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While many campaign ads feature candidates and their surrogates slinging the proverbial mud at their opponents, Travis County (Austin, TX) Commissioner Gerald Daugherty tried something a little different: he had his friends, his neighbors, and even his wife sling a little (good-natured) mud at him.
The resulting ad was so touching and relatable that Americans of all political stripes are calling it “the best political ad of the entire election”: my favorite political ad of the year, for a Texas county commish @teamdaugherty https://t.co/tBVtTde4sF — Jon Ward (@jonward11) October 24, 2016 Fun ad: "Please re-elect Gerald" to the county commission so he'll stop annoying his family with policy nerdery. https://t.co/5LiiBpfg6X — Josh Barro (@jbarro) October 27, 2016
“Re-Elect Gerald...Please” even got the attention of Hollywood: "Please re-elect Gerald." Best political Ad of the election. https://t.co/BAuGdWLrTx — Jenna Fischer (@jennafischer) October 26, 2016 Okay. This is the funniest campaign ad ever!!! Please Re-Elect Gerald https://t.co/50P8nWmPXk via @YouTube — James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) October 23, 2016
Even liberal bastion The Daily Kos is suggesting that their readers “put party politics aside” and watch the hilarious ad.
Daugherty, who was a one-time prospect for the Boston Red Sox, has channeled his energy into a platform of “good roads and fiscal responsibility”...and, apparently, savvy advertising. | 0 |
source Add To The Conversation Using Facebook Comments | 0 |
The photojournalist Ivor Prickett spent three weeks documenting the battlefront and humanitarian crisis in west Mosul. The war to drive the Islamic State from its last strongholds in western Mosul has come to this: With every advance by Iraqi forces, every missile rained down by coalition aircraft, a flood of Iraqi civilians hits the streets. It is no longer a question of waiting between salvos — there are few, if any, breaks that make it obvious when to run, so the people of Mosul are simply running whenever they can. As we traveled with Iraqi special forces deep in western Mosul last week, in the mostly residential Mosul Jidideh neighborhood, we saw desperate families start out right at daybreak. Families carried their young children and propped up their aging relatives, and they all moved as quickly as they could along streets where the sounds of battle were all too close: a cacophony of gunfire, the dull thud of mortar rounds, the deafening roar of Islamic State car bombs and American airstrikes. Nearly everyone frantically asked which way was safe for them to flee. One route forced people to file past a destroyed building on the corner of the square where fighters with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, had been targeted the night before. One of the militants lay visible in the rubble near the crowd of silent refugees, his crumpled body almost camouflaged among the stone and twisted metal. In their state of anxious flight, many didn’t even notice the corpse. But occasionally, children would gawk in horror as they were whisked past by elder siblings and parents. Around a people are still thought to be trapped in an area of the city along with an estimated 2, 000 remaining Islamic State fighters. There, they are caught in a frightening crossfire. As Iraqi forces have advanced, American airstrikes have at times leveled entire blocks — including the one in Mosul Jidideh this month that residents said left as many as 200 civilians dead. At the same time, the Islamic State fighters have used masses of civilians as human shields, and have been indiscriminate about sniper and mortar fire. Near one position held by Iraqi forces, this woman screamed out in horror after the loss of her son in an ISIS mortar attack, right on her doorstep. Nearby, neighbors loaded those wounded in the same attack into the back of a small truck, hoping to get them to a station. The Islamic State’s seemingly endless supply of car bombs has taken a fearsome toll in the battle. As we moved with the Iraqi troops into the neighborhood of Shuhada, scenes of immense destruction and the acrid smell of explosives bore testament to the fierce battle that had taken place the day before between Iraqi special forces and the militants. And then, another blast, close to us. This car bomb had actually failed to detonate after being abandoned by its driver. The explosion was from a coalition airstrike called in to remove it as a threat. On the corner of a main square in Shuhada, we found an ISIS car bomb that had partly detonated. The front part of the armored vehicle was a mess, but the back was still loaded with explosive canisters. The charred and severed body of a suicide car bomber whose vehicle had failed to fully detonate sat on the corner of an intersection beside his vehicle. Another body of an Islamic State fighter sat in the middle of the road, splayed out on a wooden cart. With heavy ordnance going off all around, Iraq’s specialized counterterrorism forces have been tasked with painstakingly clearing neighborhoods like Mosul Jidideh. The Islamic State is not giving up ground quickly, and seems to be able to mount counterattacks everywhere. After one car bomb disabled two Iraqi special forces vehicles, ISIS snipers hidden nearby began shooting at the soldiers. Some Iraqi commandos raced up to the top of a tall building nearby, and it suddenly became a battle for the rooftops that lasted for hours. Even with fighting all around them, many Mosul residents have heeded the government’s requests to stay home as long they can hold out. But after months of being trapped, most are in dire need of food and water. With the fighting still heavy, international groups have been unable to reach some of the worst off. Government aid distribution is overseen by local militia fighters. They take place irregularly and very often descend into chaos as desperate people fight for bags of rice and sugar, as prices have skyrocketed over the past four months since the offensive began. Here, western Mosul residents begged for help at an aid distribution location in the Mamun neighborhood. Even those who have been able to break away from the worst fighting find themselves in acute need, like this family waiting for help on the side of the road in Mamun. The accounts of losses within families are grim. Mohammed Hamed, 5, and his sister Amina, 4, were hastily buried together in a shallow grave in the courtyard of a school in Mosul Jidideh. They were hurt at home by an airstrike that struck Islamic State positions at a nearby house, the family said, and died hours after the blast because the family was unable to reach medical help. Friends and family members struggled to dig a hole big enough for their tiny bodies, interrupted by a sudden and terrifying new round of airstrikes nearby. After the rushed burial, their mother, Amira, stood and waved at the grave, saying over and over: “Goodbye, my children! Travel safely to God!” The family quickly set out for the safety of a camp outside the city. Within Mosul Jidideh, the grinding nature of the fighting stood out. At every corner there seemed to be some fresh wreckage or rubble. Behind the front line in the neighborhood, Iraqi fighters moved along devastated streets. Seeking to cover clearing operations around them, Iraqi soldiers are always climbing, seeking the high ground of rooftops and corners. In one area, special forces soldiers searched a house that had been used by Islamic State fighters up until the day before. A hole in the wall in the front garden led to the neighbors’ yard next door, made so that the fighters could move through the area without being seen. Inside there was very little trace of the men who had lived there, except for some daggers, a large black baton and an ISIS flag hanging above a double bed in the master bedroom. Even in places that seem cleared, snipers are a constant threat. This man was brought to a special forces outpost in Mosul Jidideh after being hit in the leg. Some of the destruction carries the clear hallmark of the Islamic State’s heavy campaign. This man called out to his family after discovering that his father was among those killed in one attack. The moments after those attacks are always fraught with anxiety. Is another bomb on the way? Will sniper fire or some heavier ground assault unfold now, as is often seen from the Islamic State? After the this Iraqi federal police officer ran toward the explosion to fight off any potential and look for survivors. Last week, after all that had happened in Mosul Jidideh, Iraqi forces said they had nearly cleared the last pockets of Islamic State fighters from the neighborhood. But it is just one of many in western Mosul, and the toll here is staggering. Even if a government triumph finally and permanently comes to this district, it will forever be the place where coalition airstrikes killed dozens of people seeking safety where families left so many dead behind while fleeing the terror of ISIS where victory looked like destruction. | 1 |
Hillary Clinton Laundered ISIS Cash - Says Investigating U.S. Army Officer # Omega_Archive 3
A U.S. Army Counter-Terror Officer gives testimony of his findings, that Hillary Clinton and a highly placed band of cohorts, used numerous Swiss 'shell' bank accounts, to transfer huge amounts of money for ISIS terrorists.
Edward Snowden was one of the figures involved with the money laundering bank used by Clinton. Snowden quit the illegal operation, before he sought refuge in Russia.
Julian Assange relayed vital information used by the counter-terror officer. A Washington D.C law firm, seems to be the hub of employment for many of the more prominent figures involved in this terrorist support group.
The officer's investigative findings were later to be bolstered by Sy Hersh and several eyewitnesses to the Clinton orchestrated weapons smuggling and funding for terrorists. Tags | 0 |
Facebook has reinstated the popular “Polandball” comedy page, following coverage of their “permanent suspension” by Breitbart News. [The page, which focuses on “ satire,” was originally notified by Facebook that they would be permanently deleted on Saturday for unknown reasons. “We’re very sorry about this mistake,” said a Facebook spokesman in an email to Breitbart Tech. “A post was removed in error, which led to the removal of the page. Both the post and page have been restored. ” Polandball announced on their reinstated Facebook page that they would be keeping both the original and the backup page in case they are removed by error again in the future. Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook. | 1 |
As President Obama delivered his farewell speech to the nation in Chicago Tuesday night, Hollywood stars and celebrities took to social media to express their gratitude and celebrate his achievements one final time. [Many of the president’s most outspoken celebrity supporters, including Ellen DeGeneres, Katy Perry, Shonda Rhimes, Michael Moore, Russell Simmons and dozens of others used their Twitter accounts to express their feelings with just ten days remaining until Obama leaves office. Some stars like Amy Adams, Regina King and Sarah Jessica Parker said their goodbyes while on the red carpet at Sunday night’s Golden Globe awards: On the night of the #ObamaFarewell address, these celebrities had some grateful words for @POTUS pic. twitter. — VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) January 11, 2017, But others watched along and commented as Obama spoke for just under an hour from a convention center in Chicago. Below are celebrities’ reactions to the speech, and their parting words for President Obama. . @POTUS @BarackObama I love you more than I have space on Twitter to describe. #ObamaFarewell, — Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) January 11, 2017, When The President First Lady Leave the White House … . We Will be The Custodians Of HOPE🙏🏻 #ObamaFarewell, — Cher (@CherOfficiaI) January 11, 2017, . @POTUS @BarackObama without question is the greatest speaker and man that I know. #ObamaFarewell, — Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) January 11, 2017, This classy eloquent #ObamaFarewell on the heels of today’s latest #PEOTUS crap is invigorating my patriotic soul. #vigilantbutnotafraid, — Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) January 11, 2017, YES WE CAN #obamafarewell, — kerry washington (@kerrywashington) January 11, 2017, Walks off to Springsteen’s ”Land of Hope and Dreams”. And now for something completely different … #ObamaFarewell, — Michael Moore (@MMFlint) January 11, 2017, Watching Obama’s final address, and realizing how very, very far we are about to descend. Farewell, O Captain my Captain! Heavens save us. — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) January 11, 2017, Life goals. https: . — KATY PERRY (@katyperry) January 11, 2017, So glad I voted for this man. So glad I witnessed this leader, husband and father. #ObamaFarewell, — Maria Shriver (@mariashriver) January 11, 2017, Chicago! Proud to be home. Sad to say farewell to our Commander In Chief @POTUS. #georgewashingtonisgoinghime, — shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) January 10, 2017, I admire you so much. And I will do my part to become increasingly aware of my #implicitbias and #whiteprivelege. https: . — ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) January 11, 2017, President Obama, because of you ”those brown kids” know that they too can one day be President of the U. S. #ObamaAndKids #ObamaFarewell pic. twitter. — Russell Simmons (@UncleRUSH) January 11, 2017, Already crying. Love my president #FarewellAddress @BarackObama, — Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) January 11, 2017, ”Reality has a way of catching up with you” ’s mom. — Amanda Seyfried (@AmandaSeyfried) January 11, 2017, From here with the Young Senator from Chicago to tonight. #obamafarewell. We will miss you. pic. twitter. — Sharon Stone (@sharonstone) January 11, 2017, He insipired us, guided us, loved us, made us laugh. We cried with him … still I cry. @BarackObama #ObamaFarewell, — Nia Long (@NiaLong) January 11, 2017, Thank you Mr. President! #ObamaFarewell https: . — Bill Nye (@BillNye) January 11, 2017, Things feel grim. The next guy is a nightmare. But at least for tonight we can say we’re lucky to have had him. #optimism #obamafarewell, — Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs) January 11, 2017, Thank you for your service @BarackObama and @MichelleObama. #ObamaFarewell, — Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) January 11, 2017, #ObamaFarewell — thoughts on race. #TrumpRally — racist thoughts. — Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) January 11, 2017, ”i will forever miss this era … ” #ObamaFarewell pic. twitter. — MAXWELL (@_MAXWELL_) January 11, 2017, Hope you enjoyed Obama’s speech. You won’t hear anything so cogent and kind for a long time. So, with complete sincerity: THANKS, OBAMA. — Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 11, 2017, I’m lucky to have lived in the Obama era. Thank you for the inspiration, sir. #thanksobama #ObamaFarewell, — rosanne cash (@rosannecash) January 11, 2017, Obama quoting George Washington who, over 200 years ago, was talking shit about Trump. — Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) January 11, 2017, This #ObamaFarewell is beautiful. The love. Could Trump soak up all this warmth? — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) January 11, 2017, Future missing Obama so much right now. — John Cho (@JohnTheCho) January 11, 2017, I love u @POTUS In good times bad the buck stopped w you. Thank u for being a true leader for 8 yrs of astounding, immeasurable progress, — Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) January 11, 2017, This is what a REAL victory lap looks like and that only works if you have actually done something to to take a lap for. — Whoopi Goldberg (@WhoopiGoldberg) January 11, 2017, Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 1 |
Photos Credits: Social Media The so called “ opposition health authorities ” said in a statement posted online in Arabic:
“Primary investigations point to a limited security breach by vandals likely connected to the regime, which has been attempting to target the medical sector in Free Syria in order to spread chaos.” The statement also added: “The Syrian interim government’s health ministry has instructed a halt to the second round of the measles vaccination campaign, which began Monday September 15th … following several fatalities and injuries among children in vaccination centers in the Idlib countryside.” Adnan Hazouri, the health minister in the Syrian opposition who held a conference (in the Arabic Language) said that he will resign if an investigation upheld allegations of negligence, as blood samples have been sent to Turkey for analysis. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , which is based in London, also confirmed:
“At least five children have died and 50 others are suffering from poisoning or allergic reactions after measles vaccinations in Jirjanaz, in the Idlib province.” The following video shows affected children in Saraqeb hospital in Idlib, Syria: Monther Khalil, the head of the Idlib medical department said this during an interview with Radio Hawa Smart -an opposition related station established on Gaziantep, Turkey:
“The department assures all parents who have had their children vaccinated that the vaccine is completely fine and there is no risk to children who have already been injected.
We have already vaccinated 60,000 children against measles and there has been no previous problem. The same crews also previously carried out a polio campaign, where they vaccinated 252,000 children across seven rounds, and there were no abnormal complications.” More than 190,000 Syrians have been killed during the foreign-backed war since 2011, which has also created more than 3 million refugees outside Syria. Sources: | 0 |
Survey USA released a poll on Monday that shows Democrat Jon Ossoff leading Republican Karen Handel by seven seven percent, 51 to 44, among likely voters in the runoff election to be held on June 20 in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. [The election is to replace former Rep. Tom Price ( ) who resigned after he was confirmed as President Trump’s pick as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Ossoff barely missed obtaining the votes needed to secure the seat in the April 18 jungle primary. He finished in first place with 48. 1 percent of the vote, followed in a distant second by Handel at 19. 8 percent. Only the top two jungle primary finishers qualified for the June 20 special election. The Survey USA Poll, commissioned by WXIA TV, was conducted over a four day period between May 16 and May 20, of 549 likely voters, and it has a margin of error of 4. 3 percent. “SurveyUSA interviewed 700 registered voters through using Sampling (aka: Voter List sample) purchased from Aristotle in Washington DC. Of the 700 registered voters, 549 were judged by SurveyUSA to have already voted in the runoff or to be certain to so before the deadline,” the poll summary stated. Two earlier polls conducted after the jungle primary showed the race in a statistical dead heat. A Landmark Communications poll conducted between May 3 and 4 with a 3. 9 percent margin of error showed Handel with a 2. 6 percent lead. A Gravis Marketing poll conducted between May 8 and May 10 with a 3. 3 percent margin of error showed Ossoff with a two percent lead. Survey USA portrayed Monday’s poll results as an indicator that media criticisms of President Trump have hurt his standing, as well as that of fellow Republicans around the country. “The runoff has national implications and will be seen as a referendum on the Republican President,” Survey USA said in its poll summary. However, the race is unusual because of the sheer magnitude of money being spent on it, most of it coming from outside the district. The Democratic candidate, Ossoff, benefited from that particularly during the election preceding the jungle primary on April 18, when liberals from Hollywood and elsewhere donated millions to his campaign. Less than ten percent of his funding actually came from the district. In contrast, Handel was one of eleven Republicans competing in the jungle primary and was far outspent by Ossoff prior to April 18. “A highly energized effort by the Democrats that has raised more than $8. 9 million from around the country for Jon Ossoff has caught the Republican leadership napping,” Breitbart News reported on April 17, the day before the jungle primary. Since the jungle primary, the financial disparity between Ossoff and Handel has diminished. “[B]oth parties continue to flood Georgia with resources and ads in the final month of the most expensive House race in U. S. history,” the Hill reported on Tuesday. “The pounding President Donald Trump is taking over loose lips may be taking a toll on Republican candidate for the U. S. House of Representatives in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, Karen Handel,” Survey USA said in its summary of the poll results, which it called “close enough in a runoff to be anyone’s call, though clearly Ossoff is in a better position than is Handel. ” The district is Republican leaning but not Republican invincible: Trump carried the district in 2016, but only by 1. 5 percentage points, compared to, say, the neighboring 9th Congressional District, which Trump carried by 58 percentage points. Ossoff does not live in the 6th Congressional District, but voters shrug. 84% of Democrats and 21% of Republicans say the residency doesn’t bother them. Karen Handel does not have a college degree, but voters shrug. 45% of Democrats and 76% of Republicans say it is not an issue for them at all. Survey USA interviewed a total of 700 registered voters for the poll. Responses from 549 voters “Survey USA ” were included in the Congressional candidate survey, while responses from the other 151 registered voters deemed likely not to vote in the June 20 special election were not. All 700 registered voters surveyed, including those 151 deemed likely not to vote in the June 20 special election, were included in poll questions about President Trump’s job approval, health care, the firing of FBI Director James Comey, and the appointment of a special investigator. Survey USA found that among those 700 registered voters in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, 34 percent approved of President Trump’s job performance, while 51 percent disapproved of it. Voters were evenly split on the Republican plan to replace ObamaCare 47 percent supported it, 47 percent opposed it. percent of registered voters opposed President Trump’s decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey, while 38 percent supported it. Sixty percent supported naming a special investigator “to look into whether the Russians tried to influence the outcome of the 2016 Presidential election,” while 32 percent opposed naming a special investigator. With four weeks to go until the June 20 election, the record pace of spending and media coverage of the 6th Congressional District special election is likely to intensify until a victor is declared on election night. | 1 |
"Top Five Clinton Donors Are Jewish" - How Anti-Semitic Is This Fact? Published: October 29, 2016 Source: Moon of Alabama
Top five Clinton donors Are Jewish, campaign tally shows.
Something is wrong with the above statement. Isn't it anti-semitic? Did Trump say that? Readers of that statement may assume, somewhat reasonably, that there is a club of rich Jewish people controlling the Clinton campaign and, maybe, Clinton herself. That sounds like it was taken from the fake Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It clearly must be anti-semitic.
It is also true .
Facts have no bias. They can't be anti-semitic (or can they?). But while facts as such can not have a racial-religious bias, openly stating them surely can. Thus the above statement is anti-semitic. The fact itself isn't bad, reporting it publicly is bad, bad, bad.
Who but an alt-right rag would report such at all? And for what purpose if not for spreading anti-semitism?
Well - quot licet jovi, ...
Jewish papers are of course allowed to report such a fact. That isn't anti-semitic. It is solely to brag about Jewish powers. Within the club that is not only allowed, but welcome. Thus Haaretz writes (sourced to the the Jewish Telegraph Agency) under the identity defining headline at the top of this post: Haim Saban, George Soros and others stand at the head of a list of wealthy donors who contributed mainly via super PACs.
The Washington Post analysis, posted October 24, named the top donors, who are contributing $1 of every $17 of the over $1 billion amassed for the Democratic nominee’s presidential run.
They are Donald Sussman, a hedge fund manager; J.B. Pritzker, a venture capitalist, and his wife, M.K.; Haim Saban, the Israeli-American entertainment mogul, and his wife, Cheryl; George Soros, another hedge funder and a major backer of liberal causes, and Daniel Abraham, a backer of liberal pro-Israel causes and the founder of SlimFast.
Many of the big Clinton campaign donors also give to the Clinton Foundation which at times is a washing machine to put money into the Clinton's private accounts. It is kind of difficult to understand where Clinton Inc begins and where it ends. Campaign funds, Clinton foundation, speech fees, private accounts - does it even matter? Surely those who pay, to whatever Clinton entity, expect a service in return. Given the Clinton's occupations as Senator, Secretary of State and President the ask in return is unlikely to be commercial. It will be political.
And here is why it matters that the five top donors to Clinton's campaign are Jewish, and all big supporters of Israel. (Haim Saban: "I'm a one-issue guy, and my issue is Israel.") They surely will ask for political favors in the interest of the Zionist entity. This is also the reason why Haaretz, an Israeli paper, finds the strong racial-religious bias at the top Clinton campaign tally newsworthy. Big money paid to a Clinton entity can directly effect U.S. policies towards Israel. It buys its acquiescence to Israeli escapades even when those are not consistent U.S. interests.
Clinton's positions towards Syria, Iran and Russia (which limits Israel's freedom of action) are surely not independent of Israeli interests.
But that is of course, anti-semitic speculation ... | 0 |
Donald J. Trump won’t be sworn in until Friday but big business has already thrown him a veritable inaugural ball. A series of companies, among them Ford, Lockheed Martin, Amazon and Sprint, have all announced plans in recent weeks to hire and invest in the United States. A who’s who of executives from boardrooms here and overseas have made the pilgrimage to Trump Tower and sought the ’s blessing. The drumbeat of announcements — on Tuesday it was the turn of General Motors and Walmart — is not just about winning good headlines or a favorable mention from the tweeter in chief, however. While the jobs and investments are real enough, all of these corporate behemoths will soon have business before the new administration, with moves expected on mergers, trade policy, tax reform, defense contracts and regulation. Signaling to the and his team that they are on board now also provides chief executives with more leverage down the line. “It might be an attempt to buy good will, but I don’t blame them for trying to do that,” said Tom C. Korologos, a longtime Republican strategist and an adviser at the law firm DLA Piper in Washington. “It’s a new administration, and companies are nervous and don’t know what to expect. ” Ultimately, the new administration’s decisions will be formulated far from the limelight in conference rooms at federal agencies in Washington or behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. The money riding on the outcome runs into the trillions. And on issues, the companies will need to make a strong case. Detroit automakers, for example, are concerned that Washington will impose tariffs on cars made in Mexico, but they are eager for wiggle room on new standards at home. Walmart is worried about rising trade tensions with China, where many of the products it sells are made. Lockheed Martin, whose chief executive, Marillyn A. Hewson, met with Mr. Trump on Friday and promised to create 1, 800 new jobs, depends on the government for more than 70 percent of its $46 billion in revenue. United Technologies, which agreed to preserve 850 jobs at its Carrier unit in Indianapolis after public pressure from Mr. Trump, gets about 10 percent of its sales from Washington. On a call with the news media on Tuesday, Mr. Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, cited a new pledge by Bayer to invest $8 billion in the United States and create 3, 000 jobs. “The reason for this commitment and expansion is because of the ’s focus on creating better business climate here in the United States,” he said. What Mr. Spicer didn’t mention is that Bayer, the German chemical giant, faces intense scrutiny from antitrust regulators in Washington and Europe over its plan to buy Monsanto, based in St. Louis, for $57 billion. If Bayer cannot win approval from the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, it will be costly, with Bayer obligated to pay Monsanto $2 billion under the deal’s terms. Last week, the chief executives of the two companies met with Trump and made their case for the merger, which some advisers to Mr. Trump have criticized. Mr. Korologos played down the idea that big business would get specific favors in exchange for hiring or investing. But he acknowledged that many of the announcements were choreographed for maximum political impact. “There’s too many hoops to jump through and too many institutions for it to be a simple quid pro quo,” he said. “But what Trump is doing is very unusual, and these decisions weren’t made 48 hours ago or after a tweet. They were in the works for a long time. ” Mr. Spicer did point out that Bayer’s decision to hire and invest more in the United States had not been disclosed previously — unlike some highly promoted announcements that were essentially recycled versions of previous news releases. In other cases, companies are talking up hiring plans now, after earlier decisions to quietly shed workers. Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, said Tuesday it would create about 10, 000 jobs when it opens about 60 new stores, plans that had already been announced last year. The additions to the work force are largely in line with Walmart’s typical hiring practices for new stores, according to a company spokesman, Lorenzo Lopez. Months before it announced the new stores last year, Walmart said it could lose as many as 16, 000 workers by closing 154 of its American locations and 115 stores overseas. Mr. Lopez said on Tuesday that “a lot” of the workers who had been affected by the store closures were able to move to surrounding Walmart stores. In the case of the auto industry, Mr. Trump’s criticism of imports of vehicles has prompted companies to defend their American manufacturing presence aggressively and announce new investments, some of which had long been in the planning stages. Last week, the chief executive of Fiat Chrysler, Sergio Marchionne, admitted that plans for 2, 000 new jobs in the United States had been under consideration long before Mr. Trump won the presidency in November. “The decision has been in the works for a long time, dating back to 2015,” Mr. Marchionne said during an appearance at the Detroit auto show. “It is just a continuation of the retooling of the U. S. manufacturing base. ” But Mr. Trump’s immediate — and positive — reaction to the announcement underscored how closely the is following the automotive job picture, and how his keen interest in American manufacturing is influencing automakers. On Tuesday, General Motors, the largest American automaker, announced $1 billion in new investment in its American factories that would create or retain 1, 500 jobs. The automaker also said it was moving production of axles from Mexico to the United States and creating 450 American jobs, and would continue to add thousands of new technology jobs over the next few years. In a statement, G. M. said the plans had been “in the works for some time. ” Yet the timing of the announcement was no coincidence, given Mr. Trump’s interest. “There’s no question there is an emphasis on job creation in the U. S. right now,” said Patrick E. Morrissey, a G. M. spokesman. “This was good timing for us to share what we are doing. ” Indeed, on Tuesday, Mr. Trump publicly thanked G. M. and Walmart via Twitter within hours of their announcements. Companies are also closely attuned to where government policy is headed, and want to show they are getting with the program, said Bruce P. Mehlman, founder of Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen Thomas, a lobbying firm whose clients include Fiat Chrysler, Procter Gamble and Walmart. “In 2009 and 2010 under President Obama, it was sustainability, and in 2017 with Trump it’s domestic manufacturing,” Mr. Mehlman said. For automakers, that is an important issue as G. M. and many other companies make cars in Mexico for sale in the United States. The automaker has so far declined to stop importing cars from Mexico. But the entire auto industry is bracing for potential changes in the North American Free Trade Agreement that could disrupt their intricate production structure in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Industry analysts see the widely publicized announcements of new jobs as attempts by car companies to both blunt the ’s criticism and curry favor with the incoming Trump administration. “Retaining and growing jobs in the U. S. is a political hot button right now,” said Michael Harley, an analyst with the auto research firm Kelley Blue Book. “The timing of the announcement shows General Motors is more than willing to play the new administration’s publicity game. ” | 1 |
CHICAGO — The Los Angeles Rams chose quarterback Jared Goff of California with the first overall pick in the N. F. L. draft, the latest move by a team trying to itself in Southern California after two decades in St. Louis. Eager to make a splash in their new home and revive their fading fortunes, the Rams traded a passel of draft picks to acquire the top overall selection from the Tennessee Titans. Without a strong quarterback on their roster, the Rams opted for Goff, widely considered one of the top prospects at that position in the draft. The Rams have not had a winning season since 2003, and they are eager to begin their second tenure in Southern California, where they played from 1946 to 1994, by becoming competitive in the N. F. C. West, one of the toughest divisions in the N. F. L. The Rams are betting that Goff, one of 96 underclassmen to enter the draft this year, can make the jump to the N. F. L. He threw for 4, 719 yards, 43 touchdowns and 13 interceptions last year in the competitive Conference. His strong arm and quick release should help him reach the Rams’ collection of middling receivers. “I’m going to prove them right, let them know they made the right decision,” Goff said. Many of the picks in the first round were not surprises, although Ohio State dominated, with five of its players taken in the first 20 picks. Goff’s selection continues a trend toward teams focusing more on their passing game with their top picks. He was the 14th quarterback chosen first over all in the past 19 years. Goff was also the latest underclassman to be chosen first over all, following the likes of Matthew Stafford (2009) Sam Bradford (2010) Andrew Luck (2012) and Jadeveon Clowney (2014). Last season, quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota were chosen first and second over all in the draft. In some ways, the Rams mortgaged the future for Goff, who will begin his career playing in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for three seasons until the owner E. Stanley Kroenke completes a nearly $3 billion stadium and retail complex in nearby Inglewood. The Titans sent their picks from the first, fourth and sixth rounds this year to the Rams. In return, they received the Rams’ pick, their two picks and a pick this year, and their and picks next year. By selecting Goff, the Rams cleared the way for the Philadelphia Eagles, who engineered their own blockbuster trade, to pick a top quarterback of their own. Last week, the Eagles acquired the second overall pick from the Cleveland Browns, as well as the Browns’ pick next year, in exchange for their picks in the first, third and fourth rounds this year, their pick next year and their pick in 2018. The Eagles selected Carson Wentz, who led North Dakota State to an F. C. S. Championship. Big and quick, Wentz played a offense in college, and Philadelphia is betting that he can make the jump from Division football to the N. F. L. “I block out all the noise, play ball,” Wentz said of the high expectations. “I’m confident in myself that it will all work out as it’s supposed to. ” Despite the selection of Wentz, the Eagles said Sam Bradford would remain the team’s starting quarterback and would not be traded. Last month, Bradford signed a contract worth $36 million, $22 million of which is guaranteed. The San Diego Chargers picked third and took Joey Bosa, the highly rated defensive end from Ohio State, to improve a team that had among the fewest sacks last season. Bosa’s college teammate, running back Ezekiel Elliott, was taken next by the Dallas Cowboys. The Jacksonville Jaguars, which had the pass defense last season, then took Jaylen Ramsey, a defensive back from Florida State. Teams continued to plug holes. The Baltimore Ravens took offensive lineman Ronnie Stanley to help protect quarterback Joe Flacco. The Tennessee Titans acquired the eighth pick in a trade with the Cleveland Browns and took Jack Conklin, an offensive tackle from Michigan State. Tampa Bay Buccaneers then traded the ninth pick to the hometown Chicago Bears, who chose linebacker Leonard Floyd of Georgia. The Giants, who have not made the playoffs since 2011, chose defensive back Eli Apple, the third Ohio State player chosen in the top 10. Tampa then took Vernon Hargreaves, a cornerback from Florida. The Jets, whose playoff drought is a year longer that the Giants’ chose Darron Lee, a linebacker from Ohio State, with the 20th pick This year’s event lacked some of the buzz of past years, like in 2012, when Robert Griffin III and Luck were taken, but minutes before the start of the draft a bizarre video was posted on the verified Twitter account of the offensive tackle in the draft, Mississippi’s Laremy Tunsil, showing a person smoking from a mask equipped with a bong. The approximately video was posted to the account before being deleted. The account was deactivated about 30 minutes later. After plummeting, Tunsil was selected with the 13th pick by the Miami Dolphins. Tunsil said later that the account was hacked and added that all of his drug tests came back negative in college. Another big story was what did not happen: The Patriots did not select a player in the first round. The Patriots lost that pick and a pick next year after the league determined that quarterback Tom Brady was “generally aware” of a plot to deflate balls used in the A. F. C. Championship game in 2015. The penalties led to a very public fight between the Patriots, Brady and the league. As the draft began Thursday, the Patriots posted a photo of Tom Brady on their Instagram account. The Patriots, though, have 11 picks in the remaining six rounds of the draft, which finishes Saturday. Considering that players drafted early do not always provide the most value per dollar, stockpiling picks in the later rounds could be prudent. Brady, after all, was chosen in the sixth round. Kansas City Chiefs fans might take notice. The team lost its draft pick this year and its choice next year for violating the league’s tampering policy. Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was loudly jeered by the crowd in Chicago, rejected the team’s appeal of the penalties. | 1 |
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Lest anyone get the impression that Hillary Clinton would not do too much damage should she be elected, let’s take a little stroll down memory lane, shall we?
Earlier this year while on the campaign trail, Hillary was asked at a town hall meeting by one of her supporters, “The next president will probably appoint several members of the Supreme Court. Would you consider appointing Obama?”
Clinton replied enthusiastically, “Wow! What a great idea! Nobody has ever suggested that to me! Wow! I love that! Wow! He may have a few other things to do, but I’ll tell ya, that’s a great idea!”
God help us…
This actually brings up a very important point, something many people have overlooked during this election cycle: If we do not elect Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton can stack the Supreme Court with liberal justices, and in doing so, irreversibly steer our country down the path of no return. The America our Founding Fathers envisioned and strived for will be nothing more than a distant memory.
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November 18, 2016 - Fort Russ - Ruslan Ostashko, PolitRussia - translated by J. Arnoldski -
What scares Kiev politicians more than anything? What is their number one fear? No, not Russian tanks coming down Kreshchatik street. They aren’t afraid of Russian tanks for two reasons. First of all, Kiev politicians have made so much money selling media disinformation to the West about Russian tanks invading Ukraine that they themselves are no longer afraid of this happening. They have a whole business, a whole image of this and all relations with the West are built on their promises to provoke Russia into open military intervention. These promises have brought them money and power, so the very thought of a Russian military invasion warms their soul.
Now for the second reason. Kiev is now ruled by very opinionated people who are 100% convinced that, if something happens, they’ll manage to make it to Borispol and fly away. They hope that after fleeing from Russian tanks they will be provided with jobs, money, and respect for the rest of their life. They’ll form a Ukrainian government in exile and follow Khodorkovsky with endless lawsuits in international courts and travel the world giving lectures about how much they’ve suffered from Putin and how much they miss unfortunate Ukraine. Thus, the Kiev regime is not afraid of a Russian invasion. They have an entirely different nightmare, and it is precisely this other nightmare that is creeping into their daily reality.
I periodically try to explain to the Ukrainian experts that I encounter in television studios that Ukraine has worn out even its strongest supporters in the West. They’ve tired them out so much and so thoroughly that these supporters are already starting to discuss things that were unthinkable a year ago. Remember PACE - that bunch of European bureaucrats who condemned Russia for aggression against Ukraine and deprived the Russian delegation of its voting rights? Well now Ukrainian deputies are saying that PACE is preparing a devastating report on human rights failures in Ukraine. The chairman of PACE has even stated that it is necessary to bring back the Russian delegation to work in PACE, and he even wrote a letter to Vyacheslav Volodin with the proposal to personally meet to discuss this issue. Members of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE are writing articles about the powerful Russian lobby which could steal PACE and force it to “betray Ukraine.”
Here’s another example. After Ukrainian authorities fulfilled all 144 conditions for obtaining a vise free regime, European politicians turned to outright mocking them. During Rada discussions, it was recently revealed that Martin Schulz, the chairman of the European Parliament, now binds the visa-free regime to the fulfillment of the Minsk Agreements. An unpleasant situation has unfolded for official Kiev. If they blame Russia for not fulfilling the Minsk Agreements, then they’ll have to admit that the EU has made Kiev dependent on the Kremlin’s goodwill. If this is not so, then they’ll have to admit that Martin Schulz has de facto blamed Kiev for disrupting the Minsk Agreements and has punished the Ukrainian side by depriving it of its coveted visa free regime. Amidst all of this, the Ukrainian propaganda that the whole world supports Poroshenko looks very unconvincing.
Yesterday I asked whether Trump would put Ukraine up for sale as a whole or in parts . Today I can present the Finnish version of the answer to this burning question. Former Finnish army commander General Gustav Hagglund told local media that “dividing Ukraine into two parts will put an end to the conflict in the country” and said that Trump will reach an agreement with Putin on concluding the conflict. A year ago, imagining that a representative of a European army would express such a position in the media was unthinkable, but now it is normal.
In fact, I am not convinced that Trump will opt for this variant, but it cannot be excluded. The most important point is that no one is going to ask Ukrainian politicians about their opinions on the future of their country. This is Kiev’s greatest fear. On one fine day, they will wake up in a country that has been simply gifted to Putin. Follow us on Facebook!
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Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce … Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living. And just as they seem to be occupied with revolutionizing themselves and things, creating something that did not exist before, precisely in such epochs of revolutionary crisis they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past to their service, borrowing from them names, battle slogans, and costumes in order to present this new scene in world history in time-honored disguise and borrowed language. Thus Luther put on the mask of the Apostle Paul, the Revolution of 1789 – 1814 draped itself alternately in the guise of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, and the Revolution of 1848 knew nothing better to do than to parody, now 1789, now the revolutionary tradition of 1793-95.
If you ever wondered where that quote came from, now you know! A fine example from the 2016 election is commentators comparing Clinton to Lincoln.
Stats Watch
NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, October 2016: “The small business optimism index rose 0.8 points in October to 94.9, slightly exceeding expectations and extending a rebound from the 2-year low at 92.6 set in April” [ Econoday ]. “A net 25 percent of owners reported raising worker compensation, a 3 point increase from September. Capital outlays, a leading strength of the index recently and important for future growth, remained at a strong 27 percent, the second highest reading of the recovery.” But the NFIB’s press release says: “Small business owners are rattled by uncertainty and unable to decide whether to expand, whether to hire, or whether to make other important decisions that might boost the economy” [ Econoday ]. And: “the highest level this year” [ Calculated Risk ].
JOLTS, September 2016: “Job openings rose to 5.486 million in September, up from a revised 5.453 million in August but still on the low side of this year’s trend. Hires are down in the September data, to 5.081 million from August’s 5.268 million to suggest that employers are having a hard time filling slots” [ Econoday ]. “With it hard to find the right person for the right job, employers are holding onto their existing employees closely as the layoff rate fell… [I’m so old I remember when you could get training at your job! Good times….] Though hiring is down, these numbers nevertheless will confirm worries that wage inflation may be approaching, that employers will have to offer more to bring in the workers they need.” Time to screw the workers take away the punch bowl, Janet! And: “The data overall suggests that there was a slight cooling in the labour market during the third quarter, but not enough to discourage a December rate increase from the Federal Reserve” [ Economic Calendar ]. And: “[A]nother solid report” [ Calculated Risk ].
Fed Loan Officer Survey: “The latest Federal Reserve senior loan officer survey on bank lending standards reported that standards were basically unchanged for the commercial sector during the third quarter of 2016. There had, however, been some tightening of conditions on Commercial Real Estate (CRE) loans” [ Economic Calendar ]. And: “Bank credit tends to tighten up as the economy slows, which slows lending and makes matters worse.The buzz word is ‘pro cyclical'” [ Mosler Economics ]. As we’ve seen, the bright spot in CRE is supply-chain related, e.g. distribution centers. And that’s a bet on globalization, no?
Shipping: “Investors are following online retailers into warehouses” [ Wall Street Journal ]. “Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund agreed to pay $2.7 billion for P3 Logistics Parks and its portfolio of European warehouses… in one of the biggest real-estate deals in Europe this year. The high returns on the industrial properties are a big draw, but the bigger attraction over the long term is the growing need for space to serve e-commerce customers in a European market with a limited number of high-quality warehouses. This is the second big buy in logistics for Singapore’s GIC Pte. fund, which bought the Blackstone Group LP’s IndCor Properties and its network of U.S. warehouses. The upheaval in the market likely isn’t over—another Blackstone property, Logicor, is exploring either an outright sale or an initial public offering of a business that owns 660 warehouses in 18 European countries.”
Shipping: “The top U.S. maritime regulator [Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Mario Cordero] says the ongoing consolidation in the shipping industry isn’t leading to collusion to fix freight rates” [ Wall Street Journal ]. Of course not. That’s the purpose of setting up a ginormous cartel, right?
Shipping: “The Port of Oakland said today its October export volumes reached a three-year high, increasing 20 percent over 2015 levels and posting the fourth-largest monthly total in its history” [ DC Velocity ]. “Port executives said that export volumes benefitted from weakness in the U.S. dollar that made U.S. exports more competitive in world markets and a strong agricultural harvest. Oakland is the closet seaport to the verdant growing areas of the Central, Napa, and Salinas valleys, and as a result handles much of the state’s agricultural export cargo. The port reported that containerized import cargo volume increased 2 percent in October. Overall loaded container volume—imports and exports—was up 11.4 percent, the port said.”
Shipping: “[UPS] is buying medical-logistics specialist Marken Ltd., pushing deeper into the highly specialized and very profitable business of healthcare industry deliveries. The move is a play for high-yield business when many traditional industrial and retail customers are opting for slower, cheaper shipping….Closely-held Marken specializes in transporting clinical trial materials and medicine between 49,000 clinical trial locations around the world, work that is particularly sensitive in terms of time and temperature” [ Wall Street Journal ]. “For UPS, it also delivers a bigger entry into a growing market, particularly as aging populations in the developed world spend more on health care and clinical research expands.”
Shipping: “Packaging machinery shipments in U.S. could reach $8.5 billion in 2020” [ DC Velocity ] “[T]he fastest-growing machinery types scored by CAGR through 2020 will be the labeling, decorating, and coding (3.9 percent) and the case handling (2.5 percent) machinery groups. That rapid growth is largely a result of new legislation demanding increased labeling and coding, continuing developments in printing technologies, and the proliferation of SKUs, PMMI said. The other machinery groups include: filling and dosing; bottling line; form, fill, and seal; cartoning; palletizing; closing; and wrapping and bundling.” Fascinating to see the interface between big data and stuff .
Shipping: “Container ship demolition hits record high” [ Journal of Commerce ]. “Shipowners have demolished 4.2 times more 20-foot-equivalent units so far this year than in the same period of 2015, with 500,000 TEUs. Most of the activity has occurred in the last three months, which accounted for 41 percent of the demolition thus far in 2016. The demolition activity in the last three months surprised BIMCO [Baltic and International Maritime Council] positively and it exceeded our initial expectation based on the appalling 2015 demolition activity,’ said Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst, BIMCO. “The advance is a push in the right direction, as demolition activity is one of the essential measures needed to be taken to rebalance the container shipping industry.'”“Rebalance.” No Pakistanis burned to death lately , so we’re good!
Shipping: “Southern California chassis shortages recede as Hanjin boxes are cleared” [ Lloyd’s List ].
Retail: “Panjiva Research Director Chris Rogers told Logistics Management that when specifically looking at import numbers for things like apparel, especially winter clothing, and toys, which are both down, it suggests that retailers are not feeling ‘hugely confident’ about the state of consumer spending. And he added that it is in direct contrast to recent data issued by the National Retail Federation, which is calling for holiday shipping season (the months of November and December) to be up 3.6 percent” [ Modern Materials Handling ]. From October. But still.
Retail: “A recent survey of shoppers weighed in with their answer to the question, “Do you like Black Friday?” Only 14.7% said that they love it, while 50.7% said it was okay. More than a third — 35.3% — said they hated it. A rather staggering 85% of those surveyed either hated Black Friday or didn’t care much about it” [ 247 Wall Street ] ( original survey ). Throw me in the “hate” bucket!
Housing: “It is so interesting to once again see the ‘drive until you qualify’ meme permeating the housing industry. People seem to think this is now a new permanent plateau, a new normal, yet ignore the low home ownership rate and the reality that momentum is turning. But of course many are not paying attention – they are stuck in traffic apparently. Mega commutes, rental Armageddon, and insane prices for crap shacks are all part of the game today” [ Dr. Housing Bubble ]. “If you look at the rise in these mega commutes in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley it shot up in 2010… Something fundamentally shifted here. Of course you have your house humpers saying that this is great and somehow reflects a healthy market but in reality, it simply shows a hyper manic market of people desperate to claw into a crap shack. And many are now having to endure Clockwork Orange like torture in traffic. Many Millennials are simply saying no and are renting closer to work (or living at home with parents).”
Honey for the Bears: “The restaurant recession has arrived” [ MarketWatch ]. “One factor is pressure on discretionary income from the rising costs of staples such as rent, medicine and education. Then there’s the steady rise in the cost of eating out, which has come just as grocery bills are getting cheaper. The cost of food purchased for home use—that is, groceries—has fallen 2.4% in the past year, government data showed in October. That’s the biggest decline over a 12-month period since the end of the Great Recession in 2009… Food costs have shrunk because of a global glut in farm products such as wheat, rice, soy and corn. Then there’s the effect of U.S. producers increasing the size of egg-laying chicken flocks and cattle herds, which has helped bring down the cost of eggs, beef and milk—egg prices alone have tumbled a staggering 50% in the last year.”
The Bezzle: “Amazon.com Inc. could be in the crosshairs of Europe’s taxman” [ Wall Street Journal , “Europe’s Taxman Could Have Amazon in Its Crosshairs”]. “That could be material for Amazon, which operates on thin margins for a large tech company. In 2015, it reported $596 million in profit on $107 billion in revenue—a profit margin of 0.56%.”
Currency: “Taking the nation by surprise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday night announced demonetisation of Rs. 1000 and Rs. 500 notes with effect from midnight, making these notes invalid in a major assault on black money, fake currency and corruption” [ The Hindu ].
Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 29 Fear (previous close: 26, Fear) [ CNN ]. One week ago: 22 (Extreme Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Nov 8 at 11:22am. Mr. Market’s knuckles were white there, for a bit.
Guillotine Watch
“Amtrak boosts Wi-Fi speed on Acela Express” [ Progressive Railroading ]. Moar cowbell.
News of the Wired
“You Can Have Emotions You Don’t Feel” [ Nautil.us ].
“6 reasons to think twice before moving to Canada” [ MarketWatch ].
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Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here . And here’s today’s plant:
Because it’s all about the lettuce, right?
Readers, Water Cooler is a standalone entity, not supported by the very successful Naked Capitalism fundraiser just past. Now, I understand you may feel tapped out, but when and if you are able, please use the dropdown to choose your contribution, and then click the hat! Your tip will be welcome today, and indeed any day. Water Cooler will not exist without your continued help. Donate | 0 |
Posted on November 4, 2016 by DavidSwanson
In a time of division and disagreement, when people who all agree on something important sometimes spend more time bickering with each other than working on their collective cause, is it possible to craft an agenda that brings them together and adds to their numbers?
It turns out, somewhat to my surprise, the answer is yes.
I discovered this by creating a petition that has very quickly been endorsed by RootsAction, the Future of Freedom Foundation, World Beyond War, the Libertarian Institute, DailyKos, Black Vietnam Veterans of Atlanta, Progressive Democrats of America, Veterans For Peace Chicago Chapter, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Code Pink, Massachusetts Peace Action, Maryland United for Peace & Justice, Upstate Ground the Drones and End the Wars, Pax Christi Seed Planters, The War and Law League, Environmentalists Against War, the PDA Reno Chapter, Voters Occupy, Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition, Vietnam Echos, Spokane Veterans for Peace, Benedictines for Peace of Erie PA, Tyneside East Timor Solidarity, Palouse Peace Coalition, Helfenstein Soup Council, Timothy Dawkins El Project, Green Party of Collin County, Brian Boortz Public Relations, A Green Road, We The People for Democracy, Peaceworkers of San Francisco CA, Green Party of Spokane County, Montrose Peace Vigil, Ecumenical Peace Institute, Pax Christi Southern California, Veteran for Peace 72, Peaceful Skies, Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia, The Clueit Foundation, Office of the Americas, Veterans For Peace of Western Pennsylvania, Presentation Sisters Justice Commission, Women Against War, Farmington Maine Friends Meeting, Secular Student Alliance at LaGuardia Community College, Faith & Social Justice Alliance Dayton Ohio, The Oracle Institute & Peace Pentagon HUB, Peace Action Maine, Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center, Northeast Philly for Peace & Justice, Citizens International, National Department of Peacebuilding Committee through the Peace, White Rabbit Grove RDNA, North American Climate Conservation and Environment, The Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, Colonie des Pionniers de Developpement, Malu ‘Aina Center for Nonviolent Education & Action, the Carpe Diem Voice, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Corvallis, Mindfulness in Education, Brandywine Peace Community, Article V Convention for Our Children’s Future, and the Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution.
Yes, some of those groups I’ve never heard of. A few of them may consist of three guys with misspelled signs who’ve been standing on a lonely street corner so long their town has planted bushes around them. But that’s sort of the point. A unifying effort should revive old organizations and give birth to new ones. It should also be uncomfortably large, bringing together people who want completely different policies on other issues but agree on this one.
So, what is it that the above organizations and 17,241 individuals thus far agree on? This:
Tell the next president: No more war!
Please sign this petition to the 45th President of the United States:
We call on you to end perpetual war by the United States Government. As signers of this petition, we commit ourselves to building nonviolent pressure to end continual U.S. warfare. We also reject our country’s bloated military spending and massive arms sales that make the USA the world’s leading arms trafficker by a huge margin.
Sign as organization for which you are authorized to sign .
Importantly, this is a statement to whoever becomes U.S. president next year. It might be someone you considered a lesser evil or a wonderful national leader. It might be someone you believed would adopt a peaceful policy without any public pressure required. Or it might be someone you recognized would require a massive movement to restrain them from destroying the earth. It doesn’t matter. You believe that representative government requires that people communicate how they want to be represented. You believe that peace is possible and preferable. You are in that strong majority of the U.S. public that believes the wars of the past 15 years have made us less safe, and you want to end them.
Also importantly — for both better and worse — this petition avoids the details of any particular war. Once a particular war is mentioned, many people expect a petition to be fairly lengthy, to list all the causes of the war, to mention all the criminals and profiteers on every side of the war, to stipulate exact relative levels of blame for each party involved, and to advocate for particular policies aimed at establishing justice. Yes, some of that will be necessary work. But it is also critical that we confront the problem illustrated by the sheer number of U.S. wars now raging and by the evil industry of weapons dealing that fuels so many sides of so many wars around the world.
If the U.S. and lesser arms dealers can be brought to abandon their deadly trade, if the wars can be ended and resisted, each in its turn, opportunities and resources will open up for positive approaches. But clearly the first two steps are (1) recognizing we have a problem, and (2) ceasing to make it worse. The panicked cries of two years ago to “Do something!” about ISIS (where “something” meant: bomb people) has predictably (and many of us did predict it) made everything worse. And the general public, not just the full-time activists, knows it .
There will be new opportunities to expand this coalition post-election and post-inauguration. But we should not miss the opportunity to spread it and expand it and make it known now as a movement of nonpartisan principled advocacy for peace. This entry was posted in General . Bookmark the permalink . | 0 |
WIKILEAKS BOMBSHELL : Chelsea Clinton Used Foundation CHARITY Money for Her LAVISH Wedding and “Life” WIKILEAKS BOMBSHELL : Chelsea Clinton Used Foundation CHARITY Money for Her LAVISH Wedding and “Life” Breaking News By Amy Moreno November 6, 2016 Here’s a BOMBSHELL!
It looks like Hillary’s daughter Chelsea Clinton has used the Clinton Foundation to fund her “lavish wedding and life” for a DECADE.
This stunning information comes from Doug Band the PRESIDENT of the Clinton Foundation.
So, further PROOF that the Clintons have used that scandalous foundation to LINE THEIR OWN POCKETS.
Sickening. | 0 |
During Thursday’s “The Bernie and Sid Show” on New York’s WABC Radio, legendary NFL coach and player Mike Ditka slammed former President Barack Obama, saying he lacked leadership. “If [Trump] can possibly screw it up half as much as Obama, I’ll be surprised,” Ditka said. He added, “No leadership at all. None. Zero. Ditka went on to weigh in on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest, calling him “unintelligent” for disrespecting the game that made him a public figure. “He doesn’t play for me ever again. Period,” Ditka said if one of his players knees for the national anthem. Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent | 1 |
The head of the United States Pacific Command, Admiral Harry B. Harris, Jr. testified before the House of Representatives in late April that the threat posed by North Korea has grown sufficiently to endanger the Hawaiian Islands. All around the globe, serious national security problems are coming to the fore in places like Iran, Venezuela, Afghanistan, and the South China Sea. Yet, because of holdover personnel from the Obama administration, and damaging policies remaining in place, our military continues flailing. [On June 30, 2016, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced that transgender service members would no longer be discharged from military service solely for being transgendered. Later, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced that as of July 1, 2017, transgender recruits would be accepted into the military. The DOD took these steps even though transgender personnel are likely to need medical, surgical, and psychological care that undermines their readiness for battle by rendering them . Acutely aware of the geopolitical problems we face, President Trump announced his intention to restore the strength of our military. Americans appreciated the priorities described by Secretary of Defense James Mattis during his confirmation hearing: mission readiness, command proficiency, and combat effectiveness. Unfortunately, the implementation of President Obama’s transgender policies did not consider the impact that “transitioning” personnel would have on military readiness and combat effectiveness. The arguments used by the Obama Administration to support its transgender policy changes stemmed from a few politically correct reports produced by LGBT activist organizations. The first “study” was released in August 2013 by the Williams Institute in partnership with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. The next March, a private, “Transgender Military Service Commission,” headed by Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders, released a report through the think tank, the Palm Center. These two private studies and the various government reports and directives that followed have not focused on how the new transgender policies will affect military readiness and effectiveness — the core function of the armed forces. Nor were these policy changes mandated by the Congress. Rather, they were driven by bureaucratic reinterpretations of existing law. Given the magnitude of these changes, it would seem wise to halt the process and seek congressional guidance and statutory language. In fact, just before the DOD issued the transgender policy change, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services refused to provide national coverage for gender reassignment surgery citing insufficient studies about the health outcomes of such surgeries and small sample sizes in the studies that have been conducted. However, DOD is now requiring taxpayers to foot the bill for gender reassignment surgery, with no benefit to the taxpayer or the military. If implemented as planned, these transgender policies will require our military to assume the risks of recruiting and retaining persons who may require medical treatment. Such procedures and physical changes often produce uncertain results associated with higher rates of depression and suicide. “Transitioning” service members require that the government bear the cost of hormone treatments, surgery, and care. This creates a tremendous incentive for individuals to join the military in order to receive the costly medical procedures associated with “transitioning,” since transgender individuals cannot be excluded from joining. And it’s difficult to see how any person undergoing this process would be deployable and . What’s more, the time taken away from commanders’ duties while they take on the responsibilities of medical case workers is significant. It’s unfair to expect them to be judged on their ability to oversee cases like these. We do welcome the Pentagon’s recent nullification of an October 2016 directive imposing “ ” shower and bathroom guidelines on all DOD schools. But continuing implementation of Obama’s transgender policies ignores the concerns of women who do not want to be exposed to individuals of the opposite sex in facilities which offer minimal privacy. This is a particular problem when the incidence of rape in the military is so severe. I received a letter from a known but confidential source in the naval service who asked me to inform the command structure in Washington about the damaging effects of these policies: As part of the policy, CO’s must facilitate the requests of individuals for transgender treatment (surgery, therapy, etc.) … . [O]nce the service member is considered “stable” in their preferred gender, and their “gender marker” is changed in a DoD database, they must be accommodated in the berthing and bathroom facilities of their preferred gender regardless of whether they still possess their opposite sex anatomy! (And most are expected to do so). Given the close living quarters that most military members have to share, this is particularly distressing to many of us, especially women. These policies will ultimately undermine recruitment and retention. Secretary Mattis must consider the many complex ramifications of these policies that remain in effect. The DOD and the Congress need to ensure the priorities of the U. S. armed forces remain those that the Secretary has outlined: mission readiness, command proficiency, and combat effectiveness. Holdover personnel from the Obama Administration need to focus on these new priorities, and not on the last Administration’s social engineering projects that ignore military readiness. Lt. Gen. (Ret.) William G. “Jerry” Boykin serves as Family Research Council’s executive vice president. He spent 36 years in the Army, serving his last four years as deputy undersecretary for intelligence in the Department of Defense. | 1 |
Actor Bill Paxton died Saturday due to complications from surgery, according to multiple media reports. He was 61. [A representative for the Paxton family confirmed his passing in a statement: “It is with heavy hearts we share the news that Bill Paxton has passed away due to complications from surgery. A loving husband and father, Bill began his career in Hollywood working on films in the art department and went on to have an illustrious career spanning four decades as a beloved and prolific actor and filmmaker. Bill’s passion for the arts was felt by all who knew him, and his warmth and tireless energy were undeniable. We ask to please respect the family’s wish for privacy as they mourn the loss of their adored husband and father. ” Paxton played roles in some major hit films in the 1980s and 90s, including The Terminator, Aliens, Tombstone, True Lies, Apollo 13, Twister and Titanic. He was nominated three times for Golden Globes for his lead role on the HBO series Big Love, and won an Emmy for the historical miniseries Hatfields and McCoys. He was playing one of the leads in the CBS police drama Training Day at the time of his death. The actor leaves behind two children, James and Lydia Paxton, and wife Louise Newbury. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 1 |
Ben Leubsdorf, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? By Lee Adler. A well known sports talk show host’s trademark is screaming, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal headline on Industrial Production fits into that niche. Ben Leubsdorf, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” | 0 |
Дай миллион! Я телевизор посмотрел… 18 ноября 2016 Общество
Американская традиция подавать иски на миллион против крупных корпораций и СМИ, похоже, становится частью российской действительности. Об этом свидетельствует иск москвича Р.Масленникова, который подал в суд не на какое-нибудь бистро или районную многотиражку, а на телецентр “Останкино”, и требует, как водится, миллион (правда, в рублях).
Именно в такую сумму Масленников оценивает невыносимые терзания, которые он испытывает перед телеэкраном. Началась жуткая история, достойная самого Стивена Кинга, несколько лет назад, когда Масленников забыл или не смог посмотреть телевизор. В тот же день у него резко ухудшились аппетит и настроение. Ладно бы что-нибудь одно, а так и бутерброд не полез в рот, и небо перестало сверкать алмазами. Встревоженный телезритель начал наблюдения за собственным организмом и обнаружил, что опасные симптомы, свидетельствующие, по его мнению, о нарушении обмена веществ, появляются только в те дни, когда он не посмотрит телевизор хотя бы полчаса.
Пришлось, спасая организм и обмен веществ, ежедневно по два часа проводить перед экраном, созерцая все подряд — сериалы, ток-шоу, новости, рекламные ролики и прочую телепродукцию. Не хотел, терзался — а смотрел, ибо чего для здоровья не сделаешь! Но чем дольше Масленников предавался просмотру, тем хуже ему становилось. Аппетит вроде восстановился, но начались провалы в памяти. Дошло до того, что истец не мог вспомнить на следующий день ни содержание просмотренных телепередач, ни свои действия. Происходящее с ним (а заодно, надобно полагать, с миллионами телезрителей) истец охарактеризовал как «отупление населения» и потребовал от «Останкино» расплаты.
От иска Масленникова осталось бы впечатление обычного курьеза или, самое большее, неумелой попытки самопиара, Увы, на телевидении преобладает развлекательная продукция, рассчитанная на самые невзыскательные вкусы. Не сеет оно “доброе, разумное, вечное”, зато для любителей скандальных шоу, при виде которых вспоминается пьеса Горького “На дне”, раздолье. Так что чем бы ни был вызван “крик души” москвича, он – пусть и в трагикомической форме – затрагивает достаточно серьезную социальную проблему. Вот только как ее решать? Если превратить все телеканалы в клоны “Культуры”, то будет не один иск, а тысячи. Суды завалят исками поклонники “Пусть говорят” и “Дома-2” с жалобами, что их насильно “окультурили” и они не смогут ни есть, ни радоваться жизни, пока им не выплатят миллион. Каждому. В качестве моральной компенсации за навязанную духовность. | 0 |
Living Through the Death of Capitalism Feeling my unborn child as I ponder the death of an economic system By Joe Brewer / medium.com Now is the time to hold strong to our humanity. The world is changing quickly and much is at stake. It is even possible that our entire global civilization will collapse in our lifetime. This is a very difficult concept to sit with — yet sit with it we must, for now is a time of great consequences. A four hundred year old economic system is dying. We can feel the pain all around us. It shivers in the outstretched hands of the homeless. Gets expressed as death rattles in the species going extinct on a daily basis. Entire societies have tattered the social fabric of trust as inequality skyrocketed in the last few decades. It is experienced as fear, anger, sadness, humiliation, shame, and despair. Every person alive today has a responsibility to bear witness, provide hospice care to the dying, and participate in midwifing new ways to structure social life. This is our burden to be alive in the early part of the 21st Century. Yet so many among us are still behaving like children. They call each other names. Pick fights between parochial tribal groups. Bitch and moan when things don’t go their way. And hoard precious wealth in a time of increasing global scarcity. Now is the time to behave like grownups. Because the threats now upon us are very serious. I say this as a man who is about to become a father. My wife and I chose — with eyes wide open — to bring a child into this world in the midst of great upheaval. We believe deeply and firmly in humanity and are investing our blood in the future. This is not something we do lightly. It is a great responsibility to continue the human race even as billions starve and there now lurks a very real possibility that our child will live through the collapse of the Earth’s first globalized civilization. This unborn child has prospects to live into the 22nd Century. What will be seen through their eyes? Will there be a saga of unraveling the biosphere for our precious home planet? Might the death throes of capitalism take down the safety nets of a stable climate? Will our child bear witness to the final days of humanity? We cannot say even how long his or her survival will be secure. Yet we carry forth knowing what must be done. Humanity is in the crucible of change now. It is an all-hands-on-deck transition — away from life destroying economic practices based on wealth hoarding and extraction and toward life affirming practices of regeneration and renewal. Let me state this seriously and succinctly. According to the Stockholm Resilience Institute, there are nine “planetary boundaries” that represent thresholds for a viable global civilization. Cross even one and the entire edifice will fall into ruin. While there remains uncertainty about where these thresholds are, the best scientific evidence available today tells us that we have probably already crossed four of them. We are currently in overshoot and collapse . There are time lags in the system so the unraveling may not happen until the middle of this century. Instead of thinking about putting our child through college in 20 years, we must grapple with scenarios of tremendous upheaval and disruption. They will need to be a survivalist and servant to others in need. Notions of stable careers and long-term planning may never be a possibility in this child’s life. I write these words not out of despair, but as an affirmation of the most rugged hopefulness I can muster. I was trained in climate science and I know what is coming. I have studied the rise and fall of empires so I am aware that fascist dictators and resource wars are likely to arise in the turmoil of the coming decades. Yet still I gently touch the swollen belly of my wife and feel our baby kicking and turning in her womb. I have felt the heartbeat of a new life and will do all I can to ensure that humanity makes it through to the other side. This is what it feels like to live through the death of capitalism. Eyes wide open even if tears may well up in them. I look to the horizon where shimmers of beautiful alternatives await. It doesn’t have to be like this. We can do better. We must do better. In truth, there are already hundreds of millions of people actively struggling against the wealth extracting juggernaut that is Western development — expressed as colonialism in early years, then later in the various forms of trade agreements, structural debt repayment programs, illicit resource wars fueled by propaganda, and the full apparatus of wealth extraction that is in place today. We needn’t wonder why a mere 60 people have the same aggregate wealth as 4 billion. This is an outcome designed into the core logic of extraction that arises when private owners extract rents (what is commonly called profits) from the valuable labor of other people. It only took four hundred years for this system to run itself out. What no one could have predicted then was that the human population would explode and our fingerprints on the Earth would grow from tiny scratches here and there to deep scars that can be viewed from space. This is our legacy as a species right now. It is the bed we have prepared for our own children and grandchildren to lie down in. And it is our responsibility to carry through the dark times we are now in so that future generations can thrive in whatever ways make sense to them. I am with you, fellow humans. I believe in us. Let us not fall into despair or acquiesce as extremism rears its ugly head around the world — as it did recently in the United States . For it will be the beacons of light we carry that will show others the way forward. For my part, I am working with social movements to connect the dots of wealth extraction and training change makers in the art and science of intentional social change. I have seen with my own eyes that millions of peasant farmers are organizing across Latin America and India; students are protesting outrageous debt in Mexico, Greece, and Spain; indigenous peoples are coming together across the North American continent to protect their sacred lands. We are gathering our strength for the collective transition. Of the 7.4 billion humans alive today, several hundred million are already organizing to drive the system to change. There is much to be hopeful about in this struggle. We each have a role to play. And time is of the essence. Onward, fellow humans. Want to support Joe Brewer's work? Make a contribution here . 4.3 · | 0 |
Tuesday, 1 November 2016 He cometh...Bit by Bit.
Archaeologists worldwide are excited at the recent find in Jerusalem of what is believed to be the last prophecy of the prophet Daniel. It reads as follows: Last Prophecy of Daniel
And behold in the last days men shall gaze onto glowing boxes and be befuddled. They shall sit in crowded places and stare onto tablets and talk onto themselves and laugh even as harlots after a busy weekend. They shall be confused as to their nature and their private parts and doubt the innocence of their attractions to one another.
Men shall seek to beget children by men and women seek likewise to beget their own flesh from their own flesh. They shall believe all that they read and are told without question and be unable to discern between dream and reality.
They shall be as one, sleep-walking, knowing not whence they come or where they goest and yet all shall be of one mind. And that one mind shall worship and obey the Evil One that will be the mind's embodiment.... the Lord of Power and celebrity ... Lucifer .
So let it be said. So shall it be and when ye see these things happen know that the end is nigh. Make Auntie Matter's | 0 |
The first burglar heaved a large rock or paving stone through the glass door of a Manhattan boutique. It was before 5 a. m. on Christmas Eve at the Dennis Basso store on Madison Avenue, home to some of the world’s most expensive fur coats. The thieves, three discriminating speed shoppers who skipped the merely pricey, got what they came for: They stole millions of dollars’ worth of sable coats, some valued as high as $200, 000. In a section of the East Side chockablock with jewelers and clothiers that cater to movie stars, socialites and other habitués of the retail stratosphere, shootings and stabbings may be exceedingly rare. But the area is not immune to audacious thievery: In 2014, bandits stole $700, 000 in watches from a Cartier shop on Fifth Avenue. The police said they had not identified any suspects in the Basso but the men’s escapades were captured on surveillance video that should give investigators a good start. At the shop, near the corner of 69th Street, the thieves’ headlong style seemed to offend nearly as much as the theft itself. “For someone to throw a square of granite and to run through, pushing his head through that hole in the glass, who would do that?” Achilleas Georgiades, an executive at the store, said Monday. “This is Madison Avenue. It’s civilized. ” The video shows the men rushing in as shards of glass shower them and a heavy metal beam tumbles down. One man, apparently hit by falling debris, holds his hand to his head. The burglars leave mink scarves and jackets on racks. One drops an armful of coats on the floor, pulls a bag from his jacket and crams it full of loot. “They took only the sable coats they took nothing else,” Dennis Basso, the owner, said by phone from Aspen, Colo. The fur of a sable, a small, minklike mammal native to Siberia and other cold places, fetches high prices, Mr. Basso said, adding, “It’s very lightweight and very warm and extremely luxurious, and that’s really the key. ” Mr. Georgiades said he did not recognize the men in the video, but he was sure of one thing: “They know a lot about furs. ” Detectives from the 19th Precinct on the Upper East Side are leading the investigation, a police spokesman said. More than 20 pieces were stolen, Mr. Georgiades said. The store is still tallying its losses. Mr. Basso, 62, who has been a furrier to the famous for decades, said he had never been burglarized before. He moved his operation to its current location in 2013 after diversifying into other merchandise, but fur remains his claim to fame. Mr. Basso told The New York Post the theft “could be the largest fur heist in the City of New York. ” While there was no way to confirm that, it certainly seems to be one of the bigger ones. In 1991, charges were filed against a team in the gunpoint robbery of hundreds of furs, worth at least $1 million, over the course of months. The thefts forced some underinsured Manhattan furriers out of business. In 1950, when there was a section of the garment district, two executives and a driver for another company were charged in a scheme that diverted more than $1 million in furs, worth $10 million in today’s dollars, to the executives’ company. At the Basso store, Mr. Georgiades said he had seen a suspicious character not too long ago and now wondered if the man had been looking over the store. “I have an idea of a guy who came in and scoped the place,” he said. | 1 |
NATO declares full combat readiness because of conflict with Russia AP photo NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that against the backdrop of growing tensions in relations with Russia , hundreds of thousands of NATO troops would be brought to a higher readiness. To restrain the "Russian aggression," the alliance intends to prepare an impressive amount of ground troops, although Stoltenberg did not specify the exact number of the troops. According to the UK permanent representative to NATO Adam Thomson, the alliance seeks to speed up the response time of 300,000 servicemen from 180 days to two months. Residents of NATO countries do not want a military conflict with Russia , nor are they ready to deal with it, a poll conducted by Pew Research Center said. The survey found that residents of several NATO member states were not ready to come into a military conflict with Russia, even if she attacked one of the alliance members, RT reports. According to the poll, 53% of French, 51% of Italian and 58% of German residents are ready to sacrifice the principle of collective security. At the same time, one can hear NATO officials saying the mantra about the unity within the alliance. The main purpose for the existence of NATO is collective defense. If one member of the alliance is attacked, others are supposed to come to its rescue. According to the poll, however, 53% of French respondents did not support the idea of the country's defense (51% share the same point of view in Italy and 58% - in Germany). The poll was conducted in eight countries of the alliance, but only in two of them - the USA and Canada - the majority of respondents supported the idea of using military force. Pravda.Ru Read article on the Russian version of Pravda.Ru How Russia-NATO war comes out | 0 |
Next Prev Swipe left/right Twitter has been looking into the future: read the best 16 predictions Predictions are notoriously unreliable, even when they’re backed up by expert knowledge and thorough research. It’s fair to say that the good people of Twitter have used neither of these but they’ve still come up with some startling visions of the future.
Here are the best 16 tweets. 1. The year is 2017, Marmite is the UK's official currency, old people are burned as fuel, an evil clown is PM, Brexit still means Brexit.
— Mitten d'Amour (@MittenDAmour) October 12, 2016 2. The year is 2018. Facebook is just one long clip of James O'Brien talking to some Leave-voting idiot and hammering his head on the desk.
— Alan White (@aljwhite) October 13, 2016 3. The year is 2020.
A Buzzfeed article titled "President Trump's Wars Summarised In 13 AMAZING Cat GIFs" wins the Pulitzer Prize.
— Dai Lama (@WelshDalaiLama) September 27, 2016 4. | 0 |
The Clinton Crime Family. “Hillary is the Most Dangerous Presidential Aspirant in US History” By VNN on October 30, 2016 Hillary is the most recklessly dangerous presidential aspirant in US history,
by Stephen Lendman
The Bill and Hillary crime family long ago should have been held accountable for high crimes against peace and numerous others. Hillary is the most recklessly dangerous presidential aspirant in US history, supporting endless imperial wars and state terror, once saying “(w)hat do we have NATO for if not to defend our way of life.” There was never a war Hillary did not support – Crimes against Humanity She endorses first-strike nuclear weapons use, calling them peacekeeping deterrents, mindless of their power to destroy life on earth. She’s militantly anti-Russia, earlier compared the nation to Nazi Germany, Putin to Hitler, claiming “he doesn’t have a soul,” has revanchist aims, wanting Russian greatness restored – all of the above a perversion of truth, not to mention a pretext to wage war on Russia. The so-called Clinton Foundation is a suspected criminal enterprise, masquerading as a charitable NGO. It promotes Big Lies about “improving global health, increasing opportunity for women and girls, reducing childhood obesity and preventable diseases, (as well as) creating economic opportunity and growth…” Film producer Frank Huguenard believes Hillary Clinton faces impending federal racketeering charges under the 1970 Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Enacted to fight organized and white collar crime, racketeering is defined to include fraud, bribery, money laundering, embezzlement, drugs trafficking, murder, and various other offenses under the Federal criminal code (Title 18), even acts of terrorism. According to Huguenard, Obama-appointed FBI chief James Comey will recommend Attorney General Loretta Lynch treat “the Clinton Foundation (as) an ongoing criminal enterprise engaged in money laundering and soliciting bribes in exchange for political, policy and legislative favors to individuals, corporations and even governments both foreign and domestic.” Morning Joe Destroys Corrupt Clinton Foundation – “Total Corruption” Strong stuff if only partly true! Huguenard cites credible evidence, indicating the Clinton Foundation is largely a money laundering, influence peddling racket. Less than 10% of “tens of millions of dollars donated” went for charitable purposes, the rest for self-enrichment. “There is ample evidence already in the public record that the Clinton Foundation qualifies as a criminal enterprise and there’s no doubt that the FBI is privy to significantly more evidence than has already been made public,” said Huguenard. If Comey recommends Attorney General Lynch indict Hillary Clinton, it’s unlikely she’ll prosecute a woman she’s had close ties to for years. Bill Clinton appointed her US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York – serving from 1999 – 2001. From 2003 – 2005, she was a Wall Street controlled New York Federal Reserve Bank of New York board member – the mother bank most complicit with its member bank crooks. From 2002 – 2010, she was a Washington-headquartered Hogan & Hartson (H & H) law firm partner. Its New York-based partner Howard Topaz filed income tax returns for Bill and Hillary Clinton, beginning in 2004. In May 2004, H & H filed patent trademark documents for Denver-based MX Logic Inc., the computer software firm responsible for developing email encryption technology used to manage Hillary’s private email server, beginning in July 2013. Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton According to Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton, if H & H (now Hogan Lovells following a 2010 merger) “represented the Clintons on tax matters,” Lynch is responsible for disclosing any involvement she may have had, direct or indirect. In April 2008 during Hillary’s first presidential campaign, The American Lawyer called H & H one of her largest legal industry supporters. Loretta Elizabeth Lynch, Attorney General of the United States. Partner Christine Varney was chief counsel to the Clinton/Gore 1992 campaign. The ties between H & H, Lynch and the Clintons are longstanding. In November 2014, Obama announced her appointment as attorney general, succeeding Eric Holder, effective April 27, 2015 after Senate confirmation. It’s hard imagining her biting a hand contributing greatly to her career advancement. Key for Clinton is how much more of her dark side becomes public knowledge besides what’s already known. If enough despite Lynch declining to indict and supportive media scoundrels downplaying or whitewashing her offenses, the Democratic (sic) National Committee (DNC) might be forced to jettison her as damaged goods. She’d be red meat for Trump to take full advantage of in the fall campaign. Would Bernie Sanders party bosses don’t want become Democrat standard bearer in July? Or will Joe Biden or another high-profile party member perhaps be chosen as a late-stage establishment nominee, a brokered convention manipulating things? America’s political system is too debauched to fix. Duopoly power eliminates governance of, by and for everyone equitably. Republicans and Democrats are two sides of the same coin – special interests served exclusively, ordinary people betrayed, the same outcome every electoral cycle. Whoever succeeds Obama, likely worse than ever governance will follow. The greatest concern is preventing possible WW III. Clinton’s rage for endless wars, along with her Sino/Russian hostility makes the unthinkable possible. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at . His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html . Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
A historical milestone need not come at the expense of America. | 0 |
Ynetnews reports: The crisis in Syria hasn’t been ignored by Israel. Various Israeli youth movements, including the Youth Federation for Working and Studying, The Dror Movement, and the committed for the fight against genocide are leading a wide scale operation to collect winter clothes for Syrian refugees. [The operation, codenamed “Human Warmth,” has opened up 15 collection centers around the country where Israelis can go and donate winter clothes. The centers are in Druze, Arab, and Jewish communities. The winter clothes will then go off to the Syrians who are in need of assistance. Read more here. | 1 |
Louder With Crowder October 26, 2016
Samantha Bee is proof positive that being funny, clever, or photogenic are no longer requirements in leftist media. I guess we can call that progress. Problem is, whatever the size of Bee’s audience, there is still an audience. Which she lied to. Par for the course in leftist circles, but this one needs a rebuttal. Samantha Bee said “Partial birth abortion” is not a thing, while she ranted and raved at Donald Trump for his comments in the final debate . Sorry, Sammy. Partial birth abortion is sadly a thing…
Here’s what I find interesting: Bee’s need to explain away partial birth abortion shows just how unpopular the procedure is. She’s trying to get rid of it. Not unlike a woman hoping to chop shop her unborn baby . Of course she stops short of saying “it’s a heinous, evil thing for people to do to their own children,” by excusing the sick, evil, twisted women (and the “doctors” who perform the butchery) who make it happen. Sorry, there is no reason to suck the brains out of a partially born baby for the “health of the mother,” or “if the baby has a terminal disease.”
Abortion is always wrong. Like, always.
Because chopping up a baby while it’s partially hanging out of the mother, its head still in the birth canal, because it’s “going to die anyway” makes sense. If you agree with killing a baby like this, for any reason, you’re sick. Probably a little bit evil. Read Dear Evil Women Who Abort their Babies… Yep, that was written for you abortion supporters. Not sorry. You might also like Dear Liberal Women: No, Getting an Abortion is Not “Brave”… This article was posted: Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 6:07 am Share this article | 0 |
Prosecutors on Tuesday charged Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, in federal court in New York in connection with bombings in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and in New Jersey on Saturday. The federal charges came one day after the police arrested and charged him with several counts, including attempted murder of an officer, after a gunfight in Linden, N. J. 15 miles from New York City. Here’s what else we know: Mr. Rahami, who previously served time in jail, was born in Afghanistan but is a United States citizen. He lived above the fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, N. J. started by his father, Mohammad, and also worked there. Some of his friends called him Mad — apparently a reference to his first name, not his demeanor — and he was known for an obsession with Honda Civics that he liked to race. After the bombing, the authorities sent what’s being called an unprecedented cellphone alert to area residents, warning of the manhunt for a suspect. Mr. Rahami was found asleep in a doorway of a bar in New Jersey on Monday, and the police were called. After a gunfight with officers, during which he was shot multiple times — including in the leg and shoulder — he was taken into custody and treated at University Hospital in Newark. An officer was hit in his vest in the area of his abdomen, officials said, and at least one other officer was hurt. Mr. Rahami was charged in federal court with several crimes, including the use of weapons of mass destruction and bombing a place of public use. He was previously charged with seven counts, including five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. His bail was set at $5. 2 million. The criminal complaint filed in federal court said Mr. Rahami was motivated by an extremist Islamic ideology and took inspiration from Osama bin Laden and other terrorists. In 2014, his father told the police that he suspected his son was involved with terrorism, spurring a review by federal agents, two senior law enforcement officials said. But that inquiry was closed, though the F. B. I. did not interview the suspect. Another official said that when Mr. Rahami was captured, he was carrying a notebook in which he had recorded screeds against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Rahami wrote of “killing the kuffar,” or unbelievers, and praised figures like the late Anwar who was the leading propagandist of Al Qaeda. The complaint said he planned the bombing for months, even conducting a dry run. He previously made a series of trips to Pakistan, and some patrons of the family’s restaurant described striking changes in his personality upon his return. They said he became more stern, grew a beard, began wearing traditional Muslim robes and started praying in the back of the restaurant. He married a woman in Pakistan, and Representative Albio Sires, Democrat of New Jersey, said Mr. Rahami had asked his office in 2014 for help bringing his pregnant wife into this country. His wife eventually entered the United States. Law enforcement officials said that the wife, Asia Bibi Rahami, was traveling overseas at the time of the bombings. The United Arab Emirates said she was detained for questioning while in transit through the country. Mr. Rahami’s family has had a fractious relationship with the police and neighbors in New Jersey, who complained about the noise and late hours of the restaurant. His father sued city officials and the Police Department, alleging discrimination because of his religion. people were injured (29 was the original count) by the blast around 8:30 Saturday night in Chelsea. By Sunday morning, all of those who had been admitted to hospitals had been released. An explosion near a charity race in New Jersey earlier on Saturday appeared not to have injured anyone. On Sunday, pipe bombs were discovered in New Jersey, and the F. B. I. accidentally detonated one of them. But no injuries were reported. “We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news conference on Monday. Initially, officials avoided using that word. Earlier on Monday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on CNN, “I would not be surprised if we did have a foreign connection to the act. ” On Wednesday, the F. B. I. sought help from the public to find two unidentified men who had removed an unexploded device from a piece of luggage planted a few blocks from the bomb that exploded. There was no immediate indication that the men where involved in the plot. Five people, including members of Mr. Rahami’s family, were taken to an F. B. I. office in Manhattan for questioning after being stopped in a car in Brooklyn on Sunday night. But they were later released, officials said. The first exploded in a garbage receptacle near a charity race on the Jersey Shore about 9:30 a. m. Saturday. The second exploded in front of 131 West 23rd Street in Chelsea about 8:30 p. m. on Saturday. State troopers found a third device nearby, on West 27th Street between Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue, around 11:30 p. m. Saturday. About 8:45 p. m. Sunday, the two men now being sought were walking from a train station in Elizabeth, N. J. when they found a backpack containing five explosives on top of a garbage can, officials say. The location is about a from where Mr. Rahami lives. The map here shows the two Manhattan locations. Both of the devices in Manhattan — the one that exploded on West 23rd Street and the other found a few blocks away — were filled with shrapnel and built from pressure cookers, flip phones and Christmas lights that set off an explosive compound, law enforcement officials said. The police have confirmed that the photo below, shared on social media, is of the second device found in Manhattan. Some of the devices contained in a backpack in New Jersey were pipe bombs. A local official described the devices involved in the explosion on the Jersey Shore as being constructed in a “pipe bomb style. ” Surveillance video footage and fingerprints connected Mr. Rahami to the devices, officials have said. | 1 |
President-Elect Donald Trump must ensure continued efforts toward a Palestinian state
WASHINGTON DC – The American Muslims for Palestine , a national education organization advocating for Palestinian human rights, expresses deep concern over President-Elect Trump’s potential plans for U.S. policy in the Middle East. Though it is still unclear what Mr. Trump will do as president, AMP’s concerns stem from comments and promises he made during his campaign.
Specifically, AMP asserts the status of Jerusalem has not been resolved and supports Palestinians’ rights to Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. AMP rejects the promises Mr. Trump made to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September to declare Jerusalem as the “undivided capital of Israel.” AMP strongly opposes moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and also is deeply troubled by comments suggesting a Trump administration would forgo the idea of a Palestinian state.
If Mr. Trump follows up on his campaign promises, it would be a departure from the position of previous administrations, Republican and Democrat alike, which always understood such actions would undermine U.S credibility and influence throughout the world in general, and in the Middle East in particular.
Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said yesterday the notion of a Palestinian state would not have to be considered under Trump’s administration. “Trump’s victory is an opportunity for Israel to immediately retract the notion of a Palestinian state in the center of the country, which would hurt our security and just cause. … This is the position of the president-elect… The era of a Palestinian state is over,” Bennett was quoted as saying.
“At the beginning of his candidacy, Mr. Trump insisted he would be even-handed in his dealings with the Palestinians and Israelis,” said Dr. Osama Abuirshaid, expert analyst and national director of policy for AMP. “We already are in a weakened position in the Middle East because of some current U.S. policies. Mr. Trump’s promises are not in the best interest of the United States.”
He added, “If Mr. Trump’s promises were to be implemented, it could hurt our stance throughout the world. They certainly would not have the backing of our global partners and could hurt our national security.”
AMP continues to call for an end to Israel’s military occupation of Palestine, including its 10-year siege on the Gaza Strip.
“We hope the Trump administration will be open to working to ensure justice for everyone in the Middle East,” Abuirshaid said. “Barring that, we will continue during the next four years to build our base among progressive elements in society, as well with those who work on social justice issues in the interfaith community and communities of color. AMP will continue to advocate for Palestinian human rights by providing accurate information and through contextualizing the Palestinian struggle as one that is just and in accordance with international humanitarian law and international law.” Related Posts: | 0 |
11/25/2016 at 3:22 am
I’m all for a recount, because it could do exactly what James suggests, puts the whole thing in chaos (and this is exactly what I said here before the election). I was furious when Al Gore simply gave up in 2000 when he should have fought on to the bitter end, and if there really are “irregularities” which would put this election in question, the people need to know that, even if it doesn’t actually change anything. Chaos is a very revealing state, and anything that elevates awareness of the farce that is our “two faces of a single coin” political system is good.
Of course if one believes the election was totally rigged start to finish, then no doubt they would believe that this is just another act in the play already written, so probably would downplay it entirely. So, ironically, the people who most believe the election was rigged are the ones who care least about that being explored. Because that exploration is just as false as the election, of course. That’s an unfortunate position, I think, and in this case may just go to serve the purposes of the criminal elite; that’s the trap in that sort of absolutist structuralist thinking.
I say stir it up, even if in the end it only provides for interesting theater. | 0 |
Friday on a live webcast for Vox, President Barack Obama said the Republicans were “afraid” to show their plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. Obama said,”The strategy of repeal first and replace later is just a huge disservice to the American people. ” He continued, “And if they are so convinced that can do it better, they shouldn’t be afraid to make that presentation. It is really interesting to try to figure out why is it that they are trying to rush the repeal so quick. What is it that they are afraid of? Why wouldn’t they want to say, here’s our plan? And show side by side here is why our plan is better than what Obamacare has produced. Because they have said absolutely adamantly that they can do it better. I’m saying to every Republican right now, if you in fact can put a plan together that is demonstrably better than what Obamacare is doing, I will publicly support repealing Obamacare and replacing it with your plan. But I want to see it first. I want to see it first. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
Get Ready For Civil Unrest 10/31/2016
ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG
Could we see violence no matter who wins on November 8th? Let’s hope that it doesn’t happen, but as you will see below, anti-Trump violence is already sweeping the nation. If Trump were to actually win the election, that would likely send the radical left into a violent post-election temper tantrum unlike anything that we have ever seen before. Alternatively, there is a tremendous amount of concern on the right that this election could be stolen by Hillary Clinton. And as I showed yesterday, it appears that voting machines in Texas are already switching votes from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton . If Hillary Clinton wins this election under suspicious circumstances, that also may be enough to set off widespread civil unrest all across the country.
At this moment there is less than two weeks to go until November 8th, and a brand new survey has found that a majority of Americans are concerned “about the possibility of violence” on election day…
A 51% majority of likely voters express at least some concern about the possibility of violence on Election Day; one in five are “very concerned.” Three of four say they have confidence that the United States will have the peaceful transfer of power that has marked American democracy for more than 200 years, but just 40% say they are “very confident” about that.
More than four in 10 of Trump supporters say they won’t recognize the legitimacy of Clinton as president, if she prevails, because they say she wouldn’t have won fair and square.
But many on the left are not waiting until after the election to commit acts of violence. On Wednesday, Donald Trump’s star on the Walk of Fame was smashed into pieces by a man with a sledgehammer and a pick-ax…
Donald Trump took a lot of hits today, and not just in the Presidential race. With less than two weeks to go before America decides if the ex- Apprentice host will pull off a surprise victory over Hillary Clinton, Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was destroyed early Wednesday morning by a man dressed as a city construction worker and wielding a sledgehammer and pick-ax in what looks to be a Tinseltown first.
And there were two other instances earlier this year when Donald Trump’s star was also vandalized. One came in January, and the other happened in June …
This is of course not the first time the GOP candidate’s star has been attacked or defaced since Trump announced his White House bid in summer 2015. The most extreme measure was a reverse swastika being sprayed on the star at 6801 Hollywood Blvd in late January. In June this summer, a mute sign was painted on Trump’s star in a seemingly protest against the antagonistic language and policies some have accused Trump of promoting and reveling in during the campaign. In both cases, Trump’s star was quickly cleaned and back as new within a day.
We have seen anti-Trump violence on the east coast as well. Earlier this month, someone decided to firebomb the Republican Party headquarters in Orange County, North Carolina. On the building next to the headquarters, someone spray-painted “Nazi Republicans get out of town or else” along with a swastika.
There have also been other disturbing incidents of anti-Trump violence all over the nation in recent days. A recent Lifezette article put together quite a long list, and the following is just a short excerpt from that piece…
On Oct. 15 in Bangor, Maine, vandals spray-painted about 20 parked cars outside a Trump rally. Trump supporter Paul Foster, whose van was hit with white paint, told reporters, “Why can’t they do a peaceful protest instead of painting cars, all of this, to make their statement?”
Around Oct. 3, a couple of Trump supporters were assaulted in Zeitgeist, a San Francisco bar, after they were allegedly refused service for expressing support for Trump, GotNews reports. “The two Trump supporters were attacked, punched, and chased into the street by ‘some thugs’ that a barmaid called out from the back.” Lilian Kim of ABC 7 Bay Area tweeted a photo of the men, in which one was wearing a Trump T-shirt and the other was wearing a “Blue Lives Matter” shirt.
On Sept. 28 in El Cajon, California, an angry mob at a Black Lives Matter protest beat 21-year-old Trump supporter Feras Jabro for wearing a “Make America Great Again” baseball cap. The assault was broadcast live using the smartphone app Periscope.
There is a move to get Trump supporters to wear red on election day, but in many parts of America that might just turn his supporters into easy targets. Let’s certainly hope that we don’t see the kind of violent confrontations at voting locations that many experts are anticipating.
Of course there are also many on the right that are fighting mad, and a Hillary Clinton victory under suspicious circumstances may be enough to push them over the edge.
For example, this week former Congressman Joe Walsh said that he is “grabbing my musket” if Donald Trump loses the election…
Former Rep. Joe Walsh appeared to call for armed revolution Wednesday if Donald Trump is not elected president.
Walsh, a former tea party congressman from Illinois who is now a conservative talk radio host, tweeted, “On November 8th, I’m voting for Trump. On November 9th, if Trump loses, I’m grabbing my musket. You in?”
And without a doubt, many ordinary Americans are stocking up on guns and ammunition just in case Hillary Clinton is victorious. The following comes from USA Today …
“Since the polls are starting to shift quite a bit towards Hillary Clinton, I’ve been buying a lot more ammunition,” says Rick Darling, 69, an engineer from Harrison Township, in Michigan’s Detroit suburbs. In a follow-up phone interview after being surveyed, the Trump supporter said he fears progressives will want to “declare martial law and take our guns away” after the election.
Today America is more divided than I have ever seen it before, and the mainstream media is constantly fueling the hatred and the anger that various groups feel toward one another.
Ironically, Donald Trump has been working very hard to bring America together. In fact, he is solidly on track to win a higher percentage of the black vote than any Republican presidential candidate since 1960 .
If Hillary Clinton and the Democrats win on November 8th, things will not go well for Hillary Clinton’s political enemies. The Clintons used the power of the White House to go after their enemies the first time around, and Hillary is even more angry and more bitter now than she was back then.
And the radical left is very clear about who their enemies are. This is something that I discussed on national television earlier this month …
As I write this, it is difficult for me to even imagine how horrible a Hillary Clinton presidency would be.
But at this point that appears to be the most likely outcome .
Out of all the candidates that we could have chosen, the American people are about to put the most evil one by far into the White House.
Perhaps Donald Trump can still pull off a miracle and we can avoid that fate, but time is rapidly slipping away and November 8th will be here before we know it. Share On: | 0 |
Share This: By Joe Giambrone What if everything printed this year about Donald J. Trump was 100% true, yet Hillary Clinton still wound up being the greater evil? What then America?
If the American people are to purchase a product, then do they not have a right to know just how much lesser this “evil” actually weighs versus the name brand?
Like those seasonal Cadbury Cream Eggs that old familiar product has returned to the shelves: lesser evil, with more fat and toxins this year than ever. This repackaged, re-branded item is what many Americans claim to want every four years, the only thing they ever want or care about politically, and they attack those who refuse to purchase it. It’s rather like a Black Friday zombie frenzy descending on Walmart, but we are told by TV that this is “democracy.” It’s not. It’s oligarchy with bread and circuses.
The so-called “lesser evil” political philosophy is the only political philosophy these people seem to comprehend, but the core of the concept is overlooked. Their candidate of choice will admittedly commit evil acts. Do they not want to know what this alleged lesser evil entails?
Seems like self-deception is intrinsic to supporting this little house of cards. Perhaps if the phrase was amended to “evil but possibly lesser,” which is in fact more accurate, the public would spend a few seconds thinking about it when these Novembers inevitably roll around.
Is a nuclear holocaust “evil?” I suppose that’s the crux of the debate we face today. One of those big two evil candidates has repeatedly, and irrationally, tried to provoke hostilities against nuclear-armed Russia, as part of some unstated agenda: the real agenda that has been torching the Middle East for decades. Wars of western conquest, which turned millions into hamburger, didn’t just happen by themselves. Certain interests wanted to dismantle the oil-rich nations that considered themselves independent of Washington and the EU. The chaos of failed states was preferred to organized regimes that could form an independent bloc or fight back in any way.
According to Hillary R. Clinton, we should all be frothing at the Russians, and at Vladimir Putin for some set of vague claims without the substance that evidence would provide. Hillary and the Democratic National Committee were caught bloody-handed stealing the 2016 Democratic Party primary election from Bernie Sanders. Fraud. The only response she has mustered is the single word “Putin.” Yeah, sure: Putin did it. Repeated so often the word has lost all meaning here in the states, but abroad these quite undiplomatic slights do not pass unnoticed.
T he Russians unveiled their next generation ICBM , “Satan 2,” capable of wiping out the central east coast of America, or all of France, or the UK, or most of California. You get the idea, but does Hillary Clinton ?
She insists on a “no-fly zone” in Syria, which the Russian military has already imposed against the invading US coalition , the one which has been arming and funding multiple armies of mass-murdering terrorists!
Clinton privately told Goldman Sachs : “ They’re getting more sophisticated thanks to Russian imports. To have a no-fly zone you have to take out all of the air defense, many of which are located in populated areas. So our missiles, even if they are standoff missiles so we’re not putting our pilots at risk you’re going to kill a lot of Syrians… So all of a sudden this intervention that people talk about so glibly becomes an American and NATO involvement where you take a lot of civilians.”
In the name of protecting civilians HRC wants to kill a lot of civilians and attack Russian-supplied air defense systems, and Russian military personnel of course. The fraud that Hillary Clinton and the interests she represents care in any way about dead Syrian civilians is laughable on its face. US foreign policy has never, ever been based upon protecting the lives of foreign nobodies. To believe such a fairy tale would require complete, absolute historical ignorance. But then again we’re talking about the American public.
How “Evil” is Hillary Clinton already? A merican corporate media refuses to call US war crimes war crimes. One can be impeached for a blowjob, but not for killing Nazi-level numbers of foreigners. There is no death count too high for the US Congress not to condone, if not to encourage. US foreign policy has never, ever been based upon protecting the lives of foreign nobodies. To believe such a fairy tale would require complete, absolute historical ignorance. But then again we’re talking about the American public.
Hillary Rodham Clinton has already played an instrumental role in the mass murders of approximately two million people, give or take. The Third Reich didn’t bother with accurate tallies of its victims either. This figure shocks self-styled “liberal” Americans so thoroughly that they simply refuse to believe it.
Clinton, as Senator, not only voted for an illegal war on Iraq (command responsibility), but she told “weapons of mass destruction” lies , selling the fraud to Democrats (lying to Congress). Estimates of Iraqi casualties range from half a million to a million and a half. The carnage continues to this day, and Crimes Against the Peace attribute responsibility for all the evil that results from initiating a war of aggression . This is codified in the UN Charter, and that makes Hillary Clinton also an international war criminal, just like Bush, just like Cheney. The hypocrisy of those who condemned Bush and yet joyfully cast a vote for HRC is staggering (yet commonplace).
That was only one war. As Secretary of State Clinton took on even more responsibility for international crimes, notably the assault on Libya , another war of aggression.
As the Russians noted , there was never any permission to bomb ground targets and help Al Qaeda linked rebels take over the country. “We’re witnessing a large number of violations of the resolutions of the UN Security Council. Over the last few days, there have been reports of the NATO air force bombing civilian targets, including hospitals… This is an unacceptable situation; the United Nations Security Council did not authorize any such thing. Attempts to justify what’s happening by claiming that the coalition does not go beyond the mandate are insufficient.”
-Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov…
“Regime change” is a war crime , not an item on a menu for neocons to simply order up. Between 10 and 30,000 Libyans were massacred in the NATO-assisted destruction of Libya. Hillary Clinton displayed a gloating psychosis at the climax of the bloodletting.
Onto Syria, with a current corpse count of 470,000. What was Hillary Clinton’s role? Seymour Hersh’s reporting contrasts against the endless lies of politicians:
“ A highly classified annex to the report, not made public, described a secret agreement reached in early 2012 between the Obama and Erdogan administrations. It pertained to the rat line. By the terms of the agreement, funding came from Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the CIA, with the support of MI6, was responsible for getting arms from Gaddafi’s arsenals into Syria… The annex didn’t tell the whole story of what happened in Benghazi… ‘The consulate’s only mission was to provide cover for the moving of arms,’ the former intelligence official, who has read the annex, said. ‘It had no real political role.’”
Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, was deeply involved in this covert “regime change” plot, and the sequential wars resulting from it. To this day she insists on continuing the plot to overthrow Bashar Al Assad, the elected President of Syria.
During her husband’s administration another half-million Iraqi children were killed as a result of US imposed sanctions on medicine and water filtration components. That UN death toll figure was deemed “worth it” by Madeleine Allbright in one of the most shocking news clips of the modern age. This unindicted yet confessed mass murderer campaigns openly for Hillary Clinton .
There are other flash points where Hillary Clinton had a role, Haiti and Honduras for example. Scandals and atrocities have been reported, but this does not faze her supporters, nor most Americans who care nothing about the illegitimate actions of the US empire abroad.
So Donald Trump’s a pig, and the free world must play pretend that Hillary R. Clinton is not a proven and dangerous war criminal. Hollywood leads the charge and attacks dissenters.
How deluded is America this year and how evil?
Jill Stein of the Green Party is the peace candidate. | 0 |
adobochron 1 Comment
MANILA, Philippines ( The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Advertising company McCann Worldgroup Philippines will be in charge of crafting the new tourism campaign of the country, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said over the weekend.
Tourism undersecretary for advocacy and public affairs Katherine de Castro said the P650-million contract with McCann, which won the bid to be the advertising and promotions partner of the DOT for one year, includes the production and positioning of marketing materials, as well as the formulation of a new tourism slogan.
The Adobo Chronicles spoke with a McCann spokesperson who informed us that the slogan selected for the 2017 tourism year is a take-off from the previous “It’s More Fun in the Philippines.”
The new slogan is “More Fun in P.I.”
P.I. of course stands for Philippine Islands (although the country is now known by the acronym of ‘PH.’)
But it also stands for ‘P*tang Ina’ (Son of a Whore), the cuss words often heard from President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in his speeches and interviews.
“President Duterte’s rhetoric and cussing have put the Philippines on the world map and we would like to capitalize on that,” the McCann spokesperson said.
He added: “Why reinvent the wheel when we can just tweak it to reflect the current situation in the Philippines?” | 0 |
Thursday on ESPN Radio’s “Mike and Mike,” ESPN personality Michael Wilbon weighed in on Colin Kaepernick’s status as a free agent with NFL teams beginning the offseason’s organized team activities. Wilbon accused NFL owners of blackballing Kaepernick over his national anthem protest, reasoning that other quarterbacks being signed to backup duties have inferior résumés in comparison. “[T]his is a blackball. There’s no question about it. And I’m not going to entertain people who say, ‘Well, do you have any proof?’ Yeah, I’ve got my eyes and ears. And you’ve got people being signed who have no résumé that matches or comes close to his,” Wilbon stated. Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent | 1 |
WASHINGTON — The F. B. I. director, James B. Comey, took the extraordinary step on Monday of announcing that the agency is investigating whether members of President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Mr. Comey’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee created a treacherous political moment for Mr. Trump, who has insisted that “Russia is fake news” that was cooked up by his political opponents to undermine his presidency. Mr. Comey placed a criminal investigation at the doorstep of the White House and said officers would pursue it “no matter how long that takes. ” Joined by Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, Mr. Comey also dismissed Mr. Trump’s claim that he was wiretapped by his predecessor during the campaign, a sensational accusation that has served as a distraction in the public debate over Russian election interference. Taken together, the two provided the most definitive statement yet that Mr. Trump’s accusation was false. The New York Times and other news organizations have reported the existence of the investigation into the Trump campaign and its relationship with Russia, but the White House dismissed those reports as politically motivated and rallied political allies to rebut them. Mr. Comey’s testimony on Monday was the first public acknowledgment of the case. The F. B. I. discloses its investigations only in rare circumstances, when officials believe it is in the public interest. “This is one of those circumstances,” Mr. Comey said. Mr. Comey said the F. B. I. was “investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts. ” Counterintelligence investigations are among the F. B. I. ’s most difficult and cases, meaning an investigation could hang over the Trump administration for years even though such inquiries rarely lead to criminal charges. American intelligence agencies concluded in January that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia personally ordered a covert effort to hurt Hillary Clinton’s chances and aid Mr. Trump. That included hacking political targets, including the Democratic National Committee, and releasing embarrassing emails through the website WikiLeaks. The White House dismissed most of Mr. Comey’s testimony, saying there was no coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia and so there was nothing to investigate. Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said the more pressing issue was who disclosed classified information about Mr. Trump’s advisers to journalists, suggesting that they might have been former members of the Obama administration. American officials have said that they have so far found no proof of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, but current and former officials say they have uncovered evidence that Mr. Trump’s associates were in repeated contact with Russian officials — including people linked to Russian intelligence. Roger J. Stone Jr. a longtime adviser to Mr. Trump, has acknowledged communicating with Guccifer 2. 0, an online persona believed to be a front for Russian intelligence officials involved in disseminating hacked Democratic emails. Mr. Stone has denied that there was anything improper about the contact, and he was one of many, including political operatives and journalists, to communicate with the hackers. Last July, the month that WikiLeaks began releasing the hacked emails, Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump, visited Moscow for a speaking engagement. Mr. Page has declined to say whom he met there, but he has said they were mostly scholars. Michael T. Flynn, a Trump campaign adviser who went on to be his national security adviser, was paid more than $65, 000 by companies linked to Russia in 2015, including an American branch of a cybersecurity firm believed to have connections to Russia’s intelligence services, according to congressional investigators. Mr. Flynn was forced to resign after misrepresenting his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Mr. Comey said Russia used a murky network of government officials, oligarchs, business leaders and others close to Mr. Putin to gather intelligence. But he repeatedly sidestepped specific questions about Mr. Trump’s advisers, and acknowledged that American citizens sometimes did not realize they were talking to foreign agents. He said the existence of an investigation did not mean the F. B. I. would ever prove wrongdoing. Nevertheless, Democrats repeatedly highlighted the Trump campaign’s Russian connections as they painted Mr. Trump as a candidate who adopted views and courted Russian interests. “Is it possible that all of these events and reports are completely unrelated and nothing more than an entirely unhappy coincidence?” said Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the intelligence committee’s top Democrat. “Yes, it is possible. But it is also possible, maybe more than possible, that they are not coincidental, not disconnected and not unrelated. ” Mr. Comey, testifying for more than five hours, said there was no evidence that Russian hackers had changed any votes in the election. The statement was quickly spun by the White House, which posted that clip of Mr. Comey’s testimony on Twitter. But later in the hearing, when Mr. Comey was read the tweet by Representative Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, the F. B. I. director made it clear that that was not what he had said. “We’ve offered no opinion, have no view, have no information on potential impact because it’s not something we looked at,” Mr. Comey said, clarifying that the intelligence community is examining what Russia did to interfere with the election, not the effect of that interference. Mr. Comey did not say when he expected his investigation to end or whether he planned to make the results public, prompting Republicans to complain that prolonging it would keep a cloud over the White House. “The longer this hangs out there, the bigger the cloud,” said Representative Devin Nunes of California, the Republican chairman of the Intelligence Committee. “If you have evidence, especially as it relates to people working in the White House or in the administration, that is information we really should know. ” Mr. Trump began the day with Twitter posts denying any collusion with Russia and criticizing leaks of classified information about the investigation. By midday, the White House was citing Mr. Comey’s testimony to suggest that members of the Obama administration had coordinated leaks against Mr. Trump. Republicans on the Intelligence Committee made similar allegations, using their questions to Mr. Comey to criticize the news coverage about the Russia investigation and chastise government officials who speak anonymously to journalists. Mr. Nunes said he was particularly concerned about the anonymous sources who revealed to journalists that some of Mr. Trump’s associates were being investigated. The White House has insisted that there is nothing left to investigate about Russia and has instead asked Congress to look into Mr. Trump’s claims that he was wiretapped by President Barack Obama. Mr. Trump made those allegations in a flurry of Twitter posts early this month. The White House has stood by his accusation, even in the face of conclusions from all corners of the government that it is false. On Tuesday, Mr. Comey, who had asked the Justice Department if it would make a public statement refuting Mr. Trump’s claim, summarily dismissed it. “I have no information that supports those tweets, and we have looked carefully inside the F. B. I. ,” Mr. Comey said, adding that the Justice Department also had no evidence. Those assurances seemed unlikely to change the White House’s position. Asked Monday whether, in light of Mr. Comey’s testimony, the president stood by his assertion that he was wiretapped, Mr. Spicer said that he did. | 1 |
Drinking alcohol might seem like the normal or ‘hip’ thing to do, but consuming it in excess over time can take a toll on one’s health. Effects of excessive alcohol consumption include increased risk... | 0 |
Kashmiris and Pakistanis subscribe en masse to Washington Post after Barkha joins as contributor Posted on Tweet (Image via intoday.in)
American daily newspaper The Washington Post has gained substantial number of subscribers over the past few hours following its announcement of legendary journalist Barkha Dutt joining the publication as a contributor for global opinions.
As a contributing columnist, Ms. Dutt, who has won numerous awards during her illustrious career as a journalist, including TV Personality of the Year, awarded by AIB (Association for International Broadcasting), will now take the issues closer to her viewers, which many believe are the staff members of NDTV, to an international platform.
The spike in the subscription has primarily been noticed in the Kashmir region where Ms. Dutt is seen more often than the local residents. As a matter of fact, experts believe if Kashmir becomes an independent nation, she might earn a place in the history books of independent Kashmir, or the currency notes might have her photo printed on them, or at least a road could be named after her as an acknowledgement for her contribution to the separatists movement.
Her tireless campaign to put forward the points of view of terrorists has been appreciation by many across the border and her minute-by-minute coverage of army movements along the LoC has helped many prepare for the situation in advance and respond accordingly. And although the services would still be available on NDTV, it seems a few in the Kashmir valley do not want to rely on a single source of information, especially when there are multiple options available now.
Meanwhile, the competitors of The Washington Post have been caught off guard by the development and they are ruing the missed opportunity to reach a new audience. Some of them, however, are trying to regain the lost ground, and reports suggest that The New York Times is already in talks with Hafiz Saeed to write a weekly column for it. | 0 |
Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and senior advisor Stephen K. Bannon appeared before a packed house at CPAC on Thursday, rallying conservatives to support the president’s agenda and taking shots at the media. [During a panel moderated by CPAC’s Matt Schlapp, Bannon repeatedly referred to the media as the “opposition party. “When you look at the opposition party and how they portrayed the campaign, how they portrayed the transition, and now portraying the administration, it’s always wrong,” Bannon said. Bannon said Trump was “maniacally focused” on implementing his agenda, which he detailed in all of his campaign speeches. The media, Bannon added, kept getting the story wrong — particularly on the reported “chaos” in the administration. “Just like they were dead wrong on the chaos of the campaign, and just like they were dead wrong on the chaos of the transition, they’re absolutely dead wrong about what’s going on today, because we have a team that’s just grinding it through on what President Donald Trump promised the American people,” Bannon said. “And the mainstream media better understand something. All those promises are going to be implemented. ” The pair denied reports that they were at war with each other at the White House, cracking jokes about their differences. “Regarding us two, I think the biggest misconception is everything that you’re reading,” Priebus said, prompting laughter from the crowd. Bannon praised Trump for ignoring all of the people who tried to tell him what his agenda should be, despite his campaign promises. “He was like, ‘No, I promised the American people this, and this is the plan we’re going to execute,’” Bannon said. | 1 |
A Florida woman paid a teenager hundreds of dollars each time they had sex, police said. [Rebecca McGraw, 38, was arrested and charged with five felony counts of sexual activity with a minor, WPEC reported. Investigators say that McGraw, a mother and an assistant manager at the Sail Pointe apartment complex in Port St. Lucie, had allegedly engaged in sexual activity with a boy, who lives in the same complex. Police looked into McGraw as they were investigating prior allegations of sexual assault and child abuse. The victim told police McGraw invited him to her home to “smoke marijuana and drink alcohol” and had known her since spring of 2016. McGraw allegedly engaged in sexual activity with him up to 16 times, paying him $ $300 per session, and allowed him to withdraw the money from a nearby ATM using her debit card, TC Palm reported. McGraw told police she had sex with the boy “three to four times” but denied that she ever paid him. McGraw is being held on $125, 000 bond at the St. Lucie County Jail. This is the second arrest for sexual assault in Port St. Lucie for the month of May. A Chemistry teacher in Port St. Lucie was also arrested for allegedly having sex with a student. | 1 |
The latest batch of hacked emails from Clinton’s campaign chair, John Podesta, have been released.
Over 1,100 emails are contained in the latest leak, amounting to 43,000 of the 50,000 promised to be released by Wikileaks before November 8.
There are a number of communications found in the email pertaining to the Clinton campaign’s close relationship with mainstream media and her private email server.
One email from September 9, 2008 shows Chris Lu, the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Labor, discussing a virtual data room where “policy promises” and other private communications will be uploaded:
General room – there is a general room that we’ll upload all of the policy promises, as well as legal documents like expense reimbursements and contribution forms. All of the principals on this list will have access to this room… Regarding policy promises, from now on, we’ll email out the first drafts when they’re done, but we won’t email out revisions. The latest version will always be stored in the “general” data room.
Another email thread from May 11, 2015, discussing Lanny Davis, former attorney for Bill Clinton, we see Clinton’s senior advisor, Philippe Reines, pose the following question:
“[Hillary Rodham Clinton] is anxious to move forward — with the commitment that I will keep him focused and in line. Do you guys need to run any more traps on your end or can I reach out to enlist him?”
Human Abedin writes back saying, “She just called me about this. She wants Lanny.”
John Podesta cryptically responds, “In the land of he blind, the one-eyed man is king.” Delivered by The Daily Sheeple
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Tributes to Prince, the singer and songwriter who died at 57 on Thursday, took on many forms. Many featured buildings and bridges lit up in the color purple — a nod to his hit song and movie “Purple Rain. ” Here is a look at ways the performer was remembered: A portrait of Prince was installed at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery’s In Memoriam space. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration paid its respects on Twitter: The New Yorker magazine offered a glimpse of the cover of its next edition: Buildings across the country were bathed in purple light: Bridges were similarly lit up: The search engine Google posted a “Google Doodle” to depict purple rain: The Los Angeles County Museum of Art turned its Rain Room purple on Friday: Signs for the Prince Street subway station in New York City took on an impromptu look: The Apollo Theater in Harlem honored Prince: On Broadway, the cast of “The Color Purple” led the audience in a singalong of “Purple Rain” on Thursday night: Also on Thursday night, the cast of “Hamilton” led the audience in a cheering, dancing rendition of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”: | 1 |
BRASÍLIA — At one heated moment in the impeachment trial of Dilma Rousseff, a powerful senator pushing for her ouster decided that some of his outspoken female colleagues in the chamber needed scolding. “Calm down, girls,” the senator, Cássio Cunha Lima, part of a political dynasty from northeastern Brazil, told Senators Vanessa Grazziotin and Gleisi Hoffmann, both supporters of Ms. Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president. His remark drew sharp rebukes from the two women. “Men believe they are the owners of this space, as if we’re just here by chance,” said Ms. Grazziotin, 55, a prominent leftist senator from Amazonas State. For senators like Ms. Grazziotin, the episode reflected the emboldening of conservative voices after the impeachment of Ms. Rousseff, who argued that she had been the target of misogynistic attacks by opponents. Female politicians across Brazil are debating what her downfall means in a political realm dominated by men. Despite the inroads made by Ms. Rousseff and others, Brazil ranks remarkably low in the representation of women in politics. Of the 513 members of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Brazilian Congress, 51 are women, placing the country 155th in the world in the percentage of women elected to the lower house of a national legislature, according to the Union. It trails places like Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan. The administration of Michel Temer, Ms. Rousseff’s successor — a former ally who emerged victorious in the power struggle to oust her — is doing little to assuage fears that women will be sidelined. Upon taking office more than three months ago, Mr. Temer named an cabinet in a country where just 48 percent of the population of 206 million is male. Depicting a suburban idyll in which a president is greeted by his spouse, a much younger housewife, the cover of this month’s edition of the Brazilian magazine Piauí captured the cultural shift to the right embodied by Mr. Temer, 75, whose wife, Marcela, a former beauty pageant contestant, is 42 years younger. Throughout the impeachment proceedings, female allies of Ms. Rousseff’s in Congress argued that the way her impeachment was carried out reflected a political establishment in which women were still supposed to serve as accessories to powerful men. A new wave of vitriolic positioning against female politicians like Ms. Rousseff is fueling these concerns. During the impeachment trial, for instance, Jaufran Siqueira, a socially conservative politician in the northeastern city of Natal, seized on a new idea for gaining votes. “This is what will happen to feminists when Jaufran is elected,” Mr. Siqueira, 25, proclaimed alongside a photograph he posted on his campaign’s Facebook page, showing a house engulfed in flames. “I can’t deny that I oppose the feminist movement,” said Mr. Siqueira, a real estate broker who emerged into the national spotlight with his campaign. “But it’s absurd to claim I’m going to set fire to women. ” He said the photo had been merely “a joke. ” Despite the increasing tensions, female political leaders in Brazil remain far from unanimous on whether Ms. Rousseff was driven from office because of her gender. Marina Silva, the former maid who is a leading contender for the 2018 presidential election, said in an interview that Ms. Rousseff’s ouster was rooted in incompetence and deeply flawed policy making, referring to charges that she manipulated the federal budget to conceal economic problems. “My understanding is that Dilma’s budget maneuvers were illegal,” said Ms. Silva, 58, an environmentalist, who repeatedly clashed with Ms. Rousseff when both were ministers in the cabinet of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of the leftist Workers’ Party. “Conservatives are getting more vociferous on a global level — just look at Trump in the United States,” said Ms. Silva, referring to Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, who, when asked if he had met Ms. Rousseff, responded: “No. Who is he?” “This doesn’t mean that women won’t play a crucial role in Brazilian politics after Dilma’s impeachment,” Ms. Silva said. “Of course we will. We have too much momentum now to stop us. ” As campaigning intensifies for municipal elections, other leaders at different points on Brazil’s ideological spectrum echoed such views. “I don’t see this moment as something that disappoints the aspirations of Brazilian women,” said Teresa Surita, a supporter of Ms. Rousseff’s ouster, who is running for as the mayor of Boa Vista, a city in the Brazilian Amazon. Ms. Surita, 60, who has battled graft charges, said she remained committed to improving life in her city. A member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, the centrist party of Mr. Temer, she said that achieving her goals involved maintaining smooth ties with the federal government in the capital, Brasília. “I have to be aware of the need for support from the federal government, regardless of who is in power,” she said. While women hold only of the seats in the lower house of Congress, a more complex picture may be emerging at the local level. For instance, 51 cities have only women running for mayor this year, according to the Superior Electoral Court, and women account for nearly 33 percent of the candidates for City Council seats this year. Women are also gaining positions of prominence in the judiciary. Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha, 62, a supporter of affirmative action, gay rights and fewer abortion restrictions, is rising this month to become the chief justice of Brazil. Still, others contend that Ms. Rousseff’s ouster revealed the ugly workings of Brazil’s political scene. As large protests flare against Mr. Temer’s administration, especially on the streets of São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, thousands of women are voicing opposition to the new government. “Temer took out Dilma because a man doesn’t like to answer to a woman, and as president, she was the one telling them what to do,” said Rayra Lima de Araújo, 14, a high school student who attended the antigovernment protests on Sunday with her mother, Maria da Cruz Lima, 43, an unemployed nurse. Taking the stand during her impeachment trial, Ms. Rousseff argued that her male counterparts did not have to contend with the same attacks on their character. “I’ve always been described as a woman in the midst of delicate men,” she said. “I never saw a man accused of being and we know that they are. ” But even Ms. Rousseff’s Workers’ Party, once one of Latin America’s most powerful political parties, is grappling with an internal debate over sexism as it tries to reinvent itself. Leaders in the party came under intense scrutiny this year after secret recordings revealed a range of explicitly sexist banter, including crude jokes by Mr. da Silva, the former president, about top female party members. Míriam Leitão, an economic historian and one of Brazil’s most influential columnists, said the Workers’ Party was using the debate over women in politics to try to discredit the impeachment process because it cost the party the presidency it had held for more than 13 years. “Dilma didn’t fall because she is a woman,” Ms. Leitão wrote in her column in the newspaper O Globo. “She produced a surge in inflation, a recession of historical significance, and lost her job. ” | 1 |
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The U. S. general in charge of the Middle East and North Africa said Thursday he has found no evidence of incompetence, poor or bad judgment in a January special operations raid in Yemen. [Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of U. S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he conducted an “exhaustive” review to understand exactly what happened on the January 28 raid, during which a U. S. Navy SEAL was killed and a $70 million aircraft was destroyed. “I am looking for indicators of incompetence or poor or bad judgment. … So what I can tell you is that we did an exhaustive review on this,” he said. “It went down to a level including people who were on the specific objective. As a result of that, I was satisfied that none of those indicators that I identified to you were present,” he said. The ground raid to collect intelligence on in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) the first ordered under the Trump administration, has become the source of significant controversy. Critics of the Trump administration have called the raid “botched,” claiming it had gone off track from the start. Navy SEAL Senior Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens was killed in the raid and three others injured. In addition, a Osprey was destroyed. And in a messaging snafu, Centcom sent out a video obtained from the raid to show the significance of the intelligence collected, but journalists quickly discovered that the video had already been available online for years. Some unnamed U. S. officials have also told NBC News that the raid led to no significant or actionable intelligence. Owens’ father has also questioned the raid, which was reportedly approved five days into Trump’s administration, over dinner with his top military and national security advisers. Pentagon officials have pushed back hard, saying the intelligence found has been valuable and “potentially actionable. ” Trump further stoked controversy after an interview where he said “they lost Ryan,” referring to his generals, fueling critics who said he was shifting blame for the death. It is not clear exactly what Trump approved during dinner. A Pentagon spokesman said earlier this week Trump had delegated authority to approve missions, including the raid and airstrikes against AQAP, to Votel. According to a CNN extensive account of the raid’s approval, Votel recommended the mission during the Obama presidency to get a better intelligence picture of AQAP, considered the most dangerous affiliate. Votel delivered the plan to the Pentagon on November 7, where Pentagon lawyers reviewed and approved the plan. The Pentagon signed off on the plan and sent it to the National Security Council on December 19. The Obama administration reviewed and discussed the plan but never approved it, former officials told CNN. A current White House official said the former administration discussed the raid on January 6 and decided it would be best conducted during a moonless night, which would occur after Trump’s inauguration, so the raid was not approved. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis received the plan on January 20, reviewed it, and sent it back to the NSC on January 24. It was presented to Trump on January 25. He reportedly gave the during dinner but asked that deputy officials review it. He signed off on the plan the next day. The raid occurred two days later, on January 28. At a Washington, D. C. briefing Thursday, Votel took full responsibility for the raid and said it yielded “valuable” intelligence. “First and foremost, I am responsible for this mission. I am the Centcom commander, and I am responsible for what’s done in my region and what’s not done in my region, so I accept the responsibility for this. We lost a lot on this operation,” he said. He added: We lost a valued operator, we had people wounded, we caused civilian casualties, [and] lost an expensive aircraft. We did gain some valuable information that will be helpful for us. Our intention here was to improve our knowledge against this threat — a threat that poses a direct threat to us here in the homeland. And that was what we were focused on. Votel also announced that there were between four to 12 civilian casualties during the raid. He said he has not communicated with Owens’s family yet. | 1 |
Poverty is entrenched in the Mississippi city of Durant (population less than 3, 000) but violent crime is hardly pervasive. The Police Department website lists current statistics of one report each for lost property, theft and a harassing phone call. It has been years since Durant, which is about 65 miles north of Jackson, last recorded a murder, the authorities said. But on Thursday, that sense of community and security was torn apart after two beloved nuns who worked at a medical clinic in a nearby town were found killed in their Durant home. The nuns were identified as Sister Margaret M. Held and Sister Paula J. Merrill, 68. The women were nurse practitioners who worked about 20 miles away at the Lexington Medical Clinic. Durant’s assistant police chief, James Lee, said an officer was sent to the sisters’ home around 10 a. m. to conduct what he called a wellness check after they did not show up at work. The door to the home was open, he said, and the officer found the bodies inside. The Rev. Greg Plata, the priest at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lexington, where the nuns were active, said he had been told by the police that they were stabbed. One of their cars, a blue Toyota Corolla, was missing. Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said the car was found abandoned Thursday evening on a secluded street barely a mile from the home, The Associated Press reported. Father Plata said the two women were the only ones who lived in the house. It was not clear if the killings were related to their work. He said they dressed in civilian attire, or scrubs when they were at work. Chief Lee said that he could not speculate about a motive and that a cause of death had yet to be officially determined. The Police Department was being helped by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Holmes County Sheriff’s Department. “An actual double homicide is an enigma,” he said, adding that the house was in one of the quietest parts of the city and that the nuns would often jog or walk around the neighborhood. The Mississippi secretary of state, Delbert Hosemann, said in a statement that he hoped justice would be “swiftly served. ” He said the nuns had been violently killed, adding, “Unbridled love and care for mankind has been met with unparalleled savagery. ” Jamie Sample, 58, of Ebenezer, Miss. the music minister at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, said she had relied on the nuns for their “gorgeous voices” at Mass. “I just cannot tell you what precious people they were,” she said. “They were just the sweetest people to ever draw a breath into their bodies. ” She described the nuns as being like family. They spent time together at the holidays, and Ms. Sample’s husband and son took care of their home repairs. Ms. Sample added that whoever had killed the nuns was “the epitome of evil. ” She said Sister Margaret was an outstanding chef who regularly took delicious dishes to the church’s potluck events. Sister Paula’s nephew, David V. Merrill, 37, of Stoneham, Mass. recalled his aunt battling squirrels to grow blueberries in the backyard of their ranch house. He said she enjoyed ministering to the needy of Holmes County, where 44 percent of the residents live below the poverty level — the rate among the state’s 82 counties, according to census data. “The work, it was her calling from God,” Mr. Merrill said. “She lived and loved it every day. ” Mr. Merrill said his aunt had never expressed concern about her safety. He said the biggest misgiving in the community was about the abuse of opioids. Sister Paula was a native of Massachusetts who developed a Southern drawl but retained a New Englander’s cynicism, he said. Maureen Smith, the communications director of the Catholic Diocese of Jackson, Miss. said Sister Paula was from the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, based in Kentucky, and Sister Margaret was from the School Sisters of St. Francis, in Milwaukee. The United States Province Leadership team for the School Sisters said in a statement that its members were “deeply shocked and grieved” by the killings. It noted that Sister Margaret had been with the order for 49 years and devoted herself to “living her ministry caring for and healing the poor. ” The two nuns had been sent by their orders to serve the poor throughout Mississippi. Sister Paula had spent 30 years in the state, the last six at the clinic, which saw 8, 000 patients last year. Four in 10 people in the county are uninsured or have only Medicaid, Ms. Smith said. The nuns were active in the church’s Bible study, Father Plata said, and were deeply connected to the congregation of about 30 parishioners. “People were attracted to them because of their goodness,” said Father Plata, who will be among the clergy members to say their funeral Mass. | 1 |
Chaosistan , Iraq , Phenomenon of Terrorism By Eric MARGOLIS (USA)
As a former soldier and war correspondent who has covered 14 conflicts, I look at all the media hoopla over tightening siege of Mosul, Iraq and shake my head. This western-organized “liberation” of Mosul is one of the bigger pieces of political-military theater that I’ve seen.
Islamic State(IS), the defender of Mosul, is a paper tiger, blown out of all proportion by western media. IS is, as this writer has been saying for years, an armed mob made up of 20-something malcontents, religious fanatics, and modern-day anarchists. At its top is a cadre of former Iraqi Army officers with military experience.
These former officers of Saddam Hussain are bent on revenge for the US destruction of their nation and the lynching of its late leader. But IS rank and file has no military training, little discipline, degraded communications, and ragged logistics.
In fact, today’s Islamic State is what the Ottoman Empire used to term, ‘bashi-bazouks,” a collection of irregular cut-throats and scum of the gutter sent to punish and terrorize enemies by means of torture, rapine, looting and arson.
What has amazed me about the faux western war against ISIS is its leisurely nature, lack of élan, and hesitancy. In my view, ISIS was mostly created by the US and its allies as a weapon to be used against Syria’s government – just as the Afghan mujahadin were used by the US and the Saudis to overthrow the Soviet-backed Afghan government. Israel tried the same tactics by helping create Hamas in Palestine and Hezbullah in Lebanon. Both were cultivated to split the PLO.
ISIS is an ad hoc movement that wants to punish the West and the Saudis for the gross carnage they have inflicted on the Arab world.
Western and Kudish auxiliary forces have been sitting 1.5 hours drive from Mosul and the IS town of Raqqa for over a year. Instead, western – mainly US – warplanes have been gingerly bombing around these targets in what may be an effort to convince breakaway ISIS to rejoin US-led forces fight the Damascus regime.
Note that ISIS does not appear to have ever attacked Israel though it is playing an important role in the destruction of Syria. Some reports say Israel is providing logistic and medical support for IS.
The siege of Mosul is being played up by western media as a heroic second Stalingrad. Don’t be fooled. IS has only 3-5,000 lightly armed fighters in Mosul and Raqqa, maybe even less. The leaders of IS are likely long gone. IS has few heavy weapons, no air cover at all, and poor communications. Its rag-tag fighters will run out of ammunitions and explosives very quickly.
Encircling Mosul are at least 50,000 western-led soldiers, backed by heavy artillery, rocket batteries, tanks, armored vehicles and awesome air power
The western imperial forces are composed of tough Kurdish pasha merga fighters, Iraqi army and special forces, some Syrian Kurds, Iranian ‘volunteers’ irregular forces and at least 5,000 US combat troops called “advisors”, plus small numbers of French, Canadian and British special forces. Hovering in the background are some thousands of Turkish troops, supported by armor and artillery ready to ‘liberate’ Iraq – which was once part of the Ottoman Empire.
For the US, current military operations in Syria and Iraq are the realization of an imperialist’s fondest dream: native troops led by white officers, the model of the old British Indian Raj. Washington arms, trained, equips and financed all its native auxiliaries.
The IS is caught in a dangerous dilemma. To be a political movement, it was delighted to control Iraq’s second largest city. But as a guerilla force, it should not have holed up in an urban area where it was highly vulnerable to concentrated air attack and being surrounded. This is what’s happening right now.
In the mostly flat Fertile Crescent with too few trees, ground forces are totally vulnerable to air power, as the recent 1967, 1973 Israel-Arab wars and 2003 Iraq wars have shown. Dispersion and guerilla tactics are the only hope for those that lack air cover.
IS forces would best advised to disperse across the region and continue their hit-and-run attacks. Otherwise, they risk being destroyed. But being mostly bloody-minded young fanatics, IS may not heed military logic and precedent in favor of making a last stand in the ruins of Mosul and Raqqa.
When this happens, western leaders will compete to claim authorship of the faux crusade against the paper tiger of ISIS.
Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist, writing and commenting for the top media outlets of the United States, Canada UK, France, Gulf states, Turkey, Malaysia and Pakistan. | 0 |
The Golden Message from Crellritus Your wise men hold their knowledge high,Yet fail to see that in your skyTruths dwell beyond your feeble minds so small.You think that you have grasped it allIn experiments of great scope;Yet bound are you. You dare to hopeThat someday soon you reach beyond your skyTo Something else. Not other worlds , this be your cry,Not other races who may think and hope and fear.What, then? Mere planets made of things you hold as dear,That may be broken down and labeled fast?Such fools you be!Dream on, the day has not yet come to passWhen you will face that which you cannot face.-Automatic writing channeled by Nell Heberling Page 1 | 0 |
Pentagon Retreats on Enlistment Bonus Collection Efforts October 26, 2016 Pentagon Retreats on Enlistment Bonus Collection Efforts
Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Wednesday ordered a suspension in efforts to seek repayment of thousands of enlistment bonuses and tuition assistance mistakenly paid to members of the California National Guard.
"While some soldiers knew or should have known they were ineligible for benefits they were claiming, many others did not," Carter, who is in Europe meeting with U.S. allies, said in a statement.
"This process has dragged on too long, for too many service members," he said. "Too many cases have languished without action. That's unfair to service members and to taxpayers."
Last week the Los Angeles Times reported that about 10,000 California National Guard troops had been ordered to repay enlistment bonuses - some of more than $15,000 - that were improperly given to them. The newspaper said audits revealed the California Guard had overpaid troops in order to entice them to join and meet enlistment targets more than a decade ago.
Senior Defense Department officials have been told to assess the bonus situation and establish a "streamlined, centralized process" by the start of next year, Carter said in the statement.
"The objective will be to complete the decision-making process on all cases as soon as possible - and no later than July 1," he said.
The issue has caused outrage in Congress. Members from both parties have called on the Pentagon to drop efforts to reclaim the bonuses.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Fox News on Tuesday that if the Pentagon did not drop the effort to reclaim re-enlistment bonuses, lawmakers would move legislation on the issue. Article by Doc Burkhart , Vice-President, General Manager and co-host of TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles Got a news tip? Email us at Help support the ministry of TRUNEWS with your one-time or monthly gift of financial support. DONATE NOW ! DOWNLOAD THE TRUNEWS MOBILE APP! CLICK HERE! | 0 |
.@nikkihaley: ”The president is the CEO of the country. He can hire and fire whomever he wants.” https: . pic. twitter. Sunday on ABC News’s “This Week,” U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley reacted to President Donald Trump firing FBI Director James Comey and pointed out that as president, Trump can fire whomever he wants. “The president is the CEO of the country,” she explained. “He can hire and fire whomever he wants. That is his right. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
RIGGED! DOJ Weiner Email Probe Will Be Led By PODESTA’S CLOSE FRIEND Peter Kadzik RIGGED! DOJ Weiner Email Probe Will Be Led By PODESTA’S CLOSE FRIEND Peter Kadzik Breaking News By TruthFeedNews November 1, 2016
The incestuous and corrupt nature of our rigged system just keeps getting exposed as the election drama unravels.
Earlier today, Loretta Lynch offered to “help” the FBI – yeah THAT Loretta Lynch.
Now Peter Kadzik has announced the DOJ will help expedite the review. Who is Peter Kadzik?
Just some guy who Podesta has fun social dinners with as exposed by Wikileaks.
You can read that full story here
ZeroHedge Reports
Now that the FBI has obtained the needed warrant to start poring over the 650,000 or so emails uncovered in Anthony Weiner’s notebook, among which thousands of emails sent from Huma Abedin using Hillary Clinton’s personal server, moments ago the US Justice Department announced it is also joining the probe, and as AP reported moments ago, vowed to dedicate all needed resources to quickly review the over half a million emails in the Clinton case. BREAKING: Justice Dept. says it'll dedicate all needed resources to quickly review emails in Clinton case.
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 31, 2016
In the letter to Congress, the DOJ writes that it “will continue to work closely with the FBI and together, dedicate all necessary resources and take appropriate steps as expeditiously as possible,” assistant attorney General Peter J. Kadzik writes in letters to House and Senate lawmakers.
RIGGED SYSTEM
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Microsoft unveils sleek desktop computer Re: Microsoft unveils sleek desktop computer The Surface has been selling well.Never underestimate the MIcrosoft team, they have a few tricks up their sleeve yet They are building the greatestweapon for oppressionin the history of man-Confidential Source | 0 |
Leave a reply “Love Sun & Mother Earth” – photographer Makiko
Juliet Tang – Prior to birth, just like an artist who is selecting which paints will go onto the blank canvas, our souls choose a set of colors to work with which determine our parents, ethnicity, country of birth, etc. We also choose a number of possible paths that would allow us to experience certain aspects of our being. For instance, if courage is one of those aspects of ourselves we wish to experience, we would collaborate with other souls in this physical realm so circumstances would arise in our lives where we are required to invoke courage within us. Likewise, we choose a certain mission, or a calling that would allow us to maximize our full potentials on this live stage called earth.
In order to fully step into our calling with power and consciousness, we must first elect to forget what it is at birth so we may, after years and decades, and for some, lifetimes of soul searching, arrive at a point in our lives where we must make a choice to remember who we truly are and deliberately call forth what gives us highest joy.
Personally, I see the long years of painful searching as nothing more than a rite of passage with intended experiences and divinely placed circumstances that fully prepares us to be who we came here to be. The second we reunite with our soul’s calling, the universe registers our seriousness and we come to the realization that nothing can and will stand in our way.
At that moment, all fears and obstacles begin fading as the path unfolds in front of us. At that moment, we will move mountains and cross oceans just so that we can become one with our highest intention and commit to our divine mission. At that moment, our body, mind and soul become aligned with one single purpose – to experience ourselves as our own grandest creation in this life.
Funny enough, once we remember our mission, we often realize the mission has very little to do with us and everything to do with everyone else. It is a mission that allows us to serve humanity and to light the paths for others through servicing, healing, inspiring, teaching and empowering.
It is no coincidence that for many, in order to remember that mission, we must first experience the pains and turmoil in life so we may later not only decide to transcend what limits us, but also use our life journey as a tool to inspire and encourage others to do the same. Some of the most influential teachers from Hay House such as Louise Hay, Anita Moorjani and the late Wayne Dyer are but a few who had journeyed to the darkness and back so they may light the way for others.
Know that wherever you are in life is exactly where you need to be . You are not bound to any fate and you have the power to change and create anything in life. It is my hope that by sharing the following 3 reminders that are embedded in your soul blueprint, you will begin manifesting your calling. You came here with something to do. You are part of a universal consciousness, and there are no accidents in it. In your true essence—not the false self, not the ego part of you, but in the true essence of who you are—you are infinite and you have something very profound to accomplish while you’re here. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here. Find it. Pay attention to it. Listen to the callings. See the clues, the cues. See the alignments, whatever they might be, no matter how absurd or bizarre they might seem to everyone around you…if you have a calling inside that says there’s also something else, don’t ignore that. Don’t die with your music still in you. Don’t die with your purpose unfulfilled. Don’t die feeling as if your life has been wrong. Don’t let that happen to you. ~ Wayne Dyer Identify Your Highest Joy
As beings of energy, we ourselves are literally the creation tools we are born with and our feeling is the direct line of communication with our soul, or the higher self. At any time when our thoughts, words and actions are aligned with the soul’s vision, we know it immediately by the way we feel which is usually identified as harmony, inner-peace, joy, gratitude and love.
Whenever we feel good, our vibration is instantly higher which easily leads to inspired action; and by committing ourselves to inspired action, it leads to more joy which expands the breeding ground of inspired action. The more we can get in touch with the “feel good” component within ourselves and listen to it, the easier it will be for us to define our mission in life.
For the longest time, I had not a clue what my calling was and I spent the majority of my time complaining and wishing I could do something else with my life while holding onto the belief that a job and a passion are mutually exclusive. I did have many passions and since I felt miserable with my job, I indulged myself with activities I enjoyed whenever I had free time. Being a spiritual seeker since birth, one of my passions was alternative healing. For many years, I heard and read about Reiki and there was always that little voice in the back of my head whispering, “Take a Reiki class.” Like many, I brushed aside the little voice with as many excuses as I could find but eventually, the voice became so persistent that I decided to just go for it.
As someone who was also obsessed with doing the due diligence for everything I stepped into, I spent hours researching for an experienced teacher. I already signed up for a course elsewhere when the name of my first Reiki teacher popped up in my search, and for reasons unknown to me at the time, I made a last minute decision to go with this class.
During the two days of training, I met someone whom I became friends with. Fast forward to years later, we currently share an office space doing healing work in Midtown Manhattan. Within the same year after the initial training, the same friend introduced me to another Reiki teacher who is the very reason why I eventually became a recovery and wellness coach as well as Reiki master. During those years, every time when I was guided by inspiration , life rewarded me with more people, events and circumstances that helped me remember my true essence and carry out my mission.
Do not despair if you do not yet remember what you came here to be. Your only duty in this life is to follow your highest joy. Believe me, it is much more than just a cliché line that we use as a bumper sticker.
Once we follow the first inspired idea, we are sending out the energy with the intention of “I am my highest joy at this given moment” into the universe which slowly intensifies and magnifies as we become more accustomed to singing our heart’s song. What has started as a seed is given more opportunities to grow and flourish every time when we follow our highest feelings because the energy behind that intention is literally snowballing and creating more and more movement in the quantum field in bringing us what make us happy.
What inspires you? What makes your heart sing? What’s that one thing you’ve been wanting to do but have been putting off forever?
It’s time. Allow Your Being to Guide Your Doing
One of the most frustrating things we do to ourselves is we get stuck envisioning the million tasks we must do to accomplish anything, that can also be the very thing that keeps us from moving forward.
Answering our calling is very much a process like everything else. The end result may look nothing like what we started off with or what we planned, and that is completely ok. Sometimes what we think we want only serves as a stepping stone that leads us closer to fulfilling our mission. The universe does not care about what we do that makes us radiate with joy, it can be taking a Reiki class or a baking class, going on that spontaneous vacation or calling an old friend we haven’t seen for years. The universe only cares about the vibrational signature we give off when we are being that joy.
By giving ourselves into inspired action, we may be meeting a teacher for life who becomes our source of inspiration, or be welcoming an opportunity that otherwise would not be there had we not chosen to follow our heart and arrive at that exact location and time.
The only decision we have to make on a daily basis is to start following whichever things that give us whatever amount of joy out of all the available daily activities in front of us rather than coming up with a huge plan of action to get ourselves from point A to B because “it is the right thing to do” or “ everyone else does it .”
If your only daily activities are comprised of chores such as house cleaning, meeting deadlines and cooking for a family of six, then invite yourself to do some (or all) of those things with as much joy and presence as you can , and to squeeze in a couple of little activities that bring you peace and make you come alive. They can be as simple as having quiet time to read for 15 minutes or working on that hobby when everyone goes to sleep. You just never know what may come out of them!
Do not ever underestimate the power behind these little activities as they are what make the energy accumulate. Remember, it is always about being the “I am my highest joy at this given moment” energy rather than flooding ourselves with tasks and running around aimlessly for the simple reason that we cannot find our calling outside of ourselves, but we can remember or create it within us. The more we can allow that energy to flow to us and from us, the more the universe can bring us everything that resonates on the same energy level to help us remember and create our destinies.
Is the path of committing ourselves to remembering, and eventually embodying our calling always peachy? The answer is no. It is a journey that is made of a thousand little steps of learning and choosing. Along the way of building my healing practice, I was constantly discouraged by my lack of knowledge and tools to run a business as well as overwhelmed by the millions of tasks I was constantly bombarded with.
I invested a great deal of energy on training courses from learning how to write my about page to polishing up the content of my website so I can reach a larger audience. No matter how much I tried to tweak my writing while working with business coaches and alike, I was unable to meet their standards of using “simple and client friendly” language where I could explain what I do in a couple of sentences to an eight-year old.
One day, exactly one year from the day I resigned from my last job, it finally hit me. While I will always remain grateful of the knowledge and support I have taken away from the courses, my writing reflects my true essence, and who I am at the core is someone who thinks, feels and speaks like the spiritual geek that I am proud to be. By giving myself endless tasks of to-do’s that do not align with my inspired actions, I am neglecting who I came here to be – someone who helps others heal, awaken and create through spiritual writing, healing and coaching.
In fact, this article was entirely inspired by hours of staring at weeks worth of unfinished homework documents from my latest course with the sudden realization that the content of my website may never appeal to everyone, and that is perfectly ok. I was faced with two choices, to continue doing the daunting task of sounding like someone I am not, or being immersed in the joy of writing. The moment I chose the latter, a stream of inspiration poured in and gave birth to these words.
At the end of the day, it isn’t about what we do, how we do it, what our titles are, how polished our website looks, how many credentials are displayed in our bios and how many award-winning books we’ve published. It is about whether we can allow ourselves to step into who we truly are, and boldly and lovingly declare our authenticity to the world. No vibration in the universe is more powerful than our energy when it becomes an extension of our divine calling.
What are some things on your daily to-do list? Which ones of those give you any amount of joy? How can you insert more “feel good” activities into your life? How can you replace the aimless “to-do’s” with more inspired action? Your Calling is Your Own Creation
Our souls have chosen a certain mission prior to birth, but the moment we become fully conscious of who we are and awaken to the creator within, we are no longer bound to any predetermined paths we laid out for ourselves before coming into this physical body. The more we are aware of our true essence and our connection with the divine source , the more empowered we become and the more we can claim the gift of free will which ultimately allows us to exercise our birthright as the conscious creator to Be, Do, and Have anything our soul desires.
To achieve that, we must first free ourselves from everything that limits us. Limitations can take the form of fear such as fear of uncertainty/change, fear of lack, or even fear of success. Limitations can also manifest as endless excuses ranging from “I have a full time job with no time or money” to “I’m too old to do this.” In addition, limitations show up as disempowering beliefs including, “There isn’t enough for everyone” or “I am not special enough.”
There is no one way to initiate that journey of liberation, there is only what works for you. Personally, I’ve found spiritual practices such as energy healing, Kundalini yoga, meditation, working with a spiritual coach, being in nature, journaling and reading inspirational books are all great ways to awaken.
I used to be the queen of “what-if’s.” “What if I failed?” “What if I lost it all?” “What if I became a laughingstock?” One day, I grew sick of my negative what-if’s and decided to do a 180. “What if I succeeded?” “What if I learned something from this?” “What if I could help others?” I made a point to do this every day for months and it made a remarkable difference in my ability to exercise my free will.
Prior to tapping into our true creator role, many of us feel like powerless victims who take whatever life throws at us. We may be passionate about answering our calling as an artist but end up working at a bank because we are afraid we won’t make ends meet. We feel limited, even enslaved by the conditions in our lives. We submit ourselves to our so-called fate and tell stories of how we aren’t fortunate enough to be one of those who seem to have it all .
When we awaken, we become aware that we are who we say we are, and what we create as well as how we wish to experience everything in life depends on one thing and one thing only – our choice.
Your calling is something you soul chose in the realm of the formless before it took on a body, and you can choose again at any time in this life because the truth is, your soul remains who you truly are while your body and mind are only additional tools for you to carry out your mission so you may experience your own creations physically in this 3D time and space dimension. That power of choice has never left you. Once you decide, allow the universe to bring you the rest of the co-creators to make it happen.
It is time to unleash your free will and write your own destiny. There is nothing written in the stars that are foreshadowing who you are and what you can become. Once every part and every cell within you is aligned with this inner-knowing, you have awakened to the divine power of creation you have inherited. That power lives in you and patiently awaits for you to call upon it.
You are neither your past, your birth conditions, your roles, your accomplishments, your credentials, your awards, your bills, your bank statements, your 9-5 job that makes you cringe every morning upon waking up, nor are you your body, your mind, your beliefs, your thoughts, your baggage, your limitations, your past relationships, even your soul contract. Deep down inside, you are a being powerful beyond your imagination. Once you remember all this, you will remember your sacred ability to create anything you wish and your joyous vibration will make the world just a little brighter.
It matters not one bit if you do not know your calling. If you could start from a blank slate and create anything you wanted in life without limitations from this moment on, who would you be? What would you create?
What is one small step you can take today to be that?
Follow your heart.
Juliet Tang is a Usui/Holy Fire Reiki Master, certified hypnotist and founder of Jewel’s Healing Garden , a holistic practice in New York that combines energy healing, hypnosis and intuitive coaching to help others achieve healing and personal transformation. Juliet empowers her clients to tap into the power of their unconscious to access the infinite wisdom and inner resources that can be utilized to carry out their visions. With her psychology background and a decade of teaching experience, in addition to the healing work conducted, Juliet also teaches her clients simple and powerful techniques to rewire old habits to reinforce desirable patterns in all areas in life. Her hypnosis/coaching packages can be found here . SF Source Wake Up World | 0 |
It was early in March 2015, the filmmaker Ava DuVernay recalled recently, when she was approached by Lisa Nishimura, the vice president for original documentary and comedy programming at Netflix, who asked “if I had any story I wanted to tell. ” As it happened, Ms. DuVernay had been thinking “about an overview of where the United States currently stands in terms of mass incarceration. ” By September 2016, the resulting movie, “13th,” opened the New York Film Festival. In January, after screening in some movie theaters, being made available free to some academic institutions and streaming on Netflix, the movie received an Oscar nomination for best documentary feature. “13th” was one of several pictures produced by streaming services to make it to the Oscars this year, but Ms. DuVernay (who was coming off an intensive Oscar campaign for her 2014 film, “Selma,” when she first spoke to Netflix) said that awards weren’t her concern when making the film. Nor could she pursue them after “13th” was out she had already begun her next film, the fictional “A Wrinkle in Time,” adapted from the Madeleine L’Engle book. She also didn’t make press junket rounds ahead of awards season. What secured the nomination were two things: the movie’s extraordinary quality and the perspicacious marketing department at Netflix’s documentary division. A couple of months back, I wrote about some of Netflix’s original films, lightweight comedies of varying quality. Several developments suggest a widening of the company’s ambitions in documentaries. The service began streaming the Sundance Film Festival’s Jury Prize winner, the dark drama “I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore,” a month after the movie won that prize. And, in what movie business journalists are almost unanimously terming a major coup, Netflix announced its acquisition of the rights to “The Irishman,” a return to the gangster genre from Martin Scorsese, in late February. The documentary division, though, has been moving from hit to hit since the series “Making a Murderer,” which, along with HBO’s “The Jinx” and the podcast “Serial,” gripped the public imagination with innovative approaches to true crime. Ms. DuVernay’s “13th” made the lists of many film critics in 2016, and it wasn’t the only documentary to be nominated for an Oscar this year “White Helmets,” about the war in Syria, actually took home a statuette in the Documentary Short category. Netflix also presented “The Ivory Game,” a Leonardo exposé of elephant poaching. Flexibility of formatting is one component of this success story. On March 28, Netflix will premiere “Five Came Back,” about a group of prominent Hollywood directors and how they were changed by World War II, in three episodes. Mark Harris, the film’s screenwriter and the author of the book on which it is based (who is a longtime colleague and friend of mine) noted that had the project been picked up by a television network, “the directive would have been, ‘Please fill this slot.’ Whereas with Netflix, the first thing they asked was ‘What should this be? ’” Ms. DuVernay recalled that Netflix’s commitment to making “13th” what she thought it should be remained consistent for the entire process. “After I started it, I realized that it needed to be about more than the immediate situation, and I wanted to add historical perspective” she said. “That meant an expanded budget, and expanded time. ” She noted that she wanted a cut reduced to 100 minutes. “Lisa told me, ‘It can be two and a half hours.’ The length was something I wanted. ” Ms. DuVernay added, “The division is filled with people who are real filmmakers, who have made documentaries, been in the editing room. ” What it looks like to the creator is borne in mind throughout the process Netflix’s goal over all, according to the filmmakers working with them, is to create distinctive stories. “In this line of endeavor, you hear about things like network notes, and that’s always a kind of vicious punch line,” Mr. Harris said. “We kept waiting for that moment, but it never came. [Netflix] was always constructive and supportive. ” Ms. Nishimura, the executive making all this possible, said she was lucky “to have come from a professional background that supports creators first. ” Before joining Netflix almost a decade ago, she worked with Chris Blackwell, the music entrepreneur who founded Island Records, at the indie film company Palm Pictures. When she joined Netflix, it was a DVD rental entity, and she was buying up titles and “overseeing relationships with creators worldwide. ” In the process, she discovered that audiences had a hunger for documentaries not always reflected at the box office. “Television ratings exist because of ads, which we’re free of, and box office has become so reliant on Friday night returns that it’s warped perceptions of what audiences want,” Ms. Nishimura said. “Just because a person doesn’t go see a documentary on a Friday night, it’s not a reflection on the film it’s just a reflection that maybe a documentary isn’t a film that a couple is going to want to see on date night. What we’ve discovered is that we can elevate storytelling and bring it to a global platform and create a cultural moment. ” (According to a Netflix spokeswoman, 73 percent of all subscribers — more than 68 million — watched at least one documentary on the site in 2016.) “Making a Murderer” certainly created a cultural moment, and “13th” did so on a scale that even its creators did not necessarily expect. “When we created it, we wondered whether or not it was a uniquely American story,” Ms. Nishimura said. “Really it’s a story of ‘the other,’ and how we treat each other as humans, and what can happen when that goes awry. And so it did get a response from a global audience. And will continue to. The docs live on our service forever. We’re allowing stories to continue to find their ceiling over time. ” | 1 |
I dined out with two friends who earn much more than I do. As one perused the wine list, I asked him to choose a bottle under $100. (It’s more than I spend, but it felt like a compromise.) He ignored my request and ordered a more expensive bottle. And then another. I didn’t enjoy the meal I was too nervous about paying my share. When the bill came, my other friend said they would treat me. I was relieved but embarrassed. If I didn’t drink, I could probably back out of the booze portion of the bill. But I want to drink, just not the most expensive thing on the menu. Thoughts? J. S. CAMBRIDGE, MASS. “When I was young,” said Oscar Wilde — supposedly, along with every other snappy line that is not attributed to Dorothy Parker or Charles Nelson Reilly, “I thought that money was the most important thing in life. ” (Can you see where this is headed?) “But now that I am old, I know that it is. ” But money isn’t nearly as important as the things it represents: power, generosity — did I say “power”? It’s possible that your pals always intended to treat you. But you’d think one of them might have said, “The wine’s on me,” before overruling your $100 limit. Or they may be the kind of people who like to lord their wealth over others. Still, good for you for speaking up. Don’t be cowed into silence by richer folk. No need to be embarrassed by our finances. We work hard, and our budgets are what they are. Next time, have a chat with known offenders before your meal. (“I’m on a budget and would like you to respect it. ”) And should any friend start grandstanding at the table, simply tell the waiter that you need another minute before ordering and lay out your reasonable request again. (“Nobody puts Baby in a corner. ”) Also: a Tanqueray martini with olives (typically $12 to $18) can be a nice alternative to wine. My wife and I have a swimming pool in our backyard. We often invite our son’s best friend (who is 6) and his family (mother, father and two younger siblings) to join us for the afternoon. The only problem is that these parents don’t watch their kids — at all! — when they are in the water. They’re so busy chatting with each other and us that their children could drown, and they wouldn’t even notice. At the risk of being a helicopter dad, is there anything we can do? DAN J. For the record, Dan: Keeping your children alive is not helicopter parenting. (Freaking out about whether they are in the Yellow Room or Green Room for school? Helicopter!) By my count, you have at least four young children of unspecified aquatic skill splashing around in your pool. They require at least two supervisors. If you are tremendously conflict averse, you and your wife can assume all lifeguarding duties (or stop inviting them). But it would be eminently reasonable to say to the less chatty of the parents: “I’ll watch Bob and Carol. Can you keep an eye on Ted and Alice?” Still, after diagnosing their inattentiveness, can you really trust either to safeguard a child’s life? I’m afraid that you and your wife are on the hook here. The good news? In 10 years, your son will want nothing to do with you. My husband and I went to a baseball game. We ended up with two extra tickets, so we sat in the middle of our four seats, happy not to have others next to us. Behind us, a man put his feet on the empty seat next to me (for which I had the ticket). This bothered me, but I didn’t say anything. Later, he adjusted his foot and almost kicked me in the head. I turned around and said, “Are you kidding me?” To which the man’s girlfriend replied, “Just relax. ” He left his foot where it was and began making loud noises that further diminished my enjoyment of the game. My husband thinks I should have said nothing, but I believe I was right to speak up. What would you have done? KATHY, NEW YORK Color me thunderstruck that anyone seems to know less about baseball than I do. But I believe the “loud noises” emitted from the man are called “cheering,” which people do in sports arenas. I would also point out that context is king. If he had put his Saint Laurent loafers on the seat beside you at the Metropolitan Opera, it would be an offense for which an usher might be summoned. But at Shea Stadium (or whatever they call the new one) — where beer is sloshing around the stands, and any man on the field seems to spit more than all the men I have known in my life combined — I would take a different tack. You were right. But rather than defaulting to angry sarcasm, try bonding: “Do you promise not to kick me in the head?” Then hope for the best. | 1 |
Posted by Martin Walsh | Nov 23, 2016 | Breaking News If they want to go, we will let them
This feeling of a President Trump is a breathe of fresh air. You can feel it in your communities all across the country and in your own life. You can feel yourself imagining things that you want to accomplish because Trump has already instilled a cultural change that breeds toughness and hard work.
Democrats and the lying media slammed Donald Trump for months when he argued that he may not accept the results of the election. Now that he has won, ironically, it has been the media and Hillary’s supporters that are refusing to accept the results of the election.
Aside from thousands of whiny, entitled liberals flooding the streets with their violence and tears because they just cannot deal with a President that has said mean things, the state of California has made a major announcement.
Fox News has reported that the state of California has filed a measure with the state’s attorney general to have a question appear on the 2018 election ballot asking whether the state should secede from the United States. CONFIRMED: #Calexit independence plebiscite ballot measure sponsored by #YesCalifornia has been accepted by the California Attorney General.
— Yes California (@YesCalifornia) November 21, 2016
Marcus Evans, the vice president of a secessionist organization called Yes California , told the Sacramento Bee that he filed paperwork with the government in order to allow the state the opportunity to succeed from the United States.
The group only needs 500,000 signatures of California residents for the question to appear on the ballot.
The large group argues that California would be the world’s sixth-largest economy, and that he and his fellow citizens have been subsidizing other states through their federal taxes while their own infrastructure has taken a hit.
The group said they plan to seek independence through the United Nations over apprehension that Congress will not be warm to the proposal. Still waiting on Clinton, Obama, and Democrats to denounce the violence and riots. Maybe if they had jobs they wouldn't have time to riot…
— Martin Walsh (@mrwalsh8) November 21, 2016
“We’re not ashamed about going around Washington to achieve it,” group president Louis Marinelli said, “Congress can’t tie its shoes.”
Let one thing remain crystal clear: if California wants to secede from the United States, they should get ready to go.
For starters, they house the most illegal immigrants in the entire country, making the entire state a Sanctuary City. They would lose billions in federal funding from that alone. If California were to secede, they would also guarantee that Republicans would effortlessly win the White House every four years.
California is also forgetting that the United States would tax them at very high rates on food, water, and everything else they need to survive. If California still wants to secede, then they can gear up and get ready for a war they will never win.
President Trump can alter the structure of the wall, as well. Should they officially secede, we can build a wall across their eastern and northern borders in order to isolate them off from the entire country. We don’t need them
We would also be able to better control drugs and cartels. If California wants to accept and protect millions of illegal immigrants, they can keep them. It would make the United States that much safer.
The United States does not need the state of California. They do not provide anything that we do not already have–they have zero leverage. They would be a Nation that cannot survive without assistance from others.
If they really want to leave this great Nation, let’s help them out. Sign the petition and help spread the word. | 0 |
Actress Tina Fey hosted the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) “Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU” fundraising telethon Friday, where she ripped President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. [In a searing comedy routine, Fey slammed President Trump’s proclamation Friday declaring April as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. “Earlier tonight, in what is surely an April Fools’ joke, the president proclaimed that next month will be National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, so now we know what he gave up for Lent,” the former Saturday Night Live star said. Riffing on reports that Vice President Pence declines to dine alone with women who are not his wife, Fey said, “Luckily, Mike Pence isn’t allowed to go down and shut Planned Parenthood unless his wife goes with him. So if we can just keep Karen busy scrapbooking, we can all still get Pap smears”: The fundraising telethon, which streamed live on Facebook, also featured Tracy Morgan, Amy Poehler, Jon Hamm, Mahershala Ali, Miranda, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Tituss Burgess. At one point, “alternate universe current first daughter of the United States” Chelsea Clinton was introduced, and she addressed “voter suppression. ” “The right to vote is the bedrock of our democracy,” Clinton said. “It gives us, each and every citizen, a voice in how our government works. Sadly, this fundamental right is under attack all across the country. Dozens of states have passed laws in recent years making it harder to vote. These laws disproportionately affect minority groups, the poor, and the elderly. Millions have been disenfranchised by voter ID laws alone. ” Clinton also urged people to continue to resist Trump’s political agenda. “I’m not giving up,” she said. “I hope that none of you are giving up because we know that our right to vote is fundamental, precious, and worth fighting for”: In a video promoting the ACLU telethon, celebrities insisted that the nonprofit organization has “been preparing for this fight” against the Trump administration: The ACLU has been leading the legal fight against President Trump’s immigration executive actions. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson. | 1 |
HONG KONG — Alarmed over North Korea’s increasingly provocative behavior, the United States said Tuesday that it had started to deploy an antimissile system in South Korea that China has angrily opposed as a threat to its security. The deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or Thaad, came after North Korea launched four ballistic missiles on Monday, apparently in response to joint naval exercises by South Korea and the United States. Those launchings led South Korea to call for the accelerated deployment of Thaad. A spokeswoman for the United States forces in South Korea said that one of five major components of the missile system had arrived on Monday. Officials said it could take a couple of months for the system to become fully operational. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had urged the South Koreans to move ahead with the deployment of the system during a visit to Seoul in February. In telephone calls on Monday to South Korean and Japanese leaders, President Trump said the United States would stand with its Asian allies and take steps to defend against North Korea’s growing ballistic missile threat. Mr. Trump emphasized that the United States was taking steps to “enhance our ability to deter and defend against North Korea’s ballistic missiles using the full range of United States military capabilities,” the White House said in a statement. China has been incensed over the deployment of the system, fearing it could give the United States military the ability to quickly detect and track missiles launched in China, according to analysts. A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geng Shuang, said Tuesday that China would “take the necessary steps to safeguard our own security interests, and the consequences will be shouldered by the United States and South Korea. ” Mr. Geng warned the two countries not to “go further and further down the wrong road. ” Yang Xiyu, a former senior Chinese official who once oversaw talks with North Korea, said China was worried that the deployment of the system would open the door to a broader American network of antimissile systems in the region, possibly in places like Japan and the Philippines, to counter a growing Chinese military. “China can see benefits only for a U. S. regional plan, not for South Korea’s national security interest,” he said. The state media recently encouraged Chinese citizens to boycott South Korean products and companies over the Thaad issue. The Chinese authorities recently forced the closing of 23 stores owned by Lotte, a South Korean conglomerate that agreed to turn over land that it owned for use in the Thaad deployment. Hundreds of Chinese protested at Lotte stores over the weekend, some holding banners that read, “Get out of China. ” Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr. the head of the United States Pacific Command, announced the start of the deployment, saying that “continued provocative actions by North Korea, to include yesterday’s launch of multiple missiles, only confirm the prudence of our alliance decision last year to deploy Thaad to South Korea. ” The developments come as South Korea is consumed by turmoil over the impeachment of President Park whose administration agreed to the Thaad deployment. But with the president facing possible removal from office over a corruption scandal, the fate of the system had been in doubt. Its accelerated deployment could make it harder, if not impossible, for her successor to head off its installation. Moon an opposition leader who is the in the race to replace President Park, acknowledged that it would be difficult to overturn South Korea’s agreement to deploy the system. But he has insisted that the next South Korean government should have the final say on the matter, saying that Ms. Park’s government never allowed a full debate on it. Last year, thousands of people in Seongju, a rural southern county in South Korea, protested when it was announced that a Thaad battery would be established there. They said they feared that the system would harm their agricultural livelihoods. Many South Koreans also worry that any expansion of military ties with the United States could worsen already festering tensions with North Korea and China. Under its deal with Washington, South Korea is providing the land for the missile system and will build the base, but the United States will pay for the system, to be built by Lockheed Martin, as well as its operational costs. The United States military statement said that “the first elements” of Thaad were deployed on Monday, the same day as the North’s missile launchings. A cargo plane landed at the United States military’s Osan Air Base, about 40 miles south of Seoul, on Monday evening, carrying two trucks, each mounted with a Thaad launchpad. More equipment and personnel will start arriving in the coming weeks, South Korean military officials said. “South Korea and the United States are doing their best to make the Thaad system operational as soon as possible,” the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that the system was necessary “to protect South Korea from the nuclear and missile threat from North Korea. ” The ministry declined to specify when the system would be operational. But the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the deployment was likely to be completed in one or two months, with the system ready for use by April. The arrival of Thaad equipment was announced after South Korea’s acting president, Hwang talked with Mr. Trump on the phone on Tuesday morning. The two leaders condemned the North’s missile tests as a violation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions and agreed to beef up the allies’ joint defense posture, strengthen sanctions and step up pressure against the North, Mr. Hwang’s office said. On the phone with Mr. Trump, Mr. Hwang called the North’s nuclear and missile threat a “present and direct danger” to its allies, his office said. The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said he spoke for 25 minutes on Tuesday with Mr. Trump, who reiterated his pledge to stand by Japan “100 percent,” according to the public broadcaster NHK. “I appreciate that the United States is showing that all the options are on the table,” Mr. Abe said, adding that Japan was “ready to fulfill larger roles and responsibilities” to deter North Korea. Takashi Kawakami, a professor of international politics and security at Takushoku University in Tokyo, said the deployment of Thaad could put the United States in a stronger position to consider a strike on North Korea. If the United States took such action, he said, “North Korea is going to make a counterattack on the U. S. or Japan or another place, so in this case they will use Thaad. ” With tensions increasing over the deployment of the system, some in China have advocated stern measures, including severing diplomatic relations with South Korea, or more. A retired general, Luo Yuan, even suggested that China destroy the system with a military strike. “We could conduct a surgical operation that would destroy the target, paralyzing it and making it unable to hit back,” General Luo wrote in Global Times, a newspaper. | 1 |
Carol Adl in Middle East , News // 0 Comments
Volunteer fighters from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units say they will cross the border to join the Syrian government and its allies in the ongoing fight against terrorists.
A spokesman said on Saturday that the fighters plan to cross the border into Syria to fight alongside President Bashar al-Assad after clearing northern Iraqi territories from the ISIS terrorist group.
Press TV reports:
“After clearing all our land from these terrorist gangs, we are fully ready to go to any place that contains a threat to Iraqi national security,” Ahmed al-Asadi said during a briefing with journalists in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
The Popular Mobilization Units, generally known by the Arabic title Hashd al-Shaabi, are currently contributing to Iraqi military’s large-scale operation to liberate the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from Daesh. The Shia fighters have announced that they would mostly help the drive around Mosul and not enter the city to avoid accusations of sectarianism.
The volunteer forces on Saturday began an offensive west of Mosul to cut supplies between the city and Raqqah, the de facto capital of Daesh in Syria, to tighten the siege against the militants and liberate the town of Tal Afar.
The forces have played a major role in previous offensives against Daesh in central and western parts of Iraq. The group’s members have already fought alongside Syrian forces against various terror groups, but the Saturday announcement could formalize their involvement in Syria.
Over the past months, Syria has managed to recapture swathes of land from Daesh and other groups in east and north of the country. During the nearly six-year battle, the Syrian military has heavily relied on fighters from Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, as well as advisory military support from Iran. Russia also helps Syria in the fight against terrorists through a series of coordinated airstrikes on their positions. | 0 |
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Republican National Committee has privately urged members of the party’s rules committee not to make changes to the guidelines governing the presidential nominating process, an effort to avoid the appearance that the party is seeking to block Donald J. Trump from becoming its nominee. The chairman, Reince Priebus, whom associates describe as increasingly frustrated by Mr. Trump’s criticism of the process, sent a text message last week to multiple rules committee members strongly suggesting that they not alter the convention rules when the party convenes next week for its spring meeting in Florida, according to two who received the message. Separately, a group of influential rules committee members held a conference call Thursday to prepare for the meeting and reached a consensus that they would derail any attempt at the gathering to make changes to the how the convention is conducted, according to a committee member on the call. “We’re not going to do anything with the rules next week,” said Rob Gleason, chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party and a longtime member of the rules committee. “There’s no point because new rules will be written at the convention. ” The matter of convention is the sort of arcane intraparty business that rarely draws attention from even the most committed political enthusiasts. But with the prospect of a contested convention and a divisive waging a campaign against the party apparatus, issues of how individual states select their delegates and who can or cannot be placed in nomination have become a drama. With Mr. Trump and his supporters on the lookout for any maneuvering that can be construed as a backdoor attempt to cheat him of the nomination, Republicans see little to be gained by tinkering with procedures that could well be disregarded before the July convention. While the standing rules committee of the party can set nominating guidelines, they are effectively only suggestions. It is a rules committee comprising 112 delegates that actually writes the rules governing the convention, and those are only implemented if they are approved by a full vote of all the Republican delegates in Cleveland. Further, with 17 states still left to vote in the Republican primary campaign — and considerable uncertainty about whether and by how much Mr. Trump will fall short of attaining a delegate majority before the convention — it is not even clear what rule changes could be made now that would diminish his chances if party insiders even wanted to tilt the playing field. “What upside is there for us to muck around with the rules,” said Steve Duprey, the New Hampshire Republican committeeman and a rules committee member. The committee, under pressure to conduct a transparent campaign and irritated at Mr. Trump’s claims of unfairness, is moving more aggressively to explain how the primary works and pointedly rebutting their own . “The rules surrounding the delegate selection have been clearly laid out in every state and territory, and while each state is different, each process is easy to understand for those willing to learn it,” Sean Spicer, a senior party official, wrote in a memo released to the public on Friday. “It ultimately falls on the campaigns to be up to speed on these delegate rules. ” But Mr. Trump shows no sign of curbing his complaints, and his campaign appears to be only escalating its argument. In an essay published in Friday’s Wall Street Journal, Mr. Trump argued that Senator Ted Cruz’s efforts to elect his supporters as delegates to Cleveland so they may support him at a convention after they are no longer bound to the results of their state’s vote amounted to “ scheme. ” “Voter disenfranchisement is not merely part of the Cruz strategy — it is the Cruz strategy,” Mr. Trump wrote, inveighing against “ ‘ ’ delegates who reject the decision of voters. ” Mr. Trump’s assault on the Republican Party and the nomination process it oversees is seen by some in the party as the makings of a strategy to gain an advantage with those delegates who will be unbound, and therefore political free agents, on the first ballot. These delegates could be pivotal if Mr. Trump narrowly falls short of 1, 237 delegates at the end of the primary season and needs a handful more to help him clinch the nomination on the first vote in Cleveland. But one leading Republican from a state that will send 54 unbound delegates to the convention suggested that such tactics would not be effective. “We’re not playing beanbag,” said Mr. Gleason, the Pennsylvania chairman. “This is for president of the United States. ” | 1 |
Покуда есть на свете дураки… 13 ноября 2016 Происшествия
Компьютерным гениям, знающим все входы и выходы в web-технологиях, изучившим от «А» до «Я» замысловатое построение трансляторов и вникнувшим в непростую архитектуру ЭВМ, в наши дни не страшен никакой кризис. Уж кто-кто, а талантливый программист сегодня без куска хлеба не останется. Человеку с головой на плечах – все карты в руки! Правда, почему-то некоторые «повелители гигабайтов» не желают ограничиваться пресным ломтём хлеба – стараются во что бы то ни стало урвать у жизни огромный кусок пирога…
Эксперты ESET бьют тревогу. Интернет-аферисты придумали новый способ незаконного обогащения. Злоумышленники в этот раз подключились к близкой каждому из нас теме уплаты налогов. Хитрые мошенники действуют весьма продуманно, используя особый метод психологического воздействия на жертву.
Преступники отправляют пользователям сети необычные спам-рассылки. В качестве адресанта посланий выступает якобы представитель налогового ведомства. Опасные письма изложены официальным стилем, грамотно и последовательно. Человек, получивший весточку от службы «поборов», естественно, сразу настраивается на плохую информацию, подспудно ожидая расставания с N-ой суммой. Но тут его, не поверите, ждёт большой сюрприз – долгожданное торжество справедливости! Налоговые органы в письме счастья неожиданно сознаются о недочётах в своей работе. И – о, чудо! «Налоговики» заявляют, что хотели бы вернуть неправо пострадавшему гражданину его же кровные денежки, будто бы некогда переплаченные в казну. Сумма к возврату, как приманка на крючке, достаточно «вкусная». Рано или поздно жертва клюёт, а дальше – дело за малым.
Пользователь, поверивший в чудеса, переходит по указанной в письме ссылке для оформления мифического договора – и попадает на сайт, умело стилизованный под ресурсы налоговой инспекции. Жертве предлагается заполнить подробную анкету и ввести все данные персональной банковской карты, включая баланс. Средства, бережно хранимые на карточке доверчивого человека, после нескольких кликов, успешно «перелетают» в карманы кибермошенников.
Интернет-злоумышленникам удаётся одурачивать на расстоянии одновременно нескольких человек. Назвать кибермошенников глупцами как-то даже язык не поворачивается! Вот придумают же! Корпят, пыхтят над своими «проектами» – и получают реальные результаты. Как поётся в песне кота Базилио и лисы Алисы: «Покуда есть на свете дураки, обманом жить нам, стало быть, с руки…»
ESET настоятельно рекомендует всем нам игнорировать подозрительные рассылки, защищать свои ПК антивирусными программами и перестать, наконец, наивно «вестись» на чудеса. Нет, в сказки-то верить можно, а вот самим сказочникам – категорически нет. | 0 |
American Thinker November 1, 2016
The criminal investigation underway over Anthony Weiner’s alleged child sex infraction has a couple of characteristics that make it especially awkward for Hillary Clinton and Huma Abedin, the estranged wife of Weiner and close companion of Hillary.
Ed Timperlake points out to me that in an underage sex investigation, all electronic communications of the investigative target are pursued. This probably led to the grand jury that was announced 11 days ago issuing a subpoena for all of the devices in the possession of Weiner and his family, including Huma. As Lucianne Goldberg quipped, they even seize the Speak & Spell toys in these cases. This grand jury is in New York, possibly less politically supervised than the first Hillary email investigation.
Evidently, some of these devices were not turned over in the first investigation and contained “pertinent” emails. We do not know with certainty, but some reports indicate the pertinent emails may have been found on Weiner’s laptop. Recall that the initial investigation did not convene a grand jury and did not, therefore, have subpoena power. It is possible that Huma Abedin misled the FBI over the existence of pertinent emails on her then husband’s computing devices.
So what could have been on the laptop Carlos Danger used for sexting?
Adam Yoshida, with a background in information technology consulting for affluent and powerful people emails:
…Clinton [was] using e-mails seemingly like most people use IMs or text messaging. Her holding onto Blackberries (and seven switching back to older models when the software was upgraded) [demonstrates this]. It might even explain at least SOME of the motivation for the e-mail server itself. I’ve seen plenty of cases where a powerful person says basically, “I want my e-mails on this thing” and, regardless of whether it’s a good solution, people respond, “ready-aye-ready.”
So, what could they have found on Weiner’s computers that would have caused such alarm?
I’d think one of two things:
1) Either that Huma signed in her e-mail account at one point and, presumably, it being Exchange or IMAP, dumped the whole account onto the computer and that account has plenty of e-mails between her and Clinton that were deleted.
Or –
2) There’s mention of Huma having a Yahoo account to which she would forward things for printing purposes. This struck me right away because, of course, printers are often difficult to configure as are e-mail accounts. It struck me as strange, yet very believable, that she mentioned that she’d forward stuff to that Yahoo account to print them. I mean, printing in theory should be platform agnostic, but – if you’re technically unsophisticated – you might have serious problems trying to setup an e-mail account or a printer on a device. Thus I imagine a scenario where she has a portable machine that either she can’t (or can’t be, for some reason) configured to use her home printer and a desktop machine (I imagine an slightly-older iMac here) that’s physically connected to the printer that serves as a shared “family computer” or whatever. She either can’t setup the e-mail account on that computer (perhaps it requires a VPN or something like that) or doesn’t want to, so she forwards everything that she wants to print to the Yahoo account that she does have setup on that computer. The FBI takes this computer as part of the Weiner investigation and, bam, they find thousands of e-mail messages – again, evidence of what was destroyed earlier. | 0 |
In the first joint press conference between U. S. President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the German leader claimed that a trade deal between the U. S. and the EU would be like a trade deal between two countries. [Trade was the topic of much of the press conference between the two leaders as President Trump has made the subject one of the pillars of his administration. During the press questions, a reporter from German paper Die Welt asked Ms Merkel if she thought that a trade agreement between the EU and the U. S. would be multilateral or bilateral. Merkel said and agreement like the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would be bilateral, indicating that she viewed the European Union as its own country, rather than a federation of countries. “I believe that the president has clearly set out his philosophy as to what trade agreements have to bring about for the American side as well. I personally don’t think that Germany needs to negotiate and not the European Union. “We’ve devolved our competences to the European Union, so the European Union, or rather the commission, negotiates on behalf of the member states,” Merkel said outlining that it is the unelected commission of the EU, whose role it is to be at the table for trade deals. “So that’s not going to prevent us from concluding agreements and indeed this would then qualify as a bilateral agreement between the EU and the United States if we had it,” she added. “The question is will it benefit both countries or not?” she said. President Trump has made it clear that he supports bilateral trade deals over multilateral deals that can often involve a dozen or more countries with different values and different economic interests. One of the president’s first acts after assuming office was to scrap TTIP which, unlike Merkel, he did not believe was bilateral. The view of Angela Merkel, that of and of a centralised European Union, is being heavily challenged by countries like Hungary who wish to see reform in the union and more emphasis on the individual countries, than the central EU bureaucracy. In April France will start the process of electing a new president and migration candidate Marine Le Pen has already hit out at Merkel’s philosophy saying that she, like Trump, wants to put her country first and end the experiment of centralised supranational organisations like the EU. A win for Le Pen would likely strike a huge blow for Merkel and her philosophy. Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson@breitbart. com, | 1 |
Recently, I went a whole month without seeing a play. Five weeks, actually. For most people, this is a profound nonevent. For me, it was a marvel. And also sort of a problem. I was a adolescent who became a college actress who became a theater critic. I don’t really know what to do with myself if I’m not spending a lot of my week sitting in a creaking plush seat, staring up at a stage. You could call this a vocation. You could also call it an addiction. You’d be right. Why the hiatus? My son was born in late June it seemed wise to take some time off. Still, I jokingly told an editor that I’d tried to schedule my delivery for a slow point in the season. This may not have been a joke. I likewise sent an email to a publicist, teasingly proposing theater matinees for nursing mothers. Also not entirely a joke. My leave has baffled my toddler daughter, who’s used to waving me away an hour or two before her bedtime. “Mama, don’t you go to shows anymore?” she asked. Even my husband seems a little surprised to see me sitting across from him at dinner. It feels strange to me, too. Luckily, it’s never been easier to enjoy theater without actually going to the theater. I can stream David Tennant’s “Hamlet” online while I nurse, or play the “Hamilton” cast album while I rock the baby to sleep. I can download audiobooks of plays to hear while I’m pumping, or listen to radio drama podcasts like “The Message” or “Welcome to Night Vale” while pushing the stroller. I can go to the library and take out stacks of scripts, including the “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which I read cuddling the baby with the other. He and I might even slip into a movie theater for an encore presentation of a broadcast of “The Audience” or “A View From the Bridge. ” (In truth, I’ve done all of these things, except for sneaking the baby into the cinema, though that day may come. And yes, I’m aware that this is a weird and possibly even mildly pathological way to spend a maternity leave, but once I’d caught up on “UnReal” and read “The Girls” and a bunch of Lew Archer mysteries, I started to feel a little restless.) These are good options. For one thing, they’re democratizing. Theater is inherently local. It is also often expensive. DVDs and live streams make an experience that was once available to only a few accessible to many, a phenomenon that would have made my preteen self, who used to obsessively play cassettes of original cast recordings of shows I would never see, weep for joy. And they’re a mental workout. Scripts and podcasts excite the imagination even more than live theater, forcing us to picture the characters, the settings, the actions and the gestures. (Which is salutary for those experiencing the synaptic haze of “mommy brain. ”) But as grateful as I am for PBS’s “Great Performances,” Methuen collections of Caryl Churchill, YouTube clips of “Chess” (which I can sing, enthusiastically and off key, overture to finale) none of it feels really, properly like theater. What’s missing, of course, is the sense of liveness, the thrill of the present tense. Theater is the art form most like life. Sure, the dialogue is snazzier, and the clothes fit better, but it’s performed by real people, in real space, in real time. A video, however can’t substitute for that. Theater presents a laboratory for human life that obliges me think about my own — my marriage, my family, my ways of moving through the world. It’s why a good play feels meditative, even therapeutic. (I’ll confess that after a breakup, I once wept my way through a Broadway production of “Private Lives” and felt a lot better afterward.) I learn about my life by slipping, mimetically, into others’ as they walk and chat in front of me. And I don’t have to meditate alone. Plays ask us to come together to engage with people and relationships presented just a few feet away — farther, if you have a balcony seat — while still allowing us the privacy that darkness confers. It offers community and anonymity at once. Additionally, a script or a streaming site won’t provide theater’s ephemerality, the sensation that each performance will never recur in exactly the same way. Perhaps this isn’t always meaningfully true. Plenty of productions alter little from one night to the next. But every show depends on the audience assembled. By simply bunching together in the dark, each of us contributes to the event each of us creates it. My daughter wouldn’t articulate it that way, but I’ve seen her experience it. She loves moments when she’s asked to clap or shout along. My husband and I took her to her first show, Soho Rep’s antic, kiddie play, “Washeteria,” when she was a year and a half, and she still remembers how the performers reached into the crowd and gave high fives. It’s that scene that’s stuck with her, even as she’s forgotten everything else about the play. As a relatively adult, I obviously have a somewhat more fraught relationship with audience participation, but on the right night, I can still feel some of her wonder. The opportunity for reflection, the evanescence, the liveness — they go a long way toward explaining why, even though I’m usually at the theater four or five nights a week for work, I still sometimes see plays for fun. It’s why I’ve tried to find a performance of some sort on almost every vacation my husband and I have taken. It’s why three or four weeks after my son was born, I started looking up outdoor Shakespeare offerings, searching for something we could see together, with exits all around in case he fussed. It’s why, a few nights ago, my mother and I settled him into an infant car seat, and we all rode through Brooklyn, from Park Slope to a park in Bushwick, which was hosting an evening performance of Dave Malloy’s theatrical song cycle “Ghost Quartet. ” The park didn’t feel much like a theater. It was breezy there and still warm, with flocks of pigeons wheeling overhead, and hot dog and ice cream carts lining the paths. I was relieved to see that other parents had taken babies. I counted a handful of older children, too. (“Ghost Quartet” is wonderfully creepy I hope they didn’t have nightmares.) When the lights turned on, and the show began, I rocked my son from side to side in time to the music. He shut his eyes and nestled against my chest, while I looked up at the makeshift stage, home in the world again. | 1 |
Home › POLITICS | US NEWS › LEAKED EMAIL REVEALS GOOGLE CHAIRMAN WANTED TO BE CLINTON CAMPAIGN’S ‘HEAD OUTSIDE ADVISOR’ LEAKED EMAIL REVEALS GOOGLE CHAIRMAN WANTED TO BE CLINTON CAMPAIGN’S ‘HEAD OUTSIDE ADVISOR’ 0 SHARES
[10/28/16] Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet, wanted to be “head outside advisor” to the Hillary Clinton campaign, according to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in an email released by WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks has continued to reveal Schmidt’s cozy relationship with the Clinton campaign. In a previously leaked email, a memo showed that Schmidt was working directly with the Clinton campaign on setting up various backend features to their website.
In an April 2014 email from Podesta to Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook discussing the launch of Hillary’s campaign, Podesta described how much Schmidt wanted to work with the campaign.
“I met with Eric Schmidt tonight. As David reported, he’s ready to fund, advise recruit talent, etc. He was more deferential on structure than I expected. Wasn’t pushing to run through one of his existing firms. Clearly wants to be head outside advisor, but didn’t seem like he wanted to push others out,” Podesta wrote . He added, “Clearly wants to get going. He’s still in DC tomorrow and would like to meet with you if you are in DC in the afternoon. I think it’s worth doing. You around? If you are, and want to meet with him, maybe the four of us can get on the phone iN the am.” Post navigation | 0 |
“It sounded like a stampede of cattle,” Donna Melanson said — 30 to 40 people fleeing, terrified, through Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday night. “Everyone is yelling, ‘Shooter, shooter, shooter,’ and they start diving under the seats to hide. ” Ms. Melanson, 53, a yoga instructor who was waiting to fly home to Miami, grabbed her bag and joined the stampede because, she said, “I couldn’t think of why people would be running unless there was a true emergency. ” There was not. A loud noise mistaken for gunfire led to rumors that spread at blazing speed in person and on social media, setting off a panic that shut down one of the nation’s busiest airports, as passengers fled terminals and burst through security cordons, and as the police struggled to figure out what was happening and to restore order. Far from being an isolated episode, it was essentially what had happened on Aug. 13 at a mall in Raleigh, N. C. on Aug. 14 at Kennedy International Airport in New York on Aug. 20 at a mall in Michigan and on Aug. 25 at a mall in Orlando, Fla. In the wake of terrorist attacks at airports in Brussels and Istanbul — and against other targets in Paris San Bernardino, Calif. Orlando Nice, France and elsewhere — Americans are primed, when they hear a loud bang or screams, or see a crowd break into a run, to think in terms of mass killings and active shooters. Yet crime statistics show that over all, violence in the United States is as low as it has ever been, and experts say the fear far exceeds the risk. “I would say that we are in the grip of a moral panic,” said John Horgan, a professor of global studies and psychology at Georgia State University who specializes in the study of terrorism. “The constant threat perception of being vulnerable to mass violence has seeped into our collective consciousness. ” Sam Macon, 36, a documentary filmmaker who was at the Los Angeles airport on Sunday, said: “People who were running had absolutely no idea why they were doing so. I don’t think it takes a social scientist to understand that the general tenor of American society right now is that we’re all wound up pretty tight. ” The recent panics injured dozens of people, some of them seriously. Kokila Patel, 66, and her husband, Manu, 74, had just finished lunch at a Panera in the Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh on Aug. 13 when she heard a noise and turned to see panicked shoppers surging toward them. People had taken sounds for gunshots, screamed, dived into stores and made a chaotic rush for the exits, paying little heed to what was in their way — including the Patels. The crowd knocked the couple down and trampled Ms. Patel, breaking her right femur and leaving her to wait in searing pain for two hours until police officers in tactical gear arrived and helped carry her out of the mall on a plastic display table. Surgeons braced her shattered leg with a steel rod, plate and screws, but the pain is still intense. Ms. Patel, who usually travels to India for three months each year with her husband, remains homebound. “People always think, ‘A gunman, a gunman,’” said Ms. Patel, who with her husband was earlier interviewed by The News and Observer. “People’s mentality are changing. People are always being afraid. ” Mr. Patel said he could see fear on the faces of the people who rushed over him and his wife. “They thought that somebody’s there to kill them,” he said. “Psychologically, we have been damaged. ” Social media feeds that kind of frenzy, said Roxane Cohen Silver, a professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine. “There’s rapid dissemination of information on social media that’s not being filtered by anybody,” she said. “This provides the unfortunate opportunity for rumors to be transmitted very quickly, without any ability to evaluate the veracity. ” Before there were television news reports about what was happening at the Los Angeles airport, she said, her son in Chicago had called to tell her, “I’m watching Twitter videos of people running at LAX. ” At the Florida Mall in Orlando, popping balloons were apparently mistaken for gunshots. At the Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi, Mich. it was a glass door toppling to the floor, knocked over by thieves who had smashed a glass display case in a jewelry store to grab two luxury watches. As the robbers ran, so did shoppers, and people posted videos of the chaotic scene on social media and said — falsely — that shots had been fired. That message spread fast, and calls to the Novi police overwhelmed the 911 system, shunting overflow callers to the state police. “It’s a wildfire you try to control,” said Detective Sgt. Scott Baetens of the Novi Police Department. “We try to put out timely and accurate information. But you can’t put it out fast enough to beat Twitter and Facebook. ” Once people start to flee, it is fairly normal for others to join in, experts say — even people who did not hear any suspicious sounds or rumors of terrorism. But people who study crowd psychology and the fear of terrorism say the steady stream of news reports of bloodshed has heightened anxieties out of proportion to the threat, making panic more likely to take hold. “This overexposure can cause increased fear, anxiety and helplessness, particularly in already psychologically vulnerable populations,” said Daniel Antonius, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University at Buffalo. He described “a national anxiety” about mass attacks that did not reflect the real level of danger. Dr. Horgan stressed that in addition to physical violence, “terrorism is fundamentally a form of psychological warfare, and it’s one of the greatest ironies that we help give it its strength in our reactions to it. ” | 1 |
fu – ck the Yankee K I_I NT5 – ha ha ha | 0 |
Volkswagen has agreed to pay up to $14. 7 billion to settle claims stemming from its diesel emissions cheating scandal, in what would be one of the largest consumer settlements ever in the United States. The proposed settlement involving the federal government and lawyers for the owners of about 475, 000 Volkswagen vehicles, includes a maximum of $10. 03 billion to buy back affected cars at their values, and additional cash compensation for the owners, according to two people briefed on the settlement’s terms. The cash compensation offered to each car owner will range from $5, 100 to $10, 000. Both the buyback price and amount of the additional compensation will depend on the cars’ value before Volkswagen’s public admission last September that its supposed “clean diesel” cars had been deliberately designed to cheat on tests. Despite the scope of the deal, which would still require the approval of the federal judge overseeing the case, the settlement would cover only a small fraction of the 11 million diesel cars worldwide — most of them in Europe — that Volkswagen has acknowledged contained the cheating software. But in the United States, “It’s a remarkable deal for Volkswagen owners who were defrauded by the company,” said David M. Uhlmann, a former chief of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section who is now a law professor at the University of Michigan. Rather than sell their vehicles back to Volkswagen, car owners in the United States can also choose to have their vehicles fixed to meet emissions standards, although doing so would probably reduce the engines’ performance and gas mileage. And the methods for fixing the vehicles that Volkswagen has proposed are still subject to approval by the Environmental Protection Agency, one of the federal parties to the case. Volkswagen will also compensate previous owners who may have sold their diesel vehicles after the cheating became known last year — but at only half the rate of the compensation being offered to current car owners. Particularly attractive is the combination of the buyback offer and cash payment, which appears to be the better option for consumers, Mr. Uhlmann said. “It’s hard to see why consumers would want to take advantage of the fix and not the buyback option, unless they just love their cars,” he said. “For Volkswagen, it’s an extremely expensive settlement, far more than many analysts predicted. ” The settlement terms, first reported by Bloomberg News, are to be submitted on Tuesday to a federal judge in California. Volkswagen would also pay $2. 7 billion into an E. P. A. fund, the two people said, to compensate for the environmental impact of its cars, which were fitted with software that enabled them to pass emissions tests but exceed legal pollution limits in driving. Volkswagen has also agreed to spend $2 billion on new projects, an investment that the automaker could reap returns on. All told, the civil settlement would be the largest yet by an automobile company, dwarfing the $1. 4 billion that Toyota paid to settle a lawsuit over flawed accelerators and the more than $2 billion General Motors has paid so far to settle claims from owners of cars with faulty ignition switches. Toyota, in addition, paid $1. 2 billion to settle criminal charges, while G. M. paid $900 million. The size of the settlement would approach the $18. 7 billion agreement that BP reached last year meant to resolve all federal, state and local claims against the oil giant arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which at the time was the largest civil settlement with any single entity in the nation’s history. Since then, as a result of additional claims, BP’s payouts have grown. Volkswagen has said it has set aside 16. 2 billion euros, or more than $18 billion, to cover fines and compensation to Volkswagen owners. And yet, Volkswagen’s legal problems would be far from over. Volkswagen faces a criminal inquiry by the Department of Justice and an investigation by attorneys general in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The attorneys general are expected as soon as Tuesday to announce their own settlement with Volkswagen, for $500 million in penalties for defrauding consumers, according to a person briefed on the deal. Financial regulators in New York are also investigating whether Volkswagen overcharged consumers when the company leased or financed sales of diesel cars that it later admitted were designed to cheat on tests. In a subpoena sent to Volkswagen on Monday, the state’s Department of Financial Services also sought information from the German automaker on insurance coverage required for Volkswagen and Audi cars financed or leased in New York. The automaker is under investigation in a number of other countries, including Germany and South Korea. Volkswagen acknowledged last year that it had installed illegal software in 11 million cars worldwide that made them capable of defeating pollution tests. During emissions testing, the cars’ pollution controls systems were turned on, curbing toxic emissions at the cost of engine performance. But those emissions controls were not fully engaged on the road, where its cars spewed nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the levels allowed under the Clean Air Act. The proposed settlement requires a review by United States District Judge Charles R. Breyer in California and must go through a period of public comment, during which terms could yet change. Affected Volkswagen owners are not bound by the settlement, and some may decide to press for better terms. Nor will the deal address terms for the owners of 85, 000 Volkswagen and Porsche cars sold in the United States that had a different type of diesel engine but also had emissions problems. Negotiations over a settlement for those cars are still underway. Volkswagen faces increasing discontent from owners in Europe, meanwhile, who account for by far the greatest number of the 11 million vehicles with illegal software. As a result, the settlement talks in the United States present Volkswagen with a dilemma. Any agreement that satisfied American owners would only increase demands from restive Volkswagen owners in Europe. The automaker is recalling cars in Europe to make them compliant with air quality rules, but is not offering owners any compensation. Limits on nitrogen oxide are less stringent in Europe, so it has been easier for Volkswagen to find a fix that regulators will approve. Still, owners in Germany, France and other places have been trying to find ways to sue Volkswagen, even though European laws generally discourage suits. Some political leaders in Europe have also been calling on Volkswagen to pay car owners. | 1 |
MIT is using a peculiar twist on the ethics “Trolley Problem” in order to understand the decisions people believe vehicles should make. [Moral Machine is a simple site, operating on binary choices in difficult situations. The essential conceit is that of an autonomous vehicle experiencing total brake failure which will cost lives in the inevitable accident. Your job is to choose which lives are more valuable over the course of the 13 given scenarios. It’s a problem that could just as easily be applied to human drivers, but is specifically geared toward helping researchers at MIT understand the decisions that a human would rather a robot make in the fraction of a second the AI would have to react. The choices given are simple and direct, though some are easier than others. It’s not difficult to choose who should survive between a family of four over some dogs in an accident, but once the problems include occupation, gender, or background for those involved, things get stickier. That specification can be made after you finish all 13 questions, if you choose to help MIT understand the reasoning behind your decisions by adjusting sliders weighted toward various aspects of each. The relative value of humans to animals, men to women, young to old, and others is assumed by the choices you’ve made, but can be altered to more clearly reflect your intent. Furthermore, you can then write out your thoughts and answer questions about your likelihood of purchasing an autonomous vehicle, your level of trust in the technology, and other optional demographic details. Finally, the site will compare your choices to the average for all users, including the characters you most often chose to save or kill. It’s important to understand that vehicular fatalities will never be wholly eliminated, barring some sort of technological revolution that can eliminate the risk of mechanical failure, or somehow guarantee that human error or intervention cannot ever be deadly. The questions posted by Moral Machine are less “if” than “when,” and will have to be answered in a future where we may not always be in control behind the wheel of the metal shells hurtling our families from place to place. Follow Nate Church @Get2Church on Twitter for the latest news in gaming and technology, and snarky opinions on both. | 1 |
With Donald J. Trump pulling even or ahead of Hillary Clinton in a series of recent national polls, the once unthinkable has become at least plausible. But if he is to be elected the 45th president, he must compete on a political map that, for now, looks forbidding. In the Republican primaries, he proved a master of nationalizing the political debate, appealing to voters across regional lines with jeremiads about immigration and crime that captivated an almost uniformly white primary electorate. At the outset of the general election, Mr. Trump has dominated the political combat on national television and social media. In the general election, however, his fate will be determined not by his Twitter followers or a relatively homogeneous Republican electorate, but by a set of interlocking and increasingly diverse regions, home to some 90 million Americans, that hold many of the 270 electoral votes he needs to win. Republicans enter the general election at a hefty disadvantage: Since the 1992 campaign, 18 states have voted consistently for Democrats in presidential elections, giving their party a firm foundation of 242 electoral votes to build upon. And in the four regions likely to decide the presidency — Florida, the upper Southeast, the Rust Belt and the interior West — Mr. Trump faces daunting obstacles, according to interviews last week with elected officials, political strategists and voters. Of course, months remain before voting begins, and this political year has defied many predictions. But if Mrs. Clinton clinches the Democratic nomination as expected, she may find an electoral bulwark in these coveted voters. MIAMI — Had Republicans nominated Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush for president, Tomás Regalado would have hurled himself into the task of electing their candidate. “I would have been all in,” Mr. Regalado, the Republican mayor of Miami, said in his office overlooking Biscayne Bay. Instead, Mr. Regalado, a former broadcast journalist, intends to sit out the presidential race. He considers Mrs. Clinton untrustworthy, but views Mr. Trump as a poisonous candidate who has aggravated racial divisions. In Miami, Mr. Regalado said, Mr. Trump is seen as “a bully, as a person who despises people that don’t look like him. ” Mr. Regalado, 69, said he had been inundated with angry email, some of it mentioning Mr. Trump by name. “Sometimes they say, ‘Yeah, Trump is right, you guys have to all go back to your country,’” said Mr. Regalado, who was born in Havana and emigrated as a teenager. “This is my country. I can’t go back to Cuba. ” Since Mr. Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, he has consolidated support from national party leaders and from many in the rank and file. He has pulled nearly even with Mrs. Clinton in many polls, including in Florida. But the southern tip of the nation’s most populous swing state has been a blazing exception to the trend — most of all in County, a densely populated bastion of diversity that cast about a tenth of the statewide vote in 2012. If Mr. Trump has effectively staked his campaign nationwide on strong support from whites, Florida may present the most punishing test of his strategy, as Hispanics here, including who twice helped George W. Bush carry the state, turn away from his candidacy en masse. Mr. Trump has trampled local sensibilities in myriad ways, from his belittling treatment of Mr. Rubio and Mr. Bush to his personal coarseness, slashing comments on immigration and endorsement of open relations with the Castro government. In addition to Mr. Regalado, two Republican members of Congress from Florida, Ileana and Carlos Curbelo, have said they will not back Mr. Trump, as has Carlos A. Gimenez, the Republican mayor of County. All four are . Early polls show voters in the area resoundingly rejecting Mr. Trump: A Quinnipiac University poll this month found Mr. Trump about even with Mrs. Clinton statewide, but losing a band of southeastern counties, including and Broward, by 38 percentage points. Roxana M. Leon, 63, an independent voter raised in Chile, said she wanted major change in Washington, but found Mr. Trump too objectionable to support. “He’s not the right person,” said Ms. Leon, who works as a secretary. “I am sick and tired of the old establishment, but I will vote for Clinton. ” Some voters who were once intrigued by Mr. Trump now regard him with distaste. Carlos Guerrero, 55, said he had been willing to “look the other way” on many of Mr. Trump’s speeches — including “the way he speaks of Latin people” — because he liked Mr. Trump’s overall message. But Mr. Guerrero, a Republican who described himself as a religious Catholic, said he recoiled when Mr. Trump began attacking Heidi Cruz, Senator Ted Cruz’s wife. “He is not qualified to run this country,” Mr. Guerrero, who is an actor, said of Mr. Trump. “This country was made by people who believed in God. ” Should Mr. Trump get trounced in South Florida, he might be to make up the difference elsewhere. Trump supporters believe he can improve upon Mitt Romney’s performance in North Florida, in the conservative panhandle region and in the Jacksonville area. But Mr. Romney found it difficult in 2012 to overcome a catastrophic defeat in Miami. He cut into President Obama’s support across most of Florida, but the president held steady in Tampa and Orlando, two other diverse cities, and expanded his margin of victory in by about 69, 000 votes over his 2008 lead. Mr. Obama ultimately captured Florida by about 74, 000 votes. Mr. Trump has his supporters here. Norma Samour, the owner of a shopping center, said she was a habitual Republican voter and would likely back Mr. Trump despite some mixed feelings. “He will make the United States more like it was 15 years ago,” said Ms. Samour, 56, who was raised in El Salvador and is of Palestinian descent. “People all over the world used to respect the United States. ” Yet the falloff Mr. Trump faces has, at a minimum, severely hindered Republican efforts to win statewide. Mr. Gimenez, the mayor, said nominating Mr. Bush or Mr. Rubio would have allowed Republicans to challenge the Democrats’ dominance in South Florida. “I don’t think the margin of defeat in Miami itself would have been as large,” Mr. Gimenez said. “Because of that, they may have been able to carry the state. ” ALEXANDER BURNS RALEIGH, N. C. — North Carolina has a split political personality. Consider Debbie Holt. A staunch supporter of abortion rights, Ms. Holt, 56, who owns a barbecue restaurant in downtown Raleigh, makes clear where she stands on other fronts in the culture wars with signs in her storefront window: “Stop profiling Muslims,” says one. Another: “Go To The Bathroom Where You Feel Best. ” Yet Ms. Holt is also an outspoken supporter of Mr. Trump. “He don’t take any stuff, just like me,” she drawled in between ringing up customers, using a more piquant word for stuff. Shannon White is as confused about her presidential preference as Ms. Holt is confident. A Mormon and Arizona transplant who usually votes for Republicans, Ms. White said she had no regard for Mrs. Clinton but doubted Mr. Trump’s adherence to any principles and was uneasy about his “abusive” language. “I’m actually thinking more that I am going to go Libertarian,” Ms. White, 42, said after wrestling with a mannequin at the apparel store she and her husband recently opened. For decades, this state has embodied contradictory impulses, simultaneously electing a racial like Jesse Helms and New South Democrats like Terry Sanford and Jim Hunt. But, as its demographics shift, discerning which way the state will tilt in November seems harder than ever. North Carolina may be the most evenly divided presidential battleground in the country. Its two biggest population centers, Charlotte and the Research Triangle of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, have been transformed by an influx of political centrists from other states. The party registration preference is not Republican nor Democrat, but unaffiliated. The rural white “Jessecrats,” conservative Democrats who reliably cast ballots for Mr. Helms, are dying off. Elections are now won in the edge towns like Cary, outside Raleigh, which natives joke stands for Containment Area for Relocated Yankees. Neither Mr. Trump, with his nationalism, nor Mrs. Clinton, with a swirl of scandal surrounding her, is a natural fit for a state that hungers for political moderation but is increasingly disenchanted with the political class. “They don’t like either party and they don’t like either candidate,” said Carter Wrenn, a veteran Republican strategist here. “It will just depend on which one they dislike less on Election Day. ” Polls show Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton begin the general election close to evenly matched. The surest sign of a jump ball: Democrats believe Mr. Trump starts with a narrow advantage, while Republicans believe Mrs. Clinton does. What they agree on is that, as at the national level, Republicans are largely coalescing around Mr. Trump and ruling out the possibility that Mrs. Clinton could run away with the state. Then again, Mr. Trump needs North Carolina much more than Mrs. Clinton does. With his difficulties among Hispanic voters pushing typical swing states such as Colorado, Nevada and Florida toward the Democrats, Mr. Trump will probably need to carry the combined 28 electoral votes from North Carolina and Virginia to capture the White House. But Virginia, demographically and politically, is a step to North Carolina’s left, increasing the pressure on Mr. Trump to win here. While Mr. Obama twice carried Virginia, by six percentage points in 2008 and by less than four in 2012, he won North Carolina by less than one percentage point in 2008 and then, in a more closely contested election, lost North Carolina in 2012 by about two points. Some Republicans worry that the backlash to the bathroom bill, aimed at transgender people, that Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law in March could lead moderates to cast their ballots for Democrats in November. But Democrats fret that the deep unpopularity of both Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton, and the campaign to come, could depress turnout among the state’s centrists and progressives. Finishing breakfast with her daughter at a Raleigh diner, Adrian Blackwell, 37, who works in medical sales and voted for Mr. Obama twice, said she would sit out the election. “I really can’t in good conscience give my vote to Hillary or Trump,” she said, citing Mrs. Clinton’s establishment ties and Mr. Trump’s policies. “I feel worried for our country. ” Brad Crone, a Democratic strategist, acknowledged that “Trump is doing better than folks think,” saying that and “Hillary’s high negatives” had created a difficult environment for her. What could tip the scales for Mr. Trump here is if he can improve his negative image, as voters’ opinions of him appear less fixed than they are of Mrs. Clinton. “I’m not a fan of his antics,” said Rick Peele, 57, who works for an architecture firm, leans Republican and was meeting a friend for lunch in downtown Raleigh last week. “But I haven’t been impressed with Hillary, either,” he added quickly. Asked when he had faced such a choice for president, he shot back: “Never. ” JONATHAN MARTIN Pa. — Mr. Trump’s best play for the White House is to cut a swath through the Rust Belt, flipping states traditionally won by Democrats that harbor large numbers of the white voters who have welcomed his hard line on immigration and trade. A handful of victories in the Rust Belt states stretching from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin could allow Mr. Trump to lose Florida and still become president. But all Rust Belt states are not equal: Ohio, which Mr. Obama won by just two percentage points four years ago, is the most likely Republican pickup. Michigan, which Mr. Obama won by about 10 points, is the biggest stretch. Pennsylvania — the battleground in 2012 after Ohio — perennially tempts Republicans to pour in resources in hopes of expanding the electoral map. To win the Rust Belt, a region that has generally gone Democratic in six straight presidential elections, Mr. Trump will have to win here. The challenge for him in Pennsylvania is to expand his appeal to voters without alienating Republicans, including women repelled by his insults and businesspeople who doubt his conservatism. “I support the Republican Party, but I’m not personally on the Trump train,” said Melissa Wilson, a preschool teacher in Chester County, outside Philadelphia. “I might not vote for president. I don’t think that he’s going to be able to speak to other nations and not cause us problems. ” If enough Republicans like Ms. Wilson reject Mr. Trump, his Rust Belt dreams will probably be thwarted. “He has to pull away the marginal Obama voters, which tends to be lower socioeconomic whites,” said Henry Olsen, an electoral analyst at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center. “The question for Trump is whether his persona and issue stance will alienate classic Romney voters in the managerial class. The margin for error is very small. ” Two counties in eastern Pennsylvania may best illustrate the give and take: Luzerne, where white Democrats are flocking to Mr. Trump, and Chester, the state’s wealthiest. In Luzerne County, registered Democrats far outnumber Republicans, but Mr. Trump won more votes in his April primary than Mrs. Clinton did in hers. Before the vote, 4, 647 Democrats and independents in Luzerne County switched their registration to Republican — nearly four times the number of Republicans and independents who reregistered as Democrats. Mrs. Clinton’s allies say she would need to hold on only to Mr. Obama’s coalition of young people, women and minorities to carry Pennsylvania. But Republicans say Mr. Trump is making his own new math, and some Democrats acknowledge worries. “I know families who’ve been lifelong Democrats who switched to Republican to vote for Trump,” said Mike DeCosmo, the chairman of the Luzerne County Democratic Party. “Pretty much the same thing happened when Reagan ran. ” Mr. DeCosmo mentioned a family who owns a business in Hazle Township, a father and four adult sons, active Democrats who left the party. “All workers,” he said. “It’s really tough. ” In the county seat, two members of the plumbers and pipe fitters union, Matt Hilstolsky and Jason King, pledged on their lunch break to vote for Mr. Trump, despite expecting their union to endorse Mrs. Clinton. “Bringing back jobs is the No. 1 thing,” Mr. Hilstolsky said. Elaine Bernardo, who works in customer service for Nabisco — the maker of Oreos that Mr. Trump often assails for moving production to Mexico — said she was a Democrat, “but a Republican at heart,” and planned to vote for Mr. Trump. “The middle class is being eradicated,” she said, pointing to sinking economic fortunes in the area. “People who have homes that were in a certain price range can expect now 50 percent of the value they could have gotten 30 years ago. They are having their houses sold at tax sales. ” In relying on white voters, Mr. Trump is bucking a demographic tide: The share of those voters in the Rust Belt is on the decline, while the share of college graduates is rising, said Ruy Teixeira, an elections analyst at the liberal Center for American Progress. “Trump is trying to run up historically large margins” among the white working class, Mr. Teixeira said, “but there’s less of them to run up. ” In Chester County, by contrast, it seems as though minds are still being made up about Mr. Trump. Val DiGiorgio, the county Republican chairman, said he hears from both “Main Line Republicans” of the Philadelphia suburbs who say they will not vote for Mr. Trump and others, including “a lot of Democrats and independents,” who are energized by his candidacy. “The question is whether Trump makes up enough ground with those type of voters to offset what he’s going to lose,” Mr. DiGiorgio said. He gave him a chance. At a for a state lawmaker in West Chester this month, guests in business attire expressed strong misgivings about voting for Mr. Trump. But some were already reconciling themselves to the idea. “I’m not enthusiastic I’m afraid he isn’t trustworthy,” said Peg Layden, a grandmother who said she voted for Mr. Cruz in the primary. “But I will definitely vote for the nominee. ” TRIP GABRIEL PHOENIX — Héctor Salinas, 21, was born in this city but grew up in Mexico. Nancy Herrera, 31, was born in Mexico but entered the United States illegally when she was 3 and gained legal status only when she married an American citizen 10 years ago. They are at Mi Familia Vota, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that helps Latinos become citizens and register to vote. They are barred from discussing specific candidates, but this year they have not had to. “The moment we talk about immigrant rights, immigration reform, people stop us and say, ‘Where do I sign? I’m going to vote this year because I don’t want Donald Trump to be my president,’” Mr. Salinas said. Arizona is both a flash point in the nation’s immigration battles and a microcosm of a changing United States. One in three residents is Latino, and one in four Latinos is old enough to vote. And while the white population is aging — its median age is 43 — the median age of Latinos is 26. Already, Hispanics are a majority of public school students. “The voters of tomorrow,” said Joseph Garcia, the director of the Morrison Institute Latino Public Policy Center at Arizona State University. But will Hispanics vote this year? The November election presents a unique enticement. Not only is Mr. Trump on the ballot, but so is one of his most outspoken supporters: Joe Arpaio, the swaggering Maricopa County sheriff who is seeking and was found in contempt of court this month for defying a federal judge’s order to stop profiling Latinos. “The Democrats have the best chance of winning Arizona since Bill Clinton won Arizona in 1996,” said Jaime Molera, a Republican strategist and former state schools superintendent who worked for former Senator Jon Kyl, one of the most conservative voices in Congress. The 2012 election offered a good window into how ethnicity and age play out here in politics. Mr. Romney carried the state by about nine points, winning of the white vote and 71 percent of voters 65 and above. President Obama was favored by 63 percent of voters under 30 and gathered almost of the Latino vote. Latinos might well help turn Arizona blue. But if the left and right here agree on anything, it is that Latinos alone may not be able to do so just yet. They will need help from moderate Republicans and independents, who together form the state’s most potent voting bloc. With Mrs. Clinton showing weakness on the Democratic side, peeling off those and voters will not be an easy job — but it is being done by going door to door, by groups and Democratic candidates. All are seeking to capitalize on animus toward Mr. Trump and Mr. Arpaio, particularly among younger voters, who have grown up hearing stories about the sheriff’s harsh treatment of Latinos. (Maricopa County, whose seat is Phoenix, is home to about 60 percent of Arizona’s population.) Canvassers and candidates alike are highlighting the financial costs and reputational harm to Arizona brought on by Mr. Arpaio’s crusades against undocumented immigrants. And they are portraying Mr. Trump’s and Mr. Arpaio’s stances as indistinguishable. “Arpaio is the original Trump,” said Stacy Pearson, the campaign manager for Paul Penzone, a former Phoenix police sergeant making his second run for sheriff as a Democrat, after nearly defeating Mr. Arpaio in 2012. “Trump’s approach could have been a slogan for Arpaio’s entire career. ” In an interview, Mr. Arpaio welcomed the association, saying the November elections would not be decided by party affiliation or ethnicity. “Personalities count more than ever this time around,” he said. Republicans, he added, “have nothing to worry about. ” But Mr. Molera, the Republican strategist, said that “if Republicans say they’re not concerned, they don’t want to admit it or they just don’t get it. ” An immigration law enacted in Arizona in 2010, which gave the police broad powers to stop people they suspected of being in the country illegally, spawned several civil rights groups that have recruited many young Latinos. Drawing on their own experiences — seeing parents deported, neighbors caught in workplace raids, siblings who dropped out of college after the state required undocumented immigrants to pay tuition — these activists are advising immigrants of their rights and pressing those who are eligible to register to vote. Sometimes it means pressing people who are not eligible to vote. “I spent 30 minutes talking to a man — he was very angry, very disillusioned,” said Mr. Salinas as he prepared to knock on doors on Phoenix’s overwhelmingly Hispanic west side. “He was undocumented, but he took home three voter registration forms for his kids. ” In 2010, there were 91, 000 Latinos registered to cast their ballots by mail in Arizona. This month, the number has climbed above 300, 000 — and state officials say that people who vote by mail are twice as likely to cast their ballots. “A lot of people are tired of all the stuff that keeps pushing them down,” Mr. Salinas said. “We want to turn the light on so they can believe again. If they believe again, they’ll participate. And if they participate, change comes faster. ” FERNANDA SANTOS | 1 |
In the past few weeks, the Islamic State has sustained a string of military defeats: ousted from its refuge on the Libyan coast, struggling to maintain its hold on the Iraqi city of Mosul, and losing ground in Syria. Yet as the deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin made clear, those losses do not diminish the group’s extraordinary power to inspire terrorist mayhem around the world, and may even help fuel it. In just the past year, even while under near continuous bombardment by the coalition, the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for more than three dozen attacks, stretching across 16 countries on four continents. That figure does not include the organization’s home terrain in Syria and Iraq, where it has lost 50, 000 fighters in the past two years, according to the Pentagon — nearly as many dead as the United States lost in the Vietnam War. Many of the attacks beyond the Middle East were carried out by assailants who cited their inability to reach the group’s Syria refuge, its caliphate, as a motive for acting at home. At the core of the Islamic State’s global success — and vulnerability — is a peculiar blend of theological boldness and criminal opportunism, something Al Qaeda, its predecessor and rival, never achieved. “ISIS’ claim to represent the caliphate has clearly been a trump card,” said Bernard Haykel, a professor of Near Eastern studies at Princeton University, referring to the group by one of its acronyms. “It stirs deep sentiments, even among those who are not converts to the cause, about a utopian and powerful Muslim empire, and one that seemed, for a while at least, to be unstoppable militarily. ” At the same time, the Islamic State has cannily lowered the bar for what passes as an attack. The Berlin truck rampage — like the deadly attack in Nice, France, in July — is a case in point. Both were as simple as it gets: The attackers commandeered trucks and plowed them into crowds of pedestrians. No weapons were needed (although the Tunisian suspected in the Berlin attack, who was killed in a shootout in Italy on Friday, is believed to have used a weapon to steal the truck). Al Qaeda began promoting exactly such a truck or car attack seven years ago, complete with illustrations, through a slick internet publication called Inspire. But there were no takers. “For years, this kind of stuff was sniffed at,” said William McCants, a scholar at the Brookings Institution. “U. S. counterterrorism officials were long confused as to why this wasn’t happening. But ISIS has succeeded in doing what Al Qaeda never did — it’s an open invitation to wreak havoc. ” The Islamic State has had its share of good luck: The Syrian conflict that began in 2011 created a vast ungoverned zone that was virtually an invitation to seize and hold terrain, much as other jihadist groups had done for much shorter periods in Yemen and Afghanistan in years past. The emergence of the Islamic State came just as social media was in full bloom, and it benefited from an inflow of Western jihadist militants who could give its propaganda more reach and polish than any previous insurgent group. The Islamic State was also endowed with an unusual mix of military expertise — many of its core members were former Iraqi officers with plenty of battlefield experience — and religious erudition. Arriving when the Arab world seemed to be collapsing, it deftly marshaled the skills of a cadre of young, intelligent Islamic fundamentalists such as the Bahraini religious scholar Turki al Binali, who helped recruit many frustrated young people eager for a radical new source of hope. What looks to outsiders like nihilism is the opposite to many young Islamic State converts: They are genuinely thrilled to be taking part in a venture that aims to redraw the map and reverse the moral polarities of what they see as a fallen world. The caliphate has emerged, again and again, as the key motivating factor for terrorists in Europe, including Anis Amri, the Tunisian suspected of having carried out last week’s truck attack in Berlin. Some attackers, including some of those who struck in France this year, have cited their inability to reach Islamic State terrain in Syria as a source of deep frustration in their videotaped farewell statements, and a reason for striking on their home turf instead. The same goes for the Islamic State’s suicide bombers, whose numbers are an extraordinary testament to the group’s ideological power. The group’s primary news source said in early December that Islamic State fighters had carried out 1, 034 suicide attacks in 2016. That number is impossible to verify, but analysts agree that the total has been climbing for several years now. Even if that increase is largely because of the group’s defensive use of suicide bombers while under siege, the number of people willing — even eager — to sacrifice for the cause is staggering. When the political scientist Robert Pape wrote a book on suicide bombings in 2005, he counted a global total of 315, and that was over about 15 years. Yet the Islamic State’s dependence on the idea of the caliphate is also a risk. It was noteworthy that the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, urged followers in a November audiotape message not to abandon Mosul. That seemed to cut against earlier statements from the group, which had hinted that the Islamic State could withdraw and regroup in the desert if necessary. Mr. Baghdadi’s warning suggested that he feared military defeat would drain the group’s global cachet, leaving Al Qaeda to inherit the jihadist mantle. “Once it loses its territory, ISIS will become another lost jihadist cause,” Mr. Haykel said. “Al Qaeda has the advantage of being an ideology that is not tied to a territory or an institution like the caliphate. ” | 1 |
LONDON — Michael Gove made his case on Friday to become the next British prime minister, arguing that the new leader should be someone who had backed an exit from the European Union, while vowing to spend less than a third of what his “Leave” campaign had promised on the National Health Service. Mr. Gove spoke a day after he shocked Britain by announcing his candidacy in the Conservative Party competition, having promised to serve as campaign manager for Boris Johnson, the former London mayor seen as the for the post. Mr. Johnson, one of the leaders of the Leave campaign with Mr. Gove, has withdrawn his candidacy, making the home secretary, Theresa May, 59, the favorite. But Ms. May had quietly backed staying in the European Union, and Mr. Gove, the justice secretary, argued on Friday that he best represented the mood of the party and the country. Mr. Gove, 48, laid out his program in a long and slightly wandering speech in London, acknowledging that he possesses no glamour or charisma and that he “did almost everything not to be a candidate for the leadership of this party. ” He said he was “so very reluctant because I know my limitations. ” He added, “Whatever charisma is I don’t have it, whatever glamour may be I don’t think anyone could ever associate me with it. ” But Mr. Gove, having betrayed Mr. Johnson, had to justify his decision. He listened to his heart, he said, and decided that running was “the right thing to do. ” He portrayed himself as a politician of conviction who broke with Prime Minister David Cameron, a friend, over a longstanding belief that Britain could not be truly sovereign inside the European Union, and with Mr. Johnson because “I came to realize this week that, for all Boris’s formidable talents, he was not the right person for the task. ” Like Ms. May, who spoke in a polished opening of her candidacy on Thursday, Mr. Gove said that he would not begin the formal process of leaving the European Union until next year and would not hold an early election. He also said that controlling immigration to Britain was a goal, which would almost surely prevent Britain from retaining access to the single market of the bloc. He promised to “end free movement, introduce an system for immigration, and bring numbers down. ” Money saved from leaving the European Union would be spent principally on the National Health Service, he said, pledging to spend 100 million pounds more a week, or about $133 million, by 2020. Before the referendum, the Leave campaign bus had been emblazoned with a promise to spend £350 million a week on the N. H. S. — a pledge that it said was equivalent to the amount Britain sent to the European Union and one that it refused to abandon even when it was shown that the figure was bogus. Mr. Gove argued that he was “the candidate for change,” pointing to his experience as justice secretary and especially as education secretary, even though he became so unpopular in that post that Mr. Cameron moved him out of the job. That move was the source of great resentment from Mr. Gove and his wife, Sarah Vine, a journalist. Mr. Gove spoke of being an adopted child lucky to find loving parents in Aberdeen, Scotland, who instilled in him “a belief in human potential. ” And Mr. Gove, through intelligence and hard work, rose to graduate from Oxford and join the nation’s political elite. Only five Conservative members of Parliament were in the audience, and Mr. Gove will need more support than that to emerge as a plausible prime minister and a real competitor to Ms. May. She is considered a safe continuity candidate who is to the right of Mr. Cameron but slightly to the left of Mr. Gove. Ms. May is not a natural politician or a but she has concentrated on doing her work. She has been generally praised for her six years as home secretary, one of the country’s most difficult jobs, in particular for standing up to the police unions and for pushing through antiterrorism legislation. Mr. Gove had little to say on Friday about the budget or the economy, which has taken a big hit from the vote for the British exit, known as Brexit, as the Treasury warned. During the campaign, he dismissed all such warnings as “Project Fear” and said that “people in this country have had enough of experts. ” George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer and a friend of Mr. Gove’s, said in a speech of his own in Manchester on Friday that he would abandon his pledge to balance the budget by 2020, the end of this Parliament, because of the effect that the referendum would have on growth and the uncertainty surrounding it. “We will continue to be tough on the deficit, but we must be realistic about achieving a surplus by the end of this decade,” Mr. Osborne said. Few economists believed that Mr. Osborne would deliver a budget surplus so soon in any case, given the size of the deficit and the impolitic scale of the spending cuts or tax increases that would be required to achieve one. On Thursday, the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, warned that Britain was suffering “economic stress” from the referendum and that a downturn and possibly a recession were on the way. Mr. Carney said that he expected to order “some monetary easing” in the next few months to promote growth — in other words, a cut in interest rates. But the bank can only do so much. “Monetary policy cannot immediately or fully offset the economic implications of a large, negative shock,” he said. Had Mr. Cameron and the “Remain” campaign won the referendum, Mr. Osborne would have been seen as a potential successor for prime minister. Those hopes have evaporated, and there is speculation that he may support Mr. Gove. There are three other candidates: Stephen Crabb, a young lawmaker who is the work and pensions secretary Liam Fox, a former defense secretary and Andrea Leadsom, the energy minister, a Leave campaigner who is fast picking up support. Conservatives will start winnowing the five candidates down to two in rolling votes, and then the 150, 000 or so party members will choose between the final two, expected now to be Ms. May and Mr. Gove. A decision is likely to be announced on Sept. 9. | 1 |
The Times of Israel reports: UNITED NATIONS — It’s high time the United Nations Security Council set its sights on Iran, rather than Israel, United States Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said during the Security Council’s monthly meeting on “the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. ”[“Every month the Security Council convenes a meeting on the Middle East. We have lots of meetings on specific countries and conflicts in this region but this debate is our opportunity to talk about the Middle East as a whole. Regrettably, these monthly meetings routinely turn into sessions. That’s the way the Security Council has operated for years. It’s a formula that is absurdly biased against one country. It’s a formula that is painfully narrow in its description of the conflicts in the region,” said Haley, who is this month’s president of the Security Council. In her remarks before the council Haley condemned Iran, which she said is responsible for regional tumult, from meddling in Yemen and Syria, to its support of Hezbollah. Read more here. | 1 |
Spin Doctors – How the Media Reports on Medicine
In a study of the dietary advice given by newspapers in the UK, “no credible scientific basis” was found for most claims. The “[m]isreporting of dietary advice” was found to be “widespread and may contribute to public misconceptions about food and health.” And, potentially, not just the public.
Scientists like to think they’re not influenced by popular media, but this study decided to put that to the test. Each week, The New York Times reports on scientific research, and the studies they report on end up being cited more often than those they don’t report on. Ah, so, the popular press does have an impact.
Not so fast. That’s just one potential explanation. Maybe, outstanding articles are both more likely to be picked up by media, and independently more likely to be cited. Maybe, the newspaper was just earmarking important science, and their publicity didn’t really have any effect on future studies.
How could you disentangle the two? An event in 1978 made it possible. There was a three-month strike, in which they continued to print copies, but could not sell them to the public. So, a natural experiment was set up. If the paper was just earmarking important articles, then the strike would have no effect on the studies’ impact. But, that’s not what happened. The studies highlighted during the strike months, when no one could read them, appeared to have no impact.
The next question, of course, is: are they just amplifying the medical information to the medical community, or distorting it, as well?
Systematic studies suggest that many stories about new medicines, for example, tend to overstate benefits, understate risks and costs, and fail to disclose relevant financial ties. Overly rosy coverage of drugs may also result from financial ties between drug companies and the journalists themselves, who may be susceptible to Big Pharma perks.
Scientists and physicians often blame the press. In fact, the famous physician William Osler was quoted as saying, “Believe nothing that you see in the newspapers” and “If you see anything in them that you know is true, begin to doubt it at once.”
But, both parties share in the blame. Reporters may only have an hour or two to put together a story; and so, they may rely on press releases. And, it’s not hard to imagine how drug company press releases might be biased. But, surely, press releases from the scientists themselves, and their institutions, would present the facts fairly, and without spin, right? Researchers decided to put it to the test.
Critics blame the media. But, where do you think they’re getting the information from? One might assume that press releases from prestigious academic medical centers would be measured, unexaggerated—but suffer from the same problems: downplaying side-effects, conflicts of interest, study limitations, and promoting research that has uncertain relevance to human health.
For example, most laboratory or animal studies explicitly claimed relevance to human health—yet lacked caveats about extrapolating results to people. For example, a release about a study of ultrasound reducing tumors in mice, was titled “Researchers study the use of ultrasound for treatment of cancer”—failing to note “for your pet mouse.”
Apparently, it’s been estimated that less than ten percent of animal research ever succeeds in being translated to human clinical use. Overselling the results of lab animal studies as a promised cure potentially confuses readers, and might contribute to disillusionment with science.
Although it’s common to blame the media for exaggerations, most times they don’t just make it up. That’s what the research institutions are sending out in their own press releases. And, medical journals, too. Sometimes, medical journal press releases do more harm than good. An analysis of press releases from some of the most prestigious medical journals found the same litany of problems.
I don’t think most people realize that journals sell what are called reprints, copies of the articles they print, to drug companies, which can bring in big bucks. Like, drug companies may buy a million copies of a favorable article. Sometimes, the company will submit an article, and promise to buy a certain number in advance—which is effectively a bribe, notes a long-time editor-in-chief at the prestigious British Medical Journal . He remembers once when a woman from a public relations company rang him up, and stopped just short of saying she would go to bed with him if they published the paper.
Another medical journal conflict of interest relates to advertising—a major source of income for many journals. Most of the advertising comes from pharmaceutical companies. And, so, if they don’t like a study, they can threaten to withdraw their advertising—potentially leaving editors faced with the stark choice of agreeing to bury a particular piece, or seeing their journal die.
Even if journalists have time to skip the press releases, and go straight to the source, and try to read the studies themselves, they may find them utterly incomprehensible gobbledygook. But, even if they do understand them, scientific articles are not simply reports of facts. Authors often have many opportunities to add “spin” to their scientific reports—defined as ways that can distort the interpretation of results, and mislead readers, either unconsciously, or with willful intent to deceive.
What these researchers did was look at randomized controlled trials with statistically nonsignificant results—meaning some drug, for example, was compared to a sugar pill, and the difference between the newfangled treatment and placebo was essentially nonexistent. Would the researchers just lay out the truth, and be, like, well, we spent all this time and money, and in terms of our primary outcome, we got nothing. Or, would they try to spin it? In 68% of cases, they spun. There was spin in the abstract, which is like the summary of the article. And this is particularly alarming, because the abstract is often the only part of an article people actually read.
And so, no wonder the media often gets it wrong. Spin in the abstracts can turn into spin in the press releases, and results in spin in the news. Therefore, even if journalists are doing their due diligence, using the original abstract conclusion in good faith, they still run the risk of deceiving their readers.
Researchers presenting new findings could always be careful to stress how preliminary the findings may be. But, let’s be serious, powerful self-interests may prevail.
Finally, though, I think the biggest problem with the way media reports on medicine is the choice as to which stories are covered. In 2003, SARS and bioterrorism killed less than a dozen people, yet generated over a hundred thousand media reports—far more than those covering the actual greatest threats to our lives and health.
In fact, ironically, the more people that die, the less it appears something is covered. Our leading #1 killer is heart disease. Yet, it can be prevented, treated, and even reversed with diet and lifestyle changes. Now that is something that deserves to be on the front page.
Close Sources Video Sources | 0 |
Throughout Fox News Channel’s summer of discontent last year, executives at its parent company, 21st Century Fox, assured reporters that the young, corporate leadership — Rupert Murdoch’s sons, James and Lachlan — understood the severity of the sexual harassment allegations pending against the network’s founding chairman, Roger E. Ailes. It was why they moved quickly to hire a law firm to investigate the charges against Mr. Ailes, executives at the company told reporters at the time. And, these people said, it was why they forced Mr. Ailes’s resignation after that investigation found enough potential evidence to preclude them from standing by his denials. The company’s response, the executives said, was an example of how it had reined in the wild “ ’ ” impulses that led to the crisis that was almost its undoing a few years ago. That, of course, was the phone hacking scandal at its British newspaper division, in which reporters and a private investigator hacked phone messages of the royal family, actors, athletes and various others. This time around, after Mr. Ailes’s departure, the company promised that things would get cleaned up quickly. It said it was committed to “maintaining a work environment based on trust and respect,” and spent millions on settlement deals that also happened to keep accusers from speaking about their experiences with Mr. Ailes — who, company executives implied, was the isolated cause of all the problems. And that was to be that. Except, clearly, it wasn’t. Not if you go by the meticulously reported piece last weekend by Emily Steel and Michael S. Schmidt of The New York Times, which said that some $13 million had been paid out to settle claims of harassment leveled against another man vital to Fox News’s success, its top star Bill O’Reilly. (Two of those settlements came after Mr. Ailes’s ouster.) Not if you go by a federal investigation that is exploring whether Fox News failed to properly account for settlement payments, granting immunity to the network’s former chief financial officer, Mark Kranz, as The Financial Times reported. Certainly not if you go by the latest lawsuit, from the Fox News contributor Julie Roginsky, who said her own claims against Mr. Ailes — and her refusal to attack his first public accuser, Gretchen Carlson — caused the current Fox News (and former Ailes deputy) Bill Shine to deny her a promotion. Her complaints weren’t even investigated, she said. Mr. Ailes through a lawyer denied her charges after she filed her suit on Monday, just as Mr. O’Reilly has denied all the claims that have been made against him. But the latest cascade of news involving allegations of misbehavior at Fox News makes it pretty hard to see what, exactly, has changed. Fox News executives say they’ve made more workplace improvements than they’re getting credit for, and I’ll get to that. But it still stands that, other than the senior Mr. Murdoch taking the reins of the network as executive chairman, the leadership has remained fairly stable two of Mr. Ailes’s deputies, Mr. Shine and Jack Abernethy, took over as with the executive vice president for programming, Suzanne Scott, and the network counsel, Dianne Brandi, remaining as well. On top of that, take a look at the news, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, that the network went ahead and renewed Mr. O’Reilly’s contract despite the two new settlements — and a third one from years ago that 21st Century Fox learned about only last year. Then consider that another Fox News star, Sean Hannity, brandished his licensed (and, he said, unloaded) handgun in his studio and (jokingly) pointed its laser sight at his liberal sparring partner, Juan Williams, with no apparent reprimand, as CNN reported last month. It’s hard not to see the Murdoch pirate flag moving back up the mast — or to wonder whether it was ever really taken down, at least at Fox News. The network, led by Mr. O’Reilly, remains the most watched cable news network by a wide margin, and it sure seems that the old proclivity to look the other way in the face of victory remains in place. But this isn’t just another story about a big public company with potentially serious problems in its corporate culture — which, given the growing number of advertisers pulling out of Mr. O’Reilly’s program, could prove costly. It’s about one of the biggest and most influential media companies in the world its cable behemoth, Fox News, is the network of choice for the current United States president. (And this president is more reactive to news than any who came before him.) The wildness that allegedly permeates Fox News’s office culture has extended to its reportage in ways that have at times helped President Trump create his famous alternative reality. The most notable recent example: a declaration by Andrew Napolitano, a network contributor, saying Fox News had learned that President Barack Obama enlisted British intelligence officers to spy on Mr. Trump before his inauguration. The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, repeated this at a daily briefing, drawing fury from 10 Downing Street. Fox News followed up by reporting that it had learned no such thing. The network soon let it be known that Mr. Napolitano was being sidelined “for the foreseeable future,” as The Los Angeles Times reported. The foreseeable future lasted just about two weeks. And when Mr. Napolitano returned to Fox’s programming last week, he repeated his claim about Mr. Obama and the British, despite the news division’s disavowal, only this time with no consequences (as if there had really been any up to that point). Those who wondered whether Fox News was somehow going to moderate its editorial direction following Mr. Ailes’s ouster have their answer. The questions were based, at least in part, on the notion that the sons were more politically moderate than their father, though Lachlan less so than James. But the questions were misguided, given that the sons have made it clear that Fox wouldn’t and shouldn’t change too much, given its profits. “There’s no desire or need to shift the position that it has in the market,” Lachlan Murdoch told Wall Street analysts over the summer. And evidence is piling up that the elder Mr. Murdoch is the one running the show at Fox News, anyway. Fox News was as much his creation as it was Mr. Ailes’s, after all. But let’s remember: 21st Century Fox repeatedly said that all three Murdochs were on board to change the corporate culture. Fox News said Tuesday that it was doing so by “expanding our Human Resources department with regional people and adding more people in New York,” a tacit acknowledgment that when Mr. Ailes was there, employees viewed the department as loyal to him above all, and often didn’t trust it enough to make complaints. In January, the network hired a new human resources chief, Kevin Lord, who on Monday issued a memo encouraging employees with complaints to step forward, assuring them of confidentiality and a swift response (though one name listed as an avenue of complaint was that of Ms. Brandi, an holdover). But then there’s Mr. O’Reilly. This week, people familiar with his contract extension told my colleagues Ms. Steel and Mr. Schmidt that it includes provisions giving the company “leverage over his behavior. ” The ultimate leverage, of course, could come by way of Mr. O’Reilly’s loss of advertisers. That was the thinking behind the call from the online civil rights group Color of Change for a bigger O’Reilly advertising boycott. “Fox News and the Murdochs only listen when they hear money rushing out the door,” said the group’s executive director, Rashad Robinson. That’s logic even a pirate has to appreciate. | 1 |
link Greetings ATS community, I wanted to pass on something my dad experienced several years ago in the hopes that perhaps others have experienced something similiar or know someone who has. I found the story quite interesting, and I hope you will too. Background: My dad was a pilot with 30+ years of experience flying all manner of civilian, military, and commercial aircraft. He was a naturally humble and quiet individual--never given to boasting or exageration. Like many pilots, he was wired to be logical, mathematical, and mechanical; he was also a supreme skeptic where all things supernatural and speculative are concerned. He preferred direct experience and scientific inquiry to wild tales. His story: One day he came back from a trip he flew (commercial flight) to Mexico. Over a beer, I casually asked him about his trip. He looked at me, cocked one eyebrow and replied, "I saw something I can't explain." This got my attention. On the layover, he and another pilot went out for dinner. Walking back along the beach at night, they both noticed a distant light moving along a fixed vector at a constant speed. They kept watching it, and were wondering about distance and elevation, thinking perhaps it was either a satellite or a high-flying aircraft--nothing out of the ordinary. Then it came to a complete stop, reversed direction 180 degrees, and whizzed off so fast it was out of sight in less than a second or two. So my first response was, "Do you think it was a UFO?" Again with the cocked eyebrow he said, "I don't want to use that word. All I will say is that what we witnessed completely and utterly defies all laws of aerodynamics that I'm familiar with. I'm not aware of any aircraft--military or otherwise--that can do that. It's beyond my abilities to explain; that's all I'm willing to say." To contrast this story, I will also say that one time we were watching a campy, early 80's Fox program that was reporting on the US government harboring aliens. At one point in the story, they started talking about a particular installation in the mountains of Nevada (not area 51) that's being used as a landing zone for UFO's. Dad started laughing so hard I thought he was going to fall off the couch. He looked at me and said, "I know what they do there." I said, "And???" He replied, "I can't tell you that, but I CAN tell you they're NOT landing UFO's." Total buzz kill. Anyway, that's the story I wanted to relate in the hopes that others can add their own. Thanks for reading. | 0 |
Co-sponsored by 57 nations, L41 calls for a 2017 conference ‘to negotiate a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination’ The United Nations on Thursday adopted a landmark resolution calling for the ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons worldwide.
Resolution L.41 (pdf) was accepted by a vote of 123-38, with 16 member nations abstaining. The vote was held during a meeting of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, which deals with disarmament and international security matters.
“For seven decades, the UN has warned of the dangers of nuclear weapons, and people globally have campaigned for their abolition. Today the majority of states finally resolved to outlaw these weapons,” said Beatrice Fihn, executive director of International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons (ICAN).
Setsuko Thurlow , a survivor of the Hiroshima and leading proponent of a ban, also celebrated Thursday’s vote.
“This is a truly historic moment for the entire world,” Thurlow said. “For those of us who survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it is a very joyous occasion. We have been waiting so long for this day to come.”
As expected, nuclear powers including the United States, France, Canada, Israel, Russia, and the United Kingdom, as well as several of their European allies, were among the nations who voted against the ban.
It was a long journey to get to this point, but totally worth it! #goodbyenukes #FirstCommittee pic.twitter.com/SM5mFzSXzf
— Michael Hurley (@mdghurley) October 27, 2016 | 0 |
The Senate Judiciary Committee, in a vote Monday, has passed Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace conservative stalwart Justice Antonin Scalia, setting up a full Senate confirmation vote for April 7. [The vote sets the stage for a clash on Senate rules for Supreme Court nominees. At least Senate Democrats, now including Sen. Jon Tester ( ) whose state President Trump won by over twenty points, and Senators Patrick Leahy ( ) Mark Warner ( ) and Diane Feinstein ( ) who announced their opposition to Gorsuch at the hearing, have now expressed their intention to initiate the first partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee in American history. Despite Sen. Michael Bennet ( ) who told the Colorado Independent that he will not filibuster his fellow Coloradan Gorsuch, and three Democrats who have said they will support Gorsuch, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ( ) now appears to have the votes needed to prevent a vote for cloture and a full Senate vote on Gorsuch’s confirmation under current rules. Senate Democrats changed Senate rules in 2013 to allow a simple majority to trigger a full Senate vote on Court nominees. Increasing numbers of Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( ) appear poised to use the same “Constitutional Option” for Supreme Court nominees in order to ensure Gorsuch’s confirmation. During Monday’s final Judiciary Committee meeting on Gorsuch, Sen. Lindsay Graham ( ) reiterated Republican willingness to revert to the constitutional option. “We’ve had one successful filibuster of a Supreme Court Nominee, that was that was bipartisan with Abe Fortas. By the end of the week, that will still be the case,” he told the committee with a smile. Democrats on the Committee used their final opportunity to air their grievances with Trump’s pick for the high court. Sen. Dick Durbin ( ) went so far as to call the Federalist Society, an association of conservative lawyers that endorsed Gorsuch, a “special interest group” and launched into an extended diatribe against the validity of judicial originalism, the idea that the constitution and laws ought to be interpreted according to the original intentions of the drafters. Durbin quoted the late liberal Supreme Court Justice William Brennen as calling the very idea judges can find the intention of the Founders as “arrogance cloaked in humility. ” Sen. Chris Coons ( ) who had held out on supporting the proposed filibuster and was posited as a possible partner in a deal to save the cloture requirement, used the Committee meeting to come out against an up or down vote on Gorsuch. “I am not ready to end debate on this issue, so I will be voting against cloture unless we are able, as a body, to find a way to sit down and avoid the ‘nuclear option,’” he told the Committee. Sen. John Cornyn ( ) downplayed the idea the increasingly likely constitutional option to confirm Gorsuch on a simple majority vote is a stark break with Senate tradition. “I disagree with those who say this is the end of the Senate as we know it. This is a restoration of the status quo ante, before our Democratic colleagues erected this artificial sixty vote requirement. ” The Committee also approved Deputy Attorney General nominee Rod Rosenstein with some Democratic support and Rachel Brand, nominee for Associate Attorney General, along a vote. | 1 |
The daily fantasy sports companies DraftKings and FanDuel have agreed to merge after a turbulent year in which both of their values plummeted as several attorneys general questioned the legality of their games in their states. The merger must be approved by regulators and will take time — the companies said they expected the deal to close in the second half of 2017. Until then, both sides will operate under their own brands. The merger was one of necessity: Lobbying and legal costs had damaged both companies’ bottom lines to the extent that representatives of the companies last month asked the New York attorney general’s office to allow them to pay a combined $12 million settlement in installments after claims that they employed false and deceptive advertising practices, two people familiar with those negotiations said. In recent weeks, according to these two people, FanDuel, based in New York, laid off more than 60 people, and both companies have acknowledged that they are months behind in their payments to vendors, especially to the array of public relations and lobbying firms that they have employed across the nation to persuade individual state legislatures to legalize daily fantasy games — the most critical component of rebuilding their business. “Joining forces will allow us to truly realize the potential of our vision, and as a combined company, we will be able to accelerate the pace of innovation and bring a richer experience to our customers than we ever could have done separately,” Jason Robins, chief executive of DraftKings, said in a statement. If the merger is approved, Robins will retain that title in a new company, while FanDuel’s chief executive, Nigel Eccles, will become chairman of the board. “While both companies have accomplished much already,” Eccles said, “this transaction will create a business that can offer a greater variety of offerings, appealing to new users, including the tens of millions of fantasy players that haven’t yet tried our products. ” Last year, at the beginning of the N. F. L. season, DraftKings and FanDuel overwhelmed sports broadcasts with hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising that emphasized their prize payoffs. At the time, it was a largely unregulated, industry in which players paid a fee on a website, assembled virtual rosters of players in pursuit of jackpots ranging from $22 to $2 million, and scored points based on the outcomes of professional games. Daily fantasy sports appeared to be a virtual cash machine. The companies were valued at more than $1 billion each. Their investors included Major League Baseball and the N. B. A. the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the New England Patriots owner Robert K. Kraft and major media companies like NBC. After a DraftKings employee won a major jackpot on FanDuel’s site in October 2015, however, Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York State attorney general, began an inquiry into whether employees of the companies had used inside information to prey on customers on each other’s sites. Soon, scores of lawsuits were filed in courts across the country. Schneiderman shut down the industry in New York, declaring daily fantasy sports to be illegal gambling, but he laid the groundwork for a deal in March when he suggested a June 30 deadline for the State Legislature to act to address the games’ legal status. It did, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the bill into law in August. New York was the eighth state to declare daily fantasy sports legal, and the companies are facing expensive efforts to have their games legalized in the big markets of Illinois and Texas. | 1 |
October 27, 2016 Russian warships denied fuelling stop in Spain after concern from NATO
A Russian war fleet, including the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, will not refuel in Spain on their way to Syria after the Nato member cancelled a planned stopover following concerns by the military alliance.
Moscow has withdrawn a request for three warships to dock at the Spanish port of Ceuta with the Spanish foreign ministry confirming the stopover would not take place.
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HONG KONG — At the Addiction Treatment Center in eastern China, more than 6, 000 internet addicts — most of them teenagers — not only had their web access taken away, they were also treated with electroshock therapy. The center, in Shandong Province, made headlines in September after one of its patients killed her mother in retribution for abuse she had purportedly suffered at the camp during a forced detox regimen. Now China is trying to regulate camps like the one in Shandong, which have become a last resort for parents exasperated by their child’s habit of playing online games for hours on end. The government has drafted a law that would crack down on the camps’ worst excesses, including electroshock and other “physical punishments. ” Medical specialists welcomed the law, announced this week in China’s news media, as an initial step toward curbing scandals in the industry. “It’s a very important move for protecting young children,” said Tao Ran, the director of the Internet Addiction Clinic at Beijing Military General Hospital. Dr. Tao said that many Chinese parents believe that the effects of electroshock therapy are fleeting. But he had seen several Chinese teenagers return from boot camps that treat internet addiction showing signs of lasting psychological trauma, he said. “They didn’t talk, were afraid to meet people and refused to leave their homes,” he said, referring to his meetings with the teenagers. “They were panicked even to hear the word ‘hospital’ and ‘doctor. ’” Qu Xinjiu, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, said the belief that parents have supreme jurisdiction over their children, and that even police officers have no right to intervene in family affairs, is widespread in China. “That’s why there are so many parents sending their kids for electroshock therapy, even when outsiders think it’s wrong to do so,” Professor Qu said. Figures on the number or growth of internet detox camps in China are scarce, but the camps’ methods have been generating concern for years. The legislation would also limit how much time each day that minors could play online games at home or in internet bars. Providers of the games would be obliged to take measures to monitor and restrict use, such as requiring players to register under their real names. The law does not yet specify the number of hours allowed, but minors would be prohibited from playing online games anywhere between midnight and 8 a. m. Dr. Tao said he doubted that the draft law, which was introduced by the State Council, China’s cabinet, could be enforced evenly nationwide. Provisions to limit the number of hours spent online probably could be easily flouted, he said. Many users of Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, were even more critical, saying policing teenagers’ behavior online seemed impractical and . “I’m afraid it’s just empty talk,” a Sina Weibo user wrote. “What about young kids who always go online on their cellphones?” another wrote. “Isn’t that also an addiction?” Game providers and internet bars that did not enforce the law would be subject to fines and possible closure by the government. Reports in the Chinese news media this week said that lawmakers would accept public comments on the draft law through early February but gave no indication of when it might be put into practice. In 2009, the Chinese Health Ministry issued guidelines against using electroshock therapy for internet addicts. Trent M. Bax, the author of “Youth and Internet Addiction in China,” said that he wondered whether a ban would be any more effective. Despite the Health Ministry’s policy, “punitive practices continue to victimize China’s youth” in internet detox camps, said Dr. Bax, an assistant professor of sociology at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea. Researchers from Chinese, Taiwanese and German universities wrote in the journal Psychiatry in 2014 that the highest prevalence of “problematic internet use” worldwide had been observed in Asia. Christian Montag, the study’s lead author, said in an email on Thursday that South Korea had the world’s highest rate of problematic internet use, in part because of its large technology sector and online game market. South Korea also offers camps for internet addiction. Recent scientific evidence indicates that the best treatments for digital addiction appear to be cognitive behavioral therapy in individual and group settings, which often include patients’ parents and significant others, said Daria J. Kuss, a specialist on internet and game addiction at Nottingham Trent University in Britain. Dr. Kuss said that medication can also be effective, especially if internet addiction is accompanied by anxiety or mood disorders, such as depression. But beatings and electroshock therapy “are not commonly used in the treatment of internet and gaming addiction and are to be considered unethical and inhumane,” she said. Officials and psychologists around the world have debated how to measure and regulate extreme internet use. A crucial question, analysts say, is whether to classify the problem as a psychological disorder or as a symptom of underlying disorders. In a sign of how fluid the debate is in China, the Health Ministry said in 2009 that it would no longer use the term “addiction” to describe how the internet harmed people who used it improperly or excessively. But a study the same year by the China Youth Association for Network Development, which is led by a committee under the ruling Communist Party, found that more than 24 million Chinese, age 13 to 29, who used the internet were digital addicts. | 1 |
Contact Us WikiLeaks: Hillary Admits Clinton Foundation Donors Fund ISIS Hillary Clinton is now on record saying Saudi Arabia and Qatar fund and support ISIS. So what did she do about it? She took their money, and sent them arms. Mainstream media won't touch this with a 10-foot pole. Posted on October 27, 2016 by administrator in News , US // 0 Comments
WikiLeaks have released an email in which Hillary Clinton admits that Qatar and Saudi Arabia – two of her mega-donors – provide financial and logistical support to ISIS.
In the extraordinary email , sent to John Podesta in 2014, Clinton lays out an eight point plan to defeat ISIS in Iraq, and mentions that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are both giving financial and logistical support to the Islamic State and other extremist Sunni groups.
She conveniently fails to mention that these two terror-funding states are both mega-donors to the Clinton Foundation. Qatar has given between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation and Saudi Arabia has donated upwards of $25 million dollars to the Foundation.
Nowhere in the email – sent, of course, through the notorious unsecured server – does Clinton address the staggering hypocrisy of continuing to provide Saudi Arabia with multiple billions in weapons, arms, aircraft, and other support in full knowledge of its active support for terrorists.
Hillary Clinton has known since at least 2014 that the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar provide “ clandestine financial and logistic support ” to ISIS and other radical Islamic groups – but, rather than refuse their money and call for a halt of arms sales and support, she has campaigned for more money and tried to increase their supply of arms.
Arming ISIS
In an email revealed in the Intercept earlier this year, Jake Sullivan, then Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, celebrated the sale to Saudi Arabia of more than 80 Boeing F-15SA fighter jets – “ along with upgrades to the pre-existing Saudi fleet of 70 F-15 aircraft and munitions, spare parts, training, maintenance, and logistics ” – with the heading addressed to Clinton, “ FYI — good news .”
Good news – at least for Clinton, Saudi Arabia, and ISIS. And evidence of the cozy love-in doesn’t stop there. Ever wonder what a Clinton administration’s top priorities will be? Jobs? Healthcare? Education? More like arming ISIS. A top Clinton aide described a $60 billion weapons transfer of fighter jets and helicopters to Saudi Arabia as a “ top priority .”
Saudi Arabia is the largest customer of U.S. military sales in the world with “ active and open cases valued at approximately $97 billion ,” according to a White House fact sheet that championed the U.S.’ strong relationship with the terror-sponsoring state.
Media blackout
Even in a period of America’s history in which mainstream media repeats what one of the most powerful political dynasties in the country keeps on repeating to exhaustion – accusing Russia of “rigging” the U.S. election without offering any proof to back their claims – it is still astonishing that major outlets are refusing to report on this story.
Is it that Qatar’s and Saudi Arabia’s funding of ISIS – while funding their favorite American candidate at the same time – is a difficult issue to report on? Or is the gutless and hopelessly biased media’s refusal to cover this topic rooted in fear that thoroughly addressing it will cause her to lose the presidential election?
The press have given Clinton a free ride in this campaign. By failing to live up to their duties in a functioning democracy, the fourth estate have played their part in erecting a demon. Unencumbered by the law, unscrutinized by the media, Clinton will wield a dictator’s authority. | 0 |
On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” House Speaker Representative Paul Ryan ( ) stated that the drafting of the Obamacare replacement is “precisely the most transparent, and normal way of doing business, which is the opposite of what the Democrats did when they crammed Obamacare through. ” He added that Senator Rand Paul’s ( ) criticism of the process and accusations that the plan is “Obamacare light” are untrue and simply Rand “looking for a publicity stunt here. ” Ryan was asked [relevant exchange begins around 5:10] when the rollout of the replacement would be, and whether it would be rolled out next week, Ryan answered, “Yeah, I’ll let the committees of jurisdiction make the announcement on that. But our committees that write these bills are working very, very closely with the administration, are the legislation. … When they’re done with their they’ll make that announcement and then they’ll tell us when they’re ready to go and move on the legislation. So, they’ll make that announcement pretty soon I think. ” When asked about critics who say that he’s doing what the Democrats did and jamming legislation through without transparency, Ryan responded, “Are you kidding me, Bret? Give me a break. Seriously?” He elaborated, “Last year, in early 2016, we rolled out an Obamacare repeal and replace plan. We called it A Better Way. You can go on the Internet and read it. We ran on that plan. That plan resembled Tom Price’s legislation, that so many people in Congress were of. Then, after the election came, and we won the election, we started putting that plan into legislative text, having hearings, all these hearings on repealing and replacing Obamacare were in the Congressional committees. So, we’ve been doing hearings all year long. Now, we’re translating the findings of those hearings, that plan into legislative text. That’s the … that’s occurring. And then guess what? This bill’s not being written in my office like it was in Harry Reid’s office on Christmas Eve in 2009. This bill is written — being written by the committees that are in charge of healthcare, which is the regular order process. This bill will go through the committee process, go through the Budget Committee, then go to the floor of Congress, under what we call regular order. That is precisely the most transparent, and normal way of doing business, which is the opposite of what the Democrats did when they crammed Obamacare through. ” After being played Rand Paul’s criticism of the process and his accusation that he thinks there’s “a lot of Obamacare light” in the replacement, Ryan countered that Rand’s accusations weren’t true. He added, “I like Rand, but I think he’s looking for a publicity stunt here. What’s happening is, the committees of jurisdiction are drafting legislation and getting feedback from their members. That’s exactly how legislation is supposed to be written. The things he described are just not accurate, and like I said, when the committees write their bills and put their bills out there to mark up, everybody will see what they’ve done. ” Ryan further described “in general” what the replacement would look like. He said, “We’re talking about giving the states control of the Medicaid program, which is something that conservatives have been fighting for for years. … And then on the tax fraud, we’ve long been saying that we need equalize the tax treatment of healthcare for everybody in America. Right now, the tax code discriminates against people who do not get healthcare from their jobs. There’s a huge tax benefit if you get taxpayer — if you get healthcare at work. If you’ve got to go buy your health insurance, there’s no tax benefit for you. So, what conservatives have long said is, let’s equalize the tax treatment for healthcare, so that if you — it doesn’t matter whether you get it — healthcare at work, or not at work, let’s give you the same kind of tax benefit. So, that you can go buy what you want to buy. You go into a free market as a consumer, and buy the plan of your choosing, with health savings accounts as well. This is what we have long stood on as conservatives. It is the plan that we ran on in all of 2016, that we said, if we get the chance of having a Republican president, a Republican House, and a Republican Senate, we’re going to repeal and replace Obamacare and this is what we’re going to replace it with. Well, guess what? We are keeping that promise, and that is exactly what we are doing here. ” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett | 1 |
The NFL needs to get its “priorities in order,” and a team should hire Colin Kaepernick because many league players have criminal backgrounds, according to USA Today. [Christine Brennan writes in an article for America’s largest daily newspaper that because “at least a men who have been accused of physical or sexual assault have been welcomed into the NFL over the past week,” then Colin Kaepernick deserves to play. All Colin did was disrespect America’s flag, the soldiers who gave their lives fighting for it, the law enforcement officers who shed their blood on the country’s streets, and the National Anthem that reminds Americans at every NFL game just how fortunate they are to be living here. For some reason Brennan chooses not to protest the NFL’s encouraging the employment of players with violent crime backgrounds, instead, she argues that the league’s employment of such deadbeats vindicates Kaepernick. According to Brennan, “It was quite a surprise to see so many young men with so much violence attached to their names drafted by NFL teams little more than a week after USA TODAY Sports reported that Ray Rice himself was going to participate in the league’s social responsibility education program this year. You think everyone is getting with the plan, and then you realize they’re not. Not at all. ” Brennan defends Kaepernick’s assertion that he simply exercised his rights as a U. S. citizen, but does not defend the teams right to reject a social justice warrior extraordinaire. Moreover, Brennan believes that the 49ers quarterback deserves to be picked up by an NFL team, especially since he is better than Blaine Gabbert, who Kaepernick replaced last year during the season, and appears to be signing with the Arizona Cardinals. Of course, Gabbert stands for the singing of the National Anthem during the ceremony. Harry Edwards, a sociologist employed as a consultant by the San Francisco 49ers, worked with Kaepernick and claims it would be in the “leagues interest” to have Kaepernick play somewhere. Edwards says to not make a, “martyr out of him, especially when they have people on teams accused of rape and knocking women out. He was just named one of the 100 most influential people in the world (by Time magazine). Give me a break. If you’re the NFL, you want him on a team. ” Now that Kaepernick will no longer be protesting the Star Spangled Banner, Edwards informs that he has moved from “resistance to resolution” and, therefore, would make a “great model” for other players on the team. If Kaepernick fails to be picked up by an NFL team, the sociologist activist proposes that the NFL should hire him as a deputy commissioner. “If for no other reason than to have his input and perspectives on the management of emerging situations” he stated. | 1 |
Chief social justice warrior and head coach for the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich, just can’t get over that Donald J. Trump won the 2016 presidential election and now sits in the oval office as the 45th president of the United States. [“There will be some people who will say, ‘Just go coach your basketball team,’” San Antonio’s head leftist said. “Just go do this, go sit in your sauna, just go run the football, whatever it might be. ” But that’s not his style, reported WTHR 13. How can he relax when America has been taken over by an outside force? “Some days, I feel like we’ve been invaded by another power and taken over [by people] who don’t feel the same. It’s a strange land,” the NBA laments. Popovich continued: We all hope President Trump is successful. We hope he does some good things for everyone, but he didn’t start the presidency by mollifying any groups he disparaged during the campaign. He didn’t say anything about women, or black people, or Mexican people, Hispanic people, LGBT people, handicapped people. [He] acted like it never happened,” Popovich said. So that willingness to do whatever it took to get elected, to say and act the way he did, I thought was unacceptable and really disgusting, so I said it. Even people who voted for him can see that, but for some reason, they feel they can ignore that or forget about it. His personality, [his] inability to get over himself, informs his words and his decisions, and that’s what’s scary. Of course, Popovich is not alone when it comes to NBA coaches dumping on President Trump. Detroit Pistons losing coach Stan Van Gundy expressed his sentiments in January, saying that America “took a major step back” when voters elected Trump. He added, “We elected a man who said some of the worst things ever, and people still voted for him. It’s been over a month and I still can’t believe so many were willing ignore racism, sexism, and mistreatment of the LGBTQ community. ” Plus, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is on record for saying, “The man who’s going to lead you has routinely used racist, misogynist, insulting words. That’s a tough one. ” | 1 |
Общество
В сети периодически появляются трагические истории о страшных последствиях вакцинации. Наставления наших здравоохранителей о пользе прививок для многих из нас – пустой звук. Светила медицины, выступая по телевидению, призывают всех сделать хотя бы безобидный укольчик против гриппа, но большинству из нас он и даром не нужен. Между тем, производители вакцин не унимаются и с неиссякаемым энтузиазмом продолжают колдовать в лабораториях, пытаясь создать не просто препарат, а «бомбу»!
Учёные из США после кропотливых исследований и экспериментов представили миру сенсационную вакцину, способную уберечь человека от алкоголизма. Всем заслуженным «мастерам спорта по литрболу», которым не помогают ни гипноз, ни кодирование, ни рекомендации нарколога, ни слёзы матери, ни нравоучения жены, следует обязательно задуматься о спасительной прививке. Титаны мысли от науки обнаружили в организме человека новый ген, отвечающий за тягу к спиртному. Ну, кто-то ещё сомневается, что алкоголизм – это болезнь? Оказывается, это не просто недуг, а серьёзная ошибка матушки-природы. Зачем нам нужен этот нелепый, тысячу раз проклятый ген алкоголизма?!
Эксперты из США сначала протестировали новый препарат на мышах, потом к участию в эксперименте присоединились 100 000 добровольцев. Масштабное исследование доказало, что после волшебной прививки даже беспробудный «синяк» будет равнодушно проходить мимо винно-водочного отдела супермаркета, на праздниках потянется к соку и минералке, а всех закадычных приятелей-собутыльников пошлёт куда подальше. Правда, жертву алкоголизма могут в один прекрасный день припереть-таки к стенке и засыпать провокационными вопросами: «Ты меня уважаешь?», «Не мужик, что ли?», «Даже пивко не будешь?». Американские исследователи уверяют, что привитый алкоголик даже после сравнительно скромных хмельных посиделок будет чувствовать себя адски плохо. Рассол, аспирин и горячий чай не помогут! В общем, рано или поздно гену алкоголизма придётся сдаться.
Любопытные опыты американских учёных продолжаются. Для полноты картины исследователям стоило бы поработать не только с местными любителями выпить, но и, скажем, с российскими. Ген алкоголизма пока досконально не изучен. Не исключено, что у русского народа генетическая тяга к выпивке проявляется гораздо сильнее, чем у тех же американцев: страна-то севернее. Может, прививка от зелёного змия нашему человеку поможет, как мёртвому припарка? Исследователям ещё предстоит это выяснить.
Прививки – это, конечно, здорово. Производители вакцин не перестают удивлять мир открытиями и новинками, а скептики – пусть ворчат и дальше! Возможно, совсем скоро мы сможем с помощью простой процедуры защитить себя не только от краснухи и гриппа, но и от алкоголизма, курения, переедания, депрессии, лени, страха… Правда, в любом лечении самое главное – это доверие пациента к врачу и его стремление быть здоровым. А вот если в вашем городе всем желающим предложат для профилактики сделать прививку от алкоголизма, вы рискнёте? Или дураков нет? | 0 |
Ex-rep: 'If Trump loses, I'm grabbing my musket' Previously tweeted call for 'war' against Obama after Dallas police shootings Published: 15 mins ago
(The Hill) A former congressman on Wednesday threatened to grab his musket if GOP nominee Donald Trump loses the presidential election.
On November 8th, I’m voting for Trump,” former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) tweeted on Wednesday.
“On November 9th, if Trump loses, I’m grabbing my musket.You in?” | 0 |
The jockeying for power in the incoming administration of Donald J. Trump and on Capitol Hill is exposing frayed nerves and lingering anger — but also the seeds of new leadership in both parties. He may not yet have nominated a single cabinet member, or sent emissaries to the federal agencies, or held a news conference as but Mr. Trump does have a presidential inaugural committee lined up. And it includes some serious money. The Trump transition named its inaugural committee leadership team on Tuesday evening, headed by Thomas Barrack Jr. a private equity titan. Other members include the financier Lewis M. Eisenberg the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson (one of the largest political donors on earth) Gail Icahn, the wife of the investor Carl Icahn Woody Johnson, owner of the N. F. L. ’s New York Jets the hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci the Texas businessmen Ray Washburne and Roy Bailey and the luxury casino tycoon Steve Wynn. The congratulatory visits keep on coming. Marla Maples, Mr. Trump’s second wife, was spotted entering Trump Tower around 4 p. m. on Tuesday. She was in the building for nearly 25 minutes and waved to journalists and pedestrians as she left. Mr. Trump and Ms. Maples divorced in 1999 and remain on good terms. And speaking of reconciliations, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas stopped by as well. Senator John McCain issued a blunt warning on Tuesday to Trump and his emerging foreign policy team: Don’t try another “reset” with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. During the campaign, Mr. Trump described Mr. Putin as a strong leader and suggested that the United States and Russia might join forces in fighting the Islamic State. Mr. Putin congratulated Mr. Trump on his election in a phone call on Monday and discussed working together to combat terrorism and resolve the crisis in Syria, according to the Kremlin’s account. That was too much for Mr. McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who cautioned the incoming administration not to be taken in by “a former K. G. B. agent. ” “The Obama administration’s last attempt at resetting relations with Russia culminated in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and military intervention in the Middle East,” Mr. McCain, the newly Arizona Republican, said in a statement. “At the very least, the price of another ‘reset’ would be complicity in Putin and Assad’s butchery of the Syrian people,” he added. “This is an unacceptable price for a great nation. When America has been at its greatest, it is when we have stood on the side of those fighting tyranny. That is where we must stand again. ” Rebekah Mercer, the scion of a powerful family of conservative donors and a member of Mr. Trump’s executive transition committee, has had little success in her mission to solicit names and résumés for potential administration posts, according to a person familiar with her outreach efforts. Ms. Mercer, 42, the daughter of the New York investor Robert Mercer, has told Republican operatives and members of previous administrations that she was having trouble finding takers for posts at the under secretary level and below. She also made it clear that the transition team was more than a month behind schedule and on a tight timeline, the person said. The Mercer family has invested tens of millions of dollars in conservative causes and is considered especially close to Stephen K. Bannon, the chairman of Mr. Trump’s campaign who was named as his senior presidential adviser. Mr. Mercer reportedly invested $10 million in Breitbart, the news site previously run by Mr. Bannon. Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, also previously oversaw a “super PAC” financed by the Mercer family. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the outgoing minority leader, took to the Senate floor Thursday with a slew of stories about bullied children, racist attacks, and acts, unholstered to bash Mr. Trump, his new hobby. “His election sparked a wave of hate crime across America. This is a simple statement of fact,” Mr. Reid said before imploring Democrats to stand as a force against Mr. Trump. Representative Steve Stivers of Ohio was named the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the party’s campaign arm for House candidates, succeeding Representative Greg Walden of Oregon. In a statement, Speaker Paul D. Ryan called Mr. Stivers “a talented leader. ” Eliot A. Cohen, who wrote one of the “Never Trump” pieces this year that called Mr. Trump’s view of American power and influence in the world “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle,” said in an interview on Tuesday that a Trump transition aide had asked him for recommendations for the national security team. But when Mr. Cohen, a former national security official in George W. Bush’s administration, suggested the caveat that many foreign policy hands would enlist only if there were credible people leading national security agencies and departments, he said he received a vituperative email in response. The tone of the email surprised him, he said, expressing a level of vengefulness at odds with an administration that is trying to fill important national security positions with qualified people. “They think of these jobs as lollipops,” Mr. Cohen said. “I think we’re on the verge of a crisis here. ” With John Bolton, the former United Nations ambassador, emerging as a finalist for a senior national security post, even secretary of state, Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said on Tuesday that he would do “whatever I can” to block him. Such opposition is improving the stock of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, to lead the State Department, but Mr. Paul is not so sure about him either, citing Mr. Giuliani’s “worrisome ties to foreign governments” on CNN. The floating of Mr. Bolton as one of Mr. Trump’s contenders for secretary of state has baffled members of both parties, because his hawkish foreign policy worldview is so at odds with Mr. Trump’s campaign pitch for less military engagement in the world. That is one area in which Mr. Paul, one of Mr. Trump’s rivals in the race for the Republican nomination, said he agreed with the . “I can’t imagine supporting anyone who hasn’t learned the lesson of the last 20 years,” Mr. Paul said of Mr. Bolton, who was ambassador to the United Nations for George W. Bush during the escalation of the war in Iraq. Mr. Paul called Mr. Bolton “unrepentant. ” Matthew Freedman, the chief executive at Global Impact, a consulting firm, was removed from his post overseeing the National Security Council transition after questions emerged about his lobbying ties. According to a former federal government official, Mr. Freedman had been using his Global Impact email to conduct official transition business. The official said that transition members were advised to use only their ptt. gov email, and that use of a business email was counter to transition policy. Mr. Freedman has worked as a security consultant for decades, after a brief career with the federal government working for the National Security Council and the Agency for International Development. He started as a foreign government lobbyist in the 1980s, when he joined a company then led by Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, taking up prominent international clients, such as government officials from Nigeria and Argentina, and the dictator Ferdinand Marcos from the Philippines. Reached by phone, Mr. Freedman declined to comment Tuesday. Vice Mike Pence and Rick Dearborn, a Trump campaign staff member who is close to Mr. Trump’s Jared Kushner, are going over the transition staffing list to make a “very concerted effort to clear house of any lobbyists,” said one transition official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. This means others beyond Mr. Freedman will likely be purged as well. Carl Icahn, a business magnate who is close to the tipped his hand on Twitter: Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs financier and hedge fund founder, seems to have an inside track to be Treasury secretary and Wilbur Ross, a billionaire investor and turnaround artist, could be Commerce secretary. Mr. Mnuchin, Mr. Trump’s national campaign finance chairman, does seem to have big plans. Spotted entering Trump Tower on Tuesday, he told reporters, “We’re working on the economic plan with the transition, making sure we get the biggest tax bill passed, the biggest tax changes since Reagan, so a lot of exciting things in the first 100 days of the Trump presidency. ” Mr. Trump has called for deep tax cuts for people at all income levels, consolidation of tax brackets, higher standard tax deductions, the elimination of the death tax and lower corporate tax rates. He has also called for ending “special interest loopholes” and he has said he wants to end the “carried interest” provision that benefits private equity groups. The estimated cost to the treasury of those plans is more than $5 trillion over 10 years. To put that in perspective, George W. Bush’s tax cuts in 2001 — the largest in history — were a wee $1. 35 trillion over a decade. Ben Carson spent months trying to persuade voters to elect him president, but, according to his spokesman, he does not think he is qualified to run a federal agency in the Trump administration. According to the spokesman, Armstrong Williams, who is also Mr. Carson’s business manager, Mr. Trump offered the retired neurosurgeon a “buffet” of job options as a reward for being a loyal ally after dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination. “The said, ‘Ben, tell me whatever you want to run, it will be yours,’” Mr. Williams recounted. But Mr. Carson has no experience running large enterprises, Mr. Williams said, and did not think it would be a wise move to start in the new administration. Mr. Carson had been discussed as a candidate to lead the Department of Health and Human Services or the Department of Education, or to be surgeon general. “He’d be like a fish out of water,” Mr. Williams said. Amid rising calls for change in Democratic leadership, House Democrats decided in a meeting on Tuesday to postpone their leadership elections until Nov. 30. After last week’s bruising loss, there have been rumblings among some Democrats that perhaps a new leader should replace Representative Nancy Pelosi of California in the role she has held since 2003. Some members have urged Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio to run, and he is considering it, his office said Monday. Mr. Ryan, a former football player from the Youngstown area, is in stark contrast with Ms. Pelosi, an affluent scion of a Baltimore political family long ensconced in San Francisco, one of the country’s most liberal bastions. | 1 |
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North Korea has begun preparing festivities for the “Day of the Sun,” a holiday celebrating communist leader Kim . Satellite images suggest that among those festivities may be the nation’s sixth nuclear test, which would arrive at a particularly tempestuous time in the relationship between Pyongyang and its largest benefactor, China. [The satellite images in question appeared on the website 38 North this week, dedicated to monitoring North Korean nuclear sites for unusual activity. The outlet warned that the Nuclear Test Site appeared “primed and ready” for such a nuclear test due to the amount of water and heat apparently coming out of the facility. NBC News notes that the day before the 38 North report, Pyongyang “warned it would strike the U. S. mainland with nuclear weapons at any sign of aggression from Washington. ” This, however, is not an unusual occurrence last month, for example, North Korea threatened a nuclear strike on Manhattan. The South Korean newswire service Yonhap reports that their sources within the South Korean military disagreed with the conclusions in the report, saying there had been “no unusual” activity at the site, or any other such nuclear site in the country to their knowledge. “Another defense official here did not rule out the possibility that the unpredictable North will carry out a nuclear test without special indications spotted, given its past provocation,” the report added. Another report at Voice of America suggested that evidence exists that a “nuclear device” is prepared to launch for Saturday, the “Day of the Sun. ” North Korean nuclear officials have “apparently placed a nuclear device in a tunnel and it could be detonated Saturday AM Korea time. ” An official at the American National Security Council told Voice of America that the NSC “will be watching closely,” but did not elaborate. North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests, the latest and largest in September. Pyongyang claimed that this test was of a hydrogen bomb — an “ of Justice” — but nuclear experts disagreed, noting that the blast caused by the bomb was too small to have come from a pure fusion explosion. Experts contended the bomb was likely a hybrid. North Korea has also revealed the major event for which they corralled the nation’s media last night, and contrary to international suspicions, it was not a nuclear test, but the opening of a new residential area in Pyongyang. According to Yonhap, Kim personally attended the unveiling of a new neighborhood in Pyongyang, billed as a “big and important event” to international media present. | 1 |
More Footage Of Operation High Jump With Hitler! page: 1 link Hi everyone. This was on my youtube feed today and thought I would share it and maybe get some feedback. Thru all my years of paranormal and alien spaceship research and experiences, I came to the conclusion that it was all man made. After watching this video, I am even more convinced of them being man made. There is so much technology they aren't telling us.Well, I hope you get a chance to view this and let me know what you think. Are they man made? a reply to: childoffather They knew about the technology were using right now in the 50's and 60's. I have heard the public are ten years behind what they know technologically. 40 to 60 years ago...we have come a long way baby. Not sure about the moon landing though. lol. link originally posted by: carewemust I guess there was no reason to HOAX a fake Moon landing, since the technology was available, even before the 1960's. Was probably even more refined by 1967. That's not true. We don't understand the dynamics of space so what we can do outside of the atmosphere and inside of the atmosphere we have no idea. How the moonlanding was a hoax we also do not understand. It could be a coverup of some sort or another. link a reply to: childoffather factor the exponential growth of tech into the equation and start from the early 1930's instead of the 90's. originally posted by: Darkmadness originally posted by: carewemust I guess there was no reason to HOAX a fake Moon landing, since the technology was available, even before the 1960's. Was probably even more refined by 1967. That's not true. We don't understand the dynamics of space so what we can do outside of the atmosphere and inside of the atmosphere we have no idea. How the moonlanding was a hoax we also do not understand. It could be a coverup of some sort or another. Or a distraction...h . | 0 |
The leader of the opposition in Albania told Breitbart News Friday that democracy in his country is in great danger, as the prime minister Edi Rama has allowed corruption and crime to flourish there. [“Albania is in a unique and difficult situation, in a political crisis, the results of a full onslaught of organized crime on all state structures, on the rule of law, and democracy,” said Lulzim Basha, the leader of the Democratic Party of Albania. Basha is the former mayor of Tirana, the country’s capital and largest city, and the leader of the Democratic Party of Albania. If the party wins the June 18 parliamentary elections, Basha said he becomes the new prime minister. In previous administrations, Basha held senior cabinet posts, including foreign minister. “The problem of collusion between politics and crime is not new to the Balkans,” he said. “But, the unique problem for” Albania is the outright promotion and presence of people with terrible criminal records, convicted in European Union states for offenses, such as drug trafficking, prostitution, human trafficking and other organized crime offenses. ” Criminal gangs and groups tied to terrorists operate cannabis farms and drug distribution and warehousing organizations with immunity under the Rama government, he claimed. In 2016, BBC highlighted the issue in a news report titled “Europe’s outdoor cannabis capital. ” While Basha was in Washington meeting with congressional leaders, members of his party have been carrying on more than 35 days of protests against the government of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and calling for his resignation. Among the leaders Basha met during his visit to Washington were Rep. Pete Sessions ( ) chairman of the House Rules Committee Rep. Michael McCaul ( ) chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and Rep. Ed Royce ( ) chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee. The lawyer also attended the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual dinner Monday, where President Donald Trump delivered the keynote address. Basha also met with California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the chairman of its Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats Subcommittee. A further complication is that Rama has a relationship with financier and international agent provocateur George Soros, the mayor said. Basha said he believed that Rama is George Soros’ primary investment in Albania and the Balkans. The mayor claimed that his attacks on Soros personally, and his support for President Donald Trump, have made him the target of Soros organization smears: “I have been viciously attacked by him and his people and also the international media because I am a Trump supporter. ” Rama served at a board member of the Soros Foundation in Albania and Soros funded a project designed to politically transform the country in partnership with Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee was so concerned about State Department programs funding Soros’ influence in Albania and other countries that he sent a March 14 letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, by Sen. James Inhofe ( ) Sen. Tom Tillis ( ) Sen. Ted Cruz ( ) Sen. David Perdue ( ) and Sen. Bill Cassidy ( ) “Over the past few months, elected officials and political leaders of foreign nations have been coming to me with disappointing news and reports of US activity in their respective countries,” Lee wrote. “This includes reports of diplomats playing political favorites, USAID funds supporting extreme and sometimes violent political activists, and the US Government working to marginalize the moderates and conservatives in leadership roles. ” The Albanian prime minister might also be the most adamantly leader in Europe. Basha said that at the request of Soros, Rama went on CNN to say that the prospect of Trump as president was frightening. In April 2016, Rama told the Voice of America: I believe that those in Albania who choose Trump before me, despite the differences between them and me, they are to be pitied. Between Lulzim Basha and Trump I will always choose Lulzim Basha, although I would never vote Lulzim Basha under any circumstances and for any reason, for nothing. However, it is not my problem if Lulzim Basha, or whoever else chooses Trump over me. It is their problem, Rohrabacher, who met Basha while in Washington, told Breitbart News he admired the patriotism and zeal he found in Basha. “There is reason for apprehension about what’s going on in the Balkans,” said the former speechwriter for President Ronald W. Reagan. “Stability in that part of Europe is dependent on a stable and functioning Albania. There is serious concern about the corruption, drug trade and terrorism in this important nation. ” The congressman said Albania is on the front lines in the battle against radical Islam: “If we are going to defeat radical Islam and have a stable Europe, we need someone who can get the job done. Luzlim Basha, whom I have known for some time, is just the person to get that job done. ” Basha said his message to the American people is that they have invested tremendously in to support a democratic, free, and open Albania for the last the past 27 years. “Now, the menace of organized crime and terrorism looms large over a country that has lost of its territory and borders, because of organized crime,” he said. “I am pleading for help from the United States to help us preserve that investment, so we can live up to our responsibilities as a NATO member,” he said. | 1 |
Next Prev Swipe left/right Is this the most unsatisfying video in the world? A beautifully animated compilation of painfully unsatisfying moments, like a pop can stuck in a vending machine and a spoon that slips all the way into your bowl of soup. | 0 |
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A federal appeals court early Sunday rejected a request by the Justice Department to immediately restore President Trump’s targeted travel ban, deepening a legal showdown over his authority to tighten the nation’s borders in the name of protecting Americans from terrorism. In the legal back and forth over the travel ban, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco said a reply from the Trump administration was now due on Monday. The ruling meant that travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — as well as vetted refugees from all nations could, for now, continue to enter the country. Those foreigners had been barred by an executive order signed by the president on Jan. 27. After a Federal District Court in Seattle blocked Mr. Trump’s order nationwide on Friday, the Justice Department appealed the ruling late Saturday, saying that the president had the constitutional authority to order the ban and that the court ruling “ the president’s national security judgment. ” On Saturday night, as Mr. Trump arrived at a Red Cross gala at his waterfront Florida resort, where he was spending the first getaway weekend of his presidency, reporters asked him if he was confident he would prevail in the government’s appeal. “We’ll win,” he replied. “For the safety of the country, we’ll win. ” The legal maneuvering led Mr. Trump to lash out at Judge James Robart of the Federal District Court in Seattle throughout the day, prompting criticism that the president had failed to respect the judicial branch and its power to check on his authority. In a Twitter post on Saturday, Mr. Trump wrote, “The opinion of this judge, which essentially takes away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” The Justice Department’s filing sought to have the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit block the Seattle judge’s decision and asked that the lower court’s ruling be stayed pending the appeal. In its argument for an appeal, the Justice Department had said the president had an “unreviewable authority” to suspend the entry of any class of foreigners. It said the ruling by Judge Robart was too broad, “untethered” to the claims of the State of Washington, and in conflict with a ruling by another federal district judge, in Boston, who had upheld the order. The Ninth Circuit court moved quickly to reject the administration’s appeal, a measure of the urgency and intense interest in the case. The Justice Department argued that the president acted well within his constitutional authority. Blocking the order, it concluded, “immediately harms the public by thwarting enforcement of an Executive Order issued by the President, based on his national security judgment. ” Judge Robart, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, declared in his ruling on Friday that “there’s no support” for the administration’s argument that “we have to protect the U. S. from individuals” from the affected countries. His ruling also barred the administration from enforcing its limits on accepting refugees. The State Department said Saturday that refugees, including Syrians, could begin arriving as early as Monday. Syrians had faced an indefinite ban under the executive order. Despite Mr. Trump’s vehement criticism of the ruling and the certainty that it would be appealed, the government agencies at the center of the issue, the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, moved quickly to comply. Lawrence Bartlett, the State Department’s director of refugee resettlement, wrote in a departmental email that officials were working to rebook travel for refugees who had previously been scheduled to leave for the United States over a period that will end Feb. 17. A State Department official said the extended time frame accounted for the fact that some refugees will have to make difficult journeys back to airports from refugee camps. A United Nations spokesman, Leonard Doyle, said about 2, 000 refugees were ready to travel. Airlines, citing American customs officials, were telling passengers from the seven countries that their visas were once again valid. Those carriers, however, have yet to report an uptick in travel, and there appeared to be no rush to airports by visa holders in Europe and the Middle East intent on making their way to the United States. Etihad Airways, the United Arab Emirates’ national carrier, said in a statement: “Following advice received today from the U. S. Customs and Border Protection unit at Abu Dhabi Airport, the airline will again be accepting nationals from the seven countries named last week. ” Other Arab carriers, including Qatar Airways, issued similar statements. A group of advocacy organizations that had worked to overturn the executive order and help immigrants and refugees stranded at airports issued a statement on Saturday afternoon encouraging travelers “to rebook travel to the United States immediately. ” “We have been in contact with hundreds of people impacted by the ban, and we are urging them to get on planes as quickly as possible,” Clare Kane, a law student intern at the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School, one of the groups involved, said in a statement. But some officials were being more cautious, advising travelers to wait for further clarity. The American Embassy in Baghdad said it was waiting for additional guidance from Washington. “We don’t know what the effect will be, but we’re working to get more information,” the embassy told The Associated Press in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security said it had suspended implementation of the order, including procedures to flag travelers from the countries designated in Mr. Trump’s order. It said it would resume standard inspection procedures. But in a statement, the department defended the order as “lawful and appropriate. ” In his first statement on the matter on Friday evening, the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, described the Seattle judge’s action as “outrageous. ” Minutes later, the White House issued a new statement deleting the word outrageous. Mr. Trump’s Twitter post showed no such restraint. It recalled the attacks he made during the presidential campaign on a federal district judge in California who was presiding over a lawsuit involving Trump University. Democrats said the president’s criticism of Judge Robart was a dangerous development. Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement that Mr. Trump seemed “intent on precipitating a constitutional crisis. ” Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, whose state filed the suit that led to the injunction, said the attack was “beneath the dignity” of the presidency and could “lead America to calamity. ” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said in a statement that Mr. Trump’s outburst could weigh on the confirmation process for Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, the president’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Until now, Mr. Trump had been comparatively restrained about the multiple federal judges who have ruled against parts of his immigration order, even as he staunchly defended its legality. Some analysts had speculated that he did not want a repeat of the storm during the campaign when he accused Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel of having a conflict of interest in the Trump University case because the judge’s family was of Mexican heritage. Mr. Trump, who had painted Mexicans as rapists and criminals, settled that case after the election. But on Saturday morning, Mr. Trump let loose, and in the afternoon he unleashed another volley of attacks on the ruling. In one Twitter message, he questioned why a judge could “halt a Homeland Security travel ban,” which would allow “anyone, even with bad intentions,” to enter the country. An hour later, he complained about the “terrible decision,” saying it would let “many very bad and dangerous people” pour into the country. Earlier, Mr. Trump had asserted, without evidence, that some Middle Eastern countries supported the immigration order. “Interesting that certain countries agree with the ban,” he wrote. “They know that if certain people are allowed in it’s death destruction!” The Washington State case was filed on Monday, and it was assigned to Judge Robart that day. He asked for briefs on whether the state had standing to sue, with the last one due on Thursday. On Wednesday, Minnesota joined the suit. On Friday evening, Judge Robart issued a temporary restraining order, requiring the government to revert to its previous immigration policies as the case moved forward. He found that the states and their citizens had been injured by Mr. Trump’s order. “The executive order adversely affects the states’ residents in areas of employment, education, business, family relations and freedom to travel,” Judge Robart wrote. He said the states had been hurt because the order affected their public universities and their tax bases. Still, Judge Robart’s order left many questions, said Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law in Houston. “Does the executive order violate the equal protection of the laws, amount to an establishment of religion, violate rights of free exercise, or deprive aliens of due process of law?” Professor Blackman asked. “Who knows? The analysis is bare bones, and leaves the court of appeals, as well as the Supreme Court, with no basis to determine whether the nationwide injunction was proper. ” While large crowds had yet to materialize at airports, there were individual stories of people trying to enter the country. Nael Zaino, 32, a Syrian who had tried unsuccessfully for nearly a week to fly to the United States to join his wife and son, was allowed to board a flight from Istanbul and then Frankfurt late Friday. He landed in Boston around 1 p. m. Saturday and emerged from immigration two hours later, said his Katty Alhayek. Mr. Zaino was believed to be among the first revoked visa holders to enter the United States since the executive order went into effect. His advocates had sought a waiver for him from the State Department, citing family reunification. “Mine must be a very special case,” Mr. Zaino said by phone from Istanbul. Iranians, many of them students on their way to American universities, also rushed to book flights to transfer destinations in other Persian Gulf countries, Turkey and Europe. Pedram Paragomi, a Iranian medical student bound for the University of Pittsburgh, who had been caught up in the initial chaos over the travel ban, flew to Frankfurt on Saturday, where he was to transfer to a flight to Boston. “I’m anxious,” he said from Frankfurt. “The rules keep on changing, but I think I will make it this time. ” | 1 |
Sunday on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” while discussing the Republicans the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Rand Paul ( ) said there is a “separation between” Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s ( ) and President Donald Trump. Paul said, “I think there is a separation between the two. I have talked to the president, I think three times on Obamacare and I hear from him he is willing to negotiate. You know what I hear from Paul Ryan ‘it is a binary choice, young man.’ But what is a binary choice, his way or the highway?” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
The global banking giant HSBC has repeatedly found itself in the cross hairs of American regulators and prosecutors in recent years. To settle allegations of and mortgage abuses, it has paid billions of dollars — but has not been criminally charged. That has spurred an outcry that the bank is “too big to jail. ” But now two senior executives of HSBC face criminal charges, accused of a currency manipulation scheme that federal prosecutors say generated $8 million in profits and fees. The global head of HSBC’s foreign exchange cash trading desk, Mark Johnson, a Briton, was arrested by federal agents Tuesday night at Kennedy International Airport as he was boarding a flight to London. He and Stuart Scott, the former head of the bank’s currency trading desk for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to a transaction on behalf of a corporate client, exchanging dollars for British pounds. The charges are a boon to the Justice Department, which until now has not mounted any cases against individuals in its investigations into currency manipulation by the major banks. “This case demonstrates the criminal division’s commitment to hold corporate executives, including at the world’s largest and most sophisticated institutions, responsible for their crimes,” said Leslie R. Caldwell, the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division. The case against the two men resembles a conventional insider trading scheme, but with a twist because the defendants traded in currencies instead of stocks. HSBC was hired to convert dollars into British pounds for a company as it was preparing to complete the sale of a subsidiary. The complaint does not identify the client, but it was Cairn Energy, according to a person with direct knowledge of the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Cairn, a midsize oil and gas company based in Edinburgh, was selling its Indian subsidiary to Vedanta Resources, an Indian conglomerate owned by the mining magnate Anil Agarwal. The two HSBC executives are accused of using their knowledge of the deal to trade ahead of the $3. 5 billion currency transaction, “ramping” up the price of one currency to benefit the bank at the expense of its client. The criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday detailed conversations between Mr. Scott and Mr. Johnson discussing how high they could “ramp” up the price of the currency before the company would “squeal. ” In the Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Wednesday, Mr. Johnson, 50, was released on a $1 million bond secured by $300, 000 cash and his house in Britain. A lawyer for Mr. Johnson did not respond to a request for comment. It is unclear where Mr. Scott, who is 43 and also a British citizen, is currently located. The case is being led by federal prosecutors in the office of Robert L. Capers, the United State attorney in Brooklyn. The criminal charges against the individuals follows a broader investigation of banks into alleged manipulation of foreign currency trading that federal prosecutors began about three years ago. HSBC was one of five banks to reach a combined $4. 25 billion settlement in 2014 with United States, British and Swiss regulators over accusations that the banks had conspired to manipulate currency rates. But HSBC was not among five banks that agreed last year to plead guilty to felony charges in connection with manipulating the price of dollars and euros. Those banks agreed to pay criminal fines totaling more than $2. 5 billion. HSBC has previously said the Justice Department is continuing to investigate the bank. It has set aside an additional $1. 3 billion for further potential settlements, according to a filing last summer. Robert Sherman, a spokesman for HSBC, which is based in London, said on Wednesday that the bank had been and would continue to cooperate with the Justice Department’s foreign exchange investigation. While HSBC was not implicated in Wednesday’s criminal complaint, the case is another black eye for the bank that has substantial operations in the United States. In 2012, it paid $1. 9 billion in fines to United States authorities to settle allegations of being a conduit for illegal money. The deal included a agreement with the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the Justice Department. The Justice Department’s decision not to criminally charge HSBC in that case received renewed scrutiny last week, when a report prepared by Republican staff of the House Financial Services Committee showed that prosecutors at the Justice Department wanted to criminally charge the bank, but were overruled by top officials in the department, including the attorney general at the time, Eric H. Holder Jr. And HSBC paid $550 million in 2014 to settle allegations that it made billions of dollars of securities appear to be compliant with regulations. The latest case stems from 2011, when HSBC was one of 10 banks that were invited to bid for the right to execute the currency transaction on behalf of Cairn Energy. Each competing bank was required to sign a confidentiality agreement. In its bid submission, HSBC pledged it could “provide one quote for the full amount or even drip feed the market in the utmost confidential nature so as to ensure there are no sudden FX moves against the company,” according to the complaint. But when HSBC won the bid in October of 2011, it did the exact opposite, the complaint says. After securing the lucrative job, a supervisor at HSBC told Mr. Scott on a call that the bank did not want to “push the market too much” higher “and at the same time we want to make money on this,” according to the complaint. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Scott began to buy British pounds in exchange for other currencies, which they later sold for a profit to HSBC on the day of Cairn’s currency deal on Dec. 7, the government said. In a call to discuss the details of Cairn’s transaction with HSBC, Mr. Scott “falsely and fraudulently” advised representatives at Cairn on the best time of the day to execute the trade, according to the complaint. When an adviser working on behalf of the company questioned Mr. Scott’s logic, he added that if traders in the market were aware of the transaction, “they will try to jump in front and start to muck around in the markets,” according to the complaint. Mr. Johnson also gave his own personal recommendation along the same lines. Minutes after the call ended, Mr. Scott and Mr. Johnson began aggressively buying up pounds. When Cairn representatives did notice the sudden spike in the price of the British pound and asked HSBC, the person was told the spike in trading was the result of a Russian bank buying pounds at the same time as Cairn. Mr. Johnson, according to the complaint, was surprised to learn that Cairn Energy decided to go ahead with the currency transaction, even as his trading in the markets had caused the price of the currency to soar to its highest point of the day. Responding to the news, Mr. Johnson replied, “Ohhhh, Christmas,” using an expletive as an adjective. | 1 |
U. S. Senator John Cornyn ( ) said again on Tuesday that he is not interested in succeeding James Comey as director of the FBI. His statement reaffirms what he told Breitbart Texas last week when news outlets reported his name being on President Donald Trump’s short list. [Responding to an email inquiry from Breitbart Texas, Senator Cornyn wrote on Friday, “I have the distinct privilege of serving 28 million Texans in the United States Senate, and that is where my focus remains. ” “I have always considered public service to be a great privilege,” the Majority Whip said in a statement on Tuesday. “How I can best serve my fellow Texans and my country has, and will continue to be, my guiding principle. ” “Now more than ever the country needs a independent FBI Director. I’ve informed the Administration that I’m committed to helping them find such an individual, and that the best way I can serve is continuing to fight for a conservative agenda in the U. S. Senate. ” Other lawmakers reported to be on the short list include South Carolina Representative Trey Gowdy, a form federal prosecutor, and former Representative Mike Rogers from Michigan. Trump is also reported to be considering other law enforcement professionals including former New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly who served under Mayor Rudy Giuliani during the attack. Larry Thompson, former deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush is also said to be under consideration. The remainder of the list includes: Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook. | 1 |
The New York Times Magazine recently ran a story declaring Silicon Valley to be the “center of resistance. ”[The article, written by Farhad Manjoo, is titled “Can Facebook Fix Its Own Worst Bug?” and poses the question: “Mark Zuckerberg now acknowledges the dangerous side of the social revolution he helped start. But is the most powerful tool for connection in human history capable of adapting to the world it created?” The article discusses the mood in Silicon Valley days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, describing the general mood as “grim. ” But Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was reportedly quite positive about the future, describing 2016 as an “interesting year for us [Facebook]. ” The article later describes Silicon Valley’s detachment from real world events, saying, “In Silicon Valley, current events tend to fade into the background. The Sept. 11 attacks, the Iraq war, the financial crisis and every recent presidential election occurred, for the tech industry, on some parallel but distant timeline divorced from the everyday business of digitizing the world. ” But the election of Donald Trump caused many in Silicon Valley to suddenly take notice of the political world, “Then Donald Trump won. In the 17 years I’ve spent covering Silicon Valley, I’ve never seen anything shake the place like his victory,” Manjoo writes. “In the span of a few months, the Valley has been transformed from a politically disengaged company town into a center of resistance and fear. ” “A week after the election, one founder sent me a private message on Twitter: ‘I think it’s worse than I thought,’ he wrote. ‘Originally I thought 18 months. I’ve cut that in half,’” Manjoo recalls. “Until what? ‘Apocalypse. End of the world. ’” The description of Silicon Valley as the “center of resistance” is unsurprising, Google employees and executives previously held rallies at Google offices across the United States in protest of President Trump’s temporary travel halt from nations associated with terrorism. yo Breitbart, stop being racist, sexist, and xenophobic. #NoBanNoWall, A post shared by JLR II (@jimmyramirez) on Jan 30, 2017 at 7:13pm PST, Google CEO Sunar Pichai spoke to the crowd about the difficulties that the company faces when attempting to deal with visa complications that many of their foreign employees encountered. “Every step, I felt the support of 65, 000 people behind me,” he said. “There are some values that you should never be compromising on, we need to stand together. The fight will continue. ” In documents released by WikiLeaks, Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, expressed interest in acting as “head outside advisor” to the Clinton campaign during the presidential election. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange previously characterized Google as “directly engaged” in the campaign. Specifically, Assange claimed, “The chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, set up a company to run the digital component of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. ” Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart. com | 1 |
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