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No one likes to be stuck in a long, security line at the airport. Unless you meet the person you’re going to marry. That’s what happened to Josh Mankiewicz and Anh Tu Dang in 2009 at Los Angeles International Airport, thanks to Transportation Security Administration procedures. “Standing ahead of me was this stunning woman,” Mr. Mankiewicz said. “I was staring at her. She didn’t notice. Finally we started talking. Actually, I started talking and she responded. ” Ms. Dang figured there was nothing else to do. She recalled thinking: “He seemed kind of nice. I may as well talk to him. ” Their conversation was brief and friendly. Luckily, Mr. Mankiewicz, a correspondent since 1995 for the NBC News magazine program “Dateline,” could read the tag hanging from Ms. Dang’s bag. Unluckily, when he returned to Los Angeles from his business trip and searched for her name on Google, he found several Anh Tu Dang’s, just not the one who had caught his attention. But Mr. Mankiewicz, who had never married, had impulsively given his business card to Ms. Dang, who was divorced and the owner and chief executive of the home health care business CareWorks Health Service in Laguna Hills, Calif. “I was 100 percent sure I would never hear from her and that what I had done was something silly and overconfident,” he said. Once Ms. Dang returned to Los Angeles from her trip and looked up Mr. Mankiewicz, she was worried that he may have a big head and big ego. “He might have girlfriends in Chicago and New York, and I didn’t want to be another person on that list of women,” she said. After about four weeks, she decided to call. “He was handsome and apparently smart,” she said. “I thought, let me give it a shot and see what happens. ” When Ms. Dang, now 42, identified herself as the woman from the airport, Mr. Mankiewicz, now 60, didn’t immediately recognize who was calling. “I wondered if maybe I’d lost something,” he said. But when he realized it was Ms. Dang, whose nickname is Tee, he quickly invited her to dinner. “I remember walking into the restaurant and being struck by how beautiful she was,” Mr. Mankiewicz said. The couple dated for over a month, but not exclusively, and then Mr. Mankiewicz decided to pursue another relationship. “I wasn’t the right fit for him,” Ms. Dang said. “You know how you can tell when a guy’s heart isn’t into it. ” “She let me off the hook pretty easily,” he said. Then one day, four years later, in summer 2013, Mr. Mankiewicz, who had months before broken off his previous relationship, found himself on the street where Ms. Dang lived. He called her and they met for lunch. “Not to say we were boyfriend and girlfriend from that day forward, but I was definitely smitten,” he said. “I always wanted someone who could stand up on her own and stand up to me, someone who didn’t need me but wanted to be with me, and that was Tee. ” Mark Thompson, a Los Angeles newscaster who has known Mr. Mankiewicz since childhood, said his friend has been with some women in the past who were “into drama. ” “She is the opposite,” Mr. Thompson said. “She is not looking to litigate every cup of espresso. ” Despite their age difference (“She’ll say, ‘I remember when this song came out, I was in the seventh grade,’” he said. “And I’ll say, ‘I was covering the Mondale campaign. ’”) they found compatibility in their professions. On “Dateline,” Mr. Mankiewicz speaks to people whose family members have been murdered. In her home health care business, Ms. Dang speaks to people who have often undergone devastating physical or mental losses. “We’re both in roles where we are talking to people who are dealing with sadness and trauma, and they need compassion and understanding,” she said. “Reaching people at an emotionally fragile time gives us something in common and helps us be sensitive to one another. ” Five weeks after they had begun dating again, real drama emerged in their relationship. Ms. Dang received a diagnosis of breast cancer and she subsequently had a double mastectomy. Mr. Mankiewicz insisted she recuperate in his Beverly Hills condominium (ultimately she would have eight operations) in spite of her protestations that she could stay at her own place and simply lie on her couch, have the pharmacy deliver medicine and order takeout food. “She comes off as 10 feet tall and bulletproof,” Mr. Mankiewicz said. “But she needed my help, and I wanted to help her. This told me things about myself and my relationship to her, namely that I was in love with her in a way I hadn’t realized. ” The operations forced Ms. Dang to acknowledge her vulnerabilities. “I was crying — this is hard,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting this to happen to me at 39. ” And the recovery experience left her exposed to Mr. Mankiewicz in a way she hadn’t planned. “I couldn’t be Superwoman hear me roar,” she said. “I hadn’t showered in days. My hair was a mess and I had tubes coming out of my body. ” After she recovered, she moved back to her Santa Monica apartment, but this time he was not letting go, and she felt safe. “I could tell him anything, and he wouldn’t judge me,” she said. “He can see through me like a pane of glass and read me better than anybody else. ” The couple could hardly have come from more different backgrounds. Mr. Mankiewicz’s grandfather, the screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, shared an Academy Award for writing “Citizen Kane. ” His father, Frank Mankiewicz, was press secretary for Senator Robert F. Kennedy, presidential campaign manager for George McGovern and president of National Public Radio. “I grew up with this seat to national politics,” Mr. Mankiewicz said. “Every conversation with my dad was like opening a history book. I met Robert Kennedy a few times. George Cukor sat at our dinner table. I watched a lot of TV news, and Vietnam played out in my living room. I was interested in being a news reporter since I was 10 years old. ” By contrast, when bombs were falling on Saigon in 1975 and Ms. Dang was 1½ years old, her mother, then eight months pregnant with Ms. Dang’s brother, escaped to Guam by boat. The family, later joined by Ms. Dang’s father, Khoi Van Dang, who was disabled when Ms. Dang was 13, settled in Orange County, Calif. where they became naturalized citizens. “My family did not allow me to watch TV during the week unless it was something on PBS and probably about an elephant,” Ms. Dang said. She was a shy, motivated student. By sixth grade she was reading at a level. “It was easy for me to go into my room, spend the day there reading and come out at 6 at night,” she said. Mr. Mankiewicz takes their cultural differences in stride. “My dad is from a successful Jewish family, and my mom, who had been raised a Mormon, was the first member of her family to attend college,” he said. “The lesson my parents gave me was: You don’t have to have a lot in common with someone to love them. ” From her perspective, Ms. Dang believes the Vietnamese culture can be tough on daughters. “Subconsciously it is ingrained that you need to take care of your guy,” she said. “Josh likes it that, for lack of a better word, I am not subservient. ” Joey Dang, Ms. Dang’s brother, saw another, possibly more lighthearted connection: They both love clothes and fashion. “Tee used to take pictures of her shoes and put them on the outside of the boxes,” Mr. Dang said. “As soon as I saw his closet, I thought, This is a man who gets my sister. ” (Mr. Mankiewicz’s closet is color coordinated, with his jackets evenly spaced.) After one year of steady dating, Mr. Mankiewicz was not making a move toward the altar. His father, who met Ms. Dang on his 90th birthday in 2014, told his son he should marry her. But his son balked: He wasn’t interested in having children. He was afraid if he was a part of someone else, he wouldn’t be himself anymore. And, he joked, “Dateline” was not the biggest commercial for matrimony. The next year, Mr. Mankiewicz changed his mind about staying single, perhaps, as his brother Ben Mankiewicz, a host of Turner Classic Movies, suggested, because four events converged: Ben had a child their father died their aging mother had moved to Los Angeles and his big brother had met the right woman. “It’s a testament to his emotional maturity that it was O. K. to change his life at 60,” Ben Mankiewicz said. “It took courage. It’s hokey to say, but I’m proud of him. ” Their mother, Holly Howell, said: “All I could say to myself was, it’s about time. He was seeing her a lot and I thought, if he doesn’t hurry up, she’d say to hell with it. ” In November 2015, at the restaurant where they’d had their first date, Mr. Mankiewicz proposed to Ms. Dang. “She gasped like someone in the movies I grew up watching,” he said. “We made a champagne toast and took a picture and then we sat there silently texting. ” The wedding was set for what would have been the 92nd birthday of Mr. Mankiewicz’s father. Eight weeks before, after the last of her operations, Ms. Dang moved in to Mr. Mankiewicz’s condominium. He lamented having to give away 220 of his shirts to make room for her clothes in his closet. On May 16, they were married before a small gathering of family and friends on the deck of the home of Mr. Thompson, the newscaster who became a Universal Life minister to officiate. “Sometimes the path to love is slow, sometimes — courtesy of T. S. A. — it is excruciatingly slow,” Mr. Mankiewicz said. “But I suppose we should thank them. It gave us time to have that first talk. ” His mother delighted in the two families’ newfound connection. “He finally came to his senses,” Ms. Howell said. “I mean it. You have to work really hard not to like her. There’s not an ounce of snobbishness in her. She doesn’t think she’s a big shot. She has views of her own. ” Ms. Dang’s mother, Ahn Thi Le, was sold on her new at hello. “I’m a Buddhist my house is a Buddhist temple,” she said. “The first time he came to visit me, he said, ‘Thank you for creating your daughter.’ He touched my heart right away. For her, I thought, you don’t have to find another person. You found him. Eureka!” | 1 |
Over the last few weeks, it seemed like Neiman Marcus could not make up its mind about whether to sell Ivanka Trump’s fine jewelry. The brand’s baubles disappeared, reappeared and then disappeared again from the department store’s website. But now, Neiman Marcus won’t have much of a choice. Ms. Trump’s brand has discontinued its line of bracelets, necklaces and rings, the company confirmed on Monday. Instead, it will focus on more affordable fashion jewelry, according to Abigail Klem, the president of Ms. Trump’s brand. In a statement, Ms. Klem attributed the decision to the company’s “commitment to offering products at accessible price points. ” She did not mention Neiman Marcus, or any of the other retailers that had recently backed away from carrying Ms. Trump’s increasingly politicized products. The decision to discontinue Ms. Trump’s fine jewelry line was reported on Friday by Vanity Fair. Ms. Trump’s shoes, handbags and clothing lines have become targets for both supporters and detractors of her father, President Trump, in his political rise to the White House. Many shoppers have rallied behind Grab Your Wallet, a largely movement to boycott companies associated with the Trump name. Some companies, like Nordstrom and T. J. Maxx, have pulled back from promoting Ms. Trump’s brand. After the Nordstrom decision, Mr. Trump and one of his top advisers, Kellyanne Conway, spoke out in support of the brand. By some indications, sales of Ms. Trump’s products took off since those comments. “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff is what I would say,” Ms. Conway said last month during an interview on Fox News. “I’m going to give a free commercial here: Go buy it today, everybody you can find it online. ” Representatives for Ms. Trump have said that overall sales of her products increased 21 percent in 2016 compared with 2015. In a statement, Ms. Klem said that February this year saw some of the “best performing weeks in the history of the brand. ” Ms. Trump licenses her name to various partners who manufacture her products. The largest share of her revenue comes from sales of her clothing, followed by shoes and handbags. Fine jewelry has always made up a small percentage of her overall business, according to company documents and interviews with former employees. Jewelry, however, was Ms. Trump’s first major foray into licensing her name. She partnered with Moshe Lax, a New diamond wholesaler, who helped Ms. Trump open a retail location on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in 2007. In 2011, her boutique moved to a sprawling store in the city’s SoHo neighborhood. That location, however, was ultimately not profitable enough to stay open and closed in 2015. More recently, Ms. Trump’s fine jewelry has been sold out of a kiosk in the lobby of Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan. In the fall, Lord Taylor began selling Ms. Trump’s fashion jewelry, which is the product of a new licensing partnership, according to a spokeswoman for the brand. Unlike her fine jewelry, items in the fashion jewelry line are aimed at a audience, with many items priced at under $100. The company projected to make about $300, 000 in royalty fees in 2016, according to company documents from 2014 that were obtained by The New York Times. Sales were expected to reach about $7. 5 million last year. Ms. Trump’s fine jewelry line consisted of diamond bracelets, rings and necklaces that sold for several thousand dollars apiece, like the $10, 800 bangle she wore on CBS’s “60 Minutes” shortly after her father won the presidential election. When journalists received a “style alert” from Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry promoting the item, critics pounced on Ms. Trump, accusing her of using her proximity to the White House to promote her brand. Ms. Klem blamed a “ marketing employee” for the mishap, saying that the company was still figuring out how to move forward appropriately postelection. Ms. Trump still maintains a financial interest in her namesake brand. But since the election, she has taken steps to distance herself from her business interests. Ms. Trump has stepped away from leadership positions at both her brand and at the Trump Organization, where she served as an executive vice president for development and acquisitions along with her two brothers, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. who remain at the company. Ms. Klem was put in charge of the Ivanka Trump company. In addition, Ms. Trump separated her personal and business social media accounts. | 1 |
The Iraqi city of Karbala, where the holy shrine of the third Shia Imam -Imam Hussein- is located, is swarming with millions of devoted Muslims, both Shiites and Sunnis, for mourning rituals marking Arbaeen, known as the largest religious gathering in the world. 15 Shares
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Given the mainstream media’s constant sensationalized reporting on terror and Muslims in the Western world, the utter lack of coverage of Arbaeen’s march on Sunday and Monday revealed the double standard that exists in reporting on peaceful Muslims.
Monday marked the final day of the mourning for Imam Hussein who was martyred in a battle with the massive army of Yazid after refusing allegiance to the tyrant caliph. Yazid the caliph of Umayyad dynasty was promoting the same type of Islam as ISIS and Wahhabist preach today.
Millions of marchers participated in the annual Arbaeen Procession in Karbala. The marchers are said to come from over 60 countries, and most of them have marched all the way to Karbala from other Iraqi cities like Najaf and Baghdad in a show of devotion. Each year, Sunni Muslims and followers of other religious groups such as Christians join the journey to mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hussein.
Arbaeen, or mourning, is a Shia Muslim tradition to mark the anniversary of seventh-century social justice leader Imam Husain. Arbaeen is commemorated 40 days after Ashura, the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS) and his companions in 680 AD. However, in light of ISIS terror attacks globally, several people took the controversial step of turning their march political in order to denounce terror in all forms.
Tens of thousands of Muslims have been killed and displaced by ISIS’s declared caliphate, an exponentially larger number than those killed in attacks in the West.
MORE... The Walk Of Light – Arbaeen Pilgrimage Rises a Great Resistance against Radicalism Messenger 40 – Muslims Develop Technology to Promote Religious Unity against Radicalism Why Muslims Hold the Biggest Human Gathering under the Threat of ISIS in Iraq? The 10th Day’s new campaign – community-building and social solidarity The occasion has found additional significance in recent years as it has become a rallying cry for the campaign against ISIS terrorists who have frequently targeted the pilgrims.
Iraqi troops have been deployed to ensure security for the pilgrims. The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since ISIS terrorists began a campaign of terror in the country in June 2014.
The terrorist campaign, however, has not dissuaded pilgrims from around the world from making the journey.
It is noteworthy to mention the mainstream media blackout of the millions people marched gathering in war torn Iraq, battling the ISIS, as a clear sign of biased reporting. | 0 |
As everyone embraces the power of publicity, industry leader Annie Jennings, founder of the National Firm, Annie Jennings PR, shares the new way to think of publicity and avoid the many pitfalls that stand in your way. With so many people selling services without a track record of success for their clients, you have to protect yourself and ask the right questions.
What is in it for me?
This is the first question you should be asking about your publicity strategy. In addition, the first of a new, three-headed PR mindset for success. The other two, understanding the power of being socially relevant and thinking of your media bookings as assets to be leveraged over the long haul, come into play as you start building your ascent to the top.
To be sure, you are aligned with the right approach to your publicity that will elevate your credibility, exposure, and business; you must ask, “What’s in it for me?” This question is designed to make sure you are buying deliverables. This means secured PR media placements that actually occur and are designed to propel your personal and business growth forward. Asking this question makes sure you are working with a publicist who specializes in your particular growth area and can answer the question as it pertains to your goals.
This one piece of advice is precious. Asking this question will help you avoid wasting your money and instead leads to you investing your money in a targeted media strategy with specific outcomes in mind that serve to advance your level of achievement and standing in your industry. When you simply spend your marketing money without a plan that supports outcomes, once you buy the service, the money is gone.
However, when you know “what’s in it for you” and invest accordingly, you can expect to get a return on your investment. Now this is how a great PR firm works. They are always asking the question “what is in it for my client?”
It’s go time
Once you have your PR strategy in place, it’s time to go after the media placements. It is time to decide how you, your message, your book and/or area of expertise relates to society today.
Many people will try to force a topic through to the media. This is a mistake. It is so much better to go with the media flow (that is, the issues of the day) than try to push a concept or conversation that has no social relevance at the time.
Define what it is you want to say and understand where you fit into the national conversation on topics within your areas of expertise. When you can address an issue people are talking about right now and are qualified to discuss it, the bookers can say YES to you.
That is what we call the triple win. The show keeps its listeners or viewers glued to the program, the audience is fascinated and the guest (YOU) is very happy as you got a chance to share your message, promote yourself and live your book out loud. You also get a strong media asset that you can leverage into more opportunity.
Collecting assets
Accumulating these bookings as assets allows you to keep them working for you for years to come, giving you a competitive edge. The final part of the all new PR strategy for success focuses on incorporating the big brand names into your marketing outreach.
Consultants, speakers, and authors have said that major national media is a critical component in a greater business and marketing strategy. It enhances growth and allows you to realize a potential that in many cases, you would not have been able to reach without that publicity. Becoming a regular contributor to a highly respected news outlet, for example. On the other hand, perhaps being the consultant hired for big money contracts with prestigious organizations that enhance your image. With this scaled up reputation, you may be able to name your price when it comes to speaking engagements. What happens in the all new PR mindset, is that over time, you become the prize. You are now the one being pursued.
No miracle outcomes
This is why investing in publicity assets offers a tremendous advantage over just plunking down money on any old publicity plan hoping for a miracle outcome. There are no miracle outcomes. There is just a careful planning of a PR strategy that is implemented accordingly. The plan should be specifically designed for your intended objectives. What do you want to achieve? Do you want to be regular or do you want to be great? Do you want to be the envy of your industry and call the shots? It is all possible. Consistency over time following a PR strategy that has been tailored to your goals and dreams is the secret.
Optimal success is the result of an investment in yourself and again, not just careless spending with no advance knowledge of the outcome. That is why you always have to ask, “What’s in it for me?”
Written by Annie Jennings
(Edited by Cherese Jackson)
Source:
Annie Jennings PR : Ever Wonder How The Big Experts Think About Publicity?
Photo Credits:
Featured Image Courtesy of Niuton may – Flickr License
Top and Inline Images Courtesy of Annie Jennings
Annie Jennings, founder of the National Publicity Firm Annie Jennings PR , has innovated industry concepts for more than 20 years as the media has rapidly evolved. Annie has been a contributing commentator in the national media including Fast Company, Inc., Entrepreneur, US Weekly, TheStreet.com and been an invited speaker to NYU’s publishing program, The Harvard Club, the American Society of Journalists and Authors and hundreds more. brand , Marketing , media , PR , public relations | 0 |
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Michael Phelps left the Rio Olympics on a high note. He was retiring on his own terms at the pinnacle of a record-shattering career in the pool. He had his new son Boomer — born this past May — and his fiancee, Nicole Johnson , was busy planning their wedding.
She told Cosmopolitan in late August that, because of the Olympics, she was taking on all of the wedding planning:
"I took on everything, obviously, because he had to focus on going to the games. And now I'm like, 'What do you think about this and what do you think about that?' I know Michael well enough to know he doesn't need to partake in the tiny, minuscule decisions.
But I also know him well enough to know that he does want to be involved in what flavor our cake is going to be and what flowers he thinks are ugly and what flowers he thinks are really pretty."
But TMZ is now saying that it was all a ruse — that Johnson was talking a good game about plans for a wedding that had already happened in secret.
According to TMZ's report, Phelps and Johnson actually tied the knot in Arizona on June 13th , after obtaining a marriage license just a few days prior.
Johnson posted a rather unassuming photo that day: A photo posted by Nicole Michele Johnson (@nicole.m.johnson) on Jun 13, 2016 at 10:43pm PDT
Despite that, as recently as four weeks ago, Phelps was still playing along: A photo posted by Michael Phelps (@m_phelps00) on Aug 28, 2016 at 11:28pm PDT
And two weeks ago, Johnson was posting about bridal gown choices: A photo posted by Nicole Michele Johnson (@nicole.m.johnson) on Oct 7, 2016 at 5:27pm PDT A photo posted by Nicole Michele Johnson (@nicole.m.johnson) on Oct 8, 2016 at 1:02pm PDT
And looking back, Johnson may have foreshadowed a little something in recent interviews. She told “ Access Hollywood ” that the wedding was “taken care of,” though it seems they may still be planning a post-wedding celebration for family and friends:
“It'll be small and intimate for the wedding, and then we're throwing a massive bash for everyone.”
And in her Cosmopolitan interview , when asked if she thought she'd ever collaborate with Phelps on a professional level, she responded:
“I would love to. Possibly hosting or reporting of some kind. But right now my main priority is being a wife to Michael and Boomer's mom.”
The assumption at the time was that she meant “being a wife” in the near future, but it could have just been a slip of the tongue. | 0 |
Hours before the start of the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21, every Metro car leading to the National Mall was packed so tight that it could take on no more riders. At station after station, the train doors would open, and the passengers would look out on throngs of fellow protesters — women, men, children, babies, the occasional dog — waiting on the platform. As people emerged from underground into the morning air, it was hard to tell where to go, so they found their way by gauging the human density, moving until they reached a spot so full of people that they could no longer move at all. There was an enormous rally happening somewhere in there — activists and celebrities speaking into microphones — but much of the crowd couldn’t see or hear anything except rumbling waves of cheers. By the time they were meant to march, the crowd was so large that it already stretched across the entire route, from the rally site near the Capitol to the Ellipse near the White House. The signs they carried spoke to any number of issues: immigration, abortion, race, the environment, inequality, the new president. REFUGEES WELCOME, KEEP YOUR LAWS OUT OF MY VAGINA, BLACK LIVES MATTER, SCIENCE IS REAL, FLINT NEEDS CLEAN WATER, NOBODY LIKES YOU. The handmade pink “pussyhats” that many marchers wore — a reference to Donald Trump’s boasts about grabbing unsuspecting women by the genitals — had been sneered at in the days before the march. They were called corny, girlie, a waste of time. Seen from above, though, on thousands of marchers, their wave of color created a powerful image. It was, somewhat unexpectedly, one of the largest mass demonstrations in American history. Millions of protesters — estimates range from three to five million — took to the streets of Washington, Los Angeles, New York, Palm Beach, Fla. Boise, Idaho, even Fargo, N. D. Sister demonstrations were held in Thailand, in Malawi, in Antarctica. The energy of almost every group alarmed or incensed by Trump’s election seemed to have poured into a single demonstration. That it happened on the day after his inauguration was not surprising. What was striking was that all these people had come together under the auspices of a march for women. Just two months earlier, the left did not appear to be a unified front. The polls had barely closed before the infighting began. Some blamed Hillary Clinton for ignoring Wisconsin, or the Democratic National Committee for boxing other candidates out of the primary field. Some blamed identity politics, which made white voters “feel excluded,” according to Prof. Mark Lilla of Columbia. Others blamed white people, particularly the coastal ones who couldn’t get their heartland relatives on their side. But a crew of angry women was still aiming its ire at Trump. In the hours after his victory on Nov. 8, Teresa Shook, a retired lawyer in Hawaii, posted to Facebook, suggesting a march on Washington. Some women on the East Coast had the same idea. At first, these suggestions were so impulsive that they seemed almost metaphorical. But within days, tens of thousands of women had pledged to join in. Over the course of two months, the idea became something far bigger than initially imagined. Eventually, an entire organizing team would have permits, fleets of buses, portable toilets, celebrity sponsors and support from Gloria Steinem. Men meekly asked their female family members and Twitter followers: “Are we allowed to join?” By the middle of January, with the event shaping up to be the demonstration, the New York magazine writer Jonathan Chait worried that “Women’s March” was too niche an organizing principle — it was a “bad name,” he tweeted, a divisive “brand. ” The opposite turned out to be true: Women led the resistance, and everyone followed. A march for women managed to crowd a broad opposition force onto its platform. In the weeks since the march, that energy has only spread. After Trump’s executive order halting travel from seven countries, the march’s striking proof of concept — hit the streets, and a surprising number of others will join you — fueled more spontaneous actions in unexpected places: outside courthouses, Trump hotels, airport terminals, the offices of Senator Mitch McConnell. At each protest, you were likely to see a few pink cat ears poking out of the crowd, a reminder of the opposition’s first gathering. It seems unlikely that any other kind of march would have turned out quite this way. In this moment, it happened that “women” was the one tent large enough to contain almost every major strain of protest against Trump. Those who know their feminist history might see a paradox here. The women’s movement has not always been a site for unity. It has been marked just as deeply by its fractures, failures and tensions. But more than a century of internal turmoil has also forced the movement to reckon with its divisions. Now, the question is whether it can bring even more Americans into the fold. Clinton’s loss on Nov. 8 was a pivotal, moment in the course of the American women’s movement. In an evening, the first female president was shoved to the side by what a sizable chunk of the nation saw as that classic historical figure: the male chauvinist pig. In parts of the popular imagination, it wasn’t just a loss for Clinton or for the Democratic Party. It was a repudiation of feminism itself. But Clinton has always been a wary avatar of feminism. In 2008, she didn’t run for president as a “women’s candidate” if anything, she campaigned with her sex in the closet and the strategist Mark Penn advising her to harden her image into an American Iron Lady. “They do not want someone who would be the first mama,” he wrote in one memo. Years later, HBO’s “Veep” would satirize that posture through its own fictional politician. “I can’t identify myself as a woman!” she tells her staff. “People can’t know that. Men hate that. And women who hate women hate that, which I believe is most women. ” In the eight years between Clinton’s first and second presidential campaigns, though, something shifted: Feminism became fashionable. By the start of the Obama era, incisive women’s blogs like Jezebel and Feministing had already hit the web and started throwing popcorn at the big screen of American culture, covering the same topics that women’s magazines did — fashion, movies, sex — but taking on the women’s magazines too. By Obama’s second term, this model had thrived and multiplied so many times over that even a of the sports website Bleacher Report started his own women’s site, Bustle. Soon enough, no corner of culture was safe from a feminist critique, from Christmas songs to “manspreading. ” Pop stars — people like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift — were asked if they were feminists, and if they shied away from the label, outrage would greet them online. Feminism became increasingly popular, but in a very specific way — one attuned to the concerns of people with office jobs and time to spend online. The feminist priorities of this new media landscape tended to involve topics that women would experience firsthand: reproductive rights, catcalling, campus rape, professional opportunity, representation. The writers setting its tone tended to be young women who were asked to produce large amounts of clickable copy, for not much money, in very little time, exploring feminist issues not through reporting but through “takes” on the women already making news: the balance of Yahoo’s chief executive, Marissa Mayer the pay gap between Jennifer Lawrence and her male . Some content chased sexist slights down to the most passing personal concerns, like an item from The Huffington Post that sighed: “There is no proper way for a woman to cut her hair, let alone do anything right in this world. ” It’s not that women’s activist groups vanished or political organizing stalled. But it did become possible for an American woman to cultivate a relationship to feminism that was primarily consumerist: There were feminist TV shows to watch, feminist celebrities to follow, feminist clothes to buy. Unlike many other major social movements, women’s liberation dovetails neatly with an important advertising demographic, a lesson capitalism absorbed more than a century ago. In 1908, the advertiser J. Walter Thompson hired suffragists to address the growing women’s market. Over the next decades, the industry would slip women’s rights messaging into ad copy. Old Dutch Cleanser offered “freedom from household drudgery” Shredded Wheat promised a “declaration of independence” from cooking. These days, even our bath products have achieved empowerment. Ads for Secret deodorant nudge us to ask for a raise, and those for Always prompt us to challenge stereotypes about girls. Dove wants us to feel beautiful at any size. It’s telling which strand of feminism these brands have deemed marketable: the one that doubles as . This is a vision of feminism in which the primary thing that needs to change is a woman’s frame of mind. Something similar happened to the pop stars who once hesitated to call themselves feminists — they came around to feminism by redefining feminism around themselves. To Lady Gaga, feminism was about protecting “the integrity of women who are ambitious. ” Taylor Swift realized, she said, that she had “been taking a feminist stance without actually saying so. ” Feminism was being defined down to its most benign interpretation. It was less a political platform than a brand identity. In 2013, “Lean In,” by Sheryl Sandberg, raised this subtext to the level of text. Sandberg called the book “sort of a feminist manifesto,” but it preached individual solutions to systemic problems, encouraging women to focus on “internal obstacles” and “dismantle the hurdles in ourselves. ” This feminist mode, where personal success becomes synonymous with social progress, can be plugged into any number of political orientations. The latest model for the feminist brand is Ivanka Trump, who has built a lifestyle company under the hashtag #WomenWhoWork. A recent pitch neatly weds activist language with shoppable solutions: “We’re committed to solving problems. If we can’t find a solution, we’ll make it ourselves (case in point: the Soho Tote, the ultimate work bag). ” By the time the 2016 campaign rolled around, Clinton wasn’t just permitted to run as a feminist — she was practically obligated to. Her messaging shifted accordingly. Years of women’s debating the right way to be a feminist had the side effect of forcing the first female candidate to the left. In 2008, she argued that she wanted abortion to be “safe, legal and rare — and by rare I mean rare. ” In last year’s debates, she stopped qualifying her support. “I will defend Planned Parenthood,” she said in one. “I will defend Roe v. Wade, and I will defend women’s rights to make their own health care decisions. ” Meanwhile, her campaign mimicked the aesthetics of the feminist mode. The candidate affirmed her feminism in a video interview with Lena Dunham, posed in a Kim Kardashian selfie and made a cameo on “Broad City. ” Her campaign posted a listicle informing Latinos that Clinton was “just like your abuela. ” (With the Twitter hashtag #NotMyAbuela, those voters begged to differ.) Her site sold embroidered pillows that said “A Woman’s Place Is in the White House” and a with a big “YAAAS, HILLARY!” printed over her senior portrait from high school. After Trump accused her of playing “the woman’s card,” her campaign introduced a free “Official Hillary for America Woman Card” that drove more than $2 million in donations within days. One young woman earnestly prodded her at an Iowa campaign event: “If you could choose, would you rather be the president or Beyoncé?” Pop feminism, having been washed of its political urgency, was now being integrated back into politics at the highest level. The candidate who once shrank from feminism was positioning herself as an icon of the movement. Her image became closely aligned with two metaphors — the pantsuit and the glass ceiling — that speak to a particular kind of woman: a corporate careerist at the top of her field. A “secret” Facebook group, Pantsuit Nation, popped up to encourage Clinton supporters to wear pantsuits to the polls. When she clinched the Democratic nomination for president last June — the one she would formally accept the following month, dressed in suffragist white — Clinton called back to the Seneca Falls convention of 1848, where “a small but determined group of women, and men, came together with the idea that women deserved equal rights. ” The feminist project started there, she implied — and she was going to finish it. When Clinton lost, pop feminism suffered a crisis. As everyone pored over exit polls, some of the fractures between different groups of women exploded into view. percent of black women voted for Clinton, but 53 percent of white women voted for Trump, perhaps more likely to see themselves in his vision of the world than in the pop feminism that fed Clinton’s campaign. Despite Trump’s palpable, eminently bloggable disrespect for women — and that infamous tape — he had successfully courted a faction of female voters. His win suggested that Americans were more comfortable with misogyny than many had thought, but it also burst the bubble of cheery pop feminism, which had achieved its huge popularity at the expense of class consciousness and racial solidarity. In some places, you could watch the mood turn in a matter of days. The Pantsuit Nation Facebook group ceased its celebrations and became a site for sharing stories of pain and resilience. But when the group’s founder, a Maine educator named Libby Chamberlain, announced a plan to channel the power of the group in real life, it wasn’t exactly a call to activism — it was a book. “You are a force, Pantsuit Nation,” she wrote. “Let’s see if we can harness that force within the pages of a book and see it on night stands and coffee tables all around the world. ” The idea brought on a revolt. “The N. R. A. with its five million members has a stranglehold on Congress,” one commenter wrote. “Pantsuit Nation has four million members and decides its main mission is ‘storytelling’ and now, selling books. What a colossal waste. ” But for some outside observers, this was a productive comeuppance. Rhon an associate professor of Africana studies at Williams College in Massachusetts, published “An Open Letter to White Liberal Feminists,” on the website Black Perspectives, expressing her disappointment that it had taken Donald Trump to shake them into her reality. “I am delighted that you have received the potential awakening of a lifetime, and that now you might actually get what so many of us have been describing all along,” she wrote. “Welcome to that deep perpetual angst. Embrace it, and allow it to motivate you to a deeper form of action. ” In those same November weeks, the nascent project was navigating its own identity crisis. Some of the early organizers had jobs — pastry chef, yoga instructor. One of the women, Bob Bland, a fashion designer, had amassed a small online following by designing “NASTY WOMAN” and “BAD HOMBRE” and selling them online. “I had this whole network of ‘nasty women’ and ‘bad hombres,’’u2009” she told me. “After the election, they were looking to me like, ‘What are we going to do next? ’’u2009” Disparate organizers convened around a Facebook event announcing a Million Women March. There was one major problem with this: In 1997, activists organized a Million Woman March in Philadelphia to address the particular concerns of black women. When this new march on Washington unwittingly chose a very similar name, it crystallized the idea that the nascent movement was being run by a handful of white women with no organizing history. Comments began pouring in from all sides. The organizers had stumbled into a conflict that has dogged women’s organizing from the very beginning: Of all the tensions that have coursed through the women’s movement, none has ever been quite so pronounced as the one between white and black women. Consider what happened when Sojourner Truth showed up at a women’s rights convention in Ohio in 1851. Frances Gage, the woman running the show, recalled the scene 12 years later: “The leaders of the movement trembled on seeing a tall, gaunt black woman in a gray dress and white turban, surmounted with an uncouth sunbonnet, march deliberately into the church, walk with the air of a queen up the aisle and take her seat upon the pulpit steps. ” A “buzz of disapprobation” spread through the church. White women in attendance complained that a black woman’s testimony would distract from the convention’s focus. “Don’t let her speak, Mrs. Gage — it will ruin us,” one said. “Every newspaper in the land will have our cause mixed up with abolition and niggers, and we shall be utterly denounced. ” Throughout the convention, men arrived to speak out against women’s suffrage. Women, they said, were too weak and helpless to be trusted with the power of the vote. Because “there were very few women in those days who dared to ‘speak in meeting,’’u2009” as Gage put it, their points went unchallenged until Truth stepped forward. White women hissed, but Truth’s very identity nullified the arguments coming from both men and women in attendance. “That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere,” she said. “Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles, or gives me any best place. And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm!” She rolled up her sleeve to the shoulder. “I have plowed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me. And ain’t I a woman?” In that moment, Truth shattered an idea of white femininity that had been used to both underpin and undermine the cause of suffrage. As a slave, she had worked in the fields like a man as a free black woman, she could not rely on the offerings of white male gentility. Gage wrote that Truth’s testimony compelled the white women in attendance to embrace her “with streaming eyes, and hearts beating with gratitude. ” But two years later, Truth still drew jeers from white crowds when she attended women’s meetings. A vision of whiteness was ingrained in the leaders and the arguments of the mainstream movement. Even the suffragists’ signature white clothes were deliberately chosen to signal purity. This ideal of feminine virtue did not extend to black women, or ones. Some suffragists made their racism and classism explicit. In 1894, a white woman at a meeting of the Brooklyn Woman Suffrage Association complained that New York had become an “asylum for the trash of all nations,” arguing that women’s suffrage ought to be restricted. “Think what it means to give it to all women,” she said. “Our criminal and pauper men have wives there are thousands of female operatives in tobacco factories and similar fields of labor there are probably two million Negro women in this country who are but little uplifted above the plane of animals. ” One curious point of this history is that so many suffragists came from the antislavery movement. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, whose partnership would come to define the suffrage movement in the United States, started their activist careers as abolitionists. But after the Civil War, as black men and all women agitated for the right to vote, a political battle broke out over who would be enfranchised first. (Either way, black women would be last.) In 1865, Stanton lamented having to “stand aside to see ‘Sambo’ walk into the kingdom first,” as she put it in The National Standard. Over time, these racial contours would harden into lasting institutions. When women’s social clubs spread across the United States at the turn of the century, two models emerged. clubs leveraged women’s leisure time to campaign for social reforms. Black women, who largely worked outside the home, came together around urgent needs. One of the first actions of the black Chicago Women’s Club was to raise money to prosecute a police officer who killed a black man. The main distinction between clubs, the black activist Fannie Barrier Williams wrote, was that for black women, “it is not a fad. ” Black women distinguished themselves not only as suffragists but also as vocal critics of a movement that pushed one kind of justice aside in pursuit of another. In 1913, when thousands of suffragists marched on Washington to agitate for the vote, black women were instructed to march in the back. Ida B. Wells defied the order and marched with the delegation from Illinois, her home state. She wasn’t just protesting for her right to vote. She was protesting the protest too. This dynamic is not only a thing of distant history: In the thick of feminism’s second wave, women were often still divided along lines of identity. In 1967, as the author Betty Friedan called the first meeting of the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women, she found herself at odds with a black activist and lawyer named Flo Kennedy, who pushed the women around her to make common cause with the antiwar and Black Power movements. Friedan and the meeting’s host — Muriel Fox, the female executive at the world’s largest agency — were not pleased. As Kennedy put it in her memoirs, they “went bonkers. ” Friedan’s 1963 book, “The Feminine Mystique,” had been an awakening for a class of white, married, women, and she pictured herself as the leader of what she called a “mainstream” feminist movement. When women at one 1970 march offered her a lavender armband to wear in solidarity with a NOW member recently attacked for her bisexuality, Friedan dropped it on the ground, furious at the attempt to add gay rights to her program. Kennedy continually pushed in the opposite direction, trying to build bridges between feminist groups and other movements. At one point, Friedan admonished her to leave the feminist movement alone and “focus her attention on matters of Black Power. ” As the second wave matured, black women found themselves continually calling on it to consider a new approach, one that acknowledged the different needs of different women. As the black feminist and leftist Barbara Smith told the National Women’s Studies Association in 1979, any feminism that didn’t account for the specific concerns of black women, poor women, disabled women, lesbians and others was not really feminism — it was “merely female . ” There has never been one women’s movement. It’s difficult, for example, to say that the American feminist project started in Seneca Falls, N. Y. in 1848, because black women were not invited to that convention. It’s hard to say that electing a woman as president would have been feminism’s crowning achievement, because the success of one woman does not naturally trickle down to all. The history of the women’s movement is one of warring factions and sharp . But its 150 years of navigating internal disputes put it in a position to lead what seemed, at the end of last fall, like a highly divided left. “It’s embarrassing to me now to say it, but I didn’t know the term ‘intersectionality’ when we started,” Bob Bland, the Women’s March told me. Now she deployed it often to emphasize the growing diversity of the march. She told various reporters that she had met women working “in so many different intersectionalities” and hoped to reach a “a wide intersectionality of people” in a march that reflected “all of the different intersections of human rights. ” That magic word comes from a 1989 paper by the legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw that was published in The University of Chicago Legal Forum. Crenshaw had studied cases in which black women sued their employers for what appeared to be “compound discrimination” — both racial and gender biases. But they were often told they lacked legal standing: Laws protected them from discrimination as or as women, but not specifically as black women. Crenshaw used a traffic metaphor to describe the interlocking forms of oppression a person might face. Cars flowed through an intersection in all directions when an accident happened, it could be caused by cars from any number of sides, or even all sides. That metaphor would be plucked from Crenshaw’s paper and grow in resonance over the next two decades, until “intersectionality” became a rallying cry — the main point of rhetorical resistance against the tide of feminist conversation. Even beneath the shiny surface of pop feminism, dissenters took countless shots at its racial cluelessness, its lack of its sometimes shallow concerns. Women of color convened on Twitter under hashtags like #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen to detail their experiences of being sidelined in feminist conversations, and many on the left criticized the way a feminism was becoming popular just as income inequality between women was ballooning. (It’s hard to “lean in” to a job cleaning hotel rooms.) In recent years, intersectionality even popped up in People. com, on Bustle and in a tweet from Clinton. Often the criticism that lies behind this word is brushed off, met with defensiveness, taken personally. (As the founder of Pantsuit Nation wrote to critics of her book deal: “This is not the place for divisiveness. ”) Women turn to feminism because they want to stand up and say something it can be jarring for them be told to sit down and listen to someone else. But the concept became a useful tool for the march on Washington, which set about the task of uniting feminism’s mainstream, popular arm and its dissenting factions — all in the space of two months. Soon after the suggestion to march raced across the web, Vanessa Wruble — a white producer and of the media company OkayAfrica — made a pivotal intervention in its planning. “I thought the stakes were so high,” she told me. “It needed to be an inclusive movement, or it was going to be a total disaster. I felt that it could damage the country. ” At this critical moment, with the march quickly ballooning into something bigger than the initial organizers could handle on their own, Wruble reached out and urged them to drop the name Million Women March. Then she linked them up with her network, and soon three seasoned activists — Carmen Perez, Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory — got on board. These women hadn’t necessarily supported Clinton, and they didn’t necessarily identify as feminists. But they had experience organizing in communities of color and saw the march as an opportunity to reach a large new audience. When Sarsour got the call, she had just posted a comment on the march’s Facebook page: “Can you include Muslim women and Muslim communities in the list?” The three women — one Chicana Latina, one one black — met through their involvement in Justice League NYC, a initiative. In 2015, they organized a march from New York to Washington, ending in a rally at the Capitol that drew a small crowd. Now hundreds of thousands of women whose previous interest in justice may have been abstract at best were turning to them for leadership. The question, Perez told me, was “How do we get them to understand that their liberation is bound with ours?” Meanwhile, the three had some catching up to do with the mainstream feminist perspective. “I don’t have a lot of what I would consider to be deep, transformative relationships with white women,” Sarsour told me. “I’ve been learning a lot,” she said, and working toward becoming “more comfortable around this movement of feminism that I always felt didn’t particularly include Muslim women. ” The organizers appeared on the radio morning show “The Breakfast Club” and loaded their Instagram page with black feminist heroes. But they also posed for windswept photos in Vogue, and some dropped by the Wing, a private Manhattan women’s club with a $2, 250 annual membership fee. Their rally put Angela Davis on the same stage as Scarlett Johansson. When I called Kimberlé Crenshaw in January, she had just returned home to Los Angeles from the march on Washington, where she walked with a group of women from the African American Policy Forum. Her group was so far back in the crowd that they couldn’t hear the rally, and “I’m kind of glad about it,” she told me. “We were in this sea of humanity. ” Wading through the crowd, she said, “I saw all the different issues and people that had found their way under the banner of the Women’s March. It was the embodiment of the intersectional sensibilities that a lot of us have been working on for a very long time. ” The women’s movement’s tendency toward a singular perspective is “not an exceptional problem for feminism,” Crenshaw told me. “Patriarchy works in such a way that these critiques never even surface in a lot of movements led by men. This conversation isn’t always happening in other spaces. And if the conversation leads to more robust ways of thinking about women, feminism and social justice, it can be a very good thing. ” “The question is: Can these feminisms live together under an banner?” Crenshaw said. “It happened for 24 hours all across the world. ” When I made my way back to my hotel after the march, the cheers of the crowd fading into the distance, I opened my laptop and saw a different version of what I had just seen in person. Now it was all filtered through my own bubble — that of a white woman who lives in Brooklyn. Facebook’s trending topics, tailored to fulfill each user’s particular online habits, served me up a version of the day’s events. It pointed me toward the speeches of Scarlett Johansson and Madonna, and nobody else. As scenes of the march traveled through the media and across the web, the story spun out in even more directions. Twitter lit up with notes of internal dissent and snapshots of signs from the march: DON’T FORGET: WHITE WOMEN VOTED FOR TRUMP and BLACK WOMEN TRIED TO SAVE Y’ALL and I’LL SEE YOU NICE WHITE LADIES AT THE NEXT #BLACKLIVESMATTER MARCH, RIGHT? But for the moment, at least, Trump appears to be the great uniter. In the days and weeks since the march, its energy spilled into spontaneous actions across the country, with protesters coming together on behalf of Muslims and immigrants. Donations poured into Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union. Congressional switchboards were inundated with calls. When The Washington Post polled Americans it registered a huge shift in energy among Democrats, especially Democratic women, 40 percent of whom said they planned to get more involved in activism. But liberals are not the only ones drawing inspiration from the protests. Flip to Fox News, click around conservative blogs or browse Twitter, and you can watch the demonstrations fuel a different kind of opposition narrative. After the march, Fox News set clips of rally speeches to foreboding music. Breitbart published photos with the headline “See what a massive, Hillary shaped bullet America just dodged?” The Media Research Center aggregated the most “vile and ridiculous signs. ” Twitter exploded with attacks on Linda Sarsour, who was called a “terrorist” who “loves ISIS. ” When the annual March for Life hit the Mall to demonstrate against abortion rights, The Blaze called it “the real women’s march. ” (The Women’s March did, at one point, remove the name of an group from its list of partners, after an uproar.) According to Public Policy Polling, 48 percent of Trump voters think the protesters who convened at airports to protest the travel ban were paid by George Soros. Trump tweeted recently: “Professional anarchists, thugs and paid protesters are proving the point of the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” In the first weeks of the Trump administration, the factions that split over his election are deepening along the same lines. Each side seems oddly confident in its political position. Trump supporters call themselves “the silent majority,” while his critics identify as the “popular vote. ” When I called Eleanor Smeal, a of the Feminist Majority Foundation, and asked her whether the organization had any plans to reach out to the 53 percent of white women who voted for Trump, her response was to question the margin of error in the polls. “We don’t really know if we lost the majority or not, and I believe that we did not,” she told me. “I think they’re with us. ” For now, the factions of the left seem to have found an accord. But to regain any power in Washington, they will need to sway the center too — including some of those women who voted for Trump. The white women of the left, many of whom are just now finding their footing as activists, have been eager to dissociate from that group. Mention the 53 percent, and they’re quick to tell you that they’re of the 47. But of all the people who marched on Washington last month, they may be among the best positioned to reach across that aisle. “I know of no other time when it would be more important,” Barbara Smith, the black feminist and leftist, told me. “That’s not my work to do, but somebody ought to do it. ” | 1 |
The next season of “Game of Thrones” will debut a little later than normal and, as expected, it will be a little shorter. HBO announced on Monday that the seventh season of the series will be seven episodes long — a departure from the schedule of each of the previous six seasons. Additionally, “Game of Thrones” will debut in the summer of 2017, as opposed to its traditional start time in the spring. (Previous seasons had started in March or April.) The network explained a later shooting schedule would help the season’s plot.’ ”“Now that winter has arrived on ’Game of Thrones,’ executive producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss felt that the story lines of the next season would be better served by starting production a little later than usual, when the weather is changing,” HBO’s president of programming, Casey Bloys, said in a statement.” ’The new schedule could present a significant opportunity for HBO’s competitors: If the seventh season begins later than May, it will not be eligible for next year’s Emmy Awards. “Game of Thrones” has garnered the most Emmy nominations of any TV show for three consecutive years, and last year it took home the Emmy for best drama for the first time. Mr. Benioff and Mr. Weiss had said last month they envisioned two more seasons to close out the series, amounting to about 13 episodes. “Game of Thrones” has never been more popular: Last month’s Season 6 finale had the highest ratings ever for the show. | 1 |
CHICAGO — A blood test to detect cancer mutations produced results that generally agree with those of an invasive tumor biopsy, researchers reported, heralding a time when diagnosing cancer and monitoring its progression may become less painful and risky. The blood tests, known as liquid biopsies, represent one of the hottest trends in oncology. They take advantage of the fact that DNA fragments from tumors can be found in tiny amounts in the blood of patients with cancer. Researchers hope that such tests can become alternatives to conventional tumor biopsies, in which a piece of the tumor is extracted by needle or by surgery — procedures that can have complications. The results of the study, the largest to date of a liquid biopsy test, give some reassurance that this might be possible. “I think this study really demonstrates the veracity of the liquid biopsy approach,” said Philip C. Mack, director of molecular pharmacology at the University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, who is presenting the results here this weekend to the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The liquid biopsies are not currently used to diagnose cancer but rather to monitor disease progression or to detect genetic mutations in the tumor that could suggest which drug should be used to treat the disease. Just this week the Food and Drug Administration gave its first approval for such a test, one developed by Roche to detect mutations in a particular gene. Lung cancers with mutations in that gene are vulnerable to treatment with certain drugs, including Roche’s own Tarceva. Many liquid biopsy tests are being sold by other companies under rules that do not require F. D. A. approval. The study looked at the results of more than 15, 000 liquid biopsies performed by Guardant Health, a Silicon Valley that is one of the leaders in the field. While many liquid biopsy tests now look for only a few mutations, Guardant’s test, which has a list price of $5, 800, looks at mutations in 70 genes. The 15, 000 samples came from the blood of people with various types of cancer, including lung, breast and colorectal. The researchers on the study, most of whom worked for Guardant, said the frequency and types of mutations found were similar to what is known from scientific literature. For nearly 400 patients, tumor biopsies were available, allowing for direct comparison to the blood test results from the same patient. For certain mutations that drive tumor growth, if a particular mutation was found in the blood it was also found in the tumor 94 to 100 percent of the time. There was much less agreement for mutations that predict resistance to particular drugs. Those might have arisen only after treatment started, so might not have been seen in the tumor biopsy, which is usually taken at the time of diagnosis. One shortcoming of the liquid biopsy was that for about 15 percent of the patients over all, no tumor DNA was detected in the blood. “There are simply tumors that do not shed DNA into circulation at detectable levels, so we are bound to miss them,” said Dr. Mack, who has been a paid speaker for Guardant. Dr. Edward Kim, an expert on lung cancer mutations who was not involved in the study, said the results showed the liquid biopsy accuracy was “very good. ” He said, however, that use of an actual tumor sample allows for a more thorough analysis, including more mutations than is possible with a blood sample. “I’m not personally ready to give up tissue,” said Dr. Kim, who is chairman of solid tumor oncology at the Carolinas HealthCare System’s Levine Cancer Institute in Charlotte, N. C. “It’s still the gold standard. ” Still, he said, there are times when a tissue biopsy cannot be obtained, and it is difficult to do second and third tissue biopsies on a patient. In those cases, he said, “I love the option of having the blood test available. ” Dozens of companies are now developing or offering liquid biopsies, and tissue biopsy companies are trying to defend their turf. Foundation Medicine, which analyzes tissue biopsies for mutations, sued Guardant last month, accusing it of patent infringement, which Guardant denies. Meanwhile, Foundation has introduced its own liquid biopsy test. The next frontier could be to develop a blood test to detect many or virtually all types of cancer at an early stage, when they might be most easily treatable. That might be tricky because patients could be given needless treatments and needless anxiety in the case of false positives, or if the test detected cancers that were real but would not hurt the patient if left alone. Illumina, a manufacturer of DNA sequencing machines, formed a company in January to develop such a test. It named the company Grail. Not to be outdone in the hyperbolic naming department, Guardant last month began studies to validate its own test, using the name Project Lunar. | 1 |
Home › SOCIETY | US NEWS › SCHOOLS ALL OVER AMERICA ARE CLOSING ON ELECTION DAY DUE TO FEARS OF VIOLENCE SCHOOLS ALL OVER AMERICA ARE CLOSING ON ELECTION DAY DUE TO FEARS OF VIOLENCE 0 SHARES
[10/28/16] Will this be the most chaotic election day in modern American history? All across the nation, schools are being closed on election day due to safety fears. Traditionally, schools have been very popular as voting locations because they can accommodate a lot of people, they usually have lots of parking, and everyone in the community knows where they are and can usually get to them fairly easily. But now there is a big movement to remove voting from schools or to shut schools down on election day so that children are not present when voting takes place. According to Fox News , “voting has been removed or classes have been canceled on Election Day at schools in Illinois, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and elsewhere.” Just a couple days ago , I shared with you a survey that found that 51 percent of all Americans are concerned about violence happening on election day, and all of these schools closing is just another sign of how on edge much of the population is as we approach November 8th.
Many officials are being very honest about the fact that schools are being shut down on election day because they are afraid of election violence. The following comes from Fox News …
Several schools across the nation have decided to close on Election Day over fears of possible violence in the hallways stemming from the fallout from the heated rhetoric that consumed the campaign trail.
The fear is the ugliness of the election season could escalate into confrontations and even violence in the school hallways, endangering students.
“If anybody can sit there and say they don’t think this is a contentious election, then they aren’t paying much attention,” Ed Tolan, the Falmouth, Maine police chief, said Tuesday. His community has already called off classes on Nov. 8 and an increased police presence will be felt around town.
And without a doubt, voting locations are “soft targets” that often have little or no security. We have been blessed to have had such peaceful elections in the past, but we also need to realize that times have changed. I believe that there is wisdom in what Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp told reporters …
“There is a concern, just like at a concert, sporting event or other public gathering that we didn’t have 15 or 20 years ago,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, co-chairman of the National Association of Secretaries of State election committee. “ What if someone walks in a polling location with a backpack bomb or something? If that happens at a school, then that’s certainly concerning.”
All it is going to take is a single incident to change everything.
Let us hope that it is not this election day when we see something like that.
Another reason why polling locations are under increased scrutiny this election season is because of concerns about election fraud. This is something that Donald Trump has alluded to repeatedly on the campaign trail. For instance, just consider what he told a rally in Pennsylvania … Post navigation | 0 |
ORLANDO, Fla. — As the sound of gunfire in the nightclub grew louder, a patron named Orlando and a female friend took cover in a cramped bathroom stall, contorting their bodies on top of the toilet so their feet could not be seen. The gunman burst into the bathroom, went straight to the stall next to them and shot the people inside. “People were screaming, begging for their lives,” Orlando, 52, said in a telephone interview, asking that his last name not be used out of fear of retaliation from terrorist sympathizers. The gunman, Omar Mateen, was silent, then left the bathroom. “He went out and started shooting outside again,” Orlando said. For three sickening hours on Sunday morning, a game of deception played out in a bathroom where the assailant holed up with hostages after killing dozens of people inside the Pulse nightclub. Orlando and his friend desperately tried to avoid becoming two more victims. Orlando said he listened as the gunman warned his hostages not to text anyone, took their cellphones, called 911 to calmly pledge his allegiance to the Islamic State, spoke about a need to stop American bombing in Syria and threatened greater bloodshed if the police moved in. Orlando described moments of surreal quiet as the siege went on and the killer fiddled with his weapon and used the sink and the hand dryer. Mr. Mateen checked on the bodies around him, Orlando said. At one point, Orlando switched positions and played dead, and he felt something poking him. He believed it was the gunman, checking to see if he was dead. Around 5 a. m. the police blew a hole in the wall, enabling some of the hostages to escape, and officers engaged in a fatal final confrontation with the assailant. Much of Orlando’s account corresponds with new information released by the police on Monday, other witness accounts and video evidence, which combined to paint a chilling picture of the hostage crisis that unfolded after the attack. The first bursts of gunfire, around 2 a. m. were captured on video by Amanda Alvear, the footage uploaded to Snapchat. In the video, she is recording herself and others as they dance to the last song of the evening at the popular gay club. Then she turns the camera toward her own face. She is staring into the lens as the first few shots are heard. They do not seem to faze her. But as they continue, unrelenting, roughly 20 rounds, the video abruptly ends. She was listed among the dead on Monday. Just before the shooting began, Ashley Summers and her friends went to their bartender, Kate, at Pulse’s back bar to order one more round — a vodka, soda and lime for Ms. Summers a vodka and Red Bull for one friend and a specialty drink for the other. One of Ms. Summers’s friends was polishing the credit card receipt with all sorts of pleasantries for the bartender — “sexy kitten,” “muah,” “you the best” — when the popping started. For 15 seconds, through the pulsing of the salsa music, they thought it might have been firecrackers, Ms. Summers said in an interview. But they eventually figured out it was gunshots. Ms. Summers said a friend pulled her to the ground. They felt glass shattering over their heads. They were near a back exit and crawled out. Concerned about what might be behind the white privacy fence out back, they turned left, into a storage area. But they heard more gunshots coming from that direction, so they went back out onto the patio and used some furniture to vault over the fence. They dashed to safety. “At that point it was shock, it was disbelief, it was fear, but it was urgency,” said Ms. Summers, a ballroom dance instructor. “There was knowing that we had to get out of there. ” Soon after Mr. Mateen first opened fire, he was confronted by an armed security guard who was an police officer, said John Mina, the Orlando police chief, at a news conference Monday morning. They exchanged gunfire. The security guard was then joined by an unknown number of police officers, the first to arrive on the scene. During these early rounds of gunfire, the police said, many patrons were able to escape. But the assailant retreated deeper into the club, eventually barricading himself in the bathroom, where some patrons had gone to hide. When the shots erupted, Norman Casiano dropped to his knees and crawled to what was apparently a different bathroom, seeking safety in a stall where many people were already crammed together. He tried to call 911, then his mother, shouting, “Mom mom mom mom!” into the phone before the call dropped. As Mr. Casiano, 25, and the others huddled together, a wounded man staggered into the bathroom and dropped to the floor. They urged him to try to stay quiet. At one point, as the gunman approached, Mr. Casiano said, he could hear shells clattering to the floor and the gun reloading. Then Mr. Mateen entered the bathroom. “Just firing, firing, firing,” Mr. Casiano said in an interview at his parents’ apartment, about two hours after he was released from the hospital on Monday afternoon. He was hit once in the back and felt a hot pulse of pain tear into him, as if his leg had been severed. He ended up being shot twice in the back, both bullets passing through his body, he said. Mr. Casiano said the gunman did not say anything, but laughed as people begged him not to shoot and assured him that they did not know who he was and had not seen his face. “All I heard was a laugh,” Mr. Casiano said. “He laughed like an evil laugh, something that’s just going to be imprinted in my head forever. ” It was, he said, “a laugh of like, ‘Ha, I did it. ’” When the gunman left the bathroom, Mr. Casiano tried to urge others to leave, he said, and was able to slip away and escape. He said he was in a hospital bed by about 3 a. m. two hours before the siege ended. Orlando’s escape took much longer. Hiding with his friend, he could hear the gunman drawing closer, the sound of each round getting louder. As he and his friend positioned themselves on the toilet, Orlando said, he also braced one foot against the stall door. Around this time, Mina Justice was asleep at home when she received a text from her son, Eddie Justice, she told reporters. He was also hiding in a bathroom at the club. “Mommy I love you,” the first message read. It came in at 2:06 a. m. “In club they shooting. ” Only two minutes later, he wrote, “I’m gonna die. ” Another 30 minutes would pass before he sent a text begging for help. “Call them mommy,” he pleaded. “Hurry,” he wrote. “He’s in the bathroom with us. ” Orlando said he never looked Mr. Mateen in the eye, but recalled his calm voice. At one point, after noticing that some of the hostages in the bathroom were texting, the gunman ordered them to surrender their phones. He spoke again, according to Orlando, asking the hostages, “Are you guys black?” “He said, ‘I don’t have an issue with the blacks,’” Orlando said. Early in the siege, the gunman called 911 to pledge his allegiance to the Islamic State, Chief Mina said. “He was cool and calm when he was making those phone calls to us,” he said. Orlando could hear the gunman speaking on the phone, presumably to the police. He spoke about how America should stop bombing the Islamic State. “He got mad and hung up,” Orlando said. He never heard Mr. Mateen mention gay people — he spoke only about the Islamic State and Syria, and about the damage he still intended to do. The gunman made several calls, and at one point, Orlando said, he told whoever was on the other line that there were people in the club with bombing vests as well as three snipers outside, ready to take out officers if they advanced on the club. “Our negotiators were talking with him, and there were no shots at that time,” Chief Mina said. “But there was talk about bomb vests, about explosives, throughout, and there were statements made about imminent loss of life. ” Near the end of the siege, Mr. Mateen began to shoot the hostages in the bathroom, Orlando said. By some miracle, he said, he once again avoided detection, but a person in the neighboring stall was not so lucky. A man who had just been shot crawled under the stall, grasping at both Orlando’s and his companion’s legs, pulling them down — and exposing their hiding spot. They played dead, “my face against the toilet bowl,” he said. In those moments, Orlando’s phone would not stop ringing, as friends called to see if he was safe. He worried that the rings would draw attention and give him away. As the final battle with the police began, Orlando could hear the gunman loading his weapon, at one point shouting, “I’ve got plenty of bullets. ” Then there were explosions and chaos. The police had blown a hole in the bathroom wall, but Orlando said his muscles were so cramped he could barely move. “My shoulders got caught,” he said. “A cop grabbed me and pulled me out through the hole. ” His female friend was also rescued. When he looked at his clothes, he was covered in blood, but it was not his own. He does not know if anyone else made it out of the bathroom alive. Mr. Justice, whose last text to his mother was just before 3 a. m. did not survive. His death was confirmed by the Orlando authorities early Monday morning. | 1 |
Posted on October 27, 2016 by Baxter Dmitry in News , US // 0 Comments
Malik Obama has had enough of his younger brother Barack’s presidency and is terrified of the prospect of Hillary Clinton succeeding him in the White House.
Born and raised in Kenya, Malik Obama moved to the Washington D.C. area in the 1980s and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He is enrolled to vote in Maryland and he will be casting his ballot for Trump.
“Now that my brother’s term is ending I can be open about it: I support Donald J. Trump for President. #MAGA #MAGA3X #Africans4Trump,” he says on his Twitter page.
A Muslim who spends a lot of time in Africa, Malik has between 3 and 12 wives – he won’t say how many exactly – and clearly doesn’t adhere to traditional American values, however you define them. But even he is disappointed with the job his brother has done leading the country.
Photographs exist of Malik celebrating wildly after his brother won the 2008 election, but since then his views have changed. Malik dreads the thought of Hillary Clinton succeeding his brother in the Oval Office, and describes Trump’s proposed shut down on Muslims entering the United States as “ common sense .” Trump is for the people. Hillary is for the money
— Malik Obama (@ObamaMalik) October 26, 2016
Malik Obama says he is voting Trump because he has learned that career politicians cannot be trusted to enrich anybody but themselves, and he respects the Republican nominee’s honesty. He also blames his brother and Hillary Clinton for the death of Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi, who Malik describes as “ one of my best friends .”
Malik blasted Clinton’s performance as secretary of state for creating chaos and violence in the Mideast. “ Check out the situation in Libya now ,” he said. Malik Obama, older half brother of the US President pictured with the late Colonel Gaddafi of Libya.
Malik Obama might not receive regular phone calls from his younger brother anymore, but Trump called him and invited him to attend the third presidential debate in Las Vegas.
“ I’m excited to be at the debate. Trump can make America great again ,” Malik told The Post.
“ I look very much forward to meeting and being with Malik ,” Trump said in return. “ He gets it far better than his brother. ”
Malik agrees with Trump that the mainstream media is corrupt and biased, and he dismisses the women who claim Trump kissed or groped them against their wishes.
“ I don’t believe them ,” Malik said. “ Why didn’t they come forward before? ”
The Obama surname means “ bent over ” or “ limping ” in the Kenyan Luo language of their tribe – fittingly, as Malik believes his brother’s presidency got off to a good start but is now limping over the line. And in his opinion, if America is to become great again, the baton must not be passed to Hillary Clinton. | 0 |
ATLANTA — For a year, it prompted boycotts, demonstrations and economic fallout that helped dethrone a sitting governor. In the end, in a strange and profoundly American collision of polarized politics, sports, commerce and the culture wars, North Carolina’s notorious House Bill 2 was finally laid to rest on Thursday — though many were left wondering if some of its negative effects might linger. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, signed legislation repealing the law after it was approved by the legislature. House Bill 2 had restricted the ability of municipalities to enact policies and required transgender people in government and public buildings to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificate. In addition to repealing House Bill 2, the new law gives the General Assembly the sole power to regulate access to “multiple occupancy restrooms, showers or changing facilities. ” It also creates a moratorium on local nondiscrimination ordinances through 2020. The compromise agreement came amid a looming threat that the N. C. A. A. which had already relocated a year’s worth of championship tournament games from the state, was planning to eliminate more, including future men’s Division I basketball tournaments. It was met with bitter criticism from gay rights groups, which said it was barely a repeal at all, and from conservatives, who said it backtracked on protecting public safety and traditional values. In a news conference on Thursday, Mr. Cooper said that the agreement would begin undoing the economic damage and that both sports events and economic development would begin coming back to the state. This week, The Associated Press calculated that North Carolina stood to lose more than $3. 7 billion over the next dozen years if House Bill 2 were not repealed. “This is not a perfect deal and it is not my preferred solution it stops short of many things we need to do as a state,” Mr. Cooper said. “In a perfect world, with a good General Assembly, we would have repealed HB2 fully today, and added full statewide protections for L. G. B. T. North Carolinians. ” Still, it remained to be seen if the deal would now lift what Mr. Cooper has called “the dark cloud hanging over our state. ” The N. C. A. A. president, Mark Emmert, said on Thursday that the league’s governing board would soon determine whether the changed law was “sufficient” for “the board to feel comfortable going back to North Carolina. ” The National Basketball Association, which relocated its most recent Game to New Orleans to protest House Bill 2, did not reply to a request seeking comment. The Atlantic Coast Conference, which pulled recent league championships out of the state, indicated that it would take a fresh look at North Carolina. “The recently passed legislation allows the opportunity to reopen the discussion with the A. C. C. Council of Presidents regarding neutral site conference championships being held in the State of North Carolina,” John Swofford, the commissioner, said. PayPal, which in April had canceled an expansion in Charlotte over its concerns about the law, did not respond to a request for comment. A number of celebrities and organizations that had announced they were boycotting the state since the law’s passage one year ago had not commented on the repeal on social media. Pope McCorkle III, a public policy professor at Duke, called the deal an “awkward compromise. ” He said it would ultimately be judged by how many of the sports events, entertainers and businesses who had turned on the state would eventually change their minds. “There could be a split among the outside arbiters about whether this is good enough,” he said. “The deal is only as good as what it achieves in terms of the change in economic development perceptions nationally. ” It appeared that the threat of losing even more basketball games had much to do with the breakthrough. The agreement comes on the eve of basketball’s Final Four weekend, with the University of North Carolina men’s team facing off against Oregon on Saturday night in Glendale, Ariz. Looming even larger, perhaps, was the broader threat of sustained business boycotts. Yet despite these stakes, and in a sign of the deep fissures that continue to run through both the state and the nation, there was little celebration when the law finally died. On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, a gay rights group, called the compromise a “fake” repeal bill that “keeps in place the most harmful parts of the law. ” The Human Rights Campaign and other gay rights groups called the deal “shameful” and accused the governor and the legislature of engaging in a “sell out” of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Some religious and cultural conservatives denounced the removal of transgender bathroom provisions. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, based in Washington, said the compromise showed that “elected officials are ultimately willing to surrender to the courts and the N. C. A. A. on matters of safety and public policy. ” Others argued that girls and women would be robbed of privacy and dignity if forced to confront biological men in restrooms. Gay rights advocates said that the moratorium on local ordinances, combined with the absence of a statewide law addressing sexual orientation and gender identity, would leave lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people at risk of continued discrimination. “That, to me, is astonishing, that we’re going to make L. G. B. T. people wait another four years to be protected from being fired because they’re gay,” said Chris Fitzsimon, director of NC Policy Watch, a liberal group. There appeared to be some disagreement about the freedom that local governments would have to pass protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people under the new law. Mr. Cooper said that local governments were now free to “pass protections for their L. G. B. T. employees. ” Cathryn Oakley, senior legislative counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, said she did not believe that was the case. “I don’t think the language supports that,” she said. Under the new law, transgender people in state government buildings will not be prohibited from using a bathroom that does not match the gender on their birth certificate. Mr. Cooper emphasized the impact on school children. “Now transgender kids aren’t subject to the horrible requirement and embarrassment that could put them in more danger of being bullied or preyed on,” he said. The Justice Department had issued guidelines to public schools stating that denying students the ability to use the restrooms of their choice violated Title IX, the 1972 federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. A Virginia case that might have settled the matter was scheduled to be heard by the United States Supreme Court, but when President Trump’s Justice Department rescinded the guidelines, the justices in March sent it back to a lower court to decide. Jane Wettach, a law professor at Duke, said that beyond schools, few institutions had ever policed people’s bathroom choices. “Which is what made the law sort of symbolic,” she said, referring to House Bill 2. House Bill 2 has already dealt a major political blow to the Republican Party in North Carolina, with the backlash helping Mr. Cooper defeat former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, by a margin in November. Time will tell if Mr. Cooper retains the support of disappointed gay rights advocates on the left wing of his coalition. National gay rights groups could also see a perceived loss of clout if the N. C. A. A. and other sports organizations ignore their continued protests and decide to play ball in the state. If the costly drama in North Carolina serves as a cautionary tale to other states looking to take up such volatile social issues, only some appear to have heeded it. On Thursday in Texas, some conservatives reiterated their support for a bill that would revise the laws regulating bathroom use in government buildings. The bill has been approved by the State Senate. But according to The Texas Tribune, it may not survive in the House. The Tribune reported that Texas businesses were worried the proposal could cost them “hundreds of millions of dollars” in revenue. | 1 |
Last summer, former President Bill Clinton pledged that if Hillary Clinton won the presidential election, he would avoid conflicts by stepping aside from many of his duties at the Clinton Foundation, restricting foreign donations to the charity and spinning off certain programs. Now, nearly three months after Mrs. Clinton’s defeat, the foundation is still grappling with its place in the era of President Trump. It faces some daunting challenges: a drop in during the campaign uncertainty about the scale of the former president’s ambitions and questions about leadership, including how long its president, Donna E. Shalala, will stay, and whether Mrs. Clinton might rejoin the charity. Mr. Clinton, in a letter to be released with the foundation’s annual report this week, went so far as to ask supporters for advice on its future. “We seek both your input and your ideas,” he wrote, noting that the organization would work to expand its impact. Ms. Shalala, in an interview on Thursday, acknowledged the difficulties. “Last year was a tough year,” she said, “because people were beating on us with nonsense,” a reference to bruising political attacks claiming that donors were using the foundation to curry favor with the Clintons. Revenues were down for 2016, Ms. Shalala acknowledged, in part because of voluntary restrictions and the fact that the charity’s major — the former president and his daughter, Chelsea — were campaigning for Mrs. Clinton. Revenues “dropped during the economic downturn, too,” Ms. Shalala said. Still, both Mr. Clinton and Ms. Shalala, who also cited concerns in keeping talent, expressed optimism. “At the end of the day,” she said, “I think this is going to be as it always was: a creative, dynamic foundation that helps to improve the lives of millions. ” As the foundation looks within, many experts said it was right to assess its future, including whether a great enough need still existed for its most prominent asset: the ability to bring the private sector together with charities to help underserved causes. “It’s certainly a different landscape than it was” when the foundation’s work began, said Carolyn Miles, president and chief executive of Save the Children, one of the foundation’s early partners. “I would say you have to come back as something slightly different. ” In recent weeks, the foundation has completed a planned shutdown of the Clinton Global Initiative, which hosted a annual meeting, and laying off most of the initiative’s staff of about 100. Foundation officials confirmed on Thursday that two major programs, including one in Haiti, would transfer out of the foundation. The organization has also considered scaling back other efforts, according to several people familiar with the discussions, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Staff members have prepared options for Bill and Chelsea Clinton to consider, which include some new endeavors, Ms. Shalala said. Meanwhile, foundation officials are striving to project an image of business as usual. The new annual report highlighted the organization’s efforts across the world, including opening a health clinic in Malawi and expanding its role in countering the opioid crisis in the United States. During the holidays, Mr. Clinton reached out to donors offering to match contributions. Chelsea Clinton and foundation staff members in January packed grapefruits at a community service event in New York with City Harvest. And Ms. Shalala announced a new partnership to enhance the health of children in San Diego County. President Trump’s executive order banning federal assistance for international health groups if they counsel women on or provide abortions has also contributed to fears of a broader decline in funding for global health work. Ms. Shalala said she had discussed how to contend with that possibility in a recent conversation with Bill Gates, whose charity has supported the Clinton Foundation and many other nonprofits. The foundation was formed in 1997 during Mr. Clinton’s presidency and has raised roughly $2 billion since then. Its work has spanned 3, 500 projects and 180 countries including the United States, with projects as varied as earthquake recovery in Haiti and health initiatives in Rwanda. During the presidential campaign, political opponents pounded the foundation, criticizing its dealings with foreign donors and financiers. No evidence emerged of a quid pro quo while Mrs. Clinton served as secretary of state, but the overlapping interests of foreign donors to the foundation and official international affairs dogged her candidacy. The philanthropy was a focus for Mrs. Clinton after her time as secretary of state and before her recent presidential run. In terms of deciding whether to “we are not there yet even remotely now,” Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, said. Ms. Shalala, who served as secretary of health and human services under Mr. Clinton and seemed destined for a White House role if Mrs. Clinton had prevailed, said it was unclear how long she would stay as the foundation’s president. For the moment, hiring appears muted: Most of the job postings on the foundation’s website are for food service and catering jobs at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Ark. Many believe the foundation’s future will depend on Mr. Clinton, now 70, always its driving force. “Does he still have the energy, passion, desire and the good health in order to devote energy to it?” Neal the chief executive of the global humanitarian organization Mercy Corps, asked during a phone interview from Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum in January. On Thursday, Ms. Shalala described the former president and Chelsea Clinton, who both serve on the foundation’s board, as engaged, “main influences” on with Mr. Clinton still a draw for donors. “He’s got a lot of friends,” Ms. Shalala said. But others saw obstacles ahead. “The big issue they are going to face is to what degree can they raise money now that the Clintons seem to be out of national leadership positions,” said Leslie Lenkowsky, a philanthropy expert at Indiana University. “They have lost a little bit of their luster. ” In 2015, the charity’s revenues were nearly $300 million, down from $338 million in 2014, according to its annual report. It has not yet released figures for 2016, but Ms. Shalala acknowledged that they were lower. Internal goals of raising $20 million in unrestricted funds in 2016 were surpassed, but “took a lot of effort to get there,” she said. In August, at the official start of the general election campaign, the foundation announced its decision to shutter the Clinton Global Initiative, a yearly gathering that Douglas J. Band, a longtime aide of Mr. Clinton’s, had conceived of as a way to connect wealthy donors and corporations with worthy causes. It held its final meeting in September. By contrast, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, known as CHAI — a separate but affiliated entity — halted a series of moves designed to disengage from the Clintons in the event that Mrs. Clinton won the White House. Regan Lachapelle, a spokeswoman for CHAI, said the group’s work was continuing amid discussions about its future. “None of it’s resolved,” said Dr. Paul Farmer, a board member of CHAI, which has health programs in 70 countries that include promoting AIDS treatment and strengthening health systems, in a telephone interview from Haiti. “Knowing what to do in this climate is a tough call. ” Across the worldwide outposts where the Clinton Foundation has a presence, speculation about its future has been rampant. In some foreign countries, CHAI has been accused of using the Clintons’ influence to pressure governments into pursuing certain initiatives, or rewarding favored American development partners. “If they disappear it would be very ironic,” said Dr. Patricia A. McQuilkin, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Speaking from Liberia, she said CHAI’s initiatives in the wake of the Ebola epidemic had sidelined longtime academic partnerships like hers. “They insinuate themselves into the whole process and try to take it over,” she said. Development experts, including Daniel F. Runde, a former director of the Office of Global Development Alliances at the United States Agency for International Development, generally expressed the belief that the foundation could continue to attract support for its work. “It’s a damaged brand,” Mr. Runde said, “but there remains an international demand for them. ” For years, the Clinton Foundation has worked with organizations founded by other former presidents, from Lyndon B. Johnson to George W. Bush. In recent months, Ms. Shalala said, foundation officials have offered advice for former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, on their own foundation, which will focus on national and international community building programs. “They called and asked some questions,” Ms. Shalala said. | 1 |
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We all know the corruption in DC is real, but it’s still be a very SHOCKING past few weeks with all the skeletons coming out of the closet proving us right!
Now, we have learned that the FBI really wanted to do their job and investigate Hillary correctly to see if she needed to be put away. The problem was …. Obama’s Justice Department.
They got in the way.
CLASSIC corruption move…
Now they are busted….and metaphorically caught with their pants down. What the FBI has released now, is going to make it REAL hard for the Justice Department to dodge this one…
FBI investigators believed the audio was at least worth investigating and they grew increasingly frustrated as they ran into roadblocks erected by corruption prosecutors and even some FBI executives, sources told The Wall Street Journal. The prosecutors reportedly felt the case wasn’t worth bringing to a grand jury because the individual in the secret recording wasn’t working inside the Clinton Foundation.
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Robert Capers, were both at the center of the internal dispute, per the report:
Amid the internal finger-pointing on the Clinton Foundation matter, some have blamed the FBI’s No. 2 official, deputy director Andrew McCabe, claiming he sought to stop agents from pursuing the case this summer. His defenders deny that, and say it was the Justice Department that kept pushing back on the investigation.
At times, people on both sides of the dispute thought Mr. Capers agreed with them. Defenders of Mr. Capers said he was straightforward and always told people he thought the case wasn’t strong.
Another bombshell Fox News report published Wednesday suggested that FBI agents are now “actively and aggressively pursuing” the Clinton Foundation case. Two separate sources told Fox News the case is now “very high priority.”
To see the FOX reporting CLICK HERE
There are no answers in DC, and there hasn’t been for a very long time. There is now, only corruption. I’d say it’s high time we do drain the swamp.
Lets hope what need to happen in order for that to be done… happens on November 8th. Related Items | 0 |
WASHINGTON — When President Trump chose the Oklahoma attorney general, Scott Pruitt, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, his mission was clear: Carry out Mr. Trump’s campaign vows to radically reduce the size and scope of the agency and take apart President Barack Obama’s ambitious climate change policies. In his first weeks on the job, Mr. Pruitt drew glowing praise from foes of Mr. Obama’s agenda against global warming, as he moved to roll back its centerpiece, known as the Clean Power Plan, and expressed agreement with those who said the E. P. A. should be eliminated. His actions and statements have galvanized protests from environmentalists and others on the left. But now a growing chorus of critics on the other end of the political spectrum say Mr. Pruitt has not gone far enough. In particular, they are angry that he has refused to challenge a landmark agency determination known as the endangerment finding, which provides the legal basis for Mr. Obama’s Clean Power Plan and other global warming policies. These critics say that Mr. Pruitt is hacking only at the branches of current climate policy. They want him to pull it out by the roots. “The endangerment finding must be redone, or all of this is for naught,” said Steven J. Milloy, who runs a website, JunkScience. com, aimed at debunking the established science of climate change, and who worked on the Trump administration’s E. P. A. transition team. “If you get rid of the endangerment finding, the rest of the climate regulations just sweep themselves away. But if they don’t get rid of it, the environmentalists can sue, and then there’s going to have to be a Trump Clean Power Plan,” said Mr. Milloy, who is also a former policy director for Murray Energy, a major coal company whose chief executive, Robert E. Murray, was a backer of Mr. Trump’s campaign and his push to undo climate change policy. The 2009 legal finding is at the heart of a debate within the Trump administration over how to permanently reverse Mr. Obama’s climate change rules. The finding concludes that carbon dioxide emissions endanger public health and welfare by warming the planet, which led to a legal requirement that the E. P. A. regulate smokestacks and tailpipes that spew pollution. Thus, climate policy experts on both sides of the debate say, even if Mr. Pruitt succeeds in the legally challenging process of withdrawing the Clean Power Plan, the endangerment finding will still put him under the legal obligation to put together a replacement regulation. Mr. Pruitt has told the White House and Congress that he will not try to reverse the finding, saying that such a move would almost certainly be overturned by the courts. Last month, as Mr. Trump prepared to release an executive order directing Mr. Pruitt to dismantle the Clean Power Plan, along with nearly every other major element of Mr. Obama’s climate change legacy, Mr. Pruitt argued against including a repeal of the endangerment finding in the order, according to people familiar with the matter. Legal experts outside the Trump White House say that while Mr. Pruitt may face political fire on his right flank for the move, it is nonetheless pragmatic legally, since the finding has already been challenged and upheld by federal courts. But Mr. Pruitt is now being pilloried by conservative allies of the White House. Writing in Breitbart News — the conservative website formerly run by Mr. Trump’s senior strategist, Stephen K. Bannon — James Delingpole, a writer who is close to Mr. Bannon, said that if Mr. Pruitt refused to undo the endangerment finding, “it will represent a major setback for President Trump’s war with the Climate Industrial Complex. ” “If Scott Pruitt is not up to that task, then maybe it’s about time he did the decent thing and handed over the reins to someone who is,” he added. Legal experts say they can see why opponents of climate change policy want to go after the endangerment finding — as long as it remains in place, any efforts to undo climate regulations can always be reversed. “As a matter of theory, they’re absolutely right,” said Richard J. Lazarus, a professor of environmental law at Harvard. “If you want to get rid of the climate stuff, you get rid of the root, not just the branches. They want him to uproot the whole thing. ” But, Mr. Lazarus added, “as a matter of legal strategy, it makes little sense, because the endangerment finding is very strong. ” The original recommendation to make an endangerment finding on carbon dioxide emissions was made by Stephen L. Johnson, a career scientist who led the E. P. A. under President George W. Bush, although the Bush White House did not act on Mr. Johnson’s memo. After the Obama administration did so, the finding was legally challenged but upheld in a federal court. The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal. Mr. Lazarus said that Mr. Pruitt would have his hands full with the legal challenges of undoing the regulations themselves. Taking on the endangerment finding would probably be futile, he said. “He doesn’t want to spend a lot of time with something that’s a sure loser,” he said. “It wrecks your credibility with the courts. ” Mr. Pruitt has a long history of championing legal efforts to undermine major environmental rules. As Oklahoma’s attorney general, he sued the E. P. A. 14 times in efforts to undo regulations. He believes in stripping power away from the federal government and returning it to states. But during his Senate confirmation hearing, he told senators that despite that, he was likely to draw the line at trying to overturn the endangerment finding. “It is there, and it needs to be enforced and respected,” Mr. Pruitt said. “There is nothing that I know that would cause it to be reviewed. ” | 1 |
geoengineeringwatch.org
The power structure is continuing to fracture from within. Like feuding mafia families that no longer have enough turf to exploit, they will begin to turn on each other. There are many predicting the manner in which the dominos will fall, but who can know with any certainty? There are simply too many variables and too many factors that are already far beyond the breaking point. The noose is being tightened around all our necks from countless directions. The AT&T purchase of Time Warner (and thus CNN News) is just another sign of the rapid power structure consolidation. Those who attempt to stand up to the fascist state are treated brutally, as the Dakota pipeline protesters now know. The hypocrisy of environmentalists like Leonardo DiCaprio (and organizations like National Geographic) is perplexing and disappointing. The newly released film "After The Flood (by DeCaprio and National Geographic) was disappointing and unfortunately only a half truth. The US military continues to bomb the forces that are actually fighting ISIS, why? Has the human race overshot the planet's ability to support the population? If so, who bears the blame, and where do we go from here? The latest installment of Global Alert News is below.
As the battle for the greater good becomes ever more difficult, and the horizon grows darker, many, unfortunately, abandon their post and passively sit down on the bench. There is no solace in walking away from the most important struggle ever faced by the human race and at the most critical time. We must never turn away, we must never yield, we must never give up, make your voice heard in the fight for the greater good. | 0 |
Thursday, Donald Trump and Vice Mike Pence will speak at the “Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration” live from the Lincoln Memorial beginning at 4 p. m. ET. Country singer Toby Keith and 3 Doors Down are set to perform, as well as various military bands. Follow Breitbart. tv on Twitter @BreitbartVideo | 1 |
SAN FRANCISCO — On Snapchat last week, MTV published an article with the headline “Is this the thirstiest person on earth?” The article, which ran on Snapchat’s news service, Discover, appeared with a picture of a blond woman taking a selfie, even though the piece was about a fully clothed man. Those kinds of risqué and misleading images will now be much less prominent on Discover because early on Monday, Snapchat updated its guidelines for publishers in a way that essentially cleans up what is shown on its news service. The new rules more explicitly restrict publishers from posting questionable pictures on Discover that do not have news or editorial value. Snapchat also clarified guidelines that prevent publishers from including reports or links to outside websites that could be considered fake news, saying that all content must be and accurate. The changes aim to “empower our editorial partners to do their part to keep Snapchat an informative, factual and safe environment for everyone,” said Rachel Racusen, a spokeswoman for the company. Snapchat said it also planned to give publishers a tool in February that would allow them to content, or stop minors from seeing some content altogether. The moves — which come ahead of an initial public offering expected for this spring by Snapchat’s parent company, Snap — underscore how the company is trying to distinguish itself from rival social media services. Facebook and Twitter typically give users, including publications, wide latitude in what they can post, which has led the companies into one controversy after another — including criticism over fake news and outrage over harassment and abuse by internet trolls. Snapchat is acting to limit those problems in a way that is reminiscent of how traditional media companies curate what they show people. “Snapchat thinks about the role that its content plays in the lives of consumers differently,” said Steven Kydd, one of the founders of Tastemade, an online food publication. “This is cable all over again, except for a mobile and global audience. ” Cleaning up what is published on Discover could have many benefits for Snapchat, like helping the service appeal to advertisers, which would not have to worry as much that they would be advertising alongside inappropriate content for Snapchat’s primary audience of teenagers and . The new rules could also whet investors’ appetites for Snapchat if they help the company avoid the taints of fake news and online abuse that have dogged its rivals. “In this environment, every technology company that touches media is concerned about being vulnerable to connections to fake news and disinformation,” said Joshua Benton, director of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. “That’s doubly true for a company planning for an I. P. O. ” Snapchat introduced Discover in January 2015 as a part of its mobile app, where it publishes content from established media brands like CNN and Cosmopolitan, as well as newer outlets like the political channel We the People. For Snapchat, Discover is a way to engage users more deeply. Publishers see Discover as an avenue to reach a new and younger audience. From the start, Snapchat approached news differently from other social networks. While Facebook has said it is not a media company and does not want to be an arbiter of truth in news on its website, Snapchat has long prohibited false or deceptive content and is thoroughly involved in editorial standards for content on Discover. In a blog post published when Discover began, Snapchat said: “Social media companies tell us what to read based on what’s most recent or most popular. We see it differently. We count on editors and artists, not clicks and shares, to determine what’s important. ” As a result, Snapchat has always exercised a large degree of control over Discover. To secure a place on Discover, publishers have had to agree to fairly stringent guidelines around editing and video production, including having audio play at a consistent volume and a ban on images that are misleading or gimmicky. Snapchat also mandated that all images and headlines be appropriate for an audience as young as 13 years old. Discover has grown quickly. More than 100 million Snapchat users view content on Discover each month, according to the company. While some publishers said people were initially slow to embrace Discover, interest has increased over the past year. Tastemade, which publishes different editions for different areas around the world on Discover, said it had been pleased enough with the size of its Snapchat audience that it planned to grow with Snapchat as it rolled out worldwide. Still, Snapchat has not been able to entirely sidestep criticism about what it shows on Discover. In July, a lawsuit filed against the company alleged that Discover intentionally exposed minors “to harmful, offensive, prurient and sexually offensive content without warning minors or their parents that they would be exposed to such explicit content. ” The lawsuit cited examples of inappropriate content on Discover, like a post from BuzzFeed that sexualized images from Disney movies and a post from Cosmopolitan, with photos, about a performance artist who let strangers touch her genitalia. While the lawsuit was dismissed in November because the sides agreed to settle, Snapchat said it had decided to take action in response to the litigation. It soon created a new tool, which Snapchat said it had been discussing for a while, that let publishers prevent Snapchat users who were under age 18 from seeing certain content. When people sign up for Snapchat, they must enter their age and a phone number that is confirmed by the service. Snapchat also reserves the right to gate content for youngsters, even if a publisher has chosen not to do so. In updating its publisher guidelines, Snapchat aimed to clarify vague language and provide more examples around its restrictions on the use of nudity, profanity and violent images. The new rules more clearly state that publishers should not use overly sexualized or violent images as the initial visual that users are exposed to when they look at Discover and that content intended simply to shock or disgust is not allowed. Some exceptions are made for material that has news value. For the first time, the guidelines have a dedicated section detailing the warnings that publishers must run when graphic images are deemed newsworthy, as well as when to that content. Some of these updates came out of conversations that began months ago with several publishers that routinely published racier content, including The Daily Mail and Cosmopolitan, as well as news services that published controversial images. “We have been collaborating closely with all of our publishers, whose content has continued to evolve,” said Nick Bell, Snapchat’s vice president for content. “We want to be a great partner to all of our editorial partners, and updating our content guidelines to better reflect where our platform is today is an important part of that. ” One of the publishers that talked with Snapchat about the new rules was Sweet, a channel created by the media company Hearst, which said its viewership on Discover had grown substantially over the past few months. Ross Clark, Sweet’s general manager and vice president, likened the updated guidelines to a parental advisory sticker on an album or to ratings on movies. “The media industry has always included clearly established content guidelines,” Mr. Clark said. “It’s what allows a platform to have a large, diverse set of users. ” | 1 |
Putin says its too early for him to retire 28 October 2016 TASS Putin expressed this opinion at the Valdai International Discussion Forum in Sochi. Facebook putin , politics , russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin believes the time has not yet come for him to retire. He expressed this opinion at the Valdai International Discussion Forum in Sochi.
"The moderator wished me a pleasant retirement, I have the same wish for myself, only when the time comes. This is the right thing that needs to be done but I haven’t retired yet, I am an acting head of a large state so I should be reserved, and refrain from expressing unnecessary aggressiveness," Putin said.
According to him, belligerence is not his style. Nevertheless, he was confident that in front of the Valdai Club audience one should be very honest otherwise the discussion would be boring and dry.
First published by TASS . | 0 |
Breitbart News Senior Editor MILO likened Planned Parenthood to eugenics during his talk at Cal Poly State University on Tuesday, citing the amount of black babies aborted every year.[ “Progressives like to insinuate that there is something sinister about Big Oil and Big Tobacco. They might even be right! But Planned Parenthood, Big Abortion, is worse,” proclaimed MILO. “We were all shocked when undercover tapes came out showing they are in the business of selling baby parts to the medical industry. Can you imagine, and I don’t think this is a stretch, the senior leaders of Planned Parenthood sitting in a conference room discussing the best timing for an abortion, to maximize their profits from the dead baby’s body? It’s horrifying, and it’s what feminists want more of. ” “Planned Parenthood can attribute a good portion of their boffo business to their president since 2006, Cecile Richards,” he continued. “Richards is well on her way to personally matching Hitler’s body count. We’ve done the grim maths so you don’t have to. ” “Using a conservative estimate of 300, 000 abortions a year — or 300 kiloscrapes, using the technical metric measure — Cecile Richards has presided over three million abortions, or three megascrapes in her ten years as president of the organisation,” MILO stated. “This has earned her ‘half Holocaust’ status. Full Holocaust seems eminently reachable given Planned Parenthood’s growing hegemony in the abortion industry. ” MILO continued to add that these statistics were just since “Richards took charge,” and didn’t include abortions performed prior to 2006. “Planned Parenthood has since 1970 performed 7 million abortions, comfortably surpassing Hitler according to its own annual reports,” added MILO. “You have to admire the chutzpah, if you’ll forgive my terminology: Planned Parenthood has amassed a Third death count completely legally and while pocketing half a billion dollars a year to do so. But under Richards the numbers have skyrocketed such that in just the last ten years, at least 3 million young lives were ended. ” “If Cecile stays in her post another decade, she will reach ‘full Hitler,’ by matching the six million deaths of the Holocaust. In fact it’ll probably be sooner than that, given the acceleration in procedures during her reign,” he continued. “The road ahead may be rocky. Besides the undercover videos still being released, some media sources are starting to cover the revolting practices of these sociopathic monsters. Nice normal people, whatever their views on abortion, have no stomach for these unashamed activities. And perhaps President Trump will defund them. ” “If you need to hear more about Margaret Sanger, here’s something she once said. She was inarguably racist,” MILO explained. “She spoke glowingly about a presentation to a group of KKK women in New Jersey, and they loved her messaging about the black race. Messaging like this, in a letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble:” We do not want word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out the idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members. “Margaret Sanger’s goal was to diminish the black race, and one can argue she was at least partially successful. Stats about abortion by race are not always easy to find, but nonetheless paint a compelling picture about the race reality of abortion,” proclaimed MILO. “In 2012, there were more black children aborted in New York City than born alive. More than 31, 000 compared to just under 25, 000 live births. Blacks accounted for 42% of the abortions in the city, with Hispanic women accounting for another 31%. That’s 73% of all abortions in the city killing black and Hispanic youth. ” “Other national data from the Center for Reform asserts that black women are 3 times more likely to have an abortion than white women,” he concluded. “So isn’t it fascinating that intersectional feminists fighting for abortion and so often with Black Lives Matter? To any BLM members tucked away in the audience, I can conclusively say that feminists are one group that do not believe black lives matter at all. ” Written from prepared remarks. | 1 |
blowed up reeeeal good!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE3Q5xPtS3A&t=60s | 0 |
years after a at Smith Barney sexually assaulted her at work, Lisa Mays says she still trembles when she tells the story. It was early one morning at the Walnut Creek, Calif. branch when a broker, the only other person in the building, followed Ms. Mays into her office and backed her into a corner. “Before I knew it, he was lifting my skirt to get into my tights and I was begging him to stop,” she recalled in an interview. The assault was cut short when another employee arrived. “And then, he just walked away like nothing happened,” Ms. Mays said of her attacker. Ms. Mays, who worked as a wire operator, entering trade orders into the system for brokers, was one of 23 women who sued Smith Barney for sexual harassment and pay discrimination in an explosive lawsuit filed 20 years ago this month. It became known as the “ room” suit, named after a basement party room at Smith Barney’s branch office in Garden City, N. Y. Nearly 2, 000 women joined the case, exposing the sordid antics of Wall Street’s culture. Smith Barney paid $150 million in arbitration awards and settlements in the case, and it and other Wall Street firms rushed to set up training, employee hotlines and programs to recruit women. Twenty years later, permanent change is less obvious. “You may no longer have strippers coming for afternoon entertainment, but that doesn’t mean you are treated as an equal,” said Anne C. Vladeck of the New York employment law firm Vladeck, Raskin Clark. “It’s not quite as blatant as what went on in the room, but it’s still there in a way that makes it very hard for women to succeed. Companies on Wall Street are just not changing. ” Complaints persist about pay and promotion disparities and a lack of women in senior management roles, and frustrations are growing about the limited ability of individuals to seek damages in court. Brokerage firms today say they deal swiftly with harassers and have developed programs to mentor and showcase women. Branch managers at Morgan Stanley, which operated a brokerage joint venture with Smith Barney until acquiring it in 2013, can earn up to an additional $150, 000 a year by recruiting and developing diverse advisers, a spokesman said. Last year, nearly 50 percent of financial adviser trainees hired were female or members of minority groups, he added. He declined to say what percentage of the firm’s current brokers are women. Women are slowly joining the senior ranks of Wall Street firms. Last year, women at Deutsche Bank represented 20. 5 percent of the firm’s directors and managing directors, up from 17. 1 percent in 2011, according to its 2015 human resources report. Goldman Sachs’s latest class of managing directors was 25 percent female, the highest proportion since that title was created in the . The least progress has been made in pay. Last week, a managing director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch filed a complaint in federal court in New York, noting that her 2015 bonus was $1. 55 million while her male counterpart’s was $5. 5 million. The bank has a “bros club” culture, the complaint says. A bank spokesman said, “We take all allegations of inappropriate behavior seriously and investigate them thoroughly. ” Last year, women filled 31 percent of jobs in the “securities, commodities and financial services sales agents” group tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but they earned only 52 cents for every dollar that men made, according to a study released last month by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington. Among 119 job categories analyzed in the study, that group had the largest gender pay gap. By comparison, women on average make 79 cents for every dollar men make. “It’s unbelievable,” said Ariane Hegewisch, a program director at the institute and of the study. “I get calls from women who have come across our work and they say, ‘What do I do? ’” Ms. Hegewisch said that today’s female brokers repeatedly complain that men are circumventing reforms. The 1996 suit against Smith Barney, as well as one in 1997 against Merrill Lynch, drew attention to the widespread practice of branch managers’ excluding of women when it was time to assign the accounts of departing brokers. Morgan Stanley’s spokesman said the company today uses a formulaic, process for distributing accounts. Ms. Hegewisch said, however, that senior male brokers at some firms were “forming teams of young white guys to work with old white guys, which means the accounts stay on the team and don’t get distributed” when older brokers retire. In the room era, some women complained that they couldn’t become brokers at all. Roberta Thomann, a former sales assistant and one of the three women in the Smith Barney Garden City office who initiated the lawsuit, said in an interview that her bosses stopped her from studying for the exam to become a broker. “They gave my books to a male sales assistant so that he could study,” Ms. Thomann said. “I never even got a chance. ” Linda D. Friedman, one of the lawyers who represented Ms. Thomann and the others, said that would not happen today. Neither would the “open and celebrated” brand of harassment of that era, she said. Still, big producers can get special treatment. Ms. Mays’s attacker, for example, worked at Smith Barney, and then Morgan Stanley, for another 24 years after the episode at her office, despite her having reported it to his supervisor. Julie a former compliance supervisor at Deutsche Bank Securities, said in a 2010 lawsuit that a was promoted to managing director “despite having such a poor record on sexual harassment that DB will not permit him to have a female administrative assistant. ” In court papers, Deutsche Bank denied the allegation. In an email statement, a Deutsche Bank spokeswoman said it promptly investigates allegations of gender discrimination and takes disciplinary action where appropriate. Some of the behavior depicted in cases rivals the indignities of the room, the Smith Barney party room that the lead plaintiff, Pamela K. Martens, had visited once, only to be grabbed by her branch manager and kissed on the lips. Maria Garcia, a former Barclays Capital sales executive, described a similar incident at a conference in Bogotá, Colombia, in 2011, in her discrimination case, which is still in progress. In her complaint, Ms. Garcia said she was at a business dinner when a male director at Barclays stopped by and kissed her on the lips in front of members of her team. She said that when she told her boss about the episode after returning to New York, he made it clear that he preferred she not report it to human resources. A Barclays spokesman said the firm denies that Ms. Garcia was subjected to unlawful treatment. A manager who left Deutsche Bank in 2010 was described in a deposition as being so intoxicated during an evening out that he “urinated against a wall in front of his employees. ” In a court filing, the bank called the incident “hearsay. ” To Ms. Martens, who was a broker at Smith Barney, the biggest disappointment is that mandatory arbitration persists. She opted out of the settlement over the issue and never received money from the case. The Smith Barney litigants devoted eight of their complaint’s 41 pages to criticisms of the practice of forcing employees to arbitrate civil rights claims. “We felt that the underpinning of this abuse, whether it was physical abuse or sexual abuse or sexual assaults or sexual harassment, was the private justice system that Wall Street had carved out for itself,” Ms. Martens said in an interview. “I wanted to come away with ending mandatory arbitration for the entire industry, but, at a minimum, for civil rights cases. ” She did not get her wish. Ms. Friedman, the lawyer, said that about 90 percent of the Wall Street women she represents do not have the option of going to court today. Typically, they agree to this in a “Dear Prospective Employee” letter that must be signed if they want the job, she said. Increasingly, firms are prohibiting employees from participating in class actions. Morgan Stanley has mandatory arbitration and a waiver. “You couldn’t bring the room case today,” Ms. Friedman said. “The biggest problem we face now is that the courthouse doors are closing. ” | 1 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Donald J. Trump picked a retired Marine general, an advocate of China and a close ally of the fossil fuel industry for three crucial posts. Gen. John F. Kelly, above, a retired Marine general, will be nominated as secretary of homeland security, and Gov. Terry E. Branstad of Iowa was named ambassador to China. Mr. Branstad is close to President Xi Jinping of China, whom he has known since 1985. Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general, was chosen to run the Environmental Protection Agency. _____ 2. Mr. Trump, who was named Time magazine’s person of the year, said in a interview on NBC’s “Today” show that Mitt Romney remained a candidate for secretary of state. Mr. Trump did not dispute the interviewer’s comparison of his campaign promises to crack down on undocumented immigrants he considers dangerous to comments made by the Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, about annihilating drug dealers and users. A Times photojournalist documented 57 homicides over 35 days in Mr. Duterte’s bloody crackdown. (Warning: graphic images.) _____ 3. An earthquake on the Indonesian island of Sumatra killed scores of people while they slept. Rescue teams are searching for victims and survivors, but the death toll is nearing 100, and more are feared dead. The quake, which struck after 5 a. m. had a preliminary magnitude of 6. 5, and at least five aftershocks followed. _____ 4. We talked to Edgar Welch, the who is in jail after firing a gun inside a Washington pizzeria. Mr. Welch said he first learned about the fake news story suggesting Hillary Clinton was linked to a child trafficking ring being run out of the restaurant through word of mouth, then looked it up online. “The intel on this wasn’t 100 percent,” he said. He has two kids and said that he didn’t vote for Mr. Trump or Mrs. Clinton. _____ 5. “We are trapped under bombs. ” The Twitter account shared by a girl in Aleppo, Bana and her mother has captured global attention with posts about bombs, death and despair. It has also raised questions about authenticity. Syrian government forces appear to be pushing deeper into the city. _____ 6. For the first time in decades, powerful rival law firms have joined forces to file suits nationwide on a polarizing social issue: gun control. “There is an epidemic of gun violence in this country, and the law can save innocent lives without infringing constitutional rights,” a partner at one of the firms said. _____ 7. This is the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States naval base in Hawaii, where more than 2, 000 Americans were killed. We spoke with John Morris, above, a photojournalist whose 25th birthday was underway when editors called to tell him of the attack. Now celebrating his 100th birthday, he reflected on a career largely defined by war, saying, “Mankind is not as bright as one would hope. ” _____ 8. A cancer patient who was twice rejected from a study may hold the key to new treatment options for thousands of people. Celine Ryan, above, had advanced colon cancer that spread to her lungs when she was accepted for an experimental treatment that used cells from her own immune system. Today, she has no signs of cancer. _____ 9. The gadget age is over, our tech columnist declares. The little electronic things that did stuff for you — from transistor radios to the Walkman, iPods and GoPros and Fitbits — have been replaced by the “Thing That Does Everything” (better known as a smartphone). _____ 10. Phil Jackson, president of the New York Knicks, has a nickname: Zen Master. The team has been taking part in mindfulness exercises since Mr. Jackson took over in 2014. This year, he began leading the sessions himself. Players told us that they found the exercises useful, even if they were not quite sure what they were doing. _____ 11. Finally, we’ve gathered our film critics and asked them to share their picks for the best movies of the year. Their selections veer away from box office hits. Only two movies made the lists of all three critics: “Moonlight,” above, and “O. J.: Made In America. ” _____ Photographs may appear out of order for some readers. Viewing this version of the briefing should help. Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p. m. Eastern. And don’t miss Your Morning Briefing, posted weekdays at 6 a. m. Eastern, and Your Weekend Briefing, posted at 6 a. m. Sundays. Want to look back? Here’s last night’s briefing. What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes. com. | 1 |
WASHINGTON — By the time Richard B. Spencer, the leading ideologue of the movement and the final speaker of the night, rose to address a gathering of his followers on Saturday, the crowd was restless. In 11 hours of speeches and panel discussions in a federal building named after Ronald Reagan a few blocks from the White House, a succession of speakers had laid out a harsh vision for the future, but had denounced violence and said that Hispanic citizens and black Americans had nothing to fear. Earlier in the day, Mr. Spencer himself had urged the group to start acting less like an underground organization and more like the establishment. But now his tone changed as he began to tell the audience of more than 200 people, mostly young men, what they had been waiting to hear. He railed against Jews and, with a smile, quoted Nazi propaganda in the original German. America, he said, belonged to white people, whom he called the “children of the sun,” a race of conquerors and creators who had been marginalized but now, in the era of Donald J. Trump, were “awakening to their own identity. ” As he finished, several audience members had their arms outstretched in a Nazi salute. Mr. Spencer called out: “Hail Trump! Hail our people!” and then, “Hail victory!” — the English translation of the Nazi exhortation “Sieg Heil!” The room shouted back. These are exultant times for the movement, which was little known until this year, when it embraced Mr. Trump’s campaign and he appeared to embrace it back. He chose as his campaign chairman Stephen K. Bannon, the media executive who ran the ’s most prominent platform, Breitbart News, and then named him as a senior adviser and chief strategist. Now the movement’s leaders hope to have, if not a seat at the table, at least the ear of the Trump White House. While many of its racist views are well known — that President Obama is, or may as well be, of foreign birth that the Black Lives Matter movement is another name for black race rioters that even the children of undocumented Hispanic immigrants should be deported — the has been difficult to define. Is it a name for political provocateurs in the internet era? Or is it a political movement defined by xenophobia and a dislike for political correctness? At the conference on Saturday, Mr. Spencer, who said he had coined the term, defined the as a movement with white identity as its core idea. “We’ve crossed the Rubicon in terms of recognition,” Mr. Spencer said at the conference, which was sponsored by his organization, the National Policy Institute. And while much of the discourse at the conference was overtly racist and demeaning toward minorities, for much of the day the sentiments were expressed in ways that seemed intended to not sound too menacing. The focus was on how whites were marginalized and beleaguered. One speaker, Peter Brimelow, the founder of Vdare. com, an website, asked why, if Hispanics had the National Council of La Raza and Jews had the League, whites were reluctant to organize for their rights. Some speakers made an effort to distance themselves from more notorious white power organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. But as the night wore on and most reporters had gone home, the language changed. Mr. Spencer’s speech began with a polemic against the “mainstream media,” before he briefly paused. “Perhaps we should refer to them in the original German?” he said. The audience immediately screamed back, “Lügenpresse,” reviving a word that means “lying press. ” Mr. Spencer suggested that the news media had been critical of Mr. Trump throughout the campaign in order to protect Jewish interests. He mused about the political commentators who gave Mr. Trump little chance of winning. “One wonders if these people are people at all, or instead soulless golem,” he said, referring to a Jewish fable about the golem, a clay giant that a rabbi brings to life to protect the Jews. Mr. Trump’s election, Mr. Spencer said, was “the victory of will,” a phrase that echoed the title of the most famous propaganda film. But Mr. Spencer then mentioned, with a smile, Theodor Herzl, the Zionist leader who advocated a Jewish homeland in Israel, quoting his famous pronouncement, “If we will it, it is no dream. ” The United States today, Mr. Spencer said, had been turned into “a sick, corrupted society. ” But it was not supposed to be that way. “America was, until this last generation, a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity,” Mr. Spencer thundered. “It is our creation, it is our inheritance, and it belongs to us. ” But the white race, he added, is “a race that travels forever on an upward path. ” “To be white is to be a creator, an explorer, a conqueror,” he said. More members of the audience were on their feet as Mr. Spencer described the choice facing white people as to “conquer or die. ” Of other races, Mr. Spencer said: “We don’t exploit other groups, we don’t gain anything from their presence. They need us, and not the other way around. ” The ties between the movement and the Trump team are difficult to define, even by members of the . Mr. Bannon was the chief executive of Breitbart, an online news organization that has fed the lie that Mr. Obama is a Muslim. As recently as last year, Breitbart published an article urging that “every tree, every rooftop, every picket fence, every telegraph pole in the South should be festooned with the Confederate battle flag. ” Mr. Bannon told Mother Jones this year that Breitbart was now “the platform for the . ” But in an interview last week with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Bannon said that the was only “a tiny part” of the viewpoint represented on Breitbart. “Our definition of the is younger people who are very nationalist, terribly ” he told The Journal, adding that the had “some racial and overtones. ” When asked about Mr. Bannon, the conference’s speakers said that they might have shaken his hand on occasion, but that they did not know him well. Mr. Brimelow said that he had met “Mr. Bannon once, earlier this summer, before he ascended to Olympus. ” He said he had told Mr. Bannon that he was doing great work at Breitbart. “He agreed,” Mr. Brimelow recalled to the audience. As for Mr. Trump, Mr. Brimelow said he had met him about 30 years ago at a “conservative affinity meeting” in Manhattan. But that was it. “Trump and Steve Bannon are not people,” Mr. Brimelow said, adding that they had opportunistically seized on two issues that the cares most about — stopping immigration and fighting political correctness — and used them to mobilize white voters. Mr. Spencer said that while he did not think the should be considered “I do think we have a psychic connection, or you can say a deeper connection, with Donald Trump in a way that we simply do not have with most Republicans. ” White identity, he said, is at the core of both the movement and the Trump movement, even if most voters for Mr. Trump “aren’t willing to articulate it as such. ” At various points, he and other speakers outlined where they differed from Mr. Trump. They see him as too beholden to Israel. They do not see any reason to start a trade war with China, and they are not necessarily opposed to the Iran nuclear deal. For them, immigration is the most potent mobilizing issue, less for economic reasons than because of the prospect that white Americans will someday represent less than half of the population of the country. For the the most exciting thing about Mr. Trump was that he built a campaign around the issues that mattered most to them, and that white people had voted for him in numbers that left the political establishments of both parties stunned. Now, Mr. Spencer said, it is up to the to formulate the ideas and policies to guide the new administration. “I think we can be the ones out in front, thinking about those things he hasn’t quite grasped yet, who are putting forward policies,” Mr. Spencer said, that “have a realistic chance of being implemented. ” | 1 |
PARIS — The turmoil that has been roiling the corporate and the creative sides of the fashion world has not spared one of the industry’s most opaque groups: Spain’s fragrance and fashion conglomerate, Puig. Ralph Toledano, one of French fashion’s most executives, has unexpectedly resigned as president of Puig’s fashion division and chief executive of Nina Ricci and Jean Paul Gaultier. A spokesman for Puig, Loïc Seailles, confirmed Mr. Toledano’s resignation, saying it was to pursue other interests, but declined to say when or whether the company would release a statement. Mr. Toledano declined to comment on his departure. However, his exit is among the most significant management upheavals of the year thus far. Known as “Mr. Paris Fashion Week” because of his position as chairman of French fashion’s governing body, the Fédération Française de la Couture, du des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode. Mr. Toledano, 65, is also widely respected in the industry as a talent spotter. Before joining Puig in 2012, he had been responsible for hiring such celebrated designers as Alber Elbaz (whom Mr. Toledano brought to Paris as creative director of Guy Laroche) and Phoebe Philo at Chloé. At Puig, Mr. Toledano was responsible for recruiting a new generation of creative talent, such as the designers Guillaume Henry at Nina Ricci and Julien Dossena at Paco Rabanne. Mr. Toledano’s exit is the latest in an unprecedented wave of executive changes in the fashion industry, as it attempts to come to grips with a slowdown in luxury spending because of lower tourist travel and geopolitical uncertainty. In the past two years, for example, Kering, the French parent company of brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, has changed either the creative or management leadership at more than three quarters of its 15 luxury companies. In Britain, Burberry has welcomed Marco Gobbetti as its new chief executive, as Christopher Bailey steps back from that role to become president and chief creative officer. Céline, the French brand owned by Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, also named a new chief this year, and in the United States, Stefan Larsson resigned as the head of Ralph Lauren. Puig derives the bulk of its revenue from its business as a licensed perfume maker for big brands such as Valentino and Prada, and it also owns the small couture and businesses Paco Rabanne, Jean Paul Gaultier and Carolina Herrera, as well as those brands’ respective perfume businesses. For Puig, the changes at the top have been relatively recent. Earlier this year, François Kress, chief executive of Carolina Herrera, left that brand after a public kerfuffle around the hiring of the designer Laura Kim as effectively a creative . It was a move made without the knowledge of Mrs. Herrera herself, and one that resulted in a lawsuit, now settled. Ms. Kim is currently director of Herrera rival Oscar de la Renta. Puig’s fashion brands have been struggling to compete with rivals that have invested significantly more resources in building their distribution, digital presence, image and product assortment. Several people who have left Puig said they felt the group appeared to be more focused on its financial performance than on building fashion brands over the long term, which required patience and major investments that would weigh on its bottom line. Mr. Toledano, for example, oversaw the folding of Jean Paul Gaultier’s business into its haute couture operations in 2014 to stem the company’s losses. Jean Paul Gaultier’s fashion business is estimated to generate annual sales of about 20 million euros, or about $21. 7 million — a very small sum compared with its perfume revenues, estimated between €150 million to €200 million. While Mr. Toledano has declined to reveal his future plans, he is expected to continue in his role at the Fédération Française. And at Puig, there are two new executives waiting in the wings. Sophie Templier, a former close associate of Mr. Toledano’s from Chloé, has been named managing director at Nina Ricci. And Bastien Daguzan, a graduate of IFM (l’Institut Français de la Mode) and the chief executive of the French fashion brand Christophe Lemaire, is expected to be named the new managing director of Paco Rabanne, a brand estimated by analysts to generate several hundreds of millions of euros in perfume sales, driven by best sellers such as 1 Million. (Mr. Daguzan and Puig declined to comment on his imminent arrival at Puig.) Whether Ms. Templier and Mr. Daguzan will have the kind of chemistry with their creative partners that can transform a fashion brand into a hit remains to be seen. However, Nina Ricci’s designer, Mr. Henry, hired in 2014, is expected to stay on — at least until the end of his contract, which lasts another two years, according to recruiters. | 1 |
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday formally accused the Russian government of stealing and disclosing emails from the Democratic National Committee and a range of other institutions and prominent individuals, immediately raising the issue of whether President Obama would seek sanctions or other retaliation. In a statement from the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr. and the Department of Homeland Security, the government said the leaked emails that have appeared on a variety of websites “are intended to interfere with the U. S. election process. ” The emails were posted on the WikiLeaks site and two newer sites, DCLeaks. com and Guccifer 2. 0, identified as being associated with Russian intelligence. “We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s officials could have authorized these activities,” the statement said. It did not name President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, but that appeared to be the intention. The statement from Mr. Clapper and the Department of Homeland Security, which is primarily responsible for defending the country against sophisticated cyberattacks, said the intelligence agencies were less certain who was responsible for “scanning and probing” online election rolls in states around the country. It said that those “in most cases originated from servers operated by a Russian company,” but stopped short of alleging the Russian government was responsible for those probes. The announcement came only hours after Secretary of State John Kerry called for the Russian and Syrian governments to face a formal investigation over attacks on civilians in Aleppo and other parts of Syria. Taken together, the developments mark a sharp escalation of Washington’s many confrontations with Moscow this year. For weeks, aides to Mr. Obama have been debating whether to openly attribute the cyberattacks to Russia, and as recently as Wednesday the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael Rogers, refused to publicly accuse Moscow. But with little more than a month to go before the presidential election, one senior administration official said that Mr. Obama was “under pressure to act now,” in part because a declaration closer to Election Day would appear to be political. Two days ahead of the second presidential debate, the announcement also puts the Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump, more on the defensive over his assertion last month that Mr. Putin is a better leader than Mr. Obama. In the first debate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump’s Democratic rival, blamed Russia for the cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee, but Mr. Trump said there was no evidence that Russia was responsible he suggested it could have been the Chinese or “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds. ” Soon after the administration accused the Russians of hacking into the committee, WikiLeaks published hacked emails from John D. Podesta, the Clinton campaign chairman. In a Twitter message Friday evening, Mr. Podesta said that “I’m not happy about being hacked by the Russians in their attempt to throw the election to Donald Trump. ’’ WikiLeaks has released troves of hacked Democratic emails, but has not revealed their source. A major question is how Mr. Obama might respond without setting off an escalating cyberspace conflict with Russia between now and Nov. 8. One possibility is that the announcement itself — an effort to “name and shame” — will deter further action. But Mr. Obama’s aides have assembled a range of possible responses, from using economic sanctions to covert action against Russian targets, potentially including the computers used in the hack. The official accusation against Russia comes after anonymous American intelligence officials told The New York Times in July that they had “high confidence” that the Russian government was behind the hack of the D. N. C. which led to the resignation of Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Florida Democrat, as committee chairwoman, amid evidence that the committee was favoring Mrs. Clinton over her competitor for the party nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The months of subsequent silence frustrated some in Congress, and several weeks ago the top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees, Adam Schiff and Dianne Feinstein, both of California, said Russia and its leaders were responsible, citing classified briefings. Mr. Schiff, who had urged the Obama administration to name Russia and better prepare American voters for the possibility of interference between now and the election, on Friday praised the decision “to call out Russia on its malevolent interference in our political affairs. ” “I hope this will establish a deterrent to further meddling,” he said. “I don’t think the Russians have decided yet how much they plan to continue their interference, so I think this attribution is very timely. We’re also encouraging the administration to work with our European partners, who have been the subject of even worse meddling, to coordinate a response to this. ” Mr. Schiff said he was afraid Russian hackers might attempt to delete or manipulate voter rolls, causing long lines at the polls and delays in counting votes because people would be forced to cast provisional ballots. (Voting machines themselves are not linked to the internet, so it is effectively impossible to hack them in a systematic way and change the outcome, specialists say.) But as “profound” as that concern is, Mr. Schiff said, he and others see as “the most grave risk” something else: Russia could take emails it has already stolen, manipulate them to create a false impression that a candidate has done something outrageous or illegal, and cause them to be published online shortly before the election. That, he said, “could have an effect. ” Federal officials are trying to help states plug holes in their internet defenses for election management systems. One thing they will not do before the election is pronounce such systems “critical infrastructure,” as the secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, proposed in August. Mr. Johnson’s notion provoked a backlash from conservatives. Republicans like Brian P. Kemp, the secretary of state in Georgia, and Jon A. Husted, his counterpart in Ohio, accused the Obama administration of overreaching, saying it was trying to carry out a federal takeover. Administration officials said that the idea of declaring elections systems critical infrastructure is dead for now, lest it discourage states from working with the federal government. “Our focus right now, in the remaining days before Nov. 8, is to encourage states to come forward and request our assistance,” Mr. Johnson said in a recent interview. The department has offered states two kinds of help, both for free: a remote cyber “hygiene” scan of their servers by department officials who look for known vulnerabilities and can recommend patches, and a more intensive analysis by a team of computer security specialists. The department’s emphasis on voluntary measures has met with mixed success: So far, 28 states have accepted that offer, the department said, but it declined to name them. Officials with election agencies in the large swing states of Ohio, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania said they were participating. (Pennsylvania is particularly important because its electronic voting machines lack a paper audit trail for recounts.) Florida, another large swing state, is not participating in this program, but officials in the office of its secretary of state said they had already been working with federal partners. Still, while the number of participants has been slowly creeping up, the window is closing. A Homeland Security official said it takes about a week to complete the necessary paperwork to permit the department to begin the work, and that the more intensive effort takes about two weeks. That suggests that soon after the middle of October, it will be too late to provide any help to late takers. The fact that 22 states are not as yet participating does not necessarily mean all of them are vulnerable in ways that participants are not. Kay Stimson, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Secretaries of State, noted that some states had already been taking cybersecurity measures that are likely equivalent to what the department is offering. | 1 |
Fifty of the nation’s most senior Republican national security officials, many of them former top aides or cabinet members for President George W. Bush, have signed a letter declaring that Donald J. Trump “lacks the character, values and experience” to be president and “would put at risk our country’s national security and . ” Mr. Trump, the officials warn, “would be the most reckless president in American history. ” The letter says Mr. Trump would weaken the United States’ moral authority and questions his knowledge of and belief in the Constitution. It says he has “demonstrated repeatedly that he has little understanding” of the nation’s “vital national interests, its complex diplomatic challenges, its indispensable alliances and the democratic values” on which American policy should be based. And it laments that “Mr. Trump has shown no interest in educating himself. ” “None of us will vote for Donald Trump,” the letter states, though it notes later that many Americans “have doubts about Hillary Clinton, as do many of us. ” While foreign policy elites in both parties often argue among themselves — behind closed doors, or politely in the pages of Foreign Affairs magazine — it is extraordinarily rare for them to step into the political arena so publicly and aggressively. Several former midlevel officials issued a similar if milder letter in March, during the primaries. But Monday’s letter included many senior former officials who until now have remained silent in public, even while denouncing Mr. Trump’s policies over dinners or in small Republican conclaves. Late Monday, Mr. Trump struck back. The signatories of the letter, he said in a statement, were “the ones the American people should look to for answers on why the world is a mess, and we thank them for coming forward so everyone in the country knows who deserves the blame for making the world such a dangerous place. ” He dismissed them as “nothing more than the failed Washington elite looking to hold onto their power. ” Mr. Trump correctly identified many of the signatories as the architects of the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath. But he also blamed them for allowing Americans “to die in Benghazi” and for permitting “the rise of ISIS” — referring to the 2012 attacks on the American mission in Libya and the spread of the Islamic State, both of which occurred during the Obama administration. At the time, most of Mr. Trump’s Republican foreign policy critics were in think tanks, private consultancies or law firms, or signed on as advisers to the Republican hopefuls Mr. Trump beat in the primaries. Among the most prominent signatories are Michael V. Hayden, a former director of both the C. I. A. and the National Security Agency John D. Negroponte, who served as the first director of national intelligence and then deputy secretary of state and Robert B. Zoellick, another former deputy secretary of state, United States trade representive and, until 2012, president of the World Bank. Two former secretaries of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, also signed, as did Eric S. Edelman, who was Vice President Dick Cheney’s national security adviser and as a top aide to Robert M. Gates when he was secretary of defense. Robert Blackwill and James Jeffrey, two key strategists in Mr. Bush’s National Security Council, and William H. Taft IV, a former deputy secretary of defense and ambassador to NATO, also signed. Mr. Blackwill, a former aide to Henry A. Kissinger, is expected to endorse Mrs. Clinton this week. The letter underscores the continuing rupture in the Republican Party, but particularly within its national security establishment. Many of those signing it had declined to add their names to the letter released in March. But a number said in recent interviews that they changed their minds once they heard Mr. Trump invite Russia to hack Mrs. Clinton’s email server — a sarcastic remark, he said later — and say that he would check to see how much NATO members contributed to the alliance before sending forces to help stave off a Russian attack. They viewed Mr. Trump’s comments on NATO as an abandonment of America’s most significant alliance relationship. Mr. Trump has said throughout his campaign that he intends to upend Republican foreign policy orthodoxy on everything from trade to Russia, where he has been complimentary of President Vladimir V. Putin, saying nothing about its crackdown on human rights and little about its annexation of Crimea. The sharp split in the Republican Party raises the question of whom Mr. Trump will turn to for institutional memory if he is elected. The officials he denounced made plenty of mistakes, some of which they acknowledge and some they gloss over. But they are also the party’s repository of experience of economic, diplomatic and military strategies, both successful and failed. Mr. Trump’s own bench of foreign policy advisers has had comparatively little experience. Missing from the signatories are any of the living Republican former secretaries of state: Mr. Kissinger, George P. Shultz, James A. Baker III, Colin L. Powell and Condoleezza Rice. Mr. Trump met with Mr. Kissinger and Mr. Baker several months ago, and “I came away with a lot of knowledge,” he told The New York Times in a July 20 interview. But neither of the two, who represent different foreign policy approaches within the party, has said if he will endorse Mr. Trump. It is unclear whether the former secretaries plan to stay silent or will issue their own statements. But particularly striking is how many of Ms. Rice’s closest aides at the White House and the State Department, including Philip Zelikow, Eliot A. Cohen, Meghan O’Sullivan, Kori Schake and Michael Green, are all signatories. “We agreed to focus on Trump’s fitness to be president, not his substantive positions,” said John B. Bellinger III, who was Ms. Rice’s legal adviser at the National Security Council and the State Department, and who drafted the letter. He said that among the signatories, “some will vote for” Mrs. Clinton, “and some will not vote, but all agree Trump is not qualified and would be dangerous. ” The Clinton campaign appeared to be aware that the letter was circulating and encouraged it, but played no role in drafting it, several signatories said. Yet perhaps most striking about the letter is the degree to which it echoes Mrs. Clinton’s main argument about her rival: that his temperament makes him unsuitable for the job, and that he should not be entrusted with the control of nuclear weapons. “He is unable or unwilling to separate truth from falsehood,” the letter says. “He does not encourage conflicting views. He lacks and acts impetuously. He cannot tolerate personal criticism. He has alarmed our closest allies with his erratic behavior. All of these are dangerous qualities in an individual who aspires to be president and commander in chief, with command of the U. S. nuclear arsenal. ” Mr. Trump responded in his statement that his vision was “one that is not run by a ruling family dynasty. It’s an America first vision that stands up to foreign dictators instead of taking money from them, seeks peace over war, rebuilds our military and makes other countries pay their fair share for their protection. ” | 1 |
Dear Liberals: Trump is Right Dear Liberals: Trump is Right By Photo by Juliana Lopes | CC BY 2.0
If the title of this article sent your blood pressure into the stratosphere, then you’re much too susceptible to clickbait titles and knee-jerk politics. Yes, Trump is a right-wing populist using a not so finely blended cocktail of reactionary rhetoric, Reaganomic policy prescriptions, xenophobia, racism, and a sometime isolationist sometime belligerent foreign policy.
Of course, none of this is worthy of support, though by his mere questioning of the holy writ of NATO scripture, Trump is the first presidential candidate in decades to substantively raise the issue of America’s military power projection in Europe and around the world. Still, Trump’s cynical questioning of NATO should not be taken to symbolize a move away from imperial policies and war, as I’ve noted repeatedly .
But, for most liberals, Trump could argue in favor of puppies and kittens, and they’d proclaim that puppies and kittens are out of control and must be exterminated. Because anything Trump says or does is automatically offensive, paranoid, or just plain wrong. Trump said it, ipso facto it is wrong and crazy.
However, beyond the superficiality of liberal talking points there lies a dirty secret, a specter haunting the dreams of the corporate liberal collective mind: sometimes Trump is right.
[STUDIO AUDIENCE GASPS IN HORROR]
No, it’s not just his correctly railing against the disastrous effects of Clintonian trade policies which hath wrought the… | 0 |
TEL AVIV — A Jewish group that organized a “Jewish Rally for Refugees” in New York on Sunday was massively funded by the federal government under the Obama administration to resettle refugees. [In attendance at the rally was Rep. Keith Ellison ( ) who used the platform to compare the Trump administration to the Third Reich. “Those same people who sent Jews back to the Third Reich never left,” stated Ellison. “We will stand up, we will stand together and we will say, refugees are welcome here. ” Those statements are instrumental coming from Ellison, a politician who in the 1980s and ’90s was reportedly associated with the Nation of Islam and defended the radical group’s controversial leader, Louis Farrakhan. Other speakers at Sunday’s rally included New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, and New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer. De Blasio also channeled the Holocaust at the event. The mayor stated: From the German pastor Martin Niemoller at the time of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust, he famously said: “First they came for the socialists and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak up because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew. And then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me. ” I bring that to you today because this is why we need solidarity. An attack on refugees is an attack on all of us. An attack on our Constitution hurts all of us. Any attempt to divide people by religion hurts all of us. And it leads us to someplace dangerous. And that’s why we stand up against President Trump’s executive order. The New York rally was organized by the nonprofit HIAS, which describes itself as standing “for a world in which refugees find welcome, safety, and freedom. ” Unmentioned in much of the news media coverage about the rally is that HIAS has taken in large sums of federal grants to help resettle refugees. Haaretz, for example, described HIAS as “the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees. ” The Jerusalem Post described the organization as a “global Jewish nonprofit organization that works to protect refugees. ” Local Fox 5 simply labeled HIAS as “the global Jewish nonprofit. ” HIAS is more than that, as this reporter previously documented. HIAS specializes in refugee resettlement and in 2015 received 65. 3 percent of its annual $25 million budget from government grants. Annual grants include funds from the State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services. Another major donor is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In 2015, the State Department provided $17, 663, 704 and the Department of Health and Human Services gave another $2, 765, 195. The fiscal year 2014 saw a $16, 959, 850 State Department grant and $2, 546, 469 in funds from the Department of Health and Human Services. Guidestar documented that in 2013, HIAS received $16, 261, 661 from government and intergovernmental agencies and took in a total of $31, 218, 870 in revenue. In 2012, $14, 707, 399 in government grants was donated to HIAS and the organization produced $27, 677, 240 in revenue. In 2008, the Committee on Organizations, a division of the UN Economic and Social Council, officially accepted HIAS as an accredited NGO. HIAS openly states on its website that it is the “only Jewish organization designated by the federal government to undertake” refugee resettlement, which “lies at the heart of HIAS’ work. ” The group is partners with local Refugee Assistance Organizations around the country to “ensure successful integration. ” “Although this can be a long process requiring the participation of many actors, refugees bring the resilience and resourcefulness that saved their lives at home,” HIAS relates. HIAS was an acronym that previously stood for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and it originally worked to resettle Jewish emigrants from Russia. It dropped the full title and only goes by the acronym now. Mark Hetfield, HIAS president and CEO, told the Washington Jewish Week in December 2014 the word “Hebrew” was exclusionary and outdated, comparing it with the use of the word “colored” to refer to African Americans. 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 additional research by Brenda J. Elliott and Joshua Klein. | 1 |
BEIJING — Hillary Clinton considers her a friend. President Obama has invited her to the White House next month. But on her first visit to a major capital since becoming leader of Myanmar, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi chose a different destination: Beijing. With her arrival here late Wednesday, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner credited with pushing Myanmar from a military dictatorship toward democracy, offered a potent signal that her foreign policy would be more friendly toward China, which is eager to strengthen its foothold in the country. Her move risks unsettling Washington, however, since the Obama administration considers the democratic changes in Myanmar that brought Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi to power one of its major foreign policy victories in Asia. “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has long expressed her desire for friendly relations with China, and it’s not insignificant that she has chosen to travel to Beijing before any other major capital,” said Thant the author of “Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia. ” He added: “The Chinese, whatever wariness they may have had, definitely sense the possibility of improved relations and will go to make this visit a success. This will be a historic visit that could well shape relations for many years to come. ” China’s welcome contrasts with how Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was treated when she was Myanmar’s opposition leader. Last year, she was 20 minutes late for a meeting with President Xi Jinping, who reportedly told her that she was the first person ever to have kept him waiting so long. Now, China is making amends for that reprimand as it pushes to install itself as the foremost power in Myanmar. It is tailoring investment projects to suit the impoverished country and assuming an influential position as mediator in peace talks between rival ethnic groups and the government this month. It is also hoping to restart the $3. 6 billion Myitsone Dam project, which was suspended in 2011 and is a major source of friction between the two countries. China views Myanmar as a strategic asset, so much so that some policy makers see Myanmar’s long shoreline as China’s west coast. Its position close to the Indian Ocean offers a shortcut for oil and gas imports from the Middle East, and its rich mineral deposits and proximity make it a logical part of China’s sphere of influence on the mainland of Southeast Asia. Even though China recently built oil and gas pipelines from Myanmar’s coast into southern China and has access to the Kyaukpyu port on the Bay of Bengal, trade between the two nations dropped in 2015, and relations cooled during the transition from a military junta, which China backed, to elections last year. The two sides are seeking to repair the friendship, though Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who has praised the old tradition of a neutral foreign policy, is likely to be vigilant that China is not too overbearing. In the days before her visit, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi sought to ease tensions over the suspension of the Myitsone Dam. After appointing a commission to review the suspension decision and look at other hydro projects, she can tell China that Myanmar no longer has a closed mind on the project, analysts said. “She needs good relations with China, but were she to approve the dam, she would lose massive internal support among many groups,” said David I. Steinberg, distinguished professor emeritus at Georgetown University. The new panel was a smart way to deflect pressure on her from China as well as her domestic constituency, he said. The commission could decide that the dam — which Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi resisted as opposition leader because of the environmental impact it would have on the nation’s main artery, the Irrawaddy River — should not be built. But it would most likely consider other projects that would be to China’s liking, Mr. Steinberg said. For its part, Beijing has become more flexible on the dam, opening the way for the easing of tensions, analysts said. Negotiations are underway for Myanmar to pay China if the dam is not built, or to use the money for other projects, officials close to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi said. Numbers have already been put on the table, they said, including $800 million in compensation to China if the dam is not built, they said. In exchange, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has told the Chinese that she wants a series of smaller hydro projects that are less of a threat to the environment and enjoy popular support, her spokesman, U Zaw Htay, said. “In the end, the dam construction could be halted, resumed, adjusted, replaced by another project, or maybe there are other ideas,” said Fan Hongwei, a specialist on Myanmar at Xiamen University. As part of its ambition to secure more access to the Indian Ocean, China has proposed a new trading route — a waterway from the town of Bhamo in northern Myanmar to the Irrawaddy Delta — and this is likely to come up in the talks in Beijing, Myanmar officials said. Derek J. Mitchell, the former American ambassador to Myanmar, said that Washington recognized the country’s urgent need for hard infrastructure and that it had never opposed China’s delivering major infrastructure projects to Myanmar as long as they are transparent, acceptable to the people and environmentally sound, as the new government has indicated. It would also be preferable if infrastructure that crossed borders connected Myanmar to the wider region and not just to China, Mr. Mitchell said. One of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s major objectives is to seek China’s help as she starts peace talks on conflicts in northern Myanmar between the ethnic groups and the military. The roiling small wars there have long been a barrier to economic development in the region, and Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has scheduled a peacemaking gathering, called the Panglong Conference, for Aug. 31. She has offered China a role as mediator, Myanmar officials involved in the talks said. Two groups in northern Myanmar near the Chinese border — the Kachin and the Wa, who are ethnic Chinese — receive arms from across the border. The Kachin Independence Army and the United Wa State Army, the largest ethnic army in Myanmar, refused to sign a agreement last year. At the time, a Burmese government negotiator said China had pressured the two groups along its border not to sign the deal in order to wield more influence over them. By offering China a key role at the talks, to be held in the capital, Naypyidaw, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is asking China to halt its arms supplies, a Myanmar official involved in the process said. Recent talks with a flurry of top Chinese officials who have visited Myanmar — including the minister of state security, Geng Huichang the head of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party, Song Tao and the foreign minister, Wang Yi — have concentrated on China’s role in the peacemaking, the official said. “China holds many of the keys to ending decades of armed conflict,” Mr. Thant said. “The question is what the price of increasing dependence on China will be. ” | 1 |
Majority of Americans Side With FBI Over Hillary November 3, 2016 Daniel Greenfield
In a fit of thundering insanity, Hillary Clinton, her media pals and Barack Obama decided to go to war with the FBI. Their pretext was that Hillary Clinton is supposed to have immunity from the FBI before the election. And Comey was being irresponsible and violating protocol, the Hatch Act and the Thou Shalt Not Impede the Electoral Prospects of Democrats mandate.
Most Americans have the good sense to think that this is a bunch of rubbish .
Hillary Clinton and President Obama are outraged about the F.B.I.director James Comey’s decision to disclose further inquiries into her handling of confidential email, but are the American people?
Shockingly the American people are not all that outraged about the FBI investigating a corrupt criminal... not nearly as much as the corrupt criminal and her political allies are.
In an online Morning Consult poll of approximately 3,200 registered voters, only 19 percent agreed with the statement that prosecutors should wait until after Election Day to make announcements about investigations concerning political figures or elected officials. Instead,60 percent agreed that prosecutors should be able to make announcements about investigations concerning political figures or elected officials close to Election Day even if it might affect the election. (Another 21 percent said they don’t know or had no opinion.)
In news that's shocking to the Times, the American people are once again out of step with their left-wing masters.
When the investigation into Mrs. Clinton was mentioned before the question, partisans differed by almost 50 percentage points in their attitude toward pre-election disclosures, which were endorsed by 83 percent of Republicans but just 34 percent of Democrats — an even larger gap than observed with the generic prompt. By contrast, mentioning Mr. Trump’s foundation eliminated the gap between the parties in support for publicizing investigations, which was backed by 57 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of Republicans.
One might conclude that Republicans are the more ethical and honest party. | 0 |
Here's something interesting from The Unz Review... Recipient Name Recipient Email =>
Donald Trump has long campaigned on the promise of running the country the way he’s run his businesses. On that basis, we essentially already know what it would mean if he entered the Oval Office and applied his personal business acumen to this nation (and the rest of the world). There’s a surprisingly full record to cite. Who can forget, for instance, what happened to his signature gambling resorts in Atlantic City? Who can forget their serial failures in what was still relatively good times in that city, including the repeated trips to bankruptcy court and the way he stiffed local contractors and suppliers, running them out of business? As Russ Buettner and Charles Bagli of the New York Times summed it up : “He put up little of his own money, shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses, and other payments. The burden of his failures fell on investors and others who had bet on his business acumen.”
In his pre-political years, he perfected what Kurt Eichenwald of Newsweek dubbed “the art of the bad deal”: “lost contracts, bankruptcies, defaults, deceptions, and indifference to investors.” And from every bad deal for those who supported him, he’s almost always walked away better off. All in all, it’s quite a record (and don’t even mention Trumped Up University ). There is no reason to believe that this pattern of behavior would change in the White House. After all, The Donald’s record shows a remarkable consistency, so it’s possible to imagine with a fair degree of accuracy what you’re going to get.
Take election night 2012 when The Donald was still a Mitt Romney supporter. CNN recently reported on his tweets that night and judging by his comment on the Chinese invention of climate change, his complaints about polling violations, his outburst about “sham” elections, and in the wake of Romney’s loss his call for “revolution,” there hasn’t been much truly new under the Trumpian sun in 2016 — not even his last tweet of that night four years ago: “We have to make America great again!” In other words, his record should be considered remarkably predictive. So count on this: from the Oval Office, he’ll walk away a richer man, leaving the rest of us holding the bag, and his supporters, particularly white working class men, in a striking version of hell.
Then, of course, there’s the other candidate. You know who — the woman who never saw a bank CEO she couldn’t get a couple of hundred thousand dollars from for giving thoroughly unsurprising speeches. Today, TomDispatch regular Nomi Prins, author of All the Presidents’ Bankers , explores what our world might be like if The Donald goes down in flames and Hillary Clinton enters the White House next January. Consider this, economically speaking, the definition of a hold-onto-your-hats election, no matter who wins. Wall Street in the Saddle Nomi Prins • October 27, 2016 • 3,100 Words (Reprinted from TomDispatch by permission of author or representative) | 0 |
(AFP) TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s nuclear chief said Saturday that the country had requested to buy 950 tons of uranium concentrate from Kazakhstan over the next three years to help develop its civil reactor program. [The request has been made to the body that oversees the nuclear deal signed between Iran and world powers in 2015. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, told the ISNA news agency that the purchase was supposed to happen “within three years. ” “650 tons will enter the country in two consignments and 300 tons will enter Iran in the third year,” he said. Salehi said the final shipment of concentrate, known as yellow cake, would be turned into uranium hexafluoride gas and sold back to Kazakhstan — its first international sale of the compound which is used in the uranium enrichment process. Under the nuclear deal, many of Iran’s centrifuges were mothballed but it has the right to enrich uranium to a level of 3. 5 percent and sell it abroad. Nuclear weapons require uranium enriched to 80% or more. Salehi said Iran has already received around 382 tons of yellow cake, primarily from Russia, since the nuclear deal came into force in January last year. Under the deal, Iran is allowed to run around 5, 000 “ ” centrifuges and has been testing more advanced models that can produce greater quantities of enriched uranium — all under the strict supervision of the UN atomic agency. | 1 |
BRUSSELS — Shaken by Britain’s vote to quit the European Union, the bloc’s leaders met on Tuesday in Brussels and sent a blunt message to Britain and others tempted to follow its example: Bolting will carry a heavy price. While softening demands that Britain formally file for divorce swiftly following last Thursday’s shocking referendum result, leaders of the European Union’s 27 other nations made it clear to Prime Minister David Cameron that his country would not enjoy the benefits of membership — like access to Europe’s single market — while sloughing off its burdens. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, speaking at a news conference, took a hard position, saying that her country would defend its economic priorities and that Britain must use an agreed legal procedure to leave the European Union. “The discussion today reflected very clearly that everyone felt this was a sea change, a watershed moment, a historic moment,” Mrs. Merkel said. The goal was to reshape the relationship with Britain “as a relationship of friendship,” she said, but “we will also be guided by our own interests. ” Referring to the terrorist attack on Tuesday at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, she said a world “characterized by turmoil and turbulences” was “not waiting for the European Union to make up its mind,” an apparent reference to uncertainty over its relations with Britain and the future direction of what began as a peace project after World War II and has since grown into the world’s biggest economic bloc. Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, historically one of Britain’s closest allies in pushing Europe to focus on strengthening market forces and protecting sovereign rights, said the economic and political mayhem caused by Britain’s vote to leave should deter others. “To everybody thinking of leaving the single market, this is what happens,” he said. The turmoil has stirred hope in some quarters that Britain might, in the end, never take the next, formal step to leave the European Union. Ms. Merkel, however, dismissed this as “impossible. ” As to whether Britain could hold another referendum with a different outcome, she said that was highly unlikely. “As of tonight I do not see any possibility to reverse this decision,” she said. “It is not the hour for wishful thinking. ” Mr. Cameron, attending what will probably be his last European summit meeting in Brussels, also stressed that there was no turning back from last week’s vote in favor of Brexit, as Britain’s withdrawal from the union is known. “I am sorry we lost the referendum but you have to accept the result of the British people, you have to accept the verdict,” he told reporters. “I’m a democrat. ” While calling for “the closest possible relationship” with Europe in the future, he acknowledged that “it is impossible to have all of the benefits of membership without some of the costs of membership. ” Mr. Cameron, who has said he will resign by October, has left the task of setting the terms of the departure settlement to his successor, who will be responsible for invoking an exit clause, Article 50, in a European treaty and starting negotiations with Brussels on disentangling a formal relationship that began in 1973. France and other countries have complained that this would only create months of uncertainty and stoke unease for financial markets. But there seemed to be more sympathy on Tuesday for Britain’s hesitant pace. “If they need more time we have to wait. This is the only legal way we have,” Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, which represents European governments, told reporters. Beyond dealing with the mechanics of Britain’s exit, however, European Union members face an even tougher challenge in trying to dampen rising populist sentiment elsewhere, while somehow rebuilding the cornerstone of Europe’s peace and relative prosperity for more than 60 years. How to do this will be the focus of the second day of the summit meeting on Wednesday — from which Mr. Cameron is excluded. The shock vote in Britain has done more than embolden populists who denounce the European Union as a distant and meddling force. It has resurfaced deep bitterness and anger left by earlier crises, notably a grinding economic slowdown and an uncontrolled influx of migrants across Europe’s open borders. Instead of dealing with just the crisis of confidence set off by the vote for Brexit, leaders are effectively confronting all the crises of recent years at one time. Still unresolved are arguments over austerity, the prescription for a financial crisis that began in Greece in 2008, and whether the European Union should be merely a zone or the locomotive of a more ambitious program of “ever closer union,” a cause enshrined in the 1957 Treaty of Rome. Arriving for the summit meeting, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece — whose country voted in a referendum last year to reject a financial bailout offered by Brussels only to accept even harsher terms to avoid expulsion from Europe’s common currency — described the British referendum result as a “sad call” that should force the European Union to abandon policies of austerity and “endless negotiations behind closed doors. ” At the European Parliament early on Tuesday, a debate on Britain’s referendum result produced raucous scenes as Nigel Farage, a British member of the assembly and a driving force behind the Brexit campaign, traded insults and mockery with fellow legislators and the president of the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, Juncker, who demanded to know: “Why are you here?” Mindful that Europe’s identity crisis is unlikely to be settled anytime soon, the leaders of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia urged the European Union to “get back to basics” and focus on reinforcing freedoms and building a single market. “Instead of endless theoretical debates on ‘more Europe’ or ‘less Europe’ we need to focus on ‘better Europe,’” the leaders of the four countries, all formerly communist, said in a statement. What this “better Europe” — a popular slogan now used by politicians who agree on little else — would look like exactly is unclear. What is clear, however, is that skepticism over the European Union as it works now is on the rise. A spring survey by the Pew Research Center found that while support for the bloc remains strong in Poland and Hungary, which have benefited greatly from infusions of funds from Brussels, just 27 percent of Greek, 38 percent of French and 47 percent of Spanish citizens hold a favorable view. Positive views of the European Union fell, often substantially, in five of the six countries surveyed by Pew in both 2015 and 2016. Even Germany, where strong support for the European project had been an unwavering feature of postwar politics, euroskepticism is on the rise, with 48 percent of those polled saying they had an unfavorable view of the bloc. Speaking as he arrived for the summit meeting, President François Hollande of France said the situation today in the United Kingdom, with political turmoil, a plunging currency and credit rating downgrades, should alert other Europeans of the need to stick together. “Many people today are asking the same question,” he said. “What do we do if confronted by the same choice” British voters faced. The question of when Britain will invoke Article 50, opening negotiations, has dominated discussion in London and some other capitals, but has left some leaders cold. “I think it’s utterly disappointing that, when we are faced with the biggest political crisis in the history of the European Union, what’s grabbing the headlines is the obscure Article 50,” Joseph Muscat, the prime minister of Malta, said in Brussels. The far more important issue, he said, is “that this is a Europe that people are feeling increasingly estranged from and that it is our duty that we take action. ” | 1 |
This is why Megyn Kelly has fallen to 5th in Fox show ratings. She is a paid Killery shill, as evidenced in leaked emails. Now, you couldn't pay me to watch her crappy, biased show or listen to her libtard-funded remarks. Thanks for taking a GIANT STEP BACK for women, you self-centered moron!! | 0 |
Vice President Mike Pence took to the stage at a rally in Harrisburg, PA today. where he declared that under President Trump, the war on the coal industry is over. [In his speech Vice President Pence complimented the American people for their ability to spot the liberal media’s “fake news” about President Trump. “While they have been ignoring the facts and spreading that fake news, the American people know the truth. ” said Pence, “The truth is President Trump has been relentlessly delivering on the promises he made to the American people, and America is back!” As the room filled with cheers and applause Pence continued, “Since even before President Trump took office, we have been fighting for American jobs and American workers. For the past 100 days, President Trump has been slashing through red tape. He signed more bills cutting regulations than any president in American history. ” “He approved the keystone and Dakota pipelines,” said Pence to thunderous applause, “[President Trump] opened up offshore drilling. He has put America back on the path to energy independence, and thanks to Donald Trump, the war on coal is over. Just this past week, President Trump laid out a plan for one of the biggest tax cuts in American history,” said Pence, adding, “We are going to cut taxes across the board for working families, small businesses, and family farms. ” “Just a few minutes ago, the president took another step to make sure that trade deals benefit American workers first. Folks, that is American leadership for the American people. ” The crowd cheered and chanted “USA” as Vice President Pence prepared to introduce President Donald Trump. Watch a livestream of the event below: Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart. com | 1 |
The average American commuter spent 50 hours in traffic last year. As a nation, we spent eight billion hours sitting in our cars, waiting for lights to change, for the driver ahead to sneak into that parking spot, for an accident to be cleared. That’s not much more time than many Europeans spend in cars. According to Inrix, a roadway and traffic analytics company, drivers and passengers in Belgium spent 44 hours in traffic last year in Germany, 39 hours. Wherever it happens, new research suggests that all that sitting and waiting is exposing us to more pollutants than we’d take in if were we cruising along. According to a study published Thursday in Environmental Science: Processes Impacts, pollution levels inside cars at red lights or in traffic jams are up to 40 percent higher than when traffic is moving. Air quality is already a problem outside of cars: More than 80 percent of people living in cities where pollution is tracked are exposed to air quality levels below World Health Organization limits. The W. H. O. has estimated that poor air quality is responsible for the deaths of 3. 7 million people younger than 60 in 2012. Researchers at the University of Surrey in England took to the streets of Guildford, “a typical English town,” to look at the effects of traffic on concentrations of polluting particles. They also analyzed how ventilation settings changed those concentrations inside of cars. The scientists took their measurements inside a car as it traveled on a loop, passing through 10 traffic intersections. They tracked the concentrations of particles of air pollution — ranging from course to fine — at each intersection. In a car stuck in traffic, shutting all the windows and turning off the fan or heat reduced concentration doses of the smallest, most hazardous particles by up to 76 percent. The researchers also found an increase in smaller particles inside the vehicle compared with larger ones when the heat was off and fans were on full blast, drawing in air from outside. Those findings suggest that the ventilation system was more effective at filtering out larger particles than smaller ones while stopped at intersections, reducing the concentration doses of those particles up to 68 percent, they said. And while they were only at traffic intersections for about 7 percent of total commuting time on average, the time accounted for as much as 10 percent of their exposure to harmful particles. The exposure was more than six times greater in cars with open windows than for pedestrians at or intersections. So when you’re stopped at an intersection, roll up the windows, and breathe easier. | 1 |
4 Debate is raging in the UK over the work of Sharia Councils often used by Muslims to settle family disputes and divorce. Two inquiries have been launched into its practices after accusations of discrimination against women came to light. Activists made their cases in the House of Commons on Tuesday..both for and against the Councils. We put the issue up for debate with Baroness Cox, who raised a motion against Sharia law in the House of Lords today, and Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadan Foundation in the UK. | 0 |
Is it possible to break Thanksgiving? And if so, could last week’s chaotically divisive election have actually broken it? A story in The Times on Wednesday explores how the war between the presidential candidates might also lead to war at family dinner. Do you take the year off? Do you put a moratorium on politics at the table? You could. Or you could let Sam Sifton show you how to make a gravy so good it heals all divides. Sam runs the New York Times Food section, operates the paper’s Cooking app, does a column for The Times Magazine and actually wrote the book on Thanksgiving — 2013’s amusing, invaluable “Thanksgiving: How to Cook It Well. ” On the latest episode of Still Processing, Sam has advice for orchestrating a smooth, enjoyable feast. And so do we. (To start, make extra gravy. “Thanksgiving this year is going to be tough enough without skimping on the gravy,” Jenna says.) Sam had us over to his wonderful kitchen in Red Hook, Brooklyn, to instruct us on making that gravy (Wondra: who knew?) and talk about the rules for peace, harmony and, if you’re going that route, potluck. “This Thanksgiving is gonna be different for lots of folks all across the country,” Sam says. “Some families will be largely jubilant with some people in the corner of the table. And others will be largely sad with some jubilant outliers. . .. And if you find yourself as the outlier in one of those situations, as many Americans will at Thanksgiving, I think we just gotta — this year and perhaps always — practice radical acceptance of where you are and who you’re with. ” “The best ways to find those connections and that community is over food,” Jenna says. “As long as you don’t mess with the food too much. ” The Food section has an entire feature on Thanksgiving from all cultures, from all over the country, that is like being in 50 kitchens at the same time. If you’re taking a break from your own family’s dinner, let your mouth water at the ones the Food section discovered. Bon appétit, y’all. From a desktop or laptop, you can listen by pressing play on the button above. Or if you’re on a mobile device, the instructions below will help you find and subscribe to the series. On your iPhone or iPad: 1. Open your podcast app. It’s a app called “Podcasts” with a purple icon. (This link may help.) 2. Search for the series. Tap on the “search” magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen, type in “Still Processing” and select it from the list of results. 3. Subscribe. Once on the series page, tap on the “subscribe” button to have new episodes sent to your phone free. You may want to adjust your notifications to be alerted when a new episode arrives. 4. Or just sample. If you would rather listen to an episode or two before deciding to subscribe, tap on the episode title from the list on the series page. If you have an internet connection, you’ll be able to stream the episode. On your Android phone or tablet: 1. Open your podcast app. It’s a app called “Play Music” with an icon. (This link may help.) 2. Search for the series. Click on the magnifying glass icon at the top of the screen, search for “Still Processing” and select it from the list of results. You may have to scroll down to find the “Podcasts” search results. 3. Subscribe. Once on the series page, click on the word “subscribe” to have new episodes sent to your phone free. 4. Or just sample. If you would rather listen to an episode or two before deciding to subscribe, click on the episode title from the list on the series page. If you have an internet connection, you’ll be able to stream the episode. | 1 |
When the liberal class heard news media report Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote, numerous people experienced meltdowns that involved blaming anyone and everyone but Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. In particular, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was one of the targets, even though the math did not point to Stein as a culprit for the outcome.
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow wailed, “If you vote for somebody who can’t win for president, it means that you don’t care who wins for president.” It not only displayed the prejudice many liberals have against allowing more choices and more voices in presidential elections, but it also exemplified a denial among liberal pundits. They reflexively lashed out at Stein or Bernie Sanders in order to ignore their failure to recognize how Trump had a strong chance all along to win because voters were fed up with the neoliberal economic policies of Democrats.
For this week’s “Unauthorized Disclosure,” the show returns with an interview with Jill Stein. She highlights what her campaign managed to accomplish. She looks back on smears she faced, such as the idea that she was anti-vaccine and says she views it as a “sign of the media’s weakness and also their fear and our strength.” Then, she shares how she was never confident Clinton would win the election and addresses the denial among Democrats, who do not want to confront the reality of what happened. She also lists off a number of initiatives and efforts she plans to help support in the aftermath of the election.
The episode continues with an equally important interview with journalist Andy Worthington, who is one of the co-founders of the “Close Guantanamo” campaign. He regularly covers the Guantanamo Bay military prison, and we discuss the future of Guantanamo now that Trump is the president-elect. He also is a musician, who wrote a song about closing Guantanamo. We play part of it on the show. And, finally, Worthington is from the United Kingdom so we discuss the rise of far-right forces in both the United States and the UK.
Co-host Rania Khalek is in Lebanon. She currently plans to return to the show next week.
The latest episode is available on iTunes. To listen to the episode (and also to download the episode), go here. A page will load with the audio file of the interview that will automatically play.
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Below is a partial edited transcript of the interview with Jill Stein: GOSZTOLA: What did you manage to accomplish as a Green Party presidential candidate in this election that other previous Green Party presidential campaigns did not manage to accomplish? I noticed you managed to break into the establishment media in a way that had not been achieved in 2012. Did you feel that way?
STEIN: Yes, but it was like the door was just barely cracked open. When you look at the numbers, we got something like three seconds of primetime network TV for I think it’s like 1700 minutes that Donald Trump got. Or to put it a different way, Donald Trump got about 35,000 times as much free airtime on mainstream media. Hillary got something like 20,000 times as much. So, it was good. It was an improvement compared to prior campaigns.
Clearly, nowhere where near where we need to go. It was a beginning, and I think the consequence of that is that we earned three times as many votes as we earned in the past election. That is, in 2012 itself doubled our count from the prior election. I think the overall result of this election, which is basically a very dangerous and discouraging outcome, that is with the victory of Donald Trump. I think in a way that reflects how much this system is ready to change, and we can talk about that more later. But to my mind that’s a big victory in and of itself.
There’s going to be a huge amount of buyer’s remorse out there, as Trump’s base—which wasn’t for Trump nearly as much as it was against Clinton and the Democrats—But as that base wakes up to the really awful reality of what Donald Trump will mean for their communities, their schools, their jobs, our economy, our climate, etc. As that group wakes up, it creates enormous momentum for change and enormous potential for change.
To my mind, really one of the most important outcomes is that we are on the threshold. It is kind of a perfect storm for organizing right now. Not something would have wished for in their right mind, but that is what we have. And in addition, let me just say I think people are really in despair at the voting system that forced them to choose between a militarist and a neofascist, and what kind of a choice is that? So, it is a voting system in which people were voting against the person they hated the most or the person they feared the most, and it gives us a really awful outcome.
This is the time for us to seriously consider voting reforms, and in particular, ranked choice voting is the alternative. We don’t have to search for it. It is already in effect in cities all over the country. The state of Maine passed this with very strong Green Party leadership and support. It’s now implemented for all state and federal elections now in the state of Maine, which is really exciting because this is a model that we can follow in other states now.
Let me mention a couple of other successes: that we now have automatic ballot access. Because of the vote count that we received in many states and new Green Party registrations, we will have automatic ballot access in many states.
With strong Green support and leadership, marijuana legalization was passed in three states—California, Massachusetts, and Nevada, and in several others as medical marijuana. Some very important Green-backed and led citizen initiatives were passed at the state level in California and in Washington state that basically repeal the underpinnings of Citizens United . Or, I should say they call for a constitutional amendment, which will take away the false legal arguments on behalf of Citizens United . That is the idea that money equals speech and therefore unlimited amounts of money can be poured into our election system and hijack it. So that’s a very positive development. There are a number of positive developments.
One other area I think that for me is especially exciting is that we really established strong alliances with social movements in this campaign, and in particular, with people who are the very powerful spokes men and women for those movements. And that includes solidarity with the Standing Rock movement, having been the only presidential candidate to go there and to actually participate in civil disobedience along with these indigenous leaders. With the Black Lives Matter campaign, and in particular, we were present in Baton Rouge at the flooding. We participated in many of the protests against police violence, marched with the mothers, so-called Million Moms March in Washington, DC. You know, stood strong with the Muslim community.
There are many initiatives that are going full tilt now as we come out of this race. That includes the fight against student debt, having been the only campaign to call for actually bailing out the students. Grassroots libertarians as well. There are many grassroots libertarians that share with us the excitement about pushing forward ranked choice voting so we can actually bring our values into our voting system and open up the elections to more voices and more choices.
Finally, the election debate commission, which 75 percent of voters were screaming to open it up to the other two candidates, that is to Gary Johnson and myself. We’ll be working with voters of all stripes but also with many of the grassroots libertarians. So there’s just really exciting initiatives and momentums that are ready to go now.
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GOSZTOLA: I’d like to conclude with the critical question related to the amazing collapse that people are witnessing right now within the Democratic Party and the complete denial on their part. Many people who were friendly to the Clinton campaign and worked for the press or are part of Clinton’s campaign are blaming Sanders for “poisoning” the minds of millennial voters and that’s perhaps why Hillary Clinton was unable to defeat Donald Trump. But it seems that we’ve had this huge rejection of neoliberalism and all of the different policies connected and I’d like to know from you—Since you went around campaigning in the United States, did you get the sense while campaigning that the Clinton campaign was going to be trounced by Donald Trump?
STEIN: We certainly over the past year saw enormous anguish, suffering, misery, resentment against the Democratic Party. I, myself, while the polls were often misleading—I, myself, never had confidence that Hillary Clinton was going to win. I think that was an expectation I shared, but I’ve just seen so many completely unpredictable outcomes to have taken any kind of assurance from the misleading polls about that.
I have to say from my point of view I’ve really seen a system in meltdown. And I say this as a medical doctor, having seen the healthcare system collapse, having seen the incredible misery that people are in, having seen jobless and under employment. And especially the misery of an entire generation that is really locked into hopelessness right now without decent jobs, without the ability to get out of college debt, without the ability to have their own place, without the ability to start a family and have kids, really having been denied the essence of reproductive freedom. This is a generation that cannot have a family. It’s just staggering with few exceptions, but many people are being denied that now.
And then, having to deal with the climate catastrophe that’s barreling down on us. I think in this election the veil was lifted from this catastrophic system, which is unraveling on all quarters; now in the political realm. But it’s been clear that this has been a house of cards for quite some time, and whether it was going to be a Donald Trump and a victory of Republicans or whether it would be some other form of outright revolt, it wasn’t clear. It’s been obvious that this has been a sick and corrupted system. There was no way that something good was going to come out of this.
So a lot of people, myself included, were braced for something terrible, and whether it was Hillary Clinton’s victory, which would have been awful in its own way, in a much subtler way but still a disaster for us and our future. Or whether it was a Trump victory or something else, I think many of us had been bracing for this catastrophe for the communities of color that have lived under oppression for 500 years.
What’s happening now is not altogether new. It is indeed a disaster. It is particularly a disaster for the LGBTQ community, for many immigrants who are living in fear, for people of color, and there are many informal reports now of people being subjected to more abuse and harassment on all quarters and of many suicides in the trans community. This is a really regrettable and vile outcome of a very sick and corrupted system, which must be more than reformed. We need more than ever now a peaceful nonviolent revolution, a transformation, and we have the capacity to do that now.
When we’re divided into a thousand separate movements each based on our own identity or our own biggest need, we are divided and conquered. But now so many people are being absolutely slammed across the spectrum of justice, it creates a potential for a very powerful coalition. This is a coalition that we have seen in the making for quite some time. I want to mention along those lines that there is a political coalition called Left Elect, which brings together the many small parties of resistance and that we will be having a conference this spring. I believe it’s in March this year. Again, stay tuned through Jill2016.com or through our social media, @DrJillStein. We’ll keep you posted.
I think it is a very positive sign that so many from the Bernie campaign woke up the minute Bernie endorsed Hillary, and the floodgates opened into our campaign. I think this has a lot to do with why our vote numbers tripled, why we are growing Green Party chapters all over the country, where the party had really gone into dormancy. It’s now awake and alive and kicking all across the country.
We can transform this breaking point that we’re at into the tipping point that we need to take back our future and make it healthy, just, green, and democratic. We will be continuing by the way to do our livestreams with the incredible spokespeople and with grassroots leadership. Yesterday, we streamed with Andrea Merida, one of the co-chairs of the Green Party who just came back from a week at Standing Rock. We will be continuing to live stream from the front lines, from the real sites of inspiration and action around the country. So I urge you to join us, to be a part of this unstoppable team, and for us to continue to reject the efforts the Democrats, still, to blame everybody else but themselves for this catastrophe.
Remember, they themselves, as revealed by the WikiLeaks emails, they lifted up Donald Trump, helped the media to take him seriously, gave him credibility, lifted him up as part of this so-called Pied Piper candidates that they were promoting in order to make Hillary Clinton’s task easier. They brought this on themselves with the horrific policies that Bill Clinton, in fact, signed and Hillary Clinton supported—NAFTA, Wall Street deregulation, the crime bill that opened the door to mass incarceration, particularly to people of color. And, indeed, they opened the door to the attack on immigrants with the Clinton anti-immigrant bill of the 1990s, and it is indeed, while Republicans of hate and fear against immigrants, Democrats are the party of deportations, detentions, and night raids.
I say it’s time to leave them both behind. Let’s reject this lesser evil and the greater evil. Let’s fight for the greater good like our lives depend on it because they do. We can do that knowing that, in fact, when we stand together, we not only have the vision, the values, and the solution. We have the numbers that we need to take our future back, and make it work—an America that works for all of us and a world that works for all of us. The power to do that is still in our hands.
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WASHINGTON — Just days after President Trump spoke of a “running war’’ with the media, his chief White House strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, ratcheted up the attacks, arguing that news organizations had been “humiliated” by the election outcome and repeatedly describing the media as “the opposition party” of the current administration. “The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while,” Mr. Bannon said in an interview on Wednesday. “I want you to quote this,” Mr. Bannon added. “The media here is the opposition party. They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States. ” The scathing assessment — delivered by one of Mr. Trump’s most trusted and influential advisers, in the first days of his presidency — comes at a moment of high tension between the news media and the administration, with skirmishes over the size of Mr. Trump’s inaugural crowd and the president’s false claims that millions of illegal votes by undocumented immigrants swayed the popular vote against him. Mr. Bannon, who rarely grants interviews to journalists outside of Breitbart News, the provocative website he ran until August, was echoing comments by Mr. Trump last weekend, when the president said he was in “a running war” with the media and called journalists “among the most dishonest people on earth. ” Mr. Bannon’s remarks added to the growing acrimony between the press and a president who made attacks on the media a rallying point of his election campaign. Among Mr. Trump’s advisers in the White House, Mr. Bannon is responsible for putting into action the nationalist vision that Mr. Trump channeled during the later months of the campaign, one that stemmed from Mr. Bannon himself. And in many ways Mr. Trump has acted on that vision during his first week in office — from the description of “American carnage” he laid out in his inauguration speech to a series of executive actions outlining policies on trade agreements, immigration and the building of a border wall. Mr. Bannon is one of the strongest forces in an administration with competing power centers. A savvy manipulator of the press, and a proud provocateur, he was among the few advisers in Mr. Trump’s circle who were said to have urged Sean Spicer, the new press secretary, to give a confrontational, emotional statement to a shocked West Wing briefing room on Saturday, when the White House disputed news reports about the size of the inauguration crowd. He shares Mr. Trump’s view that the news media misunderstood the movement that the president rode into office. Speaking by telephone on Wednesday, Mr. Bannon delivered a broad indictment of the news media as being biased against Mr. Trump and out of touch with the American public. That is an argument familiar to readers of Breitbart and followers of personalities friendly to Mr. Trump, like Sean Hannity of Fox News. “The elite media got it dead wrong, 100 percent dead wrong,” Mr. Bannon said of the election, calling it “a humiliating defeat that they will never wash away, that will always be there. ” “The mainstream media has not fired or terminated anyone associated with following our campaign,” Mr. Bannon said. “Look at the Twitter feeds of those people: They were outright activists of the Clinton campaign. ” (He did not name specific reporters or editors.) “That’s why you have no power,” he added. “You were humiliated. ” Mr. Bannon spoke in blunt but calm tones, peppered with profanity, and humorously referred to himself as “Darth Vader. ” He said, with ironic relish, that Mr. Trump was elected by a surge of support from “the hobbits and deplorables. ” The conversation was initiated by Mr. Bannon to offer praise for Mr. Spicer, who has been criticized this week for making false claims at the White House podium about attendance at Mr. Trump’s inaugural, for calling reporters dishonest and lecturing them about what stories to write, and for failing to disavow Mr. Trump’s lie about widespread voter fraud in the election. Asked if he was concerned that Mr. Spicer had lost credibility with the news media, Mr. Bannon chortled. “Are you kidding me?” he said. “We think that’s a badge of honor. ‘Questioning his integrity’ — are you kidding me? The media has zero integrity, zero intelligence, and no hard work. ” “You’re the opposition party,” he said. “Not the Democratic Party. You’re the opposition party. The media’s the opposition party. ” Journalists reacted with alarm and defiance to Mr. Bannon’s comments. “What country are we living in?” Christiane Amanpour, the CNN correspondent, wrote on Twitter. “We are not the opposition,’’ Stephen Engelberg, editor in chief of the nonprofit news organization ProPublica, wrote in an email. “We are part of an essential function in any democracy. ” He added that ProPublica had no intention of “shutting up in response to this or any other president’s demand. ” “We are here to tell the truth and we intend to continue doing so, regardless of how badly some might want us to parrot ‘alternative facts,’” Mr. Engelberg said. Mr. Bannon mostly referred to the “elite” or “mainstream” media, but he cited The New York Times and The Washington Post by name. “The paper of record for our beloved republic, The New York Times, should be absolutely ashamed and humiliated,” Mr. Bannon said. “They got it 100 percent wrong. ” He added that he has been a reader of The Times for most of his adult life. | 1 |
Sen. Kamala Harris ( ) dropped the “ ” at a public event about health care. [.@KamalaHarris apparently very comfortably dropping tonight re: healthcare at @PodSaveAmerica taping. This one via @mimofernandes pic. twitter. — Sarah Boxer (@Sarah_Boxer) May 7, 2017, “What the f*ck is that?” she said to an audience at a taping of the podcast “Pod Save America” in San Francisco while she was discussing health care, the Washington Free Beacon reports. “Pod Save America” is a podcast hosted by former Obama administration officials Jon Favreau, Dan Pfeiffer, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor, which focuses primarily on liberal politics and discusses how Democrats can fight against the policies of the Trump administration and initiatives in Congress. Harris took aim at Rep. Raul Labrador ( ) who took a lot of heat for saying “nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care. ” “Like this guy, this congressman, you might as well say, ‘People don’t starve because they don’t have food.’ What the f*ck is that?” Harris said. Other Democrats have taken to cursing during public speeches. Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez told an audience in New Jersey in March that “Republicans don’t give a sh*t about people. ” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ( ) also dropped an “ ” in an interview with New York Magazine in April. “Which is that we’re here to help people, and if we’re not helping people, we should go the f*ck home,” Gillibrand told New York Magazine. | 1 |
The 1980s called! Hillary-defending Howard Dean puts FBI director in same league as … (wait for it … ) Posted at 11:10 am on October 29, 2016 by Doug P.
Many Dems are beside themselves over the FBI’s continued investigation surrounding Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin (and her husband). Former Vermont governor and Dem presidential candidate Howard Dean is among those seeing red: Ironically Comey put himself on the same side as Putin.
— Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) October 29, 2016
Sure, it couldn’t have anything to do with the lawlessness, recklessness and perversion surrounding the Hillary Clinton campaign — must be the Russians! @GovHowardDean Why are you putting yourself on the same side as a candidate whose surrogates got immunity deals and invoked the 5th?
— DC Dude (@DCDude1776) October 29, 2016 2016: When leading Democrats say the #FBI doing its job = being on the side of a foreign dictator who hates America. https://t.co/Ezz87ZxPW8
— John Schindler (@20committee) October 29, 2016 @GovHowardDean you people have lost it | 0 |
Previous 18 State Swat Team Drill In Prep for Backlash Against a Stolen Election
Paul Martin, through his sources has learned of an 18 state Swat Team Drill. The drill is exceptionally covert but The Common Sense Show has learned that the intent of the drill is centralize and coordinate martial law activities over a large swath of states at the same time.
It is apparent that the election is going to be stolen and the establishment and their minions are expecting a violent backlash. Remember, both the New York Times and the Washington Post contacted Dave Hodges and Mike Adams fishing for information regarding any potential headlines related to a planned violent backlash should Clinton steal the election.
More on this coming suppression of the will of the people is included in the following video. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND DON’T FORGET TO “LIKE” US
This is the absolute best in food storage. Dave Hodges is a satisfied customer. Don’t wait until it is too late. Click Here for more information. | 0 |
Please learn something about steroids before making such comments. You’re merely repeating unproven assertions. anarchyst
…look at the medical literature…changes in behavior ARE attributed to steroid use. You must be a cop… S J
That’s so stupid. They get tested and random tested all the time. Steroids now?? troll hunter
What State do you live in were cops get random drug tested ? I’ve never heard of one in the United States that does that even after an officer involved shooting. They have to have probable cause to test the officer or their union will shut it down immediately Peter Jameson
Cops, accountable only to each other and guided by policy established by political appointees. The guy is right! Storm Troopers they are but from a more current time. And the good men do nothing. Mark “SEADOG” Warren
I am not PC – Now that I got that out of the way – All of those so call police need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Everything they own needs to be transferred to this individual and they should live in the deepest hole of no return. Tase them 10,000 times see if they survive. Donald B Pearce
He should never been given a Badge,,,Screw him,,Go after the Chief!!!! He knows what kind of a cop he is Paschn
Exactly! Thank you. Rather than focusing on the anal pimple’s called cops, go after the huge festering BOILS (dual citizens?), put in “appointed” positions of power within the body politic who seek out this filth nurture it and PROTECT it. Rev. Walking Turtle
Hear hear! Let’s start with the traitors in Congress and work our way outward and downward from there, shall we? VERY good (though doubtless dangerous) idea!
Dangerous as in: Witness the treatment of LaVoy Finnicum and friends at the hands and arms of Federalized though privately-owned and decidedly hostile foreign-agency hands – and all the standard-issue lies+video-fakery that followed that criminally arranged and executed ambush/murder like stink on poop.
Nonetheless imvho it IS the Right Idea. In furtherance of which, kindly note: You and your friends ‘n’ neighbors here in Lawful America simply MUST Lawfully arrest, try, convict ‘n’ sentence ’em Lawful as can be, first. Then YT’ll gladly quick-drop hang ’em ar a truly bargain rate per capita.
Save a ton on hard-to-buy pentobarbitol AND (unlike what the perps have always done), NEVER spill ANY blood. All over within five minutes from cell-entry to trap-drop when Done Right! Full and gentle dignity throughout the proceediure (struggling condemned ones CAN and MUST be NON-violenty subdued, thank you!) or double your Hangman’s Fee cheerfully refunded!
Then: Let’s just see, in the century that follows, whether a LAWFULLY IMPOSED and TRULY DESERVED Humane Death Penalty has any deterrent effect on the Infandous ‘L33t, shall we? Mere Social Science Done Right! And that is all. 0{:-|o[ Jamie Hall
America definitely is ripe for a second Revolutionary War. And the “enemies” may be very much “domestic”. But the enemy is not the people. It’s the Government, which is as hell-bent on tyrrany as any Monarch deserving of defeat at the hands of the citizenry. Paschn
Good point imo. But we still have a treasonous military led by walking feces of dual citizen Wesley Clark’s ilk, (WACO “fame”, and his wish to put all those who disagree with his fellow tribals running this government in to concentration camps), and LEO’s who actually enjoy killing their fellows for great pay, idiot culture’s admiration a pat on the ass from the boss and benefits we’ll never see again. If the “rabid dog” cannot be put down by secession and it boils into a REAL civil war then when, (after their toadies have killed millions of us), we gain the upper hand, we must chase all those who brought this global horror about to the ends of the earth if necessary as well as the elitist families who have been screwing/slaughtering us for literally generations and completely remove them to the 5th generation from the gene pool. In this way we can insure justice, honor/ decency for at least as many generations. CTOH
I HATE it when someone doesn’t say WHERE in the film it is. I don’t want to watch 20 minutes of it.
just play it in fast motion Prince
He should’ve called him a Jack-Booted Gestapo Donut Nazi! max tague
Fat pigs give LEO’s a bad name morsextenebris
WOW, he was really endangering himself & the [email protected] by skateboarding in the wrong direction…WTF is going through these guys heads, real tough guys eh? Richard Winchester
This has been brewing since 1980… It’s now out of hand and needs to be dealt with by the government or the people. Quite frankly I prefer the people take direct action.
this has been brewing since the formation of police posses as slave catchers S J
Ok, he was fighting with the police from the beginning and spit on them. That’s an assault James Michael
Actually asshole, the sworn servant had no cause of action, he was aggravated assaulting and battering and kidnapped the guy not to mention his treason of the 4th and 5th amendments. Try again ignoramus. S J
Clearly you’re the ignoramus and apparently has anger issues. James Michael
I just explained the facts to you and that is all you can say? Go lick your masters crack and get all the turds off slave…. Anger issues? You are damned right I have anger issues when I see ignorant retards like you bowing to felon ass treasonous thugs on the land of the free…MORON. You are helping to piss away what I served 2 decades to protect…Pound sand retard…. JdL
That cop deserved to be shot on the spot by some patriotic citizen who is fed up with this nation’s descent into a police-state hellhole. Greg Geitner
because the various departments who are responsible for these[ expletive of your choice] refuse to make a concerted effort to correct these crimes, it is up to citizens with a conscience and a backbone to stop this madness BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. Ibcamn
no fitness program in this department either,are all cops just fat nasty donut eaters now days,kinda like the southern cops when i was growing up….fat loud mouths assholes that hide behind their badges.cops are just criminals,why did it take a dozen cops to arrest a skateboarder skating the wrong way on a street…really.what a bunch of losers. Centrist Force
thugs. unprofessional thugs. they disgrace the uniform and the badge. its been reduced to a badge of state of criminals. Arishia
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Abe Lincoln These cops have more power than they can handle, given the characters they demonstrate. Patty Parfait
Wow, tough guy has to kick a citizen, he’s so fat he had to go after kid on skateboard than he brags to other thugs how citizen threw something and flipped him off so he had to go after him. Then what, he arrested him for resisting, what did he do that he had to “get him” According to supreme court flipping cops off is NOT illegal. Jamie Hall
Could it be that, subconsiously or otherwise, what this cop really took offense to was the thought that the fascist pig regime posing as law enforcement could suffer the same fate as the Empire? If not, he’s about to experience such a downfall firsthand. okiejoe100
Sometimes the “worm” turns. Also known as karma. anarchyst
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say goodbye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling in terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand. The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst; the cursed machine would have ground to a halt . . .” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago Social | 0 |
A Crime Prevention Research Center study looking at data for 2014 shows that two percent of counties in the U. S. account for 51% of U. S. murders. [The study shows that “54% of counties (with 11% of the population) have no murders” while “69% of counties have no more than one murder. ” Taken together these counties, which represent about 31% of the U. S. population, “account for only 4% of all murders in the country. ” However, CPRC shows that two percent of U. S. counties — led by Los Angeles County — account for 51% of all murders. And “the worst 5% of counties contain 47% of the population and account for 68% of murders. ” This is crucial information because gun controllers continuously point to polls claiming a vast majority of Americans support one type of gun control or another, and those same gun controllers point to homicide rates to bolster their push for new laws. One thing the gun controllers do not explain is where the the poll respondents live — for example, are they all concentrated in the two percent of counties where 51% of U. S. murders occur? And secondly, when listing homicide rates, gun controllers do not point out that murder is a local problem rather than a national one. In other words, murder is serious problem if you live in Los Angeles County, Cook County, or Harris County — the locations of Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston — but it is not a problem if you live in a rural county in Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, or the rest of “73 percent” of U. S. counties which had zero murders during any given year from 1977 to 2000. The points out that even among the counties that lead the nation in murder, the murders are occurring only in certain parts of those counties. They point to a 2015 report in the Hartford Courant, wherein “Yale Ph. D. candidate Michael explained that Yale University sociologists determined ’70 percent of all shootings in Chicago can be located in a social network composed of less than 6 percent of the city’s population. ’” Think about it — 70 percent of Chicago’s bloodshed and mayhem occurs in an area representing “less than 6 percent of the city’s population. ” Gun controllers would say this means more gun control is needed for the other 94% of the population, but such thinking is . 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 |
Home › US NEWS › YOUTUBE BANS ‘CLINTON’S BLACK SON’ YOUTUBE BANS ‘CLINTON’S BLACK SON’ 0 SHARES
[10/27/16] YouTube on Wednesday terminated the account of Danney Williams, the 30-year-old man who has claimed since the 1990s to be the black son of former President Bill Clinton.
But YouTube suddenly reversed its decision on Thursday amid public outcry and reinstated the account in the early morning hours, posting a notice that said only: “After a review of your account, we have confirmed that your YouTube account is not in violation of our Terms of Service. As such, we have unsuspended your account.”
When it terminated the account on Wednesday, YouTube cited unspecified “repeated or severe violations of our Terms of Use and/or Community Guidelines” and declared the account “cannot be restored.”
The YouTube decision to terminate Williams’ account blocked the nine-minute feature “BANISHED – The Untold Story of Danney Williams,” which had received 1.2 million views since Williams posted it last week. Produced by filmmaker Joel Gilbert, it drew nearly 100,000 views per day and more than 1,000 viewer comments, with the overwhelming majority expressing support for Williams and outrage at the Clintons for not being willing to allow a DNA test to determine paternity.
“My YouTube account has been deleted, but the same video appears in 50 other places on YouTube alone,” Williams said on his Facebook page after being notified of YouTube’s decision to suspend the account. “[YouTube] can’t handle the truth! Please share #BillClintonSon.”
Twitter also continued to allow Williams to post the “Banished” video on Danney Williams’ page , but the Twitter link to YouTube displayed the message : “This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated. Sorry about that.”
The video is still running on Danney Williams-Clinton’s Facebook page , as well as on the YouTube channel operated by Gilbert.
Attempt to silence Danney Williams?
Gilbert told WND on Wednesday he helped Williams file an online appeal form on YouTube asking why the account was suspended and demanding it be immediately reinstated. Post navigation | 0 |
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS Russia unveils 'Satan 2' missile Nuclear weapon could wipe out France or Texas, report says Published: 7 hours ago
(CNN) A Russian missile design company has unveiled the first image of a new weapon in Russia’s arsenal: the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, nicknamed “Satan 2.”
The RS-28 Sarmat rocket “is capable of wiping out parts of the earth the size of Texas or France,” Russian state news outlet Sputnik reported in May.
The image was published by the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau on its website.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borsiov said the Sarmat warhead was capable of destroying targets flying across both North and South Poles, Russian state news agency TASS reported Tuesday. | 0 |
Jason Day, the No. golfer in the world, became the latest player to pull out of the Olympics because of concern over the Zika virus. “The reason for my decision is my concerns about the possible transmission of the Zika virus and the potential risks that it may present to my wife’s future pregnancies and to future members of our family,” he said in a statement. Day, 28, of Australia, won last year’s P. G. A. Championship for his first major title. Golf is in the Olympics this year for the first time since 1904. But with a large number of key players pulling out, its future may be in doubt. Barry Maister, an International Olympic Committee member from New Zealand, this week blasted the golfers who have dropped out of the Games. “I think it is appalling,” he told the radio station Newstalk ZB. “I don’t like it, and I don’t think the sport should be allowed to continue in the Games under that scenario. ” Maister added, “Just getting in with your name and then putting up some or players is so far from the Olympic ideal or the expectation of the Olympic movement. ” With Day out, the top three golfers from Australia (Day, Adam Scott and Marc Leishman) have decided not to go to the Olympics. And the top three golfers from South Africa are all not going: Branden Grace, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel. Shane Lowry also pulled out of the Olympics on Tuesday, citing Zika, meaning the top three golfers who could represent Ireland are also out: Lowry Rory McIlroy, ranked No. 4, who also cited the virus and Graeme McDowell, who said he wanted to be with his wife, Kristin, during her pregnancy. Vijay Singh of Fiji has also pulled out. Gary Player, the captain of the South African team, joked last week that he was ready to step in and play if needed. In addition to Zika fears, golfers have cited a busy schedule as a concern. The British Open and the P. G. A. are both being held in late July, just before the Games. Golf has been the sport, but the American cyclist Tejay van Garderen also withdrew from the Games over the virus. Some athletes and coaches have said they will preserve sperm for possible future pregnancies before traveling to Rio. Zika is a virus linked to severe birth defects. Hundreds of thousands are infected in Brazil, and the virus has been tied to thousands of cases of microcephaly, which causes unusually small heads and brain damage in newborns. The virus can be sexually transmitted. Some scientists have called for postponement or cancellation of the Games because of the health emergency. Olympic officials say the risk is minimal. The American, Jordan Spieth, No. 2 in the world, is still expected to compete. None of the world’s top female golfers have backed out of the Olympics, even though they ostensibly face a greater health risk. Since the decision to add golf to the Summer Olympics program, the reaction of the top players has been lukewarm. With many major events on the annual calendar, the value of an Olympic medal is not the same as it is for athletes for whom the Olympics is the pinnacle of their sport. Plenty of athletes in those sports are still eager to compete. “Everyone keeps dropping off one by one,” said the gold medalist Michael Phelps, who is competing in the United States swimming trials in Indianapolis. “Nobody wants to go. But hopefully I get to go soon. ” Serena Williams, speaking at Wimbledon, acknowledged that “it’s difficult for someone that’s in a sport like golf because their main goal, like tennis, is to win slams,” but said of playing at the Olympics, “It is really one of the best experiences that I’ve ever had. ” | 1 |
BRUSSELS (AFP) — Donor countries on Thursday pledged 181 million euros for charities providing access to safe abortion in response to President Donald Trump’s bar on US funding, organisers said. [The donations came at a “She Decides” conference in Brussels which was attended by 50 countries including Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium. “I think that the Trump administration decision is a wrong decision, and I’ve never seen any evidence that supports that decision,” Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said as he opened the conference. “You see almost 50 countries here saying we think that this is important and we want to continue working on this. ” In one of his first acts as president, Trump reintroduced the global gag rule, enacted by Ronald Reagan in 1984, which prohibits foreign charities from using US federal funding to provide abortion services, information, counselling or referrals. On Thursday, donor nations and organisations pledged 181 million euros for the global “She Decides” initiative, which was launched by the Netherlands in January, the Belgian foreign ministry said. The Netherlands initiated the https: . com campaign to compensate for what it said was a 600 million euro ($640 million) annual funding gap caused by Trump’s ban. | 1 |
America’s favorite transexual Bruce Caitlyn Jenner finds recent decisions made by President Donald Trump regarding the LGBTQ community deeply disturbing. [The 1976 Olympic decathlon gold medal winner voted for Trump and feels more empathy for the GOP political philosophy than he does with the Democrat party, but Jenner considers the president’s decision to allow the states to determine rules for the use of student bathrooms and locker rooms by transgendered students a step backward. “When (Trump) pulled back on the Title IX (guidelines) it kind of killed — It destroyed me,” said the former world’s most versatile athlete. “This of all cases is when we need (the government) to step in. The bottom line is bullying in schools is going to be worse, and then there’s already bullying online where there’s no protection, no escape. “When you take away protection in schools, to be honest with you, it is devastating to these kids. These politicians say it is to protect their children in bathrooms. But young people will die. And they are transgender. Suicide rates will go up. What if that’s your kid? The federal government is basically saying, you don’t really exist. “I was outspoken when Trump did that. And I should be. ” Jenner still thinks it easier to show a Republican the error of his ways than try to reconstruct a Democrat: For me, philosophically, I’m on the Republican side. I have conservative views. But I’m also trans. … I would much rather convince Republicans to do better with (LGBT) issues than to try to convince Democrats to lower taxes and have less regulations and less government. I work hard, mostly behind the scenes, to change (Republicans’) views. When I sit down with Republican senators, they’ll tell me they’ve never met a trans person before and they’ll mention their faith. I explain how faith has played a big part in what I have done and am doing right now. Just sitting at the table with someone, that can change people’s minds. USA Today reports that Jenner’s memoir includes a quote from Milton Diamond that says, “Biology loves variation. Biology loves differences. Society hates it. ” Diamond might not have meant that a male removing his genitalia demonstrates biological variation, but if the shoe fits — or, if the high heels fit — wear them. | 1 |
These guys have found a cunning way to get around licensing Sega’s character designs
@Sonic_hedgehog over on Twitter has spotted this amazingly shoddy bit of kit:
One size fits most. | 0 |
Germany Urged to Pause on Syrian Escalation November 10, 2016
Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern presented the following statement to members of Germany’s Bundestag on Thursday, advising them against the proposed deepening of Germany’s military involvement in the Syrian conflict.
By Ray McGovern
In view of the surprising election victory of Donald Trump, today’s vote in the Bundestag has assumed even greater importance. There are very passionate warmongers in the United States. Thank goodness, President Obama is not one of them. I believe that Donald Trump, like Obama, would like to find a way to end the armed chaos in Syria.
I believe it is quite possible that both – Obama and Trump – would prefer that the German government avoid taking steps that would encourage the “hawks” in Washington. The widening of the Syrian war into a NATO war would be such a step. Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern
In my opinion, a peaceful solution to the disaster in Syria is not possible without cooperation with the Russians. This cooperation would be more likely with a President Trump than it would have been with a President Hillary Clinton. Let’s take the time for a DENKPAUSE – time to think this through. (I myself voted for Dr. Jill Stein. She was the presidential candidate of the U.S. Green Party, a small electoral party committed to peace and protecting the environment.)
Yesterday, I was part of a group that, in our parlance, belongs to the “one percent” (the elite). In this group was a former U.S. ambassador to NATO. The former ambassador was asked whether it would not be better to talk with the Russians, and to negotiate. He answered the question in a very condescending way: “You are obviously a Trump supporter. But Hillary Clinton will surely win.” The ambassador added that in this case it would be nonsense and unrealistic to expect early negotiations with the Russians.
Now I admit, “Donald Trump is no Jack Kennedy.” BUT, to make a long story short: I believe that next year with Trump could make possible a more sensible Ostpolitik – policy toward countries to the East of Germany. There could be a relaxation of tension, instead of the escalation that causes more and more of it.
I believe we should consider the Russians as partners and NOT as enemies. And to quote Winston Churchill, “It’s better to be jaw-jaw than to-war;” it’s better to talk to each other than to go to war.
Most important, we should take seriously the opportunity for genuine detente. We must now take a DENKPAUSE. The Bundestag should also do some serious rethinking. Let us think of something new – beyond images of the enemy and military solutions.
For, as we all know so well, DIE GEDANKEN SIND FREI .
Die Gedanken sind frei, wer kann sie erraten, sie fliegen vorbei wie nächtliche Schatten. Kein Mensch kann sie wissen, kein Jäger erschießen mit Pulver und Blei: Die Gedanken sind frei! Thoughts are free, who can guess them? They fly by, like nocturnal shadows. No one can know them, no hunter can shoot them with powder and lead: Thoughts are free!
Ich denke was ich will und was mich beglücket, doch alles in der Still’, und wie es sich schicket. Mein Wunsch und Begehren kann niemand verwehren, es bleibet dabei: Die Gedanken sind frei!
I think what I want, and what delights me, But always in the quiet, and how it is suitable. My wish and desire, no one can deny me, and so it will always be: Thoughts are free!
Und sperrt man mich ein im finsteren Kerker, das alles sind rein vergebliche Werke. Denn meine Gedanken zerreißen die Schranken und Mauern entzwei: Die Gedanken sind frei!
And if I am thrown into the darkest dungeon, all such actions are futile, because my thoughts tear all gates and walls apart: Thoughts are free! | 0 |
Posted on October 27, 2016 by Sean Adl-Tabatabai in News , US // 0 Comments
John Podesta’s emails released by WikiLeaks reveal that the Democratic National committee (DNC) forced Bernie Sanders out of the race in order to ensure a Clinton victory.
The DNC functioned as an unofficial Clinton campaign department, rather than the impartial organisation it was supposed to be.
Observer.com reports:
In December 2014, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook sent an email to top staffers in which he described a conversation he had with White House Political Advisor David Simas about picking DNC employees who would serve in the best interest of Clinton. Jen O’Malley Dillon was cited as their pick to serve in a “general election planning/preparation role.”
“Jen O’Malley Dillon, a former deputy campaign manager to Obama in 2012 who is now at Precision Strategies, a firm co-founded by senior Clinton aide Teddy Goff, has informally advised the Clinton campaign and also served as an adviser to theDNC in a role described by some Democrats this spring as a frequent go-between,”reported BuzzFeed in July. “Sanders, a frequent Wasserman-Schultz critic, never enjoyed the same dynamic.”
The Podesta emails have also revealed that DNC interim chair Donna Brazile worked behind the scenes as a surrogate for the Clinton campaign, violating the neutrality her position as DNC vice chair demanded. Brazile tipped off the Clinton campaign to a difficult CNN town hall question, forwarded them aSanders Outreach campaign outline, and sent an email from CNN staff about a report on the Clinton campaign. Clinton campaign staff also described Brazile as aClinton campaign surrogate in email correspondence.
An April 2015 email confirmed that the DNC and Clinton campaign coordinated torig the debate schedule for Clinton. “Through internal discussions, we concluded that it was in our interest to: 1) limit the number of debates (and the number in each state); 2) start the debates as late as possible; 3) keep debates out of the busy window between February 1 and February 27, 2016 (Iowa to South Carolina)” read the email from Charlie Baker, a senior advisor to the campaign from the Dewey Square Group. “The other campaigns have advocated (not surprisingly) for more debates and for the schedule to start significantly earlier.”
A memo from Mook’s assistant dated April 2015 was shared with Clinton staff and the DNC, it outlined a shared strategy to to elevate “pied-piper” candidates such asDonald Trump. “We think our goals mirror those of the DNC,” stated the memo, attached to the email under the title “muddying the waters.”
Mook expressed frustration in a March 2015 email over the DNC hiring a convention CEO without consulting the Clinton campaign. “Madame Secretary, I’m not going to call anyone or say anything until you have your conversation with DWS, but this concerns me a lot,” wrote Mook. “John–you, Charlie and I may need to sit down with Debbie to make clear how we want things to change/improve before we are willing to consider playing ball with them.” This suggests the Clinton campaign let the DNC and then-chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz know who was boss, and after the incident the DNC and Clinton campaign coordinated more closely together to boost Clinton’s candidacy.
The released WikiLeaks emails boost the case that the DNC and Democratic Partyleadership subverted democracy to ensure Clinton’s coronation. This collusion and unethical coordination is equivalent to an athlete using performance-enhancing drugs to win a race. While Clinton received over two million more votes than Bernie Sanders in the primaries, her candidacy benefited from the Democratic Partyleadership bending and breaking the rules to rig the primaries for her campaign. | 0 |
On Oct. 26, 2016, at 19:18:06.3 UTC, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake rattled throughout Central Italy. This occurred two hours after a quake with a magnitude of 5.5 caused severe damages. The epicenter was located at 42.97º N and 13.13º E. It reached a depth of 20 km.
Earlier, on October 26, at 17:10:36.3 UTC, a 5.5 magnitude temblor rumbled Central Italy. Its epicenter originating at coordinates 42:88º N and 13:13º E, with a depth of 9 km. Approximately 2,686,000 people were able to feel the thunderous rumbling.
Two hours after the 5.5 M earthquake destroyed several foundations to iconic buildings, in Central Italy, a relentless 6.1 magnitude temblor originated in the same proximity as the first one. Enduring two earthquakes, above a magnitude 5, increases the chances of significant damages, power outages, and possible flooding.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced that the injury reports, thus far, remain at zero. Several buildings have collapsed after a 6.1 magnitude earthquake occurred within two hours of a 5.5 M temblor rocked Central Italy.
Efforts to maintain the safety of the people is ongoing. Aftershocks are anticipated. Guardian Liberty Voice will provide any new information as it becomes available.
Written by Jhayla D. Tyson
Edited by Jeanette Smith
Source:
Reuters: Strong Earthquakes Hit Central Italy, No Deaths Reported
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Cal OES’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License Central Italy , earthquake , earthquakes | 0 |
Source: Arctic News
For some time, Arctic sea ice extent has again been at a record low for the time of the year. The image below shows Arctic sea ice extent on October 26, 2016, when extent was only 6.801 million km².
One reason for the low sea ice extent is the high and rising temperature of the Arctic Ocean. On October 27, 2016, the Arctic Ocean was as warm as 14.8°C or 58.6°F (green circle near Svalbard), 12.1°C or 21.7°F warmer than 1981-2011, as the image below shows.
On October 29, 2016, the Arctic Ocean was as warm as 14.9°C or 58.8°F (green circle near Svalbard), 12.1°C or 21.8°F warmer than 1981-2011, as the image below shows.
As the sea ice shrinks, less sunlight gets reflected back into space, while more open water and higher sea surface temperatures also cause storms and cyclones to become stronger. Stronger cyclones also cause greater amounts of water vapor to move up the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean toward the Arctic. [ click on image to enlarge ] [ click on image to enlarge ]
Less Arctic sea ice and a warmer Arctic Ocean make that more heat and water vapor gets transferred from the Arctic Ocean to the atmosphere. The two above images show temperature forecasts for November 1 & 2, 2016. In both cases, temperatures over the Arctic as a whole are forecast to be as much as 6.40°C higher than 1979-2000.
As these images show, temperature anomalies in many places are at the top end of the scale, i.e. +20°C or +36°F.
Above combination image shows record low Arctic sea ice for the time of the year (left) and near record low Antarctic sea ice for the time of the year (right), with a combined sea ice extent of only 23.751 million km² on October 28, 2016. In other words, the world is now absorbing a lot of sunlight that was previously reflected back into space.
Below are two further temperature forecast:
Above image shows forecasts for October 31, 2016. The Arctic is forecast to be 6.07°C warmer than 1979-2000, while the Antarctic is forecast to be 4.56°C warmer than 1979-2000.
Above image shows forecasts for November 1, 2016. The Arctic is forecast to be 6.42°C warer than 1979-2000, while the Antarctic is forecast to be 3.70°C warmer than 1979-2000.
Rising temperatures over the Arctic further contribute to a rise in the amount of water vapor in the air over the Arctic at a rate of 7% more water vapor for every 1°C warming. Since water vapor is a potent greenhouse gas, more water vapor further accelerates warming in the Arctic.
The Climate Reanalyzer image below shows the temperature rise in the Arctic over time.
In the video below, Dr. Walt Meier of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center describes how the Arctic has been losing its thicker and older sea ice over the years (1991 to September 2016).
The Naval Research Lab 30-day thickness animation below (up to October 28, 2016, with forecasts up to November 5, 2016) further shows minimal recent growth of the Arctic sea ice, especially in terms of the ice with a thickness of 1m or above.
As the Arctic Ocean gets warmer, the danger grows that large amounts of methane will erupt from destabilizing hydrates at its seafloor. Ominously, high methane levels are visible over the Arctic on the image below, showing methane levels as high as 2424 ppb on October 24, 2016.
The animation below, made with images from another satellite (and a different scale), shows high methane levels over th Arctic Ocean from October 26 to 28, 2016. | 0 |
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A speech 13-year-old Trump supporter Faith Graham made at an Arizona rally is going viral. The teen, who is from the famous Graham family, left the packed crowd cheering at the Phoenix Convention Center as she reminded them all of the importance of voting for the Republican nominee.
Watch: | 0 |
BUFFALO — For Harrison Browne, the hardest part about being the only openly transgender professional athlete in North American team sports is going from the comfort zone of the dressing room, ice rink and weight room to uncertainty in public, where strangers do not know how to address him, or which gender pronouns to use. “I feel like people don’t take you seriously, and sometimes I don’t take myself seriously either because I’m walking around saying I’m one thing, but I look like I’m something else,” said Browne, 23, a transgender man playing forward for the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women’s Hockey League. Since he came out publicly as transgender on the eve of the season in October, hockey has been Browne’s refuge. But now he plans to give it up, trading his career for the opportunity, he said, “to fly under the radar in my everyday life. ” Browne plans to retire at the end of the season to undergo a physical transition, starting with surgery in Florida in June to create a chest with male contours, followed by hormone therapy. He then plans to join his girlfriend in Chicago, where she is a social worker, and look for a new career. “It’s going to be so validating to look into the mirror and see the person that I see inside,” Browne said. His final game as a professional hockey player could come Friday when the Beauts, seeded third in the opening round of the N. W. H. L. playoffs, face the New York Riveters, in Newark. The winner advances to the league championship game Sunday in Lowell, Mass. Browne, who is also known as Brownie, played as Hailey Browne with Team Canada, at the University of Maine and during the inaugural season of the N. W. H. L. in when he scored five goals and seven assists in 18 games for the Beauts. He had come out to family, friends and teammates by his sophomore year at Maine, but not publicly. There had been athletes on college sports teams who came out as transgender, but never on a pro team in North America. After Browne’s announcement in October, the N. W. H. L. changed his name on its website and later created a transgender policy with the help of You Can Play Project, an organization that works to ensure that athletes are not discriminated against because of sexual orientation or gender identity. “Harrison helped teach us what being inclusive means,” said Dani Rylan, commissioner of the N. W. H. L. “How he was the same Brownie that he was before the announcement, and it was us accepting him for that. We always said we are an inclusive league, and it did take some learning to realize what that means and to move forward with a policy. We are very proud to be a leader in that. ” The policy took effect in December with a stated purpose of supporting athletes “choosing to express their gender beyond the binary of female and male. ” To address concerns over fair play, there are restrictions about transitioning from male to female. And those taking testosterone hormone therapy are barred, a condition that will disqualify Browne, prompting his retirement. His final season has featured several highlights. Browne was voted into the Game, held in Pittsburgh in February, and he scored two goals. His jersey sales rank among the top five in the league. And on Monday he was named one of the “Fans’ Three Stars of the Season,” an award based on fan voting. “I know a lot of people look to him as a sign of hope and sign of change in athletics,” said Chris Mosier, vice president of program development and community relations for You Can Play and a professional triathlete who came out as a transgender man in 2010. “He was the catalyst for the professional league to create a policy that is groundbreaking in its inclusion. ” Still, it has not been easy. “Coming out and having all the support has actually made it a little more difficult going about my daily life,” Browne said. “It’s given me a taste of what it’s like to have people refer to you properly. ” Paige Harrington, who plays defense for the Beauts and is one of Browne’s roommates in Buffalo, said the attention had not all been positive. “Others may not realize how much of a toll it takes on him because he holds himself the right way,” Harrington said. “Brownie is my first trans friend, and life is hard enough without having to deal with a transition. ” The N. W. H. L. will lose many of its marquee names next season, in addition to Browne. National team players will not join the league as they prepare for the Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in February. The talent drain is the latest blow to the fledgling league, now in its second season. With attendance down, player salaries, which originally ranged from $10, 000 to $26, 000, were slashed about a third. The league tried to compensate for the shortfall by enacting a revenue sharing agreement with players for sales of tickets and jerseys. Browne said the league’s bumps were not related to his decision. “My leaving and retiring has nothing to do with my belief in the league,” he said. His reasons have nothing to do with hockey, either. “I cannot wait until I don’t have to use the cheat sheet anymore, until people just look at me and then see me for what I am, without me having to say anything, without having to read a story,” Browne said. “It will just be me. ” | 1 |
Germany: Students Forced to Chant ‘Allahu Akbar,’ Punished for Refusing Trip to Mosque Intolerance will not be tolerated! Chris Menahan | Information Liberation - October 28, 2016 Comments
Islamic indoctrination is now mandatory in German schools.
From The Daily Express :
PUPILS at a primary school were forced to chant “Allahu Akhbar” and “there is no God but Allah”, an appalled father has claimed.
The father of the pupil at the girl’s primary school in German ski resort Garmisch-Partenkirchen discovered that his daughter had been forced to learn the Islamic prayer when he discovered a handout she had been given.
He claimed she had been “forced” by teachers to memorise the Islamic chants and forwarded the handout to Austrian news service unsertirol24.
The handout read: “Oh Allah, how perfect you are and praise be to you. Blessed is your name, and exalted is your majesty. There is no God but you.”
It had been given to the girl during a lesson in “ethics” at the Bavarian school.
What are they going to teach, the ethics of conquest and slavery?
Here’s another story from yesterday in RT :
Parents of a German teenager may face a trial and fine for “truancy” after refusing to allow their son to go to a local mosque on a school field trip out of fear that it would lead to his “indoctrination” by Islamic radicals.
The story broke in mid-June, when parents of a 13-year-old student opposed the idea of their son visiting a mosque in the northern German town of Rendsburg, reportedly organized as part of a geography class.
In a letter to the class teacher quoted by the NDR, the teen’s father argued that his son would be “indoctrinated” in the mosque. He went on to say that “for years we have been hearing reports about religiously-motivated violence connected with Islamic people.”
A local education authority subsequently fined the couple a total of €300 ($328), referring to school regulations and regional laws which include penalties for truancy.
— Alexandra Witt (@AlexiaStellar) October 23, 2016
When the parents opposed the fine, their case was forwarded to Peter Mueller-Rakow, a local prosecutor, who will decide whether or not to proceed with a court trial, Spiegel reported on Wednesday.
The parents’ lawyer, Alexander Heumann, argues that they refused the school trip out of fear for their son’s “bodily safety.”
Denying any faith-based motives, he emphasized that the couple do not belong to any religious group, and are of the opinion that “nobody shall be forced into a sacred place against his good will.”
…School principal Renate Fritzsche … told NDR that the field trip to the mosque was meant to promote tolerance and diversity.
“We also have Muslim children with us and Muslim parents also know that there are no exceptions,” she said, adding that swimming lessons and sex education are compulsory for Muslim children as well. “It is not the responsibility of the parents to say: ‘My child will attend such or such class,’” Fritzsche asserted.
Intolerance will not be tolerated!
Now get back to your damn prayer rugs and start praying to Mecca! NEWSLETTER SIGN UP Get the latest breaking news & specials from Alex Jones and the Infowars Crew. Related Articles | 0 |
Jerry Heller, a veteran music manager who helped introduce N. W. A to the masses and promoted gangsta rap to a mainstream audience, died on Friday in Thousand Oaks, Calif. He was 75. The Associated Press reported that Mr. Heller’s cousin, Gary Ballen, said he died in a hospital after he had a heart attack while driving. Mr. Heller and Eric Wright, the rapper known as founded Ruthless Records in 1987. A year later, the label released “Straight Outta Compton,” the debut album by the rap group N. W. A, whose members, in addition to were Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, soon to become major figures in as well as DJ Yella and MC Ren. The album was a hit and helped propel West Coast gangsta rap into the national spotlight — and into the center of controversy. Some people said the lyrics of N. W. A and other gangsta rappers glorified violence, while others said they simply reflected the reality of black urban life. N. W. A’s success was . Ice Cube left in 1989, and the group, which Mr. Heller managed, broke up in 1991 amid accusations of mismanagement. Mr. Heller remained close to but Dr. Dre and Ice Cube criticized Mr. Heller publicly. The acrimony did not go away. Speaking to The New York Times in April, Ice Cube accused Mr. Heller of “participating in the destruction” of N. W. A and claimed that he had “little or nothing to do with” the group’s music, adding, “We would never listen to his ideas. ” “Straight Outta Compton,” F. Gary Gray’s 2015 film about N. W. A, also presented Mr. Heller, who was played by Paul Giamatti, in a harshly negative light. Mr. Heller complained that he was depicted as “the ‘bad guy’ in the movie who is solely responsible for the demise of N. W. A” and who withheld money from the group. He sued NBC Universal, which released the movie, and more than a dozen others associated with it for defamation, seeking $35 million in actual damages and $75 million in punitive damages. A judge dismissed most of the lawsuit in June. Mr. Ballen told The Associated Press that the litigation had caused Mr. Heller significant stress. Mr. Heller started his music career in the 1960s as an agent and promoter, working with Pink Floyd, Marvin Gaye, Creedence Clearwater Revival and other major rock and RB acts. He set up Elton John’s first performance in the United States, Mr. Ballen told The Associated Press. He was living with his parents after a period of financial trouble when he began working with . Recalling Mr. Heller’s excitement when he heard a cassette recording of N. W. A’s early work, Mr. Ballen said: “As far as I’m concerned, there would never be a Dr. Dre or an Ice Cube if it wasn’t for Jerry getting their first deal, which was really difficult. Nobody wanted to sign them. ” In 2001, Mr. Heller told The Los Angeles Times that he considered gangsta rap “the most important movement since the beginning of rock ’n’ roll. ” Mr. Heller’s later ventures included a label specializing in Latino performers, but he never again achieved the level of success he had with Ruthless Records. In an interview with the website Grantland in 2015, he said that “of all the things that I’ve done, certainly the most important period of my life” was the years he worked with adding, “That was the period I’m most proud of. ” died from complications of AIDS in 1995. This year N. W. A was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which called the group “the most controversial and complicated voices of their generation. ” Gerald Heller was born on Oct. 6, 1940, and raised in Cleveland. He said he faced strong growing up and that his father, the owner of a scrap metal business, spent time with the Jewish mob, Billboard magazine reported. He served in the Army and earned a business degree from the University of Southern California after he was discharged. Mr. Heller’s autobiography, “Ruthless,” written with Gil Reavill, was published in 2006. In addition to Mr. Ballen, Mr. Heller’s survivors include a brother, Ken. | 1 |
Dakota Access Pipeline violence grows as militarized police use extreme force, tear gas on praying protesters
Tuesday, November 01, 2016 by: J. D. Heyes Tags: Dakota Access Pipeline , protestors , police violence (NaturalNews) Tensions are ratcheting up in a region of North Dakota where construction of a pipeline that will take oil to a refinery facility in Illinois is being built, as protestors objecting to the project are clashing with increasingly militarized police . The Bismark Tribune reported that police and protestors clashed as authorities moved in to break up a camp on private property belonging to the pipeline developers.Protestors had initially formed a line of no surrender, the paper said, but it became a line of retreat in the face of a militarized police presence that overwhelmed hundreds of Dakota Access Pipeline protestors, pushing them back from the front line of resistance to their main camp.For about five hours on Thursday, beginning around noon, police officers pressed the protesters back about a half-mile on N.D. Highway 1806, which was away from a new camp they had built earlier in the week that sat directly atop the pipeline easement. Rubber bullets, bean bags, smoke grenades and tasers Unrest continued into the evening hours, however, as police said that two fires were started on a nearby bridge, and protestors began lobbing Molotov cocktails at officers. In addition, police reported two incidents where shots were fired.The Tribune reported that one woman allegedly fired a handgun in the direction of police as she was being arrested, while an armed man who was reportedly run off the road by protesters, and was perhaps not connected to the protest, had to be treated for a gunshot wound to the hand.As police moved in, some protestors were urging calm and prayer, but others threw rocks and water bottles at approaching officers. Eventually the crowd retreated under a barrage of pepper spray, rubber and bean bag bullets, smoke grenades and tasers.By late afternoon, flames and thick plumes of smoke belched out of the cab of one of three Dakota Access Pipeline earth movers, while protestors walked back to their main camp on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' land.In all, police arrested 141 people, the local sheriffs' department said, charging suspects with engaging in a riot, maintaining a public nuisance, and conspiracy to endanger by fire and explosion.A day before the violence, as reported by AMI Newswire , opponents of the pipeline barricaded a highway and pitched their camp on private land. These actions were led by members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.The previous weekend some 127 people had been arrested.Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault II issued a statement last week in which he blamed the rising militarization of police for the increased tensions."The militarization of local law enforcement and enlistment of multiple law enforcement agencies from neighboring states is needlessly escalating violence and unlawful arrests against peaceful protesters at Standing Rock," Archambault said, as quoted by AMI Newswire . "We do not condone reports of illegal actions, but believe the majority of peaceful protesters are reacting to strong-arm tactics and abuses by law enforcement." Destruction of burial grounds, water are chief concerns Law enforcement officers countered by saying that, for the vast majority of the protest thus far, they have shown remarkable patience and restraint, and that they only moved after protestors became more aggressive.Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier ticked off a list of alleged violations by protestors, including buzzing a police helicopter with a drone and firing arrows in the direction of officers. He also said that journalists had been harassed and security personnel assaulted."For months protesters have described us as an aggressive police force," Kirchmeier said in a prepared statement, AMI Newswire reported. "We have done nothing but demonstrate patience and restraint."Protestors are angry about the pipeline stretching across ancient burial grounds, NewsTarget reported , as well as the potential for pipeline leaks that would pollute local water sources . Sources: | 0 |
Syria Syrian forces patrol the area of Awijah as they advance in Aleppo's militant-held neighborhoods on October 8, 2016. (Photo by AFP)
Syrian army soldiers and their allies have managed to liberate a key town in the country’s west-central province of Hama from the grip of Takfiri terrorists.
An unnamed Syrian military source said on Thursday that the recapture of the town of Suran came after intensive operations against the gatherings and fortified positions of terror outfits in the area.
“Units from our armed forces in cooperation with the people’s defense forces regained control over the municipality of Suran and the farms surrounding it,” the source said.
He also noted that the clashes prior to the town’s liberation left a large number of terrorists dead and many more injured, destroying their armored vehicles as well as cars equipped with machine guns.
Members of the Syrian army’s engineering units are detonating explosive devices and mines planted by militants to prevent the Syrian forces’ advance, he added.
Over the past few weeks, the Syrian forces have wrested control of several areas across the war-torn country as they press ahead with their counter-terrorism operations.
Since March 2011, Syria has been hit by militancy it blames on some Western states and their regional allies. Backed by the Russian air cover, the Syrian military is engaged in an operation to rid the country of Daesh and other terrorist groups.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura have put the death toll from the Syria conflict at more than 300,000 and 400,000, respectively.
This is while the UN has stopped its official casualty count in Syria, citing its inability to verify the figures it receives from various sources. Loading ... | 0 |
Review: Agent Orange linked to bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, Parkinson’s More veterans may be included in compensation By Christina Sarich - November 11, 2016
Monsanto and Dow were 2 of the 9 wartime contractors hired by the US government to create Agent Orange, a combination of the toxic chemicals 2,4-D, and 2,4,5-T, just over 40 years ago. The damage these chemicals have perpetrated on our health and environment did not end with the Vietnam War though.
Aside from the long-term poisoning of soil and crops, a new review of Agent Orange research has found evidence that bladder cancer and hypothyroidism are more strongly linked to exposure to Agent Orange than was previously assumed.
Although the new information does not support a previously-held belief that spina bifida , a birth defect, occurs more often in the offspring of exposed veterans, a report released by the Institute of Medicine on the health effects of Agent Orange recommended the Veterans Affairs Department grant service-connected presumption to veterans with “Parkinson’s-like symptoms,” not just those diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease related to Agent Orange exposure. In addition cancer, endocrine disease, and neurological impairment still loom large in the shadow of Agent Orange’s use.
Government agencies and their contractors who made these chemicals claim they dissipated shortly after being sprayed in the air, but two-thirds of these herbicides were contaminated with TCDD, a form of dioxin, a highly toxic substance linked to at least 15 classes of cancer and other medical conditions, as well as several birth defects .
The toxic legacy on the Vietnamese will remain for generations, even though the dioxin contaminant may eventually be cleansed from the “hot spots” remaining in parts of southern Vietnam to this day. ( Agent Orange Record has a repository of information to corroborate these claims.)
The 1,115-page review is the last of a series conducted by the IOM (part of the National Academies) on health problems related to Agent Orange and other herbicide use during the Vietnam War.
The panel responsible for writing the report reviewed scientific literature released between October 2012 and September 2014, chaired by Kenneth Ramos, professor of medicine at the Arizona Health Sciences Center, University of Arizona.
The pronouncement that Agent Orange caused bladder cancer and hypothyroidism was tied to results of a large study of Korean War veterans who served in the Vietnam War.
The upgrade for bladder cancer and hypothyroidism from the category “inadequate or insufficient evidence” to “limited or suggestive evidence,” of a link as well as the recommendation to include Parkinson’s-like symptoms to the service-connected list could pave the way for thousands of veterans to receive health care and disability compensation where they have been neglected before.
This review also shows quite clearly that for either political reasons or scientific ones, or both, we often do not understand the complete ramifications of using pesticides and herbicides until decades after they have been released into the environment, and by this time the damage is far-reaching in multiple layers of society.
Roughly 2.6 million U.S. veterans served in Vietnam, many of whom may have been exposed to Agent Orange. Many more Vietnamese people, including innocent women and children were exposed to these chemicals as well. The land in Vietnam is still an Agent Orange scourge, with about 12 million gallons of this supercharged weed killer, enough to douse 18,000 square miles , being sprayed on the 66,000 square miles of South Vietnam during the War. That’s enough to cover a fourth of the country.
Agent Orange was supposedly put out of commission in the 1970’s, but the ecological damage the spraying of these chemicals caused is still evident throughout Vietnam.
Attorneys for Military Veterans Advocacy and the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association recently presented oral arguments to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, asking it to decide whether the VA should have included these veterans in their presumption.
Retired Navy Cmdr. John Wells, executive director of Military-Veterans Advocacy, said the sailors who served on ships should be included because the vessels’ distillation systems used water contaminated with Agent Orange to produce drinking water as well as water used for their boilers.
“There was no magic, invisible Agent Orange filter at the mouth of the rivers,” Wells said. “We have documented proof of its presence in Nha Trang Harbor, 20 years after the war. That evidence has been presented to the VA. The distillation system which produced drinking water and water for the boilers did not remove the dioxin — it enriched it.”
Dioxin is a member of the class of persistent organic pollutants which resulted from the deliberately accelerated production of 2,4,5-T, one of the components of Agent Orange. Dioxin can shorten the life of humans exposed to it and is associated with severe degradation of health in this and, potentially, future generations.
Monsanto was recently held accountable for polluting the environment in non-war time with dioxins. The company had to pay $93 million to citizens of a small town in West Virginia as part of compensation in a settlement for manufacturing dioxins. A factory was opened in Nitro in 1948 for this purpose.
While this case did not involve glyphosate , another deadly toxin used in Monsanto herbicides such as Roundup, its time will come soon.
This report makes it clear that further study on the health consequences of dioxin exposure on humans is necessary. Agent Orange is just one of the many deadly chemicals that Monsanto, Dow and other chemical companies manufacture. | 0 |
Doors were bolted shut and parking lots emptied at ITT Technical Institutes around the country this week after the chain of colleges announced it was closing for good. At some campuses, though, this was not the first time students and employees found themselves locked out. More than a decade ago, in 2004, federal agents, search warrants in hand, swooped into the company’s offices in eight states, closing schools briefly as they hunted for evidence of fraud related to student recruitment, enrollment, dropout rates, grade inflation, loans, and reported job placements and salaries. The collapse of ITT, one of the nation’s largest educational chains, may have seemed sudden, coming less than two weeks after the Education Department — citing financial instability and the likely loss of accreditation — barred the parent company from enrolling new students using federal funds. But the unraveling stretches further back, to a time when ITT was a Wall Street darling, raking in record profits. “It has been a long time coming,” said Carrie Wofford, president of the nonprofit Veterans Education Success and the former senior counsel to a Senate committee investigating colleges. There was “a lack of fair play that was particularly true at ITT and some others. ” Founded at the end of World War II as part of the original International Telephone Telegraph, the career schools operation split off into an independent, publicly traded corporation in the . The switch came as liberals and conservatives began a wholehearted embrace of privatization on the theory that professionally managed, businesses could do a better job of delivering public services than nonprofits or the government. Investors, thinking that the education sector was the next big thing, swarmed. With transformations in the economy, more and more working adults were turning to training programs where factory hands could learn to use computers or home health care aides could earn a nursing degree. Providers like ITT Technical Institutes held out the promise, not just of a good job for eager young prospects, but of steady growth in enrollment and revenue as well. From 2000 to 2003, the sector outran every other on Wall Street. Publicly traded shares climbed 460 percent, according to one analysis, compared with a 24 percent loss for the Standard Poor’s index. Some mutual fund managers boasted that the schools’ owner, ITT, had been their most profitable stock. Yet even as business was booming, troubling accusations of abusive practices in the industry like the ones that resulted in the 2004 federal raid bubbled up. That investigation, brought initially by the United States attorney’s office in Houston, was ultimately closed, but suspicions continued to trail ITT and other giants. The next year, ITT agreed to a $725, 000 settlement with California after employees revealed that the company inflated grades to qualify students for state financial aid. Several investors, convinced company officials had lied to them, filed securities fraud lawsuits. A major grievance was that the industry was overselling programs that left enrollees with deep debt and degrees that had little value in the job market. Students weren’t the only potential victims so were taxpayers. The company said it was more concerned with the present than the past. “We’re involved in the complicated and process of closing our academic institutions after approximately 50 years of outstanding service to students and employers who hire them,” said Nicole Elam, a spokeswoman for ITT Technical Institutes. “When students have been abruptly forced into the streets and employees’ livelihood ripped from them,” she added, “regurgitating unproven allegations as a means to justify this horrific end is shameless. ” colleges were a magnet for billions of dollars in federal student loans and grants to students. In 2010, they gobbled up more than $32 billion, a quarter of all federal financial aid, nearly double their share less than a decade earlier, the Senate committee inquiry found. Hundreds of millions more flowed in from the Pentagon and veterans’ programs through the G. I. Bill. For ITT, the total haul in federal dollars that year equaled $1. 1 billion. Absent that steady stream of public funds, these privately managed businesses would collapse. With Wall Street demanding steady growth, the pressure on the company’s managers was relentless. The chain was adding eight to 10 new campuses a year, according to the Senate committee. Former employees said recruiters pushed to enroll more and more students — regardless of their preparation, chances of graduating or ability to repay their loans — even as the company pared instructional costs and raised tuition to increase profits. Although the investigations temporarily depressed ITT’s stock, within a few years, the company was soaring to new heights thanks to an otherwise disastrous development: the Great Recession. As employers shed workers, many more people returned to school, taking on enormous debts in the hope of bolstering their credentials and skills and improving their chances on the job market. Profits took off, but so did disenchantment with the industry. Aggrieved students, graduates who found their degrees of little value, even insiders who became turned to online websites and watchdog groups. Many filed complaints with state prosecutors and regulators, the Education Department and lawmakers. They reported deceptive marketing recruitment tactics misleading information about costs, courses, graduation and job placement rates inflated enrollment numbers schemes subpar instruction and more. Ms. Wofford of Veterans Education Success said that every time the government tried to clamp down on an abuse, some colleges would come up with a scheme to circumvent the rule, like a private loan program set up by ITT to keep the pipeline of federal funds flowing. “There’s a perniciousness that’s disturbing,” Ms. Wofford said. Some employees tried to change company practices. Rodney Lipscomb, the former dean of academic affairs at an ITT campus in Tallahassee, Fla. said he was on the job six months, “when I really started to say something’s not right. ” Hired in the spring of 2011, he was disturbed by the aggressive recruitment, something he had never seen during his two decades at public educational institutions. Former students returned to the school, stunned by letters demanding payment for loans they knew nothing about. Worst of all, he said, staff members would then persuade those same students to in unrelated programs and take on even more debt as a way of deferring the loans that were already due. He started filing reports, detailing his concerns. “I really believed at that time, I could fix it if I got to the right folks,” said Mr. Lipscomb, who now works for a community college in Texas. “But the higher I reported up the chain, the worse the environment got for me. ” Finally he was told a lawyer from the company’s headquarters in Indiana and the district manager were coming to Florida to meet with him. “I was very happy,” he said. “I thought they were going to take action. ” Instead, Mr. Lipscomb said, they told him that if he continued to report his complaints, he would be fired. In 2015, he was. He has since filed a suit against ITT Technical Institutes in federal court, accusing the company of defrauding the government of money and wrongful termination. Beyond the spate of private lawsuits, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and 19 states have either investigated or sued ITT. The Education Department actively monitored the company’s finances starting in 2014. But it was last month’s ban on enrolling new students with federal funds that delivered the death blow. Now many current as well as former students have been left stranded. “This has a huge impact on my life,” said Chris Blank, a former Marine who was studying electrical engineering at an ITT campus in California. “I relied on G. I. benefits. They are all basically wasted and I can’t get any of those back. ” | 1 |
Facebook Lets Advertisers Exclude Users by Race Julia Angwin and Terry Parris Jr., Pro Publica, October 28, 2016
Imagine if, during the Jim Crow era, a newspaper offered advertisers the option of placing ads only in copies that went to white readers.
That’s basically what Facebook is doing nowadays.
The ubiquitous social network not only allows advertisers to target users by their interests or background, it also gives advertisers the ability to exclude specific groups it calls “Ethnic Affinities.” Ads that exclude people based on race, gender and other sensitive factors are prohibited by federal law in housing and employment.
{snip}
The ad we purchased was targeted to Facebook members who were house hunting and excluded anyone with an “affinity” for African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic people. ( Here’s the ad itself .)
When we showed Facebook’s racial exclusion options to a prominent civil rights lawyer John Relman , he gasped and said, “This is horrifying. This is massively illegal. This is about as blatant a violation of the federal Fair Housing Act as one can find.”
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 makes it illegal “to make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.” Violators can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines .
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 also prohibits the “printing or publication of notices or advertisements indicating prohibited preference, limitation, specification or discrimination” in employment recruitment.
{snip}
Facebook says its policies prohibit advertisers from using the targeting options for discrimination, harassment, disparagement or predatory advertising practices.
“We take a strong stand against advertisers misusing our platform: Our policies prohibit using our targeting options to discriminate, and they require compliance with the law,” said Steve Satterfield, privacy and public policy manager at Facebook. “We take prompt enforcement action when we determine that ads violate our policies.”
{snip}
He said Facebook began offering the “Ethnic Affinity” categories within the past two years as part of a “multicultural advertising” effort.
Satterfield added that the “Ethnic Affinity” is not the same as race–which Facebook does not ask its members about. Facebook assigns members an “Ethnic Affinity” based on pages and posts they have liked or engaged with on Facebook.
When we asked why “Ethnic Affinity” was included in the “Demographics” category of its ad-targeting tool if it’s not a representation of demographics, Facebook responded that it plans to move “Ethnic Affinity” to another section.
Facebook declined to answer questions about why our housing ad excluding minority groups was approved 15 minutes after we placed the order.
{snip} | 0 |
MIAMI — It did not matter that it was the middle of the night, or that it began to drizzle. When this city’s residents heard the news, they sprinted to Little Havana. They banged pots and pans. They sang the Cuban national anthem and waved the Cuban flag. They danced and hugged, laughed and cried, shouted and rejoiced. The seemingly eternal vigil for the death of Fidel Castro, a man who had profoundly changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people here — dividing their families, taking their property, imprisoning and sometimes shooting their friends and relatives, wrenching them from their homes and their country — was over. Finally. “I owe this to my dad — this going out and celebrating,” said Isabel De Lara, 67, a former banker who came to Calle Ocho — Eighth Street — to join in the jubilation. She wished her father, who is dead, could have joined her. More than five decades had passed since Ms. De Lara stepped off a plane alone, from Cuba, sent here at age 12 by parents who feared for her future after the Castro revolution. For her and so many others, Mr. Castro’s death was a watershed, for he embodied the revolution and the heartbreak that followed. “Him dying represents the end of something awful that happened to us,” she said. “It’s actually him — not anybody else — who caused this. It’s because of him that we lost our opportunity to have a life in our country. ” Waves of other Cubans also came, transforming not just their own lives but the city itself, gradually turning it into the unofficial bilingual capital of Latin America. With the goal of ousting Mr. Castro and establishing democracy in Cuba, early exiles built a degree of political and economic clout that outstripped their relatively small numbers. Focusing first on local politics and business in the 1970s and 1980s, the exiles and their children, led by the powerful Cuban American National Foundation, catapulted into national politics and influence. They gained the power to tilt presidential elections toward Republicans and sway American foreign policy against appeasement with Mr. Castro. “It was important to take the struggle outside of Eighth Street to Washington,” said Jorge Mas Santos, the son of Jorge Mas Canosa, the man who spearheaded the foundation and was seen as the leader of Miami’s exile community. That influence remains. The American trade embargo on Cuba is still in force, requiring the vote of a Congress that is reluctant to remove it. And this year’s presidential campaign saw two Americans of Cuban descent — Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz — run for the office. But in the last decade, the grip on the minds and votes of people in Miami and elsewhere has weakened, creating divisions among over how deeply to engage with Cuba and its people. With Mr. Castro’s death, some are pushing for retrenchment and hope that Donald J. Trump will crack down now that the government has lost its father figure. Others say that this is the time to flood the zone with more people, ideas and goods. Cuba’s president, Raúl Castro, has opened the window slightly to economic reform, travel and American influence. Now that his older brother is gone, they argue, he will be freer to make changes. But the oldest and most vehement exiles — the historicos, as they are called — are dying off in large numbers. Their children, while still passionately opposed to Mr. Castro, are open to closer ties with the Cuban people as a way of stoking change. (Even Mr. Mas Santos is part of this group.) And their grandchildren know far less about Cuba and Mr. Castro many are more intrigued than outraged. At the same time, recent arrivals, while deeply disenchanted with the Cuban government, want to see and help their relatives on the island, above all else. Those shifts in attitude have been translated in Washington. Two years ago, President Obama surprised by announcing a series of changes. He diplomatic ties and made it easier for Americans to visit and send money and goods, and also for American businesses to establish a foothold. “We have moved from a politics of passion to a politics of realism,” said Andy Gomez, a political analyst who was a senior fellow in Cuban studies at the University of Miami. “We are going to be passionate for the next 72 hours. But the realism is that the transition has to come within the island. The leadership has to come from within the island. I don’t think anyone in South Florida thinks they will be president of Cuba, and if they do they are fools. ” But Saturday was mostly a day to celebrate. Overnight, thousands, including Ms. De Lara, joined an impromptu conga line of catharsis in front of Versailles Restaurant on Eighth Street, the unofficial headquarters of Miami’s Cuban exiles. So many people showed up, including scores of young people, that the police, at the mayor’s request, closed off several blocks to accommodate the celebration. Erick and Janette Revuelta stood outside Versailles toasting Mr. Castro’s death with small cups of Cuban coffee. They had come from the St. Augustine, Fla. area to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. Mr. Revuelta, 38, came to America by raft when he was 16, along with his father and two brothers, in 1994, just before President Bill Clinton signed the agreement with Cuba that allowed refugees to stay only if they reached dry land, the “wet foot, dry foot” policy. His mother immigrated several years later. Mr. Revuelta also came to Calle Ocho when rumors of Mr. Castro’s death previously spread. “I was here last time he died,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming. ” Antonio Rodgriguez, 73, left the island in 1960, shortly after he was imprisoned for three months after speaking against the government. He took a dimmer view. “He died, but his brother is still there, the government is still there, it’s still the oppressive government,” Mr. Rodgriguez said. Vivian Castellá, 75, was 19 when she came to the United States from Havana, thinking her stay would be temporary. In the early hours of Saturday, she wept after hearing the news, changed out of her pajamas and joined the caravan to Little Havana. She danced in the middle of the street, hugging strangers, as car horns blared. But there was an overlay of sadness. Ms. Castellá knew so many people who had waited for this day their entire lives, and many of them had died before it came. “There was such sadness to think of all the people, and what everyone went through, and the people who aren’t here today to celebrate and witness this,” she said. “My brother who was in the Bay of Pigs, he couldn’t enjoy it the way I am. The people they killed. The people who drowned on the way over here. ” In Miami, the convulsion had long been talked about, rumored and planned for. Once, the city and county had a contingency plan to address a possible mass exodus of Cubans from the island to Miami that is no longer anticipated. But many schools have a plan. And police departments were prepared for what to do — in Miami, this meant letting the people celebrate. The fact that Mr. Castro’s death came during a long holiday weekend made the news more manageable in many ways. Luis Lasa, 67, a retired banker, watched events unfold on television from his home, but it felt no less emotional. It was a lifetime ago that his father, an executive for an American company in Cuba, got a call from a military office on Oct. 25, 1960, warning him to leave the country. He left that night, and the family followed the next day. Mr. Lasa was 10 years old. “They destroyed our families, they destroyed our traditions,” said Mr. Lasa, who lost a cousin in the bungled Bay of Pigs invasion. “Forget the property that we lost. We had been in Cuba 250 years. We lost so much there. ” On Saturday, for so many exiles, it finally became easier to look forward and not back. Fidel Castro, even in his old age, remained the symbol of the revolution. Raúl Castro ruled, but always in his older brother’s shadow, exiles said. Without Fidel Castro, Cuba can exhale. Even though change may not come quickly, there is a strong possibility it will come. “This is the beginning of the end,” Mr. Lasa said. | 1 |
Sulu, gho, kera, kalpak, dishdasha and dashiki sound more like crossword puzzlers than words in common parlance. Yet they are the names of elements of costumes that, for centuries, denoted national identity and are now taken out of cultural mothballs for the Olympics. The less said the better about the theatrics of an opening ceremony that combined elements of Cirque du Soleil with a visit to Epcot to produce a spectacle with all the appeal of a public service announcement, one whose oddball highlight might have been the Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen’s taking a victory lap in what was billed as her strut down a catwalk. With her legs exposed in a sequined gold dress designed by her countryman Alexandre Herchcovitch and slit thigh high, the Victoria’s Secret beauty Bündchen was not operating at a particularly high degree of difficulty — particularly given that her runway strut has seldom been surpassed. To the strains of “The Girl From Ipanema,” Bündchen walked across a stage in front of nearly 80, 000 spectators and millions of viewers around the planet. That was it. This viewer gave her a 10. What eventually followed, after some dire but dull invocations of the threats of global warming, was the Parade of Nations — that wonderful and anachronistic Disneyesque march of athletes from around the world. It is their big moment. And for many Olympic qualifiers, it will be the only one. Pride of nationality is a complicated matter, and conveying national identity is a challenge that would send most sensible fashion designers running. There are two default positions, and both were on offer at this Olympics ceremony. One is to outfit teams in such traditional garb as the Bhutanese gho, Austrian lederhosen or the Fijian sulu. The other is, apparently, a piped rowing blazer paired with trousers or shorts. It worked in some cases, as in the jaunty aqua blazers worn by athletes from Aruba, and not in others. The striped blazers in which Australia’s athletes were attired had been produced by the label Sportscraft and were paired with gold accessories. Even before the team came on the field at Maracanã Stadium, Twitter lit up with commentary about how much they resembled something that might be worn by Draco Malfoy and his Slytherin housemates. Nobody made much mention of the shoes by Toms. Barbados had blazers. Bermuda went with classic navy, worn, of course, with Bermuda shorts. Spain had classic blue blazers with natty hats. Canada had oddly blocky blazers produced by Dean and Dan Caten, the designers of DSquared2. Oddly, given the identical Caten twins’ history of making clothing, the uniforms had the formless look of athleisure wear, generic but for the telltale maple leaf. Led by Michael Phelps as flag bearer, the United States delegation appeared in blazers designed by Polo Ralph Lauren and worn over whose striped bars, when the jackets were left fastened, bore an unfortunate resemblance to the Russian flag. The jackets had electroluminescent panels able to light up a pocket emblem and the initials U. S. A. on the yoke. An early call to have all the athletes illuminated was scrapped as too ostentatious. In the end, only Phelps was an Olympics lightning bug. That was too bad, as things turned out, since the gimmick barely registered amid the welter of extras and athletes from all nations who, almost as soon as they took the field, forgot all about citizenship and blended into an enormous scrum of wondrous physical specimens. There was commonality amid the blur of blended national affiliations. It took the form of an accessory that cuts across all boundaries and borders: the selfie stick. | 1 |
An aircraft carrier can be a very handy tool, especially when trouble flares up far from a friendly military base. Just ask the Pentagon, which has 10 big supercarriers that it uses around the world to protect air and sea lanes and to mount airstrikes. There’s generally at least one of them stationed near the Middle East at all times. So, as other countries join in military action against extremists in the world’s hot spots, can’t they send their own carriers into action? Well, they could if they had any. But, aside from the 10 American giants, there’s currently only one big carrier in the whole world that can handle such a job — and it doesn’t belong to Britain, Russia or even China. It’s the Charles de Gaulle, the flagship and pride of the French Navy, and it’s been sent several times to join the fight against the Islamic State in Syria and in Libya. The carrier’s strike group performed so well in pounding the militants in the region that the United States Navy awarded it a Meritorious Unit Commendation in June. And President François Hollande of France announced on July 13 that the Charles de Gaulle would be redeployed to the Middle East this fall. Though it is the Charles de Gaulle isn’t quite a supercarrier — it’s shorter and much lighter, and doesn’t pack the same punch. But neither does it rate down among the small escort carriers and helicopter carriers that a number of navies employ. It is considered a fleet carrier, and these days, it has that category practically to itself. Russia has the Admiral Kuznetsov, but that ship has been plagued with mechanical problems and doesn’t leave port often, though there are reports that it will operate in the eastern Mediterranean in the autumn. A partially completed sister carrier was sold to China, but it has yet to complete trials. India has an older Russian castoff that rarely sails, and Brazil’s fleet carrier, the São Paulo, is being refitted. Britain, which got out of the fleet carrier game years ago for cost reasons, is getting back in: A newly built carrier, which is larger than the Charles de Gaulle, is expected to be commissioned next year. Another will follow several years after that. | 1 |
WHAT? Some Cities Are Now Pushing For Noncitizen Immigrants TO VOTE shares
Every time Donald Trump suggests the election could be rigged in some way, Democrats and their many media allies scoff and laugh, then accuse Trump of promoting conspiracy theories.
At the same time, the left is trying to steal the election in broad daylight.
Bloomberg reports:
Some Cities Want Their Noncitizen Immigrants to Vote
“Look at illegal immigrants voting all over the country,” Donald Trump recently claimed in a Fox News interview, part of his ongoing effort to cast doubt on the integrity of the presidential election. There’s no evidence to support the Republican nominee’s claims of election fraud, but some cities are moving to expand voting rights to include noncitizens.
The latest is San Francisco, where the Nov. 8 ballot will include a measure allowing the parents or legal guardians of any student in the city’s public schools to vote in school board elections. The right would be extended to those with green cards, visas, or no documentation at all. “One out of three kids in the San Francisco unified school system has a parent who is an immigrant, who is disenfranchised and doesn’t have a voice,” says San Francisco Assemblyman David Chiu, the son of Taiwanese immigrants. “We’ve had legal immigrants who’ve had children go through the entire K-12 system without having a say.” Undocumented immigrants should also have the right, Chiu adds, to bypass the “broken immigration system in this country.”
Noncitizen voting isn’t as radical as it might sound. For more than half of U.S. history, from 1776 until the 1920s, noncitizens were widely permitted to participate in elections. “We had 40 states that used to allow it,” says Ron Hayduk, an associate professor of political science at San Francisco State University. “Immigrants could vote, not just in local elections,” he says. “They could even run for office—and did win office.” The hope, Hayduk says, was that immigrants would feel more invested in civic life if they were able to participate in American democracy.
Do you think Democrats would want non-citizens to vote if they tended to vote Republican?
Of course not.
The Democrat party is a criminal enterprise and they’ll do whatever they have to do to win. shares | 0 |
By Peter Koenig , November 15 2016
The elections may have been rigged, probably by both sides, as the elusive elite, or what’s also called the ’Deep State’, may be divided. It looks like the better ‘rigger’ emerged as the winner. The final popular vote count indicates a slight advantage of Hillary over Trump. Never mind, the system was purposefully designed un-democratically in the 18th Century by the Founding Fathers, who never really had the intention to create a truly democratic United States of America of equal rights for all.
By Tony Cartalucci , November 15 2016
The so-called “alternative right” is at least posing as holding its breath over the prospects of Bush-era Neo-Conservative John Bolton being appointed as US Secretary of State. However, with the appointment of Breitbart’s Steven Bannon as Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor of the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, Bolton and his Neo-Conservative agenda already has a solid foot in the door.
By Dr. Binoy Kampmark , November 15 2016
In an age where many pundits and pollsters ought to be put out to an ignoble pasture, predictions and astrology gazing on the US election continues. While he did have a better sense of this election than most, actually predicting the result, Michael Moore has decided to essentially ignore it except in the negative.
By Carla Stea , November 15 2016
NATO’s preparation for, and provocation of war with Russia is evident in these UN Security Council meetings. This brinksmanship is a game of “chicken,” or, perhaps this perilous activity can be more aptly described as NATO’s game of “Russian Roulette” with the lives of all humanity.
By Ellen Brown , November 15 2016
Donald Trump was an outsider who boldly stormed the citadel of Washington DC and won. He has promised real change, but his infrastructure plan appears to be just more of the same – privatizing public assets and delivering unearned profits to investors at the expense of the people. He needs to try something new; and for this he could look to Abraham Lincoln, whose bold solution was very similar to one now being considered in Europe: just print the money. Related | 0 |
Wells Fargo has run afoul of banking regulators once again: On Tuesday, for the second time this year, the bank did not pass a key regulatory test that was created after the 2008 financial crisis to reduce the threats that large banks pose to the broader economy. In April, regulators announced that they had rejected the “living will” plans proposed by Wells Fargo and four other major banks. Each bank had been required to submit a plan to unwind itself in a way that would safeguard the economy in case of the bank’s failure. Since then, all five banks have resubmitted their plans only Wells Fargo’s plan did not pass muster. Because of the continuing problems with Wells Fargo’s plan, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will prohibit it from establishing new international units or acquiring a subsidiary that is not a bank. Those penalties can be lifted if Wells Fargo fixes its plan by March 31. Wells has until then to submit its plan a third time if the problems linger too long, regulators could place additional limits on the company. For instance, the bank could be forced to start selling assets in certain units, including at its brokerage arm. In a statement on Tuesday, Wells Fargo said it believed it had already addressed the areas with which regulators had found fault. “We will continue to work closely with the agencies to better understand their concerns so that we can bring our resolution process in line with their expectations,” the bank said. Regulators said the issue with Wells Fargo’s plan was not related to its huge sham accounts fraud, which has plunged the bank into turmoil since September. Wells is still struggling to investigate and contain the damage from that scandal, in which thousands of bankers were fired for creating secret and unwanted accounts on behalf of customers, some of whom lost money or had their credit records damaged. Still, the issue is the latest black eye for Wells Fargo, which was only a few months ago was considered one of the nation’s most banks. All the largest American banks must submit to regulators their living wills, or strategies for unwinding themselves in an orderly way — something they lacked in 2008, when the federal government had to prop up sagging banks like Citigroup and Bank of America. The requirement, passed as part of the 2010 financial overhaul, is meant to prevent taxpayers from having to bail out big banks again in the event of a huge financial failure. Of all the rules passed in the wake of the crisis, this requirement is designed to address most directly the issue of big banks’ being too big to fail. lobbyists have grumbled that the living wills are another costly exercise that requires companies to spend months trying, often unsuccessfully, to divine the will of regulators. In its statement, Wells Fargo said it had created an office within the bank dedicated to correcting problems with its proposal. Democrats are holding up the living wills as an example of the strength and success of at a time when Republicans are vowing to undo parts of the law once Donald J. Trump takes office. Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat who is the ranking member of the banking committee, said, “Today’s joint determination is a reminder that Wall Street reform is working to rein in the megabanks that crashed our economy and got bailed out by taxpayers. ” It is ironic, in some ways, that Wells is the one bank that continues to have problems proving to regulators that it could manage its unwinding itself in the event of a bankruptcy. During the financial crisis, Wells avoided many of the mortgage missteps that nearly sank Wall Street. Compared with other large banks, it was relatively well capitalized to withstand the shocks of the 2008 crisis. But its regulatory star has fallen since the sham account scandal erupted. The bank’s longtime leader, John G. Stumpf, was called to testify twice before Congress, where he faced a barrage of criticism for failing to properly manage the bank and stamp out the bad behavior. Mr. Stumpf has since stepped down. In a settlement over the illegal accounts, Wells paid $185 million — including $100 million to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the largest fine that agency had ever assessed. The regulators cited specific technical deficiencies in Wells’s living will, including issues of “shared services” and “legal entity rationalization. ” These problems generally point to the fact, regulators have said, that Wells has not figured out how to adequately unwind all of the many complex and interconnected parts of its banking empire. Regulators said the other four other banks they had faulted in April — Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street and JPMorgan Chase — had addressed the deficiencies in their plans. | 1 |
Rogue bureaucrats at the Department of Homeland Security have leaked an “incomplete” report critical of President Trump’s executive order that temporarily blocked the issuance of visas to seven Middle Eastern countries that previous administrations had declared “sponsors of state terrorism” or countries of concern. [Based on that leaked document, the Associated Press published a story on Friday with the headline “AP Exclusive: DHS report disputes threat from banned nations. ” WASHINGTON (AP) — Analysts at the Homeland Security Department’s intelligence arm found insufficient evidence that citizens of seven countries included in President Donald Trump’s travel ban pose a terror threat to the United States. A draft document obtained by The Associated Press concludes that citizenship is an “unlikely indicator” of terrorism threats to the United States and that few people from the countries Trump listed in his travel ban have carried out attacks or been involved in activities in the U. S. since Syria’s civil war started in 2011. Click here to see the leaked document. “Homeland Security spokeswoman Gillian Christensen on Friday did not dispute the report’s authenticity, but said it was not a final comprehensive review of the government’s intelligence, the AP reported: “While DHS was asked to draft a comprehensive report on this issue, the document you’re referencing was commentary from a single intelligence source versus an official, robust document with thorough interagency sourcing,” Christensen said. “The … report does not include data from other intelligence community sources. It is incomplete. ” “The report challenges Trump’s core claims,” the AP reported: It said that of 82 people the government determined were inspired by a foreign terrorist group to carry out or try to carry out an attack in the United States, just over half were U. S. citizens born in the United States. The others were from 26 countries, led by Pakistan, Somalia, Bangladesh, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iraq and Uzbekistan. Of these, only Somalia and Iraq were among the seven nations included in the ban. Of the other five nations, one person each from Iran, Sudan and Yemen was also involved in those terrorism cases, but none from Syria. It did not say if any were Libyan. Last week, Breitbart News reported that David Grannis, Principal Deputy Undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis in the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security, is a holdover Obama bureaucrat who President Trump could remove from his position immediately: A lifelong Democrat, “[p]rior to joining DHS, Mr. Grannis served as the Staff Director of the U. S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) from 2009 through 2014 and as the Minority Staff Director for 2015. During this time, he served as the principal intelligence advisor to SSCI Chairman Dianne Feinstein and SSCI Members and led the Committee’s efforts to produce and enact annual Intelligence Authorization Act from 2010 through 2016 and the Cybersecurity Act of 2015, according to the DHS website. He has spent his career working for partisan Democratic members of Congress: He previously served as a staff designee to Senator Feinstein on the SSCI from 2005 until 2009 with a varied portfolio of committee responsibilities. Mr. Grannis worked on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security with responsibilities for intelligence, aviation security, and science and technology from 2003 to 2005 and was Senior Policy Advisor to Representative Jane Harman on matters of national security from 2001 to 2003. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security would neither confirm nor deny that Grannis was the author of, or had reviewed, the leaked draft document, though it did appear to be authored by someone associated with his area of responsibility within DHS. “The report was incomplete and had not been subject to the extensive interagency review process required of finished intelligence products,” spokesperson Gillian Christensen tells Breitbart News, adding: Further, the report does not include data from other intelligence community sources. It is clear on its face that it is an incomplete product. Allegations by opponents of the president’s policies that senior DHS intelligence officials would politicize intelligence is unfortunate and untrue. The dispute with this product was over sources and quality, not politics. The leaked document appears to be a clearly partisan attack on President Trump’s agenda by an analyst working within the Department of Homeland Security. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Christensen did not answer questions from Breitbart News about whether Grannis had authored or reviewed the leaked incomplete report. Christensen also did not answer a question from Breitbart News if the Department of Homeland Security had discovered the identity of the bureaucrat who leaked the incomplete report to the Associated Press. The leaked report contains several significant flaws. It says, for instance, that is not a good indicator of terrorism, but does not admit that religion is a primary indicator. In addition, the data included in the report is dramatically different than the data reported in another list of terrorists compiled by former Senator, now Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. | 1 |
Tweet Home » Headlines » World News » Will Obama Suspend Presidential Election If Hillary Is Forced Out By Comey’s New FBI Email Investigation?
Will President Obama suspend the national election next week if/when Hillary is forced out of the race by James Comey’s Bombshell? In such a scenario, Barack Obama may attempt to invoke his emergency powers. Since the election would not be “fair” until the Democrats have a new candidate, he could try to delay or suspend the election. There would be a lot of controversy as to whether this is legal or not, but Barack Obama has not let the US Constitution stop him in the past…
From Michael Snyder :
Just when it looked like Hillary Clinton was poised to win the 2016 election, the FBI has thrown a game-changer into the mix. On Friday, FBI Director James Comey announced that his agency has discovered new emails related to Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified information that they had not previously seen. According to the Associated Press, the newly discovered emails “did not come from her private server”, but instead were found when the FBI started going through electronic devices that belonged to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her husband Anthony Weiner.
The FBI has been looking into messages of a sexual nature that Weiner had exchanged with a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina, and that is why they originally seized those electronic devices. According to the Washington Post, the “emails were found on a computer used jointly by both Weiner and his wife, top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, according to a person with knowledge of the inquiry”, and according to some reports there may be “potentially thousands” of emails on the computer that the FBI did not have access to previously. Even though there are less than two weeks to go until election day, this scandal has the potential to possibly force Clinton out of the race, and if that happens could Barack Obama delay or suspend the election until a replacement candidate can be found?
Let’s take this one step at a time. On Friday, financial markets tanked when reports of these new Clinton emails hit the wires. The following comes from CNN…
After recommending earlier this year that the Department of Justice not press charges against the former secretary of state, Comey said in a letter to eight congressional committee chairmen that investigators are examining newly discovered emails that “appear to be pertinent” to the email probe.
“In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear pertinent to the investigation,” Comey wrote the chairmen. “I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.”
At this point, we do not know what is contained in these emails. But without a doubt Huma Abedin is Hillary Clinton’s closest confidant, and I have always felt that she was Clinton’s Achilles heel. Journalist Carl Bernstein (of Watergate fame) is fully convinced that the FBI would have never made this move unless something significant had already been discovered…
We don’t know what this means yet except that it’s a real bombshell. And it is unthinkable that the Director of the FBI would take this action lightly, that he would put this letter forth to the Congress of the United States saying there is more information out there about classified e-mails and call it to the attention of congress unless it was something requiring serious investigation. So that’s where we are…
Is it a certainty that we won’t learn before the election? I’m not sure it’s a certainty we won’t learn before the election.
One thing is, it’s possible that Hillary Clinton might want to on her own initiative talk to the FBI and find out what she can, and if she chooses to let the American people know what she thinks or knows is going on. People need to hear from her…
If the FBI has indeed found something explosive, would they actually charge her with a crime right before the election?
It is possible, but we also have to remember that government agencies (including the FBI) tend to move very, very slowly. If there are thousands of emails, it is going to take quite a while to sift through them all. And of course Barack Obama has lots of ways that he could influence, delay or even shut down the investigation.
So those that are counting on this to be the miracle that Donald Trump needsshould not count their chickens before they hatch.
But if Hillary Clinton were to be forced out of the race by this FBI investigation, the Democrats would have to decide on a new candidate, and that would take time. The following is from a U.S. News & World Report article that examined what would happen if one of the candidates was forced out of the race for some reason…
If Clinton were to fall off the ticket, Democratic National Committee members would gather to vote on a replacement. DNC members acted as superdelegates during this year’s primary and overwhelmingly backed Clinton over boat-rocking socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
DNC spokesman Mark Paustenbach says there currently are 445 committee members – a number that changes over time and is guided by the group’s bylaws, which give membership to specific officeholders and party leaders and hold 200 spots for selection by states, along with an optional 75 slots DNC members can choose to fill.
But the party rules for replacing a presidential nominee merely specify that a majority of members must be present at a special meeting called by the committee chairman. The meeting would follow procedures set by the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee and proxy voting would not be allowed.
It would be extremely challenging to get a majority of the members of the Democratic National Committee together on such short notice. If Clinton were to drop out next week, it would be almost impossible for this to happen before election day.
In such a scenario, Barack Obama may attempt to invoke his emergency powers. Since the election would not be “fair” until the Democrats have a new candidate, he could try to delay or suspend the election. There would be a lot of controversy as to whether this is legal or not, but Barack Obama has not let the U.S. Constitution stop him in the past.
Meanwhile, new poll numbers show that the Trump campaign was already gaining momentum even before this story about the new emails broke. According to a brand new ABC News/Washington Post survey, Donald Trump is now only trailing Hillary Clinton by 4 points after trailing her by as much as 12 points last weekend.
And CNBC is reporting on a highly advanced artificial intelligence system that accurately predicted the outcomes of the presidential primaries and which is now indicating that Trump will be the winner in November…
An artificial intelligence system that correctly predicted the last three U.S. presidential elections puts Republican nominee Donald Trump ahead of Democrat rival Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House.
MogIA was developed by Sanjiv Rai, founder of Indian start-up Genic.ai. It takes in 20 million data points from public platforms including Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in the U.S. and then analyzes the information to create predictions.
The AI system was created in 2004, so it has been getting smarter all the time. It had already correctly predicted the results of the Democratic and Republican Primaries.
Without Hillary at the top of the ticket, the odds of a Trump victory would go way, way up.
So if Hillary is forced out of the race by this investigation, Barack Obama and the Democrats will want to delay or suspend the election for as long as possible if they can.
At this point there is probably not a high probability that such a scenario will play out, but in this crazy election year we have already seen that just about anything can happen.
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SÃO PAULO, Brazil — The Olympic torch relay certainly endured its share of indignities this summer as it wended across this vast country on its way to Rio de Janeiro. Government employees protesting unpaid wages sought to disrupt its progress. Pranksters tried to extinguish the flame by tossing buckets of water. In one especially embarrassing episode, a soldier shot dead a jaguar — the Rio Games’ official mascot — after it escaped its handlers during a ceremony in the Amazonian city of Manaus. But the antipathy many Brazilians feel toward the Olympics briefly vanished when onlookers cheered Hanan Dacka, a Syrian refugee, as she jogged through nation’s capital, Brasília, with the Olympic flame in her hand. “Today I don’t feel like a refugee, but like any other Brazilian girl carrying the torch,” Hanan, who moved here last year from a refugee camp in Jordan, told reporters during her leg of the relay in May. At a time when Europe and the United States have angrily debated calls to take in greater numbers of refugees, the decision to make Hanan a torchbearer has highlighted Brazil’s role as a haven for Syrian asylum seekers. Brazil has admitted about 2, 300 Syrian refugees, according to the National Committee for Refugees, a government agency. And with nearly 6, 400 humanitarian visas issued to Syrians, the numbers are expected to rise significantly, officials say. Unlike in the United States, where the prospect of resettling Syrian refugees has become politically polarizing, in Brazil, also a nation of immigrants, the influx has largely been welcomed. Some three million Brazilians can trace their ancestry to Syrian migrants who began arriving at the start of the 20th century. It also helps that Brazil has been spared the Islamist extremist violence that has traumatized Europe and the United States. Hanan, a bubbly, girl with a smile, has become something of a darling of the Brazilian news media, a bright spot in an otherwise troubled national dash to prepare for the Games. Still, her first few months in Brazil were anything but easy. “To be honest, before I came here I didn’t know there was a country called Brazil,” Hanan said. “And even when I found out we were coming here, I assumed people would speak Arabic. ” She attended a local school, but was ostracized by classmates who could not understand why she did not speak Portuguese. After two months, she quit. But six months later, her Portuguese now nearly fluent, she returned to class. She said that after a teacher explained that Hanan was a refugee, the other students were smitten. “Now I have lots of Brazilian friends,” she said, her patter flecked with adolescent slang. She sings in a choir and dreams of becoming a doctor or a hairstylist — or, on this day, a newspaper reporter. In June, just before leaving office, Justice Minister Eugene Aragon said Brazil would be open to receiving up to 100, 000 Syrian refugees, in groups of 20, 000 per year, although the future of that plan is uncertain. And there has been little public opposition to a program that directs Brazilian embassies to issue humanitarian visas to Syrians. Soon after their arrival, refugees receive work permits and the national identification cards that give them access to Brazil’s health care system. But at a time of increasing unemployment and crushing budget deficits, Brazil’s magnanimity has its limits. Visa recipients must pay their own airfare to Brazil, and the government provides little support once they arrive. Although they are reluctant to complain, Hanan and her family have encountered a welter of hardships since arriving 18 months ago. Eleven relatives, including her parents and two siblings, share a apartment in Glicério, a fraying, neighborhood in downtown São Paulo. Many of the adults sleep on the flotilla of four sofas that clots the apartment’s small living room. Her father, Khaled Dacka, 40, who worked in a currency exchange office in Syria, spends his day tending a furnace at an auto parts factory. Her brother, Mustapha, works seven days a week peddling cellphone accessories. But her mother, Yusra, 35, said, “If we had stayed in Syria, all of us would be dead. ” The Rev. Paolo Parise, director of Migration Studies at Missão Paz, an organization that provides temporary housing for newly arrived refugees, said many Syrians encounter similar barriers when they make it to Brazil. Though highly educated, they often struggle to find jobs that match their skills. It is also hard for them to find the financial guarantor and three months’ rent that many landlords require before signing a lease, he said. “Once they leave the shelter, refugees cannot count on any federal program to help them find a place to live,” he said. Many end up sharing dingy, cramped apartments with other refugees, and they rely on nonprofit organizations to help guide them through a world that bears little resemblance to the one they left behind. Even so, Luiz Fernando Godinho, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said, “All the refugees I have talked to feel extremely grateful for having left the dismal situation where they lived, and having established themselves in a peaceful country where interreligious coexistence is possible. ” At the start of Syria’s civil war, the Dacka family lived in Idlib, a northeastern city that was the scene of fierce fighting between rebels and forces. Early on, Mr. Dacka helped friends escape the growing violence. At one point, he was arrested and tortured by security forces, who accused him of human trafficking. A judge released him after nearly a year in custody. He decided to flee with his family after learning that both the authorities and militants wanted him dead. Three months after leaving, they found out that a Syrian government bombing campaign had leveled their former neighborhood, killing dozens of residents. Over its more than five years, the conflict claimed two of Hanan’s uncles and a grandfather. The family set out by car, and after passing 16 military checkpoints, crossed the border into Jordan. For two and a half years, their home was a shack in Zaatari, a squalid camp for refugees. Adults were not allowed to work, and Hanan would trudge 40 minutes to a school that provided little education. “When the teacher wasn’t hitting us, she sat in the front of the classroom putting on her makeup,” Hanan said. The family eventually applied for Brazilian visas in the Jordanian capital, Amman, following Mr. Dacka’s younger brother who had come here earlier. “When I heard we were moving to Brazil I was super excited, but mostly because it would be my first time in an airplane,” Hanan said. Like Hanan, her mother has come to love Brazil. Although many are unfamiliar with Islam or Syria, curious sometimes stop her in the street to ask about her hijab. “Here you can go to a mosque or a church and no one cares, and no one looks funny at you,” she said. “In Brazil, you can do anything you want. ” Hanan was chosen to be a torchbearer after the United Nations refugee agency forwarded her name to the Olympic organizing committee. “I hope that the world can know that we refugees are good people,” she said. But her sunny disposition turned dark when she was asked what she missed about her former home. “I can’t remember anything good about Syria,” she said, looking away. Then she pulled a box from behind a tattered sofa, unwrapped the torch and grinned broadly as she waved it around while recalling her sudden turn at stardom. “I’m never going back to Syria,” she announced. “I can see myself growing up here and becoming Brazilian. ” | 1 |
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights is set to review Communist Cuba’s record of forced disappearances. It is the first time such a review will occur following the death of dictator Fidel Castro, and it comes at a time in which dissidents warn oppressive police behavior against them is on the rise. [In an announcement this week, the UN said that Cuba, along with Ecuador and Senegal, will have their records reviewed by the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). The three nations have signed and ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, which requires the UN to check their records. An enforced disappearance is a government abduction of an individual in which their relatives are not provided information as to where they have been apprehended or why. Those “disappeared” are rarely seen again. The final reports on all three nations will be published on March 17. The last time the UN commission reviewed Cuba was in 2012. That report, written by “a multidisciplinary working group made up of many government State ministries and institutions, the National Assembly, NGOs and other relevant organizations,” heaped effusive praise on the community autocracy. “The rights to life, liberty and security of person have always been mainstays of the Cuban Revolution, its authorities and society at large, even though Cuba has had to face over 50 years of aggression, terrorism and a harsh economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the Government of the United States of America,” the 2012 report reads. “There have been no cases of enforced disappearance in Cuba since the revolutionary triumph of 1959. ” The report goes on to claim that “the concept of holding a detainee or prisoner incommunicado is alien to criminal and procedural practice in Cuba. ” All three assertions — that Cuba respects the sanctity of life of its prisoners, that no disappearances have occurred in Cuba since 1959, and that Cuba has never held prisoners incommunicado — are demonstrably false. There is little reason to believe the 2017 update to this report will contain more believable challenges to the Communist regime, though all such reviews present an opportunity to condemn the authoritarian regime for its crimes. The case of Hamell Santiago Maz Hernández, who died in late February, contradicts the claim that Cuba values the life of its people. Maz Hernández died after spending eight months in the notorious Combinado del Este maximum security prison, used to house political dissidents. The government claims cardiac arrest as the cause of death but his dissident organization, the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) reject this assertion and have vowed an investigation. There is no evidence Maz Hernández received medical care while in the prison. He was facing the charge of “desacato,” or “disrespect” — a crime used against protesters. Another former inmate of Combinado del Este, Danilo Maldonado Machado, can testify to being held incommunicado. The artist, known by his pseudonym “El Sexto,” was transferred to Combinado del Este without his family being alerted. His fiance, he later said, only knew of his transfer because she arrived in time to see the van driving him away, and he was able to shout the name of the new facility to her. Maldonado, who was serving time without being charged following public celebrations of Fidel Castro’s death, later said he was beaten severely enough to trigger asthma attacks and not provided medical care. A record also exists of forced disappearances since 1959, contra the UN report. According to Cuba Archive’s record of human rights crimes under the Castro brothers, at least 23 confirmed disappearances occurred between 1959 and 2014. One hundred other unconfirmed records exist. These numbers are low because, for most of its time in power, the Communist Revolution opted for openly executing its enemies via firing squad. Cuba Archive counts over three thousand firing squad executions and another 1, 116 extrajudicial killings. At the time of Fidel Castro’s death, the state had executed 5, 775, including squad killings. Another 20, 000 Cubans were believed to have died in the straits between Cuba and Florida, drowning in escape attempts from the island. Sixteen Cubans died while on hunger strike in prison 209 died of health problems upon being denied medical care in prison. | 1 |
A gunman who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State killed 49 people and wounded 53 more when he opened fire in a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. early Sunday. It was the worst mass shooting in American history. President Obama was in Orlando on Thursday to meet with victims’ families. Here is the latest: • The gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, was killed in a shootout with the police. Mr. Mateen, an American citizen whose parents were from Afghanistan, claimed allegiance to the Islamic State in a 911 call he made at the time of the attack, law enforcement officials said. He lived in Fort Pierce, Fla. • On Tuesday, a senior F. B. I. official said investigators suspected the gunman’s second wife, Noor Zahi Salman, might have been aware that he was plotting an attack, and the agency was trying to determine her level of involvement. Ms. Salman, the mother of his young son, told the F. B. I. that she had driven him to the Pulse nightclub at some point before the attack and that she had also been with him when he bought ammunition. NBC, which reported the development, said Ms. Salman, 30, lives in Port St. Lucie, Fla. with Mr. Mateen’s father. The woman told officials she had tried to talk Mr. Mateen out of any attack, but whether she knew of his true plans was unclear. • Mr. Mateen was born in Queens, New York, according to public records. His Sitora Yusufiy, said her marriage to Mr. Mateen had been abusive, and that he had at times displayed erratic behavior. “There were definitely moments when he’d express his intolerance toward homosexuals,” she said. The marriage ended in divorce. • Mr. Mateen was removed from his job as a security officer at the St. Lucie County Courthouse in Fort Pierce, in 2013 at the request of county sheriff’s officials who had grown concerned about his demeanor and his “inflammatory” comments. The sheriff then informed the authorities, prompting an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the sheriff’s office said Tuesday. Mr. Mateen was transferred to a job as a security guard at a nearby residential golfing community, leading him to lodge a discrimination complaint, an official with the private security company that employed him said on Tuesday. The F. B. I. director, James Comey, said Monday that the gunman was on a terrorism watch list from 2013 to 2014, but that months of investigation into his foreign travels, his inflammatory remarks and his motives did not produce enough evidence to charge him. • The global security company G4S, based in Britain, said Mr. Mateen had worked for it as a guard since 2007. A said he had repeatedly complained to the company that Mr. Mateen used racial, ethnic and sexist slurs, and talked about killing people. • The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Mr. Mateen had legally bought both weapons used in the attack, a handgun and a long gun, in Florida within the last week. • Mr. Mateen opened fire inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a popular gay club, at about 2 a. m. He was armed with an assault rifle similar to the and a handgun. • Mr. Mateen shot about of the people in the packed club. Hundreds of panicked clubgoers escaped and fled into the streets. • As more police officers rushed to the scene, Mr. Mateen retreated to a bathroom where he is believed to have held four to five hostages. About 15 to 20 people were in another restroom, frantically texting friends and family for help. • The police chief, John Mina, said that when police negotiators began to talk with Mr. Mateen, he appeared “cool and calm. ” The gunman made statements that led officers to think he was going to begin killing more people, the chief said, and he spoke of having explosives. Mr. Mateen was killed by a police SWAT team when it raided the building about 5 a. m. with an armored vehicle and stun grenades. One police officer was wounded, and at least 30 people were rescued. • President Obama said that the attack was a kind of “homegrown extremism” because it appeared the gunman had been inspired by extremist information he found on the internet, but that there was no clear evidence he was part of a wider terrorist plot. • The City of Orlando set up a special web page where it released the names of victims. The New York Times has compiled brief portraits of the victims. • A staggering 90 percent of the 49 victims were Hispanic or of Hispanic descent, including Mexican, Colombian and Dominican, community leaders said. Of those killed, 23 were Puerto Rican. • Medical officials said the victims had deep, gaping wounds from the rounds fired from the assault rifle and handgun. In some cases, the rounds bounced around inside their bodies, inflicting internal injuries. • More people were killed in Orlando than in any previous mass shooting in the United States. The 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech killed 32 people, while 26 people were killed in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. • This is the second mass shooting in the United States linked to sympathizers of the Islamic State since December, when a married couple killed 14 people in a rampage in San Bernardino, Calif. The Orlando shooting was the worst terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001. • The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the massacre in a statement released over an encrypted phone app. The group said the attack “was carried out by an Islamic State fighter,” according to a transcript provided by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks jihadist propaganda. • The gunman made a series of Facebook posts, according to Senator Ron Johnson, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, including one in which he raged against the “filthy ways of the west” and another that warned of more attacks by the Islamic State “in the next few days. ” He even searched for references to the massacre while he was carrying it out, the senator wrote in a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chairman and chief executive. • Mr. Mateen’s father, Seddique Mir Mateen, posted a video on his Facebook page early on Monday in which he expressed regret and confusion about why his son had carried out the mass killing. “I don’t know what caused this,” said Mr. Mateen, speaking in Dari, a language spoken in Afghanistan. “I did not know and did not understand that he has anger in his heart. ” • At a news conference on Monday, A. Lee Bentley, the United States attorney for Central Florida, said the investigators had collected a large amount of electronic and criminal evidence and were trying to determine whether Mr. Mateen acted alone. The statement by the Islamic State did not provide details about its relationship with Mr. Mateen. • The F. B. I. director, Mr. Comey, said Monday that there was no evidence directly linking the gunman to an outside group, though he appeared to be — that is, he claimed allegiance to the Islamic State but had no direct tie — like the husband and wife team behind the attack in San Bernardino last year. • Investigators continued looking into whether Mr. Mateen’s wife knew what he had planned, but officials have deflected questions about possible criminal charges against her. They are also scouring his past movements and possible accomplices. • Mr. Mateen told the police by phone that he would strap explosives to four hostages and place them strategically in the corners of the building, Mayor Buddy Dyer said on Wednesday. But investigators have not found any evidence of explosives. | 1 |
Schools All Over America Are Closing On Election Day Due To Fears Of Violence
Will this be the most chaotic election day in modern American history? All across the nation, schools are being closed on election day due to safety fears. Traditionally, schools have been very popular as voting locations because they can accommodate a lot of people, they usually have lots of parking, and everyone in the community knows where they are and can usually get to them fairly easily. But now there is a big movement to remove voting from schools or to shut schools down on election day so that children are not present when voting takes place. According to Fox News, “voting has been removed or classes have been canceled on Election Day at schools in Illinois, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and elsewhere.” Just a couple days ago, I shared with you a survey that found that 51 percent of all Americans are concerned about violence happening on election day, and all of these schools closing is just another sign of how on edge much of the population is as we approach November 8th. | 0 |
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The remaining hospitals on the side of Aleppo, Syria, have been badly damaged and forced to stop providing care amid an intensifying bombardment, according to the World Health Organization. Bombs launched by the Syrian government over the past three days seriously damaged two general hospitals that were providing trauma care in the war zone and hit the only children’s hospital, according to doctors, nurses and residents. The destruction left more than a people in eastern Aleppo without hospital care, the W. H. O. said. It is unclear if the hospitals will be able to reopen. “Although some health services are still available through small clinics, residents no longer have access to trauma care, major surgeries, and other consultations for serious health conditions,” the health organization said in a statement issued Sunday. Dr. Omar, the last neurosurgeon in eastern Aleppo, who declined to provide his full name out of fear for his safety, sounded desperate when reached at the height of the bombing on Friday. “We no longer have hospitals to operate in,” he said. “You can’t imagine what it’s like living in Aleppo right now. It feels like we are living in hell. Our neighborhoods are in flames, and bombs are raining down from the sky. We urgently call on the international community to send help. ” Humanitarian agencies have described the attacks on health care facilities as deliberate. The area of the city is surrounded by government forces and has already run out of most food rations, medicines, bandages and fuel. It has little water. “The regime is trying to cut off the city,” said Abu Roma, who uses a nom de guerre and is a rebel commander with the Zinki group, which opposes President Bashar of Syria. “I would say the worst scenario is that we will be martyrs,” he said, referring to all those remaining in the area. Aleppo, the country’s largest city, has been divided since 2012, but the situation became markedly worse over the summer. In recent weeks, there had been a rare respite from airstrikes on districts, but that ended last week. Now it appears to both fighters and civilians that the Syrian government has resolved to press forward regardless of the humanitarian cost, and to gamble that Western countries, particularly the United States, will not stop them. President Obama has never been keen on military action in Syria, and the incoming American president, Donald J. Trump, is more sympathetic to Russia, which has allied with the Syrian government. “Aleppo is the pivot,” said Joost Hiltermann, the Middle East and North Africa program director for the International Crisis Group. Although the government might like to reclaim all of the areas where it has lost control, Russia and Iran, another ally, are less interested, Mr. Hiltermann said. “But they all agree on Aleppo,” he said. “It is too big to let go, and the interregnum in the United States is a good chance to press their advantage,” he said. As always in the Syria conflict, the sheer numbers of the dead and wounded and the scale of misery and destruction fast eclipses what is imaginable, and each individual story recedes. But the snapshots from the past few days in Aleppo have been deeply disturbing. A video circulating on social media, which was taken by Al Jazeera during the bombing at the children’s hospital, showed children being treated with oxygen masks after an alleged chlorine gas attack elsewhere in the city. Al Jazeera captured footage of nurses taking premature infants, whom they could balance in one hand, out of incubators as clouds of dust from the bombing rose around them. One nurse hugged another as they held tiny infants in their arms. The babies were carried to a basement shelter and placed together under a blanket. In one shot, a father cried out for his small son. “I’ve lost everything, oh, Ahmad,” he said. “I’ve lost everything, you are my life. ” For now, the only remaining medical services have gone underground or into people’s homes, said Mohamed Kahil, the head of the forensic facility in the area of the city. “Hospitals have moved to basements, to streets, to houses,” he said. “The medics and staff are still functioning with high energy, but under harsh conditions,” he said. Four medics were killed in the five days since intensive bombing resumed, said Mohamed a radiology nurse in Aleppo reached on social media. As the latest fighting took place, Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations Special Representative for Syria, traveled to Syria to press for a suspension of the bombing on all sides a humanitarian relief effort to help civilians get medical care, food and fuel and a guarantee some sort of safe passage for the insurgents. Five rebel groups active in and around Aleppo — including the powerful Islamist group Ahrar and several groups that receive American support — said in a letter late Sunday that they supported Mr. de Mistura’s plan. Walid the Syrian foreign minister who met with Mr. de Mistura, claimed to want to help civilians in the areas, whom the regime views as “hostages” of the insurgents, according to a report by the Syrian Arab News Agency, which is close to Mr. Assad’s government. However, Mr. Moallem dismissed out of hand any suggestion that eastern Aleppo could be . He said that would be a “reward for the terrorists,” who he said were still shelling western Aleppo, which is held by the government. He used as an example children killed Sunday in a school there. Mr. Moallem said that 11 were killed, but that number could not be confirmed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented 13 people killed in Aleppo since Thursday, among them seven children killed on Sunday. At least 64 people were killed on the side of the city in the same time period. Mr. Moallem also appeared to reject the idea of a humanitarian pause in the bombing unless there were guarantees “from the countries supporting terrorists,” adding that the United Nations did not have any guarantees. He was referring to the United States and some Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia, that have backed some of the groups that oppose the government of Mr. Assad. Although groups of fighters said they were prepared to back the United Nations plan, individual fighters did not sound ready to give up. “We will never get along with the Alawite we will exterminate them,” Hassan Yaacoub, an independent fighter who is not with any faction, said on WhatsApp, a messaging service, referring to the minority Muslim sect of which Mr. Assad is a member. “From now on, I will only talk in sectarian terms,” he said. “The mask has fallen. Bye, bye Syria, bye bye one Syria Syria is no more. ” | 1 |
RIO DE JANEIRO — Led by the world’s best gymnast, Simone Biles, the powerhouse American women’s gymnastics team romped to the gold medal at the Rio Olympics Tuesday. The team of Biles, Laurie Hernandez, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and Madison Kocian lived up to expectations as prohibitive favorites by putting up the highest total score on every apparatus. Russia won silver and China bronze. The margin of victory was a whopping 8 points. The medal, the Americans’ third team gold after 2012 and 1996, came in the final Olympics for the national team coordinator, Martha Karolyi, a crucial player in the rise of American gymnastics for more than 30 years. Here’s how they did it. The Americans opened up with the vault. Two of them, Raisman and Biles, tried the difficult Amanar, in which the vaulter does two and a half twists with a blind landing. Raisman scored a 15. 833, and Biles did even better at 15. 933, despite making a hop on her landing. After one rotation, the Americans were already out in front, by 0. 7 points over Russia, who performed on the bars. The bars were the one chance of the day to compete for team members Douglas, the 2012 champion, and Kocian, a bars specialist and a 2015 world champion in the event. Both delivered. Douglas got lots of height on her release skills and hit her handstands, then stuck her double layout dismount to get a 15. 766. Kocian performed one of the most difficult routines at the Games, and nailed it, scoring a stellar 15. 933. The United States extended its lead to a comfortable 4 points over China. Russia slipped to third. No serious mishaps for the Americans on the sometimes perilous beam. Raisman hit her double Arabian dismount for a 15. 0 Hernandez gave a disciplined performance for a 15. 233. The incomparable Biles survived a balance check and made just a small hop on her dismount — one of the hardest in the world, a double tuck — for a 15. 3. Because they were the top qualifiers, the Americans got to end on floor exercise. That was considered an advantage because the Americans’ floor scores tend to be high, and crowd support for the floor is big. But with a nearly lead over China, it hardly mattered. Hernandez gave her typical charismatic performance, starting with a wink for the crowd. The scoring system tends to favor difficult tumbling over choreography. Hernandez, however, has helped to bring artistry and dance back into American gymnastics, to the applause of many. Biles’s second tumbling pass includes a double layout with a and a blind landing, a move dubbed the Biles because she was the first gymnast to land it in competition. Great performances have come to be expected from the American women’s team. They didn’t even need a great performance to win on Tuesday. But they delivered one anyway. | 1 |
A county judge in Oregon is under fire for allegedly helping an illegal immigrant use her private entrance to avoid being captured by federal agents. The judge is not facing criminal charges at this time however, the Department of Justice is looking into the matter. [“I was troubled because, on the face of it, what I heard sounded like potential federal criminal law violations ethical violations,” U. S. Attorney Billy Williams told Willamette Week reporters. “Generally, we’re talking about obstruction of justice. ” The case took place in January at the Multnomah County Courthouse in Oregon, where Diddier Pacheco Salazar was set to plead guilty to two charges in connection with a January 1 DUI arrest, the Willamette Week recently reported. On January 27, Pacheco pleaded guilty to one count of driving recklessly and one count of driving under the influence of intoxicants. According to the Oregon newspaper, plainclothes federal agents with U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been at the courthouse looking for illegal immigrants. That is when lower court judge Monica Herranz allegedly had Pacheco escorted out through a private entrance in order to avoid being captured by ICE agents who were looking for him to arrest him on immigration charges. Federal agents arrested Pacheco two weeks later at another court hearing. The attorney for the illegal alien expressed surprise at the disappearance of his client from the courtroom. I prepped my client. I said, ‘I don’t know if they’re going to pick you up outside or what, but here’s how to prepare,’” Salazar’s lawyer John Schlosser said to the local reporters. “After the court appearance, I went out in the hallway and sat. My client never came out. I can’t say that I’m surprised he didn’t come out, but I gave him his options, and assume he had to have been escorted out some other way. ” While federal authorities have not yet filed criminal charges against Herranz, her court superiors are also carrying out an inquiry into her alleged actions. Breitbart Texas associate editor and senior political news contributor Bob Price contributed to this article. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX. Ildefonso Ortiz is an journalist with Breitbart Texas. He the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. | 1 |
“Has science gone too far?” Smew over on Reddit has spotted an awesomely awful food mash-ups:
“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should”, replies horheezusbobeezus .
We thought we’d check out if this is actually any good and there’s a review over on pizzabacker.com , “Is this something I can recommend? I would say skip it.” | 0 |
in: Government , Petitions , Special Interests The rigged investigation into the new batch of Hillary Clinton-related emails just got epically more rigged. Well, the folks doing research over at Zero Hedge have completely outdone themselves with this discovery that will never reach the mainstream. “Ironically”, that is the same Peter Kadzik who has proven his “impartiality” in multiple WikiLeaks emails including this newly released bombshell in which Kadzik provides a very helpful “heads up” about Hillary’s email server investigation. This is what Kadzik emailed to John Podesta (via gmail) on May 19, 2015: There is a HJC oversight hearing today where the head of our Civil Division will testify. Likely to get questions on State Department emails. Another filing in the FOIA case went in last night or will go in this am that indicates it will be awhile (2016) before the State Department posts the emails. Perhaps Mr. Kadzik could explain to our readers – and the American public – why this particular message was delivered via his private, gmail account rather than his official DOJ email account? Go and r ead the article to learn of Kadzik’s background . It’s positively incestuous with ties to the Clintons and Podestas. Here’s what you can do. Contact the Department of Justice. Be civil because screaming, swearing, and threatening never accomplished anything. Let them know that you want to see an independent investigation into these emails and into the Clinton Foundation. Let them know that you will also be contacting your local media to make them aware of this conflict of interest. Here is the contact information for the DoJ. Make phone calls and send emails. Department Comment Line: 202-353-1555 Department of Justice Main Switchboard: 202-514-2000 Executive Office for United States Attorneys Main Line – (202) 514-2000 DoJ Criminal Investigation email address: [email protected] Feel free to use this email as a template: RE: Peter Kadzik When I learned of the close connections between Peter Kadzik and Hillary Clinton, I was appalled that he would be in charge of the new investigation into the emails. In no way does this reflect well on the DoJ. It’s an insult to the American people that this blatant collusion is allowed and presented as “justice.” This is especially appalling considering this email he sent Podesta during the last investigation with the subject line “Heads up” https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/43150 I will be notifying my local media of this debacle and sharing it everywhere I can reach via social media. People are learning of this collusion rapidly – you might want to read this article published on Zero Hedge and put on the front page of the Drudge Report – keeping in mind that Drudge gets millions of page views per day and is one of the biggest websites in America. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-02/more-collusion-between-clinton-campaign-and-doj-kadzik-provides-heads-podesta The American people don’t trust the government anymore, and it is actions like this, putting John Podesta’s close friend in charge of an investigation that all eyes are on, that is like spitting in the face of every person in America who hopes that justice is indeed blind, even when the recipient of it is Hillary Rodham Clinton. Please do the right thing. This investigation needs to be independent of anyone with ties to the Clintons and any figure in their campaign. Sincerely, If you use social media, get on it. Share this article and the one from Zero Hedge and do not shut up about it until our mission is accomplished. If you don’t use social media, forward emails to everyone in your address book. If you’re on the computer reading this, I’m pretty sure you have email too. Contact your local media through letters to the editor, comments on their websites, and phone calls to anyone who will listen. If you sit there and do nothing, you get nothing. Now is the time to stand up to corruption. Now is the time that your voice can be heard. Make it count. Article first posted at DaisyLuther.com Submit your review | 0 |
By In5D on November 15, 2016 in Awareness , Spiritual Awakening
by Kim Hutchinson, Guest writer, In5D.com
Preface: I wrote this article to help people who are unhappy with American election results. I hope it helps to bring you peace and understanding. The Election
Wednesday morning when I awoke to news of Donald Trump’s ascendancy to the position of President of the United States my first reaction was disbelief. I found myself wondering if I had jumped timelines overnight. Although I did my best to ignore the campaign that waged south of the border, with so many high octane soundbites it was impossible to tune out. Consequently, I was sure Hilary Clinton was a shoe-in.
To shake off the surreal vibe, I headed to the kitchen for a bracing cup of coffee. Thinking that the biggest shock of my day was now behind me, I was ill-prepared for the turmoil that lurked on my laptop. Facebook and email were abuzz with upset posts. Although there were plenty of celebratory message by elated Trump supporters, the majority of reactions I read were negative. Even more distressing were the conflicts that erupted online between friends and coworkers.
Rather than weighing into the fray, I energetically cleared myself and readjusted my focus to a higher perspective . I then channeled divine love and sent it out into the world for all in need of reassurance. While in communion with my highest self, I also put my faith in my highest self to bring me divine guidance so I could help people deal with their distress. This is when I was reminded of my activities the day prior. Soul Ages
On Tuesday, the day of the U.S. election, I was guided to revisit a book I had read several years ago called The Instruction. In it, author and psychic Ainslie MacLeod described soul ages in a very enlightening manner. Before I proceed in explaining the difference in soul ages, I should point out that all souls are the same age because we are eternal, but we employ the term ‘soul age’ as an indication of the amount of Earth / 3D experience a being has. Young and Old Souls
For simplicity sake, MacLeod broke soul ages into 10 levels. He then sub-divided them into two groups. The first five levels represent young souls, with the remaining five being old souls. Each Earth lesson mastered helps the soul to mature. Souls who complete their Earthly education finish at Level 10. At this point, the soul is ready to ‘graduate’ or ascend Home.
The difference between young and old souls is their primary motivation. Young souls are motivated by fear, leading to the need for security, safety and ultimately, power. Old souls are motivated by love, which drives their need to self-perfect, self-heal and ultimately transcend polarity back into unity consciousness and divine love. This is not to say that young souls are unloving and old souls are never scared. Both young and old souls feel fear and love. Young Souls and Politics
A soul’s journey begins with the basics of Level 1, and then progresses through the levels, learning increasingly more complex lessons as it goes. Young souls are driven by a need to protect themselves. Weapons, walls, armies, and strictly enforced laws are all part of that protection. They crave structure and conformity in their personal lives too. This includes moral codes, fundamental religious practices and a traditional family and social structures. The younger the soul the more black-and-white his or her perspective.
At Level 4 the soul has acquired enough 3D/Earth experience to start branching out into the world. Evolving from fear to love is hard, but given enough time and experience most young souls eventually master their fear to become paragons of confidence, worldliness and leadership. In fact, the majority of politicians are Level 5 souls. This is the group who rules the world. They thrive on power, money and prestige.
It’s interesting to note that Level 5 politicians rely heavily on the support of Level 3 souls, such as in the case of war. The politicians who make the decision to engage in conflict need soldiers to fight, the majority of whom come from Level 3. In turn, Level 3 souls tend to idealize their leaders, along with their country, so this is truly a symbiotic relationship. Old Souls
By contrast, Levels 6 – 10 are old souls. They look inwards for strength, guidance and inspiration .
Level 6 is the hardest in some ways because they remember feeling on top of the world and having all the answers. Now, they’ve gone through a spiritual awakening which shattered their paradigm and left them unsure of themselves and their world. Through a spiritual connection, they begin to find their way, eventually regaining their sense of purpose.
Subsequent levels draw heavily on intuition to help them bring amazing creations, inventions and works of art into the world. At Level 8 many became activists for worthy causes such as environmental issues. This frequently pits them against the younger souled politicians. By Level 9, the soul is knee-deep in self-healing.
Then, by Level 10, souls are so peaceful in their own skin that they no longer are concerned with prior Earthly pursuits. These senior citizen souls are quite baffling to young souls who see them as eccentric and rather strange. In fact, old souls and their ways, tend to scare young souls. Soul Ages and the US Election
By now, you’ve probably figured out that connection between soul ages and the President Elect Donald Trump. In case not, it’s very simple: Trump ran on a platform that appealed to young souls. The concepts of wall-building and limiting immigration, for example, appeal to people who are innately afraid of what lies beyond their borders. Think back to the Middle Ages and earlier, when the majority of souls were young, and thus needed the protective walls of fortified towns. The concept may seem archaic to old souls but, rather than judging, it’s important to keep in mind that every old soul went through a similar young soul journey. Collective consciousness may have evolved beyond medieval times, but there are still pockets of souls who are learning young soul lessons. Earth School
Taking the educational model a step farther, imagine Earth as a one room schoolhouse. Grades 1 – 12 (soul ages 1 – 10) are all together in the same classroom. The younger students (young souls) on the left side and the older students (old souls) on the right. Within those two sides, students are grouped together with others in the same grade level so that they can learn cooperatively. Throughout each day, the teacher (life) delivers lessons to each group. Afterward, students work on their assignments with the help of their peers.
Old souls tend to forget what it is like to be a young soul, just as young souls struggle to understand old souls . Such is life. Even though we’re all here together, we’re not all working on the same lessons at the same time.
Life is based on mastery learning; souls learn at their own pace. Some have lived 100s or even 1000s of past lives, whereas others have only been here a handful of times. It’s important to keep that perspective when dealing with souls who are at different levels than you. After all, it is folly to expect a student in grade 2 to understand grade 11 Calculus. That doesn’t mean the student won’t one day excel at Calculus; it’s just not going to happen in this lifetime. The Bifurcation of Worlds
The election in the US shone a spotlight on the chasm between young and old souls. That gap was always there, but now everyone is acutely aware of it. I believe the election is serving as a catalyst for the separation in worlds. Old souls are preparing to graduate and go on to university ( ascend into 5D ), whereas the young souls are staying here to carry on with their 3D education. The divisiveness and shocking nature of the election campaign and results is helping to polarize the two soul groups while, at the same time, awakening those who would like to move into the higher dimensions. The Solution? Old Soul Compassion
Although it can be hard for everyone to see eye-to-eye, the ‘burden’ of compassion and understanding, rests on the shoulders of the old soul . If you’re reading this article, I assume you’re an old soul, therefore this message is for you: You, Old Soul, have the experience and wisdom needed to find a place of loving compassion in your heart for the struggle of the young souls. You also have the ability to channel love and peace into the world through your heart and soul connection. The vibration of love is much higher, and therefore far more powerful, than fear and hate.
So, when you see something that causes you fear and/or anger, resist the urge to give into the darkness. Instead, meditate; or, clear yourself, breathe deeply; and think of somebody you love in order to move your consciousness into your heart. Then, focus on the peace within, and let your divine love flow outward in all directions. In doing so you are helping to heal the very influence that upset you while also raising your vibration and that of the ascending Earth. Addendum: Beyond Soul Ages
As a side note, I wish to add that soul ages are but one factor at play here. Not all pro-Trump votes came from young souls. In fact, many old souls chose Trump due to his lack of affiliation, and unwillingness to cooperate, with the puppet masters who have long wielded the true power behind the government. This, too, is part of the transformation and separation of worlds. But that’s a topic for another article!
About the Author : Kim Hutchinson of ClayhutHealing.ca is a Mystical Guiding Star whose soul journeys through time, space and dimensions to offer healing to people worldwide. Kim specializes in Multidimensional Dream Healing. RELATED ARTICLES FROM IN5D: | 0 |
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[10/28/16] Donald Trump has gained on Hillary Clinton during the past week, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll , solidifying support among core Republican groups as well as political independents.
Roughly 6 in 10 still expect Clinton to prevail, while the poll finds shrinking concerns about the accuracy of the vote count and voter fraud in the election.
Clinton holds a slight 48-44 percent edge over Trump among likely voters, with Libertarian Gary Johnson at 4 percent and Green Party nominee Jill Stein at 1 percent in the survey completed Sunday through Wednesday. Clinton held a six-point edge in the previous wave and a 12-point edge in the first wave of the tracking poll by ABC News Sunday (50 percent Clinton vs. 38 percent Trump). In a two-candidate contest, Clinton holds a five-point edge over Trump, 50 to 45 percent.
Trump’s growth in support from 38 percent to 44 percent is fueled by shored-up support among Republican-leaning voting groups as well as a significant boost among political independents. Trump has made up ground among whites, particularly those without college degrees and women. Trump now leads by a 30 percentage point margin among white voters without college degrees, up from 20 points from this weekend. White women now tilt toward Trump by 48 to 43 percent after leaning 49 to 43 percent in Clinton’s favor before.
Trump saw his biggest gains among political independents, favoring Trump by a 12-point margin in the latest tracking poll, 49 to 37 percent, after giving Clinton a narrow edge in late last week. Neither candidate has maintained a consistent lead among independent likely voters in Post-ABC polling this fall. Post navigation | 0 |
JERUSALEM — In a furious riposte a day after the United Nations Security Council’s adoption of a resolution condemning Israeli settlement construction, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday pledged to exact a “diplomatic and economic price” from countries who acted against Israel. Mr. Netanyahu also announced that he would halt his country’s contributions to several United Nations institutions, as well as the presence of the body’s representatives in Israel. In a televised address at a Hanukkah ceremony honoring wounded soldiers and the victims of terrorism, Mr. Netanyahu excoriated the Obama administration for not vetoing the Security Council’s measure. He said he would work with the incoming administration of Donald J. Trump to rescind it. Describing the resolution passed on Friday as “distorted,” “delusional” and “absurd,” Mr. Netanyahu said it was “part of the swan song of the old world that is biased against Israel. ” “But, my friends, we are entering a new era,” he added. Mr. Netanyahu, who is expecting the incoming Trump administration to be more forgiving of Israel’s settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem, accused the Obama administration of carrying out a “disgraceful maneuver. ” Mr. Netanyahu has already recalled Israel’s ambassadors from New Zealand and Senegal, two of the four countries that sponsored the resolution and pushed it through, and has ordered Israeli aid to Senegal be halted. There was also a report that Mr. Netanyahu had canceled a visit to Israel by the prime minister of Ukraine, because of that country’s vote in favor of the resolution. Mr. Netanyahu also said he had instructed the Foreign Ministry to all of Israel’s relationships with the United Nations, a body that Israel has long viewed as biased against it, and said he was stopping 30 million shekels — about $7. 8 million — in funding to five United Nations institutions that are “particularly hostile to Israel. ” There is no complete consensus in Israel about settlement projects, and domestic critics of Mr. Netanyahu saw the resolution as a severe blow to his recent claims about Israel’s improved standing in the world. But Mr. Netanyahu tried to appeal to Israeli emotions by emphasizing that the resolution made no distinction between Jerusalem and the West Bank — considering the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City and the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, as occupied territory. Israel wrested the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the war of 1967. Ehud Barak, a former Israeli prime minister and defense minister, said it was Mr. Netanyahu who had failed to make any distinction between building in East Jerusalem and the settlement blocs close to the 1967 lines, which Israel expects to be able to keep under any peace agreement with the Palestinians. “The principal enemy of the settlement blocs and the Jerusalem neighborhoods is Netanyahu himself,” Mr. Barak, an increasingly vocal critic of Mr. Netanyahu, said on Israeli television on Saturday night. Isaac Herzog, the leader of the Zionist Union and head of the parliamentary opposition, said in a Facebook post, “The man who just a month ago told us that the world worships him, declared war this evening on the world, on the United States, on Europe, and is trying to calm us with conceit. ” Naftali Bennett, the education minister and leader of the Jewish Home party in Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition, goaded Mr. Netanyahu to respond with more drastic measures, like annexing parts of the West Bank to Israel. “The time has come to transition from withdrawals to sovereignty,” he said. | 1 |
Roberta Peters, the coloratura soprano who at 20 was catapulted to stardom by a phone call, a subway ride and a Metropolitan Opera debut — her first public performance anywhere — all in the space of five hours, died on Wednesday at her home in Rye, N. Y. She was 86. The cause was Parkinson’s disease, her son Bruce Fields said. Ms. Peters, who would sing with the Met 515 times over 35 vigorous years, was internationally renowned for her high, silvery voice (in private, she could hit a high A, two and a half octaves above middle C) her clarion diction in a flurry of languages her attractive stage presence and, by virtue of the fact that she and television came to prominence at about the same time, her wide popular appeal. “As a coloratura,” Cue magazine wrote of Ms. Peters in 1960, “she has no peer. ” In addition to the Met, with which she appeared regularly from 1950 to 1985 — one of the longest associations of any singer with a major opera company — Ms. Peters was heard at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cincinnati Opera, the Vienna State Opera, Covent Garden and elsewhere. Her roles include the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” Rosina in Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” Gilda in Verdi’s “Rigoletto” and Oscar (a pageboy played by a soprano) in his “Un Ballo in Maschera. ” But her most significant role was undoubtedly Zerlina in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni. ” Enlisted to sing that part in 1950 as a substitute, Ms. Peters was propelled, with no rehearsal, onto the Met stage and into a stellar career. Known for taking meticulous care of her voice, she continued to sing in recital until well into her 70s, a good two decades past the de facto retirement age in her line of work. At midcentury, when it was more customary to encounter opera stars on television than it is today, she was seen on a string of shows, including “The Voice of Firestone,” “The Mike Douglas Show” and in particular “The Ed Sullivan Show,” on which she appeared scores of times in the 1950s and ’60s. Later in her career, she performed in operetta and musical theater. One thing that allowed Ms. Peters to sing so long was a prudent awareness of what her voice could and could not do. Possessed of a light, fleet instrument, she confined herself to coloratura and soubrette roles, steering clear of heavier fare. Critics sometimes faulted Ms. Peters’s singing for a certain lack of intensity, but her flageolet tones made an airy counterweight to the vocal heft of Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland, whose style was becoming the norm for sopranos at midcentury. “I would love to sing Tosca,” Ms. Peters told The Los Angeles Times in 1986. “And Salome. Those are my dream roles. But I won’t do them, at least not in this life. They would kill me, vocally. ” Another thing that kept Ms. Peters singing was her impeccable technique: From the age of 13, she had trained for an operatic career as an athlete trains for the Olympics. For years, her weekly regimen included not only voice and foreign language lessons but also instruction in ballet, acting and fencing, as well as a strength and conditioning program under the direct supervision of Joseph Pilates, the originator of the Pilates exercise method. Although Ms. Peters’s voice teacher, William Herman, did not want her to sing in public until she was thoroughly groomed, he insisted that she make a deep study of the operatic literature. By the time she was 19 and auditioned for the Met, she knew the scores of 20 operas cold. Providentially, as things fell out, “Don Giovanni” was one of them. Roberta Peterman, an only child, was born on May 4, 1930, and grew up near Jerome Avenue and 170th Street in the Bronx. Her father, Solomon, was a shoe salesman her mother, the former Ruth Hirsch, a milliner. As a girl, Roberta, in the words of her family, had “a real voice on her. ” When she was 13, her grandfather, the maître d’hotel at Grossinger’s, the redoubt of Jewish life in the Catskills, asked the celebrated tenor Jan Peerce (né Jacob Pincus Perelmuth) who was singing there, to hear her. Impressed, Mr. Peerce arranged for Roberta to study with Mr. Herman, whose students included the Metropolitan Opera coloratura Patrice Munsel, who died last year. Leaving school permanently after she completed junior high, Roberta took six lessons a week from Mr. Herman on a scholarship. He also arranged for supplementary instruction in French, Italian, German, dance and drama. Mr. Pilates, meanwhile, did his part by standing regularly on Roberta’s abdomen (he weighed 174 pounds, she 119) to help her develop the musculature essential for breath control. All this proved so effective that at 16, Roberta was offered a $ role in “Street Scene,” a musical with music by Kurt Weill and lyrics by Langston Hughes that would open on Broadway in 1947. Though the salary would have been welcome in a family of modest means, Roberta, with the support of her parents, turned it down: She had set her sights on opera and would not be deterred. In late 1949, Ms. Peters (she had shortened her surname at her teacher’s suggestion) was taken on by Sol Hurok, the impresario. He soon arranged an audition with the Met’s new general manager, Rudolf Bing. On Jan. 23, 1950, the Ms. Peters stood on the stage of the old Metropolitan Opera House on Broadway and 39th Street in Manhattan. There, in the darkened hall, she sang “Der Hölle Rache” (“Hell’s Vengeance”) the Queen of the Night’s aria from “The Magic Flute,” which, with its fiendish series of high F’s, is among the canonical texts of the coloratura repertory. Somewhere out in the darkness was Mr. Bing. “It was the first audition I had done for anyone, and I was so scared,” Ms. Peters told The Chicago Tribune in 1993. “When it was over he asked if I would sing it again. Then he asked me to do it again. Well, I sang it four times, not knowing that he had silently brought in conductors Fritz Reiner, Fausto Cleva and Fritz Stiedry to hear me. ” Signed to a Met contract, Ms. Peters was scheduled to make her debut with the company as the Queen of the Night in January 1951. But on Nov. 17, the soprano Nadine Conner, scheduled to sing Zerlina in a Met “Don Giovanni” that night, fell ill. At 3 p. m. Mr. Bing telephoned Ms. Peters and told her to report to the opera house in time for an 8 o’clock curtain. Ms. Peters, who had planned to watch the performance with her mother from the section that night, informed her parents that they now had box seats. The family, then living at Broadway and 71st Street, rushed to the street and hailed a taxi. When the cab became stuck in traffic, they jumped out and took the subway. At the opera house, there was no time for real rehearsal: Ms. Peters’s only preparation to play Zerlina, the country girl who catches Don Giovanni’s roving eye, took the form of hurried consultations with the stage director, Herbert Graf, and the conductor, Mr. Reiner. She was hustled into a costume the other singers would help her hit her marks onstage by gently propelling her wherever she needed to be. “Are you nervous?” the baritone Paul Schöffler, that night’s Don Giovanni, asked her before the curtain. “No, numb,” Ms. Peters replied, and on she went. “The delightful surprise of last night’s performance of ‘Don Giovanni’ at the Metropolitan was the emergency debut of little Roberta Peters in the part of Zerlina,” The New York ’s review the next day said. “The voice came through the big house as clear as a bell, the notes equally bright and focused and the phrasing that of a true musician. And the girl — she is all of 5 feet 2 — turned in a very smooth job of acting, too. ” From then on, Ms. Peters was in great demand, both at the Met, where she sang her planned Queen of the Night on Jan. 12, 1951, and around the world. As if her debut had foreordained as much, she developed something of a specialty as an substitute for indisposed singers. Ms. Peters was by all accounts one of opera’s least divalike divas. She was exceptionally game — not hesitating, for instance, to don a chicken suit for an episode of “Captain Kangaroo” in 1975. (One is to picture Maria Callas in similar confines.) She appeared in several memorable TV commercials. In one, for Chock Full o’Nuts, Ms. Peters sang the company’s signature jingle in mellifluous Italian. In another, for American Express — part of its “Do you know me?” campaign — she hailed a cab by singing out “ !” in a descending major third, from G to E flat. She had dramatic roles in several movies, including “Tonight We Sing” (1953) based on Mr. Hurok’s life, and on TV shows including “Medical Center,” on which, in 1975, she played a dying singer. The closest thing to drama in Ms. Peters’s personal life was her very brief marriage to the great baritone Robert Merrill, whom she wed on March 30, 1952, and from whom she was divorced on June 26, 1952. (Ms. Peters later said that she had fallen in love with the voice rather than the man.) But they remained friends, and sometime partners, ever after. Ms. Peters’s second husband, Bertram Fields, a hotelier and investor whom she married in 1955, died in 2010. In addition to her son Bruce, she is survived by another son, Paul, and four grandchildren. Her many recordings include works by Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Cole Porter and Gilbert and Sullivan. For all the acclaim that cloaked Ms. Peters, and for all the laurels heaped upon her — including a National Medal of Arts in 1998 — perhaps nothing could match the electricity of that November night, when a from the Bronx stepped onto the Met stage an unknown and came back as Roberta Peters. An ovation followed, and flowers along with it. Afterward, Ms. Peters took a taxi all the way home. | 1 |
WARSAW — Europe’s populists have scrambled to outdo one another in celebrating Donald J. Trump as an American president who shares many of their nationalistic, attitudes. Less thrilled are the in Poland. And the problem is Vladimir V. Putin. Poland already has one of Europe’s most conservative governments, which took office a year ago. And top leaders have eagerly cast Mr. Trump’s election as the latest and most crucial chapter in a global shift away from liberal democracy. But they also see a worrisome problem: the chummy noises Mr. Trump has made toward Mr. Putin, the Russian president. Even as the government may share many of Mr. Putin’s conservative attitudes and nationalist impulses, Polish leaders are restrained by a deep, almost visceral distrust of him. Memories of Russian domination during the Soviet era are still raw here, and Poland has been one of the most hawkish members of the European Union on taking a hard line toward Mr. Putin. The Polish predicament is yet another reminder of how thoroughly the Trump victory has scrambled the geopolitics of Europe. His campaign remarks undercutting NATO, and suggesting that the United States could possibly walk away from the alliance, alarmed leaders in the Baltics and in Poland — even after Mr. Trump softened his remarks. Most of all, Poland and the rest of Europe will now wait and see whether the victory of Mr. Trump, who apparently has an affinity for Mr. Putin, is an opportunity for Europe, or an existential threat. Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, who had already made friendly gestures toward Moscow, sees opportunity. Many Poles still see risks. “What Poland can do is keep increasing its military capabilities, keep a low profile and just wait for Putin to show his true colors,” said Jerzy Targalski, a political analyst and historian who supports the governing Law and Justice Party. “And it won’t take too long. ” For now, Polish leaders have a strategy to praise Mr. Trump’s victory as a continuation of their own victories, focus on areas of agreement with the new American president and play down, as much as possible, disagreements over things like how to deal with Moscow. Poland’s prime minister, Beata Szydlo, joined other leaders in declaring Mr. Trump’s victory a validation of the rise of a more nationalistic and muscular form of government with a strong executive and resurgent patriotism. “A certain era in world politics ends, an era when politics focused on elites and dealing with issues of the elites,” she said. “Democracy won despite the liberal propaganda. ” But at the same time, Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, was quick to add that his country still expected the United States to abide by its NATO commitments and to proceed with plans to deploy NATO troops, including thousands of Americans, this spring along the European Union’s eastern flank. Of course, even some members of Mr. Trump’s own Republican Party do not agree on the best way to approach Mr. Putin — whether to continue international pressure, as Poland wishes, or to seize the moment to develop a closer relationship that ends Russia’s isolation, as Poland fears. Poland and the Baltic States, geographically closer to Moscow, have insisted on maintaining pressure. On Thursday, Lithuania’s Parliament voted almost unanimously — with just one abstention — to maintain economic sanctions as punishment for Russia’s annexation of Crimea and aggression in eastern Ukraine, for instance. On Friday, key European leaders, along with President Obama, pledged to renew those sanctions. But other, more leaders have indicated they might agree to end the sanctions. Presidents who were elected just this month in Bulgaria and Moldova had talked during their campaigns about doing just that, while political leaders and analysts in Poland and elsewhere expect Mr. Trump to move quickly to negotiate a new “grand bargain” with Mr. Putin. They suspect Mr. Putin also wants to move swiftly, not only to end the sanctions that are squeezing his country’s economy but also, perhaps, to head off that planned spring deployment of NATO troops. Polish officials have preferred to express confidence that, despite the troubling signs, the new president in the end will abide by America’s NATO and European Union commitments. “I think we can be confident that U. S. policy toward Poland and thus also our relations will not deteriorate, that at least they will not become weaker,” Mr. Duda said after a brief phone conversation with Mr. Trump this past week. “And maybe we will be able to strengthen them even further. ” Polish leaders have focused on the more welcome statements Mr. Trump has made, like his promise to try to change rules that force Poles to get visas to visit the United States, long a sore point. And they have steadfastly defended Mr. Trump from criticism in more liberal corners of Europe. As a result, the government — which has chafed under international criticism that its moves to marginalize the country’s constitutional court amounted to an undemocratic attack on the rule of law — hopes that Mr. Trump’s victory will create an atmosphere in which it can resolve that crisis more to Warsaw’s liking. “The problem is not that there is a perception that Poland is under immediate threat from Russia,” said Marek Menkiszak, head of the Russian section at the Center for Eastern Studies in Warsaw, an independent but research group. “The problem is rather this uncertainty caused by the mixed signals that have come out of the Trump team. ” Rudolph W. Giuliani assured a gathering of voters that the Trump administration would abide by its treaty obligations, including going to the military aid of any NATO member state that is attacked. But then Newt Gingrich, also acting as a Trump surrogate, remarked that if he were president he would not necessarily go to the aid of Estonia, which he described as essentially a suburb of St. Petersburg, sending a shiver down the spine of many Eastern European leaders. And the candidate himself alternated between telling Poland that America would stand behind its ally and making comments about NATO having, perhaps, outlived its usefulness. Optimists point out that pretty much every recent American president went into office hoping to refresh relations with Moscow, only to see those efforts stall. “George W. Bush and Obama also announced a policy of rapprochement with Russia,” said Peter Kreko, the director of the Political Capital Institute, a research group in Budapest. “But in the end, none of them succeeded. ” Polish officials and analysts agree, saying they hope to cement strong relations with the Trump administration — stressing shared concerns like immigration and national sovereignty — and hope Mr. Trump does not surrender too much, in the short term, in his desire for a deal with Mr. Putin. “You can’t make a deal with Russia and then expect it to keep the terms of the agreement,” said Mr. Targalski, the political analyst. “It’s never a real partnership with Russia. It will take everything the U. S. is willing to offer, and then just keep on testing the new administration’s patience. ” The underlying hope, Polish officials and analysts say, is that the Donald J. Trump of the campaign — praising Mr. Putin, belittling NATO, bashing trade treaties — will be different from the Donald J. Trump in the Oval Office. Any weakening of the alliance would have a huge impact on Poland and the region, they say. “Being in this part of Europe, you depend on alliances,” said Marcin Zaborowski, the executive vice president of the Center for European Policy Analysis, who leads its Warsaw office. “Without alliances, we would become the Europe of the 1930s, which did not end too well. ” | 1 |
Full UFO Disclosure Is Inevitable Nov 18, 2016 7 0
What is coming can’t be stopped. The truth is out there and we know it. While some believe that a partial disclosure of the truth on the UFO/E.T. phenomena will be pulled off, the reality is that any attempts to subvert or spin the truth of this monumental truth will ultimately backfire. “The truth is out there.”
According to whistle-blower Corey Goode , the banking and political cabal (some call it the NWO) is bent on releasing the truth about the UFO and extraterrestrial existence, but have that truth spun in a way where this cabal continues to maintain it’s power. In the end, the would not serve the greater interests of humanity, as this cabal would still try to keep several of it’s methods of enslavement over humanity going.
However, this scenario is extremely unlikely due to the amount of people who know the truth. It is also unlikely due to the kind of information that is continuing to come out regarding the existence of other beings in our universe. Credible Insiders
Going back to late 2013, former Canadian Prime Minister and Defense Minister Paul Hellyer said in a TV interview with RT , that he knows for a fact that UFOs are real and that they’ve been visiting our planet for thousands of years. He also said that there are at least 4 different species that he knows of and that they want to help us create a peaceful world. He also said they have the technology to completely transform our world for the better. If there would be one interview to send to someone skeptical of this subject, this would be it. Paul Hellyer gave an eye-opening interview.
In another interview that opened even more eyes was in early 2013 when former NASA Astronaut and Princeton Physics Professor Dr. Brian O’ Leary told the world:
“There is abundant evidence that we are being contacted and that civilizations have been visiting us for a very long time…”
In the interview he also discusses free energy technology that these beings use. Another famous quote from Dr. O’Leary regarding free energy technology is:
“These concepts have been proven in hundreds of laboratories all over the world, yet never see the light of day. If the new energy technologies were set free world wide the change would be profound. It would affect everybody, it would be applicable everywhere. These technologies are absolutely the most important thing that have happened in the history of the world.”
Another prominent figure who has openly spoken about the UFO and free energy reality is former NASA Astronaut Edgar Mitchell. Mitchell was brought back into focus a little over a month ago when Wikileaks revealed emails that Mitchell sent to John Podesta , chairman of the Clinton campaign.
It is urgent that we agree on a date and time to meet to discuss Disclosure and Zero Point Energy, at your earliest available after your departure. My Catholic colleague Terri Mansfield will be there too, to bring us up to date on the Vatican’s awareness of ETI (Extraterrestrial Intelligence).
Remember, our nonviolent ETI from the contiguous universe are helping us bring zero point energy to Earth. They will not tolerate any forms of military violence on Earth or in space.
Though these are just three cases of well-known, credible insiders revealing the truth, there are literally thousands more that have come forward over the years. For further insider testimony, take a look at The Disclosure Project video where in 2001, over twenty military, intelligence, government, corporate and scientific insiders came forward and testified what they know about the UFO and E.T. subject. It Won’t Stop There
As truths like this continue to come out, much of what we’ve been taught on this planet will need to be addressed and revised. Almost every area of our world has been compromised by this secret cabal. JFK put it best when he openly stated opposition to “secret societies, secret oaths and to secret proceedings.” As well as opposition to “a ruthless conspiracy…a highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.”
Indeed, almost everything we see around us has been built on secrecy and lies. Full disclosure is more than just the truth about UFOs and other beings visiting our world. It is also more than the free energy technologies that have been intentionally suppressed. Full disclosure will also include learning about these “secret societies” that JFK talked about. It will include learning about how a group of “elites” controlled the media, the schools, the religions, the miltaries, the financial systems as well as controlling the weather (HAARP technology), controlling the food supply and attempting a mass eugenics project through genetically modified foods.
It will also include learning about the subversion of the scientific method to push their destructive agenda into the health and medical fields. It will include revealing how pharmaceuticals have been used to numb and slowly degrade biological activity within the human body.
Full disclosure will include learning about the use of chemical weapons on it’s own people through what is known as chemtrails. Even the CIA Chief has admitted they are engaging in such geoengineering practices. We could also call this stratospheric aerosol injection.
Full disclosure will also reveal how the elite’s have stolen and have been abusing the global collateral accounts . These accounts were intentionally created to fund massive humanitarian projects and are the real reason JFK was murdered. Full disclosure will reveal the true history behind these accounts and all of the banks, governments (registered corporations) and other corporations (like the United Nations) that have been illegally using these accounts. We will also learn about how the 9/11 false flag is connected to these accounts.
We will also learn about how our birth certificates have been turned into securities that are being traded on the New York Stock Exchange. We will also learn about how almost every “government” in this world is actually a registered corporation . We do not have governments running our country. We have masquerading corporations.
We’ll also learn about mind control operations that have been used both on the public, as well as on certain politicians, bankers and celebrities. This is most commonly known as MK Ultra.
We will also learn about the massive child-trafficking, pedophile ring that the elites have been involved in.
Even so, there will still be much more that will be revealed. Full Disclosure Now
While some want to create a partial disclosure, such a scenario is nearly impossible. The reason this is so is that there are many, many scientific, military, political and intelligence related people who know an incredible amount of information, but stay silent to either preserve their life or preserve their job. Once the door cracks open, we will see a few major figures come forth and reveal what they know. Once that happens, we will see the floodgates open. Dozens and then hundreds of people who know the truth on a wide range of topics, such as those listed above, will no longer have the threat of death held against them. They will be free to speak about what they know.
The world is becoming more ready each day thanks to the internet and information like that contained in this article reaching even more people. The world is awakening to the truth and we know that we already have the technology to turn this planet into a paradise. We know that there are peaceful beings living on other planets and in other dimensions. This is reality.
You can join the growing Facebook group who is pushing for full disclosure here .
Lastly, take a look at the words from David Wilcock , NYT Best-Selling author, researcher, lecturer and UFO expert from just a couple days ago :
“I will say that the fight for Disclosure and the defeat of the Cabal is now at a “Red Hot” level, based on multiple insider testimonies. The scope, power and speed of changes we might see are anyone’s guess, but it definitely appears that things are going to get a lot more interesting.” | 0 |
MODERN homes today are getting light bulbs, thermostats, TVs and speakers. So with a simple voice command or the touch of a button on our smartphones, we can set the temperature, turn on a light or prepare the TV to record a program. What could go wrong? A lot more than most people are prepared for, it turns out. If one of these devices gets hijacked, hackers could potentially snoop around for sensitive data like financial or health information. Or they could use a network of compromised devices to perform a widespread attack that takes down major websites, which is what happened last October. The good news is that so far, online attacks on home devices are relatively uncommon. Only 10 percent of American consumers said they were victims of the crime in a recent study done for the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company. However, those who experienced such an attack through their home gadgets reported losses of $1, 000 to $5, 000 from the incidents. “There’s still this whole sort of, ‘Gee whiz, it’s so cool’ thing that’s going on” with home appliances, said Lee Tien, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on digital rights. “That’s also what often gets us into trouble. ” As smart home devices become more popular, they will become bigger targets for hackers. So it behooves us to get ahead of the curve by securing our home appliances, using these tips from security experts who have closely studied smart home accessories. When shopping for an home device like a smart speaker, lighting system or television set, a good rule of thumb is to go with a trusted brand. Larger, companies like Amazon or Google have a background in developing products with security in mind, said Liviu Arsene, an analyst for Bitdefender, which sells security hardware for protecting smart home accessories. Before buying a product, consumers should do a web search on it to see if the company regularly issues software updates that fix security vulnerabilities, he said. People should also carefully read company privacy policies. David Britton, a vice president in the fraud and identity department of Experian, the credit reporting agency, said people should be curious about whether companies themselves were a threat to user privacy. “What are they capturing about you?” he said. “Is the data leaving the device? Is it being sent back to the mother ship?” Consider the smart speakers from Amazon and Google. Amazon said its Alexa smart assistant, which is used in its Echo speakers, automatically downloads software updates to defend against new security threats. Data from the Echo is also uploaded to Amazon’s servers only after people utter the wake word “Alexa,” the company said. That minimizes the likelihood that the device will record conversations unrelated to requests intended for Alexa. Google said its Home speaker similarly issued regular software updates and employed advanced security features, like a technique that disables the device if its software is tampered with. The company added that the speaker processed speech only after the words “O. K. Google” or “Hey Google” were detected. But other large brands occasionally engage in behavior that customers may find objectionable. The smart TV maker Vizio, for example, made headlines with revelations from the investigative news site ProPublica that it kept a detailed record of customer viewing habits and shared it with advertisers, who could then use the information to identify other devices you owned. Your network is the pulse of your smart home, thus it is a vulnerable attack point. Mr. Britton and Mr. Arsene suggest connecting all your smart home accessories — for example, your Amazon Echo, Nest thermostat, Samsung smart refrigerator and Philips Hue smart lights — onto a network that is separate from the one connected to your computing devices, like your smartphone, tablet and computer. With two distinct networks, it will be harder for a hacker to jump from infiltrating your smart accessory on one network to a personal computer on the other network, Mr. Arsene said. The easiest way to create a second network is to make a guest network. Many modern routers, like ’s Archer C7 (the top router recommended by The Wirecutter, a product recommendations site owned by The New York Times) include the ability to host a network for guests that uses a name and password different from that of your primary network. Quarantining your smart speakers, lights and TV onto a guest network will allow them all to interact with one another, while keeping your computing devices safer in the event that any of the smart accessories are hacked. If you are paranoid about your network being hacked, you can also change the router’s network settings to disable broadcasting the network name entirely, Mr. Britton said. That would make it difficult for a hacker driving by to detect and compromise your network, though it would also require house guests to manually type in your network name and password when they log on to your . The same security principles for websites apply to the internet of things. You should set strong, unique passwords for logging into each device you own. If you recycle your passwords and one device is compromised, the others can be, too. A strong password can be a random string of characters or a nonsensical phrase with numbers and special characters. (Examples: My favorite number is Green4782# or The cat ate the CoTTon candy 224%.) If you cannot memorize your passwords, that is a good thing: That means they are hard for hackers to crack. Keep them written down on a piece of paper and stored in a safe place, or store your passwords in a app like 1Password or LastPass. While reputable manufacturers of smart home accessories offer software updates to patch security vulnerabilities, it is often up to the consumer to stay on top of updates. Because it lacks a screen, a smart light bulb or an power socket is going to have a tough time informing you that it needs a software update. Mr. Britton and Mr. Arsene recommend that consumers regularly log into the mobile apps or websites for their smart home accessories to check if they need software updates. If updates are available, install them immediately. Among security researchers, putting a piece of tape over a computer webcam has become a recommendation for those who are extra paranoid about their privacy. (Even Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, does it.) With smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, there is an equivalent: a mute button to disable the device microphone so it can no longer listen. In the unlikely event that a device is hijacked, muting the microphone could help prevent hackers from listening to your conversations, Mr. Britton said. Or you could go the safest route and opt out of having these devices at all. That was the method chosen by Mr. Tien, the lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who previously studied the privacy risks of smart meters, the devices that utility companies use to monitor energy consumption. He said he accepted the privacy implications of owning a smartphone, but a smart home accessory? “I think it’s sort of asking to have your privacy invaded to have something like that,” he said. “I’m not sure that the value of it is really all that great. ” | 1 |
(Before It's News)
Date of discovery: October 26, 2016
Location of discovery: Bancroft Crater, Earths Moon
Google Earth Coordinates: 27°54’52.71″N 6°23’23.82″W
I found this entrance to an underground alien base inside of Bancroft crater. The dark opening measures 70 meters by 50 meters exactly. The outer edges measure 114 meters by 114 meters. I used Google ruler to measure this, so it is their statistics. The base entrance is just outside the shadow of the crater, which means it was placed there deliberately to be in the light and make entering and exiting it with smaller ships much easier. Similar base entrance have been found before. For instance, a very similar entrance was found on Google Mars and was 160 meters across, but with similar design. (Click here to view the Mars entrance) .
Scott C. Waring
Thanks http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ Check out more contributions by Jeffery Pritchett ranging from UFO to Bigfoot to Paranormal to Prophecy | 0 |
Senate Democrats To FBI: Put Up Or Shut Up About Emails (TWEETS) By Darrell Lucus on October 30, 2016 Subscribe
If there was any doubt that FBI Director James Comey’s announcement that the FBI was reviewing potential evidence in the Hillary Clinton email affair backfired spectacularly, it was erased on Saturday night. Four top Senate Democrats gave Comey an ultimatum –give us a full accounting of what you know about this, and do so by Monday.
Senators Dianne Feinstein, Patrick Leahy, Tom Carper, and Ben Cardin fired off a “what the hell is going on here?” letter to Comey and his nominal boss, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, demanding answers about Comey’s “vaguely worded” letter on Friday afternoon. They are the ranking members of the Senate committees that were most involved in the email server investigation–Intelligence (Feinstein), Judiciary (Leahy), Homeland Security (Carper), and Foreign Relations (Cardin).
Read the full letter here, courtesy Cardin’s Twitter feed.
— Senator Ben Cardin (@SenatorCardin) October 30, 2016
In a colossal understatement, they pointed out that the letter didn’t answer any questions, but in fact left a lot of them unanswered. For one thing, Comey’s letter didn’t clarify whether the FBI even had the emails in its custody, let alone had a chance to review them. Comey also didn’t say whether Hillary sent the emails, or if they even had anything to do with the investigation. Additionally, it represented a radical departure from FBI and Justice Department policy against doing anything that could potentially influence an election.
The Senators also noted that Comey had told his own troops that he didn’t know just how significant those emails were, and that there was a possibility that his letter would be “misunderstood.” In light of the fact that this letter has already been misunderstood, Feinstein, Carper, Leahy, and Cardin want Comey and Lynch–in truth, Comey–to give the Senate “detailed information” about the FBI’s actions no later than the close of business on Monday. To not do so, they add, “would be irresponsible and a disservice to the American people.”
There were already a number of reasons why Comey should be very afraid. For one thing, at the time, the FBI had not even obtained a warrant for the emails it discovered on the laptop of longtime Hillary aide Huma Abedin while investigating her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, for inappropriate texts with a teenager. So Comey felt the need to alert the House and Senate about these emails, when his people hadn’t even asked a court to review them.
We also know that Comey’s rumored excuse–that the emails were likely to be leaked unless he told Congress about them first–doesn’t wash. Judge Jeanine Pirro , no fan of Hillary, thinks Comey could have easily solved that problem by privately notifying the committee chairmen and putting them on notice that he would know who was behind any leaks.
But on Sunday afternoon, The Washington Post reported that the FBI hadn’t gotten a warrant for those emails despite knowing for at least a month that those messages were potentially relevant to the email server case. It finally obtained a warrant on Sunday night. How is Comey going to explain that to the Senate, especially since he knew how explosive this could have been?
It’s no wonder that Comey’s own troops are steaming mad at him, according to Newsweek and Vanity Fair’s Kurt Eichenwald. Here’s what Eichenwald has learned, by way of review. Word from inside @FBI . FURIOUS at Comey, think he's mishandled public revelations from get go. "Outrageous incompetence" one agent told me.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 29, 2016 …his original decision to lay out info on clinton case, then opine on what it meant outside of criminal findings, infuriated these folks..
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 29, 2016 Re: anger within @FBI at Comey. I am getting this at the Special Agent, ASAC and SAC level. Those are the troops. (Most of em GOPrs)….
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 29, 2016 …for Comey to have so angered ppl at the field office level is really, really bad.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 29, 2016 If Comey's improper comment on ongoing investigation changes polls, @FBI reputation as apolitical will never recover cause of his screwup.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 29, 2016
While Feinstein, Leahy, Carper, and Cardin played good cop, their boss, Minority Leader Harry Reid, played bad cop, accusing Comey of breaking the Hatch Act . I wouldn’t quite go that far. But when the best-case scenario is that Comey was grossly incompetent, that isn’t good.
Comey’s actions may not have risen to the level of criminal conduct. However, it is clear beyond any doubt that he cannot lead. Eichenwald has talked to a number of DOJ officials from both parties who feel the same way. Every current/former Dept. of Justice official I speak 2, GOP or Dem, says Comey must resign/be fired 4 election interference. All outraged.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) October 30, 2016
Unless Comey has a very good explanation for this–and frankly, I doubt there is one–we need to hear only two things from him after he briefs the Senate. He needs to apologize to the American people, and he needs to resign.
( featured image courtesy FBI Flickr feed, part of public domain) About Darrell Lucus
Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC . Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook . Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello. Connect | 0 |
The Fox News host Sean Hannity has been very upset. Mr. Hannity is often very upset, at things like the past friendships of President Barack Obama the suspected political leanings of his former colleague Megyn Kelly the resignation of Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s former national security adviser and the tweets of media reporters from rival news organizations. But the primary target of his anger in recent days has been Ted Koppel, a veteran news anchor and contributor to “CBS Sunday Morning,” which last weekend broadcast a clip from an interview with Mr. Hannity that the Fox star did not like at all. The interview was conducted by Mr. Koppel roughly three weeks ago, Mr. Hannity said on his show Monday night, and had been presented to him as an opportunity to discuss the political polarization in American life. But only a minute or so of the full interview was used. And it looks as though it may have been the part that Mr. Hannity found the most insulting. The night before the segment aired, CBS News posted online a part of the interview in which Mr. Hannity described his upbringing, which he said shaped his views. But in the televised footage, he was shown complaining about socialism, liberalism and “angry snowflakes,” slang for liberals that conservatives see as easily upset. Then he led with his chin: Mr. Hannity asked if Mr. Koppel, an elder statesman of broadcast news who hosted the ABC show “Nightline” for 25 years, thought he and his show were “bad for America. ” Mr. Koppel responded, “Yeah. ” “Really?” Mr. Hannity responded, his voice rising an octave or two. “That’s sad, Ted. That’s sad. ” Why did Mr. Koppel think Mr. Hannity’s show was bad for America? “You have attracted people who have determined that ideology is more important than facts,” Mr. Koppel said. He also told Mr. Hannity, an enthusiastic supporter of President Trump, “You are very good at what you do. ” What Mr. Hannity has done for the last two nights is use his show to put his anger on full display. He has directly addressed Mr. Koppel (“Ted, you show in this clip, you are not a journalist,” he said on Monday’s show.) He has denounced the segment as “edited fake news. ” He has compared Mr. Koppel to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — perhaps the worst insult a Fox News host can throw at you. He has also demanded that CBS release the full tape of his interview, which he called ”a very good, substantive . ” Bill O’Reilly, another Fox host, and Brit Hume, a political analyst at the network, repeated that call on Monday night. So did the conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, who called the Mr. Koppel “ancient” and a “walking dead decrepit media elitist. ” On Tuesday’s broadcast, the conservative radio host Laura Ingraham told Mr. Hannity that he was Mr. Koppel’s “victim” and said CBS treated him unfairly as a way to protect “the worldview of the left. ” “They want to delegitimize you,” she said. Mr. Koppel has not responded to Mr. Hannity. A spokesman for CBS News said the network would not respond, either, and also would not release the unedited footage of the interview, which was part of a segment that was not a profile devoted to Mr. Hannity. Mr. Hannity has turned the slight into a dispute over the intelligence of “the American people,” which he accused Mr. Koppel of underestimating. He said people were smart enough to know the difference between what he does and a news broadcast. So what does he do? On Monday, Mr. Hannity described himself as “a host” and “an advocacy journalist” who covers stories — like President Obama’s ties to “black liberation theology,” he said in one example — that CBS would not touch. But he also used the word “news” to describe the service he provides his viewers, asking Mr. Koppel, “How can I be bad for America when I am offering the American people news and information nightly that your own network will not touch because they have an agenda?” Mr. Hannity has never hidden his own conservative beliefs. Immediately before Mr. Koppel’s rebuke, he was describing a political vision so expansive that he went out of his way to be clear that he did not mean to foment revolution. “Honestly, I think liberalism has to be defeated. Socialism must be defeated — in a political sense,” he said. “This is not a — we don’t want a revolution in this country. ” One of the prime engines of disloyalty was the media, he said, which he accused of being “out to destroy the president. ” He now says Mr. Koppel is doing the same thing to him. “That’s the difference, Ted, between me and you,” he said on Monday night. “I’m honest with my audience. I don’t pretend that I’m fair and balanced and objective. You do. ” | 1 |
MOGADISHU, Somalia — When the first explosion rang out, the men on the hotel patio looked up for a moment, then at one another — and kept on eating breakfast. Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, long ago grew accustomed to such jarring sounds, and nobody seemed surprised by a loud bang somewhere not too far away. It took another, even louder explosion a few minutes later to get everyone’s attention. Something fatal was going on. A of the militiamen who guard the hotel piled into a pickup with their Kalashnikovs and ammunition vests while the photographer Tyler Hicks and I grabbed our gear — cameras, notebooks, bulletproof vests, press credentials, bottles of water — and climbed into an armored truck, slamming the door tight behind us. We headed for the hospital. I have been to Mogadishu many times, but this was my first visit in several years, and when I got to town, I was struck by how much progress the capital seemed to be making. There was still plenty of evidence of the city of old — the crushed houses, craters and walls — but there were also new apartment complexes, crowded markets and freshly painted shops selling TVs. It was even possible to go out for pizza Tuesday night, something I would never have dared before. The scene at the hospital tore at that hopeful illusion. The floor was slippery with blood. Dozens of wounded people streamed in, bleeding from their heads, faces, feet, arms and backs. Some were covered in fine white dust from collapsed walls. Some lay on steel gurneys as squadrons of flies crawled over their shrapnel wounds. Some were clearly in pain. There was confusion, anger, shouting and a lot of sweat. Talking to witnesses, I began to piece together what had happened. Terrorists had struck at another hotel across town from ours, the Dayah: first with a bomb, and then with gunmen spraying fire at hotel guests. The attack ended with a second bomb. By the grim standards of Mogadishu, where terrorist attacks have sometimes killed as many as 50 people in an instant, the toll on Wednesday was not especially large. Government officials said later in the day that about 13 people had been killed, and about 50 had been wounded. The BBC reported that nearly 30 people were dead. No one I spoke to at the hospital had any doubt who was responsible: It must have been the Shabab, they said, meaning the Somali militant organization that has been terrorizing the country for years. The group later claimed responsibility. In the corner of one ward, a young man was lying with a video camera next to him. He spoke a little English and said he felt good enough to talk. His name was Mohamed Abdihakim, and he was a freelance journalist, making his living filming the mayhem that Mogadishu regularly endures. When he heard the rumble of the first explosion roll across the rooftops like thunder, he said, he jumped into a (a kind of motorized rickshaw) and urged the driver to head for the rising column of smoke as fast as he could. Along the way, he said, a colleague warned him by phone that it was never a good idea to be the first one on the scene of an attack. But Mr. Abdihakim, 28 and determined, said he had to get there, and he did — in time for the second explosion. He was standing next to some other journalists and filming the scene when the blast knocked them all to the ground. Both his hands were badly injured. “Do I have any regrets? No,” he said from his hospital bed, wearing mittens of gauze. “But maybe it’s time to do something else. ” There seemed to be hundreds of people at the hospital, and the crowd thickened by the minute as battered cars raced up with more casualties. Armed men shoved past us, waving guns menacingly at anyone in the way. For more than 25 years since its old central government collapsed, Somalia, one of the world’s poorest nations, has lurched from one crisis to another: civil war, famine, piracy, Islamic militancy. But in the last few years, it seemed as though another war was being waged for Mogadishu’s soul — between residents trying to get on with life and taste a little normalcy and those bent on ruin. Peacekeepers from the African Union have managed to stabilize the main cities in recent years, militias have calmed down a bit, some foreign investment has flowed in and life has improved. Many roads are newly paved. There are now working streetlights and dry cleaners and cash machines, small miracles in a country that had become a byword for anarchy. Somalia is in the process of selecting a new president, who will be chosen by members of Parliament in the next few weeks. Government officials say the Shabab have been trying to derail that process, and attacked the Dayah Hotel on Wednesday because some newly elected representatives were staying there. A similar explanation appeared on a website associated with the group. The first explosion, officials said, was from a large truck bomb at the hotel gates. Four gunmen stormed in afterward, and the final explosion, a bomb in a minivan, went off about 15 minutes later. Three of the assailants were quickly shot, and the fourth killed himself with a suicide vest, officials said. From photos of their bodies, all appeared to be young, possibly even teenagers. According to Somali authorities, no government officials were killed in the attack. The dead were hotel guards, guests and bystanders. | 1 |
RIO DE JANEIRO — The Argentine fans were waving flags, imploring their compatriots to jump along, and singing that anyone who did not join the fun was Brazilian. The Brazilians yelled right back, heralding the career goal tally of Pele, their soccer hero, and crowing about their five World Cup trophies. They made sure, of course, to insult Diego Maradona, Argentina’s own World Cup legend. It was, in many ways, a typical, sardonic showdown between fans of the two South American rivals — except it was happening on Wednesday night at a basketball game between Argentina and the United States. The Americans looked lively amid the noise, sauntering to a win that left the Brazilians fans — their sports allies for a night — singing in joy. As the seconds ticked off the clock in the blowout, Brazilians fans yelled out “Ole!” to usher the Argentines out of Carioca Arena 1. “We didn’t understand what was going on,” said Paul George, who had 17 and 8 rebounds and galvanized his team with his defense effort. “We didn’t know if they were against each other or if they were cheering with each other. ” Want all the results in Rio? Go here. Two American swimmers were pulled off their flight to the United States by Brazilian authorities, Olympic officials said Wednesday night, the latest indication that the police are skeptical of the swimmers’ claims that they were held up at gunpoint during the Rio Games. “We can confirm that Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were removed from their flight to the United States by Brazilian authorities,” a spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee said. “We are gathering further information. ” Earlier, a Brazilian judge issued an order to prevent Ryan Lochte and James Feigen, the other two American swimmers involved in the case, from leaving the country as doubts emerged over their testimony about the episode. Read the complete story here. Elaine Thompson of Jamaica won the 200 meters to complete a sprint double at the games. Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands won the silver medal, and Tori Bowie of the United States won the bronze. Her winning time was 21. 78. In the 100 meters, Thompson had dethroned her countrywoman, the winner . Bowie was the silver medalist in that race. Gatlin fails to qualify in 200: The American sprinter Justin Gatlin surprisingly failed to qualify for the final of the 200 meters. Gatlin, who won the silver medal in the 100, seemed to ease up in the last strides only to slip to third place. Only the top two finishers in each semifinal automatically qualified for the final. Usain Bolt qualified by winning another semifinal, as did the American Lashawn Merritt. U. S. Sweeps 100 Hurdles: The United States completed a rare sweep in the women’s hurdles. Brianna Rollins won the gold medal, Nia Ali the silver and Kristi Castlin the bronze. Several referees and judges have been removed from the Olympic boxing competition after officials reviewed their decisions, fueling suspicion of dubious results in some matches at the Rio Games. The federation, known as AIBA, said in a statement that the committee that reviews officiating had assessed all 239 bouts at the Rio Games through Tuesday and had “determined that less than a handful of the decisions were not at the level expected. ” The federation also said in the statement that “the concerned referees and judges will no longer officiate at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. ” Read the article here. How to Watch: NBC broadcasts on a tape delay, but you can stream all the events here. Boxing: Claressa Shields, generally considered the best American boxer of either sex, made her debut in the Olympic ring with a comfortable unanimous decision over Iaroslava Iakushina of Russia in a quarterfinal. The victory clinched a medal for Shields, the defending Olympic champion and a world champion. Track and Field: Ashton Eaton of the United States, the holder, began his defense of his gold medal in the decathlon with the first five events. Eaton’s wife, the Canadian Brianne took bronze in the heptathlon earlier in the Games. Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin are at it again, in the semifinals of the 200 meters. The women are already down to the final, in which Elaine Thompson of Jamaica, who won the 100, will look to double, and Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands will look to stop her. Then the night at the Olympic Stadium could be capped with an American sweep in the women’s hurdles. Volleyball: The United States men advanced to the semifinals with a victory over Poland. Golf: While many of the PGA Tour stars skipped the Games, the top women came to Brazil in numbers. They got their first shot at the Olympic Golf Course on Wednesday. Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, this year’s British Open winner, was the leader after one round. It has been a rough stretch for Brazil at these Games. Playing at home in front of loud, supportive crowds, the Brazilians endured critical losses to Argentina in men’s basketball and to Sweden in women’s soccer, and on Tuesday their women’s beach volleyball team lost to Germany. But when midnight struck on Copacabana, the Brazilians took their beach back. And on Wednesday afternoon, they reclaimed the soccer field. In front of a raucous home crowd, Brazil’s No. 2 beach volleyball team, Ágatha and Bárbara, knocked out the favored United States pair of Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross to advance to the gold medal match. Brazil’s triumph ended the gold medal run of Walsh Jennings, a Olympic champion, and restored some pride in the Brazilian ranks. Ágatha and Bárbara won, to earn a spot in the final against Germany (11 p. m. Eastern on Wednesday) which had beaten the Brazilians Talita and Larissa earlier Tuesday night. Walsh Jennings had won three gold medals and had never lost an Olympic match. She had lost only two sets in her Olympic career before falling in straight sets at the Copacabana venue. The Brazilian men’s soccer team, which had been lambasted after two tame draws to start the tournament, put it all together in a semifinal game at the famed Maracanã stadium, demolishing Honduras, with Neymar scoring twice. The gold medal game is Saturday. | 1 |
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Thursday that it would start collecting nationwide data early next year on police shootings and other violent encounters with the public, after a series of protests and investigations since 2014 spurred by a string of deadly episodes. The project, the most ambitious the federal government has undertaken in tracking the use of force by police officers, is meant to fill what officials say is a huge and frustrating void in publicly available data on the shootings that have roiled the country. Under the plan, the Justice Department will gather more data on the use of force by federal agents and help local departments report information on a wider range of police encounters. But a number of the reporting steps will rely on local police officials to voluntarily submit data, and some civil rights advocates said the Justice Department had not made clear how it would impose financial penalties set by Congress to encourage the reporting of police shootings. “I can’t believe two years into this crisis that we’re still having conversations about data,” said Kanya Bennett, a lawyer in Washington for the American Civil Liberties Union, which met with the Justice Department to discuss the plan. With President Obama leaving office in three months, Ms. Bennett said, “this is essentially being punted to the next administration. ” After a series of fatal encounters in places like Ferguson, Mo. Charlotte, N. C. Tulsa, Okla. Baton Rouge, La. Cleveland Milwaukee Baltimore and Staten Island — many involving unarmed black men and caught on video — officials have struggled to gather basic information about how often such episodes occur and what can be done. The most comprehensive records on police shootings have come from the news media, particularly The Washington Post and The Guardian, which have created running databases. James B. Comey, the director of the F. B. I. told lawmakers last year that it was “embarrassing” that the news media could produce better data than his own agency on such an important issue. “We can’t have an informed discussion because we don’t have data,” Mr. Comey told the House Judiciary Committee last October. “People have data about who went to a movie last weekend, or how many books were sold, or how many cases of the flu walked into the emergency room,” he said, “and I cannot tell you how many people were shot by police in the United States last month, last year, or anything about the demographic. And that’s a very bad place to be. ” According to the Post database, 991 people were fatally shot by the police last year, and 754 have been so far this year. Under the Justice Department plan, the F. B. I. is to begin a pilot program early next year to assemble data on the use of force by about 178, 000 agents at major federal law enforcement agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Marshals Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the F. B. I. itself. In addition, the Justice Department plans to begin collecting data from local and state law enforcement departments on “in custody” deaths — not just in shootings, but in cases of suicide and natural death as well. A measure passed by Congress in 2014 called the Death in Custody Reporting Act required local departments to report only fatal encounters. Justice Department officials said they would rely on local police officials to voluntarily report nonlethal encounters as well. Under a third part of the plan, the Justice Department said it was authorizing $750, 000 for a “police data initiative” designed to help local departments collect and publicly release information on a wider range of actions, including stops of citizens, searches, the use of force, shootings and other encounters. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said in announcing the plan Thursday that comprehensive and accurate data on police encounters was essential in “increasing transparency and building trust between law enforcement and the communities we serve. ” Lacking better data has made it “very, very hard” to determine the causes of police shootings, or even whether there was an actual increase in such episodes or simply more publicity about them, Ms. Lynch said at an event Thursday night at Georgetown University. The law passed by Congress in 2014 for reporting deaths allows the attorney general to impose financial penalties on states that do not report data. But Ms. Bennett, the A. C. L. U. lawyer, faulted the Justice Department for failing to explain how that would happen under the new plan. In a letter to the Justice Department last week, the A. C. L. U. and 95 other groups pushing for greater accountability in police shootings wrote that imposing financial penalties was critical to the success of the program. In the past, the letter said, “voluntary reporting programs on encounters have failed. ” The steps announced by the Justice Department grew out of a presidential commission appointed by Mr. Obama in 2014 to study ways of reducing conflict and tensions between police departments and the communities they serve. Announcing a series of recommendations from the commission in March 2015, Mr. Obama said that the country needed to seize the opportunity to “transform” relations. “We have a great opportunity, coming out of some great conflict and tragedy, so that everybody feels safer and our law enforcement officers feel, rather than being embattled, feel fully supported,” he said, | 1 |
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Republicans often talk about yard signs in their neighborhood as proof of their candidate’s fitness for office, but a photograph of one Florida resident’s Trump sign with lynched black people hanging from a tree has gone viral. It’s a terrifying reminder of the pervasive racial hatred pitched by Donald Trump’s new Republican Party, which he normalized by accepting the endorsement of former KKK chief David Duke and by leading the “alt-right” movement to Make America Discriminatory Again.
Miami’s New Times reports : There needs to be a hell of a lot of hate in your heart to think lynching people on Halloween is funny. And yet, here we are, Miami. A homeowner in Three Lakes, a small community in suburban Kendall, is celebrating the holiday by lynching two black-looking dummies in his or her yard. It’s also impossible to ignore what’s just in front of the display on the same lawn: A “Trump/Pence 2016” sign.
The two men are faceless, but their skin appears to be dark. They’re each wearing traditionally “hip-hop” clothing: One of the dead men has a sports jersey on and a crooked baseball cap, and the other has his pants sagged low. Black activists have been circulating the photos on Facebook all day and calling for a quick response from the neighborhood. The community’s property manager, Orelys Canas, tells New Times they’ve contacted the homeowner and asked him or her to remove the installation.
After the story went viral, the homeowner contacted the local news to pretend that his lynching display was actually some form of tolerance. They also claimed that the Trump/Pence sign didn’t even belong to them, but other tipsters made it clear that the entire display clearly depicted a lynching scene with a Trump sign.
Trump supporters instantly bombarded the news editors who published the chilling photos: Well it took exactly ten minutes for a guy to suggest Hillary planted the lynched black dummies at a Trump supporter's house #wakeupsheeple pic.twitter.com/MbIoC0PQds
— Tim Elfrink (@timelfrinkmia) October 28, 2016
It’s unconscionable that anyone would present a mock lynching in their neighborhood and portray it as anything other than an act of racial hatred. Shamefully, the Republican Party and their dreadful presidential nominee Donald Trump have done everything within their power this year to normalize racism and bigotry.
This is the end result: | 0 |
CHICAGO — J. Dennis Hastert, once among the nation’s most powerful politicians, was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 months in prison for illegally structuring bank transactions in an effort to cover up his sexual abuse of young members of a wrestling team he coached decades ago. In a hearing that was by turns harrowing and revelatory, Mr. Hastert publicly admitted for the first time to abusing his athletes, was confronted in emotional addresses by one of the former wrestlers and the sister of another, and faced a long, scathing rebuke from the judge. Mr. Hastert, 74, who made an unlikely rise from beloved wrestling coach in Illinois to speaker of the House in Washington, sat slouched in a wheelchair in a federal courtroom here as a judge announced that he was rejecting pleas for probation from Mr. Hastert’s lawyers, as well as prosecutors’ endorsement of a shorter prison stay. While the sentencing hearing was, technically, about a violation of banking rules and regulations, the proceedings focused squarely on the underlying reason for Mr. Hastert’s puzzling bank withdrawals — his abuse of young wrestlers who had viewed him as a role model. “The defendant is a serial child molester,” said Judge Thomas M. Durkin of Federal District Court, as Mr. Hastert sat impassively, often staring downward, hands crossed on his lap. He added, “Some actions can obliterate a lifetime of good works. Nothing is more stunning than having ‘serial child molester’ and ‘speaker of the House’ in the same sentence. ” Mr. Hastert was not charged with sexual abuse because statutes of limitation for acts in the 1960s and ’70s have run out the judge noted pointedly that punishment for such a conviction would have been far worse. Illegally structuring bank transactions to keep such abuse secret — the felony count to which Mr. Hastert pleaded guilty — carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Mr. Hastert, whose date to report to prison has yet to be set, was ordered to pay $250, 000 in fines, never to contact his victims and to receive treatment. “If there’s a public shaming of the defendant because of the conduct he’s engaged in, so be it,” Judge Durkin said. Mr. Hastert has had a series of illnesses since last year, including a stroke, a blood stream infection and a spinal infection — factors his lawyers and family members argued should be taken into account in the sentencing. They urged the judge to consider the entire arc of his life and career, including his years of public service. As Mr. Hastert prepared to address the judge, he used a walker to rise to his feet, but his voice was firm and clear. “The thing I want to do today is say I’m sorry to those I hurt and misled,” said Mr. Hastert, whose grown sons were in the courtroom. “I want to apologize to the boys I mistreated when I was their coach. What I did was wrong and I regret it. ” Mr. Hastert’s remarks followed a tearful, halting statement from one of his victims, Scott Cross, a former wrestler, who had never before spoken publicly about his abuse and who said that he had not even been sure whether he could bring himself to make his statement now. “As a high school wrestler I looked up to Coach Hastert — he was a key figure in my life,” said Mr. Cross, now 53 and a businessman who works in financial services in the Chicago area. From a podium just feet from Mr. Hastert’s wheelchair, Mr. Cross recalled abuse that occurred on a locker room training table when he was 17. “I felt intense pain, shame and guilt,” he said. He said that he had gone years without speaking of what had happened, even to his parents and closest friends. “I’ve always felt that what Coach Hastert had done to me was my darkest secret,” Mr. Cross said. The revelation that Mr. Cross was among Mr. Hastert’s victims caused a ripple through Illinois’s Republican Party, where Mr. Hastert had gotten his political start and had been a political mentor to Mr. Cross’s brother, Tom Cross, a former state House Republican leader. Judge Durkin noted that Mr. Hastert had recently unsuccessfully sought a letter of support from Tom Cross. Judge Durkin is the brother of another prominent lawmaker here, Jim Durkin, the Republican leader in the state House, and the judge had offered last year to recuse himself in the case. The sister of another victim, Stephen Reinboldt, spoke directly to Mr. Hastert, describing lonely, isolated years Mr. Reinboldt spent after repeated abuse by Mr. Hastert in high school until his death of AIDS in 1995. “You took his life, Mr. Hastert,” Jolene Burdge, the sister, said. “Not because he died of AIDS, but because you took his innocence and turned it against him. ” At one point, the judge stared down at Mr. Hastert from the bench, and questioned him about the victims, one by one. “You said you mistreated athletes. Did you sexually abuse Mr. Cross?” he asked. “I don’t remember doing that, but I accept his statement,” Mr. Hastert replied. “Did you sexually abuse Victim B?” Judge Durkin asked, referring to one of at least two other former wrestlers whose names have not been made public. Mr. Hastert paused. “Yes,” he said. “How about Mr. Reinboldt — did you sexually abuse him?” Judge Durkin asked. Mr. Hastert said that was “a different situation,” but eventually acknowledged the abuse. Patrick Collins, a former federal prosecutor in Chicago who has handled corruption cases including that of former Gov. George Ryan, a Republican, said that it was unusual for a judge to veer so far from the sentencing guidelines, which recommended no prison time or up to six months. “It’s extraordinary that the case was on its face a financial structuring case with the conduct acknowledged, but the sentencing was about everything, essentially, but the structuring,” Mr. Collins said. Mr. Hastert’s fall from genial retired House speaker and hometown celebrity was sudden and steep. For decades, both in Washington and in Yorkville, on the edge of Chicago’s western suburbs, where Mr. Hastert had coached the local high school wrestling team to state championship, he had a reputation for appearing and steady. Mr. Hastert, who had served in the Illinois legislature and was then elected to Congress, found himself catapulted to speaker in 1999, in part because he seemed to be a safe, agreeable option. After leaving Congress, he went on to become a lobbyist. He was charged last May with lying to the F. B. I. and making cash withdrawals in a way devised to hide the fact that he was paying $3. 5 million to a former wrestler for misconduct. The wrestler, whose name has not been revealed and who is identified in documents only as Individual A, told of abuse in a motel room during a wrestling camp trip when he was 14. After the payments began, around 2010, the federal authorities took notice of large, unexplained withdrawals Mr. Hastert was making from his bank. When told that large withdrawals had to be reported, Mr. Hastert began drawing smaller sums, prosecutors say, to avoid notice. The wrestler sued Mr. Hastert this week, saying he still owed him $1. 8 million of their settlement. Before the hearing, a long list of supporters — from Mr. Hastert’s wife, Jean, to Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader — had sent letters to Judge Durkin. “He doesn’t deserve what he is going through,” Mr. DeLay wrote. But for nearly 45 minutes on Wednesday, Judge Durkin held forth in a passionate, often contemptuous tone, with little interruption. He said that Mr. Hastert had “manipulated” the F. B. I. and the United States attorney’s office, diverted their investigation and knowingly tried to “set up” Individual A, actions that were “intentional, thought out and desperate. ” The judge spoke broadly about child sexual abuse and the lifelong damage it inflicts. “Can you imagine the whispers, the the sideways glances if you’re a boy and you accuse the town hero of molesting you?” he said. He dismissed the defense’s arguments that Mr. Hastert was too old, frail or ill to be properly taken care of in a federal prison. And he ended with a blunt synopsis. “This is a horrible case — a horrible set of circumstances, horrible for the defendant, horrible for the victims, horrible for our country,” he said. “I hope I never have to see a case like this again. Court adjourned. ” | 1 |
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Tonight, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow i nterviewed widely respected Libertarian VP candidate Bill Weld, who took time out from bashing Republican nominee Donald Trump to drop a truth bomb on live television. Weld served as the Republican Governor of the very blue state of Massachusetts, and has a reputation as a serious public servant of stellar reputation. He said:
“I’m here vouching for Mrs. Clinton, and I think it’s high time somebody did, and I’m doing it based on my personal experience with her. I think that she deserves to have people vouch for her other than members of the Democratic National Committee.”
As Rachel Maddow says, it’s not quite an endorsement, but coming from Weld, it’s meaningful personal affirmation of the Democratic nominee’s character and fitness for office from a politician outside her party. We’re sure that the Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson will put out yet another statement denying what you can plainly see in the video below.
Watch him vouch for Hillary Clinton here: | 0 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. Russia was hit with an extraordinary punishment for its doping scandals: The governing body for track and field barred the Russian team from the Rio Olympics. President Vladimir Putin denounced the decision as politically motivated. It appears possible that the International Olympic Committee might ease or amend the suspension when it meets on Tuesday. _____ 2. Britain’s shock over the killing of a member of Parliament deepened with reports that the suspect had ties to and groups and may have suffered from mental illness. The victim, Jo Cox, had been urging Britons to vote to stay in the European Union, and had been receiving threats ahead of next week’s “Brexit” vote. _____ 3. The Senate’s most moderate Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, drafted a compromise measure that aims to sidestep partisan stalemates. It would ban gun sales to a smaller portion of people who are on the terrorism watch list than the Democrats’ current proposal but more than the existing Republican plan. _____ 4. This is the most uplifting story we’ve read in awhile. A construction worker happened to get in a New York taxi driven by an old colleague — and found out that the city had been trying to find him for years, to award him $50, 000 he was cheated out of by a former employer. And he, in turn, tracked down three other affected men — all immigrants — who got the same awards. “You never know the things that may be going on inside cabs rolling through the Bronx,” our columnist wrote. _____ 5. George W. Bush has quietly returned to politicking. The former president is helping a handful of Republican senators with campaigns that have been complicated by the rise of Donald Trump. Mr. Trump is heading to rallies in Arizona this weekend, but a planned meeting with Navajo Indians has been thrown into question over his use of the term “Pocahontas” to deride Senator Elizabeth Warren. _____ 6. The N. B. A fined Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors’ coach $25, 000 each for outbursts over officiating in Game 6 of the playoffs on Thursday night. Curry threw his mouthguard into the stands, hitting a fan, after fouling out for the first time in his professional career. His coach, Steve Kerr, called three of the six fouls “absolutely ridiculous. ” Curry’s wife even accused the N. B. A. of rigging the game to ensure a Game 7 with the Cleveland Cavaliers. (Sunday, 8 p. m. ABC) _____ 7. Good news for sustainable air travel: NASA unveiled plans for an experimental airplane that a top official said would “take the first giant step in opening a new era of aviation. ” The space agency aims to get an early version of the a craft resembling a Cessna with strangely skinny wings, off the ground in a year. _____ 8. A rift over Syria policy widened between the State Department and the White House. Dozens of diplomats signed an internal memo pushing for a far more aggressive strategy, including strikes to stop the government of President Bashar from continuing to violate a . What does the country look like now? Devastation is widespread, but bits of almost normal life remain, according to our correspondent. Check out a startling visual journey of his recent visit. _____ 9. In neighboring Iraq, government forces made decisive gains against the Islamic State, retaking the center of Falluja after weeks of fighting. Thousands of civilians took the opportunity to flee the city, overwhelming aid agencies. “Falluja has come back to the country’s bosom,” the prime minister said. _____ 10. President Obama met privately with Saudi Arabia’s defense minister, above. Officials said they spoke of Saudi economic reforms and the fight against the Islamic State. The meeting came as the Saudis are under new scrutiny for a possible government role in the Sept. 11 attacks. Another Saudi official gave a news conference in Washington to dismiss such accusations. “There is no there there,” he said. _____ 11. Finally, a big, big piece of art is in place. “The Floating Piers,” Christo’s latest installation, is undulating on the surface of an Italian lake for the next few weeks, inviting as many as 40, 000 visitors a day to, effectively, walk on water. “It’s actually very painterly, like an abstract painting,” he said, “but it will change all the time. ” 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 |
Tony Rosato, who was a cast member of the sketch shows “Saturday Night Live” and “SCTV” in the 1980s, but whose career ground to a halt when mental illness led to his incarceration in the 2000s, died on Tuesday at his home in Toronto. He was 62. His death was confirmed by his agent Ryan Goldhar, who said the cause had not been confirmed but appeared to be a heart attack. Mr. Rosato, an energetic actor and madcap impressionist, got his start with the Toronto company of the Second City improvisational troupe. In 1977 he became a performer and writer for “SCTV” (originally titled “Second City Television”) whose cast over the years would also feature Martin Short, John Candy, Catherine O’Hara and Rick Moranis. Mr. Rosato’s signature “SCTV” character was Marcello, a clumsy and frequently soused host. In 1981, Mr. Rosato and his “SCTV” colleague Robin Duke moved to “Saturday Night Live,” joining a cast headed by Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo. He did not make much of an impression and left “S. N. L. ” after only one season. He later played recurring roles on the Canadian police drama “Night Heat” and did work on cartoon shows. He worked steadily until the . But then he began to unravel. In 2005 Mr. Rosato’s wife, Leah, left him and took their young daughter, citing his increasingly erratic behavior. He contacted the police that spring, claiming that his daughter had been abused and, later, that his family had been replaced by . On May 5 he went to a police station to file a missing persons report about his family and was arrested and charged with criminal harassment. Mr. Rosato, who refused to acknowledge his mental illness, did not plead guilty and spent the next two years in a facility awaiting trial. News media reports attributed the gap between Mr. Rosato’s arrest and trial to a combination of his intractability and the punitive approach of the Canadian authorities. “Tony Rosato will have spent more time in custody on a harassment charge than any other convicted prisoner in Canada has ever spent on the same charges,” his lawyer, Daniel Brodsky, told The Toronto Star before his trial finally began in 2007. A judge found Mr. Rosato guilty of criminal harassment that September. He was remanded to a psychiatric hospital, where he was found to have Capgras syndrome, a rare mental illness characterized by the delusion that loved ones have been replaced by impostors. At the hospital, he was required for the first time to take antipsychotic medication, and his delusions eventually abated. Mr. Rosato was released in 2009 and soon returned to work. He told The Toronto Star that he was thrilled to be free but that recovering from his ordeal would take time. “Four years being inside is very hard on the spirit,” he said. Antonio Rosato was born on Dec. 26, 1954, in Naples, Italy. He moved to Canada with his family when he was a boy and became a naturalized citizen in 1966. After graduating from Oakwood Collegiate Institute in Toronto, he began studying chiropractic medicine at the University of Toronto but dropped out to become a performer. Mr. Rosato’s marriage ended in divorce. He is survived by his daughter, Giulietta Rosato. | 1 |
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