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As soon as I walked into Celia Rojas’s prekindergarten class in Union City, N. J. I was sucked in by the hum of activity. Art plastered the walls, plants were hanging from the ceiling, and in every nook there was something to seize a child’s imagination. Some kids were doing cutouts of paper clothing and others were at an easel, painting. A bunch of children were solving puzzles on a computer, while another group was building a pink cardboard chair, which they called “A Chair for My Mother. ” In the reading nook a girl was learning about how, when the wasp larva hatches, it eats the spider. Three classmates were playing trying on old felt hats and checking themselves out in the mirror. The teacher was everywhere — praising kids, offering suggestions when they were stumped and, sometimes, peacemaking. Two boys were peering at insects through a microscope when they started fighting over who got to look next. Ms. Rojas deftly diverted them. “How many parts does an insect body have?” she asked. The boys knew: “Three parts — the antenna, abdomen and legs. ” “How about an insect salad — would you want to eat it?” she inquired. “Ugh,” the boys chorused. “Why not — are they bad for you?” she asked. The boys thought about it. “Maybe if you chopped them up they’d be O. K.,” one volunteered. At that moment I wished that I were 4 years old and could join the festivities. But most classrooms look entirely different. After surveying preschools nationwide, Robert Pianta, dean of the University of Virginia Curry School of Education, concluded that “superficial task demands, including giving directions and assigning routine tasks, predominate over children’s involvement in appropriate conceptual or activities. ” A preschool in Chicago that I visited a few years earlier boasted that it was certified by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the equivalent of the Good Housekeeping seal. But it didn’t merit that encomium. A big room that might once have been a storeroom had been split into each about 15 feet square, separated by partitions. Noise reverberated throughout the building. “Stay within the lines,” a teacher commanded a boy. “You’re not tracing the triangle. ” After he started coloring, she returned, exasperated. “You weren’t paying attention during circle time. Only color the triangles, not the circle or the heart. ” The teacher turned to me. “I like the kids when they stay within the lines and color beautiful,” she said. In another class, children were told to paint the bottom section of a pyramid. The directions were the same: Stay within the lines. It turned out that the kids were painting the food pyramid, but they didn’t know that’s what they were doing. What I saw made me wish that I could round up a passel of children and make a run for safety. Deborah Stipek, a professor of education at Stanford, makes the point more bluntly: “What I see in a lot of preschools is much worse than coloring between the lines. It’s teachers yelling at kids all day. ” These two prekindergartens serve very different populations, but perhaps not the ones you might expect. The “stay within the lines” enrolls mainly youngsters, whose parents pay to send them there, while Ms. Rojas’s classroom is in a public school in a poor immigrant community. Though I’ve spent many hours crouching in these classrooms, I’m no expert. What I witnessed should be obvious to any mom or dad. That’s why, even if you are an parent, you can rapidly determine whether you want to send your child to a particular preschool. You may also be able to save a boatload of money, since public preschools are often as good as their $30, 000 alternatives. When you walk in the door of a prekindergarten, check out the walls — they should be festooned with children’s projects, and not, as is too often the case, plastered with posters that are calculated to please adults and mounted too high for to see. Look around. There should be lots of different things for children to do. If the kids say hello, and quickly return to what they have been doing, that’s a good sign, for it suggests that they’re developing social skills. But if they mob you, you have your answer: This isn’t the place for your child. You might consider yourself to be a fascinating person, but you shouldn’t be more interesting than whatever activity these and are engaged in. Is the class silent? I’ve talked with parents who equate obedience with quality, but unless you want your child in boot camp, that’s unhealthy. (Of course, running wild isn’t a good thing either that energy belongs on the playground.) Kids should be quiet, if a bit squirmy, during circle time, when they are gathered around their teacher. But mostly they should be engaged with one another, because that’s when most learning occurs. Their teacher should be talking with them, not at them. And if the classroom looks like a healthy mix of kids from different backgrounds, that’s all to the good. Children learn a lot from their classmates, and kids with different experiences have much to contribute to one another. That’s it, more or less. If you have a chance to talk briefly with the teacher, ask her how she decides to spend time with one group or another. Inquire about how she handles children who haven’t fully learned how, as the argot goes, to use their words, take turns or share. While the answer matters, you mostly want to make sure she has really thought about those things. Winging it doesn’t make for good teaching. I imagine many readers believe that I’ve committed heresy. To them, Montessori or HighScope, Reggio Emilia or Waldorf, or some other school of pedagogy embodies the Holy Grail. But there’s no reason to believe that one of these is better than the others. The key is how well a particular model of teaching is being carried out. A class can be a joy when the teacher truly understands how properly to use, say, the HighScope approach, which has the children decide what they want to do that day, then tackle the chosen project and later review what they’ve learned. But these techniques are devilishly hard to pull off. When done badly the result is a mighty mess. That’s why the school district in the first example allows the best teachers to design a curriculum that, while borrowing from approaches, makes the most sense for their kids. For parents, the bottom line is simple: Watch closely what’s happening in the classroom, pick a preschool that you wish you had gone to, and your child will do just fine.
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Posted on October 27, 2016 by Chris Menahan
Video out of Florida shows a panicked Clinton aide rush to her side in order to help her climb one step.
When the aide sees Her Hagliness is going to reach a small riser before him, he’s seen making a mad dash towards her. Hillary then turns, grabs his hand for balance and while clutching him for dear life manages to tackle the one step before her .
You have to wonder what made him so panicked. Did she collapse once again in secret?
Courtesy of Information Liberation Don't forget to follow the D.C. Clothesline on Facebook and Twitter. PLEASE help spread the word by sharing our articles on your favorite social networks. Share this:
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Islamic State militants have destroyed the facade of a Roman theater and another ancient monument in the historic city of Palmyra, Syria, the Syrian news agency reported on Friday. The news agency, SANA, said the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, had destroyed part of the theater and severely damaged a tetrapylon, a square structure of four plinths, each with four columns. The agency said the tetrapylon had two columns still standing and appeared to have been “intentionally destroyed using explosives. ” The smashing of the ancient structures was a further attempt by the group to impose its will by destroying monuments or artifacts that it says do not conform to its strict interpretation of Islam. The group’s demolition of historic sites in Iraq, Libya, Syria and elsewhere has drawn international opprobrium Unesco has branded the actions “cultural cleansing. ” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain, said the destruction of the two sites in Palmyra appeared to have taken place on Jan. 11. The observatory said the acts could have been a demonstration of force before the militant group, which is under siege in Iraq and in Syria, retreats from the city. The Islamic State retook Palmyra in December, nine months after Syrian government forces, backed by Russia, pushed the group out. The militant group had terrorized citizens and destroyed numerous priceless remains in the desert city, declared a World Heritage site by Unesco. The targeting of Palmyra’s cultural treasures has particular resonance as the city’s heritage, which embodies Greek, Persian, Roman and Islamic cultures, is a vivid symbol of a prewar, multicultural Syria that is anathema to the Islamic State’s brutal and monolithic worldview. Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria’s director general of antiquities and museums, called Friday for the world to save Palmyra from further destruction. “ISIS is destroying Palmyra, building after building,” he said. “In the past, their goal was ideological,” he added, but as the group is steadily losing territory, it has become a matter of “revenge. ” The Islamic State captured Palmyra in May 2015, and it quickly started targeting cultural sites and killing soldiers and some residents who had been left behind. In a matter of months, the militants began to plunder and destroy ancient artifacts, including the Arch of Triumph, once a popular draw for tourists, and the nearly Temple of Baalshamin. At the time, Unesco’s director general, Irina Bokova, said the destruction of the Arch of Triumph “shows how extremists are terrified by history and culture. ” Celebrated as the “Pearl of the Desert,” Palmyra, about 150 miles northeast of Damascus, was once a refuge for travelers on the Silk Road, the ancient trade route. Temples have stood in Palmyra for thousands of years.
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jewsnews © 2015 | JEWSNEWS | It's not news...unless it's JEWS NEWS !!! Proudly powered by WordPress — Theme: JustWrite by Acosmin Join the over 1.4 million fans of Jews News on FB…It’s NOT news unless it’s Jews News!
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Behind the headlines - conspiracies, cover-ups, ancient mysteries and more. Real news and perspectives that you won't find in the mainstream media. Browse: Home / War, US Government Corporate Propaganda, The CIA And The Russian “Putin Threat” Essential Reading By Smoking Mirrors on September 8, 2011
Smoking Mirrors at his creative best writing about … well you decide what he’s writing about The Anglo-Saxon Mission Part I By wmw_admin on March 1, 2010
Bill Ryan talks to a former City of London insider who participated in a meeting where the elite’s plans for depopulation were discussed. The meeting, which took place in 2005, also discussed a planned financial collapse Have You Read the Talmud Lately? By wmw_admin on September 3, 2006
The Talmud expounds some of the most virulent racism, as these extracts plainly show. However, as a reader points out not all Jews are influenced by it, or even read it. Only the ultra religious study it, the rest haven’t a clue. We leave you to decide
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W is well educated too; graduated from two Ivy League schools, one from which he earned an MBA. So he is in fact educated. However if your meaning intelligent, that's a whole other story. Because being educated and being intelligent are two different things. And by virtue of his chronic poor decision-making, Obama is not that intelligent either.
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Iraqi Prime Minister Haider issued a statement Friday rejecting the call by Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani for a national independence referendum, declaring that the Kurdish people cannot “decide its fate unilaterally. ”[Iraqi News carried the statement by which followed Barzani’s declaration that the Kurds would hold a referendum vote in September. “Iraqi relies on the constitution as the reference for shaping the relation between the federal government and Kurdistan region,” the statement, issued by spokesman Saad read. “No party can decide its fate unilaterally. … All Iraqis should have their say regarding their homeland’s fate. ” A number of interested government parties have weighed in on the announcement, including the governments of Turkey, Germany, and the United States. The U. S. State Department issued its remarks on the matter on Thursday, warning against the referendum taking place before the ultimate defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq. A coalition including Kurdish Peshmerga forces, Iraqi Shiite militias, and the Iraqi military are currently fighting to eradicate the Islamic State completely from its final major stronghold in the country of Mosul. “We support a unified, stable and a federal Iraq. We appreciate and understand the legitimate aspirations of the people of the Iraqi Kurdistan,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. “We … encourage the regional authorities to engage with the government of Iraq on the full range of important issues, including the future of relations between Baghdad and Erbil, on the bases of the Iraqi constitution. ” Nauert added concern that the referendum could damage efforts to address “more urgent priorities” than a free Kurdistan, including the fight against the Islamic State. American officials have long expressed a belief that Kurdistan would become an independent state in the near future, however. “Kurdish independence is on a trajectory where it is probably not if, but when,” Marine Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, the head of Pentagon intelligence, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month. “And it will complicate the situation unless there’s an agreement in Baghdad — an agreement that all of the parties can live with. ” The KRG, based in Erbil, cooperates with the United States on activities and maintains friendly relations with neighbors like Turkey, currently embroiled in a regional conflict with two other Kurdish entities, the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The KRG has repeatedly demanded that both the YPG and PKK stay out of KRG territory. The Turkish government has, nonetheless, loudly opposed the KRG independence referendum, with officials calling the vote a “grave mistake. ” Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım personally referred to the vote as “irresponsible. ” The Kurdish outlet Rudaw quotes a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) member saying that Turkish officials also privately “threatened” Iraqi Kurds who sought to organize the referendum. Barzani announced through a Twitter statement on Wednesday that the referendum would take place on September 25. The presidential office also released an official announcement confirming that the KRG leadership had “decided that the date for the independence referendum shall be Monday, September 25, 2017. It will be on that day when the people of the Kurdistan Region, as well as those living in the disputed areas, will cast their votes on whether they accept independence for the Kurdistan. ” The announcement triggered mass exclamations of support from Kurds on social media, according to Kurdistan24, which notes that “Kurds are believed to be the largest stateless nation in the world, estimated to be over 40 million. ” Many added the Kurdish flag to their profile photos and expressed support for Barzani. Opinion polls among Kurds also corroborate the strong support for independence that appeared online. We crossed the Rubicon with that decision, there is no going back,” KRG senior adviser Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters Thursday. “A referendum is a democratic process, no democratic country can oppose having a referendum we are not talking about independence, we are talking about the referendum. ” The Kurdish outlet BasNews reports that Arab Iraqis also appear supportive of the move, with a Turkmen political leader expressing support for the “significant” measure, and a Yazidi leader stating, “Kurdish Yezidis support referendum and independence of Kurdistan Region. ” Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.
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Posted on November 9, 2016 by DavidSwanson
Dear Democrats,
Are you finding yourselves suddenly a bit doubtful of the wisdom of drone wars? Presidential wars without Congress? Massive investment in new, smaller, “more usable” nuclear weapons? The expansion of bases across Africa and Asia? Are you disturbed by the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen? Can total surveillance and the persecution of whistleblowers hit a point where they’ve gone too far? Is the new Cold War with Russia looking less than ideal now? How about the militarization of U.S. police: is it time to consider alternatives to that?
I hear you. I’m with you. Let’s build a movement together to end the madness of constantly overthrowing governments with bombs. Let’s propose nonviolent alternatives to a culture gone mad with war. Let’s end the mindset that creates war in the first place .
We have opportunities as well as dangers. A President Trump is unpredictable. He wants to proliferate nuclear weapons, bomb people, kill people, stir up hatred of people, and increase yet further military spending. But he also said the new Cold War was a bad idea. He said he wanted to end NATO, not to mention NAFTA, as well as breaking the habit of overthrowing countries left and right. Trump seems to immediately back off such positions under the slightest pressure. Will he adhere to them under massive pressure from across the political spectrum? It’s worth a try .
We have an opportunity to build a movement that includes a focus on and participation from refugees/immigrants. We have a chance to create opposition to racist wars and racism at home. We may just discover that what’s left of the U.S. labor movement is suddenly more open to opposing wars. Environmental groups may find a willingness to oppose the world’s top destroyer of the environment: the U.S. military. Civil liberties groups may at long last be willing to take on the militarism that creates the atrocities they oppose. We have to work for such a broader movement. We have to build on the trend of protesting the national anthem and make it a trend of actively resisting the greatest purveyor of violence on earth.
I know you’re feeling a little beat down at the moment. You shouldn’t. You had a winning candidate in Bernie Sanders. Your party cheated him out of the nomination. All that stuff you tell yourselves about encouraging demographic trends and the better positions of young people is all true. You just looked for love in all the wrong places. Running an unpopular candidate in a broken election system is not the way to change the world. Even a working election system would not be the central means by which to improve anything. There’s no getting back the mountains of money and energy invested in this election. But activism is an unlimited resource. Directing your energies now in more strategic directions can inspire others who in turn can re-inspire you.
Dear Republicans,
Your outsider is threatening insiderness. He’s got the same tribe of DC corporate lobbyists planning his nominations that Hillary Clinton had lined up for hers. Can we resist that trend? Can we insist that the wars be ended? Can those moments of off-the-cuff honesty about dinosaurs like NATO be turned into actual action? Donald Trump took a lot of heat for proposing to be fair to Palestinians as well as Israelis, and he backed off fast. Can we encourage him to stand behind that initial inclination?
Can we stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership and end NAFTA as well? We heard a million speeches about how bad NAFTA is. How about actually ending it? Can we stop the looming war supplemental spending bill? Can we put a swift halt to efforts in Congress to repeal the right to sue Saudi Arabia and other nations for their wars and lesser acts of terrorism?
How about all that well deserved disgust with the corporate media? Can we actually break up that cartel and allow opportunities for media entrepreneurs?
Dear United States,
Donald Trump admitted we had a broken election system and for a while pretended that he would operate outside of it by funding his own campaign. It’s time to actually fix it. It’s time to end the system of legalized bribery, fund elections, make registration automatic, make election day a holiday, end gerrymandering, eliminate the electoral college, create the right to vote, create the public hand-counting of paper ballots at every polling place, and create ranked choice voting as Maine just did.
Voter suppression efforts in this year’s elections should be prosecuted in each state. And any indications of fraud in vote counting by machines should be investigated. We should take the opportunity created by all the McCarthyist nonsense allegations of Russian interference to get rid of unverifiable voting.
There are also areas in which localities and states, as well as international organizations and alliances, must now step up to take the lead. First and foremost is investing in a serious effort to avoid climate catastrophe. Second is addressing inequality that has surpassed the Middle Ages: both taxing the overclass and upholding the underclass must be pursued creatively. Mass incarceration and militarized police are problems that states can solve.
But we can advance a positive agenda across the board by understanding this election in the way that much of the world will understand it: as a vote against endless war. Let’s end the wars, end the weapons dealing, close the bases, and cut the $1 trillion a year going into the military. Hell, why not demand that a businessman president for the first time ever audit the Pentagon and find out what it’s spending money on?
Dear World,
We apologize for having elected President Trump as well as for nearly electing President Clinton. Many of you believe we defeated the representative of the enlightenment in favor of the sexist racist buffoon. This may be a good thing. Or at least it may be preferable to your eight-year-long delusion that President Obama was a man of peace and justice.
I hate to break it to you, but the United States government has been intent on dominating the rest of you since the day it was formed. If electing an obnoxious president helps you understand that, so much the better. Stop joining in U.S. “humanitarian wars” please. They never were humanitarian, and if you can recognize that now, so much the better. The new guy openly wants to “steal their oil.” So did the last several presidents, although none of them said so. Are we awake now?
Shut down the U.S. bases in your country. They represent your subservience to Donald Trump. Close them.
Want to save the earth’s climate? Build a nonviolent movement that resists destructive agendas coming out of the United States.
Want to uphold the rule of law, diplomacy, aid, decency, and humanitarianism? Stop making exceptions for U.S. crimes. Tell the International Criminal Court to indict a non-African. Prosecute the crime and crimes of war in your own courts. Stop cooperating in the surrounding and threatening of Russia, China, and Iran. Clinton wanted to send weapons to Ukraine and bomb Syria. Make sure Trump doesn’t. Make peace in Ukraine and Syria before January.
It’s time that we all began treating the institution of war as the unacceptable vestige of barbarism that it can appear when given an openly racist, sexist, bigoted face. We have the ability to use nonviolent tools to direct the world where we want it to go. We have to stop believing the two big lies: that we are generally powerless, and that our only power lies in elections. Let’s finally get active. Let’s start by ending war making . This entry was posted in General . Bookmark the permalink .
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At the MARS 2017 tech conference, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos hopped into Hankook Mirae Technology’s massive mechanized suit. [@JeffBezos ”Why do I feel so much like #sigourneyweaver ?” @amazon #MARS2017 #openpodbaydoors 😬 pic. twitter. — Caleb Harper (@calebgrowsfood) March 20, 2017, Bezos asked aloud why he “felt so much like Sigourney Weaver” in reference to Weaver’s character Ripley piloting a mechanized suit in Aliens as he manipulated the giant metal arms for an enthusiastic crowd on Sunday. I just got to pilot an awesome (and huge) robot thanks to Hankook Mirae Technology. Nice! #MARS2017 pic. twitter. — Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) March 20, 2017, The “ ” mecha was created by South Korea’s Hankook Mirae Technology. It stands at a hulking 14 feet tall, and weighs 1. 6 tons at a minimum, according to their minimalist website. Visually, it most resembles the mechanized suits from James Cameron’s fluorescent blue cat lady epic, Avatar. The massive suit was designed in part by Vitaly Bulgarov, who worked with Boston Dynamics on their own bipedal robots. Bulgarov also signed on with Industrial Light Magic to help with designs for Michael Bay’s Transformers reboot. interface and arm motion test! ” ” large manned robot project for which I had a pleasure to make the design. Very fortunate to be part of the incredible Hankook Mirae Technology team. (previously posted as Korea Future Technology since ”Hankook” means ”South Korea” in Korean Language and ”Mirae” means ”Future”)team. More info at ” color:#c9c8cd : :14px :17px :0 :8px overflow:hidden padding:8px 0 7px :center :ellipsis :nowrap”>A post shared by Vitaly Bulgarov (@vitalybulgarov) on Dec 15, 2016 at 3:12pm PST, Hankook Mirae Chairman Yang called the “the world’s first manned bipedal robot,” saying that it was “built to work in extreme hazardous areas where humans cannot go [unprotected]. ” He added that they are taking “baby steps” to a point where they can allow the mech to “move freely. ” The is expected to be commercially available by the end of 2017, and will only set you back a cool $8. 3 million. It might sound like a lot, but there is no cost too great in the inevitable lunar battle against and the flying robot army pouring from his weird . Follow Nate Church @Get2Church on Twitter for the latest news in gaming and technology, and snarky opinions on both.
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Email President Barack Obama admonished Donald Trump Thursday, saying the Republican nominee's claims that he might not accept the results of next month's election are "not a joking matter." "I want everybody to pay attention here. This is dangerous," Obama said at a Hillary for America event in Miami Gardens, Florida. "Because when you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people's mind about the legitimacy of our elections, that undermines our democracy. Then you are doing the work of our adversaries for them." Obama also encouraged the crowd of about 1,800 at Florida Memorial University to take advantage of Florida's early voting, telling the audience in doing so they can reject what the President called Trump's "dark, pessimistic fear-mongering." "Our democracy depends on people knowing that their vote matters. That those who occupy the seats of power were chosen by the people," Obama said. On Wednesday night's debate Trump, answered, "I will look at it at the time," when asked whether he would concede if he loses on November 8. "I will keep you in suspense." Trump also doubled down on Thursday in Ohio saying he will accept the results of next month's election as long as wins. Obama also used the opportunity while in Florida to weigh in on the close Senate race in Florida between Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and his Democratic challenger, Rep. Patrick Murphy. "Even Marco Rubio says there's no rigging of the vote," Obama said, "Which I'd like to give credit for, except he's refuting the dangerous, unprecedented claims of a candidate he says he's still going to vote for!" Earlier this week, Obama released a new ad for the Democrat in the Sunshine State, the same week it was announced the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was puling money for ads for Murphy.
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Googles Alphabet Experiment Misses Goal: Keeping Executives
26 October 2016 , by Mark Bergen (Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-26/google-s-alphabet-experiment-misses-key-goal-keeping-executives
- Google Fiber is the latest moonshot arm to undergo overhaul
- Three Alphabet CEOs have left since June; Barratt is latest
Alphabet Cutting Jobs in Google Fiber Retrenchment
25 October 2016 , by Mark Bergen (Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-25/alphabet-access-unit-to-cut-about-9-of-google-fiber-staff
- Top executive leaves after disagreement over Fiber strategy
- Google Fiber cuts expansion plans in eight large cities
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October 31, 2016
At a conference on the evolution of early humans, it has been announced that everyone still sniggers, many audibly, when they see “Homo Erectus” in books or, in particular, when projected during a presentation.
A leading evolutionary anthropologist explained that; “Ever since Dubois discovered Homo Erectus fossils in the late 19th century, scientists have been trying to suppress laughter. When a paper entitled ‘Genital variation in Homo Erectus’ was presented by Doctor Seymour Cox of the University of Cockfosters the room just…I’m sorry, can you give me a couple of minutes?” 31st, 2016 by apepper apepper News In Brief 0
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Our New Country: Women And Minorities Hardest Hit Ann Coulter, VDARE, October 26, 2016
Every ethnic group except whites bloc-votes for the Democrats. Coincidentally, the Democrats have brought in another 30 to 40 million nonwhite immigrants in the last few decades.
It doesn’t help that white voters can’t agree on what constitutes an acceptable candidate. In 2012, working-class whites sat out the election, rather than vote for the out-of-touch rich guy they saw in Mitt Romney. This year, the out-of-touch rich guys say they’ll vote for Hillary because Trump is tacky and gross.
The sad irony is that the only people who will be better off in our new country are mostly white plutocrats–the top .01 percent. The rest of us will be their servants.
The people who will be worse off are everybody else–the working class, the middle class (who will soon be working class) and, most of all, women, minorities, children, the elderly, the weakest and most vulnerable members of society.
Look to Mexico for your future–or any Third World country. Or to Univision’s Jorge Ramos. The ruling class in Mexico is composed of European-looking, white descendants of Spanish conquistadors who raped the native population, giving them only their Spanish names in return. (British settlers in America brought women with them.)
Explaining Latino culture’s acceptance of incest and child rape, criminal justice researcher Shana Maier writes in a book about rape that “the male is the head of the household, and women are subordinate to men. . . . Hispanics and Latinos are more likely than other racial/ethnic groups to blame the victim. The victim, not the perpetrator, is blamed for bringing dishonor to the family.”
One American detective said that, today, police are being taught to keep an “open mind” about child rape because “it’s a cultural thing.”
{snip}
, our media already have a totally “open mind” about incest and child rape–and murder!–when it’s committed by immigrants.
{snip}
Immigrant women arrive in America, thrilled to have escaped cultures where rape, incest and spousal murder are acceptable, only to discover that those crimes are perfectly acceptable in this country, too–provided the perpetrator is from the very culture they fled.
{snip}
Perhaps American men could do better, but, as American women may soon discover: They never had it so good.
Manifestly, the purpose of our immigration policies is not to help Americans–or the immigrants who wanted to live in a place like America. They are designed to funnel welfare-dependent voters to the Democrats and cheap labor to the rich. {snip}
Our country will be Zimbabwe, but–if all goes according to the Democrats’ plan–they’ll get to be Mugabe!
That’s Hillary’s dream. If she wins, Joe Sobran’s parody of the typical New York Times headline (about anything) will come true: “Women and Minorities Hit Hardest.”
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LECCE, Italy — One of his first students was a young man he had arrested four years earlier. Others have been convicted of armed robbery, drug trafficking and criminal association with the mafia. The classrooms are frugally equipped, behind windows protected by vertical and horizontal bars, although one has brightly colored paintings covering the walls. But none of that deterred Marco Albanese, a police officer for 19 years and a trained sommelier for five, from teaching a class of rapt students the finer points of deconstructing the bouquet of a chardonnay or pouring a rare vintage. Mr. Albanese, 43, is an instructor in an innovative effort at Lecce Penitentiary to teach inmates to be sommeliers, or wine stewards. The courses are part of a program to teach prisoners new professional skills, as well as to help them develop a bond with the region, which is renowned for its negroamaro grapes. The program has been enthusiastically embraced by the prisoner students, who were tasting white wines on a recent afternoon. It has also been an eye opener for Mr. Albanese. “I could see their human aspect, once they were out of their context,” Mr. Albanese, who traded in his police uniform for the crisp blue jacket and tie of a sommelier for the class. “And I didn’t have to keep the same distance, now that I was their ‘professor. ’” He added, “They also deserve a second chance, and it’s important that they know that the institutions do believe that they can be educated to a different life. ” In eight lessons, the group of 30 men and women, who are instructed in separate classes, learn how to taste, choose and serve local wines. “We hope to teach them the social value of work and the preciousness of their own territory, so that they can later choose to work here, already having the right skill set,” said Rita Russo, the director of Lecce Penitentiary, which is the largest in the region of Apulia. Inmates can also study for their high school diplomas, cultivate tomatoes, take theater classes and learn to be painters or tailors. Class begins with a slide show on the history of wine, explaining how it was drunk by the ancient Greeks and introducing the students to the Roman ancestors of modern sommeliers in Italy. On a school table, covered with a khaki tablecloth, stood wine glasses, ready for use. Three bottles of chardonnay, a red primitivo and a negroamaro stood on a table nearby. Mr. Albanese then addressed the prisoners, who sat facing him on stools listing the temperatures at which different wines should be served and how to store them in cellars. For a finale, he offered a tip. “Do remember, even if you had Trump over for dinner, the pope would still be served first. The clergy does come first, even before heads of state,” he said, to raucous laughter. The prisoners, whose identity is being protected by the prison, were not allowed to be interviewed or photographed for this article. Roberto Giannone, who works for the local sommelier association, then demonstrated how to open a bottle, neatly slicing off the capsule covering the bottleneck in three cuts, inserting the corkscrew and smoothly pulling out the cork. “Once the cork is out,” he said, “use a napkin to show it to your customers. It’s an easy way to be polite and avoid objections. ” Since the 1970s, the Italian penal system has focused on for inmates. However, a lack of funds for rehabilitation, as well as chronic overcrowding, means that thousands of incarcerated men and women have little to do all day. That has sparked some innovative rehabilitation programs, including a restaurant inside a prison near Milan in which the waiters and cooks are inmates. But the sommelier class at the Lecce prison is believed to be unique in Italy. “Of course, sommelier courses can’t be considered a treatment,” said Georgia Zara, the head of a program at the University of Turin that offers a master’s degree in criminological and forensic psychology. “But they do educate inmates and create social interaction, which is very important. ” The classes also offer a “bridge between the jail context and the world outside, so it’s a small investment to reduce the risk of recidivism,” Ms. Zara said. Gianvito Rizzo, 53, is the chief executive at the Feudi di Guagnano, a local vintner that provides wine, like negroamaro, for the classes. He is also the creator of the sommelier classes at the prison. Mr. Rizzo has proposed that inmates start working on his nearly 75 acres of vines in the coming year under certain circumstances, some inmates in Italy are allowed to work outside prisons. “I see wine in a democratic way,” Mr. Rizzo said as he walked through his vineyard recently. “The countryside is the opposite to a cell. You are free. You smell nature, and learn to care for it. I think it’d be good also for inmates to try it out. ” Mr. Rizzo said that when he had received a master’s degree from the Bocconi University business school in Milan three decades ago, he had been “fixated” on doing something for his native region of Salento, in Apulia, on the heel of the Italian boot. He settled on going into the wine business, which had been struggling to convert farmers who cultivated for personal or local use into becoming larger producers. He now produces 16 different wines from grapes grown in vineyards that he and two friends and business partners inherited from their fathers, added to those that other friends asked them to cultivate on their behalf. He calls this collaborative effort his “first social experiment. ” When Mr. Rizzo heard about the penitentiary’s activities for prisoners, he proposed the sommelier classes to Ms. Russo. While it is unclear if any of the students will ever become professional sommeliers, the exposure to the world of wine provided by the classes has been very welcome. “I don’t even drink, but I’ve learned to sip it, smell it and taste it,” said one inmate, who is serving a sentence and who was granted an exception to speak anonymously. “You can think it’s a small thing, but it means the world to us. ”
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November 8, 2016 Undermining America: Did Obama Just Encourage Illegals to Vote?
In perhaps the most tortured presidential answer since Bill Clinton parsed the word “is,” Barack Obama offered a response in a Friday interview that many say gives illegal aliens a green light to vote. Worse still, there may be reason to suspect he was fed the question in advance and gave a premeditated, Machiavellian answer.
While talking to actress and rapper Gina Rodriguez on the Latin-oriented YouTube channel MiTu, Obama was asked, “Many of the millennials, dreamers, undocumented, um, citizens — and I call them citizens because they contribute to this country — are fearful of voting. So if I vote, will immigration know where I live? Will they come for my family and deport us?” Here was Obama’s answer (video below):
Not true. And the reason is, first of all, when you vote, you are a citizen yourself — and there is not a situation where the voting rolls somehow are transferred over and people start investigating, et cetera. The sanctity of the vote is strictly confidential in terms of who you voted for.
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We Are Change
Political strategist Roger Stone and Alex Jones of Infowars have made it well known to the Clinton campaign that “Bill Clinton is a rapist” – by sending an army of their followers to heckle the Clintons with well-known accusations that Bill raped Juanita Broaddrick and others while Hillary covered it up.
It took a wild turn yesterday when Hillary exposed herself and her history of anger management issues that several former Secret Service agents assigned to Hillary and White House staffers have detailed.
Hillary Clinton’s temper flared Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when a protester interrupted her.
“Bill Clinton is a rapist!” the protester shouted as the audience began to boo him.
Clinton’s attitude then changed like a flick of a switch and she became angry exposing that legendary behavior that Secret Service and White House staffers have alleged for years.
“You know, I am sick and tired of the negative, dark, divisive vision from people who support Donald Trump,” she screamed into the mic before the crowds uproar drowned her out.
“We are not going backwards, we are going forwards!” she yelled, pointing at the protester.
“So how do we do that? For the next seven days, we focus on what is important. Don’t get distracted. Don’t get diverted. Focus on the country and the world we want to help create,” she continued.
The latest greatest craze has taken over Clinton’s campaign rallies for the past month since Infowars announced it’s contest and even though people are no longer being paid for their “services,” people continue to protest Hillary’s rallies calling Bill Clinton a rapist.
Earlier in October in Detroit, another protester a black man was wearing a Bill Clinton is a rapist t-shirt when Clinton confronted him turned around, and gave a gesture with her left hand extended and called for “someone” to stage an “intervention” on the protester.
While at another rally in October, violent “Democrats” who support Hillary Clinton beat up another Bill Clinton is a rapist protester . Bill Clinton is a rapist protesters even disrupted Obama’s North Carolina Greensboro rally for Hillary Clinton. Here’s the best of the Bill Clinton is a rapist protesters prior to October 9th.
Wikileaks has even proven that the Clinton campaign was worried about Bill Clinton being a rapist and they were worried that a comparison would be made between Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton . Dozens of women suspected to be hundreds are alleged to have been raped by Bill Clinton. The latest rape revelation is an ex Arkansas reporter Leslie Millwee claims she was sexually assaulted by Bill Clinton three separate times.
Buy the new We Are Change t-shirt because you will enjoy shredding the Clinton News Network in public!
The post “Bill Clinton Is A Rapist” Protester Makes Hillary Lose Her Mind appeared first on We Are Change .
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On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” CNN Counterterrorism Analyst and former CIA counterterrorism official Philip Mudd argued that while there is a question of judgment in the Jared Kushner Russia backchannel story, “We don’t know what he said and whether anything he said was either inappropriate or illegal,” and the “conversation about treason and espionage has to stop. ” Mudd said, “There are two words we need to drop out of this heated conversation. One is espionage, and the second is treason. There’s a question of judgment here. In the midst of a federal investigation, after the president — at that time, the of the United States is starting to receive intelligence briefings that presumably include conversations about Russia, there’s a judgment by Jared Kushner and the president’s team that says, I trust the Russians more than I trust the Americans. I’m going to go talk to the Russian embassy, because I don’t trust American channels. We don’t know what he said and whether anything he said was either inappropriate or illegal, and I’m going to presume he did this at the behest of the of the United States. There’s a question of judgment here, but all this conversation about treason and espionage has to stop. We don’t know. ” ( Grabien) Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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Yahoo News FBI Director James Comey wrote his bombshell letter to Congress on Friday about newly discovered emails that were potentially “pertinent” to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server before agents were able to review any of the material because the bureau had not yet gotten a search warrant to read them, three government officials who have been briefed on the probe told Yahoo News.
When Comey wrote the letter, “he had no idea what was in the content of the emails,” one of the officials said, referring to recently discovered emails that were found on the laptop of disgraced ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner , the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Weiner is under investigation for allegedly sending illicit text messages to a 15-year-old girl.
As of Saturday night, the FBI had still not gotten approval from the Justice Department for a warrant that would allow them to read any of the newly discovered Abedin emails, and therefore are still in the dark about whether they include any classified material that the bureau has not already seen.
“We do not have a warrant,” a senior law enforcement official said. “Discussions are underway [between the FBI and the Justice Department] as to the best way to move forward.”
That Comey and other senior FBI officials were unaware of what was in the emails — and whether they contained any material the FBI had not already obtained — is important because the campaign of Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have suggested that the FBI director would not have written his letter unless he had been made aware of significant new emails that might justify reopening the investigation into the Clinton server.
But a message that Comey wrote to all FBI agents Friday seeking to explain his decision to write the controversial letter strongly hinted that investigators did not not yet have legal authority establishing “probable cause” to review the content of Abedin’s emails on Weiner’s electronic devices.
In that message, Comey told agents that he had only been briefed on Thursday about the matter and that the “recommendation” of investigators was “with respect to seeking access to emails that have recently been found in an unrelated case.”
Comey approved the recommendation to seek judicial access to the material that day, he wrote.
“Because those emails appear to be pertinent to our investigation, I agreed that we should take appropriate steps to obtain and review them,” he told agents. Comey’s letter to Congress has brought the FBI director under withering criticism. Top Justice Department officials were described by a government source as “apoplectic” over the letter. Senior officials “strongly discouraged” Comey from sending it, telling FBI officials last week it would violate longstanding department policy against taking actions in the days before an election that might influence the outcome, a U.S official familiar with the matter told Yahoo News. “He was acting independently of the guidance given to him,” said the U.S. official.
Comey insisted in his message to agents that he felt he had “an obligation” to inform Congress about the new material because he had previously testified that the bureau’s investigation into the Clinton email server was completed. He said it would be “misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record.” He added, “Given that we don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails, I don’t want to create a misleading impression.”
The decision to send the letter “wasn’t easy,” said the senior law enforcement official. Comey and top FBI officials debated what course to take once they learned about the discovery on Weiner’s laptop –– said to include thousands of Abedin’s emails. In the end, the official said, Comey feared that if he chose to move forward and seek access to the emails and didn’t immediately alert Congress, the FBI’s efforts would leak to the media and the director would be accused of concealing information.
“This was the least bad choice,” the senior official said.
But Comey’s letter to Congress — suggesting that the FBI might now revisit the Clinton email probe — may have been even more misleading, some critics charged Saturday.
“This letter is troubling because it is vaguely worded and leaves so many questions unanswered,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and three other Democrats on the panel wrote Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
“It is not clear whether the emails identified by the FBI are even in the custody of the FBI, whether any of the emails have already been reviewed, whether Secretary Clinton sent or received them, or whether they even have any significance to the FBI’s previous investigation,” the senators wrote. A Yahoo News review of Abedin’s interview with FBI agents last April — when the Clinton email probe was in full swing — shows that the longtime Clinton aide hinted that there might be relevant material on her husband’s personal devices. But agents do not appear to have followed up on the clues.
Abedin, who served as Clinton’s deputy chief of staff and held a top-secret security clearance, disclosed she had access to four email accounts while working at the State Department.
These accounts, Abedin said, included an official State Department email account, but also an account on Clinton’s private email server that Abedin used to communicate with Clinton and her top aides, as well as a personal Yahoo account. She used both the Clinton email account and the Yahoo account to “routinely” forward State Department emails and documents so she could more easily print them, she said. In addition, she told the agents, she had a separate email account that she had previously used “to support her husband’s political activities.”
Abedin’s interview — conducted by agents at the FBI’s Washington field office last April 5 — was the first tip-off that the longtime Clinton aide might have circulated official State Department material among her multiple accounts. At one point, agents even confronted Abedin on one apparently sensitive email about U.S. policy towards Pakistan that had been forwarded to her State Department account from an aide to the late Richard Holbrooke, then a special State Department envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Abedin had forwarded the email to her Yahoo account in order to print it, but told agents she was “unaware of the classification of the document and stated that she did not make judgments on the classification of material she received. Instead, she relied on the sender to make that assessment and to properly make and transmit the document.” There is no indication from the eight-page FBI report on the interview, however, that the agents ever pressed her on what has now turned into an explosive issue in the final days of the 2016 campaign: Did Weiner have access to any classified government documents on his laptop and iPhone — devices that, he apparently used to exchange sexually charged messages with women he met online, including in one alleged case, an underage teenager in North Carolina?
The fact that FBI agents failed to do so shows that the original probe into the Clinton email server was “not thorough” and was “fatally flawed,” said Joseph DiGenova, a former U.S. attorney and independent counsel who has been a strong critic of Comey and the FBI probe. “The first thing they should have done was gotten a sworn affidavit about all her accounts and devices,” he said, adding that agents should have immediately followed up to obtain the devices, including Weiner’s.
But it is still far from clear which State Department emails might be on the devices that Weiner had access to. In a separate civil lawsuit brought by a conservative group, Judicial Watch, Abedin gave testimony in June that appeared to differ in some respects from what she told the FBI. Asked in that case about her email accounts, Abedin told Judicial Watch lawyers that she rarely used the personal Yahoo account, and that when she did, she only used it to forward State Department “press clips” so she could print them.
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Live Nightly 1am - 5am EST / 10pm - 2am PST Advertisement Home > Shows > Marilyn Declassified/ Bigfoot & ETs Marilyn Declassified/ Bigfoot & ETs Date Sunday - November 20, 2016 Host George Knapp Listen with Windows Player High Low Download MP3s Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3 Hour 4 IMPORTANT: Some mobile devices do not download MP3s. If this is the case, please use your desktop computer or download our mobile app or download our mobile app .
1st Half: What really happened to Marilyn Monroe? Filmmaker and artist, Paul Davids , joins George Knapp to reveal newly declassified FBI and CIA files, proving that her troubles were not all the product of her abuse of prescription drugs and failed marriages, but began with her wedding to Communist-leaning playwright Arthur Miller as she was targeted and tormented by the FBI, CIA and Mafia.
2nd Half: Science teacher Thom Powell is known for his investigations of the edges of science and Bigfoot. He'll present his theory that Sasquatch is quite possibly an ET here to monitor the human race. Website(s):
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Home / Be The Change / Government Corruption / Senator NUKES Clinton Foundation, Calls it “Largest Money Laundering…Operation in the World” Senator NUKES Clinton Foundation, Calls it “Largest Money Laundering…Operation in the World” Jack Burns November 2, 2016 3 Comments
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) lambasted the Clintons and their foundation, equating the former first family to corrupt money launderers. Cotton, a Harvard Law School graduate, and former paratrooper with the 101 st Airborne division of the U.S. Army knows a thing or two about the law regarding classified information and corruption. And, he has some harsh criticism for both the Clinton Foundation and the former secretary of state herself, Hillary Clinton.
Cotton was a guest on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, The Hugh Hewitt Show Tuesday. The talk show host asked Cotton about FBI Director James Comey’s re-opening of the investigation into Clinton’s email scandal after potential classified information was found on a computer belonging to Anthony Weiner. Weiner, estranged husband of Huma Abedin, was being investigated for sexting a 15-year-old North Carolina girl when the discovery was made. In all, a reported 650,000 emails were found supposedly belonging to Abedin and may have contained classified emails sent and received by former secretary of state Clinton.
Cotton said, “650,000 emails is a lot of emails. But then again, when you use modern searching techniques, you might be able to winnow it pretty quickly.” But he’s cautiously optimistic that the FBI can do the winnowing down quite quickly saying, “You would think that even if it’s in the thousands, or tens of thousands, the FBI has enough agents that they could review them pretty quickly. A lot of these agents are pretty familiar with the subject material, having investigated the Clinton email server to begin with. Some of them, apparently, have been investigating the Clinton Foundation now for months.”
The senator from Arkansas stressed the seriousness of the discovery by saying, “what Director Comey has said he found in the emails from Hillary Clinton’s server and devices, which is that she was extremely careless with the handling of classified information, now so much so that classified information of the United States government may be found on the computer of a man under investigation for underage sex abuse.”
As The Free Thought Project reported, speculation exists as to whether or not the discovery was an intentional attempt by Weiner to cut a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid a longer prison sentence if he’s convicted of felonious sexting a minor.
Cotton scoffed at the Democrats’ blaming Comey for re-opening the investigation. He pointed the finger squarely at Clinton saying, “Hillary Clinton only has one person to blame for all of this. She is the one that set up that private server. She is the one that used it for classified information. She’s the one that violated U.S. government security in handling materials. She’s the one that always thinks she can get away with it. This is not an FBI or a Director Comey problem. This is a Hillary Clinton problem, and this is why so many Americans view her as untrustworthy and dishonest.”
Later in the interview with Hewitt, Cotton turned his attention to the Clinton Foundation and called it a massive money laundering front. He said, “We now know there were no fewer than four FBI investigations into the Clintons and their close associates — the Foundation, the emails, Abedin and Weiner and Terry McAuliffe, the governor of Virginia.”
Going further he stated, “And I suspect that that was a very high-ranking Department of Justice political appointee who was carrying water for the Clinton machine and wanted to shut down an investigation into the Clinton Foundation, which increasingly looks like one of the largest money laundering and influence peddling operations in the world.”
“This is why if Hillary Clinton wins this election and they don’t shut down the Clinton Foundation and come clean with all of its past activities, then there’s no telling the kind of corruption that you might see out of the Clinton White House,” the outspoken senator from Arkansas declared.
Even if classified information is found on Weiner’s computer, the case against Clinton is likely dead in its tracks and is just a ploy to win back the trust of the American people toward the FBI. As The Free Thought Project reported Tuesday, The Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik is believed to be John Podesta’s best friend.
Podesta is, of course, Clinton’s campaign manager. So, it’s highly unlikely Clinton will ever be indicted. But thanks to Wikileaks, Podesta may now also become the target of an investigation after it was revealed this week that he ordered Clinton’s emails be “dump(ed)” as soon as the news broke she was using an unauthorized private email server based out of her home. Dumping emails, while a subpoena for those emails was being issued, could result in obstruction of justice charges against Podesta. But wait, that’s right — his best friend would have to be the one to bring charges against him.
So what you apparently have is a corrupt campaign manager, a corrupt candidate, a corrupt investigator, a corrupt FBI (who refuses to prosecute the former first lady for mishandling classified information), a corrupt Justice Department, and a corrupt president, whose cabinet and staffers reportedly “ALL” use private email to conduct official business and skirt around the Federal Records Act. No wonder this country is facing such massive problems; broken educational system, unjust wars, massive deficits, out of control spending, and police brutality, to name a few. Its leaders are gangsters. Share
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Donald J. Trump belittled the parents of a slain Muslim soldier who had strongly denounced Mr. Trump during the Democratic National Convention, saying that the soldier’s father had delivered the entire speech because his mother was not “allowed” to speak. Mr. Trump’s comments, in an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News that will air on Sunday, drew quick and widespread condemnation and amplified calls for Republican leaders to distance themselves from their presidential nominee. With his implication that the soldier’s mother had not spoken because of female subservience expected in some traditional strains of Islam, his comments also inflamed his hostilities with American Muslims. Khizr Khan, the soldier’s father, lashed out at Mr. Trump in an interview on Saturday, saying his wife had not spoken at the convention because it was too painful for her to talk about her son’s death. Mr. Trump, he said, “is devoid of feeling the pain of a mother who has sacrificed her son. ” Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, a rival of Mr. Trump’s in the Republican primaries who has refused to endorse him, castigated him on Twitter. “There’s only one way to talk about Gold Star parents: with honor and respect,” he wrote, using the term for surviving family members of those who died in war. And Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump’s Democratic opponent, said he “was not a normal presidential candidate. ” “Someone who attacks everybody has something missing,” she told a crowd at a campaign stop in Youngstown, Ohio. “I don’t know what it is. I’m not going to get into that. ” Mr. Khan’s speech at the convention in Philadelphia was one of the most powerful given there. It was effectively the Democratic response to comments Mr. Trump has made implying many American Muslims have terrorist sympathies or stay silent when they know ones who do. Mr. Trump has called to ban Muslim immigration as a way to combat terrorism. At the convention, Mr. Khan spoke about how his son, Humayun Khan, an Army captain, died in a car bombing in 2004 in Iraq as he tried to save other troops. He criticized Mr. Trump, saying he “consistently smears the character of Muslims,” and pointedly challenged what sacrifices Mr. Trump had made. Holding a copy of the Constitution, he asked if Mr. Trump had read it. Mr. Khan’s wife stood silently by his side. Mr. Trump told Mr. Stephanopoulos that Mr. Khan seemed like a “nice guy” and that he wished him “the best of luck. ” But, he added, “If you look at his wife, she was standing there, she had nothing to say, she probably — maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say, you tell me. ” Mr. Trump also told Maureen Dowd of The New York Times on Friday night, “I’d like to hear his wife say something. ” In a statement late Saturday, Mr. Trump called Captain Khan a “hero,” and reiterated his belief that the United States should bar Muslims from entering the country. “While I feel deeply for the loss of his son,” he added, “Mr. Khan, who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution, (which is false) and say many other inaccurate things. ” Even given Mr. Trump’s reputation for retaliating when attacked, his remarks about the Khans were startling. They called to mind one of his earliest counterpunches of the campaign, when he responded to criticism from Senator John McCain of Arizona, once a prisoner of war in Vietnam, by saying at a forum in Iowa, “I like people that weren’t captured. ” But Mr. McCain has a long history in the public eye. The Khans, before their convention appearance, had none. “Trump is totally void of any decency because he is unaware of how to talk to a Gold Star family and how to speak to a Gold Star mother,” Mr. Khan said on Saturday. Ms. Khan did speak on Friday to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, saying she “cannot even come in the room where his pictures are. ” When she saw her son’s photograph on the screen behind her on the stage in Philadelphia, she said, “I couldn’t take it. ” “I controlled myself at that time,” she said, while choking back tears. “It is very hard. ” In his interview with The Times, Mr. Khan said his wife had helped him craft his convention speech, and told him to remove certain attacks he had wanted to make against Mr. Trump. But on Saturday, he unmuzzled himself. “Unlike Donald Trump’s wife, I didn’t plagiarize my speech,” Mr. Khan said, referring to how several lines from a Michelle Obama speech found their way into Melania Trump’s address at the Republican National Convention. “I also wanted to talk about how he’s had three wives, and yet he talks about others’ ethics and their religion,” Mr. Khan said. “She said, ‘Don’t go to his level. We are paying tribute to our son. ’” Mr. Trump’s comments provoked another avalanche of criticism on social media, and again put Republican leaders in a difficult position, facing new demands that they repudiate their presidential nominee. Even before Mr. Trump’s remarks to ABC News, Mr. Khan had asked that Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, and Paul D. Ryan, the House speaker, denounce Mr. Trump. On Saturday, neither directly addressed Mr. Trump’s new comments. Don Stewart, a spokesman for Mr. McConnell, referred to Mr. McConnell’s response last year that a ban on Muslims entering the United States would be unacceptable. AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ryan, delivered a similar response: “The speaker has made clear many times that he rejects this idea, and himself has talked about how Muslim Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. ” In the same ABC News interview, when Mr. Stephanopoulos said that Mr. Khan had pointed out that his family would not have been allowed into the United States under Mr. Trump’s proposed ban, the candidate replied, “He doesn’t know that. ” And when asked what he would say to the grieving father, Mr. Trump replied, “I’d say, ‘We’ve had a lot of problems with radical Islamic terrorism. ’” Mr. Stephanopoulos also noted that Mr. Khan said that Mr. Trump had “sacrificed nothing,” and had lost no one. “I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices,” Mr. Trump replied. “I’ve worked very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs. ” Some of the fiercest condemnations on Saturday came from Republicans who have argued — unsuccessfully to date — that Mr. Trump is unfit to be president. Tim Miller, a former communications director for Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign, called Mr. Trump’s comments “inhuman. ” “Memo to Trump supporters,” Peter Wehner, a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, wrote on Twitter. “He’s a man of sadistic cruelty. With him there’s no bottom. Now go ahead defend him. ” Reihan Salam, a conservative writer for National Review and a frequent Trump critic, said that Mr. Trump had an opportunity to declare remorse for the Khans while still holding to his own views as a candidate. “He might have asked why Humayun Khan had died in the first place — because of a war that many, if not most, Americans regard as a tragic blunder,” he said. “There was really no benefit for Trump in suggesting that Ghazala Khan had been muzzled,” he added, “because she could easily come out and say that she had been too to speak, which she did. ” Ibrahim Hooper, the spokesman for the Council on Relations, said on Saturday, “It’s really despicable that anyone, let alone a presidential candidate, would choose to dishonor the service of an American who gave his life for this nation. ” Ms. Khan, he said, “was obviously there to support her husband, who was offering what many people believe was the most impactful speech of the entire convention. ” As is often the case, Mr. Trump, who has had no campaign events this weekend, managed with a few words to overshadow Mrs. Clinton, who was making several stops in Ohio and Pennsylvania with her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. In the ABC News interview, Mr. Trump also hedged over whether he would participate in the three scheduled debates with Mrs. Clinton. He insinuated that she had worked to schedule two during football games so viewership would be lower, and said that the National Football League had sent him a letter complaining about the timing. The debates were scheduled in September of last year by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. And while Joe Lockhart, a spokesman for the National Football League, said the league was not thrilled about the scheduling, “we did not send a letter to Trump. ”
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LONDON — America’s traditional allies are on the lookout for new friends. They have heard the mantra “America First” from the new president, divining a Trump doctrine: global cooperation last. Europeans have taken note of Mr. Trump’s denigration of the European Union and his apparent esteem for the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. In Asia and Latin America, leaders have absorbed the deepening possibility that Mr. Trump will deliver on threats to impose punitive tariffs on Mexican and Chinese imports, provoking a trade war that will damage economic growth and eliminate jobs around the world. Some allies are shifting focus to other potential partners for new sources of trade and investment, relationships that could influence political, diplomatic and military ties. Many are looking to China, which has adroitly capitalized on a leadership vacuum in world affairs by offering itself — ironies notwithstanding — as a champion for global engagement. “We’ve always said that America is our best friend,” Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the Eurogroup — comprising finance ministers from countries sharing the euro currency — said in an interview with The New York Times on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this month. “If that’s no longer the case, if that’s what we need to understand from Donald Trump, then of course Europe will look for new friends. ” “China is a very strong candidate for that,” he added. “The Chinese involvement in Europe in terms of investment is already very high and expanding. If you push away your friends, you mustn’t be surprised if the friends start looking for new friends. ” On Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany spoke by telephone with Premier Li Keqiang of China. “The two spoke in favor of free trade and a stable world trade order,” a German government spokesman later said in a written statement. The swift reassessment of trade relations — a realm in which Mr. Trump is directly threatening the order that has prevailed since the end of World War II — only amplifies the potential for a of the broader geopolitical framework. Mr. Trump has already criticized NATO as obsolete while demanding that member states pay more, calling into question the alliance that has maintained security across much of Europe for more than six decades. He has provoked fears of a clash with China beyond issues of commerce by taking a congratulatory call from the president of Taiwan, the island that Beijing claims as part of its territory. In shutting American borders to people from predominantly Muslim countries, Mr. Trump risks inflaming tensions with Middle Eastern nations while widening a void with democratic allies over basic values. Through the fractious campaign, weary sophisticates dismissed the extreme talk from the Trump camp as political bluster. Even if he won, he would never follow through on his threats, particularly in trade where his business sensibilities would prevail. But that conventional wisdom looks to be crumbling. First, Mr. Trump delivered on a promise to withdraw from the Partnership, a trade agreement forged by the Obama administration in part as a counter to China’s growing influence. Then, on Thursday, his administration appeared to embrace a Republican proposal to impose a 20 percent tax on all imported goods while asserting the proceeds would pay for a wall along the Mexican border. Word of the tax emerged as President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico canceled a visit to Washington to protest the promised wall — resonating as the potential first salvo in a trade war. “I’m incredibly concerned that the Trump people mean what they say,” said Chad P. Bown, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “One would hope that they are using this as a negotiating tactic. But even if you are, that’s an extraordinarily dangerous game to play, because, right now, the communication to the world is not flowing clearly. ” The communication on Thursday came through Mr. Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, who during the administration of George W. Bush, promoted the magic of free trade as a spokesman for the United States Trade Representative. Pressed to explain how Mr. Trump would force Mexico to pay for the wall, Mr. Spicer said an import tax would do the trick. He soon clarified the tax was merely one option on a crowded buffet table. At a news conference on Friday, Mr. Trump reported having had “a very good call” with the Mexican president. But he did not sound conciliatory. Mexico “has outnegotiated us and beat us to a pulp through our past leaders,” he said. “I’m not going to let that happen. ” Within the business world, the prospect of substantial tariffs seems so damaging that many assume it will never happen. Three decades ago, Alan Russell, a former commercial airline pilot, set up the Tecma Group of Companies, which runs factory operations for multinationals in Mexico. Today, the company employs some 7, 000 Mexican laborers, most of them in factories clustered around Ciudad Juárez. They make components for the automotive, electronics, aerospace and medical device industries. Mr. Trump’s words have provoked fear among the members of Mr. Russell’s work force. “They hear the administration is going to shut down Nafta and deport everyone, and it scares them,” he said, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement. But in the end, he said, business will carry on. “In 31 years, I’ve been through rapid inflation, devaluations, three major recessions, the violence period and multiple presidential administrations, and every year trade has increased,” he said. “We’ve been through worse. Trade is like life itself. It will figure a way. ” Most experts have similarly assumed the responsibilities of governance would temper Mr. Trump’s trade posture. Given that nearly of all American trade is conducted with China and Mexico, a rupture risks severe economic damage. The three countries are intertwined in the global supply chain. China makes components that go into auto parts manufactured in the United States. Those parts are delivered to factories in Mexico that produce finished vehicles sold to Americans. Calling such vehicles Mexican imports misses that much of the value is produced in the United States, employing American labor. “The idea of trade wars these days, what politicians have in mind is really a or early conception of trade,” said Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, a trade economist at the London School of Economics. “You don’t even know who you’re going to hurt with these kind of things. You’re probably going to destroy American jobs in the end. ” Mr. Trump owes his office in no small measure to factory workers who have come to view global trade as a mortal threat to their livelihoods. But their sentiments are grounded not in ideology, but in a desire for jobs at decent wages. If Mr. Trump impedes imports, he could put some of these voters out of work. Beyond the economic effects, Mr. Trump’s refashioning of trade has already altered global alignments. In emphasizing “America First,” Mr. Trump has generated a widespread sense that the country is surrendering its global leadership position. Britain’s abandonment of the European Union has enhanced the view that a period of international integration has devolved to a new era in which nationalist concerns are paramount. On Friday, as Mr. Trump hosted British Prime Minister Theresa May, he only increased the sense that he disdains Europe. “Brexit’s going to be a wonderful thing for your country,” he told Ms. May at a news conference, before recounting his frustrations with the union’s bureaucracy. “Getting the approvals from Europe was very, very tough. ” With both countries pursuing nationalist aspirations and multilateral institutions seemingly endangered, the world suddenly seems short of responsible supervision. China is working to assume the mantle. President Xi Jinping of China last week used an address in Davos, to submit his nation’s bid as a reliable champion of expanded trade. China does not have free elections. China jails labor organizers, while lavishing credit on enterprises. All of this makes Mr. Xi an ironic choice as an icon for free trade. Yet Mr. Xi’s speech was so successful that it won the embrace of business people and world leaders alike. At a lunch in Davos two days after Mr. Xi’s address, a private equity fund manager, André stood in a dining room full of more than 100 people and predicted the dawning of a new era. “We heard a Chinese president becoming the leader of the free world,” he said.
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In early August, just as protesters from across the country descended on North Dakota to rally against an oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, some of the world’s biggest banks signed off on a $2. 5 billion loan to help complete the sprawling project. Now, those banks — which include Citigroup and Wells Fargo of the United States, TD Bank of Canada and Mizuho of Japan — have come under fire for their role in bankrolling the pipeline. In an open letter on Monday, 26 environmental groups urged those banks to halt further loan payments to the project, which the Sioux say threatens their sacred lands and water supply. In campaigning to reduce the world’s carbon emissions, environmentalists have increasingly focused on the financiers behind the fossil fuel industry — highlighting their role in financing coal, oil and gas projects. It is an expansion of traditional protest efforts, and it has met with some early success. Environmental groups have also criticized the Dakota Access pipeline as outdated infrastructure with no place in a world racing to stave off the worst effects of climate change. The pipeline is expected to carry nearly half a million barrels of crude oil daily out of the Bakken fields of North Dakota, according to the company building the pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners. Late last month, hundreds of police in riot gear used pepper spray and rubber bullets to evict protesters from land owned by Energy Transfer. Over 100 people were arrested in the sweep. President Obama said last week that the Army Corps of Engineers was considering an alternate route for the pipeline. “Banks have a choice to either finance the transition to renewable energy, or to finance pipelines and power plants that will lock us into fossil fuels for the next 40 years,” said Johan Frijns, director of BankTrack, a advocacy organization that led the campaign. “If we’re serious about fighting climate change, we can’t continue to finance fossil fuel infrastructure of any kind. ” The letter from BankTrack and other environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, was addressed to the Equator Principles Association, a consortium of global banks committed to responsible environmental and social practices. Thirteen of the 17 banks that participated in the latest loan to the Dakota pipeline project, including all five of the lead banks, are members. The group was holding its annual meeting in London on Monday and Tuesday. The letter came as climate negotiators gathered in Marrakesh, Morocco, to work on the details of executing the Paris climate accord. On the agenda are drafting rules on how to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions, as well as securing financial aid to help poor countries deal with climate change. Hillary Clinton, the Democrat nominee in the race for the United States presidency, has said she will back the climate policies of President Obama, including continued support of the Paris agreement. Her Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, has called global warming a hoax, and has said he would “cancel” the Paris deal if he were elected. In their battles with banks, environmentalists have scored some early victories. After a concerted effort by campaigners, several global banks, including Barclays, ING and Deutsche Bank, stepped back over the last two years from projects that involve mountaintop removal mining, a practice experts say is particularly damaging to the environment. Earlier this year, JPMorgan Chase announced that it would no longer finance new power plants in the United States or other wealthy nations, a retreat that followed similar announcements by Bank of America, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley. The banks’ move away from coal, however, appeared motivated as much by the plunging profitability of coal as by concerns over climate change. Experts also question the profitability of the Dakota pipeline, at a time of slumping oil prices. “A lot of infrastructure investment, particularly pipelines, is built around strong projections that go out decades,” said Mark Campanale, founder of the Carbon Tracker Initiative, a financial think tank that focuses on energy and climate change. “If the scenarios around demand for oil is wrong, it’s likely that people are building costly infrastructure on a false promise — that the oil is going to be needed in 30 to 40 years. ” The loan to Energy Transfer and its partners Sunoco Logistics Partners and Phillips 66 was led by Citigroup, Mizuho, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ and TD Bank, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Citigroup said that it had already raised concerns over the project with Energy Transfer and advocated engagement with the Sioux tribe. It was closely following the outcomes of the federal government’s efforts to engage local communities in a possible review of the project, the bank said in a statement. A Wells Fargo spokesman, Alan Elias, declined to comment. Judith Schmidt, a spokeswoman for TD bank, declined to comment on the letter specifically. Mizuho and the Bank of Tokyo could not immediately be reached for comment.
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An event at Georgetown University that took place on Saturday featured professors and activists discussing how the left can best “resist” Donald Trump during his presidency. [The event, which was entitled, “Resisting, Organizing, and Building in the Age of Trump,” featured professors and activists who are concerned about America’s future under Donald Trump. The description from the event’s Facebook page claims that the event was a discussion on how the left can ensure the freedom and dignity of all individuals during a Trump presidency. The stakes of this political moment couldn’t be higher. We need to collectively think through how we can best respond, resist, organize, and build a future that guarantees the freedom and dignity of all during the next four years of Trump’s presidency and beyond. On January 14th, Georgetown doctoral and law students will hold a at Georgetown University bringing together DC and academics from across disciplines to discuss the nature of the relationship of Trumpism to racism, bigotry, and oppression in all its multifaceted forms and the urgent question of how the left should move forward. “The Georgetown administration is not your friend,” argued campus employee Josh Armstead of UNITE Here Local 23, which represents hotel, gaming, food service, and airport industry workers. Armstead claimed that Georgetown’s administration benefits from “prison labor. ” The discussion segments frequently mentioned topics of privilege, systematic oppression, and stereotyping. George Washington University Philosophy Professor Vanessa Wills defined oppression as an “exclusion from full personhood or society based on identity. ” Jessica Lee, a program director at the Center for Social Justice at Georgetown, suggested that students need to check their privilege. She said that students need to understand their privilege so that they know when it is appropriate for them to speak up. Others complained about the electoral college system, suggesting that Donald Trump will be an illegitimate president. Georgetown History Professor Joseph McCartin claimed that America is “facing a crisis of democracy. ” Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about social justice and libertarian issues for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart. com,
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An appeals court on Thursday upheld the ban on Russia’s track and field team from the Rio Olympics, empowering sports organizations to discipline other Russian teams after revelations of a doping scheme. The International Association of Athletics Federations, track and field’s global governing body, had barred Russia’s team from competing at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro next month because of an elaborate cheating plot, which investigators confirmed this week with forensic evidence and computer records. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, the final arbiter on global sports disputes, to which Russia had appealed, said that the penalty was legally sound. With just over two weeks until the opening ceremony in Rio, the International Olympic Committee had deferred the decision of whether to take aggressive measures to individual sports federations like the I. A. A. F. After detailed proof of cheating was produced this week in a report by the World Agency, Olympic officials said they would “explore legal options,” but they also indicated that they would await the arbitration court’s decision before taking action. Thursday’s ruling, affirming the track and field organization’s authority over a nation’s Olympic participation, enables the I. O. C. to pass responsibility for the Russian doping crisis to the 28 individual sports federations that participate in the Summer Games. Olympic officials are set to convene on the matter Sunday. Among the options ahead: Olympic officials could call on the other individual sports federations — such as those in gymnastics and weight lifting — to follow the I. A. A. F.’s lead and engage in a review of Russian athletes registered to compete in Rio. Or a blanket ban of the Russian Federation could be adopted. In response to Thursday’s decision, Sebastian Coe, head of the track and field organization, said that while he was “thankful” the ban had been upheld, he was not celebrating. “I didn’t come into this sport to stop athletes from competing,” he said in a statement. The appeals court said that because of the urgent nature of the case, it was issuing only its verdict, which was unanimous. Its full decision, including the grounds for the verdict, will be issued as soon as possible, the court said. “In my view, certainly, this decision absolutely violates the rights of clean athletes, honest athletes, and sets a collective responsibility precedent,” Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s sports minister, said at a news conference in Moscow. In instituting its ban, the I. A. A. F. invited Russian athletes living outside the country who had been regularly tested for drugs to petition to compete individually officials said they had offered that option in part to protect against court challenges. So far, two Russian track and field athletes have been cleared to compete in Rio: Darya Klishina, a long jumper, and Yuliya Stepanova, a runner, both of whom live in the United States. The I. A. A. F. said that the exempted athletes would not compete in Rio under the Russian flag but rather as unaffiliated athletes. Russia won 18 medals in track and field, including eight golds, at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Whether the country’s medal aspirations in other sports in Rio are squashed, too, could soon be determined by other sports federations. Those federations, however, have little expertise in adjudicating doping cases, and in the political world of sports, some have strong ties to Russia. Last week, the president of the international swimming federation, Julio C. Maglione of Uruguay, traveled to Moscow to meet with Mr. Mutko. Four days later, as antidoping officials indicated that they were preparing to request that the I. O. C. ban Russia’s entire Olympic team, the swimming federation released a statement saying it was “concerned by the premature calls” to keep Russia out of the Games. Sports officials and antidoping authorities alike have agitated for strong action from the I. O. C. in recent days, pointing out that the Olympic organization had in its power a drastic option that would seem to be beyond legal challenge: banning the whole Russian delegation from the Games. “It’s really important for the I. O. C. to defend its integrity and make a strong statement now by suspending the Russian National Olympic Committee,” said Max Cobb, president of the United States Biathlon Association. Mr. Cobb added that he thought the evidence presented this week condemned not only the Russian sports ministry but also the Olympic committee. Yuri Nagornykh, Russia’s deputy minister of sport, who was identified by investigators as a main coordinator of the scheme, is also an executive board member of the Russian Olympic organization. On Monday, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said he had provisionally suspended Mr. Nagornykh and other implicated officials. For the I. O. C. to wait until the arbitration decision was announced on Thursday, Mr. Cobb said, was “unnecessary stalling. ” More than a dozen national antidoping organizations — including those in Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Norway — echoed that sentiment Wednesday, sending a letter to the I. O. C. that argued for denying all Russian athletes entry in the Olympics, according to the correspondence, which was obtained by The New York Times. “This is a responsibility that cannot and should not be delegated by the I. O. C. ,” the letter said. Anything less than a full ban, the officials wrote, “is not a reasonable and proportionate measure to protect the value of the Olympic promise given the circumstances caused by the doping program that corrupted the Olympic Games. ” The allegations of cheating have extended to the last two Olympic Games, in London in 2012 and in Sochi, Russia, in 2014. Others, however — including the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations — have spoken up for “individual justice” rather than broad bans, expressing subtle support for Russia, along with a desire to see specific violators punished. Track and field officials and antidoping authorities have spent the year monitoring efforts in Russia. They reported that, as recently as last month, Russian athletes continued to evade testing with the help of sports officials. Such conduct extended across disciplines, inquiries commissioned by WADA found. According to Richard McLaren, a Canadian lawyer who led the most recent inquiry and wrote this week’s report, Russia’s antidoping lab covered up drug violations affecting “virtually all sports” since at least 2011. Mr. McLaren is a longtime global sports arbitrator who decided several cases that probably figured into the deliberations that led to Thursday’s decision, made by three arbitrators, from Britain, Italy and the United States. The arbitration court, which has its headquarters in a chateau in Lausanne, Switzerland, has for decades had supreme authority in international sports disputes its decisions can be overruled by the Swiss Federal Tribunal on the basis of a procedural error only. The court’s independence and monopolistic authority have been challenged over the years, with athletes, who are required to sign arbitration agreements, arguing that the forum favors the interests of sports organizations. The court was created by sports federations and the I. O. C. and it receives financing from them. The president of the court’s parent organization, the International Council of Arbitration for Sport, which appoints arbitrators to the court, is John D. Coates of Australia, an I. O. C. executive board member who participated in the committee’s urgent meeting on Tuesday to discuss possible courses of action the I. O. C. might take against Russia. Before evidence made public this week corroborated a ’s account of Russia’s elaborate Olympic cheating scheme, Thomas Bach, the president of the I. O. C. had said that if the allegations proved true, they would present a “shocking new dimension in doping” and an “unprecedented level of criminality,” for which he would have zero tolerance.
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Sharpton tried to dismiss it, saying, “Oh, you’re talking about the heavily edited video,” he replied. “Fine.”
See the discussion below:
However, Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe wasn’t going to stand for the disparagement, so he re-released a video that his group had published in the past — all about the good reverend himself.
Sharpton did not want this to be brought to light. See the Sharpton video below: What's wrong @TheRevAl , are you still mad that we exposed how you're #AlAboutTheMoney ? #Veritas https://t.co/qTTuo9YixH https://t.co/17LuKAo5FI
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) October 24, 2016
Maybe next time he won’t point at the speck in his brother’s eye without acknowledging the log in his own.
Boom.
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My neck is killing me. Isn’t yours? My shoulder hurts, too. Not always the same one, but always in the morning. Herniated disks, spinal stenosis, bone spurs: It’s a mess in there. As for the shoulders, one gave out with a horrible popping noise in a yoga class a few years ago the cause of the other’s decay remains a (very dull) mystery. These were the afflictions that sent me pillow shopping last week, and for which, on one particularly frigid evening, Saroya a sales associate at Hastens, the Swedish mattress company, prescribed what she called “a pillow cocktail. ” Ms. whose nickname is Soy, was not referring to the handful of Advil washed down with a Bud that would be my palliative. It’s the relationship, she said, between my head, my bed and my pillow. I had come to Hastens first because it is the purveyor of the $100, 000 mattress, an artisanal object made from wool, horsetail hair, cotton and mohair. (Like condo sales topping $100 million, this number sets a benchmark for a certain kind of lunatic luxury purchase.) And I knew I would find a pillow there to elevate the whole category. For years, the standard pillow for those with neck issues has been a crudely formed foam number, which is about as sexy as the cervical collar that is its daytime mate. Orthopedic bedding is not a style you want to cleave to, at least not for any length of time. You can’t mask an orthopedic pillow in a print from John Robshaw, and its contours throw the armada of the “dressed bed” into disarray. Hastens Anatomical Pillow is an unlovely name for a pretty object. At least, it comes with a case made from the company’s signature check. It is made of down and feathers, and shaped like a padded O, or a Leigh Bowery headdress (yes, I did stuff my head into it later). Inside the O is a pocket into which you slip a neck bolster, made from the same proportion — 15 to 85 percent — of down to feathers. For side or back sleepers like me, the of the pillow is designed to fit under your neck and support its natural curve. Ms. had me unwrap myself from all my layers so she could see my neck, and led me gently to what she said was Hastens’s best seller, the 2000T ($38, 000). “This is a bed,” she said, “that’s really great for side sleepers. ” Tucking the pillow under my head, she traced my spine from to my hairline with her fingers to make sure it was straight. My shoulders unscrunched, my eyelids fluttered. Reader, I went home with a $330 pillow. • These are boom times for the luxury bedding business. Hastens has been expanding exponentially, having opened two new stores in Manhattan last year now there are four locations in the city where you can buy a mattress that costs more than your car, and another Hastens store is to open in two weeks in Greenwich, Conn. But entire fortunes are being made in pillows, too. Consider the success of the My Pillow founder, Michael J. Lindell, a former cocaine addict and inventor whose pillows, which sell for about $50, brought in more than $100 million in sales in 2012, according to The Star Tribune of Minneapolis. No doubt you’ve seen his infomercial. He, too, had neck issues. He, like you, would “ all night long like a guppy,” as he puts it, until he developed his patented pillow filler, a stew of interlocking foam chunks.’ ”There are a few data sets to roughly gauge the size of the market for a product that would address the nexus. In 2012, according to a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, and made available by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons last week, 14 percent of adult Americans said they had neck pain within a period in 2010, another N. C. H. S. survey noted that there were more than 10 million visits to doctors’ offices for complaints related to neck pain.” ’As it turns out, said Dr. Robert Gotlin, director of orthopedic and sports rehabilitation at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, we are designed for failure. “The fact is, from age 25 on, this process of failure begins,” he continued cheerfully. “The analogy is this: You go to a bowling alley and you hold a bowling ball over your head, and what happens is your arms gets tired. Basically, your head is that ball. And over time, two things happen: your muscles get sore and your disks wear out. Or you get arthritis. We’re all going to wind up with at least one of these conditions at the same time we are still holding up this object. I, like you, would love to go to bed and wake up without feeling any pain. ” As far as pillows are concerned, he said: “The real answer is, there is no answer. Foam or any of these pillows with the divots, the cutout supports, these are marketing items that have their own research attached that supports their claims. The best advice is to just pick one that feels good. The pillow should basically be one that keeps your head over your shoulders. Rather than spend all this money on the fancy things, see what’s comfortable. That could be the cheapest one. ” • At the Clean Bedroom in Brooklyn Heights, which sells organic bedding (natural latex and cotton sheets, for example, in beige tones) and bedroom furniture like dressers made from sustainable maple from the parlor floor of a brownstone building, Luis Camejo was explaining the niceties of pillows. He was trying to locate a one for me. Grains are good for support, he said, and because millet is a smaller grain than buckwheat, it’s less noisy — less crunchy — if you move around when you sleep. But he was sold out of the millet, and so were his company’s six other stores. It turned out that the seamstress at Sachi Organics, which makes the pillows, had a pinched nerve and was a week behind on their orders. Now that’s kind of ironic. “I’m an English major,” Mr. Camejo said. “So I’m not sure of the correct meaning of irony. ” How does an English major get into the bedding business? “Craigslist,” he said, as he rang up a buckwheat pillow ($80) and a shredded organic rubber contour pillow covered in beige wool ($199). • on Mercer Street, directly opposite Andre Balazs’s solemn, Jean glass castle, is a Greek organic bedding store that sells mattresses made from layers of coconut fibers, seaweed, cotton, wool and natural rubber. You could probably eat them, if times were tough. The main precept here is a sort of D. I. Y. bed: mattresses and pillows are made from zippered pockets stuffed with plant materials you can add to or remove. I was put to bed with slippers, a glass of orange juice and a hand towel that Alisha Hylton, director of sales for North America, spread over the Sithon VIII pillow (names here are derived from Greek mythology). makes 12 kinds of pillows in various architectural styles and fillings, and a computer program on an iPad helps you figure out the one for you. Ms. Hylton said she used to measure her customers’ necks and shoulder spans with a ruler until a small child broke it now she just eyeballs them. The Sithon VIII ($316) had a bolster and a central pouch filled with seaweed, rubber and eucalyptus leaves. It comes with a bottle of eucalyptus oil and squares of linen you dollop with oil, then stick in that central pouch. I wasn’t eager to sleep in a fog of eucalyptus — it was too medical an aroma for bed — so Ms. Hylton added another, plainer model, the Sithon I ($117). None of the bedding is returnable, but in Europe you can try ’s beds and pillows free, said Mike Efmorfidis, the company’s chief executive officer, at a stay at one of their hotels. “I can’t offer you that here,” he said. “But you can sign up to sleep in the suite downstairs. Though not right now, because it’s occupied. ” Someone is sleeping under us right now? “Ah, he’s up now, he just passed by,” Mr. Efmorfidis said. Siestas in the suite, Ms. Hylton added, come complete with pillows and fresh linens. Customers typically choose or sessions, she said. It is perhaps a sign of the times that you can now find a bed by the hour, and just sleep in it.
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Get short URL 0 23 0 0 An extremely rare Spanish gold coin from the eighteenth century, valued at around $300,000, has been discovered in a child’s “toy” pirate treasure collection. Big Mistake: Priceless Space Artifact Was Sold at US Government Auction An Essex resident was given the gold coin by a grandfather when he was a child, as part of a collection of “treasure” from around the world that he could play pirate with. “My granddad had travelled all over the world during his working life and had collected many coins from the various countries he had been,” the anonymous owner told the Telegraph . “He gave me bags of coins to play with throughout my early years because I was into pirate treasure.”
As time went on, the coins ended up packed away, until his grandfather’s passing, when the man rediscovered them. He then passed the coins on to his own son to play pirate.
“I looked back through the coins – remembering the stories I made up about them when I was small — and then gave them to my own son to play with and put into his own treasure box. My little boy has been playing with this coin as I did all those years ago.”
Curious to see if it was worth anything, the man took it to experts to see if it had any value. It turns out that the coin was one of fewer than 15 in existence.
The coin was made from treasure seized from Spanish ships in Vigo Bay, Spain, in 1702, which was later pressed into coins and delivered to Sir Isaac Newton at the Royal Mint.
The Queen Anne 'Vigo' five-guinea gold coin is set to go to auction at Essex auctioneers Boningtons in November. ...
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During a discussion of the attack in Manchester on Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Senator Chris Murphy stated that “many of us are worried about some of the rhetoric of the Trump administration, because we worry that that combined with robust online recruitment might end up in an attack like this happening in the United States. ” Murphy said that while there has been military success against ISIS in the Middle East, they’re still “lethal” and the approach to ISIS has to be “comprehensive” and can’t just be about the military. He continued, “The fact of the matter is, in many countries in Europe, England included, Muslims suffer a segregation, which sometimes allows for these perversions of Islam, this radicalization, to take root, and we have to make sure that we don’t allow that to happen here. ” Murphy further stated, “[W]e have got to compliment this military strategy with increased intelligence, increased intelligence sharing with Europe, and a commitment to try to stop giving isis recruiters recruitment fodder. And so, many of us are worried about some of the rhetoric of the Trump administration, because we worry that that combined with robust online recruitment might end up in an attack like this happening in the United States. ” Murphy concluded that because only one terrorist with a bomb strapped to them can create large amounts destruction, “we can never be 100% protected as a country, and, you know, we do need to remember here in the United States that there have only been on average a couple of people a year who are killed in terrorist attacks. You are much more likely, in this country, over the last ten years, to have been killed by a falling object than you are by terrorism. So, I think we want to the threat here in the United States, while recognizing that we all need to step up our efforts to make sure that something like that doesn’t happen here. ” ( Grabien) Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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LOS ANGELES — Two men were killed in a shooting at the University of California, Los Angeles on Wednesday, prompting thousands of frightened students and staff members to hunker down or run for shelter as the police went door to door searching for the gunman or other victims. After a lockdown that lasted throughout the morning, the Los Angeles police said that the gunman was among the dead, and declared the campus safe. “A homicide and a suicide occurred,” Charlie Beck, the Los Angeles police chief, said. “It appears it is entirely contained. We believe there are no suspects outstanding and no continuing threat to U. C. L. A.’s campus. ” A gun was found at the scene, and Chief Beck said, “There is evidence there that could be a suicide note. ” The shooting victim was William S. Klug, an associate professor in U. C. L. A.’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, said Alan Garfinkel, a professor of integrative biology and physiology who worked closely with Mr. Klug for the past five years. Mr. Garfinkel, who was attending a meeting in a nearby building when the shooting occurred, said he had been informed of Mr. Klug’s death by Los Angeles and campus police officers. “He was an extremely sweet and kind person,” Mr. Garfinkel said. “It’s so that this happened to him of all people. ” He described Mr. Klug as a devout Christian, adding that the two would often have debates in front of students about ethics and religion. The shooting took place about 10 a. m. inside a small office in the Engineering IV building, officials said. There were hundreds of people in the building at the time. The campus was placed on lockdown, with text message and email alerts sent out to students and employees telling them to shelter in place or, if they were in the open, to find shelter. It was not until more than two hours later that the authorities declared the situation was resolved and officials began to lift the lockdown. Earlier, police officers went building by building, escorting groups of people out who had their hands raised. The people then knelt on the ground as officers searched their backpacks and purses for weapons. Melanie Beecher, a student, said she had reached her philosophy class shortly after receiving the first alert. “Immediately we barricaded the doors, blocked openings with trash cans, turned off the lights and pulled down the blinds,” she said. Ms. Beecher added that she had called friends who had not yet arrived, telling them to stay in their dormitories. “We have been getting frequent alerts and have been able to live stream the news,” she said. The lockdown meant that any student who left a dorm room was unable to it, even with a key. “Our R. A. has instructed us to stay in our rooms no matter what,” said Izzy Gardner, a student who spent the time in her room. “There are tons of rumors going around, and it’s hard to determine what is true and isn’t true. People are pretty shaken up. ” Ceci Falktoft, another student, was walking to a meeting with a professor when she saw people running, she said. Without knowing why, she ran, too, learning about the shooting after she asked others what was happening. Ms. Falktoft ran to Powell Library, where staff members handed out snacks to the many people hiding or studying there and told them they could not leave. All classes and activities were canceled for the rest of the day Wednesday. But Scott Waugh, U. C. L. A’s executive vice chancellor, said he wanted to resume normal routines as quickly as possible, especially because this is a crucial time of year for many students, with finals coming up, followed shortly thereafter by commencement. Classes will resume on Thursday, he said, and professional counselors would be available on campus. The Los Angeles police, the university police, the F. B. I. and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the incident. Hundreds of law enforcement officers scoured the building where the shooting occurred and surrounding buildings.
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WASHINGTON — President Trump made three startling economic policy reversals on Wednesday, stepping away from pledges he made as a candidate and even policies he supported only days ago. The shifts confounded many of Mr. Trump’s supporters and suggested that the moderate financiers he brought from Wall Street are eclipsing the White House populist wing led by Stephen K. Bannon, the political strategist who is increasingly being sidelined by the president. In a series of interviews, Mr. Trump said he no longer wanted to label China a currency manipulator — a week after telling The Financial Times that the Chinese were the “world champions” of currency manipulation. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the president said he no longer wanted to eliminate the Bank. And he said that he might consider reappointing Janet Yellen as chairwoman of the Federal Reserve when her term ends next year. Yet before the election, he regularly denounced China and said that Ms. Yellen should be “ashamed” of herself because of what he said was her political bias. Mr. Trump’s latest pronouncements suggest he is moving toward a more mainstream economic approach, although on other issues that he discussed on Wednesday, like a tax overhaul and health care, his policy and strategy appeared muddled. Mr. Trump asserted in a Twitter post on Wednesday night that his agenda remained on track. “One by one, we are keeping our promises — on the border, on energy, on jobs, on regulations. Big changes are happening. ” Mr. Trump began the day with an interview with Fox Business Network in which he backed away from the tax favored by Speaker Paul D. Ryan and House Republicans. He also backtracked on his claim last month that he was moving on from his plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act to focus on taxes. Now he is again putting health care first. In an interview published by The Journal midday, Mr. Trump revealed his softer approach to China — the coming less than a week after meeting with China’s president, Xi Jinping — and made another reversal on health care. He said that the government would not continue to pay subsidies to health insurers under Obamacare only days after the administration said it would. Mr. Trump said the threat to withhold subsidies was a way to force Democrats to negotiate with him over the future of the Affordable Care Act. In the Journal interview, Mr. Trump said that “Democrats will start calling me and negotiating” because they want to avoid any interruption of the “ ” subsidies, which reduce costs for seven million people. On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services had issued a statement saying that “the subsidies will be funded” while a federal appeals court weighed the legality of the payments. Mr. Trump’s remarks coincided with a letter in which doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and employers pleaded with him and with Congress to help stabilize insurance markets by authorizing a continuation of the subsidies. “Time is short and action is needed,” said the letter, sent Wednesday by eight groups including the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association. The president’s comments on Wednesday recalled his reaction when Republican leaders pulled a bill to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law from the House floor last month. Mr. Trump predicted then that “Democrats will come to us” in an effort to save the law, which he said was imploding. They did not. To make the muddy waters even murkier, Mr. Trump took his plans to rewrite the tax code into uncharted territory when he threw cold water on the border adjustment tax that is the linchpin of the tax reform plan. After months of waffling on that tax, he instead called for a new “reciprocal tax” that appears to be a different kind of levy on imports. “I don’t like the word adjustment because our country gets taken advantage of, to use a nice term, by every other country in the world,” Mr. Trump said in the Fox Business interview. “So when I hear border adjustment, adjustment means we lose. ” He added: “I love the idea of reciprocal. You can call it a reciprocal or a matching tax or a mirror tax. ” The notion left tax experts scratching their heads. “I’m genuinely confused,” said Itai Grinberg, a tax expert at Georgetown University’s law school. “If one imposes a tax that varies based on the country of origin of the good or service, then what one may in substance have is something akin to a tariff regime. ” What is clear is that all of the uncertainty surrounding the White House’s economic plans is causing frustration among some of Mr. Trump’s supporters, including those who helped get him elected. Larry Kudlow, the economist who advised Mr. Trump when he was a candidate, panned Mr. Trump’s reciprocal tax idea as a nonsensical approach that would essentially raise taxes. He suggested that the scattershot approach to economic policy coming from the White House was probably because of poor leadership at the National Economic Council, which is led by Gary Cohn, and the diminished role of the Treasury Department, which is steered by Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “It’s complete chaos,” Mr. Kudlow said. “It sows confusion, and people lose confidence. The process is broken. ” Last Friday, Mr. Trump named Kevin Hassett, a conservative economist, to lead his Council of Economic Advisers. Ardent supporters worried it was an abandonment of the tough stance he took on the issue during the campaign. Mr. Trump shared few details about how a reciprocal tax would work. It is unclear if, in his thinking, the United States would match tariffs that countries levy on certain American products against other products that those countries produce or if he wants to effectively have a tax with different rates for goods and services from each country. Either way, economists warned that economic effects could be calamitous. “Any economist will tell you that tariffs are often, if not always, ” said Michael J. Graetz, a tax law professor at Columbia University. “It doesn’t appear to be a sound idea as a matter of tax policy. ” Howard Gleckman, a fellow at the Tax Policy Center, said, “It looks like Trump is not happy with the border adjustment tax idea for whatever reason and he’s looking for an alternative. ” With more changes apparently in store, Mr. Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, added an additional major reversal on his behalf: He said on CNBC on Wednesday that the president’s campaign promise to eliminate the national debt was “hyperbole. ”
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The Times of Israel reports: Following insistent Palestinian denials that US President Donald Trump shouted at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about Palestinian incitement against Israel during their meeting last week, Abbas has conceded — in Arabic — that the story is true, according to a report by the Qatari news site . [Channel 2 News reported earlier this week that during their talks in Bethlehem last week, Trump yelled at Abbas and accused him of direct involvement in incitement against Israel. “You tricked me in DC! You talked there about your commitment to peace, but the Israelis showed me your involvement in incitement,” Trump was said to have shouted at a shocked Abbas. The TV report said the outburst was followed by several minutes of stunned silence from the Palestinians, and that the meeting was very tense before the two sides managed to get back on track. Read more here.
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WASHINGTON — One American commando was killed and three others were wounded in a fierce firefight early Sunday with Qaeda militants in central Yemen, the military said on Sunday. It was the first counterterrorism operation authorized by President Trump since he took office, and the commando was the first United States service member to die in the yearslong shadow war against Al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate. Members of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 carried out the surprise dawn attack, and the military said that about 14 Qaeda fighters were killed during a nearly hourlong battle. A Qaeda leader — a of Anwar the cleric and top Qaeda leader in Yemen, who died in a drone strike in 2011 — was believed to have been killed. After initially denying that there were any civilian casualties, American officials said they were assessing reports that women and children had died in the attack. The military’s Joint Special Operations Command had been planning the mission for months, according to three senior American officials. Obama administration aides had deliberated extensively over the proposed operation, weighing the value of any information that might be recovered against the risk to the Special Operations forces plunging into hostile territory. But administration officials ultimately opted to hand the decision on the mission to their successors. Mr. Trump, who has vowed to increase pressure on militant groups worldwide, was quickly persuaded that the rewards were worth the gamble, and he authorized the mission last week, military officials said. Commandos waited for a moonless evening on Saturday to exploit their advantage of fighting at night. As helicopter gunships and armed Reaper drones provided cover, the commandos carried out the attack against the home of the Qaeda leader in the rugged mountainous region of Bayda Province, a part of Yemen that has been a focal point of United States military operations over the past month. The main target was computer materials inside the house that could contain clues about future terrorist plots. In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Trump called the raid “successful” and said that it had captured “important intelligence that will assist the U. S. in preventing terrorism against its citizens and people around the world. ” He also lamented the loss of the American service member “in our fight against the evil of radical Islamic terrorism. ” The military’s Central Command said in an earlier statement on Sunday that “similar operations have produced intelligence on Al Qaeda logistics, recruiting and financing efforts. ” In previous raids in Iraq, Syria and Somalia, commandos have recovered laptop computers, thumb drives and cellphones that yielded important information about militant leaders’ locations, activities and associates. A United States military aircraft helping with the operation experienced a “hard landing” near the site of the raid, resulting in injuries to two other service members, military officials said. That aircraft, identified by a senior American official as an Osprey that was evacuating the troops wounded in the firefight, was unable to fly after the landing and was deliberately destroyed by American airstrikes. The wounded troops and the Osprey’s crew were lifted to safety by another American aircraft. American officials and analysts said the Qaeda leader who was believed to have been killed was Abdulrauf al Dhahab. The raid took place in Yemen around the time that Mr. Trump was signing a directive in Washington on Saturday afternoon ordering Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to devise within 30 days a more aggressive plan to defeat the Islamic State. The Islamic State was born from Al Qaeda’s branch in Iraq, but the two terrorist organizations are now sworn rivals not only in Iraq and Syria, but also in other hot spots like Yemen and Afghanistan, where both groups have affiliates. Because Mr. Trump had been explicit about his intention to ask for the review to accelerate the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, American military planners had begun drafting classified options to present to the new commander in chief. Some of those options, like pushing more authority to conduct strikes to commanders in the field or loosening restrictions designed to limit the risk to civilians, could also be applied to attacks against Qaeda fighters and Islamic State insurgents. There were no immediate indications that the rules of engagement had been loosened for the mission in Yemen, military officials said. The Central Command’s statement did not elaborate on details of the raid or identify the commando who was killed. A local resident who witnessed the raid, speaking by phone, said he had seen warplanes bombing several houses in the village around 2 a. m. Sunday. The man said he had seen at least three buildings being struck before he fled. He did not want to be identified because he feared that speaking out would endanger his life. A Yemeni government official in Bayda Province said the targeted buildings belonged to the Dhahab family, which is known for its ties to Al Qaeda. Two male members of the family have been killed in drone strikes over the past two years. The Yemeni official said that at least eight women and seven children, ages 3 to 13, had been killed in the raid. Qaeda supporters said that Mr. Awlaki’s young daughter was among the dead and denied that any senior Qaeda leaders had been killed, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist communications. Faisal Mohamed, a Bayda official whose two sons witnessed the attack, said it severely damaged a school, a health facility and a mosque. “I was on the way back to town when they called and said that there were Americans everywhere, so I knew I should not go,” Mr. Mohamed said by phone from nearby Marib Province. “My kids told me that the sky was crowded with helicopters and that they saw people jumping out of planes. ” “The last thing they said to me was that the whole town is devastated now,” Mr. Mohamed said. Just over a week ago, United States drone strikes killed three other men suspected of being Qaeda operatives in Bayda Province, the first such killings reported in the country since Mr. Trump assumed the presidency. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group’s branch in Yemen, has long been seen by American intelligence and counterterrorism officials as among the most dangerous branches of the global terrorist network, and the one posing the most immediate threat to United States territory. The group’s leaders have sought in at least three cases to detonate bombs hidden aboard American commercial jetliners. All of those plots were thwarted. The raid on Saturday night was the latest in a series of Special Operations drone strikes and ground attacks in Yemen in recent years. In November 2014, Special Operations commandos and Yemeni troops rescued eight hostages being held in a remote part of eastern Yemen by Al Qaeda’s affiliate there. After landing, the commandos hiked some distance in the dark to a mountainside cave, where they surprised the militants holding the captives. A month later, in December 2014, United States commandos stormed a village in southern Yemen in an effort to free an American photojournalist held hostage by Al Qaeda. But the raid ended in tragedy, with the kidnappers killing the journalist and a South African held with him.
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News Bulletin Liverpool's English striker Daniel Sturridge (C) applauds supporters at the final whistle during the EFL (English Football League) Cup fourth round match between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield in Liverpool north west England on October 25, 2016. (AFP)
Liverpool have progressed into the quarterfinals of the EFL Cup by defeating Tottenham 2-1 at Anfield, with the help of a double by Daniel Sturridge.
The Reds just couldn’t have asked for a better start on Tuesday, as they grabbed the lead just 9 minutes into the match, through Daniel Sturridge.
The 27-year-old striker, then doubled Liverpool’s advantage after the break, by converting a one-on-one opportunity in the 64th minute.
Spurs, however, managed to pull one back in the 76th minute when Vincent Janssen converted a penalty, but that was as close as they got, as Liverpool made it to the last eight and stayed on course to lift the trophy for a 9th time in their history.
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By wmw_admin on November 2, 2016 Siobhan McFadyen — The Daily Express Nov 1, 2016 Merkel faces mounting criticism in Germany over the migrant debacle. Click to enlarge
During the first six months of 2016, migrants committed 142,500 crimes, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office.
And Germany has been hit by a spate of horrendous violent crime including rapes, sexual and physical assaults, stabbings, home invasions, robberies, burglaries and drug trafficking.
Adding to the country’s woes is the fact that thousands of people have gone missing after travelling there on invitation from Angela Merkel.
Germany took in more than 1.1million migrants in the past year and parts of the country are crippled with a lack of infrastructure.
Now the true reality is hitting home ahead of next year’s elections as the far right surges in the polls threatening to topple the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Mrs Merkel.
According to a report by the international policy council the Gatestone Institute, local police in many parts of the country admit that they are stretched to the limit.
The report states: “The rape of a ten-year-old girl in Leipzig, the largest city in Saxony, has drawn renewed attention to the spiralling levels of violent crime perpetrated by migrants in cities and towns across Germany.
“During the first six months of 2016, migrants committed 142,500 crimes, according to the Federal Criminal Police Office. This is equivalent to 780 crimes committed by migrants every day, an increase of nearly 40 per cent over 2015. The data includes only those crimes in which a suspect has been caught.
“Thousands of migrants who entered the country as ‘asylum seekers’ or ‘refugees’ have gone missing. They are, presumably, economic migrants who entered Germany on false pretences.
“Many are thought to be engaging in robbery and criminal violence.”
According to Freddi Lohse of the German Police Union in Hamburg, many migrant offenders view the leniency of the German justice system as a green light to continue delinquent behaviour, says the report. Migrants outside the Berlin office of Health and Social Affairs. Click to enlarge
He said: “They are used to tougher consequences in their home countries.
“They have no respect for us.”
Meanwhile a female police officer has admitted that officers are under attack and that the courts are a “joke.”
In a new book, Tania Kambouri, a German police officer, said: “For weeks, months and years I have noticed that Muslims, mostly young men, do not have even a minimum level of respect for the police.
“When we are out patrolling the streets, we are verbally abused by young Muslims
“There is the body language, and insults like ‘s*** cop’ when passing by.
“If we make a traffic stop, the aggression increases ever further, this is overwhelmingly the case with migrants.
“It cannot be that offenders continue to fill the police files, hurt us physically, insult us, whatever, and there are no consequences.
“Many cases are closed or offenders are released on probation or whatever.
“Yes, what is happening in the courts today is a joke.”
Migrants committed 208,344 crimes in 2015, according to a confidential police report leaked to Bild.
This figure represents an 80 per cent increase since 2014 and is equivalent to 570 crimes committed by migrants every day, or 23 crimes each hour, in 2015 alone.
The report added: “The growing sense of lawlessness is substantiated by an October 24 YouGov poll which found that 68 per cent of Germans believe that security in the country has deteriorated during the past several years.
“Nearly 70 per cent of respondents said they fear for their lives and property in German train stations and subways, while 63 per cent feel unsafe at large public events.”
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Nearly a month after he was fired by the Trump administration, Preet Bharara, the former United States attorney in Manhattan, remains mystified by the circumstances of his ouster, saying he had never been told why President Trump changed his mind about wanting him to stay on. In his first interview since he was forced out, Mr. Bharara said this week that his firing was part and parcel of what he characterized as the chaos that has defined some of the administration’s decisions. He called it “a direct example of the kind of uncertain incompetence, when it comes to personnel decisions and executive actions, that was in people’s minds when this call for everyone’s resignation letter came. ” Mr. Bharara also disclosed that Mr. Trump, after having asked him to remain in his post, telephoned him three times, raising concern among Mr. Bharara and his aides that such calls could run afoul of strict Justice Department protocols governing communications with the White House. Mr. Bharara, an appointee of President Barack Obama, was among 46 United States attorneys who were asked on March 10 to submit their resignations. The directive was not especially unusual all presidents choose their own candidates for United States attorney positions, and invariably ask holdover prosecutors to leave. But Mr. Bharara’s inclusion in the request came as a surprise, since he had been asked on Nov. 30 by Mr. Trump, the at the time, to remain in his post. Speculating about the reasons for Mr. Bharara’s firing became a kind of parlor game for a time in some legal circles, with questions about whether the president may have been trying to block investigations focused on his friends and associates. Those inquiries include one into the way Fox News handled payments related to sexual harassment accusations under Roger Ailes, its former chairman, and another focused on stock trades by Tom Price, Mr. Trump’s secretary of health and human services. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on why Mr. Bharara was among those dismissed despite Mr. Trump’s earlier request that he stay. In his seven years as the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Mr. Bharara established a reputation for prosecuting public corruption cases and for investigating insider trading. He declined to discuss the office’s current investigations, but he said he did not know whether his firing was related to any particular case. Still, he expressed some disbelief over how his removal was handled. When a top Justice Department official called him on March 10 to ask for his resignation, Mr. Bharara said he thought it was a mistake. He said it took nearly 24 hours before Justice Department officials could finally tell him whether the president actually wanted him fired. “Literally, no one was giving us an answer to that question,” Mr. Bharara said. Mr. Bharara spoke to The New York Times on Monday, his first day as a distinguished scholar in residence at New York University School of Law. On Thursday night, he is to deliver a lecture at The Cooper Union in Manhattan. He said he was uncertain about his plans, but reiterated that he had no interest in seeking public office. He has had some time to contemplate life after being a prosecutor in the interview, he said he initially expected that, like all United States attorneys, he would be asked to resign once Mr. Trump took office, a request that he said would have been “perfectly appropriate. ” His expectations began to change on Nov. 16, when he said he received a call from Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, for whom he had once worked as chief counsel and who had recommended him to Mr. Obama for the United States attorney post. Mr. Schumer told Mr. Bharara he had gotten a call from Mr. Trump during which the said he wanted Mr. Bharara to stay on. That led to a meeting on Nov. 30, on the 26th floor at Trump Tower. Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s and Stephen K. Bannon, his chief strategist, were waiting, Mr. Bharara said. When Mr. Trump entered the room 10 to 15 minutes later, Mr. Bharara recalled, he quipped, “This guy gets better press than me. ” Mr. Trump said he had read for years about the office’s work under Mr. Bharara, and praised its accomplishments. Mr. Bharara said he spoke briefly about his office, emphasizing that it prized its independence, and that he presumed that was why Mr. Trump wanted him to stay. He would be honored, he said he told Mr. Trump, to continue in the job. At the meeting, Mr. Bharara said, Mr. Trump asked for his phone numbers, a request that Mr. Bharara found unusual. He nonetheless scribbled them down on a yellow sticky note, which he left on Mr. Trump’s desk. As the meeting ended, Mr. Bharara said that Mr. Trump told him to tell reporters in the lobby about the decision. Mr. Bharara said he had gone over what he planned to say in the lobby with Mr. Kushner and Mr. Bannon, and that both had given their assent. Mr. Bharara said Mr. Bannon had also asked that he call Jeff Sessions, at the time a Republican senator from Alabama whom Mr. Trump had picked as his nominee for attorney general. Standing at the elevator bank before going downstairs, Mr. Bharara said he had called Mr. Sessions and had an “equally positive and enthusiastic” conversation. Soon, Mr. Bharara was downstairs addressing reporters, telling them that Mr. Trump had asked him to stay on and that he had agreed to do so. About two weeks later, Mr. Bharara said he received a message that Mr. Trump had called. Mr. Bharara said he consulted with senior aides, including his deputy, Joon H. Kim, and that they had concluded there was no ethical problem with returning the call because Mr. Trump was not yet president. “The consensus was that I can return the call,” he said, “and just to be certain that we don’t talk about any case. ” During the brief conversation, Mr. Trump raised no problematic topics and said he was just “checking in,” Mr. Bharara recalled. The asked if he had spoken with Mr. Sessions, and Mr. Bharara said he had. Mr. Trump seemed pleased. Afterward, Mr. Bharara said he called Brian Benczkowski, who led the Justice Department transition team, to inform him of the call. On Jan. 18, two days before Mr. Trump’s inauguration, Mr. Bharara learned that he had called again. Mr. Bharara said he spoke to his senior aides and later advised Mr. Benczkowski. This conversation was also brief and innocuous, Mr. Bharara said, adding that Mr. Trump mentioned that he was working on his inaugural address and that his theme would be unity. The timing of a third call, on March 9, might suggest that Mr. Trump was reaching out to Mr. Bharara before the request for the mass resignations became public. But the actual purpose of the call was unclear Mr. Bharara did not return it. He said he had consulted with Mr. Kim again and that they had reviewed two memos, issued by the Justice Department in 2007 and 2009, related to communications with the White House. He concluded that prudence as well as the written policy counseled against his speaking directly to the president. “I do not think it is wise for a sitting president to try cultivating a personal telephonic relationship with a sitting U. S. attorney, especially one with a certain jurisdiction,” he said, an apparent reference to Trump Tower’s location within the Southern District. That evening, Mr. Bharara said, he spoke with Mr. Sessions’s chief of staff, Jody Hunt, and suggested that Mr. Sessions might want to counsel the president about contacting a sitting United States attorney directly. Mr. Bharara said he had seen firsthand what could happen when the Justice Department became politicized. As a Senate staff member, he had helped to lead the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the firings of up to nine United States attorneys around the country during President George W. Bush’s administration. Moreover, Mr. Bharara said that taking the president’s call could potentially have opened them both to the kind of criticism that Mr. Trump raised during the presidential campaign after President Bill Clinton met Attorney General Loretta Lynch on an airport tarmac in Phoenix while the F. B. I. was investigating his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. “I mean, either way,” Mr. Bharara said, sketching out a broad hypothetical, “people would say: ‘All we know is the president called Preet. Preet only has his job because the president bizarrely asked him to stay. And you know what? Preet didn’t charge that guy. Preet didn’t open that investigation. They must have made a deal. ’” The next day, the phone calls went out from the acting deputy attorney general, Dana J. Boente, informing Mr. Bharara and the other prosecutors to tender their resignations immediately. Mr. Bharara said he spent the rest of the day trying to determine whether the request applied to him. Mr. Boente called again the next morning, and said he understood that Mr. Bharara was not submitting a letter of resignation. Mr. Bharara confirmed that report. Mr. Boente soon called back, and Mr. Bharara remembered asking, “‘I want to know: Is the president firing me?’ That’s all. It seems like a very easy question. ”
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BEIJING — To the 90 million or so members of China’s Communist Party, President Xi Jinping has a message: Don’t call me president. Don’t call me party secretary. Call me “comrade. ” There is just one problem. In recent decades, the once ubiquitous term for Communist cadres and leaders has been embraced and popularized by a different group of people: gay men and lesbians. The term “tongzhi,” or “comrade,” was a nearly universal form of address in China well into the 1980s, but as Mao jackets gave way to suits and ties, it fell out of favor among Chinese officials. Among gay men, however, “tongzhi” became a term of affection and solidarity and eventually a catchall label for sexual minorities. A gay and lesbian film festival held annually in Hong Kong has been called the Hong Kong Comrade Film Festival since 1989. And the Beijing center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people calls itself the Beijing Tongzhi Zhongxin — or the Beijing Comrade Center. Even Google has caught on. Enter the characters for tongzhi guanxi — literally “comrade relationship” — into its translator, and it gives you “gay relationship. ” (Baidu, the dominant search engine, by contrast, offers the literal translation.) Fan Popo, a gay rights activist and filmmaker based in Beijing, said there had been episodes in which Chinese criticized gay rights activists for appropriating the political term. For some younger Chinese, however, the word “comrade” offered a source of comfort for those who felt too ashamed to use the term “tongxinglian,” or homosexual, Mr. Fan said. “But now, people have really gotten used to it,” he said. “Even the on the bus — the people who you would not really expect to know the modern lingo — don’t say ‘comrade’ anymore because they know what it means among young people. ” Nowadays, Chinese typically refer to one another as “mister,” “miss” or “madame. ” Strangers often address one another as “young miss,” “beautiful woman,” “handsome man” or “master. ” Within the party, only top leaders are typically referred to as “comrade. ” At the lower levels, “comrade” has been replaced by a grab bag of titles. In a commentary published last year, Study Times, a weekly party journal, railed against modern designations like “deputy secretary,” “boss,” “C. E. O. ,” “grandfather” and “brother. ” “These terms have not only destroyed the seriousness of democratic relations within the party,” the commentary read, “but they have also affected the relationship between the party and the masses as well as the overall image of the party. ” After a meeting last month of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, leaders issued a directive urging party members to eschew titles and honorifics in favor of the revolutionary throwback. The directive instructed that “party members must call each other ‘comrades. ’” Some political experts, however, voiced skepticism that the order would change much. “These days, everyone who joins the party does so to become an official and make money,” said Zhang Lifan, a writer and historian. “You can’t really call these people true comrades. ” There may also be an inherent contradiction. Last month’s Central Committee meeting — the same one that issued the order to party members to call one another comrade — had another, bigger announcement: “Comrade Xi Jinping” had been elevated to “core” leader, cementing his status as China’s central political strongman. “Power is power,” Mr. Zhang said. “You can say that all party members are comrades. But among all the comrades, there is still a core. ”
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JÉRÉMIE, Haiti — Things had been looking up in Jérémie, a coastal city marooned on the tip of Haiti’s southern peninsula. It had recently gotten its first decent road link to the rest of the country, a new highway through the rugged mountains that brought development. Cellphone service had finally begun, enabling farmers and businesses to flourish. The city was racing into the 21st century, dreaming of advanced agriculture and tourism in one of Haiti’s few nature preserves. But now, Hurricane Matthew has turned back the clock. The rich forests and vegetation are now splinters and a saltwater swamp. Roads are blocked with detritus, trees turned to tinder, homes reduced to mounds of stone and rusted tin shards cleaved from roofs. Jérémie’s ambitious economic plans have been eviscerated. “Instead of going forward, we have to restart,” said Marie Roselore Auborg, the minister for commerce and industry in the Grand Anse department, where Jérémie is the capital. “This storm leveled all of the potential we had to grow and reboot our economy. ” Hurricane Matthew’s toll in Haiti has been hard to measure: the deaths and injuries, the number of people still stranded, the cases of cholera contracted in the week since winds of 145 miles an hour blew the country back to a tragically familiar state of disaster. So, too, is the economic impact of the devastation on the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. For Jérémie, isolated and underdeveloped for decades, recent history had been relatively kind, bringing new hotels and a robust coffee crop. But as so often in the past, whenever Haiti tries to pick itself up, something always seems to knock it back down, including, and perhaps especially, the forces of nature. “In 2010, before the earthquake, we had a growth rate of 5. 7 percent,” said Jude Célestin, a presidential candidate who toured the devastated area on Sunday afternoon. “It’s the same in Jérémie. It was going up. People from were investing here. ” As a crowd shouted in the background, trying to get closer to the candidate in the scrum, Mr. Célestin looked around at the homes stripped to their foundations and the mounds of refuse piled up to his shoulders. “And now, this,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s the way it is. ” The vista in Jérémie was a familiar one, of devastation more profound than the sum of its parts. Fetid water pooled along the only entrance and exit from the town, and just about everything on the hillsides had been leveled — trees, houses, cellphone towers. Helicopters and convoys of sport utility vehicles descended on the city on Sunday, choking it with traffic after the highway, blocked for the better part of a week, was reopened. Collecting the dead in Jérémie has become a cruel pastime. The government tally for all of Grand Anse was up to 191 on Sunday, but locals put the figure closer to 450, and the grim work of counting the dead has only begun. New outbreaks of cholera were reported in stretches of the south that were still inaccessible by road, and dozens of victims were said to be making their way to hospitals on foot to seek care. In Jérémie, cholera may be one of the hurricane’s worst aftereffects. Of all departments in Haiti, Grand Anse has the least access to fresh water and modern sanitation, according to the World Bank. The smell of feces and soured storm water filled the streets closest to the city’s waterfront, a recipe for a sustained crisis. For now, though, residents were more focused on the immediate problem of shelter. Gary Guerrier, 36, a schoolteacher, saw the storm rip the metal roof off his house, leaving him, his wife and their baby daughter exposed to the elements. After being driven back twice by the raging winds, he finally wrapped the infant in a bundle of bedsheets to protect her for the journey to a neighbor’s house. “I’m still in a state of shock,” Mr. Guerrier said. “We’re lucky we didn’t lose anyone. But as for material things, I lost everything. ” Houses in Beaumont, a town on the outskirts of Jérémie, fared even worse. Constructed of white stones and red earth, they were no match for the winds and pounding rain, and few were left standing among the felled coffee plants and orange trees after the storm passed. Residents farther up in the hills were still hunting for family members, while those along the lower rungs of the mountain had already interred their loved ones. “We found my father in his home, suffering several broken bones,” said Desir Luckner, 49, pointing to what remained of the house — a concrete foundation with one timber beam still upright. “We carried him down the hill to find help, but he died on the way. ” For all the shattered lives, the city of Jérémie was bustling on Sunday. Vendors squeezed between the wreckage on the roadsides, selling bread patties and overpriced spring onions magically procured from somewhere. A few businesses were operating, mostly out of necessity, to begin earning back what was lost. Claudia St. Louis opened her small bakery, selling comparettes, a local sweet bread, to those who could pay. “I lost my home, but I have to keep going, because it’s my livelihood,” she said, swatting at bees whose hive had been crushed during the storm. “There will be fewer people to buy these now, but there is nothing to be done about it. ” Ms. St. Louis said her business had been booming before the storm, with sales up 50 percent in the last year, and she was planning to expand into other baked items and perhaps even open a cosmetics shop as well. “I can’t do that now,” she said. The head of the chamber of commerce in Grand Anse, Monode Joseph, said the situation would be dire for a while. Along with the stores, hotels and small restaurants that gave the city its ambience, the farmers of the region were struggling, he said. Mr. Joseph traveled to the national capital, after the storm to ask investors to keep supporting the coffee planters and bean farmers of the region as they tried to restore their land and start over. “The people were beginning to better organize themselves, which was increasing our business,” and he persuaded the investors only last year to put in more capital, Mr. Joseph said. “It’s going to be hard to get the credit we need now. ” Without that money, he said, the repercussions for farming will be catastrophic: “We don’t even know everything that’s been lost. ”
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One of the biggest American public health victories of the last decade has been the record low reached in the teenage birthrate. Along with that have been lows in rates for teenage pregnancy and abortion. Most researchers believe that improved access to contraception is a large part of this success. But news continues to focus on the concern that contraception — like the pill or the patch — causes depression, and that this should lead us to question its wider use. A more nuanced discussion would consider both the benefits and the harms. This issue drew widespread coverage at the end of last year with a large study published in JAMA Psychiatry. Researchers tracked all women and adolescent females (ages 15 to 34) living in Denmark from 2000 through 2014. The study found that those who used hormonal contraception had significantly higher risks of also taking an antidepressant. The study broke down the increased relative risk for each hormonal method this way: combined oral contraceptives (23 percent) pills (34 percent) the patch (100 percent) vaginal ring (60 percent) and levonorgestrel intrauterine system (40 percent). The risks were highest in adolescents and decreased as women aged. The risks also peaked six months after the start of contraception. Needless to say, many news outlets covered this finding widely. Some portrayed it as shocking new information that should change the way we think about hormonal birth control. Others saw it as a vindication of many women who said for years that birth control had triggered their depression while scientists and doctors ignored them. But we have to acknowledge the limitations of this type of research. It’s not a controlled trial, and it’s impossible to establish causality. Women who choose to have sex could also be more likely to consider antidepressant use. Women who are plugged in enough to the health care system to obtain hormonal contraception could be more likely to have their depression appropriately diagnosed and treated — which is a good thing. It’s also possible that an antidepressant prescription isn’t the best measure of depression. That would require an actual diagnosis by a health care professional, and such data were not available in the Danish cohort. Previous studies that looked at rates of severe depression did not find a correlation with hormonal birth control use. Finally, huge cohort studies using many participants are likely to find a statistically significant result even if that result is not clinically significant. This is especially true if the cohort data come from an administrative database, like the one used in this study, that has been specifically identified as problematic in prior publications. We also have to place this study in context with others. Months earlier, a systematic review of all studies that looked at the relationship between hormonal contraception and depression was published in The European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care. The authors first noted that there were too few prospective studies. But the data that do exist show that most women don’t show any effect from hormonal birth control, or actually had their mood improve. Adverse effects were rare, and even rarer when the contraception contained lower levels of the hormone progestin. Finally, women who have underlying mood disorders were more predisposed to have side effects, but that could be related to their choosing different types of birth control rather than the birth control itself. When many studies do not find a connection, and then one does, that latter one does not “replace” all prior research. That study has to be weighed along with the rest. It’s also important to consider publication bias, in which a study is more likely to be published if it’s a “significant” result and if it’s newsy. In this case, the finding that common birth control causes depression is both. But let us assume, for the sake of argument, that this most recent finding is both real and causal. Even then, we need to rely on absolute risks, not relative risks. In the Denmark study, for every 100 women who didn’t use hormonal birth control, 1. 7 were later prescribed an antidepressant. For every 100 who did use hormonal birth control, 2. 2 were later prescribed an antidepressant. The overall difference (0. 5 percentage points) means that if this were a randomized controlled trial, we would expect that for every 200 women treated, one extra woman might need to be treated with an antidepressant. We can also assume, though, that pretty much all of them would receive the benefit of birth control in family planning. Moreover, lest anyone forget, depression is also significantly associated with pregnancy, especially when that pregnancy is unintended. None of this is to say that we should ignore the risk of depression. Depression is a listed side effect of birth control it’s on the package inserts. All drugs have side effects. The drug I take for my ulcerative colitis has a real, if small, risk of causing myelosuppression. But the benefits I receive from it simply outweigh the risks. Women need to discuss with their physicians the potential downsides, as well as the potential upsides, of all forms of contraception. We shouldn’t ignore the potential for hormonal birth control to cause mood changes in women. We also shouldn’t pay attention only to those side effects, forgetting to place them in context with the benefits.
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What is going on with WikiLeaks? Defend Democracy
WikiLeaks director and founder of the Centre for Investigative Journalism Gavin MacFadyen has died at age 76. The cause of death is yet unknown. His ‘fellows in arms’ have flocked online to post their farewells, including WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange.
“ We are extremely sad to announce the death of Gavin MacFadyen, CIJ’s Founder, Director and its leading light ,” the Centre for Investigative Journalism team wrote on its Twitter.
MacFadyen was a pioneering investigative journalist and filmmaker, who back in 2003 founded the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ), an organization that helped break several major stories and has trained a number of prominent journalists.
Gavin Macfadyen was mentor to Assange (and his closest friend in London), to WikiLeaks’ Sarah Harrison, Joseph Farrell and many others.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) 4:03 AM – 23 Oct 2016
He was a mentor and friend to famous whistleblower and co-founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, as well as the director of the publication. Paying tribute to their head, WikiLeaks published a post on the group’s Twitter account saying MacFadyen “ now takes his fists and his fight to battle God .”
The post is signed “ JA ,” indicating that the phrase belongs directly to Julian Assange, with WikiLeaks claiming that, despite the whistleblower being deprived of internet access in his suite in the Ecuadorian embassy for a week now, he has been able to contact them and is “ still in full command. ”
The CIJ team also published an address from MacFadyen’s wife and member of Julian Assange’s Defense Fund, Susan Benn, who described her husband as a “ larger-than-life person, ” with gratitude and respect.
“ He was the model of what a journalist should be… He spearheaded the creation of a journalistic landscape which has irrevocably lifted the bar for ethical and hard-hitting reporting. Gavin worked tirelessly to hold power to account.
“His life and how he lived it were completely in sync with the principles that he held dear and practiced as a journalist and educator – to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, ” Benn wrote .
Recounting her husband’s achievements, she said he had produced and directed more than 50 investigative documentaries covering diverse and multiple countries and problems. She also noted that he had been banned from apartheid South Africa and the Soviet Union for his investigative work, and was also attacked by British Neo-Nazis.
In his professional career, MacFadyen shed light on topics like child labor, pollution, the torture of political prisoners, neo-Nazis in Britain, UK industrial accidents, Contra murders in Nicaragua, the CIA, maritime piracy, election fraud in South America, South African mines, as well as many others. He worked on investigative television programs for PBS’s Frontline, Granada Television’s World in Action, the BBC’s Fine Cut, Panorama, The Money Programme, and 24 Hours, as well as Channel 4’s Dispatches.
The cause of MacFadyen’s death has not yet been made public. In the original post from his wife Susan, she wrote that he had died from “ a short illness, ” but that line has now been removed.
Did you know: Gavin Macfadyen was arrested with Bernie Sanders, was a body double for Nick Nolte & was banned from South Africa & the USSR?
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) 4:20 AM – 23 Oct 2016
Twitter has been full of tributes from his colleagues and like-minded people. Even the hacktivist organization Anonymous has spoken out. Gavin MacFadyen, always kind & supportive of young journalists & filmmakers. Can never forget your booming laugh. Thank you my friend.
Earlier this year, MacFadyen gave an interview to RT’s Going Underground program to talk about the publication of leaks related to US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the most recent of which have been emails from the account of her aid, John Podesta. The barrage of sometimes shocking revelations has proven to be a bit of a thorn in the side for Clinton’s election campaign. In the interview, he said that the documents released so far are merely a drop in the ocean of the information WikiLeaks is receiving, and was hopeful that while “ there’s only one known Snowden, ” there may be other whistleblowers who will keep shedding light on injustice and other major global pain points.
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French police shot an Algerian man who reportedly attacked them while shouting “this is for Syria” outside the Cathedral in Paris, France. One officer is reported to have been injured in the incident. [Police reacted to the event in central Paris Tuesday afternoon, having shut down the neighbourhood, with some 900 tourists and worshippers locked into the Cathedral for their safety. French television network BFMTV reports the assailant, who is said to have attacked a police officer with a hammer while shouting “this is for Syria” had been seen “on the ground” and that he had been shot in the chest. A search after the event found that in addition to the hammer, the man was also carrying two knives. The assailant is reported to have been a Algerian student. Witnesses spoke of two shots fired, which came after the assailant reportedly went after members of the public with the hammer, before turning on a pair of policemen. After striking one in the head, the second officer used his firearm. The injured parties were subsequently taken to hospital. Police asking everyone to raise their hands in the church pic. twitter. — Matthew CurrieHolmes (@mch2k) June 6, 2017, so we are trapped in Notre Dame Cathedral. Something is happening outside we don’t know what it is. Police sirens can be heard #NotreDame, — Matthew CurrieHolmes (@mch2k) June 6, 2017, This story is developing
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Many thousands of women are expected to converge on the nation’s capital for the Women’s March on Washington the day after Donald J. Trump’s inauguration. Jennifer Willis no longer plans to be one of them. Ms. Willis, a wedding minister from South Carolina, had looked forward to taking her daughters to the march. Then she read a post on the Facebook page for the march that made her feel unwelcome because she is white. The post, written by a black activist from Brooklyn who is a march volunteer, advised “white allies” to listen more and talk less. It also chided those who, it said, were only now waking up to racism because of the election. “You don’t just get to join because now you’re scared, too,” read the post. “I was born scared. ” Stung by the tone, Ms. Willis canceled her trip. “This is a women’s march,” she said. “We’re supposed to be allies in equal pay, marriage, adoption. Why is it now about, ‘White women don’t understand black women’?” If all goes as planned, the Jan. 21 march will be a momentous display of unity in protest of a president whose treatment of women came to dominate the campaign’s final weeks. But long before the first buses roll to Washington and sister demonstrations take place in other cities, contentious conversations about race have erupted nearly every day among marchers, exhilarating some and alienating others. In Tennessee, emotions ran high when organizers changed the name of the local march from “Women’s March on ” to “Power Together Tennessee, in solidarity with Women’s March on Washington. ” While many applauded the name change, which was meant to signal the start of a new social justice movement in Nashville, some complained that the event had turned from a march for all women into a march for black women. In Louisiana, the first state coordinator gave up her volunteer role in part because there were no minority women in leadership positions at that time. “I got a lot of flak locally when I stepped down, from white women who said that I’m alienating a lot of white women,” said Candice Huber, a bookstore owner in New Orleans, who is white. “They said, ‘Why do you have to be so divisive? ’” In some ways, the discord is by design. Even as they are working to ensure a smooth and unified march next week, the national organizers said they made a deliberate decision to highlight the plight of minority and undocumented immigrant women and provoke uncomfortable discussions about race. “This was an opportunity to take the conversation to the deep places,” said Linda Sarsour, a Muslim who heads the Arab American Association of New York and is one of four of the national march. “Sometimes you are going to upset people. ” The post that offended Ms. Willis was part of that effort. So was the quotation posted on the march’s Facebook page from Bell Hooks, the black feminist, about forging a stronger sisterhood by “confronting the ways women — through sex, class and race — dominated and exploited other women. ” In response, a New Jersey woman wrote: “I’m starting to feel not very welcome in this endeavor. ” A debate then ensued about whether white women were just now experiencing what minority women experience daily, or were having a hard time yielding control. A young white woman from Baltimore wrote with bitterness that white women who might have been victims of rape and abuse were being “asked to check their privilege,” a catchphrase that refers to people acknowledging their advantages, but which even some liberal women find unduly confrontational. No one involved with the march fears that the rancor will dampen turnout even many of those who expressed dismay at the tone of the discussion said they still intended to join what is sure to be the largest demonstration yet against the Trump presidency. “I will march,” one wrote on the march’s Facebook page, “Hoping that someday soon a sense of unity will occur before it’s too late. ” But these debates over race also reflect deeper questions about the future of progressivism in the age of Trump. Should the march highlight what divides women, or what unites them? Is there room for women who have never heard of “white privilege”? And at a time when a presidential candidate ran against political correctness and won — with half of white female voters supporting him — is this the time to tone down talk about race or to double down? “If your goal is to get as many people as possible at the march, maybe you don’t want to alienate people,” said Anne Valk, the author of “Radical Sisters,” a book about racial and class differences in the women’s movement. “But if your goal is to use the march as a catalyst for progressive social and political change, then that has to include thinking about race and class privilege. ” The discord also reflects the variety of women’s rights and liberal causes being represented at the march, as well as a generational divide. Many older white women spent their lives fighting for rights like workplace protections that younger women now take for granted. Many young activists have spent years protesting police tactics and criminal justice policies — issues they feel too many white liberals have ignored. “Yes, equal pay is an issue,” Ms. Sarsour said. “But look at the ratio of what white women get paid versus black women and Latina women. ” For too long, the march organizers said, the women’s rights movement focused on issues that were important to white women, such as the ability to work outside the home and attain the same positions that men do. But minority women, they said, have had different priorities. Black women who have worked their whole lives as maids might care more about the minimum wage or police brutality than about seeing a woman in the White House. Undocumented immigrant women might care about abortion rights, they said, but not nearly as much as they worry about being deported. This brand of feminism — frequently referred to as “intersectionality” — asks white women to acknowledge that they have had it easier. It speaks candidly about the history of racism, even within the feminist movement itself. The organizers of the 1913 suffrage march on Washington asked black women to march at the back of the parade. The issue of race has followed the march from its inception. The day after the election, Bob Bland, a fashion designer in New York, floated the idea of a march in Washington on Facebook. Within hours, 3, 000 people said they would join. Then a friend called to tell Ms. Bland that a woman in Hawaii with a similar page had collected pledges from 12, 000 people. “I thought, ‘Wow, let’s merge,’” Ms. Bland recalled. As the effort grew, a number of comments on Facebook implored Ms. Bland, who is white, to include minority women on the leadership team. Ms. Bland felt strongly that it was the right thing to do. Within three days of the election, Carmen Perez, a Hispanic activist working on juvenile justice, and Tamika D. Mallory, a gun control activist who is black, joined Ms. Bland. Gloria Steinem, honorary of the march along with Harry Belafonte, lauded their approach. “Sexism is always made worse by racism — and vice versa,” she said in an email. Ms. Steinem, who plans to participate in a town hall meeting during the march with Alicia Garza, a of Black Lives Matter, said even contentious conversations about race were a “good thing. ” “It’s about knowing each other,” she wrote. “Which is what movements and marches are for. ” But the tone of the discussion, particularly online, can become so raw that some marchers feel they are no longer welcome. Ms. Willis, the South Carolina wedding minister, had been looking forward to the salve of rallying with people who share her values, a rarity in her home state, where she said she had been insulted and shouted at for marrying gay couples. But then she read a post by ShiShi Rose, a blogger from Brooklyn. “Now is the time for you to be listening more, talking less,” Ms. Rose wrote. “You should be reading our books and understanding the roots of racism and white supremacy. Listening to our speeches. You should be drowning yourselves in our poetry. ” It rubbed Ms. Willis the wrong way. “How do you know that I’m not reading black poetry?” she asked in an interview. Ms. Willis says that she understands being born white gives her advantages, and that she is always open to learning more about the struggles of others. But, she said, “The last thing that is going to make me endeared to you, to know you and love you more, is if you are sitting there wagging your finger at me. ” Ms. Rose said in an interview that the intention of the post was not to weed people out but rather to make them understand that they had a lot of learning to do. “I needed them to understand that they don’t just get to join the march and not check their privilege constantly,” she said. That phrase — check your privilege — exasperates Ms. Willis. She asked a reporter: “Can you please tell me what that means?”
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Wednesday 2 November 2016 by Neil Tollfree €100k in used notes might make poppies less political, say FIFA
Fifa has indicated that the row over England and Scotland players wearing poppies on their kit could be ended in recompense for a ‘gift’ of €100,000 in untraceable used bank notes.
“FIFA is committed to a new era without corruption,” said FIFA head Gianni ‘Razors’ Infantino.
“As such, we would never suggest any sort of bribe. However, if these guys, these British Legion guys, if they were to offer a small financial gesture of friendship, then perhaps we would be able to forget the political implications of wearing a symbol of remembrance and the whole situation could be resolved without any need for…unpleasantness.”
The row began after FIFA refused permission for the England and Scotland players to wear a poppy symbol on their shirts because, unlike the Nike or Puma logos, there is literally no money in it.
“I looked into it,” continued Don Infantino.
“These poppy guys brought in over a mil last year, and that’s pure untaxed profit. Now we ain’t asking for much over here, just a taste is all. A gesture. But in Euros, none of that worthless Sterling rubbish.
Although negotiations are currently amicable, there were indications that things could become less so.
“Hey, we’re all friends here but if, you know, if we can’t all get along,” said Mr Infantino with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“We’re going to have to make them an offer they can’t refuse.” Get the best NewsThump stories in your mailbox every Friday, for FREE! There are currently
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A federal judge in Manhattan has ordered the partial unsealing of a government search warrant and supporting documents stemming from a federal inquiry into emails belonging to Huma Abedin, a top aide to Hillary Clinton. The judge, P. Kevin Castel of United States District Court, ordered on Monday that the documents be posted on the court’s docket at noon on Tuesday unless his decision is appealed and stayed or modified by a federal appeals court. The emails were discovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation during an unrelated investigation of Anthony D. Weiner, the former congressman and estranged husband of Ms. Abedin. Mr. Weiner has been under investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan over allegations that he exchanged illicit text messages with a girl. The emails, which the F. B. I. director, James B. Comey, revealed to Congress on Oct. 28, jolted Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign and led to broad criticism of his handling of the investigation. On Nov. 6, Mr. Comey told Congress that the bureau’s review of the emails had not changed its conclusion: Mrs. Clinton should face no charges over her handling of classified information. The requested unsealing of the warrant and related materials was made by E. Randol Schoenberg, a lawyer who has criticized Mr. Comey’s handling of the investigation and who has written that Mr. Comey’s actions cost Mrs. Clinton the presidency. Mr. Schoenberg argued in a court filing that access to the materials “that provided the basis for the investigation are of the utmost public importance. ” Last week, a Justice Department lawyer, Jennie L. Kneedler, said the government objected to the unsealing request, but Judge Castel made it clear that he was leaning toward releasing the materials, with some redactions. He asked the government to provide the documents and proposed redactions to him under seal. In his ruling, the judge noted that the government, in its filing, “effectively” withdrew its opposition to Mr. Schoenberg’s request and asked that the documents be unsealed with redactions. In ordering the unsealing, the judge said Mrs. Clinton had little “privacy interest in the release of documents identifying her as the subject of this investigation. ” “The strong presumption of access attached to the search warrant and related materials is not overcome by any remaining privacy interest of Secretary Clinton,” the judge said. Although Ms. Abedin and Mr. Weiner are not mentioned in the ruling, their names appear to be among the redacted information, along with portions related to the investigation of Mr. Weiner. Mrs. Clinton had taken no position on the request, Mr. Schoenberg’s lawyer, David B. Rankin, said in a court filing last week. Mrs. Clinton’s lawyer, David E. Kendall, declined to comment on the ruling, as did Arlo a lawyer for Mr. Weiner, and lawyers for Ms. Abedin. The Justice Department also declined to comment.
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More Reports Of Votes Flipping From Trump To Clinton In Texas ….election Officials Dismiss Concerns… An Ongoing Cbs4 Voter Fraud Investigation Finds People Voting Twice by IWB · October 27, 2016 Tweet Following our story yesterday, there have been more reports of early voters in Texas seeing their ballots flipped from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton. Voters in Arlington and Amarillo complained that when they highlighted the box to select Trump/Pence, it switched to Clinton/Kaine. Now numerous other Texans have gone public on social media to report similar problems. However, election officials in Texas are denying that there is a problem. “Typically, we’ve found it’s voter error with the equipment,” Frank Phillips, Tarrant County’s election administrator, told WFAA . “Sometimes they vote straight party and then click on other candidates … or do something with the wheel….There is not an issue with the equipment.” Are all these examples just voters making mistakes or inaccurately reporting what happened? Or could there be a real problem with electronic voting machines in Texas?
http://www.infowars.com/more-reports-of-votes-flipping-from-trump-to-clinton-in-texas/
An ongoing CBS4 VOTER FRAUD investigation Finds People Voting Twice
DENVER (CBS4)– An ongoing CBS4 voter fraud investigation has uncovered a dozen cases where Coloradans are suspected of voting twice. Previous CBS4 Investigations revealed ballots cast in the names of Coloradans who had been dead for months– sometimes years- before votes were cast in their names.
In six of the new cases, voting records show the same people voting twice in Colorado elections. In another six cases, people are suspected of voting in Colorado and another state during the same election cycle.
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2016/10/25/cbs4-investigation-finds-people-voting-twice/
Voting Machine Caught on Camera Casting Ballot for Democrat when Selecting Republican
Early voting has only been underway for two whole and we’re already facing a glitch in the system. Chambers County was forced to pull the plug on their voting machines and turn to the paper ballot due to a software problem. All electronic voting has been stopped until the software can be updated.
http://kluv.cbslocal.com/2016/10/26/chambers-county-texas-switches-to-paper-ballots/
Florida Governor Busted Attempting To Toss Thousands Of Mail-In Ballots
A federal judge on Saturday blocked Florida Governor Rick Scott’s attempt to throw out tens of thousands of mail-in ballots, then publicly reprimanded him. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a blistering caution to Scott’s top election official on a lawsuit about vote-by-mail ballots.
According to ABC News , the judge accused Governor Scott appointed Secretary of State Ken Detzner of “delaying a hearing on the lawsuit, so that he could use every second available to run out the clock,” . That means, there would not be enough time to address the lawsuit. Then, Judge Walker said the governor’s man, Detzner, was in effect committing an “undeclared war’ on Florida voters’ rights.
Florida’s Democratic Party filed a lawsuit asserting that thousands of vote-by-mail ballots were rejected each election, because the voter’s ballot envelope and the registration file signatures do not match. Without a signature, Florida law says that a vote-by-mail ballot cannot be counted.
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On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher stated, “Trump’s stormtroopers are pulling Mexican kids out of classrooms to send them back to Mexico. ” Maher reacted to Caitlyn Jenner’s criticism of Trump’s policies on transgenderism in schools by stating, “I love the of this, where she draws the line. You know, Bruce Jenner was an idiot, adding tits didn’t make him a genius. Really, Trump’s stormtroopers are pulling Mexican kids out of classrooms to send them back to Mexico. That’s okay, but mess with my right to pee? Shame on you, sir. ” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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The Federer family has shared many a road trip, but in this unusually settled period, the patriarch and primary breadwinner has been fielding more and more questions. “The kids were asking, ‘When are we leaving again? ’” Roger Federer said in an extended interview from Dubai on Friday. “Because they were happy to get back on the road. It was like, when are we going the next time to Australia or the next time to New York? And I’ve been saying, ‘Not for a while. ’” But the next family business trip is now fast approaching. Federer is set to return to action next month in Perth, Australia, at the Hopman Cup team event before returning in earnest at the Australian Open in Melbourne. Federer has not played a match since July 8, when he lost in five sets to Milos Raonic in the semifinals at Wimbledon. In the last set, he took an awkward and uncharacteristic tumble on the grass that was too easy to see as a metaphor for the decline of a great, balletic champion. Federer landed on his left knee, which in February had required him to have surgery for the first time in his career, keeping him out for more than two months. Though he got up slowly at Wimbledon and finished the match, he did not finish the season. He even missed the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, which had long been one of his major targets. While his longtime rivals Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic duked it out for the No. 1 ranking and his Swiss countryman Stan Wawrinka won the United States Open, Federer got a taste of retirement with his longest break from the tour since he turned professional in 1998. Now, he will try his hand at a staple of modern tennis: the comeback. And he will do so with a world ranking of No. 16, his lowest since 2001. “It actually felt like I had my first real comeback in April when I came back in Monaco, especially having had surgery, because I never had surgery before,” Federer said. “So that felt like a real comeback to me, but this one feels bigger, obviously, because two months is not like six months. Clearly this comeback is going to have a different place in my career, for sure. ” Federer, 35, has little left to prove. He has already won a record 17 Grand Slam singles titles and 71 lesser titles. He has maintained a standard of excellence for far longer than most tennis champions do. Although he said he had treasured his time away from the tour with his wife, Mirka, and their four young children, he insisted that no consideration had been given to making the break permanent. “Mirka is totally committed, totally happy,” he said. “The kids love it, and I’m still hungry, and now I’m even refreshed and rejuvenated. ” The question of retirement never came up. For Federer, the questions were instead: “Can I still do it? As a player, can my body still do it? Can my mind still do it?” Those are particularly intriguing questions at a moment when so much talent — both rising and established — seems to be converging in the men’s game. Federer, as much a tennis aficionado as a tennis maestro, is well aware of the story lines. The old guard on the men’s tour remains with Federer and Rafael Nadal, who at age 30 is returning from more injury problems of his own with a new coach in his team: Carlos Moyá. The new wave is full of promise, led by Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Nick Kyrgios, all of whom have already beaten Federer. There are also many established stars in their primes: from Raonic, Kei Nishikori and Juan Martín del Potro to the multiple Grand Slam champions Wawrinka, Murray and Djokovic. Federer, even in absentia, said he had kept checking the scores on his phone as Murray dueled with Djokovic down the stretch in November to secure the No. 1 ranking. “I was very surprised just because when a guy starts a season the way Novak does, achieves his dream by winning the French and his fourth Slam in a row, of course there’s no way in the world that anybody, even the players, start thinking another guy could actually finish No. 1,” Federer said. “Novak, let’s be honest, actually didn’t play too bad in the second half. He won Toronto. He played finals in many other tournaments: U. S. Open, the World Tour Finals. You would think that that’s going to be enough, but what it required was something extraordinary, and Murray was able to deliver that, and that’s where I take my hat off. ” Federer did not experience a letdown in 2009 after winning the French Open, the only major singles title he had lacked. But he said he could certainly comprehend the perils of Djokovic’s emotional journey in 2016. “Maybe it’s only human and understandable that Novak had a letdown, because he achieved everything he wanted to,” Federer said. “You have to maybe reinvent yourself or whatever you have to do. But it’s nice to see that maybe it doesn’t always come so easy for everybody for so long. “And I think it actually creates a great story for next year. Andy’s a great story. Novak’s a great story. Rafa, obviously, is always going to be a good story. Me coming back is hopefully going to be a nice story to follow, too. I think the beginning of the year, especially the Australian summer, is going to be epic. ” Federer said his decision to end his season after Wimbledon had been made out of a desire to get the most out of what remains of his career. “Maybe I could have, should have taken more time after the Australian Open once I had surgery,” he said. “Possibly, but I was well. I was training full on in Dubai. ” After withdrawing from the French Open, ending his consecutive streak of Grand Slam appearances at 65, Federer came back for the season and Wimbledon knowing his knee was not quite right. “I don’t think it cost me the rest of the season by playing on the grass,” he said. “I just think the knee and the body needed a break, and taking six months off, I could take the time the body and knee required to heal. Now I can look back and say: ‘Look, if now it doesn’t go well, I did everything I possibly could. There are no regrets. ’” He said he had taken a particularly conservative approach this time around. “Especially the first three months, I was working out maybe one hour a day,” he said. When he did turn up the intensity with his longtime fitness coach Pierre Paganini, Federer said, he often avoided training on consecutive days. He started playing points again in early October, but he said he had not resumed full sessions until late November after he left Switzerland for Dubai, his usual training base. He has been practicing there frequently with the rising Frenchman Lucas Pouille, and on Thursday Federer planned to broadcast their practice session live on Periscope to give his fans an update on his progress. “I just felt I needed to start filling in people on how I’m doing as we get closer to the beginning of the season,” he said. The real test of how he is playing will have to wait for Australia, where his preview of life without the tennis circuit will officially come to an end. “I did get that taste of retirement,” Federer said. “All of the sudden, I could be organized and say: ‘O. K. we’re going to be four weeks at home in a row in the same place. Who do you want to go for dinner with, Mirka? Or who shall we catch up with?” Federer enjoyed having that time with his family and the predictability of being in one place for more than a week at a time. Fortunately, he said, his knee held up, and he was able to make the most of it. “I think that was really exciting and good for us to have that time,” he said. “And it felt good, you know? It did feel good, but it can totally wait. No problem for me. It can totally wait. ”
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How many of you will never vote again if trump is not elected? Page 1 Mail with questions or comments about this site. "Godlike Productions" & "GLP" are registered trademarks of Zero Point Ltd. Godlike™ Website Design Copyright © 1999 - 2015 Godlikeproductions.com Page generated in 0.144s (10 queries)
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The father of Michael Brown accused the City of Ferguson of “asking for” the riots that plagued the city following his son’s death. [His comments came in response to the release of a film, “Stranger Fruit,” during Austin, Texas’ South by Southwest Film Festival. The film reportedly reveals new video footage taken from a market in Ferguson Michael Brown was accused of robbing, CNN reported. Director Jason Pollock claims Brown did not rob the store as widely reported, but was simply picking up some cigarillos the clerks had given him in exchange for marijuana. The film’s producers accuse the City of Ferguson of hiding this video and only releasing the later video with claims Brown was robbing the store. “Maybe the City of Ferguson wouldn’t have gotten tore up like that,” Michael Brown Sr. said during a press conference about the video. “It’s almost like they asked for it, if you ask me, for not keeping no truth in there. ” Ferguson police responded to the claim by the senior Brown, stating that Michael Brown was not initially stopped in connection with the incident at the store. He was stopped for walking in the middle of the road, CNN stated. The riots that erupted following the shooting death of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer had nothing to do with anything that happened at the store, or even the facts of Brown’s encounter with the police officer. Rather, the riots broke out following a false “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” narrative put forward by politically motivated activists. The riots were further fueled by the Obama Administration’s fanning the flames with rhetoric that supported the false narrative, Breitbart News reported in 2015. “Now the campaign of terror against police has come back to where the great lie started. Obama and Holder will not finish until they have destroyed Ferguson — destroyed it, in the parlance of the Vietnam era, in order to save it, razed it to rebuild it in the stylized image of Selma 1965, razed it in order to fit the delusions of an Attorney General who thinks we have made no progress since the era of Malcolm X and a President who once promised — incredibly! — to unite America,” Breitbart’s Joel Pollock wrote at the time. Breitbart News reported extensively on the aftermath of the shooting in Ferguson and the subsequent riots and political chaos that arose over the next several months. The release of the new video sparked a new round of protests in Ferguson over the weekend, CNN reported. During a protest Sunday night, a Ferguson police officer’s nose was broken after a female protester punched him in the face. Brandon Darby contributed to this report. Darby serves as Breitbart Texas Managing Director and . He the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. 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.
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(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Mayhem in the heart of London. A lone assailant plowed a vehicle into pedestrians on the Westminster Bridge, killing two and injuring 40 others, before crashing into a railing. One of the injured later died at a hospital. He then left the vehicle and fatally stabbed a police officer outside Parliament, before he was shot and killed. The police are investigating it as a terrorist attack. The attacker’s identity has not been released, but Scotland Yard officials said they believed they knew who he was. Here’s a quick rundown of what we know — and what we don’t know — about the chaotic episode, which came on the anniversary of the Brussels Airport and subway attack. _____ 2. Republican governors are rebelling against the deep cuts to domestic programs in President Trump’s proposed budget. They’re most concerned about cuts to job training and economic revitalization programs, and to grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The budget also calls for a $54 billion increase in military spending, though the U. S. already spends far more than any other country on defense. Here’s a breakdown of the military’s current size, equipment and funding. Above, Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified about the budget before a Senate subcommittee. _____ 3. House Republicans face an excruciating choice tomorrow. A yea vote on the bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act risks havoc for voters in their districts. Voting nay risks the vengeance of the president. We’re keeping tabs on the expected votes here. If the bill goes to the Senate, negotiations could last months. _____ 4. The confirmation hearing for Judge Neil Gorsuch, Mr. Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, continued on Capitol Hill. Republicans lobbed softball questions on topics like mutton busting and Horse v. Duck, but Democrats grilled him — to little avail — about issues like his role in approving harsh interrogation techniques as a lawyer for President George W. Bush. “You have been very much able to avoid any specificity like no one I have seen before,” Senator Dianne Feinstein told him. _____ 5. The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee suggested that U. S. intelligence agencies monitoring foreign officials may have “incidentally” picked up communications of Trump transition team members. The statement by Representative Devin Nunes of California, above, by no means indicates that Mr. Trump himself was under direct surveillance. But the White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, seized on it as “startling information,” and Mr. Trump said he felt “somewhat” vindicated. Social science research suggests that Mr. Trump’s insistence that he was wiretapped, despite the lack of evidence, is part of a pattern that plays well in a highly partisan environment. _____ 6. An airstrike by the coalition against the Islamic State killed 30 civilians in a rural area of northern Syria, according to local reports. It was the second time in a week that Syrians accused the U. S. of killing civilians with airstrikes, raising concerns that the military has become less careful, or less selective, in its targeting under Mr. Trump. Above, burning tires to disrupt warplanes in Aleppo Province. _____ 7. “I can’t imagine something that was more of a nightmare. ” So says a lawyer for an Army veteran, Elliott Williams, who died in an Oklahoma jail cell in 2011. A jury awarded his family $10. 5 million this week. Immobilized by a broken neck, Mr. Williams, 37, spent his last days lying on the floor of his cell, unable to reach the food and water placed nearby by guards who did not believe his claim that he was injured. The cell’s video monitor captured 51 hours of his suffering and death. _____ 8. Spurred by the presidential election, more women are running for local elected office, from school boards to town councils to state legislatures, including Lacey Rzeszowski, above. “It’s happening all around the country,“ said an expert. “Women are looking for a way to have a voice. ” In related news, a consumer research group says sales of art supplies were up in January, thanks to protest signs. _____ 9. A scholarly sting operation is shedding light on sketchy academic journals. A fake applicant whose name meant “fraudster” in Polish applied to 360 “ ” journals, listing fake degrees and publications, asking to be an editor. of them accepted her — and four made her editor in chief. _____ 10. Lovelorn men in India are trying a new strategy: calling numbers at random until they hear a woman’s voice. Intentionally dialing wrong numbers is a way to find romance, but it’s a popular move in places where traditional gender segregation has collided with cheap new technologies. Reports of phone stalking and harassment have increased — a police call center above logs such complaints. But an unknown number of phone Romeos end up in successful “ relationships. ” _____ 11. Finally, on TV tonight, the new drama “Shots Fired” follows the spring premiere of “Empire” on Fox. Our critic says “Shots Fired,” above, about police shootings in a North Carolina town, shows “a broad curiosity, one that hears every character out but doesn’t confuse empathy with . ” And Jimmy Kimmel asked Dave Chappelle why, after 13 years, he decided to release not just one new comedy special, but two. Mr. Chappelle: “Money. ” Have a great night. _____ Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com.
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Treasury, Bank of England and IMF Brexit forecasts proved wrong Published: October 29, 2016 Source: Express UK
THE Treasury, Bank of England and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are among the self-appointed anti-Brexit so-called economics experts who keep getting their forecasts WRONG. The IMF were among the institutions that forecast an economic disaster if Britain voted to Brexit
Establishment institutions, as well as global investment banks, issued united and terrifying warnings of economic disaster if Britain opted out of the European Union (EU), in an effort to sway the public into voting to Remain.
Yet figures released yesterday showed booming Britain's economy grew by 0.5 per cent in the three months after the vote, providing the crowning piece of unarguable evidence that the vote to leave did not negatively impact the UK.
The Treasury, under the leadership of George Osborne, had predicted Britain would fall into immediate recession after a Brexit vote, with GDP coming in at -0.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2016.
But yesterday the Treasury admitted the claim had been based on GUESSWORK which turned out to be wholly ill-informed.
Despite the rank amateurism and inaccuracy of almost all forecasts since Brexit a negative report on Britain’s economic competence – and since Brexit they have almost ALL been negative – risks serious harm to the welfare of the nation.
The IMF said Brexit could reduce the UK economy by as much as 9.5 per cent, and added that Britain could expect "sizeable" long-term losses in income.
Head of the IMF Christine Lagarde had the audacity to say she could not see ANYTHING positive to come from leaving the EU and an exit could have "particularly severe" consequences.
Ms Lagarde added that interest rates could also rise sharply in the event of leaving Europe, which would negatively impact on households with high debts.
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Edmondo Burr in News , US // 2 Comments Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday that voting machines in the U.S. state of Texas have been ‘flipping’ his registered votes to rival Hillary Clinton.
Sputnik reports:
The Republican nominee has warned for weeks that the election could be rigged against him.
“A lot of call-ins about vote flipping at the voting booths in Texas,” Trump said via Twitter. “People are not happy.”
Trump also noted in his Twitter message that the lines at the polling places are very long. “What is going on?” he asked. A lot of call-ins about vote flipping at the voting booths in Texas. People are not happy. BIG lines. What is going on?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 27 October 2016
On Tuesday, Chambers County in east Texas officially announced that it was switching over at least temporarily to the old-fashioned, low-tech system of voting with emergency paper ballots after electronic voting machines in the region suffered technical glitches.
Electronic voting using the usual machines would be suspended until the problems with them could be fixed, Chambers County Clerk Heather Hawthorne said in a press release.
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BNI Store Oct 26 2016 When a Muslim in America runs for political office, the ONLY reason he is running is to spread Islam. Period. FLORIDA: Mass mailing sent to Temple Terrace homes in the Tampa area questions whether or not a Muslim candidate is fit for office and offers solid reasons why he probably is not. CAIR-Florida City Council candidate Wael Odeh has lived more than three decades in this town of 25,000 straddling the Hillsborough River. Odeh is also a Muslim, born in Palestinian territory, and some believes that’s enough to disqualify him from election to the City Council. An anonymous letter has been mailed to a number of addresses in Temple Terrace questioning whether City Hall is safe with a Muslim working there and whether Odeh has ties to terrorism. The typewritten, single-spaced, one-page letter is dated October 2016. Among a number of questions it poses: “Could Odeh’s election be a foot in the door of Sharia Law’s subtle influence in our community?” Sharia is the detailed system of religious law developed by Muslim scholars in the early centuries of Islam and still in force among fundamentalists. Among other questions raised in the letter are why Odeh has not revealed in campaign mailers where he was born. The letter also questions whether he forces his wife into a subservient role, as do some observers of sharia. In addition, the letter says that designated terrorist group CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) endorses Odeh and claims the group has links to terrorism (It does) . In a statement to the Times, CAIR Florida’s government affairs director Laila Abdelaziz said, “This unfounded and slanderous attack on Mr. Odeh is concerning, and we hope Temple Terrace residents, community leaders and neighbors will reject its Islamophobic message.” Still, Temple Terrace City Council member Grant Rimbey said he worries the truth may not matter to a certain block of voters. “That is the sad reality,” Rimbey said. “I think there is racism in the city” and there are people “who want to keep Temple Terrace looking like it did in 1952 forever.” (What “race” is Islam?) Rimbey and Odeh estimate that 20 to 25 percent of Temple Terrace’s population is Muslim. (Now, that really IS disturbing – more Muslim block-busting) Six candidates have applied for two open seats on the council; the two candidates recording the most votes Nov. 8 will fill the positions. Odeh said he invites anyone with questions about Muslims to reach out to him — including the author of the anonymous letter. “If he wanted to learn more, he should have come to me directly.” (He learned everything he needed to know about Muslims on 9/11)
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PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. — Deadly wildfires ripped through the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee on Monday night and Tuesday, forcing thousands to flee as emergency responders sought to contain a blaze that conjured biblical comparison. “Everywhere you looked, there were fires everywhere. It was like driving into hell,” said Rain Moore, 32, a lieutenant with the Sneedville Fire Department, about an hour and a half away. Mr. Moore said he arrived early Tuesday and, while fighting the fire in the darkness, saw orange flames burning from the center of trees, indicating a strong intensity. Fueled by high winds and a drought in Tennessee, the fires damaged about 150 buildings and forced thousands to evacuate. Three people died and 14 others were injured, officials said Tuesday afternoon. More than 14, 000 people left Gatlinburg, and others were evacuated from nearby Pigeon Forge as well as other parts of Sevier County, in the eastern part of the state, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. More than 10, 000 people had been left without power in Sevier County. “This is the largest fire in the last hundred years of the state of Tennessee,” Gov. Bill Haslam said on Tuesday afternoon. Dramatic videos shot by residents and shared online showed flames lining the edge of the highways used for evacuations. The fires, the result of human error, started in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and were spread by winds that reached 87 miles per hour on Monday night. Greg Miller, the chief of the Gatlinburg Fire Department, said the authorities expected winds of about 60 m. p. h. overnight Tuesday, but were hopeful that rain would come first. Officials did not say how the three who died were killed. Gatlinburg’s mayor, Mike Werner, was among those who lost his home, he said on Tuesday. He also lost his business of more than three decades. “It’s a devastating time for us and for Gatlinburg,” he said. “But, as I said earlier this morning, we’re strong, we’re resilient and we’re going to make it. ” By early Tuesday evening, a thick, haze cut visibility in Gatlinburg to only a few city blocks. The fire had hopscotched around the resort town of 3, 900 people and 60, 000 hotel beds, flattening some buildings while leaving others next door or around the block untouched. Emergency vehicles, lights flashing, cruised past cars and gutted businesses as a city spokeswoman took reporters on a tour of the destruction. The town, located at the base of Great Smoky Mountains National Park about 50 miles from Knoxville, relies heavily on tourism. Pigeon Forge, home to Dolly Parton’s Dollywood theme park, is among the premier tourist destinations in the region. On Twitter, the National Park Service announced that officials had “closed all facilities in the park due to the extensive fire activity, and downed trees. ” Pete Owens, a spokesman for Dollywood, said in a statement that the park had not been damaged but that more than a dozen cabins managed by the company had been damaged or destroyed. Ms. Parton said she was “heartbroken” by the destruction: “I am praying for all the families affected by the fire and the firefighters who are working so hard to keep everyone safe. ” The fires spread through Tennessee as much of the South has been enduring a crippling drought, even though rainfall this week offered some relief. The United States Drought Monitor reported last week that 60 percent of Tennessee was in “exceptional” or “extreme” drought, the two most severe ratings. Wildfires, once a seasonal phenomenon, have become a consistent threat, partly because climate change has resulted in drier winters and warmer springs, which combine to pull moisture off the ground and into the air. The authorities closed Route 321 at the Rocky Top Sports World, barring access into downtown Gatlinburg. About 700 people gathered on Tuesday morning inside the complex’s main building, a center on the campus: mountain men with gray beards and canes alongside several people in blue surgical masks. One man was too choked up to talk, his tiny bull mix shaking inside his battered camouflage jacket. Dozens of Red Cross volunteers and firefighters tended to people who seemed shellshocked. “I got my family, man,” said Greg Lanham, 36, who fled the flames around 8 p. m. Monday with his wife, Kara, 32, and their three children. The family moved from Henderson, Tenn. three months ago. Mr. Lanham, a maintenance worker, and Ms. Lanham, a maid, both worked at Sidney James Mountain Lodge, which survived the fire but remains closed. “We didn’t know what to do,” Mr. Lanham said. “We took what little money we had in our pockets and found a place to stay. ” The family did manage to save their dogs, Gizmo, a Pekingese, and Scruffy, a Russell mix, along with their kitten, Snowball. Standing at the sports complex’s food counter, where Red Cross volunteers served free coffee, hot dogs, burgers and fries, and boxes of fried chicken, Ms. Lanham joined her family and, crying, told her husband: “It’s gone. It’s all gone. ” “We did lose everything,” Mr. Lanham said. “We got the clothes on our back. ”
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On Sunday Syrian state media said rebels had used chemical weapons against government-controlled districts of Aleppo.
RT reports:
Scores of civilians, including several children, were killed while hundreds of others were wounded in “relentless and indiscriminate” attacks carried out by opposition groups in the western districts of Aleppo, according to the UN statement.
“Those who argue that this is meant to relieve the siege of eastern Aleppo should be reminded that nothing justifies the use of disproportionate, indiscriminate [attacks,] including heavy weapons on civilian areas and it could amount to war crimes,” de Mistura said.
He echoed the condemnation voiced by the UN secretary-general regarding the attacks on schools. The special envoy also criticized the “use of heavy airpower on civilian areas.”
“The civilians of both sides of Aleppo have suffered enough due to futile but lethal attempts of subduing the city of Aleppo,” he said. “They now need and deserve a stable ceasefire covering this ancient city of Syria.”
Earlier on Sunday, state news agency SANA reported that “shells containing poison gases” had been fired at the residential district of al-Hamdaniya in western, government-held Aleppo.
RT Arabic’s crew in Aleppo reported 36 cases of suffocation. Al-Mayadeen reported that all the victims of the attack are civilians.
Just recently, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on a number of attacks in Aleppo that targeted schools and claimed the lives of at least three children in the period of 24 hours. Twelve more people died in an attack on a humanitarian aid corridor opened next to a school in the Al-Mashariq district, according to the ministry’s information. Twelve more people were injured.
Meanwhile, according to Russia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, over 16,000 people have fallen victim to opposition groups meant to be under US control. “From February to September, the opposition groups that are supposed to be under the US control committed 2,031 violations of the [cessation of hostilities], which claimed lives of 3,532 military personnel and 12,800 civilians,” the Mission’s statement, published on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry, reads.
According to Dr. Said Sadek, professor of Political Sociology at the American University of Cairo, it’s not likely that Western powers and the Gulf states will end their backing for rebel groups, even if they are found responsible for using chemical weapons in Aleppo. “We have to understand that for six years, the Western countries and the Gulf states invested in those ‘moderate’ or radical groups, and so they cannot abandon them,” Sadek explained. “They cannot pull out now and say, ‘OK we discovered that we are wrong, let’s get out and leave them.’ They have invested in them and they will still use them for bargaining in the future of Syria.”
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After more than 100 years, an international team of physicists has confirmed that Einstein’s gravitational waves do in fact exist and that he was right all along. This is one of the biggest astrophysical discoveries of the in history.
Via UsualRoutine
About one month ago American theoretical physicist, Lawrence Krauss tweeted that the discovery was being peer-reviewed and that we would soon confirm tha light-speed ripples in the Universe actually exist. The gravitational wave signal were first detected by physicists at LIGO on September 14 last year, experts expect that the discovery will win the Nobel Prize.
The discovery confirms Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window onto the cosmos. This is the first time, scientists have observed ripples in the spacetime theory called gravitational waves, arriving at the earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. And the event that triggered it was likely to have been caused by the final fraction of a second of the merger of two black holes to produce a single, more massive spinning black hole. Physicists say that the two black holes merging had been predicted but never observed.
Credentials provided by Australian Science Media Centre: The LIGO Observatories are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and were conceived, built, and are operated by Caltech and MIT.
The discovery, accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters, was made by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration (which includes the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Astronomy (ACIGA) and the GEO600 Collaboration) and the Virgo Collaboration using data from the two LIGO detectors.
Australian scientists from The Australian National University (ANU), the University of Adelaide, The University of Melbourne, the University of Western Australia (UWA), Monash University and Charles Sturt University, contributed to the discovery and helped build some of the super-sensitive instruments used to detect the gravitational waves. source
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Satanic Temple YES, Ten Commandments NO? October 26, 2016
A Satanic Temple opens its doors in Massachusetts proud to display their "religious" symbols! But removing the Ten Commandments is OK? With up to 50,000 members in chapters around the world, TST has garnered colossal media attention in the last three years. Outside of New England, TST has taken legal action against the placement of edifices of the Ten Commandments in civic settings, including statehouses. The Satanist group has intervened in various school districts to contest prayer or challenge Christian clubs. Salem is headquarters to this Anti Christian group.
(SALEM,Massachusetts) Horror is not contained to October 31st alone. A controversial Satanic temple has set up its international headquarters in Salem Massachusetts. Just one mile from historic sites where ironically in the 16th century witches were hunted and killed.
The building is a former funeral home, inaugurated last month by activist Malcolm Jarry, a self-described “secular Jew” who co-founded The Satanic Temple (TST) in 2013. It also houses an art gallery in honor of the heathen idol Baphomet, a “sabbatic goat”. Behind the two-story building, an eight-foot tall statue of Baphomet sits in a plain shed, where visitors can pay to view it.
With up to 50,000 members in chapters around the world, TST has garnered colossal media attention in the last three years. Chief among Jarry’s causes are marriage equality and women’s reproductive freedom. Any issue related to the government using religion to restrict individual freedom is also likely to engage temple leaders, some of whom staged a 2014 “Black Mass” at Harvard University to push the envelope on religious freedom.
Outside of New England, TST has taken legal action against the placement of edifices of the Ten Commandments in civic settings , including statehouses. To illustrate how such displays violate religious freedom, the temple has insisted it be allowed to erect goat-headed Baphomet statues in the same locations. TST is also planning to take on some schools’ use of isolation, denial of bathroom access, and corporal punishment of children. For the 49-year-old Jarry, there is not much conflict between being Jewish and a Satanist. As a matter of fact, the two identities have come to inform each other, he said.
“I see it like Buddhism,” said Jarry. “Satanism is something that can co-exist with being a Jew,” he said.
In addition to Jarry’s belief that Judaism and Satanism can co-exist, there are parallels with how Judaism and Satanism have been branded by their detractors, he said.
“The false accusations that have been thrown at Jews historically are similar to what some people say about Satanism,” said Jarry, mentioning accusations of blood libel and — more recently — fabricated allegations that Israel perpetrates genocide against Palestinian children.
In recent weeks, TST has been in the news for one member’s attempts to deliver a Satanist invocation at Boston City Hall . The opportunity to open meetings with prayers is by invitation only, and only mainstream religions have ever been asked, said Jarry.
“If the decision is that only we cannot deliver an invocation, then we will sue and we will win,”
“We expect to be treated in the same manner as all other religions and will sue for all of the same rights,” said Jarry, adding that TST’s campaigns are fueled by “the importance of standing for freedom of expression and against tyrannical authority.”
According to Salem city officials, only a handful of citizens have expressed concern about the Satanic temple’s arrival to one of New England’s top tourist destinations. TRUNEWS counted about 20 churches in Salem alone, and not one Christian expressed concern? Where is the church? The TST has a clear agenda to stop Christians from evangelizing and in their quest they are winning legal battles to do so. With each Christian symbol taken down or expression of faith being censored, this groups' agenda advances. Again I ask, where is the church?
Original article by Times of Israel.
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SAN FRANCISCO — California, Massachusetts and Nevada legalized marijuana on Tuesday in what advocates said was a reflection of the country’s changing attitude toward the drug. Leading up to the election, recreational marijuana use was legal in four states: Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, along with Washington, D. C. With the addition of California, Massachusetts and Nevada, the percentage of Americans living in states where marijuana use is legal for adults rose above 20 percent, from 5 percent. Representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon and a supporter of legalization, said Tuesday’s votes would add to the pressure on the federal government to treat cannabis like alcohol, allowing each state to decide on its own regulations. “The new administration is not going to want to continue this toxic and nonproductive war on drugs,” Mr. Blumenauer said. The federal government’s ban on the drug precludes the interstate sale of cannabis, even among the states that have approved its use. But Tuesday’s votes created a marijuana bloc stretching down the West Coast, and Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor of California, said he saw an opportunity for the states where recreational marijuana is now legal to “coordinate and collaborate” on the issue, including applying pressure in Washington to relax the federal ban. A Gallup poll in October found nationwide support for legalization at 60 percent, the highest level in the 47 years the organization has tracked the issue. Support is rising even though some public health experts warn that there have been insufficient studies of the drug’s effects and that law enforcement agencies lack reliable tests and protocols to determine whether a driver is impaired by marijuana. Supporters in California portrayed legalization as both a social justice and a criminal justice issue, saying the measure would help redress the disproportionate numbers of arrests and convictions among minorities for drug crimes. “I think of this victory in California as a major victory,” said Lauren Mendelsohn, the chairwoman of the board of directors of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, a group that has campaigned against the government’s war on drugs. “It shows the whole country that prohibition is not the answer to the marijuana question. ” Ms. Mendelsohn spoke at a celebration in Oakland for the passage of Proposition 64, as California’s legalization measure was known. Supporters of legalization in California vastly outspent opponents. As of Nov. 6, committees in the state had raised around $23 million, according to the California secretary of state’s office. Chief among the backers were marijuana companies and tech entrepreneurs, including Sean Parker, a founder of the service Napster and a former president of Facebook, who was the single largest donor to the campaign. The campaign had spent less than $2 million in California. Kevin Sabet, the president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, one of the country’s major funders against marijuana legalization initiatives, attributed the imbalance in campaign spending to investments by marijuana companies hoping to profit if the industry was legalized. “There’s a lot of money to be made if marijuana is legal, not a lot of money to be made if it remains illegal,” he said. Opponents of legalization say the adoption of medical marijuana laws in more than 25 states has led to a popular perception that cannabis is good for you. They have called for more studies on the drug’s effects, particularly on the developing brains of young people. “There is likely medical promise in the marijuana plant, but that is different than saying smoked marijuana is medicine,” Mr. Sabet said. “We wouldn’t smoke the opium plant to get the beneficial effects of morphine. ” A bill to legalize marijuana in Vermont, supported by Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, failed earlier this year. But in Massachusetts, public support for legalization rose during the fall, even with bipartisan opposition from the state’s top elected officials — including Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, and Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat — and an organized campaign. Lawmakers in Rhode Island were watching Massachusetts closely, and they are expected to take up a legalization measure of their own now that one has passed there. Two other states — Arizona and Maine — were voting on recreational marijuana legalization Tuesday. Arizona voted against the measure. In Maine, a state with a libertarian streak that began decriminalizing marijuana decades ago, the referendum on legalization drew scant funded opposition. Still, proponents of legalization said California would represent the biggest victory because of its huge economy and population and also its fertile soil and amenable climate. Tuesday’s vote reinforced the state’s position as the epicenter of marijuana cultivation for the country, a role it has had illicitly for decades. Marijuana companies have been positioning themselves for the prospect of interstate commerce, buying large plots of land in areas that now grow vegetables and other crops. The California measure, which passed with 56 percent approval, allows people over 21 to possess limited amounts of marijuana for personal use and also permits the personal cultivation of up to six plants in private residences, provided they are shielded from public view. The sale of recreational marijuana will not be allowed until licenses are issued, a process that will take at least two years, said Steve DeAngelo, the founder of Harborside, a medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland. California officials expect additional tax revenue of around $1 billion from marijuana sales. The revenue is earmarked for the study of medical marijuana, for the California Highway Patrol to develop procedures to determine driver impairment due to marijuana consumption, for youth education on drugs, and for the prevention of environmental damage from marijuana production, among other programs. Support for legalization in California cut across all age groups except voters over 65, according to a Field poll released on Friday. Among those older voters, 42 percent were in favor, and 57 percent were against. A large majority of Republicans in the poll, 65 percent, were against the measure, compared with 72 percent support among Democrats. Support has been rising steadily since the 1960s, when only around 10 percent of California adults favored legalization, according to a 1969 Field poll, and legalization was the culmination of decades of campaigning by proponents. A measure to decriminalize marijuana in 1972 was soundly rejected in California, with 66. 5 percent of voters opposed to it. In 1996, California voted to allow medical marijuana. But a 2010 measure to permit recreational use failed. In addition to Tuesday’s votes on recreational marijuana, Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota had medical marijuana initiatives on the ballot. All four passed the legislation.
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The excitement over the US election is culminating as the due date is getting closer. Each candidate is trying to use any device at hand to denigrate the other and morality is the last thing to strike the minds of the candidates. The fact of the matter is that morality is a dead circle in the American politics. Hillary Clinton, the democratic candidate, uses f-word in a debate ( http://en.institutomanquehue.org/publications/news/did-hillary-clinton-mutter-donald-trump-debate.html ) watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world and finds no shame in it. Even American religious leaders believe that Clinton is not competent to be the president of a religious country like United States ( http://en.institutomanquehue.org/publications/news/christian-right-leader-hillary-clinton-hostile-biblical-christianity.html ). On the other hand, the GOP candidate, Donald trump , has no better condition. His sexual harassments and violent ideas towards women were shocking not only for female victims, but also for the dominant male group in America. The violent use of words to address different groups of people, mainly in social media ( http://en.institutomanquehue.org/publications/news/as-first-lady-melania-trump-wants-to-save-you-from-her-husband.html ) , made it hard for the parents to allow their kids to follow him. Besides, the number of women that accused Trump of groping and rape ( http://en.institutomanquehue.org/publications/news/list-women-accused-donald-trump-of-sexual-assault.html ) is increasing day by day and the list is running on. The so-called locker-room video of Trump talking dirty about women and his attitude towards them leaked to the public to be the final shot on the republican candidate, but it did not have that much affect. It seems that even grabbing “the women by the p…y” could not change their idea about Trump.
All these information, some released by the opponent candidate and some by other sources mainly WikiLeaks, seems to have had little significance in the public orientation in choosing a candidate. This has less to do with the people than with the administration system and media empire in the United States.
The fact that Trump does not talk about a rigged-election for respecting democracy and exercising the law is clear as a truth. His words that “I will accept the result of the election if I were chosen” is more like a joke than the words of a would-be president. What Assange is trying to say in his tweet is that the rig is being done on a higher level than the polls or the voting system. The whole administration and political system is rigged in America and the people will not choose a candidate; they are chosen to choose. This is the truth behind the weird public orientation towards election in spite of all the information released about the corruptions of the two candidates in mass media. The fact that the media and the political system are rigging the election in a latent mode is the key to the question raised about the mysteries of the American election.
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WASHINGTON — Long security lines have at times prompted hours of delays at the nation’s airports, generated heated responses from frustrated travelers and led to calls for Congress and the Obama administration to fix the problem. Here are the answers to five questions to help passengers understand why waits are longer at airport security checkpoints. The Transportation Security Administration says the number of passengers has increased nearly 12 percent since 2011, while the number of screeners has declined by 12 percent, to 41, 928 this year from 47, 630 in 2011. The agency attributes the decline to budget cuts, though some Republicans in Congress blame the T. S. A. for cutting the number of screeners in recent years. The T. S. A. tightened security procedures after federal auditors managed to get fake bombs and weapons past screeners, which has also contributed to the long lines. The agency also stopped a program that allowed people who have not signed up for background checks to use expedited security lines. The result: waits of an hour or more at some airports. Last week, Jeh Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security, announced that the T. S. A. would pay more overtime for screeners, speed up hiring and increase the use of dogs. Congress has shifted $34 million in the T. S. A. ’s budget to help the agency pay for 768 additional screeners. The agency is also moving dogs that screen passengers from smaller airports to larger ones. Mr. Johnson urged travelers to sign up for T. S. A. Precheck, an expedited screening process that allows passengers to keep their shoes on and keep their computers in their bags. Enrollment in the program has fallen short of expectations, exacerbating the longer lines. Yes. Under the T. S. A. ’s Screening Partnership Program, 22 of the approximately 450 commercial airports in the country, including San Francisco International Airport, now use private screeners. Some airport executives and Republicans in Congress have proposed hiring private screeners to replace T. S. A. workers. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Kennedy International Airport, La Guardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport, as well as officials at International Airport in Atlanta and Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, N. C. say they are considering private security contractors. But some transportation experts point out that airports with private screeners, which must follow T. S. A. procedures, are also experiencing longer waiting times as passenger volume increases. And even if larger airports like the ones in New York and Atlanta moved to switch to private screeners, they could not do so in time to handle the increased summer travel. Senators Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, both Democrats, have called on airlines to help reduce waiting times by waiving fees for checked baggage. “Without charges for checking their bags, passengers will be far less likely to carry them on, which snarls screening checkpoints and slows the inspection process,” they said in a letter to a dozen major airlines. Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, has suggested that the agency reassign its behavior detection officers to screening duties. Those officers, many of them former screeners, are trained to look for and identify possible terrorists by studying their behavior. Reports by the Government Accountability Office have questioned the value of the program. Several Republicans have already called the increasing security lines an example of the government’s inability to operate airport security effectively. They say that mismanagement, rather than a shortage of resources, is the real problem. Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said the T. S. A. was unable to retain its screening work force and that spending extra money at the agency would not fix the problem. Signing up for T. S. A. Pre, the expedited screening program, could help. Otherwise, there is not much passengers can do to end the longer waits. A social media campaign, “I Hate the Wait,” has been started by the airline industry, giving travelers a chance to air their grievances. Passengers have complained to their congressional representatives, who have put pressure on federal officials to act. The T. S. A. has said that in the short term, though, the long lines will probably continue.
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Under pressure from Catholic leaders to put an end to a spate of extrajudicial killings against suspected drug criminals, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte insisted that priests and bishops should “use shabu,” the local name for crystal methamphetamine, to “understand” how devastating it is to communities. [“The church really doesn’t understand,” Duterte said during a speech at an event commemorating the anniversary of a local medical center in northern Nueva Ecija province. “They know [the drug problem] they know that it is worst, and yet they say ‘extrajudicial killing,’” he told the audience, with a wag of the finger meant to symbolize the church’s disapproval. “When a person is high, they really put up a fight. So some priests should take shabu so they understand,” Duterte recommended. “I recommend one or two of the bishops [do it] too. ” “What is really raging in my heart is that you [drug traffickers] are making so many slaves, millions of them, in my country. I could not accept that,” Duterte told the audience. “Honestly, I could not allow that. They are slaves to a chemical and making the people very rich. ” “The killing? It will not stop,” he promised. Duterte also challenged priests on their piety. “We’re the same, with two, three wives. Don’t get me started — all the hypocrisy,” Duterte lamented, alluding to his own multiple marriages. The challenge to priests to use methamphetamine, a highly dangerous drug, comes at an unusually friendly moment in relations between the Philippine head of state and the Catholic church. While Duterte himself is Catholic, as is more than 80 percent of his country, he has long been at odds with the Vatican. As a candidate, he prompted criticism for calling Pope Francis the “son of a whore” in a rant about Manila’s traffic woes during the pontiff’s 2015 visit. Duterte subsequently promised to visit the Vatican and personally apologize for the remarks. This week, however, Pope Francis blessed Duterte from afar, receiving envoy Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza and blessing the nation of the Philippines before the Vatican moderates peace talks with radical leftist groups in the country. Dureza handed Pope Francis a letter from Duterte, whose contents were private, except for the first page, which conveyed a message of “profound respect. ” Duterte’s call for clergy to use illegal drugs closely followed the exchange with Pope Francis. Priests in the Philippines have begun to loudly protest Duterte’s policies against drug traffickers. “Moral norms are being violated and so now is the time for the Church to speak up,” Jerome Secillano, public affairs chief for the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said this week. Another bishop, Teodoro Bacani, referred to the drug war as a “bringer of death. ” Duterte won the presidency on a campaign promise to eradicate drug abuse from the Philippines, particularly targeting the use of “shabu. ” In 2015, government estimates put the availability of shabu at 90 percent of neighborhoods in Manila, according to a Vice report from that year. Manila estimates that up to four million people are addicted to drugs or involved in the drug trade nationwide. According to the U. S. National Institute of Drug Abuse, use of methamphetamine can trigger “a number of psychotic features, including paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and delusions” that can last for “months” after quitting the drug. The drug also causes “severe structural and functional changes in areas of the brain associated with emotion and memory,” and withdrawal from “shabu” can also trigger violent, erratic behavior. As of January, the Philippine government estimates that more than 6, 000 people have been killed in relation to operations since Duterte took office, and more than 60 percent of these died as a result of an extrajudicial killing. An excess of one million people have surrendered to police to avoid being killed, and nearly 900 kilograms of “shabu” have been seized in police raids.
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March 4 (UPI) — A Canadian boy’s bowling team was stripped of its trophy after tournament organizers disqualified them because his pants didn’t meet the event’s dress code. [Grayson Powell had just bowled the three best games of his life — a top game of 171 pins — leading his team to victory in the St. John’s, Newfoundland provincial tournament when the event’s organizer informed his parents the team had been disqualified. The reason? Powell’s faded gray jeans did not meet the requirement for all participants to wear black pants, the tournament’s organizer and Youth Bowl Canada provincial director Gordon Davis said. Powell’s parents were outraged, the CBC reported. “Parents ruin it for kids,” Grayson’s father Todd Powell said. “If this is what sport is about when it comes to kids … shame on them. ” Child stripped of bowling medal after pants found not to be black enough https: . @AnthonyGermain @KrissyHolmes pic. twitter. — SJ Morning Show (@sjmorningshow) March 1, 2017, Powell specifically questioned why they weren’t told before the event began that the jeans weren’t black enough to meet the dress code. Another team member’s pants were also deemed inappropriate. The Powells speculated the reason for the disqualification wasn’t merely a dispute over the color of their son’s pants. Powell’s team was on foreign turf, visiting Davis’ home alley, where several teams in the tournament regularly play. As a result of the disqualification, two teams from that alley who had finished second and third were bumped up to first and second. In a lengthy post on Facebook, Davis defended the organization’s decision. He said he was not aware of the child’s attire before the match started and didn’t want to provide further embarrassment by halting the match after it had already begun to announce the decision. Davis said tournament officials were approached by parents of children on other teams who said it wasn’t fair that some children were being allowed to wear jeans while their kids had to wear dress pants. Davis said he told Powell’s coach about the dress code violation while play was happening and said the coach could have made the decision to withdraw and spare the children the ordeal. “Mr. Todd Powell knew full aware [sic] of the dress code and sent his child to Provincials knowing that it was against the rules. There was another bowler on the team also with grey pants on who knew it was against our rules but sent their child anyway! What parent would do this? Was it to see if we would notice it or get away with it? Who knows but they knew it was against our rules,” the group wrote. “During the first game in the latter frames a coach and several parents brought it to my attention and complained that a team had players wearing faded jeans and grey pants. They asked why their players could not wear jeans and other pants too. … I was not going to embarrass those kids by stopping play and making a scene. The [coach] should have taken her parents aside and explained to them after she had our ruling about the disqualification. ” The post demanded the Powells apologize for publicly criticizing the volunteers who ran the tournament. Facebook users did not share the sentiment. The comment section of the post includes hundreds of angry responses, demanding Powell’s team be named the winners and given the award.
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Donald J. Trump held a surprise news conference shortly before the second presidential debate on Sunday with three women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault or sexual harassment in the past. A fourth woman who was raped by a man Hillary Clinton defended at trial in 1975 also appeared on the impromptu panel, which Mr. Trump billed as the end of debate preparations and broadcast via Facebook Live. The four women were Paula Jones, Kathy Shelton, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey. Here is a brief guide to the accusations each woman has made against Bill and Hillary Clinton. Ms. Jones is a former Arkansas state employee who sued Mr. Clinton for sexual harassment in 1994. She claimed that he exposed himself to her and propositioned her in a hotel room in 1991 when he was governor. Ms. Jones’s lawsuit led to Mr. Clinton’s impeachment in 1998 because it was during a deposition in that case that he first denied having had sexual relations with the White House intern Monica Lewinsky. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in 1998. Ms. Jones appealed that ruling, and the next year Mr. Clinton settled the suit for $850, 000. As part of the settlement, he did not admit to any wrongdoing and did not apologize. On Sunday, Ms. Jones responded angrily to a reporter who asked Mr. Trump if his star power entitled him to grope women without their consent. “Why don’t you ask Bill Clinton that?” she said. “Why don’t you go ask Bill Clinton that? Why don’t you ask Hillary as well?” When she was 12, Ms. Shelton alleged that she had been raped by Thomas Alfred Taylor, a man. Mrs. Clinton defended Mr. Taylor in his 1975 trial when she was a professor and a lawyer with the University of Arkansas Law School Legal Aid Clinic. In a 2014 CNN interview, Mahlon Gibson, the attorney who prosecuted Mr. Taylor, said that Mrs. Clinton had been assigned the case and tried to get out of defending Mr. Taylor, a request that was denied by the judge, Maupin Cummings. “She got appointed to represent this guy,” Mr. Gibson said. Mrs. Clinton succeeded in getting a plea deal for Mr. Taylor. He was charged with “unlawful fondling of a child under the age of 14” and sentenced to one year in a county jail and four years of probation. In 2014, The Washington Free Beacon published an audio recording in which Mrs. Clinton could be heard chuckling about Mr. Taylor’s case. On Sunday, Ms. Shelton said that “at 12 years old, Hillary put me through something that you would never put a through” and accused her of “laughing on tape saying she knows they did it. ” In 1999, Ms. Broaddrick, a volunteer in Mr. Clinton’s first gubernatorial campaign, accused him of raping her in an Arkansas hotel room in 1978, recanting an affidavit that she had signed the previous year in which she said the episode had not taken place. She was referenced in Ms. Jones’s sexual harassment lawsuit as Jane Doe No. 5. On Sunday morning, Mr. Trump tweeted a link to an interview Ms. Broaddrick gave to the conservative news website Breitbart in which she repeated her accusations against Mr. Clinton and accused Mrs. Clinton of enabling her husband’s behavior. Ms. Broaddrick repeated her accusations against the Clintons at Mr. Trump’s hastily arranged news conference on Sunday night, defending him against the maelstrom of criticism caused by the release of a recording on which he could be heard talking about women in vulgar sexual terms. “I tweeted recently, and Mr. Trump retweeted it, that actions speak louder than words,” Ms. Broaddrick said. “Mr. Trump may have said some bad words, but Bill Clinton raped me and Hillary Clinton threatened me. I don’t think there is any comparison. ” Ms. Willey is a former White House volunteer who claimed Mr. Clinton made a “very forceful” sexual advance against her in his office in November 1993 when she met with him to seek a job. On Sunday, Ms. Willey said that she was a supporter of Mr. Trump’s campaign and that she believed in his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again. ” “And I cried when he said that because I think that this is the greatest country in the world,” she said. “I think that we can do anything. I think we can accomplish anything. I think we can bring peace to this world, and I think Donald Trump can lead us to that point. ”
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The NRA has just s tated the obvious – that President Obama does not have the ability to confiscate guns, nor has he ever tried. This statement is an acknowledgment directly from the NRA, after years of warning their members that a Democratic president is going to take away their guns. This debunks the ludicrous “Obama conspiracy” to repeal the Second Amendment and confiscate guns, once and for all.
The article was featured in NRA magazine, “America’s 1 st Freedom” on June 9 th , in which the author admits that “Congress writes the laws, not the president” and therefore the president does not have the power to repeal the right to bear arms. The piece was written after the author took issue with Obama’s “rude” response to a gun store owner named Rhune, on “gun control,” which is below as follows:
“First of all, the notion that I or Hillary or Democrats or whoever you want to choose are hell-bent on taking away folks’ guns is just not true. And I don’t care how many times the NRA says it,” declared Obama.
“I’m about to leave office. There have been more guns sold since I’ve been president than just about any time in U.S. history. There are enough guns for every man, woman and child in this country. And at no point have I ever proposed confiscating guns from responsible gun owners. So it is just not true.”
The author’s response proves that the NRA has known all along that Dems will not take their guns and now they have publicly admitted it:
“Congress writes the laws, not the president. He could then have listed the many attacks on the right to bear arms — from Operation Fast and Furious to Operation Choke Point to Obama’s attempted ban on common ammunition for AR-15-type rifles to his using a “pen and phone” to push anti-gun executive actions. But Rhude respectfully stayed silent.”
Although neither Clinton or Obama have ever claimed they are going to take away guns from law-abiding gun owners, this has been the NRA’s campaign against Democrats for years. The NRA has basically just admitted to blatantly manipulating their members through scare tactics – but it hasn’t stopped them from reviving this tired old conspiracy theory and applying it to Hillary Clinton, who, for the record, does not want to take your guns.
Indeed, even in the doubtful scenario that Congress and the president agreed to repeal guns, the Supreme Court would veto this as unconstitutional. NRA members need to acknowledge once and for all that a democratic president is not going to seize their firearms and stop listening to the organization that clearly does not have their best interests in mind.
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ORLANDO, Fla. — It was a wrenching ritual that has become all too familiar for President Obama. One by one on Thursday, inside an arena in downtown Orlando where friends and relatives of the victims of the nation’s deadliest mass shooting had congregated, Mr. Obama embraced mourners sick with loss. He told them that the nation stood with them and that his own heart was broken, offering words of comfort for a tragedy that he confessed he could not fathom. “Their grief is beyond description,” Mr. Obama said after a meeting with the mourners. “Through their pain and through their tears, they told us about the joy that their loved ones had brought to their lives. ” Behind closed doors, Mr. Obama told the grieving that it was the 15th time during his tenure that he had had to offer these sorts of condolences after a shooting, according to those who attended. “There were times when he choked up,” said Angelica Jones, a performer at the Pulse nightclub, where a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 on Sunday. “And it’s a hard thing to do when you’ve got mothers crying out. He was up to it. ” Mr. Obama has had plenty of practice for this particularly grim task. The settings vary, but the pattern is chillingly constant. Mr. Obama’s armored limousine deposits him at a nondescript building big enough to hold a large number of families whose loved ones have died in a mass shooting somewhere in America. Away from the news cameras that normally track his every interaction, he enters rooms thick with grief and the hushed voices of people in shock. He grasps for words of sympathy, comfort and condolence and offers long, tight embraces that the mourners will remember far more vividly than his words. His visit to Orlando came four days after the massacre. Accompanied by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. the president entered the Amway Center, about two miles from the club, and the two men took turns hugging and grieving with the scores of people who lost sons, daughters, siblings, partners and friends. “Our hearts are broken, too,” Mr. Obama said he told them, after placing 49 white roses at a makeshift memorial nearby to commemorate each of those killed. In an emotional statement to reporters before he returned to Washington, Mr. Obama said the encounters with mourners underscored his determination to change the debate over gun restrictions and enact the sort of measures that might have prevented the tragedy. “As has been true too many times before, I held and hugged grieving family members and parents, and they asked, ‘Why does this keep happening? ’” Mr. Obama said. They pleaded for more to be done to stop the carnage, he said, adding, “Those who defend the easy accessibility of assault weapons should meet these families. ” Beyond politics, the trip was a moment for the president to play the somber official role of consoler in chief. It was also the setting for a deeply personal and private set of encounters in which Mr. Obama, better known for his cool and unruffled temperament, dispenses with the trappings of his office and becomes an emotional father identifying with parents who have lost children. “The president understands that he is a symbol of the country, and when he travels to a community and meets with a family that has endured a terrible tragedy, he’s offering a message of condolence and comfort on behalf of the American people,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said on Wednesday. “But it would be impossible for him to not be personally affected by these kinds of conversations and these kinds of interactions,” he added. In such instances, Mr. Earnest said, the president “draws on his faith. ” As Mr. Obama comforted the mourners, his critics in Washington were blaming him for Sunday’s tragedy. Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and his 2008 presidential rival, told reporters on Capitol Hill that Mr. Obama, through his policy decisions, was “directly responsible” for the carnage because he had failed to thwart the rise of the Islamic State. The president has called visits like the one to Orlando among the most difficult duties he performs. Spending time with families who lost young children in the shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. in 2012, was the “hardest day of my presidency,” he said afterward. “And I’ve had some hard days. ” So over and over again on Thursday, the president hugged the mourners tightly, relying on body language almost more than words to convey his support. “He took time to go to each family individually and embrace them, and there was no rush or a sense he wanted to be anywhere else,” said Azsia Finn, a manager at Pulse. “It was embracing, hugging, just very warming. It felt like he cared. ” Amid a blur of sorrow and disbelief, these embraces have stood out to many of the mourners Mr. Obama has met after earlier tragedies. “He hugged each one of us individually — and I mean hug, so that I was able to smell his cologne,” said the Rev. Sharon Risher, 57, who lost her mother, Ethel Lance, and two cousins in the shooting in Charleston, S. C. last year, and met privately with Mr. Obama the next week. “It was not a little pat on the back. The intimacy of that hug is what I’ll always remember. ” Mr. Obama takes his time with each family, listening to details that mourners are eager to offer about their lost loved ones. It is at once intimate and awkward he is aware of how disorienting it is for people to be meeting the president of the United States at the worst moment of their lives. Many of them forget they are talking to the president. At a high school in Newtown, Conn. in 2012, Mark Barden, whose son, Daniel, was among the 26 killed at Sandy Hook two days earlier, decided, in what he now calls a fog of shock and trauma, to lecture Mr. Obama on the importance of spending time with his children. “He looked me in the eyes and said, ‘I’m coming from a recital right now,’ ” Mr. Barden said in an interview, adding that he now finds the episode “horrendously embarrassing. ” But Mr. Obama could relate, he said. “He was looking at this 100 percent as a father,” Mr. Barden said. “He feels it in his heart as a human being, and it transcends his role as the leader of our country. ” Roxanna Green — whose daughter, Green, was one of six people killed in a 2011 shooting in a supermarket parking lot in Tucson where Representative Gabrielle Giffords was holding an event — said she had campaigned for Mr. Obama with her daughter and mother and had often dreamed of meeting him. “But you never want to receive a visit like that from anybody,” Ms. Green, 50, said in an interview. “He said she was a beautiful girl, and he’s so sorry, and it was just a horrible loss, and his girls are about the same age,” she recalled.
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Valeria Monis makes unique ceramics, decorated with patterns based on Russian criminal tattoos.
Scroll down to see more VALERIA MONIS Artist Valeria Monis now lives in Israel and is working on a series of porcelain, decorated with patterns based on Russian criminal tattoos. / The cat is the symbol of a successful thief. On the forearm or shoulder it symbolises a “native occupant of prison,” on the legs it means “convicted for robbery” or “convicted for life.” VALERIA MONIS
The pattern is painted on dishes and vases. The series is called “From Russia with Love.” / Tattoos of crosses, churches, the Virgin Mary are reserved for the chest, the most significant part, and the back. VALERIA MONIS
“In Russian prisons, tattoos serve as a unique language of symbols that represent the prisoner’s personal life stories. The rules for reading them are passed on by oral tradition.” / The text reads: “I call you, I miss you, I’ll drink you drop by drop, my love.” A tattoo worn by lesbians, it was widespread in 1970s-80s. VALERIA MONIS Valeria Monis: “Each ceramic piece is designed, crafted, and illustrated 100% by hand, incorporating illustrations taken from The Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia by Danzig Baldaev.” / Tattoos of crosses, churches, the Virgin Mary are reserved for the chest, the most significant part, and the back. VALERIA MONIS
Tattoos confer a criminal’s identity; they are a seal of social standing and a repository of collective memory. In the criminal world, no tattoos means no status. / A female thief’s tattoo. The number of domes symbolises the amount of convictions or number of years served. VALERIA MONIS
A humorous tattoo typical for collective labor camps, commonly called “Misha the accordion player.” VALERIA MONIS
This rare tattoo belonged to an old thief named Shulga, whose left hand was missing. He was repeatedly convicted and well-known. VALERIA MONIS
Women’s tattoo symbolising the loss of freedom and loving parents, an unhappy fate, the burden of loneliness or the disappointment of life. VALERIA MONIS
The text reads: “Winged Russia is the queen of planet Earth.” Related
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If the idea of Black Friday shopping gives you the blues, cheer up. A few innovative approaches can help you find lower prices without having to camp outside a big box store. Joanie Demer, a of thekrazycouponlady. com, recommended going to websites such as raise. com and giftcardgranny. com to buy discounted gift cards, a strategy that works . Savings average from 8 to 12 percent. “It’s not a ton, but it adds up,” she said in an interview. Instead of buying a gift card before shopping, add up your purchases in the store and use an app from the site to download the amount you need. This will help curb overspending, she said. People who do all of their holiday shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving are not getting the best deals, Ms. Demer said. The sweet spot for the best bargains is Dec. but, she warned, shopping from Dec. 19 onward is not good because retailers know you are desperate, and they are less likely to cut prices. She added that 95 percent of the Black Friday bargains to be found in stores — with the exception of “doorbusters,” those deeply discounted items intended to draw shoppers in — can be found online. If you are not keen on crowds, shop online. The week before Black Friday, fill your virtual shopping cart with merchandise, then log out of your account — don’t just close your tab but fully log out of the site — said Kyle James, the founder of . com. “By doing so, in many cases, it will trigger an automated coupon sent to your inbox pleading for you to come back and complete your purchase with the coupon,” Mr. James said in an email. The coupon offers may be for free shipping or discounts of up to 20 percent off a purchase, he said. “It’s a way to get a deal. ” Sometimes getting a price break can be as simple as asking. Activate the live chat feature that many online retailers have and politely ask for a coupon for free shipping or a percentage off your purchase. “These live chat operators are trained to see this person has stuff in their cart and they’re prepared to make a purchase — let’s throw them a bone,” Mr. James said in a telephone interview. Doorbuster merchandise is usually in such limited supply that only the most dedicated shoppers — those who camp outside the store to be the first ones in at opening hour — will get what they want. The remaining shoppers become a “captive audience, and now they’ll go out and buy a bunch of stuff at near full price or full price,” Mr. James said. Many of those people will turn around and sell the heavily discounted items on eBay, he said. Because they are looking to turn a profit quickly, their markups will be modest. Downloading the Amazon app can be a useful way to compare prices in stores against the online retail giant. “It’s a good tool to make sure you’re not making a stupid purchase,” Ms. Demer said. Many big box stores will match a lower Amazon price if you present proof of the lower price at the customer service desk. That rule is in place but many stores make an exception for Black Friday. Dick’s Sporting Goods and Bed Bath Beyond are among the few retailers who will still honor the price match on Black Friday, she said. Skip the shopping cart, because navigating crowded store aisles with one will only prolong your visit, Ms. Demer said. She recommended taking an oversize reusable shopping bag instead. It’s also best to avoid bringing your spouse and children to the store, she said. “The more people you bring, the more money you’re going to spend and the more angry you’re going to become,” she said. “Chaos and impulse buying, it’s all much worse. ”
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Saturday after Montgomery County, PA Judge Steven O’Neill declared a mistrial in the Bill Cosby criminal rape case, Cosby’s spokesman Andrew Wyatt took aim at Gloria Allred, the lawyer for 33 of Cosby’s accusers. Speaking to reporters outside of the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, PA, Wyatt first quoted Huey P. Newton, the founder of the Black Panther Party. “In the words of Huey P. Newton, power is the ability to define phenomenon, making it act in a designed manner,” he said. After that, he offered Allred and attorneys “who conspired” advice. “For all those attorneys, who conspired like Gloria Allred, tell them to go back to law school and take another class,” Wyatt added. Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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WASHINGTON — President Trump took aim at reporters on Thursday for more than an hour at an impromptu White House news conference. “The press has become so dishonest,” he said, and not talking about it would be “doing a tremendous disservice to the American people. ” He added that the “level of dishonesty is out of control. ” In accusing the news media, though, Mr. Trump uttered several falsehoods of his own. Here is a list of some of the most important. Mr. Trump won 306 Electoral College votes (and ended up with 304 officially) well above the threshold needed to secure the presidency but well behind several of his most recent predecessors. President Barack Obama won 332 Electoral College votes in 2012 and 365 four years earlier. President Bill Clinton received 370 Electoral College votes in 1992 and 379 in 1996. And President George Bush won 426 Electoral College votes in 1988. When a reporter pressed Mr. Trump on the claim, he laid the blame elsewhere. “I was given that information,” he said. Mr. Trump said the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which upheld a temporary restraining order on his targeted travel ban, was “in chaos. ” There is no evidence of that. The decision by the Ninth Circuit’s panel in the travel ban case was unanimous. Mr. Trump also claimed that the court was “a circuit that has been overturned at a record number. ” He was apparently referring to the Ninth Circuit’s reversal rate, which the president cited correctly: “I find that hard to believe, that is just a number I heard, that they are overturned 80 percent of the time. ” PolitiFact found that of the cases the Supreme Court took up from the Ninth Circuit, about 79 percent were reversed from 2010 to 2015. But that was not the highest rate among the nation’s 13 appeals courts. The Sixth Circuit (87 percent) and 11th Circuit (85 percent) each had a greater percentage of reviewed decisions reversed. For all appellate court cases in that period, the Supreme Court reversed decisions about 70 percent of the time. By most definitions, the economy is not a mess, nor is it in recession. The unemployment rate in January was 4. 8 percent, compared with 7. 8 percent in January 2009, when Mr. Obama took office. Last month, the economy added 227, 000 jobs, even though the unemployment rate is already low. The number of people filing new claims for jobless benefits continues to hit lows not seen in decades. Other measures suggest the same thing, as our colleagues at The Upshot report: The economy seems to be taking off. Mr. Trump correctly cited the daily presidential tracking poll by Rasmussen. But the poll is an outlier, giving Mr. Trump an approval rating several points higher than others in the field. Real Clear Politics’ average of approval ratings finds that 44. 6 percent of Americans approve of the job Mr. Trump is doing, compared with 50. 3 percent who disapprove. Gallup’s daily job approval tracker puts Mr. Trump’s approval rating at 40 percent, the lowest since he has taken office, and disapproval at 54 percent. percent of respondents to a Pew Research Center poll released on Tuesday approve of Mr. Trump’s performance, while 56 percent disapproved. The claim is not a new one for Mr. Trump, and has been fodder for fact checkers since September. Behind it is the purchase by Russia’s nuclear power agency of a controlling interest in a company that has assets in the United States, including mills, mines and land used for producing uranium. Mr. Trump’s claim is incorrect on at least two points. First, the company’s American assets were equal to 20 percent of the country’s uranium production capacity — not its produced uranium, as Mr. Trump suggested. Second, Mrs. Clinton was not in a position to approve of or reject the deal herself as secretary of state. Though the State Department did sign off on it, so did eight other federal agencies. It is unclear whether Mrs. Clinton was briefed about or weighed in on the State Department’s decision. Mr. Trump’s instinct to hedge on the news media’s approval rating was right. The news media does not enjoy a great reputation among Americans, according to a variety of polls in recent years, but Congress fares worse. Gallup’s annual poll of Americans’ confidence in their institutions, the most authoritative on the matter, found that as of June 2016, just 21 percent of Americans had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in television news and only 20 percent in newspapers. Congress, by comparison, inspired confidence in just 9 percent. There is evidence that Congress’s approval rating is on the rise in Gallup’s polling, but there is not more recent data comparing the institutions. Mr. Trump went on to say that aside from a federal district judge’s decision to temporarily halt the ban, its rollout had been “perfect. ” By most measures, that is far from true. The order’s announcement and speedy implementation created chaos across the country and around the world. Travelers already in transit were stranded, protests erupted in the United States, and green card holders were initially blocked from the country before being allowed back in. Several additional judges challenged various aspects of the measure. Even senior Republicans who agreed with the order’s goals said it had been “poorly implemented” and had sown confusion by being “overly broad. ”
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1 Comment on "CrossTalk: Bullhorns Electioneering!" Leave a Reply Click here to get more info on formatting (1) Leave the name field empty if you want to post as Anonymous. It's preferable that you choose a name so it becomes clear who said what. E-mail address is not mandatory either. The website automatically checks for spam. Please refer to our moderation policies for more details. We check to make sure that no comment is mistakenly marked as spam. This takes time and effort, so please be patient until your comment appears. Thanks. (2) 10 replies to a comment are the maximum. (3) Here are formating examples which you can use in your writing:<b>bold text</b> results in bold text <i>italic text</i> results in italic text (You can also combine two formating tags with each other, for example to get bold-italic text.)<em>emphasized text</em> results in emphasized text <strong>strong text</strong> results in strong text <q>a quote text</q> results in a quote text (quotation marks are added automatically) <cite>a phrase or a block of text that needs to be cited</cite> results in: a phrase or a block of text that needs to be cited <blockquote>a heavier version of quoting a block of text...</blockquote> results in: a heavier version of quoting a block of text that can span several lines. Use these possibilities appropriately. They are meant to help you create and follow the discussions in a better way. They can assist in grasping the content value of a comment more quickly. and last but not least:<a href=''http://link-address.com''>Name of your link</a> results in Name of your link (4) No need to use this special character in between paragraphs: ; You do not need it anymore. Just write as you like and your paragraphs will be separated. The "Live Preview" appears automatically when you start typing below the text area and it will show you how your comment will look like before you send it. (5) If you now think that this is too confusing then just ignore the code above and write as you like. TooLegit2Quit
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MADRID (AP) — Police in Barcelona fired gunshots Tuesday to stop a man who stole a butane gas truck and drove it at high speed against traffic on a city highway, ramming several cars along the way, a police spokeswoman said. Authorities ruled out terrorism as a motive. [advertisement
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In the basement of a mammoth old building in Upper Manhattan that houses the Yeshiva University High School for Boys sits a cramped gym that is home to the high school’s floor hockey team, known as the Lions. The school calls the gym the Lions’ Den, but many visitors call it the Dungeon and liken playing there to playing hockey inside a box. Games are raucous affairs with rough play and frenzied fans squeezed onto the narrow bleachers at one end, between the squads of panting players. Several miles away, in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, is the comparatively luxurious indoor rink at the Salanter Akiba Riverdale High School, known as S. A. R. With its sturdy boards and rounded sides, the rink resembles a real ice hockey surface. Its scoreboard is flanked by American and Israeli flags. Between these two extremes exists the but thriving world of interscholastic floor hockey at yeshiva high schools in New York City and surrounding towns. The game in these Orthodox Jewish private schools stretches back at least to the late 1970s, but in recent years, it has grown enormously popular. The championship match can fill an arena with as many as 1, 000 fans, with more people watching live online. Players in elementary grades at Jewish schools now set their sights on yeshivas with the most powerful hockey programs. “Outside the Orthodox community, this is a foreign thing,” said Amir Gavarin, 22, a former floor hockey league player. “But inside, it’s a whole world unto itself, and supercompetitive. ” The teams play in the Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Hockey League, which includes 18 varsity and 15 junior varsity teams for boys. There are also 12 girls’ teams, which play in the spring season. The game is similar to ice hockey, but played on foot on a gym floor with a hard orange ball and squads made up of a goalie and four roaming players. Goalies wear full padding, but the other players wear sweatpants, jerseys and helmets with face masks. Under the jersey, some players wear a tallit katan, a religious garment with knotted fringes, or zizit. Blatant body checking is banned, but there is plenty of contact. The teams play mostly in conventional gyms set up with temporary barriers. Orthodox youngsters are often introduced to the game in summer camp or by friends from their synagogue, and end up playing in one of the many youth leagues that have cropped up in Orthodox neighborhoods, before joining teams in middle school. “In some New Jersey yeshivas, floor hockey is more popular than basketball,” said Yoni Stone, the varsity coach at the Yeshiva University High School for Boys. “Forget high school — every single day school has a team, and the kids start in the youth leagues. ” Players, abiding by their religious tenets, use the sport as an outlet between long hours spent studying Judaic texts and other subjects. Since they observe the Sabbath, there is no play on Friday evenings or Saturdays before sundown. The season runs from late October through March. On a weeknight last month, the Lions made their dramatic pregame entrance to blaring rock music. They were there to take on the Cobras from the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston, N. J. a school financed by the family of Jared Kushner, the of Donald J. Trump. Mr. Kushner himself was proficient at the sport, having played for the Frisch School in Paramus, N. J. when he was a teenager. The Cobras wound up beating the Lions, a fatiguing feat since the ball rarely escapes the playing area, making for almost nonstop action. Each game has three periods, with each period lasting 12 minutes. In fact, the team from the Ramaz School on Manhattan’s Upper East Side prepared to play at the Lions’ gym by having one of its players, a senior training to enter the Israeli Army, put his teammates through rigorous military exercises. The Ramaz School holds games in a modern, brightly lit gym that is a far cry from the Lions’ Den. One night last month, the Rams of Ramaz took on the visiting Thunder from the Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy, or R. T. M. A. from Elizabeth, N. J. and won the game in overtime, prompting a celebratory mob of Ramaz players. At certain powerhouses, hockey is perhaps the most prominent sport, and rivalries have developed between neighboring yeshivas. In Brooklyn, the games can be particularly intense whenever the Magen David Yeshivah or the Yeshivah of Flatbush, both in Midwood, or the Yeshivat Darche Eres in Sheepshead Bay, face off. “They’re seeing all these kids in synagogue the next day, so that creates a certain competitiveness,” Mr. Stone said. When rivals in the Five Towns section of Long Island play, “the whole town shuts down” for games that can attract hundreds of spectators, said David Kolb, a hockey writer for MSG Networks and the operator of Camp Dovid, a summer hockey camp in Pennsylvania where campers wear the names of their yeshivas on their jerseys. Two top teams in the Five Towns — the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway and the D. R. S. Yeshiva High School for Boys — have nurtured a rivalry. And in the league final in 2014, when the Hebrew Academy finally avenged years of losses with a victory, “you would have thought the messiah had come,” said Seth Gordon, the hockey commissioner for the Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Athletic League. “Some of these rivalries start in elementary school, with the seeds planted when these kids are in sixth grade,” Mr. Gordon said. Though the sport has drawn a loyal and passionate following, the athletes are ultimately religious students who are urged to put their spiritual priorities before their athletic ones. “It’s common with the Jewish identity that we can’t do certain things because of the boundaries of observant Jewish life, so we create our own parameters and do it to the fullest,” Mr. Gavarin said. Mayer Schiller, a Hasidic rabbi who in the 1990s coached Yeshiva University High School to six consecutive league championships, is recognized as the progenitor of the yeshiva floor hockey scene. He was hard to miss, since he coached wearing his black hat and coat. Rabbi Schiller, 65, still an avid fan of rock, pop and punk music, established the now popular tradition of having players enter the gym to loud music. The rabbi’s choice: the Ramones. He grew up playing roller hockey in Queens. In the late 1970s, with New York’s professional basketball teams sagging, students began rooting for two local hockey teams, the Rangers and the Islanders, Rabbi Schiller recalled. Rabbi Schiller was a devout Rangers fan who was particularly fond of the raucous play of Nick Fotiu, a native of Staten Island who became a brawler for the Rangers. The rabbi formed a team at the Ramaz School in 1979, and helped organize a fledgling yeshiva hockey league with a teams that grew significantly over the years. He regarded coaching as a form of spiritual service and striving at sports as a complement to studying sacred texts and worshiping God. “If God didn’t mean for this greatness to exist, why did he give us Gretzky and Jordan?” Rabbi Schiller said. On a recent weeknight, the S. A. R. team — which includes Mr. Kolb’s two sons, Gordie and Henri — was put through drills and scrimmaging by its longtime head coach, Howie Falkenstein. Mr. Falkenstein also runs a hockey program at the Westchester Summer Day camp in Mamaroneck, N. Y. and a league in the Bronx that attracts players from across the region. Its youngest level is the Mites division, which is open to first and second graders. Mr. Falkenstein was getting his team ready for its game against the Frisch School and had players practicing penalty shots. Gordie, the S. A. R. Sting’s captain, deftly scored on his brother, a goalie, prompting a chorus of hoots from teammates. S. A. R. wound up beating Frisch, solidifying its status as one of the league’s top teams. “It’s definitely its own niche, but it’s still hockey and it has the team camaraderie that people are looking for,” Mr. Falkenstein said. “It has the same excitement when you score a goal or make a save. ”
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Less than a year since he stepped down as the chairman of Carnegie Hall after clashing with its staff, Ronald O. Perelman, the billionaire businessman, announced Wednesday that he was donating $75 million to revive plans to build a performing arts center at the World Trade Center site. His donation immediately catapulted the performing arts center, one of the last major pieces of unfinished business at the World Trade Center site, from aspirational to achievable and places him among a new generation of power brokers and billionaires who are reshaping — and renaming — the cultural infrastructure of New York. In recognition of his gift, the new theater complex, which will sit on one of the most emotionally resonant and most visited spots in the city, will be named for Mr. Perelman. “I think that this is a project that must happen,” Mr. Perelman said in an interview, adding that he had been drawn to it by the vision of the role that art could play at the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and in the continuing rebuilding of the area. “It is more than just a pure artistic center to serve a community. It is that, but at the same time it’s much more than that. ” In the last few years, the city’s wealthy elite have chiseled their names into some of the city’s most iconic cultural institutions — or sought to build their own. The New York Public Library’s main branch on Fifth Avenue has been renamed for Stephen A. Schwarzman, the old New York State Theater for David H. Koch and Avery Fisher (nee Philharmonic) Hall at Lincoln Center for David Geffen. The new Perelman center is also joining several other projects that are being planned, including Culture Shed, a performance space at the Hudson Yards on the West Side, and a new park on Pier 55 near 14th Street with three outdoor spaces underwritten by the billionaire Barry Diller. Some arts executives have questioned whether the city had the audiences and donor base to sustain so many new cultural spaces. But culture has long been envisioned as a key part of the rebuilt World Trade Center and was an important feature of the architect Daniel Libeskind’s 2003 master plan for the site. The performing arts center was placed on the back burner, though, as officials wrangled over the many other thorny issues involved in redevelopment. Groups including the old New York City Opera, the Signature Theater Company and the Joyce Theater all explored anchoring the new complex, but nothing came of it. The architect Frank Gehry was hired to design it, then his design was shelved. The project, which was championed by the Bloomberg administration and eagerly sought by downtown residents, was kept alive through the administrations of four governors and two mayors. The seeds of Mr. Perelman’s involvement were planted a decade ago when Michael R. Bloomberg, who was the mayor, became the chairman of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum to restore confidence in the project, which had gone off track. Mr. Bloomberg recalled in an interview that one of the first donors he turned to was Mr. Perelman, who quickly agreed to donate $5 million to the museum project. Mr. Perelman stayed involved, expressing enthusiasm for the idea of a performing arts center at the site, and, as the project finally took shape recently, he agreed to make the lead gift. “Perelman’s a funny guy — if he’s interested in the institution and its mission, he’s a very easy sell,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “There have been times I had to sell him when he didn’t care very much, and that took a little more work. ” The backers of the new Perelman center downtown see it as filling an important niche for a midsize theater that can accommodate the kinds of multidisciplinary works many artists experiment with today. The complex, which is being designed by REX, a architecture firm, is to include three flexible, technologically advanced theaters that can individually seat 499 people, 299 people and 100 people, and which can be combined into one space that can accommodate 1, 200. The plan calls for the center to present or produce dance, concerts, new or early chamber opera, and theater, and to become the main venue of the Tribeca Film Festival each April. The performance plans have yet to come fully into focus: David Lan, the artistic director at the Young Vic in London, did a stint as its temporary artistic director, and Jenny Gersten, a former executive director of Friends of the High Line and artistic director of the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts, is a producing consultant. But the presence of Mr. Perelman, a businessman who is known to favor a approach with groups that he supports, suggests that there will be a powerful, wealthy patron pushing for it to succeed. Mr. Perelman left Carnegie after spending less than a year as its chairman after clashing with its staff and other board members — and before making an additional donation to the hall that had been expected to be in the $30 million range. He said in the interview that his support of the new performing arts center was unrelated to his departure from Carnegie and that he probably would have made the donation to support the new complex in any case. With Mr. Perelman’s donation, the project is now well on its way to covering its estimated $240 million price tag, said Maggie Boepple, the center’s president and director. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation committed $100 million in federal funds awarded after the Sept. 11 attacks for the project’s design, construction and administrative costs. “Ronald’s gift is going to open the doors,” Ms. Boepple said. “We have some other donors in the wings. ” Mr. Perelman, who raised eyebrows with his call to stage more pop music at Carnegie Hall, said that he envisioned attracting a wide variety of artists. “I would hope it is the first venue of choice for the Bruce Springsteens and the Bon Jovis and the Mas and the Lang Langs, and at the same time it’s a place where we could have produced a “Hamilton” project or where we could produce a new ballet,” he said. He added that he was excited by the technological possibilities of the plans, which call for adding streaming capabilities that will allow the center to capture and disseminate performances in a much more immersive, sophisticated way than is done at most theaters. Mr. Perelman said that he had been particularly taken by the designs of the architect, Joshua who was formerly a partner of Rem Koolhaas, and recalled a recent meeting in which they went over the renderings of the complex, which have not yet been publicly released, and then discussed the technological possibilities with Nicholas Negroponte, a founder of the MIT Media Lab, who had been visiting Mr. Perelman on other business. The news that the performing arts center finally had a lead gift, and was likely to get built, is sure to cheer downtown residents who have long seen it as a priority, said Catherine McVay Hughes, the chairwoman of Community Board 1. “The community that stayed was steadfast in supporting a cultural component,” she said. “It was important that something alive gets created here, right here, at the World Trade Center site. ”
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Sunday morning, officially the fourth day of New York Fashion Week and one scheduled with shows from some of the designers, started on a somber note. It was Sept. 11. At the Victoria Beckham show — held downtown not far from where many, including two presidential candidates, were gathering at National September 11 Memorial Museum — attendees observed the two moments of silence before the first model walked the runway. It was part of a formal recognition of how, every year, Sept. 11 falls somewhere on the New York Fashion Week calendar and how, for 15 years, designers and attendees have struggled with how to mark that day in an appropriate way. This year, for the first time, the Council of Fashion Designers of America blocked off the 9 a. m. time slot on the Fashion Calendar — roughly the time the planes hit the Twin Towers — in acknowledgment, and donated $15, 000 to the Sept. 11 museum. “We lived it, saw it, smelled it and refused to be defeated,” Diane von Furstenberg wrote in an email, referring to New Yorkers who were in the city on that day. Ms. von Furstenberg, the chairwoman of the C. F. D. A. board, also noted the resilience: “We are not victims. We built a better building, an entire neighborhood. We are proud but we don’t forget. Living fully is the only way to honor those who perished on that terrible day 15 years ago. ” In fact, in 2001, the World Trade Center was hit by the terrorist attacks just as that day’s fashion shows were about to start in Bryant Park. At the time, the tragedy was met with confusion and uncertainty. “I remember thinking, ‘What’s happening with fashion week? Am I going to sneak in? ’” said Humberto Leon, who had not yet founded Opening Ceremony and was still a fashion hopeful. “You just didn’t know what was happening. I remember saying to somebody, ‘No, nobody’s going to have their show. ’” Within hours, fashion week had been suspended, many shows canceled. Vogue and Carolina Herrera joined forces to offer some of the younger, fledgling brands the opportunity to show later, at Ms. Herrera’s showroom. This year, throughout the day, front row chatter kept to the usual fashion week banter, about weather and logistics, but designers made acknowledgments in their show notes and programs, even if not aloud. “We have to,” said Sander Lak, the designer of Sies Marjan. “We can’t deny the fact that this is the 15th anniversary. ” He is a recent arrival to New York, unlike many others on the fashion week calendar who were living or working in the city in 2001. As a “new New Yorker,” he said, he wanted to pay tribute to the occasion but did not think the shows should have been paused for the day. “I think you should continue,” he said. “We should celebrate life, and beauty hopefully — the joys of making things. ” Joseph Altuzarra, who had just come to the United States from Paris to attend Swarthmore College in the fall of 2001, said he felt conflicted at his show at 5 p. m. “In a way, I think it’s a great message of rebuilding and going forward,” he said. “It’s also obviously a very sad day. It was really important for me in the program to address it. I feel dual emotions. It’s sort of how I felt when I was watching the ceremony this morning. It’s obviously incredibly sad, and there’s a sort of positivity also that you hear about rebuilding. ” That message was echoed by Mr. Leon and Carol Lim of Opening Ceremony, who closed the day with an 8 p. m. show that was also a political pageant, urging action and optimism. “We were actually excited,” Mr. Leon said of the overlap. “It made sense. We’re doing a very celebratory act to commemorate it. ”
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By Catherine J. Frompovich This is the continuation of the testimony I will present before the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s Administrative Law Court November 2...
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The remarkable recovery of a woman with advanced colon cancer, after treatment with cells from her own immune system, may lead to new options for thousands of other patients with colon or pancreatic cancer, researchers are reporting. Her treatment was the first to successfully target a common cancer mutation that scientists have tried to attack for decades. Until now, that mutation has been bulletproof, so resistant to every attempt at treatment that scientists have described it as “undruggable. ” An article about the case, from a team led by Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg, chief of surgery at the National Cancer Institute, was published on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine. The patient, Celine Ryan, 50, an engineer, database programmer and the mother of five, has an unusual genetic makeup that allowed the treatment to work. She is now though not considered cured. The treatment was a form of immunotherapy, which enlists a patient’s immune system to fight disease. The field is revolutionizing cancer treatment. An experiment on one patient cannot determine whether a treatment will be effective in others, but doctors said the results had the potential to help more people. “It has huge implications,” Dr. Carl H. June, from the University of Pennsylvania, said in an interview. He was not part of the study, but wrote an editorial accompanying it in the journal. Dr. June said the research was the first successful targeting of a defect in a gene called KRAS, and is important because mutations in the gene are so common. “Every single pancreatic cancer patient has KRAS,” Dr. June said, adding that the pharmaceutical industry has spent billions trying unsuccessfully to target KRAS. Still, he said, the big question is whether this case is “one in a million, or something that can be replicated and built upon?” About 53, 000 cases of pancreatic cancer are expected in the United States this year, and nearly 42, 000 deaths. It is one of the deadliest cancers fewer than 10 percent of patients survive five years. Worldwide, it killed about 330, 000 people in 2012, the most recent year with global statistics available. From 30 to 50 percent of colorectal cancers have KRAS mutations, too, and about 13 percent have the same mutation that Ms. Ryan has. In the United States, about 95, 000 cases of colon cancer and 39, 000 cases of rectal cancer are expected in 2016, and 49, 000 deaths from the two forms combined. Globally, there were 1. 4 million cases and 694, 000 deaths in 2012. The new discovery might not have been made — at least, not now — without Ms. Ryan’s persistence. Researchers twice denied her request to enter the clinical trial, saying her tumors were not large enough, she said. But she refused to give up and was finally let in. The research involves immune cells called lymphocytes, or TILs. These are white blood cells that swarm around tumors, a sign that the immune system is trying to attack the cancer. Dr. Rosenberg has been studying TILs for decades, with the goal of enhancing their ability to fight the disease and using them as a treatment. An attempt to treat another patient with tumors much like Ms. Ryan’s did not work, almost certainly because the researchers could not produce enough highly targeted TILs, Dr. Rosenberg said. So far, the cells have worked best against advanced melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer. By extracting TILs from tumors, multiplying them in the lab and then returning them to the patient, Dr. Rosenberg’s team has produced long remissions in 20 to 25 percent of patients with that disease. More recently, the team has focused on an even tougher problem: tumors in the digestive system, including the colon and pancreas, and in ovaries, breasts and other organs, which cause more than 80 percent of the 596, 000 cancer deaths in the United States each year. The researchers analyze tumors for mutations — genetic flaws that set the cancer cells apart from normal ones. They also study TILs, looking for immune cells that can recognize mutations and therefore attack cancerous cells but leave healthy ones alone. Ms. Ryan, from Rochester Hills, Mich. had colon cancer that spread to her lungs despite surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. With few options, she began looking into research programs and came across the TILs research at the National Cancer Institute. In December 2014, she called the institute, hoping to join the study. But she was told, based on her scans and records, that she did not have a tumor big enough to yield TILs. A research nurse suggested she send her next set of scans maybe, in the interim, the tumors would grow. Ms. Ryan took that advice — and was devastated to be turned down again. “I felt sure I’d get in,” Ms. Ryan said. “My heart sank. ” The rejection left her sobbing. But then she and her husband pulled up images of her scans on their home computer, took screen shots and measurements of a lung tumor that seemed to match the study criteria, and sent them to the cancer institute. She included a polite note asking that, if her tumor was not eligible, she be told why. “I was trying not to sound like a desperate maniac, but I was a desperate maniac,” she said. In March 2015, she got in. Whether the screen shots were a deciding factor is not clear. Dr. Rosenberg said the team had been watching her progress and brought her in as soon as they identified operable tumors. A month later, the researchers performed surgery, removing several lung tumors to search for TILs. Ms. Ryan’s tissue turned out to be a medical gold mine. She had a KRAS mutation and her TILs included killer that locked onto the mutation like guided missiles. Her were able to recognize the mutation because she has an uncommon tissue type, which is a genetically determined trait. As a result, she carries a certain protein on the surface of her cells that plays an essential role in displaying the KRAS mutation so that cells can find it and attack. Best of all, from a scientific standpoint, was that Ms. Ryan’s KRAS mutation is shared by many other patients with colon and pancreatic cancers. Those who share her tissue type may also be good candidates for treatment with TILs. Researchers say they now have a blueprint that may enable them to develop cell treatments for other patients as well. The killer have surface molecules called receptors that lock onto mutated cells, and it may be possible to genetically engineer patients’ to give them those receptors and their ability. To treat Ms. Ryan, the team selected a culture of TILs with high levels of immune cells that specifically attacked her mutation. They multiplied those cells in the laboratory to produce huge numbers. Ms. Ryan was first given chemotherapy to wipe out most of her white blood cells and allow the TILs to flourish. Then, more than 100 billion TILs were dripped into her bloodstream through an intravenous line it took about 20 minutes, she said. About 75 percent were the killer that targeted her mutation. She was also given a substance that stimulates killer . Before being treated, Ms. Ryan had seven tumors in her lungs. Over the next nine months, six shrank and then disappeared. The seventh shrank at first, but then progressed. To remove it, surgeons took out the lower lobe of her left lung. Tests of the excised tumor explained why it had resisted treatment: It had mutated and no longer carried the marker that had enabled the to attack it. The tumor’s ability to escape the reveals a potential weak spot in the approach of targeting a single mutation, said Dr. Drew M. Pardoll, the director of the Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Calling cancer “versatile,” he said, “The tumor always seems to come up with a workaround. ” Even so, he said the research was “a real and solid step forward. ” Today, Ms. Ryan has no signs of cancer. “I feel great,” she said. But recently, two friends died of colon cancer, she said, adding, “I so hope they can get this treatment to everybody who needs it, and that it works. ”
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As Venezuela enters year eighteen of the Bolivarian Socialist Revolution, the international community is finally paying attention, as Venezuelans struggle to find food, medicine, and an outlet for their frustration that will not trigger rampant state violence. [There is no short version of the story of how South America’s wealthiest nation, which boasts the world’s largest known oil reserves, became a nation where 15 percent of people need to scavenge through garbage to eat while the nation’s dictator dances on state television. Venezuela’s decline is the inevitable endgame of socialism, told by the deterioration of its streets, the abuse of its opposition politicians, and the use of the military to maim and kill Venezuelan children as young as 14. Below, 20 images show the true toll of socialism in Venezuela. December 2011: While the death of Hugo Chávez allowed for socialist leaders to rapidly develop the cult of personality around him as a saint and martyr of socialism, the North cult worship of Chávez began during his lifetime. In 2011, chavista government officials put together a Christian “nativity scene” depicting Chávez as the baby Jesus figure, surrounded by founding fathers such as Simón Bolívar. (L’encre Noir) May 2011: As violent drug and gang activity flourished under Chávez, Venezuelans grew to fear murder at the hands of thugs so much that they prayed to dead thugs to protect them, creating idols known as “santos malandros” — ”holy thugs“ — and offering them small sacrifices in exchange for safety on urban streets. (AP Photo) May 20, 2017: Protesters flood the streets of San Cristóbal, the capital of westernmost Táchira state, where resistance to socialism has been often the most aggressive. (Luis Images) May 20, 2017: Caracas is also no stranger to giant peaceful opposition mobilizations, with the below protest occurring on the same day as the Táchira march. (Federico Images) July 2016: Táchira residents cross the border between Táchira and Colombia by the tens of thousands to purchase necessary home goods unavailable in Venezuelan stores. Families crossed to buy detergent, paper towels, food, and other needs. (George ) August 2015: To prevent Venezuelans from fleeing, and in protest of objections to human rights violations in the country from Colombia, Maduro shut the border down and violently deported all Colombian citizens on the border. Homes where Colombian citizens used to live were marked “D” for “demolition,” to erase any trace of Colombians there. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos denounced the move as using “Nazi ghetto tactics” against a friendly neighboring country. (Foto:Blu Radio) February 2014: Long before Táchira residents found themselves scrambling into Colombia for basic foods, however, they began demanding free exercise of political rights. Táchira was the first state to take down a likeness of dictator Hugo Chávez, nearly a year after the late dictator died. (Twitter) WARNING: GRAPHIC February 15, 2015: San Cristóbal residents gather around the lifeless body of Kluivert Roa, 14, shot and killed by Venezuelan soldiers while walking home from school. Witnesses say Roa saw a protest while walking home and shouted “stop the repression!” before soldiers shot him in the head. (George Castellanos via Clarín) WARNING: GRAPHIC May 20, 2017: Due to the presence of armed soldiers and armed chavista gangs known as colectivos, protesters have grown extremely concerned that infiltrated government agents have joined the protests. During this protest, young protesters surrounded Orlando Figuera, accused of being a thief and chavista, and burned him alive. (AFP) April 1, 2014: While the government has reserved its most intense violence for the average protester, it has not relented on attacking government members of the opposition, either. Below, lawmaker Maria Corina Machado (center) — illegally ousted from the National Assembly — flees as soldiers attack her with tear gas during a peaceful protest. (Twitter) April 2017: Maduro has rounded up and arrested many opposition leaders. The most prominent among them is the head of the Popular Will party, Leopoldo López, who was banned from seeing family for a month this year. Below, wife Lilian Tintori points up at her husband’s prison cell in the notorious Ramo Verde military prison, surrounded by soldiers ensuring she could not meet him. (Ronaldo Images) January 11, 2010: The violence that Bolivarian Socialism has brought to Venezuela only tells half the story. The other half is one of extreme poverty, where the value of the currency, the bolívar, has been in freefall for years. Even those with money struggle to find a store that is properly stocked. During the Chávez era, finding junk food and unhealthy soda in supermarkets was still possible, but not without encountering soldiers posted to prevent visitors from photographing the shortages or attempting to buy more than “necessary. ” During the Maduro era, the government implemented a strict ration card system. (Juan Images) May 2016: The below image is not an uncommon find in Venezuelan supermarkets. (Juan ) June 2016: The cities of Caracas are lined with garbage, and up to 15 percent of the population need to dig through garbage to eat. The crisis is particularly affecting children, who are growing and have specific nutrition requirements impossible to meet with the average Venezuelan diet. (Sumarium. com) March 2017: While human families struggle to feed themselves, Venezuela’s zoos have been almost completely unable to fulfill the needs of their animals. In March, rare images inside a Venezuelan zoo (the Venezuelan military severely limits the public’s photographing rights) surfaced showing Ruperta, a African elephant, showing clear signs of malnutrition. The Venezuelan government denied that the elephant was suffering. (Twitter) September 2016: Hospitals are faring little better than Venezuela’s supermarkets. Shortages of drugs and medical supplies have plagued the country for years, sending infant and maternal mortality rates skyrocketing. Below, a hospital uses cardboard boxes as cribs for their newborns. ( ) May 8, 2017: The staggering shortages have triggered waves of protests, like the one above in Táchira and daily protests in Caracas since March. Maduro has had two responses to the protests: extreme military violence against civilians … [Federico Images] November 2016: … and dancing. The dictator dances on the set of his new radio program, Salsa Time. ( government) November 2016: Maduro has also done nothing to successfully improve the economy. In November, the pile of bolivares, shown below, was worth $100. The value has decreased significantly since. (Ben News) December 16, 2016: Maduro attempted to improve the ease of use of the bolívar by outlawing the note and replacing it with larger denominations. The larger denominations were not printed in time, so the value of Venezuela’s notes went to zero overnight. Venezuelans began burning the bills or ceremonially tossing them in trash cans. (George Images.) Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter.
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One of the leading Trumpocrats, Billy Bova of Mississippi, is publicly calling for House Speaker Paul Ryan to do what is right by the country and President Donald Trump by resigning his position to move out of the way of the future of the Republican Party. [Bova was one of the key activists who was a lifelong Democrat who crossed over to support Trump for president against Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton — working with the Trumpocrats PAC, which helped flip tens of thousands of registered Democrats in the key battleground states of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan. In total, those states add up to 79 electoral votes — and without them, Trump would not have won the election. In each of those states, including especially razor thin margins over Clinton in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, it was the Trumpocrats who delivered the win — and the White House — to President Trump. Bova made his comments in an exclusive interview on Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel the morning after Ryan failed President Trump on healthcare. “I think that it is time for him to go like it was time for [former Speaker John] Boehner to go like it was time for [former Speaker Nancy] Pelosi to go,” Bova told Breitbart News Saturday. “President Trump is president because of registered mostly lifetime Democrat voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan — and those people bought into President Trump hard and were for him before they even supported him and voted for him because they love his America First populism. Our jobs first, our factories first, our legal citizens first, our military and veterans first. “Those people understand that the establishment globalist corporatists of both parties — Republicans and Democrats — have sold them out. They’ve sold out our working and middle class here in America. They’ve sold out our country, people born here in America who were raised up and played by the rules and paid their taxes and are just looking for a level playing field. “And they also realize that those folks that put President Trump in office, that he was correct on healthcare — that Obamacare should be repealed but you’ve got to do it in a way that gives people choice. It’s all about competition. The insurance companies have a monopoly. I live in the state of Mississippi — one health insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, has 60 to 65 percent of the health insurance business. What if you lived in a state where AllState had 70 or 75 percent of the car insurance business? Everyone would be jumping up and down, screaming, ‘why can’t we get different insurance? I don’t need the ugly kind that they’re selling.’ So we have got to have competition in the marketplace. “And Donald Trump is right, when we get competition in the marketplace. When people go to a restaurant they don’t want two items on the menu, they want 22 items to choose from on the menu because not everybody eats the same thing and not everybody needs to consume the same kind of health insurance or health care. It’s that simple. ” Bova said that a piece from Breitbart News’ John Carney detailing how Ryan is already contradicting President Trump’s administration on tax reform, the supposed next item on the agenda, is “exactly right” and questioned how President Trump can trust Ryan as he embarks on this next step. “I don’t know how Donald Trump, President Trump and his advisers, how they are going to trust him in the future,” Bova said. “I think his credibility is basically destroyed here this past week as Speaker and as leader in the House of the Republicans on Capitol Hill. “He dropped the ball, he tried to do an Obamacare Lite so as to not step on the toes of the big insurance companies and the status quo and the Big Pharma companies and all that stuff. I don’t know they could possibly trust him to try and give us a more fair and equitable and competitive tax structure. I just don’t know how he can be trusted to do that and to lead. “It’s a shame, I’m sorry to say, but he was opposed to Donald Trump from the . So was Mitch McConnell. Much of the leadership of the Republican Party in D. C. in the House and the Senate was opposed to him. I think they might smile and shake his hand, and slap him on the back and eat free lunch and dinner at the White House with him but I think they got back to themselves on Capitol Hill and they got their knives out again for him and for his White House and I certainly wouldn’t trust them from here on out. ” Bova said the failure of the American Health Care Act is entirely Paul Ryan’s fault, but undoubtedly Ryan’s mistakes will cause some “blowback” against President Trump. However, he added, the president can get back on track by steering clear of Ryan’s pet issues and focusing on what won him the White House. “I think what we ended up with and unfortunately, the blowback — some of it is going to come back to the president — but he can rebound,” Bova said. “President Trump can rebound. He’ll recapture his narrative and get back on trade and economics and jobs and that kind of thing and illegal immigration and stuff like that. “But I think what happened is Ryan and McConnell — especially Ryan and his top people over on the House side — figured they would just take the healthcare ball and run with it. I think this ultimately would have turned out differently if this had been Donald Trump and his top advisers and people there in the West Wing and in the White House, orchestrating it, laying it all out, writing it all out and explaining it to the people. I think we would have seen a much more different outcome than what we saw yesterday. “I think Ryan and his gang of establishment, globalist, corporatist Republicans who want the health insurance companies to charge higher and higher premiums, who want the big pharmaceutical companies to charge higher and higher prices not lower prices, who want the big insurance companies to charge a completely healthy male another $200 a month for his health insurance because he has to have maternity leave benefits in it. “I’m in my 50s, I’ve never needed maternity leave. I’ve needed basic, major medical health insurance as a working class person — American — American. I don’t need a $10, 000 deductible, I need a $1, 000 deductible. “So I think it was just one more instance where the globalist, corporatist, establishment Republicans on the Hill led by Paul Ryan grabbed the ball, and took the ball and ran with it, and we ended up with this incredible debacle that unfolded this past week. ” LISTEN TO TRUMPOCRAT BILLY BOVA CALL FOR PAUL RYAN TO RESIGN:
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During a radio interview broadcast on Sunday, Linda Tripp, who was famously portrayed by John Goodman on Saturday Night Live during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, blasted SNL for what she described as a political campaign to “make me into a villain” instead of Bill and Hillary Clinton. [Tripp says she was prompted to go public about the issue in response to the NBC comedy sketch show’s negative portrayal of President Donald Trump and top White House officials. She charged the show and the mainstream news media were engaged in a deliberate “campaign of disinformation, confusion, and essentially propaganda. ” Tripp also opened up about the personal toll she said the media’s negative portrayal had on her, describing how she banned television from her house for three years in the late 1990’s and at times engaged in binge eating as a coping mechanism. She was speaking on this reporter’s weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” broadcast on New York’s Am 970 The Answer and NewsTalk 990 AM in Philadelphia. In the interview, Tripp divulged she has been quietly writing a book about her experiences working directly adjacent to Hillary Clinton’s second floor West Wing office, where Tripp was afforded a front row seat into some of the most infamous scandals to rock the Clinton White House, misdeeds that she says partially prompted her to finally go public about the Lewinsky affair. She explained she was also motivated to go public to protect Lewinsky. SNL ‘Had an Agenda’ During the Clinton administration, Tripp first served as support staff to the Immediate Office of the President, where she sat just outside Bill Clinton’s Oval Office. After three months, Tripp was asked to work for the White House Counsel’s office as executive assistant to White House Counsel Bernie Nussbaum, who played a lead role in defending the Clintons for their infamous alleged misdeeds. Tripp’s office was located adjacent to Hillary Clinton’s. Tripp documented evidence of Lewinsky’s phone calls about her relationship with Bill Clinton and submitted the evidence to independent counsel Kenneth Starr, leading to the public disclosure of the affair. Throughout the scandal, SNL repeatedly depicted Tripp, played by Goodman, as a wrongdoer who betrayed her friend by recording conversations with the younger Lewinsky in a bid to land a book deal, even though Tripp never published a book. In a previous interview on my show, Tripp explained she went public because she believed her own life and Lewinsky’s were in danger, saying that Lewinsky was threatening Clinton with outing the relationship. During our interview on Sunday, Tripp commented on the SNL portrayals of her. “I had always been a great fan of John Goodman,” Tripp said. “I think he is funny. And actually, in the beginning I thought his portrayal was funny. But over time, I came to realize that there was more there than comedy alone. ” Tripp recalled SNL comedian Dana Carvey “did just amazing impersonations of President Bush. But it was just good clean fun. Much the way you saw Obama portrayed on Saturday Night Live. ” “And this was different,” she said, referring the show’s portrayal of her. “It had an agenda. It had a focus. And it was a means to an end. And the means to an end was to use any and all opportunities to discredit and to vilify me. … What happened to me and what is happening today frankly is something completely different and scary. ” Tripp continued: “Many people don’t know this, but as soon as the (Lewinsky) story broke, Hillary Clinton is documented as saying, ‘Get me anything and everything on Linda Tripp.’ Which I knew she would do. They couldn’t discredit me professionally because they had promoted me many times over the time that I was in the White House. So, they were lost on that score. So, they had to make me into a villain. ” She took issue with the show’s framing of her as the offender. “Quite apart from being a betrayer, I believe I helped Monica Lewinsky. But the real issue is how the Clinton machine in conjunction with the media portrayed me as evil repeatedly. And frankly I don’t present well photographically so I helped them. ” Tripp subsequently said she found it interesting that liberals espouse “hollow claims to champion civil rights of all, want the federal government to assign gender neutral bathrooms, but were okay with SNL portraying me as a transgender villain. Their PC protections only apply to liberals. ” Media Coverage of Trump ‘A Sabotage of the Truth’ Meanwhile, Tripp said during Sunday’s interview that she sees SNL’s current negative portrayal of Trump and top administration officials, including Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway and White House Spokesman Sean Spencer, as part of a larger news media campaign aimed at discrediting the president and his policies. “Now I think what is going on on SNL is a part of it,” she said. “It’s all of a piece, though. It’s almost a psychological warfare tactic. I worked with special operations for many years. And I can’t overstate the effectiveness of this campaign that they are waging. “You have to understand that the media backed one candidate. And after she was defeated and after a campaign where the mainstream media, which is a true misnomer, advocated essentially as an arm of the DNC. After her defeat, they have done nothing but double down in an attempt to take down what they perceive as their opponent. Because he had the nerve to actually win. When, if you will recall, virtually everyone in the mainstream media laughed on air about even the possibility of his winning. ” Tripp called the rampant media coverage a “campaign of disinformation, confusion, and essentially propaganda. ” “It is a sabotage of the truth. And it’s on a grand scale. And for me it is painful to watch because even though the president has a bully pulpit, even he is at the mercy of what people refer to as the mainstream media. A private citizen has no chance. But even the president will face obstacles because this is an orchestrated effort. ” Mocking Took a Personal Toll, Tripp described how SNL’s mocking and the larger negative coverage in the news media caused her to go into hiding, created body image issues, and led to binge eating as a coping mechanism. “I know that I went into hiding,” she stated. “I know that I have never been a vain person. I kind of have always been a pretty straightforward person. I have never obsessed about my looks. I guess I have never been that much of a girly girl. So, I was stunned at how I looked number one in the pictures. ” “Realizing that I had deteriorated in such an extreme way in my years following my exposure to the Clintons. And that is kind of how I cope. I eat myself into oblivion and it shows when I can’t deal on any level with what I am seeing. “I took TVs out of my house. We didn’t have TV in my house for a good three years. Because I couldn’t bear to see all the negativity and all the untruths. And it was a helpless feeling because as a private citizen you have virtually no chance at all to defend yourself. They can create the monster that they choose to create. And you are literally helpless to combat that. ” One of many examples of SNL’s targeting of Tripp was a skit jeering Tripp’s February 1999 interview with reporter Jamie Gangel. In the skit, the mock Gangel stated: “Miss Tripp, no one understands, no one. No one understands why you did what you did. You betrayed your friend by taping private current phone conversations. ” Tripp’s character, played by Goodman, replied, “I don’t want to talk about that. Not because I think it was a horrible, gutless, soulless thing to do but apparently, it’s against the law in the state of Maryland. And they want to prosecute me for it. Big time. ” “Do you feel bad about what you have done?” asked Gangel’s character. “What have I done?” Goodman replies, as Tripp. “You went out of your way to betray a friend’s confidence. To end a relationship between two consenting adults and in the process caused an investigation that cost the American taxpayer tens of millions of dollars all in the hopes of getting a book deal. ” “Well,” retorted Tripp’s character, “if you put it that way no. I did what I did because I’m a patriot. As a New England Patriot. I’m their new starting outside linebacker. ” Far from that characterization, Tripp said on Sunday she documented evidence of Lewinsky’s phone calls in order to help Lewinsky. Speaking last September on my show, Tripp made similar remarks. She stated at the time: I say today and I will continue to say that I believe Monica Lewinsky is alive today because of choices I made and action I took. That may sound melodramatic to your listeners. I can only say that from my perspective I believe that she and I at the time were in danger, because nothing stands in the way of these people achieving their political ends. I think that had it not become public when it did, particularly in light of the Paula Jones lawsuit, which was coming to a head with President Clinton’s deposition, that we may well have met with an accident. It’s a situation where unless you lived it as I did you would have no real framework of reference for this sort of situation. Book, Tripp revealed during the interview that she has been working on a book for the past five years. Besides the Lewinsky issue, her front row seat during her White House days afforded her access to some inside stories on the scandals known as Travelgate, Filegate and Whitewater, and she says she personally witnessed the handling of documents from Vince Foster’s office the morning after the Deputy White House Counsel was found dead in an apparent suicide. Tripp stated the book would contain her “version of what happened and what caused me to go forward and the motivation that propelled me forward in the face of overwhelming obstacles. ” “I mean you just do not go up against the president of the United States for frivolous reasons,” she said. “Certainly, not for a book. I do think it may be time to put it out in the public domain. ” Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. ” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
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How to contact WikiLeaks? What is Tor? Tips for Sources After Submitting
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October 28, 2016 French Jews urged to rally over UNESCO resolutions
The main Jewish groups in France urged members to rally in front of the headquarters of the country’s Foreign Ministry to protest its failure to oppose UN resolutions that ignore Jewish ties to Jerusalem, JTA reported on Thursday.
On Wednesday, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee passed a resolution denying the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
On October 13, the executive board of the UNESCO passed a similar resolution which refers to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount only by their Arabic-language names.
France was among 26 countries that abstained from voting during the first resolution.
CRIF, the political lobby group representing French Jewish communities, was joined in a rare move by the Consistoire, French Jewry’s organ responsible for religious services, in organizing a protest rally for Thursday opposite the Quai d’Orsay in Paris in reaction to the passing of the two resolutions on Jerusalem.
“We were shocked by the anti-Israeli obsession of UNESCO and are now revolted by its disavowal of its own values,” CRIF President Francis Kalifat wrote Wednesday in his call for French Jews to rally outside Quai d’Orsay.
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Thursday on Chicago’s ABC7 when asked by correspondent Judy Hsu if race relations have gotten better or worse during his tenure, President Barack Obama said “for the most part” they had gotten better. Obama said “You know I think that in some ways, like everything else it’s gotten better and in some ways we have surfaced tensions that were already there but are getting more attention. Look, I came to Chicago in 1985, in the middle of Council Wars between Harold Washington and Eddie Vrdolyak. Some of your viewers are too young to remember this stuff. I promise you, for the most part, race relations have gotten better. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes . We can’t do this show without your support!!! Yes, Trump looks like he will be our next president.
We have on @BrettPain and @MurderBryan from Street Fight Radio on WCRS in Columbus, Ohio to discuss what’s next for those of us on the left following this absolutely crushing defeat at the hands of the extreme right-wing. It’s definitely a cathartic conversation, but we don’t just vent, we discuss next steps for building a powerful counterweight to right-wing demagoguery. Liberalism and sectarian leftism have failed. We can’t keep blaming everyone else, this defeat requires some serious introspection from liberals and leftists alike. If you are unable to organize people to your political position, that’s your fault, not the fault of those you fail to convince.
It’s time for those of us on the Left to get it together. No one else is going to fix this for us.
The post Delete Your Account – Episode 24: President Trump appeared first on Shadowproof .
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This article was written by Paul Joseph Watson and originally published at Infowars.com .
Editor’s Comment: The blowback from Team Hillary, over their rage and anger at losing the election continues to build, and it is reaching an unsettling point. All sides seem determined to drag out their differences into the street, but not before first attempting to overthrow the electoral college.
Since the election, people have been lobbying – or bullying – individual electors in various states, and have left angry, threatening messages and worse. Ironically, those who have threatened violence and attempted to insist on altering the results of the election are trying to convince the electors that Donald Trump is unfit to be president because of his divisive and offensive comments, and his tendency to attack various groups.
More Electors Get Death Threats From Hillary Voters
by Paul Joseph Watson
A member of the electoral commission in Texas says his colleagues are getting death threats as angry Hillary supporters ramp up the pressure before electors cast their vote on December 19th.
Hillary voters around the country are bombarding electors with emails, some of them threatening, in an effort to force them to vote against the outcome of the presidential election.
“At first everyone was kinda enchanted by it. Now all the electors are starting to get beaten down. There are some electors who have been threatened with harm or with death,” Texas elector Alex Kim told NBC 5.
“When people ask me to vote for Hillary Clinton, there’s no way,” he said. “I reject the Democratic Party principles and I reject Hillary Clinton.”
Kim said he had a message for all the people who are trying to pressure him into changing his vote; “Go to hell”.
As we previously reported , another elector in Michigan said he has also received a number of death threats, including a promise that he would be shot in the head if he voted for Trump.
“I’ve had people talk about shoving a gun in my mouth and blowing my brains out. And I’ve received dozens and dozens of those emails. Even the non-threatening-my-life emails are very aggressive,” Michael Banerian told the Detroit News, adding that he has been labeled a “hateful bigot” by the same people who are violently threatening him.
A petition to demand electors change their vote to Clinton has also surpassed 4.5 million signatures.
Meanwhile on Twitter, Hillary supporters are organizing on how to pressure electors under the hashtag #HamiltonElectors , a reference to Mike Pence being lectured by a cast member of the musical show.
Unfortunately for them, conservatives found the hashtag and have now largely taken it over to decry leftists attempting to overturn the results of a democratic election.
This article was written by Paul Joseph Watson and originally published at Infowars.com .
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Hillary Clinton Waiting In Wings Of Stage Since 6 A.M. For DNC Speech PHILADELPHIA—Saying she arrived hours before any of the members of the production crew, sources confirmed Thursday that presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has been waiting in the wings of the Wells Fargo Center stage since six o’clock this morning to deliver her speech at the Democratic National Convention. Depressed, Butter-Covered Tom Vilsack Enters Sixth Day Of Corn Bender After Losing VP Spot WASHINGTON—Saying she has grown increasingly concerned about her husband’s mental and physical well-being since last Friday, Christie Vilsack, the wife of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, told reporters Thursday that the despondent, butter-covered cabinet member has entered the sixth day of a destructive corn bender after being passed over for the Democratic vice presidential spot. DNC Speech: ‘I Am Proud To Say I Walked In On Bill And Hillary Having Sex’ A friend of the Clinton family describes a Hillary who America never gets to see: the one he saw having sex. Trump Sick And Tired Of Mainstream Media Always Trying To Put His Words Into Some Sort Of Context NEW YORK—Emphasizing that the practice was just more evidence of journalists’ bias against him, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump stated Thursday that he was sick and tired of the mainstream media always attempting to place his words into some kind of context. Who’s Speaking At The DNC: Day 4 Here is a guide to the major speakers who will be addressing attendees on the final night of the 2016 Democratic National Convention Bound, Gagged Joaquin Castro Horrified By What His Identical Twin Brother Might Be Doing Out On DNC Floor PHILADELPHIA—Struggling to free himself from the tightly wound lengths of rope binding his wrists and ankles together, bruised and gagged Texas congressman Joaquin Castro was reportedly horrified by what his identical twin brother, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, might be out doing on the floor of the DNC Thursday. Obama: ‘Hillary Will Fight To Protect My Legacy, Even The Truly Detestable Parts’ PHILADELPHIA—Emphasizing the former secretary of state’s competence and tenacity during his Democratic National Convention address Wednesday night, President Barack Obama praised Hillary Clinton as someone who would work tirelessly to defend and advance the legacy he had built, even the “truly repugnant parts.” Tim Kaine Clearly Tuning Out In Middle Of Boring Vice Presidential Acceptance Speech PHILADELPHIA—Describing the look of total disinterest on his face and noting how he kept peering down at his watch as the speech progressed, sources at the Democratic National Convention said that Virginia senator Tim Kaine clearly began tuning out partway through the boring vice presidential acceptance address Wednesday night. Cannon Overshoots Tim Kaine Across Wells Fargo Center PHILADELPHIA—Noting that the vice presidential nominee had been launched nearly 100 feet into the air during his entrance into the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, sources reported that the cannon at the back of the Wells Fargo Center had accidentally overshot Tim Kaine across the arena, sending him crashing to the stage several dozen feet beyond the erected safety net. Biden Regales DNC With Story Of ’80s Girl Band Vixen Breaking Hard Rock’s Glass Ceiling PHILADELPHIA—Devoting a large portion of his speech to the “pioneering, stiffy-inducing” all-female quartet, Vice President Joe Biden regaled the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night with the rousing story of the metal band Vixen breaking hard rock’s glass ceiling in the late 1980s.
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Musicians do not usually respond with patience when listeners refer to their music as “filth. ” So the tweets that Vince Staples sent early Wednesday morning in response to a viral video of a mother criticizing his work were surprising, particularly to those unfamiliar with Mr. Staples’s worldview. In a video posted to YouTube last month, a mother of four girls, who does not identify herself by name, says that she was driving her daughter to school when she heard “Norf Norf,” a song from Mr. Staples’s 2015 album “Summertime ’06. ” “This rap song comes on. Guys, I could not believe what I was hearing,” she says, adding that she usually tunes her car radio to Christian music but put on a “top hits” station at her ’s request. “This is on our local radio station? This crap is being played?” She continues, “I couldn’t even believe the words I was listening to. As a mom, it infuriated me. ” The video has received more than 800, 000 views. The lyrics of “Norf Norf” are explicit, painting a violent picture of Mr. Staples’ adolescent years in Long Beach, Calif. In her reaction video, the mother reads the words aloud, bursting into tears several times. She seems particularly taken aback by the repetitive line of the chorus: “I ain’t never ran from nothin’ but the police. ” “Let’s just encourage kids to run from the police because that’s O. K. right? ,” she says. “We wonder why this society is so messed up — just listen to the music. ” But responding to the video on Wednesday, Mr. Staples said that the woman seemed confused and frightened, and went on to defend her. “No person needs to be attacked for their opinion on what they see to be appropriate for their children,” Mr. Staples tweeted. “They have a right to it. ” He continued, “This misunderstanding of our community leads to miscommunication which we should convert into a progressive dialogue. ” He then declared that he was done speaking about the issue. Mr. Staples’s tweets, which were meant to clarify earlier comments in The Independent, were a contrast to the mother’s disgust and to those who had mocked her ignorance about rap by responding to the video with laughing emojis or syncing the audio from the YouTube video with the beat of “Norf Norf. ” Others blasted her comments as racist and ignorant. David Dennis Jr. a journalism professor at Morehouse College who has covered online for close to a decade, said that Mr. Staples’s thoughtful reaction was “extremely unusual. ” “Twitter is 140 characters of quick reactions and not a lot of nuance whatsoever,” Mr. Dennis said. “There are brilliant people who, when they get on Twitter, they sort of become the lowest common denominators of themselves. ” He said that the rapper’s experience as a public figure with a vast online following may have helped him empathize with the mother. “As a famous rapper, he sort of knows how Twitter mob mentality works,” Mr. Dennis said. “Through the lens of somebody who goes viral a lot, I think that empathy is something he learned. ” In an interview in The Fader soon after “Summertime ‘06” was released, Mr. Staples talked about people he knew who were trapped in a cycle of gang violence. His attitude toward them mirrored his comments about the mother. “I just want to help people understand that we don’t get to pick, bro,” he said. “We don’t get to pick where we was from. That ain’t how it works. ”
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Donald J. Trump won the White House with an outsider’s populist promise to “drain the swamp” of Washington. Now, as he prepares to assume the presidency, an open question remains about the capital he repeatedly spurned: Just how much is he willing to become a part of it? Mr. Trump, a homebody who often flew several hours late at night during the campaign so he could wake up in his own bed in Trump Tower, is talking with his advisers about how many nights a week he will spend in the White House. He has told them he would like to do what he is used to, which is spending time in New York when he can. The future first lady, Melania Trump, expects to move to Washington. But the couple’s son, Barron, is midway through a school year in New York, and it is unclear when the move would happen. The questions reflect what Mr. Trump’s advisers described as the ’s coming to grips with the fact that his life is about to change radically. They say that Mr. Trump, who was shocked when he won the election, might spend most of the week in Washington, much like members of Congress, and return to Trump Tower or his golf course in Bedminster, N. J. or his estate in Palm Beach on weekends. Hanging on to the familiar for and their families is not unusual. There were early questions about whether Michelle Obama would leave Chicago and move to the White House in early 2009 and disrupt her daughters’ school years, but the whole family moved in the day of the inaugural. Mr. Trump’s advisers hold out the possibility that the may spend more time in the White House as he grows less overwhelmed and more comfortable in the job. Still, Mr. Trump has spent the last three decades, for the most part, cosseted within Trump Tower. His apartment is on the 58th floor, and a designated elevator takes him from there to his office on the 26th floor. He wakes at 5 o’clock most mornings, reads The New York Post, The New York Times and a handful of other newspapers, and tunes into the morning television news shows. In the final months of the campaign, he would hang around his apartment until about 10 a. m. joining his aides in the office later. Mr. Trump’s affection for his penthouse apartment runs deep, as his biographer, Michael D’Antonio, learned when Mr. Trump invited him inside the unit in 2014 for an extended interview. Mr. Trump reveled in recalling the challenges required to design and build the apartment, decorated in gold and marble in the Louis XIV style, saying he simply wanted to see if such an ambitious undertaking could be accomplished. He described it less as a home than a tribute to his own . “I really wanted to see if it could be done,” Mr. Trump said at the time, as he showed Mr. D’Antonio around the apartment. “This is a very complex unit. Building this unit, if you look at the columns and the carvings, this building, this unit was harder than building the building itself. ” Yet after meeting with President Obama on Thursday and touring the White House, Mr. Trump, according to two people briefed on his thinking, was taken with that building over all and marveled at the neoclassical architecture and history. Returning home to Trump Tower from the White House may not be Mr. Trump’s only embrace of the familiar. His aides say he has also expressed interest in continuing to hold the large rallies that were a staple of his candidacy. He likes the instant gratification and adulation that the cheering crowds provide, and his aides are discussing how they might accommodate his demand. “I think Trump has discovered that these rallies are tremendous opportunities for him to get his message out,” said Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media, a conservative website. “It’s actually sort of that you want to actually meet people and press the flesh with him. ” Not least, Mr. Trump is finding Twitter a familiar comfort, although it is unclear if he will be the first president to wholly control his own Twitter account once he is in the White House. “I know they’re willing to be unorthodox and want to be true to themselves and not fall into a habit of let’s just follow precedent on what’s been done,” said Mike DuHaime, an adviser to Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who supported Mr. Trump shortly after ending his own White House bid and who stepped back as the head of the ’s transition team on Friday. Mr. Trump’s aides got him to agree to restrict his use of Twitter in the waning days of his campaign, but on Thursday, his second day as Mr. Trump posted the kind of Twitter missive for which he has become known: a message complaining that “professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. ” “Very unfair!” he wrote. Mr. Trump checked himself later when he offered a more unifying message: “Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud. ” For now Mr. Trump remains in Trump Tower receiving congratulations, thanking those who stayed with him and venting to associates his lingering grievances with the news media over coverage of the campaign. He has stayed in touch with reporters at Fox News, checking in to ask about ratings and, as he has done for months, polling people about whom he should put in top jobs. One constant is that the small cadre of aides and advisers who signed on with the campaign in its early, days will probably have jobs in the administration, should they want them. They have been told that all of the campaign staff will be taken care of. “It was such a small operation and it’s such a big government, so it’s very natural they’re going to look to the people who went with them early and stuck with them through thick and thin,” Mr. DuHaime said.
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MANDEVILLE, La. — It has so far been a mostly humdrum race for Louisiana’s open United States Senate seat, likely to end in a victory for some veteran officeholder: the Republican state treasurer, one of the congressmen, maybe even, in a surprise, a Democratic public service commissioner. But there have been gritted teeth across the state that the one candidate who has drawn by far the most attention, nationally and even internationally, is the one whom pollsters give virtually no chance, whose own party has publicly dismissed as a “ fraud” and whose unfavorability ratings approach those of North Korea’s. That candidate is a previous political contender, and David Duke. Mr. Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and open Nazi sympathizer, relishes his fame and the conundrum facing his critics, who insist on ignoring him but have been forced not to. At a time when the openly white nationalist “ ” has rallied to the candidacy of Donald J. Trump, Mr. Duke’s reappearance on the scene seems practically inevitable. “After four decades, the issues that I’ve spearheaded and fought for are now mainstream,” Mr. Duke said at a seafood restaurant here, sitting across from a large, taciturn diesel mechanic turned bodyguard. Talking of what he called the egregiousness of immigration, the war on Christmas, the nefarious plotting of the “Jewish elite” and the “cultural destruction” of white America, Mr. Duke was already declaring a sort of victory on the issues: “I’ve won, in the sense that these are now mainstream. ” On the one hand, Mr. Duke is widely seen here as a uniquely poisonous figure who must be publicly opposed, hence the recent reformation of a group, The Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism. The group includes former governors and United States senators, as well as Representative Steve Scalise, the House Republican, who faced a national firestorm two years ago when it was revealed that he had spoken to a group in 2002. On the other hand, many of those who watched over the years as Mr. Duke attracted worldwide media attention and hauled in donations from his fans — a good deal of which he later pleaded guilty to spending on gambling and other personal pursuits — say the Duke campaign is just a tired publicity stunt. “The less you talk about him, the worse off he gets,” said Roy Fletcher, a Republican political consultant. Clancy DuBos, a political commentator who has covered Mr. Duke for decades, dismissed the media attention as “cheap headlines and click bait. ” “He’s not in this to win the Senate, he’s in this to make money,” he said. The state Republican Party, having condemned Mr. Duke, recently considered, but did not adopt, rules barring him and any other convicted felons from running as Republicans in the future. It is not as if there were few options for voters on the right: John Neely Kennedy, the state treasurer and presumed Republican in the Senate race, has said he would “rather drink weed killer than support Obamacare,” and he is considered to be among the moderates. Along with Mr. Kennedy, there are also two sitting congressmen, a retired Air Force colonel and five other Republican candidates vying for the seat being left by David Vitter. Under Louisiana’s system, the two top out of the two dozen candidates running in November’s nonpartisan primary will head to a December runoff. Pollsters of both parties say they have trouble seeing Mr. Duke making the cut. Still, many nervously recall the shock of his one successful campaign, for a legislative seat in 1989, and how he won strong majorities of the white vote statewide in his subsequent unsuccessful bids for United States Senate and for governor. And for all the talk about not giving Mr. Duke attention, Democrats from the state party all the way up to Hillary Clinton have jumped at every opportunity to talk about him, and draw connections between Mr. Duke’s candidacy and the Trump campaign. “It’s not overstating things to say that Duke has a shot in this climate,” said Caroline Fayard, a Democratic Senate candidate, who has made opposition to Mr. Duke a central part of her campaign. Plenty of Trump supporters, including other Republican Senate candidates, have come out unequivocally against Mr. Duke. Mr. Trump himself, after some pressure, disavowed him after having first claimed not to know anything about him, though in 2000, Mr. Trump called him a bigot and a Klansman. Still, this is one area where the Democrats and the Duke campaign see eye to eye. “The views that Donald Trump is talking about now were David’s platform decades ago,” said Mike Lawrence, Mr. Duke’s campaign manager, a former state auditor who was kicked out of a recent state Republican Party meeting. And like Mr. Trump, Mr. Lawrence said, “Duke has become a narcotic to the media no Duke coverage in the short term and withdrawal sets in. ” At the restaurant, after a discourse on the evils of fish, Mr. Duke denied being a racist (though he wrote in his 1998 autobiography that blacks were inherently less intelligent, more violent and more prone to “exaggerated sexual aggression” than whites) or an (though he accused Jews of “brainwashing” whites in order to push policies “that will destroy us”). But he has embraced the current political moment. Brushing aside Mr. Trump’s disavowals, he described the Trump campaign as something of a scene setter for his own return to politics, after spending years lecturing in Russia and other European countries, though he was expelled from some and arrested in others. The police shootings in Dallas and Baton Rouge clinched his decision to run, because, Mr. Duke said, they clarified the existential threat faced by whites. “There’s a revolution going on in the Republican Party right now,” he said, describing the opposition movements within the party to Mr. Trump’s candidacy and to his own as “synonymous, absolutely synonymous. ” A server came to the table. Mr. Duke, apparently a regular, introduced him as Craig Williams, whose father, Louis Calvin Williams, was in New York on business on Sept. 11, 2001, and was one of five Louisianans to die in that day’s attacks. Mr. Duke asked Mr. Williams to explain to a reporter why his campaign should succeed. “I think they just need to stop letting all these people in,” Mr. Williams said. “You say the slightest thing and everything is race now,” he continued. “It didn’t used to be that way. ” After the interview, the bodyguard having left, Mr. Duke walked out to his white Mercedes and rummaged through the trunk for copies of books he had written to back up claims about Jewish global domination. A couple of days later, as Senate candidates shook hands with voters at the annual Shrimp and Petroleum Festival, Mr. Duke was giving an interview to a television station from Denmark.
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November 12, 2016 - Fort Russ - Viktor Pirozhenko, Izvestiya - translated by J. Arnoldski -
On her Facebook page, Verkhovna Rada deputy Nadezhda Savchenko urged future US President Donald Trump to maintain and strengthen sanctions against Russia. In fact, she foreshadowed similar, official calls of the sort from Kiev to the new US administration.
Such calls will necessarily follow insofar as the entire foreign policy of the Kiev regime is based on simple-minded and destructive assumptions: lobbying the West for extending anti-Russian sanctions and begging for aid and loans.
However, likely changes in US foreign policy under Trump, including in relations with the Kiev regime, as well as internal political processes in Ukraine itself could seriously change both the relationship between Kiev and Washington and the balance of political forces within the Kiev regime.
Overall, the situation in Ukraine is developing in the direction of early parliamentary elections with the possibility of nominating the now former head of the Odessa regional administration, Mikhail Saakashvili, for president in 2019.
The US itself long ago formulated the clear demand for a new, distinctly pro-American oriented political force that could replace the Maidan politicians of the first wave. Washington, in the face of the departing Obama Administration, has finally refused to trust Poroshenko, Yatsenyuk, Avakov, and their entourage.
Donald Trump, on the basis of his foreign policy ideas, will most likely significantly reduce the US’ active participation in ideologically-driven foreign policy actions like the Obama Administration’s policy in Ukraine.
During his election campaign, Trump promised to transition US foreign policy to "breaking even" and threatened to stimulate America’s European allies to take greater responsibility for Ukraine upon themselves.
In this situation, the number of those in Ukraine who want to show that replacing the corrupt government of Poroshenko and the People’s Front with a new pro-American government will allow the West to economize on aid to Ukraine is increasing. Trump’s foreign policy positions paradoxically give Saakashvili and the pro-American groups oriented towards him in Kiev an additional argument for the new administration and a powerful lever of pressure on Poroshenko and his entourage. We will soon see how Trump will react to these arguments.
In addition to Saakashvili and his Volna ("Wave") party, the “Leshchenko-Nayem group” is trying to become the new pro-Western bet in Ukraine. This group makes up the core of the Democratic Alliance party and a large mass of the pro-Western oriented public opinion leaders and influential officials in Kiev and in the regions.
Washington’s unwillingness to destabilize the overall socio-political situation in Ukraine to such an extent that it would spin out of the US’ control is, like before, hindering the Americans from removing Poroshenko from the post of president. Poroshenko remains, but in such a situation, the role and importance of those pro-American oriented political forces who will start keeping a close eye on the corrupt team of the head of the Kiev regime will only grow.
Washington’s claims against Kiev, duplicated by the American column in Ukraine, concern the lack of professionalism in the state administration, the indulgence of corruption, the use of grey financial schemes in the economy, robbing the budget, the misuse of foreign loans, etc.
At the present moment, the anti-Poroshenko and pro-American forces in Ukrainian politics remain fragmented, but they now understand the necessity of unifying.
The problem is that the “young reformers” that the Obama Administrated hedged its bets in Ukraine on, just like the third pro-American forces (besides the Poroshenko Bloc and People’s Front) have turned out to be at loggerheads with the future US president, Trump.
Deputies Sergey Leshchenko and Mustafa Nayem are favorites of Joe Biden and Victoria Nuland who openly played along with Hillary Clinton’s election campaign. Leshchenko personally initiated the "off-the-books" scandal with the Party of Regions which forced Paul Manafort, the head of Trump’s election headquarters, to leave his post. The only chance for them now is to escape to Saakashvili’s patronage, who will be the only one in the Kiev regime that didn’t play in any anti-Trump campaign.
Saakashvilli and his party, just like the Democratic Alliance, Yulia Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party, and the Opposition Bloc, are interested in early parliamentary elections and are likely to promote them. Saakashvili’s resignation, urgent party building, and the convulsive social and political activity of Poroshenko’s opponents show that no one in the opposition wants to wait until 2019. And so, a congress of the Democratic Alliance party is being prepared which will finally determine a program and elect a leadership. Someone is also trying to organize Volna.
Whether the Trump Administration will give a green light to early parliamentary elections is unknown. However, Poroshenko’s competitors are obviously counting on their activism to influence the Trump Administration’s position and put the need to support such choices in front of it.
In one way or another, some of Poroshenko’s competitors have perceived the change of government in the US not only as a challenge, but as a window of opportunity for themselves. Taking into account this factor, the development of events in Ukraine increases the likelihood of a change in the balance of political forces and early parliamentary elections.
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Earlier this week on the #FakeNewsNetwork CNN, Marc Lamont Hill said Donald Trump’s diversity coalition are “a bunch of mediocre negroes being dragged in front of TV as a for Donald Trump’s exploitative campaign against black people. ”[The Morehouse College professor also made his feelings about Steve Harvey’s meeting with Donald Trump very clear: … my disagreement is the way in which [Steve Harvey is] being used by folk like Donald Trump. Again, his intention is just to have a seat at the table. But when you’re at the table, you should have experts at the table. You should have people who can challenge the president at the table. … Because all — because they keep bringing up comedians and actors and athletes to represent black interests is demeaning, it’s disrespectful, and it’s condescending. Bring some people up there with some expertise, Donald Trump, don’t just bring up people to entertain. ” For my own sanity, I had to take a trip down memory lane. In June 2008, Barack Obama refused to meet with the black power brokers in Harlem, which led to Jesse Jackson desperately wishing to “cut his [Barack Obama’s] nuts out. ” In March 2010, to flex their muscles, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) voted unanimously against an Obama “jobs” bill. They got a meeting. As Congresswoman Yvette Clarke ( ) explained: [President Obama] reached out to us because last week the caucus in a show of unity did something unprecedented in quite some time, actually. And that is to stand together to vote against what was called the jobs bill last week. We felt that it was important to highlight the fact that while we understand the crisis that small business is facing, the bill fell woefully short in terms of addressing needs in communities of color to really get people employed. In August 2011, while speaking before an audience at Detroit’s Wayne County Community College, another Congressional Black Caucus member, Congresswoman Maxine Waters ( ) was asked why Obama wasn’t visiting black communities during his bus tour of Midwestern states. She responded: We’re supportive of the president, but we’re getting tired. We’re getting tired. And so, what we want to do is, we want to give the president every opportunity to show what he can do and what he’s prepared to lead on. We want to give him every opportunity, but our people are hurting. The unemployment is unconscionable. We don’t know what the strategy is. We don’t know why on this trip that he’s in the United States now, he’s not in any black community. We don’t know that. ” In 2012, it was so bad, there was a Change. org petition for President Obama to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus. The petition read: Congresswoman Marica Fudge ( ) who leads the Congressional Black Caucus, (CBC) has asked for a meeting with President Obama since January. The President still has not found time to meet with the CBC, though he seems to find time to meet with every other constituency. True, he has lots on his plate. But is is very disrespectful NOT to have this meeting with a key core constituency, especially one that voted for him at 97 percent. At this point in The Obama Presidency, this is a disgraceful way to treat the duly elected Congressional representatives of his core national African American constituency. National Black Wall Street USA movement joins the call for President Obama to immediately schedule a meeting with The Congressional Black Caucus! In July 2013, the Congressional Black Caucus FINALLY got another meeting with President Obama. They discussed voting rights, the economy, and immigration. However, a meeting wasn’t scheduled. In August 2014, riots started in Ferguson, Missouri. The Justice Department was dispatched, and this entire record of disrespect by the first black President towards the Congressional Black Caucus was forgotten. All the CBC wanted was a seat at the table. These are the experts, right? The purpose for my trip down memory lane wasn’t to play “hypocrisy gotcha” with Marc Lamont Hill. I wanted to remind the American people, and the Congressional Black Caucus, how irrelevant the CBC has been to Barack Obama’s presidency. That reminder is important as Congressman John Lewis ( ) is championed for standing up to Donald Trump, when he couldn’t even get a meeting with Barack Obama. If I can paraphrase the words of Marc Lamont Hill, they — the Congressional Black Caucus — couldn’t even get a seat at the table, and they are the experts. What’s really funny? On December 14, 2016, I tweeted: “Trump invites Blacks with ideas on improving communities. Obama invites them to perform. ” Trump invites Blacks with ideas on improving communities. Obama invites them to perform. — DidSheSayThat (@SonnieJohnson) December 14, 2016, The comment was in relation to Donald Trump meeting with Ray Lewis and Jim Brown. I’m guessing these are the “athletes” whose meetings with Trump Marc Lamont Hill finds “condescending. ” I refuse to justify Marc Lamont Hill’s characterization of these men by stating their rags to riches stories. I don’t defend men. I defend ideas, and Marc Lamont Hill’s idea of black mediocrity needs to be exposed. This is why I love Breitbart. Let me turn into #DidSheSayThat Sonnie Johnson real quick. I have been fighting the Republicans and conservatives to include black culture for years. In fact, the entire #DidSheSayThat podcast is a mix of conservative intellect with Hip Hop culture. It’s what I do. By choosing this path, I have lost my seat at the “conservative intellectual” table. Republicans and conservatives looked at Hip Hop artists as nothing but entertainers. For years I’ve argued they are entrepreneurs, spouses, parents — they came from these Democratic hellholes, and they can help get the people out. While my intellect has never been questioned and my conservatism is second to none, my love of Hip Hop and support of its culture only have a home on Breitbart. If you ask an African American Republican or conservative intellectual about me, they would probably label me … mediocre. I don’t use their buzzwords, source their white papers, or talk about the Democrat plantation. I must come to them humbly, acknowledge their years of Republican service, and denounce Hip Hop to receive my place at the table. Not happening. This is not a trait of the Progressive left. This is a trait of the elites in BOTH political parties. Donald Trump is changing that, and I pray the more people like Marc Lamont Hill criticize his outreach, the more he understands it’s working.
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Reality check media NATO to Further Militarize the Black Sea
A permanent presence of non-Black Sea NATO members in the Black Sea is on the horizon Originally appeared at Strategic Culture Foundation
The October 26-27 NATO defense ministers meeting confirmed the decisions to beef up the military posture against Russia along its borders. The plans to boost presence in the Baltic States and Poland were approved at the bloc’s Warsaw summit in July but the issue of strengthening Black Sea presence was hung in the air. The idea of forming a "Black Sea Fleet" did not materialize.
This time the defense chiefs agreed to significantly boost allied forces specifically in that region. The US, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Turkey indicated their willingness to contribute. Other countries are also expected to join. Romania and Bulgaria will host an increased air force presence, designed to undertake surveillance missions over the Black Sea. Starting next year, Romania also hopes to head a multinational force there. The UK, Canada and Poland will send aircraft to be based in the Romanian southeastern Mihail Kogalniceanu air base.
Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are also expected to come forward with a plan to increase naval and air patrols in the area by the beginning of 2017. The US supports the Romania’s initiative to establish a multinational naval brigade in the region. The plans on enhancing Black Sea presence will be finalized during another meeting of NATO’s defense ministers in February. The proposals on two basic elements for the maritime component – a strengthened training framework and a coordination body for the Black Sea that reports to the specialized NATO command – are expected to be submitted for consideration by that time.
Sofia and Bucharest would work together and define their takes on the increased NATO deployment in the Black Sea by December. With the naval brigade on the agenda, Bulgaria has agreed to participate with 400 troops in the multinational brigade in Romania. The unit is intended to facilitate the flow of forces throughout the region.
According to Doug Lute, US ambassador to NATO, that amounts to a new land presence in NATO’s southeast. Romania calls for a regular trilateral format of joint naval exercises in the Black Sea, along with Turkey and Bulgaria, with the eventual participation of non-littoral NATO members. US servicemen conduct periodic training exercises on Romanian and Bulgarian firing ranges.
NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said Georgia and Ukraine will be fully involved in the plans. According to him, «It is important to have close contact with partner countries like Ukraine and Georgia—being non-NATO members but NATO partners—and to dialogue with them regarding our increased presence in the Black Sea».
In September, US and Bulgarian aircraft launched joint regular patrols in the Black Sea. The patrolling mission greatly increases the risk of an accident, especially with the Russian S-400 long range systems stationed in Crimea.
A NATO naval task force permanently deployed in the Black Sea will require non-Black Sea states to rotate their ships every 21 days, raising the cost of the operation, in line with the provisions of the Montreux Convention (1936). Bulgarian, Romanian, Ukrainian and Georgian navies can hardly make a significant contribution. It will put on the agenda the need for major NATO seafaring members hand over some of their own warships to them. One of the ideas under consideration is reflagging some NATO naval assets under the three Black Sea members’ flags to boost permanent naval capabilities in the theater. Politically, bringing together NATO and non-NATO ships together under one operational control is a highly provocative step towards Russia.
US destroyers and cruisers visit the Black Sea from time to time to provide NATO with long range first strike capability. The Romania-based BMD system uses the Mk-41 launcher capable of firing Tomahawk long range precision-guided missiles against land assets.
The NATO’s decision to beef up its presence in the Black Sea comes just four months after it unveiled the deployment of 4,000 soldiers to the Baltic republics and Poland, backed up by a rapid reaction force of some 40,000 troops capable of reaching the region in days. Romania already hosts a ballistic missile defense (BMD) with the plans under way to have another operational BMD system deployed on Polish soil in 2018.
The NATO plans are doomed to be counterproductive bringing more escalatory than deterrent value. They will inevitably provoke Russia into taking measures in response. The Black Sea will become a region of uncontrollable arms race. For instance, with the NATO Aegis Ashore BMD system deployed, Romania has become a target for Russia’s military as it had been warned.
Rather symbolically the announcement of the plans coincided with the news that Russia launched on October 26 Veliky Novgorod super-stealth submarine capable of striking land, sea and underwater targets - the latest addition to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Kolpino - another Varshavyanka-class submarine – will be launched in November.
The Russian territory is protected by Russia's Bastion-P (K-300P) anti-ship coastal defense missile systems equipped with Onyx missiles.
These Mach 2.6 supersonic missiles are highly maneuverable, difficult to detect and have a range of nearly 300 kilometers. With the help of the Monolith-B radar station, the system is capable of obtaining over-the-horizon target designation many miles beyond the horizon. The long range cruise missile capable Su-24 supersonic attack aircraft are already deployed in Crimea. By deploying a naval group to the Black Sea, NATO puts it at risk.
The militarization of the region against the background of high tensions is a very negative trend. An accident may spark a big fire. The just announced NATO plans testify to the intention of NATO’s leadership to turn the Black Sea into a "NATO lake" permanently patrolled by a naval task flotilla with air cover in the proximity of Russian border. The October 26-27 NATO defense ministers’ meeting illustrated the fact that the alliance is shifting to a Cold War-era security framework .
The decision to militarize the Black Sea will make Russia and NATO balance on the brink of conflict instead of joining together in the fight against terrorists - the common enemy. The costly effort will require a lot of time and effort to make the world less safe.
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WASHINGTON — Three years ago, President Barack Obama ordered Pentagon officials to step up their cyber and electronic strikes against North Korea’s missile program in hopes of sabotaging test launches in their opening seconds. Soon a large number of the North’s military rockets began to explode, veer off course, disintegrate in midair and plunge into the sea. Advocates of such efforts say they believe that targeted attacks have given American antimissile defenses a new edge and delayed by several years the day when North Korea will be able to threaten American cities with nuclear weapons launched atop intercontinental ballistic missiles. But other experts have grown increasingly skeptical of the new approach, arguing that manufacturing errors, disgruntled insiders and sheer incompetence can also send missiles awry. Over the past eight months, they note, the North has managed to successfully launch three rockets. And Kim the North Korean leader, now claims his country is in “the final stage in preparations” for the inaugural test of his intercontinental missiles — perhaps a bluff, perhaps not. An examination of the Pentagon’s disruption effort, based on interviews with officials of the Obama and Trump administrations as well as a review of extensive but obscure public records, found that the United States still does not have the ability to effectively counter the North Korean nuclear and missile programs. Those threats are far more resilient than many experts thought, The New York Times’s reporting found, and pose such a danger that Mr. Obama, as he left office, warned President Trump they were likely to be the most urgent problem he would confront. Mr. Trump has signaled his preference to respond aggressively against the North Korean threat. In a Twitter post after Mr. Kim first issued his warning on New Year’s Day, the president wrote, “It won’t happen!” Yet like Mr. Obama before him, Mr. Trump is quickly discovering that he must choose from highly imperfect options. He could order the escalation of the Pentagon’s cyber and electronic warfare effort, but that carries no guarantees. He could open negotiations with the North to freeze its nuclear and missile programs, but that would leave a looming threat in place. He could prepare for direct missile strikes on the launch sites, which Mr. Obama also considered, but there is little chance of hitting every target. He could press the Chinese to cut off trade and support, but Beijing has always stopped short of steps that could lead to the regime’s collapse. In two meetings of Mr. Trump’s national security deputies in the Situation Room, the most recent on Tuesday, all those options were discussed, along with the possibility of reintroducing nuclear weapons to South Korea as a dramatic warning. Administration officials say those issues will soon go to Mr. Trump and his top national security aides. The decision to intensify the cyber and electronic strikes, in early 2014, came after Mr. Obama concluded that the $300 billion spent since the Eisenhower era on traditional antimissile systems, often compared to hitting “a bullet with a bullet,” had failed the core purpose of protecting the continental United States. Flight tests of interceptors based in Alaska and California had an overall failure rate of 56 percent, under conditions. Privately, many experts warned the system would fare worse in real combat. So the Obama administration searched for a better way to destroy missiles. It reached for techniques the Pentagon had long been experimenting with under the rubric of “left of launch,” because the attacks begin before the missiles ever reach the launchpad, or just as they lift off. For years, the Pentagon’s most senior officers and officials have publicly advocated these kinds of sophisticated attacks in testimony to Congress and at defense conferences. The Times inquiry began last spring as the number of the North’s missile failures soared. The investigation uncovered the military documents praising the new antimissile approach and found some pointing with photos and diagrams to North Korea as one of the most urgent targets. After discussions with the office of the director of national intelligence last year and in recent days with Mr. Trump’s national security team, The Times agreed to withhold details of those efforts to keep North Korea from learning how to defeat them. Last fall, Mr. Kim was widely reported to have ordered an investigation into whether the United States was sabotaging North Korea’s launches, and over the past week he has executed senior security officials. The approach taken in targeting the North Korean missiles has distinct echoes of the and sabotage of Iran’s nuclear program, the most sophisticated known use of a cyberweapon meant to cripple a nuclear threat. But even that use of the “Stuxnet” worm in Iran quickly ran into limits. It was effective for several years, until the Iranians figured it out and recovered. And Iran posed a relatively easy target: an underground nuclear enrichment plant that could be attacked repeatedly. In North Korea, the target is much more challenging. Missiles are fired from multiple launch sites around the country and moved about on mobile launchers in an elaborate shell game meant to deceive adversaries. To strike them, timing is critical. Advocates of the sophisticated effort to remotely manipulate data inside North Korea’s missile systems argue the United States has no real alternative because the effort to stop the North from learning the secrets of making nuclear weapons has already failed. The only hope now is stopping the country from developing an intercontinental missile, and demonstrating that destructive threat to the world. “Disrupting their tests,” William J. Perry, secretary of defense in the Clinton administration, said at a recent presentation in Washington, would be “a pretty effective way of stopping their ICBM program. ” Three generations of the Kim family have dreamed that their broken, otherwise failed nation could build its own nuclear weapons, and the missiles to deliver them, as the ultimate survival strategy. With nukes in hand, the Kims have calculated, they need not fear being overrun by South Korea, invaded by the United States or sold out by China. North Korea began seeking an intercontinental ballistic missile decades ago: It was the dream of Kim the country’s founder, who bitterly remembered the American threats to use nuclear weapons against the North during the Korean War. His break came after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Russian rocket scientists began seeking employment in North Korea. Soon, a new generation of North Korean missiles began to appear, all knockoffs of Soviet designs. Though flight tests were sparse, American experts marveled at how the North seemed to avoid the kinds of failures that typically strike new rocket programs, including those of the United States in the late 1950s. The success was so marked that Timothy McCarthy of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey wrote in a 2001 analysis that Pyongyang’s record “appears completely unique in the history of missile development and production. ” In response, President George W. Bush in late 2002 announced the deployment of antimissile interceptors in Alaska and California. At the same time, Mr. Bush accelerated programs to get inside the long supply chain of parts for North Korean missiles, lacing them with defects and weaknesses, a technique also used for years against Iran. By the time Mr. Obama took office in January 2009, the North had deployed hundreds of and missiles that used Russian designs, and had made billions of dollars selling its Scud missiles to Egypt, Libya, Pakistan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. But it aspired to a new generation of missiles that could fire warheads over much longer distances. In secret cables written in the first year of the Obama administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laid out the emerging threat. Among the most alarming released by WikiLeaks, the cables described a new path the North was taking to reach its goal, based on a missile designed by the Soviets decades ago for their submarines that carried thermonuclear warheads. It was called the . Unlike the North’s lumbering, older rockets and missiles, these would be small enough to hide in caves and move into position by truck. The advantage was clear: This missile would be far harder for the United States to find and destroy. “North Korea’s next goal may be to develop a mobile ICBM that would be capable of threatening targets around the world,” said an October 2009 cable marked “Secret” and signed by Mrs. Clinton. The next year, one of the new missiles showed up in a North Korean military parade, just as the intelligence reports had warned. By 2013, North Korean rockets thundered with new regularity. And that February, the North set off a nuclear test that woke up Washington: The monitoring data told of an explosion roughly the size of the bomb that had leveled Hiroshima. Days after the explosion, the Pentagon announced an expansion of its force of antimissile interceptors in California and Alaska. It also began to unveil its “left of launch” program to disable missiles before liftoff — hoping to bolster its chances of destroying them. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced the program, saying that “cyberwarfare, directed energy and electronic attack,” a reference to such things as malware, lasers and signal jamming, were all becoming important new adjuncts to the traditional ways of deflecting enemy strikes. He never mentioned North Korea. But a map accompanying General Dempsey’s policy paper on the subject showed one of the North’s missiles streaking toward the United States. Soon, in testimony before Congress and at public panels in Washington, current and former officials and a major contractor — Raytheon — began talking openly about “left of launch” technologies, in particular cyber and electronic strikes at the moment of launch. The North, meanwhile, was developing its own exotic arsenal. It tried repeatedly to disrupt American and South Korean military exercises by jamming electronic signals for guided weapons, including missiles. And it demonstrated its cyberpower in the oddest of places — Hollywood. In 2014, it attacked Sony Pictures Entertainment with a strike that destroyed about 70 percent of the company’s computing systems, surprising experts with its technical savvy. Last month, a report on cybervulnerabilities by the Defense Science Board, commissioned by the Pentagon during the Obama administration, warned that North Korea might acquire the ability to cripple the American power grid, and cautioned that it could never be allowed to “hold vital U. S. strike systems at risk. ” Not long after General Dempsey made his public announcement, Mr. Obama and his defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, began calling meetings focused on one question: Could a crash program slow the North’s march toward an intercontinental ballistic missile? There were many options, some drawn from General Dempsey’s list. Mr. Obama ultimately pressed the Pentagon and intelligence agencies to pull out all the stops, which officials took as encouragement to reach for untested technologies. The North’s missiles soon began to fail at a remarkable pace. Some were destroyed, no doubt, by accident as well as by design. The technology the North was pursuing, using new designs and new engines, involved multistage rockets, introducing all kinds of possibilities for catastrophic mistakes. But by most accounts, the United States program accentuated the failures. The evidence was in the numbers. Most flight tests of an missile called the Musudan, the weapon that the North Koreans showed off in public just after Mrs. Clinton’s warning, ended in flames: Its overall failure rate is 88 percent. Nonetheless Kim has pressed ahead on his main goal: an intercontinental ballistic missile. Last April, he was photographed standing next to a giant celebrating after engineers successfully fired off a matched pair of the potent engines. The implication was clear: Strapping two of the engines together at the base of a missile was the secret to building an ICBM that could ultimately hurl warheads at the United States. In September, he celebrated the most successful test yet of a North Korean nuclear weapon — one that exploded with more than twice the destructive force of the Hiroshima bomb. His next goal, experts say, is to combine those two technologies, shrinking his nuclear warheads to a size that can fit on an intercontinental missile. Only then can he credibly claim that his isolated country has the to hit an American city thousands of miles away. In the last year of his presidency, Mr. Obama often noted publicly that the North was learning from every nuclear and missile test — even the failures — and getting closer to its goal. In private, aides noticed he was increasingly disturbed by North Korea’s progress. With only a few months left in office, he pushed aides for new approaches. At one meeting, he declared that he would have targeted the North Korean leadership and weapons sites if he thought it would work. But it was, as Mr. Obama and his assembled aides knew, an empty threat: Getting timely intelligence on the location of North Korea’s leaders or their weapons at any moment would be almost impossible, and the risks of missing were tremendous, including renewed war on the Korean Peninsula. As a presidential candidate, Mr. Trump complained that “we’’re so obsolete in cyber,” a line that grated on officials at the United States Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, where billions of dollars have been spent to provide the president with new options for intelligence gathering and cyberattacks. Now, one of the immediate questions he faces is whether to accelerate or scale back those efforts. A decision to go after an adversary’s launch ability can have unintended consequences, experts warn. Once the United States uses cyberweapons against nuclear launch systems — even in a threatening state like North Korea — Russia and China may feel free to do the same, targeting fields of American missiles. Some strategists argue that all nuclear systems should be off limits for cyberattack. Otherwise, if a nuclear power thought it could secretly disable an adversary’s atomic controls, it might be more tempted to take the risk of launching a attack. “I understand the urgent threat,” said Amy Zegart, a Stanford University intelligence and cybersecurity expert, who said she had no independent knowledge of the American effort. “But 30 years from now we may decide it was a very, very dangerous thing to do. ” Mr. Trump’s aides say everything is on the table. China recently cut off coal imports from the North, but the United States is also looking at ways to freeze the Kim family’s assets, some of which are believed held in banks. The Chinese have already opposed the deployment of a missile defense system known as Thaad in South Korea the Trump team may call for even more such systems. The White House is also looking at military strike options, a senior Trump administration official said, though the challenge is huge given the country’s mountainous terrain and deep tunnels and bunkers. Putting American tactical nuclear weapons back in South Korea — they were withdrawn a ago — is also under consideration, even if that step could accelerate an arms race with the North. Mr. Trump’s “It won’t happen!” post on Twitter about the North’s ICBM threat suggests a larger confrontation could be looming. “Regardless of Trump’s actual intentions,” James M. Acton, a nuclear analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, recently noted, “the tweet could come to be seen as a ‘red line’ and hence set up a potential test of his credibility. ”
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Country: Libya Three years ago, NATO declared that the mission in Libya had been “one of the most successful in NATO history.” Today, this statement is a proven lie that was fed to the public at large in the West. A recently published report of British parliament’s foreign affairs committee has categorically acknowledged that the Western intervention in Libya in 2011 was not only based upon flawed intelligence but also directly paved the way for the resurgence of Islamist terror groups in the country. What had initially been propagated as a sort of “humanitarian intervention” to “protect” civilians from the “tyranny of Gaddafi” soon exacerbated into the notorious game of regime change and led to the subsequent disaster, proliferation of Islamist groups and Libya’s downfall from a reasonably stable state to a fragmented one. The report’s findings are, as such, highly critical in terms of the way the West, particularly the US, has been projecting the utmost necessity of NATO’s intervention. Even if we were to agree to the Western proposition that Gaddafi regime was inflicting atrocities on its people and that the real goal, as a recent article published by the corporate-funded Brookings Institute argues, was to protect people, the report finds it to be wrong. It unambiguously states: “Many Western policymakers genuinely believed that Muammar Gaddafi would have ordered his troops to massacre civilians in Benghazi, if those forces had been able to enter the city. However, while Muammar Gaddafi certainly threatened violence against those who took up arms against his rule, this did not necessarily translate into a threat to everyone in Benghazi. In short, the scale of the threat to civilians was presented with unjustified certainty. US intelligence officials reportedly described the intervention as “an intelligence-light decision.” Exposing the hollowness of the propagated “truths” that Gaddafi regime was indiscriminately killing his countrymen and that he would have continued to do so “ in large numbers if that’s what his survival required ”, the report states that nothing of this sort was happening at the time of intervention or was likely to follow. Intervention happened not because Gaddafi was inflicting atrocities but because he was winning the fight against Western and Arab funded militias: “Despite his rhetoric, the proposition that Muammar Gaddafi would have ordered the massacre of civilians in Benghazi was not supported by the available evidence. The Gaddafi regime had retaken towns from the rebels without attacking civilians in early February 2011.” The report goes on to state that: “On 17 March 2011, Muammar Gaddafi announced to the rebels in Benghazi, “Throw away your weapons, exactly like your brothers in Ajdabiya and other places did. They laid down their arms and they are safe. We never pursued them at all.” Subsequent investigation revealed that when Gaddafi regime forces retook Ajdabiya in February 2011, they did not attack civilians.” Contrary to this situation was the mantra of “protecting” people that was officially projected for public consumption, while the real goal was to send Gaddafi home and to re-design Libya’s future in which Gaddafi or his affiliates would have no role to play. The report states: “When the then Prime Minister David Cameron sought and received parliamentary approval for military intervention in Libya on 21 March 2011, he assured the House of Commons that the object of the intervention was not regime change. In April 2011, however, he signed a joint letter with United States President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy setting out their collective pursuit of “a future without Gaddafi”. That the goal was always to impose a new regime on the people of Libya is evident from another finding that no option other than that of military intervention was explored and considered: “The Government rapidly developed a new policy of intervention to protect civilians as Muammar Gaddafi’s forces approached Benghazi in mid-February 2011. It did not explore alternatives to military intervention such as sanctions, negotiations or the application of diplomatic pressure. In pursuing regime change, it abandoned a decade of foreign policy engagement…” What the West wanted to achieve by regime-change? As could be expected of the West, the real goal was to extend Western influence in the African continent. Libya was to be the gateway for that. However, as long as Gaddafi was there, this objective could never be realized. Hence, the anti-Gaddafi propaganda and the development of “pro-democracy” discourse in the West that paved the way for NATO-led intervention. The report enlists following critical objectives, which were of crucial importance for France’s Sarkozy, behind the military intervention and change of regime in Libya: 1. A desire to gain a greater share of Libya oil production. 2. Increase French influence in North Africa, 3. Improve his internal political situation in France, 4. Provide the French military with an opportunity to reassert its position in the world. 5. Address the concern of his advisors over Qaddafi’s long term plans to supplant France as the dominant power in Francophone Africa. Therefore to achieve these objectives, a dual strategy was implemented. On the one hand, NATO intervened and on the other hand weapons were allowed to be distributed to the Islamist militias. The report categorically states: “….the international community turned a blind eye to the supply of weapons to the rebels. Lord Richards highlighted “the degree to which the Emiratis and the Qataris…played a major role in the success of the ground operation.” For example, Qatar supplied French Milan antitank missiles to certain rebel groups. We were told that Qatar channelled its weapons to favoured militias rather than to the rebels as a whole.” Who were the “rebels”? While it is largely believed that that crisis in Libya were linked to a general uprising linked with the so-called “Arab Spring”, this is far from the truth. For one thing, a general popular uprising against an autocrat regime could not possibly have descended into a pure chaos but for the involvement of foreign funded extremist groups. This is precisely what happened in Libya. The critical question, therefore, is: were the Libyan rebels really “rebels”? The report disputes the Western official narrative that it was a general uprising and that extremists got involved at some alter stage . Contrary to the official narrative, the report concludes: “It is now clear that militant Islamist militias played a critical role in the rebellion from February 2011 onwards. They separated themselves from the rebel army, refused to take orders from non-Islamist commanders and assassinated the then leader of the rebel army, Abdel Fattah Younes.” That the West had “turned a blind eye” to the support certain militias were receiving from Arab countries is, in fact, an indication of the Western complicity in facilitating the rise of Islamist groups in Libya. And as the report states yet again: “We asked Lord Richards whether he knew that Abdelhakim Belhadj and other members of the al-Qaeda affiliated Libyan Islamic Fighting Group were participating in the rebellion in March 2011. He replied that that “was a grey area”. He added that “a quorum of respectable Libyans were assuring the Foreign Office” that militant Islamist militias would not benefit from the rebellion. He acknowledged that “with the benefit of hindsight, that was wishful thinking at best.” What is Libya today? A disastrous mess It is a mess, a victim of Western conspiracy and its notorious cold-war era policy of imposing regime change in countries that refuse to abide by their rules of global politics. Libya, today, is a disaster. Facts speak for themselves: In 2010, Libyan economy was generating US$75 billion in GDP, with an average per capita income of US$12,250, roughly equal to an average income in some European countries. As of 2016, however, Libya is likely to experience a budget deficit of some 60% of GDP. The United Nations ranked Libya as the world’s 94th most advanced country in its 2015 index of human development, a decline from 53rd place in 2010. Thanks to the Western intervention which was, to say the least, not only ill-informed and a result of propaganda against Gaddafi but also motivated by purely geo-political considerations. Thanks to the Western intervention that has ‘successfully’ transformed Libya from the richest African state under Gaddafi to a failed state under Western supervision. Its various experiments in Libya have failed to transform it into a pure Western vessel. And as the reports indicate, the US in now trying to install one of its long term assets, General Khalifa Hifter, who aims to set himself up as Libya’s new dictator and then help the West in transforming Africa’s political economy into a disastrous the kind of which Libya, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan today are.
Salman Rafi Sheikh, research-analyst of International Relations and Pakistan’s foreign and domestic affairs, exclusively for the online magazine “ New Eastern Outlook ”. Popular Articles
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حكم نهائي بالسجن المؤبد لمرشد الإخوان في مصر
تاريخ النشر: 26.10.2016 | 15:22 GMT | انسخ الرابط http://ar.rt.com/i5gk قالت مصادر قضائية مصرية إن محكمة النقض أيدت حكما بالسجن المؤبد على محمد بديع المرشد العام لجماعة الإخوان المسلمين وعدد آخر من قيادات الجماعة المحظورة ليصبح أول حكم بات ونهائي بحقه.
وصدرت على بديع عدة أحكام ابتدائية بالسجن وحكم ابتدائي بالإعدام في قضايا تتصل جميعها بالاحتجاجات العنيفة التي اندلعت عقب إعلان الجيش عزل الرئيس السابق محمد مرسي عام 2013 إثر احتجاجات حاشدة على حكمه.
وقالت المصادر إن محكمة النقض، أعلى محكمة مدنية في البلاد، رفضت، الأربعاء 26 أكتوبر/تشرين الأول، طعنا تقدم به محامو بديع و36 شخصا آخرين بينهم عدد من قيادات الجماعة على حكم أصدرته محكمة للجنايات في يوليو/تموز 2014 بمعاقبتهم بالسجن المؤبد.
وأفادت المصادر بأن محكمة النقض أيدت الحكم الصادر، ليصبح أول حكم بات ونهائي.
ومن أبرز قيادات الإخوان التي شملها الحكم، الوزيران السابقان، أسامة ياسين وباسم عودة والبرلماني السابق محمد البلتاجي، بالإضافة إلى الداعية صفوت حجازي.
وتتعلق القضية باحتجاج عنيف اندلع في محافظة القليوبية، شمال القاهرة، في 22 يوليو/تموز 2013، وأسفر عن مقتل شخصين وإصابة عدد آخر.
وكانت النيابة قد وجهت اتهامات مختلفة للمتهمين من بينها القتل العمد والشروع في القتل والتجمهر والاعتداء على الأشخاص والممتلكات العامة والخاصة وقطع الطريق وحيازة أسلحة نارية وبيضاء والتحريض على التجمهر والاعتداء على المواطنين.
كما شمل حكم الجنايات الذي صدر في 2014 معاقبة عشرة أشخاص بالإعدام غيابيا، لكن لم يشملهم الطعن الذي نظرته محكمة النقض، الأربعاء، لأن القانون ينص على وجوب إعادة محاكمة أي متهم يصدر بحقه حكم غيابي تلقائيا بمجرد تسليمه نفسه أو إلقاء القبض عليه.
ويوم السبت، أيدت محكمة النقض حكما أصدرته محكمة للجنايات بسجن محمد مرسي 20 عاما في قضية تتصل بأحداث عنف اندلعت إبان فترة حكمه التي استمرت عاما واحد، وأصبح هذا أول حكم نهائي يصدر على الرئيس السابق الذي يحاكم في عدة قضايا.
المصدر: رويترز
ياسين بوتيتي تعليمات استخدام خدمة التعليقات على صفحات موقع قناة "RT Arabic" (اضغط هنا) العناوين
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It's outrageous that AT&T and Time Warner may be permitted to merge. Of course, there are antitrust issues. If it's approved, some competitors will go out of business, others won't get started, and consumers will pay more and get less. Antitrust law is not designed to regulate anticompetitive behavior; it is designed to prevent anticompetitive behavior. Permitting AT&T to acquire Time Warner would be like giving a small boy a ball and then saying, "Now don't bounce it" -- or hiring someone to watch him. Regulation doesn't work. What's called "agency capture" is widespread and well documented. In the BP oil-spill case, it involved the regulators literally sleeping with the regulated. Even if an agency isn't captured it probably doesn't have enough personnel to do meaningful regulation. The FCC of my day had three employees to respond to 85,000 complaints, and they travelled in pairs. - Advertisement - The only way to prevent anticompetitive corporate behavior is to forbid the mergers that make it possible. But antitrust law and lawyers often have ways of finding adequate competition when no one else can see it. Moreover, the serious antitrust issues and economic impact of this proposed merger are the least of our concerns. Mergers of media firms, unlike those in other industries, raise issues involving our democracy, analogous to those associated with the First Amendment. Some involve politics and governing. Major media owners are more politically powerful than major donors. When a single owner has dominant control of newspapers, radio, television and cable systems within a state or region it can affect elections. When a weapons manufacturer also owns a network, it creates an appearance of possible conflict in its war coverage. Other issues involve the creative community. Suppose a single corporation owns movie studios, theaters, a TV network, book publishers, newspapers, and other forms of media. It can favor its movies in its theaters, make its authors guests on its TV shows, and advertise all its products in its newspapers. - Advertisement - Both AT&T and Time Warner are among the world's largest corporations. Time Warner's HBO and Cinemax programming is sold in 150 countries, its Turner programs in 200. AT&T is the largest telecommunications company in the world, also in 200 countries. Both are holding companies, conglomerates, that together own dozens of corporations. Many are known to you, like CNN, HBO, or DirectTV. Check their corporate Web pages for more. Worst of all, and what ought to absolutely preclude this merger, they will represent a gigantic combination of programming and delivery ("content and conduit") -- the ultimate chokehold on the distribution of a diversity of content. The AT&T of old only provided distribution, the conduit. Everyone was entitled to a phone. And once you got one, you could send any ideas you wanted into that phone and through AT&T's lines. Other institutions might come after you for disclosing national-security secrets, fraudulent marketing, or defamation, but not AT&T. There was a legal "right of entry" into the old AT&T network. No longer. There will be no legal rights for America's creators of content. Nor will there be a financial incentive for AT&T to carry their content.
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Calling international politics a “battlefield” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told newspaper Magyar Idők that Hungary’s sovereignty is under constant attack from foreign interests and the powerful left wing activist George Soros. Adding that mass migration threatens the future of Europe, he urged for the preservation of Christian civilisation. [“Today we live in a time when international politics is a battlefield,” Prime Minister Orbán said on Easter Sunday. “The independence and freedom of European nations are at stake. And at the centre of the battlefield is migration. ” “This is what our future stands or falls on,” he said, “the fate of Europe. The question is whether the character of European nations will be determined by the same spirit, civilisation, culture and mentality as in our parents’ and grandparents’ time, or by something completely different. ” Discussing how his government has come under criticism following the implementation of stricter border controls and asylum policies in the ongoing migrant crisis, Mr. Orbán observed that “those calling themselves liberal and — who are supported with the money, power and networks of international forces, with George Soros at the forefront — claim that taking action against migration is wrong, impractical and immoral”. Contrasting that with the wishes of the Hungarian people, Orbán said: “ … we want to preserve the foundations of Europe. We do not want parallel societies, we do not want population exchanges, and we do not want to replace Christian civilisation with a different kind. Therefore we are building fences, defending ourselves, and not allowing migrants to flood us. ” — ‘National Governance Under Pressure’ — The Hungarian government, led by Orbán’s Fidesz party, is also coming under attack from the European Union, the U. S. State Department, and nongovernmental organisations for its commitment to implementing legislation on transparency for foreign NGOs and universities operating in the country — issues the prime minister referred to as “secondary battlefields”: “National governance in Hungary is under continuous pressure and attack … the most important thing at stake is whether we will have a parliament and a government that will seek to serve the best interests of the Hungarian people, or a parliament and a government that will seek to serve foreign interests. ” Affirming that conflicts with external forces was a part of defending a nation’s sovereignty, the conservative Central European leader said: “If we were to accept that Brussels or other political and financial centres should dictate to us, or that Hungarian or American billionaires should tell us how things should be in our country, then we would have no conflicts. ” — George Soros — The prime minister singled out several times during the interview billionaire and open borders financier George Soros, whose lobbyists Orbán claims are agitating European, the EU, and the U. S. governments to put pressure on Hungary over its domestic policies. “George Soros must not be underestimated: he is a powerful billionaire of enormous determination who, when it comes to his interests, respects neither God nor man. We want to protect Hungary, and so we must also commit ourselves to this struggle. ” “[He] is spending endless amounts of money to support illegal immigration. He wants to keep the pressure on Hungary: the country which expects even the likes of George Soros to observe its laws. ” When it comes to personal attacks against him, Orbán, a great admirer of the late British prime minister, quoted Margaret Thatcher: I always cheer up immensely if one is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.
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(actualizada a las 18:57 26.10.2016) URL corto 2 70 0 0 CIUDAD DE MÉXICO (Sputnik) — Los partidos de oposición de México consideran que la expulsión de Javier Duarte del PRI, gobernador de Veracruz, prófugo por acusaciones de corrupción y millonaria malversación de fondos públicos, es una simulación para engañar a la opinión pública. © AP Photo/ Marco Ugarte Javier Duarte, de gobernador a prófugo El Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) del presidente Enrique Peña Nieto, anunció la noche del lunes la expulsión de Duarte, quien se esfumó luego de pedir permiso la semana pasada para dejar el cargo, un mes y medio antes del fin de su mandato de seis años en ese estado petrolero.
"Es una persona que no merece estar dentro del PRI, con su comportamiento violó el código de ética", dijo en su dictamen la Comisión de Honor y Justicia del longevo partido gobernante. "Todo es una simulación, pretenden lavarse la cara, el PRI quiere tomar a Duarte como chivo expiatorio, pero no quiere cambiar, seguiremos exigiendo castigo a la corrupción documentada", dijo el líder nacional del opositor Acción Nacional (PAN, centroderecha) Ricardo Anaya.
La fiscalía federal "debe ofrecer una recompensa para quien dé información que lleve a la localización y detención", no solo de Duarte, sino de otros exgobernadores del PRI, como los de Tamaulipas (fronterizo con EEUU), Tomás Yarrington, y Eugenio Hernández, dijo el PAN en un comunicado.
"Los tres exfuncionarios tienen órdenes de aprehensión pendientes y por tanto son prófugos de la justicia", dijo el portavoz del PAN al leer el comunicado en el Congreso. — Sputnik Mundo (@SputnikMundo) 25 de octubre de 2016
El principal partido de oposición no mencionó a Guillermo Padrés, exgobernador de Sonora (norte), que también está prófugo y es buscado por interpol.
Por su parte, el Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD, centroizquierda) dijo en el Congreso que "en el PRI todo es pura simulación, no solo con el proceso de expulsión de Javier Duarte, no están yendo al fondo contra la corrupción". "Para que todo esto sea creíble deben ser revisados los casos de los exgobernadores Humberto Moreira de Coahuila, César Duarte de Chihuahua (norte), y Roberto Borge de Quintana Roo (donde está el balneario de Cancún), queremos ver que instancias judiciales actúen claramente contra estos exgobernadores", dijo en nombre del partido opositor Beatriz Mojica, secretaria general del PRD.
Viejo modus operandi El Gabinete de Seguridad de México en busca del fugitivo gobernador de Veracruz Por su parte, la líder del PRD en la Cámara baja Concepción Valdés, dijo que "se trata de una burla el proceso de expulsión de Duarte".
"El PRI nunca hizo nada por amarrar las manos a un gobernador que dejó una herencia de violencia, corrupción e impunidad, aparte de sumir en la inseguridad a Veracruz, víctima de grupos delictivos", dijo a periodistas la secretaria de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Congreso.
El Movimiento Ciudadano (MC) dijo a su turno que "es un modus operandi del PRI, una regla de lo que llamamos la peor generación de gobernadores de la historia de México".
El representante del minoritario MC, Jorge Álvarez, dijo que "Duarte representa una red de corrupción, están documentadas varias empresas fantasma que trabajaron con el exgobernador Roberto Borge, y otros como el de Nuevo León, Rodrigo Medina", que enfrentan procesos por corrupción. "El PRI se quiere lavar las manos expulsando a Javier Duarte y dejar intacta a la red de corrupción que involucra a varios exmandatarios priistas, son la punta del iceberg", puntualizó.
Enrique Ochoa, dirigente nacional del PRI, dijo este miércoles que "fue una decisión necesaria y correcta, lo que nos pide la ciudadanía es el combate a la corrupción, es una buena noticia para México". © AP Photo/ Rebecca Blackwell Peña Nieto y su partido castigados por corrupción y violencia sin control "Exhortamos a las autoridades que cumplan las ordenes de aprehensión, los corruptos deben terminar en la cárcel y debemos hacer una reflexión interna, no solo tomar medidas correctivas sino preventivas, crear un mecanismo anticorrupción interno que revise el perfil de los candidatos antes de postularlos", dijo Ochoa.
Durante la campaña electoral de 2012, Peña Nieto dijo que los gobernadores de Chihuahua, César Duarte, de Veracruz, Javier Duarte (ambos sin parentesco), y de Quintana Roo, Roberto Borge, eran el más claro ejemplo de jóvenes actores de la nueva generación de políticos priistas jóvenes actores de la nueva generación política del PRI".
Duarte acusado por el PAN de malversar 50.000 millones de pesos (unos 2.500 millones de dólares), pero solo ha sido enjuiciado por unos 500 millones de pesos (unos 25 millones de dólares), comenzó a ser señalado por corrupción cuando en enero de 2012, a seis meses de la elección presidencial que ganó Peña Nieto, dos empleados del gobierno de Veracruz fueron detenidos en un aeropuerto con 25 millones de pesos en efectivo que llevaban en dos maletas (más de 1 millón de dólares), pero fueron liberados.
Lea también: Lanzan la campaña #VamosPorMás contra la corrupción y la impunidad en México
El PAN y el PRD dijeron en aquella ocasión que podían ser recursos públicos malversados hacia la campaña presidencial de Peña Nieto, pero ningún proceso prosperó.
No obstante, el expresidente Felie Calderón, del PAN, lo acusó de sacar más de 2.900 millones de pesos (unos 145 millones de pesos) de una cuenta de 7.000 millones de pesos (350 millones de dólares) depositadas en Banco Santander, sin consecuencias. ...
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Around midnight on June 30, 1998, Juan Echevarria, a principal in a drug crew, ran into a crack dealer on a Harlem street corner. What ensued, he later told the police, was an argument over money. In those days, Mr. Echevarria would case New York City in a bulletproof vest, often armed with a handgun and sometimes cocaine and cash, overseeing dealers who sold on the streets and in the lobbies of Harlem and Brooklyn apartment buildings. On this night, Mr. Echevarria was cruising for trouble. Hours before, he’d found out his girlfriend had dumped him. He’d just been across the river at Rikers Island on a drug possession conviction. He was feeling hopeless and angry. Pumped with alcohol and mounting rage, he slipped a small revolver out from under his waistband. As the argument heated up, he fired at the dealer, who staggered to his death. Looking back, he can’t quite explain what happened. “It went bad real fast,” he recalled. Mr. Echevarria pleaded guilty to manslaughter and spent 14 years in prison. Today, at 41, he is desperate to remake himself. Now a college student, he lugs a backpack around the Midtown Manhattan campus of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, part of the City University of New York, pulling struggling with papers and keeping close tabs on his 3. 47 average. Part of the Pipeline, a program that helps incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men in New York City pursue college degrees, Mr. Echevarria dreams of one day graduating. But his challenges have been numerous. He grappled with remedial algebra, required of matriculating CUNY students who can’t pass the basic math competency exam. He had to take it four times. Five years in, he is just a sophomore, still 84 credits away from a bachelor’s degree, and has accrued $18, 000 in student loans. Money has been a constant source of anxiety. Sometimes he had to rely on friends and family to feed him, and he worried about where he would lay his head at night. He has stayed in seven apartments since his release, in 2012. A day job — as a case manager helping mentally ill prisoners society — has relieved some of the financial pressure, but it has taken its toll emotionally. Exhausted, he tosses and turns on the couch in his mother’s public housing unit in East Harlem, where he stays when not at his new girlfriend’s apartment, and he wonders: “Why am I doing this?” On other evenings, Mr. Echevarria sits in class scribbling copious notes and raising his hand frequently to answer questions, confident he has made the right choice. For a recent anthropology class, he arrived early and positioned himself in the center of the room. Raymond Ruggiero, an adjunct professor, offered up an energetic lecture on the rise and fall of democracy in Latin America, touching on the spread of the Enlightenment, the power structure of banana republics, and the Guatemalan peace activist Rigoberta Menchu. Pausing on the escapades of the Venezuelan leader Simón Bolívar, Dr. Ruggiero grew animated. “Bolívar’s whole idea was about equality, was about freedom, freedom of the mind,” he told the class. Mr. Echevarria, one of Dr. Ruggiero’s favorites, nodded enthusiastically. Later, when the discussion led to how nation states began to regulate themselves once Spanish rulers had left, Dr. Ruggiero asked, “What did they learn about governance?” “To do the same thing the king was doing,” Mr. Echevarria called out. “Yes,” Dr. Ruggiero confirmed. That night, Mr. Echevarria learned that he had earned an A+ on a paper about the paradoxical nature of violence in the modern world, borrowing from the ideas of the political theorist Hannah Arendt and referencing Karl Marx, the civil rights movement and the Cold War. “Juan, excellent work!” Dr. Ruggiero had scrawled at the bottom of the paper. That put him in good spirits. Much is at stake. With his degree, Mr. Echevarria hopes one day to become a director at the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services, the nonprofit organization where he works. It’s one of the rare places that appreciates an applicant’s time behind bars. He plans to major in culture and deviance studies, an academic field heavy on ethnographic perspectives and popular with undergraduates interested in social work, law or the social sciences. Mr. Echevarria’s employer has promised a promotion and a big raise if he gets his degree. With the extra income, he would like to settle into a apartment in the Inwood section of Manhattan, removed from the neighborhood where he grew up and the drug dealers who remind him of his former life. Without a degree, he worries, opportunities will “disappear. ” “You want to do this, but it adds a lot of stress,” he said. “I’ve had my ups and downs because of school. ” • According to the Department of Justice, there were 1. 5 million Americans in state and federal prisons in 2014 636, 000 were released. But the number who are likely to stay out — fewer than a quarter by the marker — is dispiriting. With widespread consensus that the system is failing both offenders and their victims, state and federal governments are reinvesting in rehabilitative programs. Access to college is one of the most popular. From California to New York, states have announced plans to increase funding. New York is committing $7. 5 million to offer classes to 1, 000 inmates over the next five years. The White House has been particularly engaged in the movement. In May, President Obama urged colleges to eliminate a question on applications about students’ criminal history. The question has been found to have a chill effect on applicants with felony convictions. He has also sought ways around a law that bars prisoners from accessing Pell grants. Advocates estimate that there were at least 350 college degree programs for prisoners and the recently released in the early 1980s. But as crime rates skyrocketed and the national mood toward violent offenders turned unforgiving, many of the programs shuttered. Both Democrats and Republicans questioned the spending of higher education dollars on lawbreakers while young people struggled with the relatively small sums that federal financial aid offered them. The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, prevents anyone in a state or federal prison from accessing Pell grants. Inmates also can’t take out federal student loans. Last year, President Obama announced an experimental educational program (exempted from regulatory requirements) known as the Second Chance Pell Pilot Program. It is expected to award grants to 12, 000 inmates, many of whom began classes this fall 67 colleges and universities have been chosen to participate, and more than a quarter of them are starting new programs. Higher education behind bars is not free. Some colleges charge inmates regular tuition, or scale it to their prison wages. Others, including John Jay and Bard College, offer them full scholarships. The Bard Prison Initiative plans to expand its program, which offers classes to nearly 300 prisoners. The Pipeline at John Jay, one of the nation’s premier criminal justice colleges, currently sends professors to teach for credit classes at Otisville, a men’s prison in Orange County, N. Y. It hopes that with the Pell program, it can add 120 new students, give inmates the opportunity to get an associate degree while still incarcerated and start a program at the Queensboro Correctional Facility in Long Island City. Baz Dreisinger, a popular English professor and spirited voice in the prison reform movement, founded the Pipeline in 2011. The program is administered by the Prisoner Reentry Institute, an arm of John Jay dedicated to finding best practices for inmates. The Pipeline, for male inmates five years or less before their release date, is noteworthy for providing its students with a community both on the inside and on the outside. On release, students are encouraged to transfer to a city campus. So far, 10 have. Once out, the men are offered a host of services by the institute’s College Initiative program. The small, staff, made up of mostly young prison advocates, advises them — through workshops, office visits and anxious phone calls — on financial aid matters, what classes to take, ways to perfect term papers, and how to deal with ornery professors and manage girlfriends, parents and children while trying to hold down jobs. Proponents of college programs for prisoners contend that if getting a degree is a for students who haven’t been to prison, it is even more curative for those who have. “Our people have a whole lot more to lose if they don’t graduate and a whole lot more to gain by graduating,” said Vivian Nixon, executive director of the College and Community Fellowship, a nonprofit that funnels dozens of former female prisoners onto college campuses in and around New York City every year. “It’s a natural time of transition and reinvention. ” Ruth Delaney, a senior program associate at the Vera Institute of Justice, which oversees its own initiative in New Jersey, Michigan and North Carolina, says that when it comes to factors proven to prevent recidivism, clocking time with other students “checks all the boxes. ” College surrounds people with peers who are motivated and focused. It leaves them little time to fall back into old patterns and helps them build their résumés. And because campuses are ripe with resources — mental health services, financial counselors, food pantries — recently released prisoners who arrive on them are near the kind of assistance they desperately need. Indeed, a 2013 RAND Corporation study found that involvement in a prisoner education program reduced a person’s odds of returning to prison by 43 percent. Edward J. Latessa, director of the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati, has spent years studying programs that work in reducing recidivism. He says most successful programs aren’t lofty and philosophical, and they don’t involve a lot of talk therapy, yoga or scare tactics. The best programs, he says, are pragmatic. “You have to do something about people’s difficulties, rather than just talking about them,” he said. “You don’t just tell them what they need to do, you show them and then you let them do it. ” But getting through college is no easy feat. Five years in and only one of the 57 students in the Pipeline (29 are still in prison) has graduated with an associate degree. No one has obtained a bachelor’s degree. And two who have been released have gone back to jail. • To survive in prison, Mr. Echevarria put on the tough, protective veneer that prisoners sometimes refer to as “the mask. ” He learned how to size up a cafeteria to determine who was a threat and how to make a knife out of a toothbrush and shards of metal to protect himself from gang attacks. He landed in solitary on various occasions — once for talking back to a guard, another time for smoking marijuana. He moved around a lot, from Rikers Island to the Sing Sing Correctional Facility to the Clinton Correctional Facility — a sign, in the prison world, that he was challenging to maintain. A few years into his sentence, though, while stationed in a prison in Ulster County, he made friends with a longtime inmate who was teaching AIDS awareness classes. He signed on, read pharmacology and immunology textbooks, and eventually became an instructor himself. AIDS was still a significant killer, and men flocked to his classes. While teaching, Mr. Echevarria started thinking about his future. He thought about changing. “I knew I was going to get out. What would I do?” When he learned about the Pipeline, he applied immediately. He had a high school equivalency diploma, but had lasted only a few semesters at a community college. Now, though, the idea of pursuing a degree appealed to him. He wrote a essay and sat for the entrance exam. He was transferred to the Otisville prison in 2011 to begin taking classes, some with Dr. Dreisinger. A year later, Mr. Echevarria got the news. It was time for his release — his “homecoming. ” He sat on a bench in an International House of Pancakes, eating his first noninstitutional meal in more than a dozen years, and called his mother. Then he called Dr. Dreisinger. He wanted to start school on the outside as soon as possible. He had six credits under his belt. Mr. Echevarria credits those first classes for “making me feel human again. ” By that fall, he looked like a model of renewal. He enrolled at Bronx Community College and was reading about Sigmund Freud in Intro to Psychology, dissecting the Constitution in an American government class and learning about linear equations, right angles and signed numbers in algebra. Out of class, he worked to avoid old friends and “business acquaintances” so he wouldn’t “end up with plans that were not initially mine,” and he started going to church. He was befriending professors and bonding with administrators at the Prisoner Reentry Institute. But if things looked good on the outside, he was emotionally raw on the inside. “I was a wreck,” he recalled. “Things were a roller coaster. ” He struggled to make emotional connections. He and his teenage daughter (now a single mother of a toddler and an infant) texted and saw each other on occasion, but she was not that interested in bonding with him. The relationship he had developed with a woman while in prison, involving long letters about the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, had not translated to the real world, so he moved in with his mother, living blocks from the shooting that had led to his arrest. It was a situational quagmire putting him in contact with all the people recidivism research suggests he should avoid. It was also placing him too close for comfort to old family memories. Mr. Echevarria, whose father left when he was a tween, harbored resentment about his childhood. His mother had worked. He was often supervised by older siblings, and felt abandoned. He recalls being kicked out into the streets for days, as a teenager, after coming home high. His mother recalls warning him about drugs and drug dealing and being worried that she herself might get kicked out of the apartment building if he was involved with illegal substances. Twenty years later, tensions still brewed. Mr. Echevarria moved in with a girlfriend, but that didn’t work out either. Some weeks he had only a few dollars to live on. He worried that if he lost his Metro card, he would be in “crisis mode,” he said. Once, seeing a young man ruffling through garbage, he thought: I am steps away from that. He was beginning to feel “the temptation to go back to the old life,” and the quick and easy cash. It was fleeting. But there. At semester’s end, Mr. Echevarria had earned two B’s, but he failed algebra. The graphs baffled him. He had trouble remembering what formulas went with what problems. It was a blow to his . But it was the rage he felt when things went wrong, lingering from his days behind bars and during his childhood, that seemed to be his most pressing problem. “I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to do all of this,” he said. “I got really discouraged. ” He didn’t go back to school for an entire year. Ask Mr. Echevarria how the Pipeline has helped him, and he is likely to chat a bit about academics but mostly about the frustrating details of everyday life and how staff members have helped him manage his rage when confronted with them. During the 14 years he was in prison, the world went through a tech revolution. Dealing with CUNY’s online system nearly derailed him. One afternoon, Lila McDowell, the institute’s development and communications coordinator, met him at John Jay, where he had applied as a transfer student from Bronx Community College. A University of Chicago graduate, she serves as helicopter to many of the men in the program. Mr. Echevarria griped about the bureaucratic holdup. “I kept thinking: I don’t need to go through this. I don’t need to go through this. Old ways of dealing were popping up. ” “Calm down,” Dr. McDowell said. “This is exactly what everyone has to go through,” she told him, eyeballing the other students who were also waiting in line. “Part of college is learning how to navigate bureaucracies. ” Mr. Echevarria took a deep breath. “I really needed that,” he recalled. Heady and philosophical, Mr. Echevarria remains interested in the thinking patterns — the and propensity for violence — that landed him in prison. As a result, many of the classes he takes delve deeply into the nature of violence, juvenile delinquency and prison life. They are as much a study of himself as a study of others. What does he most want to learn? How to master his emotions. “I still have a lot to work on,” he told me. “But I’m getting there. ” • At ease in a dress shirt and a pair of leather Mr. Echevarria hobnobbed with professors, administrators and Manhattan artists at the program’s annual dinner at John Jay last spring. Dr. Dreisinger praised a group of John Jay students who had traveled to Otisville regularly to take classes alongside prisoners, a feature of the program that participants, both in jail and out, praise. Prisoners say it builds their confidence and creates bonds with students they can call on, once out. Traditional college students, particularly ones interested in criminal justice careers, say it offers them a bird’ view into the life of the kind of people they may soon serve. Dr. Dreisinger acknowledged an inmate who had been released but ended up back inside. She told the diners that the young man was with them in spirit, writing beautiful papers and taking an independent study course with her. “He’s engaged and still very much present in the program,” she said, sidestepping the heartbreaking reality of the situation. She also paid tribute to Devon Simmons, who landed in jail 16 years ago, convicted of assault and weapon and drug offenses. He was scheduled to graduate a few weeks later with an associate degree, the first to do so. A photo of him in graduation gear was flashed on an oversize screen in the center of the room. This fall, at 35, he is at John Jay pursuing his bachelor’s. “Devon is just opening the door because we have so many other graduations that are going to be coming up in years to come,” she said. As for Mr. Echevarria, he said he was proud of how his last few semesters had gone. He had finally passed remedial math. He had earned an A in Dr. Ruggiero’s class and a B in a criminal justice course taught by a former parole officer. Dr. Dreisinger even needles him about seeking a Ph. D. But he continues to oscillate between big academic dreams and the realities of his life. He talks about opening up a community center, or doing something that doesn’t require a degree at all. Then he latches onto the Ph. D. idea. And what of the man who fired a pistol on an East Harlem street 18 years ago, who was violent and ? “I know who he is,” Mr. Echevarria said. “But I hardly recognize him. ” Then one of the last times I spoke to him, he said this: “College itself has changed me. But the finish line still seems far off. ”
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Old masters, new world. At Christie’s over the last few weeks, two experts in old master paintings and drawings quietly left the auction house. Their departures followed a year of spotty sales, in which the values of works by old masters — a pantheon of European painters working before around 1800 — fell by 33 percent, according to the 2016 Tefaf Art Market Report. At a time when contemporary art is all the rage among collectors, viewers and donors, many experts are questioning whether old master artwork — once the most coveted — can stay relevant at auction houses, galleries and museums. Having struggled with shrinking inventory and elusive profits, auction houses appear to be devoting most of their attention and resources to contemporary art, the most popular area of their business. “They want to be associated with the new and the now,” said Edward Dolman, chairman and chief executive of Phillips auction house, who spent much of his career at Christie’s chasing works by old masters but now focuses on contemporary art. “We have no intention of selling old masters pictures or pictures, because these markets are now so small and dwindling,” he added. “The new client base at the auction houses — and the collecting tastes of those clients — have moved away from this veneration of the past. ” A shortage of old master treasures, fewer old master specialists and public attention on the pictures (which are in the contemporary market) are partly responsible for the shift in emphasis. The London dealer Guy Sainty, who has long specialized in old masters, said that he is mystified and frustrated. “I’ve been an art dealer for nearly 40 years, and I just don’t get it — I don’t understand where the collectors have gone, the people with knowledge,” he said. ”There’s a sense somewhere that the American collector has simply lost interest in European culture. ” The old masters category generally denotes the period after the Renaissance and mostly describes European artists — including Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Goya and El Greco — who were known for their highly detailed, realistic paintings and drawings, along with the floral still lifes of Flemishmasters like Jan Brueghel the Elder. To be sure, there is still a public appetite for viewing old masters. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s show “Vigée Le Brun: Woman Artist in Revolutionary France,” for example, drew more than 165, 000 visitors. The Getty and the Frick Collection, which focus on historic works, say attendance remains strong. When prime masterworks do come up for auction, they perform well, as evidenced by the $58 million paid in July for Peter Paul Rubens’s “Lot and His Daughters” at Christie’s London’s old masters sale, the expensive work ever sold at auction by the artist. But masterpieces surface only rarely private owners tend to hold onto them, as do museums. “It’s a real supply problem,” Mr. Dolman said. An appreciation for old masters, experts say, also requires a deeper history of collecting and an educated eye. Christie’s, for example, trains its old master specialists for six to seven years, whereas its contemporary experts get three to four years. And new collectors tend to find contemporary art more accessible. “People who buy into the old master field have more connoisseurship — maybe more passion,” said Christophe Van de Weghe, a Madison Avenue dealer specializing in work by modern masters from Matisse to Basquiat. Some attribute the increasing interest in contemporary art to the rising popularity of contemporary architecture. “People who come into the contemporary field like colors that go well with their couches,” Mr. Van de Weghe said. “All these new buildings — with high ceilings, big windows,” he added, “they scream for contemporary art. ” Old master curators are also increasingly hard to come by. In university art history programs in the United States, contemporary art is “by far, the most popular,” reports Richard Meyer, an art history professor at Stanford University, in his book “What Was Contemporary Art?” (MIT Press, 2013). “We’re losing a sense of the value of the past, including the value of past art,” Mr. Meyer said in an interview, “not just the aesthetic value, but the ways in which it can teach us about the cultures and the people who came before us. ” To fill curatorial positions, museums are having to look to Europe. The Getty, for example, recently hired Davide Gasparotto — the former director of the Galleria Estense in Modena, Italy — as its senior curator of paintings. “You can’t find curators with the right training and knowledge of European art in American art graduate programs anymore,” Mr. Sainty said. “They want to do contemporary art. ” While acknowledging that the old masters market can be “very spiky,” Alexander Bell, the worldwide of Sotheby’s old master paintings department, said: “We still very much believe in old masters,” adding that “we’ve all got to evolve in the way we present our material and engage with our clients. ” The art world is making adjustments, juxtaposing old masters alongside contemporary artists in exhibitions, galleries, art fairs and auction sales. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is planning a $600 million wing for contemporary and modern art in March, it filled its temporary satellite, the Met Breuer, with unfinished works from the 15th century to the present, presenting Renaissance masters like Titian and Rembrandt alongside contemporary artists like Brice Marden and Kerry James Marshall. Last year, the museum started an online series called “The Artist Project,” in which contemporary artists talk about historical works at the Met that inspired them — like John Currin on Ludovico Carracci’s 1582 oil on canvas, “The Lamentation. ” “When you hear contemporary artists talking with passion about the genius of old masters — that, we assume, will help open up the historical fields to new audiences,” Thomas P. Campbell, the director and chief executive of the Met, said, “to understand that all art was once contemporary. ” Similarly, the Art Institute of Chicago’s recent show of old master portrait prints explored how artists like van Dyck influenced contemporary artists like Chuck Close. “We brought printmaking into the present,” said James Rondeau, the museum’s president and director. This mixing of genres has been prominently tested at Christie’s themed sales, which include works from many different time periods. “Perhaps they would rather put their resources into other, potentially more profitable departments,” said Nicholas Hall, the former of old master paintings at Christie’s, who left in July, along with Benjamin Peronnet, Christie’s head of old master and drawings. While the Frick is eager to reach today’s audience, the museum is also wary of straying from its mission of showing classic European art and sculpture. “A lot of museums are focused on a false dichotomy — if they get young people in through contemporary exhibitions they’ll stay and get interested in old masters,” said Ian Wardropper, the Frick’s director. “I just don’t believe it. The point is to try to reach them in an intelligent way on their own terms and make it interesting — and that’s not easy we’re all struggling with that. ” In light of these developments, old masters have become a collecting opportunity. Printings and engravings can go for $4, 000 to $5, 000. While Orazio Gentileschi’s “Danae” sold at Sotheby’s in January for $30. 5 million, “that is less than a Christopher Wool and half the price of a Warhol,” Mr. Sainty said. “You can buy a really good Rembrandt for $40 to $50 million. That’s not a lot of money when you think about how many Rembrandts there are — and how many Jeff Koons. ” Even as the collecting world continues to obsess over contemporary art, there are bargains to be had in the category of old masters, both at auction and in galleries, particularly if you’d be happy with a print or engraving. A few examples follow of old master works, currently — or coming up — for sale. Sotheby’s Prints Multiples Sale in London, Sept. 27 Pieter van der Heyden, “Nemo Non: Everyman Looks for His Own Profit,” Engraving, circa 1558, £ £6, 000 ($5, 000 to $8, 000) Jacopo de’ Barbari, “Victory Reclining Amid Trophies,” Engraving, circa 1498, £ £4, 000 ($ $5, 200) Desprez, “La Chimère de Monsieur Desprez,” Etching, circa £ £30, 000 ($26, 000 to $39, 000) Nicoletto da Modena, “Ornament Panel With Bound Slaves and a Birdcage,” Engraving, late 15th century to early 16th century, £ £4, 000 ($3, 900 to $5, 200) Jusepe de Ribera, “The Poet,” Etching, circa £ £8, 000 ($7, 800 to $10, 500) George Stubbs, “A Sleeping Cheetah,” Mezzotint, 1788, £ £5, 000 ($3, 900 to $6, 500) Sotheby’s Exhibition, “Glazed: A Legacy of The Della Robbia,” New York, Oct. 21 — Nov. 12, $100, 000 to $3 million Marco (Fra Mattia) della Robbia, “Coat of Arms of the Bonsi della Ruota Family” Giovanni della Robbia, Decorative amphora vase with dolphin handles, circa Andrea della Robbia, “The Annunciate Virgin,” circa Andrea della Robbiam “Two Sleeping Soldiers From a Lunette Representing the Resurrection,” circa An artist known as the Master of the David and Saint John Statuettes and Giovanni della Robbia, “Saint Michael the Archangel,” circa Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings, Jan. 2017 Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, “The Holy Family With the Annunciation to the Shepherds Beyond, Italian Renaissance” oil on panel, circa 1500, $ $120, 000 Christie’s Old Master Paintings sale, Oct. 26 in New York Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hans Rottenhammer I, “Winter Landscape,” oil on copper, $ $250, 000 Pater, “Soldiers and Vivandières Around a Campfire,” oil on canvas, $ $150, 000 Ippolito Caffi, “The Grand Canal, Venice,” oil on canvas, $ $90, 000 Stair Sainty Gallery in London Elizabeth Louise Vigée Lebrun, “Portrait of Countess Yekaterina Skavronskaia,” oil on canvas, 1790, $660, 000 Jean Baptiste Greuze, “L’Attention,” oil on canvas, 1780, $80, 000 Pierre Subleyras, “The Duke of Saint Aignan Investing Girolamo Vaini, Prince of Cantalupe and Duke of Selci, With the Insignia of a Knight of the Holy Spirit,” oil on canvas, 1737, $350, 000 Pierre two landscape paintings, each titled “View of Corsica,” $15, 000 and $20, 000 Pierre “Salomé,” four paintings, three on canvas, one on wood, priced individually, $45, 000, $55, 000, $65, 000 and $85, 000. Albert “Barges on the Seine,” oil on canvas, $48, 000 Simon Dickinson Gallery in London Jakob Marrel, “Roses, Tulips, Iris,” oil on panel, 1644, $500, 000 Pier Leone Ghezzi, “Susannah and the Elders,” oil on canvas, late 1730s, £330, 000 ($434, 500) Jan Brueghel the Elder, “Landscape,” oil on copper, 1606, $591, 000 Francesco Zuccarelli, “View of the River Thames From Richmond Hill,” oil on canvas, 1752, $525, 000
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