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Amy Schumer is set to return to the big screen this weekend for the first time since 2015’s Trainwreck with the kidnap caper Snatched, alongside veteran actress Goldie Hawn, but negative early reviews from critics could threaten to spoil crucial and dampen the film’s Mother’s Day weekend prospects. [Snatched doesn’t hit theaters until Friday, May 12, but already reviewers from the New York Times, the Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire have derided the film as “lazy,” “uninspired” and “wildly scattershot. ” The film stars Schumer as Emily Middleton, who is dumped by her boyfriend just before a planned exotic vacation to Ecuador. While Middleton persuades her mother (Goldie Hawn, in her first film appearance in 15 years) to join her on the trip, the two get more than they bargained for as they try to survive after being kidnapped in the jungle. In his review of the film, the New York Times‘ A. O. Scott calls the film “lazy, sloppy and witless,” and says Hawn in particular is “cruelly and inexplicably” denied the ability to be as funny as she can be. “Snatched is one of those movies that subscribes to a dubious homeopathic theory of cultural insensitivity by which the acknowledgment of offensiveness is supposed to prevent anyone from taking offense,” Scott wrote. “The idea is that if you use variations on the phrase ‘That’s racist!’ as a punch line a few times, nothing else you say or do could possibly be racist. Including, say, populating your movie with thugs with funny accents and killing a few of them for cheap laughs. ” But perhaps the most harsh criticism of the film comes from IndieWire’s Kate Erbland, who calls it “criminally unfunny. ” Like Scott, Erbland says Snatched commits the “unforgivable sin” of not allowing Hawn to “inhabit her stature as a great comedic performer. ” “One character calls [Schumer’s character] ‘garbage’ (and makes her repeat the insult) while another tells her she’ll be safe from sex trafficking because she’s just not pretty enough, but even these attempts to add some meat to the undercooked film fall flat,” Erbland wrote, giving the film a D grade. “Pairing up talented comedians like Hawn and Schumer with a wacky plotline to match should spell comedy gold, but Snatched is about as cheap and disposable as a tourist trap tchotchke. ” The Village Voice‘s Melissa Anderson was similarly down on the film, accusing it of trading in “offhand xenophobia” and “soft racism” for its depiction of two white main characters unable to cope in a foreign country. “[Hawn’s] performance here, however understandable, suggests she may have regretted the decision to end her ” Anderson wrote. Meanwhile, Variety‘s Owen Glieberman and the Hollywood Reporter‘s Jon Frosch gave the movie slightly better marks, though Glieberman wrote that the film’s “ jokes are like firecrackers with damp fuses. ” “Still, in the apocalyptically bleak landscape of the mainstream studio comedy, the mere sight of Schumer and Hawn just doing their thing is almost pleasing enough to get a pass. Almost,” writes THR‘s Frosch. Snatched Wanda Sykes, Joan Cusack, Ike Barinholtz, Randall Park, Tom Bateman, and Christopher Meloni. Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) directed off of a script by writer Katie Dippold (The Heat, Ghostbusters). The film hits theaters May 12. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 1 |
With violence escalating in Aleppo and elsewhere across Syria, the United Nations said Saturday that the number of children trapped in besieged areas had doubled in less than a year to half a million. A report by Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund, said the children were among hundreds of thousands of civilians in 16 areas under siege across the country who had been “almost completely cut off from sustained humanitarian aid and basic services. ” The report said some of these areas had received little or no aid in nearly two years, despite repeated efforts by international relief agencies to provide food and medicine. “This is no way to live,” Unicef’s executive director, Anthony Lake, said in the report. The report estimated that 100, 000 of the trapped children were among the civilians pinned down in eastern Aleppo, the portion of what had been prewar Syria’s commercial epicenter. Eastern Aleppo is now a focal point of the war, pitting an array of insurgents and militant jihadists against the forces of President Bashar of Syria and their Russian allies. The top United Nations diplomat seeking a negotiated end to the Syrian conflict, Staffan de Mistura, has repeatedly pleaded for a humanitarian halt to the fighting in Aleppo and has even offered to escort the militants out of the city. But Mr. Assad and his subordinates have said they intend to retake all of Aleppo, apparently regardless of the cost in lives and destruction, as he feels increasingly emboldened that the nearly war is moving in his favor. The Russian forces who have been assisting Mr. Assad for more than a year have been escalating their bombings against insurgent targets in northern Syria since . Syrian state news media reported Saturday that government troops had captured the Hanano district of eastern Aleppo, which was among the first to fall to insurgent control when fighting broke out in the city in 2012. In another indication of the deprivations confronting residents of eastern Aleppo, the Middle East coordinator of the World Food Program, the United Nations agency, said people had been scrounging through garbage for food scraps since the last rations, delivered in July, were distributed a few weeks ago. The coordinator, Muhannad Hadi, said in an interview with The Canadian Press that “people are looking through garbage to find something to eat — that’s if they find garbage in Aleppo. ” Mr. Hadi made the remarks during a visit to Ottawa to brief Canadian officials on the Syria crisis. | 1 |
What will happen on election day? Will there be riots, violence or attacks if the results appear to be dubious, or any number of divisive groups take to the streets? What if the election triggers an economic collapse?
There are any number of scenarios that could come to life, but it seems clear enough that America in 2016 is a nation on edge.
Civil unrest may now be only days away.
And militia groups are getting ready for the worst case scenarios – a fact that the mainstream media is happy to use to fuel the hysteria.
via Reuters :
As the most divisive presidential election in recent memory nears its conclusion, some armed militia groups are preparing for the possibility of a stolen election on Nov. 8 and civil unrest in the days following a victory by Democrat Hillary Clinton.
They say they won’t fire the first shot, but they’re not planning to leave their guns at home, either.
[…] Trump has repeatedly warned that the election may be “rigged,” and has said he may not respect the results if he does not win. At least one paramilitary group, the Oath Keepers, has called on members to monitor voting sites for signs of fraud
“This is the last chance to save America from ruin,” Hill [ of the Three Percent Security Force ] said.
The implication that militia members would incite violence or start a civil war is false and misleading, but the level of tension surrounding this hugely controversial election hold the perfect recipe for chaos. And if there is some event, the causes and provocations won’t be settled until well after the fact.
America is facing its darkest days, and the people are fed up with the criminality and corruption that controls the corporate and political sphere. Now, it appears that the bankers and powers that be are poised to use this divisive atmosphere to fuel a new era of instability. While things come unglued, those in power cross the line and take up even more power.
We are facing a level beyond just martial law, and may live to see the complete takeover of the seats of authority across the country.
The Oath Keepers, as one leading group of militia patriots, have been holding “scenarios and preparation” seminars to prepare the general public and the members of their organization to watch for suspicious election activity – and more importantly – the potential chaos that could result from a disputed election and an angry electorate. Founder Stewart Rhodes wrote :
Lots of talk of unrest on election day, cyber attacks and even possible terror attacks/false flags. In the face of all of this fear porn we here at Oath Keepers thought one of the best things we can do is take a little time, with some of our most experienced and well-trained leadership and talk with fellow Americans about how to prepare if any of these scenarios manifest. One of the motto’s that I try and live by and I hear echoed in the membership ranks of the Oath Keepers is “It is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it” and that goes for skills as well as for gear. Get trained up, fast. Get geared up, fast, and stock up on food, water, fuel, medical, and spare batteries for all your electronics but especially your radios. Get your gear sorted out, organized, and ready to go. And then pray for the best even as you prepare for the worst.
My advice for election day is to vote early (days ahead if you can) and then get home and stay home (if home is safe!). Stay away from big cities and big crowds, and away from public places that may be targeted for terrorism. If you live in a big city that has the potential for civil unrest, violence, looting and arson, get away from it for a few days and don’t be there when it goes bad. As John Karriman put it, he’d rather sleep under a bridge for a week than be stuck in a riot. Go camping! Your stuff is not worth your life, and your stuff will not save your life, if your home is burned to the ground by arsonists. Get out. But if you stay, then prepare to repel boarders. Keep your family and friends close, and get ready. Go meet your neighbors and talk it over with them and prepare your own Neighborhood Protection Plan. Do it now. Got team Who’s on your buddy team? Who’s on your fire-team? Who’s on your squad?
[…]
Below is the video recording of the webinar we held on Thursday night, November 3, 2016 on the urgent topic of potential civil unrest surrounding the election and some critical steps you must take to prepare for it.
Civil Unrest Post Election Scenarios & Preparation
There is good cause to be prepared. The population is about to be tested. The rigging of elections is now out in the open, and for better or worse, Donald Trump has rallied people around that sad fact.
While the mainstream media keeps pretending that the soon-to-be-coronated presumed president-elect is infallible, it is clear to those who understand the deep state government that this has been a coup on the part of the Clinton faction to take over the government and suspend constitutional rights and the rule of law.
Dictators and autocrats are not the American way, after all, and this “election” has been anything but legitimate. The process, which has long been corrupt and broken, is now being completely manipulated by Team Hillary.
Former intelligence operative Steve Pieczenik claims, however, that patriots within the intelligence and military community are attempting to block her path via a counter-coup of some kind, which he claims is entirely non-violent.
According to Pieczenik in a video recording released last week, members within the FBI, NYPD and intelligence agency community are fighting back inside the system. What that really means, and whether or not it will come to fruition remains to be seen:
You are now witnessing a new type of American Revolution. The Clintons and Podesta initiated a silent coup to undermine the USG through corruption and co-optation of the elite political leaders. In turn, they were met by the silent counter-coup of our civilian/military Intelligence community.
As a way of counter-acting the Clinton’s silent coup of corruption, these brave men and women of the [intelligence Community ] have released a series of emails through Julian Assange and Wiki-Leaks which underscore the Clintons’ massive corruption attempts to take over our USG through the rigged electoral system.
However, email exposes and digital evidence of wrongdoing have proven to be insufficient for derailing this campaign.
Perhaps this is all the more reason that some are readying for defensive measure and last ditch efforts to save the country from outright tyranny.
Is this America’s last stand?
Read more:
Divided America Poised For Riots: “95% Chance of Widespread Post-Election Violence”
Second Night of Charlotte Police Riots Devolve Into “Chaos, Looting and Violence”
Homeland Trains Police for Riots, Civil Unrest: “This Training Has Never Been in Texas Before”
Strapped Americans Headed for “Civil Unrest and Riots,” With Poor Spending 60% on Bare Essentials
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Russia To Hit ISIS In Aleppo With Cruise Missiles 11/09/2016
DAILY MAIL The Russian navy is planning a massive attack on Aleppo within the next 24 hours, according to a Ministry of Defence source. A group of ships including an aircraft carrier, a nuclear power guided missile cruiser and two destroyers is reportedly ready to strike from the Mediterranean Sea. But the Russian source insisted the missiles will aim for areas surrounding Aleppo to avoid harming the 200,000 civilians still living there. ‘The group’s main goal is to carry out missile strikes on terrorists outside of Aleppo that are attempting to get into the city’, they told Gazeta.ru . ‘The strikes will avoid the city of Aleppo to prevent civilian casualties, because terrorists continue to use city residents as human shields.’ The source added that the details of the strike are still being finalised as they navy zeros in on exact targets around the Syrian city. The strikes could apparently include Kalibr cruise missiles, launched from a submarine. The strikes could apparently include Kalibr cruise missiles, although these would be launched from a submarine Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is among the group in the Mediterranean Sea It comes on the day of the US election, after American officials have condemned Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria. Secretary of state John Kerry has called on Russia, which supports dictator Bashar-al-Assad against rebel groups, to stop bombing civilians in what he described as the ‘largest of humanitarian disasters’. But President Putin has denied any ‘war crimes’ and asked for evidence that his forces are bombing innocents. Russian planes were allegedly responsible for a strike killing at least seven children and two pregnant women in Syria’s rebel stronghold province of Idlib on Tuesday.
+6 Russian planes were allegedly responsible for strikes killing at least seven children and two pregnant women in Syria’s rebel stronghold province of Idlib on Tuesday The strike hit the town of Khan Sheikun in the south of the province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. The Britain-based group, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information, says it determines what planes carried out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved. In Moscow, the defence ministry denied that Russian aircraft had been in the area on Tuesday, and accused the Observatory of ‘information provocations’. Russia began its air campaign in support of the government in September 2015, saying it was targeting ‘terrorists.’ ‘The strike hit a street where children were playing. Three of the dead children were from one family and were visiting their grandfather,’ Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said. | 0 |
DEBUNKED : ABC Poll Showing Clinton with a 12 Point Lead is FAKE Oct 28, 2016 Previous post
The new ABC poll showing Clinton with a 12 point lead is a fake.
We’ve discovered via Hillary campaign emails released by Wikileaks that they would send out phony oversampled polls, and that’s exactly what they’re doing.
This one, however, is a | 0 |
In an article that appeared online in The Mail on Sunday, a British tabloid, the journalist David Rose described “astonishing evidence” that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States had “rushed to publish a landmark paper that exaggerated global warming and was timed to influence the historic Paris agreement on climate change. ” “Exposed: How world leaders were duped into investing billions over manipulated global warming data,” the article’s headline read. Mr. Rose, who has made claims in the past that did not hold up to scrutiny, said a “ ” John J. Bates, a recently retired scientist at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, had told him that the agency “breached its own rules on scientific integrity” in publishing the study in June 2015. According to Mr. Rose, the study, which refuted earlier work that suggested global warming had slowed in the first decade of this century, “was aimed at making the maximum possible impact on world leaders” at the talks in Paris in December 2015 that led to the agreement by more than 190 nations to set limits on carbon emissions. After Mr. Rose’s article was published, the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology and its chairman, Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas, wrote about it on Twitter. Beginning in 2013, scientists published papers showing that, according to land and sea surface temperature data, the rate of global warming had slowed since the late 1990s. This pause or hiatus, as it was often called, puzzled scientists because it came despite a continuing increase in emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases. The findings also became a cause célèbre among climate change denialists, who cited the papers as evidence that concerns about global warming were at the least overblown. The 2015 paper, by Thomas R. Karl, who was then director of the National Centers for Environmental Information, and others, used improved data sets to show that the slowdown probably did not occur at all. Because temperature data was collected in different ways over the years — and some methods were more reliable than others — it is normal for the data to be refined and adjusted. Mr. Karl’s paper reflected the latest refinements, especially for ocean data. In the Mail on Sunday article, Dr. Bates, who at one point was in charge of archiving climate data at the centers, accused Mr. Karl of having used “unverified” data. In a long blog post published Saturday, Dr. Bates went into extensive detail — the kind that only true data geeks could love — about how data sets are or are not archived and verified at NOAA. But Dr. Bates also accused Mr. Karl of misusing the process. “We find Tom Karl’s thumb on the scale pushing for, and often insisting on, decisions that maximize warming and minimize documentation,” he wrote. Republicans on the House committee and Mr. Smith, in particular, have long attacked Mr. Karl’s paper and have focused on it as part of a lingering investigation of what Mr. Smith has described as the Obama administration’s “suspect climate agenda. ” The committee has demanded that NOAA researchers turn over emails related to the work the scientists have refused to do so. Climate scientists, some of whom had worked on the data sets, voiced support for the work of Mr. Karl and the other researchers. In a post on the blog of the Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units at Maynooth University, Peter Thorne, who worked on the data but left NOAA before work began on the paper itself, disputed much of what Dr. Bates said. Dr. Bates, Dr. Thorne wrote, was not involved in the data work and had misrepresented “the processes that actually occurred. ” Dr. Thorne also disputed the idea that Mr. Karl had his “thumb on the scale. ” Mr. Karl only used the data — he was not personally involved in the refinements, Dr. Thorne wrote. “At no point was any pressure brought to bear to make any scientific or technical choices. ” In a post at Carbon Brief, a British website that covers climate science and policy, Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, disputed the contention that the data sets used in Mr. Karl’s paper were unverified or that the data had been manipulated. Dr. Hausfather was one of the authors of a review of the NOAA ocean data, which showed the most change. The paper, published in January, compared the old and new NOAA data with independent data from satellites, buoys and other sources and found that the new data matched the independent data more closely. The result, he wrote, “strongly suggests that NOAA got it right and that we have been underestimating ocean warming in recent years. ” In an interview on Monday with EE News, Dr. Bates appeared to distance himself from some of what he wrote in the blog post, and from the way his criticisms were portrayed in the Mail on Sunday article. “The issue here is not an issue of tampering with data,” he said, “but rather really of timing of a release of a paper that had not properly disclosed everything it was. ” Climate Home, a nonprofit site based in London that offers news and analysis, also weighed in on one of the central contentions of Mr. Rose’s article, that the publication of the NOAA paper had ”duped” policy makers into adopting the Paris accord. The site contacted representatives to the talks from 10 countries none said that the paper had any influence. | 1 |
Sorry, Piers, but Joe Walsh just laid claim to the ‘Musket’ nickname with his post-election call to arms Posted at 5:26 pm on October 26, 2016 by Brett T. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
Some are interpreting radio host Joe Walsh’s Wednesday afternoon tweet as a literal call to violence following the election, while it seems the majority are electing to point and laugh instead. At least gun control crusader Piers Morgan should be OK with it, seeing as Walsh’s weapon of choice is a musket, just as the founders envisioned when they drew up the Bill of Rights. On November 8th, I'm voting for Trump.
On November 9th, if Trump loses, I'm grabbing my musket.
You in?
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) October 26, 2016 @WalshFreedom what exactly does that mean?
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 26, 2016
Good question. There’s no need to alert the authorities, as plenty of people have already; it’ll be up to the powers that be to determine if “grabbing my musket” constitutes a threat, or if it’s meant symbolically. (The odds that Twitter will suspend Walsh’s account look pretty good.) @WalshFreedom Didn't you get in trouble for this once before?
— Meredith D. (@YankeeBeatCheck) October 26, 2016
At least once before. Grab your musket and meet me in North Carolina.
Time to fight the Feds.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) May 9, 2016 I'M GRABBING MY MUSKET is the perfect thing to scream into an old fashioned phone that isn't plugged in It's not a great thing to tweet
— Erin Gloria Ryan (@morninggloria) October 26, 2016
In the meantime, plenty of people aren’t exactly quivering at the image of Walsh wielding a musket — or, as the cable networks would likely call it, an assault musket. @WalshFreedom Bless your heart.
— Swami Buttload (@MetricButtload) October 26, 2016 "When you're an ex-congressman, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the musket. You can do anything." https://t.co/qlNApg4Ypi
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) October 26, 2016 @WalshFreedom Looks like .0002% of your followers are "in". Awkward.
— Robert Bingaman (@robertjosiah) October 26, 2016 @WalshFreedom girl, you don't have a musket.
— Christoph Fitzgerald (@kifferfitz) October 26, 2016 . @WalshFreedom Good thinking, you'll go far with a smoothbore black-powder muzzleloader
— Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) October 26, 2016 @WalshFreedom and what are you going to do with said musket? Really? A musket? Not a carbine? You really are out of touch 🙂
— Dan Braxton (@BraxtonMedia) October 26, 2016 Actually, a musket would be an outdated and ineffective weapon for armed insurrection against a modern—*falls into manhole*
— Alex Brown (@AlexBrownNJ) October 26, 2016 . @WalshFreedom you'd get droned before you could even load it
— Matt Provenzano (@mattprov94) October 26, 2016 @WalshFreedom You gonna old yeller your candidate? seems a bit harsh. | 0 |
A waterfall flows in downtown Portland, Ore. ribbons and rivulets of water cascading over slabs of rough, reddish concrete into pools filled with wading children in the summer. Down a path, great planted hills pop from the sidewalk. A stepped basin opens up between buildings, looking like a natural spring bursting through the pavement. These bold environments, strung across an section in the city center, were designed by the modernist landscape architect Lawrence Halprin and his firm between 1965 and 1970, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. They are celebrated, along with more than two dozen other parks, pools and gardens, in “The Landscape Architecture of Lawrence Halprin,” an exhibition in Washington commemorating Mr. Halprin’s centennial that runs through April 16. The visual language that Mr. Halprin, who died in 2009, chose to create experiences changed over the decades of his long career. His designs, created in the 1960s and ’70s in Denver, Rochester and San Francisco, used concrete to create rugged, climbable topography that echoed canyons, waterfalls and riverbeds, and were intended to bring nature back into cities riven by urban renewal. He drew watercolors of the rocks and trees of the Pacific Coast, then translated those shapes into geometric compositions. When the Ira Keller Fountain in Portland opened in 1970, the architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable of The New York Times wrote, “Mr. Halprin is onto something that makes the conventional piece of modern sculpture plonked onto the conventional corporate or public plaza look obsolete. ” Despite the difference in style, the urban parks of Frederick Law Olmsted, which imitated nature by creating rambles and meadows in what would come to be city centers, inspired him. “Halprin is abstracting nature,” said Charles Birnbaum, president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, which organized the exhibition with the National Building Museum. “Halprin had a of Olmsted in his office he was a big fan. Halprin was creating passages of scenery in the same way, creating narrative in his own language. ” Mr. Halprin had a longtime collaborator in his wife, the choreographer Anna Halprin, and movement was never far from his thinking. The exhibition includes a 1949 essay he wrote for Impulse Dance magazine on the “Choreography of Gardens,” as well as photographs of their house in Marin County, Calif. where in the early 1950s Mr. Halprin built his wife a “dance deck” between and around the existing trees. “The dance deck was an to taking theater to where people are, rather than expecting people to come to you,” Ms. Halprin told The Times in 2014. “He wanted to make something people could experience, not just use as a place to go through. ” Mr. Halprin also worked closely with architects, as on the organization of the modernist planned community Sea Ranch in Sonoma County, where he made sure that houses by Joseph Esherick and Charles W. Moore, among others, were built in clusters to shelter each other from wind and make minimal disruptions to the environment. Freeway Park in Seattle, designed with his associate Angela Danadjieva and completed in 1976, was America’s first highway “cap” park, built specifically to knit part of that city back together after the construction of Interstate 5. The park acts as a lid, covering the roadways and gorge with a network of boxy concrete planters, some overflowing with greenery. The planters are striated, which gives them the look of ancient Mayan ruins. In one section, the Canyon Fountain was designed to send a torrent of water downhill beside a path with a window onto the freeway. “When you went down into that space, all you hear is the sound of rushing water, but you are seeing the cars,” Mr. Birnbaum said. “It was a wonderful device for lifting the veil” on the park’s structural acrobatics. Today, that fountain has been turned off, a common fate for Mr. Halprin’s works, which may be rugged but aren’t necessarily . On the website created by the Cultural Landscape Foundation to accompany the exhibition, Freeway Park is given a grade of C, for “beginning to falter,” though the Canyon Fountain is scheduled to be rehabilitated in 2017. The role of this exhibition is not only to celebrate Mr. Halprin’s legacy, but also to aid in its recognition and protection. A sculpture garden in Richmond, Va. and urban malls in Minneapolis and Skokie, Ill. have been bulldozed his landscape for Capitol Towers in Sacramento is set for demolition. The “rustic” fountain in the center of his Bunker Hill Steps in Los Angeles was smoothed out without warning. Mr. Halprin’s Heritage Park Plaza in Fort Worth has been fenced off since 2007. is underway to restore and reopen this sequence of outdoor rooms, designed to commemorate the fort that gave the city its name. Even if many city residents don’t know Mr. Halprin’s name, preservation efforts for these parks and fountains often tap a broad wellspring of memories. “Because these landscapes are not that old, people remember them during their heyday,” Mr. Birnbaum said. “In our video oral history, Halprin remembers the mayor of Portland pulling him aside and saying, ‘We have to make sure people don’t go in the fountains.’ It was a period of great racial strife. What does Halprin do at the opening? He jumps in, and invites people to join him. ” | 1 |
While Democrats perpetually circle the wagons, Republicans engage a perpetual circular firing squad. The same holds true for many evangelicals. Democrats and secularists count on it.
And we never disappoint.
Full disclosure: I went from a dogged “Never Trumper” to a “Maybe Trumper” and, finally, settled as a “Reluctant Trumper.” I, like any God-fearing father of daughters was, and remain, appalled by Donald Trump’s sordid past, and his 11-year-old vulgar video in which he objectified women. His words are indefensible, and I fully expect the Clinton camp to strategically release additional revolting and embarrassing opposition research about the Republican nominee before Election Day.
Still, I will be voting against Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8 in what is objectively and irrefutably the most effective way possible: by casting a vote, for better or worse, for the policies and promises of Donald Trump – and for the vice presidency of Gov. Mike Pence.
Regrettably, with many of my Never Trump friends I’m reminded of the fanatic who refuses his daughter chemotherapy and watches her die in an effort to convince himself (and others) of the strength of his own faith. Pride is an awful thing. We are to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Foolishness called “faith” is just foolishness.
Even so, there are Christian Pharisees on both extremes of this Trump fiasco: first, those Trumpian cultists who buy the “Make America great again!” pablum and deride any person who, while not casting judgment upon others, makes, with all sincerity, what they view as the principled decision. The latter say they’ll sit this one out (or go through the motions by voting third party – a wasted vote by any objective standard). While I appreciate this milder strain of Never Trumper’s sincerity, I nonetheless believe it is sincerely wrong.
And then there are the self-righteous, plank-in-the-eye Never Trump prigs who slander as having “lost their saltiness,”“sinned against God” and “compromised their principles,” brothers and sisters who recognize the empirical reality that a vote for a horribly flawed (Lord knows I’m the worst sinner of all) baby Christian as president is a vote against Hillary Clinton’s tyranny in perpetuity.
The Media Research Center has done America a tremendous service. In 2014 the watchdog organization released a video of an actual partial birth abortion – something Hillary Clinton stood on stage during the final presidential debate, stared into the camera with cold, callous eyes, and then both lied about and defended unequivocally. I plead with Never Trumpers to watch the video and then prayerfully reassess their plans for Nov. 8.
Mrs. Clinton’s beloved late-term abortion practice is one so brutal and needless that even the left-leaning American Medical Association has admitted that it is dangerous to the mother and never necessary under any circumstances, not the least of which is for “the life or health of the mother.”
During a partial-birth abortion, the abortionist pulls a fully “viable” child – often kicking and thrashing – feet first from her mother’s womb, leaving only the top of her head in the birth canal. This is so the abortionist can technically claim to be performing an abortion, rather than committing murder.
He then stabs the child through the base of her skull with scissors, piercing her brain until her kicking and moving about suddenly and violently jerks to a halt. Next, he opens the scissors to enlarge the wound as blood and brainstem fluid gush down his hands, inserts a vacuum tube and sucks out her brains, thereby collapsing her skull.
Her now limp and lifeless body is then cast away like so much garbage.
This is homicide, plain and simple. Hillary Clinton supports it. Donald Trump opposes it.
We deserve God’s wrath and judgment as a nation for allowing this abortion holocaust to occur on our watch. In my estimation, Mrs. Clinton is a bloodthirsty monster who enthusiastically supports this barbarity. Her Supreme Court appointees will ensure that tens of millions of precious babies like the one in the video are murdered in the same brutal manner.
My conscience tells me that I must vote in such a way that exercising my civic duty will have the strongest net effect against Mrs. Clinton and ensure that she is stopped. She must not be elected president. To not vote – or to vote for a non-starter third party candidate, which is effectively the same thing – while not an actual vote for Mrs. Clinton, still puts this Mengele in a pantsuit one step closer to the White House and the Supreme Court.
It’s simple math, and it’s undeniable. The most effective thing you can personally do as a citizen is to vote against Mrs. Clinton by voting for Mr. Trump. This does the most electoral damage possible to candidate Clinton and offers the best chance for life that you can provide future generations.
With its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the U.S. Supreme Court put the government’s official stamp of approval on mass murder. Since then, the battle lines have been drawn. This is war. “Pro-choicers” are the bad guys and pro-lifers, the good guys. It really is that simple – that black and white. It’s good versus evil.
History will reflect as much.
Under a President Hillary Clinton, millions more babies will be tortured and dismembered alive. Under a President Donald Trump, these millions might live. And yet, even as Hillary sharpens her knives, we quibble like fools over Donald’s potty mouth.
The devil and Democrats: Oh, how they love derision and division within the body of Christ. | 0 |
Obama’s Team List: Muslims Named for Top Jobs – Christians Purposely Removed
The latest from top Clinton family friend and political aide John Podesta, courtesy of hacked emails released by WikiLeaks, is that President Obama’s transition team – the officials tasked with helping the then-senator move into the White House and set up executive shop, in the 2008-09 time period – made and maintained lists of Muslims who would be great for top jobs in the administration.
But what’s more worrisome than this special interest revelation was that the emails seem to show the transition team members went out of their way to also keep off Christians.
Talk about preferential treatment.
The Daily Caller reports:
“According to an email chain from 2008, John Podesta received lists of exclusively Muslims and Asians to be considered for jobs in the Obama administration. The email chain revealed that in this process, Middle Eastern Christians were purposefully excluded, or set aside in a separate list, with an aide writing,
“‘In the candidates for top jobs, I excluded those with some Arab American background but who are not Muslim (e.g., George Mitchell). Many Lebanese Americans, for example, are Christian. In the last list (of outside boards/commissions), most who are listed appear to be Muslim American, except that a handful (where noted) may be Arab American but of uncertain religion (esp. Christian).’
“Also notable, there was concern that some of the Muslims suggested would not survive media scrutiny, with one aide writing, ‘High-profile Muslim Americans tend to be the subject of a fair amount of blogger criticism, and so the individuals on this list would need to be ESPECIALLY carefully vetted.’
“She continues, ‘I suspect some of the people I list would not survive such a vet — but I do personally know, at least in part, virtually all of the candidates in the 1st two categories (but I know very few of those listed for outside boards/commissions).’
“Within the lists themselves, candidates were further broken down
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This is an obituary for a fictional persona: Ken Bone, America’s Hero. This Ken Bone of our imaginations was born on Sunday, during a presidential debate, when the American public saw him and decided that he was more important than whatever those two nameless individuals running for president had to say. The real Ken Bone is still alive and well, of course. To prove it, he has tried, like any enterprising American, to capitalize on the country’s feverish, bewildering affection by accepting some sort of sponsorship deal from Uber, creating his own “Bone Zone” line, and conducting an interview with the people of Reddit on Thursday. Judging from his active account history and the breadth of Mr. Bone’s discussions, they are his sort of people. The media coverage has been so intense that it inspired one journalist to write existential poetry. In just a few short days, Mr. Bone broke Chewbacca Mom’s record for permeating our consciousness. But the pendulum of adoration must always swing back, it seems. Chewbacca Mom, whose real name is a lot less fun to say than “Ken Bone” or “Bone Zone,” made the transformation in the eyes of some to a symbol of racial privilege, or maybe an avatar of our modern tendency to award provocative people with gross amounts of money for doing very little. It all depended on who was watching, who was writing, and what they felt. Now the bell tolls for Mr. Bone. It is Mr. Bone’s turn to show the world that he is a flawed person — a human, even — who decided to take the ride when was given to him. He might also now be forced to acknowledge that he has said and done things that are bad, unpopular or even illegal. And the rest of us, in our indignant perfection, will shake our heads and tweet about it. As Mr. Bone conducted his Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, reporters at Gizmodo — a site literally hours ahead of anyone else in revealing the supposed badness of Mr. Bone — and their counterparts at The Daily Dot and The Daily Beast soon ferreted out Mr. Bone’s past Reddit history, finding tidbits that were sure to provoke somebody. It seems Mr. Bone had engaged in a discussion of his sex life after having undergone a vasectomy. Using the pseudonym StanGibson18, he had revealed that he enjoyed viewing the nude photos of the actress Jennifer Lawrence (that were, for the record, posted online without her consent). He also commented on pictures of scantily clad women on the Bodyperfection and RealGirls subreddits. “Beautiful human submarines,” he wrote on a post about pregnant women in an subreddit called PreggoPorn. Before anyone knew his real name, he had decided to tell Reddit about the most illegal thing he said he’s ever done, by claiming that he had once forged car insurance documents to keep his job as a pizza delivery driver. And four months ago, Mr. Bone summed up the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman as a “justified” episode: “Bad guy legally kills kid in self defense. Sucks for everybody,” he wrote, before blaming the news media. Under this Reddit account, Mr. Bone was a semiregular commenter, with about 150 comments made over the course of the year, not including the flurry of posts he made during his A. M. A. He posted about gun control and his job as an operator at a coal plant in Illinois. He voiced support for President Obama but said that he himself was “a pretty conservative guy. ” What else? He enjoys video games, is O. K. with calling himself “fat and bald,” and once offered words of comfort to a survivor of rape. “Your value has not changed due his words,” he wrote to that person, “or any assault you have endured. You are still valuable. ” Quite a mixed bag. But in this world of online only extremes break through. The echo chamber doesn’t do nuance. On Friday, Mr. Bone’s voice mail box was full. He did not reply to a text message, but he did eventually answer email questions about the criticism of his old anonymous comments on Trayvon Martin and Jennifer Lawrence. “If you read the whole post on the Trayvon Martin tragedy you’ll see that I said based on what I read, which was the release from the D. O. J. the shooting was ruled as legally justified,” he wrote. “It was also an awful thing to happen. Just because it was legal does not mean it was right. I wish Trayvon were still alive. ” (The Department of Justice said that the evidence surrounding the case did not meet the law’s high standard for prosecuting crimes.) On his posts about Ms. Lawrence, he had this to say: “It was a joke in poor taste made from my former anonymity. I take full responsibility for saying it. I wholeheartedly apologize and wish I could do so to her directly. ” Now that he is the opposite of anonymous, Mr. Bone would like everyone to know something: “My message has been one about elevating the level of conversation, and if I want to hold our leaders accountable for their words then I must be accountable for mine. ” In a later email, Mr. Bone ended this long and strange week by saying that his insurance fraud comments had been a fabrication: “That was a made up story, and even in the story no documents were passed to law enforcement. They were used for employment. ” | 1 |
MOSUL, Iraq — Dozens of Iraqi civilians, some of them still alive and calling out for help, were buried for days under the rubble of their homes in western Mosul after airstrikes flattened almost an entire city block. At the site on Sunday, more than a week after the bombing runs, reporters for The New York Times saw weary survivors trying to find bodies in the wreckage. Iraqi officials said the final death toll could reach 200 or more, potentially making it one of the worst civilian tolls ever in an American military strike in Iraq. The fighting against the Islamic State here has grown more urgent, with Iraqi officers saying the coalition has been quicker to strike urban targets from the air with less time to weigh the risks for civilians. They say the change reflects a renewed push by the American military under the Trump administration to speed up the battle for Mosul. American military officials insist there have been no changes to its rules of engagement that lessen the risk for civilians. They say the reports of greater civilian casualties have come at a time of more intense operations both by Iraqi forces in Mosul and by forces fighting the Islamic State in Syria. Starting with the surge into Mosul in December, they say, American military advisers have been given more authority to call in some airstrikes that do not have to be approved through headquarters. Right now, the battle for Mosul is in its most dangerous phase for civilians, with the fight reaching into the twisting alleys and densely populated areas of the old city. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are pinned down here in tight quarters with Islamic State fighters who do not care if they live or die. At the same time, more American Special Operations troops, some dressed in black uniforms and driving black vehicles — the colors of their Iraqi counterparts — are closer to the front lines. That way, in theory, the targeting of Islamic State fighters should become more precise for the coalition. Another 200 American soldiers, from the 82nd Airborne Division, are heading to Iraq to support that battle over the next few days. Many Iraqi commanders welcome the more aggressive American role, saying that coalition officers were too risk averse under the Obama administration. Iraqis also say fighting for the dense, urban spaces of western Mosul requires more airpower, even if that means more civilians will die. When those decisions turn tragic, it looks like this: a panorama of destruction in the neighborhood of Mosul Jidideh so vast one resident compared the destruction to that of Hiroshima, Japan, where the United States dropped an atomic bomb in World War II. There was a charred arm, wrapped in a piece of red fabric, poking from the rubble rescue workers in red jump suits who wore face masks to avoid the stench, some with rifles slung over their shoulders, searched the wreckage for bodies. One of the survivors, Omar Adnan, stood near his destroyed home on Sunday and held up a white sheet of paper with 27 names of his extended family members, either dead or missing, written in blue ink. Nearby were two men. One of them, Ashraf Mohammed, said, “I lost all of my family except this guy, my brother. ” The civilian deaths have not been limited to the battle for Mosul, which is about 220 miles north of Baghdad. Across large areas of Syria and Iraq, more American ground troops are being committed to the fight, and more American airstrikes are being ordered. In Syria, the battle has intensified in large part around Raqqa, the Islamic State’s declared capital. The campaigns in both countries intend to deprive the Islamic State of its biggest cities, while keeping pressure on the group across its holdings. Allegations of civilian casualties in both countries from airstrikes have increased so much in recent months that, for the first time, the number of coalition strikes affecting civilians has surpassed those carried out by Russia in Syria, according to Airwars, a monitoring organization based in London that tracks international airstrikes and their effect on civilians. The group said the increase in reported civilian deaths began under President Barack Obama and accelerated after President Trump took office in January. American officials have confirmed that the coalition conducted airstrikes in Mosul Jidideh on March 17 and that they are investigating whether it was to blame for the dozens of deaths there. They insist that they are doing everything they can to protect civilian lives while pushing the fight in Mosul. Jim Mattis, the Defense secretary, told reporters at the Pentagon on Monday that military leaders “are keenly aware that every battlefield where an enemy hides behind women and children” could lead to civilian casualties. “We go out of our way to always do everything humanly possible to reduce loss of life or injury among innocent people,” he said. The east side of Mosul, a city of 1. 8 million that is Iraq’s second largest, was mostly secured by Iraqi forces in January. Much of it remained intact, and everyday life resumed. But on the west, the fight has become more brutal, with sections that look like moonscapes. Maj. Gen. Maan an Iraqi special forces commander, said his men had called in the American airstrikes that caused the civilian deaths, adding of the victims, “We feel sad for them. ” But he called the episode an unfortunate outcome in a nasty war. He said that Iraqi forces had lost thousands of men fighting the Islamic State, and that to lose so many civilians in a single attack “in return for liberating the entire city of Mosul — I think it is a normal thing. ” “This is a war, and mistakes can happen, and there can be losses,” he said. “But we are fighting the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world, with huge, unprecedented support from the international coalition. ” Gen. Ali Jamil, an intelligence officer with the Iraqi special forces, said he had been fighting the Islamic State for more than two years with the support of American air power. “I have not seen such a quick response with high coordination from the coalition as I am seeing now,” he said. Before, when Iraqis requested airstrikes, he said, “there used to be a delay, or no response sometimes, on the excuse of checking the location or looking for civilians. ” On Sunday, a bulldozer pushed debris so rescuers could reach bodies. When one body was found, a man nearby identified it as that of his nephew, and another man wrote the name down in a notebook. The body was then zipped up in a blue plastic bag and placed inside a garage alongside others. Many of the dead had already been buried in the gardens of homes that were only partially destroyed. Residents who were in the neighborhood during the fighting suggested that there had been every reason to believe the area was filled with civilians at the time of the airstrikes — especially because the Iraqi government and its American allies had dropped leaflets asking civilians to remain in their homes rather than risk fleeing into the middle of the battle. But the battle has come to them now. As the fight for this west Mosul neighborhood raged 10 days ago, Islamic State fighters were dashing between homes across courtyards and passing through holes punched in concrete walls that allowed them to move their positions without showing themselves on the streets. Advancing Iraqi soldiers, who called in the airstrikes, were in earshot of civilians. “They were very close,” said Mubishar Thanoon, a resident in his late 30s, standing on Sunday at the bedside of his brother, who was wounded in the attack, at a hospital in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region. “I was hearing their voices. They knew exactly that we were there. ” Another man, Ziad Suleyman, 27, said he could see an Iraqi special forces sniper on a nearby building, who was wearing a baseball cap and ear muffs and communicated with him using hand signals. “He was waving to me,” said Mr. Suleyman, also at the Erbil hospital, where he was visiting a wounded relative. “I was seeing him, he was seeing us. ” Residents and Iraqi officers said that Islamic State fighters, some speaking Russian, according to residents, had taken sniper positions on the rooftops of homes, pinning down some advancing Iraqi forces. Hundreds of residents, trying to escape indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire and fearful of airstrikes, took refuge in basements. It was there that they died, from airstrikes targeting the snipers that caused entire buildings to collapse, survivors recounted. “Not all of the houses had Daesh on the roof,” said Ali Abdulghani, a resident of the neighborhood, using another name for Islamic State fighters. “Why, just because of one Daesh, kill everyone?” American military officials have said that their investigation so far has found that one building collapsed days after the strikes in the neighborhood, raising the possibility that the Islamic State blew up the building after the bombing runs, killing many civilians. In interviews, survivors and local residents dismissed that, saying airstrikes brought the buildings down. Survivors and Iraqi officers said that fighting raged in the neighborhood for days after the strikes, delaying the arrival of rescuers. A few among the lucky are now lying, injured but alive, in hospital beds in Erbil, about 50 miles east of Mosul. Mr. Thanoon’s brother, Ali, was one of them. He survived days under the wreckage, emerging with a broken arm and many cuts and bruises. He recalled lying under the rubble never thinking he would die there, and speaking to another man nearby, who did not survive. “It was a conversation between two dying men,” he said. He said he had hid in a basement not because Islamic State fighters forced him to, but because of the “terror and fear” of artillery and airstrikes. “For me and my family, we thought this was the safest place,” he said. When asked what happened to his family, Ali’s brother quickly changed the subject. A few moments later, in the hallway outside the room, Mr. Thanoon confided that he had not yet told his brother, who he said was delirious from his ordeal and from painkillers, that his family — his two wives, four daughters, two sons and two grandchildren — had all been killed. | 1 |
Ernie Els, known as the Big Easy, created a little strife on social media this month by playing golf with President Trump and Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla. As the PGA Tour moves this week to PGA National Resort and Spa, a drive from Trump National, it was natural to wonder: How many of Els’s peers on the tour, if extended the same invitation, would say yes? At Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles last week, I asked more than of the Genesis Open field that question, granting the respondents anonymity so they wouldn’t risk the wrath of their Twitter followers or, in the case of at least one pro, the fury of his wife. The players range in age from the early 20s to late 40s. They represent nine countries and make their homes in 14 American states, including four that voted overwhelmingly Democratic in last year’s presidential election. Of the 56 players polled, 50 — or 89. 3 percent — said they would play golf with Trump if asked. Only three said they would not. The remaining three declined to answer. The results were hardly surprising. The clubhouses at PGA Tour stops have long trended Republican, and the sport’s target demographic — rich, mostly white men — is far different from the women, minorities, immigrants and Muslims who have at times been the most offended by the president’s statements and positions. Long before he was elected the country’s 45th president, Trump participated in tournament on the men’s and women’s tours and made the game an integral part of his lifestyle and his businesses. His presidency, at least so far, has been no different. But the current political climate is forcing many people who sometimes enter the White House’s orbit — celebrities, N. F. L. players, even college basketball stars — to seriously consider the personal and public repercussions of accepting an invitation to engage with the president. “I’m not silly to what’s going on,” said Els, who was born in South Africa. “I know this is probably the most polarizing president of my time. ” He added, “Whether you agree or not, I felt it was a duty to play with the president when you get the call. ” Els, 47, is married with two teenage children, and lives in West Palm Beach, Fla. He is also a member of Trump’s golf club in Jupiter, which might have made him a logical recipient for an invitation: Els said he received his in a phone call from David Trout, the head professional at Trump National, asking if he would be interested in rounding out a foursome the next day that included the president. Els, who was home because he had pulled out of that week’s PGA Tour event in Pebble Beach, Calif. with a stiff neck, said he was not going to pass up three hours of exclusive access to the leader of the free world. “He is the president at the moment,” Els said. “If it was Barack Obama, I would have played. If it was Hillary Clinton, I would have played. ” Since the November election, Trump has played with at least one L. P. G. A. player, Lexi Thompson, and three former men’s world No. 1s: Tiger Woods Els and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, who has a home in Palm Beach Gardens and is recovering from a rib injury. McIlroy played 18 holes with the president on Sunday at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, in a foursome that also included the former Yankees outfielder Paul O’Neill. Woods, who has played with former Presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton and Obama, described his December round with Trump as “fun” in a blog post on his website, and added, “Our discussion topics were . ” Other players said they would welcome a similar opportunity. Pat Perez, an golfer of Mexican ancestry, is an unabashed supporter of Trump, whom he described as “an incredible businessman who knows what he’s doing. ” Perez said he would play with Trump “in a heartbeat,” but would have turned down an invitation from Mrs. Clinton if she had won. (It should be noted that she is not known to golf.) Trump is perhaps the most ardent golfer to occupy the Oval Office since the 34th president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had a putting green installed at the White House and carried a club like a walking stick as he made his way through its maze of hallways. Eisenhower, who was a member at Augusta National, occasionally played with Arnold Palmer. Trump enjoys the company of Jim Herman. In 2006, Herman was hired as an assistant pro at Trump’s course in Bedminster, N. J. He played a few rounds with Trump, who was impressed with his game. Trump encouraged Herman to redouble his efforts to earn a place on the PGA Tour and helped bankroll his career at the start. Last year, Herman won his first tour title. Since 2008, his combined earnings on the PGA Tour and Web. com Tour are more than $6 million. Herman, 39, has played hundreds of rounds with Trump over the last decade. During one of their games after the election, Trump invited him to the inauguration. “It’s still very hard for me to separate ‘President Donald Trump’ from the guy I’ve played with for the last 10 years,” Herman said, adding, “I think of how generous Mr. Trump and all of those people were in helping me make it to the PGA Tour. So on that day in Washington, the inauguration was almost surreal in seeing him and his children and some members of his clubs I hadn’t seen in many years, all of us back together to share in that unique moment in American history. ” The PGA Tour once held a World Golf Championships event, a rung below the four majors in prestige, at Trump National Doral outside Miami, but last year it moved the tournament, starting this year, to Mexico City after the title sponsor, Cadillac, declined to renew its contract. As Cadillac discovered, any brand can end up as collateral damage when it comes in contact with a missile like Trump. When the tournament’s move was announced last summer, the perception — denied by tour officials — was that the organization was using the sponsorship vacuum to distance itself from Trump, who had made incendiary comments about Mexicans and women during the presidential campaign. After Mexico City was announced as the event’s new home, McIlroy, alluding to Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall along the border, joked, “We’ll just jump over the wall. ” That McIlroy chose to play golf with Trump despite having said before last year’s event at Doral that if he were a United States citizen, “I’m not sure I would want to vote for any of the candidates,” did not surprise the former player Justin Leonard. Leonard, a reporter for Golf Channel and NBC, said, “I think seeing the president take time out of what we can only imagine being such a busy schedule and placing importance on golf from a business and social level, and for guys like Rory to take the time — obviously he’s been battling an injury, but that’s a call that you don’t turn down. ” | 1 |
DAEGU, South Korea — Like many of her fellow citizens, Kum is outraged by the political crisis that is engulfing South Korea’s president. But unlike the vast majority of them, who have turned against President Park because they believe she has brought an corruption scandal on herself, Ms. Kum, 79, sees her as an innocent victim of a friend who has taken advantage of her. “Park herself is not a bad person,” said Ms. Kum, wielding a small razor blade to whittle off the scraggly roots of scallions at a vegetable stall in Seomun Market, here in the city where Ms. Park was born. “She has been swindled. ” Daegu, a center of textile and machinery industries about 150 miles southeast of Seoul, is the heartland of Ms. Park’s support — or what little remains of it, after an scandal involving a longtime friend and shadowy adviser to the president who has been compared to Rasputin. While her nationwide approval rating has dropped into the low single digits, according to Gallup Korea, she retains higher support in Daegu, especially among people 60 and older. To this stalwart cohort, Ms. Park is a proxy for her father, Park the divisive Cold War dictator who attended teachers college and taught in Daegu before embarking on a military career. He took over South Korea in a coup in 1961 and ruled until he was assassinated in 1979. Conservatives who lived through the period of rapid economic growth that he oversaw still revere him as the father of modern South Korea, crediting him not only with lifting the country out of poverty but also with guarding against Communist threats from the North. For a dozen years as a member of the National Assembly, Ms. Park represented a district in Daegu, the country’s city. When she ran for president in 2012, she received about 80 percent of the city’s vote. Many who voted for her expected her to carry on her father’s legacy. Daegu “has been the source of unconditional support for both Park and Park ” said Jeon a professor of modern Korean history at Kyungpook National University in the city. Now, Mr. Jeon said, as the Assembly prepares for an impeachment vote on Friday, President Park’s few remaining loyal followers are concentrated among older, uneducated and poor citizens. Across the country, intellectual conservatives are angered by what they see as a witch hunt driven by the news media and opposition parties, yet many of them no longer support Ms. Park personally. Yi a prominent conservative novelist, said that the news media had failed to differentiate between rumor and fact as the scandal unfolded, and he accused the opposition of instigating public protests. But he called the president “incompetent” and said she had shown poor judgment by associating with the wrong people. “To be frank, she never satisfied my expectations,” Mr. Yi said during an interview at his home in a writer’s colony in Icheon, about 35 miles southeast of Seoul. Even in Daegu, “many of the educated older people have left her,” said Yi (no relation to Yi ) director of operations for the local constituency office of Ms. Park’s governing party. “Daegu citizens supported Park more passionately than in other areas,” Mr. Yi said. “That is why it comes across as such a shock and disappointment. ” In what appeared to be a effort to court her remaining supporters, Ms. Park visited Daegu last week, making a rare public appearance after a fire destroyed parts of Seomun Market. During her brief visit, some supporters shouted her name, but protesters nearby called for her to be impeached or immediately resign. Ms. Park’s office told reporters that after she returned to her car, she wept. Earlier this week, stall owners and shoppers who voted for Ms. Park four years ago expressed a mixture of defiance and disillusionment. “Why don’t they leave her to run the country for the little time she has left?” said Suh 69, owner of a market stall selling coffee, eggs, crackers, chips and skewers. “That is the way to help the country, but they are just saying, ‘Impeach, impeach.’ ” Ms. Suh, who said that she admired Ms. Park and that her father had “brought the country to where we are today,” said the enormous public protests demanding Ms. Park’s removal showed that “democracy has become too excessive. ” “Public opinion can turn even a pretty person into an ugly person,” she said. “You can criticize a little or criticize a lot, but if you criticize a lot, the false becomes the truth. ” But Yi 58, an owner of a stationery store in the market, said that Ms. Park should be impeached because she had abused her power. “What she did was very wrong,” he said. The biggest loss, he said, was to Ms. Park’s late father. “His legacy is being buried,” Mr. Yi said. “It is being sold off wholesale. It’s guilt by association. If you start to hate one person, you will start to hate the whole team. ” Across the city at Kyungpook National University, Kim 25, a chemical engineering student, said the nostalgic older generation had made a mistake in expecting Ms. Park to carry on her father’s legacy in the first place. Mr. Kim, who stood outside in weather carrying a poster board with the slogan “Out with Park ” said his own hometown, Ulsan, had benefited greatly from Park ’s policies. “But I think it would be superficial and you would be gullible to believe that the daughter would be able to do what Park did,” he said. | 1 |
WASHINGTON — President Trump, frustrated by China’s inaction on North Korea, opened the door on Tuesday to concessions on his trade agenda with Beijing in exchange for greater Chinese support in pressuring Pyongyang. In doing so, he lashed together two sharply different issues in an already complex relationship. “I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U. S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!” Mr. Trump declared in a morning Twitter post. Minutes later, he warned: “North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U. S. A. ” Mr. Trump’s threat rattled nerves in South Korea, where the government reassured the public that the United States would not launch an attack without first consulting Seoul. But the American president’s suggestion of a grand bargain with Beijing crystallized his quandary in dealing with North Korea. Only China, with its vast economic leverage over its reclusive neighbor, can realistically force a change in the behavior of North Korea’s dictator, Kim . Yet despite its own rising frustration with Mr. Kim, the Chinese government has so far been unwilling to tighten the vise on him. President Xi Jinping of China did not offer Mr. Trump any public commitments on North Korea or trade when they held their first meeting last week at Mr. Trump’s club in Palm Beach, Fla. Even in private conversations, officials said, the Chinese leader was noncommittal. Mr. Trump has sought to link issues with China before. In December, he warned that if Beijing did not do more to curb North Korea, he would disavow the “One China” policy that has underpinned the diplomatic relationship between the United States and China for more than four decades. When Mr. Xi then put off a phone conversation with the president, Mr. Trump was forced to call the Chinese leader in February to reaffirm the policy. Several former American officials said China was again unlikely to respond as Mr. Trump now wants. “He’s clearly groping for leverage over China,” said Evan S. Medeiros, a former top China adviser to President Barack Obama who is now head of Asia research at Eurasia Group. But Mr. Medeiros added: “Linking such distinct issues seldom works because each involves different actors and different interests in each system. Linkage can also be counterproductive by reinforcing China’s worst instincts. ” Administration officials said they hoped Mr. Trump’s meeting with Mr. Xi would lead to further Chinese pressure on North Korea. Their meeting was punctuated by the missile strike on a Syrian airfield, which the officials said sent a message of resolve about Mr. Trump’s readiness to use force to defend American interests “The last thing we want to see is a nuclear North Korea that threatens the coast of the United States, or, for that matter, any other country,” the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said Tuesday. “We need stability in that region, and I think he has put them on notice. ” Mr. Trump ordered a Navy carrier strike group into the waters off the Korean Peninsula in a show of force that previous presidents have used, but which fanned regional fears that the United States would consider a military strike on North Korea. With anxiety and rumormongering rife among South Koreans, officials in Seoul said the United States would never attack the North without first consulting the South Korean government. “The United States makes it clear that it will not take a new policy or measure without consultations with us,” Cho a spokesman of the South Korean Foreign Ministry, said Tuesday. Moon a leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, issued his own warning against the possibility of an American strike carried out unilaterally. “The safety of South Korea is as important as that of the United States,” he said in a Facebook post. “There should never be a strike without South Korean consent. ” Mr. Moon is a leading contender, vying with another opposition leader, Ahn for the May 9 election to choose the successor to former President Park . Ms. Park, who was impeached by Parliament in December, was formally ousted in a Constitutional Court ruling in March. Prime Minister Hwang is serving as acting president. “Neighboring countries are taking advantage of the absence of a president in South Korea to try to exclude us and handle issues on the Korean Peninsula according to their own understanding,” Mr. Moon said, without blaming the Trump administration by name. Still, Mr. Trump’s explicit linkage of North Korea and trade suggested that the president was more likely to seek a deal with China than to proceed unilaterally. Under pressure from the United States on trade, China proposed a plan during the summit meeting that would overhaul the trade relationship between the countries. In his first concrete move on trade with China, Mr. Trump is preparing an executive order in coming weeks targeting countries that dump steel into the American market, a measure that would be aimed mainly at Beijing. But it is not yet clear which side has the initiative in the evolving debate over trade. During his meeting with Mr. Xi, administration officials said, Mr. Trump warned that China needed to address its yawning trade imbalance with the United States immediately. But the Chinese did not bring any gestures to the meeting, as many experts expected. Instead, they countered with the plan. While Mr. Trump embraced the idea, the commerce secretary, Wilbur L. Ross, noted that the plan would have “way stations” to measure progress, suggesting the White House was not willing to wait the full 100 days for results. Mr. Spicer said that deploying a carrier strike force to the region would act as a deterrent, as well as give the president more options. For Mr. Trump, however, an attack on North Korea would be a far riskier undertaking than the strike on Syria, given the North’s nuclear arsenal, fleet of missiles and proximity to huge population centers in South Korea. It is also clear that North Korea has no intention of forsaking nuclear arms. Top officials gathered in Pyongyang on Tuesday, the fifth anniversary of Mr. Kim’s election as leader of the ruling Workers’ Party, and vowed to uphold his policy of strengthening the North’s nuclear arsenal. Also on Tuesday, Ri a Politburo member, former foreign minister and adviser and childhood mentor to Mr. Kim, was given another powerful position in Parliament. Last year, Mr. Ri, 82, told Chinese officials that North Korea’s nuclear weapons expansion was “permanent. ” | 1 |
A decorated, active Navy SEAL is under investigation for moonlighting as a porn actor with his wife, the government reports. [The U. S. Navy is investigating Navy Chief Special Warfare Officer Joseph John Schmidt III after he appeared in 30 explicit porn movies, the San Diego reported last week. Schmidt, 42, has served in the Navy for 23 years, was a recruiter for the Naval Special Warfare teams, and was even featured on the SEAL website. But he is also a porn actor under the name “Jay Vroom,” appearing in such films as Apple Smashing Lap Dance and Strippers Come Home Horny from the Club. Most of the films he starred in were filmed with his wife, Jewels Jade, as his onscreen partner. But he also appeared in films with several other porn actresses. The Navy is now investigating to see if his side job violates Navy rules for conduct and propriety. “We have initiated a formal investigation into these allegations. There are very clear regulations which govern outside employment by (Naval Special Warfare) personnel as well as prohibitions on behavior that is discrediting to the service,” Capt. Jason Salata, a spokesman for the SEALs, told the paper. But Jewels Jade insists that his Naval bosses knew what he was doing as a side job. “They knew about it at work. He got called in and they said, ‘Look, keep it on the low, don’t mention the SEAL name and blah, blah, blah,” the porn actress said. “He was always pretty open about it with the command. I mean, honestly, all of his buddies knew about it. Everybody knew about it,” she said. But the SEAL’s wife claimed that they only began making the porn films to pay their bills. “It’s helped our family. It got us out of a lot of financial issues we were going through,” Jade added. “I could take care of the child. I could try to get us out of financial debt. ” The actress also noted that neither she nor her husband ever used his job as a Navy SEAL to sell their porn videos. In fact, the could not find any instances where either of them mentioned his service directly while selling or advertising their porn films. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 1 |
One need not look too deeply to discover the two groups behind the movement to impeach Donald Trump are tied to billionaire George Soros, while the organization that just filed a lawsuit challenging the Constitutionality of Trump’s presidency is financed by Soros’s Open Society Foundations. [On Monday, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit claiming that Trump is in violation of a Constitutional clause banning government officials from accepting benefits from foreign nations. Politico reported: The suit, backed by several prominent Constitutional scholars, claims that Trump’s business dealings with foreign countries who rent space in his buildings or lend money to his real estate ventures run afoul of the foreign emoluments clause. “President Trump has made his slogan ‘America First,’” CREW’s Noah Bookbinder said in a statement. “So you would think he would want to strictly follow the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause, since it was written to ensure our government officials are thinking of Americans first, and not foreign governments. ” CREW describes itself as an organization that utilizes “ legal actions to target government officials who sacrifice the common good to special interests. ” CREW, which does not publicize its donor list, has received financing from Soros’s Open Society Foundations. According to Discover the Networks, CREW has also been funded by the Tides Foundation. In August 2014, longtime Hillary Clinton ally David Brock, founder of the heavily Media Matters for America progressive group, was elected chairman of CREW’s board. Brock departed the organization last December, but Politico reported over the weekend that CREW is part of a network of groups for which the activist is attempting to raise $40 million to take on Trump. Politico reported from a fundraiser Saturday in Aventura, Florida: The constellation of political groups in Democratic strategist David Brock’s network are aiming to raise roughly $40 million in 2017, the Clinton ally told roughly 120 donors gathered here on Saturday. … Brock’s groups include Media Matters, a liberal news media watchdog ShareBlue, a liberal news site American Bridge, the party’s primary opposition research organization and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) which carries out legal actions. CREW will be a particular locus of activity this year, according to donors briefed on the plans. Meanwhile, a campaign to impeach Trump officially kicked off as soon as the billionaire was sworn in last Friday. The movement’s centralized hub is the ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow. org website, which documents that it is being led by by two liberal advocacy groups — Free Speech for People and RootsAction. The Washington Post reported on the two group’s effort: The organizers behind the campaign, Free Speech for People and RootsAction, are hinging their case on Trump’s insistence on maintaining ownership of his luxury hotel and golf course business while in office. Ethics experts have warned that his financial holdings could potentially lead to constitutional violations and undermine public faith in his . “If we were to wait for all the ill effects that could come from this, too much damage to our democracy would occur,” said Ron Fein, legal director at Free Speech for People. “It will undermine faith in basic institutions. If nothing else, it’s important for Americans to trust that the president is doing what he thinks is the right thing … not that it would help a stalled casino project in another country. ” A closer look at the two groups leading the impeachment campaign is instructive. Attorney and activist John Bonifaz is the and president of Free Speech for People. Bonifaz is the founder of the National Voting Rights Institute (NVRI) where he also served as general counsel and executive director. The NRVI’s website documents it is the recipient of “generous foundation and institutional support” from 24 past and present grantors, including Soros’s Open Society Institute. The NRVI is also funded by the Tides Foundation, and the Joyce Foundation, which has partnered with the Open Society Foundations on numerous projects. Former President Obama served as a paid board member of the Joyce Foundation for eight years from 1994 to 2002. Joyce has also been a prominent donor to the Media Matters For America progressive activist group. Lance Lindblom, a director at the Free Speech for People group behind the impeachment campaign, previously served as Executive Vice President at Soros Foundation’s Open Society Society Fund, his bio relates. And Jeff Clements, and General Counsel for Free Speech for People, popped up in a leaked Open Society Foundations document as attending the group’s U. S. Programs Board Meeting and Retreat February 2011. Bonifaz was also in attendance at the retreat, at which Soros himself provided opening remarks. The other group behind the Trump impeachment campaign, RootsAction, is led by a small team that includes its Norman Solomon. Solomon also founded the Institute for Public Accuracy, which, Discover The Networks reports, is funded by Soros’ Open Society Foundations. Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. ” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook. With research by Joshua Klein. | 1 |
WASHINGTON D. C. — Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson admitted that the Iraq war failed to achieve it’s objectives. The nominee made his remarks during his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on Wednesday. [Tillerson was asked by Sen. Rand Paul, . if he supported Trump’s assessment of the Iraq war that it was a failure. “I think in that regard the decision to go into Iraq and change the leadership in Iraq upon reflection was perhaps not — did not achieve those objectives, we do not have a more stable region in the world and our national security has not been enhanced or is still certainly under threat today,” Tillerson responded. He called the war “well intended” but ultimately unsuccessful. Paul said he was concerned that Congress and the Executive branch were too eager to tackle “terrible evil people” overseas without acting in American interests. The Kentucky senator also raised concerns that the United States would invade Iran, despite the failures in Iraq. Tillerson replied that it was important for a proper balance of American values and American interests when pursuing military force overseas. He also recommended that the United States be “clear” about the threat posed by Iran, specifically their efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon and their support for terrorism. “We have to disrupt that,” he concluded. Tillerson also compared the failures in Iraq to the failures in Libya. He then warned about acting in Syria for the same reasons. “In the case of Libya, I think that was the failing in the decision to change the regime there, no one had a clear plan or view of what would come next,” he said about the military actions taken by President Obama that were backed by Hillary Clinton. He added that his job was to make sure that America didn’t have to go to war. “If confirmed as Secretary of State, my job is to make sure we never get there,” Tillerson stated. | 1 |
NGOs should condemn terrorists in Syria, not Russia fighting them – Foreign Ministry Published time: 26 Oct, 2016 22:53 Edited time: 26 Oct, 2016 23:12 Get short URL Aerial view of the Foreign Ministry building in Moscow. © Maksim Blinov / Sputnik The NGOs that demanded Russia’s removal from UN Human Rights Council lack impartiality as they ignore terrorist activities as well as violations by the US-led coalition in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry's Commissioner for Human Rights told RT. Trends Russian anti-terror op in Syria , Syria unrest
Targeting Russia was “a gross misstep on the part of the human rights defenders,” Konstantin Dolgov said.
“If they call themselves [human rights defenders] they have to be objective. Al least, they have to try to be impartial. How can they assess the human rights situation in Syria in this one-sided manner? Just to join the chorus of Western governments and politicians, groundlessly accusing Russia of bombing civilian targets in Syria, without providing any evidence of this,” Dolgov added.
READ MORE: US-led coalition killed 300 Syrian civilians in 11 probed strikes – Amnesty
The NGOs, which failed to provide any solid proof of Russia’s alleged wrongdoings, “completely ignore the bulk of the problem” in Syria, the commissioner stressed. “And the bulk of the problem is the activities of the terrorist organizations like Islamic State, [Jabhat] al-Nusra… which have been persistently killing dozens of thousands of civilians in Syria.”
Dolgov wondered “how can those NGOs ignore… numerous killings of civilians and destruction of infrastructure by the coalition led by the US?” when “there are multiple examples” of such violations.
“If you’re against violations of human rights, you should be against violation everywhere and by everybody,” he said.
The commissioner pointed out that, on Wednesday, Amnesty International – which had not signed the petition – blamed the US for killing hundreds of civilians in Syria and refusing to investigate those incidents.
The numbers of civilian victims provided by the group – around 300 – “aren’t complete,” Dolgov said.
“I don’t think that an accurate number. I don’t think anybody there has an accurate number.” Read more Over 80 NGOs call for Russia to be dropped from UN rights council over Syria
More than 80 international organizations – including Human Rights Watch, CARE International and Refugees International – have signed a petition for Russia to be thrown off the UN Human Rights Council. They claimed that Moscow was no longer fit to hold its position in the United Nations body, due to its military operation in Syria.
It turned out that most of the organizations are part of the very same Syria Relief Network based in Turkey, however, casting potential doubts over their impartiality.
The petition came ahead of the UN Human Rights Council election, scheduled to take place on Friday. The Foreign Ministry official opted not to predict the outcome of the vote, but said that Russia was “definitely” running to regain its seat on the council.
“We’re running because we have a very strong record in the protection of international law; in the protection of international human rights law. We don’t have right now, at this last moment before the election, to prove anything. Our policies are well known and we’ve been one of the most active and creative members of the UN Human Rights Council for many-many years now,” Dolgov stressed.
West, Arab states ‘protecting terrorists’ who will never win in Syria – Mother Agnes to RT
Moscow is aware that there some international players who want to block Russia’s activities in the Human Rights Council, because “we’re not professing double standards. We are consistently against politicizing human rights. We have a lot of supporters,” Dolgov added. | 0 |
As a new poll shows 28% of early Republican Florida voters casting their vote for Clinton, Donald Trump is getting desperate.
The Republican nominee begged Clinton voters to change their vote in 6 states where it’s not too late to do so. Trump wrote Wednesday morning, “So now that you can see Hillary was a big mistake, change your vote to MAKE AMERICAN GREAT AGAIN!” You can change your vote in six states. So, now that you see that Hillary was a big mistake, change your vote to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2016
Tuesday evening Trump made the case that due to the FBI’s announcement about Clinton’s emails voters might have buyers’ remorse , “A lot of things have happened over the last few days. This is a message for any Democratic voters who have already cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton and are having a bad case of buyers’ remorse — in other words you want to change your vote — Wisconsin is one of several states where you can change your early ballot if you think you’ve made a mistake.”
While it’s true that people in some states can change their votes, it’s not true that this rule was changed because of Hillary Clinton’s “emails” and yes, that’s a new Right wing “thing” apparently. Trump doesn’t suggest the law was changed because of Clinton, but he seems to think people will be rushing to change their mind about Clinton because of the non-surprise October “surprise!” the Republican FBI Director delivered , which was perceived to have benefited the Trump ticket.
Days ago, Snopes debunked the notion that changing early votes is being allowed because of the FBI’s bizarre announcement that they may or may not have more emails pertaining to Clinton.
Claim: After FBI Director Jim Comey announced that he was reviewing e-mails potentially linked to Hillary Clinton, several states announced that they were allowing people to change their early votes. mixture
WHAT’S TRUE: Some states allow early voters to change their votes before election day.
WHAT’S FALSE: No states changed their election laws in order to allow people who voted early for Hillary Clinton to change their votes.
And to make this even better, that false information was based on a Fox News report that wasn’t selling the false story about Clinton, but still got some of the information wrong. This is why the Right can’t have nice things. The Left should be vigilant against allowing itself to become too insular, because epistemic closure leads to losing.
Trump conveniently ignores his own history of email dumping, exhaustive list of lawsuits, bragging about sexual assault, dissing minorities and a Gold Star family, and national security experts investigating his ties and his campaign’s ties to Russia.
Only a desperate candidate runs on trying to get people to change their votes to him because someone found a Clinton aide’s emails when they don’t even know what they say or if they are duplicates yet.
While this race is far from over, if all Americans get off their butts and go vote, Donald Trump faces an uphill battle to the White House. | 0 |
WASHINGTON — By some measures, President Trump has altered the perception of American foreign policy more in the past seven days than his predecessors did in the past seven decades. A nation that built its brand around the world as open to the world’s needy and ambitious is now viewed, after Mr. Trump’s immigration executive order, as closing its doors in a way it never did even after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Twenty years of efforts to rebuild a relationship with Mexico — on trade, counterterrorism and drug interdiction — crashed into an avoidable blowup with the Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, who canceled his visit here. When Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain came for what appeared to be a largely successful visit, Mr. Trump’s first by the leader of a close ally, she spoke of maintaining sanctions on Russia until it met its commitments on Ukraine. Mr. Trump stayed silent. After he spoke the next day to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, the official readout provided by the White House made no mention of Ukraine, or of the operation to influence the American election that led President Barack Obama, in his last days in office, to issue new sanctions. Perception is different from reality. It is possible that when viewed from a distance of a few years, Mr. Trump’s pronouncements about “extreme vetting” and his rush to push some of America’s most experienced career diplomats out of their jobs will look like a blitz intended to send a message to the world that he meant what he said when he talked about “America First. ” In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Trump appeared to try to soften his action, arguing that “this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting. ” He promised to “find ways to help all those who are suffering,” words that were missing on Friday when he announced that all refugees from Syria would be barred from entry to the United States, indefinitely. “It’s one week in,” Robert M. Gates, the former secretary of defense and C. I. A. director, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “Every administration I’ve worked for begins with a flurry of executive orders” meant to distinguish itself from it predecessor. But Mr. Gates, who has served eight presidents, of both parties, quickly added that Mr. Trump risks accelerating a sense of an America that is pulling back and putting up walls, leaving a power vacuum around the globe. “That vacuum will not be filled by benign forces,” he said. Two other prominent, establishment Republicans, Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, called the lumping together in the immigration order of a major adversary, Iran, with an ally, Iraq, one of many reasons that the moves are “a wound in the fight against terrorism. ” Mr. Trump is hardly the first president to announce shifts in policy that surprised allies and upturned the existing order. President Richard M. Nixon’s decision to abandon the gold standard and to recognize China were shocks to the system. So was President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, though it was telegraphed for more than a year, as was Mr. Obama’s decision to strike a nuclear accord with Iran and to reopen diplomatic relations with Cuba. But in the case of Mr. Trump, there is a sense that the rush for change has superseded a study of unintended consequences. The ban on immigration and visitors from seven nations came with minimal, if any, input from the State Department about the regional fallout — as did Mr. Trump’s declaration that he intends to move the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The absence of advance thinking about how to deal with green card holders and Iraqi interpreters who were promised entry to the United States in return for their service to American troops forced the White House to amend its interpretations of the order less than 48 hours after Mr. Trump signed it. It was all symptomatic of a new president eager to tweet first and work out details later. “This is policy by thunderbolt,” said Joseph Nye, a Harvard professor who served as the head of the National Intelligence Council and has written extensively on how the United States can gain leverage from its “soft power” — the attractiveness of its culture and democracy. “You don’t want to tear up 70 years of foreign policy until you think hard about what replaces it. ” But inside the halls of the State Department, where Rex W. Tillerson, the pick for secretary of state, has just begun to find his way around, there is definitely the sense among career diplomats that this is Year Zero. Last week, the “landing team” of Trump designees told several of the department’s most senior diplomats — career officials, some with decades of service — to clear out of their offices. Almost all had submitted their resignations, the protocol when administrations changed, but had volunteered to stay on for a month or two until successors were appointed, to ensure that State Department facilities were safe, American citizens were evacuated from perilous places and passports were issued. The Trump team made it clear it had no interest in transitions. (Mr. Tillerson also never met with his predecessor, John Kerry, before the inauguration.) It was not exactly a purge, but the fact remains that some of the government’s most experienced diplomats have moved on — including some of the women in the department. Among them is Anne Patterson, 67, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and a former ambassador to Pakistan and Egypt, two of the biggest tinderboxes Mr. Trump will face. Victoria J. Nuland, 55, one of the department’s top Russia experts and former ambassador to NATO, who dealt with the Ukraine crisis, decided to retire after concluding there was probably no place for her in Mr. Trump’s administration. Such a housecleaning leaves open the question of whether Mr. Tillerson, who has extensive experience abroad as chief executive of Exxon Mobil but none as a diplomat, will have the kind of help he needs in a very different kind of enterprise than negotiating on behalf of the world’s largest oil company. In such an atmosphere, even seemingly routine moves — like the reorganization of the National Security Council — take on a political air. On Sunday, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, and chief ideologue, Stephen K. Bannon, was designated a permanent member of the “principals committee” of the National Security Council, putting a political aide on par with the secretaries of state and defense. Meanwhile, the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff appeared to be downgraded, told to attend only when their issues were on the table. “This is stone cold crazy,” Susan E. Rice, the national security adviser until earlier this month, wrote in a Twitter post. “Who needs military advice or intell to make policy on ISIL, Syria, Afghanistan, DPRK?” she said, using acronyms for the Islamic State and North Korea. Mr. Trump’s answer is simple: When you have come to upend the establishment, the establishment must vacate the premises. | 1 |
The Tacoma Public School Superintendent is now demanding “safe zones” for migrant students after President Donald Trump’s immigration executive orders were signed earlier last week. [Superintendent Carla Santorno told parents of the Tacoma School District in a letter, that she would like to see safe zones for students so they can be hidden from federal immigration officials, should authorities show up to any schools looking to deport them. “Our schools will be a safe zone for immigrant students to learn and thrive,” Santorno wrote. “The diversity of our student body, our community and our staff is a strength that benefits all of us and should be celebrated. Our rich cultures and the more than 70 different languages spoken in our schools provides all children with the opportunity to learn from others with dissimilar backgrounds and recognizes our common humanity. ” Santorno also said the Tacoma Public School Board would be reviewing a resolution that would further help provide migrants with a “safe zone. ” “Every school has been directed to provide a safe, private location where students may seek assistance, information, and support related to any immigration law enforcement that interferes with their learning experience,” Santorno continued. “To support this work, our School Board is evaluating a Resolution in support of every student, every day in an equitable and inclusive environment. ” “We will continue providing all students their legal right to access free public education, regardless of their religion, their place of birth, their language, their citizenship, their immigration status, their parents’ status or any other legally protected characteristics,” Santorno wrote in the letter. The Tacoma Public School District is one of the first education systems promising to protect migrants with a physical safe zone for them, echoing similar strategies by universities across the country which have promised to be “sanctuary campuses”. John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder. | 1 |
When it comes to culture, I’m probably more permissive than most parents. I read H. P. Lovecraft to my Penny, and also showed her “Jaws” and “Alien,” but it wasn’t until I took her to a comedy club that I felt truly irresponsible. Parental guilt started sinking in after I persuaded a skeptical ticket taker at Carolines on Broadway to let a child see a headliner one Friday this month. As we waited for the opening acts to finish before we entered, I considered the many kinds of jokes I would not want Penny to hear and the years of therapy required to repair the damage. Noticing my mounting anxiety, she asked, “Daddy, are you about to make a mistake?” I answered honestly: “Maybe. ” At a time when heroes dominate Hollywood, cartoon characters regularly invade Broadway and kids’ karaoke entertains crowds of thousands, live remains stubbornly . Few clubs are for all ages, and there is no version of the singer Dan Zanes, a star for young audiences. Why do comics cede this market to clowns and magicians? Would kids even like performers holding microphones telling jokes onstage? Seeking some answers, I took my daughter to shows looking for comedians she would find funny and I wouldn’t find inappropriate. The comic most likely to bridge the gap between adults and children is Jim Gaffigan, who along with Brian Regan is the greatest clean comic working today. He’s so that he has performed for the pope, which also may be why he is not considered as cool as some of his peers. My daughter thought he was hilarious, although she took some time to warm up to him. Mr. Gaffigan tells jokes that kids can relate to with many references they understand. At a recent show at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn. he did a bit about the horribleness of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and another about the laziness of the grandfather in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. ” And in line with the trend, he did material from the perspective of a cranky parent. When he joked about his own children, what I considered funny Penny saw as punching down. “He’s funny, but that’s mean,” she said in a debrief after the show, her hands balling up into fists. What put him back in her favor was a story he told in which he “wet himself. ” Peeing, pooping and farting are comedy classics, at least a little funny to anyone honest with themselves. But what made this delightful for Penny was that it was an adult who had the accident. “Kids sometimes pee on themselves and don’t like that,” she explained. “So when a pees on himself, it’s funny. ” Mr. Gaffigan’s intricately delivered jokes about his gluttony and sloth have the crisply simple incongruities and that any child can appreciate. When he said that his New Year’s resolution was to eat pasta every day, Penny raised her hand to her mouth to muffle her laughter. When he talked about men being gross, she whispered to me, “But he is a man. ” After saying he’s a character actor, Mr. Gaffigan paused, adding that is “secret code for ugly. ” Penny doubled over laughing, even though she had no idea what “character actor” meant. Jokes, of course, can be funny if you don’t understand every word, a truth kids grasp better than adults do. “Secret codes are just fun,” she said, matter of fact. Mr. Gaffigan’s show had gone so well that I decided to be more ambitious by taking Penny to Carolines the next night to see the charming rising comic Ron Funches. He is not as clean but has a twee, giggly delivery that I thought might appeal. It was a bad miscalculation. When I didn’t have my hands over her ears, in response to jokes with more cursing or sexual innuendo than I could handle, she was usually just confused. Staring blankly at a bit by Mr. Funches about spending more money than he has, Penny said, “I don’t get any of this. ” We left early. In retrospect, taking a child to a New York comedy club on a weekend was overly optimistic if not downright foolish. To make sure that a show is appropriate, it’s best to check with the theater in advance. I did that before seeing a set at the Peoples Improv Theater in Manhattan by the sharp New York comic Aparna Nancherla, in a new monthly show called “She Makes Me Laugh,” hosted by Laura Zabolotsky, Ashley Lara and Maria Bobila. Ms. Nancherla, whose new album is “Just Putting It Out There,” did a series of jokes commenting on slides projected on the wall. offers less visual stimulation than movies or musicals, and this set proved that a few images go a long way. Sitting in the front row, Penny was rapt during a bit poking fun at different kinds of author photos, laughing merrily at a shot of a jovial guy wearing a book like a hat. Ms. Nancherla called the look Bookhead. Midway through her set, however, the slides froze and the comic was left onstage with nothing to play off. Struggling to save her set, she made up a few jokes on the spot about the slide frozen onscreen (which as it happened just said “dad”) before prematurely ending the show. Penny was disappointed, but liked the improvisation. “It was fun to watch her make stuff up,” she said, which may help explain why it’s easier to find improv for children than . “I wanted the whole thing like that. ” By the end of my weeklong experiment, I hadn’t convinced my daughter that comedy is better than a Harry Potter movie, but she had a good time at two of the three shows. Kids are individuals, with their own taste, but the greatest comedy taps into some of the same things that the most popular children’s books do: delight in language, the purely silly and a grand sense of mischief. There’s a reasonable concern that reaching for a brand of comedy would water down the form if not compromise its essence. But aesthetic diversity is a hallmark of comedy today and a Jerry Seinfeld for children does not threaten Jerry Seinfeld. Children have always devoured — I fell in love with comedy when I was around my daughter’s age, spending hours trying to understand the jokes on my older brother’s Steve Martin album — but the accessibility of the internet has expanded the audience. It’s only a matter of time before some savvy person makes a fortune catering to this demographic. On the taxi ride home from the Peoples Improv Theater, Penny offered this potential producer some advice. “Do shows earlier,” she said, smiling hours past her bedtime. “And there should also be more making fun of . ” | 1 |
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Tuesday appealed to conservatives to back the Obamacare replacement bill, after several changes were made. [“Keep in mind if you are a conservative who has been fighting for repeal and replace, this is your chance,” he said at the White House briefing. He also warned that Republicans who promised health care reform but did not back the bill would “probably pay a price at home. ” “I think there’s going to be a price to be paid. But it’s going to be with their own voters, and they’re going to have to go back and explain to them why they made a commitment to them, and then didn’t follow through,” he said. The bill is scheduled for a vote in the House on Thursday, but House Freedom Caucus members say the new changes to the bill don’t go far enough, and they remain opposed to the bill. “At this time, the bill does not have the votes to pass,” Freedom Caucus Communications director Alyssa Farah told Breitbart News on Monday evening, after the new changes were announced. House Speaker Paul Ryan ( ) needs 216 votes for the bill. If 22 Republicans defect, the bill fails. The new changes included a for those receiving Medicaid, struck out abortion tax credits, and set rules that would make it more difficult for New York State to shift New York City’s Medicaid’s costs onto the rest of the state. The House Freedom Caucus rejected the changes as too little, too late. They want complete repeal of Obamacare. President Trump went to the Capitol Tuesday morning to convince skeptical members to support the bill, and plans on talking to more members on Wednesday. He was reported to have threatened members voting against the bill with primary challenges, but Spicer did not confirm those reports. “Let’s get through the vote,” he said. “I think one of the things that he made clear this morning was that he was going to make sure that the people who did support this, he would be out there supporting them. And so I’m not going to focus on the negative as much as the positive today. ” Spicer characterized the bill as keeping a promise to voters. “And this bill, while probably not everybody got everything they wanted, does exactly what we said. It’s repealing it and replacing it with all of the principles and the aspects that we discussed throughout not only last cycle, but in a lot of these cases back to 2010,” Spicer said. | 1 |
A few more details have dribbled out about the launch of the Nintendo Switch, notably that it won’t support Netflix, Hulu, or any similar video streaming services when it launches. [The company is considering adding the functionality in “a future update,” but stated that for the time being, “all of our efforts have gone toward making the Nintendo Switch system an amazing dedicated video game platform. ” It also won’t support any Wii or Wii U controllers, but Nintendo may “consider” support for “certain controllers. ” And even though and StreetPass — seemingly obvious draws to a console touting its hybrid portability — are being pruned from Nintendo’s now approach to online service, the Mii Maker lives on, buried in the Switch’s system settings. Up to eight user accounts can be created on the console, with eShop access tied to the location of the account. It’s unclear how this interacts with the console’s lack of internal . Nintendo has “nothing to announce” regarding whether existing eShop purchases will transfer to the new console, or whether accounts from prior consoles will carry over at all. After the divisive recent debut of the console, we’re still waiting to see whether consumers are as excited about the system as Nintendo hopes they are. Judging by the preorders, it looks like nostalgia may have won the day once again. A successful console launch is always good news for the industry at large, so hopefully Nintendo doesn’t squander the good will of its faithful customers. Follow Nate Church @Get2Church on Twitter for the latest news in gaming and technology, and snarky opinions on both. | 1 |
Best UFO Compilation Video Ever! # MaxIsFast 23
UFO sightings have been increasing lately in the past months and probably going to increase in the near future. In this UFO compilation you are going to witness the best UFO sightings that is going to make you say WOW! Haven't seen a fake UFO sighting or any man made craft mistaken as an alien craft. What you are going to watch is 100% REAL UFO SIGHTINGS! Hope you guys enjoy! Tags | 0 |
All forms of religion are pagan……..no man can boast that he has the answer…..follow your heart and spirit consciousness in all that is thinking with the intuitive spirit… | 0 |
Roger Daltrey, founder and lead singer of the English rock band The Who, reiterated his support for Britain’s independence from the European Union in an interview this week. [The United Kingdom officially filed to leave the European Union on Wednesday, and the rocker says he supports Brexit because a “majority of this country felt that their voices weren’t being heard. ” “We are getting out, and when the dust settles I think that it’ll be seen that it’s the right thing for this country to have done, that’s for sure,” Daltrey told NME. “I am not but I am anti the present way we are being governed in Europe,” Daltrey explained “It’s got nothing to do with any of the immigration issues or any of that for me. It was to do with much more. The majority of this country felt that their voices weren’t being heard. It would have been nice to do a deal with Europe but they didn’t want to do a deal, and they sent Cameron back with a bag. ” He added: “I’m sad we voted how we voted, but I think we have to go with it now. This country will always be alright, I don’t worry about it. You know it’s going to be bumpy on the way — we expected that the ones that voted to get out. But Iceland had it a bit bumpy when they went bankrupt, but oh not now. ” Daltrey previously expressed support for Brexit in May, saying the European Union was “set up by a bunch of crooks” and was “undemocratic” and “highly dysfunctional. ” When it comes to U. S. politics and the 2016 presidential election, the “My Generation” singer said he believes “a dead dog could have beaten” Democratic contender Hillary Clinton. “On other pieces of politics, let’s put it this way: when you say that middle America and the Democrats lost it, but Trump didn’t really win it because Democrats threw it away by putting [Hilary Clinton] up,” Daltrey told NME. “A dead dog would have won it against [her] look at that. ” The also took a shot at Trump’s hair and language: “He needs it cut and as my mother would say, ‘wash your f*cking mouth out. ’” Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson | 1 |
JERUSALEM — As Israeli and Turkish leaders announced the formal resumption of full diplomatic relations after a fissure, the front page of the popular Hebrew newspaper Yediot Aharonot summed up the predicament for many Israelis: “Reconciliation or surrender. ” Critics of the deal asked why Israel agreed to pay about $20 million in compensation to the families of 10 activists who were killed during a 2010 raid by Israeli naval commandos after they met violent resistance aboard a Turkish passenger vessel as it tried to breach Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. That episode set off the diplomatic crisis between the regional allies, and paying compensation was a capitulation, the critics argued. Many Israelis also questioned what they called the “gifts to Hamas,” the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza. They were referring to the humanitarian aid that Turkey plans to deliver to the Palestinian coastal enclave under the deal, and the promise of new residential buildings, a hospital and infrastructure projects. Such aid chafed Israeli sensibilities because the deal did not provide for the return of the remains of two Israeli soldiers being held by Hamas, or the release of two Israeli civilians who are believed to be held captive in Gaza. As Turkish officials hailed the deal as a diplomatic victory, rivals of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel from the left and right called him to task. Gideon Saar, a former minister from Mr. Netanyahu’s conservative Likud Party, described the compensation as “a national humiliation. ” Isaac Herzog, the leader of the Zionist Union, called it “incomprehensible,” and criticized what he called the “indifference and disregard” shown toward the families of those missing in Gaza. At a lunchtime news conference in Rome, where the negotiations were concluded over the weekend, Mr. Netanyahu defended the deal, saying that it was “of strategic importance to Israel,” and that it helped ensure security and regional stability and could bolster the Israeli economy. “The world is in turmoil, the Middle East is in turmoil and my policy is to create centers of stability in this unstable and stormy region,” he said in remarks broadcast live on Israeli television. The deal, Mr. Netanyahu said, will protect Israeli commanders and soldiers from criminal and civil claims by the Turkish government and victims, and it will allow Israel to maintain its naval blockade of Hamas in Gaza despite a Turkish demand for it to be removed. Turkey agreed to deliver goods for Gaza through the Israeli port of Ashdod. In addition, he said, the deal provided an opening for lucrative projects like the marketing of Israel’s natural gas reserves to Turkey, and via Turkey to Europe. Mr. Netanyahu said that he could “withstand this criticism” of those who complained of humiliation and the abandonment of those missing in Gaza, adding, “I understand the suffering of the families. ” In Ankara, the Turkish prime minister, Binali Yildirim, said, “Normalization covers a variety of areas, but economic relations and regional cooperation will take place first. ” He said that a ship carrying 10, 000 tons of humanitarian aid bound for Gaza would leave for Ashdod on Friday. Secretary of State John Kerry, who met with Mr. Netanyahu in Rome on Sunday and Monday, said that Washington had encouraged the reconciliation between Israel and Turkey, two important allies of the United States. “This is a step we wanted to see happen,” Mr. Kerry said. The deal comes as Israel and Turkey face tough challenges stemming from the meltdown of Syria and other states in the region. “Renormalization of the relationship is more about security than energy,” said Brenda Shaffer, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council research institute’s Global Energy Center in Washington. Ben Caspit, an Israeli political columnist at the Maariv newspaper, wrote, “In the end, an agreement was reached with Turkey because it had to be reached. ” Experts said they did not anticipate a return to the intimate alliance of past decades, when the navies of Israel, Turkey and the United States carried out joint exercises in the Mediterranean, and Israeli fighter jets trained in Turkish airspace. In Gaza, there was a sense that the deal offered some hope but fell short of what Hamas wanted. “They might not have lifted the blockade on Gaza, but at least they will ease restrictions,” said Ahmed Yousef, an adviser to the Hamas leader Ismail Haniya. For many Israelis, who have fond memories of vacations at Turkey’s coastal resorts, which attracted up to half a million Israeli tourists a year before the diplomatic rift, the fallout from the diplomatic deal was more emotional. Tzur Goldin, the twin brother of Second Lt. Hadar Goldin, who was killed in an ambush during the 2014 war in Gaza and whose remains have not been returned, said that Mr. Netanyahu had promised the family that any negotiations concerning Gaza would include the return of the remains of the two soldiers. The family of the second soldier killed in a different battle during the war in Gaza, Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, set up a protest tent outside Mr. Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem. “Two years is enough time to show progress,” said Racheli Gazit, a cousin of Sergeant Shaul, as she handed out stickers bearing the soldier’s picture and got to sign a petition. Of the deal, she said, “This is going backward. ” | 1 |
Tue, 25 Oct 2016 00:28 UTC With the future of US healthcare likely to rest on the next presidency, a new study from Psychology, Health & Medicine highlights just how complex the medical needs of many Americans now are. As the authors of the study, Elizabeth Lee Reisinger Walker and Benjamin G. Druss, observe: "The health of individuals in the U.S.A. is increasingly being defined by complexity and multimorbidity , the co-occurrence of two or more chronic medical conditions." Given the medical and socio-economic difficulties often faced by people with mental illness, and the lack of research into the other medical conditions they might suffer from, the authors set out to discover, using publicly available data, what proportion of US adults experience each combination of mental illness, substance abuse/dependence and chronic mental conditions. They also investigated how those combinations of conditions were related to poverty. They found that overall, 18.4% of adults had a mental illness in the past year, and 8.6% reported substance abuse/dependence during the same time. Nearly 40% had one or more chronic medical conditions in their lifetimes, and 14.7% were living in poverty. Compared to individuals without any condition, adults with one condition (any mental illness [AMI], substance abuse/dependence or chronic conditions) reported higher percentages of living in poverty, receiving government assistance, having less than a high-school education, being unemployed, and having no health insurance. When looked at together, 6.4% of individuals reported AMI and chronic conditions, 2.2% reported AMI and substance abuse/dependence, 1.5% reported substance abuse/dependence and chronic medical conditions, and 1.2% -- equivalent to 2.2 million people -- reported all three conditions. The association between mental illness and substance abuse is also laid bare by the study: people with AMI were over three times more likely to report substance abuse/dependence, almost 1.5 times more likely to have a chronic medical condition, and 1.2 times more likely to live in poverty. As Elizabeth Lee Reisinger Walker commented on the research last week: "Just over half of adults in the US have one or more chronic condition, mental disorder, or dependence on substances. These conditions commonly overlap with each other and with poverty, which contributes to poor health." The pair conclude that improving the health of people with multimorbidities will involve increased access to and coordination between a variety of services. As they observe: "Collaborative care models are effective in treating mental illnesses in primary care and providing primary care in specialty mental health settings." Walker concludes: "In order to promote overall health, it is important to consider all of a person's health conditions along with poverty and other social factors." But what the future holds for the 50% of Americans suffering from multiple health challenges remains to be seen. Journal Reference: Elizabeth Reisinger Walker, Benjamin G. Druss. Cumulative burden of comorbid mental disorders, substance use disorders, chronic medical conditions, and poverty on health among adults in the U.S.A.. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 2016; 1 DOI: 10.1080/13548506.2016.1227855 | 0 |
Too bad the cops can't shoot them at random. Weigh the cost of one bullet against what they cost society. | 0 |
A small but determined political organization in Detroit began to worry that its official symbol was a bit . With the group’s central philosophy suddenly finding traction in the daily discourse, appearances mattered. So in November, as the country’s divisive presidential campaign became ever more jagged, the National Socialist Movement, a leading group, did away with its swastika. In its stead, the group chose a symbol from a alphabet that was also adopted by the Nazis. According to Jeff Schoep, the movement’s leader, the decision to dispense with the swastika was “an attempt to become more integrated and more mainstream. ” Let us pause. Not even two years ago, white supremacists like Mr. Schoep would rant from the fringe of the fringe, their events rarely worth mention. Today, though, the Schoeps of America are undergoing a rebranding, as part of the : a grab bag of groups generally united by the belief that white identity has become endangered in what they deride as this era of dangerous diversity and political correctness. The deceptively benign phrase “ ” now peppers the national conversation, often in ways that play down its fundamental beliefs, which have long been considered intolerant and hateful. The term’s recent prevalence corresponds with the rise of Donald J. Trump leaders say his inflammatory statements and Twitter habits in the campaign energized, even validated, their movement. The movement is also acutely seeing the burning crosses, swastikas and language of yesteryear as impediments to recruitment. Its adherents talk of “getting ” a reference to the movie “The Matrix,” in which the protagonist ingests a tablet that melts away artifice to reveal the truth. New, coded slurs have emerged. Fewer pointed hoods, more khaki pants. But the movement is hardly monolithic, despite a gathering last month in Washington — one that might have been mistaken for just another corporate conference were it not for the sentiments and the Nazi salutes. The factions within its ranks can differ on any number of subjects: white supremacy versus white nationalism, for example, or the vexing “J. Q. ” — the “Jewish Question. ” James Edwards, a talk radio host who describes himself as a “ advocate” — and who interviewed the ’s son Donald Trump Jr. this year — wrote in an email that the movement was “a group of marauding conservatives who reject both the failures of establishment conservatism and the false gods of political correctness. ” Race is the uniting factor, Mr. Edwards wrote. “One fundamental element of the that brings the disparate factions together is the awareness of the reality of race and the need for European Americans to have organizations and spokespeople that explicitly advocate for our unique group interests. ” For many years, the gaggle now called the existed in the shadowed alleys of American culture, sharing views through newsletters, online radio and crude websites. The news media often debated whether to cover their sparsely attended rallies, considering that any attention might grant the groups a veneer of legitimacy. Andrew Anglin, the founder of the website The Daily Stormer, described the current moment in a recent essay as “a reboot of the White Nationalist movement” — one infused with youthful energy. The foot soldiers of the movement are not old white supremacists marching under a new banner, Mr. Anglin explained, but a mostly younger generation drawn from various online cultures, including conspiracy theorists and that misogynistic stratum of the internet known as the “manosphere. ” Then came Mr. Trump, whose opening gambit as a presidential candidate included his promise to build a wall to keep out Mexican immigrants, whom he called rapists and criminals. The raised its collective head to listen. “I’d been waiting to hear those words from a mainstream political candidate all my life,” said Gerald Martin, a retired teacher from Dallas who grew up in a family that opposed desegregation. He is a veteran of both the Army and a number of white supremacist movements, and the likes of William Luther Pierce III, a white supremacist who wrote “The Turner Diaries,” a novel about an underground band of white Americans who fight a government controlled by Jews. Before the Trump candidacy, Mr. Martin said, few in the were talking about politics the movement was more about winning the battle of ideas. But once Mr. Trump began to talk, he said, “suddenly we’re all talking politics and we’re politically energized. ” “We’re almost intoxicated,” Mr. Martin continued. “We don’t have any power — but now we’re close enough to smell it. ” Perhaps in another age, any candidate’s engagement with white supremacists and separatists would have resulted in an awkward news conference announcing the end of his campaign. But this is a new age, in which Mr. Trump went unscathed for engaging with Twitter users like WhiteGenocideTM, who listed his location as “Jewmerica” and used an image of the founder of the American Nazi Party as his Twitter profile’s photograph. Mr. Trump brushed off his sharing of messages on social media as inconsequential — the sort of thing that just happens on Twitter. He also denied at one point the existence of any movement. “Nobody even knows what it is,” he told CNN in August. “This is a term that was just given that — frankly, there’s no or . ” As if to clarify matters, members of the movement gathered in Washington about two weeks after Mr. Trump’s election for a conference sponsored by the National Policy Institute, an organization that describes itself as being “dedicated to the heritage, identity and future of people of European descent. ” Its president, Richard B. Spencer, 38, is a prominent leader who wears his brown hair in an undercut style once popular among the Hitler Youth. It’s called a “fashy,” as in fascist. Mr. Spencer said in an interview that as he saw it, the principles of American conservatism throughout most of the 20th century had been wrongly defined within the context of capitalism and its ideological battle with communism. The matter of European identity, he said, was assumed, but never stated outright. “Race is real,” he said. “Race matters. Race is the foundation of identity. ” Not everyone in the movement appreciated the moment at the end of the conference when some in the audience raised stiffened arms, echoing the Nazi salute. Discussions afterward reflected the divisions in the loosely aligned ranks, as well as an acute awareness of public perception and the need to make their messages somehow more palatable. Paul Ramsey, a blogger and retired computer programmer in Oklahoma, generally follows an ideology, though he said he did not believe in a white . He said he had long feared a hijacking of the movement by the “ . K. K. element,” which would lead to vilification and a relegation back to the fringe. Those salutes confirmed his fears, Mr. Ramsey said, and he is now disassociating from the movement, even though he understands that Mr. Spencer may believe in a philosophy. “The new Nazism is very demonized and toxic, and associating your brand with that is crazy,” he said. Mr. Martin, the retired teacher, who attended the conference, also didn’t care for the salutes, calling them “very foolish. ” But he suggested that most of those raising their arms were using the salute as “their version of the middle finger” — a defiant gesture “to the media, to the Trump haters, to everybody they feel alienated from. ” Indeed, the movement has the feel of a dispossessed youth rising up. Hours of interviews with young leaders suggest a pattern toward their radicalization. Seeing domestic and global strife often rooted in racial and ethnic differences. Finding validation from people on the internet. Hearing a major presidential candidate echo their grievances. “The political establishment has made an entire generation of young white men and women into fascists, and that’s a beautiful thing!” said Matthew Heimbach, 25, who runs the Traditionalist Worker Party out of his trailer in Indiana. His group advocates replacing the United States with based on races, ethnicities and religions. In Northern California, a university student, felon and Marine veteran, Nathan Damigo, oversees a group called Identity Evropa, which he described as a “fraternity” of mostly young, men who celebrate European heritage — that is, an embrace of white identity and a rejection of multicultural coexistence. Ever conscious of the importance of marketing, Mr. Damigo, 30, pointed out that Identity Evropa’s website “looks completely mainstreamed. ” And it does, featuring men in business suits who also happen to be sporting the Hitler haircut. But for all the fresh approaches — the slick marketing, the internet savviness — the message remains the same. It is one of separation, of supremacy, of a refusal to recognize the equal worth of others who do not have the same skin tone or share the same religion. The ascension of the has lifted some familiar names from the muck of the past, including David Duke, the white nationalist, Holocaust denier and former Louisiana state representative whose national profile has been resurrected. When a reporter telephoned him recently to discuss the movement, Mr. Duke wasted little time with a question of his own: “Are you Jewish?” | 1 |
MOSCOW — After the outpouring of euphoria among Russia’s political elite over the victory of Donald J. Trump, President Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday gave a more measured response in his annual address to the nation, calling for cooperation but expressing misgivings over some of Mr. Trump’s statements about nuclear weapons. The Russian leader appeared remarkably subdued at what was widely seen as a moment of triumph for him, with his popularity rising on a cresting wave of and often populism in Europe and America. Speaking to an audience of political and economic barons in the ornate St. George’s Hall of the Great Kremlin Palace, Mr. Putin praised his compatriots for rallying around “patriotic values” and, counterintuitively, for eschewing the lure of populism. He lamented that around the world, “even in the most seemingly affluent countries and stable regions, more and more fractures and conflicts on political, ethnic, religious and social grounds are rising. ” Those remarks had to surprise Western officials who have frequently accused the Kremlin of stirring up and supporting precisely those forces so as to sow disorder and weaken liberal democracies. Germany’s foreign intelligence chief, Bruno Kahl, warned in an interview published on Tuesday that Russia, seeking to create “political uncertainty,” was bombarding his country with disinformation before elections next year. Mr. Putin did not mention Mr. Trump by name, saying only that Russia wanted to work with the incoming administration “to normalize and begin to develop bilateral relations on an equal and mutually beneficial basis. ” His comments largely reprised the message he gave Mr. Trump in a telephone call soon after the Nov. 8 election, when both men agreed that something needed to be done to improve “the absolutely unsatisfactory state of bilateral relations. ” In a departure from his speeches in recent years, Mr. Putin avoided sarcastic or downright angry comments about the United States. But he also made clear that Russia demanded to be treated as a global power, not the “regional power” that Mr. Obama described it as in 2014, infuriating Moscow. “We have a joint responsibility for the provision of international security and stability, for the strengthening of regimes,” Mr. Putin said, referring to efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump suggested that more countries should acquire nuclear weapons so that they can defend themselves without Washington’s help. He also threatened to dismantle the international agreement that limits Iran’s nuclear program. In another apparent reference to Mr. Trump’s campaign statements on nuclear weapons policy, which included assertions that the American arsenal had “fallen way behind” Russia’s and needed to catch up, Mr. Putin warned against any attempt by Washington to disrupt what he called the balance of nuclear firepower between the two countries. “I would like to emphasize that attempts to break strategic parity are extremely dangerous and can lead to a global catastrophe,” Mr. Putin said. “This must not be forgotten for a single second. ” Mr. Putin’s mixing of pointed reminders of Russia’s status as a nuclear power with a measured expression of hope for an end to the current deep chill in relations with Washington contrasted sharply with the unalloyed glee expressed by many Russian politicians and commentators after Mr. Trump’s election victory. In the to the election, news outlets cast Hillary Clinton as a Russophobic hawk and warmonger while Mr. Trump was presented as the candidate who would bring a new and sunny dawn to relations between Washington and Moscow. Syria and the importance of fighting Islamic extremism are areas in which Mr. Putin’s interests and Mr. Trump’s statements seem to coincide. Mr. Putin, who has repeatedly accused the Obama administration of mollycoddling extremists, said the United States needed to focus on “a real rather than threat” and join Russia in fighting international terrorism. The “ ” threat seemed to refer to fear in Washington and many European capitals that Russia has become a menace to security since it seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and supported separatists in eastern Ukraine. Ignoring American efforts to destroy the Islamic State, Mr. Putin said the problem of international terrorism “is being solved by our servicemen in Syria,” where Russian warplanes have helped President Bashar regain control of large sections of Aleppo, once Syria’s biggest city, from rebels, some of whom are supported by the United States. A new foreign policy doctrine signed by Mr. Putin on Thursday underscored the problems with Russia’s relations with the West and set a high bar for any swift easing of tensions. The doctrine, a summary of how Moscow sees the world and what it wants, stressed the gravity of “the serious crisis between Russia and the West” and blamed this on “geopolitical expansion” by NATO and the European Union. It said Russia and the United States could work together only on the basis of “equality, mutual respect for interests and noninterference in the internal affairs of each other. ” Insisting that Russia does “not accept any attempts to organize pressure, either military, political, economic or of any other kind,” the policy doctrine said Moscow “reserves the right to react hard to unfriendly actions, including through the strengthening of national defense and the taking of reciprocal or asymmetrical measures. ” Most of Mr. Putin’s hourlong speech, however, was devoted to domestic issues, not foreign relations. He acknowledged that two years of economic decline had brought great hardship but insisted this had only made the country stronger, and he focused on sectors of the economy that he said have done well, like agriculture and . While proposing no significant reforms to revive Russia’s sluggish economy — which shrank by 3. 7 percent last year and has contracted further this year, though at a much slower pace — Mr. Putin said he had ordered the government to work out a “substantive action plan” to ensure that Russia achieves higher growth rates than elsewhere by 2020 and elevates its position in the global economy. Russia’s economy ranks around 13th in the world, on the basis of its gross domestic product, behind countries like Australia, Canada and South Korea What shape such an economic development plan might take has been the object of bitter feuding between more liberal members of the government, who favor privatization, and those who want the state to keep control of crucial industries. The liberal camp suffered a major setback earlier this month with the arrest on murky corruption charges of one of the country’s main economic policy makers, Aleksei Ulyukaev, a liberal stalwart who had served until his arrest as minister of economic development. Mr. Putin said parliamentary elections in Russia in September, which delivered a resounding victory to his United Russia party, had “proven that we live in a healthy society that is confident in its fair demands, in which immunity to populism and demagoguery is growing stronger and the importance of mutual support, solidarity and unity are highly valued. ” | 1 |
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Dylan Harper – Everything and everyone is composed of Energy. This energy allows the Spiritual realm to have contact with you. It is important to take responsibility for your personal vibration, raising it so you may meet with the universal energies and receive communication directly from your Higher self , the Angels and Ascended Masters, and other Light Beings.
The higher your personal vibration, the easier it is for the Spiritual realm to make contact with you. The Angels, Ascended Masters and Other Light Beings vibrate at a much higher vibration than Humans.
To make contact on a more regular basis, you must raise your personal vibration. This can be done in a number of ways.
Meditation is a common way of raising your vibration. You are able to raise your vibration by bringing your attention to your thoughts. The purer the thoughts the higher your vibration. So remove all negative thought patterns and replace them with positive thoughts.
Practice of this exercise is all that is needed, then it will become second nature and you will notice other things within your life change as your create a stronger more purer vibration within your energy field.
You will only attract vibrations to your energy field that are of the same resonance.
Exercise is another way to raise your vibration. Not only does exercise create a healthy body, it creates a healthy mind. When you exercise, your body releases feel good endorphines, when you feel good, you raise your vibration.
Find some activity that makes you feel good and go for it.
Eat good quality food and drink pure water, what you put into your body will also affect your energy , so treat yourself kindly.
Being with friends and those that make us feel Loved and appreciated will also help raise our vibration. Surround yourself with loving friends and family. You can create a spiritual family who will help you and support your vibrational evolution.
We have been taught that we need to raise our awareness up toward the Heavens for ascension . It is my belief, that we need to raise our personal vibration to resonate with the vibration of our Higher self.
Once we have reached this point of unison, we must then bring our Higher self closer to the Earth. Bringing Heaven to Earth. This will bring a vibration of purity closer to Earth and help her raise her vibration in preparation for the cosmic shift.
We all have an important role to play here. We can all start raising our personal vibration so we are able to unite our physical energies with our Higher self’s energies, thus creating Heaven on Earth.
In order for this to be successful, We must strenghten our Lower three chakras to help anchor the higher vibrations .
Earthly activities are important. Remember to be in the present moment as this helps to strenghten the lower three chakras.
Dance, Laugh, pay attention to the mundane activities that tie you to the Earthly experience. This will strenghthen your connection to these chakras.
Imagine your Lower three Chakras as the Root system to a very Large tree.
The stronger the root system, the stronger the tree. Like the tree, the roots stabilize the tree so it may grow strong and healthy.
The root system is equally as large underground as is the tree and its folage above ground. This is a great way to image your chakra system.
The Lower three chakras are the roots to your tree, the heart chakra is the midpoint, the joining of the energies, and the upper three chakras are your tree trunk, branches and folage. How strong is the root system to your tree?
Give yourself permission to engage in activities to help strengthen your connection to these vital chakras.
Here is a little exercise to help anchor your Higher energies into Mother Earth.
Sit on the Earth, place your hands firmly on the ground. Now take a moment to breath, connecting with rise and fall of your breath knowing as you breath, you are connecting with the universal breath.
Now, have a sense of pulling the energy of the Universe down through your Crown Chakra. Bring this energy down through your brow chakra, then your throat chakra and feel it connect to your Heart chakra.
Let this energy rest within your Heart charka for a moment. Now let the energies travel down through your arms and into your hands. Feel this energy build as a warmth or tingling sensation within your hands.
Connect with Mother Earth and allow this energy to move through you and deep into Mother Earth. Feel this, see this, allow this exchange of energy from the universe through your hands to Mother Earth.
As this energy is allowed to be transfered, say” I bless you and thank you, Our Beloved Mother Earth, in the name of All that is.”
When you feel you are finished exchanging energies, bring your awareness back to your breath and allow the universal energies to return to their origin, knowing you can connect again at YOUR divine will.
You will feel refreshed and energised as your energy is refined through the universal energy exchange.
This exercise can be done on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. If on a monthly basis, I would suggest either on the full moon or the new moon.
The more we connect with the universal energies and allow an exchange of energy between earth and the universe, the higher our personal vibration will become. The higher our personal vibration and the more intune with the universe we become, the greater the flow of Love and Harmony to humanity. SF Source Dreamcatcher Reality Nov. 2016 Share this: | 0 |
Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead. 1. A retaliatory attack on white police officers shocked the nation and reshaped the anguished debate over race and criminal justice. A black Army veteran with a troubled history opened fire on officers patrolling a protest in Dallas against police shootings of black men in Louisiana and Minnesota. He killed five officers and wounded others in a standoff that ended only when the police sent an robot to blow him up, a tactic of war. _____ 2. President Obama interrupted meetings with NATO leaders in Warsaw to condemn the attack on officers and try to bridge the national divide. “There is sorrow, there is anger, there is confusion about next steps,” he said. “But there is unity in recognizing that this is not how we want our communities to operate. This is not who we want to be as Americans. ” Some critics, like the executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, accused his administration of appeasing violent criminals in ways that “led directly to the climate that has made Dallas possible. ” Mr. Obama is cutting his European trip short to head to Dallas early in the week and plans to invite activists, police officials and others to the White House to seek “constructive actions that are actually going to make a difference. ” _____ 3. The violence reverberated through the presidential campaign, but neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton appeared to find a message that could unify the country. Above, Mrs. Clinton at an African Methodist Episcopal Church conference in Philadelphia. Earlier in the week, the focus was on the end of the federal investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s emails — which only deepened partisan wrangling and did little to improve her low ratings on trust. She may get a boost this week. Confidants of the Bernie Sanders campaign say he will endorse Mrs. Clinton on Tuesday. _____ 4. Mr. Trump’s running mate should be announced within days, and his list of speakers for the Republican National Convention is also expected. Even before the Dallas attack, his campaign had been suffering a tumultuous week. He angrily rejected accusations of . And he unnerved fellow Republicans on multiple fronts, including by lashing out during meetings with congressional representatives, praising Saddam Hussein for “killing terrorists,” and declining to reject the idea that he might abdicate if he wins the presidential election. _____ 5. Surprisingly good news on health: Major diseases are inexplicably waning in the U. S. and other wealthy countries. Improved diagnosis and treatment cannot fully explain the plunge in overall rates of colon cancer, dementia, heart disease and hip fractures. Our science reporter writes, “The leading killers are still the leading killers — cancer, heart disease, stroke — but they are occurring later in life, and people in general are living longer in good health. ” _____ 6. In sports, it’s France versus Portugal for the Euro 2016 soccer title (3 p. m. Eastern, ESPN and streaming). Andy Murray prevailed over Milos Raonic to win his second Wimbledon title, and Serena Williams won the women’s final for a 22nd Grand Slam singles title. Lydia Ko is aiming for her third major title at the U. S. Open golf tournament. Coming: The M. L. B. game on Tuesday and the British Open golf tournament on Thursday, with the American Zach Johnson as the defending champion. The most discussed sports story this week was the decision by Kevin Durant, a top N. B. A. scorer, to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors. One writer observed, “It’s hard not to see Silicon Valley triumphalism behind his decision to abandon the only professional team he has played for. ” _____ 7. Britain’s next prime minister will be a woman, though which — Theresa May, the home secretary, above, or Andrea Leadsom, the junior energy minister — won’t be decided until September. The two are the final candidates to take leadership of the Conservative Party after David Cameron, who opted to step aside following the country’s vote to withdraw from the European Union. Whoever wins will be the first woman to lead Britain since Margaret Thatcher, and could be an outsider among the current clique of leading personalities in the Brexit drama. _____ 8. The implications of the Brexit vote also hung over the NATO summit meeting in Warsaw, where President Obama sought to dismiss fears that the alliance could similarly unravel. But fissures among the members were evident over how to handle Russian aggression in Eastern Europe, the migrant crisis and terrorism fears. _____ 9. A lawsuit accusing Roger Ailes, the powerful Fox News chairman, of gender discrimination and sexual harassment sent shock waves through the media world. Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox host, says she was forced out of the network after rebuffing Mr. Ailes’s sexual advances — allegations he denies. Regardless of the legal outcome, the lawsuit signals a big shift for a network whose commentators have often rebuked ideas of political correctness and feminism. _____ 10. “The Night Of,” a new series, debuts tonight on HBO (9 p. m. Eastern, with repeats at 10:30 p. m. and midnight). The show, depicting a fictitious murder case in New York City, follows the template of procedurals like “Law Order” but philosophically lines up more with stories like the podcast “Serial. ” If you tune in, our critic has some advice: “Mind your armrests when you watch it all unfold you may clutch them right through the upholstery. ” Here is a rundown of the latest films. _____ 11. Finally, NASA scientists are jubilant over the possibility that the next 20 months could crack open the mystery of the origins of the solar system. NASA’s Juno space probe completed a nearly 1. voyage and entered into orbit around Jupiter, thought to be the oldest planet. That triumph is just the latest for the world’s space programs, which include missions to Mars, the moon, Saturn, and Venus. Here’s a selection of the action on the final frontier. And here on Earth, have a great week. _____ Karen Workman contributed reporting. _____ Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Evening Briefing, weeknights at 6 p. m. Eastern. Want to look back? Here’s Friday’s Evening Briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 1 |
By Stewart Dougherty:
“ There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” – John Adams, 2 nd President of the United States of America The 2016 United States presidential race was never intended to be an election. Rather, it has been psychologically engineered from the beginning to be a for-profit overthrow of America by an increasingly powerful and predatory establishment cabal, which seeks not just power, but full-spectrum dominion over the nation’s people, wealth and institutions. It has been rigged to be the exact opposite of an election: namely, a planned regime change that will then falsely be called after the fact an “election outcome,” “popular mandate” and “expression of the will of the people.” It will deliver a multi-trillion dollar post-“election” payday to the establishment insiders who have orchestrated it and nothing but ongoing misery for the people. This “election” is a carefully crafted coup that will result in the progressive annihilation of American freedom and liberty, personal and financial, for all citizens except those within the Establishment’s reach. The longstanding purpose of this election has been to impose upon the people a new national operating system that we have named “Crony Communism.” (This theme is detailed in our previous article entitled: “Crony Communism: Hillary Clinton’s Game Plan for America.” – LINK ). To effect this regime change, a new psychological syndrome was engineered, using proven techniques that predictably alter the thinking patterns and decision making capabilities of susceptible individuals. Psychological engineering is not science fiction; it is real, powerful and now, and its direct effects are being exhibited today by tens of millions of voters throughout the country. The economic implications of the coming regime change will be monumental – and the financial effects on individuals severe – if people do not take steps now to prepare and protect themselves. We will offer some suggestions in this regard in a follow-up article (Part 2). Our objective in this article is to give you a clear understanding of what is happening, at least as we see it. As readers of our previous Inferential Analytics articles know, prior to naming and describing a particular theme, we provide a snapshot of the contextual landscape so you can understand how the theme developed. Before continuing with the context, we would like to emphasize that we do not earn, or seek to earn one penny from our articles. We write because the themes being created lately by our Inferential Analytics (IA) model are so troubling that we feel a moral obligation to share them. In 15+ years of doing this work, we have never before seen themes as profoundly dystopic as the ones we see today. Our IA themes point to a fundamentally disintegrating American future that we believe 95+% of the people have no idea is coming. The future that IA is indicating will be extremely dangerous for the unaware and unprepared. We believe this is the last chance for the nation to reverse course. We write in order to help people see what is happening. Our motivation is as simple as that. Context for the New Theme: From August 23 – 28, 1973, a bank robber by the name of Jan-Erik Olsson unwittingly made a significant contribution to the understanding of human psychology, particularly of the abnormal, or at a minimum, the counterintuitive variety. Olsson robbed Kreditbanken, a bank located in Norrmalmstorg, a neighborhood within the city of Stockholm, Sweden. During the robbery, Olsson took four employees hostage for a period of six days. As their captivity progressed, the hostages began to exhibit positive attitudes toward their captor , which were contrary to the emotions of anger, resentment and rejection that psychologists would have expected in the circumstances. Nils Bejerot, a criminologist, medical professor and researcher who specialized in the study of addiction coined the term “Stockholm Syndrome” to describe the phenomenon. Even though this term, also known as “capture-bonding,” was created to describe the behavior of a mere four persons taken hostage during the robbery of a small bank in a small neighborhood of a relatively small city in a small country, it immediately struck a global chord. It became and remains one of the best known medical and psychological syndromes in the world, and has extraordinary name recognition to this day not just among experts, but common people as well. In Bejerot’s diagnosis, those with Stockholm Syndrome develop favorable feelings of trust and/or affection toward their captor(s); negative feelings toward those (e.g., the police) who are trying to rescue them from their captor(s); provide support and assistance to their captor(s); and at a certain point exhibit a lack of desire to be rescued from their captor(s) at all. The fact that the term went internationally viral shortly after its announcement begged the question, “Why?” The answer appeared after additional research into the syndrome was conducted. It turned out that the Stockholm Syndrome can also develop among a much larger prospective cohort that includes abused women and children; POWs; concentration camp prisoners; cult members; and incest victims. The term “Stockholm Syndrome” shone a verbal light onto a far broader psychological phenomenon that until then had been lingering in the shadows. The discovery of the Stockholm Syndrome, which is tangential to a powerful and potentially extremely dangerous psychological condition known as “identifying with the aggressor,” proved that people can actually come to admire an individual (or individuals) who commands, controls, exploits and abuses them. This was excellent news for psychopathic predators of all kinds, whose dirty work just got easier for them, and bad news for everyone else. Perhaps it should be no surprise that predators in greater and greater numbers have been running amok ever since. In fact, one of the emerging themes we track is “Predation.” Predation is a serious problem in our world, and it is spinning out of control according to the data we analyze. The Clinton Syndrome At Inferential Analytics, we have zeroed in on what we believe is the most sweeping psychological syndrome ever discovered. It affects literally tens of millions of people, and has no parallel in scale, scope or consequence that we can find in medicine or psychology. We have named it the “Clinton Syndrome,” after career politician Hillary Clinton. The Clinton Syndrome, a variant of Stockholm Syndrome, is a condition in which a voter develops positive feelings about and favorably identifies with a politician who has demonstrated, over a period of decades, a consistent behavior pattern of dishonesty, deceit, avarice, corruption, secretiveness, paranoia, rage, volatility, graft, dissembling, insincerity, disdain, theft, abusiveness, hypocrisy, scapegoating, lawlessness, subversion, war-mongering, nation-state destruction and murder. (In our view, state-sponsored murder is ordinary murder dressed up in false righteousness and rouge, and is actually more despicable.) While the named malignant characteristics are many, every single one of them has been exhibited, most on a repeated basis spanning decades, by Hillary Clinton. These lifelong behaviors have been documented time and again by numerous, non-related sources; are no longer conjecture but proven fact; and are simply beyond dispute or debate. Taken in the aggregate, they define what we call a “political predator.” It is worth mentioning that the abnormal psychological characteristics exhibited by sexual and political predators are similar, and that these two birds of a feather sometimes come together; like attracts like. We want to emphasize that Inferential Analytics is a wholly apolitical forecasting method. Furthermore, we are not engaged in politics as campaigners, donors, lobbyists, strategists, bundlers, organizers, advisors, consultants, supporters, sycophants or in any other way whatsoever. We are researchers, and we solely study the cards that history tosses onto the table of time and events. Truth is our only agenda, though finding it can be difficult and expensive. In our corrupt, dishonest world, Truth, is endlessly hunted down by Falsehood, its armed, dangerous, dirty and extremely well-funded enemy. Truth has been forced into exile in order to survive, and only rarely makes a public appearance, as it fleetingly has, for example, on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Getting back to the Clinton characteristics, we know for a fact that Hillary Clinton has repeatedly lied to Congress and to the people; that as Secretary of State, she threw entire nations into chaos. In one instance alone, Libya, this resulted in the murder and maiming of tens of thousands of innocent civilians, and the grotesque execution of its leader, about which she joked and laughed: “We came; we saw; he died.” [Starts cackling]; that she and her husband stole furniture from the White House when they left it in 2001, which they subsequently were forced to return in what to normal people – but not to them – would have been shame; and that subsequently, while a centi-millionaire, she stole furniture from the State Department and placed it in her own house, demonstrating cheapness and kleptomania of an almost unbelievable magnitude; that she has shown sheer, utter, holier-than-thou disdain for those who hold beliefs, ideals and/or religious convictions different from her own (the “irredeemable” “deplorables”; Roman Catholics; conservative Christians; etc.); that she has been verbally and sometimes physically abusive toward her personal staff, colleagues and even the Secret Service personnel who risk their lives to protect her; that her temper is explosive, as reported by a large number of independent sources who have witnessed her rages first hand; that she has openly admitted to being a hypocrite who says one thing in private, and a totally opposite thing on the same subject in public, in order to pander to the particular audience she is addressing at the time and thereby hustle votes; that the “Pay for Play” collusion between Secretary of State Clinton and her family “Foundation” has been rampant and involves epic dollar sums; that she now endlessly needles, scolds and provokes Russia, a major nuclear power, after her “Foundation” (better known as a Slush Fund) accepted a $120,000,000.00 ($120 MILLION) bribe in exchange for her greenlighting a Russian deal to purchase 20% of America’s limited uranium reserves. She does this to demagogically deflect attention away from her corruption and graft; that the Middle East is littered with the corpses of the innocent thanks to her deadly, reckless, insouciant and vicious war-mongering and military adventurism; that she, her husband and her cabal have subverted the very heart of U.S. law enforcement and justice, at the highest levels of its institutions, for personal political gain; that she deserted her post, lifted not a finger to assist and thereby issued a death sentence against four American heroes in Benghazi, and then repeatedly lied through her teeth about the incident, even to the victims’ heartbroken parents; that she lies and waffles about her support for secret, establishment “treaties” such as the TPP, which is reviled by the people but held up by her in private as “the gold standard,” only to back down when she was caught red-handed in her dishonesty and hypocrisy; that she accepts millions of dollars in “donations” and “speaking fees” (aka, bribes) from Wall Street plutocrats, and then has the gall to tell everyday voters that she’s behind them, and is going to bring Wall Street to heel; that her family “Foundation” actually stole disaster relief donations made to help some of the poorest and most unfortunate people on earth, the Haitians, demonstrating greed gone exponential; that she totally disregards the Rule of Law, which to her is for the Little People, and replaces it with the Rule of Hillary, which exists only for her and over which she is the sole adjudicator; that she believes in “totally open borders,” something completely rejected by the American people and diametrically opposed to any form of common sense and that was only revealed when private documents never intended to be seen by the public were released; that she and her family Slush Fund gladly accept millions from the leaders of countries known for subjugating women and throwing gay people off of roof tops, and then has the sheer hypocrisy to court the votes of women and gays, saying she’s got their backs; and the list goes on and on and on, year after year after year. Her tricks, schemes and gambits are not one-off, occasional departures from decent, moral and respectable behavior. Rather, it is as if they are chiseled on a granite tablet as her personal “Ten Commandments” and standard operating procedures. (“Thou Shalt Lie;” “Thou Shalt Steal;” “Thou Shalt Be a Hypocrite;” “Thou Shalt Find Murder Hilarious,” etc.) They are Hillary’s own, homespun “Rules for Radicals,” perhaps also dedicated by her to Lucifer, just as her role model and hero Saul Alinsky’s “Rules” were dedicated to Lucifer, literally . Her personal commandments and way of behaving will tear this nation to shreds if she is empowered to continue on her path, with impunity, as President of the United States, and becomes backed by the vast, militarized government enforcement network that will be used to silence any critics of her destructiveness, corruption and criminality. None of these Clinton facts is disputable. They are documented, cross-documented, confirmed and undeniable. The scandals in which she is endlessly embroiled are real, and we all know they are real. Yet astonishingly, there remain millions of voters who completely ignore these facts, and remain supportive of Clinton’s presidential candidacy. Out of a duty to truth, we have an obligation to ask ourselves: “What is going on here?” Inferential Analytics is about identifying existing themes, inferring the likely full-blown realities that will grow out of those themes, and then forecasting the changes such full-blown realities will create. The theme here is self-evident: the Clinton Syndrome is real, and is propelling Clinton to a possible presidential victory. That the Clinton Syndrome exists is the only possible explanation for the fact that millions of people actually voted for her in the primary elections, and that millions more already have or are going to vote for her in the national presidential “election,” despite her ignominious past. The next phase, which we will know late in the evening of November 8, 2016, could be the full-blown reality of a Clinton presidency, should she be elected. This would demonstrate that the Clinton Syndrome had overtaken the minds of a majority of voters. The fact is that the Clinton Syndrome makes no logical sense. It makes no logical sense for a voter to think favorably about a lifelong political predator who has immersed herself in nothing but scandal, corruption, criminality, lies, chaos and destruction. Given that it is not logical, normal or comprehensible, the question becomes, “How on earth did the Clinton Syndrome come about in the first place?” The Clinton Syndrome is the product of the most sophisticated psychological engineering campaign ever unleashed upon the mind of humankind. It reflects a relentless, non-stop, multi-year, multi-originated, multi-faceted bombardment of the American psyche with propaganda, brainwashing, mind control and massive lies. Hitler was good at this kind of thing, but his tactics were in the Dark Ages compared to the hyper-sophisticated techniques being used upon Americans today to mass-activate the pathological Clinton Syndrome. This carpet-bombing of the American mind with weapons of mass mental destruction does not require anything even close to 100% effectiveness in order to create the planned electoral outcome. If roughly 70,000,000 voting age Americans succumb to it, the Clinton Syndrome will be victorious. This will result in a for-profit crony communist regime change taking place in the United States. The payoff for the cronies will be in the multiple trillions of dollars in Clinton’s first term alone, which explains the enormous effort that has gone into the deliberate establishment warping of the American consciousness. The barrage of psychological engineering has been orchestrated, conducted, aided and abetted by an establishment cabal that includes the Mainstream Media, including every single major television network; every single mainstream radio station; virtually every single major city newspaper; every non-major-city newspaper that runs syndicated, mainstream columns; every major website running on-screen advertisements; all search engine providers that skew search results; all leading social media operators; every mainstream magazine; the DNC and the RNC (the latter of which has done basically nothing to support and everything possible to undermine its candidate); a huge percentage of existing politicians including dozens of turncoat establishment Republicans who are cashing in on the current corruption and are adamantly opposed to any kind of change and who are therefore torpedoing their party’s candidate at every turn; professional, violence-funding regime change agitators such as Soros; virtually all of Wall Street and the financial establishment; the Federal Reserve System which has printed trillions of dollars’ worth of counterfeit dollars to keep the false illusion of normalcy alive; government agencies such as the BLS that concoct phony numbers to support the Big Economic Lie; countless other cronies who stuff billions in their pockets from the endemic corruption; and even the Director of the FBI, the Attorney General, the President of the United States and his wife. A full listing of the individuals, corporations and institutions that have purposefully created the Clinton Syndrome would require dozens of pages of single-spaced text to fully disclose. It is no wonder that it has been triggered en masse. This is historic. There has never in our history been such a coordinated establishment onslaught against one and for the other candidate in a national presidential election. As they say, “follow the money,” and that is what this election is all about. It has absolutely nothing to do with the good of the people, or the nation. Cronyism and its filthy lucre stink to high Heaven, and that is the foul odor you smell all around you. Central to the triggering of the Clinton Syndrome has been a litany of campaign lies and political bribes. The citizens have been told that already broke Social Security will be broadened to cover millions more people no matter whether they have paid into it or not; thet already-broke Medicare and Medicaid will be expanded; that student debts will be wiped out; that college will be free; that free or subsidized, universal health care is assured; that massive, government-funded infrastructure projects will create high-wage jobs that they can get; that wages will be increased and equalized; and that a wide array of additional welfare programs, subsidies and government giveaways await, as long as voters turn over their minds to the Clinton Syndrome. Clinton pre-empts voters who might wonder and ask, “Who is going to pay for all of this?” by telling them that, of course, it is the “rich” who will pay for it. As Clinton has repeatedly stated in her speeches and during the debates, “we’re going to go where the money is.” This is pure communistic cant and the rank politicization of envy, which cynically feeds upon the financial despair of millions of American citizens. The people’s financial morass has, in fact, been directly created by career political predators like Clinton herself, whose policies have robbed the nation blind and plunged it into over $120,000,000,000,000.00 ($120 trillion) of existing and contingent debt that can never possibly be repaid in dollars bearing any monetary resemblance whatsoever to the dollars existing today. America’s debt will be repaid in the equivalent of hyper-inflated Venezuelan bolivars, if the debt holders are lucky. In the final debate, on three separate occasions, Clinton said, “I will not add one penny to the debt.” This lie is so preposterous that they should have ended the debate the first time she said it, sent everyone home, and turned off the lights. The government’s own statistics, generated by such agencies as the Office of Management and Budget show beyond a shadow of a doubt that the nation’s deficit and debt crises are spiraling out of control, and this is without including Clinton’s proposed, radical expansion of crony communistic state spending. Every single “tax the rich” scheme hatched in the past by political hacks has failed, from “millionaire taxes” to “luxury goods taxes.” Not one of them has brought in the expected revenues, and virtually all of them have been discontinued because they were abject failures. The idea that her “tax the rich” schemes will actually pay for massive, full-scale government control of and hegemony over the populace is absurd, and her lie that “I will not add one penny to the debt” is so egregious that it should be prosecutable in a court of law. Unfortunately, most Americans, who are just struggling to get by, don’t have the time to fact-check a professional liar’s lies. On November 9, 2016, should the Clinton Syndrome psychological engineering scheme prevail, we project that somewhere in the order of 100,000,000 Americans, primarily its producers, will feel something more powerful than anger: grim resolve. They will know deep in their hearts that the nation they have known and loved is gone, and that it is never coming back. They will know deep in their minds that the malignant ethics of corruption, looting, immorality and structural inequality that stand at the very foundation of crony communism will seep into and infect every aspect of their lives. They will know that the exorbitant cost of crony communism will not just impoverish them financially, but will destroy the plans, hopes and dreams for the future that they and their loved ones hold dear. They will know in their souls that their freedom and liberty have been sacrificed once and for all upon the establishment’s dark altar of greed. And they will do something about it. We believe the United States is on the cusp of a combined “John Galt” and “Gresham’s Law” event, the economic implications of which will be unprecedented and profound. We believe that millions of productive Americans will refuse to be serfs to a corrupt, crony communistic, regime, and that they will quietly but effectively begin to shut down. The “people of the mind,” the honest, decent, hard-working, entrepreneurial, productive, tax-generating citizens are going to say, “No more.” They are not going to work 60 hours a week for scraps, only to enrich crony communist plunderers who will live like kings and queens while producing nothing but exploitation. The producers are going to give the middle finger to the money sucking political predators who rant about how they are “going to go where the money is” to pay for their false, arithmetically impossible, dishonest, bankrupting, vote-bribing “promises” and schemes. At the same time, the bad money of crony communism will “drive” into safety and sanctuary the good money to which financially intelligent people will move. Those of you who have gotten this far in the article already know exactly what we mean. And no matter how many commands, controls and executive orders the crony communists pile on to steal the people’s money, they are going to be unpleasantly surprised to find that they end up with next to none of it. Crony communist looters are no match for the ingenuity, resourcefulness, integrity and resolve of everyday, productive American people. Principled American patriots will throw their good money into deep rivers before they hand it over to crony communist plunderers This is the end of Part 1. In Part 2, we will provide additional information about the current landscape, several forecasts, and a short list of general recommendations. Closing Postscript: On a very specific note, if crony communism prevails on November 8 th , we believe that holiday retail sales will deliver an early statement about the unfurling economic consequences. We would project a major miss. Despite the miss, the aggregate number will still be overstated, because we forecast that the prudent will begin to make large investments in independence. These people will not be buying gifts; they will be buying what they need to opt out and hunker down. We recommend that analysts carefully parse the holiday retail sales numbers, because deep under the surface they will almost certainly express, in dollar terms, our notion of “grim resolve.” The mainstream business media will completely miss what is really happening. The real retail sales story will be told by very specific line items, not the aggregate data. The informational gold will be hidden deep in the underground, as always. Stewart Dougherty Stewart Dougherty is the creator of Inferential Analytics, a forecasting method that applies to events proprietary, time-tested principles of human instinct, desire and action. In his view, forecasting methods not fundamentally based upon principles of human action are unlikely to be reliable over time. He is a graduate of Tufts University and Harvard Business School and has developed IA over a period of 15+ years. This entry was posted in Finance News and tagged Clinton Syndrome , Donald Trump , Hillary Clinton , Stewart Dougherty . Bookmark the permalink . Post navigation | 0 |
Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile said she did not think the Democrats were “overreaching” with their questions about the Trump campaign’s role in Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election. Brazile said, “First of all, I don’t think the Democrats are overreaching. I mean this is about the integrity of our democracy — democratic process. It’s about what happened in 2016. To suggest, as Donald Trump constantly put out, that somewhere or a no, this is sour grapes, this is not sour grapes. This is about the country being attacked by a hostile foreign government and Donald Trump basically only caring about himself. ” ( RCP Video) Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
Whether or not Christians should celebrate Halloween has been a controversial topic for decades. Some view dressing up, eating candy and enjoying the festivities harmless and innocent, while others view it as an offense to their faith. Americans spend nearly $6.9 billion yearly making it the second largest commercial holiday in the country. As commercialized as the celebration has become, many of its roots are completely paganist. Is this a cause for Christians to avoid the entire celebration?
This is a time of year filled with debate, but not necessarily politics. Many Christians are convinced that Halloween is a satanic holiday while the rest of the world has found their sweet spot complete with costumes and candy. Children and adults have the opportunity to dress in accordance with their imagination, confirming from its haunted history to modern festivities, this holiday is a big deal. With decorations, candy, parties, and costumes, the average American spends up to $75 in the spirit of celebration.
Halloween is the holiday that links the seasons of fall and winter. Reportedly, it originated with one of the ancient Celtic festivals; an event where people would wear various costumes and light bonfires in hopes of warding off roaming ghosts. However, by the late 1800s, Americans shifted the theory of Halloween into a holiday centered on community and fun events. The focus, for many, has transitioned from witchcraft and ghosts to neighborhood celebratory events. With the evolving of the focal point, should Christians change their stance to celebrate the holiday?
Despite having at least partial roots from a Christian tradition, the relationship between Halloween and Christians has long been complicated. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther essentially started the Protestant Reformation in Wittenberg, Germany, when he nailed his 95 Theses to a door. Many of the early Christian groups that came to America rejected this holiday as pagan. The Protestant Reformation heavily influenced the Pilgrims, Puritans, Quakers, and Baptists causing the great majority to frown upon it. However, that did not prevent Halloween from finding its way to American shores.
In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III dedicated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs. The holiday became widely recognized as All Saints’ Day. The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve, which later became Halloween. The word “hallow” originated from the Old English word for “holy” and “e’en” is an abbreviation of “evening.” As such, Halloween represented the night before All Saints Day.
Over time, Halloween advanced into a secular, community-based holiday branded by child-friendly activities that include costumes, neighborhood trick-or-treating, and more recently, trunk-or-treating. Along with a variety of pumpkin-flavored foods, Parties for both children and adults have become a very common way to celebrate the holiday. Some Christians still choose to lock themselves indoors with the lights off, but others have found freedom in their faith and are at liberty to decide when and how to participate.
In multiple countries around the world, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people continue to escort the winter season in with candy-coated gatherings and a wide range of costumes. Halloween is a celebration that allows people of all ages to participate. Nonetheless, the question remains, “Should Christians celebrate?”
Due to the efforts of community leaders and parents, Halloween has lost most of its illogical and religious undertones and is now more about imagination than spooky interpretation. There is nothing sinful about a Christian dressing up and participating in fun, non-threatening, celebrations. As a result, many Christians find no harm in dressing in costumes, attending parties and festivals as well as allowing their children to participate in school and local activities.
By Cherese Jackson (Virginia)
Sources:
History: Halloween
Kidsville News: Around the World – October 2015
Grace to You: Christians and Halloween
Photo Credits:
Top Image Courtesy of Billy Wilson – Flickr License
Inline Image (1) Courtesy of Richard Vignola – Flickr License
Inline Image (2) Courtesy of The Forum News – Flickr License
Featured Image Courtesy of John Nakamura – Flickr License christianity , halloween | 0 |
On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” host Bill Maher stated that Syria’s dysfunction started due to climate change, and “we talk about Assad gassing people, we’re gassing them too. We’re just doing it slower with CO2. ” Maher said, “[T]he Syrian problem started with climate change. It did. 75% of Syrian farms failed. A million and a half people migrated to the cities. That’s where it began. And by the way, these people who are starving, which is — whether you’re bombed or you’re sarin gassed, or you’re starving, death is death. But — I mean, we talk about Assad gassing people, we’re gassing them too. We’re just doing it slower with CO2. ” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett | 1 |
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A few weeks ago the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center celebrated its 50 th anniversary. It was back on September 16, 1966 that the Met opened its doors at the newly built Lincoln Center (its previous home was a few blocks away) with the premiere of Samuel Barber’s Anthony and Cleopatra. Recent years have seen the Met in financial trouble. If the National Endowment for the Arts is to be believed the audience for opera is in decline- back in 2002 the percentage of American adults that see their annual opera was 3.2; by 2012 it dropped to 2.1 percent. Given its gigantic 3800 seat structure the company is forced season after season to stage grand operas, i.e. operas that even occasional viewers have seen at least once, at the expense of newer smaller scale pieces. A couple of decades ago the Met earned 90 percent of its potential box office revenue, a number that has dropped to 66 percent last season. Prices are up to on average about $160 per head (besting the average Broadway ticket by over $50). The company’s plan to have performances screened in movie theaters and libraries has generated some revenue but seemingly not enough. A couple of years ago the start of the opera season was almost derailed by a strike by its unionized set artists and camera operators over company calls for a pay cut.
It’s an ironic fate for a grandly built structure that was billed as a Cold War asset whose purpose was to elevate the cultural taste of the masses. Designed by a group of then prestigious architects coordinated by Wallace Harrison of the firm Harrison and Abramovitz, who had a similar role in designing the UN, Lincoln Center’s imposing blend of classicism and modernism has few architectural defenders. Missing from any promotions about the 50th Anniversary Gala is a reference to another musical with roots that go back to Lincoln Center’s origin. West Side Story opened on Broadway in 1957. By the time the Jets and Sharks met on the big screen in 1961, their Lincoln Square neighborhood was bulldozed to make way for Lincoln Center. The local working class population and a mosaic of small businesses, there were over 600 in the project footprint, were displaced.
By no means was the clearing out of 48 acres for Lincoln Center the only such West Side initiative. This was the era of Robert Moses and slum clearance and the West Side was a prime target. Further uptown the Morningside Heights-Manhattanville neighborhoods, which like Lincoln Square were working class with a growing Puerto Rican population, saw their share of destruction and displacement, mostly to make way for new housing its residents couldn’t afford.
In the present day West Side the beat goes on. Recently Thomas Heatherwick’s centerpiece design for Hudson Yards was unveiled. Named ‘Vessel’, the $150 million structure will stand 15 stories and feature 154 interconnecting staircases with 2500 climbable stairs. Hudson Yards, which its developers bill as ‘the largest private real estate deal in the history of the United States’ (the main developer is Related Companies, probably the biggest developer in the city), is slated to be the city’s next great commercial district, a 21 st century Rockefeller Center, with over a dozen skyscrapers, millions of square feet of office space, and luxury housing (with the requisite small percentage labeled ‘affordable’). Built on 26 acres own by the MTA, the public corporation that runs the city’s buses and subways and the Long Island Railroad (the land has served as a storage facility for trains from nearby Penn Station), the neighborhood has long been in the sites of politicians and urban planners- full of truck stops and warehouses it has been almost universally declared the ‘last undeveloped land’. The ultimate vision has been to move Midtown’s CBD across 8 th Ave into Hell’s Kitchen which, while gentrifying in recent times, still retains some of its historic working and middle class, the last such place in the middle of Manhattan. The beauty of the acreage belonging to the MTA is that technically as a state agency plans for their use are somewhat exempted from the normal city review process. The tragedy is as an agency whose leadership is appointed by the state and city, and is subsidized heavily by both, it isn’t hard to imagine property it owns becoming, with only a bit of political maneuvering, in some way public. Instead the subsidies are again flowing to a developer: a $3 billion bond offering, a promise to pick up any debt service shortfall, and one to cover any over budget costs for the subway expansion to the development. By the end of 2014 the city paid out $650 million. Even city officials acknowledge such subsidies will be needed until 2019.
The backdrop to Hudson Yards is the High Line. A much lauded 1.45 mile elevated park built on the leftover tracks from New York Central Railroad’s West Side Freight Line, the High Line draws millions of visitors a year. Targeted to be torn down at several instances, its preservation was spearheaded by a grassroots effort (the Friends of the Line now maintain and operate the park, a public-private arrangement that characterizes many of the city’s parks going back to the early 1980s). The High Line draws raves from planners worldwide; however absent other reform the practical effect of the High Line has been to send property values soaring. It was soon surrounded by a stream of starchitect designs including Norman Foster, Rem Koulhass, and the late Zara Hadid. Hadid, renowned for being the first female recipient of the Pritzker Prize, also became somewhat infamous for an August 2014 answer to an interview question about working conditions in Dubai where she designed the Al Wakrah stadium for the 2022 World Cup. When questioned about the fatal conditions for construction workers Hadid coldly replied ‘I have nothing to do with the workers. I think that’s an issue the government – if there’s a problem – should pick up. Hopefully, these things will be resolved.’ While there have been no worker fatalities building 520 West 28 th , the social effect for New York can be inferred from the prices that range from just under $5 million up to $50 million per unit. 520 W 28 th by Zara Hadid.
Earlier this year downtown saw the opening of Santiago Calatrava’s Oculus. Built at the foot of the rebuilt World Trade Center (the original version, a product of the Rockefeller family’s desire to rescue their real estate investments in what was then a depressed downtown, itself was a destroyer of tens of thousands of jobs along Radio Row, and another project that was built on land owned by a public corporation- The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) Conceived in post 9/11 narcissism The Oculus came in a decade late it for a price tag of over $4 billion, about triple its initial cost estimate. This boondoggle of a train station will serve less than 50,000 riders a day.
A short walk from there up Broadway and one will catch sight of Frank Gehry’s 8 Spruce St with an average rent of $5500 a month. Meanwhile over on the Lower East Side, the corner of Delancy and Essex Streets display a close-up view of Bernard Tschumi’s Blue Condominium. The average sale price there is $1.5 million. A little further uptown, the American Cooper Buildings will soon open on First Avenue. Designed by SHoP Architects, these twin towers feature a copper facade with a three story sky bridge connecting them- the bridge is equipped with a gym and 75 foot lap pool (SHoP also designed the hideous Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the Nets-another eminent domain inspired effort). If height is your thing, Billionaire’s Row on West 57 th Street features Rafael Viñoly’s 432 Park Avenue, currently the tallest residential building in the world. At 93 feet wide and 1396 feet tall, it’s 15 times as tall as wide. The penthouse went for $95 million, just below the $100.5 million penthouse sale at the Christian de Portzamparc designed One57 right down the street. 432 Park by Rafael Viñoly.
It wasn’t all that long ago when architecture represented something besides extreme global inequality and cultural homogeneity. In a 2007 essay titled ‘What Happened to the Social Agenda’, sociologist Nathan Glazer wrote:
Modernist architects and city planners believed they could do better than the profit-inspired builders of housing for the working classes who crowded as much building as they could onto the land available. It seemed to make sense, and indeed it made some sense.
The public housing Glazer referred to here has for decades been reviled. Its rational architecture came to be seen as isolating and plain. From a theoretical standpoint it was said to be given the coup de grâce by Jane Jacobs in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (though this is simplistic, Jacobs supported the building of the modernist West Village Houses, not public housing but originally part of the Mitchell-Lama program, a state housing program aimed at the working class). Surely Robert Moses was more interested in ‘slum clearance’ than housing the working class. That doesn’t change the fact that public housing, at least at first, improved housing conditions for working poor. Nor can architecture’s interest in the issue be denied. Politically public housing was left to rot by federal withdrawal, poor (often racist) placement, subsidized suburbs, and ideology. St Louis was the first city to demolish its public housing: the Pruitt Igoe complex was dynamited live on TV in 1972. By the time the destruction came Pruitt Igoe was so run down its occupancy was less than 35 percent. More recently Chicago took its turn. However in New York, for all its flaws and debt, public housing is functioning well enough to have a waiting list. The decline of public housing in most cities was a failure of politics; still architecture also took the blame.
For modernism’s failures real and perceived, Glazer wrote of architects:
The architect could then conclude that if modernism could do nothing for social problems, if the expectations of architectural determinism were naïve, why bother: Let us devote ourselves to architecture alone- to building design and form -instead of to architecture and city planning
In other words status quo, political neutral buildings that reflect the excess of the global elite while demonstrating no purpose beyond their own genius. It goes without saying that architects can’t determine city planning policy on their own, yet there is no reason, given the housing crisis ravaging many cities, for the profession not to push the envelope in a more inclusive direction. And there is no inherent reason such a movement would have to return to the bland bricks of modernism’s housing projects. Earlier this year 2016 Pritzker Prize winner, Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena , posted a number of his designs for low-cost housing for free on his firm Elemental’s webpage. In an interview with Dezeen, Aravena said of architects and social housing: ‘But the constraints are not just budget constraints – the building logic, the political framework, and the policies, are part of the equation and we’re not well trained for that. We’re never taught the right thing at university.’
One can only hope that changes. Architects can be valuable allies to progressive city planning. For that to happen though the word ‘starchitect’ would have to take on different, and grander, meaning. | 0 |
Comments Barack Hussein Obama’s half-brother Malik Obama has become a thorn in the president’s side during this election as he has turned on his family by publicly supporting Donald Trump for president. The Gateway Pundit reported that Malik posted a video of himself wearing a Trump hat on Twitter to prove that his account is real. Watch as Malik tells his followers to “vote Trump,” something we never thought we’d hear an Obama say!
— MicroSpookyLeaks™ (@WDFx2EU7) October 27, 2016 Trump made headlines a few weeks ago when he invited Malik to the second presidential debate as his guest. Western Journalism reported that Malik has been an outspoken Trump supporter throughout this election. “I like Donald Trump because he speaks from the heart,” he said. “‘Make America Great Again’ is a great slogan. I would like to meet him.” As for Trump, he’s very excited to meet Malik as well. “I look very much forward to meeting and being with Malik,” Trump said. “He gets it far better than his brother.” Malik was once a Democrat, but he’s said that foreign policy missteps and social concerns have caused him to move to the Republican side. He has also said he distrusts Hillary Clinton, citing her scandals and dishonesty, which he says have only gotten worse since he originally voiced his support for Trump. “I don’t like [Hillary] Clinton,” Malik said in September, in spite of his half-brother’s proud endorsement. “She is dishonest and a liar. She keeps on lying about emails every time.” Malik has slammed Clinton’s performance as Secretary of State, pointing out that she inflamed chaos and violence in the Middle East. What do you think about this? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section. | 0 |
Just before a Sunday morning service in the early 1990s, two women walked into one of Manhattan’s most venerable sanctuaries, Marble Collegiate Church, on Fifth Avenue. The usher who seated them, sizing them up as worshipers, asked what had brought them to Marble, as the church is known. “They said, ‘We understand this is where Marla Maples met Donald Trump,’” recalled the choir director and organist at the time, Kevin Walters, “‘so we thought we’d come and see if we could hook up with a billionaire, too. ’” For all that has been written about Mr. Trump’s careers — as a real estate developer, a casino owner and a personality — relatively little attention has been focused on the role religion played in shaping his personality. Overlooked amid tabloid accounts of his romances or articles about his ups and downs are the periods in his life when he was going to church, first as a regular at a Presbyterian church in Queens, where he grew up, and later, as a less frequent worshiper at Marble, one of America’s oldest and most famous churches. Mr. Trump, now the Republican nominee for president, had an intriguing relationship with Marble. He attended its Sunday services for almost 50 years, but says he does not know if he ever formally joined the church. He describes himself as a Presbyterian, but Marble is not a Presbyterian church — it is part of the Reformed Church in America, a separate denomination that traces its beginnings to 1628 and the first ordained minister in New Amsterdam, as New York was then known. Mr. Trump married his first wife, Ivana, at Marble, in a ceremony performed by one of America’s most famous ministers, the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale. His marriage to Ms. Maples was performed by Dr. Peale’s successor, the Rev. Arthur Caliandro, who, like Mr. Trump, was married three times. After Mr. Trump mentioned Marble on the campaign trail, the church took the unusual step last year of issuing a statement that he was not “an active member. ” The current minister says it released the statement not to dissociate itself from someone whose connection was to some members awkward, even embarrassing, but “to share accurate information. ” Mr. Trump said the statement did not upset him because, he said, it was correct: “I haven’t been back since Dr. Caliandro passed away,” three years ago at age 79. In the 1950s — when Mr. Trump’s father, Fred C. Trump, was building a apartment dynasty in Brooklyn and Queens — the Trumps were prominent parishioners at a church close to their home, First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens. Like Marble, it is a church with a history: It describes itself as the oldest continuously worshiping Presbyterian congregation in the country. Mr. Trump was confirmed there in 1959, around the time he turned 13. “He sang the songs and did the works,” said John Walter, a cousin of Donald Trump who is the family historian. But in the 1960s, the Trumps gravitated to Marble. The lure was Dr. Peale, a household name since the publication of the 1952 best seller that transformed “the power of positive thinking” into a national catchphrase. Today he is remembered for preaching optimism and personal fulfillment, asserting that it was possible to achieve spiritual and material success in life. He himself became a wealthy man who lived on Fifth Avenue opposite the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mr. Walter said Fred Trump maintained that “nobody else was Peale. ” That idea was echoed by Donald Trump, who in an interview described Dr. Peale as “a great preacher and a great public speaker” but said nothing about any religious beliefs he had imparted. “You always, when the service was over, you said, ‘I’d have sat there for another hour,’” Mr. Trump recalled. “There aren’t too many people like that. It wasn’t the speaking ability, it was the thought process. ” Some theologians criticized Dr. Peale’s brand of Christianity as superficial. The current senior minister, Dr. Michael B. Brown, suggested that there were really two Norman Vincent Peales — “Peale the motivator and Peale the pastor” — and that Dr. Peale’s ministry at Marble is often misunderstood because “a lot of the public thinks Peale the pastor was saying the same stuff as Peale the motivator. ” “In the motivational speaking world,” Dr. Brown added, “he would say, ‘You can if you think you can.’ In the pulpit, he would quote Philippians 4 and say, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. ’” Still, Dr. Peale’s presence made Marble a favorite of business leaders, and he helped influence the way Mr. Trump takes on the world. “Everything he does is about winning,” Gwenda Blair, the author of “The Trumps: Three Generations of Builders and a Presidential Candidate,” a biography of the family, said in a recent New York Times podcast. “It’s only about winning and losing — those two are the only principles that are involved. That’s a very Norman Vincent Peale notion — that notion of success above all. ” Dr. Peale favored Republicans — in 1956, he assailed the Democratic presidential candidate, Adlai E. Stevenson, because he had been divorced. Mr. Stevenson countered, “I find the Apostle Paul appealing and the Apostle Peale appalling. ” In 1960, when John F. Kennedy was the Democratic nominee, Dr. Peale and 25 other Protestant leaders were so fearful of Vatican influence on a Kennedy administration that they gathered at the invitation of the Rev. Billy Graham and discussed ways to defeat him. Dr. Peale was attacked for his involvement and later called the episode one of the most painful of his life. (Richard M. Nixon worshiped at Marble after he lost to Kennedy, and Dr. Peale supported him even as the Watergate scandal doomed his presidency.) If Mr. Trump admired Dr. Peale, the minister, too, professed admiration for Mr. Trump. In 1983, Dr. Peale sent Mr. Trump a note — shared by the Trump campaign — congratulating him on the opening of Trump Tower. Dr. Peale recalled predicting that “you were going to be America’s greatest builder. ” “You have already arrived at that status,” Dr. Peale wrote, “and believe me, as your friend, I am very proud of you. ” But Dr. Peale’s son John, 79, told The Washington Post in January that he was not pleased when Mr. Trump referred to his father. “I don’t respect Mr. Trump very much,” he was quoted as saying. “I don’t think the image of Norman Vincent Peale that comes through Donald Trump is any connection to the idea I have of him. ” In a brief telephone conversation last month, however, John Peale said that he no longer winced at the mention of Mr. Trump. But he would not elaborate. “I’ve said all I need or want to say,” he said. Dr. Brown said that Marble, which is no longer a strictly denominational congregation, was “the sort of place church is supposed to be. ” “It’s inclusive,” he said, “whether you’re talking about race, age, politics, sexuality, economics or gender. ” Asked whether that contrasts with many of Mr. Trump’s statements during the campaign, he said, “There is a difference in the world of politics and the world of church, and in the world of church, we are compelled by Jesus’s commandment — it wasn’t a suggestion or a request — it was, I command that you love one another. ” Dr. Peale stopped preaching at Marble in 1984, when he was 86 Mr. Trump said that he attended Dr. Peale’s last service. His successor, Dr. Caliandro, presided over a campaign to remodel the church’s Fifth Avenue home, built in the 1850s with marble from the same quarry as City Hall and the arch in Washington Square Park. Dr. Caliandro’s son Paul said his father told of trying to get Mr. Trump to contribute to a new roof. “My father is walking down the aisle in the middle of the sanctuary,” Paul Caliandro said. “Donald Trump is telling him things to finish the work, do this and this and this. He asks for his financial support, and Donald Trump says: ‘I just gave it to you. I saved you $100, 000. ’” Mr. Trump said he did not remember whether he was asked to contribute money for the roof, or whether he had done so. He said he had “helped them with their real estate through Dr. Caliandro and earlier through Dr. Peale. ” “I was very helpful, I know I was,” he said. “They were thankful. ” By the early 1990s, some in the congregation wondered if he was paying attention to more than the sermons. “I had a particular pew I had to sit in, and one Sunday, the usher said, ‘Would you please move over? ’” recalled Gloria Hegy, Dr. Caliandro’s first wife. The woman who squeezed in apparently liked the view from that pew. “Marla Maples wasn’t interested in sitting beside me,” Ms. Hegy said. “She was interested in Donald, who was sitting in the balcony. They kept looking at each other. ” Mr. Trump said that contrary to what the two women had told the usher — and contrary to a famous tabloid headline, “They Met in Church” — his first encounter with Ms. Maples was not at Marble. But as the relationship developed, so did the awkwardness for some at the church. “People would ask me about it,” said the Rev. Anne Benefield, who was an associate minister at Marble in the 1990s. “They would say, ‘Does Donald Trump really come?’ and I would have to say, ‘ .’ This was really embarrassing, that this man was married and having this affair and the church was connected with it. ” | 1 |
TAMPA, Fla. — The end came quickly, and somewhat mercifully, for the Islanders, who acquitted themselves well even as they will lament two overtime home losses in their Eastern conference semifinal series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. But amid the quiet, clipped answers in the Islanders’ locker room and clatter of team gear being packed, the haunting facts remained. After winning Game 1 here at Amalie Arena, the Islanders lost the next four games, swept aside by a combination of superior Tampa Bay talent and tough luck. It culminated in a shutout in Game 5 on Sunday that ended the Islanders’ longest playoff run in 23 years and lifted the Lightning to their second consecutive appearance in the Eastern Conference finals. Tampa Bay will face the winner of the series for a chance to reach the Stanley Cup finals. “The difference in the series was, offensively, they took advantage of their opportunities, and we couldn’t find a way these last few games to score some goals,” Islanders Coach Jack Capuano said. “If there’s one thing that you have to look back on, it is the inability and ineffectiveness to get some offense. ” The Islanders were shut out for the first time this postseason. They had clicked offensively while knocking off the Florida Panthers, the No. 2 seed, in a riveting series, and after a victory here in Game 1, a magical run appeared to be possible. “We had an incredible run and were on the fun side of things,” Islanders center Frans Nielsen said. “We’ve seen the brutal side of it, too. ” As the series wore on, the Islanders could not crack Tampa Bay goaltender Ben Bishop, who stopped 28 shots on Sunday, turning aside a few chances early in the game that could have swung momentum to the Islanders. The Islanders’ Thomas Greiss made 21 saves, but he appeared to be under constant siege compared with Bishop’s play. “Once you’ve tasted it, the highs and the lows and everything that goes with it, you want to get back again,” Lightning Coach Jon Cooper said of his team’s determination to close out the Islanders and return to the conference finals. Victor Hedman scored two goals, and Brian Boyle had one as the Lightning took a lead into the third period. After Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov scored on a breakaway at 4 minutes 40 seconds of the third period, the thunderous celebration at Amalie Arena only grew louder as the crowd serenaded the Islanders, singing “Hey, hey, hey, goodbye!” “It’s the way playoff hockey is,” the Islanders’ Matt Martin said. “They found a way to win games, and we didn’t, but we’ll learn from it. It’s a credit to them. They are a very good hockey team. They were in the Cup finals last year for a reason. ” The Lightning opened a lead in the first period on goals by Hedman at 13:49 and Boyle at 18:41. Both players simply outworked defenders. With two Islanders converging on Kucherov behind the net, the puck came free directly in front of Greiss. Hedman poked it away from Kyle Okposo, quickly pirouetted and fired a wrist shot that beat Greiss on his glove side. Boyle’s goal also originated behind the net, where Matt Carle was being chased. The Islanders’ eyes were still on Carle when Boyle appeared from the opposite direction and seemed to steal the puck from his teammate. Boyle wheeled around the net and took aim, and as the Islanders turned their heads, he fired high over Greiss’s right shoulder. Hedman quickly capitalized on a power play for his second goal at 4:22 of the second, scoring on a slap shot 42 seconds after Travis Hamonic had been called for roughing. “Start to finish, we played really well,” Boyle said. “We were hard on the pucks. We made sure we got the puck in deep. We didn’t turn it over in the neutral zone and give them opportunities. We played a great game. ” That the Islanders’ captain, John Tavares, was frustrated by Hedman and other Lightning defenders illustrated how the Islanders lost control of the series. Tavares had only one shot in Tampa Bay’s overtime victory in Game 4 and managed one again on Sunday. He also spent four minutes in the penalty box on a double minor following a skirmish late in the second period. “We obviously played some good hockey at times, but we just let those two games at home slip away, and that put us behind the eight ball,” Tavares said. “We got off to an O. K. start, but they came back hard and capitalized on a couple opportunities. ” The overtime losses in Games 3 and 4 had a lingering effect on the Islanders, who appeared deflated after the Lightning took a lead and were continually demoralized by Bishop. “You don’t want to go dry at this time of the year,” Capuano said. “You look at Games 3 and 4 and the opportunities that we had to score, the a couple other chances that we had that could have turned the series the other way. But you can’t look back. Tampa Bay played a great series. ” | 1 |
Jon Stewart may no longer be the host of The Daily Show, but he still has plenty to say about Donald Trump – particularly concerning the lewd comments he said to Billy Bush during a bus... | 0 |
| January 15, 2016 at 6:00 am | Reply
Slavery still exists in Saudi Arabia (as well as parts of Africa) today. But what is Saudi Arabia? For all practical purposes, it is Great Britain’s vassal state, run by a family of criminals whom we and Great Britain protect. Saudi Arabia is not even a nation-state in the modern sense of the term: The Royal Family there considers themselves to be owners of the land—as if it were their personal property—who allow others to live on it. (Churchill and others either set up Saudi Arabia or allowed it to become established in its current political structure. They also established the current national boundaries in the Middle East, leading, in part, to the present troubles). What kind of a religion is this that encourages all of the worst carnality of men? St. Thomas Aquinas tackled this matter head-on: He wrote that Mohammed sought out men as carnal as himself, and he encouraged his followers to do the same. (And they consider Jesus Our Lord to be a prophet, as if He would EVER condone their evil?!) Islam, like the New World Order manipulating it, is a BEAST SYSTEM. It is a criminal racket with a political ideology and structure, masquerading as a religion! WAKE UP, PEOPLE! | 0 |
AUSTIN, Ind. — On the evening of March 24, 2015, Sheriff Dan McClain got an unexpected voice mail: “This is Gov. Mike Pence calling. I would welcome the opportunity to get your counsel on what’s going on in Scott County. ” What was going on was unprecedented in Indiana and rare in the United States: H. I. V. was spreading with terrifying speed among intravenous drug users in this rural community near the Kentucky border. Local, state and federal health officials were urging the governor to allow clean needles to be distributed to slow the outbreak. But Indiana law made it illegal to possess a syringe without a prescription. And Mr. Pence, a steadfast conservative, was morally opposed to needle exchanges on the grounds that they supported drug abuse. As Sheriff McClain called the governor back, the pressure was mounting. The number of new H. I. V. cases in the county was nearing 90. “Don’t give me any political views I want to know your opinion,” the sheriff recalled Mr. Pence saying. Sheriff McClain, who was not a fan of needle exchanges, was quick to reply: “I believe the only thing we can do to stop or slow this thing is to get clean needles out there. ” As the Republican candidate, Mr. Pence brings a long record of social and fiscal conservatism that serves as a counterweight to Donald J. Trump’s frequently shifting views. But rarely have the governor’s principles been tested like they were during Indiana’s worst public health crisis in years. Much as Tim Kaine, the Democratic candidate, had to wrestle with his deeply felt opposition to capital punishment in a death penalty state, allowing 11 executions when he was Virginia’s governor, the H. I. V. outbreak forced Mr. Pence to balance strong beliefs against reality: an epidemic that was growing more dire by the day. In recent interviews, local, state and federal health officials said Mr. Pence initially held firm. So as they struggled to contain the spread of H. I. V. the officials embarked on a effort over several weeks to persuade him to change his mind, using political pressure, research and pleas for help from this remote, poor community. On March 23, more than two months after the outbreak was detected, Mr. Pence said he was going to go home and pray on it. He spoke to the sheriff the next night. Two days later, he issued an executive order allowing syringes to be distributed in Scott County. Tens of thousands of them were handed out over the following months. And the program, along with drug therapy and aggressive outreach, slowed the flood of new H. I. V. cases to a trickle. State Representative Ed Clere, a Republican who was among those pushing the governor to approve the needle exchange, said he was relieved when Mr. Pence finally did so. He also wished it had been done sooner. “It was disappointing that it took so much effort to bring the governor on board,” Mr. Clere said. But Dr. Jerome Adams, Mr. Pence’s health commissioner, said the governor needed certainty that he was doing the right thing. “The governor wanted to make sure if we went this route it was absolutely necessary,” Dr. Adams said. “I believe he was praying on it up until the final decision. ” The debate over needle exchanges, in which clean syringes are given to drug abusers when they turn in a used one, has raged since 1988, when Senator Jesse Helms, Republican of North Carolina, persuaded Congress to ban the use of federal money for such efforts. Mr. Pence, who declined to be interviewed for this article, supported the ban during his six terms in the House. And Indiana was among nearly two dozen states to criminalize the distribution or possession of syringes without a prescription. Even when the H. I. V. outbreak hit, it was hard for Mr. Pence and other Indiana officials to consider lifting the prohibition. “There are people who have real moral and ethical concerns about passing out needles to people with substance abuse problems,” Dr. Adams said. “To be honest, I shared that sentiment. ” Brittany Combs, the public health nurse in Scott County, had the same initial reaction. “Even I, as a public health person, was like, ‘Aren’t we just enabling people? ’” But the H. I. V. crisis in Scott County was swift, severe and extremely troubling to those who glimpsed it. High rates of poverty and painkiller prescriptions had ushered in a wave of opiate addiction. When the makers of the drug Opana, a narcotic, reformulated their pills to make them harder to crush and snort, abusers of the drug began injecting it. “Three or four of us would be using the same needle,” said Melissa Sword, 30, who lives in a neighborhood of sagging homes here known as the North Side. “Someone would pull a needle out of their arm, and I’d take it to the sink, wash it and use it. ” Five people tested positive for H. I. V. in the last seven weeks of 2014 in Scott County, which rarely saw a single new case in an entire year. Then in one week in 2015, eight people tested positive. “Everyone we grew up with got H. I. V. in a matter of months,” Ms. Sword said. Her boyfriend was one of them. Health officials quickly traced its spread through networks of IV drug users and began steering those who had been exposed — either through shared needles or sexual encounters — into testing and treatment. Mr. Clere, a Republican known for bucking party leaders, began drafting an amendment to allow the distribution of clean syringes in Indiana. Studies have shown that needle exchanges do not result in increased drug use among participants or in higher recruitment of drug users, but they do substantially reduce the risk of infection of H. I. V. and other diseases. However, Mr. Clere could not engage Mr. Pence’s staff members on the topic. “They made it clear that he was categorically opposed to syringe exchange, period,” Mr. Clere said. On March 4, county and state health officials got on a conference call with the New York State Department of Health. The agency explained how the spread of H. I. V. among drug users in New York City had been dramatically reduced years earlier. “The first thing they said? ‘You need to have a clean needle exchange program,’” Ms. Combs, the county nurse, recalled. But when the topic came up at a community meeting in Scott County the next week, Dr. Jennifer Walthall, the deputy state health commissioner, made it sound like an intervention of that kind was not possible, Ms. Combs said. “She said, ‘Let’s focus on the mountains we can climb,’” Ms. Combs said. On March 23, Mr. Pence was forced to address the topic at a meeting in the governor’s office with state health officials and doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The governor looked to me and he looked to the C. D. C. and said, ‘What do we need to do to respond to this outbreak? ’” Dr. Adams said. He, for one, was no longer resistant. “The C. D. C. felt strongly, and I agreed, that providing syringes was the appropriate response, that this is an extraordinary situation that requires extraordinary measures. ” Mr. Pence found the science convincing, Dr. Adams said. But as the meeting concluded, no one was sure what the governor was going to do. Dr. Adams recalled the governor, who is an evangelical Christian, saying, “I’m going to go home and pray on it. ” The next evening, Mr. Pence and Sheriff McClain talked for nearly half an hour. “The governor didn’t really give his opinion,” the sheriff said. “He just wanted to listen. ” On March 25, Mr. Pence traveled to Scott County to hear from other residents, and many of them echoed Sheriff McClain’s belief that a needle exchange was needed. While the governor was downstate, Mr. Clere was applying pressure in Indianapolis, the capital, holding a hearing with experts who testified about the value of distributing clean needles. Some legislators were confused as to why the governor was not supporting legislation that would allow for a syringe exchange in Indiana, with one Republican lawmaker asking, “He doesn’t recognize this as a crisis?” Dr. Walthall, the deputy health commissioner, testified that Mr. Pence was considering declaring a public health emergency for Scott County and allowing a temporary needle exchange program limited to that jurisdiction. “This is a heroic moment,” she said. “The quickest way to stop H. I. V. spread through needles is to get rid of dirty needles. The only way to do that quickly and effectively is through an emergency needle exchange program. ” The next day, the order came. “I will tell you, I do not support needle exchange as antidrug policy, but this is a public health emergency,” Mr. Pence said at a news conference announcing the order. Ms. Combs was soon traveling the streets of Austin, in Scott County, in an S. U. V. distributing needles to those who did not feel comfortable coming in to get them. At first, the drug users were skeptical. Then, one day, she and a colleague pulled up in front of a house, and a girl rose from her seat on the front porch and walked down to accept a clean syringe. “When we looked up, there were people coming from every house on the street,” Ms. Combs said. “They swarmed the van. ” Since April 2015, more than 270 people have enrolled in the program, and more than 97, 000 syringes have been distributed and returned. Today, the needle exchange program is seen as playing a major role in halting the outbreak. From November 2014 through the next August, 181 people who lived in or used drugs in Scott County tested positive for H. I. V. according to a study of the outbreak published last month in The New England Journal of Medicine. In September and October, not a single person tested positive. Mr. Pence signed legislation in May 2015 that allows for needle exchanges in other counties that can prove they are experiencing an epidemic of H. I. V. or hepatitis C. And this year, Congress lifted most of the ban on federal funding for needle exchanges. Public health experts in Indiana were relieved by the governor’s change of heart, but some wished he had acted faster and done more. No state funding was made available for needle exchange programs. “He made it an uphill battle,” said Beth Meyerson, a health science professor at Indiana University and of the school’s Rural Center for Prevention. But for those who saw the issue as Mr. Pence did, it was a wrenching decision not to be handled lightly. “Before this, I never would have considered needle exchange,” Sheriff McClain said. “But once this outbreak happened, it became clear it was one of the main ways to stop the spread. ” | 1 |
By James Holbrooks Over the weekend, The Japan Times reported Japan might agree to Russia’s demand that U.S. troops be forbidden from being stationed on... | 0 |
WASHINGTON — Making the rounds at the Capitol on a recent evening, Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s budget director, decided to add an unscheduled stop: a meeting of the House Freedom Caucus, the group of conservatives that once counted Mr. Mulvaney as a founding member. This history, it seems, does not afford lifetime privileges. After addressing the room briefly, amid the group’s push to oppose the Republican health care bill endorsed by Mr. Trump, Mr. Mulvaney was interrupted, respectfully, by the caucus’s chairman, Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina. “Mark said, ‘Look, Mick, we’re going to ask you to step out because we know your loyalties are different now than they were,’” recalled Mr. Mulvaney, a South Carolina congressman from 2011 until his confirmation last month. “And I said, ‘Mark, you’re absolutely right. ’” He left without complaint. As Mr. Trump unveils his budget plans this week — against the backdrop of a health care bill that Mr. Mulvaney’s former colleagues detest — the man charged with executing the White House’s fiscal vision is a figure who, not very long ago, might well have been leading the opposition to much of it. While Mr. Mulvaney’s first budget does call for some of the deepest cuts to domestic programs in decades, in many ways his fiscal philosophy appears at odds with that of the president. Mr. Mulvaney has long railed against runaway military spending Mr. Trump wants a huge increase. He has favored drastic changes to Medicare and lifting the eligibility age for Social Security, placing him at odds with Mr. Trump, who has pledged to protect those entitlement programs. And as administration officials and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill strain to muscle the health care bill through the House, Mr. Mulvaney has been placed in the unusual position of selling his former comrades on its merits. “He’s a very worthy opponent, let’s put it that way,” Mr. Meadows said. “You can be a worthy adversary and not be an enemy. ” Before being asked to leave the meeting, Mr. Mulvaney did persuade the group to hold a future gathering at a more exclusive address: the White House bowling alley, for a night of pizza and health care policy. Those who knew Mr. Mulvaney before he was the nation’s budget guru say that such gestures are typical of a man whose leanings in Congress belied a collegial style. “He had a great sense of humor that could take you by surprise,” said Carolyn Tillman, who was a classmate of Mr. Mulvaney’s at Charlotte Catholic High School in North Carolina. “He was always very interested in other people’s opinions. ” But even then Mr. Mulvaney’s ambition was apparent. He edited the school newspaper, served as student council president, acted in theater performances and served as president of the science club. He was also on the wrestling and golf teams and was a manager for the varsity basketball team. After graduating from Georgetown University, Mr. Mulvaney went on to become a lawyer and then worked in the real estate and restaurant industries before jumping into South Carolina politics. By then a father of triplets, he was elected in 2006 to the State House of Representatives, where he gained a reputation as a budding fiscal hawk and policy maven. “He very much believes in the smaller government, lower taxation model,” said Joel Lourie, a former Democratic state senator in South Carolina who is a friend of Mr. Mulvaney’s. “During his career both in the legislature and in Congress he was very consistent in that regard. ” Mr. Lourie did note that some of Mr. Mulvaney’s former colleagues in South Carolina have wondered how he really feels about carrying out a Trump administration agenda that includes plans for big infrastructure spending and health care legislation that subsidizes insurance. “It’s been a little surprising for many in this state to see Mick on the front lines pushing a health care proposal that many of the more conservative members of Congress are not supporting,” Mr. Lourie said. “That’s a little bit of a departure for him. ” This is, after all, the same man who once gathered in a Capitol Hill chapel with three fellow conservative freshmen members from South Carolina in 2011, seeking spiritual guidance as the government was hours away from shutting down. (His decision: a vote against a spending deal to keep the lights on.) And Mr. Mulvaney found an unlikely kindred spirit, at least on one issue, in Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the liberal Democrat with whom he joined forces on a push to stifle military spending. After his nomination, Mr. Mulvaney was eventually approved with just 51 votes, navigating a confirmation process that included revelations that he had failed to pay more than $15, 000 in payroll taxes for a household employee. At his committee hearing, Mr. Mulvaney pledged to be a sober purveyor of bad news, if necessary. “The credibility I think I bring to this job is that I believe very firmly in real numbers,” Mr. Mulvaney told lawmakers. “My job is to tell the president the truth. My job is to tell you the truth. ” Since taking the job, he seems to have embraced a more targeted mission statement, articulated at a White House briefing last month. Mr. Mulvaney had been asked why foreign aid, a small fraction of federal spending, was an expected target of the Trump budget. “Yes, it’s a fairly small part of the discretionary budget, but it’s still consistent with what the president said,” Mr. Mulvaney said. “When you see these reductions, you’ll be able to tie it back to a speech the president gave or something the president has said previously. ” The administration’s task, he said, was “taking his words and turning them into policies and dollars. ” At times, he has also found occasion to dispute certain numbers that displeased the White House. After the Congressional Budget Office projected an increase of 24 million people without health insurance by 2026, Mr. Mulvaney began an appearance on Fox News from snowy Washington by declaring, “Welcome to Washington, where the C. B. O. says it’s sunny and 75 degrees. ” Before the report’s release, he suggested that estimating the effects of legislation, a chief function of the C. B. O. “probably isn’t the best use of their time. ” Then there was the claim, presented without evidence on CNN, that the Obama administration had been “manipulating the numbers” in recent years to suppress the unemployment rate. Mr. Frank, the former congressman, recalled his bygone alliance with Mr. Mulvaney fondly, even as he expressed little sympathy for any discomfort Mr. Mulvaney might now encounter in his new role. “The president does not have the power to force you to become budget director,” Mr. Frank said. He was reminded, he said, of a line attributed to King Henry IV of France, who converted to Catholicism to seize the throne: “Paris is worth a Mass. ” “I guess,” Mr. Frank said, “being budget director is worth military spending. ” | 1 |
BREAKING: TRUMP MOVES TO FILE CHARGES AGAINST CLINTON! Oct 27, 2016 Previous post
When Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign over a year ago, the media barely batted an eye. They all believed he was only trying to boost his business.
As time went on, he began to win debate after debate and state after state as he received the most votes in Republican primary history while battling sixteen other candidates. The liberal media and Clinton campaign quickly went from thinking he was a joke to fearing him.
As Trump began to take this country by storm, the media and Clintons tried everything in their power to destroy him. They tried desperately to accuse Donald Trump of inciting violence at his rallies.
Thanks to videos released by Project Veritas , we now have concrete proof that it was Hillary Clinton that paid operatives to storm Trump rallies and incite violence.
Hillary Clinton did not just pay mercenaries to assault Trump supporters, she also violated the law on several occasions.
Robert Creamer, a Clinton crony, was one of the organizers of the paid violence and has also visited Obama at the White House at least 230 times. He was forced to resign from his position immediately following the release of these videos.
Not only is he a top Hillary ally, but he kept her informed. She knew about these attacks and she ordered them to take place so that Donald Trump looked like he was inciting violence and fueling hate.
Trump was forced to cancel his rally in Chicago due to the extreme violence by operatives working for Hillary Clinton.
We are being told that Donald Trump is going to press charges on these people, including Hillary Clinton, under the Felony Mob Act.
In Illinois, Trump will be citing the Illinois criminal statute. The Mob action is a Class Four felony punishable by 3-6 years in prison and a $25,000 fine for each charge in Illinois. When Trump brings forward the paperwork, he very well could charge anyone associated with helping, planning, organizing, or paying anyone to commit acts of violence–which would include Hillary Clinton.
In Illinois, statute reads as follows:
A person commits mob action when he or she engages in any of the following: The knowing or reckless use of force or violence disturbing the public peace by 2 or more persons acting together and without authority of law; The knowing assembly of 2 or more persons with the intent to commit or facilitate the commission of a felony or misdemeanor; or The knowing assembly of 2 or more persons, without authority of law, for the purpose of doing violence to the person or property of anyone supposed to have been guilty of a violation of the law, or for the purpose of exercising correctional powers or regulative
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MILO’s event at the University of California, Davis has been cancelled after protesters tore down barricades and engaged in scuffles outside the venue. A camerman for ABC10 was also attacked with hot coffee. [Earlier reports that windows had been smashed at the venue have not yet been confirmed. UPDATE: UC Davis has stated that no property damage was sustained. UPDATE 2: There are now competing accounts of what happened. A protester appears to have acknowledged property damage, saying he was “happy” windows were broken and that they had to smash windows “to get attention. ” #BREAKING UC Davis College Repubicans announce through loud speaker Milo Yiannapoulos event officially cancelled, after protests. — stevelarge_cbs13 (@largesteven) January 14, 2017, At least one protester was arrested at the venue, according to photos. UC Davis Police standing between protestors and lecture hall where controversial Milo Yiannapoulos is now cancelled. pic. twitter. — stevelarge_cbs13 (@largesteven) January 14, 2017, Organizers, UC officials, police discussing safety of holding #SHKRELOPOULOS event @ucdavis #abc7now pic. twitter. — Katie Utehs (@KatieUtehs) January 14, 2017, MILO and his entrepeneur Martin Shkreli are both reportedly unharmed. One student was arrested. Shrekli was videoed outside the venue, where he explained his plans to explain feminism to MILO. #MartinShkreli, the other controversial speaker taking selfies with fans talking to media @ucdavis @ABC10 pic. twitter. — Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) January 14, 2017, reports “violent interactions with protesters. ” Video footage shows protesters jumping barricades and throwing them towards police. University of California, Davis cancels event featuring Milo Yiannopoulos and Martin Shkreli after protests, fights pic. twitter. — BNO News (@BNONews) January 14, 2017, When protestors started rushing the barricades, getting dragged out @ucdavis @ABC10 pic. twitter. — Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) January 14, 2017, reporter Frances Wang reports that her photographer was attacked with hot coffee . My photographer was doing an interview when someone poured hot coffee on him out equipment. @ucdavis @ABC10 pic. twitter. — Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) January 14, 2017, Protesters were chanting “no justice, no peace, no racist police. ” Protestors chanting ”No justice, no peace. No racist police.” @ucdavis @ABC10 pic. twitter. — Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) January 14, 2017, Protesters could be seen wearing masks, holding LGBT flags, and wearing “ ” badges. Protesters also chanted an old staple, “No Milo, no KKK, no fascist USA. ” ”No Milo, no KKK, no fascist … no Breitbart.” @ucdavis @ABC10 pic. twitter. — Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) January 14, 2017, Protesters @ucdavis Milo Yiannopolous Martin Shkreli event. #abc7now pic. twitter. — Katie Utehs (@KatieUtehs) January 14, 2017, MILO fans were also present at the event, interacting with protesters and singing the national anthem. At least one brought her own placard. Protestors now chanting on both sides of Yiannapoulos event. pic. twitter. — stevelarge_cbs13 (@largesteven) January 14, 2017, Protestors on @ucdavis campus. Peaceful so far, but a lot of people here for Milo mocking the protestors. @ABC10 pic. twitter. — Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) January 14, 2017, Those here for Milo are singing ”land of the free” at protestors with signs @ucdavis @ABC10 pic. twitter. — Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) January 14, 2017, Those here for event going back forth with protestors. @ABC10 pic. twitter. — Frances Wang (@ABC10Frances) January 14, 2017, This was set to be the first event on the third leg of the Breitbart senior editor’s “Dangerous Faggot Tour, Protesters @ucdavis Milo Yiannopolous Martin Shkreli event. #abc7now pic. twitter. — Katie Utehs (@KatieUtehs) January 14, 2017, This story is developing, and will be updated as more information, photos and footage comes in. UPDATE: A statement from the UC Davis College Republicans: “We were told by the chief of Davis police that they could not guarantee the safety of the students, the speaker, or the police officers if the event should go ahead,” said Gabrielle McDowell, vice chair of the UC Davis College Republicans. “As the organisation hosting the event, we would have been held personally responsible for any harm caused as a result of its taking place. We were therefore forced to cancel the event” she continued. UPDATE 2: The Davis College Republicans have clarified their position, and are now saying they were lied to and intimidated by UC Davis, who, according to DCR executive director Andrew Mendoza, “basically took the decision [to cancel] without us. ” DCR communications director Kurtie Kellner also alleges that they were told by UC Davis official Milton Lang that protesters were wielding hammers, a concern that was a significant factor in the decision to cancel. | 1 |
DORAL, Fla. — Inside a clandestine Carnival Corporation complex here, two former Disney executives have been plotting a drastic cruise industry overhaul. Their mission: Take lessons learned at Walt Disney World, where they helped bring about a $1 billion vacation management system involving bracelets that link to personal information, and apply them to cruises. The result: Millions of passengers on Carnival ships will soon be using a similar but more advanced system that allows travelers to do everything from plan vacations to open stateroom doors to order poolside cocktails. “As long as bigger, newer, cooler ships have kept coming, the cruise industry has treated guest liabilities — standing in long lines, having a frustrating embarkation experience — as acceptable,” said John Padgett, who joined Carnival in 2014 as chief experience and innovation officer after 18 years at Disney. “That thinking stops now. ” Carnival, which operates more than 100 ships worldwide under 10 brands, will unveil its ambitious technology initiative on Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In a keynote speech, Arnold W. Donald, Carnival’s chief executive, intends to announce that the system — an app called Ocean Compass paired with a smart medallion that can be carried in a pocket or worn as jewelry — will arrive on the company’s Princess Cruises fleet this year. Mr. Donald declined in an interview to give a timeline for bringing the technology (code name: Trident) to other Carnival brands. But he emphasized that rolling out the personalized disks and app was a companywide priority. “The cost is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and, over time, more than that,” Mr. Donald said. “People want the world to be organized around them. On vacation, even more so. ” Analysts expect the technology to increase profits in multiple ways, including allowing Carnival to charge more for tickets, particularly on older ships. Ease of purchase is another big component — cruisers will be able to pay for food, drinks and merchandise simply by having their credit Ocean Medallion in their pocket. Carnival’s disks, each with the guest’s name, will also power a new, shipwide gambling platform. And Carnival gift shops will be stocked with a wide array of jewelry, clips and key chains that passengers can buy to carry and display their disks. Carnival’s top rival, Royal Caribbean Cruises, already offers smartbands on ships like the Anthem of the Seas. Called WOW bands, they serve as room keys, allow for wireless payment and make it faster and easier to embark and disembark. But Carnival says that its offering takes such systems much further, in part because its technology is designed to be invisible. Unlike with smartbands, there is no need to tap a sensor on a stateroom door for entry simply approaching the correct room with the Ocean Medallion in your pocket will unlock the door. Among the medallion system’s other offerings is a navigation tool designed to help family members find one another on the ships. Under Mr. Donald, who took over Carnival in after a string of ship debacles, the company has boomed. In the most recent quarter, Carnival had a record $1. 4 billion in net income, a 17 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. But he remains under pressure to recruit new customers. About 24. 2 million people worldwide took a cruise in 2016, according to the Cruise Lines International Association. That sounds like a lot, but “cruise vacations only represent about 2 percent of all vacations,” said David Beckel, an analyst at Bernstein Research. “Because there is such a low penetration rate, any increase in penetration — even a minor, minor one — represents a big difference, and hence the effort to improve the customer experience,” Mr. Beckel said. As part of its Ocean Medallion plan, Carnival has turned to television, paying to produce three travel shows designed to make cruising look fun and easy. The shows has been broadcast on weekends in recent months on ABC, NBC and the CW. In one episode of “The Voyager with Josh Garcia,” the host is seen chatting with artists in Puerto Rico about making masks from coconuts. Carnival plans to produce at least 80 episodes in total. Analysts have praised the effort. “People have a lot of preconceived notions about cruising that largely aren’t true,” said Robin M. Farley, an analyst for UBS. The system that Carnival plans to introduce on Thursday still has a lot to prove. The technology will require the mass retraining of employees and substantial retrofitting of ships, including the installation of roughly 7, 000 sensors per boat. And do passengers really want to sacrifice privacy for personalization? One feature will allow guests to watch live entertainment in ship lounges on their stateroom televisions — and the performers will know who is watching and will be trained to do . (“Hello to Brooks, tuning in from his bed on the Promenade Deck! ”) Mr. Padgett acknowledged that some guests will have “creepiness factor” questions. But he expects the vast majority to participate. “As long as you benefit the guest, they don’t mind sharing” personal information, he said. Using the connected app, guests can order food to be delivered wherever they plan to be at a designated time. (Waiters will know who you are because your photograph will pop up on an device when they get close to your medallion.) By loading preferences into the app while still at home, Carnival will be able to offer tailored lists of activities. “The goal of preplanning is learning more about our guests,” said Michael G. Jungen, who joined Carnival in 2015 as vice president for design and technology after 15 years at Disney. He noted that passengers would have the option of linking their medallions with social media accounts, allowing Carnival to delve even deeper. As Carnival designed the Ocean Medallion system inside an unmarked building here in suburban Miami, it built a replica set of staterooms, corridors and other ship facilities to test concepts. Scribbles on a monumental white board in one area contained algorithms and personalization ideas. (“What time you eat dinner. What channels you watch. ”) When they were leading Disney’s technology effort in 2013, Mr. Padgett and Mr. Jungen built a similar laboratory, experimenting with ideas that ultimately became MyMagic+ the theme park wristband system that serves as wallet, room key, admission ticket, photograph collector and pass. As he gave a reporter a tour of the Carnival site, Mr. Padgett continually returned to the topic of Disney — how the cost of cruising compares with a family trip to Disney World, and how Disney frames vacations as overarching stories. “The ultimate goal here,” he said, turning to a Disney phrase, “is to delight and surprise our guests. ” | 1 |
For decades, the federal government — not to mention your dentist — has insisted that daily flossing is necessary to prevent cavities and gums so diseased that your teeth fall out. Turns out, all that flossing may be overrated. The latest dietary guidelines for Americans, issued by the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, quietly dropped any mention of flossing without notice. This week, The Associated Press reported that officials had never researched the effectiveness of regular flossing, as required, before cajoling Americans to do it. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the American Academy of Periodontology acknowledged that most of the current evidence fell short because researchers had not been able to include enough participants or “examine gum health over a significant amount of time. ” The revelation has caused a stir among citizens who strive to floss daily but fall short of that lofty goal. Among experts, however, it has been something of an open secret that flossing has not been shown to prevent cavities or severe periodontal disease. A review of 12 randomized controlled trials published in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in 2011 found only “very unreliable” evidence that flossing might reduce plaque after one and three months. Researchers could not find any studies on the effectiveness of flossing combined with brushing for cavity prevention. “It is very surprising that you have two habits, flossing and toothbrushing without fluoride, which are widely believed to prevent cavities and tooth loss, and yet we don’t have the randomized clinical trials to show they are effective,” said Dr. Philippe Hujoel, a professor of oral health sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. The American Dental Association’s website says flossing “is an essential part of taking care of your teeth and gums. ” Last year, Dr. Edmond R. Hewlett, a spokesman for the group and a professor of restorative dentistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, said, “We’re confident that disturbing the bacteria in plaque with brushing and flossing is, indeed, beneficial. ” Actually, that is only half proved: Brushing with fluoride does prevent dental decay. That flossing has the same benefit is a hunch that has never been proved. If it is any consolation, there is some mediocre evidence that flossing does reduce bloody gums and inflammation known as gingivitis. That Cochrane review found that regular brushers and flossers had less gum bleeding than people who only brushed, although the authors cautioned that the quality of the evidence was “very low. ” Early gingivitis is a long way from severe periodontal disease. Still, some dentists argue that despite a lack of rigorous study, flossing matters if it can reverse initial gum problems. “Gum inflammation progresses to periodontitis, which is bone loss, so the logic is if we can reduce gingivitis, we’ll reduce the progression to bone loss,” said Dr. Sebastian G. Ciancio, the chairman of the department of periodontology at the University at Buffalo. Severe periodontal disease may take five to 20 years to develop. “It’s a very insidious, slow, disease,” said Dr. Wayne Aldredge, the president of the American Academy of Periodontology, who practices in Holmdel, N. J. Even without rigorous evidence that flossing prevents periodontal disease, Dr. Aldredge urges his patients to floss. Those who quit are “rolling the dice,” he said. “You don’t know if you’ll develop periodontal disease, and you can find out too late,” he said. Maybe the evidence that flossing reduces tooth decay or gum disease does not hold up because we are all such poor flossers. Superflossers, like the zealous hygienist at your dentist’s office, aim to “hug the neck of the tooth” and get below the gum line, Dr. Hujoel said. But we common folk, staring woefully at our bathroom mirrors, tend to lightly give it the . A review of six trials found that when professionals flossed the teeth of children on school days for almost two years, they saw a 40 percent reduction in the risk of cavities. So maybe perfect flossing is effective. But scientists would be hard put to find anyone to test that theory. | 1 |
Yesterday, we reported that the FBI has found “ tens of thousands of emails ” belonging to Huma Adein on Anthony Weiner’s computer, raising questions how practical it is that any conclusive finding will be available or made by the FBI in the few days left before the elections.
Now, according to the WSJ , it appears that Federal agents are preparing to scour roughly 650,000 emails that, as we reported moments ago were discovered weeks ago on the laptop of Anthony Weiner , to see how many relate to a prior probe of Hillary Clinton’s email use, as metadata on the device suggests there may be thousands sent to or from the private server that the Democratic nominee used while she was secretary of state, according to people familiar with the matter.
As the WSJ adds, the review will take weeks at a minimum to determine whether those messages are work-related emails between Huma Abedin, a close Clinton aide and the estranged wife of Mr. Weiner, and State Department officials; how many are duplicates of emails already reviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and whether they include either classified information or important new evidence in the Clinton email probe, which FBI officials call “Midyear .”
And, as we further reported earlier today , the FBI has had to await a court order to begin reviewing the emails, because they were uncovered in an unrelated probe of Mr. Weiner, and that order was delayed for reasons that remain unclear.
More stunning is just how many emails were found on Weiner’s computer. And while one can only imagine the content of some of the more persona ones, the WSJ writes that the latest development began in early October when New York-based FBI officials notified Andrew McCabe, the bureau’s second-in-command, that while investigating Mr. Weiner for possibly sending sexually charged messages to a minor, they had recovered a laptop with 650,000 emails. Many, they said, were from the accounts of Ms. Abedin, according to people familiar with the matter.
Those emails stretched back years, these people said, and were on a laptop that both Mr. Weiner and Ms. Abedin used and that hadn’t previously come up in the Clinton email probe. Ms. Abedin said in late August that the couple were separating.
The FBI had searched the computer while looking for child pornography , people familiar with the matter said, but the warrant they used didn’t give them authority to search for matters related to Mrs. Clinton’s email arrangement at the State Department. Mr. Weiner has denied sending explicit or indecent messages to the teenager.
As reported yesterday, it appears that there are potentially tens of thousands of Abedin linked emails on Weiner’s computer:
In their initial review of the laptop, the metadata showed many messages, apparently in the thousands, that were either sent to or from the private email server at Mrs. Clinton’s home that had been the focus of so much investigative effort for the FBI . Senior FBI officials decided to let the Weiner investigators proceed with a closer examination of the metadata on the computer, and report back to them.
The WSJ then connects the dots between how the Weiner emails were linked to the Clinton reopening of the Clinton probe, despite Loretta Lynch’s and the DOJ’s vocal urges not to do so :
At a meeting early last week of senior Justice Department and FBI officials, a member of the department’s senior national-security staff asked for an update on the Weiner laptop, the people familiar with the matter said. At that point, officials realized that no one had acted to obtain a warrant, these people said.
Mr. McCabe then instructed the email investigators to talk to the Weiner investigators and see whether the laptop’s contents could be relevant to the Clinton email probe, these people said. After the investigators spoke, the agents agreed it was potentially relevant.
Mr. Comey was given an update, decided to go forward with the case and notified Congress on Friday, with explosive results . Senior Justice Department officials had warned Mr. Comey that telling Congress would violate well-established policies against overt actions that could affect an election, and some within the FBI have been unhappy at Mr. Comey’s repeated public statements on the probe, going back to his first press conference on the subject in July.
But wait – it gets better.
Recall that this is the same Andrew Mcabe whose wife the Wall Street Journal reported last week received $467,500 in campaign funds in late 2015 from the political action committee of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime ally of the Clintons and, until he was elected governor in November 2013, a Clinton Foundation board member.
Mr. McAuliffe had supported Dr. McCabe in the hopes she and a handful of other Democrats might help win a majority in the state Senate, giving Mr. McAuliffe more sway in the state capitol. Dr. McCabe lost her race last November, and Democrats failed to win their majority.
FBI officials have said Mr. McCabe had no role in the Clinton email probe until he became deputy director, and there was no conflict of interest because by then his wife’s campaign was over.
Which brings us to the second big topic: the Clinton Foundation, and how the DOJ made sure that particular probe never made the light of day. At the same time as the Clinton server was being investigated, other Clinton-related investigations were under way within the FBI, and they have been the subject of internal debate for months.
Early this year, four FBI field offices—New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Little Rock, Ark.—were collecting information about the Clinton Foundation to see if there was evidence of financial crimes or influence-peddling, according to people familiar with the matter.
The WSJ touches on something fascinating: Los Angeles agents had picked up information about the Clinton Foundation from an unrelated public corruption case and had issued some subpoenas for bank records related to the foundation, these people said . So where did that trail go? Apparently nowhere.
The Washington field office was probing financial relationships involving Mr. McAuliffe before he became a Clinton Foundation board member, these people said. Mr. McAuliffe has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer has said the probe is focused on whether he failed to register as an agent of a foreign entity.The FBI field office in New York had done the most work on the Clinton Foundation case and received help from the FBI field office in Little Rock, the people familiar with the matter said.
In February, FBI officials made a presentation to the Justice Department, according to these people. By all accounts, the meeting didn’t go well.
Some said that is because the FBI didn’t present compelling evidence to justify more aggressive pursuit of the Clinton Foundation, and that the career public integrity prosecutors in the room simply believed it wasn’t a very strong case. Others said that from the start, the Justice Department officials were stern, icy and dismissive of the case.
“That was one of the weirdest meetings I’ve ever been to,” one participant told others afterward, according to people familiar with the matter.
Needless to say, the probe into the Foundation faded.
But back to the Clinton probe, according to a person familiar with the probes, on Aug. 12, a senior Justice Department official called Mr. McCabe to voice his displeasure at finding that New York FBI agents were still openly pursuing the Clinton Foundation probe, despite the department’s refusal to allow more aggressive investigative methods in the case. Mr. McCabe said agents still had the authority to pursue the issue as long as they didn’t use those methods.
At this point a question emerges: did McCabe seek to defend or press on with a Clinton probe:
Mr. McCabe’s defenders in the agency said that following the call, he repeated the instruction that he had given earlier in the Clinton Foundation investigation: Agents were to keep pursuing the work within the authority they had.
Others further down the FBI chain of command, however, said agents were given a much starker instruction on the case: “Stand down.” When agents questioned why they weren’t allowed to take more aggressive steps, they said they were told the order had come from the deputy director—Mr. McCabe. Others familiar with the matter deny Mr. McCabe or any other senior FBI official gave such a stand-down instruction.
At this point the two probes, into Hillary’s email and the Clinton Foundation converged:
For agents who already felt uneasy about FBI leadership’s handling of the Clinton Foundation case, the moment only deepened their concerns, these people said. For those who felt the probe hadn’t yet found significant evidence of criminal conduct, the leadership’s approach was the right response to the facts on the ground.
Things accelerated over the past two months, when in September, agents on the foundation case asked to see the emails contained on non-government laptops that had been searched as part of the Clinton email case, but that request was rejected by prosecutors at the Eastern District of New York, in Brooklyn. Those emails were given to the FBI based on grants of partial immunity and limited-use agreements, meaning agents could only use them for the purpose of investigating possible mishandling of classified information.
Some FBI agents were dissatisfied with that answer, and asked for permission to make a similar request to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. McCabe, these people said, told them no and added that they could not “go prosecutor-shopping.”
Not long after that discussion, FBI agents informed the bureau’s leaders about the Weiner laptop, prompting Mr. Comey’s disclosure to Congress and setting of the furor that promises to consume the final days of a tumultuous campaign.
While much of the latest developments are known, or could have been inferred assuming more corruption within government agencies, the punchline is that the weeks if not months of upcoming work means that if Clinton wins the White House, she will likely do so amid at least one ongoing investigation into her inner circle being handled by law-enforcement officials who are deeply divided over how to manage such cases . It also means that Trump will be hounding Hillary for the remainder of the campaign as being the only presidential candidate to seek election with a recently reopened criminal probe hanging over her head. Delivered by The Daily Sheeple
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BEIJING — The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, appears prepared to defy the Communist Party’s established script for transferring power and delay the designation of his successor until after a party congress next year, unsettling the party elite and stirring speculation that he wants to prolong his tenure. The delay would buy Mr. Xi more time to promote and test favored candidates and prevent his influence from ebbing away to a experts and political insiders said. But the price could be years of friction while a pack of aspiring cadres vie for the top job, as well as unnerving uncertainty over whether Mr. Xi wants to stay in power beyond the usual two terms as party leader. Although Mr. Xi’s decision will not be known until late 2017, the suggestion that he intends to break with precedent and begin his second term without a probable successor is magnifying uncertainties about who will rise and who will fall in the expected including questions about the fate of the premier, Li Keqiang. “It’s a very delicate issue,” said a member of the party establishment who regularly speaks with senior officials. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the party’s ban on discussing sensitive internal decisions. “I don’t think Xi wants to decide until the people he favors have more experience, more testing,” he said. In interviews, three other party insiders close to senior officials and their families said Mr. Xi appeared likely to delay picking a successor. The succession quandary is shaping up as a defining test of the power and ambition of Mr. Xi, already China’s most dominant leader in decades. When and how his heir is chosen, and who is picked, will offer a measure of how much further Mr. Xi can bend the party’s ideas of collective rule that evolved after the upheavals of Mao Zedong’s last years. The system for succession, developed after a long period of political turmoil, was devised to help ensure a predictable, stable transition of power in the state. Any effort by Mr. Xi to alter that compact might increase his considerable authority, but it could also inject instability into the delicately balanced system. Making predictions about Chinese leadership handovers is always perilous. The discussions are secret. Key decisions often come together late in the deliberations. And the ascendancy of Mr. Xi, opaque even by the standards of party leaders, makes forecasts even harder. “Xi Jinping has unleashed forces that open up a wide range of political futures, and each has its dangers,” David M. Lampton, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, said by email. “The central policy reality is that the United States, and the next president, must be prepared to deal with a wider range of possibilities in China. ” The drama will probably begin in earnest this month, when the Central Committee, about 200 senior officials who sign off on major decisions, meets in Beijing. That meeting is likely to set in motion plans for the congress, which will meet in late 2017 to endorse a new top lineup. While it is a given that the congress will back Mr. Xi for another term as party leader, nearly everything else is up for grabs, giving Mr. Xi great sway to shape the new leadership. Five of the seven members of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee must step down because of age, assuming the informal retirement age of 68 holds. That leaves only Mr. Xi, 63, and Mr. Li, 61, to return. In the broader Politburo, the second tier of party authority, nearly half the 25 members are likely to retire. Two terms as party leader has evolved as the standard since the 1990s, and an heir apparent is usually clear by the start of the second. The selection requires a consensus of the party elite, the product of wrangling. The previous two presidents had to accept successors who were not their picks. But Mr. Xi’s blistering anticorruption campaign and amassing of power have shaken the idea that Chinese elite politics has settled into a stolid routine under collective control. If China’s party leaders function like a corporate board, Mr. Xi is akin to the celebrity chairman who may have the power to stare down opposition to his succession plan. “Having played the strongman politics since coming to power, Xi would be the least likely person to feel constrained by these unspoken rules” of succession, said Warren Sun, a researcher on Chinese Communist Party history at Monash University in Australia. Delaying the choice of a successor would allow time for Mr. Xi’s favorites to prove their ability and loyalty, experts said. The latter could allow Mr. Xi to continue to wield power behind the scenes after he retires. But it could also create “severe friction” in the next five years, said Sebastian Heilmann, the president of the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin. “Not designating a successor could be seen as a trick by Xi to grab a third term,” he said. The risk of elite infighting, as well as demands from other senior officials and retired leaders, could still force Mr. Xi to signal his successor next year, several experts said. “Even the amount of consolidation of power so far may have raised hackles,” said Susan Shirk, the chairwoman of the 21st Century China Program at the University of California, San Diego. “I don’t think Xi will want to further raise alarms about Putinesque intentions. ” If he is pressed to name someone, a younger Politburo member like Sun Zhengcai, the party secretary of Chongqing, could gain support. The world may not know who has won and lost until Mr. Xi introduces his new team after the congress ends late next year. But some officials and analysts are already saying that he wants to shunt Mr. Li, the premier, into a lesser job. There are whispers that Mr. Xi wants to raise the retirement age for the Standing Committee so that Wang Qishan, the powerful head of the party’s anticorruption agency, can stay on, possibly to replace Mr. Li. Mr. Wang, a longtime friend of Mr. Xi’s, spent a career as an economic firefighter before taking his current job, in which he has helped Mr. Xi oust potential opponents. Mr. Wang will be 69 by the time of the next congress, but changing the retirement age for political expediency is not . It was 70 before Jiang Zemin lowered it so he could force out a political rival in 2002. Predicting what happens depends on “whether or not you think the de facto rules and norms of elite succession will hold,” said Evan S. Medeiros, the former senior director for Asian affairs in the National Security Council under President Obama. “If not, predicting outcomes is a crapshoot. ” Mao and Deng Xiaoping chose favored successors only to dump them later, creating instability and bad blood in the party. On the other hand, Mr. Xi’s predecessor Hu Jintao spent a decade in preparation as heir apparent but still struggled as leader to run a team dominated by men installed by his predecessor, Mr. Jiang. Mr. Xi and other Chinese leaders hold that it was the poor choice of Mikhail S. Gorbachev to lead the Soviet Union that precipitated its demise. “Finally, all it took was one quiet word from Gorbachev to declare the dissolution of the Soviet Communist Party, and a great party was gone,” Mr. Xi said after he was appointed Chinese leader in 2012. “In the end nobody was a real man. ” The dilemma for Mr. Xi is that the politicians who will remain in the top echelons after next year’s retirements do not have long experience working with Mr. Xi or the right set of postings in provincial and central government, according to several experts and people who speak to senior officials. But the rising provincial leaders considered closest to him lack the experience to be taken seriously as the next national leader in waiting. Perhaps the biggest subject of speculation is that Mr. Xi is bent on staying in power after his second term ends in 2022. The Constitution requires that he retire after two terms as president, but there is no limit on the more powerful job, general secretary of the party. There is, however, an informal limit, which, like collective rule by the party elite, was instituted by Deng to prevent another like Mao. Even if he delays picking a successor, that does not mean he is determined to stay on as leader past 2022, when he will be 69, said Christopher K. Johnson, a senior China analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “The only thing he’s focused on right now is next fall,” Mr. Johnson said. “If he gets his way next fall, which I think would mean they don’t signal the successor, that doesn’t then mean he’s already decided to stay on forever. ” | 1 |
Illegal aliens who crossed the border as children don’t have to worry about being sent home, President Donald Trump told the Associated Press in a Friday interview. [Illegals enrolled in the President Barack Obama’s “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” DACA program can “rest easy,” Trump said, because “this is a case of heart. ” Federal enforcement agencies are “not [going] after the ‘dreamers,’ we are after the criminals,” he said, using the Democrats’ ‘dreamer’ euphemism for young illegal immigrants. “That is our policy,” he added. The Friday comments confirm Trump’s reversal of his 2016 campaign promise to stop the DACA created by Obama during his 2012 reelection campaign. He created the program in 2012 by telling his immigration enforcement officers to provide young illegals with free work permits instead of repatriation orders. The program has allowed at least 770, 000 illegal immigrants to find jobs in major U. S. cities, even though tens of millions of Americans outside the cities are unemployed or have given up trying to find work. Since his inauguration, Trump’s deputies at the Department of Homeland Security have awarded new work permits to illegals who claim they arrived before age 16, despite Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” slogan. Trump’s support for the DACA program is one of his biggest “” said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies. “During the campaign, Trump had said he was going to end that on day one because it’s an unconstitutional action by the president,” Krikorian told Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Friday. Krikorian continued: And of course he’s right, it’s illegal. And they’ve done nothing to it. They’ve done absolutely nothing. ” Trump’s turnabout on DACA means that reformers who want to reduce the impact of workers in the job market will need to bring a lawsuit arguing that the federal government illegally awarded work permits to illegal immigrants, say advocates. Trump’s refusal to reverse or even stop the DACA program is also a bad sign for future immigration reforms, says Krikorian. That’s because he could stop the program and then use the resulting public outcry to pressure Democrats to establish immigration policies. Those policies could include a mandatory requirement that employers check that job applicants are legal residents in the United States. In August 2016, Obama’s chief economist said the federal is imposing the economic pain of five simultaneous recessions on Americans, thereby pushing millions of men off jobs, out of the workforce, and into poverty. Roughly 10 percent of American “prime age” men, or 7 million men aged 25 to 54, have dropped out of the nation’s workforce of 150 million. They are not trying to get jobs, and are not participating in the nation’s labor force. “This [dropout] is caused by policies and institutions, not by technology,” admitted Jason Furman, an economist who chaired the president’s Council of Economic Advisors. “We shouldn’t accept it as inevitable,” he told a Brookings Institute expert, Dave Wessel on August 10. The primary reason for reduced employment is that “the amount [of money] that employers would want to hire them for some reason has gone down,” he said. In February, Trump told that the AP that “DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me … It’s one of the most difficult subjects I have because you have these incredible kids. ” | 1 |
Email You’re just six steps away from an unforgettable Halloween bash. Just keep in mind not all of these pointers are for everyone!
1. Have a really awesome theme: The best Halloween parties are the ones that have a great theme and stick to it, unless that’s just not a thing your friends would be into. Is it “ghosts and ghouls”? Or “zombie apocalypse”? Or maybe your party is the fourth one of the night for your friends, and they don’t want to spend money on multiple costumes. In that case, maybe a theme isn’t the way to go. Just ask around, and you’ll be good to go!
2. Fire up some spooky music: Nothing sets the mood like some classic “Monster Mash.” However, it’s entirely possible that your attendees would actually favor a playlist of pop hits to just generally hang out to. No worries, then! Just do what’s best for you and everyone that’s planning on coming, and you’ll surely still have a great time, right?
3. If you’re not into decorations, you can probably just skip this one: Jack-o’-lanterns, skeletons, and spiderwebs will all add to the experience of a scary party if that’s a thing your partygoers would prefer. You know your social group better than we do, so before you blindly take these suggestions, maybe you should simply think about how this will enhance or diminish the experience for your friends specifically. It’s really not even that hard and would probably be the best tip we could give, anyway.
4. Make sure to have a mix of really fun party games: Look, we’re really generalizing here. Is this suggestion for everyone? No. Only you know if your friends will be excited to bob for apples or whatever. We can’t make individual lists for every goddamn reader so, surprise: You’re going to have to do a little work, too, and decide if this one is right for your gathering.
5. Prepare some festive candy-corn cupcakes, or if you hate candy corn or if your friend Alicia has celiac or if you would rather make chocolate cupcakes or if your apartment has a weird gas smell or if you don’t have the time or if your coworker is in charge of the food or if you think you’d mess up the recipe really badly or if you made these last year and don’t want to be typecast as a person who is always making candy-corn cupcakes, or for any of the other infinite disqualifying reasons, do absolutely nothing: Nothing like a sweet treat to bring a Halloween party to the next level.
6. Don’t have the party if your friends don’t like to party on Halloween: We shouldn’t have to say this, but you don’t have to throw a party at all. Why did you even read this list if you know your crew hates Halloween? What the hell is wrong with you? Please close this tab, power down your computer, and throw it in the ocean. Thanks. | 0 |
US elections don't meet ‘international standards,’ OSCE observer warns US elections don't meet ‘international standards,’ OSCE observer warns By 0 48
The US electoral process hardly meets “international standards,” a German OSCE observer warns, citing shortcomings that would make it easier to influence voters. The remark comes amid accusations from both presidential campaigns of election interference.
Juergen Klimke, a German observer of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), has told the Bild magazine that “the US electoral process still needs to catch up and adapt to international standards.”
Klimke, who is also a foreign policy expert in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party, cited difference in time zones as a major flaw.
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Because of the time shifts, “the first election results would already be announced at the time when in other states the polling stations are not yet closed,” he said, adding that it could have “an enormous influence on voters.”
His remarks were echoed by Michael Georg Link, head of German OSCE observer group, who also voiced his concerns in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Up to 6 million Americans “are exempt from the vote,” Link stressed, meaning an estimated 3.2 US citizens serving prison terms or being convicted of crimes. In addition, some 2.6 million people have already served their sentences and are still not allowed to vote.
In an unprecedented move, the OSCE has decided to deploy dozens of observers to the US. Around 500 of the organization’s officers are expected to arrive for the Election Day, marking a tenfold increase from 2012 election, when it had just 44 observers.
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Last Friday, Thomas Rymer, the spokesperson for OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, told Sputnik that eleven observers are already on the ground in Washington, DC, to examine “legal framework, candidate and voter registration, and media coverage, among others.”
OSCE officers will not be able to monitor voting elsewhere in the US as 13 states explicitly prohibit international election observation, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.
For the most part, however, states do not regulate the issue, leaving the decision on admitting or rejecting both international and US observers to state or county election authorities.
With less than two weeks to go until the 2016 Election Day, the most controversial and expensive presidential race that will likely cast a shadow over US politics for years to come is nearing an end.
Both camps accuse each other of having a capacity to manipulate voters and falsify the results. Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has recently warned of a “rigged” election, urging his supporters to act as “citizen observers” as well. In turn, Hillary Clinton’s staff and Obama administration officials speak of alleged Russian attempts to influence the US election.
Via RT . This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license. | 0 |
Everyone worried winter hats make them look like dicks 15-11-16 MILLIONS of Britons are feeling unconfident in their warm winter headgear. As temperatures drop, streets are full of people checking themselves out in reflective surfaces while nervously fiddling with headwear that they do not feel quite right about. Beret-wearer Nikki Hollis said: “I thought it was sophisticated, but I’ve just seen myself in the window of the bookies and I look like an A-level philosophy student or minor Mad Men character.” Tom Booker, the owner of a new beanie, said: “I started with a bobble hat, but my girlfriend said I looked ‘adorable’ and pinched my cheek. “I bought this one last week, but now I’m thinking it’s too big. Do I look like Brian Harvey from East 17? “We desperately need more good hat role models.” The Institute for Studies confirmed that everyone would be too busy worrying about their own hat to judge others, although anything with animal ears would be rightly shunned.
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Rarely does an executive order announce a more straightforward and laudable purpose than the one President Trump signed on Friday: “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States. ” But the president’s directive is unlikely to significantly reduce the terrorist threat in the United States, which has been a minuscule part of the overall toll of violence since 2001. Many experts believe the order’s unintended consequences will make the threat worse. While the order requires the Department of Homeland Security to issue a report within 180 days providing detailed statistics on foreign nationals who commit acts of violence, terrorism researchers have already produced rich and revealing data. For instance, since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, no one has been killed in the United States in a terrorist attack by anyone who emigrated from or whose parents emigrated from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, the seven countries targeted in the order’s visa ban, according to Charles Kurzman, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina. Of Muslim Americans involved in violent extremism of any kind — for instance, charged with plotting terrorism or supporting a terrorist group — only 23 percent had family backgrounds in those countries, said Mr. Kurzman, who just published the latest of his annual studies of Muslim Americans and terrorism. The larger point of experts is that jihadist attacks garner news attention that far outstrips their prevalence in the United States, and the president’s order appears to address not a rational calculation of risks but the visceral fears that terrorists set out to inflame. There was a random quality to the list of countries: It excluded Saudi Arabia and Egypt, where the founders of Al Qaeda and many other jihadist groups have originated. Also excluded are Pakistan and Afghanistan, where persistent extremism and decades of war have produced militants who have occasionally reached the United States. Notably, perhaps, the list avoided Muslim countries where Mr. Trump has major business ventures. Nor did the list include the European countries where disenfranchised Muslim communities have become hotbeds of militancy, leading to major attacks in Paris and Brussels in the name of the Islamic State. Because no visas are required for travel by most European citizens to the United States, and because of the volume of tourism and business, restricting travel from Europe would have been far more difficult and consequential than banning it from only the seven countries named. By Mr. Kurzman’s count, 123 people have been killed in the United States by Muslim terrorists since the 2001 attacks — out of a total of more than 230, 000 killings, by gang members, drug dealers, angry spouses, white supremacists, psychopaths, drunks and people of every description. So the order addresses, at most, 870th of the problem of lethal violence in America. If the toll of Sept. 11 is included, jihadists still account for just over 1 percent of killings. “My advice to the new administration would be to declare victory,” Mr. Kurzman said. For the average American, he added, “your odds of being victimized by a terrorist attack are infinitesimal. ” But terrorists — the root of the word means “to cause to tremble” — do not operate in the realm of dry facts and statistics. Their purpose is to terrify, and they use random and spectacular violence to do it, with an invaluable assist from the saturation coverage on cable television and news websites that such outrages inevitably draw. To the rational calculations of Mr. Kurzman, one might simply reply with the list of American cities where horrific jihadist attacks have occurred in recent years: Boston San Bernardino, Calif. and Orlando, Fla. — place names that conjure up images of ghastly wounds, bodies and frightened people running for cover. In Gallup polls, the number of Americans “very worried” or “somewhat worried” about such attacks generally hovers between 30 and 50 percent, with understandable spikes after new attacks. In the political realm, where emotions and symbols hold sway, Mr. Trump’s order may reassure some Americans that they are safer from terrorism, and more generally, from concerns that Muslim immigrants may bring an alien culture. (While ostensibly addressing terrorism, it also says that the United States should be protected against those with “hostile attitudes toward it and its founding principles” or those “who do not support the Constitution. ”) The trouble with such reassurance, even if it is effective, is that it comes at a high cost, in the view of many experts on terrorism. That cost will be counted not just domestically but also abroad, where the United States relies on allies, including Muslim countries, for intelligence and other help against terrorism. “In my opinion, this is just a huge mistake in terms of counterterrorism cooperation,” said Daniel Benjamin, formerly the State Department’s top counterterrorism official and now a scholar at Dartmouth. “For the life of me, I don’t see why we would want to alienate the Iraqis when they are the ground force against ISIS. ” At home as well, Mr. Benjamin said, the president’s order is likely to prove counterproductive. The jihadist threat in the United States has turned out to be largely homegrown, he said, and the order will encourage precisely the resentments and anxieties on the part of Muslims that fuel, in rare cases, support for the ideology of the Islamic State or Al Qaeda. “It sends an unmistakable message to the American Muslim community that they are facing discrimination and isolation,” Mr. Benjamin said. That, he said, will “feed the jihadist narrative” that the United States is at war with Islam, potentially encouraging a few more Muslims to plot violence. For an action aimed at terrorism, the order appeared to garner little or no support among experts and former officials of every political stripe with experience in the field. Jonathan Schanzer, the vice president for research at the conservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said that if the temporary visa ban was used to review and improve immigration vetting procedures, it might be justified. But he added that he knew of no obvious problems with those procedures, and no specific plans to address such issues during the temporary restrictions on visitors and refugees. “The order appears to be based mainly on a campaign promise,” he said. Mr. Schanzer said he was frustrated that during the Obama administration, there had been inadequate attention to the ultimate driver of refugee flows and jihadist terrorism in the United States and elsewhere. “We have several bloody, complex and interlocking conflicts in the Middle East,” he said. “It’s the job of the new administration to come up with policies that address those conflicts. Admittedly, that is not easy. ” Much easier, clearly, is issuing an executive order with political appeal and a title that seems to smack of common sense. But as the Trump administration is finding out, such pronouncements from an American president have many consequences, not all of them intended, anticipated or desired. | 1 |
I understand the mission is military, but perhaps you should look at companies like Bosche. Good coffee and waffle makers, but what did they used to do?
Natural survival takes diversity. When things become too specialized they off-times have to lobby for adversarial support. In the end, there's only the end. Could it be military/industrial specialization is an unnatural act? | 0 |
Is California Governor Jerry Brown preparing to run for President against Donald Trump in 2020? Today, as I listened live to his State of the State address, I couldn’t help but thinking that Brown sure sounds like he wishes he ran in 2016. [After swearing in Xavier Becerra as the new California Attorney General, to replace the seat vacated by Senator Kamala Harris ( ) Governor Brown launched into what sounded much more like an opening bid for a presidential campaign against Donald Trump, rather than the bitterly tirade most expected after reading the title of his speech: “California is Not Turning Back, Not Now, Not Ever. ” Even though the word “Trump” was not in the speech, Brown’s focus was unmistakeable. Instead of addressing the real state of the state — the faltering economy in what has become one of the most unfriendly states to business owners — Brown bragged about how great California is, and threw down the gauntlet to Washington, D. C. He waxed poetic about how California is still the sixth largest economy in the world, and tied the future of the nation to California’s destiny: “When California does well, America does well … when California hurts, America hurts. ” The governor was surprisingly animated, upbeat and optimistic. Describing California as the “beacon of hope to the rest of the world,” his short speech revisited what he described as California’s successes of his past terms in office: All these items were received in the chamber with raucous cheers and loud applause that seemed more appropriate at a campaign rally than the august Assembly chamber. At one point, Brown went uncharacteristically off script and again sounded like he wished he were president when claiming he would fight to defend for “Planned Parenthood” funding. It is unclear how he plans to keep that promise, as leader of the state likely to have the least influence in the Trump administration. Gov. Brown went to great lengths to highlight and praise the role of immigrants in California’s success, erasing the line between legal and illegal immigrant. When it came to the epic battle so many California Democrats have picked with President Trump, Brown’s approach was more intellectual. He discussed how his family came to California, mentioned his father being governor 60 years ago, and ending that reverie with an exhortation to fight the federal government with a “spirit that will get us through the difficulties ahead. ” California’s governor reserved his toughest words for the “new oresident” over climate change. Brown acknowledged the “deep divisions,” stating that “alternative facts” and “attacks on science” were deeply disturbing. He warned that democracy is a system, and that in the massive protests over the weekend, we “witnessed vast, inspiring fervor” that represented the true heart of the people. In one moment that was classic Brown — and perhaps why he earned the name “Moonbeam” — he praised Trump for wanting to build roads, bridges and railroads (with a chuckle over the rail debacle) and said in a whimsical way, sounding more like a hippie than governor of the largest state: “Amen to that, brother!” And that wasn’t the only area where Brown sought to be seen as a leader of more than just his own party. At one point near the end of the speech, he called out his more vitriolic colleagues to accept “reality” and work to be more respectful of “Republicans” — who really are people, too. But that’s not likely to distract many Californians from the stark reality of what was once their California dream. Brown inadvertently revealed the true state of the state — overtaxed, and over committed to the point it cannot even repair the state highways or pay out pensions owed without levying yet another tax. Surprisingly, Brown acknowledged federal supremacy in the area of immigration, but then highlighted how California has staked out protections for “undocumented Californians,” reiterating his commitment to defy any enforcement of federal law that threatens illegal aliens in the state. Bragging that California had become a sanctuary state under the Trust Act — which allows no criminal aliens to be turned over to federal authorities for deportation — and granted drivers licenses for illegal aliens, as well as giving them free college tuition, Brown made it clear he will defend the state he described as the “Great Exception. ” By acknowledging that Covered California (the state’s version of ObamaCare) requires tens of billions in funding from the federal government, Gov. Brown gave President Trump an opening — and revealed the Golden State’s Achilles heel. By repealing ObamaCare, and ending this massive subsidy, California’s budget will fail. California may be an exceptional state in many ways, but it will not be the “great exception” when it comes to basic budget math. To borrow the governor’s own words, you can’t make 2 times 2 equal anything but 4 — not even in California. No wonder so many Americans are fleeing California for an “alternative reality” — one without Governor Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown. Tim Donnelly is a former California State Assemblyman. Author, Patriot Not Politician: Win or Go Homeless, FaceBook: https: . facebook. . donnelly. Twitter: @PatriotNotPol | 1 |
Donald J. Trump was on the defensive all week, battered from all sides for his heated statements hailing the Second Amendment and linking political opponents to the Islamic State. But on Friday morning, Mr. Trump rose early to strike back at his favorite adversary. “Ratings challenged @CNN reports so seriously that I call President Obama (and Clinton) ‘the founder’ of ISIS,” Mr. Trump fumed on Twitter shortly after dawn. “THEY DON’T GET SARCASM?” He soon fired off another gibe. “I love watching these poor, pathetic people (pundits) on television working so hard and so seriously to try and figure me out,” Mr. Trump taunted. “They can’t!” The broadside was no aberration. Long a vehement critic of the political news media, Mr. Trump has increasingly organized his effort around antagonizing the press. He dedicates long sections of his speeches and innumerable tweets to savaging individual outlets, and claiming that media bias could effectively “rig” the election for Hillary Clinton. At times, his enthusiasm for venting anger about the news media has seemed to rival his interest in criticizing Mrs. Clinton. In Erie, Pa. on Friday, Mr. Trump swerved back and forth between attacks on Mrs. Clinton and an extended airing of grievances about the press. The news media, he said, was determined to cover up Mrs. Clinton’s missteps and highlight his own. (Mr. Trump allowed that Fox News, home to several anchors who openly favor his candidacy, was an exception.) “These people are the lowest form of life, I’m telling you,” he said, pointing at the journalists covering his rally. “They are the lowest form of humanity. ” In Altoona, Pa. on Friday evening, Mr. Trump continued his diatribe: “It is so ridiculous, the pile on,” he complained of the coverage of his campaign. “Every single day, story after story after story. ” Mr. Trump’s allegations of news media malevolence also serve a tactical purpose: Providing him license to revise or play down his remarks. After stating several times this week that he considered Mr. Obama to be the founder of the Islamic State, Mr. Trump reversed course on Friday with a declaration that he had only been speaking sarcastically and that the press simply did not understand. In Pennsylvania, he reiterated that he had been sarcastic, but added: “Not that sarcastic, to be honest with you. ” Republicans often complain about the national news media, arguing that most reporters and publications are tilted against them. In the 1992 presidential race, Republicans even produced a bumper sticker urging voters to “annoy the media” by President George Bush. And in his 2016 primary campaign, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida accused the press of being the equivalent of a “super PAC” for Democrats. On the Democratic side, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont fulminated this year about the “corporate media,” which he described as hostile to liberal ideals. And aides and supporters of Mrs. Clinton routinely complain that reporters treat her unfairly. But the Trump campaign has made accusations of news media bias a pervasive theme, and has attacked publications and reporters with virulence. Since last year, Mr. Trump has made a practice of riling up his crowds with mockery of the media, often pointing to the press risers and describing reporters as dishonest. In Erie on Friday, his audience jeered each time Mr. Trump mentioned a news outlet, and at one point many in the crowd turned their backs on him to face the press and express their contempt with a variety of shouts and gestures. “Dinosaur media is failing!” one man yelled. Mr. Trump’s slashing attacks have generated embarrassing scenes for his campaign, as agitated Trump fans have acted on his goading. On Thursday night, video circulated widely online of an angry Trump supporter berating reporters and making an obscene gesture in their direction in Kissimmee, Fla. In one instance during the primaries, Katy Tur, a reporter for NBC News, reported she was escorted to her car by the Secret Service after a rally in which Mr. Trump assailed her by name. If bashing the media proved an effective way of rallying the Republican base to his side during the primaries, Mr. Trump must now prove himself to a broader community of voters in the general election, who are far less preoccupied with the notion of press bias. Republican strategists see Mr. Trump’s offensive mainly as an exercise in defensiveness, rather than a shrewd political strategy. Kevin Madden, a former spokesman for Mitt Romney’s and George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns, said Mr. Trump was veering away from issues actually weighing on swing voters, which he said were “economy and . ” “Whining about media coverage is just that: It’s whining,” Mr. Madden said. Of complaints, Mr. Madden said: “Any campaign that tells you it makes a difference with swing voters is just lying to themselves and lazy, because it’s easier than developing an actual strategy or message. ” Still, Mr. Trump has intensified his comments, and his top surrogates have raced to join him: Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, engaged in a tense colloquy on CNN on Thursday, insisting that the media had wronged Mr. Trump in its treatment of his candidacy. “A lot of coverage is rigged,” Mr. Giuliani said. And the Trump campaign, which for months has kept a list of outlets barred from receiving press credentials to cover his events, has now taken to putting out regular emails that attack newspapers and websites for alleged bias. The emails feature lengthy denunciations of the offending outlet, accompanied by an image of the publication with a red or yellow stamp over it reading: “Media bias offender. ” The messages also include offensive headlines, highlighted with circles around them, mimicking Mr. Trump’s habit of cutting out newspaper articles and circling in marker what he finds objectionable. Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary under Mr. Bush, said Mr. Trump was so far behind in the campaign that his fixation on the press was unlikely to help. Mr. Fleischer, who holds that there is an “overarching ideological edge” toward Democrats in the media, said Mr. Trump was using claims of news media bias to cover for his own missteps. Mr. Trump’s offhand comment about “Second Amendment people,” which was widely interpreted as a joke about assassinating politicians, was a case in point, Mr. Fleischer said. “When I first heard it and then saw the print coverage of it, I thought: This is the media again, taking it too far,” Mr. Fleischer said. “And then I watched the video and I thought: What a fool. This is bona fide. He’s created this problem for himself. ” | 1 |
T. I. defended a music video that featured fellow rapper Snoop Dogg aiming a gun at a Donald Trump and in the process hurled several personal insults at the president in an Instagram post. [In a post to his account Wednesday, T. I. — real name Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. — called Snoop a “f*ckin legend” while at the same time blasting Trump as a “f*cking tangerine tanned muskrat scrotum skin, lacefront possum fur wig wearing, alternative fact, atomic dog diarrhea face ass man [sic]. ” @snoopdogg is a Fuckin Legend u Fucking Tangerine Tanned Muskrat scrotum skin, Lacefront Possum fur Wig wearing, Alternative fact, Atomic Dog diarrhea face ass man! !!! Leave our legends names out ya fuckin old ass puppy piss smelling ass mouth continue to focus on dividing minorities, building barriers, alienating immigrants, fuckin this country up like u been doin … . #UWannaBeDictator #PresidentialLevelFuckBoy, A post shared by TIP (@troubleman31) on Mar 15, 2017 at 9:41am PDT, The rapper’s outburst came in response to Trump’s tweet Wednesday in which he called Snoop Dogg a “failing” artist. “Can you imagine what the outcry would be if Snoop Dogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama?” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “Jail time!” T. I. who’s spent months attacking Trump, demanded the president not utter Snoop Dogg’s name. “Leave our legends names out ya f*ckin old ass puppy piss smelling ass mouth continue to focus on dividing minorities, building barriers, alienating immigrants, f*ckin this country up like u been doin … . [sic],” T. I. wrote. The Secret Service has not indicated whether it is investigating Snoop Dogg, but the agency is “aware” of the controversial imagery depicted in the “Lavender” music video, The Wrap reported Tuesday. Lawmakers including Sen. Ted Cruz ( ) and Sen. Marco Rubio ( ) slammed Snoop Dogg’s video earlier this week. “We’ve had presidents assassinated before in this country, so anything like that is really something we should be very careful about,” Rubio told TMZ. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson | 1 |
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The guests strolled up red carpeted steps and through lines of smiling young women to reach the newest outpost in President Trump’s international business empire. At the Saturday night opening of the clubhouse of the Trump International Golf Club, Dubai, guests munched on mini chicken burgers and sipped fizzy lemonade while Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. the president’s adult sons, lauded the ruler of Dubai and their business partner, Hussain Sajwani. Mr. Sajwani, a billionaire businessman who, like Mr. Trump, built his wealth through real estate, told the crowd that working with the Trumps “was and continues to be a pleasure. ” On the other side of the world, in Vancouver, British Columbia, preparations continued for another on Feb. 28, at a new Trump hotel and condo project there, funded by the Malaysian tycoon Tiah Thee Kian and his son, Tiah Joo Kim. The two projects, the first to open since Mr. Trump became president, are among the dozen international business deals from his former life still moving forward — from India to Indonesia, Uruguay to the Dominican Republic. None of them are “new deals,” as defined by the family, as they were already well underway before the election. Mr. Sajwani and Mr. Tiah share traits common among Mr. Trump’s partners around the world, including in Indonesia and the Philippines. They are brash, wealthy developers whose families have personal ties to Mr. Trump or to his children. But the projects in which the two men are involved highlight the complications created when the president of the United States also owns a global real estate company. Condominium units in the Vancouver building, the Trump International Hotel Tower, have been purchased by affluent buyers, including a family that runs a Hong Kong machinery company by a Chinese enterprise, according to real estate and corporate records. The Trump Organization is managing only the hotel, in exchange for a fee. And Mr. Sajwani has contracted extensively with the United States military and spoken of entering the American real estate market — moves that could be easier with a friend in the White House. Eric Trump, who with his older brother helps run the Trump Organization now that their father is president, said before the Dubai event that the company was not the owner of either development, but only collected a small share of the revenues, and that it did not control who bought the units in Vancouver or the membership list at the golf course in Dubai. Addressing the guests on Saturday, Eric Trump praised his family’s partnership with Mr. Sajwani. “It is not every day that you have a partner that is also a great friend,” he said. “Hussain, thank you so much for your love, your friendship. ” Donald Trump Jr. praised Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid the ruler of Dubai, saying it was his vision for the country that allowed such projects to succeed. “It’s a great example of what can be built here and what will continue to be built in the years to come,” he said. But actions by the elder Mr. Trump, since he began his presidential campaign and now that he is in the White House, have repercussions for his projects. Some in the Emirates worry about Mr. Trump’s stance toward Muslims. And Vancouver’s mayor called in December 2015 for the Trump name to be removed from the property there, given Mr. Trump’s statements about instituting a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. ” “Donald Trump’s hateful positions and commentary remind us all of much darker times in our world’s past — and it is incumbent upon all of us to forcefully challenge hatred in all of the ways that it confronts us,” Mayor Gregor Robertson wrote in a letter to the developer, citing thousands who had signed a petition to have Mr. Trump’s name removed. “It is their belief, and my belief, that Trump’s name and brand have no more place on Vancouver’s skyline than his ignorant ideas have in the modern world. ” A few years ago, Mr. Trump, then a real estate tycoon, visited what would turn out to be his first project to open after he became president and his first in the Arab world. The Trump International Golf Club Dubai was to form the centerpiece of a luxurious collection of upscale homes, and Mr. Trump wanted to check the details. “We walked through the golf course and he said: ‘You see that tree move it 10 feet there. That tree is too small make it bigger,’” recalled Niall McLoughlin, a senior vice president at Damac Properties, which owns the project. “His attention to detail is tremendous. ” The Trump Organization had been brought in to operate the golf course by Damac, whose chairman, Mr. Sajwani, had known Mr. Trump for years. Like Mr. Trump, Mr. Sajwani rose to billionaire status largely through flashy real estate projects. The son of a shopkeeper, he graduated from the University of Washington, then returned to the United Arab Emirates to found a catering company that provided meals to businesses. He soon found a bigger client: the United States government. During the first Persian Gulf war, in 1991, his company provided meals to American soldiers, and it has held similar contracts elsewhere in the Persian Gulf and in Somalia and Bosnia since then. But his wealth really took off when he focused on real estate in the early 2000s, as an economic boom in Dubai created a growing class of professionals looking for fancy homes. Mr. Sajwani has made his name with splashy promotions, sometimes offering free cars, including Mini Coopers and Lamborghinis, to home buyers. Last year, Forbes called him “The Donald of Dubai,” putting his net worth at $3. 2 billion. Mr. Sajwani now has projects around the Arab world and has expressed interest in investing in the United States. He has also maintained his relationship with Mr. Trump. Dressed in a traditional Emirati robe, Mr. Sajwani appeared at the opening of the Trump International Hotel in Washington in October, weeks before Mr. Trump was elected. And at his first news conference as Mr. Trump said he had turned down an offer from Damac for a new $2 billion deal in Dubai. Questions swirled about the commitment of Mr. Sajwani, a Muslim in a predominately Muslim country, to the Trump brand in 2015, after Mr. Trump said that if elected, he would impose a ban on Muslims entering the United States. A few days later, billboards near the course in Dubai showing Mr. Trump swinging a golf club and his daughter Ivanka holding a handbag were temporarily taken down, as was Mr. Trump’s name, spelled out in gold letters on a wall near the entrance. Mr. McLoughlin, of Damac, said in an interview in November that the changes had been routine and unrelated to Mr. Trump’s statements. “It was a purely unfortunate coincidence,” he said. “We are an apolitical organization. ” There was no overt mention of Mr. Trump at the clubhouse opening on Saturday, but his name was omnipresent, on flags flying around the golf course and on hats, shirts, visors and balls for sale in the pro shop. No alcohol was served at the opening, though it will be available at the clubhouse. Mr. Trump’s companies, according to a financial disclosure report, were paid $1 million to $5 million for the Dubai golf course project last year, with another $1 million to $5 million coming from a second Dubai golf course still being built, also in partnership with Mr. Sajwani. Members will pay $36, 000 a year, plus a $10, 000 fee, said Mr. McLoughlin, who declined to say how many people had joined so far or who they were. But he suggested that the election had elevated Mr. Trump’s name. “His brand was a global brand, and now it’s an even bigger global brand,” he said. Later this month, Mr. Trump’s sons are scheduled to preside over another grand opening, this time of the Trump International Hotel Tower Vancouver, which was developed by the Holborn Group, run by Tiah Joo Kim, 37. Mr. Tiah formed the partnership with the Trump family and spearheaded the development of the residence and hotel, his first major project, by making a pitch first to Donald Jr. Eric and Ivanka. Their father eventually signed off on the deal. Mr. Tiah’s father, Tiah Thee Kian, made his fortune in the Malaysian stock market in the 1980s. But in the late 1990s, he was accused of violating securities law and eventually paid a fine of about $900, 000. At the time, he was said to be a supporter of Anwar Ibrahim, then the deputy prime minister, who had challenged the leadership of Mahathir Mohamad, the prime minister. Mr. Anwar was later imprisoned on sodomy charges, a case widely seen as politically motivated. In a country that runs on political patronage, one where many decisions are made behind the scenes, the elder Mr. Tiah’s political alliance with Mr. Anwar may have contributed to his legal setbacks. Political analysts and insiders say he has not been involved in politics since that time and has kept a low profile. The company’s most profitable venture now is the Trump development in Vancouver, the younger Mr. Tiah said, adding that he assiduously avoided any political entanglements. When he reached an agreement with Mr. Trump in 2012, he never foresaw that Mr. Trump would have a political career. The Vancouver project includes 217 residential units. All were sold before the election except for the three penthouses, which have not been put on the market. No buyer has sought to back out, Mr. Tiah said. Two units belong to the Fong family, which paid more than $4. 2 million for them. Public records link the units to Sou Lam Fong, founder of CHTC Fong’s Industries Company Ltd. a machinery company based in Hong Kong. The company is by a Chinese enterprise, China Group Corporation, according to a recent annual report. “The Trump name represents quality,” said Bill Streeper, the mayor of the Northern Rockies municipality in British Columbia and a major real estate developer, who bought a unit in the tower on the 55th floor in 2013, long before Mr. Trump won the Republican nomination. Mr. Trump’s election victory has brought a great deal of attention, good and bad, to the hotel, the younger Mr. Tiah said. There have been a number of protests, but the hotel has also received plenty of free publicity. On a recent visit to the hotel’s champagne bar, Brittany Dacosta, 26, was having a drink with her sister. She said it was her second time at Trump Vancouver in the past week. “This place is very controversial, so it kind of made us want to come here more,” she said. “I know it sounds bad, but Trump is glamorous. ” Mr. Tiah said he tried to steer a middle course and encourage tolerance. “The American people have chosen,” he said, “so let’s respect their decision and give him a chance. ” | 1 |
I’m always thrilled when a certain former drinking buddy comes to see me at the bar. He stopped drinking alcohol years ago, but he’s as fun to be around as he was when we sat side by side at a corner bar in TriBeCa many nights in the ’90s — probably more so. Quitting drinking, whether it’s for a month (as many are tempted to do this time of year) or forever, shouldn’t have to mean forgoing all the other, and arguably deeper, pleasures of bar culture: community and conversation. Of course it’s easier — and maybe economically sounder — to drink at home, but we go to bars because other people are there, and the fellowship we find with them is, for many of us, more important than the pints and shots. I want my friend to be as happy and relaxed at the bar as any other customer, and he deserves something better than a cranberry and seltzer. Given the limited resources at my small, neighborhood pub, a virgin bloody mary usually does the trick — and mixed with a good nonalcoholic beer, it makes an excellent base for a virgin michelada, too. Cocktail and restaurant bars are also making a greater effort to make nondrinkers feel welcome and well looked after. Some have dedicated nonalcoholic drink menus. On the list at Boston’s Bar Mezzana is a festive number called the Orchid Thief, fragrant with orange and tinged with vanilla, fizzed up with club soda and served in a flute — a celebratory glassful of bubbly. Abigail Gullo at Compère Lapin in New Orleans gladly accommodates nondrinkers with a cooler composed of fresh blackberries, citrus juices and orgeat, an almondy syrup that hints at the flavor of amaretto. Another creative bartender, the Los Gabriella Mlynarczyk, has deliberately developed recipes that are delicious and satisfying with or without alcohol. One is the Mumbai Mule, for which she concocts a spicy syrup of ginger, turmeric, coriander, cumin, paprika, cayenne and honey. She then mixes it with coconut milk, tops it off with ginger beer and garnishes it with fresh curry leaves. Part of the appeal of sitting at a bar with a cocktail is that it’s an opportunity to sip something special, unusual and lovely to behold. The three options featured here succeed in all these criteria. But let’s not call them mocktails — they’re not mocking anything. They stand on their own flavorful merits. In bartending circles, there has always been discussion about the pressure to drink and the toll it can take. It’s an important conversation, and my sense is that in recent years it has become more open and more honest. Good drink will always be part of my life, but my constitution isn’t what it was when I drank most every night at that corner bar in TriBeCa. A glass of Champagne on New Year’s Eve still suits me. A gin fizz the following afternoon, sure. But on Jan. 2, make me a Mumbai Mule — and hold the vodka, please. Recipes: Mumbai Mule | Orchid Thief | Blackberry Cooler | 1 |
posted by Eddie The universe can be a funny place sometimes. I’ve been doing a lot of research about a form of mental abuse that a lot of us are not only susceptible to, but actually deal with every single day. It is one of those things that we don’t even realize is happening to us, we just see the results: self-doubt, diminished self-esteem, and reduced self-worth. The world has a way of beating even the best of us down from time to time but this specific form of manipulation is one that can be identified and removed from our day-to-day existence. PLANTED SEEDS OF DOUBT Back in 1938, there was a play called “Gas Light” that was later adapted into a movie in 1944. In the story, a husband works diligently to convince his wife and their acquaintances that she is insane by making very small and subtle changes to their environment. When the wife would point out the changes, the husband convinced her that she was wrong about the changes and that she was crazy. Slowly but surely, the wife starts to give in to the self-doubt created by those subtle changes, namely a gas lamp that the husband keeps dimming, hence the term “gaslighting”. OUR PERCEPTION IS OUR REALITY In the play, the key was the husband’s ability to alter the wife’s perception of reality. She saw the lamp as being dimmer and the husband assures her that it is not. He made he doubt her perception, and therefore her reality. It is a form of mental abuse that people too often don’t even realize what is happening to them. For the perpetrator, the ability to control the victim’s own perceptions of themselves and the things around them allows them to control the victim themselves. In reality, it happens every single day. It’s all around us. How many advertisements do you see that claim that using their product will somehow enhance your life? That’s a mild form of gaslighting. You are made to think that some aspect of you or your life is incomplete. You are made to DOUBT yourself. Further, you are made to think that whatever product is being peddled is the solution to what is supposedly lacking in your life. GASLIGHTING IN OUR LIVES The specific situation that inspired this article involved one of the most beautiful and amazing women I have ever known dealing with a break up from a man that never deserved to be with her in the first place. I explained to her that there are people in our lives who will try to break us down to be on their level . So, what is the answer to gaslighting? MAINTAINING YOUR OWN REALITY THROUGH YOUR OWN PERCEPTIONS. I’ll tell you now, the same thing I told her: You see, my friend, there are people in this world who will look at a unicorn and think to themselves, “woah, that is a unicorn, which is something I will never be.” They will try to convince you, the unicorn, that you are just an average horse like them with a weird growth on your head that you should probably get checked out by some kind of medical professional that deals with head growths. They will try to steal your magic and make you as dull and ordinary as the plain, old horses that they are. Because they need you to be a plain, old horse like they are, just to bring you down to their level… As we’ve established: you are not just a plain,old horse. You are not a fast race horse. You aren’t even one of those fancy British horses that those chicks in those hot pant/knee-high boot getups use to jump over stuff… YOU ARE A UNICORN. DESPITE WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS. YOU ARE ONE IN 7.4 BILLION, AND THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL THING. source: | 0 |
Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire and unofficial Trump tech advisor, may be considering a run for governor of California, according to three Republicans close to him. [Worth an estimated $2. 7 Billion, Thiel made his money by conventional wisdom. of Paypal and an early investor in Facebook, Thiel has proven his contrarian mindset can lead an outlier to decisive victory in business and investing, but can it translate to politics? According to Politico, Thiel “has been discussing a prospective bid with a small circle of advisors, including Rob Morrow, who has emerged as his political consigliere. Morrow has worked at Clarium Capital, the San investment management firm and hedge fund that Thiel started. ” The entrepreneur may have to explain that he only intends to be governor of the most ungovernable state — not king of a new country. After all, just last week Mr. Thiel told Maureen Dowd of the New York Times that California should secede from the union. Maureen Dowd: California should secede. Peter Thiel: Confirm. I’d be fine with that. I think it would be good for California, good for the rest of the country. It would help Mr. Trump’s campaign. But that won’t be his biggest challenge. In order to win, Thiel will have to take a page out of Donald Trump’s playbook, and unite some widely disparate factions in California’s “jungle primary” — where the top two candidates advance to the general election regardless of party. If he can win over some of the #CalExit left who want to secede and also pull in some of those on the right who’ve been pushing for an independent State of Jefferson in the inland and counties, he might have a chance. Both the Republican and Democrat parties have been shrinking in favor of the demographic that identifies as “neither” (a. k. a. “decline to state”). That really puts California in play for the right candidate — with the right message. The question is: is Peter Thiel that candidate? In the age of Trump, how does he compare? Clearly, Thiel will be attacked from the left for supporting Mr. Trump, and he’ll be attacked from the right for supporting Mr. Newsom. How he addresses the most controversial issues — taxes, water rights, illegal immigration, entitlement reform and gun rights — will determine if Thiel’s to have any chance at all. Yet the key to winning California isn’t being the smartest candidate, but the one who can put into words the angst and frustration and fears of some of the most oppressed people in the free world. And then lay out a vision to Make California Great Again. Tim Donnelly is a Former California State Assemblyman — Author, Patriot Not Politician: Win or Go Homeless — FaceBook: https: . facebook. . donnelly. — Twitter: @PatriotNotPol, | 1 |
Army Captain Roger Hill joined SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Wednesday’s Breitbart News Daily to talk about his new book, Dog Company: A True Story of American Soldiers Abandoned by Their High Command. [“The bottom line here is that we’ve got a set of politically driven rules of engagement that are getting our guys and girls overseas killed and hurt unnecessarily,” Hill said of his book’s urgent message. LISTEN: “This book Dog Company highlights a number of examples of that, in a real setting, during a real deployment to a province in eastern Afghanistan” in 2008 and 2009, according to Hill. “My First Sergeant, Tommy Scott, and myself, we led a heavy weapons company in a violent province in eastern Afghanistan,” he recalled. “It seemed like the enemy was always one step ahead of us, and we discovered why. Through the aid of a team, we uncovered twelve spies operating on our base. These were Afghan laborers that were hired by the U. S. government to serve as translators and other workers to support us so that we could focus on combat operations. ” “Also at that time, I was receiving credible intelligence that the enemy was planning a attack against my base. My command made multiple calls to our higher command to get these twelve spies taken off our hands, as was according to protocol. They would not,” he continued. “Working against that clock, this credible intelligence of a attack, we decided to interrogate these spies ourselves to disrupt the attack. The interrogation consisted of me firing a weapon into the ground and scaring some detainees into talking. That led to an investigation, the investigation to a hearing, and a handful of us being drummed out of the military,” Hill said. Marlow asked why the book is presented as “something the Army doesn’t want you to read. ” “There’s a thing that a lot of troops overseas refer to in a negative way, and it’s this ideal of ‘catch and release’ or ‘revolving door’ regarding our detainee policies overseas,” Hill explained. “A lot of Marines, a lot of guys from the Army on the ground have dealt with this, where you catch detainees, enemy combatants on the battlefield — in this case also spies — and our higher commands are forcing us to simply release them. ” “I’ve got a really vivid, colorful example of this among several throughout the book, but one that I’ll highlight right here is, we were in a firefight once in a very dangerous valley called Tangi Valley in Wardak Province,” he recalled. We pushed through the ambush line, came across some enemy fighters. We killed some, captured one guy. It just so happened that we blew his arm off. We’re a heavy weapons company, so Mark Nineteens, machine guns. ” “We patch him up, put a tourniquet on him, take him to Higher,” Hill continued. “They save his life, essentially, and they send him back to us two weeks later, and they say, ‘Hey, we know you caught this enemy fighter, but he’s outside that window of time you had to bring charges against him, so we need you to take him back to the point of capture — which is a very dangerous area — and release him. ’” He later noted that under NATO rules of engagement, troops in the field have only 96 hours to file charges against suspected enemy combatants or saboteurs, a time frame he called “insane” — especially since the enemy is well aware of the rules and knows how to run out the clock. “I’ve been forced to give guys cab fare so they could go back to their villages after we captured them in combat operations,” he revealed. Hill found it “disheartening” to be at odds with his government. “I feel like myself, my men have been discarded,” he said. “However, when you take on a story like this — and this book has taken about seven years to write, the government has done a number of things to throw obstacles in our way, to prevent us from getting to publication, so it’s been a long journey. What happens when you write a story like this is, a lot of people start to come out of the woodwork and disclose their own experiences. So I know this is a pretty rampant problem, and I know the right thing to do is make light of it, so the American people know about what’s going on, and they can put pressure on our political system to make change,” he said. “Our young Marines and soldiers do not get to pick and choose where they go to fight, what enemy they get to fight. That’s something we do, and by extension of our votes through the political process, our government does,” he noted. “We have an obligation as a people, as a government, that when we send them into these complex environments — especially like the ones we’re dealing with in the Middle East, where the enemy fights and then basically falls back into their own populace knowing that they’re going to take civilian casualties, goading us into this sort of collateral damage — we have an obligation to stand behind our men and women in uniform when things go sideways, maybe when civilians are killed, and back them. We’re not doing that right now,” he urged. Hill said his book is filled with instances of U. S. troops under fire “haggling with their high command” to justify requests for fire support or support, illustrating that issues at the political, strategic, and tactical levels need to be addressed. “The bottom line is, our rules of engagement need to be reviewed. Those parts of it that are overly restrictive and overly cumbersome need to be rolled back — especially now, before we consider stepping foot into another theater of conflict,” said Hill. He described tactical command failures, such as failing to send a couple of Blackhawk helicopters to pick up the spies his unit discovered in Afghanistan, as “abandonment” of our troops. “However, when they found out we interrogated these spies ourselves, they initiated an investigation, and they sent slews of Blackhawk helicopters into our base to bring in investigators to investigate us for our actions,” he added. Hill looked back to 2003, when General Eric Shinseki told the Bush administration that at least 250, 000 “boots on the ground” would be needed to win on the ground in Iraq, because “it’s not going in to invade a country that you have to worry about it’s the phase three and phase four of rebuilding that you have to worry about. ” “We have only dealt with Iraq and Afghanistan in terms of tens of thousands,” he pointed out. “We have not even come close to the resources that are necessary to fight and win in that conflict, both in Iraq and Afghanistan. So we have constantly and consistently, from the very beginning, set our people up for failure. ” He further quoted World War II General Douglas MacArthur’s advice that the troops who defeat a wartime enemy should not also be tasked with rebuilding efforts, but “we’ve asked our people for the last 10 or 15 years to do both jobs, in an extremely state. ” “All these things matter. All these things need to be looked at. They all affect how well we can do our jobs. The bottom line here is if we’re going to ask our people to go in and do a job, then we need to back them when things go sideways. And if we’re going to ask them to do a job, we need to resource them and equip them so that we can see it through to the end,” he urged. This is all the more important because access to local resources can be problematic in theaters like Afghanistan. In the case of the interrogation that led to the Army investigating his unit, Hill mentioned that he was unable to share some of the intelligence he had on the suspected enemy spies with Afghan police officers and had to contend with the possibility that some of them were compromised enemy agents. He noted that the danger of insider threats has proven to be far worse than originally estimated. Hill warned that working with kid gloves in such treacherous environments, in a type of warfare which relies very heavily on timely and reliable intelligence, is incredibly dangerous. In his own case, he was accused of war crimes and “psychological torture” for merely perpetrating a ruse designed to frighten his prisoners into divulging vital information. In essence, he tricked these prisoners into thinking their less valuable comrades had been taken outside by American troops to be beaten and shot, when, in truth, none of them suffered more than a hard slap. “The lawyers are running the war,” he complained. “That’s part of the problem here. ” Hill described himself as a “ veteran” whose died from wounds suffered during World War I. “My grandfather served in the Navy during WW2. My dad was an infantryman, and I’m an infantry — was an infantry officer,” he said. “I went to West Point, branched infantry, became a Ranger, airborne qualified, served in Korea, Iraq, and then Afghanistan, which is where the book is set. My time in Iraq was spent as a combat adviser. I fought alongside the Kurds and the Peshmerga, fought from just south of Mosul all the way down to Ramadi during the surge in Iraq. ” Hill enthusiastically agreed with critics who say media bias and journalism have distorted the true stories of Afghanistan and Iraq. “This book Dog Company is full of examples of that and full of examples of a lot of the politically driven rules of stuff that we just talked about,” he told Marlow. “There is a story in the book, one of the chapters about of the way in, where we receive an SOS call from a New York National Guard unit that gets caught up in a valley called Tangi Valley,” he offered as an example. “We had this sort of IM chat capability from vehicle to vehicle, so these guys are about 45 minutes away in the valley, and we get this SOS chat: ‘Hey, we’re in trouble. Come give us a hand if you’re nearby or available.’ So we load up, move out to those guys, not expecting to do so on that day because we had other operations going on,” he recalled. “We show up, their vehicles are burned through the asphalt into the bedrock. There are uniform items strewn about the battlefield. There are shell casings all over the place. Soon after, a special operations unit shows up on the ground with pictures of two guys and says, ‘Hey, we’ve got two New York National Guardsmen missing in action right now. We’ve got to go find their bodies. We’re not sure if they’re dead or alive,’” he continued. “That mission turns into a hunt, a search for these two guys. Long story short, our unit — my guys, Dog Company — finds one of the guys in a field some distance away. His arms had been hacked off. He’s naked. His uniform has been ripped off. His heart has been cut out, or at least that’s what we suspect because there is a hole in his chest right where his heart should be. At this point in time, we had a lot of assets in the air, and we were getting reports that his fingers were being sold in the local bazaars as war trophies. ” “My guys are the guys on the ground that are sifting through all this crap, and I find out some number of weeks later that what’s reported in the AP is that three National Guard soldiers were killed in action in Afghanistan in this area. Here are their ages. Here are their ranks. Here are their names. Killed in an I. D. ambush. End of story. No further comment,” said Hill. “Part of the problem here is that the American people don’t know what we’re up against,” he contended. “They don’t know how barbaric and savage the enemy that we’re dealing with is, and the government has been hiding this from us. It really changes your perspective when you understand what you’re really dealing with. It changes the sense of urgency that you have. It changes what you’re willing to do to overcome such a barbaric enemy. Unfortunately, the American people have had a lot of this stuff repressed and hidden from them. ” Hill said the Obama administration was “a good example of the type of mindset and people that have pushed us more in the direction of being too P. C. and the military and the government at large. ” “The folks that have been advocates and have really come to the aid of Dog Company and other stories like ours, are folks like United American Patriots,” he added. “They’re an organization that is working to push the current administration, and has for past administrations, to conduct full reviews of the Uniform Military Code of Justice, to review the laws of warfare versus the rule of law, which is what we’re trying to push overseas. ” “You can’t fight a counterinsurgency, you can’t fight combat, with the same rules and restrictions that you police your own First World country with,” he argued. “There’s an inevitable conflict there between what we should be subscribing to in terms of law of warfare, which gives commanders a lot more latitude on the battlefield to discern and make decisions that they need to, given the realities on the ground — versus trying to push this agenda of, ‘Hey, we rule with police in a highly progressive Western civilization let’s try to apply that rule of law to a or country.’ It just doesn’t work. ” Marlow asked Hill to clarify just what the government has done to prevent publication of his book. “There’s a case that’s central to this book. This book is tragic, but it’s also unfortunately very entertaining,” Hill observed. “The feedback that we’ve gotten is that when people pick it up, from the first chapter, they can’t put it down. The reason for that is it has a number of really neat elements to it. It’s sort of a cross between Band of Brothers and that sort of combat action and brotherhood, and then also it ends and sort of culminates with a court hearing, if you will, action. It’s sort of a cross between Band of Brothers and A Few Good Men. ” “The case central to the story was kicked off by an investigation which led to a hearing. The findings took that investigation and hearing — an Article 32 hearing, for those of your audience that are familiar with military law — the findings were written by an investigating officer who sort of serves as a judge, over what is equivalent to a civilian grand jury proceeding,” he explained. “My higher command at that time fought to — and I didn’t know this — they conspired to make that set of findings an ‘incomplete record’ through a technicality, to make it unavailable through the Freedom of Information Act to the American public. From the very beginning, the findings were stifled and masked by the government to try to prevent the American public from knowing what really happened to Dog Company in Afghanistan in 2008 and 2009,” he charged. “If you flip through the book, you’ll notice that there are a number of redactions in the book,” Hill added. “We submitted the book to the Office of Security Review at the Pentagon. They advertise that they can turn a book around in a month. They’ve got a whole office and staff dedicated to doing this. They got back to us once they received the book and said, ‘Hey, you’re book’s a little long’ — our book’s about 420 pages it’s got a bit of a presence to it — and they said, ‘It’s gonna take us two months.’ It took them a year to get their review done, and when we got the book back, by that point in time, we had hired subject matter experts in and intelligence to review it, and they argued that 90 percent of the redactions that the government had made were already in federally funded websites. ” Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. Listen to the full audio of the interview above. | 1 |
‹ › Arnaldo Rodgers is a trained and educated Psychologist. He has worked as a community organizer and activist. Donald Trump Tells Veterans He’s ‘Financially Brave’ By Arnaldo Rodgers on November 5, 2016 Also questioned whether Hillary would make a good commander-in-chief. "To think of her being their boss, I don't think so." Find Your Job Now at HireVeterans.com
By Tessa Berenson
Speaking in front of decorated veterans at a foreign-policy focused rally, Trump said members of the military are “so much braver” than he is.
“They’re so much braver than me. I wouldn’t have done what they did,” Trump said, going off-script in a foreign-policy focused address Thursday evening in Selma, NC. “I’m brave in other ways. I’m financially brave.”
The Republican nominee also argued that the ongoing investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State should make the military wary of promoting her to Commander-in-Chief.
Read the Full Article at time.com >>>> Related Posts: No Related Posts The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VNN, VNN authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. Notices Posted by Arnaldo Rodgers on November 5, 2016, With 0 Reads, Filed under Veterans . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry FaceBook Comments | 0 |
Dispatches from STEPHEN LENDMAN H aving closed his earlier investigation into Hillary’s use of her private email server for classified State Department documents without bringing charges, dismissing indictable evidence, it’s hard imagining a shift of agency policy now. So what’s going on? Is FBI Director Comey trying to save face, even at this late stage, having tarnished the reputation of the agency and himself. The fullness of time will show what he has in mind. He faces intense political pressure from key Democrat senators, demanding immediate answers about why he’s reopening his investigation days before November’s election, an unprecedented act. .. Senators Patrick Leahy, Dianne Feinstein, Thomas Carper and Ben Cardin wrote Comey , saying: .. “(N)o later than Monday, 31 October 2016, we request you provide us with more detailed information about the investigative steps being taken, the number of emails involved, and what is being done to determine how many of the emails are duplicative of those already reviewed by the FBI.” They want Attorney General Loretta Lynch explaining her involvement in Comey’s action, if any. The Hillary campaign called for “public answers” to clarify what new information the FBI discovered. .. After saying that revisiting his decision last July would be unlikely, Comey opted for an October surprise – the likes of which Washington hasn’t seen since the tumultuous end of Nixon’s tenure. Paul Craig Roberts said he’s gotten word “ that the FBI has reopened the Hillary case of her violation of US National Security protocols, not because of the content of the new email releases, but because voter support for Trump seems to be overwhelming, while Hillary has cancelled appearances due to inability to muster a crowd. The popular vote leaves the FBI far out on the limb for its corrupt clearance of Hillary. The agency now has to redeem itself.” .. How remains to be seen. Like Roberts, I’m puzzled. Washington power brokers chose Hillary to succeed Obama. Enormous resources, energy, corporate pollsters consistently showing her ahead, and one-sided scoundrel media support have gone into assuring it. .. Have things changed days before November 8? Are power brokers abandoning Hillary this late in the game? The last 48 hours have been breathtaking – the stuff Hollywood thrillers are made of. Will Hillary supporters blame Russia for Comey’s action? One Democrat congressman suggested it. Will Comey be accused of being a Kremlin agent? .. However things unfold in the campaign’s final days, Trump got a significant boost – whether enough for a “master of suspense” Alfred Hitchcock ending remains to be seen. My view, right or wrong, remains the same. After going all-out for Hillary throughout months of campaigning, it’s hard believing power brokers decided otherwise this late in the game – unheard of in US electoral politics. .. At the same time, this political season has been unlike any I remember since the 1940s. Nothing ahead will surprise me. NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS ABOUT THE AUTHOR STEPHEN LENDMAN lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected] . 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 . =SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NOTHING TO LOSE, EVERYTHING TO GAIN.= free • safe • invaluable If you appreciate our articles, do the right thing and let us know by subscribing. It’s free and it implies no obligation to you— ever. We just want to have a way to reach our most loyal readers on important occasions when their input is necessary. In return you get our email newsletter compiling the best of The Greanville Post several times a week. [email-subscribers namefield=”YES” desc=”” group=”Public”] | 0 |
Print Email http://humansarefree.com/2016/11/almost-no-children-in-france-are.html The French do not recognize ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder) rejecting the idea that medicines that are usually prescribed for the condition are at all helpful. Another difference is that the French tend not to raise their children on the additive-laced food that parents in the U.S so, coincidence?These two very different cultures have different ADHD levels in children, in America the rate is 19 percent, and in France, it’s .5% – a half of a percent. For that half percent, the treatment includes no chemical or medicine whatsoever, opting for older fashioned methods.French children are subjected to much less sugar and additive-laden foods. Sugary cereals, fast food and fizzy drinks are consumed in much less volume than in the U.S, they are not shown the same advert driven television programs and lead an altogether more simple life.In 1998, Dr. Edward C. Hamlyn of the Royal College of General Practitioners said: “ADHD is fraud intended to justify starting children on a life of drug addiction". One of the founding fathers of ADHD as a medical psychiatric disorder, Leon Eisenberg, confessed on his deathbed in 2009 at the age of 87: “ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease.” The evidence is overwhelming that the 'treatment' for this 'condition' is a fraud. Drugging America: 19 Statistics - Almost - Too Crazy to Believe Cognitive therapy was traded in for drugs a long time ago. Doctors are urged to write prescriptions as the government and Big Pharma are in it together.Psychiatrists were known to give all of 15 minutes time to a patient and be writing out a prescription for pharmaceuticals. Only drastic circumstances would allow for a review of the prescription, as patients' complaints fell on the deaf ears.This culture of giving pills away like candy resulted in children as young as three be prescribed drungs such as Ritalin (methylphenidate) and Adderall (amphetamine, dextroamphetamine mixed salts), without any other methods being tried first. There are now 5 million children in the U.S. on Ritalin or Adderall who have been resigned to either a life sentence of these drugs, or the awful process of weening themselves off them if they decide to do so. Reference: http://organicandhealthy.org Dear Friends, HumansAreFree is and will always be free to access and use. If you appreciate my work, please help me continue.
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ZERO HEDGE
With furious Democrats - and the Clinton Campaign - now openly blasting the FBI's reopened investigation (as Republicans take delight for once in having a government agency reinforce their side of events), the question turns to just what emails were found on Weiner's laptop, and how damaging their contents are for the FBI to take the unprecedented step of "intervening" in a major political event just days before the national election.
We first laid what was the most likely explanation yesterday , when we showed several examples of Huma Abedin emails being sent from her work email account to her personal account at , courtesy of a Judicial Watch FOIA release. Of the more than 160 emails in the latest Judicial Watch release, some 110 emails – two-thirds of the total – were forwarded by Abedin to two personal addresses she controlled. The Washington Times reported in August 2015 that the State Department had admitted to a federal judge that Abedin and Mills used personal email accounts to conduct government business in addition to Clinton’s private clintonemail.com to transact State Department business.
One email from May 15, 2009, was sent by Abedin from her State Department email to her personal email. Abedin was archiving in her personal email account an email Hillary Clinton sent her from Clinton’s private email server at . Abedin was asked to print out attachments to an email Mills sent via a private address the previous day to Clinton involving “timetables and deliverables” for her review via Alec Ross, a technology policy expert who then held the title of senior adviser for innovation to Secretary Clinton.
However, while forwarding Hillary's emails to her personal email server for "convenience" is one thing, what is more troubling is the amount of redaction involved in these emails which migrated to the open email account, which as we now know ended up in Anthony Weiner's computer: in the above example, the two pages of timetables and deliverables attached to the email were 100 percent redacted, with “PAGE DENIED” stamped across the first redacted page.
An argument can be made that the extensive redaction confirms confidential material was part of the transmission.
This is a nuanced point being pushed by Hillary Clinton supporters such as Newsweek's Kurt Eichenwald, who in an article yesterday tried to make a case citing "sources" (even though the FBI said that nobody has seen the content of the Weiner/Abedin emails), that " no emails being examined by FBI were to or from Clinton ." No emails being examined by FBI were to or from Clinton. All of this has to do with procedures followed by an aide. https://t.co/mcsBi7j7XU — Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 29, 2016
It remains to be seen just what is in the emails, although whether Hillary sent emails with confidential content herself, or directed, or simply allowed her closest aide, Huma Abedin to forward such emails to her outside unsecured email address (where they subsequently ended up on Anthony Weiner's notebook), is what this latest case will be all about and how it will be defended and prosecuted in the media, by the water coolers and perhaps, in court.
However, we do know one thing: according to the NYT , the number of Huma emails that made their way to Weiner's PC was staggering:
The F.B.I. is investigating illicit text messages that Mr. Weiner, a former Democratic congressman from New York, sent to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina. The bureau told Congress on Friday that it had uncovered new emails related to the Clinton case — one federal official said they numbered in the tens of thousand
Which brings up two more critical questions: i) when she was questioned by the FBI over the summer, did Huma reveal and admit the existence of these "thousands" of emails located on a personal, home computer, and ii) will the FBI be able to comb through everything in the next 10 days ahead of the election? If the answer to the second question is no, will the US presidential election really take place with one candidate currently under FBI investigation, one which could potentially lead to impeachment proceedings within weeks or days of her being elected president?
Still, the biggest irony in this latest debacle is that it was largely predicted by Donald Trump himself back in August of 2015. It came out that Huma Abedin knows all about Hillary’s private illegal emails. Huma’s PR husband, Anthony Weiner, will tell the world. | 0 |
In tones both aspirational and political, Michelle Obama on Friday used her last commencement address as first lady to salute graduates of the City College of New York as “living, breathing proof that the American dream endures,” while also criticizing “ ” leaders who engage in “anger and intolerance. ” Mrs. Obama did not specifically mention Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president. But her intent could not have been clearer as she warned that “leaders who rule by intimidation — leaders who demonize and dehumanize entire groups of people — often do so because they have nothing else to offer. ” “Here in America, we don’t give in to our fears,” she told the class of 2016, with its 3, 848 graduates, in an outdoor ceremony on the college’s Manhattan campus. “We don’t build up walls to keep people out because we know that our greatness has always depended on contributions from people who were born elsewhere but sought out this country and made it their home. ” For Mrs. Obama, the address, the last of her three commencement speeches this year, was intended to highlight several issues that have been dear to her, including public education and immigration. Noting the college’s proximity to the Statue of Liberty, she said there was “no better way to celebrate this great country than being here with you. ” Mrs. Obama’s commencement address at City College, the flagship school in the City University of New York system, was the latest high point in its long, distinguished history. In 1847, it was founded as the Free Academy of New York, with a mission to provide an education to anyone, at low cost. But her visit also came at a precarious time for the CUNY system, which has been troubled by overcrowded classes, shrinking course options and budget cuts, as described in a recent investigation by The New York Times. Faculty members and employees represented by the university’s biggest union, who have worked without a raise for six years, recently voted to authorize a strike in the fall if no contract deal was reached. Indeed, dozens of faculty and students on Friday morning handed out fliers to people filing past security to enter the campus, in Upper Manhattan, urging public officials to invest more money in the system. None of the speakers at the commencement directly addressed CUNY’s woes. But in her address, which elicited frequent and enthusiastic applause, Mrs. Obama said that “public education is our greatest pathway to opportunity in America. So we need to invest in and strengthen our public universities today, and for generations to come. ” At several points, she mentioned notable immigrants, or the children of immigrants, who had attended City College, including Jonas Salk, Ira Gershwin, Colin L. Powell and Andrew S. Grove, the former Intel chief executive, who died in March. But she also applauded the valedictorian and salutatorian of the graduating class, who delivered rousing addresses on the importance of diversity and the battle to break cultural barriers. Mrs. Obama added some personal perspective, as well: “It’s the story that I witness every single day when I wake up in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters — two beautiful, black young women — head off to school, waving goodbye to their father, the president of the United States, the son of a man from Kenya who came here to America for the same reasons as many of you: to get an education and improve his prospects in life. ” | 1 |
Former U. N. Ambassador John Bolton joined SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Wednesday’s edition of Breitbart News Daily to discuss the prospective relocation of America’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem. [Bolton said he was “concerned that the pace appears to have slowed down” on the subject of moving America’s embassy to Jerusalem. LISTEN: “I think one of the things that distinguished Donald Trump, and you can see it even in his first days in office, is during the campaign he said ‘I’m going to do X, Y, and Z’ — and miraculous to behold, he’s actually doing it on so many different fronts, internationally and domestically,” he said. “The kind of exception, at this point, appears to be moving the embassy. As I think we’ve commented before, you can move the embassy by taking the plaque off the wall at our consulate building in Jerusalem and putting up a sign that says ‘U. S. Embassy.’ You can build a bigger embassy, the embassy, obviously over a longer period of time, but you could make the dramatic move quickly,” Bolton argued. “I very much fear that what’s happening is that foreign countries, the State Department, maybe some inside the administration are saying, ‘Oh, but it’s going to cause difficulties. People are threatening to riot. It’ll hurt the interests of Israel and the United States,’ and this and that and the other thing, which is what they say every time this issue comes up,” he said. “But once you slow down, once you miss the chance to strike dramatically in the early days — and there’s a diplomatic phrase for that, of course, in French we say ‘making it a fait accompli,’ an accomplished fact — once you give up that opportunity, the cost actually mounts. And so we’ll see what happens. We’ll know more, I think, when Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel comes in the next few weeks, and see what he and the President discuss,” Bolton anticipated. He allowed that moving the embassy “would certainly necessitate a lot of active diplomacy to calm down people who might be concerned about it,” but said reneging on Trump’s stated commitment to the move would be tantamount to “allowing other people, in other countries, to tell us who we talk to, where we put our embassy. ” For that reason, Bolton thought Trump did a “fantastic thing when he took a congratulatory phone call from Tsai the president of Taiwan” — an unprecedented move that caused “a lot of heart murmurings in some quarters, and upset Beijing, heaven forbid. ” “Here is a case where the United States, for years, has let Beijing tell us who we could talk to in Taiwan. Just think about that for a minute. And now we have other governments telling us where we can put our embassy in Israel. Can they tell us where to put our embassy in Canada?” he asked sarcastically. “I’m not talking about relations with Canada or Israel. I’m talking about Germany saying, ‘Well, you can’t put your embassy in Canada there. ’” “Obviously the Middle East is a sensitive area,” he conceded. “You want to be prudent, you want to be careful. But you ought to do what the United States needs to have done. The qualms that others may have are things you need to alleviate, you need to deal with, you need to be reasonable about it, but they’re not qualms that stop you from acting in your own interest. ” Bolton said it was “absolutely” a good thing that Israel has been “emboldened” to build more settlements by Trump’s election. “There’s a huge legal battle over what the status of the occupied territories is, going back to the League of Nations mandate, and the assumption of the mandate by the United Nations in 1945, and the termination of the mandate in Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948,” he recalled. “I mean, we could spend hours going through this. Here’s the reality: the U. N. in 1967 basically said, after the War, Israel can trade land for peace. Up until the resolution Obama allowed to go through, two days before Christmas, that was the basis for peace in the Middle East. That was the basis for Israel’s peace treaty with Egypt, for its treaty with Jordan. It could have been the basis of peace with others. ” “Israel has the land. Let’s forget the legalities. Israel has control of the territory. They believe it’s their land, dating back historically, and they’re building settlements on it. I tell you what, nobody’s going to stop them,” Bolton declared. “You can either deal with that reality and look for what a solution for the Palestinians would be — I don’t think it’s the solution, I think it’s giving parts of the West Bank to Jordan, putting it under their sovereignty, Israel keeping the rest. Or you can just enjoy the rhetoric about how settlements are an obstacle to peace, and it’s really terrible, and so on and so forth. It’s the same sort of threatening rhetoric that accompanies talk about whether the U. S. will move its embassy to Jerusalem,” he said. “So I think the real answer, I think the Israelis know what they’re doing. I think they’re going to create their own facts on the ground, which is what the United States ought to do with the embassy,” he suggested. Marlow turned to President Trump’s executive orders restricting immigration from several countries, orders which are certain to stir up controversy. Bolton noted those countries were also places where “we can have little or no faith in the sustained ability of the governments of these countries to be able to tell us honestly the backgrounds of a lot of people who are applying for visas. ” “There is no effective government in Yemen now, for example, just to name one. Or Syria, while we’re on the subject,” Bolton said. “It’s a temporary ban. I think Trump during the campaign, although he made sweeping statements earlier, came back by the end of the campaign to a program very similar to what Ted Cruz articulated, very similar to what the George W. Bush administration put in place after : that you’re concerned more about applicants for visas from countries that are sources of terrorism than you’re concerned about applicants for visas from countries that are not sources of terrorism. ” “I would be more concerned across the board about somebody from Syria applying for a visa than I am about somebody from Iceland applying for a visa,” he said. “This is not hard to figure out. It doesn’t have anything to do with religion. It has to do with terrorism. ” “So getting the system under control — and I think law enforcement and intelligence officials, even in the Obama administration, testified that we didn’t have adequate vetting for visa applicants — is sensible. It’s what Trump said he was going to do. Nobody should be surprised at this,” Bolton concluded. Commenting on the recent court setback for Brexit, Bolton said he didn’t think the ruling was “quite as bad as it could have been,” and doubted it would be a serious impediment to British Prime Minister Theresa May “negotiating Brexit on her terms. ” “Some of the things they didn’t do in the court ruling are important,” he noted. “Number One, there’s no reference in this issue to the European High Court, the highest judicial body of the European Union, which could have been fatal. Given the way have been subordinated to the European Union, that was not entirely out of the question. So that’s one big win there. ” “Second, none of the devolved parliaments — whether in Ireland, Wales, or Scotland — are going to have any say in it,” he continued. “The court ruled this is a national matter for the United Kingdom as a whole, and that’s great. So Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish National Party can go pound sand on this one. It’s going to be decided in Westminster by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. ” “In fact, they said it’s not a question of the Prime Minister’s authority to take Britain out of the European Union treaty, it’s an issue dealing with statutory law in Great Britain, because so much European law over these past 30 years has been imposed on Great Britain that it would take an act of Parliament to begin the exit process,” Bolton observed. “I don’t think that’s really going to be an obstacle. I think they in fact are talking about introducing a bill this week. It can be a very short bill. ” “The Labor party and the Liberal Democrats can moan and groan about it all they want, but Theresa May has a solid majority, and I think they’ll push it through,” he predicted. “In fact, I think Labor, the Liberal Democrats in particular, will just do themselves more damage by saying, ‘You know, by God, just because the people voted to leave the European Union doesn’t mean they’re as smart as we are! We’re going to substitute our judgment for theirs and try and prevent it from happening.’ You know, knock yourself out if that’s what you want to do. I just think it’s politically foolish on their part. ” “But I would have preferred a cleaner victory,” he added. “I think this decision to withdraw is prospective only. I don’t see why you need a parliamentary vote. But given the majority the conservatives have, I don’t even think they can slow it down that much. ” John Bolton is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and presides over his own political action committee, BoltonPAC. Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. Listen to the audio of the full interview above. | 1 |
Josh why don't you just stop talking and sit down. The American people are fed up with the spewing of lies coming from this administration. It's over the destruction of our country has come to an end. The people have spoken and the time for change has been a long time coming. As Trump would say, it's time to drain the swamp | 0 |
On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, suggested that new executive orders were a possibility to take on illegal immigration. Miller explained there was a variety of other option, but added Trump would be well within his authority to use executive orders as a means to prevent the immigration process in the United States to be used by those he deemed were “hostile” to the nation and its values. “Right now we are considering and pursuing all options,” Miller said. “Those options include seeking an emergency stay with the Supreme Court, continuing the appeal with the panel, having an emergency hearing en banc, or going to the trial court on the district level and a trial on the merits. They also include, as you’ve mentioned, the possibility of new executive action designed to prevent terrorist infiltration of our country. ” “But I want to say something very clearly, and this is going to be very disappointing to the people protesting the president and the people in Congress like Sen. [Chuck] Schumer, who have attacked the president for his lawful and necessary action. The president’s powers here are beyond question. The president has the authority under the [Immigration and Nationality Act] section 8USC 1182F to suspend the entry of aliens into this country, and he has Article 2 foreign powers to also engage in conducting border control and immigration control into the country. Those powers are substantial. They represent the apex of the presidential authority. And so we are contemplating new and additional actions to ensure that the immigration is not a vehicle for admitting people into our country who are hostile to its nation and its values. ” Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor | 1 |
When you’re President of the United States, you can pretty much meet with whoever you want, whenever you want, whether that person is “on the schedule” or not. [Such an unplanned, meeting took place last Wednesday at the White House, where President Donald Trump sat down with TMZ President Harvey Levin, according to the New York Times. Levin and Trump have a history together, partly based around Trump’s appearance on Levin’s Fox News special “Objectified. ” The success of that show has now led to a spinoff series, also called “Objectified. ” Levin spoke with Trump about appearing again on an episode of that series, which starts in September. However, he also asked the to help in securing an interview with the most famous man not named Donald Trump to ever own a “MAGA” hat. That of course being Tom Brady. According to the New York Times, “One of Mr. Levin’s ideal guests is Tom Brady, the New England Patriots quarterback and a friend of Mr. Trump, and Mr. Levin planned to ask the president if he would help secure the athlete’s participation, according to one of the people who described the visit. ” An meeting with the leader of the free world, a probable second feature with POTUS on your TV show, then leveraging that visit to secure a better than average shot at getting an interview with greatest quarterback of all time? Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday afternoon. Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn | 1 |
Editor’s note: this article has been slightly updated to help you put your best selfie (sorry) forward. The makeup artist Luis Casco analyzed some 8, 000 selfies — of 26 women of different ethnicities and ages — for his book “#beautiful,” which offers tips for taking your best selfie. Mr. Casco, the lead makeup artist for “Project Runway” and a Mary Kay global beauty ambassador, knows that for a certain type of consumer, one who is constantly taking pictures, what matters to her and her social group is how she looks in a selfie. “Most makeup companies have products that play with light, offering photo finishes or airbrush effects that claim to make wearers ” Courtney Rubin wrote in “Makeup for the Selfie Generation. ” “But a handful of brands are beginning to design and tweak their wares to stand up to the specific challenges of phone photography — among them, that a flash can make foundation look white, or that in daylight selfies, cool colors can look warmer. ” Indeed, how makeup looks in smartphone pictures has become the latest test that companies like CoverGirl and Smashbox put their products through before taking them to market. Here Mr. Casco suggests some things to keep in mind. 1. Dry, flaky lips really show up on selfies, so use an exfoliator like Mary Kay Satin Lips Set (which includes a shea sugar scrub and shea butter balm) before applying any lip product. 2. Mix eyeliner shades to trick the viewer. For example, a touch of purple makes brown eyes look clearer a hint of gold “makes the eyes twinkle,” Mr. Casco said. He likes to layer Make Up For Ever’s Aqua Liquid Liner in diamond purple over the company’s matte black shade. 3. For the most flattering shot, lift the camera to a angle, which helps sharpen the jawline and give the appearance of larger eyes — particularly important if you want to avoid a raccoon effect while wearing dark or smoky eye makeup. Bring the chin down slightly and the camera up. 4. With daylight in front of you, the phone softens skin, but it can come off looking pale. Mr. Casco suggests products that contour the face without looking in real life. His favorite is Mary Kay CC Cream Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 15, which he says are easy to blend and not obviously pigmented. 5. Nighttime (flash) selfies can be tricky because what looks like a bit of shimmer in real life can look like oily skin on camera. Go easy on any product with glitter. Mr. Casco suggests a translucent powder like Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder, which has cashmere talc that makes the skin feel soft. Have blotting sheets like Shiseido Pureness Blotting Paper on hand to absorb extra oil, especially in the . | 1 |
Next Prev Swipe left/right A perfect mashup of “Stranger Things” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Will Byers needs cheering up when he gets back from the Upside Down, in this wonderful animated mashup of Stranger Things and the classic festive special A Charlie Brown Christmas . | 0 |
Trump Warns That By Attacking Assad, US Will End Up Fighting Russia By RT November 13, " RT " - US President-elect Donald Trump has confirmed that he will most likely abandon the Obama administration policy on Syria to seek a possible rapprochement with Russia on the issue of Assad.
Ive had an opposite view of many people regarding Syria, the 70-year-old Republican told the Wall Street Journal in his first interview since the election.
From the start of the Syrian war, Barack Obamas foreign policy has been focused on the support and training of the so-called moderate rebel groups who were supposed to defeat Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists, and survive to eventually overthrow Assad. That approach became deadlocked this year when Washington failed to honor its obligations under an agreement with Moscow to separate their moderate rebel forces from internationally-recognized terrorists.
Trump, on the other hand, said on Friday that the US should be focused on fighting Islamic State, instead of pursuing regime change in Syria.
My attitude was youre fighting Syria, Syria is fighting ISIS, and you have to get rid of ISIS. Russia is now totally aligned with Syria, and now you have Iran, which is becoming powerful, because of us, is aligned with Syria... Now were backing rebels against Syria, and we have no idea who these people are.
It has been widely documented and reported that American weapons supplied to the moderate rebels are often obtained by extremists in Syria. Those weapons, in turn, are being used by the jihadists to strike civilian positions and deploy them against Syrian forces.
The president-elect warned that if the US attacks Assad, we end up fighting Russia, fighting Syria.
The US coalition bombing of Syrian Army positions near the city of Deir el-Zour on September 17 led to the collapse of the US-Russian peace initiative.
Rapprochement in US-Russia ties could, however, be on the horizon after Trump admitted receiving a beautiful letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said a phone call between them is scheduled shortly.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are very much alike... in their basic approaches toward international affairs, Dmitry Peskov told the Associated Press earlier.
[Trump] has been a very firm supporter of the idea of a good relationship between our countries, because we do carry a joint responsibility for strategic stability in the world, strategic security, the spokesman said.
Immediately after Trump's victory, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Moscow looks forward to restoring bilateral relations with the United States.
The US military establishment, however, already seems to be working against Trump's policies. In an interview with CBS This Morning, Defense Secretary Ash Carter leveled a barrage of accusations at Russia.
He said the Russian campaign in Syria fuels the fires of ongoing violence in the country, claiming theyre not doing what we need to do and think needs to be done [in Syria].
What the Russians said, if youll remember, was that they were going to come in and fight terrorism and help remove Assad, Carter said. They havent done either of those things. They haven't done any of that.
While Moscow has been undertaking efforts to eliminate Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front terrorists in Syria, it never said it would take part in the forcible removal of President Bashar Assad.
When the anchor Norah ODonnell said They're helping Assad? Carter continued, Exactly. Which in turn simply fuels the fires of the Syrians civil war. So the Russians have been completely backwards there, in what they've been doing.
So we have not been able to, and I have not been in favor, and am not recommending to the president that we associate ourselves with or work with the Russians until they start doing the right thing, Carter concluded. | 0 |
JERUSALEM (AP) — In a search for antiquities, Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a far more modern find — liquor bottles that belonged to British soldiers in World War I. [The Israel Antiquities Authority said Wednesday it was excavating flint tools when the archaeologists stumbled upon hundreds of liquor bottles near a building where British soldiers were garrisoned in 1917. Excavation director Ron Toueg says uniform buttons, belt buckles and riding equipment were found near the city of Ramle in addition to the bottles of gin, whiskey and wine. He said it offered a glimpse into “the everyday life and leisure of the soldiers. ” The items appear to have belonged to members of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force commanded by General Edmund Allenby. | 1 |
During Friday’s Weekly Address, President Trump said, “I truly believe that the first 100 days of my administration has been just about the most successful in our country’s history. ”[Transcript as Follows: “My fellow Americans, I truly believe that the first 100 days of my administration has been just about the most successful in our country’s history. Most importantly, we’re bringing back jobs. You ask the people of Michigan, you ask the people of Ohio, you can ask the people of Pennsylvania, see what’s happening. See the car companies come roaring back in. They don’t want to leave. They want to stay here. They want a piece of the action. Our country is going up and it’s going up fast. Our companies are doing better. They just announced fantastic profits all because of what’s happened in this rather short period of time, and that’s just the beginning. We’re putting in a massive tax cut for the middle class and for business. It’s going to have an enormous effect. The massive Keystone Pipeline, the Dakota Pipeline, tens of thousands of jobs right there and so many other businesses. We’re really proud of what we’re doing. The fighter jet program. It was way over budget. I’ve saved $725 just by getting involved in the negotiation. We’re cutting costs and we’re going to have a truly competitive and great country again. In just 14 weeks, my administration has brought profound change to Washington. The most fundamental change can be found in the relationship between the people and their government. For too long, politicians cared more about special interests than they did about a very successful future for all Americans. They took our taxpayers’ money and sent their jobs and wealth to other countries. Not anymore. From the first day of my administration, I have governed by a simple idea: my only allegiance is to you, our wonderful citizens. Together, we are seeing that great achievements are possible when we put American people first. That’s why I withdrew the United States from the Partnership. That day was a turning point for our nation. It put the countries of this world on notice that the sellout of the American worker was over. In the following weeks, I took unprecedented actions to reverse federal overreach and unleash job creation. We have slashed burdensome regulations and imposed a policy that for each new regulation, two regulations must be erased from the books. We’ve done it all while moving quickly to restore the most basic protection for all citizens the rule of law. A truly great judge, Neil Gorsuch, now sits on the United States Supreme Court. Justice Gorsuch is deeply devoted to our constitution. My administration is the first in modern political era to confirm a new Supreme Court justice in the first 100 days. The last time it happened was 136 years ago in 1881. Defending the rule of law is a priority not just in the courts, but also on the streets and on the border. We’ve told the incredible police of our nation that they have our full support as they work to bring down violent crime rates. We’ve taken bold action to go after criminal cartels and made it a top priority to prosecute anyone who targets law enforcement. This has been the work of my administration, fighting for the American worker, defending the rule of law and returning the power to the American people. Since my inauguration, economic confidence has soared, reaching higher than any time in nine years. Optimism among manufacturers is at a record high and small business confidence has seen its largest increase in nearly four decades. Perhaps the greatest change of all is the renewal of the American spirit. As long as we have faith in each other and trust in God, then the sun will always shine on our very glorious republic. Thank you, God bless you and God bless America. ” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett | 1 |
By Roger I. Roots, J.D., Ph.D. October 28, 2016
Just days ago , I reported on the federal trial of the “Malheur 7” (Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, Shawna Cox, Jeff Banta, David Fry, Neil Wampler and Ken Medenbach,) in Portland, Oregon. I was privileged to have a front-row seat at the trial as a volunteer paralegal and legal researcher for Ryan Bundy, who represented himself throughout the proceedings.
Almost everyone who followed the “Oregon Bundy case” predicted convictions all around. A dozen co-defendants pled guilty before the trial began. Virtually every attorney I spoke with expressed the sentiment that defending the accused was a lost cause. Coverage of the case in Oregon’s largest circulating newspapers presented the case wholly from a prosecution perspective. My inbox contains more than one email urging me to abandon my efforts to help the defense.
As I sat at the table between Ryan and the Ammon Bundy team throughout the six-week trial I was able to discern that evidence at the trial was diverging sharply from the prevailing narrative outside the courthouse. The defendants were accused of conspiring to prevent employees of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management from performing their duties at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in rural eastern Oregon. Yet federal prosecutors failed to produce a single piece of evidence of any specific threat aimed at a USFWS or BLM employee.
The U.S. Justice Department alleged in Count 1 that the seven defendants (and many others) had engaged in an “armed standoff” at the federal wildlife refuge with the intent of scaring away the various government employees who normally work there. Every defendant was utterly innocent of the allegation. Some were not even aware that federal employees normally worked there). Several defendants were also charged with firearm possession in federal facilities with the intent to commit a federal felony (the conspiracy alleged in Count 1). And two defendants, Ryan Bundy and Ken Medenbach, were accused of stealing federal property valued over a thousand dollars.
In fact, Ammon Bundy and the other defendants took a monumental (and quite daring) stand for the plain text of the Constitution when they occupied the Malheur Refuge in January of this year. They pointed to Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the U.S. Constitution which seems to plainly forbid the federal government from owning land inside the states unless the states agree to sell such real estate to the federal government.
Needless to say, the present reality in the American west is in sharp contrast to this piece of constitutional text. The feds claim to own and control millions of acres of land in western states—most of which (such as the Malheur Refuge area) was never purchased from state legislatures or anyone else.
The most frightening revelations from the Malheur 7 trial involved the lengths which the U.S. government went to in its prosecution. During the Bundy occupation, the FBI literally took over the tiny nearby town of Burns, Oregon and transformed it into an Orwellian dystopia. There were license plate scanners mounted on utility poles, drones throughout the skies, and military transport vehicles speeding across the countryside. FBI agents captured and monitored every phone number connected between every accused occupier. Federal and state police appeared in such numbers that their total numbers will probably never be fully tallied.
The occupation was met with a bonanza of government spending by agencies at every level. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife and BLM employees who were supposedly too frightened to go to work were put up in luxury hotels, along with their families. (In the aftermath of the occupation, the feds have spent further millions to “rebuild” the Refuge, supposedly because the occupiers tainted it; prosecutors were openly planning on asserting the inflated “bill for damages” at sentencing in the event the defendants were convicted.)
Most startling of all were the undercover government informants that were revealed in the trial. After weeks of wrangling and arguing with defense lawyers, the Justice Department finally stipulated that at least nine undercover informants were planted among the Refuge occupiers. Thus, informants outnumbered the defendants on trial. One informant was even a “bodyguard” for Ammon Bundy and drove him to his arrest. Another informant admitted he trained occupiers in shooting and combat skills.
After a week of deliberating over the evidence, the jury came back with its verdict yesterday afternoon, acquitting every defendant. (Jurors said they were divided regarding an accusation that Ryan Bundy aided and abetted the theft of government property when he and others climbed utility poles and took down two of the government’s surveillance cameras.)
There are reports that the U.S. Justice Department spent $100 million on the case. But twelve Americans saw through the government’s cloud of disinformation and dealt a mighty blow for liberty. The Best of Roger I. Roots, J.D., Ph.D. Tags: Roger Roots, J.D., Ph.D. [ ] is attorney, sociologist, and a member of the advisory board of the Fully Informed Jury Association. He is author of The Conviction Factory: The Collapse of America's Criminal Courts . | 0 |
The name Hillary Rodham first appeared in the pages of The New York Times 47 years ago, in a 1969 article about her commencement address at Wellesley, the women’s college in Massachusetts. It was five years before her husband, Bill Clinton, would be mentioned in The Times. Since then, The Times has covered her rise, beginning with her role as a lawyer and governor’s wife who first gained the national spotlight in Arkansas. She then became an influential first lady, United States senator, secretary of state and presidential candidate (twice). Here are some highlights from over the years. The country wasn’t sure what to make of Mrs. Clinton when she first burst on the national stage during the 1992 presidential campaign. A product of the feminist movement who had followed her husband to Arkansas, Mrs. Clinton seemed to be breaking the mold of candidate’s wife. And yet, talk of her hairstyle still permeated many conversations … and has ever since. Mrs. Clinton’s 1993 interview with The New York Times Magazine, in which she expounded on the “politics of meaning” and her Methodism and New Age beliefs, was met with widespread ridicule. It has often been cited as a reason for Mrs. Clinton’s reluctance to discuss her spiritual side. She even resisted wearing white for years after the magazine’s cover portrayed her as a saintly figure. Soon after her husband’s inauguration, Mrs. Clinton was appointed by the president as head of a task force on health care reform. It was her first time working to develop policy on a national stage, and it “ran into a political buzzsaw,” as The Times found in a 1994 on what critics nicknamed Hillarycare. Instead of cowering after a White House scandal broadcast Bill Clinton’s infidelities around the world, Mrs. Clinton did the opposite: She ran for the Senate in New York, subjecting herself to the harsh local tabloids. Her victory was the first time a first lady was elected to public office. (Never mind that she hadn’t been living in New York.) As the first woman with a real shot at the presidential nomination, Mrs. Clinton wasn’t sure how to approach gender. In her 2008 campaign, she emphasized strength and experience, often at the expense of warmth. The Times’s Mark Leibovich highlighted the few times she showed a softer side, as when she spoke at her friend Diane Blair’s funeral in 2000. After Mrs. Clinton lost to Barack Obama, she surprised the nation again by accepting the position of secretary of state and diving into diplomatic work. Although her tenure is now marked by controversy over her email, in the period she served as the country’s top diplomat, Mrs. Clinton enjoyed some of her highest approval ratings. Gallup consistently named her the country’s most admired woman. The image was of Mrs. Clinton’s facial features superimposed on a moon with the names of old Clinton friends, aides and orbiting around her. It symbolized the challenges she would face as she considered another run for the presidency and how to organize the circle of people who hoped to tag along. As issues of race and criminal justice dominated the 2016 contest, parts of Mrs. Clinton’s biography began to form a central part of her campaign’s story. Mrs. Clinton declined to be interviewed about the time in 1972 when she went undercover to investigate “segregation academies” in the South. But after an article about it ran, she and Bill Clinton talked openly about this chapter in her life, including at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. | 1 |
Tesla's on FIRE!
oh wait | 0 |
WASHINGTON — A Democrat on the Federal Election Commission is quitting her term early because of the gridlock that has gripped the panel, offering President Trump an unexpected chance to shape political spending rules. The commissioner, Ann M. Ravel, said during an interview that she would send Mr. Trump her letter of resignation this week. She pointed to a series of deadlocked votes between the panel’s three Democrats and three Republicans that she said left her little hope the group would ever be able to rein in campaign finance abuses. “The ability of the commission to perform its role has deteriorated significantly,” said Ms. Ravel, who has sparred bitterly with the Republican election commissioners during her three years on the panel. She added, “I think I can be more effective on the outside. ” Her departure will probably set off an intense political fight over how a new commissioner should be picked. By tradition, Senate Democrats would be allowed to select the replacement, but, by law, the choice belongs to the president, and Mr. Trump has shown little interest in Washington customs. The outcome could have a major impact on a commission long derided for inaction, even as record amounts of money have poured into campaigns. Spending during last year’s presidential and congressional races exceeded $6. 9 billion, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, as “super PACs” and other outside groups spent freely as a result of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision. Mr. Trump can pick a nominee himself so long as he does not choose a registered Republican, said Richard L. Hasen, an election law scholar at the University of California, Irvine. The panel, which already has three Republicans, cannot have more than three members from any political party. Mr. Hasen said he would not be surprised if Mr. Trump made the pick himself, especially because his White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, was an election commissioner himself and has pushed fiercely for deregulating campaign finance. “It would be transformative,” Mr. Hasen said, if the president nominated someone more aligned with the panel’s Republican members to push for even further deregulation. Mr. Trump has promised to “drain the swamp” of special interest money in Washington, but his record so far has been mixed. While he claimed repeatedly during the campaign that he was “ ” his run, Mr. Trump and organizations supporting him took in nearly $600 million, and he put in far less than the $100 million of his own money that he had pledged. Since taking office, the president has strengthened some rules on lobbying by former members of the executive branch, but ethics experts have also criticized him for failing to fully disentangle himself from his vast financial interests. Ms. Ravel acknowledged she was concerned that Mr. Trump might seek to name her replacement himself. “But I’m hoping that he will understand the need to appoint people who actually believe in the mission of the agency and will carry out the mandates of the law,” she said, but added, “I don’t know what will happen. ” Her claims that Republican commissioners have been unwilling to rein in obvious violations and abuses have drawn wide attention — as well as angry rebukes from those Republicans, who have accused her of grandstanding and of exaggerating the problem. The publicity even earned Ms. Ravel an appearance on “The Daily Show,” where her interviewer suggested the commission had become as irrelevant as male nipples. Ms. Ravel said she would return to California, where she had served as a state regulator in identifying millions of dollars in “dark money” that flooded California elections. She considered leaving the commission last year, she said, but decided to stay through the election after President Barack Obama had asked her to do so. While Ms. Ravel will be leaving only two months shy of the end of her term, commissioners have routinely remained well past the end of their terms because of the difficulty in agreeing on replacements. All the other current members are serving well beyond the end of their terms, with one Democrat, Ellen L. Weintraub, now nearly a decade past her term’s 2007 end date. Ms. Ravel plans to release an analysis her office has prepared on what she says is the worsening gridlock at the commission. The title sums up her feelings: “Dysfunction and Deadlock: The Enforcement Crisis at the Federal Election Commission Reveals the Unlikelihood of Draining the Swamp. ” By her analysis, the rate of deadlocked votes blocking “substantive” enforcement actions against possible campaign violations has reached a new high of 37. 5 percent. And, in such cases, she said, financial penalties against campaigns have dropped significantly over the last decade. But, as with many issues at the election commission, Ms. Ravel and her Republican counterparts are sharply at odds over the panel’s performance. Lee E. Goodman, a Republican commissioner, called her analysis “nonsensical and arbitrary,” saying that deadlocked votes were actually far more unusual. Ms. Ravel has continued to push “the tired meme of dysfunction” simply to make her political case, he said. His own data, he added, indicates that campaigns are complying with finance laws far more than before. Mr. Goodman suggested that “contrary to the spin” from Democrats, “the situation has indeed changed, but for the better. ” | 1 |
Warner Bros. released the first full trailer Monday for Blade Runner 2049, the sequel to the hit 1982 action film. [The trailer centers on new Los Angeles Police Department Officer K (Ryan Gosling) who attempts to track down original Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) to ask him about a troubling discovery he has made. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but Agent K’s discovery threatens to “plunge what’s left of society into chaos,” according to the studio’s synopsis. The trailer was unveiled during a panel discussion at the IMAX headquarters in Los Angeles Monday between Gosling, Ford, and 2049 director Denis Villeneuve. “The character is woven into the story in a way that intrigued me,” Ford said of reprising his role as Deckard in the new film. “There’s a very strong emotional context … I think it’s interesting to develop a character after a period of time, to revisit a character. ” “Prepare to start going steady with edge of your seats,” Gosling joked in introducing the clip. Jared Leto, Dave Bautista, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Ana de Armas and Edward James Olmos . Villeneuve (Arrival) directs off of a script by original writer Hampton Fancher and Michael Green (Logan, Green Lantern). Blade Runner 2049 is in theaters October 6. Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum | 1 |
The LAPD has officially launched a “Knock, Knock” Burglary Task Force in an effort to stop targeted burglaries of celebrity homes. [The name “Knock, Knock” is derived from the tactic the gangs use to burglarize the homes. They reportedly form small groups of three or four, one of whom knocks on the front door of the home. If no one answers — giving the impression that no one is home — the gang member who knocked on the door signals the others and they seek entry through doors and windows around the home. According to the Daily News, the home of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Nick Young was targeted on “February 18 or 19,” with thieves taking cash and other valuables worth approximately $500, 000. Former Lakers player Derek Fisher was also targeted, with thieves taking cash, jewelry and other goods worth approximately $300, 000 from his Tarzana home. KTLA reported that the burglary of Young’s home occurred “the same weekend the NBA was hosting its Game festivities in New Orleans. ” Young was in New Orleans for the event, competing in the contest for shooting. No one was home when the “knock, knock” burglars struck. The homes of singers Alanis Morisette and Nicki Minaj were also hit. The New York Daily News reports that Minaj’s home was “robbed of approximately $200, 000 worth of items. ” Suspects also destroyed property in Minaj’s home and cut up some of her clothes. The San Fernando Valley Knock Knock Task Force consists of roughly 30 officers divided among “surveillance teams, undercover detectives and patrol cars working to prevent and curb such incidents. ” AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com. | 1 |
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Police say they have caught the man they believe shot two Iowa police officers dead in what is being described as an “ambush-style” attack.
The man behind the shooting is reportedly Scott Michael Greene, a 46-year-old Urbandale resident with a history of run-ins with the law, Confederate flag fetishism, and anger towards African Americans. He also has a recent obsession with Donald Trump.
In a video allegedly posted by Greene and discovered by Buzzfeed , the soon-to-be cop killer records himself having an altercation with police officers on October 14. In a comment below the video, he says:
“I was offended by the blacks sitting through our anthem. Thousands more whites fought and died for their freedom. However this is not about the Armed forces, they are cop haters.”
Ironically, the video mostly featured Greene yelling at various cops about his rights while they try to escort him from a high school property. A selfie taken at the game shows why witnesses found Greene to be disturbing the peace. Greene decided to bring his Confederate flag to the stands with him.
Naturally, Greene’s neighbors say he came out hard for Trump several weeks ago, even placing a large Trump/Pence 2016 sign in his yard. Neighbor tells me that shooting suspect Scott Michael Greene put this Trump sign in his yard approx 2 weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/8HjtthB51I
— Grant Rodgers (@GrantMRodgers) November 2, 2016
Not exactly a surprising development considering the Republican candidates uncanny ability to collect endorsements from neo-Nazis, KKK leaders, and other hate groups. Also not surprising: The typically loud-mouthed Trump has been dead silent about the fact that his own supporter is allegedly involved in the execution of two police officers. Ditto for many of the same Republicans who rushed to baselessly blame Hillary Clinton and President Obama of inciting violence against cops every time they can.
Iowa’s own Rep. Steve King (R) had this inflammatory remark to say just after the Dallas police shooting: #DallasPoliceShooting has roots in first of anti-white/cop events illuminated by Obama…Officer Crowley. There were others.
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) July 8, 2016
But only “prayers” for the victims in this latest shooting. Our hearts & prayers are for 2 Des Moines police officers murdered early this morning, for families & all officers. https://t.co/iyIuxabHei
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) November 2, 2016
And after three officers were killed in Baton Rouge, Trump lashed out. President Obama just had a news conference, but he doesn't have a clue. Our country is a divided crime scene, and it will only get worse!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 17, 2016
But now that one of his own supporters murdered two officers, he’s become more careful. Praying for the families of the two Iowa police who were ambushed this morning. An attack on those who keep us safe is an attack on us all.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2016
Notice he didn’t bothered to condemn the violence perpetuated by his own follower. That would take an ounce of class and Trump has never been able to find that for sale.
Featured image via YouTube | 0 |
By Thamiel Rosenkreuz Election 2016 , Politicians Behaving Badly , Politics October 30, 2016 Literally Election Fraud: Trump Tells Followers To Vote ‘Four Or Five Times’ To Ensure Race Isn’t ‘Rigged’ Against Him
The Republicans’ fear of voter fraud may yet come true — mostly because it looks like the Republicans are going to be the ones instigating it, thanks to Donald Trump, who basically told his followers on Sunday to go out and steal the election. “Four or five times”
There’s been a lot of digital ink spilled this election on the delusional claims of voter fraud, but what I think is interesting is that this highlights just how ready the right-wing is to divorce itself from the electoral process entirely . They’ve lost the popular vote five of the last six elections, and if things go the way they’re going and American liberals get out to vote, it’s going to be six of the last seven on the morning of November 9.
Trump and the Republican Party would like their followers to believe that this isn’t because their ideology is painfully out of step with the country in modern times. Instead, Trump claims the election will be stolen from him – whether by “Mexicans,” or the media, or a “cabal of international bankers.”
But see, here’s the thing: there is a self-proclaimed billionaire who’s working to undermine the election, and it’s not Carlos Slim — it’s Donald J. Trump and his paranoid loony bin followers, which include a disturbing number of white supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazis, and John Birch dropouts.
While speaking to a crowd at a rally in Greeley, Colorado late Sunday, Trump once again cast doubts on the mail-in ballots , encouraging people to get another ballot and mail that one in , too. Over and over:
“Who has sent their ballots in? And do you think those ballots are properly counted?” Trump asked the audience, to which they replied “No!”
Trump continued by expressing his skepticism and telling supporters to go get new ballots to ensure their vote is counted.
“ If you go to university center, they’ll give you a new ballot, they’ll void your old ballot, in some places they do that four or five times, so by tomorrow, almost everyone will have their new ballots in. ”
CNN said the comment was “stoking skepticism” because they don’t have the wherewithal to call this what it really is: encouraging voter fraud.
“Liberal media” my ass.
And it appears to be having an effect. Some of Trump’s followers have already taken this message to heart, and at least one has already been arrested for it .
Between these clowns and the clowns that are going to “make sure there isn’t any illegal voting at the booths”— i.e, instigate voter intimidation against Hispanics, Arabs, African-Americans and anyone else who doesn’t look like a white Trump supporter — one gets the feeling that election night is going to be a chaotic one.
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Contaminated food from China now entering the U.S. under the 'organic' label
Sunday, October 30, 2016 by: J. D. Heyes Tags: tainted food , organic label , China (NaturalNews) The Chinese food production industry is one of the world's least-regulated and most corrupt, as has repeatedly been proven time and again. Now, it appears, there is no trusting anything that comes from China marked "organic." Natural Health 365 reports that several foods within the country are so contaminated that Chinese citizens don't trust them. What's more, the countries that import these tainted foods are putting their citizens at risk.U.S. Customs personnel often turn away food shipments from China because they contain unsavory additives and drug residues, are mislabeled, or are just generally filthy. Some Chinese food exporters have responded by labeling their products "organic," though they are far from it.There are several factors at play which make Chinese claims of organic unreliable. First, environmental pollution from unrestrained and unregulated industrial growth has so polluted soil and waterways with toxic heavy metals that nothing grown in them is safe, much less organic. Also, there is so much fraudulent labeling and rampant corruption within the government and manufacturing sectors that it's not smart to trust what is put on packaging.In fact, farmers in China use water that is replete with heavy metals, Natural Health 365 noted in a separate report . In addition, water used for irrigation also contains organic and inorganic substances and pollutants. Chinese "organic" food is so contaminated that a person could get ill just by handling some of it. 'Dirty water' is all there is The report noted further:"This is reality – all of China's grains, vegetables and fruits are irrigated with untreated industrial wastewater. The Yellow River, which is considered unusable, supports major food producing areas in the northeast provinces."Many Chinese farmers won't even eat the food they produce, if you can believe that. That's because it's clear that China's water pollution issues are so pronounced that it threatens the country's entire food supply .Chinese farmers have said there is no available water for crops except " dirty water ." As part of the country's industrial prowess, it is also one of the largest producers (and consumers) of fertilizers and pesticides, Water Politics reported.The site noted further that as China's industrial might grows, so too does the level of contaminants in the country's water supply. Lakes, rivers, streams and falling water tables are becoming more polluted by the year.In addition to man-made pollutants, animals produce about 90 percent of the organic pollutants and half of the nitrogen in China's water , say experts at the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning. There are times when water is so polluted it turns black – yet it is still used to irrigate crops, and of course, that affects so-called organic farming operations as well.These nine foods are particularly vulnerable to becoming tainted, Natural Health 365 noted: Fish: Some 80 percent of the tilapia sold in the U.S. come from fish farms in China , as well as half the cod. Water pollution in China is a horrible problem, so any fish grown there are suspect. Chicken: Poultry produced in China is very often plagued with illnesses like avian flu. Apples and apple juice: Only recently has the U.S. moved to allow the importation of Chinese apples, though American producers grow plenty for the country and the world. Rice: Though this is a staple in China and much of the rice in the U.S. comes from there, some of it has been found to be made of resin and potato. Mushrooms: Some 34 percent of processed mushrooms come from China. Salt: Some salt produced in China for industrial uses has made its way to American dinner tables. Black pepper: One Chinese vendor was trying to pass off mud flakes as pepper. Green peas: Phony peas have been found in China made of soy, green dye and other questionable substances. Garlic: About one-third of all garlic in the U.S. comes from China.Shop wisely. | 0 |
“Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins’s celebrated, intimate portrait of a gay youngster growing up in a Miami neighborhood, rode into the awards season on a wave of momentum Monday night, scooping up four Gotham Awards, including best feature. “It’s a tough film, with a bit of hope in it,” Mr. Jenkins told the Bagger as celebrators and journalists swirled around him, offering hugs and congratulations after the show. “I love that people come out of it with a sense of hope. Whatever we did, it’s getting into people, and they see themselves in it. ” Held at Cipriani Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, the Gothams — attendees included Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Janelle Monáe and a delightfully Danny DeVito — signal the beginning of the movie awards season. The prizes for “Moonlight” — it also won best screenplay, best ensemble and the audience award — firm up early forecasts that it would be a strong player in the awards race this year. Though the Gothams are not necessarily predictive of the Oscars, its winners for best feature from the previous two years, “Birdman” and “Spotlight,” went on to receive the Academy Award for best picture. Other awardees included Ezra Edelman, who won best documentary for the multipart “O. J.: Made in America,” Casey Affleck, best actor for “Manchester by the Sea,” and Isabelle Huppert for “Elle. ” (On Tuesday, the competition between “Moonlight” and “Manchester by the Sea” was ratcheted up another notch by the National Board of Review. The board named Mr. Jenkins best director of the year, but named “Manchester by the Sea” the year’s best film, and Mr. Affleck best actor. Best actress went to Amy Adams, for her star turn in “Arrival. ” Mr. Edelman collected the best documentary award again, while Kenneth Lonergan, who wrote and directed “Manchester,” won for best original screenplay. The rather mysterious board — which describes itself as a “select group of film enthusiasts, filmmakers, professionals, academics and students of varying ages and backgrounds” — will hold its awards ceremony in Manhattan on Jan. 4.) At the Gothams on Monday night, Mr. Affleck, who is famously fame averse, said while clutching his award onstage, “It feels really good, I got to say. I didn’t think I’d care this much. ” A clearly shocked Ms. Huppert said, “I’m stunned I’m breathless,” as the room cheered. “They told me it’s a very American award. A very New Yorker award. And ‘You are French, so you probably won’t get it. ’” Not surprisingly, given the crowd and the host, Key, the evening was heavily laced with references — overt, sly, heartfelt and arch — to Donald J. Trump. “Here’s some silver lining: Thank God he isn’t going to live here,” Mr. Key said in his introduction. Oliver Stone, who collected a tribute award, urged filmmakers to risk being critical of their government if they saw fit. “Don’t go easy on what you think is wrong,” Mr. Stone said. “The surveillance state, ‘1984,’ cyberwarfare, drone warfare, is with us. This is a major, major issue of our time. I hope you young people will address it. ” After Mr. Stone returned to his seat, Mr. Key jokingly pitched him film ideas from the stage. “How about ‘JFKKK’?” Mr. Key asked. “No? What about ‘Wall Tweet’?” Later, presenting the audience award, the actor Damian Lewis noted how the voting process worked. “This is the best part,” Mr. Lewis said. “The film that receives the most votes is the winner. It’s a brilliant idea. ” | 1 |
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CNN’s Dana Bash attacked Donald Trump on Wednesday for “taking time out of swing states” to attend the opening of his newest hotel in Washington, D.C., even though he had three campaign stops scheduled for that same day.
She instantly regretted that decision, though, because Trump but her in her place without even blinking an eye.
Watch: Dana Bash: Is your DC hotel opening free advertising?Donald Trump: “No, not at all” https://t.co/6OZtrfIwim https://t.co/9HHqooom8r
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 26, 2016
SHARE this if you think Donald Trump has what it takes to #MakeAmericaGreatAgain! | 0 |
Thu, 20 Oct 2016 13:28 UTC © sky32.ddns.net Yahoo has urged the US government to disclose national security orders Washington allegedly issued to obtain user data. It comes after a Reuters report claimed that Yahoo built a software program to search customers' emails for specific US intelligence. The letter to Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper was released on Yahoo's website on Wednesday. "We urge your office to consider the following actions to provide clarity on the matter: confirm whether an order, as described in these media reports, was issued; declassify in whole or in part such order, if it exists; and make a sufficiently detailed public and contextual comment to clarify the alleged facts and circumstances," the letter read. The company called for an explanation of "under what set of circumstances" the US authorities obtained users' private information. "Citizens in a democracy require such information to understand and debate the appropriateness of such authorities and how the government employs them." According to Yahoo, the report "set a stronger precedent of transparency for our users and all citizens who could be affected by government requests for user data. As we've said before, recent press reports have been misleading; the mail scanning described in the article does not exist on our systems." Timothy Barrett, a spokesman for Clapper's office, confirmed to Reuters that the DNI head had received a letter and "will respond to Yahoo directly." A similar call to the US government has been made by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The group filed a motion to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) requesting the release of court records. "As the revelation of the Yahoo! Order underscores, an unknown number of legal opinions and orders assessing the constitutionality of and statutory basis for the government's surveillance activities remain hidden from the public," the group said in its letter. According to the ACLU motion, "judicial opinions interpreting constitutional and statutory limits on governmental authorities - including those relevance to foreign-intelligence surveillance - have regularly been available for inspection by the public ... their release is manifestly fundamental in a democracy committed to the rule of law." The controversial document, which claims Yahoo built a custom software program to search all of its customers' incoming emails for specific information provided by US intelligence officials, was released October 4. The document, first reported by Reuters, said that a custom software program was secretly built in 2015 to comply with a classified US government directive. The program scanned hundreds of millions of Yahoo Mail accounts, according to the revelations. Under laws including the 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, intelligence agencies can ask American phone and internet companies to provide customer data to aid foreign intelligence-gathering efforts for a variety of reasons, including prevention of terrorist attacks. But it wasn't until the disclosures by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and others who exposed the extent of electronic surveillance on the public that the US government was forced to scale back its program in order to protect privacy rights. Comment: See also: | 0 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. The first hurricane to hit Florida in 11 years caused major storm surges and power losses from Tampa to Tallahassee, but only one fatality was reported. Now a weaker tropical storm, Hermine is inundating Georgia and moving into the Carolinas, and a watch is in effect from New Jersey to Rhode Island. Here’s our map of the storm’s path. _____ 2. companies still wield enormous clout in Washington. The and cigar industries are deploying an army of some 75 lobbyists to try to keep the Food and Drug Administration from examining their products for public health risks and possibly banning them. The battle comes nearly two decades after tobacco companies paid out $200 billion to compensate the public for health consequences of smoking. _____ 3. Email trouble continued to dog Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The F. B. I. released its July interview with her, along with a summary of the investigation into her use of a private server as secretary of state. Here are six things we learned, including new details of when some of her emails were deleted. _____ 4. Donald Trump shifted from his midweek focus on immigration to reaching out to black voters. He visited Philadelphia on Friday and will visit a church in Detroit on Saturday. The pastor will interview him for a cable show, but it remains to be seen whether Mr. Trump will follow the scripted answers laid out by his advisers. Moderators for the coming presidential debates were announced: Lester Holt of NBC on Sept. 26, Martha Raddatz of ABC and Anderson Cooper of CNN on Oct. 9, and Chris Wallace of Fox News on Oct. 19. _____ 5. President Obama is heading to China for his final G20 summit meeting this weekend. He’ll stress his determination to overcome congressional opposition to the Partnership trade accord. Above, he stopped en route at Midway Atoll, where he recently expanded a marine national monument into the world’s largest marine preserve. _____ 6. On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of Catholics are expected as Pope Francis leads a service elevating Mother Teresa to sainthood. The nun, who served the sick and dying in Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, died 19 years ago. Here is a timeline of her life. Her work lives on, but her legacy is not without critics. _____ 7. Here’s a roundup of sports entertainment for the long weekend. There’s tons of tennis at the U. S. Open (ESPN2, the Tennis Channel) but it’s noisier than usual — the new retractable roof is wrecking acoustics at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Major League Baseball’s regular season has just a month to go, with the New York Yankees in surprisingly good shape. And college football begins in earnest. Here’s our forecast. _____ 8. Among the films opening this weekend, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander play an Australian couple who find a baby in the War I romance “The Light Between Oceans. ” And our film experts found seven indies whose audiences just keep building, including “Southside With You,” “Indignation” and “Hunt for the Wilderpeople. ” Still hunting? Here’s what’s new for streaming. And our critics found two TV shows, four books and seven viral videos to distract you. _____ 9. Finally, if you happen to be in Midland, Tex. you can join in the Summer Mummers, a nearly tradition. On Friday and Saturday nights, thousands of people pack into the Yucca Theater to boo a raunchy, corny stage show — and fling popcorn at the performers and one another. Popcorn sales for the season? An estimated $110, 000. Have a great weekend. _____ Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 1 |
Project Veritas 4: Robert Creamer's Illegal $20,000 Foreign Wire Transfer Caught On Tape Zero Hedge
Project Veritas has just released Part IV of it's multi-part series exposing numerous scandals surrounding the DNC and the Clinton campaign, including efforts to incite violence at Trump rallies and, at least what seems to be, illegal coordination between the DNC, Hillary For America and various Super PACs.
Part IV focuses on a $20,000 foreign donation made by an undercover Project Veritas journalist to Americans United for Change (AUFC). Ironically, shortly after the $20k donation wire was released, the contributor's "niece" was offered an internship with Creamer's firm, Democracy Partners.
In the new video, Creamer says: “Every morning I am on a call at 10:30 that goes over the message being driven by the campaign headquarters … I am in this campaign mainly to deal with what earned media with television, radio, with earned media and social media, not with paid media, not with advertising.” He also mentions a conference call discussing a woman potentially coming forward to accuse Trump of inappropriate behavior.
Creamer, a seasoned Chicago activist who is married to Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), whose Republican opponent, Joan McCarthy Lasonde has called for her to resign over her husband’s activities, also talks about his work with Barack Obama, whom he says he has known since the 1980s, when Obama was a community organizer in Chicago: “He’s a pro, I’ve known the President since he was a community organizer in Chicago.”
Elsewhere, Creamer adds: “I do a lot of work with the White House on their issues, helping to run issue campaigns that they have been involved in. I mean, for immigration reform for the… the health care bill, for trying to make America more like Britain when it comes to gun violence issues.”
In the effort to prove the credibility of the undercover donor featured in the videos and to keep the investigation going, Project Veritas Action made the decision to donate twenty thousand dollars to Robert Creamer’s effort. Project Veritas Action had determined that the benefit of this investigation outweighed the cost. And it did.
“First thing, like I said, thank you for the proposal. And I’d like to get the $20,000 across to you. The second call I’m going to make here is to my money guy and he’s going to get in touch with you and auto wire the funds to you,” said the PVA journalist.
Creamer told the PVA journalist to send the money to Americans United for Change. Shortly after the money was released, the “donors”“niece” - another Project Veritas Action journalist - was offered an internship with Creamer.
In an effort to see how far Creamer would go with the promise of more money, another Project Veritas journalist posing as the donor’s money liaison requested a meeting with Creamer. During that meeting, Creamer spoke about connections he had with Obama and Clinton.
AUFC President, Brad Woodhouse, subsequently returned the money, after Project Veritas started to release their undercover videos, citing "concerns that it might have been an illegal foreign donation." Oddly, Woodhouse was not terribly concerned about the "legality" of the donation when he chose to accept it a month prior.
In an unexpected twist, AUFC president Brad Woodhouse, the recipient of the $20,000, heard that Project Veritas Action was releasing undercover videos exposing AUFC’s activities. He told a journalist that AUFC was going to return the twenty thousand dollars. He said it was because they were concerned that it might have been an illegal foreign donation. Project Veritas Action was pleased but wondered why that hadn’t been a problem for the month that they had the money.
While the latest video focuses on the " $20,000 illegal foreign contribution" from an undercover Project Veritas journalist , the following comments from Robert Creamer were also rather intriguing in light of recent White House efforts to vehemently deny any connections between he and President Obama.
"Oh Barack Obama's was the best campaign in the history of American politics, I mean the second one, I mean the first was good too. I was a consultant to both, the second one, was everything hit on every level and every aspect.
He's a pro. I've known the President since he was a community organizer in Chicago .
I was just at and event with him in Chicago actually, on Friday last . He is just as good as ever. I do a lot of work with the White House on their issues. Helping to run issued campaigns that they have been involved in. I mean, for immigration reform for the...the health care bill...trying to make America more like Britain when it comes to gun violence issues."
* * *
As a reminder, video 3 directly linking Donna Brazile and Hillary Clinton to efforts to disrupt Trump events.
Video 2 provided the democrat playbook on how to commit "mass voter fraud":
Video 1 revealed DNC efforts to incite violence at Trump rallies: Share This Article... | 0 |
Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: • Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was fatally shot while giving a speech in Ankara, an attack a Russian official characterized as a terror attack. The gunman, described by Turkish officials as a police officer, shouted “don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria! ,” as captured in this video (warning, graphic images). Russia has long backed Syria’s government in that country’s brutal civil war. _____ • Hours earlier, the United Nations passed a resolution to monitor the evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians from the fallen city of Aleppo. Russia signed on only after a compromise that could allow Syrian soldiers and allied Shiite militias to block the monitors’ access. One of the civilians saved is a girl whose tweets describing life in wartime have drawn comparisons to Anne Frank. In Iraq, where the urban war against the Islamic State is grinding on, up to one million people are trapped in the city of Mosul, running low on food and water. _____ • The International Monetary Fund endorsed its leader, Christine Lagarde, despite her conviction in a French court on charges of misusing public funds. The judge declined to impose a fine or jail time. Ms. Lagarde said she would not appeal. Here are the basics of the case, which involved the misuse of public funds when she served as France’s finance minister. _____ • “I could not think of two more different protagonists in the great drama of U. S. relations. ” The analyst quoted was referring to China’s steely, calculated and scripted president, Xi Jinping, and the brash, Donald J. Trump, whose election was formally validated amid protests today. The dispute over China’s seizure of U. S. underwater drone this week offers hints at the possibly combustible mix of their different styles in the case of bigger tensions _____ • Indonesia’s daunting shortage of skilled workers — in fields ranging from medical services to agriculture — could thwart President Joko Widodo’s ambitious plans to upgrade the country’s outdated infrastructure. • The founder of Blued, China’s most popular gay dating app, is a former police officer who secretly ran a website for gay people for 16 years. • Wall Street forecasters are delivering their market predictions for the coming year — which our columnist reminds to take with more than a grain of salt. Remember 2008? Stocks were supposed to be great that year. • Malaysia’s ringgit hit its lowest level since the Asian financial crisis in 1998. • The yen recovered against the U. S. dollar as the Bank of Japan upgraded its economic outlook. • Wall Street was up. Here’s a snapshot of global markets. • Twelve people were killed in Berlin after a truck driver plowed into a Christmas market. [The New York Times] • Gunmen involved in a terrorist attack in Jordan on Sunday had a stash of weapons, explosives and suicide vests, suggesting plans for more attacks. [The New York Times] • Australians reported the highest levels of life satisfaction yet in the 16 years of an annual survey. [Australian Associated Press] • Thailand is slowly showing signs of moving on after the death of the king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, and the succession of his son. [The New York Times] • Norway and China normalized diplomatic and political ties, frozen since 2010 when Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. [The New York Times] • Chinese tourists are becoming an force in New York. [The New York Times] • New legislation in the U. S. is expected to worsen the water wars among farmers, fishing industries and environmentalists. [The Associated Press] • Cities across eastern China imposed emergency measures over hazardous air pollution. Exposure levels to the most dangerous particles, called PM 2. 5, reached 40 times the recommended threshold in Hebei Province. [South China Morning Post] • In the Siberian city of Irkutsk, Russia, at least 48 people died after drinking scented bath lotion as a cheap substitute for alcohol. [The New York Times] • Tokyo estimates that it will cost $3. 2 billion over 30 years to decommission a prototype fast breeder reactor that has been plagued with problems. [Asahi Shimbun] • The Year in News. The U. S. presidential election and the candidates were popular subjects for Times readers this year, but our article, like last year, was about love. Here’s the full list — with a “no politics” option. • Pregnancy alters the size and structure of a woman’s brain in ways that may make it easier to recognize an infant’s needs, researchers say. • China Machado, the first nonwhite supermodel and an pioneer who forced the world to rethink what is considered beautiful, died at 86. • Our Daily 360 video offers a glimpse of reproductions of the prehistoric art in the Lascaux caves in France, circa 15, 000 B. C. The actual caves were closed to the public more than 50 years ago. When is a phone call like a diplomatic life preserver? When you’re Taiwan, and on the other end of the line is Donald J. Trump, the first American leader to speak to you in 37 years. Above, President Tsai during the call. “When you are small and fighting a much bigger adversary,” a Taiwanese diplomat told The Times a few months ago, “you had better use your wisdom. ” China considers the island, ruled by Nationalists who fled the Communist takeover in 1949, a renegade province. So when the U. S. and China opened diplomatic relations in 1979, the U. S. had to cut off Taiwan. As China’s might and markets grew, most other countries followed suit. Taiwan is now recognized by just 22 countries, mostly tiny island nations in the Caribbean and Pacific swayed by Taipei’s aid packages. Two years ago, a former Guatemalan leader admitted to accepting Taiwanese bribes for diplomatic recognition. Taiwan’s last ally in Europe is the Vatican. But there, too, officials have made overtures toward China, which has a vigorous, if partly underground, Catholic community. For now, Nicaragua remains with Taiwan. But it may sway: A mainland Chinese company has pledged to create a transoceanic shipping route through it, to rival the Panama Canal. Patrick Boehler contributed reporting. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings. What would you like to see here? Contact us at asiabriefing@nytimes. com. | 1 |
Good morning. Here’s what you need to know: • The Trump administration took shape. The Transportation Department, the focus of Donald J. Trump’s pledge to spend billions on infrastructure, will be led by Elaine Chao. Ms. Chao is a former labor secretary and is married to the Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell. Tom Price, a Republican congressman from Georgia who is a chief critic of President Obama’s health care initiative, will oversee its future. Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs partner who has worked in hedge funds and Hollywood finance, is Mr. Trump’s expected choice for Treasury secretary. _____ • Mr. Trump, who has been communicating with the public through social media rather than news conferences, proposed two unconstitutional measures in a single tweet: forbidding the burning of the American flag, a right under free speech, and stripping the culprit of citizenship. _____ • Austria could elect Norbert Hofer, above, as the first head of state in War II Europe on Sunday, in what could be yet another victory for populists on the Continent. As support for parties is rising across Europe, new research suggests that people have become more critical of democracy. “The warning signs are flashing red,” one scholar said. And another tectonic shift is coming to the European order: leaders are increasingly seeking to accommodate a resurgent Russia. _____ • The ferocious offensive in eastern Aleppo, in Syria, has forced some 16, 000 people to flee for their lives in the last few days, a United Nations official said. Leaflets warned inhabitants: “If you don’t leave these areas quickly you will be annihilated. ” John O. Brennan, the C. I. A. director, accused Russia of “disingenuous” negotiating tactics in Syria in an interview with the BBC. He also warned that scrapping the Iran nuclear agreement would be “the height of folly. ” _____ • A handful of people survived after a plane crashed outside Medellín, Colombia, killing many members of Chapecoense, a Brazilian soccer team, and journalists traveling with them. Plane crashes can be uniquely devastating when a sports team is on board. Here’s a look at other crashes, including one that involved the Manchester United team in 1958. _____ • Our correspondent returned to the Egyptian port city of Alexandria to find a place where despair had displaced the hope and anticipation of the 1960s. The country’s parliament endorsed a law regulating nongovernmental organizations that human rights groups say effectively bans their work. _____ • The price of oil fell ahead of today’s OPEC meeting, where the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran may sink a possible agreement to curb production for the first time in eight years. • Volkswagen has failed to reach a settlement with some American customers over its emissions scandal. A hearing set for today has been postponed to . • Drug regulators in the U. S. approved clinical trials to study MDMA, the illegal party drug better known as Ecstasy, as treatment for stress disorder. • The Bank of England said that the outlook on Britain’s financial stability “remains challenging. ” The Royal Bank of Scotland failed a stress test. • Here’s a snapshot of global markets. • Germany arrested an employee of its domestic intelligence agency. The man is accused of posting Islamist messages online and sharing secrets. [Reuters] • The Five Star Movement, the Italian party campaigning against changes to the country’s Constitution in a referendum on Sunday, has been tied to online outlets that spread conspiracy theories. [BuzzFeed] • The Islamic State claimed the attack on Monday at Ohio State University, calling the American student, seen here in a recent photo, who ran over people with a car and knifed others “a soldier. ” [The New York Times] • Britain’s new surveillance law took effect. It requires web and phone companies to store a year of personal browsing data to which the authorities will have unprecedented access. [The Guardian] • A former youth coach has been charged with eight counts of child sexual assault over a scandal that has shaken English soccer. [The New York Times] • A vast arched shelter slid into place over the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site in Ukraine, intended to protect against any additional spewing of toxic material for a century. [The New York Times] • The U. S. and China overtook Russia in space launches this year. [Moscow Times] • Leave or be driven out: Residents of coastal villages in Alaska are grappling with difficult decisions on how and when to relocate in the face of flooding and erosion linked to climate change. The state is warming twice as fast as the rest of the United States, pushing it to the forefront of adaptation. • Die Antwoord, the confrontational South African musicians, have become something entirely unexpected: Hollywood. • Germany, the land of beer, riesling and schnapps, has gone gin mad. • The Times first prepared a report on the death of Fidel Castro in 1959. It has since cost us more hours than any other obituary we’ve ever run. • And at a moment when technology has made cultivating relationships easier, but also shallower, one writer considers the importance of true friendships. We told you last week about Lee a deaf South Korean tennis player who is ranked 143rd in the world, a notable achievement in the sport’s professional era. But a keen reader informed us that more than 100 years ago, a British player who lost her hearing was also a champion. Charlotte Cooper Sterry was a rising star at a time when female players wore dresses and used wooden rackets. Her style of attacking the net and serving overhand were rare then. A year after winning her first Wimbledon title in 1895, she went completely deaf — why is not clear. But Ms. Sterry won the tournament (it was for amateurs only back then) four more times as well as an Olympic gold medal in 1900. Ms. Sterry played into her 40s and died in 1966 at age 96. Her achievements were soon eclipsed in history by players like Helen Wills Moody of the United States, who also won many Wimbledon titles, including four consecutively from 1927 to 1930. In that stretch, she lost just one set at the tournament: in 1927 to Ms. Sterry’s daughter. “Who is this Miss Sterry?” a Times article reported stunned spectators asking. An agitated man revealed the older Ms. Sterry’s feats. He added, “Look up your records, you ignorant scriveners. ” Sean Alfano contributed reporting. _____ Your Morning Briefing is published weekday mornings. What would you like to see here? Contact us at europebriefing@nytimes. com. | 1 |
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