whom he described as a twin of his ideal woman – Pamela Anderson. He didn’t need any more excitement.
Edward Curtin is a writer who teaches at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and has published widely.
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Learn how globalist policies have taken advantage of America on so many levels Jon Bowne | Infowars.com - October 27, 2016 Comments
Do you hear that knock on your door?
Could it be an illegal alien canvasing your neighborhood begging you to vote for Hillary Clinton, the criminal candidate that will fight for the 750,000 illegals under DACA that has already been struck down by the Supreme Court?
The propaganda shills at the Washington Post report quote “Four years after the DACA program was launched, many of the beneficiaries are still in a kind of limbo, unsure about whether their status would be renewed under a President Trump and concerned that their family members could be deported.” NEWSLETTER SIGN UP Get the latest breaking news & specials from Alex Jones and the Infowars Crew. Related Articles | 0 |
Thursday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Howard Kurtz, anchor of the network’s “MediaBuzz” program took aim at critics in the “establishment media” that have bemoaned President Donald Trump’s selection of reporters at press conferences with foreign leaders, which have been mostly members of what they deem to be the conservative media. Kurtz called those critics “whiny” when asked by anchor Shannon Bream to react to CNN’s Jim Acosta, who took to the airwaves to criticize Trump for those selections. “It’s not just Jim Acosta,” Kurtz replied. “The establishment media as a whole is engaging in a lot of and hyperventilation over the president’s selection of questioners. And frankly, it’s sounding a little bit whiny. But here are the facts: Eight questions from American reporters at the four news conferences the president has held with foreign leaders. Six of those have come from Fox, Fox Business, The New York Post, Christian Broadcasting, Townhall and The Daily Caller. So this is quite deliberate. He hasn’t called on any of the broadcast networks or major newspapers. Some of the questions have been good and some questions not so good. It was embarrassing on Monday as the controversy swirled about National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, what would he do hours before he was forced to resign, that the questions asked at that news conference did not mention General Flynn. ” Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor | 1 |
During a press conference on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer ( ) argued that FBI Director James Comey’s firing doesn’t appear to be a coincidence, and that without a special prosecutor into the Russia investigation, “every American will rightly suspect that the decision to fire Director Comey was part of a . ” Schumer began by wondering why, if the Trump administration objected to Comey’s handling of the Clinton email investigation, they waited until today to fire him. He later added, “This is part of a deeply troubling pattern from the Trump administration. They fired Sally Yates. They fired Preet Bharara. And now they’ve fired Director Comey, the very man leading the investigation. This does not seem to be a coincidence. ” Schumer also argued that if an independent special prosecutor is not appointed to handle the Russia investigation, “every American will rightly suspect that the decision to fire Director Comey was part of a . ” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett | 1 |
By Claire Bernish
Congress would rather protect the profits of pharmaceutical companies than the health of those addicted to dangerous opioid drugs, says a former head of the DEA responsible for preventing abuse of medications.
Joseph Rannazzisi, former Deputy Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, asserts Big Pharma and its lobbyists have a “stranglehold” on legislators in Congress and have engineered the protection of a $9 billion per year industry over the health of American citizens, according to a report from the Guardian .
“Congress would rather listen to people who had a profit motive rather than a public health and safety motive,” he said, according to the outlet. “As long as the industry has this stranglehold through lobbyists, nothing’s going to change.”
Rannazzisi explained lobbyists have spent millions thwarting legislative and policy efforts to provide guidelines for reducing the prescribing of opioid medications closely related to heroin — and helped limit the DEA’s powers to discipline those who dispense unusually high dosages of the same.
A pharmacist himself, Rannazzisi severely criticized lawmakers he claims hold a double standard — publicly vowing to combat the opioid epidemic, while essentially working on behalf of pharmaceutical companies to ensure the industry’s profits.
“These congressmen and senators who are using this because they are up for re-election, it’s a sham,” he told the Guardian . “The congressmen and senators who are championing this fight, the ones who really believe in what they’re doing, their voices are drowned out because the industry has too much influence.”
With the unique insight of having been an insider, Rannazzisi excoriated the duplicity evidenced between legislators’ public lamentation of addiction and deaths from the opioid crisis during election years, and private efforts to protect drugmakers from liability.
And he would know. According to Rannazzisi’s LinkedIn profile, as Chief of Diversion, he had been tasked with “oversight and control of all regulatory compliance inspections and civil and criminal investigations of approximately 1.6 million DEA registrants” — but if the standards are lowered by Congress to allow greater leeway in prescribing opioids, the threshold of criminality is raised.
As the Guardian points out, legislation to fight the opioid epidemic, Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act , did, in fact, pass in July — but partisan controversy erupted when Republicans failed to provide funding to give the law sharp teeth. Democrats then issued a report titled “ Dying Waiting for Treatment ” in response, which “likened the Republican response to the opioid crisis to ‘using a piece of chewing gum to patch a cracked dam.’”
Indeed the report sharply criticized the bill, equating its policies to ‘empty promises’ for the lack of financial follow-through.
As the Washington Post detailed in a report earlier this month, the DEA launched an aggressive campaign to rein in distribution of opioids by pharmaceutical manufacturers to illegal ‘pill mills’ and corrupt pharmacies, who cared little whether the drugs wound up on the streets.
Headed by Rannazzisi, the Office of Diversion Control sent investigators into the field, and began issuing hefty fines and filing lawsuits against the distributors responsible for the proliferation of opioids on the streets.
But the disproportionately powerful pharmaceutical industry — fearing a potential significant loss in profits — fought back. Hard.
According to the Post , the deputy attorney general summoned Rannazzisi to a meeting in 2012, concerning the cases of two unnamed major drug companies.
“That meeting was to chastise me for going after industry, and that’s all that meeting was about,” the now-retired DEA official told the Post .
Then, in 2014, came what constituted a hand out to the pharmaceutical industry by the Department of Justice and congressional legislators: the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act — legislation initiated by the Healthcare Distribution Management Association — the industry group representing distributors at the heart of the controversy.
An analysis of lobbying records by the Post found “the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, spent $13 million lobbying House and Senate members and their staffs on the legislation and other issues between 2014 and 2016.”
Rannazzisi argued his case to congressional staffers in a phone conference in July 2014, and recalled telling them, “This bill passes the way it’s written we won’t be able to get immediate suspension orders, we won’t be able to stop the hemorrhaging of these drugs out of these bad pharmacies and these bad corporations.”
Stunned at the massive — and ultimately successful — effort to take the bite out of DEA attempts to hold distributors and drugmakers responsible for their role in an epidemic estimated to take 19,000 lives every year, Rannazzisi likened the legislation to a “free pass” for legal drug pushers.
“This doesn’t ensure patient access and it doesn’t help drug enforcement at all,” he told the Guardian. “What this bill does has nothing to do with the medical process. What this bill does is take away DEA’s ability to go after a pharmacist, a wholesaler, manufacturer or distributor.”
“This was a gift. A gift to the industry,” he added.
After heading the diversion office for a decade, Rannazzisi retired in 2015 — likely disgusted over legislators’ dedication to the legal drug industry, rather than the people whose interests they’re ostensibly obligated to protect.
“The bill passed because ‘Big Pharma’ wanted it to pass,” he told the Guardian in no uncertain terms. “The DEA is both an enforcement agency and a regulatory agency. When I was in charge what I tried to do was explain to my investigators and my agents that our job was to regulate the industry and they’re not going to like being regulated.”
Big Pharma relies overwhelmingly on lobbyists filling the coffers of politicians to ensure they ignore the crisis gripping the nation. As the Center for Public Integrity found , the Guardian noted, Purdue Pharma — at the heart of the epidemic for its highly-addictive drug introduced in the late 1990s, OxyContin — spent a breathtaking $740 million in the last ten years on congressional lobbying efforts.
However, Big Pharma’s power to influence policy and legislation extends far beyond simple but effective lobbying — the government-run Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (IPRCC) has been accused by Sen. Ron Wyden of being a tool to “weaken” CDC guidelines for limiting overprescribing of opioids.
Wyden wrote to Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell of his concerns the IPRCC had been staffed with ‘experts’ with conflicts of interest for their close ties to Big Pharma, including a scientist with a $1.5 million endowment from Purdue, reported the Guardian .
“You’ve got a panel that’s certainly got a fair number of people that have a vested interest in this problem of overprescribing. That’s something you’ve got to root out,” Wyden asserted . “The role of the pharmaceutical companies on these advisory panels troubles me greatly. Science is getting short shrift compared to the political clout of these influential interests.”
Families of countless addicts and victims of the opioid industry would undoubtedly find the direct influence of Big Pharma’s pro-opioid cash appalling — yet it continues to this day. Policies and legislation have not yet been given the appropriate funding needed to effectively combat the problem, which swirls out of control while politicians and drugmakers reap blood-tainted profits.
“Corporations have no conscience,” Rannazzisi flatly told the Guardian . “Unfortunately, with my job, I was the guy who had to go out and talk to families that lost kids. If one of those CEOs went out there and talked to anybody, or if one of those CEOs happened to lose a kid to this horrible, horrible domestic tragedy we have, I’d bet you they’d change their mind.
“When you sit with a parent who can’t understand why there’s so many pharmaceuticals out in the illicit marketplace, and why isn’t the government doing anything, well the DEA was doing something. Unfortunately what we’re trying to do is thwarted by people who are writing laws.” Delivered by The Daily Sheeple
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Donna Brazile, the corrupt head of the Democratic National Committee, assured everyone that she has a clear conscience about her unethical behavior at CNN. | 0 |
in: General Health , Organic Market Classifieds , Organics This vegan custard recipe was inspired by the Cambodian recipe for sangkya , also known as songkya . Traditional sangkya is an eggy custard with a strong coconut flavor. Most recipes call for quite a bit of sugar, so this recipe is a loosely adapted interpretation of the original. It’s much healthier, completely vegan, and is a great alternative to flour-based holiday treats. This seasonal dessert does need to chill for several hours before serving, so plan ahead. The coconut yogurt and soaked cashew base are held together with coconut, garbanzo, and chia seed flour. The sweetness of the maple syrup is balanced with lemon zest and juice. You can adjust the amount of lemon, or add more coconut flakes if you want a less tart or more coconutty flavor. Kabocha, or Japanese pumpkin, is the best choice for this recipe. Similar to butternut squash, the kabocha has fewer calories and many people say it tastes better. It’s a great source of beta-carotene, iron, vitamin C , and fiber. You can substitute pie pumpkins if you have trouble finding kabocha. When selecting your kabocha squash, choose a squat, wide shape over a taller, round one. This will give the top of the custard a better chance to brown while baking. You can also skip the pumpkin entirely if you’re just looking for a vegan baked custard recipe. If you choose this route, make sure to bake the custard for only twenty minutes. One item to note… This recipe makes enough custard to fill a pumpkin with a 25 in. (63 cm) circumference. If you’re using a smaller pumpkin, you may want to halve this recipe. I recommend keeping a small (5”) springform pan ready for any leftover custard. Just bake it along with your pumpkin for twenty minutes and allow to cool. How Did Pumpkins Get to Japan? If you thought pumpkin and squash came from the Americas, you are absolutely correct. Portuguese traders and explorers originally brought squash and pumpkins from Brazil to Japan in the 16th century [ 1 ] while the Portuguese Empire was expanding into South Asia. The kabocha squash is simply a variety of Cucurbita maxima —the same species that produces the gigantic pumpkins that win ribbons at state fairs. I don’t recommend you try to make this recipe with one of those monsters, though. It could feed an army, but the cooking time would take days! Their smaller Japanese cousins, however, do quite nicely. In Japan, the squash is called Kuri Kabocha , or “nutty pumpkin”. [ 2 ] If you’ve ever tasted kabocha you’ll understand the “nutty” moniker. The texture is fluffy and reminiscent of chestnuts, but the flavor is sweet, like a butternut squash crossed with a sweet potato. Kabocha squash have dark, forest-green skin, a slightly squished or flattened shape, and brilliant orange flesh. [ 3 ] You can actually leave your kabocha out as a decoration if you’re going to use them within a few days. Otherwise, store them in a dark, cool area for up to a month. [ 4 ] Vegan Custard Stuffed Pumpkin Recipe Pre-prep: soak the cashews in lukewarm water for 2-4 hours Prep time: 20 minutes to hollow the pumpkin and prepare the filling Bake time: 45 minutes at 400°F (250° C) Chill time: 3-4 hours or overnight Servings: 10 Sharp spoon to hollow out pumpkin Citrus reamer (optional) Food processor or powerful blender Silicone baking mat or parchment paper Baking sheet 1 medium organic kabocha squash (about 25” in circumference) 2 cups raw cashews, soaked and strained 2 cups organic vanilla coconut vegan yogurt (try our vegan yogurt recipe , just add 1 tbsp maple syrup and 1 tsp vanilla) 2 tbsp organic coconut flour 1 tbsp organic chia seed flour 1 tbsp organic garbanzo bean flour ⅔ cup organic maple syrup Zest and juice of 2 large organic lemons (about 5 tbsp) 3 tsp pure, organic vanilla extract ½ cup organic coconut flakes, plus extra (optional) 1 tsp Himalayan crystal salt Instructions Start by preparing the custard. Drain excess water from the soaked cashews. Add cashews, yogurt, coconut flour, chia seed flour, garbanzo bean flour, vanilla extract, and Himalayan crystal salt to the food processor and pulse until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add half the maple syrup and lemon juice and pulse for 15 seconds to combine. Taste custard to determine how much of the remaining maple syrup, lemon juice, and coconut flakes to add. Continue pulsing to mix ingredients. Once the taste suits your preference, allow the custard to remain in the food processor while you carve the squash. Preheat oven to 400°F. Use a serrated knife to cut the crown off the squash. Start a cut a couple inches from the woody stem of the squash. Continue to cut in a circle around the stem. Pull the crown off the squash and set aside. With a sharp spoon, thoroughly remove the seeds and sinew from the inside the pumpkin and discard. Using a spatula, slowly pour the custard into the pumpkin. Do not overfill. Leave enough room to replace the crown. The custard will rise slightly as it cooks and it will need this space to expand. You can either discard the crown or bake it alongside the custard. Add any remaining custard to the springform pan and smooth flat with a spatula. Line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Place the filled squash, crown, and springform pan on the cookie sheet and place in the oven. If baking the crown, set it next to the squash for baking. Do not put it back on top yet. After twenty minutes, remove the springform pan and place on the counter to cool. You can eat this mini custard while you’re waiting for the main attraction to chill in the fridge. After the squash has been cooking for 40 minutes, check its status. Using the tip of a small knife or fork, poke a small hole in the squash. If it easily cuts into the flesh, congrats! It’s done! If the squash isn’t soft enough, bake at 400°F for another 15 minutes. Let the squash cool on the counter for about ten minutes, then transfer to a plate or large glass bowl to chill in the fridge. If you baked the crown you can put it back on the squash. Chill the custard for at least 3 hours before serving. Use a sharp serrated knife to cut thin slices. Enjoy! The Difference Between Squash and Pumpkin Because their genetic history is intertwined, squash , pumpkin , and gourd are often used interchangeably. [ 5 ] As a general rule, you carve pumpkins, cook squash, and decorate with gourds. [ 6 ] If you let that sink in, you might wonder how it is that we have so many pumpkin-imbued treats every fall. Well, the truth is, our traditional “pumpkin” pies and other tasty dishes are actually made with squash. [ 7 ] Pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin cookies, even canned pumpkin actually contain squash. Don’t despair, it’s just a quirk of taxonomy. Autumnal pumpkin delicacies are usually made using winter squash that resembles carving pumpkins, they’re just not officially classified as pumpkins. Proper pumpkins aren’t eaten because they’re watery, stringy, and don’t taste that good. Winter squash is smaller, softer, and sweeter than its pumpkin cousin. If you feel lost and confused, don’t worry—even the FDA has trouble deciding whether or not you’re eating a pumpkin or a squash. [ 8 ] What pumpkin (or squash) treat do you look forward to every autumn? Leave a comment and let us know! References Center, UMass. Kabocha. 2016. Web. 17 Oct. 2016. | 0 |
President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of wiretapping his campaign headquarters during the election in a series of messages on Twitter. [“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory,” he wrote on Twitter. “Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” Trump questioned whether it was legal for Obama to be wiretapping a presidential candidate while he was still in office. “How low has President Obama gone to tapp (sic) my phones during the very sacred election process,” he wrote. “This is . Bad (or sick) guy! Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!” Trump is likely referring to calls from talk radio hosts Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh to investigate the nature of the Obama administration’s investigations of his campaign aides for their communications with Russia, as Breitbart News editor Joel Pollak reported. As former Heat Street editor Louise Mensch reported the day before the election, “sources with links to the community” confirmed that a FISA court had granted a FISA court warrant in October to monitor activities in Trump tower. They were previously denied a request in June, according to the report as well as a report in the Guardian. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the Obama team classified the investigation at the lowest possible level, allowing the data gathered from the investigation to be shared and leaked widely within the administration. In January, The New York Times reported that intelligence reports based on some of the wiretapped communications had been provided to the Obama White House even though there was “no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing” between Russian officials and associates of Trump. On Twitter, Trump suggested that he might even have legal options against the former president. “I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!” he wrote. | 1 |
U. S. Vice President Mike Pence held a joint press conference with European Council President Donald Tusk on Monday in which Pence affirmed United States commitment to the European Union while also raising questions as to whether the U. S. supports the European Union’s “freedom of movement. ”[In the joint press conference with Tusk, Vice President Pence stated in part: Saturday, as President Tusk said, I was pleased to address the Munich Security Council to speak about the importance of the strategic alliance [inaudible] … entered the bond so many years ago in the North American Treaty Organization. But the president did ask me to come here, to Brussels, to the home of the European Union, and deliver an additional message, so today it is my privilege on behalf of President Trump to express the strong commitment of the United States to continued cooperation and partnership with the European Union. Whatever our differences, our two continents share the same marriage, the same values, and above all, the same purpose — to promote peace and prosperity through freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. And to those objectives, we will remain committed. This has been European Union’s goal since before its formal founding in 1993. What began as a modest Western European trade agreement in 1951, freedom of movement, has grown into a commitment to the four freedoms — the freedom of movement, goods, capital, services and people, the common currency, and common approach to foreign and security policy. Pence continued speaking of the history of the European Union (EU). He moved to speak of U. S. and EU economies and “reaffirm our commitment to a free, fair and flourishing economies that undergird our success and a cooperation in achieving that. Maintaining and strengthening our economic vitality will require hard but necessary choices. ” Pence also reaffirmed the U. S. commitment to fighting terrorism, mentioned the Islamic terror bombings on Brussels that killed more than 30 people, then called on the European community to intensify efforts to fight radical Islamic terrorism alongside the United States. “This will require greater coordination and among EU member states and between the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” he said. Speaking of Russian aggression, Pence said, “In addition to confronting terrorism together, clearly, we must stand strong in defense of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nations in Europe. ” On Tuesday, Reuters reported that in the week leading up to the vice president’s meetings in Brussels and affirmation of U. S. commitment to the EU, in a conversation with a German diplomat, White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon described the EU as a flawed construct. He cited three confidential sources that had been briefed on the meeting. The sources stated that Bannon conveyed favor for bilateral relations with Europe. One White House official claimed to Reuters a more brief version of the interaction between Bannon and German ambassador to Washington Peter Wittig than the three other sources. The three sources reportedly described Bannon’s message to the diplomat as favoring strong nationalist movements. One of the three described the White House position on the EU as not seeing an unraveling of the EU as having grave consequences. The vice president spoke at the Munich Security Conference in the days before his visit to Brussels as part of his first trip abroad since taking office. Last week, the conference chairman, French Foreign Minister Ayrault, called on Pence to affirm during his visit that the U. S. supports the EU and was not aiming to break up the organization, according to Reuters. Pence made the trip to the security conference on behalf of President Trump. A senior White House policy adviser previewed the trip last week, promising an overarching message of reassurance. In his speech to conference participants, he brought this promise from President Trump: “We will stand with Europe today and every day we are bound together by the same noble ideals — freedom, democracy, justice, and the rule of law. ” At Monday’s joint press conference, Pence stated, “The United States commitment to the European Union is steadfast and enduring. President Tusk, President Trump, and I look forward to working together with you and the European Union to deepen our political and economic partnership. ” During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump made clear that he supported the United Kingdom’s “Brexit” vote to leave the European Union. The day after the June 23 Brexit vote, Trump compared the vote to the upcoming presidential election in the U. S. and attributed the U. K. vote to leave the EU, and prospectively the U. S. presidential vote, in large part to people’s desire to control borders and block illegal immigration. USA Today quoted Trump as stating, “All over the world [people are] angry. They are angry at the borders. They are angry over people coming into the country and taking over. ” In late January, European Parliament chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, who vehemently opposes Brexit, said, “We have a third front undermining the European Union, and it is Donald Trump, who has joined [the parties] from across the Atlantic. He has talked fairly favorably of other countries wanting to break away from the EU and that he hoped for disintegration from European Union,” according to the Telegraph. In the Monday press conference, President Tusk emphasized a particular portion of his meeting with Vice President Pence, saying, “I asked the vice president directly if he shared my opinions on three key matters: the international order, security, and the attitude of the new American administration towards the European Union. ” Tusk continued, “In reply to these three matters, I heard today from Vice President Pence three times ‘yes.’ After such a positive declaration, both Europeans and Americans must simply practice what they preach. ” Request for comment from the vice president on whether the State Department had a role in statements made at Monday’s joint press conference returned no comment by the time of this report. Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana. | 1 |
Over the last seven years, most states have banned texting by drivers, and public service campaigns have tried an array of tactics — “It can wait,” among them — to persuade people to put down their phones when they are behind the wheel. Yet the problem, by just about any measure, appears to be getting worse. Americans confess in surveys that they are still texting while driving, as well as using Facebook and Snapchat and taking selfies. Road fatalities, which had fallen for years, are now rising sharply, up roughly 8 percent in 2015 over the previous year, according to preliminary estimates. That is partly because people are driving more, but Mark Rosekind, the chief of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said distracted driving was “only increasing, unfortunately. ” “Radical change requires radical ideas,” he said in a speech last month, referring broadly to the need to improve road safety. So to try to change a distinctly modern behavior, legislators and public health experts are reaching back to an old strategy: They want to treat distracted driving like drunken driving. Harvard’s School of Public Health, for example, is developing a new push based on the effective designated driver campaign it orchestrated in the United States beginning in the late 1980s. Candace Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, has helped found a new group this year, Partnership for Driving, which is circulating a petition to pressure social media companies like Facebook and Twitter to discourage multitasking by drivers, in the same way that Ms. Lightner pushed beer and liquor companies to discourage drunken driving. The most provocative idea, from lawmakers in New York, is to give police officers a new device that is the digital equivalent of the Breathalyzer — a roadside test called the Textalyzer. It would work like this: An officer arriving at the scene of a crash could ask for the phones of any drivers involved and use the Textalyzer to tap into the operating system to check for recent activity. The technology could determine whether a driver had used the phone to text, email or do anything else that is forbidden under New York’s driving laws, which prohibit drivers from holding phones to their ear. Failure to hand over a phone could lead to the suspension of a driver’s license, similar to the consequences for refusing a Breathalyzer. The proposed legislation faces hurdles to becoming a law, including privacy concerns. But Félix W. Ortiz, a Democratic assemblyman who was a sponsor of the bipartisan Textalyzer bill, said it would not give the police access to the contents of any emails or texts. It would simply give them a way to catch multitasking drivers, he said. “We need something on the books where people’s behavior can change,” said Mr. Ortiz, who pushed for the state’s 2001 ban on devices by drivers. If the Textalyzer bill becomes law, he said, “people are going to be more afraid to put their hands on the cellphone. ” If it were to pass in New York, the first state to propose such an idea, it could well spread in the same way that the rules did after New York adopted them. Ms. Lightner said the intensifying efforts around distracted driving “are the equivalent of the early ’80s” in drunken driving, when pressure led to tougher laws and campaigns emphasizing corporate responsibility. Distracted driving “is not being treated as seriously as drunk driving, and it needs to be,” she said. “It’s dangerous, devastating, crippling, and it’s a killer, and still socially acceptable,” she added. The safety administration plans to release the final fatality numbers as early as Thursday but previously announced that the numbers appeared to be up sharply. Jay Winsten, an associate dean and the director of the Center for Health Communication at Harvard’s School of Public Health, said, “We’re losing the battle against distracted driving. ” Dr. Winsten is developing a campaign based on efforts that were ultimately backed by major television networks and promoted by presidents, sports leagues and corporations. He said the new campaign would urge drivers to be more attentive, rather than scold them for multitasking, and would encourage parents to set a better example for their children. The campaign, though still in development, has already garnered support from YouTube, which has agreed to recruit stars on the website to create original content involving the message. Dr. Winsten said he had also been in talks with ATT, Nascar, a major automaker and potential Hollywood partners. Dr. Winsten said the new campaign could be a kind of carrot to encourage better behavior by drivers, but he added that a stick was also needed. While the Textalyzer raises potential privacy concerns, it might help enforce texting bans that have so far proved ineffective, he said. “Right now, we have a reed, not a stick,” Dr. Winsten said, adding that the Textalyzer would “make enforcement that much more credible. ” Now, the police can obtain a warrant for cellphone records, but the process takes time and resources, limiting the likelihood of investigation, Mr. Ortiz said. But those protections are there for good reason, according to privacy advocates, who oppose the New York bill. “It really invites police to seize phones without justification or warrant,” said Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. A unanimous decision by the Supreme Court in 2014 ruled that the police could not search a cellphone without a warrant, even after an arrest, suggesting an uphill fight on the New York legislation. But the bill’s authors say they have based the Textalyzer concept on the same “implied consent” legal theory that allows the police to use the Breathalyzer: When drivers obtain a license, they are consenting in advance to a Breathalyzer, or else they will risk the suspension of their license. Matt Slater, the chief of staff for State Senator Terrence Murphy of New York, a Republican and a sponsor of the bill, said the constitutional concerns could and should be solved. “It’s monumental if we can get this done,” he said. Mr. Slater said he hoped it could happen this session, which ends in June, but, he added, it may take several tries and may require broader public support. “We’re facing the same hurdles we faced with drunk driving,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure safety and civil liberties are equally protected. ” Fourteen states prohibit the use of devices by drivers, and 46 ban texting, with penalties ranging from a $25 fine in South Carolina to $200 fines elsewhere, and even points assessed against the driver’s license. A handful of states have strengthened their original bans, including New York, which in 2014 adopted tougher sanctions that include a suspension of a permit or a license suspension for drivers under 21, while a second offense calls for a suspension. Deborah Hersman, the president of the nonprofit National Safety Council and a former chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said she liked the Textalyzer idea because it would give the police an important tool and would help gather statistics on the number of crashes caused by distraction. She said the comparison was apt because looking at and using a phone can be as dangerous as driving drunk. “Why are we making a distinction between a substance you consume and one that consumes you?” Ms. Hersman said. The Textalyzer legislation has been called Evan’s Law for Evan Lieberman, who was asleep in the back of a car on June 16, 2011, when the vehicle, driven by a friend, lost control. Mr. Lieberman, 19, died from his injuries, and his father, Ben Lieberman, spent months trying to gain access to phone records, which ultimately showed that the driver had been texting. Ben Lieberman became an advocate for driving safety, and in December, looking to develop the Textalyzer concept, he approached the mobile forensics company Cellebrite, which was involved in helping the government find a way into a locked iPhone, and which works with police departments around the country. Jim Grady, the chief executive of Cellebrite U. S. A. said that the Textalyzer software had not been fully built because it was not clear what a final law might require, but that it would not be too technologically challenging. “I hope it will have the same effect as the Breathalyzer,” he said. | 1 |
On the Monday edition of Breitbart News Daily, broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM Eastern, Breitbart Alex Marlow will continue our discussion of President Trump’s first foreign trip. [Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to President Trump and author of the bestselling book Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War, will discuss Trump’s speech in Riyadh on the issue of Islamic terror. We’ll also hear from Pamela Geller, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) and author of The Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America and Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance. Live from London, Rome, and Jerusalem, Breitbart correspondents will provide updates on the latest international news. Breitbart News Daily is the first live, conservative radio enterprise to air seven days a week. SiriusXM Vice President for news and talk Dave Gorab called the show “the conservative news show of record. ” Follow Breitbart News on Twitter for live updates during the show. Listeners may call into the show at: . | 1 |
WASHINGTON — In what appears to be the largest leak of C. I. A documents in history, WikiLeaks released on Tuesday thousands of pages describing sophisticated software tools and techniques used by the agency to break into smartphones, computers and even televisions. The documents amount to a detailed, highly technical catalog of tools. They include instructions for compromising a wide range of common computer tools for use in spying: the online calling service Skype networks documents in PDF format and even commercial antivirus programs of the kind used by millions of people to protect their computers. A program called Wrecking Crew explains how to crash a targeted computer, and another tells how to steal passwords using the autocomplete function on Internet Explorer. Other programs were called CrunchyLimeSkies, ElderPiggy, AngerQuake and McNugget. The document dump was the latest coup for the antisecrecy organization and a serious blow to the C. I. A. which uses its hacking abilities to carry out espionage against foreign targets. The initial release, which WikiLeaks said was only the first installment in a larger collection of secret C. I. A. material, included 7, 818 web pages with 943 attachments, many of them partly redacted by WikiLeaks editors to avoid disclosing the actual code for cyberweapons. The entire archive of C. I. A. material consists of several hundred million lines of computer code, the group claimed. In one revelation that may especially trouble the tech world if confirmed, WikiLeaks said that the C. I. A. and allied intelligence services have managed to compromise both Apple and Android smartphones, allowing their officers to bypass the encryption on popular services such as Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram. According to WikiLeaks, government hackers can penetrate smartphones and collect “audio and message traffic before encryption is applied. ” Unlike the National Security Agency documents Edward J. Snowden gave to journalists in 2013, they do not include examples of how the tools have been used against actual foreign targets. That could limit the damage of the leak to national security. But the breach was highly embarrassing for an agency that depends on secrecy. Robert M. Chesney, a specialist in national security law at the University of Texas at Austin, likened the C. I. A. trove to National Security Agency hacking tools disclosed last year by a group calling itself the Shadow Brokers. “If this is true, it says that N. S. A. isn’t the only one with an advanced, persistent problem with operational security for these tools,” Mr. Chesney said. “We’re getting bit time and again. ” There was no public confirmation of the authenticity of the documents, which were produced by the C. I. A. ’s Center for Cyber Intelligence and are mostly dated from 2013 to 2016. But one government official said the documents were real, and a former intelligence officer said some of the code names for C. I. A. programs, an organization chart and the description of a C. I. A. hacking base appeared to be genuine. The agency appeared to be taken by surprise by the document dump on Tuesday morning. A C. I. A. spokesman, Dean Boyd, said, “We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents. ” In some regard, the C. I. A. documents confirmed and filled in the details on abilities that have long been suspected in technical circles. “The people who know a lot about security and hacking assumed that the C. I. A. was at least investing in these capabilities, and if they weren’t, then somebody else was — China, Iran, Russia, as well as a lot of other private actors,” said Beau Woods, the deputy director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council in Washington. He said the disclosures may raise concerns in the United States and abroad about “the trustworthiness of technology where cybersecurity can impact human life and public safety. ” There is no evidence that the C. I. A. hacking tools have been used against Americans. But Ben Wizner, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, said the documents suggest that the government has deliberately allowed vulnerabilities in phones and other devices to persist to make spying easier. “Those vulnerabilities will be exploited not just by our security agencies, but by hackers and governments around the world,” Mr. Wizner said. “Patching security holes immediately, not stockpiling them, is the best way to make everyone’s digital life safer. ” WikiLeaks did not identify the source of the documents, which it called Vault 7, but said they had been “circulated among former U. S. government hackers and contractors in an unauthorized manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive. ” WikiLeaks said the source, in a statement, set out policy questions that “urgently need to be debated in public, including whether the C. I. A. ’s hacking capabilities exceed its mandated powers and the problem of public oversight of the agency. ” The source, the group said, “wishes to initiate a public debate about the security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyberweapons. ” But James Lewis, an expert on cybersecurity at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, raised another possibility: that a foreign state, most likely Russia, stole the documents by hacking or other means and delivered them to WikiLeaks, which may not know how they were obtained. Mr. Lewis noted that, according to American intelligence agencies, Russia hacked Democratic targets during the presidential campaign and gave thousands of emails to WikiLeaks for publication. “I think a foreign power is much more likely the source of these documents than a C. I. A. ” Mr. Lewis said. At a time of increasing concern about the privacy of calls and messages, the revelations did not suggest that the C. I. A. can actually break the encryption used by popular messaging apps. Instead, by penetrating the user’s phone, the agency can make the encryption irrelevant by intercepting messages and calls before their content is encrypted, or, on the other end, after messages are decrypted. WikiLeaks, which has sometimes been accused of recklessly leaking information that could do harm, said it had redacted names and other identifying information from the collection. It said it was not releasing the computer code for actual, usable weapons “until a consensus emerges on the technical and political nature of the C. I. A. ’s program and how such ‘weapons’ should be analyzed, disarmed and published. ” The codes names used for projects revealed in the WikiLeaks documents appear to reflect the likely demographic of the cyberexperts employed by the C. I. A. — that is, young and male. There are numerous references to “Harry Potter,” Pokémon and Adderall, the drug used to treat hyperactivity. A number of projects were named after whiskey brands. Some were single malt scotches, such as Laphroaig and Ardbeg. Others were from more pedestrian labels, such as Wild Turkey, which was described by its programmers, in mock dictionary style, as “(n.) A animal of the avian variety that has not been domesticated. Also a type of alcohol with a high proof (151). ” Some of the details of the C. I. A. programs might have come from the plot of a spy novel for the cyberage, revealing numerous highly classified — and, in some cases, exotic — hacking programs. One program, Weeping Angel, uses Samsung “smart” televisions as covert listening devices. According to the WikiLeaks news release, even when it appears to be turned off, the television “operates as a bug, recording conversations in the room and sending them over the internet to a covert C. I. A. server. ” The release said the program was developed in cooperation with British intelligence. If C. I. A. agents did manage to hack the smart TVs, they would not be the only ones. Since their release, televisions have been a focus for hackers and cybersecurity experts, many of whom see the sets’ ability to record and transmit conversations as a potentially dangerous vulnerability. In early 2015, Samsung started to include in the fine print terms of service for its smart TVs a warning that the television sets could capture background conversations. “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition,” the warning said. Another program described in the documents, named Umbrage, is a voluminous library of cyberattack techniques that the C. I. A. has collected from malware produced by other countries, including Russia. According to the WikiLeaks release, the large number of techniques allows the C. I. A. to mask the origin of some of its attacks and confuse forensic investigators. The WikiLeaks material includes lists of software tools that the C. I. A. uses to create exploits and malware to carrying out hacking. Many of the tools are those used by developers around the world: coding languages, such as Python, and tools like Sublime Text, a program used to write code, and Git, a tool that helps developers collaborate. But the agency also appears to rely on software designed specifically for spies, such as Ghidra, which in one of the documents is described as “a reverse engineering environment created by the N. S. A. ” The Vault 7 release marks the latest in a series of huge leaks that have changed the landscape for government and corporate secrecy. In scale, the Vault 7 archive appears to fall into the same category as the biggest leaks of classified information in recent years, including the diplomatic cables taken by Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst, and given to WikiLeaks in 2010, and the hundreds of thousands of National Security Agency documents taken by Mr. Snowden in 2013. In the business world, the Panama Papers and several other leaks have laid bare the details of secret offshore companies used by wealthy and corrupt people to hide their assets. Both government and corporate leaks have been made possible by the ease of downloading, storing and transferring millions of documents in seconds or minutes, a sea change from the use of slow photocopying for some earlier leaks, including the Pentagon Papers in 1971. | 1 |
by Yves Smith
By Nick Cunningham, a Vermont-based writer on energy and environmental issues. You can follow him on twitter at @nickcunningham1. Originally published at OilPrice
Donald Trump’s victory could ultimately lead to a lot more oil pipelines moving forward, one sector of the fossil fuel industry specifically targeted by environmentalists.
The most controversial project right now, the Dakota Access Pipeline, received a jolt from Tuesday’s result. The more than 1,100-mile pipeline, valued at $3.7 billion, would carry oil from North Dakota to refineries in Illinois. The Obama administration has requested a temporary halt to construction, although the company behind the project, Energy Transfer Partners, has pressed forward, ignoring the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps reiterated a request for a stoppage this week, but the outcome is up in the air.
The Dakota Access Pipeline has been reeling from protests, work stoppages, bad press and a federal government willing to listen to the grievances from the Native American community affected. Trump has shown little inclination of being as accommodating, so the Dakota Access Pipeline has gone from being a project on the ropes to one with a great deal of momentum. Unless the Corps rescinds a permit in the next few months, the project will move forward. Even if it is blocked, however, it would likely be revived under a Trump administration. Energy Transfer Partners’ stock price surged as much as 9 percent on Wednesday and was up more than 3 percent on Thursday. The company hopes to complete construction by the first quarter of 2017.
And Dakota Access’ predecessor, at least in terms of a national flashpoint, could also be coming back from the dead. TransCanada issued a statement on Wednesday, telegraphing the company’s interest in reviving the defunct Keystone XL Pipeline, which would take Alberta tar sands to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. “TransCanada remains fully committed to building Keystone XL,” spokesman Mark Cooper said in the post-election statement. “We are evaluating ways to engage the new administration on the benefits, the jobs and the tax revenues this project brings to the table.” TransCanada’s stock price jumped more than 2 percent on Wednesday.
During the campaign Trump said that he supported the pipeline, but wanted the U.S. to get a “better deal.” His words are often conflicting and contradictory – he has also said that he is for an “America First” energy plan that would remove “all barriers to responsible energy production.” So there is no reason to think that he wouldn’t simply revive the project as is, especially given that he is surrounding himself with advisors from the oil and gas industry.
Beyond these two projects, the oil industry is hoping for broader easing of permitting and regulations on pipeline construction. The Army Corps under Trump could clear the way for energy infrastructure, downgrading its scrutiny of the effects on rivers and lakes from oil pipelines. “We’re hopeful the pipeline approval process will now be allowed to work without political interference,” John Stoody, vice president of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines, told E&E News. And with plans to dismantle much of the EPA, the ability to break ground and lay down pipeline could get a whole lot easier.
While Trump supports the Keystone XL Pipeline, his presidency complicates things for Canada a bit. For one, he wants to renegotiate NAFTA. But leaving that aside, the resuscitation of Keystone XL could create problems for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was thought to be nearing an approval for the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, which would take Alberta oil to the Pacific Coast. It is not obvious that both the Keystone XL Pipeline and Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline both need to be built.
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Alberta’s Premier is not ready to put all her eggs in one basket by trusting that the pathway to Canada’s south for oil will be cleared up. “We must continue to work to diversity Canada’s energy markets, and to build trading relationships with more than one buyer,” Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said in a statement following Trump’s victory. “For that reason, a Canadian pipeline to tidewater remains an important priority for Alberta.”
Finally, the environmental movement has been left shocked and terrified over what a Trump administration would mean for the environment, but they have vowed not to give an inch. “I think they will greenlight lots of fossil fuel projects,” Jane Kleeb, a key activist fighting the Keystone XL Pipeline in Nebraska, told E&E News . “And we’ll fight all of them.” 0 0 0 0 0 0 | 0 |
Two weeks ago, Pita Taufatofua gained a sudden, if fleeting, international fame. At the opening ceremony of the Rio Games, Taufatofua carried the flag of the tiny South Pacific nation Tonga while shirtless and covered in coconut oil, his sculptured torso gleaming. Besides lighting up the internet, his appearance earned him a segment on the “Today” show, in which the hosts enthusiastically, and to some controversy, oiled him up. But Taufatofua is fundamentally an athlete. And with the Olympics almost over, he finally got his chance to be an athlete on Saturday morning, in the heavyweight taekwondo competition. Taufatofua was up against it. At 32, he was fighting in his first Olympics after three failed attempts to qualify. His opponent, Sajjad Mardani of Iran, had won a silver medal at the 2013 world championships. Taufatofua saluted the fans when he arrived at the mat. They quickly adopted him, chanting, “Tonga, Tonga. ” Mardani struck quickly. The score was and then . Taufatofua gamely attacked, trying punches and spinning kicks. When he scored his one and only point, the crowd exploded, and he raised a fist in triumph. Final score: . “I lost, and I’m smiling,” Taufatofua said afterward. “I got a point, and it was the happiest point I ever got in my life. ” It is easy to be cynical about the pieties of the Olympics, and some in the skeptical press corps may have found Taufatofua, who works as a counselor for homeless children, too good to be true. But why not end the Games with a dose of Tongan idealism? Taufatofua says his goal is to “bring the world closer together. ” A sincere good luck to him. VICTOR MATHER I was moving around the Maracanã stadium during the opening ceremony when I bumped into performers dressed in critter costumes in a hall leading to the stands. They had left the field a few minutes before, and with a sign warning cast members not to go into the stands, they were essentially forbidden to watch the opening ceremony that they had helped to make. Still, they seemed enchanted and proud of the ceremony some had teary eyes. I was happy that they broke the rule and got to see a bit of the beautiful show they had helped put on. As it turned out, it was common to see the work force trying to sneak a peek at the Olympics. Ticket prices kept the Games out of reach for Brazilians, and workers at the Games, well, had to work. But I saw cleaning people off to the side, trying to watch the judoka Rafaela Silva win Brazil’s first gold medal of the Games. SERGIO PEÇANHA I arrived late to a men’s basketball game between Argentina and the United States, and the press section was filled to overflowing. So much the better. I wandered out into the stands and found a seat among the Argentines, who had descended on Rio de Janeiro by the many thousands for this game. I am a lifetime Mets fan, which describes its own sort of insanity, and I found gloriously lunatic and recognizable companions. For two hours, they jumped up and down in unison and sang. They screamed they whistled they cried. And I can say with clinical accuracy that for the first time in my life, as the far bigger American squad asserted its writ and the game slipped away from Argentina, I saw men trying to pull their hair out. Sitting among fans is one of the great joys of the Olympics. In Manaus, in heat so radiant you could all but touch it, I sat among Colombian soccer fans who rained wonderfully creative chants on Hope Solo, the American goalkeeper. The Brazilians joined in — Solo had earlier implied that Brazil could be enjoyed only with a mosquito net and a scarf over the face — with chants of “Zika! Zika!” (My interpreter told me of many other wondrously creative insults, almost all of which, unfortunately, cannot be published here.) MICHAEL POWELL News conferences are always overstuffed with reporters and prone to zaniness when Usain Bolt is involved. Just before the Games began, Bolt held a media event in Rio de Janeiro featuring dancers and a journalist who rapped a question. Late Thursday, after he had won the gold medal in the dash, Bolt arrived at a news conference room and plopped into a chair between Andre De Grasse of Canada and Christophe Lemaitre of France, who had won silver and bronze. Before the athletes had stepped onto the stage, a press officer for the Olympics had suggested to the dozens of reporters that they play a prank on Bolt by directing questions only to the other runners. The lark lasted for about three questions before a local journalist, who had apparently missed the directive, started to ask Bolt something. The room filled with boos, and then laughter, leaving Bolt with a confused smile. Moments later, another reporter took the microphone. “Usain, let’s imagine Bob Marley is alive,” he began. The reporter wanted to know what Marley, a Jamaica native like Bolt, would have named a song had he written one about Bolt. The crowd broke up again with laughter, but Bolt grinned and took the question in stride. “‘Greatest of All Time,’” he said. ANDREW KEH The Olympics are a realm where displays of grace and boorish behavior occur one after another, and sometimes simultaneously. To wit, the men’s badminton match between Scott Evans of Ireland and Ygor Coelho de Oliveira of Brazil. Even before a point was scored, history was made: De Oliveira was the first Brazilian man to compete at the Olympics in the sport. He had learned at an academy, by his father, in a favela not far from where the competition unfolded. Naturally, the stands were chockablock with de Oliveira’s fans. Chants of “Ygor, Ygor” might have been among the most joyful noises made in the last three weeks. But much of the glee was drained from the arena in the first game, which de Oliveira lost, . Evans’s overhead smash seemed unreturnable. De Oliveira made a few unforced errors. It looked hopeless. But in the second game, de Oliveira elevated his game. He stopped making mistakes and started putting away the shuttlecock with dink shots that barely cleared the net. When he took a commanding lead and then eked out a win in the second game, his fans were in a state of near hysteria. That proved to be the peak of de Oliveira mania. He lost the third and final game, and it was not close. When the match ended, Evans acted as if he had won the gold and the lottery. He ran in circles. He took off his shirt. He left de Oliveira at the net, waiting for a handshake. It was the kind of obnoxiousness usually seen only in professional wrestling, where performers want to be booed. The Brazilian crowd obliged, of course. But de Oliveira kept his poise, a mature beyond his years — and perhaps already plotting his path to the next Olympics. DAVID SEGAL Soldiers and police officers provided a constant backdrop at the Rio Olympics, and after a while you didn’t pay much attention to their presence. Still, an armed escort for a news media bus was out of the ordinary. When one did appear late on a Saturday night while I was riding back to the press center from an outlying venue, I took notice. What was striking, though, at least to me, was that none of the other two dozen journalists aboard seemed to notice. And what were my fellow members of the news media doing while we traveled along a highway with a soldier or a police officer (hard to say which) on a motorcycle in front of us and a truck filled with soldiers bringing up the rear? Well, some were dozing. (Covering the Olympics is a grind, and it was late.) All the others were looking at their phones. This was the bus line that had gained attention when a window was shattered by something — perhaps a bullet, more likely a rock. That may have explained why, days later, we were suddenly getting an escort. It doesn’t explain, of course, why no one else noticed. But did I mention it was late? JAY SCHREIBER Badminton players take their shuttlecocks seriously. The little feathery birds, after all, are critical to the game. I got a sense of this when I wrote about how they are made. Olympic referees and representatives of Yonex, which made the shuttles used in Rio, talked lovingly about them. So I asked where they were kept, assuming they would be in a special secret vault. I was led behind a giant black curtain that separated the three main courts and the fans from the event organizers and the athletes. Within 50 feet, I came upon a door to a temporary office. I could have scaled the flimsy walls, and there was no roof. Inside was a storage space with a bunch of cardboard boxes holding the shuttlecocks. How dull is that? Still, the sneak peek made me realize how finicky athletes are about their pursuits and their equipment, and how the rest of the world will never fully understand. KEN BELSON Crowds of ticket buyers swelled in one area Wednesday night, but no sporting events were taking place there. Far from the Olympic Park, in the Botafogo neighborhood, a neoclassical mansion sparkled. Security personnel, some wearing thobes, traditional Qatari men’s tops, directed gawkers to the ticket window. For 20 reais — a little more than $6 — they could find out why so many people had flocked there during the past two weeks. This was part of an entirely separate competition, carried out by large multinational companies and foreign governments looking to promote their causes with hospitality suites. In scale, the Qatari government left all others in the dust, renting a site that the Daros Latinamerica Collection, an art exhibitor, owned until last year. The collection sold what is still called Casa Daros to a Brazilian school backed by the billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann, a friend of Warren Buffett’s. Inside, Brazilians donned abayas, a type of traditional Qatari women’s garb. A museum feel still prevailed, as several rooms displayed Qatar’s plans for, and the work it has done on, the 2022 World Cup, which it will host. Given the struggles of FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, Qatar is under pressure to defend itself. It was making a hard sale. guides walked multiple groups of more than a dozen Brazilians through the exhibits. One room even showcased Qatar’s antidoping lab. In the main hall, hundreds of Brazilians sampled Qatari clothes and calligraphy. One area, though, was : the two fancy restaurants. They were reserved for International Olympic Committee and Qatar Olympic Committee officials and their families. Some things never change. VINOD SREEHARSHA Every morning in the Olympic Park, dozens of reporters gathered in a large meeting room, named Samba, for the daily news conference of the International Olympic Committee. It happened in English, and sometimes partly in Portuguese, with live translation into eight other languages. We collected a lot of facts that never made it into stories: the count of urine samples taken from Olympians (3, 491 as of Friday) the average number of daily visitors to the Olympic Park megastore (85, 000) and the items there (a plush toy mascot, and caipirinha shot glasses). Over the weeks, there were questions about the color of the diving pool water (why did it turn green?) the Ryan Lochte incident (why did official stories change?) transportation troubles at the Games (why the shortage of cars and buses?) and the splashy arrest of a top Olympic official who was accused of scalping tickets. Officials answered some of those questions directly. They skillfully deflected others, or declined to respond, they said, for legal reasons. Halfway through the Games, as we settled in for the morning ritual, a reporter turned to me and proclaimed the dodge ball event to be his favorite one of the Olympics. “Which venue is that in?” I asked. “It’s here,” he replied, “in Samba. ” REBECCA R. RUIZ Athletes’ comments are often scripted and anodyne, full of tedious platitudes. As with actors, sometimes you just don’t want to hear their earnest recitations about how they prepared for their roles. So how great it was to see (on TV, not in person) the O’Donovan brothers, Gary and Paul, of Ireland, with excitement after winning their silver medal in the lightweight double sculls? It was their country’s first rowing medal, and its first medal in Rio. Interviewed by Irish television, the two mused on the novelty of the medal process — they got to wear “podium pants,” whatever those are, for the ceremony — and the strange exigencies of the postrace doping test. “I was trying to take a pee in a cup for them, and I drank about 10 liters of water,” Paul O’Donovan said. “I’m quite full, to be honest. ” They talked about how hungry they were. “We haven’t had anything to eat since two hours ago, when we had bread rolls and some Nutella,” Gary O’Donovan said. They said they were sorry not to be back home at the pub in Lisheen, in a rural part of County Cork, where their friends were celebrating their victory. Paul, who had caused earlier delight by describing his rowing technique as “close the eyes and pull like a dog,” added that the two actually enjoyed giving interviews. In a competition too full of preening egotists, this was the best comment of all. “We are just excited that we have other people to talk to apart from ourselves,” he said. SARAH LYALL On my way to interview an International Olympic Committee official in the organization’s luxury hotel on the beach, I hopped into an Uber. The car was nice. Leather seats. Little candies in the cup holder. The driver, who was wearing a suit, offered me water or juice from a cooler on the front seat. “Do you need anything to make the drive more comfortable?” he asked in nearly perfect English. I complimented him on his professionalism and service. Many Uber drivers in Rio, he explained, are businessmen who lost their jobs in the recession. Just before the Olympics, he said, he was laid off from his position at a global technology company. He had worked in the United States for several years. Now he was driving to make ends meet. His Uber car was actually his wife’s car because he considered his own vehicle too expensive to use. The windows on that car were bulletproof because his drive to work had been so dangerous. He would not be attending any Olympic events, he said. Not enough cash for that. He dropped me off at the hotel, where I had to go through tight security to enter the building. I. O. C. members are receiving $900 per diem payments, according to news reports. The dichotomy between life at the I. O. C. and life here was glaring. JULIET MACUR Olympic pin trading might someday become a medal sport at the Games, but for now it’s a great way to meet people from different countries and take on the adventure of haggling in different languages. And really, for me, the Olympics are all about meeting people. So when a young Brazilian was determined to give me an Estonia pin for my beautiful Canada pin (in the shape of a maple leaf) I had to say no. You see, there was a story behind the Canada pin, which I relayed to my potential new trading partner. The woman who had given me the pin had said she would do so if I did a handstand. I explained that my handstand days were long past (actually, they never existed). We had a good laugh, and we worked out a deal for a New York Times pin. That little interlude made the pin more valuable to me because I had that story to tell. I could see that the young man was disappointed, so I offered him a more bland Canada pin I had obtained earlier. He wasn’t interested, and off we went in opposite directions. A few minutes later, he tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Let’s make a story. ” JIM LUTTRELL Katie Ledecky was talking about Bruce Gemmell, her swimming coach since the fall of 2012, when her voice cracked and tears welled in her eyes. It was after her last race, the freestyle, in which she had shattered her world record for her fifth medal, and her fourth gold. With her Summer Games finally done, Ledecky seemed to realize that the childhood chapter of her life was also coming to a close. In a few weeks, she would be leaving home in Bethesda, Md. for her freshman year at Stanford. The magnitude of the week that was behind her and the year that stretched in front of her — new coast, new coach, new school, new team, new friends — appeared to overwhelm Ledecky, who began to cry as she sat on the interview dais, flanked by the silver medalist Jazmin Carlin and the bronze medalist Boglarka Kapas. As Ledecky struggled to regain her composure, Carlin reached over and petted her arm, as if to console her. Never mind that Ledecky had beaten Carlin by 11 seconds at that moment, Ledecky had never looked less like a swimming machine. KAREN CROUSE | 1 |
The city of San Francisco is demanding statistics and details from companies Uber and Lyft to “assess their impact on traffic congestion, safety, pollution, and parking and ascertain whether they are accessible for disabled and riders. ”[“City Attorney Dennis Herrera on Monday subpoenaed Uber and Lyft to disgorge records on four years of driving practices, disability access and service in San Francisco,” reported the San Francisco Chronicle this week. “The companies have steadfastly declined to share data other than that they have about 45, 000 drivers in the Bay Area. ” The city is demanding information on “miles and hours logged by drivers, incentives that encourage drivers to ‘commute’ from as far away as Fresno or Los Angeles, driver guidance and training, accessible vehicle information, and the services provided to residents of every San Francisco neighborhood,” according to the Chronicle, and if they fail to comply within fifteen days, court penalties will be imposed. “No one disputes the convenience of the industry, but that convenience evaporates when you’re stuck in traffic behind a Uber or Lyft, or when you can’t get a ride because the vehicle isn’t accessible to someone with a disability or because the algorithm disfavors the neighborhood where you live,” said City Attorney Dennis Herrera, before also criticizing the effects of fatigued drivers who work for too many hours. “These fatigued drivers are not only a threat to themselves, but to San Francisco pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers,” Herrera claimed. “Policies that encourage or turn a blind eye to drowsy driving by drivers with little or no familiarity with San Francisco’s roads or weather conditions make our city less safe. They are a public nuisance. ” Both Uber and Lyft claim that releasing such information to the city could risk company secrets, and empower competition. “We’re more than happy to work with the city to address congestion, but it should be a comprehensive solution including construction, the city’s population increase, and the rise of online delivery services,” said Uber spokesman Eva Behrend. “In San Francisco, nearly 30 percent of rides take place in underserved neighborhoods and 20 percent of Lyft rides begin or end at a public transit station,” said spokeswoman Chelsea Harrison in a statement, addressing concerns about access to transportation. “We also have a track record of working collaboratively with policymakers who regulate us, including the (PUC) here in California, to ensure that our service complements existing transportation options. ” Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook. | 1 |
Like many companies confronted with sexual harassment in their executive ranks, Fox News and its parent, 21st Century Fox, say they do not tolerate such behavior and have strict policies prohibiting it. “As we’ve made clear, there’s absolutely no room anywhere at our company for behavior that disrespects women or contributes to an uncomfortable work environment,” a 21st Century Fox spokeswoman told The New York Times after the paper reported that about a dozen women at Fox News and Fox Business Network had experienced some form of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior. If that’s so, how could the former Fox News chief executive, Roger Ailes, have conducted what now appears to have been a campaign of sexual abuse and harassment of subordinates? Mr. Ailes has denied any wrongdoing. But thanks to two women who were courageous enough to speak out — Rudi Bakhtiar (in The Times) and Laurie Luhn (in New York magazine) — we know now that Fox News had already paid millions to settle sexual harassment accusations years before the lawsuit by a former Fox News anchor, Gretchen Carlson, that led to Mr. Ailes’s resignation this summer. The bottom line? Neither Mr. Ailes nor any other Fox News executive suffered any consequences before Ms. Carlson’s lawsuit and the subsequent investigation. The previous victims who filed complaints left the company, their careers in ruins, and in return for money, signed agreements that muzzled them. A 21st Century Fox spokesman, Nathaniel Brown, said the company had no comment beyond its previous statements. “A lot of men have gotten away with sexual harassment with absolutely no consequences,” said Catharine A. MacKinnon, a professor of law at the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School who pioneered sexual harassment lawsuits. No matter what companies say, she added, “the real rule is that the more powerful a man is, the more he gets away with. ” Jon Bauer, a professor of law at the University of Connecticut who has written extensively about workplace discrimination, also says the issue goes well beyond Fox News. “Employees are rewarded for shielding powerful people in the organization,” he said. “That’s the culture in many workplace settings. ” The problem is compounded by settlements, like those at Fox News and most organizations, that impose silence on the victims. It’s certainly understandable that companies would want to avoid the bad publicity and put such matters behind them. But at the same time, they foster the perception that the settlements are really especially when no disciplinary steps are taken against the perpetrators. Professor Bauer likened the situation to the sexual abuse scandal that engulfed the Catholic Church. “We’ve done thousands of confidential settlements,” said Gloria Allred, a civil rights lawyer who has probably handled more prominent sexual harassment cases than anyone. “We do them every day. Complete confidentiality is usually the condition for a settlement. This can be very difficult for our clients. They want to be compensated and they want to tell the world about it. I tell them that’s just not going to happen. ” (Full disclosure: The New York Times Company has also entered into confidential agreements in settling employment cases.) Victims of sexual harassment can see what happens to other victims who came forward. “It’s career suicide to come forward,” said Professor MacKinnon. “You’re roadkill. Women know this, yet some come forward. That’s what courage looks like. ” It’s not just women who may suffer the consequences. Last week, The Times reported that the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates had settled sexual harassment accusations by Christopher Tarui, who claimed that his boss had “caressed” his back in a hotel room and repeatedly propositioned him for sex. After he rebuffed his boss, Mr. Tarui’s complaint states, he received a poor performance review. Mr. Tarui said he had been discouraged from pursuing a claim, and when it became clear that he was filing one, he was escorted out of the office and placed on a paid leave of absence. He has since found another job. Terms of that settlement, too, are confidential. Bridgewater, in a statement, emphasized that Mr. Tarui had withdrawn his claims. Bridgewater said it had waived a noncompete clause so that Mr. Tarui could take another job and paid him no money as part of the settlement. A spokesman for the firm declined further comment. Most employment contracts, including Ms. Carlson’s, also require any sexual harassment claims to go to arbitration, where all evidence and proceedings are secret. “I’d love to see the end of the requirement to go to arbitration as a condition of employment,” Ms. Allred said. “If a claim can’t be resolved, an employee should have the right to file a lawsuit and have her day in court. ” That would require legislation, because courts have generally upheld such arbitration clauses. Even though the terms of the Luhn settlement were confidential, others at Fox News and 21st Century Fox should have known about it. And if so, they should have taken steps to investigate and, if warranted, discipline executives who violated company policy, not to mention federal law. Given the size of Ms. Luhn’s settlement — $3. 15 million, according to New York magazine — Fox News must have believed that the claim had some merit. “If that’s correct, it’s a serious number, and she must have had a serious claim,” Ms. Allred said. At Fox News, Dianne Brandi, executive vice president for business and legal affairs, handled Ms. Luhn’s claim. She presumably conducted an investigation, if only to assess the merits of Ms. Luhn’s claim. Fox News’s parent company has said no one there knew about the Luhn payment until recently, and a Fox News spokeswoman said previously that Mr. Ailes alone directed the settlement negotiations and agreed to the terms. Ms. Brandi would appear to have plenty to answer for. Not only should Mr. Ailes have had no involvement in disposing of the matter given that he was the subject of the claim, but ethical standards suggest that she should have told higher ranking executives and perhaps even Rupert Murdoch, who was 21st Century Fox’s chief executive at the time, or members of the company’s board. The New York State Rules of Professional Conduct require internal lawyers who know of behavior “substantially likely” to injure the corporation to take all steps “reasonably necessary” to protect the company, which may include notifying the company’s board. “It’s the obligation of the lawyer to protect the company,” Professor MacKinnon said. “Unfortunately, when you’re dealing with a executive like Ailes, there’s a tendency to see protecting the company as the same as protecting him. They should be protecting the company from him. ” A Fox News spokeswoman, Irena Briganti, declined to make Ms. Brandi available for comment. The upshot: Despite decades of E. E. O. C. enforcement proceedings and the widespread adoption of strict policies in the workplace, most sexual harassment claims never get reported and most of those that do get swept under the rug. “Sexual harassment is still a massive problem,” Ms. Allred said. “It’s severe and it’s pervasive. ” But in the aftermath of Mr. Ailes’s resignation, there is hope for improvement. After Ms. Carlson filed her suit, Fox News and 21st Century Fox did what they should have done years ago when faced with similar accusations: They hired outside counsel for an investigation, and when overwhelming evidence mounted, demanded Mr. Ailes’s resignation. “It’s hard to overstate how important it is that even someone as powerful as Ailes was held accountable,” Professor MacKinnon said. “There have been a lot of situations where you’d come to the conclusion that the law doesn’t matter, and that what does matter is power, the rule of force. Then something like this comes along and you realize the law does matter. A lot of women are going to take heart from that. ” | 1 |
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Chris Kunitz spent a portion of the spring nursing a injury and wondering if his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins was over. The veteran forward’s contract is up this summer and he’s been around long enough to know how these things go, particularly when you’re 37. [“It’s not fun thinking about the future,” Kunitz said. He found a pretty compelling way to put it off for at least four more games and push his team to the brink of history in the process. Kunitz’s knuckling shot from outside the circle fluttered past Craig Anderson 5:09 into the second overtime to give the defending Stanley Cup champions a victory over the Ottawa Senators in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final Thursday night. Thrust alongside old linemate Sidney Crosby as the game wore on, the two reconnected for a goal that moved the Penguins closer to becoming the first team since the 1998 Detroit Red Wings to win titles. Crosby sent a soft backhand pass from the right faceoff circle to Kunitz and for a moment, it seemed like old times. “With the way he was holding the stick you could tell he wanted it bad,” Crosby said. “I just tried to lay it there for him. I’ve seen him score from there pretty often. It was a huge goal for us, and a great reward for him for the way he played all night. ” Kunitz scored twice, his first two of the playoffs. Justin Schultz added the other in his return from an injury, and Matt Murray stopped 27 shots on his 23rd birthday. The Penguins will host Western Conference champion Nashville in Game 1 on Monday night. Not bad for a team that watched so many of its core players — from defenseman Kris Letang to Evgeni Malkin to Crosby — deal with some serious bumps along the way. And yet here they are on the doorstep to a title once again. “If you look at the amount of guys who have played on this roster throughout the course of the year, it’s a lot of guys,” Crosby said. “The biggest step is ahead. ” Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel scored for Ottawa. The Senators rallied twice to tie it, with Dzingel making it with 5:19 left in regulation. Craig Anderson made 39 saves, but couldn’t get a handle on Kunitz’s shot as the Senators fell to in Game 7s in franchise history. Just don’t call them cursed. A year ago, Ottawa didn’t even make the playoffs yet they found a way to push the Penguins to the 85th minute of Game 7 of the conference finals. “We wanted to make then earn it and they earned it, rightfully so,” said Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, who assisted on both of Ottawa’s goals and played the entire postseason with a pair of hairline fractures in his left heel. “We got to give it to them. They were the better team. ” The Senators forced a return trip to Pittsburgh — where they lost in Game 5 on Sunday — by leaning heavily on Anderson in a Game 6 victory. Ottawa coach Guy Boucher told his team to not get caught up in the big picture but instead focus on the small ones, a recipe that carried the Senators throughout a bumpy transition under their head coach to within a victory of the franchise’s second Cup appearance. The Penguins, trying to become the first defending champion to return to the Final since Detroit in 2009, came in confident they would advance if they could replicate their dominant Game 6, when they were undone only by Anderson’s brilliance. Pittsburgh has been nearly unflappable in the face of adversity under Mike Sullivan, and is now in playoff games following a loss over the last two springs. “I couldn’t be more proud of our team for just its ‘sticktoitiveness,’” Sullivan said. “The last four games of this series, we found our game. ” Kunitz ended a playoff goal drought when he completed a with Conor Sheary — a healthy scratch in Games 5 and 6 — by slipping the puck by Anderson 9:55 into the second period. The momentum lasted all of 20 seconds. Ottawa responded immediately with Stone — who stretched his left skate to stay onside — fired a wrist shot that handcuffed Murray . Pittsburgh kept coming. Schultz, returning after missing four games with an injury, zipped a shot from the point through Kunitz’s screen and into the net with 8:16 left in the third. Once again, the Penguins could not hold the lead. Dzingel set up at the right post and banged home a rebound off Erik Karlsson’s shot that hit the left post and caromed off Murray’s back right to Dzingel’s stick . Unbowed, Pittsburgh continued to press. The Penguins pumped eight shots at Anderson in the first overtime before finally breaking through when Kunitz won just the fourth Game 7 of a conference final in NHL history. The next step, the last step, awaits. NOTES: The home team is in overtime Game 7s in NHL playoff history. … Pittsburgh F Patric Hornqvist skated during warmups, but was held out of the lineup for a sixth straight game with an injury. … Karlsson had 16 assists in the playoffs to set a team record. … The Penguins are in Game 7s. … It was the fifth game of the series. | 1 |
survival horror game Outlast 2 has been denied classification by the Australian Classification Board, effectively banning it from sale in Australia. [While the original Outlast and its Whistleblower expansion contained numerous scenes of graphic violence, and Outlast 2 looks to follow that trend based on the demo that was released last year, that’s not the reason given for its ban. The game has reportedly been refused even the R18+ rating due to “a depiction of implied sexual violence” in one part of the game (SPOILER WARNING): In one in the game … a female creature prepares Blake for a ritual. She says, “I want to see your true face. Your seed will burn this world. ” Shortly afterwards, he objects to having dust blown into his face, yelling, “Nope! Nope!” before he stumbles into a forest clearing. His vision blurring, he witnesses what appears to a ritualistic orgy. His wife, Lynn, calls out for his help, saying, “It hurts! Oh god! ,” as she hangs from chains on a raised platform at the front of the clearing. Humanoid creatures, their skin grey, spattered with blood and scarred, implicity have sex as others pray, or chant, or gesticulate. One creature has another bent over a rock, thrusting as they implicitly have sex, another sits astride the pelvic region of a creature prone on the ground, moving their hips rhythmically as they too implicitly have sex. Two other pairs of creatures in the clearing are also implicitly having sex. As Blake yells for the creatures to “Get away from her!” a female creature, her greyish breasts bared, pushes him onto his back, holds his arms to the ground and repeatedly thrusts her crotch against him. As Blake protests, saying “No! Stop that!” the creature thrusts again, before placing its face over his midsection and then sitting up and wiping its mouth. Their conclusion: Although much of the contact between the creature and Blake is obscurred, by it taking place below screen, the sexualised surroundings and aggressive behaviour of the creature suggest that it is an assault which is sexual in nature. The Board is of the opinion that this, combined with Blake’s objections and distress, constitutes a depiction of implied sexual violence. In the Board’s opinion, the above example constitutes a depiction of implied sexual violence and therefore cannot be accommodated within the R18+ classification category and the game is therefore Refused Classification. This is not the only content on which the refusal was based but seems to be the final straw for members of the board. Developer Red Barrels will be forced to decide between heavily censoring their game or being refused the opportunity to sell it to Australian consumers. While the sequence depicted above is undoubtedly horrific, it’s important to remember that Outlast 2 is, in fact, a horror game. Its content is roughly equivalent to what you would expect from any of the copious horrors in books or films — areas in which the Australian Classification Board is decidedly more lenient. Games are no stranger to exceptional scrutiny and subjected to a broad spectrum of myths about their comparative effects on empathy and development, against all evidence to the contrary. For now, developers must regularly choose between delivering content as it was originally intended or being permitted to sell their products in countries with zealous media restrictions in place. Follow Nate Church @Get2Church on Twitter for the latest news in gaming and technology, and snarky opinions on both. | 1 |
Dilbert creator Scott Adams endorses Trump, says Hillary is a bully
Monday, October 31, 2016 by: Natural News Editors (NaturalNews) I've been trying to figure out what common trait binds Clinton supporters together. As far as I can tell, the most unifying characteristic is a willingness to bully in all its forms.If you have a Trump sign in your lawn, they will steal it.If you have a Trump bumper sticker, they will deface your car.if you speak of Trump at work you could get fired.(Article republished from Dilbert.com )On social media, almost every message I get from a Clinton supporter is a bullying type of message. They insult. They try to shame. They label. And obviously they threaten my livelihood.We know from Project Veritas that Clinton supporters tried to incite violence at Trump rallies. The media downplays it.We also know Clinton's side hired paid trolls to bully online. You don't hear much about that.Yesterday, by no coincidence, Huffington Post, Salon, and Daily Kos all published similar-sounding hit pieces on me, presumably to lower my influence. (That reason, plus jealousy, are the only reasons writers write about other writers.)Joe Biden said he wanted to take Trump behind the bleachers and beat him up. No one on Clinton's side disavowed that call to violence because, I assume, they consider it justified hyperbole.Team Clinton has succeeded in perpetuating one of the greatest evils I have seen in my lifetime. Her side has branded Trump supporters (40%+ of voters) as Nazis, sexists, homophobes, racists, and a few other fighting words. Their argument is built on confirmation bias and persuasion. But facts don't matter because facts never matter in politics. What matters is that Clinton's framing of Trump provides moral cover for any bullying behavior online or in person. No one can be a bad person for opposing Hitler, right?Some Trump supporters online have suggested that people who intend to vote for Trump should wear their Trump hats on election day. That is a dangerous idea, and I strongly discourage it. There would be riots in the streets because we already know the bullies would attack. But on election day, inviting those attacks is an extra-dangerous idea. Violence is bad on any day, but on election day, Republicans are far more likely to unholster in an effort to protect their voting rights. Things will get wet fast.Yes, yes, I realize Trump supporters say bad things about Clinton supporters too. I don't defend the bad apples on either side. I'll just point out that Trump's message is about uniting all Americans under one flag. The Clinton message is that some Americans are good people and the other 40% are some form of deplorables, deserving of shame, vandalism, punishing taxation, and violence. She has literally turned Americans on each other. It is hard for me to imagine a worse thing for a presidential candidate to do.I'll say that again.As far as I can tell, the worst thing a presidential candidate can do is turn Americans against each other. Clinton is doing that, intentionally. Intentionally. As I often say, I don't know who has the best policies. I don't know the best way to fight ISIS and I don't know how to fix healthcare or trade deals. I don't know which tax policies are best to lift the economy. I don't know the best way to handle any of that stuff. (And neither do you.) But I do have a bad reaction to bullies. And I've reached my limit.I hope you have too. Therefore... I endorse Donald Trump for President of the United States because I oppose bullying in all its forms. I don't defend Trump's personal life. Neither Trump nor Clinton are role models for our children. Let's call that a tie, at worst.The bullies are welcome to drown in their own bile while those of us who want a better world do what we've been doing for hundreds of years: Work to make it better while others complain about how we're doing it.Today I put Trump's odds of winning in a landslide back to 98%. Remember, I told you a few weeks ago that Trump couldn't win unless "something changed."Something just changed. | 0 |
By Fred Reed October 28, 2016
Oh good. The world reaches a crossroads, or probably a road off a cliff, just when I want to relax and watch gratuitous violence on the tube. To judge by the rapid drift of events aboard our planetary asylum, the talons of Washington and New York on the world’s throat are fast being pried a-loose. The Global American Imperium is dying. Or so it sure looks anyway.
I say talons of “New York and Washington” because America’s foreign policy, forged in those two cities, belongs entirely to them. Americans have no influence on it. Further, none of what the Empire does abroad is of any benefit to Americans. Do you care at all what happens in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, or the South China Sea? Do you want to pay for it? America has been hijacked.
And the Empire prospereth not. It prospereth very not. Consider the recent record of the world’s hyperpower:
Washington does not have control of Afghanistan, and obviously is not going to.
Washington does not have control of Iraq, and appears unlikely to.
Washington did not back Iran down, and isn’t going to.
Washington did not back Russia down in Ukraine and Crimea, and isn’t going to.
Washington did not back China down in the South China Sea and, while this is perhaps not over, the Empire seems to be losing.
Washington has not backed North Korea down and is not going to.
In the Philippines, President Duterte has told Obama to “go to hell” as being “the son of a whore,” which may be taken to indicate latent hostility. He is vigorously seeking rapprochement with China. While Washington may have him murdered, it seems to be losing control of the Little Vassals of ASEAN.
Turkey seems to be cuddling up to Russia–that is, looking East like Duterte. Maybe Washington can turn this around temporarily, but there-s a whole lot of wavering going on.
Meanwhile Washington thrashes around impotently as per usual in Syria, and, though the jury remains out on this one, looks to have poor prospects. If Washington–AKA New York–loses here, after doing so in Iraq, Libya, Somalia, and Afghanistan, the Empire will beyond redemption be on the downward slope.
The United States is not in danger. The Empire is. This is not good. Empires, the Soviet Union notwithstanding, seldom go quietly. Either Washington gambles on war of some sort against Russia, or Russia and China, in the desperate hope of reversing things, or the Empire gets slowly eaten. Or not so slowly. Once one country pries itself loose, many may rush for the door.
New York may go for calculated war against Russia–say, cyberwar expected not to turn into shooting war, shooting war in Syria not expected to turn into global shooting war, global shooting war not expected to turn into nuclear war. This will be a crapshoot. Note that America has badly misguessed the outcomes of every war since Korea.
This is why the American election actually matters, unusual in Presidential contests. It is Blowhard against Corruption, a swell choice, but Trump is firmly against war with Russia, and Hillary for. Her military understanding is that of a fried egg.
The woman is both a fool and a knave but, it seems, Trump has talked trash, and therefore she will likely be President. Weirdly, the future of the world depends on how an excited electorate of political middle-schoolers responds to one candidate’s dirty talk. From a curmudgeon’s point of view, it is pretty funny. It is funnier if one lives outside of the radiation footprint.
But back to business. The seaboard Axis of Evil needs a war because almost every tide runs against it. Proximately, the Axis has pushed China, Russia, and Iran together against the Empire. (First rule of empire: Do not let the dissidents unite.) Many signs suggest that the world, or much of it, is beginning to see China as its future. The BRICS, the SCO, the NDB, the AAIB–all exclude the US. China becomes the major trading partner of country after country. The twilight deepens.
Not all goes wrong for the Empire–not yet, but things are getting spooky. On the European Peninsula of Asia, countries remain docile, especially England and, much more importantly, Germany. Yet even among Washington’s European harem, there seem to be faint stirrings of a forgotten independence. As I understand it, Germany’s businessmen would very much like to end Washington’s sanctions on Russia and improve trade with China, which would be greatly to the benefit of the Peninsula. Washington won’t let them. It can’t. If the Europeans did what would be good for themselves, and looked to Eurasia, then the fat lady, already warming up, would burst into full bellow.
Which, methinks, raises the likelihood that Washington will in desperation do something phenomenally stupid. At this writing Hillary’s camp seems to be prepping the public for war with Russia. The telescreen tells us day after day that Putin is Hitler, that Russia is expanding, that the Russkies are hacking the election, that they cause indigestion and falling hair. Is this just Hillary waggling her codpiece in the expectation that Moscow will demurely back down, as God intended? Or will she again send other people’s children to fight for her in somebody else’s country?
The larger picture, assuredly obvious to New York, is truly grim–for New York, not for Americans. China has a huge population of a billion Han Chinese, versus two hundred million Caucasian Americans–these being the scientific, technological and entrepreneurial brains of the Empire. One must not notice this, but you can bet that New York and Beijing do. Economically China is growing hugely, advancing technologically at a high rate, building rail lines that now extend from the Chinese Pacific coast to Madrid. It will increasingly dwarf the Empire no matter what happens–short of a world war.
The curtain falls in ways unnoticed. China recently launched a communications satellite, the world’s first employing quantum cryptographic links, which cannot be intercepted. The intention of this, as well of the QC link from Beijing to Shanghai, is to keep the NSA off China’s back. A small thing, perhaps. Yet if successful and adopted en masse by other countries weary of Washington’s meddling, the result will be a loosening of the Empire’s grip on everybody’s communications.
For the Empire it is, as Elvis sang, “now or never.” Lenin spoke of “useful idiots.” Ours aren’t even useful, but they call the shots. The Best of Fred Reed Tags: | 0 |
In an interview with a local television outlet, Evergreen State College President George Bridges claims that he is “deeply disappointed” by the protesters who forced professor Bret Weinstein to move his class off campus.[ In an interview conducted with News, an in Seattle, Washington, Evergreen State College President George Bridges condemned the behavior of the protesters who forced professor Bret Weinstein to relocate his class sessions due to safety concerns. Bridges, who had previously lauded the courage of the student protesters, condemned their behaviors in the interview. “I was immensely disappointed with the students who obstructed his class,” Bridges claimed. “Those actions are indefensible. ” Weinstein has criticized the administration for their silence with regards to his safety on campus, and the faculty for blaming the campus chaos on his appearance on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program. So far, Evergreen has blamed me, Fox, and the . Doubled down on everything troubling. Will it dismiss this? https: . — Bret Weinstein (@BretWeinstein) June 12, 2017, Despite the criticisms hurled at Bridges, he defended Weinstein’s right to appear on Carlson’s program. “Bret Weinstein has every right to speak to whomever he wishes. He has freedom of speech and we have to protect that. He won’t be sanctioned for his actions,” Bridges said. Bridges claimed that the administration is in the process of reviewing “the entire sequence of events” to determine if students will face disciplinary measures for their participation in the protests that drove Weinstein from his classroom. He finished by claiming that the college will forge through this incident into the future. He added that Evergreen has a long history of protest and debate. “We embrace challenges,” Bridges added. “We embrace different issues and tackle them through discourse and debate and that’s a part of who we are. ” Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about economics and higher education for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart. com | 1 |
WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday announced his support for opening the market for cable boxes, singling out the devices in millions of homes as a clunky and outdated symbol of corporate power over consumers, as he introduced a broad federal effort to increase competition. In an unusual step, Mr. Obama weighed in personally on a pending proposal at the Federal Communications Commission, having his administration file comments that applauded the effort to loosen cable companies’ grip on the boxes. The president, in an interview with Yahoo Finance, said it was an example of the kinds of actions government agencies should take in response to an executive order he signed on Friday calling for administrative action to promote competition and to better protect consumers. “The cable or satellite box is just one example of an area where, because it’s been tied to the provider and you rent it, and consumers spend billions of dollars on it every single year, there hasn’t been much innovation,” Mr. Obama said, adding that the private sector becomes less effective “if we get closed systems or if people are gaming the system. ” The announcements are the newest moves by Mr. Obama to push back against the forces of consolidation and monopoly, and to shift power away from large corporations in an array of industries. They are also the latest to place the president squarely on the side of technology companies — some led by executives who have contributed to Mr. Obama’s campaigns, hired his former aides and spoken to him often. Among the supporters of the box proposal are companies like Google, Amazon and Apple, which are eager to establish a broader foothold in the TV market. “An industry that had previously been considered untouchable — the cable guys — is now subject to criticism from the president,” said Susan Crawford, a Harvard Law School professor who is a former aide to Mr. Obama. “This is like weighing in against Big Tobacco or Big Pharma. ” Cable industry leaders lashed out at Mr. Obama, arguing that he was rewarding political friends and benefactors like those at Google, and undermining the independence of the F. C. C. Jim Cicconi, a senior executive vice president at ATT, said the president’s move was “aimed at muscling Democratic commissioners to support the Google proposal. ” The administration can comment on any proposal by the F. C. C. an independent agency, but it does so sparingly, and it is rare for the president himself to speak out on a pending matter. In this case, his advisers said he felt that the issue merited his involvement because of the broad impact the changes could have on the cable market, one that touches many American households. The F. C. C. proposal would allow subscribers to choose and buy the devices they use to view television programming, instead of leasing the boxes from their cable companies at an average annual cost of $231. The agency approved the plan in February, starting a comment period that closes in a week. In comments submitted on Friday, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, part of the Commerce Department, urged the F. C. C. to take a “measured and balanced” approach to injecting competition into the box market, including enabling alternative providers to provide their own user interfaces, as well as other features. In a blog post, Jason Furman, the chairman of Mr. Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, and Jeffrey D. Zients, the director of the National Economic Council, called the box rule the “mascot” for Mr. Obama’s new executive order. The president’s aides gave no examples of the kinds of rules Mr. Obama would like to see agencies propose in response to the executive order. Mr. Furman said White House officials had already notified the agencies of the coming call for recommendations, so some of the regulations were already underway. The push announced on Friday is in line with Mr. Obama’s promise in his State of the Union address this year to find ways to help workers, small businesses and entrepreneurs. In a report issued on Friday, the Council of Economic Advisers said that competition was declining in many industries and argued that the decrease was having a harmful effect on consumers and workers. Mr. Obama has acted several times to combat the trend, including signing legislation to unlock cellphones, which allows consumers to switch providers while keeping the same device. The Transportation Department has pressed airports to open slots to more airlines, while the F. C. C. adopted rules for auctioning wireless spectrum intended to allow smaller players more opportunities to participate. The president weighed in personally in 2014 on the F. C. C. ’s net neutrality rules. He argued that the Internet should be regulated as a public utility, and he pressed for strict rules to prevent broadband companies from blocking or intentionally slowing legal content and from allowing content providers to pay for a fast lane to reach consumers. The rules were released last year. The report released on Friday listed several areas that the president’s advisers said they thought could be ripe for regulations, including Big Data, the consumer information that includes buying habits and Internet browsing histories, price transparency and common ownership of stock by large institutional investors. | 1 |
Racist drivel. | 0 |
When a politician says something stupid, reporters are traditionally expected to mask their glee with a veneer of shock and disappointment. It was in this mode, more or less, that the NBC News political director, Chuck Todd, and his colleague Carrie Dann began the Aug. 3 edition of First Read, the network’s daily political tip sheet, warning that Donald Trump’s campaign had gone “from ‘unraveling’ to ‘break glass’ mode. ” They began with a heroic attempt to catalog all the previously things Trump said and did in the preceding 24 hours, a long list that included the candidate’s displaying to a rally audience the Purple Heart medal he had been given by a retired U. S. Army lieutenant colonel who was wounded in Iraq. “I always wanted to get the Purple Heart,” said Trump, who received draft deferments during the Vietnam War for, among other things, bone spurs that had miraculously little impact on his youthful athletic career. “This was much easier. ” “Put those words into the mouth of any past presidential candidate, Republican or Democrat, and that comment almost certainly would have been labeled a near gaffe,” Todd and Dann wrote. In 2016, however, “it wasn’t even the most blockbuster Trump news of the afternoon. ” This prompted them to consider something that, coming from a pair of political journalists, bordered on heresy: Maybe, they mused, we were looking at “the end of the gaffe. ” The “gaffe,” in its old, prepolitical usage, was essentially a faux pas: a breach of etiquette or — in the diplomatic context, where it often appeared — local custom. In 1922, an anonymous British military officer’s wife recounted in Blackwood’s Magazine how, at a party, she had breezily remarked to a Belgian government minister how happy she had been living in Bonn, Germany, during the postwar occupation. The minister recoiled and informed her that he had spent 10 months in solitary confinement there. “I had obviously said the wrong thing,” she wrote, “committed a gaffe. ” “Saying the wrong thing” is the most straightforward definition of a political gaffe, too. The question, of course, is what precisely we mean by “wrong. ” Reporters typically mean it in the strategic sense — something a politician seeking office, or occupying one, should know better than to say. And because strategy is amoral, the media’s preoccupation with gaffes has always been an easy target for critics. It’s emblematic, they argue, of campaign reporting at its hollow, worst — representing little more than, as Jason Linkins of The Huffington Post wrote earlier this year, “the inability of politicians to be perfect at all times, and the media’s ability to monetize these momentary lapses. ” But there is another way of thinking about the gaffe: as an inevitable expression of the paradoxes of scrupulously objective political reporting, pressures that have held reporters hostage for decades. Until Trump, of all people, set us free. The journalistic ritual of dates approximately to the Vietnam era, but it blossomed into a obsession during the 1980 candidacy of Ronald Reagan, whose malapropisms were well noted even before he won the Republican nomination. Before the summer was out, reporters were fulminating over his description of the Vietnam War as a “noble cause” and his suggestion that the United States should pursue official relations with Taiwan — a move that contradicted the terms of normalization previously negotiated between the United States and China. Both statements were within the spectrum of conservative opinion, but reporters took them as blunders. By early September, press reports routinely described Reagan’s campaign, in The Times’s words, as on “the political defensive after a string of admittedly costly verbal gaffes. ” Two months later, Reagan trounced Carter, winning 44 states. During his administration, verbal pratfalls became enough of a running joke that David Gergen, then his director of communications, commissioned a large plaster foot with a bullet hole in it to be passed around. The Washington Post’s Lou Cannon diligently cataloged the “Reaganism of the Week” Dinesh D’Souza, who worked in the White House during Reagan’s second term, wrote later that “Reagan had no objection and frequently turned to the column to discover his own gaffes. Reagan’s advisers soon discovered what the boss already knew: that Americans didn’t mind his gaffes and were even entertained by them. ” What Reagan understood, in D’Souza’s telling, was that a gaffe revealed at least as much about the journalists who called attention to it as it did about the politician who uttered it. It reflected their own preoccupations and biases, which voters did not necessarily share. Ever since the late 1960s, when reporters began to take a more active role in scrutinizing presidential candidates, they had operated on the assumption that the way a candidate managed the challenges and humiliations of the campaign trail was in some way reflective of how they would perform in the White House itself — that a candidacy was a meaningful simulation of a presidency. By the 1980s, this vision of campaign reporting was toppling into solipsism. Journalists were, effectively, grading politicians on their ability to perform what everyone understood to be a largely artificial version of themselves — practicing a kind of theater criticism as much as political reporting. This reached its magnificent zenith in 2012, when a Washington Post reporter shouted at Mitt Romney during a photo op in Warsaw, “What about your gaffes?” What about his gaffes? The George Washington University political scientist John Sides reviewed data from the 2012 race and found that none of the slips of the campaign — not even the surreptitiously filmed video of Romney’s “47 percent” comments — had any appreciable effect on either candidate’s support. In imagined service of the interests of voters, reporters had lost track of what actually mattered to them. Still, criticism of the media’s gaffe fixation — like Michael Kinsley’s famous observation that “a ‘gaffe’ is the opposite of a ‘lie’: it’s when a politician inadvertently tells the truth” — has often been a bit too clever, reflecting the same blend of cynicism and forced naïveté as the trail reporters it maligns. The critics tend to miss something important: the way in which is, ultimately, a logical and sometimes deliberate way of tackling the impossible task the press has assigned itself. For avowedly nonpartisan and nonideological reporters, examining the substance of a politician’s beliefs and policy views is a professional minefield: The more deeply they venture into it, the more open they are to accusations of bias. The benefits of this dilemma mostly accrue to politicians. If reporters spent too much time on the comfortably nonpartisan foibles of Reagan’s “Reaganisms,” they spent too little looking closely at his advisers’ devotion to economics. The gaffe, then, is a safety mechanism. It moves a statement from the realm of substance to the realm of performance and strategy — allowing the reporters to critique it without incriminating themselves professionally. To say that Trump’s views on immigration are inhumane, or from the standpoint of the economy or national security, might hint at a subjective opinion on the part of the reporter. An easier problem to identify is that, spoken aloud, those views may hurt him with electorally important constituencies, or reflect poorly on his ability to stay “on message” in the manner expected of politicians. A rational candidate would not deliberately do something that unnecessarily jeopardizes his chances of victory, so it follows that the outburst must have been a mistake — a gaffe. This of course bears little resemblance to how actual voters, or assess his words. In that sense, Trump really does have more in common with voters than he does with political elites. His inability to apologize or back down has opened the door to a politics, stripping away the convenient fiction of missteps and errors that journalists turn to when they are uncomfortable confronting a statement on its merits. “This isn’t a situation where you have an episodic gaffe,” Obama said on Aug. 2, needling the many Republicans who had recently denounced Trump’s words without rescinding their endorsements. “This is daily, and weekly, where they are distancing themselves from statements he’s making. ” He’s right at this point, to treat Trump’s statements as anything other than intentional is to uphold convention at the expense of common sense. Trump has laid bare journalism’s contradictions — reporters’ desire to be critical of politicians without criticizing anything they stand for — to the point where we have no choice but to examine them. This may be the least expected outcome of 2016: The most flagrantly dishonest candidate in recent memory is forcing us to have the most honest political discussion we’ve had in years. | 1 |
Young America’s Foundation (YAF) has pulled out of Ann Coulter’s Thursday event at UC Berkeley, blaming the college for allowing extremists to terrorize conservatives on campus. [“When Young America’s Foundation confirmed Ann Coulter would speak at as part of YAF’s nationwide campus lecture program on April 27, we assumed UC Berkeley would take all steps necessary to ensure the safety of students attending the educational event,” the group declared in a blog post on Tuesday. “In the meantime we discovered that the University of California Police Department at Berkeley has an official ‘ ’ policy for any situation that develops on campus as long as the situation doesn’t involve the imminent loss of life, allowing the leftist thugs who have terrorized Berkeley’s campus to do so without consequence. ” “As of 4:00 p. m. today, Young America’s Foundation will not be moving forward with an event at Berkeley on April 27 due to the lack of assurances for protections from foreseeable violence from unrestrained leftist agitators,” they continued. “Berkeley should be ashamed for creating this hostile atmosphere. ” YAF added that they are still pushing forward with their lawsuit against the college, and that the group “looks forward to the day when First Amendment freedoms are enjoyed by conservative students. ” “Ms. Coulter may still choose to speak in some form on campus, but Young America’s Foundation will not jeopardize the safety of its staff or students,” they concluded. “For information on Ms. Coulter’s plans, please contact her directly. ” Ron Robinson, the president of Young America’s Foundation, also attacked the college in a quote, describing the campus as a “circus. ” “As a parent and a taxpayer, I want the next generation to learn in an educational environment, not a circus,” said Robinson. “I had the misfortune of being in a leftist riot as a student, and I wouldn’t want to put my children or anyone else’s children into that situation without assurances that law enforcement would protect them. ” The Berkeley College Republicans and YAF are currently in the process of suing UC Berkeley over the Ann Coulter event, which they claim has faced numerous unfair and biased restrictions. The groups, and their attorney Harmeet Dhillon, referenced previous events featuring conservative speakers at the college, which also faced similar scrutiny restrictions, including former Breitbart Senior Editor Milo Yiannopoulos and conservative commentator David Horowitz. During a press conference about the lawsuit on Monday, Dhillon branded UC Berkeley’s policies on “acceptable speech” as “infinitely malleable,” before criticizing the Mayor of Berkeley, Jesse Arreguin, for appearing to sympathize with, be friendly to, and act softly on the rioters who shut down Yiannopoulos’ event earlier this year. “If the Mayor of Berkeley cannot maintain control of his city, the Governor should call the National Guard, because that’s a serious public health issue,” Dhillon proclaimed. Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook. | 1 |
Blue Origin, the secretive space company created by Jeffrey P. Bezos, offered a look at its newest rocket design on Monday — and, by extension, its ambitions to make space travel more frequent and inexpensive. Both the rocket and the ambitions appear to be big. The rockets, named New Glenn after John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, are almost as large as the Saturn V rocket that NASA used from 1966 to 1973, before rockets started being built smaller. The version that could venture to orbit will be 270 feet tall, and the version, which could fly outside Earth’s orbit, will be 313 feet tall. Both will be 23 feet in diameter, packing seven engines, which are developed by Blue Origin, and lifting off with 3. 85 million pounds of thrust. Blue Origin plans to first launch the rocket from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Fla. before the end of the decade. “Our vision is millions of people living and working in space, and New Glenn is a very important step,” Mr. Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, said in an email update. As a private company, Blue Origin could launch wealthy tourists into space, send commercial satellites into orbit and provide the technology to send NASA back to the moon, as well as to Mars and beyond. Perfecting the technology of reusable rockets — which the New Glenn rockets would be — could have profound implications on the cost and frequency of space travel. Imagine how much more expensive a flight from New York to London would be if airlines built a new 747 jet for each flight, throwing them away after one use. That is effectively the current model of the space industry rockets typically crash back into Earth after exhausting their fuel, and the steep costs of travel depress how often it happens. “Reusability is a total ” said Charles Miller, the president of NexGen Space L. L. C. a space and public policy consultancy. “It’s on the order of going from the sail to the steam engine, or going from the horse to the automobile. ” Blue Origin first launched its reusable New Shepard rocket from West Texas in November, sending a capsule that would eventually carry paying passengers to a height of 329, 839 feet, just crossing the line that is considered the beginning of outer space. Before New Glenn was announced as the rocket’s name on Monday, Mr. Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, had referred to it as “Very Big Brother. ” The large size of New Glenn — Mr. Miller, a former senior adviser for NASA, had guessed it would be big but thought it would have five engines, not seven — suggests the company would seek to lower the price of space tourism by offering more seats on the flights, he said. In March, Mr. Bezos said that tourists could make short trips into space, experiencing a few minutes of weightlessness, as soon as 2018 via the reusable New Shepard spacecraft. The experience would doubtlessly be reserved for the rich, at least initially, but Mr. Bezos said it would be necessary to build expertise and further develop the technology. Though the company was registered in 2000, Mr. Bezos had not let reporters into its headquarters in Kent, Wash. until March of this year. In September 2015, Blue Origin said it would invest $200 million and create 330 jobs by leasing a launch complex at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Mr. Miller said if the dream of inexpensive space travel were fulfilled, it would significantly impact life on Earth. In scenarios, the ability to more easily launch satellites could lead to worldwide broadband internet, better weather predictions, the monitoring of carbon sources and the farming of solar energy. For the United States, it could have national security implications, he said. The ability to destroy United States satellites that provide surveillance and guide missiles is a current liability, but enemies may be less likely to target them if they could be quickly replaced. And NASA will most likely be a customer, using the New Glenn rockets for future missions. “With this vehicle, going to Mars will become a lot easier,” Mr. Miller said. | 1 |
OC Register – by Scott Schwebke
SANTA ANA – The city will pay a Santa Ana marijuana dispensary $100,000 to settle a federal lawsuit in connection with a controversial raid last year where police officers were caught on hidden video eating snacks and making disparaging remarks about a handicapped woman.
As part of the settlement agreement finalized earlier this month, the city of Santa Ana will also dismiss misdemeanor charges against a dozen people accused of unlawfully operating Sky High Holistic at the time of the May 26, 2015 raid .
The settlement proceeds will be divided among Marla and David James, who are volunteers at Sky High, and Dr. Bradley Idelshon, a physician whose nearby office was left without power and water during the raid and is not affiliated with the dispensary, its attorney Matthew Pappas said.
“The settlement of civil rights claims and dismissal of criminal actions shows Santa Ana is taking responsibility for improper actions it took, including the raid of Sky High Holistic, in support of its lottery-based marijuana regulation ordinance, Pappas said Tuesday in an email.
Santa Ana Deputy City Manager Robert Cortez declined Tuesday to discuss the settlement, saying the municipality doesn’t comment on legal matters.
The lawsuit alleges that following voter approval of Santa Ana ballot Measure BB in November 2014, enabling a lottery to select 20 entrepreneurs to operate marijuana dispensaries, city and police officials formulated a plan to close dispensaries operating without a permit.
Sky High, located on West 17th Street, wasn’t selected for a permit in the lottery. The dispensary was then raided as part of the enforcement program carried out by Santa Ana police, according to the lawsuit.
Hidden video of the raid released by Pappas shows Santa Ana officers forcing Sky High customers to the floor, profanely referencing James in her wheelchair and munching on snacks.
The bust,which went viral, led to the suspension of three police officers, who are no longer employed by the Santa Ana Police Department .
Police have not said why the trio aren’t with the department. They have been charged with misdemeanor petty theft and scheduled to be back in court next month.
The lawsuit alleges police caused extensive damage and took thousands of dollars in cash along with marijuana products during the Sky High raid.
Pappas said he is continuing to pursue petitions in Orange County Superior Court for return of money and items seized in the raid and a lawsuit that seeks other unspecified monetary damages.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 [email protected] Twitter: @thechalkoutline | 0 |
Since 2011, VNN has operated as part of the Veterans Today Network ; a group that operates over 50 plus media, information and service online sites for U.S. Military Veterans. Lemmings and Republicans – Alan Ned Sabrosky By VNN on November 1, 2016 So why are so many Republican leaders doing all they can do to diminish Trump and give the election to Clinton ? Donald Trump’s Triumph Forces GOP Party Leaders to Make a Decision – Loyalty Pledge
For conservatives and Republicans, a win by Hillary Clinton in November would be a catastrophe — and not just because people like Miley Cyrus and Al Sharpton would not leave the country. Lemmings who vow to leave the U.S. if Trump Wins
It would mean continued assaults on the 1st and 2nd Amendments, especially the latter. Higher taxes and more welfare. More war — Hillary Clinton’s defense secretary-in-waiting, Michelle Flournoy, has openly said as much. And it would mean her appointment of at least one justice to the US Supreme Court, and perhaps as many as four, creating a liberal block of five to seven justices that will put its stamp on the country for a generation or more. Lemmings
So why are so many Republican leaders doing all they can do to diminish Trump and give the election to Clinton, either attacking him openly or withholding support from him? Sure, Trump’s style is often abrasive, and he is a bully, and most importantly to professional politicians, he made fools of the Republican establishment by trashing their best efforts to defeat him.
But all of that has happened earlier, and the party’s leadership have generally rallied around their chosen candidate. So none of the above ought to make so many of the Republican Party’s “leaders” act like lemmings running around in search of a cliff, jeopardizing everything their party has stood for by enhancing Clinton’s prospects.
This type of internal division happened significantly only twice before. In 1860, the Democrats split so badly that the two factions each ran a candidate for president.
The Republican candidate – Abraham Lincoln – won by default, and the outcome was a bloody civil war and poisoned internal relations.
In 1964, the Republican establishment largely rejected their candidate – Barry Goldwater. This gave Lyndon Johnson a win, and America? – well, America got a horribly escalated war in Vietnam we eventually lost, and an even worse “war on poverty” that created a huge welfare class and effectively dismantled the black family.
These precedents are not exactly classified secrets, but much of the Republican “leadership” persists in self-destructive behavior. This is because today, there is one unspoken issue that sets Trump apart from Hillary Clinton, and in opposition to all of the other Republican candidates at the start of the primary season — and, oddly enough, aligns him with Bernie Sanders.
This is that he cannot be counted on to go to war with Iran as soon as possible, which is what Israel wants and what its lobby in the US — AIPAC ( American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the self-described owner of Capitol Hill ) – uses as the litmus test for the legitimacy of a candidate in this election.
Thus, in obedience to AIPAC, many in the Republican establishment throw their core interests to the wind and in effect serve Hillary Clinton. This was especially evident in the open letter signed by many self-described Republican national security experts declaring Trump unfit for the presidency.
Left unsaid in it was that most are Jewish; many have dual Israeli citizenship; all put Israel first; all have been architects of one or more of our “lovely” Middle East wars since 2001; and all want the US to attack Iran, alone or in concert with Israel. Architects of Endless “Regime Change” wars
This ought to give some idea of the sort of debacle awaiting us after the November elections. When the smoke clears, unless Hillary Clinton’s many scandals surface soon and dramatically, perhaps the Republican Party (or whatever remains of it) will replace the elephant with the lemming as the party symbol. I’m just not sure either deserves that fate. | 0 |
Fresh off the back of an electoral victory this past weekend, a bullish Angela Merkel has threatened Britain over the free movement of people — one of the most contentious parts of Brexit negotiations. [The German chancellor issued a warning over placing limits on migration into the United Kingdom, even though the issue was one of the primary motivating factors for those who voted for Britain to leave the European Union in June 2016. According to Reuters, Mrs. Merkel implied Britain would have to pay a price if it put limits on the free movement of European Union citizens during a speech to trade unionists on Wednesday. “If the British government ends the free movement of people, that will have its price,” she said at a G20 trade union event in Berlin. “That’s not malice,” she said. “But I cannot have all the good sides and then say there will be an upper limit of 100, 000 or 200, 000 EU citizens, no more, or just researchers, but please nobody else. This will not work. ” In such a scenario, the remaining 27 EU members would then have to think about what additional obstacles to throw up in order to compensate, Merkel said. “We will, of course, always think in the future relationship of the 48 or 49 percent who didn’t back Brexit,” the German chancellor added, also commenting that the process of Britain leaving the EU will be “very, very complicated”. In recent weeks, EU officials have suggested Britain pay a 100 billion Euro bill to leave the European Union, a notion that today attracted ire from former UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP in the Strasbourg European Parliament. “Either we get some grown up, reasonable demands from the European Union or the United Kingdom will be forced to walk away before the end of this year,” blasted Farage, adding: “We can’t spend two years with this farce”. | 1 |
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More than half of the regimes sitting on the United Nations Human Rights Council after last week's election have been categorized as unfree, sparking criticism and further ridicule of the global body ostensibly tasked with upholding the UN's vision of human rights. Among the latest selections to serve on the discredited global council are some of the most oppressive and murderous communist and Islamist dictatorships on the planet. That is despite the UN outfit's mandate saying that only member governments that “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights” are eligible to join. Adding to the controversy, the Obama administration and Western powers remained silent as UN member governments chose some of the most barbaric regimes on Earth to police “human rights” around the world.
Of course, the selection of ruthless totalitarians to the UN's “human rights” bureaucracy is nothing new . It got so bad more than a decade ago that the brutal regime of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was selected to lead the UN “Human Rights Commission.” After becoming a global laughingstock and discrediting the broader UN, the “commission” was formally disbanded, being replaced by the new and supposedly improved “council.” Like its predecessor, though, the UN Human Rights Council is now officially controlled by repressive, unelected governments. The UN's pseudo-“human rights” apparatus is also led by an extremist Muslim prince who constantly attacks the United States, free speech, gun rights, and other fundamental freedoms , while meddling in Western elections and covering up real atrocities perpetrated by child-raping UN “peace” troops or dictatorial UN member governments.
The latest list of selections for the UN body, chosen by UN member governments and tyrants, reads like a who's who of totalitarian regimes. Among the communist dictatorships that cruised to victory at the UN council, for example, was the regime enslaving mainland China, which has murdered more people than any government in human history. Conservative estimates suggest that the Communist Party state in Beijing is responsible for killing between 60 million and 100 million victims, not including those slaughtered in forced abortions. Despite ongoing atrocities that include harvesting organs from political and religious prisoners, forced abortions to enforce population control, ruthless persecution of Christians, massive censorship, a lack of elections, and more, 180 UN member states decided the autocracy in Beijing was well suited for the important human-rights post.
Another savage communist regime to secure a seat on the UN body is the Castro-led Stalinist dictatorship enslaving Cuba, which received support from 160 out of 193 UN member states. In addition to its history of mass-murder and savage persecution of dissidents, the military autocracy continues to export communist terrorism and tyranny around the world . Indeed, Obama actually launched his political career in the home of Castro-backed communist terrorist Bill Ayers , whose treasonous terror group bombed U.S. targets, murdered police officers, and, according to the FBI, plotted to intern and execute millions of counter-revolutionary Americans with help from foreign dictatorships.
Havana and Beijing both secured re-election, and will be sitting on the UN “human rights” body with a good number of their ideological allies in Asia, Latin America, and beyond. Among the communist and socialist regimes on the council are those ruling Bolivia, Vietnam, South Africa, Ecuador, El Salvador, what remains of imploding Venezuela, and many more. Ironically, around the time of the “elections” to the UN council, the brutal Nicolas Maduro regime in oil-rich Venezuela was sending its minions disguised as “Non-Governmental Organizations” (NGOs) to praise the socialist tyrant's “human rights” record. At home, Maduro is busy jailing political opponents, massacring protesters, and trying to prevent food riots as starved Venezuelans wait hours in line to get the bare essentials of life.
Also taking a spot on the Human Rights Council was the Islamist regime in Saudi Arabia, which beheads apostates, bans Christianity, flogs and executes dissidents, and supports radical Islamism around the world. Over 175 people, including children and disabled people, literally lost their heads in 2014 to the Saudi regime's executioners, who typically use swords to behead those convicted of “apostasy” from Islam and other supposed crimes. Sometimes, following a public beheading, the severed head is tied to the decapitated corpse and displayed in public, tied to a post, as a “deterrent,” ISIS style. Others on the wrong side of the regime's “justice” system can face public floggings, firing squads, the severing of hands, and other cruel and unusual punishments typically considered barbaric in civilized countries. The regime is also widely reported to use torture to extract confessions.
The election of the Islamist Saudi Arabian regime, which has been criticized around the world, followed a successful but deeply controversial effort to have itself removed from a UN list of child killers for its ongoing killing and maiming of children in schools and hospitals in Yemen. It also drew outrage from watchdog groups, human-rights campaigners, and even pro-UN apparatchiks concerned that the UN was further discrediting itself on the world stage. “The UN's election of Saudi Arabia as a world judge on human rights is like a town picking a pyromaniac to be the fire chief,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the non-profit watchdog group UN Watch. More than a few other Islamist regimes already sit on the UN body.
According to a statement by UN Watch, a full 53 percent of the governments now sitting on the UN “Human Rights Council” are what the organization referred to as “non-democracies.” And indeed, many of the worst serial human-rights abusers are among them. “The re-election of China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia — regimes which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens — casts a shadow upon the reputation of the United Nations,” continued Neuer, whose organization advocates reforming the system rather than shutting it down. Indeed, as the group has pointed out, the increasingly discredited UN body has instead focused its efforts on demonizing the State of Israel, which has been the target of more than half of all resolutions from the council aimed at a specific country. That is likely to continue.
UN Watch also expressed “disappointment” at what it described as the “deafening silence” from the Obama administration and the European powers that “deferred to dictators by refusing to speak out and campaign against them.” Neuer added that by remaining silent and turning a blind eye as dictators and human rights violators join and subvert the UN council, those governments “are complicit in the world body's moral decline.” “When the UN helps gross abusers act as champions and global judges of human rights, it's an insult to their political prisoners and their many other victims — and a defeat for the global cause of human rights,” he concluded. “When the UN's highest human rights body becomes a case of the foxes guarding the henhouse, the world's victims suffer.”
Other governments and dictatorships with troubling records selected in the latest process included those ruling Egypt, Rwanda, South Africa, Tunisia, Iraq, Brazil, and Guatemala. Many of those governments have come under fire for abuses. The increasingly extremist regime in South Africa, for example, is led by Jacob Zuma, who has been caught singing songs advocating genocide against vulnerable minorities on national television . They will be joining the oppressive regimes ruling Algeria, Burundi, Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Namibia, Morocco, Qatar, Viet Nam, and more. Vladimir Putin's controversial Russian government was defeated by a razor thin margin, with the governments of Croatia and Hungary selected from the Eastern European grouping instead.
Even the neoconservative internationalist George W. Bush boycotted the dictator-dominated UN outfit that legitimizes gross human rights abusers and tyranny. The Obama administration, though, decided to re-join, and has now been selected as a member of the council, perhaps imagining that it can tie the hands of a potential President Trump. “U.S. engagement has helped transform the Council into a more balanced and credible organization and has helped focus the global spotlight on grave violations and abuses of human rights around the world,” claimed Obama's controversial Secretary of State John Kerry. Among the alleged “achievements” celebrated by Kerry was the UN body's unleashing of a radical homosexuality and gender-confusion czar to bully governments and dictators worldwide into submission to the so-called “LGBT” agenda .
Many critics who have ridiculed and blasted the UN Human Rights Council have argued that it can be “reformed.” But despite all of the recommendations for “reforming” the UN body, the problems with it and the broader UN are in reality systemic. To begin with, consider the UN's own “Universal Declaration of Human Rights ,” which outlines what the UN misleadingly characterizes as the “rights” of human beings. While the document offers lip service to various liberties, it is based on several premises that make it fundamentally incompatible with unalienable, God-given rights as understood in the United States — individual rights that the American Declaration of Independence says government is actually instituted to protect.
Consider Article 29 of the UN declaration, for starters, which claims that “rights” can be limited “by law” under the guise of everything from “public order” to “the general welfare.” Separately, the same article claims that everyone has “duties to the community” and that “rights and freedoms” may “in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.” For perspective, that would be like the First Amendment saying Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, unless Congress dislikes the speech. The UN declaration also assumes “rights” are bestowed by governments and treaties, whereas American traditions and jurisprudence are based on the idea that rights come from the Creator alone, and that governments exist merely to protect them.
Seen in that light, suddenly the UN's bizarre and increasingly frequent rants citing "human rights" to argue against free speech, due process , educational freedom , parental rights , gun rights , the right to life , and so on make much more sense. Indeed, the UN's vision of “human rights” is entirely contradictory to real God-given rights . The two visions are incompatible. The only solution for Americans who value real rights and freedoms, then, is to ditch the UN and its extremist agenda in favor of the U.S. Constitution and the pre-existing rights it enshrines. Legislation to secure an American exit (or Amexit) from the UN , the American Sovereignty Restoration Act , is already in Congress. All that is required now is more public pressure. And as the UN becomes increasingly extreme — even electing the world's most brutal dictatorships to its “human rights” outfit — the pressure will almost certainly continue to build. Photo: UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
Alex Newman, a foreign correspondent for The New American , is normally based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU . He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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AUGUSTA, Me. — The beleaguered Republican governor of Maine seemed on Tuesday to back off from hints that he might quit in the midst of a controversy over his latest tirades of obscene, threatening and racially charged remarks, as Republican lawmakers in the House rallied to quash the possibility of formally rebuking him — or worse — for his erratic behavior. Gov. Paul R. LePage, whose tenure here has often seemed to lurch from one crisis to another, began the day by suggesting in a radio interview Tuesday morning that he was considering stepping down as the outrage generated by a profane voice mail and his apparent endorsement of racial profiling drew admonishments even from members of his party. “It’s really one thing to have one party behind you,” Mr. LePage said on the radio, in an interview that was at times uncharacteristically . “It’s another thing not to have any party behind you. ” But in the early afternoon, in a Twitter message, Mr. LePage seemed to have regained his spirit of defiance. “Regarding rumors of resignation, to paraphrase Mark Twain, ‘The reports of my political demise are greatly exaggerated,’” the message read. Mr. LePage was spending much of the day in the town of Baileyville, 170 miles from here, near the Canadian border. By nighttime, it was clear there was a basis for the governor’s renewed swagger, as House Republican leaders said they would not join the calls to convene a special session, which would have raised the possibility of impeachment. “We believe that the governor is addressing this issue,” said State Representative Kenneth Fredette, an ally of Mr. LePage’s and the minority leader of the House. “We are not interested in coming back in a special session. ” Speaking with reporters after the caucus meeting, Mr. Fredette condemned Mr. LePage’s remarks — “No one agrees with what the governor said or did,” he said — and asserted that “no one gets a free pass. ” But he then seemed to give one to Mr. LePage, saying that a special session would distract voters from important issues ahead of the fall election. Since he was elected in 2010 and in 2014, Mr. LePage has had at least nine political lives and been able to ride out waves of controversy, often provoked by his harsh, insulting and racially charged statements. The outbursts have angered Democrats and embarrassed moderate Republicans, yet left largely unruffled a political base drawn to the former businessman’s unfiltered style. Democrats and some Senate Republicans raised the possibility of a special session to consider ways to rebuke the governor, but such a session could be held only with the approval of half of both caucuses in each legislative chamber. The House Republican caucus held the line after meeting at 6 p. m. The caucus meeting followed days of controversy, after Mr. LePage stated at a meeting last Wednesday that the vast majority of heroin dealers in Maine were black and Hispanic. As criticism swelled, Mr. LePage came to believe that a Democratic lawmaker, Drew Gattine, had called him a racist, and left him a threatening voice mail threaded with obscenities, which he followed by suggesting that he and Mr. Gattine have a duel. On Friday, Mr. LePage reiterated his comments about drugs and race, showing reporters a binder of people arrested on drug charges and asserting that black and Hispanic people from out of state were the “enemy. ” Those comments led Amy Volk, a Republican in the Senate, to make a public break with Mr. LePage, questioning his sanity and sobriety in a Facebook post, although she later apologized for doing so. She called for a special legislative session to consider a censure of Mr. LePage. “It’s just so nonproductive,” Ms. Volk said in an interview on Tuesday. “And so offensive to citizens of color, that they would be somehow lumped in with people that are breaking the law just because of the color of their skin. ” Democratic leaders said they would continue to call for the governor’s resignation. “What the House Republicans have done is slammed the door on their willingness to actually address this behavior at this time,” said Jeff McCabe, the Democratic majority leader of the House, on Tuesday night. “We think that we can work with Senate Republicans as well as some House Republicans who we know are not happy with tonight’s display of political theater. ” Mr. LePage met with Republican legislative leaders on Monday, when he was urged to take steps like apologizing directly to the lawmaker he had threatened, and was asked to seek help, professional or otherwise, according to a person briefed on the discussions. During his interview on the radio station WVOM, Mr. LePage said he “just can’t do” some of the Senate Republicans’ demands, although he did not specify which ones. He added that Republican lawmakers in the House want “to salvage what we can and move forward. ” He went on to say that he was looking at “options,” conceding that his remarks had cost him crucial support. “If I’ve lost my ability to convince the Maine people that’s what we need and that’s the type of people we need in Augusta, then you know, maybe it is time to move on,” he said. His later Twitter message ridiculed any talk of his stepping down. On the radio, he also apologized for his behavior toward Mr. Gattine, calling it “totally, totally unnecessary,” although, in an interview with local television that afternoon, he suggested that Mr. Gattine owed an apology to him. In the morning’s radio interview, he also defended his comments on drugs and race, saying linking the two were “fact,” and adding, “All lives matter. ” “Every drug arrest we get the story, and the people, and when it comes to meth labs, they’re essentially all Maine white people,” Mr. LePage said. “When it comes to the heroin epidemic, it’s just the opposite. ” The imbroglio seems to have strengthened some Republicans’ commitment to Mr. LePage in some parts of the state in Lewiston on Monday night, a bartender and a patron when they realized they both still supported the governor. But it has left those who associate more strongly with the state’s tradition of moderate Republicans, like Senator Susan Collins or Margaret Chase Smith, trying to explain his actions. “It seems to be the norm now to speak what’s on your mind now without a filter,” said Wendy Ault, a former Republican state representative and a member of the Early College Task Force appointed by Mr. LePage, adding, “I believe in civilized discourse. ” | 1 |
LOS ANGELES — To understand how Andrew Garfield successfully made the leap from to holy man, it’s helpful to know that when he was 8, his hero was Mahatma Gandhi. And that one of his life goals at the time was to seek out the schoolyard bully and envelop him in a warm embrace. “He was a brilliant terror, kind of like a ” Mr. Garfield recalled during an interview one warm night in the fall. “My first impulse was to give him a hug and a kiss and tell him he was all right, and that he didn’t have to behave that way. ” He paused, a few moments later adding, “Of course, I became his main target, because I saw him so deeply. ” After a few hours of conversation with Mr. Garfield about, among other things, celebrity toxicity, spiritual steadfastness, authentic living and God, it was evident that Mr. Garfield sees many things deeply. This attribute was integral to his landing starring roles in two meaty movies that are receiving awards attention this season. The first is Mel Gibson’s “Hacksaw Ridge,” about Desmond T. Doss, a World War II hero, a Adventist and conscientious objector who refused to carry weaponry the part has landed Mr. Garfield his second Golden Globe nomination. The other is Martin Scorsese’s “Silence,” in which Mr. Garfield plays a Jesuit priest, Sebastien Rodrigues, on a mission in hostile Japan. Both directors said Mr. Garfield possessed a moral conviction necessary for playing their protagonists, each of whom happen to be devout and forced to face down Japanese antagonists. Mr. Garfield, who is 33, said he could not have done “Hacksaw” were it not for the intensive preparation he underwent for “Silence. ” For the Scorsese film, which was produced first but released second, he spent a year under the tutelage of the Jesuit priest and author Father James Martin, praying, fasting, using a small rented West Village apartment as a retreat and undergoing rigorous spiritual exercises. “I got not only a theological education, but a deep spiritually transformative experience,” Mr. Garfield said, his brown eyes blazing with the intensity of a tractor beam. Lithe and nimble — not for nothing was he — and as finely tuned as a whippet, Mr. Garfield came across as a friendly, engaged presence, with a crackling intelligence that Mr. Gibson described as “through the roof. ” “There’s something about fasting, about being empty enough to allow the spirit in, to hear and to listen and to be guided,” Mr. Garfield said. “To be with that silent void, that chaos in ourselves, that’s what the character goes through. He gets the most profound bliss and joy because he hangs in there with the void, with the seeming darkness. ” Mr. Garfield met to chat at the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood, a spot arranged by his publicist even though Mr. Garfield was staying on the city’s east side he was in production for the coming noir thriller “Under the Silver Lake. ” The Marquis is deluxe — “through the breezeway and over the koi bridge” were a clerk’s directions to the restaurant — and couldn’t have been farther from the spartan surroundings Mr. Garfield put himself in to prepare for “Silence. ” That spiritual work, in turn, seems to have left Mr. Garfield ever more at odds with the Hollywood culture he has resisted even as his star has steadily risen. The night before, he’d attended the Governors Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ annual gala. While Mr. Garfield said he marveled at the screened montages of the night’s honorary award winners, he was painfully aware of the constant inflation and deflation of egos, including his own. “It’s a really sick old Hollywood kind of patriarchal value system, based on commerce and money and who’s the hottest and who’s going to bring in the big bucks,” he said. “I’m not saying that an organization like the academy doesn’t acknowledge and honor talent it’s evident they do. But it coexists with the commerce aspect. Sometimes I feel the tail is wagging the dog. And I struggle with that. ” Of course, the reason Mr. Garfield is getting such plum parts is because he is ascending that hierarchy, despite himself. Born in Los Angeles to an English mum and an American father, Mr. Garfield was raised from toddlerhood in Surrey, England. His family was a loving one, he said, and his father was Jewish and resisted the notion that any one people were chosen. Mr. Garfield began acting as a child, working his way up from the theater to British television and then feature films. He came to international attention in 2010 for his lauded performances in “Never Let Me Go” and “The Social Network. ” But it was his casting as for “The Amazing ” (2012) and subsequent romance with his Emma Stone, that catapulted him to a wider fame, which he knew was coming and dreaded when he took the Peter Parker role. had always been Mr. Garfield’s favorite superhero, and he said he adored the character and couldn’t say no, even though being in such a spotlight made him cringe. “If I could have kept the mask on the whole time, it would have been better, because I don’t have interest in being known for a character,” Mr. Garfield said of his time as Spidey (he also starred in the 2014 sequel). “I have no interest in being known as a celebrity celebrity is a pretty disgusting word. It’s part of the brainwashing of the culture, part of the false idolatry of those that are only human, and I don’t want to participate in that. ” The paparazzi had other ideas, which Mr. Garfield pushed back against. When photographers caught him strolling New York’s streets with Ms. Stone, the pair hid their faces behind handwritten signs directing readers to charity websites. In 2015, when it was announced that another actor would be playing Mr. Garfield found himself relieved: He wanted to continue working on himself as an actor, which isn’t easy in a franchise. “It’s a moneymaking exercise, and I don’t know if I’m criticizing that,” he said. “I’m trying not to judge that, all I knew is that I found it very painful to be a part of in that regard. ” But he had already been spreading his wings. In 2012, Mr. Garfield earned a Tony nomination for his performance as Biff in Broadway’s “Death of a Salesman,” starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and directed by Mike Nichols. Mr. Nichols became one of Mr. Garfield’s dearest mentors, and his death, along with Mr. Hoffman’s in 2014 — “I’m so lucky I got to brush my soul against him every night,” Mr. Garfield said — left him lastingly bereft. The performance was recommended to Mr. Scorsese, who was finally getting a passion project three decades in the making off the ground. In 2013, while Mr. Garfield was in the middle of “The Amazing 2,” he found himself in Mr. Scorsese’s Upper West Side offices for an audition that would last three hours, and leave the director thrilled. “I felt the film come alive at that point,” Mr. Scorsese wrote in an email. “Andrew let me know right away that he had to go deep into the role and that it had to take time — he had to live it. ” This would involve intensive work with Father Martin, who, despite his initial wariness, ended up guiding Mr. Garfield through St. Ignatius Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, which often mark the summit of a spiritual journey. “God drew him into the exercises immediately,” Father Martin said. “At one point, Marty said: ‘I’m sorry you won’t be with me in Taiwan. We won’t have an expert in Jesuit spirituality with us.’ And I said, ‘Yes, you will, you’ll have Andrew. ’” The production was in 2015, and shortly after Mr. Garfield returned, he read the script for “Hacksaw Ridge. ” It was positioned as a comeback for Mr. Gibson, who had been disgraced a decade earlier for drunkenly spewing epithets. Mr. Garfield said he read the script, wept — Mr. Doss had rescued 75 men from a brutal battleground in Japan — and that any hesitation he might have had vanished after he asked Mr. Gibson about the controversy . “We talked about everything, all about that period in his life, and the years since, and his sobriety, and the work he’s done and the healing he’s done within himself, and those others that he consulted and hurt,” Mr. Garfield said. “He’s a very loving man, a crazy loyal man, sensitive and caretaking, and he’s not drinking, and it’s a really beautiful, beautiful thing. ” As for Mr. Gibson, he said Mr. Garfield filled every hope he had. “The pump was primed,” Mr. Gibson said over the phone. “This character needed to be profound down to the bootstraps of his soul. ” After a few months’ breather once filming wrapped, Mr. Garfield quickly went back to work and he’s also starring this year in a revival of “Angels in America” in the West End. But his very immediate future is being dictated by awards — his work in “Hacksaw” also landed a Screen Actors Guild award, and the Golden Globes are Sunday, Jan. 8 — meaning he’ll be back on red carpets, schmoozing again, a reluctant cog in the Hollywood machine. | 1 |
Harry Reid Vindicated: The FBI Is Sitting On Info Of Russian Operation ‘To Cultivate Donald Trump’ 10492
Outgoing Senator Harry Reid took a lot of flack for speaking out about the double standard that exists between how the FBI treats Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Many, even on the left, slammed Reid as a conspiracy nut for suggesting the FBI was sitting on information explicitly linking Russia and Trump. Left-leaning New Republic was particularly brutal: Republicans are right: Hary Reid should be ashamed of himself .
Instead, he’s been vindicated.
Just one day after making the remarks, several explosive stories dropped coming from entirely separate journalists that document several ways in which Trump is tied to Russia – and the FBI knows about it.
According to a report by NBC News, the FBI is making “preliminary inquiry” into Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort for his ties to Russian businesses. Trump himself is rumored to have business interests linked to Russia – but has thus far refused calls to release his tax returns to disprove it. Even more critically, Mother Jones spoke to an unnamed counterintelligence officer who said that the FBI has more information than they are letting on.
…a former senior intelligence officer for a Western country who specialized in Russian counterintelligence tells Mother Jones that in recent months he provided the bureau with memos, based on his recent interactions with Russian sources, contending the Russian government has for years tried to co-opt and assist Trump—and that the FBI requested more information from him.
According to the informant, the “Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting and assisting TRUMP for at least 5 years. Aim, endorsed by PUTIN, has been to encourage splits and divisions in western alliance.” This aligns with what many intelligence experts in the U.S. have suspected, as well. Putin doesn’t want Trump because he thinks he can work with him, he wants Trump because his presidency would tear American democracy apart at the seams. In the power vacuum that would ensue, Russia would then hope to capitalize on it geopolitically. Not a bad plan considering Trump has repeatedly demonstrated he is a moron when it comes to foreign policy.
Unlike Clinton, however. The FBI has clearly taken pains to keep this investigation out of the public eye. In a sardonic twist, they even cite privacy as the reason why they can’t comment, leading Democratic congressman Adam Schiff to note :
“Any specifics of what the FBI or intelligence agencies may be looking at are not something that the bureau should be discussing publicly,” Schiff said. “But here, where the director has discussed an investigation involving one candidate, it opens the director up to claims of bias if he doesn’t discuss other potential investigations.”
Meanwhile, Trump appears content to flaunt his love affair with Russia. On the very same day that Reid unloaded on him, the Republican candidate told a rally that he planned to work closely with Putin. Trump: "Wouldn’t it be nice? Wouldn’t it be smart?" To “put everything together with Putin" and Russia?
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) October 31, 2016
Wow is right.
Featured image via Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images Share this Article! | 0 |
According to research search from the social media analytics company Dataminr, over 12, 000 tweets have called for the assassination of President Trump since he took office on January 20th. [Here are just a few found after a quick search on Twitter: Can someone take one for the team and assassinate trump when he comes to the uk?? — Cal (@callum_fielding) January 27, 2017, Someone needs to assassinate Donald trump, — Elizabeth Pyman (@boho1899) January 27, 2017, I hate to say this, but can someone just assassinate Trump already? — justin (@jaysupremeee) February 3, 2017, i hope melania has a secret plan to assassinate trump and pence with the help of her slovenian family, — effy🖤 (@Elyssuhhxx) January 27, 2017, Oh Mrs May, came back todayAfter her trip to the USA, Wish she May, Wish she MightAssassinate D. Trump tonight#PoemsAboutTrumpAndMay, — Sammie ♥ (@SammieJoMaria) January 26, 2017, Twitter has said in an email statement that “the Twitter Rules prohibit threats of violence, and we will suspend accounts violating that policy. ” Whilst these may not be direct threats, the rules also clearly state that the “promotion” of violence is also forbidden. Yet many thousands of tweets and accounts remain active, in a direct contradiction to Twitter’s former statement. Not all Twitter threats are hyperbolic. The Secret Service have in fact investigated some individuals for their tweets. Heather Lowry from Kentucky posted, “if someone was cruel enough to assassinate MLK, maybe someone will be kind enough to assassinate Trump. ” The agency’s field office then interviewed Lowry and conducted a background check. Zachary Benson of Cleveland, Ohio, was in fact charged with threatening the then ’s life on Twitter, with a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison. Former US Secret Service special agent Tim Franklin told Mashable that “it’s the people who have a true and genuine intent to do harm that the Secret Service is worried about … they’re not going to to beat down the door of everybody who makes a negative Twitter comment. ” Users who use specific language and detail regarding any assassination attempt will likely get a visit from the Secret Service. Jack Hadfield is a student at the University of Warwick and a regular contributor to Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @ToryBastard_, on Gab @JH or email him at jack@yiannopoulos. net. | 1 |
How did the “growing trust” that Russian President Vladimir Putin once said marked his “working and personal relationship with President Obama ” change into today’s deep distrust and saber-rattling?
Their relationship reached its zenith after Mr. Putin persuaded Syria to give up its chemical weapons for verified destruction, enabling Mr. Obama at the last minute to call off, with some grace, plans to attack Syria in late summer 2013. But at an international conference in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi last week, Mr. Putin spoke of the “feverish” state of international relations and lamented: “My personal agreements with the President of the United States have not produced results.” He complained about “people in Washington ready to do everything possible to prevent these agreements from being implemented in practice” and, referring to Syria, decried the lack of a “common front against terrorism after such lengthy negotiations, enormous effort, and difficult compromises.”
A month earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov , who chooses his words carefully, told Russian TV viewers, “My good friend John Kerry … is under fierce criticism from the U.S. military machine. Despite [Mr. Kerry’s] assurances that the U.S. commander in chief, President Barack Obama, supported him in his contacts with Russia (he confirmed that during his meeting with President Vladimir Putin) apparently the military does not really listen to the commander in chief.”
Do not chalk this up to paranoia. The U.S.-led coalition air strikes on known Syrian army positions killing scores of troops just five days into the September cease-fire — not to mention statements at the time by the most senior U.S. generals — were evidence enough to convince the Russians that the Pentagon was intent on scuttling meaningful cooperation with Russia.
Relations between the U.S. and Russian presidents have now reached a nadir, and Mr. Putin has ordered his own defense ministry to throw down the gauntlet. On Oct. 6, ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Russia is prepared to shoot down unidentified aircraft — including any stealth aircraft — over Syria, and warned ominously that Russian air defense will not have time to identify the origin of the aircraft.
It seems possible that the U.S. air force will challenge that claim in due course — perhaps even without seeking prior permission from the White House. Last week, National Intelligence Director and former Air Force General James Clapper commented offhandedly, “I wouldn’t put it past them to shoot down an American aircraft … if they felt it was threatening their forces on the ground.”
Injecting additional volatility into the equation, major news outlets are playing down or ignoring Russia’s warnings. Thus, Americans who depend on the corporate media can be expected to be suitably shocked by what that same media will no doubt cast as naked aggression out of the blue if Russian air defenses down a U.S. or coalition aircraft.
Meanwhile in Europe, as NATO defense ministers met in Brussels on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told reporters the U.S. is contributing “a persistent rotational armored brigade combat team” as a “major sign of the U.S. commitment to strengthening deterrence here.”
“This was a decision made by the alliance leaders in Warsaw,” he explained, referring to NATO’s July summit meeting in the Polish capital. “The United States will lead a battalion in Poland and deploy an entire battle-ready battalion task force of approximately 900 soldiers from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which is based in Germany.”
On Thursday, at the Valdai Conference in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, President Putin accused the West of promoting the “myth” of a “Russian military threat,” calling this a “profitable business that can be used to pump new money into defense budgets … expand NATO and bring its infrastructure, military units, and arms closer to our borders.”
Myth or not, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was correct to point out last spring that military posturing on Russia’s borders will bring less regional security. Mr. Steinmeier warned against “saber-rattling,” adding that, “We are well advised not to create pretexts to renew an old confrontation.”
Speaking of such pretexts, it is high time to acknowledge that the marked increase in East-West tensions over the past two and a half years originally stemmed from the Western-sponsored coup d’état in Kiev on Feb. 22, 2014, and Russia’s reaction in annexing Crimea. Americans malnourished on the diet served up by “mainstream” media are blissfully unaware that two weeks before the coup, YouTube published a recording of an intercepted conversation between U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and the U.S. ambassador in Kiev, during which “Yats” (for Arseniy Yatsenyuk) was identified as Washington’s choice to become the new prime minister of the coup government in Kiev.
This unique set of circumstances prompted George Friedman, president of the think-tank STRATFOR, to label the putsch in Kiev on Feb. 22, 2014, “really the most blatant coup in history.”
It’s time for Western politicians and media to learn their lesson and pay attention to the statements coming out of Russia. Ask yourselves: Why all this hype now?
Ray McGovern was an Army officer and CIA analyst for almost 30 year. He now serves on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. He is a contributor to Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion (AK Press) . He can be reached at: [email protected] . A version of this article first appeared on Consortiumnews.com. | 0 |
Good morning. (Want to get California Today by email? Here’s the .) With thousands of people fleeing areas downstream from Lake Oroville amid warnings of catastrophic danger, my editor thought it would be a good idea for me to do the opposite. So early Monday, I drove from my home to Oroville, about 80 miles north in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Along Route 70, Northern California’s extreme wet winter was evident in every direction. It was reflected in the flooded orchards, the bursting Yuba River and the Sierra’s snowy peaks. Relentless runoff from the mountains had caused Lake Oroville to flow over its emergency spillway for the first time ever on Saturday. A day later, state officials noticed a hole forming in the spillway and prepared for the worst, ordering nearly 190, 000 people to seek safer ground. In Oroville on Monday, just a handful of businesses were open. Among them was Mike’s Grande Burger which gave out free meals to the truck drivers, emergency personnel and others working at the hobbled spillway. Some residents who had stayed behind gathered on a hill above Oroville Dam and watched the scene below. The reservoir, California’s second largest, was perfectly still and surrounded by hills. In the distance, the Feather River snaked along the valley floor. Locals recalled flooding events of the past — one in 1997, when thousands of people were forced to flee, and another in 2006. Some wondered whether state officials had done enough to shore up the Oroville reservoir before the latest round of trouble. Others talked about untamable nature. With more storms approaching, officials are effectively now in a race against time to lower the level of the lake and reinforce the hobbled spillway. Whether it will be enough is by no means certain. Read more in my article with Jess Bidgood here. More on the Oroville crisis from around the web: • People of good will stepped up to help those forced to flee. [Opinion | Sacramento Bee] • The crisis highlighted the need for repairs to other California dams. [East Bay Times] • The nightmare scenario that officials are fighting to prevent. [Los Angeles Times] • President Trump promised to fix infrastructure. He can start with crumbling dams. [Opinion | The New York Times] (Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.) • Inside the black bloc movement that is rising up against President Trump. [Los Angeles Times] • Los Angeles’s mayor wants to lower the city’s temperature. Scientists are figuring out how to do it. [Los Angeles Times] • That California teacher shortage? It’s already a crisis. [Opinion | San Diego ] • There is a growing worry that the quietude of the southern San Andreas fault is unlikely to last. [Washington Post] • If milk comes from an almond, can you still call it milk? [The New York Times] • Playboy, based in Beverly Hills, will resume showing naked women. [The New York Times] • Bobby Freeman died at 76 in Daly City. His 1950s hit “Do You Want to Dance” was covered by a range of artists including the Beach Boys and Bette Midler. [The New York Times] • It’s not just about Adele and Beyoncé, our critic writes. The Grammys consistently celebrate white acts. [The New York Times] • Photo: For a short time every February, Yosemite’s Horsetail Fall lights up like fire at sunset. [Twitter | U. S. Department of Interior] There are comic book stores, mystery book stores and even culinary book stores. But until last year, the United States had few, if any, romance novel stores. And this despite the genre’s enormous popularity. To the sisters Leah and Bea Koch, that sounded like an opportunity. They opened their shop, The Ripped Bodice, in Culver City last March. With Valentine’s Day upon us, it seemed a good moment to check in. We caught up with Leah Koch via telephone. Some excerpts: • Is it true that romance novels get short shrift? • What’s popular right now? • What advice would you give men as they’re thinking about Valentine’s Day with their partners? California Today goes live at 6 a. m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes. com. The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U. C. Berkeley. | 1 |
It had been decades since I’d flown over a pair of handlebars. One moment I was bouncing along, in sagebrush, mind reeling from all the natural beauty zipping by, and the next I’d caught a wheel on a rock and gone sailing into that familiar somersault: butt rising from the saddle, shoulders twisting violently, hips lurching heels actually clicking midair, sunglasses and water bottle and Clif Bar hurtling into the trees, the ground closing in. Because I was aimed steeply downhill, partway into a gully, I landed more or less on my feet, like a gymnast, before flopping onto my stomach with an “Ugh!” and briefly bodysurfing. Miraculously unscathed, I dusted myself off and glanced around. Out here, alone in the wilderness, at least nobody was watching. Looking back, it seems strange that I kept going. I was just of the way into a trip with an old friend, Dacus, whom I had abandoned an hour earlier with a broken chain. It wasn’t even my first wipeout. My shins were already pulped after crashing through a wall of thistle. Most alarmingly, I had scant cellphone reception. But the thought of returning the way I had come — wading a murky creek and huffing up a rutted cow path choked with wood ticks — was more depressing. Besides, it had been my idea to cycle the Maah Daah Hey Trail, the longest and arguably most grueling mountain biking route in the United States. I was an unlikely candidate for the trip: I had never ridden a mountain bike before, or even camped much. But I’d read about the trail — a doorstep to the lush, vertiginous, sunstruck vastness of the North Dakota Badlands, which Theodore Roosevelt called “a place of grim beauty” — and was sold. Dacus, a neophyte living in New Orleans, took some convincing. But in early June, we arrived in the striving tourist town of Medora, a point for the trail. At Dakota Cyclery, an excellent bike shop and outfitter, we rented sturdy mountain bikes, trail maps and bike bags for carrying our gear, and booked a shuttle ride to a northern trailhead, all for a reasonable $375 apiece. With four days of food and clothing lashed to our bikes, and with the vaguest notion of what awaited us, we started pedaling. Something I didn’t know about mountain biking, at least on a trail this challenging: You cannot look up. Even for a second. To do so is to court ruin. Forget about the scenery, all that peripheral beauty gone by in a flash, the profound silence, the bliss of seclusion. Was that a bull elk up ahead or merely a juniper? Oh, how the rings of morning light smolder over that ridgeline . .. Wake up! Dial it in, man! Head down! Eyes locked on the trail! Let your mind drift and you are toast. Unfortunately for me, on the Maah Daah Hey, the temptation to look up is endless. The North Dakota Badlands are sometimes compared to the loping greenery of New Hampshire’s White Mountains — but that’s apt only if the greenery had been painted on top of canyon land. At its edges, the Badlands flatten into farm country, but their heart is the swaying, steppe of the Little Missouri National Grassland: more than a million acres of astonishingly beautiful, infernally punishing terrain. At every turn, it induces a wandering eye. Bridging the north and south sections of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the Maah Daah Hey is 144. 7 miles all told, but Dacus and I were tackling only the first 96, departing from Bennett camp, just outside the north section. From the very start, it was all up, up, up. With an elevation gain of 8, 600 sidewinding feet, it began to feel Dantean. Everywhere were wonderful reminders of our mortality: sheer drops into river bottoms eroding hillside ledges that slid away in our wake cows with a knack for materializing around blind turns and at road crossings, careening oil trucks. Had I been in a morbid frame of mind, I might have chucked it all at Mile 3, when Dacus’s chain broke. The plan at that point was to reconnect farther along, after Dacus had hiked back to the trailhead, called Dakota Cyclery for help, and had them drop him off around Mile 10. I rolled on, feeling abruptly, utterly alone. We’d seen no one else all morning, and our first campsite was still 22 miles away. My prevailing concern, however, was staying on my bike. Before my acrobatic dismount, I’d narrowly missed being brained by a lolling branch. Later, I had screeched to a halt at the lip of a sharp declivity and, unable to find a foothold, simply timberrrrrrrrred into the sagebrush. But it was a warm day, in the low 80s, with a delicious tailwind. Wildflowers crowded my wheels: blue flax and sego lily, golden pea and spiderwort. Prairie grasses of muted yellows and olives bristled under a heartbreakingly blue sky. I startled a pronghorn, a relative of the antelope, which took off, kicking up sparks of dirt I trailed it across several hundred yards of upland meadow, until it was a bead in the distance. I had been reading a biography of Sitting Bull, the great Lakota holy man, and knew that far to my left was a siltstone butte called Killdeer Mountain, where in the summer of 1864, the United States Army attacked a peaceful Indian encampment, killing around 150 Santee and Lakota Sioux, though Sitting Bull survived. As they retreated and regrouped for the Battle of the Badlands — fought later that summer at the trail’s midsection near Medora — the Sioux very likely passed not far from where I was riding. Straddling a $2, 000 mountain bike, and with three liters of cold water in my insulated hydration pack, it was humbling to think of Sitting Bull, a fugitive in his own home, short on water and horses, trying to lead his people to safety over this broken ground. Onward I slogged, from tabletop plain to forests of pinyon and juniper to gravel culvert and back again. Where the trail crossed County Road 50, the outfitter’s van appeared with Dacus grinning in a window. A doctored chain, a and we were off again. And then, within minutes, we were lost. While mostly well marked, with signposts placed every 500 feet or so, the Maah Daah Hey can devolve into a latticework of tracks — some of them cow paths, some blazed by backcountry regulars — forking this way and that, and ebbing into voids. I the map and scanned its stupefying squiggles for a clue. Which way was north again? And then there it was, in the dirt at my feet: Some benevolent soul had scrawled an arrow with a fingertip, pointing the way ahead. We soon crossed Beicegel Creek, where petrified cedar stumps stood in the shallows, a reminder that western North Dakota had once been subtropical wetlands, like today’s Everglades. I gazed down at fossilized abalone and nautilus shells. Toward dusk, we found ourselves flying through an immense pasture, scattering herds of black cows and calves, the light running out behind us. It felt like a reward for a very patchy first day, perched in our pedals and roaring across the beautiful emptiness, tilted slightly downhill with the wind in our faces. After 25 hard miles, our campsite was just minutes away. Now I got this whole mountain biking deal. We were ripping! Until Dacus went airborne. He lacked the luck I’d had earlier and bounced off his head before crashing onto his tailbone. Somehow he walked away, but with the air of a sky diver whose chute had only partly opened. We inspected his helmet. It had a crack down the middle. “Wow,” I said. “You O. K.?” “I think so,” he said, woozily. “What happened?” “It was so beautiful, I decided to look around for a second. ” “Big mistake. ” We camped that night next to creek called Magpie, in a copse of ash and cottonwood. It was shady down in there, so cool and quiet. I crawled on all fours into my tent and sat plucking ticks from my legs. I was spent, my body a factory of pain. But as I stared into the woods, into the fields beyond, I felt . The Maah Daah Hey was a long time in coming. Originally conceived as a horseback trail, it took the Forest Service a decade to stitch together the inaugural 96 miles in 1999 — a patchwork of federal, state and private lands — and in 2014 they finished a second section, called the Deuce, which tacked on 48. 7 miles (there are more miles to come, pending federal financing). For mountain bikers, who caught wind of the trail early on and now make up the vast majority of its 15, 000 annual users, the wait was worth it. The Maah Daah Hey ranks with the storied Slickrock Trail in Utah and the McKenzie River Trail in Oregon as among the country’s greatest . It laps both by more than 100 miles. But the landscape of the Maah Daah Hey has a deeper meaning. The trail happens to run straight through what until the late 19th century had been home to scores of Badlands tribes, principally the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, but also the Assiniboine, Blackfoot, Chippewa, Crow, and Oglala and Lakota Sioux (“maah daah hey” is Mandan for grandfather). In fact, the trail is part of an ancient, intertribal trading and hunting network that once stretched all the way to South Dakota, Montana and the Knife River Indian villages near Stanton, N. D. where in 1804, Lewis and Clark met Sacagawea while wintering among the Mandan. On the heels of Lewis and Clark’s visit, the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara were nearly wiped out by smallpox. The survivors banded together and endured, but like all Badlands natives, they were eventually forced to forsake their ancestral lands for reservation life. Before arriving in North Dakota, I had spoken to Gerard Baker, a and former superintendent of the Mount Rushmore National Monument. It was Mr. Baker who had named the trail — at the Forest Service’s request — partly inspired by stories his late father, Paige Baker Sr. had told him about the longstanding presence there. “I wanted to name it ‘maah daah hey’ because grandfathers are always supposed to be around,” Mr. Baker said. “From a clanship standpoint, we Indians have a lot of grandfathers, and whether you’re having hard times or good times, they’re supposed to be there for you. That’s what the trail means. You can go out there by yourself and cry and nobody will hear you except the spirits, and they’ll help you. ” Mr. Baker had little interest in mountain biking, and saw the trail more as a symbol of his secular and spiritual bond with the Badlands. “This is an area that the associate with our spirits and our history,” he said, adding that the trail’s northern end is a short drive from the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara reservation at Fort Berthold. “The Badlands were closed off to us for so long. Now they’re open to us again. We have a lot of spirits that still live out there, and we feel an ownership to the land. Deep in our hearts, it’s still ours, man. ” At Mr. Baker’s suggestion, I had placed a clump of tobacco on the trail as Dacus and I had set out, praying to the four directions — North, South, East, West — for our safe delivery. Whether or not it was working seemed to be an open question. Each morning we wondered what the day would bring. The wind was constantly at our backs, like a gentle hand pushing us. Rain that had churned the ground into impassable sludge days earlier was nowhere to be seen. Pronghorn sprung from crowns of gamagrass and foxtail barley. Western meadowlarks and bobolinks shot over the fields. At a place called Devils Pass, we gingerly negotiated a gangplank of shattered stone as the trail narrowed over a shadowy gorge. But then the Maah Daah Hey mellowed into flatlands, veering southwesterly and roughly paralleling the Little Missouri River. We crossed the shallows carrying our bikes on our shoulders, wading the reddened, sluggish water up to our thighs. Dacus, hankering for a swim, plopped down in the middle and flapped his legs, style. We cruised into a maze of huge cottonwoods, a rare length of shade where the grass grew up past our saddles. This was the best part of the trail. The air was stunningly crisp, birdsong flaring and fading. The going was easy. I found a deer antler, a tiny forked thing that I stuffed into my pack, and a little farther on, a hawk feather, fluted rustling across the grass. We headed up again, a dizzying climb in equatorial heat, past the tree line, then stopped for lunch on an alcove with amphitheater views. Miles and miles of rough country rolled to the horizon, a leafy sandstone valley sprouting interior courtyards and alleyways, the swollen sun overhead. Scattered incongruously on distant bluffs were several pumpjack oil drilling rigs, most of them inactive, poised over the earth like herons. Western North Dakota has some of the richest oil and natural gas reserves in the world — part of the vast Bakken Formation, a geologic superfund of sorts holding billions of barrels of oil, almost all of it reachable only through controversial fracking. During the height of its oil boom from 2006 to 2012, North Dakota produced over a million barrels per day, more than any state besides Texas. When the price of oil dropped in 2014, many rigs went idle. By 3 p. m. we had put 22 miles behind us. Whooping and shouting, we rode a rushing swell of grass, birds in orbit all around, then dropped into a draw, snaking through shoals of boulders. One boulder turned out to be a dead cow, its face and hindquarters eaten away. It was hard not to think of it as an omen. Our camp was a wide basin a mile or two from Elkhorn Ranch, where a young Theodore Roosevelt lived from 1884 to 1887. Roosevelt loved the Badlands. He came to rely on their restorative qualities after wearying stints back East. As an avid hunter, partly what he loved was the chance to shoot the bison, elk and bighorn sheep. Evenings, he’d sit on his veranda with a rifle close at hand. But the Badlands eventually changed Roosevelt, giving shape to a conservationist credo. Sickened by the ravages of hide hunters, he protected 230 million acres of public land during his presidency, including a stunning parcel of North Dakota Badlands. My notes from Day 3 are mostly unprintable here. miles of blistering, infuriating, jackknifed rock. We pushed and pulled and lugged our oppressive, bikes over nearly every inch of ground, cursing and sputtering. We couldn’t get enough water. I have an image of Dacus slumped on the trail, febrile and panting, handkerchief covering his face, madly gulping from his water bottle while turkey vultures circled overhead. We decided to ration the four liters apiece we carried, just in case. When we reached a spot with some shade, Dacus lay down for a nap and I scrambled to the top of a butte, that I’d check my cell reception to see if I could call for a medevac. As I sat there, a mule deer clomped into the clearing below me twitching its big khaki ears. Far off, wavering on the thermals, two golden eagles swung into view. With twilight approaching, we found ourselves in a petrified forest, swerving wildly to avoid the blackened stumps. Camp had to be close by, we reasoned. But our map showed we were still an hour out. We weren’t quite in tears, but we were close. Sooner or later, the Maah Daah Hey Trail, we had to admit, turns grown men into simpering mama’s boys. It’s a place for stern, bushwhacking cyclists and not for city kids after a fleeting nature fix. Dacus put our problem succinctly: “I think what we’re finding is our skill levels just aren’t very high. ” It was almost dark when we arrived in camp, plumb out of water and near the brink of physical and emotional collapse. By good fortune, four experienced mountain bikers were riding the trail that week, and they greeted us with restorative beers and a dinner. It was a deciding to wimp out on the last day. A shortcut via a graded service road, we realized, would put us back in Medora by lunchtime, nearly halving the trail’s last 28 miles. With a cloud of dust in our wake, we were in town by noon, sharing a large Hawaiian pizza and guzzling pints of beer. As we sat toasting our accomplishment, I felt a twinge of pride. It hadn’t been pretty, and I was glad it was over, but we’d ridden the Maah Daah Hey Trail, or a good chunk of it anyway, and lived. “Thanks for inviting me along,” Dacus said. “It was amazing. One of the most incredible trips of my life. And I’ll never do it again. ” But I thought happily of our last night in camp, of those gifted cans of Canadian beer, and of some Maah Daah Hey advice that Gerard Baker had given me: “Don’t just look, but listen. Stand out there in the middle of the night and listen. Listen to the trees and to the grass, because you’ll hear a lot in those Badlands. ” And I did. I stood in the darkness sipping beer and missing my wife, listening to the chirr of summer insects while the stars brightened, trying to tune my ears to the unknown. | 1 |
Videos Wikileaks: Clinton, Podesta Agreed Not To Distribute Confidential Intel By Private Email Account In an email released by Wikileaks, John Podesta said he was willing to discuss sensitive information with his future boss Hillary Clinton while he worked for President Obama and she was a private citizen. In this Oct. 5, 2016, photo, Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta speaks to members of the media outside Clinton’s home in Washington.
As reported previously, when discussing Hillary Clinton’s email in which revealed US intel and strategy regarding the middle east, and disclosed that Qatar and Saudi Arabia were funding the Islamic State, John Podesta said he was willing to discuss sensitive information with his future boss Hillary Clinton while he worked for President Obama and she was a private citizen in August 2014, but he knew better than to send the intel over Clinton’s private server from his Gmail account, emails released Thursday by WikiLeaks show.
In the exchange which Hillary Clinton previewed by stating”sources include Western intelligence, US intelligence and sources in the region”, and who had resigned as secretary of state 18 months earlier, asked then-Obama counselor Podesta if he knew who was responsible for an Aug. 18 airstrike in Tripoli, in which unidentified bombers blew up an Islamist-controlled arms depot in the Libyan capital.
“Yes and interesting but not for this channel,” Podesta replied in the Aug. 19, 2014 message to Clinton’s account.
As fox previously observed , the conversation suggests that Podesta, now Clinton’s campaign chairman, was willing to provide Clinton information that had not been made public. Reports from The New York Times and The Associated Press at the time included denials of involvement from the U.S., France, Italy and Egypt and debunked claims of responsibility from a rogue Libyan general.
Podesta, in his email response, indicated he had his own sources. But he also apparently recognized he shouldn’t share the information over their personal accounts.
It’s unclear if he was concerned more about the security on her clintonemail.com account or his Gmail account — which would be hacked months later, in turn exposing the email chain Thursday.
Podesta’s concern could show that at least one close Clinton ally was aware of the risk of sharing sensitive or classified information over the unsecured server.
And today, thanks to the latest – and perhaps last – Wiki release, we know that Hillary agreed with Podesta when in the last email in that thread she replied simply, “got it.” It is unclear if this was the first time Hillary Clinton realized that sending potential confidential intelligence by private email is frowned upon. | 0 |
ATHENS — After days of heated debate, Greek lawmakers voted narrowly on Sunday to approve a fresh set of financial measures aimed at ensuring that eurozone finance ministers will decide this week to unlock billions of euros in badly needed rescue loans from the country’s third bailout. The legislation passed 153 to 145, with all of the government coalition members in Parliament voting in favor. It includes a one percentage point increase in the highest rate of sales tax to 24 percent, higher taxes on coffee, alcohol, fuel and other goods and new rules liberalizing the market for nonperforming bank loans. There is also a measure creating a privatization fund to sell off state assets and utilities, including public transport companies, the post office and the state power corporation. The legislation also introduces a contingency mechanism that would cut state spending if Greece misses budget targets set by its creditors for the next three years. Addressing Parliament before the vote, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he had “negotiated hard to secure the chance for the country to stand on its own two feet. ” He later added: “Today, European leaders get the message that Greece is keeping its promises. Now, it’s their turn to do the same. ” Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the leader of the main opposition party, the conservative New Democracy, accused the governing coalition — which first came to power on a pledge to reverse austerity before signing a third bailout — of “organized political fraud. ” Mr. Mitsotakis, whose party is leading in opinion polls, said the new taxes would “annihilate everyone” and accused the government of “plebifying the middle class. ” Outside the Parliament building, protesters gathered to express their exasperation at yet another round of austerity measures. The ones approved on Sunday came on top of pension cuts and increases to income tax adopted earlier this month. The vote came two days before eurozone finance ministers are to meet in Brussels to sign off on rescue loans for Greece and decide what kind of debt relief to offer. Greece and its European creditors have been locked in talks on how to reduce the country’s debt burden, which the International Monetary Fund is insisting on before it joins Greece’s third international bailout. The bailout agreement, signed last summer, is worth 86 billion euros, or $96. 5 billion. It follows two bailouts worth a total of 240 billion euros that Greece’s eurozone partners and the I. M. F. granted in 2010 and 2012 in exchange for a barrage of measures that have slashed the economy by a quarter and pushed the unemployment rate to 25 percent. Last week, the I. M. F. said that Greece would need a lengthy period free from debt repayments to put its finances on a stable footing. But eurozone nations, led by Germany, are reluctant to offer debt relief to Greece, fearing the political impact of obliging the taxpayers bailing out Greece to bear an even bigger burden for the country’s past profligacy. Unless the I. M. F. and eurozone officials find a compromise — or agree to further postpone a decision on the I. M. F. ’s participation in the third bailout — a new crisis is likely. Greece needs fresh bailout loans to pay down some 3. 6 billion euros of debt maturing in July. And the prospect of new upheaval in Greece is of particular concern as Europe faces other potentially destabilizing challenges, including a migrant crisis — with Greece a major transit country for thousands of desperate people — and a crucial vote in June on Britain’s continued membership in the European Union. | 1 |
Amy Schumer is reportedly set to star in I Feel Pretty, an upcoming comedy film from Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein. [According to Variety, the plot details for the film are being kept secret for now. I Feel Pretty will mark the directorial debut of Kohn and Silverstein, best known for their romantic comedies How To Be Single, He’s Just Not That Into You and Never Been Kissed. The film is reportedly being produced by Wonderland Sound Vision and Voltage Pictures, and will shoot on the East Coast this summer. Shumer is also on board as a producer. The comedian will be seen next in next month’s comedy Snatched opposite Goldie Hawn. She’s also set to appear in Jason Hall’s upcoming PTSD drama Thank You for Your Service opposite Miles Teller and Haley Bennett. Schumer’s last appearance was in 2015’s Trainwreck. In March, the actress exited Sony and Mattel’s Barbie movie, citing scheduling conflicts. Schumer also signed on in March to star in the comedic drama She Came to Me from Rebecca Miller, alongside Steve Carrell and Nicole Kidman. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 1 |
Just before 9 a. m. on Tuesday, while the cafe at Zabar’s in Manhattan was still busy with the breakfast rush, an unmistakable sound interrupted the chatter: A gun was fired. The authorities said the shooting was an accident. A man who had just bought a bagel and a cup of coffee was adjusting his waistband, causing the gun he had tucked in his pants to fire, shooting himself in the leg. About 30 people were inside the cafe, which is part of the upscale market on the Upper West Side, when the gun went off, workers in the store said. The man, identified by the police as Louis Lester Anderson, 48, hurried away from the store, on the corner of Broadway and 80th Street, and took himself to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, where he was treated and found by the police. He has been taken into police custody, officials said. The matter was being investigated. Officials said Mr. Anderson told the police that he had found the gun in Midtown and had dropped it in a grassy area near Riverside Drive, where the police found it. They said Mr. Anderson, who is homeless, had been arrested nine previous times, mostly on charges. For about three hours after the shooting, the cafe was cordoned off by police tape, keeping out regulars. But before too long, they returned and were back shopping. “It’s business as usual,” the store’s general manager, Scott Goldshine, said. “It was very quick,” Mr. Goldshine added. “Nobody got hurt. Our staff is fine, and we’re back open for business. ” Jim Wintner was among the first customers to buy a sandwich after the cafe reopened. “People were flying in here before I could even get in the door,” he said. “We’re New Yorkers — we have to have our Zabar’s. ” But with the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. fresh on the minds of many in the neighborhood, they said they could not help but fear at first blush that something worse was happening. “My mind is still on Orlando because my wife lives there,” Mr. Wintner said. Beryl Swados usually comes in for coffee every morning. “I’m literally there every day, and I would have been there had I not been with clients,” said Ms. Swados, who works at Canine Styles, the grooming service and pet product store. “But what’s horrifying is this isn’t just being in a bad neighborhood this is the Upper West Side, for God’s sake. ” Marlene Silva said she heard about the shooting while at physical therapy at a nearby gym, but still came by the store after it had reopened. “No one is safe anymore,” she said. “Nothing is sacred anymore. ” But she was sanguine in her approach to handling her fears. “What can you do?” Ms. Silva said. “Be a hermit in your own house?” | 1 |
President Donald Trump told the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at their headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on Saturday that he is engaged in “a running war” with the “dishonest media,” noting that their latest lies include misleading reports about the size of the crowd at his ceremony on Friday.[ “And the reason you’re my first stop is that, as you know, I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth,” Trump said. The approximately 400 CIA employees broke out into applause after Trump said this. In addition to making it seem, falsely, like he was in a feud with the intelligence community, Trump said the media “showed an empty field” during his inauguration. “We had a massive field of people. You saw that, packed,” Trump said. He then noted that when he woke up Saturday morning, he turned on the TV and noticed, “I get up this morning, I turn on one of the networks and they show an empty field. I said, wait a minute. I made a speech. I looked out. The field was, it looked like a million — a million and a half people. They showed a field where there were practically nobody standing there. And they said, ‘Donald Trump did not draw well. ’” He added, “We have something that’s amazing because we had it looked — honestly, it looked like a million and a half people. Whatever it was, it was. But it went all the way back to the Washington Monument. And I turn on [the tv] and by mistake I get this network, and it showed an empty field. ” “So, we caught them,” he said. “And we caught them in a beauty, and I think they’re going to pay a big price. ” Trump went on to note yet another lie perpetuated by the media. Specifically, Zeke Miller of Time magazine falsely reported that Trump removed the bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Oval Office. The bust of the esteemed, late civil rights leader was never removed. (President Barack Obama had removed the bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office shortly after he moved in and replaced it with MLK Jr. ’s). “In the Oval Office, there’s a beautiful statue of Dr. Martin Luther King,” Trump said. “And, I also happen to like Churchill … He doesn’t come from our country, but had a lot do with it. He helped us, real ally. ” Trump had requested that Churchill’s bust be replaced in the Oval Office upon his move into the White House. “But there was a cameraman that was right in front of it. So Zeke, Zeke from Time Magazine” wrote a fake news story, Trump said. “I would never do that. I have great respect for Dr. Martin Luther King. And it was right there. But this is how dishonest the media is. ” Trump added, “I love honesty. I like honest reporting. ” And finally, he told the CIA, “I love you. I respect you. There’s nobody I respect more. you’re going to do a fantastic job. And we are going to start winning again, and you are going to lead the charge. Thank you. I’ll be back. ” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer also pointed out the lies perpetuated by the media during his emergency press conference Saturday. “Some members of the media were engaged in deliberately false reporting,” Spicer said. “Photographs of the Inauguration proceeding were intentionally framed in a way to minimize the enormous support it had gathered on the National Mall,” he said. He noted earlier how Miller of Time magazine “falsely tweeted out that the bust of MLK, Jr. had been removed from the Oval Office. “This was just plain wrong. ” | 1 |
ISTANBUL — people were killed and 136 were wounded here on Saturday in two explosions, and officials said one of them was a car bomb outside a stadium that targeted police officers on duty for a soccer game. Turkey’s interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, speaking from Ankara in comments carried by local media, said the second explosion appeared to be in a nearby park, and may have been a suicide bomb. The explosions set off activity around central Istanbul, with rushing ambulances, helicopters hovering, and a large plume of smoke rising over the city, scenes that were as familiar as they were frantic. Like last summer’s attempted coup and a devastating attack at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, the bombs on Saturday came in the late evening, when this megacity’s streets, bars and restaurants were packed. Shortly after the bombings, Mr. Soylu said that 20 police officers had been wounded. Turkish media later reported that more than a dozen police officers had been killed. Updated casualty numbers were later reported by The Associated Press. Once the news ricocheted around town, revelers hurried home, glued to their mobile phones, amid the sound of sirens. Those closer to the stadium heard screams and the sounds of gunfire. “I heard a large explosion and immediately turned around and then there was a second explosion,” said Sheri Cavazos, an Istanbul resident who was at a nearby hotel. “I immediately thought it was a terrorist attack. I wasn’t surprised. I was expecting it. ” Images shared on social media showed fires, several cars destroyed and police hats scattered on the ground. But within a couple of hours it seemed clear that a major attack against civilians had not transpired. The bombings occurred after the game was over and most fans had left the area around the stadium. Local media reported that the attack targeted a riot police bus, not a gathering of civilians. Turkey faces numerous security threats, including the Islamic State, which Turkey is fighting in Syria and Iraq as part of an coalition against the terrorist group, and Kurdish militants who are at war with the Turkish state in the southeast. No group immediately took credit for the attack, although the choice of target — the police, rather than civilians — was in line with the types of attacks that have been carried out by Kurdish militants. Over the last four years, Turkey has evolved from a country of stability and prosperity that was trying to lead the Middle East at a time of great turmoil to one that is increasingly consumed by violence and political problems within its own borders. Istanbul, a city of 14 million residents that has thrummed with tourists in recent years, has become a frequent target, with attacks over the last year in the old city and on Istiklal Avenue, the most famous street. Tourism has collapsed, businesses have fled the city center to go to the suburbs, and many trendy restaurants and shops have closed. “This is the new norm now,” said Ozan Tas, a taxi driver who was working near the stadium. | 1 |
CHARLOTTE, N. C. — Under mounting pressure from politicians, community leaders and boisterous protesters who have brought this city’s main business district to a near standstill, the Charlotte police chief on Saturday released body and dashboard camera videos of the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, a black resident here. While they do not show everything that happened at the scene, the two released videos appear to show Mr. Scott exiting a white sport utility vehicle and backing away from it with his hands at his sides. He did not appear to be acting in a threatening or erratic manner, although officers could be heard shouting, “Drop the gun!” The police said that they had recovered a loaded gun with Mr. Scott’s DNA on it, and that he was wearing an ankle holster. They did not reveal where they had found the gun. It appeared from the two angles that he had nothing in his right hand. It was unclear what, if anything, Mr. Scott, who was had in his left hand. After Mr. Scott was shot multiple times and fell to the ground, his moans could be heard as officers handcuffed him. The police also revealed for the first time that officers had decided to confront Mr. Scott, 43, in the parking lot of his apartment complex on Tuesday because they noticed, as they were preparing to serve a warrant on another person, that he was rolling a marijuana cigarette inside his S. U. V. — and had observed him “hold a gun up,” according to a news release. Mr. Scott was parked in a visitor’s parking space at his apartment complex, where he often waited for a school bus bringing one of his children home from school. Chief Kerr Putney of the Police Department said that, since Mr. Scott was believed to be in possession of marijuana and a handgun, it raised a safety issue officers felt compelled to confront. “What we are releasing are the objective facts,” Chief Putney said at a news conference. Still, he added that neither the videos, nor other evidence he intended to make public provided a definitive answer to all the questions in the case. “I stand behind the truth,” Chief Putney said. “People can interpret anything they want based on one piece of evidence, and I can tell you, I suspect they will based on the video footage. But what I say is, you have to put all pieces together. ” At a news conference about an hour after the videos were released, lawyers for the Scott family said his relatives were pleased with that decision, but also said the videos raised more questions than they answered. One of the lawyers, Justin Bamberg, said the family stood by its assertion that Mr. Scott was not armed and that he had not acted in a threatening manner. “When I look at the dashcam footage, I don’t see anything there, in my opinion, that would lead to him losing his life,” Mr. Bamberg said. Protesters on Saturday were skeptical that marijuana possession, which has been decriminalized in many places, should have led to a fatal encounter. The officer who shot Mr. Scott, Brentley Vinson, was also black, police officials have said. Greg Farmer, 25, who has been protesting since Mr. Scott’s death, said on Saturday that even if Mr. Scott did have marijuana and a gun, the police should not have killed him. “Even if they thought he was smoking weed, why in any world would that warrant him being gunned down?” said Mr. Farmer, who owns a food truck and a handyman business in Charlotte. The protesters, who have taken to the streets since Tuesday in large numbers — sometimes peacefully and sometimes not — have made “Release the Tapes” a signature chant and most pointed demand, and have accused Chief Putney of obscuring the details of the shooting. And yet, for a number of reasons, it seems likely that the release of the two videos, and the new information about the case, will do little to quell what has become a roiling national debate over whether it was necessary to fatally shoot Mr. Scott, one of a number of men who have died at the hands of police officers in recent months. The frustration and anger was evident before Chief Putney had finished his news conference, which protesters were listening to on a loudspeaker at a park in the Uptown area of Charlotte. Around 4:30 p. m. a protester announced to some cheers that there had been an update about the release of the police videos. But that cautious optimism turned to anger about 10 minutes later as protesters learned the police would not be releasing all of the video footage. Chief Putney said that while the information being released constituted “the most complete puzzle that we can without trying the case out in public,” he said that some unreleased videos showed only people driving to the scene. He also said that more footage would be released upon completion of an independent inquiry being conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation “and there has been a definitive decision on the part of the prosecutor. ” The mood among the protesters fell. “Everybody take a deep breath. So basically Chief Putney is saying that they are not releasing the full videos of Keith L. Scott,” Tamika Lewis, 27, one of the protest organizers, said as many others booed and shook their heads. “Our demand clearly states to release the full video, the names and the reports that are related to the shooting. This is a slap in the face. He’s like, ‘Oh, I’m going to give them a little bit of what they want, and then they’re going to go away.’ No. We will occupy the streets of Charlotte until they release the full videos. ” The chief, as well as other officials in North Carolina, had previously resisted demands to release the footage because they said it could undercut the investigation by the state, which is reviewing the shooting at the request of Mr. Scott’s family. But by Saturday afternoon, word had begun to spread through Charlotte that the chief had agreed to release the footage. During a news conference at a West Charlotte police station, as members of the National Guard stood outside, the chief insisted that his decision had not been influenced by political pressure, nor by the release on Friday of a video recorded by Mr. Scott’s wife. The chief said he believed that disclosing some of the state’s evidence would not “taint” the state’s inquiry. “The footage itself will not create, in anyone’s mind, absolute certainty as to what this case represents, and what the outcome should be,” he said. “The footage only supports all of the other information — physical evidence, the statements from witnesses and officers and all of the other information, scientific and physical — that create an entire picture. ” The matter of whether the police should disclose its footage had been fiercely debated for days here. The authorities repeatedly pledged transparency, but warned that a premature release of any evidence could compromise the case. But protesters marched through the streets of Charlotte and demanded the videos’ release. The debate even reached the presidential campaign on Friday, when Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, said the city should distribute its footage “without delay. ” Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina, a former Charlotte mayor who had expressed reservations as recently as Friday about releasing any evidence, said he supported Chief Putney’s decision announced on Saturday. He said he was convinced the “release will have no material impact on the independent investigation since most of the known witnesses have been interviewed. ” The anger and suspicion in Charlotte have been fueled in part by memories of the September 2013 police slaying of Jonathan Ferrell, a black man who was shot 10 times by a white officer in a Charlotte subdivision. Mr. Ferrell had been in a car wreck, and had walked to a nearby home and knocked on the door. A white woman, fearing Mr. Ferrell was a robber, called 911. One officer, upon arrival, immediately aimed a Taser at Mr. Ferrell. Another officer, Randall Kerrick, fired his gun, believing that Mr. Ferrell was trying to take the gun away. Mr. Kerrick was charged with voluntary manslaughter, but the case ended in a hung jury and a mistrial in August 2015. Prosecutors decided not to retry Officer Kerrick, and the case was dismissed. At Saturday’s news conference held by the Scott family’s lawyers, one of them, Charles G. Monnett III, said he was surprised that North Carolina was again talking about the killing of a black man by the police. “Quite frankly, I’m shocked that less than two years after the conclusion of the Jonathan Ferrell case, that we are standing back before you again to talk about whether the shooting of another a black man was justified,” he said. “We shouldn’t be here. We’ve got to learn. We’ve got to change our police approach. One of the things that really disturbs me about what I see on the video is the failure of the police to use all of the resources that they had at their disposal to avoid killing Keith. ” After Chief Putney’s news conference, the department released a detailed report of the police’s version of events. It said that Mr. Scott got out of his S. U. V. “with the gun” and “backed away from the vehicle while continuing to ignore officers’ repeated loud verbal commands to drop the gun. ” The release said that Officer Vinson perceived Mr. Scott’s “actions and movements as an imminent physical threat to himself and other officers” before he fired. Later, the release said, homicide detectives interviewed “multiple” civilian witnesses who said Mr. Scott had ignored repeated commands to drop the gun. A lab analysis of a gun recovered at the scene, the release said, revealed the presence of Mr. Scott’s DNA and fingerprints on the weapon. The dispute about the footage reached its climax one week before North Carolina was scheduled to restrict access to police recordings. A state law signed by Mr. McCrory that has long been scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1 will prohibit police recordings from being deemed public records. A court order will be required to release any footage, and judges will be allowed to consider whether “release is necessary to advance a compelling public interest,” as well as whether publication “would create a serious threat to the fair, impartial and orderly administration of justice. ” William Barber II, the president of the North Carolina chapter of the N. A. A. C. P. said in an interview on Saturday that the release of the two videos was not sufficient. He called for the full release of all police videos of the incident, and demanded a federal investigation. He noted that neither he nor anyone else in the public was in possession of all of the facts in the case. But he also said that neither the possession of marijuana nor the possession of a gun should warrant “a death sentence. ” | 1 |
When it comes to predicting how Donald J. Trump’s administration will affect America’s schools and universities, education experts say they are struggling to read the tea leaves. “The fundamental issue is that nobody really knows what the Trump administration is about” on education, said Frederick M. Hess, a conservative education policy expert. At a panel discussion in Washington last week, he joked that Mr. Trump’s trademark educational achievement thus far, creating the controversial Trump University, placed him in history alongside another president, Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the University of Virginia. “He’s been all over the map on a number of these questions,” Mr. Hess, the director of education policy studies for the American Enterprise Institute, said during a panel discussion on Wednesday at the Shanker Institute, an education nonprofit. Mr. Hess is among education experts and policy makers who, since the election, have been trying to figure out what a Trump administration might do for education — starting with whether there will even be a federal Department of Education. Mr. Trump suggested during the campaign that the agency might be on the chopping block, though the statement seemed more like a sound bite than a policy pronouncement. On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump’s statements on education were largely like that: a series of short clips, some seemingly contradictory. And it is not clear whether his policies will hew closely to the Republican agenda or fall more in line with his populist streak. Mr. Trump’s signature education proposal — to provide $20 billion in federal money to allow students to select private or charter schools — is one area where he seems to be borrowing policy from Vice Mike Pence. As governor of Indiana, Mr. Pence championed school choice and favored a smaller federal role in education. While arguing that Mr. Trump should be taken seriously on education because he wants to cut college costs and improve schools, Mr. Hess said Mr. Trump’s pronouncements so far were not based on fully formed policy. “The $20 billion figure for school choice came out of nowhere,” Mr. Hess said. “You know that Mr. Trump has been all over the place on student loans. ” A number of names have been floated as possible choices for education secretary. Mr. Trump met over the weekend with Michelle Rhee, a former District of Columbia schools chancellor, a Democrat who reversed her opposition to school vouchers in 2013 and has supported Common Core standards. Another possible candidate is Williamson M. Evers, an education expert at the Hoover Institution, a think tank. Mr. Evers was a senior adviser at the Education Department during President George W. Bush’s administration. Mr. Trump’s office has not responded to requests for interviews on his education priorities, but he and people close to him have dropped a few clues. Here is an overview of what America’s schools and universities might expect during the Trump administration: SCHOOL CHOICE In a speech at a Cleveland charter school in September, Mr. Trump rolled out the banner element in his education plan — the $20 billion program to promote “school choice. ” Along with the federal money, states also would be encouraged to kick dollars into a pool so that children could select their schools, including private and charter schools. Representative Luke Messer, an Indiana Republican who founded the Congressional School Choice Caucus and is friends with Mr. Pence, suggested in an interview that some of the money for Mr. Trump’s school choice program could come from Title 1, a $15 billion education program for schools. But critics say letting Title 1 money follow students to schools outside their neighborhoods, referred to in education speak as Title 1 portability, would take money away from public schools. Teachers unions have opposed the idea of expanding funding for charter schools. “There is a real question about resources being drained from public education,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. COMMON CORE In an interview with Fox News in October last year, Mr. Trump said: “I may cut Department of Education. I believe Common Core is a very bad thing. ” The statement, though, may have reflected a bit of a misunderstanding. Common Core standards, an initiative to standardize educational requirements throughout the nation, were adopted by states. Under a recently enacted law, the federal government is prohibited from telling states what educational standards to adopt. So the Department of Education has no authority over Common Core anyway. TRANSGENDER FACILITIES The Obama administration has taken the position that schools must permit transgender students to use the restrooms and locker rooms of their choice. The Republican platform calls that policy illegal and dangerous. But in a television interview in April, Mr. Trump said transgender people should go to any restroom they want. Caitlyn Jenner took him up on the invitation. STUDENT DEBT In a speech in Columbus, Ohio, last month, Mr. Trump called college debt an “albatross” around people’s necks, and suggested a way out. Students would pay 12. 5 percent of their income each year for 15 years. After that, their loans could be forgiven. But there is already a similar program, currently requiring payment of 10 percent of income over 20 years. Jason D. Delisle, also of the American Enterprise Institute, said Mr. Trump’s repayment plan would cost the government more and would give a huge break to students with higher student debt, usually those with advanced degrees. There has been some thought that Mr. Trump plans to turn student lending over to private banks and take the government out of the equation. But there is no evidence that Mr. Trump has endorsed that idea. Both liberal and conservative experts said the proposal would be dead on arrival on Capitol Hill anyway. “It would cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars,” said Rohit Chopra, a former adviser to Education Secretary John B. King Jr. as well as Hillary Clinton’s defunct transition team. The president of the Association of Public and Universities, Peter McPherson, who was a deputy Treasury secretary during the Reagan administration, also called the proposal “politically untenable” because of its cost. CAMPUS SEXUAL ASSAULT Mr. Trump has said there is “tremendous bloat” in college costs, blaming that partly on highly paid administrators. He has also suggested cutting expensive regulations, though he has not said which ones. One target, though, may be regulations concerning campus sexual assault complaints under Title IX, the federal law that governs gender equity in education. The Obama administration has stepped up enforcement of Title IX on campuses, sending universities across the country scrambling to comply and to hire staff members to do so. Some experts believe that the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, which administers those rules, may face cuts. “Many of the people who Trump will be talking to believe that the Office for Civil Rights has been overreaching, it’s been too aggressive and it’s time to pull back,” said Deborah Tuerkheimer, a former New York sex crimes prosecutor who currently teaches law at Northwestern University. Reduced emphasis on policing campus sexual assault would probably create an outcry among a network of activists who oppose violence against women on campuses. But Mr. McPherson of the Association of Public and Universities predicted that universities will continue to address campus sexual assault — with or without federal enforcement. “Every president I talk to says this is something that needs to be fully dealt with,” he said. “The public visibility of this issue has transferred the responsibility, the ownership, to campuses themselves. ” ENDOWMENTS Mr. Trump has said that universities should spend more of their endowments on students rather than investing the money. He suggested that some colleges pay more to financial advisers to manage their endowments than they spend on tuition assistance. University endowments currently hold more than $500 billion. In recent years, various lawmakers have proposed cutting tax breaks to universities unless they spend more of their endowments. But most of the colleges with large endowments — like Harvard, Yale and Stanford — already give needy students generous aid. There are 92 universities with endowments of $1 billion or more, with half of the wealth controlled by about two dozen schools, so forcing colleges to spend more of their endowments would likely have limited national impact. | 1 |
Edmondo Burr in News , World // 0 Comments Julian Assange claims that Hillary Clinton’s campaign used hackers to attack WikiLeaks’ servers.
WikiLeaks’ editor-in-chief says that despite the Ecuadorian embassy shutting down its internet to stop accusations of interference in U.S. elections, his organisation will keep on publishing until the elections are over.
RT.com reports:
“ Everyday that you publish is a day that you have the initiative in the conflict, ” Assange said via telephone at a conference in Argentina on Wednesday.
The whistleblowing website has been releasing emails from Clinton’s campaign chair, John Podesta, on a daily basis since early October.
Assange claimed the release “ whipped up a crazed hornet’s nest atmosphere in the Hillary Clinton campaign ” leading them to attack WikiLeaks.
“ They attacked our servers and attempted hacking attacks and there is an amazing ongoing campaign where state documents were put in the UN and British courts to accuse me of being both a Russian spy and a pedophile, ” he added.
Ecuador’s decision to shut down his internet was described by Assange as a “ strategic position ” so that its “ policy of non-intervention can’t be misinterpreted by actors in the US and even domestically in Ecuador. ”
He said he was sympathetic with Ecuador, insisting they face the dilemma of having the US interfere with their elections next year if they appear to interfere with the US elections next month. MORE: #WikiLeaks has activated contingency plans after #Assange ‘s internet link was intentionally cut off https://t.co/octsMseme1
— RT (@RT_com) 17 October 2016
Assange, who claimed the embassy will be without internet until the election is over to avoid accusations of interference, said he did not agree with Ecuador’s decision but did understand it. WikiLeaks will not be affected by the decision as they do not publish from Ecuador, he said.
He did, however, reject the idea that WikiLeaks is interfering with the US election, claiming, “ this is not the interference of electoral process, this is the definition of electoral process – for media organizations and, in fact, everyone to publish the truth and their opinion about what is occurring. It cannot be a free and informed election unless people are free to inform. ”
He also attacked US TV networks, many of whom he accused of being “ controlled by Clinton supporters. “ We were fastest on #Podestaemails6 , faster than @wikileaks , and the US conspiracy machine can’t handle it https://t.co/njAae50qDd
— RT (@RT_com) 13 October 2016
The Podesta emails will make no difference to the election result, according to Assange. “ I don’t think there’s any chance of Donald Trump winning the election, even with the amazing material we are publishing, because most of the media organizations are strongly aligned with Hillary Clinton, ” he said.
Assange said journalists and people who work in the media are predominantly middle class and view Trump as representing “ what in their mind is white trash. ” | 0 |
immigrant groups across the country protested in major sanctuary city hubs to decry Donald Trump’s upcoming Inauguration Ceremony. The sanctuary cities carry out policies to shield illegal immigrants from federal immigration law enforcement officials. [Protesters holding signs reading “Immigrant Rights = Workers Rights = Human Rights” and “No Muslim Registry,” marched in cities such as Los Angeles, California, Chicago, Illinois and San Jose, as the Associated Press reported, all of which have existing sanctuary city policies in place. Senator Chris Van Hollen ( ) told a crowd at an protest in Washington D. C. “We are not going to allow Donald Trump to bury the Statue of Liberty. ” “We are a nation for all people, regardless of religion, regardless of background, regardless of who you love,” the junior Maryland senator continued. Illegal immigrants also spoke at rallies, and to the Associated Press, about being proud of their illegal status in the country. “I stand here because I have nothing to apologize for,” 19 Max Kim, an illegal immigrant, told the Associated Press. “I am not ashamed of my status because it is a constant reminder to myself that I have something to fight for. ” Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago Chairman Dr. Bassam Osman told more than 1, 000 protesters in the “Windy City,” “Lord, this land is your land, it is not Trump’s land. ” Rehab Alkadi, a 31 Syrian refugee, told the Associated Press that Trump has “said a lot of things bad about the Muslim people. ” The protests come just days before Trump is set to take the oath of office. During his campaign and transition period, Trump has promised to fix the country’s broken immigration system, starting with a border wall along the Southern border. Trump has also said he will halt all immigration from countries in the world which have been compromised by Islamic terrorism and extremism. The cities where the majority of the immigrant rallies took place are already considered to be sanctuary cities. Trump has threatened to not only defund sanctuary cities. The Department of Justice (DOJ) could also seek legal action against these cities for failing to comply with federal immigration law. John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder. | 1 |
Selling ‘Regime Change’ Wars to the Masses October 28, 2016
Propaganda is now such a pervasive part of Western governance that any foreign leader who resists the prevailing power structure can be turned into a demon and made a target of a “regime change” war, explains John Pilger.
By John Pilger
American journalist Edward Bernays is often described as the man who invented modern propaganda. The nephew of Sigmund Freud, the pioneer of psychoanalysis, it was Bernays who coined the term “public relations” as a euphemism for spin and its deceptions.
In 1929, as a publicist for the cigarette industry, Bernays 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!” Edward Bernays, a pioneer in the modern use of propaganda.
Bernays’s 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 filmmaker, I have never known propaganda to insinuate our lives and as it does now and to go unchallenged.
Tale of Two Cities
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. Samantha Power, Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, addresses the Security Council meeting on Syria, Sept. 25, 2016 (UN Photo)
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.
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.
Behind the Fanatics
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. U.S.-backed Syrian “moderate” rebels smile as they prepare to behead a 12-year-old boy (left), whose severed head is held aloft triumphantly in a later part of the video. [Screenshot from the YouTube video] Without this drumbeat of propaganda dressed up as news, the monstrous ISIS and Al Qaeda and the Nusra Front and the rest of the jihadist gang might not exist, and the people of Syria might not be fighting for their lives today.
Some may remember in 2003 a succession of BBC reporters turning to the camera and telling us that British Prime Minister Tony Blair was “vindicated” for what turned out to be the crime of the century, the invasion of Iraq. The U.S. television networks produced the same validation for George W. Bush. Fox News brought on former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to effuse over then-Secretary of State 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.
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 July 7, 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.”
Punishing Independence
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. Ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi shortly before he was murdered on Oct. 20, 2011.
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 WikLeaks has revealed, it was only when the Syrian leader Bashar al-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 U.S. 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.
Refined Messengers
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 Guardia n, the New York Times , the Washington Post . New York Times building in New York City. (Photo from Wikipedia)
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 Gaddafi 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 Misurata 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 a 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.
Inversion of Reality
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 Russkies are coming to get us, led by another Stalin, whom The Economist depicts as the devil. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, flanked by Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria “Toria” Nuland, addresses Russian President Vladimir Putin in a meeting room at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on July 14, 2016. [State Department Photo] 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.
A Freak Show
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. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking to the AIPAC conference in Washington D.C. on credit: AIPAC)
To the invisible government in Washington, the unpredictable Trump is an obstacle to America’s design for the Twenty-first 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 Hillary Clinton who has left no doubt she is prepared to go to war with nuclear-armed Russia and China.
The Clinton Danger
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. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressing the AIPAC conference in Washington D.C. on credit: AIPAC)
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 public evidence, Clinton 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.
Keep that in mind when the presidential election circus reaches its finale on Nov. 8. 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’s “torches of freedom.”
Scott McClellan, who had been George W. 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 |
Halloween started early this year. I’d put the date at July 18, opening night of the 2016 Republican National Convention. has been nonstop since. The tricks have included a couple of Creature Feature debates, email scandals, xenophobic rants and personal attacks, all of which have too often been received as sordid but tantalizing treats by audience and news media alike. Action in the electoral arena makes any art pale by comparison. But this hasn’t prevented Pedro Reyes, an from Mexico City, from creating his own bit of political high jinks in “Doomocracy,” an elaborately trenchant performance piece presented by the nonprofit Creative Time in the Brooklyn Army Terminal. The setting, on the Sunset Park waterfront, is ideally spooky. If you imagine the concept of a complex translated into power architecture, that’s the terminal. Built in 1919, a military supply depot through two World Wars, it’s monstrous: a complex with two concrete warehouses and enough space to park 20 ships and a train. Although much of it is now given over to light industry and boutique businesses (furniture designers, chocolatiers) the place still projects a mausoleumlike chill, especially at night. And, appropriately, night is when “Doomocracy” happens, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 6 p. m. to midnight. Visitors first gather in a soaring hall dominated by one of Mr. Reyes’s wood sculptures. A surreal fusion of the Statue of Liberty and the Apocalyptic Beast, it hints of disorientations to come. From that starting point, small groups are admitted, one at a time, to the main event under close supervision on what feels like a cross between a guided tour and forced march. (Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance.) A group is loaded into a van and driven to a distant location on the terminal campus. As the group nears its destination, a disruption occurs. The van is flagged down by figures who are not, as it first seems, parking attendants, but military police in SWAT gear. They yank the van doors open, flash lights in your eyes, order you out and herd you into a building, barking commands: put your hands on the wall behind your head line up move. You know this is theater, but you also discover that being yelled at and makes your pulse jump disarms your defenses persuades you to do what you’re told. The rest of the show, which is basically a mobile drama in a dozen or more short acts, alternates staged reality with zany satire, though, as usual, Mr. Reyes tends to resist making clear distinctions between modes. For earlier projects, he gathered automatic weapons that were turned in or seized by the Mexican Army from drug cartels and melted them down to make garden shovels and musical instruments. He has also organized exhibitions that have fused performance art, sculpture and psychotherapy. Ambiguity of tone and purpose is one of the elements that makes “Doomocracy” dramatically effective. Another is the pacing established by the performance’s director, Meghan Finn. One scene bangs into another. The SWAT team hustles you down a corridor, then disappears. Now you’re in a polling station, being registered to vote while watching ballots being shredded before your eyes. Next, you take a breather in a comfy suburban living room, only to hear a pair of housewives warn about unwelcome “new additions” to the neighborhood. The duo have barely warmed to their subject when you’re moved on again, into a doctor’s waiting room, where an soccer mom hits you up for a fix. And you go on: to a corporate boardroom to vote on advantageous deals for the privileged (meaning yourself) to an elementary school classroom that teaches false history (slavery wasn’t all that bad) and supplies you with bulletproof shields to an witch hunt (this is the show’s big number) to a factory that markets artisanal Himalayan air to an environmentally ravaged world. (“Only God breathes air this pure. ”) And in one amusing moment along the way, you emerge from an elevator into a cocktail party in a collector’s penthouse. The scene, like the art world itself, is a pure cliché: waiters, an hostess, a Christopher Wool on the wall, and an antsy, importunate artist in residence pitching his latest product. (“It’s about gentrification! ”) There’s more, quite a bit, concluding with an ostensibly nonpartisan, take on the current election battle as a political World Cup match with Earth as the ball in play. Then suddenly you’re on your way out of the show, passing a grumbly street prophet wearing a sandwich board and handing out “Doomocracy” fliers. Given the performance’s speed and the pileup of sensory input, it’s impossible to take everything in. Enough to say that, while all parts of the piece are not equally strong — satire has to be right on the nose, to work, and some of this is too easy — the level of visual invention is high, and the cast of more than 30 actors (among them, a Chihuahua named Dreidel) is impressive. Paul Hufker’s script, with contributions by Nato Thompson, Creative Time’s artistic director, sounded, on a hearing, sharp, and in its talking points, some of which Mr. Reyes cites in the definition of “doomocracy” he has printed in the flier: 1. A form of government in which the supreme power is vested in a tyrant by a terrified general electorate. 2. The esoteric arithmetic that makes the electoral process malleable. 3. A corporate coup d’état in slow motion. 4. Permanent global war waged in the name of freedom. At present, we’re experiencing all of that, not to mention planetary destruction and international homelessness. And if the standard for judging the success of “Doomocracy” is whether it’s weighty enough for its subjects, it fails. Most political art does. In a global media age of perpetually cycling digital drama, it feels dwarfed and static. And the audience that really needs to see it won’t. Mr. Reyes knows this, and he knows you have to make the art anyway, and he makes it well, shrewdly and with upbeat panache. When you emerge from “Doomocracy” you’ve felt the visceral thrill, the thrill that good theater delivers, the sense of having been through something energizing and focusing. You may also feel a reassuring sense that, no, it’s not just you American reality, in 2016, is every bit as out of control as you think it is. Hold onto that reassurance. You’re going to need it. The show wraps up on Nov. 6, two days short of the presidential election. And that event, no matter what the results, will not bring Fright Night to an end. | 1 |
Russia Tests Nuclear-Capable Ballistic Missile – But Have You Heard That Trump Grabs Pussies?
Andrew Anglin October 27, 2016
Basically, we’ve got a Road Runner vs Wile E. Coyote situation going on here.
The West just keeps coming-up with these elaborate, stupid schemes and Russia plows right past them.
I am really not sure that the West understands exactly what they’ve gotten themselves into here.
RT :
Russian strategic missile troops reportedly launched an RS-18 ballistic missile on Tuesday. The launch may have been a test of the advanced hypersonic glider warhead, which would be able to defeat US anti-missile systems.
The test was conducted at midday from a site near the town of Yasny, Orenburg region, in the southern Urals, and the warhead reached the Kura test range in Kamchatka in Russiaâs Far East.
âThe test was a success. The warhead was delivered to Kura field,â the Defense Ministry reported.
Popular defense blog MilitaryRussia.ru says the launch was meant to test Russiaâs hypersonic glider warhead, currently known by its developer designation, âobject 4202â, or Aeroballistic Hypersonic Warhead.
A select few countries are currently developing the technology. The US has the HTV-2, a device developed by DARPA that has two partially successful tests under its belt. The Chinese warhead using the same technology is called DF-ZF, with Beijing first confirming a test in 2014. India is also studying hypersonic flight technology, but unlike Russia, the US and China, it is reportedly not developing a strategic missile warhead.
A hypersonic glider vehicle (HGV) is different from a conventional ballistic missile warhead in that it travels most of the time in the stratosphere rather than in space. It gives an HGV-tipped missile greater range and may give anti-missile systems a shorter window to respond to an attack.
We are at a point in history where the American people are forced to make a decision.
Which is worse:
A) Joking about sex with another man in a private conversation on a bus, or
B) Nuclear war
If only the media were putting things in these terms.
I wonder why the media doesn’t put things in these terms? | 0 |
source Add To The Conversation Using Facebook Comments | 0 |
The Chinese government is recruiting up to 20, 000 people to aid in the development of a Chinese Wikipedia alternative. [VICE News reports that the aptly named “Chinese Encyclopedia” will launch online in 2018 with the help of thousands of scholars from research institutes and universities who have been employed by the government to contribute articles relating to over 100 topics to the new website. The expected finished product will feature as many as 300, 000 article entries. Yang Muzhi, the of the project and the chairman of the Book and Periodicals Distribution Association of China, said in an interview, “The Chinese Encyclopaedia is not a book, but a Great Wall of culture. ” He added that China was under pressure from the international community to develop an encyclopedia that will “guide and lead the public and society. ” The development of the Chinese Encyclopedia may in part be due to the blocking of Wikipedia by the Chinese government. Chinese tech companies Baidu and Qihoo 360 operate their own alternative online encyclopedias but fail to match the size and content level of Wikipedia. Muzhi did, however, claim that this was not a Wikipedia clone. “We have the biggest, most author team in the world,” he said. “Our goal is not to catch up, but overtake. ” How much control the Chinese government will have over the content published in the online encyclopedia is unknown. Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart. com | 1 |
Maybe it was the ski masks that did it. Or it could have been the steely look in the eyes of Lake County, Fla. Sheriff Peyton Grinnell as he deadpanned: “We are coming for you. Run. ” Perhaps it was the muted background music: an eerie melody that wouldn’t have been out of place in a Batman movie. In the end, what could have been an unremarkable public service announcement about opioid abuse in Lake County spread widely on the internet, garnering about a million views on the Facebook page of the sheriff’s office, where it was first posted Friday. It sparked concerns about police militarization and drew more than a few comparisons to Islamic State recruitment videos. But many residents of Lake County seemed to respond positively, thanking the sheriff for drawing attention to a deadly scourge that has altered communities beyond recognition. In the clip, Sheriff Grinnell, who was elected in November, stood at a podium flanked by four deputies wearing black face coverings. The sheriff addressed his Lake County constituents, saying he was aware of the “serious issue” of heroin abuse in the area. He encouraged people to call the office with tips. He added: “To the dealers that are pushing this poison, I have a message for you. ” And the camera began to zoom in. The sheriff warned drug dealers that the police were waiting for some arrest warrants to be finalized. “Enjoy trying to sleep tonight, wondering if tonight’s the night our SWAT team blows your front door off the hinges,” he said. “We are coming for you. If our agents can show the nexus between you, the pusher of poison, and the person that overdoses and dies, we will charge you with murder. We are coming for you. Run. ” At the end of the video, Sheriff Grinnell and the four others walked offscreen in a silent, single file. “It makes the Lake County Sheriff’s Department look like they’re about to go to battle in Falluja,” said Ezekiel Edwards, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Criminal Law Reform Project. SWAT teams, he added, should be used only when there is an imminent threat to human life. “That video suggested that they are using SWAT inappropriately, and in a way that is going to escalate violence and danger to all involved. ” But Lt. John Herrell, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said responses from residents had been positive. “I would say that the critics are off the mark and have missed the whole point of the message,” he said. “The sheriff wanted to let the community know that he’s aware of this problem. ” Lt. Herrell added that the video’s tough tone was aimed at dealers, not addicts. And as for the men in black masks, he explained: “They are undercover deputies, and state statutes require that their identities be protected. ” Kim Mousette, 52, said it was time for the police to take a tougher approach to heroin abuse in the county. She said her neighborhood in Pine Lakes, once a quiet refuge, had lately become a haven for drug users where people no longer felt safe leaving their doors unlocked. “We were in one of the most pristine, protected areas of Florida, and now this is going on,” she said in a phone interview. “You could be walking along and have a syringe go through your foot. ” Ms. Mousette, who said the police had largely been unresponsive to complaints, voted for Sheriff Grinnell last year. Now, she feels she made the right choice. “I was very happy to see that video,” she said. Heroin abuse surged in Lake County after Florida’s state legislature cracked down on loosely regulated pain clinics — known as “pill mills” — in 2011, said Lt. Herrell. As a result, people lost easy access to prescription drugs like OxyContin and turned to heroin. The opioid scourge is national in scope the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly 13, 000 people died of heroin overdoses across the country in 2015, up 20. 6 percent from 2014. Audrianna Nicole Boone, 27, watched family members suffer from addiction in her hometown, Lady Lake. She moved to North Carolina in 2012, and has long felt that the Lake County police never did enough to fight opioid abuse. “When I see this video, it’s kind of like the sheriff’s office declaring war on the drug addiction and the criminals,” she said. “I love it, and I hope it continues to go viral. ” Still, she added, the video was only a starting point. “Instead of arresting these people for the drug use, how about enacting some type of system that helps these people get clean and reintroduces these people to society?” she said. As the clip began to find audiences across the country, it encountered sharper criticism. Some compared it to Islamic State recruitment videos, which often feature militants wearing black ski masks. Others poked fun at the melodramatic production. Still others said it was a clear case of an of police forces across the United States. Mr. Edwards of the A. C. L. U. acknowledged that opioid addiction was a serious issue in need of redress — but not like this. “Even though it’s just one local video, it does, in a very short amount of time, encapsulate much of what is wrong with policing today: militarization, using force inappropriately, and continuing to fight a drug war that has proved to be a failure,” he said. Some in Lake County agreed. “It’s a good example of how overly militarized police in the U. S. are,” said Robert Vibert, 35, who lives in the town of Tavares, where the county sheriff’s office is. He said he found the video overly dramatic, as if Sheriff Grinnell were trying to make a name for himself. “I’m sure he means well, but his approach is lackluster and a waste if he doesn’t tackle the totality of the problem,” Mr. Vibert said. “Without attacking supply lines, and helping addicts and users get clean, it won’t ever really solve the problem. ” | 1 |
On the eve of our debut episode of “The Daily,” President Trump delivered a major news story. For his first Supreme Court nomination, he selected Neil M. Gorsuch, a conservative judge with a sterling résumé. I spent the night in the studio talking with some of my most insightful New York Times colleagues about what it means. Maggie Haberman, a White House reporter, explains Mr. Trump’s reverence for the Supreme Court. Carl Hulse, the dean of congressional reporters, explains what to expect during the confirmation process. And Adam Liptak, our chief legal correspondent, introduces the country’s new Supreme Court nominee. To understand more about Judge Gorsuch, I also talk to David Green, the chief executive of Hobby Lobby, a company at the center of one of Judge Gorsuch’s most important cases. He ruled that corporations with religious owners — like Hobby Lobby — cannot be required to pay for insurance coverage for contraception. “We voted for Trump, not that we agree with everything he does,” Mr. Green tells me on the show, speaking for himself and his wife. “The most important thing to us was the fact that we knew he would put someone there that ruled on the Constitution,” he said, referring to the Supreme Court. “Because if you rule on the Constitution, it would be obvious that we would not have to be forced to do something, and that we would have our religious liberties. ” Tune in, and tell us what you think. Email us at thedaily@nytimes. com. Tweet me at @mikiebarb. And if that isn’t enough, we can even text. If you are on your phone and don’t see an audio player on this page, follow the instructions below. On your iPhone or iPad: Open the preloaded app called “Podcasts” it has a purple icon. If you’re reading this from your phone, tap this link, which will take you straight there. (You can also use the magnifying glass icon to search type “The Daily. ”) Once you’re on the series page, you can tap on the episode title to play it, and tap on the “subscribe” button to have new episodes sent to your phone free. On your Android phone or tablet: Open the preloaded app called “Play Music” it has an icon. If you’re reading this from your phone, tap this link, which will take you straight there. (You can also use the magnifying glass icon to search type, “The Daily. ”) Once you’re on the series page, you can tap on the episode title to play it, and tap on the word “subscribe” to have new episodes sent to your phone free. From a desktop or laptop: Click the “play” button above to start the show. Make sure to keep that window open in your browser if you’re doing other things, or else the audio will stop. You can always find the latest episode at nytimes. . On Amazon Echo, Echo Dot or Tap: Open the Alexa app. From the navigation panel on the left, select “settings,” then “flash briefing,” then “get more flash briefing content. ” Look for “The New York Times” and select “enable skill. ” Now you can say, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?” and you will hear that day’s episode of “The Daily. ” On Google Home: You can say, “O. K. Google, play New York Times news” to listen to that day’s episode of “The Daily. ” | 1 |
The Myth Of Male Privilege The Myth Of Male Privilege November 25, 2012 20 Comments Culture
What happens when a woman doesn’t want a baby? She aborts it. She can go to the doctor for a minor procedure that inconveniences her for a day. The man who impregnated her has no legal right to prevent her from doing so.
What happens when a man doesn’t want a baby? Assuming the woman wants to keep it, he is ordered by a court to provide payments. If he chooses not to, money will be automatically garnished from his salary. If garnishment is not an option, he is sent to prison .
A woman can kill life and she is empowered while receiving no interference from the state. A man can choose to merely ignore life and he can be imprisoned, his life ruined. And we live in a society of male privilege? Nov 25, 2012 Roosh Valizadeh | 0 |
«Current Concerns», n°23, October 22th, 2016
Can the great nuclear war be prevented ? Can the great war be prevented … Russia and China are preparing for war – right in front of America’s doorstep, by Niki Vogt / Alert Memorandum for Obama warned to defuse tensions with Russia, by Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity VIPS / US-Mayors warn against increasing danger of war / “We are beaten to war”, Interview with Willy Wimmer / “Let us say with conviction: No to war!” / Popular initiative for nuclear phase-out in Switzerland, by Ernst Pauli / A nuclear power plant in Bolivia using lithium instead of uranium? / Prima i nostri! Ticino population tackles ruling of immigration themselves, by Marianne Wüthrich / “Defending the identity of France means saving our dairy farmers”, by Natacha Polony / The absurdity of today’s credit system, by Myret Zaki / In Great Britain, things are moving after the Brexit, by Karl Müller / Language teaching: Avoiding unnecessary quarrels, by Pierre-Gabriel Bieri.
Partners | Zurich (Switzerland) | 27 October 2016 français Source
Current Concerns (Switzerland) | 0 |
3 Philadelphia prison guards arrested for alleged assault on handcuffed inmate 3 Philadelphia prison guards arrested for alleged assault on handcuffed inmate By 0 48
Three Philadelphia prison guards are facing charges including aggravated assault after allegedly beating up a handcuffed inmate and submitting a fraudulent report. They say the inmate harmed himself, but their actions were caught on video.
Milton Gibbs, 52, Terrance Bailey, 30, and Shaun Lowe, 26, are facing charges of aggravated assault, conspiracy, and tampering with public records. There are also additional charges of misdemeanor, recklessly endangering another person, unsworn falsification to authorities, and obstructing the administration of law and official oppression. They turned themselves in for arrest on Wednesday.
“We cannot stand for any kind of assault, and this attack on a handcuffed inmate by sworn corrections officers is egregious. Every inmate who is held in our prisons deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said in statement following arrests of the three guards.
According to the investigation, the assault at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center dates back to June, when Gibbs allegedly threatened inmate Brandon Kulb, 22, stating that he would “hang him and murder him.”
It is alleged that Gibbs called Bailey, and the two then entered Kulb’s cell and began beating, kicking, and spitting on him.
District Attorney Williams says they eventually put Kulb in handcuffs and walked him down a staircase, while continuing to beat him.
“Once they arrived at the cell block’s exit, Bailey struck the victim in the back of the head knocking him to the ground. Gibbs and Bailey then dragged the victim into the central control area and began to stomp on him. Lowe arrived on scene and joined in the assault,” the DA’s office said in a press release, adding that Kulb “lost consciousness” at least twice during that time.
The guards tried to make sure that the assault would not get captured on surveillance cameras, but “much” of it was still caught on CCTV, offering the investigation irrefutable evidence. Despite that, guards tried to cover up the assault.
After the purported beating of Kulb, Gibbs and Bailey submitted a mental health referral saying the inmate had intentionally harmed himself. Lowe allegedly transported the victim to the receiving room, and Gibbs tried to coerce the victim not to report the incident in exchange for food from the staff kitchen, the DA said.
In their reports, the three wrote that they only used “open hand” control, because they had to subdue Kulb. They omitted their own actions.
This is not the first time Gibbs has been arrested, according to NewsWorks. In 2004, he was reportedly fired for assaulting an inmate but was acquitted in a federal civil rights case filed against him.
Via RT . This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license. | 0 |
Central Bankers Are Out Of Monetary Ammunition And Weapons by IWB · October 27, 2016
by GoldCore
Satyajit Das has written an excellent article in Bloomberg which clearly details the risks facing the global financial and monetary system and how central bankers are out of monetary ammunition and weapons.
Excerpt:
“No one likes to admit defeat. But global policymakers, who continue to insist that there’s more they can do to revive growth and inflation, are starting to sound like Monty Python’s Black Knight (click link to see video), the limbless and mortally wounded warrior who threatens to bleed on his victorious opponent. The truth is that governments and central banks have very few weapons left — and have probably lost any chance they once had of averting a prolonged stagnation.
Secular Stagnation
Clearly, the real economy hasn’t responded as hoped to zero and now negative interest rates. A whole host of factors continue to depress personal spending — high debt, stagnant incomes, unemployment and under-employment, and economic uncertainty. Even the rich, who have benefited immensely from the runup in asset prices, can’t really spend much more than they already are.”
Satyajit Das is an Australian former banker and corporate treasurer, turned consultant, author and academic. His latest book is “A Banquet of Consequences” and he is also the author of “Extreme Money” and “Traders, Guns & Money.”
Important article can be read on Bloomberg here
Gold and Silver Bullion – News and Commentary | 0 |
Премьер-министр России Дмитрий Медведев на заседании правительства представил министра спорта Павла Колобкова и вице-премьера Виталия Мутко, процитировав отрывок из речи последнего на английском. 12:46 Всемирная боксёрская ассоциация (WBA) приняла добровольный отказ немца Феликса Штурма от титула WBA Super во втором среднем весе, россиянин Фёдор Чудинов стал одним из претендентов на бой за вакантный пояс, сообщает «Р-Спорт» со ссылкой на резолюцию WBA. 12:16 Во французском еженедельнике Charlie Hebdo опубликована карикатура на открытие в Париже православного собора. 12:14 Представитель Европейского космического агентства Дон МакКой заявил, что специалисты попытаются перезагрузить передатчик десантного модуля Schiaparelli миссии «ЭкзоМарс-2016», связь с которым была потеряна перед его посадкой на Марс, передаёт РИА Новости. 12:05 Россия в 2016 году экспортировала 45 тыс. тонн кориандра и стала лидером по этому показателю, обогнав Индию, передаёт РИА Новости со ссылкой на данные Российского экспортного центра (РЭЦ). 11:41 Польше и странам Балтии не удалось добиться ужесточения санкций Евросоюза против России из-за Сирии. 11:22 С модулем Schiaparelli, который должен был совершить посадку на поверхность Марса, произошла нештатная ситуация. Об этом сообщает РИА Новости со ссылкой на представителя Европейского космического агентства (ЕКА) Андреа Акконаццо. 11:11 Совет Госдумы единогласно одобрил назначение Татьяны Вороновой из Администрации президента на пост главы аппарата Госдумы. 10:49 Боевики террористической группировки «Джабхат ан-Нусра»* угрожают намеревающимся выйти из восточного Алеппо по гуманитарным коридорам мирным жителям расстрелом. 10:10 Рубль незначительно снижается на открытии торгов. Об этом свидетельствуют данные биржи. 09:45 Межгосударственный авиационный комитет (МАК) завершил расследование крушения самолёта Falcon в московском аэропорту Внуково, в результате которого погиб глава нефтяной компании Total Кристоф де Маржери. 08:53 Согласно опросу, инициированному газетой Washington Times, кандидат в президенты США от республиканцев Дональд Трамп выиграл финальные дебаты со значительным отрывом. 08:31 Пригород Дамаска в рамках сделки с властями покинули 1710 человек, 800 из которых — боевики. Об этом сообщает РИА Новости со ссылкой на источник в полиции сирийской столицы. 08:17 В результате нападения неизвестного на сотрудников правоохранительных органов в городе Тангеранг (Индонезия) ранены пять полицейских. 08:03 С россиянки Светланы Захаровой, которая была арестована по обвинению в вымогательстве $400 тыс. у бывшего губернатора штата Нью-Йорк Элиота Спитцера, сняли почти все обвинения, за которые ей могло грозить тяжёлое наказание. 02:44 Более 60% русскоговорящих иммигрантов в США поддерживают кандидата от республиканцев Дональда Трампа. Об этом свидетельствуют предварительные итоги опроса, проведённого Исследовательским институтом новых американцев. 01:05 Президент Украины Пётр Порошенко по итогам переговоров в Берлине отметил, что альтернатив нормандскому формату нет. Кроме того, политик заявил о согласии российской стороны на введение вооружённой миссии ОБСЕ в Донбассе. 00:59 Нира Тэнден, политолог и ближайшая соратница Хиллари Клинтон, в письме руководителю избирательного штаба Джону Подесте заявила, что бывшая первая леди «не знает, на какой планете находится». Это следует из 12-й части документов, опубликованных порталом WikiLeaks. 23:33 В сирийских провинциях Алеппо, Дамаск, Хама, Латакия и Деръа зафиксировано 47 нарушений перемирия за сутки. Об этом сообщается в информационном бюллетене российского Центра по примирению в Сирии. 22:50 Контакт с модулем Schiaparelli, который должен был совершить посадку на поверхность Марса, пока не налажен. Об этом сообщили в Роскосмосе. 22:45 Встреча лидеров «нормандской четвёрки» в Берлине продолжается более трёх часов. 22:29 Следователи в самопровозглашённой ДНР изучают материалы с камер наблюдения в районе места убийства командира одного из подразделений ополчения Арсена Павлова с позывным Моторола. Об этом сообщил источник в правоохранительных органах ДНР. 21:50 Участие в церемонии оглашения талисмана чемпионата мира по футболу в 2018 году в России 21 октября примут советник президента Международной федерации футбола (ФИФА) Звонимир Бобан и двукратный чемпион мира по футболу в составе сборной Бразилии Роналдо. 20:52 Бывший министр обороны Анатолий Сердюков был отправлен в отставку с поста гендиректора Федерального исследовательского испытательного центра машиностроения (ФИИЦ М), который входит в «Ростех». 19:23 Министр по делам ЕС Омер Челик заявил, что Турция разорвёт соглашение с Евросоюзом по мигрантам в случае, если до конца 2016 года для граждан страны не будет введён безвизовый режим. 19:04 Президент России Владимир Путин прилетел в Берлин для участия в переговорах «нормандской четвёрки». У трапа самолёта Путина встречал почётный караул. 19:02 Посадочный модуль Schiaparelli миссии «ЭкзоМарс-2016» приземлился на поверхность Марса. Об этом заявил Владимир Назаров, руководитель отдела наземных научных комплексов Института космических исследований (ИКИ) РАН. 18:59 В Швейцарии по дороге из Цюриха в Берн случилось ДТП с участием четырёх автомобилей из кортежа, который сопровождал делегацию спикера Совета Федерации Валентины Матвиенко. 18:52 Президент Украины Пётр Порошенко и канцлер ФРГ Ангела Меркель проводят встречу в Берлине. 18:42 Глава самопровозглашённой Донецкой народной республики Александр Захарченко пообещал поставить памятник убитому лидеру ополчения Арсену Павлову с позывными Моторола в Славянске, который сейчас находится под контролем Киева. 18:36 На севере Багдада произошло два взрыва, сообщает телеканал «Ас-Сумария». 18:07 МИД России направил США запрос на выдачу российского лётчика Константина Ярошенко, осуждённого на 20 лет тюремного заключения по обвинению в подготовке сговора с целью доставки крупной партии наркотиков в США. 17:36 Министерство юстиции отозвало требование о ликвидации движения «СтопХам», так как оно устранило выявленные ранее нарушения. Об этом сообщили в пресс-службе Мосгорсуда. 17:31 Киностудия «Мосфильм» разместила около 500 принадлежащих ей кинолент в социальной сети «ВКонтакте». Об этом говорится в сообщении киностудии. 17:13 Подростки со всего мира назвали Россию страной с лучшими вечерними развлекательными мероприятиями в отелях. 17:12 На федеральной трассе М-4 «Дон» в Азовском районе Ростовской области столкнулись четырнадцать автомобилей. 17:05 Перед визитом президента России Владимира Путина в Японию будет проведена масштабная подготовка. Об этом сообщил замглавы МИД России Игорь Моргулов. 17:01 В Париже состоялось торжественное открытие Российского духовно-культурного православного центра (РДКЦ). В церемонии приняли участие министр культуры России Владимир Мединский, мэр Парижа Анн Идальго, а также представители Московского патриархата. 16:53 Московский театр «Сатирикон» может закрыться из-за финансовых проблем. Об этом сообщил руководитель театра Константин Райкин. 16:27 Четыре авиакомпании подали заявки на выполнение международных регулярных пассажирских перевозок из различных городов России в Египет. 16:11 В Национальной гвардии заявили о проведении внутренней проверки после появления сообщения, что сотрудник Росгвардии из межрайонного отдела вневедомственной охраны в Москве, по предварительным данным, случайно застрелил коллегу. 15:53 Ресурс WikiLeaks опубликовал двенадцатую часть переписки председателя избирательной кампании кандидата в президенты США Хиллари Клинтон Джона Подесты. 15:45 В ходе плановой выездной проверки предприятия «Спецстройинжиниринг» сотрудники ФАС России выявили факт срыва сроков выполнения работ по госконтрактам на общую сумму более 150 млрд рублей. 15:44 Участник немецкой правоэкстремистской группировки «Граждане Рейха» открыл стрельбу по сотрудникам полиции. Четверо полицейских пострадали, один из них получил серьёзные ранения. 15:31 Начальник Генерального штаба ВС России генерал армии Валерий Герасимов, комментируя возможное бегство боевиков из Мосула, заявил о необходимости «уничтожать на месте» боевиков «Исламского государства»*. 15:24 Бывшего президента Украины Виктора Януковича и бывшего командующего внутренними войсками Станислава Шуляка могут допросить по делу о событиях на Майдане посредством видеосвязи. Об этом сообщает РИА Новости со ссылкой на источник в правоохранительных органах. 15:14 Самолёт, в котором находились игроки турецкого футбольного клуба «Фенербахче», совершил экстренную посадку в Будапеште. 15:08 Российские военные направили в Мосул аппараты космической разведки. Об этом, как передаёт РИА Новости, заявил начальник Генштаба ВС России генерал армии Валерий Герасимов. 15:05 При столкновении пригородного пассажирского поезда с товарными вагонами в австрийском Визельбурге пострадали 14 человек, состояние двоих оценивается как тяжёлое. 14:37 Пресс-секретарь президента России Дмитрий Песков, комментируя ситуацию с подачей компанией «Нафтогаз» иска по активам в Крыму, заявил, что это юридический вопрос. Новости партнёров | 0 |
(Before It's News)
What is Vitamin E? Vitamin E is an important fat-soluble antioxidant compound that aids the body in neutralizing the harmful after-effects of oxidation of fats. Current research is even looking into the important role that this vitamin plays in stopping free-radical production, a key method of preventing the development of chronic diseases and aging. It is also a vital element in the overall maintenance of a healthy immune system.
Some studies are even looking into its role in preventing degenerative mental imbalances such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. And while many of us may do well in taking extra vitamin E supplements, we can use an organic diet to get a large amount of the daily requirements for this powerful antioxidant lipid. In fact, there are many common foods with vitamin E. You probably have a few in your house right now.
Foods With Vitamin E
Here are fifteen foods with vitamin E that you should strongly consider adding to your diet.
1. Almonds
Almonds are one the best vitamin E foods. Just an ounce of almonds offers a whopping 7.4 milligrams of vitamin E. You can also get your vitamin E needs in the form of almond milk and almond oils. We would recommend eating raw almonds, if possible.
2. Raw Seeds
Select raw seeds , such as sunflower, pumpkin and sesame, are another common food with vitamin E. In fact, eating just ¼ of a cup of sunflower seeds gives you 90.5% of your recommended daily value, making them one of the best vitamin E foods you can eat daily.
3. Swiss Chard
Swiss chard is easily one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat on a daily basis. Commonly known to be high in vitamin K, vitamin A and vitamin C, Swiss chard is another food high in vitamin E. Just one cup of boiled swiss chard greens will provide you with almost 17% of your daily recommended values.
4. Mustard Greens
Similar to swiss chard, mustard greens are very nutrient dense and will provide a variety of health benefits. Not only are they one of the best vitamin E foods, but mustard greens are also high in vitamin K, vitamin A, folate , and vitamin c. Eating just one cup of boiled mustard greens contains about 14% of your daily dietary requirements. We would recommend eating organic mustard greens, if possible.
5. Spinach
Spinach may not be your favorite veggie, but it is one of the best leafy greens you can add to your diet. Not only is it one of the best calcium foods and naturally high in folate, it’s also one of the best vitamin E foods as well. Just one cup of boiled spinach will provide you with approximately 20% of your daily needs. Try adding fresh spinach to your sandwiches to make them extra healthy.
6. Turnip Greens
While turnip greens may have a slightly bitter taste, they are very high in many essential nutrients. Like the rest of the leafy greens on this list, just one cup will provide you with plenty of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C and folate. Not to mention approximately 12% of your daily requirements of vitamin E.
7. Kale
Kale is another great cruciferous vegetable you should eat as often as possible. Kale is very high in many nutrients, in fact, just one cup of boiled kale can give you almost 6% of your daily vitamin E requirements. We would recommend eating organic kale, if possible.
8. Plant oils
Most plant seed oils are very good sources for Vitamin E as well. The best oil with vitamin E is Wheat germ oil. In fact, one tablespoon of this oil holds 100% of your daily Vitamin E requirements. Sunflower oil is another excellent option, as it provides over 5 mg of the vitamin, and can easily be be used for cooking. Other great Vitamin-E-rich oils include hempseed oil, coconut oil, cottonseed oil (with almost 5 mg of vitamin E), olive oil and safflower oil. We would recommend only buying oils that are cold pressed unrefined and organic.
9. Hazelnuts
A perfect snack during a long workday, eating just one ounce of hazelnuts can provide you with approximately 20% of our daily requirements of vitamin E. For an alternative to eating nuts, try drinking hazelnut milk in your morning coffee instead of milk or flavored creamer.
10. Pine Nuts
Add an ounce of these nuts to anything you please! One serving contains 2.6 mg of vitamin E. You can also use pine nut oil for added health benefits.
11. Avocado
Perhaps one of the tastiest foods with Vitamin E, avocados represent natures creamiest, oil-rich food. Just half of an avocado holds more than 2 mg of vitamin E. Avocados are very easy to incorporate into your diet. We would recommend adding sliced avocados to your salad, a sandwich, or mashed up as guacamole!
12. Broccoli
For generations now, broccoli has been considered one of the best detox foods , but it’s also one of the healthiest foods high in Vitamin E. Just one cup of steamed broccoli will provide you with 4% of your daily requirements. Broccoli may not be as nutrient dense as other Vitamin E foods on this list, but it is definitely one of the healthiest foods you can eat daily.
13. Parsley
An excellent spice, parsley is another great Vitamin E food. Try adding fresh parsley to salads and dishes for an extra Vitamin-E kick. Dried parsley will also provide you with this important vitamin, but the fresher the better.
14. Papaya
This popular fruit is most commonly known as one of the best vitamin C foods , but it’s also high in Vitamin E. Just one papaya will give you approximately 17% of your daily needs. Try adding fresh or frozen papaya to fruit smoothies, along with other fruity vitamin E foods on this list for an extra healthy snack!
15. Olives
From the oil to the fruit, eating olives is an excellent way of getting your daily needs for vitamin E. Just one cup of olives can give you approximately 20% of your daily recommended amount.
These are just a few examples of foods with vitamin E. There are plenty more that aren’t listed here. Which vitamin E food is your favorite? Let’s hear your thoughts below.
The post 15 Foods That Contain The Most Vitamin E appeared first on The Sleuth Journal . | 0 |
Here's something interesting from The Unz Review... Recipient Name => Horatius Defends the Bridge at Rome. Credit: VDare.com.
VDARE.com Editor Peter Brimelow writes: I spoke at the H.L. Mencken Club conference in Baltimore last Saturday, November 5. It seems like a thousand years ago. Subject: “The Right and American Conservatism.” Reading the transcript, I see it’s almost as f I thought Donald J. Trump might lose the November 8 election . Silly me.
[See also: America`s Egalitarian Temptation—Stalinism`s Unquiet Ghost , Peter Brimelow’s address to the 2008 inaugural meeting of the H. L. Mencken club].
Peter Brimelow: Ladies and Gentlemen: Some of you may recall I gave the banquet address at the H.L. Mencken Club last November. It’s been lost to history because (to my intense rage!) H.L, Mencken Club Chairman Paul Gottfried didn’t have it recorded. In it, I praised Ann Coulter’s great book Adios America! , which came to the same conclusions about immigration (moratorium, sealed borders, attrition through enforcement etc.) that I had in Alien Nation 20 years earlier. And a questioner said: “Why is she doing this? Why is she taking this risk?” And I said: “Well, look on the bright side, maybe Trump will win.”
There was sort of a shocked silence, as I recall. [ Laughter ] This was before the primaries had even begun. I was pretty shocked at the idea myself!
But, you know, he’s come very close . He’s come very close. The moral of this is: we should not give into despair. Amazing things happen—completely unexpectedly.
The subject I’ve got now from Paul is: “The Right and American Conservatism.” And I think it’s right that we should use the term “American Conservatism” because it’s on the point at becoming a Term Of Art. It represented a specific intellectual eddy , which came into existence relatively recently. I don’t know how widely the term “conservatism” was used in American politics prior to 1950s —Paul, do you?
Paul Gottfried:
It was not used often at all. Robert Taft described himself as a “liberal.”
PB:
Right. In Britain, of course, it didn’t exist at all before the 1840s.
Anyway, the American Conservative Movement came into existence in the 1950s—and now it’s ended.
I may say I immigrated to the American Conservative Movement. I discovered it when I was at university in England in the late 1960s, reading National Review, which we found in great bundles in the History Basement of the University of Sussex Library . They had discontinued their subscription —because they thought National Review was irrelevant and pointless. We of course were fascinated by the fact that there’d been a story on the cover proposing that the Americans nuke China, which struck us as very enterprising, the sort of initiative that was unthinkable in the British political context. [ January 12, 1965 ] So we made them re-subscribe.
And I’m not one of these people that thinks the American Conservative Movement did not achieve anything. It ended in failure, as all political movements do. But it did win the Cold War and that’s really significant. Some of you are old enough to remember the despair that prevailed in the mid1970s after the fall of Vietnam. And we had reason to despair. American society and American politics was riddled with no-goodniks who absolutely planned to staff the gulags after the Soviets arrived. Absolutely planned to do that. And, of course, now they’ve simply mutated into Cultural Marxists. They’re still planning to staff the gulags.
I was talking to Paul [Gottfried] a little earlier about Tom Fleming, our mutual friend, who was the long-time editor of the Chronicles . He’s a sort of wayward genius and I have learned to respect him because he told me more than 20 years ago that the great Lawrence Auster , the blogger , was in effect “mad, bad, and dangerous to know,” to use Lady Caroline Lamb’s description of Lord Byron. And he was understating the matter, although I do think Larry was a great man and we’ve missed him sorely in the immigration wars.
And Tom also said about 20 years ago that we had to give up the term “Conservatism”—because it had been co-opted by, basically, corporate lobbyists and rent-seekers.
I didn’t like this at all because I thought “Conservatism” was one of our very few—but there are a few—victories in the culture. Another one, for example, is the idea of Political Correctness. Everyone knows what Political Correctness is. It’s not that the Cultural Marxists wanted us to know, it’s just that somehow it made it to the front.
We saw Romney describe himself in one of the 2012 primary debates as “ severely Conservative .” Now, of course, he’s not conservative at all, and he doesn’t strike me as particularly severe, he strikes me a rather a wimp as a matter of fact. But he felt obliged to say this because of the power that the word has achieved in the culture. So, I was kind of sorry to give it up. But I’m afraid that we are going to have to.
A few years ago, I learned with delight that the Indian Army has inscribed, on the monument erected in Tawang province to its soldiers who fell in the 1962 border war with China, now completely forgotten, the famous lines from the Lays Of Ancient Rome by Lord Macaulay—also now completely forgotten:
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods?
It`s always seemed to me that Macaulay`s verse is a litmus test for conservatism—or perhaps I should more accurately say, the Right. It either it speaks to you or it doesn`t.
It`s vital to note that this verse is not vainglorious and chest-thumping, but somber and stoic. The scene, of course, is that Horatius is about to make a stand on the bridge to stop the storming of Rome by Lars Porsena and the deposed king of Rome, Tarquin the Proud. The previous lines are:
Then up spake brave Horatius
The Captain of the Gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late…”
In other words, Horatius` point is not that death facing fearful odds is so wonderful—but that there is no wonderful alternative. So why not?
Note also that Macaulay has Horatio fight for “ashes” and “temples”—that is, not in the hope of saving any living family members, or in the service of any gods in whom he has confident faith. The implication: he could have no family members and no hope of divine providence—but his death in battle would still have symbolic resonance.
The core of conservatism, it seems to me, is this recognition and acceptance of the elemental emotions. Conservatism understands that it is futile to debate the feelings of the mother for her child—or such human instincts as the bonds of tribe , nation , even race . Of course, all are painfully vulnerable to deconstruction by rationalistic intellectuals—but not, ultimately, to destruction. These commitments are Jungian rather than Freudian, not irrational but a-rational—beyond the reach of reason.
This is one of the problems, by the way, with the American Conservative Movement. I was completely astonished when it fell apart at the end of the Cold War—I never thought it would. That’s because I assumed that everybody realized that America standing up to the Soviet Union was, in some sense, a nationalist resistance. Americans just didn’t want to be conquered by Russians.
But, it turned out that there were people who had joined the anti-Communist coalition who harbored messianic fantasies about “global democracy” and and America as the first “universal nation” (i.e. polity. Nation-states must have a specific ethnic core.) They also had uses for the American military which hadn’t occurred to me. But they didn’t care about America—about America as a nation-state, the political expression of a particular people, the Historic American Nation. In fact, in some cases, it made them feel uneasy.
I thought about this this spring when Trump was debating in New Hampshire. ABC’s John Muir asked three candidates: “What does it mean to be Conservative?”
I’m going to quote from John Kasich: blah, blah, blah, blah. Balanced budgets—tax cuts—jobs—“but once we have economic growth I believe we have to reach out to people who live in the shadows.”
By this he meant, not illegal aliens, although he did favor Amnesty , but “the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor…[and] our friends in the minority community.”
That’s because the Republican Party has lots of friends in the minority community.
Marco Rubio said:
…it’s about three things. The first is conservatism is about limited government, especially at the federal level…It’s about free enterprise…And it’s about a strong national defense. It’s about believing, unlike Barack Obama, that the world is a safer and a better place when America is the strongest military and the strongest nation on this planet. That’s conservatism.
Kasich and Rubio’s answers, of course, are not remotely “conservative” but utilitarian, economistic, classical liberal. Note that Rubio even felt obliged to justify “strong national defense” in universalistic, Wilsonian terms: it will make the world “a safer and a better place.”
In contrast to all that, Donald Trump said:
I view the word conservative as a derivative of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth…We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country.
Now, this caused a considerable amount of harrumphing among Conservative Inc. intellectuals and various Republican politicians. Somebody called John Hart , who writes a thing called Opportunity Lives —has anybody heard of it? It’s a very well-funded Libertarianism Inc. website in Washington.
Nobody has heard of it? Good.
Hart said:
Trump’s answer may have been how conservatives described themselves once: in 1957. But today’s modern conservative movement isn’t a hoarding or protectionist philosophy. Conservatism isn’t about conserving; it’s about growth.
“Growth”?
Well, I don’t think so. And not just because I remember 1957 .
As I said, I think it turned out that American Conservatism was just a transitional phase. And now it’s over.
Why did it end? After Buckley purged John O’Sullivan and all of us immigration patriots from National Review in 1997, we spent a lot of time thinking about why he had done this. And there were a lot of complicated psychological explanations: Bill was getting old, he was jealous of his successor, the new Editor, John O’Sullivan, he was terrified of the neoconservatives who didn’t like the emphasis on immigration because of their own ethnic agenda, and he was very inclined to listen to the Congressional Republicans, who didn’t want to talk about immigration because they are terrified too—because they are cowards, basically—and also because they have big corporate donors . And, I think that is part of the explanation.
But there was a similar discussion in the 1950s and 1960s, which I’m old enough to remember, about why the Old Bolsheviks all testified against themselves in the treason trials during Stalin’s Great Purge . They all admitted to the most fantastic things—that they had been spies for the Americans and the British and the capitalist imperialists all along, that they’d plotted to assassinate Comrade Stalin. And there were all kinds of discussions as to why this was, and in fact a wonderful novel, Darkness At Noon [ PDF ] by Arthur Koestler , one of the most remarkable novels in the last century, describing the exquisite psychological process by which an old Bolshevik in prison came to the conclusion that he was going to have to say all these things in the long-term interest of the Revolution.
Do you agree about Darkness At Noon , Paul? [ Paul Gottfried indicates assent ]
Good.
Well, when Nikita Khrushchev got up and denounced Stalin in at the party conference in 1956, he was asked about this. Why did all these Old Bolsheviks turn turtle like this? And his answer was: “Beat, beat, beat.”
In other words, there is no complex psychological explanation : they were just tortured.
I think that goes to what happened to the American Conservative Movement. It wasn’t tortured; it was bought . It was simply bought .
I think the dominance of the Donorist class and the Donorist Party is one of the things that has emerged analytically within the past 10 years.
When I was first writing about American politics and got involved in American politics–and I started by working for John Ashbrook (not Ashcroft , Ash brook ) against Nixon in 1972 –nobody thought about donors. We have only gradually become conscious of them. And their absolute dominant role, and their ability to prohibit policy discussions, has really only become clear in the last five to ten years.
I think, in retrospect, with Buckley , who subsidized his lifestyle out of the National Review to a scandalous extent, that there was some financial transaction. I think that now.
It’s an open secret that Rich Lowry did not want to come out and with this anti-Trump issue that they published earlier this year, but he was compelled to do it. That’s not the type of thing that Lowry would normally do. He wouldn’t take that kind of risk, he’s a courtier, he would never take the risk of not being invited to ride in Trump’s limousine in the case that Trump won. But, apparently, someone forced him to do it. And I think that someone was a donor and I think I know who it was.
So I think that is the reason for the end of the American Conservative Movement. It really goes back to what Eric Hoffer said: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket .” It’s a racket.
But the good news is, as John Derbyshire said a few minutes ago, that ultimately Conservatism—or Rightism— is a personality type. It underlies politics and it will crop up again—just as, to our astonishment, Donald Trump has cropped up.
So, I guess my bottom line here is: “ Don’t despair .”
Peter Brimelow [ ] is the editor of VDARE.com. His best-selling book, Alien Nation: Common Sense About America’s Immigration Disaster , is now available in Kindle format. (Reprinted from VDare.com | 0 |
President Donald Trump is junking former President Barack Obama’s unpopular federal policies, according to the White House spokesman. [The policy reversal will likely protect civic groups and institutions — including bathrooms — across the nation from lawsuits and will put new pressure on federal judges to preserve the central role of biology in defining whether a person is male or female. The new policy is a big defeat for gay advocacy groups and for progressives, who want judges to declare that people can change their legal sex when their “gender identity” changes from day to day. The announcement came Tuesday from White House spokesman Sean Spicer, who said, “the president has maintained for a long time that this is a states’ rights issue and not one for the federal government. ” “So while we have further guidance coming out on this, I think that all you have to do is look at what the president’s view has been for a long time, that this is not something the federal government should be involved in, that this is a states’ rights issue,” he added. Trump’s deference to the states will force the cancellation of the federal “gender identity” policy announced in May 2016 by Obama’s deputies. Numerous states are already debating how sex should be defined. In North Carolina, for example, the HB2 2016 law says people can change their legal sex after surgery. That clear distinction is strongly opposed by gay advocacy groups, who helped lead an economic boycott of the state in 2016. Other states, such as Oregon and Washington have decided that people — including children — have a fundamental right to change their legal sex, regardless of the impact on civic society. Less than of Americans support the “ ” plan pushed by gay groups and by Obama, which would allow transgender activists to sue institutions — such as sports leagues, public and women’s shelters — until they treat both biological sexes as interchangeable. That would be a very different regime from today’s laws and civic society, which are designed to help two equal and different sexes complement each other in a heterosexual society built on families and child rearing. The process has already forced the Boy Scouts to accept girls, and will also force teacher and parents to change how they educate young boys and girls, say critics. Since Trump’s election, Obama has twice admitted that his unpopular transgender policy helped defeat Hillary Clinton. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a lawsuit from a young woman in Virginia who wants school officials — and schoolkids — to declare that she is a he. The court has not revealed where it stands on the issue, but in 2015, the Court changed the definition of marriage nationwide so that states could not define marriage as a relationship. Only about 400 Americans have changed their names from one sex to the other, according to a study of the 2010 census. To read more Breitbart coverage about the clash between “gender identity” and heterosexual society, click here. | 1 |
Deepwater Horizon Continues to Impact Public Health Deepwater Horizon Continues to Impact Public Health By 1 135
It’s hard to believe that the Deepwater Horizon incident, which discharged over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, happened six years ago. What’s not hard to believe is that the environmental health implications of the spill are stubbornly lingering.
Gulf residents of variety of species are paying a high price for it — so high that litigation against BP for its role in the spill, officially deemed “ negligent ,” is likely to continue for decades as people fight to get help with ongoing medical expenses.
Last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the spill was linked to an uptick in dolphin deaths , illustrating that this unprecedented release of petroleum products in the Gulf had a lasting health impact for animals.
Similarly, abnormalities in heart development among fish have also been connected to Deepwater Horizon exposure. Part of the problem is that sediments remain coated in oil and sludge . Because it was impossible to clean up every drop of crude from the Gulf, the oil that settled to the bottom continues to interfere with the embryonic development of a range of fish species.
But humans aren’t doing too well either.
In the aftermath of the spill, people were exposed both to crude petroleum and to Corexit , a chemical dispersant used in unprecedented volumes during the cleanup.
Subsequent research has shown that in addition to having some hazardous health effects on its own, the combination of Corexit and the type of crude spilled during the Deepwater Horizon incident packs a hefty punch for marine animals.
In the weeks following the spill, first responders reported symptoms like rashes, respiratory problems, headaches, seizures and depression. In response to the complains, agencies closely monitored these individuals.
As the years went by, enough significant health problems arose for a class action lawsuit against BP. The company eventually agreed to a settlement that included the potential for… | 0 |
Posted 10/31/2016 3:17 pm by PatriotRising with 0 comments Democratic strategist calls reopened Clinton probe an ‘attack’ on American democracy in MSNBC tantrum
Famed Democratic strategist James Carville may be the first Clinton surrogate to have officially lost his mind over the FBI’s decision to reopen its investigation into Clinton’s private email server.
In an appearance on MSNBC on Monday, Carville relentlessly — and repeatedly — attacked the FBI’s decision to reopen the investigation into Hillary Clinton, asserting it is part of a conspiracy to subvert American democracy.
“This is in effect an attempt to hijack an election,” Carville claimed. “It’s unprecedented … the House Republicans and the KGB are trying to influence our democracy,” he said.
Apparently the fact that the Soviet security agency was disbanded in 1991 does not preclude its involvement in this vast, anti-Clinton conspiracy organized by the FBI, according to Carville. Poor Carville was clearly apoplectic at the news of Comey’s announcement, describing it as an assault or attack on American democracy multiple times.
He was also adamant about who was responsible. “Comey was acting in concert and coordination with the House Republicans,” Carville said. “We also have the extraordinary case of the KGB being involved in this race and selectively leaking things from the Clinton campaign that they hacked,” he claimed.
Carville was very upset that Comey’s announcement thrust Clinton’s surely unethical and likely illegal behavior back into the spotlight. “It would seem to me that the FBI shouldn’t be getting rolled by the House Republicans, that’s what happened here — there’s nothing else that’s going on — and in the meantime … democracy is under assault by the KGB,” he said. “To me that’s something we ought to be talking about.”
Unfortunately for Carville, whilst fanciful tales about time-traveling Soviet spies and an FBI on the GOP’s take certainly make for interesting entertainment, they pale in importance to the real life stories of Clinton’s brazen lawlessness.
When the MSNBC anchor dared raise the fact that Democrats were praising Comey only a few months ago when he announced the FBI’s decision not to recommend indictment, Carville went into a stuttering, sputtering fit. Hillary Reboots ‘Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy’ Playbook Clinton camp set to wage effort to discredit FBI Director Comey and criminal probe as politically motivated
“When the facts change I change my mind,” Carville said. “Why are you defending this, why are you sitting here as American democracy is under assault?” he asked angrily. Faced with the Democrats’ clear double standard
“This is an unprecedented event that was done on behalf of the House Republicans,” Carville repeated. “And as we know the KGB is all over this election and this is what we are talking about? We ought to be talking about our democracy is under assault right now and what we are going to do about it, not [what somebody said in July] about James Comey.” | 0 |
REFUGIO, Texas — A local restaurateur has been charged with human smuggling after allegedly using his business to hide illegal aliens and providing them with firearms. [Federal agents with the help of local police raided two local restaurants and two mobile homes where they arrested 16 illegal aliens and found multiple firearms. At one of the restaurants, Taqueria Guadalajara, agents arrested Alfredo Plascencia Leon five illegal immigrants from Mexico and one from Honduras who were working at the restaurant. The other raids took place at the properties behind the store and at a second restaurant, Gumbo Seafood, owned and operated by Plascencia. Refugio is approximately 44 miles from Corpus Christi. Court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed that Plascencia would allegedly house illegal aliens in various mobile homes and collected rent. During the raids, authorities seized an “assault rifle” a shotgun, a . 45 caliber pistol, and a . 22 caliber rifle. Mario Rizo Melendez, one of the illegal aliens, told authorities that the . 22 caliber weapon was given to him by Plascencia and that the shotgun was loaned to him also. Breitbart Texas reached out to Gregory Palmore, a spokesman for U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who stated that the raid was part of a criminal investigation and not an immigration action, as some local outlets incorrectly reported. Alfredo Plascencia Complaint by ildefonso ortiz on Scribd, Tony Aranda is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas. | 1 |
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