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Region: USA in the World Only citizens can vote in the US Presidential elections, yet the impact is global. The world is suddenly in disarray, in panic. A man notorious for his bigoted rhetoric, a man who believes in American exceptionalism, who wants to build the walls and to ‘restore order’, has been elected the 45 th President of the mightiest nation on Earth. His nation is doubtlessly in decline; it is indebted and some would even argue, hopelessly bankrupt, but it is still the Empire, the sole one to this day. Below the surface, Mr. Trump may not be any viler than the Democratic candidate Mrs. Clinton and her clan has been for years. The establishment with which she has been inseparably intertwined for years and decades has been murdering millions all over the world, looting entire continents, and brutally guaranteeing that the Western world would always stay firmly in control of the entire Planet. Throughout the years, Mrs. Clinton has been using ‘politically correct’ rhetoric, mainly (and often in a twisted way) in order to silence those who dared to criticize her deeds. Still, no matter what her words were stating, millions of people have been vanishing, worldwide, as a result of the policies introduced by her and by her former boss, President Barack Obama. Donald Trump is brusque, aggressive, narcissistic and most likely, brutally honest. What he says is often pure trash, but whatever it is, he is not embarrassed to parade it in public. He has been giving many advanced warnings to both his supporters (including his voters) and to his adversaries. Objectively speaking, he is not any more or any less dangerous than Mrs. Clinton. Both candidates come from the moneyed, pro-establishment milieu. Yet Mr. Trump evokes much greater fear all over the world than his rival, from Asia and Africa to Latin America. It is at least partially because the mainstream Western propaganda rallied determinedly behind the well-tested and ‘reliable’ Mrs. Clinton (she has proven to be subservient to the Western imperialist regime and to market fundamentalist dogmas), and the Western mainstream media is exactly what is giving ‘marching orders’ to the local press, particularly in ‘client’ states in all parts of the world. * Nonetheless, Mr. Trump is definitely frightening on his own account, and just because he ran against (and defeated) the establishment candidate, does not make him less so. Rowan Wolf, Managing Editor at The Greanville Post and publisher of Uncommon Thought , recently summarized what I felt about the recent elections, when she wrote to me (it was right after the results were announced): “ I am frightened over the election of Trump. Things were going to be bad here even without that because his position as the candidate for president legitimated the ugliest bigotry and violence. His election, legitimates and institutionalizes it at the highest levels possible. It is not as if this ugliness was not present in the US as it certainly was, but it was not celebrated. His racism extends outside the US and he has already stated numerous times that he would use nukes in the Middle East and just take the oil. He also hates the Earth. He plans to reverse or remove all environmental protections and regulations, and he doesn’t “believe” in global warming. His presidency could not happen at a worse time for our planet.” * I had the extremely bad fortune of spending ‘the day after’ in the den of the Western pro-establishment mainstream media based in Asia Pacific – the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT). Or perhaps it was not only ‘bad fortune’ but also some type of perverse desire to witness the great and genuine desperation of those who have, for years and decades, been serving the Empire and its ‘liberal’ dogmas, twisting the truth and manufacturing hyper-reality. Even before my arrival at the FCCT, the results of elections were finalized. I expected a great mess, and mess it was. I witnessed depressed glances, nervous laughter, small talk, and an excessive consumption of booze. Speeches soon followed: made by the members of Western human rights organizations, of several NGO’s, and press corps. Some Iranian exile began trashing Iran, somehow loosely connecting it to the US elections. Someone else had a go at the Philippine’s anti-imperialist President Duterte. And of course, China was hit on several occasions, and so was Russia, particularly that ‘evil’ Putin. One after another, speakers mimicked Ms. Clinton’s derogatory pronunciation of Russian President’s name. No one mentioned Thailand or Indonesia even once. It was all grotesque and endlessly sad. Then the chest beating and insulting the voters slowly began… a slow masochistic public orgy. In the end, several well-behaved members of the public began queuing in front of the microphone, asking polite questions. Not sending the panelists to hell, not insulting them directly to their faces… Nothing like that! People were just asking non-confrontational questions, and then, patiently and politely waiting for replies. The ‘client’ states of the West were still very far from the rebellion. * Then my phone became extremely active, as I began receiving messages from all corners of the globe. From Sudan: “I never thought Donald would win! The Sudanese are making fun of Trump saying that he looks like our President Al-Basheer.” From Italy: “Better than Killary, but still disgusting”. From Uganda: “Our government is acting as if it didn’t back Hillary before the elections.” From Argentina: “Now in the US they will have to eat their own crap… as they made others eat it for decades.” From Indonesia: “Trump said that he would increase tariffs on imported products. In that case he’ll have to pay more for his suits, as he apparently wears some that are made in Indonesia”. * “Where were you on the 9-11?” Or now: “Where were you on 11-8?” Some people compare these two events. On both occasions (or before), no one bothered to listen, to face reality, and as a result, some terrible events took place. On 11-8 I was in Bangkok. On 9-11 in Hanoi, Vietnam, sipping coffee, and looking out of my window. The apartment was on a higher floor of the “Hanoi Tower”. The building was literally growing out from the old French prison, where Vietnamese patriots used to be tortured, raped and executed by the French colonialists. If I were to walk all the way towards the very glass panel, I would be able to see, far below, two shiny guillotines, preserved for people to remember the ‘great enlightened rule of the West over Asia’. Suddenly on the horizon, the sky lit up in a tremendous explosion of colors. The villages surrounding Hanoi were shooting firecrackers and makeshift rockets up to the sky. It was a great fireworks display, something I had never seen before. I turned my television set on. On the BBC coverage, two airplanes were flying, in slow motion, towards the towers of the World Trade Center. A few minutes later I received a phone call from my best friend in Santiago de Chile. “You would not believe what is happening here,” he reported to me, breathless. “People, total strangers, are stopping here, in the middle of the street. They are crying, falling into each other’s arms, and whispering: “Justice takes time, but it always comes!” They were referring to 9-11-1973, when the United States overthrew one of the oldest and greatest democracies on Earth. Chile was raped, its people murdered, its form of government and its economic model were shattered. A few hours after the “event”, both the Vietnamese and Chilean governments expressed their shock and support for the American people. In Vietnam, the celebrations were not reported. But they took place. Everyone knew it. The great anger against the Empire could be felt, and is still felt, not only in those two great nations, but also all over the world. People are outraged. Those in the United States are… and also those in the rest of the world are… although they are outraged for totally different reasons… but outraged they all are nevertheless! “Democracy” is the rule of people. It does not mean the ‘Western multi-party system’. It only means the ‘rule of the people’, in Greek. It can be based on the ancient ‘heavenly mandate’ on which the Chinese system is based even now. It can be the modern Latin American form of participatory democracy… as long as people are ruling. However, they are not ruling. Not in the West, nor in most of the countries of the rest of the world, where the governments are forced upon them by Western imperialism to defend their states and to often adopt very tough measures to do so. People in the United States had spoken, expressing their frustration and anger. People in the rest of the world were not asked who should be leading the world. The next, the most logical step for the world should now be, immediately to reject the leadership of both the United States and Europe. Brexit and 11-8 should be followed by the WORLD-EXIT. What does it mean? Simple: ‘Let the West eat its own shit, alone, finally’! And let the world be free from those governments and economic and colonialist concepts, which no one here (in Asia, Africa, Latin America or the Middle East) really elected and wants! Once we are at exiting, rejecting and defending, let’s also build huge protective walls around all non-Western countries. To defend them from the Crusaders and hordes that have been looting and plundering the entire Planet for centuries. The citizens of the United States have spoken. Oh yes! So let the rest of the world do the same! Let them vote on WORLD EXIT! It is clear what the result will be! Andre Vltchek is philosopher, filmmaker, investigative journalist and writer who has recently finished his new novel Aurora , especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
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The Pioneer Cabin, a famous giant sequoia tree that visitors could once drive through, toppled on Sunday after succumbing to the winter storms that hit Northern California this past weekend. [The tree, located in the Calaveras Big Trees State Park, was once celebrated by “Weird Al” Yankovic in his song, “The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota. ” The song lyric referring to Pioneer Cabin goes: “And a place where you can drive through the middle of a tree. ” The tunnel had been carved into the tree’s base 137 years ago. To residents and people who also had the chance to visit the California landmark, the loss was heartily felt. “We lost an old friend today,” Calaveras County resident Jim Allday wrote on his Facebook page. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Allday is volunteer at the park and was working there Sunday when the tree fell. He reportedly said it went down about 2 p. m. and “shattered” on impact. The Calaveras Big Trees Association posted about the loss on its Facebook page. “The Pioneer Cabin tree has fallen! This iconic and still living tree — the tunnel tree — enchanted many visitors. The storm was just too much for it,” they wrote. Many reactions could be found on social media. Some expressed sadness that they will never be able to check that visit off their bucket list: So sad. The storm destroyed this landmark tree that I had planned to see this year. #PioneerCabinTree #calaveras pic. twitter. — Kelley Scarsbrook (@empoweringmoms) January 9, 2017, Others shared memories of the time they were able to be part of natural history: RIP #PioneerCabinTree, nonetheless families are forever. pic. twitter. — Heather J Patchell (@hjpatchell) January 9, 2017, Wow! This is us on . Guess we shouldn’t be cutting holes in trees @CAStateParks #PioneerCabin #CalaverasBigTrees @BradFriederichs pic. twitter. — Ian J Horwood (@ianjhorwood) January 9, 2017, Sad to hear this awesome tree was taken out by the west coast storm. #PioneerCabinTree #calaverascounty pic. twitter. — they call me enrique (@ERock757) January 9, 2017, The Pioneer Cabin’s demise garnered international attention: The Los Angeles Times added that “John Muir, the famous naturalist, once described the forest that is protected by Calaveras Big Trees State Park: ‘A flowering glade in the very heart of the woods, forming a fine center for the student, and a delicious resting place for the weary. ’” Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter and Periscope @AdelleNaz | 1 |
The hot topic for sports media is still that NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has not yet signed anywhere as a free agent, and at least one commentator now says that Kaepernick will never shake the accusation that he hates America. [ESPN’s Jemele Hill made an interesting point in a recent tweet saying that the NFL can excuse a lot of bad behavior by players, but Kaepernick’s perceived is one that can’t be ignored. No, he won’t. In the NFL you can an abuser, a drunk driver and a multitude of sins. But an ” ?” Nope. https: . — Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) March 22, 2017, That is a solid point, for sure. The league has allowed wife abusers, drug users, past gang members, and tax cheats continue playing, but Colin Kaepernick’s transgression was against the whole country and seems far more than a mere personal failing, especially for a sport that wants to be considered as America’s game. Hill added another thought to the discussion after President Donald Trump took some measure of credit for Kaepernick’s troubles. Think we’ve seen the last of Kaep as an NFL player. There was a limited market before but after Trump’s comments, it’s a wrap. https: . — Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) March 22, 2017, The ESPNer is referring to Trump’s March 20 rally in Louisville, Kentucky, where the president slammed Kaepernick, broaching the subject by assuring the audience that no one wants a “nasty tweet from Donald Trump. ” As the crowd roared, the president continued, saying, “I said, if I remember that one, I’m going to the people of Kentucky because they like when people actually stand for the American flag. ” This is far from the first time Trump has criticized Kaepernick. Last August he told The Hill newspaper that maybe Kaepernick “should find a country that works better for him. ” The news that the 49ers quarterback can’t find a new birth in the NFL is on the tongue of nearly every sports commentator, as Sporting News noted. To mention a few, Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke says Kaepernick is “clearly” being blackballed for his protests, Mike Golic of ESPN2’s “Mike Mike in the Morning” also noted that team executives and owners are wary about bringing Kaepernick’s sort of trouble to their teams, and Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report exclaimed that Kaepernick is being punished “for the crime of speaking his mind. ” Sports reporters aren’t the only ones claiming Kaepernick is being mistreated. A growing list of liberals are now insisting that the NFL’s pass on hiring the player is evidence of “racism. ” Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 1 |
Former U. S. Attorney General Eric Holder urged Americans to give former Republican Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions a chance to prove himself as the nation’s new attorney general. [“It seems you ought to give people a chance, unless they’re wholly unqualified,” Holder said during brief remarks at the University at Buffalo, on Thursday. “He may end up surprising us and he maybe will say, ‘This is who I always was,’ and I may end up saying, ‘Well I’ve seen growth then,’” Holder added. Holder added he plans to be “very sparing in my criticisms because I know how tough the job is, I know how tough the decisions are,” though he worried Sessions will cross “red lines” on voting rights. According to the Buffalo News, Holder also urged his audience to avoid “ideological blindness” along with “dangerous complacency. ” Holder did not oppose Sessions’ nomination despite furious objections from Democrats. | 1 |
Your Horoscopes — Week Of November 1, 2016 HOROSCOPE November 1, 2016 Vol 52 Issue 43 Aries | March 21 to April 19 Unexpected and startling events in the coming days will compel you to become more familiar with your monthly menstrual cycle. Taurus | April 20 to May 20 Please stop insisting you have nothing left to live for. The phrase you’re looking for is “never had a reason to live.” Gemini | May 21 to June 20 Your firstborn child will have your eyes, thanks to delivery complications and the organ-donor sticker on your driver’s license. Cancer | June 21 to July 22 Attempts to run away from the problem will fail this week when the problem turns out to be a short-circuited treadmill. Leo | July 23 to Aug. 22 Your future as a songwriter ends almost before it begins when you find that someone has already compared the depth, power, and beauty of their love to an ocean. Virgo | Aug. 23 to Sept. 22 The universe has a funny way of balancing things out. Prepare to lose your other eye by the end of the month. Libra | Sept. 23 to Oct. 22 All of those hurtful mother-in-law jokes will come back to haunt you this Friday when you suddenly run out of hurtful mother-in-law jokes to tell. Scorpio | Oct. 23 to Nov. 21 People say you’re a control freak, but if you had your way, they’d say it a little slower and maybe even a touch louder. Sagittarius | Nov. 22 to Dec. 21 There is a time and place for everything, except for your loud and incompetent scat singing. Capricorn | Dec. 22 to Jan. 19 For centuries fire was a sacred symbol of vitality and strength. Keep this in mind as you roll around frantically on your kitchen floor this Thursday. Aquarius | Jan. 20 to Feb. 18 Look to nature for encouragement and inspiration this week. Do this for as many ungodly hours as it damn well takes. Pisces | Feb. 19 to March 20 You’ll be honored as a true war hero, proving once and for all how dire the situation in Iraq has become. Share This Story: WATCH VIDEO FROM THE ONION Sign up For The Onion's Newsletter
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NO THANKS! Michelle Malkin shreds FLOTUS and Hillary’s ‘it takes a village’ reboot Posted at 5:30 pm on October 27, 2016 by Doug P. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
Michelle Obama campaigned for Hillary Clinton today, and the First Lady ripped a page from Clinton’s “It Takes a Village”: FLOTUS says this election is about "who will shape our children and the country we lead for them…for the rest of their lives."
— Hannah Chanpong (@hannahfc) October 27, 2016
Michelle Malkin knows what that means, and responded accordingly: I'll shape my children, thank you very much. #HandsOffMyChildren https://t.co/BnWqBwbkiq
— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) October 27, 2016
Thanks but no thanks, FLOTUS (and Hillary).
— Sheree Gardner (@ShereeGardner3) October 27, 2016 Would you shape them to be more like Beyoncé, Hillary? @michellemalkin @hannahfc
— Liz Nelson (@lizzzznelson) October 27, 2016 @michellemalkin @hannahfc yes that is why God made us their parents… | 0 |
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Russia have officially declared that Billionaire George Soros is a wanted man in their country, citing him and his organizations as a “threat to Russian national security”.
Putin banned Soros from Russia last year due to the fact that Soros helped to nearly destroy the Russian economy in the early 1990’s.
Veteranstoday.com reports:
Matt Taibbi of the Rolling Stone said of Goldman Sachs six years ago:
“The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it’s everywhere. The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.
“In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindled dry American empire, reads like a Who’s Who of Goldman Sachs graduates.”
Obviously Soros wants to be like Goldman Sachs. Phil Butler puts it well when he says: “George Soros has a finger in every political pie there is. If there is a crisis on our world, it’s a safe bet he’s had a hand in it.”
One can say that Soros and Goldman Sachs are ideologically part of the same brotherhood. Their strategy is a little different, but the end result is the destruction of lives via the economic system (be it capitalism or socialism) and political manipulation.
That’s why Soros seems to think that he is invincible. He thinks he can move the political and economic planet in a few blinks of an eye and no one can tell him to stop. In fact, he writes books such as The Alchemy of Finance. Soros thinks he can kill political stability throughout Europe and indeed in America with no challenge.
Soros is certainly old, but he doesn’t want to be obsolete. His organization has recently been caught conducting covert operations designed to destabilize Russia. Here is an interesting quote from the leaked files of Soros’ Open Society Foundation:
“Our inclination is to engage in activities and with actors that will understand and counter Russian support to movements defending traditional values…Naming and shaming from us is problematic: we are also in the business of channeling money into other countries for political purposes.” | 0 |
When the cyber war really gets started; I wonder how many civilian automobiles will be disabled through internet command? | 0 |
By Richard Gale and Gary Null Progressive Radio Network, October 31, 2016 Joshua Hadfield was a normal, healthy developing child as a toddler. In the midst of the 2010 H1N1 swine flu frenzy and fear... | 0 |
Here are the top 10 comments of the week on our digital platforms, as selected by our readers and the journalists who moderate nearly every comment. To see how our readers reacted to Donald Trump’s request that Russian intelligence hack Hillary Clinton’s email, our on story ever, go here. 1. I am thinking about my mother tonight, the child of immigrants, born in 1919 just when women were given the right to vote. I am remembering all the times she dragged me into the voting booth to show me what a privilege it was to be an American and to live in this country. I can’t talk to her about this historic night, but I can talk to my daughter who can see that her future is limitless. Almost 100 years in the making. It’s been a long time coming. — Ann in Connecticut, reacting to an article about Hillary Clinton accepting her party’s presidential nomination, the first woman from a major party to do so. This comment received more than 900 reader recommendations. 2. I think we don’t remember how recently women weren’t allowed to wear pants, or couldn’t attend Ivy League schools. Somehow we failed to pass these stories on to our daughters as we sought to give them all the opportunities of their male counterparts. Now the sexism is often more subtle, more hidden and our daughters take their opportunities for granted. “I’d like a woman, just not this woman. ” There isn’t a mythical, perfect woman running. There is a human woman running, sometimes making mistakes, sometime enduring private pain publicly, sometimes soaring to the highest levels of achievement. Let’s not hold her to a standard of perfection we wouldn’t apply to a man running for president, let’s honor her humanity and success as the first woman to achieve the nomination of a major party. — Ellie in Boston. 3. One of the best things to come of this election is the fact that the G. O. P. has been forced to examine the monster which has been allowed to grow in its midst. I firmly believe that something similar is required on the Left. Hillary Clinton is no monster like Trump, but she is the calcification of a version of what is wrong with politics today: the intransigence and pandering, the corruption and secrecy, the influence of big money, and a the approach to an entitled sense of rulership. The Democratic Party has a chance to see what its Bernie contingent is pointing out to party leadership. Were the G. O. P. candidate any better than a buffoon, it would be easier for the mainstream Left to see what is wrong with Hillary. It has nothing whatsoever to do with her gender. The D. N. C. ’s treatment of Bernie Sanders and his supporters has alienated me to a degree I didn’t think possible. — Kelvin F. in the Pacific Northwest. This comment received more than 970 reader recommendations and more than 300 reader responses. 4. As a Sanders supporter, I will not be voting for Hillary. At this point, I’m left deciding between Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, who, like Bernie, were both actually against the Iraq war before it started. Or, perhaps, just staying home. I am not alone. The two major candidates are the least popular in history, and the biggest reason their supporters give for voting for them is that they aren’t the other one. I’m resigned to having a terrible president starting next January, but there’s no way I’ll be responsible for electing him or her. — Mike in New York. This comment had more than 320 reader recommendations. 5. I love the fact that people are outraged not because the White House was built by slaves, but because someone dared to bring it up. — Molly Maxine on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to an article about Michelle Obama’s speech at the Democratic convention, in which she said of the White House, “I wake up every morning in a house built by slaves. ” This comment received 60 likes. 6. To those morally outraged commenters who are threatening to not vote — or to vote for Jill Stein, or Barney Fife, or whomever they imagine will represent some kind of integrity on their part — because they’re shocked and dismayed at the revelation that somehow the D. N. C. is “rigged,” I say the following: Everything is rigged! Life is rigged! You will encounter it in every endeavor. Sometimes, it will serve you unfairly, sometimes it will discriminate against you unfairly — but it’ll always be there. There is no pure, sterile laboratory environment when it comes to human beings and their comings and goings. Clinton and Sanders are subject to exactly the same dynamics as you and I are as far as that goes. To assume any higher order is — sorry — to be naive. One of the first lessons a child learns is that life isn’t fair. If they don’t learn it, if they don’t accept it and move forward knowing it, they’ll be disappointed at almost every turn. — Sean in New Orleans, reacting to an article about Debbie Wasserman Schultz stepping down as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee after an email leak revealed party leaders seeking to damage Senator Sanders’s campaign. 7. You know, I’ve often wondered how people who are falsely accused feel after the truth comes to light. Relieved? Vindicated? Righteous? At peace? Supporters of Bernie Sanders have spent close to half a year being told we’re conspiracy theorists, that we’re paranoid, unhinged, entitled whiners unable to face the reality that “all is well, our guy’s just a loser. ” Learning that the D. N. C. did indeed actively collude to deny Bernie Sanders the nomination should make me feel something, shouldn’t it? The evidence is there for even the most stubborn of skeptics to behold: the odds were never in Bernie’s favor and his supporters were right to question the D. N. C. ’s impartiality. But I don’t feel anything. I just feel empty. There are so many days left in this election. There’s a monstrous creature that must be defeated at all costs. I just wish it felt like my party was one of the good guys. — Danielle in Seattle. This comment received more than 1, 900 reader recommendations and more than 70 reader responses. 8. Once again, no one is held responsible for the death of an innocent black man. Society and the justice system [are] more ready to find excuses to exonerate when a black life is involved, because somehow he is seen as less valuable. Then, a society without equal empathy for all is surprised to see protests and violence in the streets. In the long term, injustice and peace are not mutually inclusive in any society, as history repeatedly teaches. — Merlin in Atlanta, reacting to an article about the state’s attorney dropping all remaining charges against the three Baltimore police officers awaiting trial in the death of Freddie Gray. This comment received more than 80 reader recommendations. 9. Addiction is a disease. Naloxone was no more invented to “cure” it than insulin was invented to “cure” diabetes. The key, and unexamined, phrase in this article is “seek treatment”: where are all those sick people supposed to take their illness when states like mine (with the money to make better choices) are closing rehab clinics like the one that saved my friend when she began her recovery six years ago? Today she is a vibrant counselor to young people. If anyone ever gave YOU a second chance, you ought to reopen your closed mind when it comes to addiction. — Megan Macomber in New Haven, reacting to an article about naloxone, a drug that revives someone who has overdosed on opioids. Critics of the drug say it offers addicts a safety net advocates say it offers a path to treatment and recovery. 10. Based on my experience in marketing management at Verizon, I’d say this will be a case of the blind leading the blind. Verizon has so much money to burn — but no real strategy in the consumer space. They’ve never really “gotten” the thing and this is not a company that takes a lot of risk. By the time they got FiOS up and running, the business model for TV consumption was already changing. My guess is that will be a few years of efforts to launch new “products,” and then they’ll sell the entire consumer side of the business. — Pat B. in Blue Bell, Pa. reacting to an article about Verizon’s purchase of Yahoo’s core internet business for $4. 8 billion. | 1 |
“You’ve got lovely beds. Good beds,” the actress Patti LuPone said. She was referring not to furniture, but fingernails: the unvarnished ones on the hands of her current Christine Ebersole. They contrasted markedly with Ms. LuPone’s nails, which she herself had lacquered in shiny maroon, after years observing professional manicurists. “I watch how they depress the fluid,” Ms. LuPone said, pantomiming bottle and brush. “The problem is, when I put nail polish on it really weakens my nails,” Ms. Ebersole said in a sisterly way. “They just flake off. ” The talons were out, in other words, but this was not a catfight. More a chat ’n’ chew between Tony actresses getting the chance to share a Broadway stage for the first time in “War Paint,” one of a new musicals debuting in a mad cram before the season ends. Dressed in a confusion of stretchy black clothing and scarves, the two women were sharing a sofa in the upper half of a sleek duplex at 663 Fifth Avenue, where the flagship of Elizabeth Arden’s signature spa, the Red Door, moved five years ago from the florid former Aeolian Building two blocks north. They had refused treatments and were instead efficiently slurping vegetarian soups. In “War Paint,” which is now in previews and opens at the Nederlander Theater on April 6, Ms. Ebersole, 64, plays Miss Arden, née Florence Nightingale Graham: the entrepreneur who made cosmetics, long associated with prostitutes, acceptable and desirable to the American middle and upper classes starting in the 1910s. Ms. LuPone, 67, plays Arden’s but equally esteemed competitor, Helena Rubinstein, who imparted both artistic and clinical prestige to the pursuit of beauty, and who is credited with the phrase “there are no ugly women, only lazy ones. ” Bette Davis vs. Joan Crawford Alexis Colby vs. Krystle Carrington: Female rivalries have long meant boffo box office and Nielsen ratings points. But theatergoers hoping for Ms. Ebersole and Ms. LuPone to whack each other with pocketbooks or hurl drinks like Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine in “The Turning Point” are due for disappointment. Rather, their characters fight by issuing new products, raiding staff and investing in premium real estate: penthouses and country spreads for Rubinstein, who donated millions of dollars to arts education and other causes through her foundation an Irish castle and Lexington, Ky. breeding stable for Arden, who was passionately devoted to horses and marched with suffragists. “We should really look at them as role models,” Ms. LuPone said of the two tycoons. “They were really inspiring,” Ms. Ebersole said. “My God,” Ms LuPone said. “Regardless of what their personal flaws were, or what drove them — nothing that they achieved for themselves and then in the name of woman has ever been matched!” Ms. Ebersole, more gently: “They paved the way, and started before women had the vote. ” Ms. LuPone was incensed by news reports about the departing C. E. O. of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer. “Her male replacement is getting twice as much as she is,” she said. “Twice as much!” The gender pay inequity common in the film industry is not an issue for “War Paint,” which is capitalized at $11 million and carried by its leading ladies, one or both of whom appear in all but four of the show’s numbers. But the fact that its principal creators are all men might arch an eyebrow. The musical takes its title and basic premise from a dual biography by Lindy Woodhead published in 2004 that a few years later inspired a documentary, “The Powder the Glory,” to which David Stone, a producer, was introduced by the director James Lapine. Mr. Stone has had tremendous success with “Wicked,” another musical centered on female foes, and, among other projects, worked on “The Vagina Monologues” by Eve Ensler. He called her for advice before proceeding. “Eve said, ‘This can’t be about makeup.’ And it’s not,” Mr. Stone said. “It’s about women and beauty and power and how women treat each other. ” Mr. Stone and Ms. LuPone both wrinkle their noses at the word “diva,” a description cribbed from Italian opera that is now often applied to any commanding female presence in the entertainment industry, inevitably also suggesting an excess of temperament. “I just can’t stand it,” Mr. Stone said. “Diva implies difficult. ” At a talk about the show a few months ago, Ms. LuPone proposed “dame” as an alternative, to approving whoops from the audience. After securing rights to the material, Mr. Stone hired Michael Greif, with whom he had worked on “Next to Normal” and “” to direct. They brought in the composer Scott Frankel, the lyricist Michael Korie and the book writer Doug Wright, Mr. Greif’s collaborators on the musical “Grey Gardens,” inspired by the Maysles brothers’ cult documentary about the eccentric aristocrats “Big Edie” Beale and her daughter, “Little Edie. ” Some early workshops of “War Paint” featured Donna Murphy in the Arden role but she withdrew for family reasons, and Ms. Ebersole, who had won a 2007 Tony for portraying both Beales at different stages of their lives, assumed the part. She and Ms. LuPone, for whom this is the first musical since the “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” (2010) were not shy about participating in the creative process. “Both of them were very excited to play against the obvious — feuding, stars and that kind of energy — and actually find ways where the competition between them was nourishing,” Mr. Frankel said a few hours before curtain on a recent evening. “These women were enormously sophisticated and tasteful and in corporate weaponry,” Mr. Wright said. “They didn’t have to reduce things to an insult they could actually wage business warfare against one another and did so very effectively for 50 years. ” Anything “that felt cheap or easy,” he said, the actresses “instantly rejected. ” Criticism of an tryout in Chicago last summer focused on relentless between its two subjects, who supposedly never met in real life. About a third of the show has been revised, the creators said, both to fortify the solo appearances and to find novel ways of bringing the characters together onstage. “There was some tightening,” Mr. Frankel said, slipping into patois. “Because it’s the two of them, there’s a little bit of inherent that’s intrinsic in the proposition of the evening, but I think we tried to find ways to mix that up in more unexpected ways. ” He and his colleagues were adamant that “War Paint” is not purely ladies’ entertainment, though the Broadway audience is disproportionately female, a demographic that has helped make shows like “Waitress” into hits. “There are metaphors inherent in the idea of makeup that I think transcend gender,” Mr. Wright said. “It offers a potential mask where you can pretend to be someone you aren’t it offers a disguise if you don’t wish to be recognized it offers an avenue toward a certain kind of perceived it is a kind of lure to attract someone else. ” But with its costume changes designed by Catherine Zuber, including hats and piles of glittering jewelry, and makeup by Angelina Avallone, “War Paint” has been an occasion for the two stars to reflect on how cosmetics and other trappings have been integral to their long careers. “Once I put on the wig it’s like ‘O. K. badda bing, badda boom,’” Ms. LuPone said. “I’m not the type of actress that goes into a corner and meditates for 20 minutes on the bones of Helena Rubinstein. Do you know what I mean?” Ms. Ebersole said that for performers backstage as well as for many people in real life, “putting on makeup is a really great centering device. It’s a way of having you focus on what you’re doing. As you put on the mask, then the other things come through. ” She recalled her work in the 2001 revival of “42nd Street,” for which she won her first Tony with the help of 1930s regalia by Roger Kirk: “The costumes just informed everything. ” This inspired Ms. LuPone to reminisce about “Evita,” for which she got her first Tony, at 31. “The amount of — for lack of a better word — gack that we’re putting on!” she said. “I also harken back to that time in ‘Anything Goes’ when I was in those gowns. Oy, I can’t wear a gown now to save my life, unless I’m strapped in. ” The two actresses were “babies in the city together,” as Ms. LuPone put it. She arrived in 1968 to attend Juilliard, where she studied with Marian Seldes, having known she wanted to perform since she was 4, standing downstage right in a tap recital. Ms. Ebersole, who had gone to MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill. before enrolling at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1973, had had other plans. “I was going to be a nurse,” she said. “Of course you were,” Ms. LuPone said. “Look at her!” Instead Ms. Ebersole served customers at the Lion’s Rock, a restaurant on the Upper East Side with water splashing down a slab of red granite. “It’s condominiums now, I think,” she said. Ms. LuPone, meanwhile, worked at a “wannabe mobster” hangout run by a man who imported cages for dancing girls in nightclubs. “My roommate was one of the dancers, and I wasn’t pretty enough, tall enough or thin enough to be a dancer, so I was a waitress in a lace ” she said. Both women bemoaned a lost era when actors (and stagehands) were recognized and welcomed in the theater district at places like Jimmy Ray’s and Charlie O. ’s, and spent time after the show socializing rather than cultivating followings on Twitter and YouTube. “I think we have fewer showmen,” Ms. LuPone said. “Like the Irving Thalbergs and the Alex Cohens and the Robert Whiteheads and the people that loved the theater or loved making movies. It’s such a cliché, but it’s all bean counters. It’s statistics. Polling. ” This was a reminder that the unexpected foil in the showdown was Charles Revson, the founder of Revlon, rendered in “War Paint” by Erik Liberman as “a carnival barker in an Italian suit. ” It’s a line that for some involved with the production took on new resonance after Donald J. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. Overnight, in their view, the musical went from celebration to cautionary tale. After Rubinstein died in 1965, Revson bought her Park Avenue triplex. But that wasn’t the final indignity. Last year, the company he founded, which had brought sex back into the midcentury cosmetics marketplace with suggestive ad copy and flashy layouts, took over Elizabeth Arden. “Everybody’s rolling over in their grave!” Ms. LuPone said. Not that any of these brands make her particularly nostalgic. “I used to be a Georgette Klinger girl. For years,” she said, after the two women packed up a gift of exfoliating face pads and descended nine floors to the lobby. “Oh my gosh, Georgette Klinger, I completely forgot that name,” Ms. Ebersole said, blinking her blue eyes on the sunny sidewalk. “That was a salon,” Ms. LuPone said. “You’d go in, and close the door, and they were all about getting into your face. They don’t get into your face anymore. ” | 1 |
Theresa Crouse November 2, 2016 Senior Preparedness: What Types Of Food To Store?
The great thing about modern technology and food industrialization is that there are now all types of food commercially available.
That’s great news for those of us who aren’t exactly spring chickens anymore because it makes building a diverse stockpile extremely simple.
What to Stock?
When you’re making your list, be sure that you include the following groups in order to have a full supply of foods that will meet your dietary needs: Vegetables: These are most easily bought canned. If you have high blood pressure, watch out for the sodium content because salt is often used as a preservative. Be sure to get a variety of colors because each one offers different nutrients. For example, oranges and reds are high in vitamins A and C and greens offer iron, vitamin C and, often, the B vitamins. Veggies also offer protein as well as fiber that will keep your digestive tract healthy. Fruits: Fruits can be purchased canned, freeze-dried or dehydrated. All forms of preservation maintain high levels of the nutritional value of the fresh fruits. Be sure to buy ones canned in juice instead of ones canned in syrup. Again, go for different colors for the nutritional range that the offer. Fibrous fruits such as peaches are great for long-term energy because the fiber slows the absorption of the natural sugars in the fruit. Meats: Thanks to modern technology, well-preserved meat can be purchased dehydrated, smoked, or canned. Each way is nutritious and delicious. Again, watch the sodium levels if you have blood pressure issues and shoot for nutritious meats such as jerky and canned tuna and chicken instead of fatty, processed meats such as Spam or potted meat. Beans: You can purchase beans canned or dry. They’re a great source of protein and B-vitamins as well as carbohydrates. If you have digestive problems with beans, try soaking them first and cooking them with an onion. That sometimes helps get rid of the “gassy” properties. Dry Goods: Flour, sugar, pastas, rice and other dried goods will be good for two reasons: they’ll help round out your meals with delicious, filling sides and sauces and they’ll make great barter items. Spices: Dried spices last for years and are easy to store. You can also opt to grow your own indoor herb garden, which we’ll discuss in a bit. Spices will make a great barter item as well as help you add flavor to meals. Desserts and Treats: Sometimes eating is about more than nutrition. A nice piece of apple pie can boost morale and give people the mental boost that they need to get through tough times. Adding some pie filling or some chocolate chips to your stockpile will add a welcome burst of comfort to life if SHTF. Don’t depend on treats for nutrition, but storing some for treats or trading is a good idea if you have the room. Fats and Oils: Healthy fats such as olive oil and coconut oil deliver nutrition and a good backup source of energy. They also help flavor meats and are necessary if you want to make such dishes as biscuits or sauces. Your body needs omega-3’s in order to function and since it can’t make them on its own, you need to eat them. Fish and olive oil are both good sources but olive oil doesn’t have the risk of mercury poisoning that you may encounter by eating too much canned fish. Energy Bars: Because they’re portable and often contain all of the nutrition that you need for an entire day, energy or protein bars make great additions to your stockpile. Since they’re lightweight and take up very little space, you should toss a few into your bug-out bag so that you have some quick energy and nutrition should you need to evacuate.
Stocking Up with Store-Bought Foods
Though growing your own food and being completely independent of outside food sources is great, it’s also extremely difficult to do if you live in an urban area or have physical limitations. There are numerous reasons why purchasing your food supplies from the store may be your best option, especially as you get older. Here are just a few: The food is safely preserved. You can buy a wide variety all at the same place. There’s no manual labor involved. You don’t have to learn any special food growing or preservation techniques (though we recommend that you learn how to do it in case you need to in a long-term survival situation!) You don’t need garden space or special equipment. Purchasing your food is by far the easiest way to build your stockpile. If you watch for sales and use coupons, it’s extremely affordable as well. Even just taking advantage of BOGO sales will save you a tremendous amount of money.
Not only can store-bought foods save you time, many of us don’t have the space or the physical strength to manage a large garden anymore. Growing a small one for fresh foods is fabulous but growing one large enough to produce extra for canning can be taxing when you get older. Heat stroke is no fun at all, and picking beans sure is hard on the back muscles.
If you’re nodding your head in understanding and agreement, store-bought supplies may be the way to go.
A Bit About the Types of Foods Available Commercially
You’ve been buying commercially prepared foods all of your life but you probably haven’t ventured far beyond the standard canned foods aisle in your local supermarket. A trip to a hunting goods store or a military surplus store will open up the doors to a few more options. Here’s a brief rundown on the major preservation methods available to you: Canned Food: This one doesn’t need much of a description because unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve eaten it in mass quantities throughout your life. Food is sealed in plastic or glass jars or in steel or aluminum cans in such a way that air can’t get in to cause spoilage. Dehydrated Food: Again, this one doesn’t need much of an explanation because you’ve surely had jerky or dried fruits. Food is seasoned and cooked in an oven or a dehydrator to remove the liquid. It’s then typically sealed in a bag or jar in order to keep out moisture that will cause spoilage. With the moisture removed, dehydrated food is lightweight, takes up very little space, retains nearly all of its nutritional value and is good practically indefinitely as long as no moisture gets to it. Great for your bug-out bag. You can add water to dehydrated foods to rehydrate them and cook with them. Freeze-Dried Foods: This is a method that you may not be so familiar with. Freeze-drying is a 3-step process sort of similar to dehydrating, except the food is first frozen. Then it goes into a warm vacuum chamber where it remains for several hours. Instead of turning to liquid, the vacuum causes the liquid to leave the food in a frozen form that vaporizes. Finally, the food is dried to remove the rest of the water and sealed to keep moisture out. Most freeze-dried foods have a recommended shelf-life of 25 years. It’s also extremely light and can be eaten as-is or rehydrated and cooked. You can buy single products such as fruits or complete freeze-dried meals. Meals Ready to Eat (MREs): These are meals created originally by the military to provide nutrition to soldiers in the field. Nowadays, they’re available from military surplus stores if you want the real thing. Companies also produce them for the private sector and you can buy them at sporting goods stores. As with freeze-dried or dehydrated foods, MREs are available as single foods or entire meals. Dried Foods: Spices and beans are great examples of foods preserved by drying. It simply involves allowing the product to hang and dry naturally. Unlike dehydrated foods, the process doesn’t involve heat. Otherwise, it’s the same idea; remove the water and bacteria can’t grow.
With all of these options available, there’s no reason why you can’t stock your pantry and eat well even if disaster strikes.
Here are a few tips for buying supplies that will help you store what you need while getting the most mileage for your buck:
Buy foods that you eat. Yes, canned asparagus may be on sale but if you hate it, don’t buy it. There’s a reason that you still have 2 cans of it in your pantry from 1972 – you think it’s gross and would rather go hungry than open that can and ingest the contents. Not a great way to stay in good spirits in a tough situation.
Buy in bulk. Food is often cheaper if you buy large quantities of it. For instance, a 50lb bag of flour is going to cost much less per pound than a 5lb bag will. You can always separate it out into manageable proportions. Since a bag that large is difficult to handle, check to see if any of your local grocers deliver. Many of them do today and that will make it easier and safer for you to buy items that are difficult to handle.
Buy extra when you can. This is a great way to build your stockpile with foods that you enjoy. If you’re buying a can of clam chowder, buy two instead. If they’re BOGO, buy four! You’re accomplishing two things here; you’re building your stockpile and you’re ensuring that what you stock is what you like. Plus, you’ll have an extra can of soup on hand if you feel like sharing or if you forget to get it the next time.
Seal your dried goods. Just because your flour may be good for a year or more, it’s not going to be that appealing with bugs in it. When you get it home, store it in plastic containers or bags that bugs can’t get into so easily. This will keep it fresh longer, too.
Don’t buy damaged cans. If a can has a dent, don’t buy it. It’s entirely probable that the safety of the food has been compromised because if the can’s damaged, air could get in. Also, cans have a protective lining that keeps the steel or aluminum from seeping into your foods but if they’re dented, that protective lining could be damaged. Don’t risk it even if you’re going to eat it that night .
Building your stockpile with purchased food offers a safe, simple way to ensure that you’ll have what you need to get you through a survival situation.
It’s time to go back in time and learn valuable survival secrets and skills from our ancestors.
This article has been written by Theresa Crouse for Survivopedia. 6 total views, 6 views today | 0 |
NEW ORLEANS — DeRay Mckesson is a prominent voice of the Black Lives Matter movement who was arrested in July while protesting the fatal police shooting of a Baton Rouge man selling CDs outside a convenience store. On Thursday, he filed a proposed lawsuit against the city of Baton Rouge and several law enforcement agencies. The suit, in which Mr. Mckesson is joined as a named plaintiff by two other protesters who were also arrested, says that the police “employed unconstitutional tactics to disturb, disrupt, infringe upon and criminalize” the constitutional rights of assembly and free speech. Mr. Mckesson was arrested July 9, four days after the shooting of the man, Alton Sterling, and as demonstrations had been growing in Baton Rouge. The night he was arrested, on the grounds of “simple obstruction of a highway of commerce,” more than 100 people were also arrested, mostly on the same charge. Mr. Mckesson was held overnight and released the next day. About a week later, the parish prosecutor announced that he would drop charges against Mr. Mckesson and about 100 of the 185 people who had been arrested during the protests. Like Mr. Mckesson, the two other named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Gloria La Riva of San Francisco and Kira Marrero of Louisiana, were arrested on the charge, which was later dropped. The suit, which seeks to represent all those arrested on this charge during the July protests, demands the removal of the arrests from criminal records and the reimbursement of bond payments, lawyers’ fees and other costs paid by the plaintiffs. The defendants include Mayor Kip Holden of Baton Rouge the city’s police chief, Carl Dabadie Jr. the parish sheriff and the superintendent of the Louisiana State Police. A spokesman for the mayor’s office could not be reached for comment, and a Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman would not comment. Mr. Mckesson’s lawsuit followed another one concerning the Baton Rouge protests, by the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana. That suit seeks a court order to change the way police respond to protests. Responding to the July protests, which were nearly all peaceful, officers in Baton Rouge wore riot gear, carried long guns and made arrests on private property. Their tactics have drawn intense criticism, but city officials defended them, citing suspected violent plots against the police. On July 17, a former Marine angered over police shootings traveled to Baton Rouge from Missouri and shot six law enforcement officers, killing three. | 1 |
Las imágenes libres de derechos más destacadas de la semana LAS REACCIONES A LA VICTORIA DE TRUMP Y LA SUPERLUNA DEL DÍA 14 DE NOVIEMBRE Por Tomás Fuentes
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El absentismo laboral se sitúa en niveles anteriores a la crisis, como se observa en esta fábrica de Inditex.
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El director de un centro comercial se prepara para el Black Friday.
3.
Michael Moore, desolado al conocer los resultados electorales.
4. Tras su exitosa carrera como jugador, Guti triunfa ahora como entrenador de los juveniles del Real Madrid.
5. Messi valora cambiar de equipo en 2016
6. Simulación de la NASA que muestra cómo se verá la Súper Luna esta noche. 7. Robert de Niro, Miley Cyrus, Susan Sarandon, Cher, George Clooney, Amy Schumery Lena Dunham, algunos de los famosos que prometieron abandonar EEUU si ganaba Trump, a punto de tragarse sus propias palabras.
8. Tras la victoria de Trump, algunos mexicanos residentes en EEUU deciden volver a su país de origen.
9. Trump aparece ante los medios a pronunciar su discurso, después de que Clinton le llamara reconociendo su derrota.
10. Impresionante video de National Geographic, en el que una iguana huye de unas serpientes. Etiquetas | 0 |
By Jack Burns WikiLeaks is helping President Obama keep his 2008 campaign promise — to be the most transparent administration in U.S. history — whether he likes... | 0 |
Katie Ledecky and the U. S. 4x200 relay team won the gold medal Wednesday, to the surprise of no one. Since the event became a part of the Olympics in 1996, the Americans have won five of six. Ledecky anchored a squad that included Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith and Maya DiRado to a 1. 84 second victory over Australia, the only other country to triumph in the event at the Summer Games. Canada was third. The Americans were trailing by of a second when Ledecky hit the water. She split 1 minute 53. 74 seconds, to stop the clock at 7:43. 03. Read Karen Crouse’s story on the race. Daryl Homer of the United States won the silver medal in men’s saber, missing a chance to become the first American man to win an Olympics fencing gold medal in more than a century. Homer, who fences out of the Manhattan Fencing Center and was seeded 10th, beat fencers from Kazakhstan, Germany and Iran on the way to the final. The gold medal match was aggressive and quick, like most saber matchups. Homer quickly fell behind Aron Szilagyi of Hungary and lost, . With the silver, Homer became the first American medalist in individual saber since Peter Westbrook won a bronze in 1984. The last American gold medal for a man in fencing came at the 1904 St. Louis Games in the single sticks event, in which combatants belted each other with long wooden sticks. The winner, Albertson van zo Post, prevailed over a field of three, all of them Americans. — VICTOR MATHER The American cyclist Kristin Armstrong won her third consecutive gold medal in the individual road time trial on Wednesday, becoming the first person to win the same Olympic cycling event three times in a row. What’s more, Armstrong — no relation to Lance — accomplished the feat one day shy of her 43rd birthday, which also makes her the oldest woman to have won an Olympic cycling gold medal. “We’ve been told we should be finished at a certain age, but there are a lot of athletes out there who are showing that’s not true,” said Armstrong, who overcame a nose bleed at the mark. Armstrong completed the 29. (18. ) course in 44 minutes 26. 42 seconds, just ahead of Olga Zabelinskaya of Russia, who finished in 44:31. 97. Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands won the bronze medal. Soon after her win, Armstrong got a pat on the back from another athlete who seemed to defy age: Barry Bonds. A cycling enthusiast, Bonds posted an image from the race and wrote, “Congratulations Kristin Armstrong 3 time gold medalist,” on his Instagram account. Remarkably, Armstrong almost did not make it to Rio. She came out of retirement in 2015, three years after calling it quits. Her latest gold medal was “the most gratifying,” she said. “It was the hardest of my Olympic journeys. ” — KEN BELSON Men’s basketball: The United States had an unaccustomed scare in men’s basketball, beating Australia by only . The U. S. trailed by 5 at the half and needed some big 3’s late by Carmelo Anthony to win. Patty Mills of the San Antonio Spurs led Australia with 30 points Anthony had 31 for the United States. Men’s gymnastics : Kohei Uchimura of Japan, often called the greatest gymnast ever, retained his title. He delivered a 15. 8 with a difficult high bar routine to overtake Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine on the final apparatus. The practically unbeatable Uchimura has also won the last six world championship titles. No Medal for U. S. Rugby Sevens: The American men lost to Fiji, and were eliminated from the competition. The United States missed by the narrowest of margins: Its point differential, was just 1 short of that of New Zealand, which grabbed the last spot in the quarterfinals. Different sports require different body types, right? Volleyball players are usually long and lean. Weight lifters, not so much. So we asked a bunch of Olympians and Paralympians to strip down to their underwear (or whatever they felt comfortable with) so you could try to guess which sport they compete in. How many can you guess correctly? More Gold for U. S. Swimmers: Katie Ledecky picked up her second gold medal of the Rio Games, and Michael Phelps racked up the 20th and 21st of his career Tuesday. Ledecky won the 200 freestyle, expected to be the toughest of her individual races. Here’s how the race went down. Phelps won his signature event, the 200 butterfly, and exulted afterward, gesturing as if to say he would take on all comers. To top it off, he later swam the anchor of the men’s 4x200 freestyle relay, which the United States won easily. Here’s a look at Phelps’s night. Green Pool? An unsettling thing happened at the Olympic diving pool on Tuesday: The water inexplicably turned green, just in time for the women’s synchronized platform diving competition. Officials said they did not know what had caused the trouble, exactly. But they declared the water had been tested and was not dangerous. It was an unsettling sight, appearing to become greener and murkier as the day went on, having been a lovely light blue on Monday. The British diver Tom Daley, who won a bronze medal in the same pool the day before, posted a photograph on Twitter showing the contrast between the colors of the pools. “Ermmm. ..what happened? !” he wrote. Here is the full article, including an interview with a pool repairman in California who has some ideas about what might be causing the greenness. U. S. Gymnasts Dominate: Simone Biles, Laurie Hernandez, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas and Madison Kocian lived up to expectations as prohibitive favorites by putting up the highest total score in every apparatus. Russia won silver and China bronze. The margin of victory was a whopping 8 points. See how they did it here. | 1 |
Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Security Question: What is 5 + 13 ? Please leave these two fields as-is: IMPORTANT! To be able to proceed, you need to solve the following simple math (so we know that you are a human) :-) Doom and Bloom | 0 |
President Donald Trump was the primary target for leftist Hollywood celebrities during the Oscars, as he, his family, or his administration was mentioned negatively fifteen times during the ceremony. | 1 |
as long as the world denies Jesus as Lord and Savior they remain condemned in the sight of God(John 318) so until they believe the Word of God has no rule over them. but Jesus told us to "love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven...." we must remain faithful to God by showing our love for the world and leave the world to the judgement of God.if you want the world to behave differently convert them,don't condemn them. | 0 |
I have just railed on Pitt so many times and I'm surprised he puts up with it. | 0 |
Sociedad Los coches que quieran circular por el centro de Madrid tendrán que ir en autobús "SI QUIEREN IR EN COCHE, QUE VAYAN EN COCHE, PERO EL COCHE TENDRÁ QUE IR EN AUTOBÚS", INSISTE MANUELA CARMENA transporte público
Coincidiendo con el fin del primer episodio de alta contaminación del otoño, el Ayuntamiento de Madrid ha presentado este miércoles el borrador de su Plan de Calidad del Aire y Cambio Climático. La propuesta más ambiciosa del plan es la de crear una gran Área de Prioridad Residencial (APR) que obligará a los coches que quieran circular por el centro de Madrid a hacerlo montados en autobuses públicos.
“Los ciudadanos que insisten en coger el coche pese a las recomendaciones oficiales tendrán que coger también el autobús. Irán en coche si es lo que quieren, pero el coche tendrá que usar el transporte público”, ha explicado hoy la alcaldesa de la capital, Manuela Carmena.
Las primeras pruebas han sido un poco caóticas, aunque el consistorio achaca las dificultades a la falta de costumbre. “¿Te puedes creer que había dos Smarts sentados al lado de la puerta del bus y han mirado hacia otro lado para no dejar que me sentara yo, que conduzco un Seiscientos viejo que apenas se tiene en pie?”, protestaba uno de los conductores, molesto por la falta de civismo de algunos ciudadanos.
Otros conductores se han negado a bajar el volúmen de la música, motivando las protestas del resto del pasaje. “Por culpa del hortera ese del BMW no se oía nada cuando se anunciaban las paradas. Suerte que se ha bajado enseguida”, relata otro viajero, que se queja también de que muchos “ponen las ruedas encima de los asientos, sin reparo alguno”.
El Ayuntamiento recuerda que las normas de uso del transporte público valen también para los coches que vayan en autobús. “No pueden solicitar la rampa de minusválidos a no ser que el conductor sea minusválido y las conductoras embarazadas tienen prioridad al sentar sus coches, pero no sobre las peatonas embarazadas, que ni siquiera tienen el asiento del coche para sentarse”, aclaraba Carmena esta mañana. | 0 |
WASHINGTON — Decades before he began writing legal opinions, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, was a student columnist at Columbia University. And he had no shortage of opinions. His topics ranged broadly, from life on campus to the affair. His conservatism was a constant. And he had a lively writing style that persists to this day. He and his collaborators seemed to sense that their writings would survive the years. “We ought not forget,” they wrote in an unsigned 1987 editorial for The Federalist Paper, which Judge Gorsuch helped start, “there is something vital and useful in the curious, if imperfect youth — something that shall not be stifled. ” Here is a selection of that youthful curiosity. While mounting an ultimately unsuccessful bid for a seat on the university Senate as a freshman in 1986, Judge Gorsuch was asked by The Columbia Daily Spectator for his views on issues, including the question of whether the Marines should be allowed to recruit on campus. The Spectator commissioned a series of columns on the lessons that should be learned from the affair. Judge Gorsuch, whose mother had served in the Reagan administration, saw a need for a more decisive American foreign policy. In a February 1987 column, he took the university to task for what he called its failure to promote diversity (“that cherished buzzword”) of thought. In March 1987, Judge Gorsuch argued against making Columbia’s fraternity system coed as the university more fully integrated women. Writing with his friend Michael Behringer in The Federalist Paper, Judge Gorsuch, a member of Phi Gamma Delta, once more cited freedom of association. In 1988, Columbia was embroiled in debates about its fraternities, new university rules governing protests, and a student council election. Judge Gorsuch, never a fan of student protesters, derided “progressives” in a Spectator column as being anything but progressive as they claimed “a monopoly on righteousness. ” | 1 |
November 8, 2016 Watch Trump Get Booed Outside Of His Polling Place In Terrible Start To His Election Day (VIDEO) Google Pinterest Digg Linkedin Reddit Stumbleupon Print Delicious Pocket Tumblr
Donald Trump is not very popular in New York City. Obviously, he lives in his big tower with his name in gold on the city’s famed Fifth Avenue, but if the images of him walking into his polling place to vote for himself are any indication, what he thinks of himself isn’t what the people of New York City think of him.
As Trump went to vote with his wife Melania and daughter Ivanka, flanked by Secret Service agents, he was booed loudly by voters waiting in line. This isn’t surprising if you’ve lived in New York, as I have. It is always a blue state, and it is also extraordinarily accepting of all people. Trump, however, throughout his travesty of a campaign run on hatred, fear, ignorance, and bigotry, has shown himself to be the exact opposite of most New Yorkers.
If this video is any indication, it seems that the start of Election Day does not bode well for how it will end for Trump and his hateful supporters.
Without further ado, watch the scene below: VIDEO: Donald Trump gets booed as he arrives at his polling place. pic.twitter.com/CJcmBIt9Zl
— Anup Kaphle (@AnupKaphle) November 8, 2016
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CNN published an article and video about Breitbart Senior editor MILO Thursday which associated MILO with the and “white nationalist” and “ ” activists despite his explicit rejection of them. [In a video piece accompanying an article headlined, “Milo Yiannopoulos is trying to convince colleges that hate speech is cool,” CNN states that MILO is on a mission to “take on the liberal college establishment, and he’s not the only one” before cutting to an interview with white nationalist Nathan Damigo. The video then shows clips from white nationalist Richard Spencer’s rallies and claims that Spencer’s planned college tour is inspired directly by MILO. “Why are you seeking to associate me with these people?” MILO asked the CNN interviewer, who replied, “They associate themselves with you. ” “What you are seeking to do, by associating me with people who have odious and disgusting opinions, is suggest that I somehow in some way tacitly enable these people,” MILO replied. “I don’t. I don’t have unsavory opinions about skin color. F*ck you. ” CNN asked some of the students that invited MILO to UC Berkeley about their opinion on what MILO is doing in trying to “take down the ivory tower” of college campuses, “they’re finally learning from the Democrats. ” One student added, “it’s been years and years that they’ve controlled the university. ” Unlike the protesters at UC Berkeley, MILO has stated multiple times that skin colour and race do not matter, ideas and values do. Last week while speaking at UC Colorado Springs, MILO explicitly denounced racism: “White pride, white nationalism, white supremacy isn’t the way to go,” he continued. “The way to go is reminding them and yourselves that you should be aspiring to values and to ideas. ” “You should be focusing on what unites people and not what drives them apart,” MILO concluded. “You shouldn’t give a shit about skin color, a shit about sexuality … You shouldn’t give a shit about gender, and you should be deeply suspicious of the people who do. ” CNN did not include those statements in their story, but they were sure to include this analysis from the League’s Oren Segal: “Whether Milo considers himself actually or not, clearly those who represent the see what he’s doing as an opportunity for them as well. ” | 1 |
When a Russian oncologist called her daughter’s brain tumor “untreatable,” Elena Romanova researched alternatives through the night. A young mother of three, Ms. Romanova had spent a year and a half in a Moscow hospital as her daughter Ksenia Subbotina went through radiation, chemotherapy and two brain operations. Despite all of the treatment, the cancer had spread to her spine, and the doctor said Ms. Romanova should prepare care for Ksenia. “I knew there was no cure in Russia,” Ms. Romanova said. “So the question was where to go next. ” That July night in 2012 she emailed doctors around the world about additional treatments. A doctor in London offered a screening for $32, 000 that included an M. R. I. and a pathology analysis to determine the next steps. Ms. Romanova did not have that much money. The Russian government had paid for hospital stays and general medication during Ksenia’s years there, but in order to secure better care, the family had slipped money to doctors and nurses, spending all of their meager savings. Her husband worked as a furniture builder to help pay expenses and to care for Ms. Romanova’s other children. She said they would have sold their car but needed it to get to the hospital. They eventually applied to The Russian Aid Foundation, or Rusfond, a charity providing financial help to families with critically ill children. In January 2013 Ms. Romanova and her daughter began a journey that would take them to hospitals in cities around the world, where Ksenia received chemotherapy and proton radiation therapy, participated in clinical trials and underwent three additional brain operations. Rusfond provided money for six cycles of aggressive chemotherapy and two cycles of targeted chemotherapy in London. During that time, Ms. Romanova became fluent in English by reading medical reports and discussing treatments with British doctors. Eventually doctors in London suggested that they go to a proton therapy center in Prague for additional treatment. Since the aid covered only the treatments in London, she started a website and Facebook page, hosted dinners to raise money and sold dried fruits on the street. In total, she said she paid another $180, 000 for treatments abroad. “We went where there was hope,” she said. “We had to keep fighting. If we fought long enough, maybe one day, they’d find something that worked. ” The fight continued into a new year, 2014, and in a new city, Houston. That January, Ksenia received a targeted chemotherapy treatment that caused excessive internal bleeding. It seemed she would not survive, until a doctor — “I will never forget his hands,” Ms. Romanova said — stopped the bleeding and removed part of the tumor. Her daughter healed, but could not continue the risky therapy. By then, Ms. Romanova had already secured an offer from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan for a chemotherapy treatment in clinical trials, which began that February. So mother and daughter moved again, and the rest of the family joined them several months later. There, doctors found a cyst developing in her brain near problematic lesions, and decided to operate. The surgery left Ksenia’s left side weak and she was no longer able to walk. After another round of chemotherapy, her brain bled again. This time, doctors could not stop it. Ms. Romanova’s voice cracked recalling Ksenia’s final weeks, holding her daughter’s hand and praying for a miracle that did not come. She died on July 7, 2014. Unable to bear the thought of cremating her body to take her back to Russia, the family buried Ksenia in a cemetery in Rockland County, New York. They returned to Moscow in August, and Ms. Romanova said she sank into depression and had suicidal thoughts. “I didn’t feel anything at all,” she said. “I kept waiting for her to come back. I knew I had to live for my other kids. But without my youngest, every day was not right. ” Just two months after Ksenia’s death, her oldest daughter, Anna, then 13, lost feeling on her left side. Doctors in Russia said she had multiple sclerosis, but Ms. Romanova had doubts. She sent Anna’s medical records to friends in the United States, who shared them with doctors. Those doctors, she said, also questioned the diagnosis. Ms. Romanova took her children to Long Island on tourist visas in October 2014 for Anna to get treatment, and she improved. Her doctors, Ms. Romanova said, told her the ailments were most likely . On a cold December night inside the family’s dimly lit Brooklyn apartment, Ms. Romanova, 34, spoke in soft tones about the daughter she lost. Splayed at her feet, her son, Artem, 11, shuttled a silver marble across the floor, sending the cat flying. Anna, now 15, huddled protectively over her mother as she recounted the story. Being in New York, Ms. Romanova said, reminds her of hopeful times, of Saturdays riding horses at Riverdale Stables in the Bronx and walks along the East River. “In New York, I felt closer to her,” Ms. Romanova said of Ksenia. Now, she hopes to make the city her permanent home. She applied for political asylum in March 2015, outlining the persecution she faced living as a practicing Baptist in Russia. She is still waiting for an interview for asylum. She works as a billing assistant at a medical office, earning $1, 400 a month. Unable to meet her family’s living expenses and $ rent, she took a second job in September as a home attendant, earning an extra $900 a month. She receives no public assistance, and her pending immigration status excludes her from receiving food stamps. She said that her marriage fell apart shortly after Ksenia’s death, and that she has no family in the United States to whom she could ask for support. Six months behind on bills, she eventually contacted Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst, a beneficiary agency of of New York, one of eight organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. The Marks JCH provided her with a $550 grant in November to pay for cooking gas and electricity. Ms. Romanova also enrolled in a job placement program there. Taped to the kitchen wall is a reminder to her children: “The most important thing in life is to be brave and follow your heart and intuition. ” She said she wanted Artem to excel in math and chess and Anna in singing and musical composition. As for herself, “I want to start over again,” Ms. Romanova said. “I just want to get a normal job and live a normal life with my kids. ” | 1 |
Share on Facebook Hints of an unidentified, extinct human species have been found in the DNA of modern Melanesians – those living in a region of the South Pacific, northeast of Australia. According to new genetic modelling, the species is unlikely to be Neanderthal or Denisovan – two ancient species that are represented in the fossil record – but could represent a third, unknown human relative that has so far eluded archaeologists. “We're missing a population, or we're misunderstanding something about the relationships,” Ryan Bohlender, a statistical geneticist from the University of Texas, told Tina Hesman Saey at Science News . Bohlender and his team have been investigating the percentages of extinct hominid DNA that modern humans still carry today, and say they've found discrepancies in previous analyses that suggest our mingling with Neanderthals and Denisovans isn't the whole story. It's thought that between 100,000 and 60,000 years ago, our early ancestors migrated out of Africa, and first made contact with other hominid species living on the Eurasian landmass. This contact left a mark on our species that can still be found today, with Europeans and Asians carrying distinct genetic variants of Neanderthal DNA in their own genomes. And that's not all they've given us. Earlier this year , researchers investigated certain genetic variants that people of European descent inherited from Neanderthals, and found that they're associated with several health problems, including a slightly increased risk of depression , heart attack , and a number of skin disorders. And a separate study published earlier this month found evidence that modern genital warts – otherwise known as the human papillomavirus (HPV) – were sexually transmitted to Homo sapiens after our ancestors slept with Neanderthals and Denisovans once they left Africa. While our relationship with Neanderthals has been widely researched, how we interacted with the Denisovans – the distant cousins of Neanderthals – is less clear. The problem is that Neanderthals are well represented in the fossil record, with many remains having been uncovered across Europe and Asia, but all we have of the Denisovans is a lone finger bone and a couple of teeth that were found in a Siberian cave in 2008 . Using a new computer model to figure out the amount of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA carried by modern humans, Bohlender and his colleague found that Europeans and Chinese people carry a similar amount of Neanderthal DNA: about 2.8 percent. That result is pretty similar to previous studies have estimated that Europeans and Asians carry, on average, between 1.5 and 4 percent Neanderthal DNA. But when they got to Denisovan DNA, things were a bit more complicated, particularly when it came to modern populations living in Melanesia – a region of the South Pacific that includes Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, West Papua, and the Maluku Islands. As Hesman Saey explains for Science News: “Europeans have no hint of Denisovan ancestry, and people in China have a tiny amount – 0.1 percent, according to Bohlender's calculations. But 2.74 percent of the DNA in people in Papua New Guinea comes from Neanderthals. And Bohlender estimates the amount of Denisovan DNA in Melanesians is about 1.11 percent, not the 3 to 6 percent estimated by other researchers. While investigating the Denisovan discrepancy, Bohlender and colleagues came to the conclusion that a third group of hominids may have bred with the ancestors of Melanesians.”“Human history is a lot more complicated than we thought it was,” he told her. This find is supported by a separate study by researchers from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, who analysed DNA from 83 Aboriginal Australians and 25 locals from the Papua New Guinea highlands. As we reported last month, this was the most comprehensive genetic study of Indigenous Australians to date, and it indicated that they are the oldest continuous civilization on Earth, dating back more than 50,000 years ago. But the results revealed something else – DNA that was very similar to that of the Denisovans, but distinct enough for the researchers to suggest that it could have come from a third, unidentified hominid . “Who this group is we don't know,” lead researcher Eske Willerslev told Hesman Saey. Until we have more concrete evidence of this hypothesized third human species (some fossils would be nice), we can't prove this, and we should point out that Bohlender's estimates have yet to be formally peer-reviewed , so they might shift with further scrutiny. And it could be that our identification of Denisovan DNA is more ambiguous than we think, given that our only source is a finger bone and a couple of teeth. But the evidence is mounting that our interactions with ancient humans were far more complex than we'd assumed, which shouldn't be much of a surprise, when you think about it. Just because we don't see them in the fossil record doesn't mean they didn't exist – preserving the remains of something for tens of thousands of years isn't easy, and then someone has to be in the right place at the right time to dig them up. Hopefully, the more we investigate the genetic make-up of our most ancient societies, the more hints we'll get of the rich and complicated history our species shared with those that didn't make it to modern times. So much incredible findings of an unknown DNA surface , we may need to think twice before saying that we are ‘alone’ in the universe. The results of Bohlender's analysis were presented last week at the 2016 American Society of Human Genetics meeting in Canada. Related: | 0 |
Print Email http://humansarefree.com/2016/11/flu-shot-hoax-admitted-no-controlled.html The flu shot is a fraud. But it’s a fraud that’s so deeply embedded in the delusional pro-vaccine culture of the pharma-controlled medical industry that even well-meaning doctors and pharmacists (who are otherwise very intelligent) fail to realize flu shots don’t work. In fact, flu shot vaccine inserts openly admit there is no scientific evidence demonstrating flu shots work . See the vaccine insert photos below for proof.This is probably why people who receive the flu shot almost never receive the insert sheet. It’s not handed out by doctors and pharmacists because they don’t want people to realize the extent of the pseudoscience behind the flu shot scam.It’s so much easier to demand blind obedience while screaming “SCIENCE!” than to actually allow people to read the science and realize the science conclusively states there is “… no decrease in influenza disease after vaccination.”In fact, most people who have taken flu shots aren’t even aware that an insert sheet exists at all.Ever wonder what it says?NOTE: Every photo in this article is 100% factual and true. Ask your pharmacist for a vaccine insert sheet to see one of these for yourself. Insert sheet acquired for GlaxoSmithKline’s FLULAVAL flu shot In the interests of public safety and journalistic inquiry — I’m a multiple award-winning journalist, after all — I acquired a FLULAVAL flu shot vial and insert sheet for the 2014 flu shot, and I read through the microscopic insert text using a magnifier.Here’s a photo of the FLULAVAL vial and box in which the insert was found. Note that this photo clearly shows the flu shot label admitting the shot contains “thimerosal as a preservative.” Thimerosal is made from toxic mercury. But there’s much more in this insert… “No decrease in influenza disease” after vaccination Read the language in the following photo of the FLULAVAL vaccine insert very carefully.It says:FLULAVAL is a vaccine indicated for active immunization against influenza disease… but doesn’t ever claim the vaccine actually works.In the very next bullet point, the vaccine insert admits: …there have been no controlled trials adequately demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccination with FLULAVAL. In other words, GlaxoSmithKline confirms there is no evidence to back this flu shot .Got that? Amazing, isn’t it? Especially given how many people scream about flu shots being “SCIENTIFIC!” and backed by “EVIDENCE!”It turns out that if you want protection from the flu, you might get the very same results by rubbing a lucky rabbit’s foot or hopping around your living room in some sort of “anti-flu dance.”All of these — the flu shot, the rabbit’s foot and the anti-flu dance — are backed by the same amount of scientific evidence. “Safety and effectiveness not established” There’s even more. If you keep reading the FLULAVAL insert, it says in black and white text, “Safety and effectiveness of FLULAVAL in pediatric patients have not been established.”The same insert also says, “FLULAVAL has not been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or for impairment of fertility.”As you can also see, this same insert also explains that when you’re being injected with a flu shot, you’re also being injected with mercury, formaldehyde and other toxic ingredients: “Thimerosal, a mercury derivative, is added as a preservative. Each … dose contains 50 mcg thimerosal. Each dose may also contain residual amounts of ovalbumin, formaldehyde, and sodium deoxycholate from the manufacturing process.” Toxic side effects include facial paralysis and more If you keep reading the FLULAVAL vaccine insert, you’ll eventually get to a section called “Postmarketing Experience.”This subhead means here are all the side effects reported by actual users after being vaccinated . In other words, these are the results of turning the human population into vaccine guinea pigs.Just some of the adverse effects experienced after flu shot vaccines include:• Eye pain and chest pain• Arthritis• Dizziness, tremors and losing consciousness (syncope)• Convulsions and seizures• Cranial nerve paralysis or limb paralysis• Swelling of the brain• Partial facial paralysis… and much more. See the text yourself:Here’s a more complete list of some of the adverse effects typically listed on flu shot vaccine insert sheets:Blood and Lymphatic System Disorders: Lymphadenopathy.Eye Disorders: Eye pain, photophobia.Gastrointestinal Disorders: Dysphagia.General Disorders and Administration Site Conditions: Chest pain, injection site inflammation, asthenia, injection site rash, abnormal gait, injection site bruising, injection site sterile abscess.Immune System Disorders: Allergic reactions including anaphylaxis, angioedema.Infections and Infestations: Rhinitis, laryngitis, cellulitis.Musculoskeletal and Connective Tissue Disorders: Muscle weakness, arthritis.Nervous System Disorders: Dizziness, paresthesia, hypoesthesia, hypokinesia, tremor, somnolence, syncope, Guillain-Barre syndrome, convulsions/seizures, facial or cranial nerve paralysis, encephalopathy, limb paralysis.Psychiatric Disorders: Insomnia.Respiratory, Thoracic, and Mediastinal Disorders: Dyspnea, dysphonia, bronchospasm, throat tightness.Skin and Subcutaneous Tissue Disorders: Urticaria, pruritus, sweating.Vascular Disorders: Flushing, pallor.“Do not administer FLULAVAL to anyone…”If you go on to read this entire insert, which is quite lengthy and very difficult for any normal person to read, here’s what else it says:“Safety and effectiveness of Flulaval have not been established in pregnant women, nursing mothers or children.”“Do not administer Flulaval to anyone… following previous administration of any influenza vaccine.”You can confirm all this for yourself by going to any pharmacy and asking for a flu shot insert sheet . While the language printed on the sheet will vary from one manufacturer to another, they all reveal fascinating things like: Flu shot ingredients Documented flu shot side effects (which always include neurological problems such as seizures) Warnings not to give them to children or pregnant women (in most cases) “No adequate and well controlled studies in pregnant women” One of the FLULAVAL vaccine insert sheets I looked at said the following: “There are, however, no adequate and well controlled studies in pregnant women. Because animal reproduction studies are not always predictive of human response, FLULAVAL should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed.” What this paragraph says is, essentially, “We have no evidence this is safe in pregnant women, but it’s okay to inject pregnant women with this anyway, as long as they need it.”And of course the pseudoscience mainstream media is happy to loudly and repeatedly proclaim that all pregnant women “need” the flu shot, a claim founded in nothing but wishy washy junk science and corporate profit motives. So doctors, who obediently inject almost anything into pregnant women as long as Big Pharma tells them it’s okay, are happy to keep poisoning women’s bodies with mercury and formaldehyde even though, as the insert openly admits: “There are, however, no adequate and well controlled studies in pregnant women.” How to transform a quack vaccine into “evidence-based medicine” Keep in mind these vaccine inserts are directly telling you the vaccine isn’t backed by clinical evidence of safety or efficacy . It’s practically claiming, “This vaccine is based on voodoo. Take it at your own risk…”You may be wondering, then, if a vaccine openly admits it doesn’t work and hasn’t been adequantely tested and contains toxic chemicals, how exactly does this vaccine get sold to the public as “evidence-based medicine” that’s loudly proclaimed to be good for children, infants, pregnant women, senior citizens and everyone else?It’s simple: THEY LIE.A medical lie repeated often enough by people in high enough positions of apparent authority will be obediently accepted by the gullible masses. This devious art of lying to the public about vaccines is deeply embedded in the culture thanks to the incessant pro-vaccine propaganda of the mainstream media which asks no question at all about vaccine safety and refuses to discuss vaccine ingredients or neurological side effects, even when they’re printed directly on the vaccine insert.Most people assume something like:“Well, if it wasn’t proven safe and effective, it wouldn’t be allowed on the market, because the FDA protects us all, right?”And so they line up their kids to be injected with mercury and formaldehyde and sometimes even stealth cancer viruses which have contaminated vaccines throughout history .Some of those kids have seizures, go into comas or suffer severe neurological damage that turns them into autistic children. CDC scientist openly admits to vaccine-autism cover-up This was openly admitted by the CDC’s own top scientist in one of the most aggressively censored medical stories of 2014, where Dr. William Thompson publicly wrote the following admission:“My name is William Thompson. I am a Senior Scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where I have worked since 1998. I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article published in the journal Pediatrics. “The omitted data suggested that African American males who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism. Decisions were made regarding which findings to report after the data were collected, and I believe that the final study protocol was not followed.”This story was wholly and dutifully blacked out by the entire national press, by the way. The fact that the CDC committed scientific fraud related to links between vaccines and autism is something they never want you to learn.And yet it’s all right in front of you if you’re willing to read the vaccine insert, read the CDC scientist’s own confession and learn a little about the toxicity of mercury. Chemical-laced vaccine advocates clearly desire to bring harm to children It’s clear from all this that the vaccine industry really does want to harm and destroy children. If vaccine advocates didn’t want to harm children, they would call for the immediate removal of mercury, formaldehyde and other toxic chemicals from all vaccines.If they wanted, they could advocate “clean vaccines” which contain no toxic chemicals. But they consciously choose not to do this. They really do want the toxic chemicals to be injected into pregnant women and children , and that’s exactly why they demand blind vaccine obedience from the masses. No questions allowed. No rational thinking tolerated. No skepticism of vaccines is “politically correct.”In fact, the CDC openly admits that mercury, formaldehyde, MSG, aluminum, antibiotics and other chemicals are still used in vaccines . Here’s a screen shot from the CDC website’s vaccine additives page which openly states this:The same CDC that committed scientific fraud and covered up links between vaccines and autism predictably claims all these toxic chemicals are perfectly safe to be injected into children.That’s how you know they’re truly evil: When they knowingly commit fraud in order to continue the practice of poisoning human bodies with toxic chemicals, that’s an admission that they actively desire to harm health and destroy lives.When I once confronted a vaccine pusher with the fact that flu shots contain mercury and that if the same concentration of mercury was found in a vitamin it would be banned by the FDA , that person told me, “Mercury in vitamins makes them dangerous. But mercury in vaccines makes them work better.”That’s the kind of insane logic you’ll frequently encounter among vaccine pushers / poisoners. For those who reject pseudoscience vaccines, the state points a gun in your face When people come to their senses and realize they probably shouldn’t inject themselves and their children with mercury, formaldehyde, aluminum and other toxic vaccine ingredients, they are quickly met with a belligerent medical police state that shoves guns in their faces and demands they comply.As reported by Police State USA [4]:“A state bureaucracy is threatening a mother with removal of an infant unless her entire family subjects themselves to flu shots. “The Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) is giving the Tacoma family until February to comply with the mandated regimen of influenza vaccines — imposed on every member of the family — or else they will lose their youngest child, a 2-week-old foster infant that was born on Christmas.”The medical police state, you see, is threatening to carry out yet another medical kidnapping of a foster infant if the entire family doesn’t agree to be obediently injected with toxic chemicals. Click here to read a recent list of medical kidnappings happening in America, many over vaccine issues.Yes, this is all happening in America… even though it sounds like a story out of a North Korea gulag. Make sure you understand this has nothing whatsoever to do with protecting the foster child. This is about a militant health agency “teaching that woman a lesson” and demanding she sacrifice the health of her entire family as a sign of loyalty.The Aztecs used to demand families give up their firstborn sons to have their hearts cut out in ritualistic sacrifices to appease their gods. Today, modern medicine follows the same pattern, demanding families sacrifice their health in order to appease the pharma-corrupted bureaucrats, many of whom are pedophiles and child rapists to begin with. Just recently, a top U.S. Health and Human Services executive was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he “accessed child pornography, solicited child pornography from other members, and exchanged private messages with other members in which he expressed an interest in the violent rape and murder of children,” reports Mediaite.com .As Mac Slavo explains on SHTFplan.com : “Whether you agree with yearly flu vaccines or not, the following report from Tacoma, Washington should scare the hell out of you because if the government moves forward with their threats then every child in America will effectively become a ward of the state. ” A quick summary of the flu shot fraud • Flu shot vaccine inserts openly admit there is no evidence that flu shots work.• Flu shots still contain toxic mercury, a potent neurotoxin.• Flu shot vaccine inserts openly admit flu shots caused seizures, paralysis and other neurological disorders, which is not surprising given that they still contain mercury, a potent neurotoxin.• Vaccine propaganda is so mindless and aggressive that anyone who merely cites the printed vaccine insert is immediately condemned as “anti-science,” even though the science is perfectly clear that many vaccines are backed by no scientific evidence at all.• The CDC has altered vaccine safety data in a conspiracy to hide truthful facts about vaccine risks from the public.• Informed parents who consciously choose to avoid having their children injected with medically useless (but dangerous) vaccines are increasingly criminalized while their children are subjected to medical kidnapping .• For publishing truthful photos of printed vaccine inserts, Natural News is subjected to heavy censorship in an attempt to make sure the public never learns this information. By Mike Adams Dear Friends, HumansAreFree is and will always be free to access and use. If you appreciate my work, please help me continue.
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Clinton Campaign Questions Release Of FBI's Marc Rich Pardon Records Source: Zero Hedge
As reported moments ago, in what appears to have been a surprise release, the FBI's Vault twitter account released 129 pages of files related to the FBI's 2001 prove into Bill Clinton's 2001 pardon of Marc Rich. And while NBC reported that the files were releases as part of a normal subpoena, the increasingly paranoid (not without reason) Clinton campaign immediately had questions. According to Politico , "Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign raised questions about the timing of the FBI’s release Tuesday of records on a 15-year-old investigation into President Bill Clinton’s pardon to fugitive financier Marc Rich."
The FBI posted the 129 pages of records in its online Freedom of Information Act reading room in apparent response to a FOIA request seeking information on FBI inquiries into the Clinton Foundation. On the website, the release was dated Monday, but an FBI Twitter account flagged the new posting at noon on Tuesday.
As Politico adds, the Clinton campaign, which is already at odds with FBI Director James Comey over his disclosure of new evidence in the Clinton email probe, immediately questioned why Clinton-related records were being released just a week before the election.
“Absent a FOIA litigation deadline, this is odd. Will FBI be posting docs on Trump’s housing discrimination in ’70s?” Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon asked on Twitter. Absent a FOIA litigation deadline, this is odd. Will FBI be posting docs on Trump's housing discrimination in '70s? https://t.co/uJMMzX6rtI
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) November 1, 2016
When reached by Politico, spokespeople for the FBI and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to questions about whether there were any lawsuits seeking the newly posted material or whether a judge had set a deadline for its disclosure.
Despite the lack of major revelations in the documents, which constitute only a part of the FBI’s files on the inquiry, the atmospherics in the records are unhelpful to the Clinton campaign. The records repeatedly refer to the probe being handled by the “Public Corruption Unit” and make clear that the FBI was examining claims that Denise Rich’s Democratic Party “donations may have been intended to influence the fugitive’s pardon.”
“It appears that the required pardon standards and procedures were not followed,” the internal FBI memos said.
Indeed, the request for a pardon for Marc Rich and his business partner, Pincus Green, did not go through normal channels at the Justice Department but was sent directly to the White House. However, presidents are free to grant executive clemency outside the Justice Department channel and many presidents have done so.
The investigation was eventually handed off to Comey, who was White's successor as U.S. attorney. Comey elected not to seek any charges in the case.
So purely a coincidence? Or an internal message sent from FBI staffers, and if so addressed to whom: Clinton or Comey? | 0 |
Re: Largest Public Pensions Face $8.4 Trillion Hole « Reply #47 on: October 18, 2016, 11:27:27 AM » Fell at about the same time morality started falling, takes a strong bond to stand down the attacks of the devil and his dark forces. Marriage is a commitment, high on God's list, one of the goals of the powers that wanna be is to break up families destroy marriage, wipe out true love, all in the name of control.They turned this once great nation into a ME first society, totally opposite of God,s commands.We are all seeing and feeling the results. Logged Rev21:4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.Who am I | 0 |
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — “Is this idiot for Trump?” Mark Wasko asked, his voice booming across the parking lot of an supermarket. It was a late weekday morning in a troubled, shrinking Rust Belt city that is fed up with being known as a troubled, shrinking Rust Belt city. The man Mr. Wasko was calling an idiot — perhaps seriously, or playfully, or both — was his friend Vincent Archangelo Strines. Mr. Wasko, 48, had seen Mr. Strines, 55, a beefy blond man with a pack of cigarillos in his breast pocket, sitting behind a folding table and selling raffle tickets to support his nonprofit addiction recovery organization. So Mr. Wasko had parked his big soda truck in the lot and hopped out. He was appalled to learn that his friend, normally a Democratic voter, was now supporting Donald J. Trump. He looked Mr. Strines in the eye. “You’re an idiot,” he declared. So began a particularly spirited variant of the big argument currently consuming Youngstown: Does Mr. Trump, a Manhattan billionaire, really deserve to be the voice of the beleaguered American working class? It is a question of almost existential importance in a city where the steel industry’s demise was so dramatic that Bruce Springsteen wrote a bitter ballad about it. To many, Mr. Trump’s blunt language and swaggering persona feel familiar and welcome, and ring true. Youngstown is the kind of Midwestern stronghold where Mr. Trump’s struggling campaign must make a strong showing, particularly among white voters, if he is to have any chance of winning the presidential election. Broaching the topic of Mr. Trump on a street corner or bar stool here — and thus delving into matters of race, economics, immigration and the matter of the city’s disintegration — can be a volatile business. “If you want to punch me in the face, do it,” Mr. Strines dared Mr. Wasko casually, after about 15 minutes of debate that played out under a billboard for a nearby adult novelty store called Sassy Sensations and touched on all of those issues. Cars whooshed up and down Mahoning Avenue, past businesses shuttered or struggling, and past tired residential side streets now considered “food deserts” since the grocery store, a Sparkle Market, closed down about four years ago. Youngstown, a city of about 65, 000 people, is about 60 percent smaller than it was in 1960. Decades ago, blacks, Irish, Italians and Eastern Europeans came to work among the great blast furnaces of the old mills. When those businesses closed between 1977 and 1982, tens of thousands lost their jobs. Youngstown, as Mr. Springsteen noted in his 1995 song of the same name, once produced the iron and steel to fight America’s wars. It has also produced the boxing great Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, a passion for high school football that rivals West Texas’ a tradition of political corruption — mostly the work of Democrats — and a long history, recently somewhat diminished, of mafia control. It is the rare small city whose past is dotted with car bombings, mob hits and characters with names like Moosey, Fats, Big Ernie and Brier Hill Jimmy. Today there are still some metal industry and manufacturing jobs. There is a big General Motors plant north of town that produces the small Chevrolet Cruze sedan. There is a prison that opened in 1998. There is a business incubator, focused on reimagining Youngstown as a hub for software and printing. In addition, there are signs of recovery from the Great Recession: The unemployment rate, which peaked at nearly 17 percent in January 2010, stood at 7. 6 percent in June. There is also a widespread belief that Mr. Trump is right when he says that the United States must renegotiate the terms of its trade with the world. Mr. Strines said that he worked for years as a quality assurance superintendent in the aluminum business, making good money until health issues related to his drinking problem forced him to retire. In that time, he said, he saw many businesses go under because China could produce aluminum for a fraction of what it cost American companies. He is hoping Mr. Trump will institute more protective tariffs. “I think he could bring the economy back,” he said. “He’s a kind of guy. ” Mr. Wasko huffed. He doubted that Mr. Trump would follow through on any of his promises. What about the border wall? Mr. Trump was never going to get Mexico to pay for that, he said. And anyhow, wasn’t America great already? Mr. Strines said: “You think America is great? Come look for a job in Youngstown. ’’ On a Monday earlier this month, Mr. Trump visited Youngstown State University, where he delivered a foreign policy address in which he promised a more forceful response to what he called “radical Islamic terrorism. ” Among those in the crowd was Donald J. Skowron, a retired police officer active in the local Republican Party. On his phone, Mr. Skowron showed off photos in which he stood beside the road with big signs, meant for Democrats, that read, “CROSS OVER” and “VOTE TRUMP. ” He said 19 of 20 drivers responded with a . “The last one,” he said, extending his middle finger — “I get those. ” Wendy Aron, 58, emerged from the speech energized. She was once a supporter of President Obama but was dismayed by the weakness of the recovery. Her housecleaning business in the Youngstown suburb of Boardman has shrunk, going from a dozen employees to a operation: her and her daughter. Working people, she said, don’t have the money to pay for maid service anymore. Many of her close friends remain Democrats. “They just put me down,” she said. “I don’t want to even talk to them. ” Gayle Hite, an employee at a hospital, and her husband, Joseph, were not invited to the speech, but got as close to it as they could, waiting outside a campus building with her wearing a “Make America Great Again” . She is a longtime Republican, but her husband, who usually votes Democrat, was planning to vote for Mr. Trump this year. They had watched Mr. Trump slog through a tough couple of weeks, taking criticism for, among other things, his feud with the family of a slain Muslim American soldier. But what some saw as gaffes were, to Mr. Hite, proof that Mr. Trump was a true change agent. “He’s not bought or sold by anybody,” said Mr. Hite, a retired corrections officer. “He can say what he wants. ” These days Mr. Hite, 64, receives a Social Security check, but he said he worried about the ways in which a volatile world might bankrupt the government. What would it cost to absorb Syrian refugees? And the immigrants coming across the Mexican border? The couple had watched “Conspiracy Theory,” the cable television show hosted by the onetime professional wrestler and governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura. They were worried about the Bilderberg conference, the yearly, secretive meeting of bankers and policy makers. “It shows we’re not really running our country,” Ms. Hite said. “Sometimes I don’t believe our vote counts. ” In Mr. Springsteen’s song “Youngstown,” the narrator, a mill worker, wishes for a future not in heaven but in “the fiery furnaces of hell. ” The character was inspired, in part, by a real steelworker, Joe Marshall Jr. whom Mr. Springsteen had read about in a book. Today Mr. Marshall, a small, sturdy man, who turns 63 on Saturday, can be found in Columbus, living in a $500 apartment and drawing a full state pension. After the steel industry fell apart, he pursued a life in law enforcement. He is an ardent Trump supporter. “He says what the average person is afraid to say because it’s politically incorrect,” Mr. Marshall said about Mr. Trump. Mr. Marshall worked at the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office for 23 years, at the jail and on patrol — a seat, he said, to the city’s dramatic decline. He watched as the professional classes emptied out, and as the city’s complexion changed: Youngstown, 74 percent white in 1970, is now about evenly divided between blacks and whites. Drugs came in, he said. The murder rate soared. Young people were dropping out of school at 15 years of age, Mr. Marshall said, because they didn’t see what kinds of work a degree would get them. “Where are they going to go, Taco Bell?” he asked. “That’s jobs. ” Seven years ago, he moved away, taking a job as a corrections officer. Today, his political views are eclectic. The Democrats, he said, “failed Youngstown”: During the steel days, they were the party of overbearing regulations, the ones who told management that they couldn’t open a second blast furnace. “That’s jobs they took away,” he said. But Mr. Marshall also had harsh words for Gov. John R. Kasich, a Republican. During Mr. Kasich’s tenure, he said, “it’s just been cuts and cuts and cuts and cuts” to the benefits of state employees like him. “He tried to take away our collective bargaining rights,” he said. On Facebook, Mr. Marshall’s posts extol the beauty of families, and the contributions of to the country’s culture. But he is wary of the big mosque in his neighborhood and suspects Muslims there of planning an attack. The Democrats, he said, seem indifferent to whites. “Believe me, as Jesus Christ is my lord and savior, I’m not prejudiced or anything,” he said. “But it seems if you’re a minority, they help you out a lot more than if you’re white. ” In Mr. Trump, Mr. Marshall sees echoes of the man who hired him to be a deputy, James A. Traficant Jr. the sheriff at the time. Mr. Traficant would later become a Democratic congressman and Northeast Ohio’s most emblematic politician, until his expulsion from Congress in 2002 after a bribery conviction. (Mr. Traficant died in 2014 after a tractor fell on him.) “He was a good guy,” Mr. Marshall said of Mr. Traficant, who had hired him personally. “I remember he told me, ‘You screw up, Marshall, I’ll kill you. ’” Like Mr. Trump, Mr. Traficant, who went by the nickname Jimbo, annoyed and defied members of both parties, dished out scathing personal insults, blasted Washington insiders and purported to speak for the average Joe. He proposed sending troops to secure the Mexican border and criticized free trade. He even sported a flamboyant and hairdo, though it proved to be a toupee. Back in Youngstown, the fondness for Mr. Traficant lingers despite allegations that he was tied to the mob. “Well, the whole city was like that,” said Kathy Miller, the Trump campaign coordinator for Mahoning County. She said it was difficult to agree with everything Mr. Traficant did, just as it is with Mr. Trump. But she said that Mr. Traficant’s constituent services were unparalleled. “Jimbo got it taken care of,” she said. Out in the parking lot, Mr. Strines seconded the praise. “He just told it the way it was, and I think Trump is the same type of guy as Traficant,” he said. Mr. Strines even asserted that Youngstown had been a better, safer place when the mob was in control. So it would be, he said, in Mr. Trump’s America. Once upon a time, he said, everybody in Youngstown knew that if someone messed up and failed to follow certain rules, “that’s where the mob would step in. ” “That’s where Trump would step in,” he said. “Once somebody’s got fear, like Iraq will have, like China will have,” he said, the world will grow calmer. “All of those illegal aliens better pack up their toothbrushes and start running. ” Mr. Wasko wasn’t buying it: “So let’s instill fear in everyone in America,” he said sarcastically. “No,” Mr. Strines said, “only the bad ones, man. ” | 1 |
BREAKING: Soros Election Tampering Explodes… Illegally Funneling Cash
The law was robbing Americans blind while leaving them with some of the worst health care coverage in recent history — and even worse, Gruber wanted to basically double down on the insanity rather than admit Obamacare had failed.
Be thankful that this man was not an actual surgeon, because with judgment this bad, many were apt to die were he ever to wield a scalpel.
Just like the president, Gruber had no clue. He was in effect a political hack, someone who should have never even been allowed within 50 feet of the federal government in the first place.
Please share this story on Facebook and Twitter and let us know what you think about the ghastly statements made by Obamacare architect Johnathan Gruber. What do you think about this guy and his masterpiece? Scroll down to comment below! Advertisement Popular Right Now | 0 |
Just days before a public town meeting on Tuesday night, Jess Herbst, the mayor of New Hope, Tex. had an official announcement. “I am transgender. ” The statement said that she had transitioned and would no longer use the name Jeff. The message was a few hundred words long and appeared on the home screen of the official website of New Hope, a town of more than 630 residents about 40 miles north of Dallas. But she appeared to break barriers for the state. “As far as I know, I am the first openly transgender mayor on record in the state of Texas there could be others who never came out,” Ms. Herbst said in an interview on Wednesday. “But I am the first to say, ‘Yes I am transgender and a seated mayor.’ ” Ms. Herbst informed residents in a statement on the town’s website about the change, and the joys of her life as a woman, including her preference in pronouns and the endurance of her marriage. “As your mayor I must tell you about something that has been with me since my earliest memories,” Ms. Herbst wrote. “I am Transgender. Two years ago, with the support of my wife, daughters and I began hormone replacement therapy (HRT). “At the time, I did not imagine I would hold the mayor’s position, but here I am. ” Ms. Herbst has been active in local government since 2003 as an elected alderman, road commissioner and mayor pro tempore. In 2016, she was appointed New Hope’s mayor after the previous official in that post died. As of Wednesday morning, the New Hope town website was still referring to her as Mayor Jeff Herbst. But Ms. Herbst implied in her statement that she was patient: “I’m not especially sensitive to the pronoun I’m called, and I expect people to take time to make the change. I use the name Jess, a simple change from Jeff. ” “I live my life as a female now, and I will be performing my duties to the town as such,” she wrote. On the town website, she also invited the public to make comments in the town’s public meeting on Jan 31. Ms. Herbst, 58, said in a telephone interview that after posting her statement on Jan. 23, she attended the council meeting for the first time dressed as a woman.’ ”“It was phenomenally positive everyone was supportive,” she said. “We had a fairly packed crowd for a tiny town — there were 15 or 20 people there. I explained to the people who had not just had a chance to see the website, and everybody said, ‘O. K.,’ and we went on and had a meeting. ”” ’But as an elected official who was later appointed as mayor, Ms. Herbst said that she was given a “very stern lecture” by the town attorney about laws that govern elections and canvassing, and that she was told not to change her name before the coming election cycle. Ms. Herbst also said she has received thousands of messages of support, and three negative ones. Replies to announcements on her Facebook page and the town’s website appear to be supportive, with residents praising her for coming forward in a state where, in most parts, it is legal to discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. In January, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, one of the most powerful Republican officials in the state, put Texas on the front lines of the nation’s culture wars when he announced the filing of a bill that would require people in government buildings and public schools to use the bathroom that corresponds with their “biological sex. ” Critics said the bill discriminated against transgender people. Terri Burke, the executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said Mayor Herbst was showing “tremendous courage in discussing her identity with the public. “We applaud Mayor Herbst’s decision to serve her community openly in public office and take a stand against hateful rhetoric coming from some of our legislators,” Ms. Burke said in an email. “Some Texas lawmakers are attempting to exclude transgender Texans from public spaces with legislation like SB6, but we should be making it easier for them to share their skills and talents with us, not pushing them out of public restrooms and public life. ” Ms. Herbst suggested on the city’s website that the culture was changing in the United States and directed constituents to her personal website, where she has kept a diary over the years. It included a gallery of photos titled, “Who I am now,” juxtaposed with a section called who “I used to be,” with images of her life as Jeff. Ms. Herbst said that she had the support of her family. Her wife grew up in New Hope, and the couple have lived in the town with their two daughters since 1999. “It is gender identity, not sexual preference that applies to me,” the mayor wrote. “I love my wife, and she loves me. We have no intention of change. My daughters have been adamant supporters of me and are proud to tell people their father is transgender. ” In the interview Wednesday, Ms. Herbst said she began living full time as Jess toward the end of September, and gradually broke the news to friends, family and . Finally, there was no one left to tell but the wider town population, and that was when she made the announcement. “I am being who I am and doing what I have to do,” she said. “I am not trying to make some sort of big statement. ” | 1 |
Nation Elects First Black-Hearted President WASHINGTON—Shattering a barrier long thought unbreakable in the United States, Donald Trump, the 70-year-old billionaire real estate mogul from New York, became the first black-hearted man in history to win the American presidency, in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Nation’s Optimists Need To Shut The Fuck Up Right Now WASHINGTON—Saying their rosy attitude about the state of the election was not helping anything given what is currently transpiring, sources confirmed Tuesday night that the nation’s optimists need to seriously shut the fuck up as soon as humanly fucking possible. | 0 |
YouTube channels will now be required to reach 10, 000 views before the creator’s videos will be able to include and earn money, according to a new blog post from the company. [“For millions of creators, making videos on YouTube isn’t just a creative outlet, it’s a source of income … Today, more creators are making a living on YouTube than ever before,” declared YouTube in the official blog post. “However, with this growth we’ve started seeing cases of abuse where great, original content is by others who try to earn revenue from it. ” “Starting today, we will no longer serve ads on YPP [YouTube Partner Program] videos until the channel reaches 10k lifetime views,” they continued. “This new threshold gives us enough information to determine the validity of a channel. It also allows us to confirm if a channel is following our community guidelines and advertiser policies. By keeping the threshold to 10k views, we also ensure that there will be minimal impact on our aspiring creators. And, of course, any revenue earned on channels with under 10k views up until today will not be impacted. ” “In a few weeks, we’ll also be adding a review process for new creators who apply to be in the YouTube Partner Program. After a creator hits 10k lifetime views on their channel, we’ll review their activity against our policies,” the company concluded. “If everything looks good, we’ll bring this channel into YPP and begin serving ads against their content. Together these new thresholds will help ensure revenue only flows to creators who are playing by the rules. ” The move appears to be a part of YouTube’s response to withdrawal from the site and an attempt to bring companies back to the platform. | 1 |
Struggling with sagging sales over another crucial holiday shopping season, Macy’s announced on Wednesday that it was eliminating more than 10, 000 jobs as part of a continuing plan to cut costs and close 100 stores. Macy’s, the country’s largest department store chain, said sales at its stores had fallen 2. 1 percent in November and December compared with the same period in 2015. Terry J. Lundgren, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement that while the trend was “consistent with the lower end of our guidance, we had anticipated sales would be stronger. ” He attributed the decline to “broader challenges” facing much of the retail industry. Consumers, who endured a long recession, have turned to chains like T. J. Maxx and shifted their spending away from stores for the convenience of online shopping with the retail giant Amazon. The announcement on Wednesday continued a trend for Macy’s, which announced last January that it was eliminating about 4, 500 jobs in a major restructuring. Then, too, it said slumping holiday season sales had hurt its bottom line. The company, which now has 730 stores, announced in August that it would close 100 of them. On Wednesday, it identified 68 stores to be closed. The store in the Douglaston neighborhood of Queens, which opened in 1981, will close. Stores at the Marketplace Mall in Rochester at the Oakdale Mall in Johnson City, N. Y. near Binghamton and at the Preakness Shopping Center in Wayne, N. J. will close, the company said. Of the 68, three were closed by the middle of 2016, 63 will close in the spring and two will be closed by the middle of 2017. Three other locations were sold or are to be sold. The company said it planned to close about 30 other stores over the next few years. Some employees may be offered positions at nearby stores, but Macy’s estimated that 3, 900 workers would be affected by the closings. It also said it planned to restructure parts of its business, leading to a reduction of an additional 6, 200 jobs. Over all, the job cuts represent about 7 percent of its work force. The company estimated that the changes would save about $550 million a year, starting in 2017. Mr. Lundgren said the company was closing stores that were “unproductive or are no longer robust shopping destinations because of changes in the local retail shopping landscape. ” Other sites were being targeted for closing to take advantage of their highly valued real estate. The company, which owns the Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s brands, has been struggling with declining traffic in its stores, where the bulk of its business is still conducted. It plans to invest some of its savings in expanding its digital business. Macy’s said it now expected to earn $2. 95 to $3. 10 per share on an adjusted basis for its 2016 fiscal year, compared with its prior forecast of $3. 15 to $3. 40 per share. Shares in Macy’s fell nearly 10 percent to $32. 30 in trading on Wednesday. | 1 |
Chinese spies steal from USA $100 billion a year 31.10.2016 Print version Font Size The Chinese intelligence has challenged the US national security system. China recruits senior military officials and conducts cyber attacks against the United States. What is worse, the Chinese intelligence has stolen Pentagon's plans for the future conflict with China, a recent report to US Congress said. The annual report from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission has sounded the alarm with regard to the activities of Chinese security forces. The report said that despite extensive ties between Beijing and Washington, the US-China relations have remained tense during the current year, the Washington Free Beacon said. The relations between China and the United States have worsened primarily because of China's territorial claims in the South China Sea, permission from the United States to sell weapons to Taiwan, the deployment of the missile defense system in South Korea, Chinese cyber attacks and the US-led policy to "restore balance" in Asia.As for most serious threats, the report highlights cybercrime and the "involvement of the human factor" to gain access to objects of national security. The activities of the Chinese intelligence have increased significantly over the past 15 years. The work is carried out through the Ministry of State Security, the People's Liberation Army of China and military departments of the Communist Party, the report said. As for the "human factor", the report refers to the story of the recruitment of US Pacific Command Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Pierce Bishop. The man was in an intimate relationship with a Chinese woman, who eventually recruited him. Thus, the information about US military secrets in the field of nuclear weapons, secrets of the Reaper MQ-9 UAV and the secret US report about the Strategy of the Ministry of Defense of China was compromised. The report also mentions a few other recruited gentlemen: another senior official of the Pacific Command - James Fondren, who delivered "The National Defense Strategy of the USA" to China in 2010. Another man, Greg Bergerssen, delivered state secrets to China before he was arrested in 2008. US naval officer Edward Lin was caught for selling secrets of the US Navy to China. All this information may undermine the military superiority of the United States by promoting China's military modernization and providing China with understanding of the tactics of military operations and other operational approaches of the United States to potential developments in the region, the report said. Noteworthy, China spies even on members of government delegations. For example, British officials, before going to the G20 summit in Hangzhou, were instructed to avoid contacts with "Chinese spies who offer sex", The Irish Times said. The officials were instructed not to take any gifts, especially electronic devices containing memory cards, SIM-cards or chargers as they could serve as a basis for video and audio surveillance. All the members of the British delegation were given temporary mobile phones and e-mail addresses. The officials were even recommended to change their clothes under blankets to avoid any chance of taking their nude pictures. "Chinese intelligence has repeatedly infiltrated U.S. national security entities and extracted information with serious consequences for U.S. national security, including information on the plans and operations of U.S. military forces and the designs of U.S. weapons and weapons systems," the report said. "Among the information extracted were 5.6 million fingerprints, some of which could be used to identify undercover U.S. government agents or to create duplicates of biometric data to obtain access to classified areas," it continued. China uses a variety of "actors" for its cyber espionage - from "government contractor" to independent "patriotic hackers" and "criminal entities." These groups often interact with each other. The US Department of Justice paid attention to the arrest of US citizen Allen Ho, who was accused of stealing nuclear technology for China General Group. Ho enlisted as many as six American engineers for the purpose. In addition, the DoJ and the FBI accused Chinese nationals of the theft of know-how technology for the production of carbon fiber for submarines and compounds for bleaching materials.The FBI evaluated losses from industrial espionage at 19 billion dollars a year. In one outstanding incidence, former Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez had his laptop hacked into and copied in Beijing, even though Gutierrez was one of the key figures in international trade negotiations. The information from his laptop was subsequently used to break into US government computers.James Andrew Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington said that the stolen intellectual property of the USA brings China the profit of up to 100 billion a year. Interestingly, only a few Chinese spies have been arrested so far, John R. Schindler wrote for The Observer. The potential of the Chinese intelligence is high: 300,000 Chinese students studying in American universities. Lyuba Lulko Read article on the Russian version of Pravda.Ru USA watches China building new capitalism | 0 |
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the .) Good evening. Here’s the latest. 1. It’s official. Simone Biles, the gymnast some call the best in history, was crowned the gymnastics champion at the Rio Olympics. Her teammate Aly Raisman came in second. Here’s a of two of Biles’s signature moves. With a win in the individual medley, Michael Phelps earned his thirteenth individual gold medal, surpassing Leonidas of Rhodes, who won 12 gold medals in the ancient Olympics. Another achievement for the books: Simone Manuel became the first woman to win an individual event in Olympic swimming. Our full coverage of the Games is here — including the odd version of the U. S. national anthem being played at medal ceremonies. _____ 2. Hillary Clinton rejected the economic agenda Donald Trump laid out this week, calling him an enemy of “the little guy. ” He wants to “give trillions in tax cuts to people like himself,” she said, while deepening the financial pain of the middle and working classes. Neither candidate, however, has said much about helping people who are not working — many of them living in abject poverty. _____ 3. Mr. Trump faced down critics of his unorthodox campaign style, telling an interviewer, “It’s either going to work or I’m going to, you know, I’m going to have a very, very nice long vacation. ” After weeks of hearing detractors saying a Trump presidency would be a grave threat to national security, Mr. Trump has begun portraying Mrs. Clinton and President Obama as of the Islamic State. He held a rally in Kissimmee, Fla. in the evening. _____ 4. The F. B. I. has widened its investigation into what officials believe was a Russian cyberattack directed against the Democratic Party. The attack appears to have been far larger than first thought, raising the possibility of more damaging disclosures like the emails published recently by WikiLeaks. After a impasse that has kept the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, Sweden has agreed to question him there over rape accusations. _____ 5. Almost 55 miles a gallon — that’s what U. S. regulators say automakers’ fleets must average by 2025. Engineers, racing to meet the mark, are working with new batteries for hybrids. Some cars are going on a superglue diet: adhesives, like the one being used on the GMC Acadia above, can stiffen seams and allow components to be made of thinner steel. _____ 6. The animated “Sausage Party,” opening nationwide this weekend, sends foodstuffs ranging through the supermarket for 89 minutes of bawdy, silly humor — and a deeper layer. Characters voiced by Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Edward Norton, Michael Cera, Bill Hader and others end up in a classic confrontation between comforting religious beliefs (weekend shoppers are gods who will liberate them) and scientific thought (their actual fate). Our reviewer saluted “the intellectual rigor of a project that probably didn’t require it” and called the movie “fun pretty much all the way through. ” _____ 7. Fox News has not managed to put a scandal behind it, despite rapidly forcing out its chairman, Roger Ailes. More women have come forward to describe a culture of intimidation and misogyny, including a former Fox host, Andrea Tantaros, above. Top Ailes deputies who remain are being accused of abetting Mr. Ailes’s behavior. _____ 8. “I found the numbers heartbreaking. ” That was a senior U. S. health official, commenting on a new study that found high rates of rape, bullying, depression and other harms suffered by gay, lesbian and bisexual teenagers. The survey found that they make up about 8 percent of the high school population, or 1. 3 million students. Future studies are likely to include an option for students to identify as transgender. Above, a youth contingent at Miami’s gay pride march in April. _____ 9. U. S. forces seized most of the coastal Libyan city of Surt, a stronghold of the Islamic State. But in Syria, the battle between government forces and rebels has left two million people in the city of Aleppo with critical shortages of food and water. If the turmoil in the Mideast seems too overwhelming to grasp, this could help. A team spent more than a year charting the catastrophe that has befallen the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. At words, it’s not a quick read, but it is a remarkably clear account that connects the region’s history and the Arab Spring uprisings to the creation of the Islamic State and the global refugee crisis. _____ 10. One of our articles today focuses on the pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories and its operations in India’s highly competitive drug market. A Times investigation found that managers pushed workers to pursue sales in violation of Indian law, medical standards and the company’s own ethics guidelines. One of the country’s top salesmen jumped in front of a train last month, leaving a note that said he was committing suicide because of the pressure. Above, his daughter. _____ 11. Finally, Mongolia, a sparsely populated country with nomadic traditions, will be pioneering a novel system next month. The country is adopting an app created by a British What3Words, that looks up a unique code (dissident. sloth. ploy, for instance) for every patch of the earth’s surface — all 57 trillion. Users enter an address or position a pointer on a map to retrieve the code, which the postal service can then use for deliveries. _____ 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 |
Waking Times – by Nathaniel Mauka
Congress overwhelmingly voted for the Patriot Act nearly 16 years ago, and our civil liberties have never been the same since. As if this singular bill, passed by George W. Bush, wasn’t invasive enough, allowing big banks to demand our internet data, and more — the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act ( CISA ) makes cyber-spying by the shadow government and the financial entities controlling it, a forgone conclusion.
As with most shadow government legislation, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act is packed with hidden surveillance allowances. CISA was quietly passed to allow government to demand that private companies hand over personal information to them at will. It also allows companies to mine data, under the auspices of government-created urgency.
The mere fact that this act passed in late 2015 is monumental, since it has been before Congress in different forms for over a decade . The election seems to have offered the perfect cover, as Americans and activists were too busy arguing over Trump vs. Hillary.
Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government relations at the Electronic Transactions Association believes the value of sharing our personal data as a means to be alerted of ‘cyber threats’ outweighs any hazard to our civil liberties. Talbott states ,
“The value is that everyone can be alerted to cyber threats and take precautionary countermeasures before they materialize and spread,” he said. “Before CISA, corrective measures could be taken only after the cyber threat had done its damage. CISA allows each company to serve as an early warning system to the entire economy.”
Who exactly would be determining if someone is a ‘threat’ is the meat of the sandwich, though. CISA is ripe for abuse, just as the Patriot Act has been.
The Patriot Act has made it legal for law enforcement to spy on people, without probable cause – to enter their homes, or even to strip search them before they’ve been to court, had the opportunity to argue a case, or given ‘authorities’ a motive for this type of interrogation.
The stated purpose of the Patriot Act was to deter terrorist acts in the United States, but what do you do when the terrorists have already taken over your country? CISA simply expands the reach of a shadow government which has already been proven to reach beyond the boundaries of constitutional law.
More importantly, who specifically is CISA targeting? After multiple hackers have infiltrated computer systems at the White House , the State Department , the Pentagon , and the Office of Personnel Management, along with the Democratic National Committee , and numerous multinational banks run by the cabal, is the shadow government simply trying to create a stop-gap before their most elusive, yet damning information is made public?
CISA certainly will expand the reach of government surveillance on citizens as it has been conducted by the the National Security Agency (NSA) before former NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed it.
“I think this bill was meant to be a surveillance bill from the start,” said Justin Harvey, CSO of Fidelis Cybersecurity, adding that he is dubious that the stated intent of the bill – to use collective intelligence to warn of potential cyber attacks and possibly stop them before they occur – will result.
Under the guise of ‘sharing cyber threats’ CISA allows companies to wholesale-collect information that may not even be a threat – and then pass it along for government bodies to determine if it is, indeed a threat. If this sounds like circular logic – it is just the beginning of the odd verbiage within the bill. It’s justifications for entering every possible orifice for data-gathering are more confounded than an octopus in a straight jacket.
The government can already enter your personal property including your home, your body , your cell, and your computer , but now they will have a legal in-roads to declare you a cyber-threat, simply for sending an email . This begs the question – who is the real cyber-bully? CISA seems to be nothing more than a prevarication, covering the acts of an elite few who don’t want their secrets exposed. About the Author
Nathaniel Mauka is a researcher of the dark side of government and exopolitics, and a staff writer for Waking Times . | 0 |
I was not yet a teenager when I wandered into the living room of our apartment on the Upper West Side. I saw my parents sitting silently by our television, listening as a young black boxer, Muhammad Ali, talked. He was saying he would not serve in the Army and he would not fight those Vietcong. “My conscience won’t let me go and shoot them,” Ali said in that style of his. “They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me. ” “How can I shoot those poor people?” he added. “Just take me to jail. ” Just take me to jail. Those words registered as astonishing. Here was this great, sexy fighter on the cusp of fame and fortune, a physically pretty man who recited doggerel and who graced the covers of magazines. And he was willing to march off to prison to protest an unjust war. We celebrate athletic courage. Watch a hoopster hit a spinning, jumper in the last seconds, see a center fielder race toward a fence heedless of the possible injury, applaud a fullback who catapults into the end zone, and we talk of courage. Such feats are athletic and wonderful and memorable. Courage is being 24 years old and risking all, the anger of newspaper and television reporters and millions of white Americans who see you as a public enemy, to say no to a war. Channing Frye, a tall and lithe Cleveland Cavalier, stepped onto the practice court in Oakland for an interview on the intricacies of the N. B. A. finals. He’s thoughtful on his chosen vocation first, though, he spoke of the septuagenarian Ali. “He just gave the black community a lot of courage and changed our : ‘Hey, you can be a superstar and not be quiet,’ ” Frye said. “You can voice your opinion and be controversial and still be a champion. ” Frye didn’t go there, but Ali ruined some part of the great athlete Michael Jordan for me. Years ago, at the height of his popularity and given a chance to support Harvey Gantt, the black progressive mayor of Charlotte, N. C. against that old racemonger Senator Jesse Helms, Jordan declined. Republicans, he reportedly said, buy sneakers too. Others spoke and acted in the Ali tradition. Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in the sign at the Olympics in 1968 after medaling in the race. Kareem has spoken out often and thoughtfully on society’s ills. LeBron James has addressed violence and police brutality, and is a union activist. The skier Beckie Scott has spoken out repeatedly on athletic doping and on the fecklessness of international organizations. The point is not whether you agree with their every utterance, any more than that was so with regard to Ali. To see athletes — young men and women who could rightly enough claim obsession with sport and endorsements — embrace the larger world and its discontents is moving. Ali was a man, which is to say complicated and and imperfect. He could be cruel to opponents, in the ring and outside it. Joe Frazier, he said, was too dumb and too ugly to be champion. It is probably smart not to get too worked up about this. Cruelty is woven into boxing like tweed into a fine herringbone jacket. Ali reincarnated himself as champion, three times winning that title, and that gave to his life narrative a metaphorical power. I know the young Ali, lean and dangerous and endlessly boastful, only through my father’s stories, and from old newsreels. The Ali I remember was and a ferocious competitor, too willing to stand and absorb punishment. By the time he tangled with George Foreman in 1974 in Zaire, the fight known as the Rumble in the Jungle, his speed and reflexes were like bike tires worn down. The question was not whether Foreman would beat him senseless, but how quickly the end would come. Ali, per usual, would have none of that. “If you think the world was surprised when Nixon resigned, wait till I whup Foreman’s behind,” he told David Frost. Here’s Norman Mailer’s classic account in the “The Fight. ” Ali would “slide off a punch and fall back into the ropes with all the calm of a man swinging in the rigging. All the while, he used his eyes. They looked like stars, and he feinted Foreman out with his eyes, flashing white eyeballs of panic he did not feel which pulled Foreman through into the trick of lurching after him on a wrong move. ” I drove back to Purchase College that night and listened to the staccato, reports on WINS news radio. When the anchor broke in excitedly to say that Ali had toppled Foreman in the eighth round like an oak tree, I pounded my dashboard and screamed like a banshee loose on the Hutchinson River Parkway. Ali’s decline would play no small part in my own decision to turn away from boxing. I had read of Joe Louis, slowed and and lost late in his life. But unlike my parents, I never knew him in his prime. Ali was the athlete of my youth. By the end, Parkinson’s and his past braveries in the ring had rendered Ali near immobile and mute. Now he is dead. Here is another outtake from that primal force. He had listened as young white men berated him for resisting the draft. Then, eyes flashing, he came back at them. “You talking about me about some draft and all you white boys are breaking your neck to get to Switzerland and Canada and London,” he said, adding, “If I’m going to die, I’ll die now right here, fighting you. ” The words speak to a passion forever young, and brave. | 1 |
COMICAL: Larry the Cable Guy slams ‘indefensible’ hypocrisy from Donna Brazile Posted at 3:57 pm on October 29, 2016 by Doug P. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
The defenses of Hillary Clinton have reached comical proportions, so it’s only appropriate that a comedian helps point out a fresh round of hypocrisy: Lol. I swear this is getting ridiculous. The hypocrisy is indefensible RT @RyanBLeslie : This tweet didn't age well. https://t.co/8fPB4wnJ92
— Larry The Cable Guy (@GitRDoneLarry) October 29, 2016
Indefensible indeed! Check out this flashback from current DNC head Donna Brazile by way of Media Matters: Wash. Post Editorial Board: Republicans Are Damaging Rule Of Law By Attacking FBI Director Comey https://t.co/HEyZqdRsaK
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) July 7, 2016
That’s from July 7th. Oh how the Democrats’ attitude has changed in the course of one day! Trending | 0 |
We Are Change
Wikileaks has been leaking more emails then we can keep up with but two of the biggest bombshells recently released by the international whistle-blower organization are that the Department of Justice and State Department were in collusion with the Clinton campaign.
The emails show Clinton campaign manager John Podesta being warned by Department Of Justice Assistant Secretary General Peter Kadzik from a non-government email address about Hillary’s investigation.
Kadzik wrote to Podesta with the subject line “heads up,” tipping him off to the investigation into Hillary Clinton on Benghazi.
“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,” Kadzik wrote.
Peter Kadzik is also in charge of investigating Huma Abedin’s emails. Kadzik was also an attorney for John Podesta and in Podesta’s own words he was a “ fantastic lawyer” who “kept me out of jail.”
In another bombshell, Podesta made false statements to a grand jury during the investigation into the Monica Lewinsky trial, which Podesta himself summarizes in another leaked email.
A further revelations about Kadzik is the fact that Peter Kadzik represented Marc Rich as his attorney – the same Marc Rich that Bill Clinton controversially pardoned and the FBI released it’s investigation files into on Monday.
If that’s not enough Kadzik’s son tried to get a job working for the Clinton campaign . Then there is the fact that Kadzik had multiple dinners with Podesta during the email investigation .
These are obvious conflicts of interest here and one that needs to be brought forward.
In another example of collusion between the Clinton campaign and the government’s investigation of it’s candidate Hillary Clinton, it’s been revealed that FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe’s wife received $675,000 in political donations from Clinton campaign surrogate Terry McAuliffe’s PAC and the Democratic Party of Virginia.
Terry McAuliffe was the person that enabled the FBI to open an investigation into the Clinton Foundation when Terry McAuliffe himself was investigated for corruption .
Other Wikileaks emails show collusion between officials in the U.S. State Department. Two recently leaked emails show that not only was Clinton’s campaign tipped off by a DOJ insider but the U.S. State Department colluded with the New York Times the day prior to announcing Hillary’s private server.
Lauren Hickey told Clinton aides that then-State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki “just cleared” a statement to a New York Times reporter.
“Hi guys – Jen just cleared. She made the highlighted change — just rephrased a line about NARA updates state is undertaking. Yes on your point re records – done below. And yes will let you know — should be in the new few minutes.” – Lauren Hickey.
Additionally an email from Brian Fallon, Clinton’s press secretary who used to be the DOJ’s director of public affairs until joining Clinton’s campaign in April 2015, highlights that Fallon was being leaked information from the DOJ on Hillary Clinton’s investigation in the early stages of a status hearing. So what makes you think he didn’t get further information? To add to that, again a private non-government email was used to relay this information to Podesta and the rest of the campaign.
“DOJ folks inform me there is a status hearing in this case this morning, so we could have a window into the judge’s thinking about this proposed production schedule as quickly as today.”
– Brian Fallon.
What more will be revealed about the inner workings of Clinton’s campaign and the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private server? Stay tuned to We Are Change.
The post WIKILEAKS: Emails Show Clinton Collusion Between State Department And DOJ appeared first on We Are Change .
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What do you do about the buildings associated with Hitler’s life and death? In Austria, they are hitting the delete key, but in Germany, it’s more like copy and paste. After decades of indecision and delay, the Austrian government is moving to seize and either demolish or drastically remodel the house where Hitler was born, so that it never becomes a shrine for . In Berlin, where the authorities have generally taken a somber approach to the terrible history, the story is different. Most landmarks of Nazi rule in the city were demolished long ago, but a commercial firm has now one of them as a tourist attraction: the bunker where Hitler committed suicide in 1945. The new bunker was built about a mile from the original site by Historiale, which also runs the Berlin Story Museum next door. Wieland Giebel of Berlin Story says the intent is to show tourists more of the city’s past. The company attracted some publicity by inviting dozens of foreign correspondents to an opening tour in the fall, and then began admitting the general public for tours twice a day. Mr. Giebel said each tour has attracted at least 30 visitors at 12 euros ($12. 5) a person. Like the museum — a mishmash of memorabilia — the bunker tour seems to appeal to a public appetite that several experts have recognized. Hitler sells. “Of course it sells, that is clear,” said Stefanie Endlich, a professor at the University of the Arts in Berlin and an expert on Nazi art. “But all these revivals of National Socialist situations are a little unsettling. ” Historians at institutions, like the widely praised Topography of Terror center nearby, are also disturbed by Mr. Giebel’s venture. “We don’t work with sets,” said von Damaros, spokesman for the center. Besides that, he said, Mr. Giebel “demands an entry fee we do not. ” Mr. von Damaros estimated that about 1. 3 million people a year visit the Topography of Terror exhibition, a dense and grim accounting of how the Nazis rose, ruled and destroyed. “This shows the interest in working through the story continues to be high,” he said. “And it also is proof that the quality is right. ” | 1 |
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The list of women sexually assaulted by Donald J. Trump just keeps growing — and a new cringe-inducing video from a 2011 corporate speech adds yet another . In the video, Trump not only sexually assaults, but humiliates, the 2004 Miss Universe winner on stage, in front of thousands. “She’s not very bright”
Both candidates have had cringe-inducing moments this election cycle, but by-the-by, Clinton’s have been significantly less than Trump’s have and Trump’s have come in rapid succession of horrible moments; a parade of everything wrong with the masculine idea in the United States. A new video posted by the Huffington Post on Saturday added yet another horrible moment to the raft of them — a raft that, in any decent society, would have already sunk.
A few weeks ago, a tape of Donald Trump emerged into the popular conscious. The tape contained two things: Trump admitting that he sexually assaulted women and Trump using the word “pussy.” No points for guessing which one pissed off more of his evangelical supporters. Since then, a huge number of women have come forward and leveled accusations of sexual assault at Donald Trump.
Make no mistake, Trump is having his Bill Cosby moment right now.
Among the list of accusations against Trump include claims that Trump told a group of 10-year-olds that he’d date them in 10 years, a telling a group of 14-year-olds he’d date them in a few years, groping women, sexually assaulting women, and we can’t forget that he’s been accused of raping a 13-year-old at a party hosted by infamous American financier and level three sex offender Jeffery Epstein (who served three months of an 18 month prison sentence for soliciting sex from an underage prostitute, because we don’t have a two-tier justice system at all in the United States).
Thus, this new footage that shows Trump forcing 2004 Miss Universe winner Jennifer Hawkins into a nonconsensual kiss and then humiliating her on stage isn’t an aberration. It’s a continuation of the skeevy behavior that a huge number of men are not only okay with, not only think is normal, but believe is something that’s worth preserving and perpetuating instead of stamping out like an intellectual scabies infection.
The video shows Trump calling Hawkins on stage to join him after telling the audience his philosophy of using revenge to succeed in business: “Get even with people,” he said. “If they screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard. I really believe that.”
There are a few quotes from the Bible that are relevant here, but I’m pretty sure that Biblical literalists and right-wing evangelicals don’t know what those quotes are. They’re too busy agreeing with Trump.
Trump was apparently mad at Hawkins the day before because he thought she’d slighted him by declining to introduce him at an event in Sydney — Hawkins, it should be noted, is Australian. Once she was onstage with Trump, Hawkings laughed apologetically and said it was a “miscommunication with my management,” which left her, “[feeling] really bad.”
Trump seemed to accept this, saying: “When she found out, she got in her car and she got her ass over here, and I love her.”
Spray-tan Hitler has a well-known vindictive streak. He at least entertained the possibility of forming a PAC to sink the political careers of Ted Cruz — voted second most punchable face in the world after Trump superfan and Breitbart personality Milo Yiannopoulos — and John Kasich after the two of them refused to show up at the Republican national convention and kiss his ring. He’s threatened to use his power as president to arrest people he disagrees with. To say he’s vindictive may well be a British-level understatement (and if he’s elected, it’ll definitely be a British-level mistake).
That vindictive streak is probably what led to the sequence of bizarre events that followed, culminating ultimately with Trump forcing a nonconsensual kiss on Hawkins.
First, he described how he would have embarrassed Hawkin if she’d really slighted him: “I was actually going to get up and tell you that Jennifer is a beautiful girl on the outside, but she’s not very bright. That wouldn’t have been true, but I would have said it anyway.”
Trump then made a sexual pun, and of course lingered on it until the audience got it or laughed out of awkwardness, I can’t be sure which: “And you know what? She came tonight, she came — came, she came, she came.” Once the audience laughed, Trump added: “See, so they have the same filthy minds in Australia.”
Then he grabbed her around the waist and forced a kiss on her. This is pretty much on par with what others have accused Trump of doing — according to Cathy Heller, who claims that Trump assaulted her at a Mother’s Day brunch at Mar-a-Lago : “He took my hand, and grabbed me, and went for the lips,” she claimed. Alarmed, she said she leaned backwards to avoid him and almost lost her balance. “And he said, ‘Oh, come on.’ He was strong. And he grabbed me and went for my mouth and went for my lips.” She turned her head, she claims, and Trump planted a kiss on the side of her mouth. “He kept me there for a little too long,” Heller said. “And then he just walked away.”
If you feel like you need a shower after this, just remember: you probably have a relative who thinks voting for this man is a good idea.
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WASHINGTON — President Trump loves to set the day’s narrative at dawn, but the deeper story of his White House is best told at night. Aides confer in the dark because they cannot figure out how to operate the light switches in the cabinet room. Visitors conclude their meetings and then wander around, testing doorknobs until finding one that leads to an exit. In a darkened, mostly empty West Wing, Mr. Trump’s provocative chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, finishes another day planning new lines of attack. Usually around 6:30 p. m. or sometimes later, Mr. Trump retires upstairs to the residence to recharge, vent and intermittently use Twitter. With his wife, Melania, and young son, Barron, staying in New York, he is almost always by himself, sometimes in the protective presence of his imposing longtime aide and former security chief, Keith Schiller. When Mr. Trump is not watching television in his bathrobe or on his phone reaching out to old campaign hands and advisers, he will sometimes set off to explore the unfamiliar surroundings of his new home. During his first two dizzying weeks in office, Mr. Trump, an outsider president working with a surprisingly small crew of no more than a empowered aides with virtually no familiarity with the workings of the White House or federal government, sent shock waves at home and overseas with a succession of executive orders designed to fulfill campaign promises and taunt foreign leaders. “We are moving big and we are moving fast,” Mr. Bannon said, when asked about the upheaval of the first two weeks. “We didn’t come here to do small things. ” But one thing has become apparent to both his allies and his opponents: When it comes to governing, speed does not always guarantee success. The bungled rollout of his executive order barring immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, a flurry of other miscues and embarrassments, and an approval rating lower than that of any comparable president in the history of polling have Mr. Trump and his top staff rethinking an improvisational approach to governing that mirrors his chaotic presidential campaign, administration officials and Trump insiders said. This account of the early days of the Trump White House is based on interviews with dozens of government officials, congressional aides, former staff members and other observers of the new administration, many of whom requested anonymity. At the center of the story, according to these sources, is a president determined to go big but increasingly frustrated by the efforts of his small team to contain the backlash. “What are we going to do about this?” Mr. Trump pointedly asked an aide last week, a period of turmoil briefly interrupted by the successful rollout of his Supreme Court selection, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch. Chris Ruddy, the chief executive of Newsmax Media and an old friend of the president’s, said: “I think, in his mind, the success of this is going to be the poll numbers. If they continue to be weak or go lower, then somebody’s going to have to bear some responsibility for that. ” “I personally think that they’re missing the big picture here,” Mr. Ruddy said of Mr. Trump’s staff. “Now he’s so caught up, the administration is so caught up in turmoil, perceived chaos, that the Democrats smell blood, the protesters, the media smell blood. ” One former staff member likened the aggressive approach of the first two weeks to but said the president’s team had stormed the beaches without any plan for a longer war. Clashes among staff are common in the opening days of every administration, but they have seldom been so public and so pronounced this early. “This is a president who came to Washington vowing to shake up the establishment, and this is what it looks like. It’s going to be a little sloppy, there are going to be conflicts,” said Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush’s first press secretary. All this is happening as Mr. Trump, a man of flexible ideology but fixed habits, adjusts to a new job, life and city. Cloistered in the White House, he now has little access to his fans and supporters — an important source of feedback and validation — and feels increasingly pinched by the pressures of the job and the constant presence of protests, one of the reasons he was forced to scrap a planned trip to Milwaukee last week. For a sense of what is happening outside, he watches cable, both at night and during the day — too much in the eyes of some aides — often offering a bitter of critics like CNN’s Don Lemon. Until the past few days, Mr. Trump was telling his friends and advisers that he believed the opening stages of his presidency were going well. “Did you hear that, this guy thinks it’s been terrible!” Mr. Trump said mockingly to other aides when one dissenting view was voiced last week during a West Wing meeting. But his opinion has begun to change with a relentless parade of bad headlines. Mr. Trump got away from the White House this weekend for the first time since his inauguration, spending it in Palm Beach, Fla. at his private club, posting Twitter messages angrily — and in personal terms — about the federal judge who put a nationwide halt on the travel ban. Mr. Bannon and Reince Priebus, the two clashing power centers, traveled with him. By then, the president, for whom chains of command and policy minutiae rarely meant much, was demanding that Mr. Priebus begin to put in effect a much more conventional White House protocol that had been taken for granted in previous administrations: From now on, Mr. Trump would be looped in on the drafting of executive orders much earlier in the process. Another change will be a new set of checks on the previously unfettered power enjoyed by Mr. Bannon and the White House policy director, Stephen Miller, who oversees the implementation of the orders and who received the brunt of the internal and public criticism for the rollout of the travel ban. Mr. Priebus has told Mr. Trump and Mr. Bannon that the administration needs to rethink its policy and communications operation in the wake of embarrassing revelations that key details of the orders were withheld from agencies, White House staff and Republican congressional leaders like Speaker Paul D. Ryan. Mr. Priebus has also created a checklist for the release of any new initiatives that includes signoff from the communications department and the White House staff secretary, Robert Porter, according to several aides familiar with the process. Mr. Priebus bristles at the perception that he occupies a diminished perch in the West Wing pecking order compared with previous chiefs. But for the moment, Mr. Bannon remains the president’s dominant adviser, despite Mr. Trump’s anger that he was not fully briefed on details of the executive order he signed giving his chief strategist a seat on the National Security Council, a greater source of frustration to the president than the fallout from the travel ban. It is partly because he is seen as having a clear vision on policy. But it is also because others who had been expected to fill major roles have been less confident in asserting their power. Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s occupies a central role in the administration and has been present at most major decisions and photo ops, but he is a father of young children who has taken to life in Washington, and, along with his wife, Ivanka Trump, has already been spotted at events around town. Mr. Bannon has rushed into the vacuum, telling allies that he and Mr. Miller have a brief window in which to push through their vision of Mr. Trump’s economic nationalism. Mr. Bannon, whose website, Breitbart, was a magnet for white nationalists and xenophobic speech, has also tried to reassure official Washington. He has been careful to build bridges with the Republican establishment, especially Mr. Ryan — whom he once described as “the enemy” and vowed to force out. He now talks regularly with Mr. Ryan to coordinate strategy or plot their planned overhaul of the tax code. Before he was ousted in November as transition chief, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, the Trump adviser with the most government experience, helped prepare a detailed staffing and implementation plan in line with the kickoff strategies of previous Republican presidents. It was discarded — a senior Trump aide made a show of tossing it into a garbage can — for a strategy that prioritized the daily release of dramatic executive orders to put opponents on the defensive. Mr. Christie, who agrees in principle with the broad strokes of Mr. Trump’s immigration policy, says the president has been let down by his staff. “The president deserves better than the rollout he got on the immigration executive order,” Mr. Christie said. “The fact is that he’s put forward a policy that, in my opinion, is significantly more effective than what he had proposed during the campaign, yet because of the botched implementation, they allowed his opponents to attack him by calling it a Muslim ban. ” In the past few days, Mr. Trump’s team has stressed its cohesion and the challenges of an administration that few outside its group ever thought would exist. “This team spent months in the foxhole together during the campaign,” said Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary. “We moved into the White House as a unified team committed to enacting the president’s agenda. ” As part of Mr. Trump’s Oval Office renovation, he ordered that four hardback chairs be placed in a semicircle around his Resolute Desk now heaped, in Trump Tower fashion, with memos and newspapers. They are an emblem of Mr. Trump’s management style, but also a reminder that in the White House, the seats always outlast the people seated in them. But finding enough skilled players to fill key slots has not been easy: Mr. Spicer is serving double duty as communications director, a key planning position, in addition to engaging in combat with the news media. Mr. Trump, several aides said, is used to quarterbacking his own media strategy, and did not see the value of hiring an outsider. An early plan was to give the communications job to Kellyanne Conway, his former campaign manager and top TV surrogate, but the demands of the job would have conflicted with Ms. Conway’s other duties as a adviser to Mr. Trump with Oval Office privileges, according to one aide. Mr. Trump remains intensely focused on his brand, but the demands of the job mean he spends less time monitoring the news media — although he recently upgraded the TV in his private dining room so he can watch the news while eating lunch. He often has to wait until the end of the workday before grinding through news clips with Mr. Spicer, marking the ones he does not like with a big arrow in black Sharpie — though he almost always makes time to monitor Mr. Spicer’s performance at the daily briefings, summoning him to offer praise or criticism, a West Wing aide said. Visitors to the Oval Office say Mr. Trump is obsessed with the décor — it is both a totem of a victory that validates him as a serious person and an backdrop — so he has told his staff to schedule as many televised events in the room as possible. To pass the time between meetings, Mr. Trump gives quick tours to visitors, highlighting little tweaks he has made after initially expecting he would have to pay for them himself. Flanking his desk are portraits of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. He will linger on the opulence of the newly hung golden drapes, which he told a recent visitor were once used by Franklin D. Roosevelt but in fact were patterned for Bill Clinton. For a man who sometimes has trouble concentrating on policy memos, Mr. Trump was delighted to page through a book that offered him 17 window covering options. Ultimately, this is very much the White House that Mr. Trump wanted to build. But while the world reckons with the effect he is having on the presidency, he is adjusting to the effect of the presidency on him. He is now a public employee. And the only boss Mr. Trump ever had in his life was his father, a developer the president still treats with deep reverence. With most of his belongings in New York, the only family picture on the shelf behind Mr. Trump’s desk is a small photograph of that boss, Frederick Christ Trump. | 1 |
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Much of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals was part hockey, part speedskating. When it was over on Sunday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins had their second title in eight years and their fourth in franchise history, defeating the San Jose Sharks, . What turned out to be the winning goal typified the skill on display throughout the series. The Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby fed defenseman Kris Letang for a low in the right circle that found its way into the San Jose net at 7 minutes 46 seconds of the second period. And despite encouragement from the spirited crowd inside SAP Center for the Sharks’ first appearance in the Stanley Cup finals in their history, San Jose could not find the equalizer before Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist scored an insurance goal into an empty net with 1:02 left in the third period. The game ended when Crosby cleared the puck the length of the ice with San Jose on a power play, and then the celebration began. “Man, I’m going to remember this day for the rest of my entire life,” said the rookie Penguins goaltender Matthew Murray, who faced only 19 shots in the clinching game. Murray, who is 22, added: “I probably won’t believe this until next year, to be honest. It’s so surreal. ” Crosby, who had 19 postseason points, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, which is given to the most valuable player of the playoffs. During his postgame media conference, he drew comparisons with the first cup he won in 2009, his fourth of 11 seasons in the league. “I have a greater appreciation this time around,” the Crosby said, noting that after appearances in the finals in 2008 and 2009, “you just think it’s going to be an annual thing. ” “With the core we have,” he added, “you think everyone’s going to stay together, the team’s not going to change. But it does. ” None of Pittsburgh’s four Stanley Cup wins have come on home ice. Although the Stanley Cup presentation was made inside SAP Center by N. H. L. Commissioner Gary Bettman, thousands of Penguins supporters were able to celebrate at a watch party inside Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. Center Evgeni Malkin said the championship felt as good as the 2009 title, and he was not surprised that it took so long to win it again. “It’s not easy to win in this league. They have 30 good teams,” Malkin said. “We played against a tough San Jose team, and they not win in 25 years. It’s not easy. San Jose a great team, great coaches. But it’s tough to win. I’m glad finally we win. ” Malkin added: “We did a great job. Actually, tonight we worked so hard, we deserved to win. ” For the fifth time in the six games, the Penguins opened the scoring. With Sharks forward Dainius Zubrus in the penalty box for tripping, Brian Dumoulin’s shot from the left point eluded San Jose goaltender Martin Jones at 8:16 of the first period. Jones, who made 24 saves, was more formidable later in the period, however, making two quick saves on Crosby in a span after a Sharks giveaway. The Sharks tied the game, at 6:27 of the second period when center Logan Couture used Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz as a screen and beat Murray with a wrist shot. The goal was Couture’s 30th point of the playoffs, the best in the league. But Letang answered 79 seconds later, and San Jose could not draw even again. The Sharks, who finished third in the Pacific Division, fell short of their goal, but they went a long way toward erasing their reputation as playoff underachievers with wins over the Los Angeles Kings, the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues. “I’m very proud of our group,” Sharks Coach Peter DeBoer said. “I thought our guys emptied the tank, gave us everything they possibly could. We weren’t as good as them during this period. ” The challenge Pittsburgh presented went beyond their team speed, he added. “They have good sticks, too. They force you into quicker decisions. They really challenge your execution. We hadn’t seen pressure and sticks like that through the first three rounds. ” Pittsburgh had entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the Metropolitan Division, defeating the Rangers, the Washington Capitals and the Tampa Bay Lightning en route to the finals. The Penguins righted their season after Mike Sullivan replaced Mike Johnston on Dec. 12 as coach when the team was near . 500. “We changed style,” Malkin said of the coaching change. “Before, we played more now we played in offensive zone. We use our legs. We skate with puck, we skate without puck. Always skating. ” | 1 |
The United States attorney’s office is looking into the way Fox News handled payments related to sexual harassment cases to determine whether the company misled investors, according to the lawyer for a woman who is suing the network. At a hearing in New York State Supreme Court on Wednesday, the lawyer, Judd Burstein, who is representing the former Fox anchor Andrea Tantaros, said that another one of his clients had received a grand jury subpoena related to Fox News. He did not identify that client. Mr. Burstein said in a text message that he believed federal investigators were looking at whether Fox News structured sexual harassment settlement claims by paying them out in salaries, “so as not to have to report them. ” He added that the prosecutors had identified themselves as being from a securities fraud division of the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan. In a statement, Fox News said it had not received a subpoena but had “been in communication with the U. S. attorney’s office for months. ” The statement added that Fox “will continue to cooperate on all inquiries with any interested authorities. ” The United States attorney’s office declined to comment. The prospect of a criminal investigation is a surprising escalation of the sexual harassment scandal that engulfed Fox News over the summer and led to the departure of its chairman, Roger Ailes. After reaching a $20 million settlement with Gretchen Carlson, a former anchor who sued Mr. Ailes, and conducting an internal investigation into his conduct, the company tried hard to put the episode behind it. The scope of the investigation by the United States attorney’s office, which appeared to be in the early stages, was not immediately clear. Mr. Burstein made the remarks while he was arguing that Ms. Tantaros’s case — she sued the network in August, accusing Fox News of retaliation after she complained about sexual harassment — should go forward in an open court. A judge rejected that claim on Wednesday and ruled that her case would be resolved in arbitration. In a statement, a spokeswoman for Fox News said, “The court granted Fox News’s motion to send Andrea Tantaros’s case to arbitration, where it always belonged, and rejected her counsel Judd Burstein’s histrionics. ” Asked whether Mr. Ailes had received a subpoena, Susan Estrich, his lawyer, declined to comment. Mr. Ailes has denied the sexual harassment allegations. Ms. Tantaros’s suit asserts that the network’s newsroom resembled “a Playboy cult. ” The suit named a number of Fox News executives in addition to Mr. Ailes, accusing them of marginalizing her and removing her from the air after she complained. Fox News denied the charges, saying that Ms. Tantaros was let go for violating her contract by writing a book without approval. In July, Ms. Carlson sued Mr. Ailes for sexual harassment. Fox News’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, hired the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton Garrison to conduct an investigation, and a number of other women stepped forward with similar accusations, including the former Fox star Megyn Kelly. | 1 |
Donald J. Trump convened the first meeting of his national finance team on Thursday amid persistent Republican concerns that a shortfall in efforts and a lack of discipline were imperiling his presidential bid. During the gathering at the Four Seasons Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, Mr. Trump dwelled little on his recent controversies, including his comments about the Mexican heritage of the judge presiding in a lawsuit filed by former students of Trump University. But a top Trump surrogate, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, did allude to the recent bumpiness of the campaign, said an attendee, John A. Catsimatidis, a New York investor and grocery magnate. “People make mistakes,” Mr. Christie said, according to Mr. Catsimatidis, “and they take it back. ” A spokesman for Mr. Christie referred questions to the Trump campaign. Mr. Trump has not backed off his attacks on the judge, Gonzalo P. Curiel, but did issue a statement this week calling it unfortunate that his comments had been “misconstrued. ” Among those also in attendance for the meeting were Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, and Woody Johnson, the Jets owner and onetime supporter of Jeb Bush who recently joined Mr. Trump’s finance committee. Mr. Trump had initially said he hoped to raise roughly $1 billion by November for himself and the party, but efforts to date have been well off pace. He has since revised that figure downward. “We’ll raise what we need to raise,” Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, said after leaving the meeting. Mr. Catsimatidis echoed a recent suggestion from Mr. Trump that raising $1 billion was unnecessary because he attracted so much media attention. “He’s got $2 billion in free advertising and free TV,” Mr. Catsimatidis said. He added that he remained friends with the Clintons and had not committed to a candidate. In his remarks to the finance group, Mr. Trump expressed confidence in his ability to compete in states like New Jersey, Maryland and California that are rarely hospitable to Republicans, said an attendee who requested anonymity to discuss the private meeting. Mr. Trump has also hired a pollster to gauge his prospects in New York, causing consternation among Republicans who worry that he is spending foolishly. | 1 |
They arrived early, an hour before the judge started hearing cases on Thursday, taking up much of a long bench in the Queens courtroom. They were family members of Oscar Morel, the man charged with murder in the attack on an imam and his assistant on a sidewalk on Saturday afternoon. The relatives had come to support Mr. Morel as he returned to Queens Criminal Court, facing charges that carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole for an attack that has stirred fear and anger among Muslims in New York. His family members called out to him during the brief hearing, telling him, “Love you, Oscar,” even though they were chastised by the judge. Mr. Morel, who turned 36 on Thursday, acknowledged them with a nod. The relatives declined to talk to reporters. But as his father, who declined to give his name, walked out of the courthouse supported by two relatives, he said in halting English, “He don’t do it. ” On Saturday, the authorities said, Mr. Morel approached the imam, Alauddin Akonjee, 55, and his assistant, Thara Miah, 64, from behind near the intersection of Liberty Avenue and 79th Street in the Ozone Park neighborhood, and then shot them both in the head. Mr. Morel, who worked as a janitor, was taken into police custody on Sunday night, and has been charged with a single count of murder and two counts of murder. Police officials said that investigators found a weapon, a . revolver that tests showed was used in the killings, hidden inside a wall in his apartment, as well as clothes of Mr. Morel’s that fit the description of what the gunman was believed to have worn during the attack. There was also video evidence connecting Mr. Morel to the scene, officials said. But during the hearing on Thursday, prosecutors said that a potential witness in the case failed to identify Mr. Morel as the assailant during a lineup, selecting another person who had been placed by the police. It was a development that Mr. Morel’s lawyer, Michael J. Schwed, said he found troubling, indicating “something prejudicial in the way that the lineup was conducted. ” Mr. Schwed said outside the courtroom that he had met only briefly with Mr. Morel, but that his client had spent much of the time insisting that he was innocent. “I told him I was his lawyer,” Mr. Schwed said. “And he said: ‘I didn’t do this and what can we do? How can I prove it?’ He was very upset. ” Mr. Schwed added, “And he’s hoping to get exonerated as soon as possible. ” Outside City Hall on Thursday morning, relatives of Mr. Akonjee and Mr. Miah gathered with activists and other members of the city’s Muslim community, where they condemned the attack and continued calls for the authorities to classify the killings as a hate crime. Officials have said that they had not ruled out classifying the attack as a hate crime, but investigators had to know more about what motivated the killings before doing so. Momin M. Ahmed, a of Mr. Akonjee, said that his family was desperate for answers. “We want to know what’s the reason for it, and we want justice,” said Mr. Ahmed, who described Mr. Akonjee as peaceful and loving. Mashuk Uddin, a younger brother of Mr. Miah, said he had struggled to cope with the loss of a brother who, after their father died, had become more like a father to him. “I cannot sleep,” he said. “I cannot eat. ” Many in the Muslim community believe that the episode was the result of animosity stirred by rhetoric. “It’s our worst nightmare come true,” Iman Boukadoum, a board member of the Association of Muslim American Lawyers, said. During the gathering, attendees also said they wanted city officials to rename the streets near the site of the attack after the two men, as a memorial and as a physical reminder of the painful repercussions from the violence. “The tragedy is not just theirs,” Afaf Nasher, the executive director of the Council on Relations of New York, said, referring to the men’s families, tears streaming down her face. “It’s all of ours. ” | 1 |
CINCINNATI — After the slaughter of nine worshipers at a South Carolina church last June, but before the massacre of eight students and a teacher at an Oregon community college in October, there was a shooting that the police here have labeled Incident 159022597. 01. It happened on a clear Friday night at an Elks Lodge, on a modest block of clapboard houses northeast of this city’s hilly downtown. Unlike the butchery that bookended it, it merited no presidential statements, no saturation television coverage. But what took place at 6101 Prentice Street on Aug. 21 may say more about the nature of gun violence in the United States than any of those far more famous rampages. It is a snapshot of a different sort of mass violence — one that erupts with such anesthetic regularity that it is rendered almost invisible, except to the mostly black victims, survivors and attackers. According to the police account, more than 30 people had gathered in the paneled basement bar of the lodge to mark the 39th birthday of a man named Greg Wallace when a former neighbor, Timothy Murphy, showed up, drunk. Fists flew. Mr. Murphy ducked out the door, burst back in with a handgun, and opened fire. As partygoers scrambled for the door, he chased Greg Wallace’s younger brother Dawaun to a tiny bathroom, where he shot him nine times before the violence spilled out onto the street. There, another Wallace relative, also armed with a handgun, fired back at him. By the end, 27 bullets had flown, hitting seven people: Mr. Murphy, who died Dawaun Wallace, who was grievously wounded four bystanders, one of whom was hit in the genitals, another in the leg. And Barry Washington. A seasonal packer for Amazon. com, Mr. Washington, 56, had stopped at the lodge on his way to the store for cigarettes, said his sister, Jaci Washington. He was in the bathroom when Mr. Murphy cornered Dawaun Wallace there. A single bullet pierced Mr. Washington’s arm, then his heart. He left behind a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister, a mother and four grandchildren. “My brother died on the floor of a bathroom for no reason,” Ms. Washington said. “He had nothing to do with the whole situation. I can’t believe I lost my brother like this. ” Yet many in the neighborhood where they grew up, she said, responded with a shrug. “The reality is, this happens quite frequently,” she said. “And it’s kind of, ‘Oh, well, this guy was killed today. Somebody else will be killed tomorrow.’ ” That is more than correct. The Elks Lodge episode was one of at least 358 armed encounters nationwide last year — nearly one a day, on average — in which four or more people were killed or wounded, including attackers. The toll: 462 dead and 1, 330 injured, sometimes for life, typically in bursts of gunfire lasting but seconds. In some cities, law enforcement officials say a growing share of shootings involve more than one victim, possibly driven by increased violence between street gangs. But data are scarce. Seeking deeper insight into the phenomenon, The New York Times identified and analyzed these 358 shootings with four or more casualties, drawing on two databases assembled from news reports and citizen contributors, and then verifying details with law enforcement agencies. Only a small handful were mass shootings like those in South Carolina and Oregon. The rest are a pencil sketch of everyday America at its most violent. They chronicle how easily lives are shattered when a firearm is readily available — in a waistband, a glove compartment, a mailbox or garbage can that serves as a gang’s gun locker. They document the mayhem spawned by the most banal of offenses: a push in a bar, a Facebook taunt, the wrong choice of music at a house party. They tally scores of unfortunates in the wrong place at the wrong time: an clinging to his mother’s hip, shot as she prepared to load him into a car a church deacon, killed by a stray bullet while watching television on his couch. The shootings took place everywhere, but mostly outdoors: at neighborhood barbecues, family reunions, music festivals, basketball tournaments, movie theaters, housing project courtyards, Sweet 16 parties, public parks. Where motives could be gleaned, roughly half involved or suggested crime or gang activity. Arguments that spun out of control accounted for most other shootings, followed by acts of domestic violence. The typical victim was a man between 18 and 30, but more than 1 in 10 were 17 or younger. Less is known about those who pulled the triggers because nearly half of the cases remain unsolved. But of those arrested or identified as suspects, the average age was 27. Most of the shootings occurred in economically downtrodden neighborhoods. These shootings, by and large, are not a phenomenon. The divide is racial as well. Among the cases examined by The Times were 39 domestic violence shootings, and they largely involved white attackers and victims. So did many of the massacres, including a wild shootout between Texas biker gangs that left nine people dead and 18 wounded. Over all, though, nearly of victims and suspected assailants whose race could be identified were black. Some experts suggest that helps explain why the drumbeat of dead and wounded does not inspire more outrage. “Clearly, if it’s we don’t get the same attention because most people don’t identify with that. Most Americans are white,” said James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology at Northeastern University in Boston. “People think, ‘That’s not my world. That’s not going to happen to me.’ ” Michael Nutter, a former Philadelphia mayor, who is black, said that society would not be so complacent if whites were dying from gun violence at the same rate as blacks. “The general view is it’s one bad black guy who has shot another bad black guy,” he said. “And so, one less person to worry about. ” Droves of experts study massacres by assailants, usually driven by mental disorders, at schools, workplaces and other public spaces. Academics regularly crunch data on single homicides and assaults. But the shootings that wound or kill several victims — a relatively small subset of the shootings that kill nearly 11, 000 people and wound roughly 60, 000 more each year — are uncharted territory for researchers, said Richard B. Rosenfeld, a professor of criminology at the University of . Louis. The Times compiled its list of 358 shootings with four or more casualties from largely lists managed by the social media network Reddit and Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit organization. The groups recently combined their efforts at the website gunviolencearchive. org. Four or more casualties is a far broader measure than “mass shootings,” which are commonly defined as the killing of at least four people, not including the attacker. But it captures many victims who some criminologists say are too often ignored: people who might have died given a slightly different trajectory of a bullet, or medical care. Counting assailants among casualties increased the total number of cases by fewer than three dozen, most of them domestic violence shootings that ended in suicide. Hispanics were not separately identified, because police reports do not systematically identify victims and suspects by ethnicity, only by race. There are 358 reasons for those 358 shootings, though some remain a mystery in about a fourth of the cases, investigators have discerned no motive. As for the rest, some patterns stand out. The fewest occurred while another felony, such as a burglary, was underway. Domestic violence shootings were nearly as infrequent, but were among the deadliest. About a third were provoked by arguments, typically or often over petty grievances. A sampling: Outside a crowded bar in Decatur, Ill. a customer found an expensive watch. When another man insisted it was his, the customer pulled out a semiautomatic handgun, shot the man in the face and wounded four people near him. After a day of drinking, singing karaoke and watching football, four friends in a small town north of Baton Rouge, La. got into a fight — some said over the choice of music. One shot the other three, then killed himself. Outside an Orlando, Fla. housing project, lewd comments about a young man’s pregnant girlfriend resulted in 15 to 20 gunshots. A boy who peered out his window at the fracas was struck directly in one eye. One of three wounded adults later acknowledged that “a fist fight would have settled the issue,” the police report said. Another third of the 358 cases — and the most common in cities with more than 250, 000 residents — were either or were shootings typical of gangs. But the police and prosecutors say many of those were not directly linked to criminal activity, such as a dispute over a drug deal. More often, a minor — a boast, an insult, a decision to play basketball on another gang’s favorite court — was taken as a sign of disrespect and answered with a bullet, said Andrew V. Papachristos, a Yale University professor who studies gang behavior. Over all, of shootings took place outdoors, endangering innocent people. More than 100 bystanders, from toddlers to grandparents, were injured or killed. Among them: eight family members shot as they bade one another goodbye after a reunion in Philadelphia a soldier struck by a stray bullet during a shootout in a public square in Savannah, Ga. a college sophomore killed when a gunman sprayed a crowd outside an Ocala, Fla. club. In Cincinnati, where last year’s toll of 479 gun deaths and injuries was the highest in nine years, a growing share of shootings involves more than one victim — 1 in 8 attacks with guns in the first half of last year compared with 1 in 12 over the same span in 2010. Police officials in some other cities have noted a similar trend, though others say they have not. What is behind the upticks, they said, is a matter of speculation. In Rochester, shootings accounted for fewer than 15 percent of victims in 2006 so far this year, they make up 38 percent. Police Chief Michael Ciminelli said that he suspected that social media was playing a role by simultaneously catalyzing minor disputes into deadly standoffs and drawing more people into them. Larry C. Smith, interim chief of police in Durham, N. C. and a veteran of the force, said, “Are we starting to reap the age? I don’t know. ” “But five, or certainly 10 years ago,” he added, “it wasn’t like this. ” The Elks Lodge shooting was one of five last year in Cincinnati that resulted in at least four casualties. The others took place on street corners, on a front porch and at a cookout in a parking lot. Police officials say they suspect that as many as half of the 24 victims were not the intended targets community workers blame gunmen who are often high on drugs or are drunk. “They are not marksmen,” said Aaron Pullins, an worker. “They don’t know how to hold the gun. They just shoot. ” Investigators have linked three of those shootings to gangs, although like many of their counterparts in other cities, they say the word gang conjures up a false image of a hierarchical criminal organization. Instead, they describe fluid, sometimes tiny bands of teenagers and young adults bound by illegal activity. “They are groups of friends who rob and shoot each other,” Detective Greg Gehring said. “That’s just what they do. ” And they do it all too well. Last year such groups accounted for 40 of Cincinnati’s 58 gun homicides and more than half of its 421 nonfatal shootings. Two of the five shootings with four or more casualties occurred just 300 feet apart in East Westwood, an impoverished neighborhood with high unemployment and dropout rates, on a block that averaged a shooting nearly every other month. A third occurred a mile away. That pattern is typical: Urban gun violence tends to spread around specific blocks or intersections, like a contagious disease. Rival gang members, seeking revenge for an earlier shooting, had already tried to run Jonathan Austin, 24, off the road when they caught up to him in early December outside the Schwarz Market in East Westwood, the police said. They chased him and his friends for an entire block, firing up to 50 shots. Mr. Austin was killed. Three of his friends were injured, including an who was shot repeatedly in the back, damaging his spine. Detective Gehring said that when he talked to the teenager last month, he was bedridden in his mother’s apartment, worried he would never move his legs again. With the help of the market’s surveillance video and one witness, the police arrested a felon on charges of murder and illegal possession of a weapon. But as many as five other gunmen got away. A few weeks ago, one of the suspects was shot 11 times, possibly in retaliation, the detective said. Street violence is that way: Shootings beget shootings that beget more gunmen. Professor Papachristos, the gang expert, said the more violent the neighborhood, the more teenagers and young men seek safety in numbers. “The No. 1 reason people join gangs is for protection,” he said. “The perverse irony is they are then more at risk. ” Abdullah, 67 and with a neatly trimmed gray beard, is an turned outreach worker for Cincinnati’s Human Relations Commission. He or his were at the scenes of all five of Cincinnati’s shootings with four or more casualties last year, working the crowds outside the yellow police tape, trying to defuse the potential for further gunfire. They see themselves as stop signs for young black men bound for . They also see themselves as about the intersection of race and gun violence — a topic that neither the city’s mayor, who is white, nor its police chief, who is black, publicly addresses. “White folks don’t want to say it because it’s politically incorrect, and black folks don’t know how to deal with it because it is their children pulling the trigger as well as being shot,” said Mr. Abdullah, who is black. No one worries more about violence than . Surveys show that they are more fearful than whites that they will be crime victims and that they feel less safe in their neighborhoods. Most parents Mr. Abdullah meets are desperate to protect their children but are trapped in unsafe neighborhoods, he said, “just trying to survive. ” And some are in denial, refusing to believe that their sons are carrying or using pistols, even in the face of clear evidence. “ ‘Not my child,’ ” he said, adopting the resentful tone of a defensive mother. “ ‘It may be his friends, but not my child, because I know how I raised my child.’ ” His reply, he said, is blunt: “These are our children killing our children, slaughtering our children, robbing our children. It’s our responsibility first. ” make up 44 percent of Cincinnati’s nearly 300, 000 residents. But last year they accounted for 91 percent of shooting victims, and very likely the same share of suspects arrested in shootings, according to the city’s assistant police chief, Lt. Col. Paul Neudigate. Nationally, reliable racial breakdowns exist only for victims and offenders in gun homicides, not assaults, but those show a huge disparity. The gun homicide rate peaked in 1993, in tandem with a nationwide crack epidemic, and then plummeted over the next seven years. But blacks still die from gun attacks at six to 10 times the rate of whites, depending on whether the data is drawn from medical sources or the police. F. B. I. statistics show that who constitute about 13 percent of the population, make up about half of both gun homicide victims and their known or suspected attackers. “Every time we look at the numbers, we are pretty discouraged, I have to tell you,” said Gary LaFree, a professor of criminology at the University of Maryland. Some researchers say the single strongest predictor of gun homicide rates is the proportion of an area’s population that is black. But race, they say, is merely a proxy for poverty, joblessness and other disadvantages that help breed violence. Mr. Nutter, now an urban policy professor at Columbia University, spoke out repeatedly about the disparity during his eight years as Philadelphia’s mayor — and was accused of casting in a bad light. “Some people got upset,” he said. “I said, ‘I’ll stop talking about it when you stop killing each other.’ ” Cloaking the issue, he said, only makes it easier for the country to tune out what amounts to “mass murder occurring in slow motion every day. ” Both he and Mr. Abdullah say they wish some of the outrage over police killings of unarmed would spill over to victims who die in anonymity in routine gun violence. After a white University of Cincinnati police officer fatally shot an unarmed black driver in July, street protests erupted here, Mr. Abdullah noted. But “when we kill each other,” he said, “it seems an acceptable way of life. ” Every month, the outreach workers attend more ceremonies, outpourings of grief marked by teddy bears, high school photos, candles and scrawled tributes to the victim of the day. “I feel so burned out,” said Steve Sherman, one of the workers. “We go to vigil, after vigil, after vigil, after vigil. ” From his hospital bed, one of four young men shot last May at one of Cincinnati’s most violent intersections pointed a police officer to a suspect. He gave the man’s first name. And he suggested that he had been shot in retaliation for an earlier shooting in the same area. Officers were able to identify the suspect and confirm that his car had been shot up a few days earlier, said Police Specialist Mark Longworth, who headed the inquiry. But “that’s where this case died,” he said. The injured victim attributed his information purely to “street talk,” not to direct knowledge that would stand in court. Hints are not evidence. “It’s frustrating because if people would do the right thing, we could probably prevent some of these shootings from happening,” Specialist Longworth said. “But in that world, very few things are worse than being labeled a snitch. ” Nationally, nearly half of last year’s shootings with four or more casualties ended in the same way: no arrest often, not even a suspect. At least 160 assailants, responsible for 102 murders and 635 gun injuries, were still on the streets at year’s end. A case was more likely to be solved if one or more victims died — the situation in about half the cases. But even some double, triple and quadruple murders continue to stump investigators. The national clearance rate for homicides has fallen from nearly three in four in 1980 to fewer than two in three today. That is partly because public attention has driven down the share of domestic violence killings, which are routinely solved, Professor Rosenfeld said. Much of what remains are killings involving gangs, drugs and witnesses with criminal backgrounds who are wary of talking to the police. “You are left with a larger percentage of homicides that are more difficult for police to clear,” he said. A shift in law enforcement from solving crimes to preventing them has also contributed, as has rising distrust of the police in some cities, said Charles F. Wellford, emeritus professor of criminology at the University of Maryland. Still, he said, some law enforcement agencies are much worse at closing murder cases than others. Some of those same departments are worse at closing shootings with four or more casualties, too. In Baltimore, the police have not solved any of 11 shootings last year. New Orleans made arrests in only one of eight cases Chicago, two of 16. Cincinnati was more typical, solving two of its five cases, at least in part. Detective Charles Zopfi had real hopes of arresting the gunmen behind a shooting here last September. About 20 people had gathered on a warm Monday night for a cookout in a parking lot beside an apartment building. “There were kids and older people, not your usual crowd of to guys,” the detective said. As a car sped down the street, someone fired at least 10 bullets out a window. Detective Zopfi said he knew from experience how people respond in such situations: They look in the direction of the gunfire, and only then dive for cover. But eight months later, he said, he has been unable even to nail down whether the vehicle was black or green. He heard that of the five victims, a man was left paralyzed from the waist down. But that man refused to take his phone calls, then changed his telephone number. A wounded named Jabarri seemed the best hope of persuading witnesses to come forward, the detective said. Sometimes, the moral outrage over a child victim overwhelms the code of silence. And Jabarri, he said, was “the cutest little boy” who had smiled beguilingly at him from a hospital gurney even after being shot in the leg. At the detective’s request, Jabarri’s mother agreed to meet with a reporter. But when the reporter showed up at her home, she backed out, pleading a haircut appointment. “The code of silence is strictly enforced,” the detective said. Mr. Abdullah, the worker, talks to some of the victims and witnesses who will not give information to the police. “They are scared,” he said. “We have had cases where people found out who talked and that person wound up dead. ‘So if the police cannot protect me, why would I jeopardize my life and my family?’ ” “It’s so much bigger than the idea of ‘no snitching,’ ” he said. Barry Washington was a neighborhood fixture in Madisonville, a racially mixed community of small, neat homes in northeastern Cincinnati where he grew up. Slim, handsome and barely he had an infectious smile and a weakness for hats, from jaunty duckbills to baseball caps worn backward. He helped out families at the Presbyterian church, and brought household goods to the apartment he shared with his mother, Amanda. He was getting to know a son, then 37, whose existence he had only recently discovered. “An good guy,” said his sister, Jaci. “There wasn’t a woman who didn’t love him, or a man who didn’t want to hang out with him. ” A Mr. Washington could landscape a yard, operate a forklift, mend a torn basketball. He had to revert to odd jobs after the bus stopped running last year to Amazon. com’s northern Kentucky warehouse, where he had packed shipments. But his sister said he had planned to share an apartment near the warehouse so he could resume work there. Madisonville is neither Cincinnati’s safest nor its most dangerous neighborhood. The Washingtons had avoided brushes with gunmen, but Mr. Washington was wary even around ninth graders. “ ‘Be careful,’ ” his sister recalled him saying. “ ‘The little young kids are getting crazy.’ ” Sometime before 11 p. m. on Aug. 21, Mr. Washington left his apartment in a green pullover, telling his niece he needed cigarettes. His mother was in bed, watching a police drama. The next morning, Jaci Washington awoke to a blizzard of text messages about a shooting. She called her mother, who said her brother had not come home. Soon Amanda Washington’s phone rang: a detective, asking repeatedly whether she was alone. “Why? What happened to my son?” she demanded. “Is he dead?” Mr. Washington had stopped at the Elks Lodge, a narrow, building clad in pale green siding a walk from their apartment. Greg Wallace’s party was underway in the basement bar, a “Happy Birthday” banner and blue and yellow balloons on the walls. Tins of muffins and rolls sat on tables covered with plastic tablecloths. Mr. Wallace and his brother Dawaun had recently been feuding with Timothy Murphy. The three men had grown up together in the neighborhood, and as adults had each been convicted of drug trafficking, court records show. Mr. Murphy’s mother, Christine Poindexter, said her son was upset because the Wallaces were selling drugs out of his father’s house. The argument resumed when Mr. Murphy showed up at the party, and ended only when Mr. Murphy was dead and Dawaun Wallace had been peppered with nine bullets. Tests later showed that Mr. Murphy’s blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal driving limit, and that there was evidence of recent marijuana use. Mr. Murphy’s killer was not prosecuted, Detective David Gregory said, because he appeared to have fired in . Barry Washington’s death was collateral damage — a stray bullet, meant for Dawaun. Nine months later, Mr. Washington’s family is still reeling. His mother, a cancer survivor, is virtually a . “We loved him dearly, and with a pull of the trigger, he was gone,” she said. “That I cannot accept. ” Jaci Washington’s son is withdrawn and angry. Her daughter has nightmares. Her brother, she said, probably would have counseled her to forgive his killer. “He kept telling me, ‘You have to look for the good in everybody, ’” she said. But she says she cannot forgive. She grasps for metaphors to capture the family’s loss. “It’s like the world crashing in. It’s like a nuclear bomb went off on my couch,” she said. “It’s like someone hit ‘pause’ in my life. I just saw him, and I will never see him again. ” Mr. Murphy’s mother is not seeking forgiveness. In an interview, she said she did not believe her son had fired a gun at anyone, insisting that the police had botched the investigation and let the real culprits go free. And she is angry with Jaci Washington for characterizing her son as a murderer at community meetings on gun violence. Ms. Washington and her mother no longer go to those meetings. They seemed futile, they said — more broken people, describing more senseless deaths. “I don’t want pity. I want results,” Jaci Washington said. “One more black shooting in a black neighborhood. ‘Let’s rally around.’ It’s a facade. When all is said and done, we’re still left with the grief. ” | 1 |
Nation Puts 2016 Election Into Perspective By Reminding Itself Some Species Of Sea Turtles Get Eaten By Birds Just Seconds After They Hatch WASHINGTON—Saying they felt anxious and overwhelmed just days before heading to the polls to decide a historically fraught presidential race, Americans throughout the country reportedly took a moment Thursday to put the 2016 election into perspective by reminding themselves that some species of sea turtles are eaten by birds just seconds after they hatch. Cleveland Indians Worried Team Cursed After Building Franchise On Old Native American Stereotype CLEVELAND—Having watched in horror as their team crumbled after a 3-1 World Series lead, members of the Cleveland Indians expressed concern Thursday that the organization has been cursed for building their franchise on an incredibly old Native American stereotype. Report: Election Day Most Americans’ Only Time In 2016 Being In Same Room With Person Supporting Other Candidate WASHINGTON—According to a report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center, Election Day 2016 will, for the majority of Americans, mark the only time this year they will occupy the same room as a person who supports a different presidential candidate. Nurse Reminds Elderly Man She’s Just Down The Hall If He Starts To Die DES PLAINES, IL—Assuring him that she’d be at his side in a jiffy, local nurse Wendy Kaufman reminded an elderly resident at the Briarwood Assisted Living Community that she was just down the hall if he started to die, sources reported Tuesday. | 0 |
Страна: Таиланд 4 февраля 2016 г. было подписано соглашение о создании Транстихоокеанского партнерства (ТТП). После ратификации соглашения всеми странами, на которую уйдет как минимум два года, в АТР появится огромная зона свободной торговли, объединяющая Австралию, Бруней, Вьетнам, Канаду, Малайзию, Мексику, Новую Зеландию, Перу, Сингапур, США, Чили и Японию. По прогнозам создателей ТТП, на его территорию со временем придется до 25% мирового товарооборота. При этом главным игроком там будут США, и торговля будет вестись по их правилам. Проект ТТП – попытка Америки сохранить свое экономическое доминирование в АТР и создать достойную конкуренцию Китаю. В идеале американцы желали бы видеть в своем партнерстве все страны Юго-Восточной Азии, однако все идет далеко не так гладко, как они рассчитывали. Пока что из АСЕАН в ТТП вошли только Вьетнам, Малайзия и Сингапур. Есть еще один кандидат от АСЕАН – это Таиланд. Однако если он и вступит в ТТП, то не на тех условиях, на которых этого хотели бы США. Интерес к проекту ТТП Таиланд выразил еще в 2012 г., когда шли предварительные переговоры, однако в последующие годы каких-либо шагов в эту сторону не предпринимал. Это не могло обрадовать американцев, ведь Таиланд один из их важных торговых партнеров. На США приходится более 20% таиландского экспорта и 14% импорта. Это немалые деньги, ведь ежегодный импорт Таиланда составляет около $150 млрд. Все эти показатели могли бы заметно увеличиться, если бы страна вступила в ТТП. Не стоит также забывать об относительно дешевой рабочей силе в Таиланде, что привлекает на его территорию многих иностранных инвесторов. Неудивительно, что США крайне заинтересованы в участии Таиланда в ТТП. Также в этом заинтересована Япония. Страна восходящего солнца является вторым по значимости игроком в ТТП и при этом главным экспортером продукции в Таиланд. Японская доля в таиландском импорте превышает 22%. Известно, что в Таиланде сейчас работает более полутора тысяч японских или совместных таиландско-японских предприятий. Очевидно, что сотрудничество с Японией чрезвычайно важно для таиландской экономики. 2 февраля 2016 г., за 2 дня до подписания соглашения о ТТП, премьер-министр Таиланда генерал Прают Чан-Оча встретился с делегацией японской торгово-промышленной палаты во главе с ее председателем Акио Мимура. Представители японского бизнеса обратились к правительству Таиланда с просьбой вступить в ТТП. По их словам, это заметно поспособствует развитию и укреплению таиландско-японского экономического сотрудничества. При этом делегаты добавили, что желают и дальше увеличивать количество японских предприятий в Таиланде, пока их устраивает налоговая политика государства. После встречи Прают Чан-Оча заявил, что она имела большое значение и способствовала росту доверия между правительством Таиланда и японскими инвесторами. Тем не менее вступления Таиланда в ТТП после той встречи так и не последовало. Более того, в тот момент таиландское руководство уже вело переговоры о присоединении страны к Евразийскому экономическому союзу (ЕАЭС) – организации экономически развитых стран бывшего СССР во главе с Россией, одному из потенциальных конкурентов ТТП. Кстати, с ЕАЭС на тот момент уже решил создать зону свободной торговли Вьетнам – еще один важный член АСЕАН, который при этом вошел в ТТП. В апреле 2016 г. Прают Чан-Оча посетил Россию. Тогда он заявил о желании Таиланда создать с ЕАЭС зону свободной торговли. В мае 2016 г. министр иностранных дел Таиланда Дон Прамудвинаи заявил, что страна готова присоединиться к ЕАЭС. По его словам, правительство Таиланда рассмотрело все возможности, которые несет создание зоны свободной торговли с ЕАЭС, и нашло их весьма заманчивыми. При этом все страны, входящие в ЕАЭС, также окажутся в выигрыше. Также Дон Прамудвинаи сказал, что вступить в ЕАЭС Таиланду поможет Россия, и что таиландская заявка уже разрабатывается. Следует напомнить, что Россия также является крупным торговым партнером Таиланда, и ежегодный товарооборот между ними составляет около $4,6 млрд. При этом имеются большие перспективы для роста, и поэтому превращение России и ЕАЭС в главных партнеров Таиланда вполне возможно. В заключение глава таиландского МИД сказал, что его страна скоро приступит к непосредственным переговорам о вхождении в ЕАЭС, когда уладит некоторые внутренние вопросы. 1 июня 2016 г. СМИ обнародовали заявление таиландского вице-премьера по вопросам экономики Сомкита Чатусипхитхака о том, что Таиланд все же готов вступить в ТТП, но лишь после ряда публичных слушаний, которые должны пройти в течение года. На них будет дано слово как сторонникам, так и противникам вступления. Также сообщалось о создании комитета во главе с таиландским министром торговли, цель которого – решить, выгодно ли стране членство в ТТП. Тогда Прают Чан-Оча заявил, что в первую очередь необходимо защитить права граждан Таиланда. Известно, что многие таиландские компании выступают против присоединения к ТТП, поскольку навязанные Америкой правила торговли сильно ударят по ним. Активно протестуют таиландские фермеры. Это стоит учесть, ведь в сельском хозяйстве занято около 60% населения страны. Вопрос о присоединении Таиланда к ТТП так и остается открытым. Заявление премьер-министра о том, что это состоится через год после всенародного обсуждения, сложно расценивать как обещание. Возможно, сейчас Таиланд стремится получить от США и Японии как можно больше преференций. При этом он продолжает сближение с ЕАЭС. В случае, если Таиланд присоединится к ЕАЭС и сделает его своим основным партнером, США и Японию ждут большие убытки. Даже если после этого Таиланд войдет и в ТТП, США уже не смогут его полностью контролировать. Американцам придется сотрудничать с Таиландом, учитывая его интересы, иначе он от них окончательно отвернется и целиком сосредоточится на ЕАЭС. Та же ситуация и с Вьетнамом, который уже состоит и в ТТП, и в ЕАЭС. Таиланд и Вьетнам входят в число самых развитых стран АСЕАН, и если они порвут с ТТП, то и другие члены АСЕАН могут последовать за ними. При этом именно контроль над Юго-Восточной Азией необходим США, чтобы сдерживать экономическую экспансию Китая. Таким образом, план ТТП идет совсем не так, как хотели США. Они надеялись создать мощный экономический союз, в котором были бы главными. Этот союз должен был стать инструментом экономического и политического влияния Америки в АТР, с помощью которого она ослабила бы Китай и ЕАЭС и вновь стала бы мировым экономическим лидером. Однако в лице таких стран, как Таиланд и Вьетнам, США получили не группу зависимых государств, а самостоятельных торговых партнеров. Вероятно, торгуя друг с другом, страны ТТП смогут неплохо заработать. Однако мирового экономического доминирования США, как видно, через ТТП не добьется. Дмитрий Бокарев, политический обозреватель, специально для интернет-журнала «Новое Восточное Обозрение». Популярные статьи | 0 |
One of the London Bridge attackers was allegedly a Islamist, who appeared on Britain’s Channel 4 TV station, was reported to police, and can be linked to the network around notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary. [According to numerous reports, the suspected London Bridge terrorist appeared in a Channel 4 documentary last year, which also featured the “new Jihadi John” alleged Islamic State executioner Abu Rumaysah, hate preacher Mohammed Shamsuddin (also know as Abu Saalihah) and infamous social media radical Abu Haleema. Twelve people, including four women in niqabs and men in Islamic robes, were arrested in Barking yesterday after raids at a flat believed to be the home of one of the attackers. A man has been released without charge. The suspected terrorist is known as “Abz” in the film. According to The Times, one of the suspects was born in Pakistan, grew up in Britain, and has been named by relatives as one of three men who rampaged through the capital this Saturday. He is thought to be the attacker who wore an Arsenal shirt and was later pictured dying on the street with a fake suicide belt strapped to him. According to an associate, interview anonymously on the BBC’s Asian Network, he was reported to the hotline numerous times. It was also claimed that, two years earlier, police were warned that the suspect was trying to radicalise children in a local park. Police have asked the press not to fully identify the terrorists at this stage, but say they know who they are and will release their names “as soon as operationally possible”. Mohammed Shamsuddin, who “Abz” is filmed alongside in the Channel 4 documentary, was an associate of notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary, who founded the terror group . Mr. Choudary has been linked to numerous murderous terrorists, including Michael Adebolajo, one of the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, and the London bombers, and was convicted last year of supporting Islamic State. Abu Haleema and suspected Islamic State executioner Abu Rumaysah were also associates of Mr. Choudary, and both appear in the same film “Abz”. In the Channel 4 program, the suspected London attacker is shown in a scene when the group of radicals, led by Mohammed Shamsuddin, pray in a central London park and unfurl a black flag which is identified as that of the Islamic State. The group mock the police when they are questioned and tread a delicate line throughout the film, appearing to praise Islamic State, a banned group, but not openly backing them. Islamic State has now claimed the London Bridge attack. At one point near the Channel 4 film, Mohammed Shamsuddin laughs and smiles as he watches Islamic State execution videos. “The guy’s foaming at the mouth, wow!” he says. “And I’m eating, hahahaha. ” Abu Haleema, who has associated with Islamic State recruiters, says: “for the record, I don’t support the Islamic State” when challenged, before bursting out into a fit or laughter. “Just for the record so I don’t get nicked [arrested]” he adds. | 1 |
Orina encima de su ginecólogo para que le diga si está embarazada "SE HA PUESTO MUY ROJO, O SEA QUE SÍ", HA CONCLUIDO LA MUJER test de embarazo
Una chica de 25 años ha orinado esta mañana encima de su ginecólogo, el doctor Andrés Román del Hospital La Paz, en Madrid, porque quería saber si estaba embarazada. “Se ha puesto muy rojo, o sea que sí”, ha concluido la mujer.
La joven ha argumentado que no se fía de los tests de embarazo “porque la tecnología puede fallar y es mejor ir al médico y hacer la prueba directamente, piel con piel”. El facultativo, muy avergonzado, ha derivado a la paciente a sus compañeros de neurología “para que comprueben que tiene cerebro”.
Dos horas después del incidente, el novio de la chica ha ido a ver al ginecólogo y le ha escupido en la cara para que le analice el ADN y le diga si es el padre de la criatura.
En estos momentos, la pareja está buscando a una tal Cesárea por si la necesitan durante el parto. | 0 |
WASHINGTON — The military coalition in Iraq said Saturday that an initial review of recent airstrikes in Mosul, the Islamic State’s last stronghold in Iraq, had confirmed that the strikes hit a site where scores of civilians were killed. The inquiry, military officials said, found that a building had collapsed a few days after strikes by American forces. United States officials are seeking to determine whether the airstrikes brought down the building, leaving many Iraqis dead, or the Islamic State used the strikes as an opportunity to detonate an explosive in the building. The Pentagon had acknowledged on Friday that it was investigating reports that its airstrikes had caused deaths in Mosul. The next phase of the investigation, military officials said, is likely to take about three weeks. The March 17 airstrikes — which Iraqis said had led to the deaths of possibly 200 people — could have produced among the highest civilian death tolls in an American air mission since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. The reports of heavy civilian casualties have come at a critical point in the military campaign to defeat the Islamic State. Iraqi officials said that the Trump administration had appeared to loosen restrictions on the rules of engagement, making it easier for the Iraqis to call in airstrikes. The Iraqis had been frustrated by the Obama administration’s deliberate approach. Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the rules had not been loosened. The coalition said in a statement on Saturday that the airstrikes had been conducted “at the request of the Iraqi security forces,” and that it believed it was hitting Islamic State fighters and equipment. “The coalition respects human life, which is why we are assisting our Iraqi partner forces in their effort to liberate their lands from ISIS brutality,” the statement said. “Our goal has always been for zero civilian casualties, but the coalition will not abandon our commitment to our Iraqi partners because of ISIS’s inhuman tactics terrorizing civilians, using human shields, and fighting from protected sites such as schools, hospitals, religious sites and civilian neighborhoods. ” It added: “Coalition forces work diligently and deliberately to be precise in our airstrikes. Coalition forces comply with the Law of Armed Conflict and take all reasonable precautions during the planning and execution of airstrikes to reduce the risk of harm to civilians. ” The civilian deaths occurred in the recently liberated neighborhood of Mosul Jidideh, and reports of mass casualties began emerging on Thursday, six days after the coalition said it had struck the area. That lapse may have been a result of delays in getting rescue workers to the area, some of whom traveled from Baghdad, 250 miles away. Iraqis on Saturday continued to pull bodies from the rubble, as families held hastily arranged funerals for the victims, some of whom were buried in mass graves, shrouded by blue tarpaulins, according to photographs and videos shared on social media. In one video, Basma Basim, the head of Mosul’s provincial council, stood in front of destroyed buildings where the strikes occurred and said that dozens “of innocent women, men, old men and children’s bodies, are in these homes and shops behind me — we couldn’t save them. ” She added, “All the men I met had a wife, sister or children buried under the rubble, at least 20 persons died for each. ” The battle for Mosul, now in its sixth month, has taken a heavy toll on civilians, with the Islamic State gathering civilians to use as human shields and, lately, with reports of growing numbers of deaths from airstrikes. The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said in a statement that more than 3, 800 civilians had been killed in the battle for western Mosul, which began in January. On the eastern side of the city, which was declared liberated in January after months of fighting, 2, 190 civilians were killed, the group said. In a statement on Saturday, Lise Grande, the United Nations’ top humanitarian official for Iraq, said, “We are stunned by this terrible loss of life and wish to express our deepest condolences to the many families who have reportedly been impacted by this tragedy. ” She added: “Parties to the conflict — all parties — are obliged to do everything possible to protect civilians. This means that combatants cannot use people as human shields and cannot imperil lives through indiscriminate use of firepower. ” Iraq’s Ministry of Defense, which works closely with the American military, broke two days of silence on Saturday when it said that it was opening an investigation into the civilian deaths. At the same time, the speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Salim ordered commanders of Iraq’s security forces to give lawmakers a report on the matter and to appear before the assembly. | 1 |
97924 Views October 29, 2016 KWN PLUS , TRENDING King World News FOR DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PLAY OR DOWNLOAD AUDIOS: CLICK HERE Rick Rule: Chairman / Founder of Sprott US Holdings & President of USA; Portfolio Manager – Rick is known as one of the most “street-smart” people in the natural resource sector and gold world with nearly 40 years of experience. USA Inc. manages over a billion and through acquisition is now part of the $7 billion LP. USA Inc. provides investment advice and brokerage services to high net worth individuals, institutional investors and corporate entities worldwide. Rick and his team are also successfully involved in agriculture, alternative energy, conventional energy, forestry, infrastructure, mining and water resources investing on a world wide basis. Rick Rule: Chairman / Founder of Sprott US Holdings & President of USA; Portfolio Manager – Mr. Rule has dedicated his entire adult life to many aspects of natural resource securities investing. In addition to the knowledge and experience gained in a long, successful and focused career, he has a worldwide network of contacts in the natural resource and finance worlds. As Chairman of Sprott US Holdings, Mr. Rule leads a highly skilled team of earth science and finance professionals who enjoy a worldwide reputation for resource investment management. Mr. Rule and his team have long experience in many resource sectors including agriculture, alternative energy, forestry, oil and gas, mining and water. Mr. Rule is particularly active in private placement markets, having originated and participated in hundreds of debt and equity transactions with private, pre-public and public companies. USA Inc – (“Sprott USA”) is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser firm that is a member of the Sprott Group of Companies (“Sprott Group”). The Sprott Group offers a collection of investment managers united by one common goal: delivering excellent long-term returns to our investors. Our investment team pursues a deeper level of knowledge and understanding which allows it to develop macroeconomic, sector and company insights. With decades of combined experience, our investment professionals will provide you with service that cannot be found in many investment management companies. Our portfolio managers have experience in the technical side of the business, so we feel that our investment advisory service is invaluable to our clients. We know that you have other obligations and priorities in your life, so let us use our experience and sector knowledge to your advantage. Please CLICK HERE for Sprott’s free report on Energy and Metals investing, and to receive Sprott’s free e-newsletter, Sprott’s Thoughts. Natural Resource Managed Account Investing RESOURCE-FOC– USED WEALTH MANAGEMENT USA Inc. – (“Sprott USA”) is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser firm that is a member of the Sprott Group of Companies (“Sprott Group”). The Sprott Group offers a collection of investment managers united by one common goal: delivering long-term returns to our investors. Sprott USA offers a Managed Account program for investors looking for distinctive and personalized resource portfolio management. LP – (“SAM”) is a Toronto-based alternative asset manager that offers a wide variety of investment solutions to Canadian and international investors. Our product offerings include mutual funds, alternative strategies, physical bullion trusts and tax-efficient funds. With a history dating back to 1981, our team of investment professionals is united by one common goal: delivering outstanding long-term returns to our clients and investors. To achieve that end, we have assembled a group of best-in-class portfolio managers, market strategists, technical experts and analysts that is widely-recognized for its investment expertise and unique investment approach. We are committed to conducting deep fundamental research to develop unique macroeconomic insights. About author | 0 |
BLOG Girl Put Aluminum Foil After Washing Her Hair and She Delighted The Best Hairdressers of The World posted by Eddie Most of the girls and women have a lot of problems with hair but with this simple trick you’ll get a nice, beautiful and strong hair. Everything you need for this trick are these natural ingredients. Ingredients: 1 lemon, orange or grapefruit 1 banana 2l milk Preparation: You must first squeeze the lemon, orange or the grapefruit. Put a banana in a blender and mix with 2l of milk. Thereafter mix all these ingredients and apply to your hair, then cover with aluminum foil. This mixture should be left to act on the hair for half an hour and then wash your hair with shampoo. With this combination you will make your hair be shiny, healthy, beautiful and what is most important to be without dandruff. source: | 0 |
Some guy in his underwear was caught on camera torching a Donald Trump sign Posted at 9:23
Tell us more about how it’s Donald Trump supporters who are unhinged? Here’s surveillance camera video of some guy dressed only in his underpants torching a Trump-Pence sign in Wisconsin: Man wearing only his underwear takes blowtorch to his neighbors' Trump sign — and they caught it all on camera https://t.co/XxdHdjAveM pic.twitter.com/mwWFZAwlBI
— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 26, 2016
Here’s the worst part: there were witnesses to the arson who did nothing to stop it! Trending 'Steve Star'
Reports are that the homeowners won’t be deterred by the vandalism and will put up an even bigger sign: HOT STUFF: Man in underwear torches Trump yard sign in Wisconsin, couple tells CNN they've put up a bigger sign https://t.co/5XtKcQDgHE
— Marlena Baldacci (@MarlenaTV) October 26, 2016
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James Corbett – FBI Director James Comey threw the 2016 presidential (s)election into (yet more) chaos by delivering an October surprise: the re-opening of the Clinton email investigation. Are the string-pullers abandoning Hillary? Or would they prefer a lame-duck president to be the face of the declining American empire?
Is chaos part of the plan? Today we talk to Michel Chossudovsky of GlobalResearch.ca about the Comey letter and its potential implications on the emerging world (dis)order.’] SF Source The Corbett Report Nov. 2016 Share this: | 0 |
Why Trump: A quick primer for the world's elite Donald Trump’s election victory was unprecedented, but it should not have been surprising. His popularity was the result of socio-economic trends that had been gathering force over the past 20 years Donald Trump’s election victory was unprecedented, but it should not have been surprising. His popularity was the result of socio-economic trends that had been gathering force over the past 20 years.
President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump shake hands following their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Nov. 10. Photo: AP
Elites across the U.S. and the world are puzzled by the election victory of Donald Trump. They should not be – it is no more surprising than the fall of one more domino in a line that has already toppled half a dozen others.
Trump’s victory follows the victory of the Brexit vote, and the rise and popularity of anti-liberal, nationalist leaders in the Philippines, Turkey, Hungary, and of course, Russia. Around the world, the rising polarization of wealth, the anger of those being left behind and trapped in the decline of social mobility have resulted in people venting their anger at what they perceive as selfish elites.
The data make clear that there was no huge outpouring of support for Donald Trump. He received 59.9 million votes overall; slightly less than Mitt Romney received in 2012 (60.9 million) and a hair more than John McCain received in 2008 (59.6). Trump defeated Clinton because she failed to generate as much enthusiasm as President Obama, who received 65.9 million votes in 2012 and a whopping 69.3 million votes in his first election in 2008. Large numbers of people who voted for Obama in earlier elections either stayed home (as with many of the Bernie Sanders voters) or voted for Trump.
In the Electoral College, the results were a surprise only because of overconfidence by Democrats and the biased judgements of urban-based elite media and commentators (plus polls that skewed toward urban voters). But a quick glance at the state and county maps of Republican and Democratic voting makes the outcome very clear. In the major cities where global finance and high technology has enriched the economies, and large numbers of the highly educated and higher-income households are located, voting went Democratic; in the rural areas dependent on the domestic economy, and particularly those hurt by the financial downturn since the Great Recession and by stagnant incomes, voting was overwhelmingly Republican.
Recommended: " Will Trump's presidency change the way America views Russia? " Overall, the Electoral College results were clear: as has usually been the case, the Northeast and West Coast states went Democratic, while the southern and mountain states went Republican. The crucial swing states were those in the upper Midwest – from western Pennsylvania and Ohio through Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. All of these were states that had voted for Obama in the previous two elections, but all of them went to Trump in 2016, giving him a large victory in the Electoral College.
The key swing voters in these swing states were the “white working class” - whites who had not attended college. These were the groups who felt the most pain in the late 2000s as their savings and homes crashed in value, while the high-paying union jobs that had been the foundation of their communities and their prosperity continued to fade away. In 2012, they voted strongly against Mitt Romney, who was seen as exactly the kind of predatory elite private equity investor who had enriched himself by closing factories and shipping jobs abroad.
But in 2016, they voted strongly against Hillary Clinton, who was also seen as representative of the Wall Street elites who had engineered bailouts for bankers and gotten rich themselves, while the white working class struggled to survive. Trump, in comparison, was seen as a self-made man who had no patience for political correctness, who would not give special favors to minorities and immigrants, and who would “make America (meaning their America, of small-town Midwestern communities) great again.” ;
This group of voters are now neither Democrats nor Republicans; rather they are supporters of anyone who promises to pay attention to their needs and shake up the system that they feel has neglected and scorned them. They supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries, and Donald Trump in the Republican primaries.
The real question we should be asking thus is not why Trump won the election; it is why so many voters rejected mainstream politicians from BOTH the Democratic and Republican parties, and voted for insurgents who aimed to overthrow the establishment of their parties and the nation . In short, why were so many voters willing to support what amounted to a revolution against politics-as-usual, a revolution aimed at blowing up the status quo?
The answer to that question is easily revealed in the graph shown below.
In this graph, from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, the upper blue line shows the growth in America’s economy. To be more specific, it shows the real (adjusted for inflation) level of GDP per person. This grew rapidly from 1993 to 2000, suffered a brief pause in the recession of 2001-2002 (the dot.com bust), and then continued to rise strongly to 2007. It again paused and dipped for the Great Recession of 2007-2009, but then rose again, reaching an all-time high in 2014.
One would expect that in a fair and open free market society there would be a strong relationship between rising national income and rising household income. ; Certainly there would be some increase in inequality as the benefits of growth would not be spread fully equally, but on average, one would expect that as a society as a whole grew richer, the people of that society would grow richer as well.
This was the case from the end of World War II all the way to the 1990s. But as shown by the bottom red line in the figure – which tracks the real median household income in the U.S. – for the last 15 years that expected relationship has failed. Over this period, the median household income has dropped; household income stopped rising in tandem with national economic growth from 1999 to 2007, first remaining flat even as the economic grew, then dropping by ten percent after 2007, even as the overall economy returned to steady growth.
There are a number of words to describe this state of affairs, but the obvious ones that leap to mind are “unfair,” “unjust,” and “intolerable.” ; No doubt most of the U.S. population has not been poring over graphs like this one – they don’t know the data or the trends. But what they do clearly see and resent is that highly visible pockets of the economy are enjoying strong economic growth; it is visible in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami and Chicago. These and other centers of design, finance, and professional life are thriving and driving a growing economy. ;
But the median households across the country – especially in rural areas and former manufacturing centers – are being left out of this growth; instead their incomes are falling. Some people blame immigrants; others blame globalization or sending jobs abroad. Economists and media pundits often blame technological advances for leaving uneducated workers behind. But for many households with stagnant or falling incomes watching the rising wealth of the bankers, executives, and urban professionals, the result that matters is a hatred of the elites who have manipulated the rules of the game to favor themselves and capture (if not steal) all the fruits of national economic growth.
The result is not all that different from what happened in East Germany for households that received TV images of the quality of life in West Germany, and increasingly realized that they were being left behind. The East Germans felt that their leaders had betrayed them; those leaders lost all legitimacy, and they were abandoned in what became a revolutionary movement that quietly toppled the Communist regime.
America has always had high inequality; that is not the issue. In the past, high inequality was combined with two elements that comprised the “American dream.” First, while some attained enormous wealth, average incomes rose as well. Not everyone would become a Rockefeller or Ford, but everyone could expect a rising income over their lifetimes if they worked hard.
Also read: " Why Russia has no reason to celebrate a Trump presidency ye t " Second, the path for mobility was open to all – anyone with the luck, brains, or business talent could strike it rich and move to the top of the income hierarchy. That opportunity was fueled by an open frontier in the 19 th and early 20 th century, and by a huge increase in public education and professional and white collar jobs from the 1960s to the 1990s. In those years, those with the ability and effort could put themselves through a good public college and get a professional or government job with excellent income and solid benefits. Parents from the lower and working classes whose children could be encouraged to be disciplined and hard-working could count on their children being able to get an outstanding education and achieve high levels of professional success.
In the last twenty years, both these elements of the American Dream have been stripped away. Average incomes have stagnated, then declined, even though the overall economy has grown. In addition, avenues to social mobility have dried up. Funding for public universities has plummeted, and costs have skyrocketed compared to working-class incomes. The number of professional and white collar jobs has grown only slowly, and those positions are increasingly taken by the children of well-to-do parents who can provide superior pre-school, private, and college educations, connections that lead to valuable internships, and pathways to top jobs. A 2015 Pew study of social mobility in the U.S. states that “the United States is very immobile. The persistence of advantage is especially large among those raised in the middle to upper reaches of the income distribution.”
As the American Dream is what legitimized the high level of inequality and the position of elites in the eyes of the average working family, the erosion of that dream has undermined the legitimacy of today’s elites. Instead, a substantial number of Americans want to “take down” the selfish and privileged elites that they see running Washington D.C. and betraying them. These people responded with wild enthusiasm to Donald Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp.”
In sum, the income patterns in America over the last 15 years made it inevitable that sooner or later an uprising would occur against the ruling establishment . Whether it drew from the left (Bernie Sanders’ supporters) or the right (Trump’s supporters) or both, an anti-elite movement was going to gain traction. Yes, there are bigots, racists, sexual aggressors and xenophobes among Trump supporters, given that Trump himself has shown these characteristics in his speeches and actions. But these are not the groups that pushed Trump to the Presidency. If not Trump, it would have been another populist who, sooner or later, would have overcome an opponent from the hated elites.
Throughout history, whenever selfish elites monopolize economic growth and produce a polarization of incomes, the result is a loss of legitimacy and the rise of insurgent movements to overturn the social order that is no longer providing expected routine benefits. Since the 1990s, the U.S. has been repeating these conditions. The surprise should not be that Donald Trump (or someone like him) was elected president. The surprise should be: Why did it take so long?
The ;opinion ;of the author may not necessarily reflect the position of Russia Direct or its staff. | 0 |
An anesthetic commonly used for surgery has surpassed heroin to become the deadliest drug on Long Island, killing at least 220 people there in 2016, according to medical examiners’ records. The drug, fentanyl, is a synthetic opioid, which can be 100 times more potent than morphine. The numbers from Long Island are part of a national pattern, as fentanyl fatalities have already surpassed those from heroin in other parts of the country, including New England, as its use has skyrocketed. Part of the reason for the increase is economic — because fentanyl can be manufactured in the lab, it is much cheaper and easier than cultivating heroin. In New York City, more than 1, 000 people are expected to die from drug overdoses this year — the first recorded death total in city history, according to statistics compiled by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Nearly half of all unintentional drug overdose deaths in the city since July have involved fentanyl, the health department said. The medical examiners of Long Island’s two counties, Nassau and Suffolk, compiled the new numbers. “Fentanyl has surpassed heroin as the most commonly detected drug in fatal opioid overdoses,” Dr. Michael J. Caplan, the Suffolk County medical examiner, said in a written statement about the statistics, which were obtained by The New York Times ahead of their release. “The influx of illicitly manufactured fentanyl from overseas is a nationwide issue that requires a multidisciplinary intervention from all levels of government. ” Nationwide, recorded deaths from opioids surpassed 30, 000 in 2015, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And overdoses caused by synthetic opioids like fentanyl increased by 72. 2 percent in 2015 over 2014 — one of the deadliest surges for any drug in United States history, the same data shows. As recently as three years ago, few people outside the medical profession or law enforcement had even heard of fentanyl, which is legally prescribed in the form of transdermal patches or lozenges. But drug dealers have been lacing heroin with fentanyl for years, just to fill out the packets and save on the heroin — with or without the user’s knowledge. At the same time, many drug users seek out fentanyl because it gives them a higher high and the thrill of using something so risky, although often they do not know exactly what they are shooting up. In a statement responding to the overdose data, James J. Hunt, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Division, said that seizures of fentanyl had increased drastically in the last five years. “Not only are drug traffickers mixing it with heroin for street distribution,” he said, “but drug suppliers are sending it in bulk form for resellers to sell in pill form or in bulk powder. ” Prescription fentanyl is used to treat cancer pain and as an anesthetic for surgery. Even small amounts of it can be deadly. The drug is so powerful that law enforcement officers have to wear gloves when searching for it, as just a tiny bit can get into the skin and, depending on the amount, can be fatal. On Long Island, America’s most densely populated suburban region, opioids of all kinds killed at least 464 people in 2016, the medical examiners’ records show. Hundreds of additional drug overdose analyses are pending. “Too many young people have fallen victim,” the Nassau County executive, Edward Mangano, said of the new data in a written statement. The Nassau County medical examiner, Dr. Tamara Bloom, did not comment on the new numbers. In New York City, as of June, there were 184 overdose deaths recorded — more than in all of 2015, health department records show. Since then, the number of fatal 2016 overdoses involving fentanyl has surged to about 500, according to the department data. Fentanyl is increasingly being manufactured by Mexican drug cartels, according to the D. E. A. or is cooked up in labs in the United States. It is being sold by dealers in New York City and on Long Island, according to Mr. Hunt, the D. E. A. special agent. Some users who purchase it believe they are actually buying prescription pain pills like oxycodone or hydrocodone, or heroin alone — drugs far less potent than fentanyl. A user can fatally overdose within moments of snorting, injecting or swallowing the drug, authorities said. | 1 |
BERLIN — Germany’s highest court rejected on Tuesday an attempt to ban the National Democratic Party, the country’s oldest political organization, finding that it did not pose a danger to democracy even though its principles violate the Constitution. The ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court came after years of deliberation and at a time of in the country, where another party, Alternative for Germany, is poised to win representation in Parliament in national elections this year. Although the National Democratic Party “pursues aims contrary to the Constitution,” there was a lack of “concrete supporting evidence” that the party would be able to successfully achieve its goals and to pose a genuine threat, said Andreas Vosskuhle, the president of the court. “That a party has aims that run contrary to the Constitution is not sufficient grounds for banning a party,” he said. Germany’s 16 states submitted a petition in 2013 to ban the party, citing its racist, agenda, but the law that allows a party to be banned is not based on “sympathies or worldview,” but on evidence of a specific threat to the Constitution, he said. Germany has strict laws on banning political parties, and only two have been outlawed since the defeat of the Nazis at the end of World War II — the Socialist Reich Party, in 1952, and the German Communist Party, in 1956. A 2003 attempt to ban the National Democratic Party also failed, after the court found that paid informants in the party were partly responsible for evidence the government used. Over the past decade, the party has continued to lose popularity, with many of its members switching to Alternative for Germany. That party was founded in 2013 on an agenda, but it has attracted followers after emerging as a prominent voice against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to allow nearly one million refugees into the country since summer 2015. Although the influx has slowed, the issue remains a political point of contention. In September, voters ejected the National Democratic Party from the legislature in the last state in which it had seats. Other than Udo Voigt, a member of the European Parliament, the party is now represented only at the local level. The eight judges of the court cited the party’s lack of playing a significant role in the political landscape as a reason for their decision not to ban it. “In more than five decades that it has existed, the National Democratic Party has not been able to achieve lasting representation in a state legislature,” Mr. Vosskuhle said, reading from the ruling. “There are no indications that this will change in the future. ” At the height of its popularity, the party narrowly missed winning seats in the West German Parliament and was represented in seven of the country’s 11 state legislatures. Since German reunification in 1990, the party has been strongest in states of the former East Germany. The ruling means the party remains eligible under German law for financial support from the government, drawn from taxpayers, one of the arguments for the attempt to ban it. Mr. Vosskuhle acknowledged this point, suggesting the idea of changing the Constitution to restrict funding from parties that are recognized as violating Germany’s democratic principles. On Tuesday, however, the party celebrated the ruling, with its leader, Frank Franz, posting on the party’s Facebook page, “ winner against an attempt to be outlawed. ” Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s interior minister, said that despite the ruling, he supported keeping the party under observation by the domestic intelligence services, a move that he credited for keeping the party from posing a substantial threat. But the ruling also earned criticism, especially from Jewish groups such as the World Jewish Congress, which expressed “disappointment” and “dismay” at the court’s ruling. “This sends the wrong signal, all the more so as the court made it very clear that the NPD indeed strives to overthrow the democratic order and shares many of the aims of Hitler’s Nazi Party,” said Ronald S. Lauder, the group’s president. | 1 |
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OMAHA — Ryan Lochte was off to a rough start at the United States Olympic trials even before he climbed on the blocks Sunday night for the second step in his defense of his Olympic gold medal in the individual medley. The nonstop American Airlines flight that Lochte and his SwimMAC teammates had taken from North Carolina had encountered problems. The plane flew below 10, 000 feet for several minutes before the pilots made an emergency landing in Kansas City, Mo. Instead of arriving here Thursday at 3 p. m. Lochte and his teammates pulled into their downtown hotel in two vans around midnight. It made for a long traveling day but provided perfect preparation for the inconveniences that the swimmers are likely to encounter if they qualify for the Games in Rio de Janeiro. Lochte, 31, a Olympian and medalist who had the world’s time last year in the individual medley, had not planned to defend his 400 I. M. title. He figured his winning effort at the London Games of 4 minutes 5. 18 seconds, the time in history, was a fitting finale. Like shoveling snow, the 400 I. M. is a physically taxing activity best left to the youth. The proof was in the composition of the field Sunday at CenturyLink Center. The 94 men averaged 19. 5 years old. The youngest was Carson Foster, who finished 43rd in the heats. The oldest, by two years, was Lochte, who qualified second in the first step of his title defense. He finished of a second behind the preliminaries pacesetter, Chase Kalisz, whom Lochte afterward described as “a young buck. ” Kalisz, 22, has trained for the past several years, most recently at Arizona State, with Michael Phelps, the only swimmer to have finished faster than Lochte in the event. Lochte channeled Phelps in the first half of the final, taking the butterfly out fast and extending his lead on the backstroke leg. But Kalisz made his move on the third leg, bettering Lochte by more than four seconds in the breaststroke, and won going away in 4:09. 54. Jay Litherland, 20, from Georgia, passed a fading Lochte on the freestyle leg to secure the second and final Olympic berth with a personal best of 4:11. 02. Lochte was third in 4:12. 02. “We’re going to have our two best guys in that event in the Olympics representing the U. S. A. ,” said Lochte, who revealed that he had pulled his groin muscle on the breaststroke leg of his morning race. He said the injury had forced him to start hard in the final with the hope he could build an unbeatable lead by the time he got to the breaststroke leg, where the injury rendered his kick ineffectual. Lochte never considered skipping the final, he said. At his age, he was perhaps tempting fate in swimming the race at all. “I’m sure someone in their 30s could do it if they could get the motivation to do the training, but that’s tough,” said Kalisz’s coach, Bob Bowman. He added, “There’s only so long you can sustain that kind of work. ” Kalisz’s time was the second best in the world this year, behind Kosuke Hagino’s 4:08. 85. Hagino and a fellow Japanese swimmer, Daiya Seto, who has clocked a 4:10. 53, had pushed Lochte to enter the event. David Marsh, who coaches Lochte at SwimMAC in Charlotte, N. C. appealed to Lochte’s patriotism, telling him that if he was the best swimmer to have on the blocks for the United States, then he ought to swim. Generation Next had other ideas, and when its leader, Kalisz, climbed out of the water, Phelps was on the deck to hug him — twice. “He told me he was proud of me, and it was a very emotional moment,” Kalisz said. “Michael has been like an older brother to me that I never had, and he’s been the one guy that I have looked up to my entire life. ” Phelps, who turns 31 this week, had qualified to compete in the 400 I. M. at the Olympics three times, doing so in 2012 despite a training regimen that was less than diligent. He finished fourth at the London Games with a time more than five seconds slower than his winning effort of 2008. When Lochte mentioned to him this year that he was thinking about taking the 400 I. M. out of mothballs and adding it to his trials program, Phelps was blunt, he said. “I just said to him, ‘If you’re going to swim it, you better train because you can’t do it without it trust me,’” Phelps said Saturday. He added, “There’s no way to hide in that race. ” Phelps’s words proved prophetic. “I did everything I could in that race,” Lochte said. “It just wasn’t enough. Just got to forget about it. ” How will his injury affect his performance the rest of the week? “I don’t know,” Lochte said. “I’m just going to have to keep working on it, and hopefully it gets better. ” | 1 |
CORK DORKA Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for TasteBy Bianca Bosker329 pages. Penguin Books. $17. Some people shuffle paper for their jobs. Sommeliers lick rocks. Well, not all sommeliers. But a number of them do, if they’re desperate enough to want to know the difference between the taste of blue slate and that of red. Some forgo brushing their teeth in the morning, or drinking hot beverages, or using perfume, scented laundry detergent, extra salt. Their palates — and their noses — are their instruments. Who would risk blistering or blunting them? Would a violinist leave her Stradivarius in a locked trunk on a sweltering day? She would not. Bianca Bosker’s “Cork Dork: A Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste” is a compendium of bewitching and sometimes disgusting facts. (There’s an art to spitting, apparently.) Do ignore the subtitle, which is filled with about as many additives as your average plonk, and every bit as cloying. It’s deceptive. Bosker’s journey into this sodden universe is thrilling, and she tells her story with gonzo élan. I’m not one to let blurbers, often into service by authors or publishers, do my work. But when the sommelier and blogger Madeline Puckette writes that this book is the “Kitchen Confidential” of the wine world, she’s not wrong, though Bill Buford’s “Heat” is probably a shade closer to this book’s sensibility and heart. “Cork Dork” is likely to find a large audience. The real miracle is that Bosker was sober enough to write it. “Most days,” she explains, “I was drunk by noon, hung over by 2 p. m. and, around 4 in the afternoon, deeply regretting the burger I’d devoured for lunch. ” Bosker was the technology editor of The Huffington Post when she heard about the World’s Best Sommelier Competition. She videos. She marveled. She decided to change her life. For 18 months, she shadowed renowned wine fanatics, hoping to understand their obsession and to become a certified sommelier herself. The goal was more foolhardy than she knew. Sommeliers, at least in her hometown (New York) are a diehard lot. They’re best described as punctilious sybarites — “the most masochistic hedonists I’d ever met,” as Bosker writes. They spend evenings on their feet. During the day, they practice the arcane rituals of wine service, ingest a magnum of wine esoterica and, if they’re aspiring to become master sommeliers, sample more than 20, 000 kinds of wine so that they can make such blind declarations as: “This is a blend from the right bank of Bordeaux from the village of in the 2010 vintage of Grand Cru Classé quality. ” That’s a direct quote, by the way. It comes from Bosker’s friend — and Sherpa — Morgan Harris, a precocious, brassily opinionated sommelier at New York’s Aureole. He and other expert tasters are expected to become the Alan Turings of wine, deciphering flavors as if the Battle of the Atlantic depended on it. Bosker had exactly no experience in this field. But because she’s possessed of a jolly hubris, she manages to wheedle and bluff her way into a series of jobs for which she isn’t remotely qualified, and then to muscle her way into the most elite group in Manhattan — which would be like me deciding I wanted to brush up on my baseball skills by joining the Yankees for spring training. She gets a quick, boozy education, and so do we. About how to decant properly, which is as difficult as sinking a hole in one. About how to serve, which involves more rules than cricket. (Whatever you do, do not show customers the back of your hand.) She gives great gossip. While trailing a “somm” at Marea, an upscale Manhattan restaurant, Bosker learns that management keeps SparkNotes on its 1 percenter clientele. They’re a confetti of acronyms, the most devastating of which is HWC, or “Handle With Care. ” (At other restaurants, it’s SOE, or “Sense of Entitlement. ” Ow.) Readers also get a feel for restaurant economics from “Cork Dork,” and this much is clear: Sommeliers are secret weapons, capable of adding extra zeros to the bottom line. They’ve mastered the fine art of the upsell, sometimes based on the semiotics of customer clothing and accessories alone. Is Dad wearing a $50, 000 Patek Philippe watch? Do not give him a bottle of Pinot Grigio if the most expensive one on your list is only $80. “YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED,” Harris booms. (Steer him toward a $270 bottle of Chablis grand cru instead.) I’d say that Harris deserves his own reality show, but in a sense, he already has one, as do some of the other somms that Bosker follows. They’re on the Esquire Network’s “Uncorked. ” It felt a bit dishonest of the author not to reveal it. And while I appreciated her bravado, I grew similarly queasy, as time wore on, with how she would congratulate herself for her way into an event she had no business attending. Did she promise the organizers publicity in her book? A magazine article? Too often, she doesn’t say. On occasion, Bosker radiates youthful maybe a touch of naïveté. But she is, in the main, great company as a narrator — witty, generous, democratic. She devotes many pages to singing the praises of taste and smell, which philosophers throughout the ages have considered the baser senses, and shows how just about any of us can sharpen them. She’s suspicious, as any good journalist should be, of cant — she’s a decanter! — and interrogates at length whether the florid language of the sommelier (“notes of vanilla, cassis and saddle leather”) is useful or even authentic. She shows up at one of her fancy tasting groups with a plastic cup of chervil and asks everyone to give it a sniff. They can’t identify it — even though they regularly claim to detect hints of the herb in what they drink. Eventually, she interrogates the entire notion of wine expertise, which in turn raises the biggest question of all: What does make a wine great? Especially if, as one damning study found, most judges in a California wine competition gave contradictory ratings to the same bottle of wine every time they tasted it? And if a wine economist explains that there’s little correlation between quality and cost once a bottle exceeds $50 or $60? (“After that,” Bosker writes, “brand, reputation and scarcity start to nudge up a bottle’s cost. ”) Bosker ultimately arrives at her own kind of homespun answer to what makes a wine special. It accommodates tastes high and low, and she’s still certainly capable of enjoying three different vintages of the fabled Château d’Yquem. “It tasted like the sun,” she writes. “It tasted like an experience that would never repeat itself. ” | 1 |
Keep your thanks, what veterans really need are good jobs Jobs By Chris Tomlinson
Skip the “thank you for your service.” Let’s talk about what veterans really need.
Veterans Day is Friday, and strangers who learn that I served seven years on active duty in the U.S. Army will inevitably thank me for my service. While some people believe that veterans deserve lifelong gratitude for their role protecting our country, more than a few of us find it annoying; an empty platitude that civilians use to absolve themselves from asking what exactly we sacrificed, or what we truly need now.
What post-9/11 veterans need are good jobs, with good benefits. They need employers who don’t thoughtlessly cut-and-paste job prerequisites that favor someone who spent four years partying at a state university over a vet who was waking up at 6 a.m. and wearing a uniform during 60-hour workweeks, except for when they were in combat.
www.houstonchronicle.com Jobs , | 0 |
A New York Democrat in Congress has filed a bill that would forbid immigration officers from wearing clothing that says “POLICE. ” Officials with U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) urge that it “may be a matter of ” for them to do so. [In law enforcement, often a risky occupation, being able to immediately ID yourself as law enforcement may be a matter of pic. twitter. — ICE (@ICEgov) April 7, 2017, 2, ICE agents and officers may initially identify themselves as “police” in an encounter because it is the universally known term for law enforcement, they say. ICE agents officers may initially ID themselves as “police” in an encounter because it is the universally known term for law enforcement pic. twitter. — ICE (@ICEgov) April 7, 2017, Moreover, these agents and officers are sworn law enforcement personnel who enforce the laws in our country. ICE agents and officers are sworn law enforcement personnel who enforce our nation’s laws pic. twitter. — ICE (@ICEgov) April 7, 2017, If she could have her way, U. S. Representative Nydia Velazquez ( ) would change that. She introduced a bill Thursday that would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to prohibit immigration officers and agents from wearing clothing with the word “police” on it. According to the Los Angeles Times, officials and open borders advocates in the California city are leading an effort to halt the practice of ICE officials quickly identifying themselves as police. The mayor of LA, Eric Garcetti, City Attorney Mike Feuer, and City Council President Herb Wesson penned a letter to the directors of ICE and the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Division “to urge in the strongest possible terms that ICE immediately cease this practice in our city. ” The officials sent a copy of the letter to U. S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. The Times reported that the officials used the justification that “the city’s immigrant communities are living in heightened fear of deportation and detention, and that such practices only discourage people from reporting crimes. ” These city officials do not contend that the practice is illegal. Rep. Velazquez calls the practice “completely unconscionable,” and the bill would apply to agents and officers with U. S. Customs and Border Protection: When ICE agents identify as “police” our communities are compromised afraid. It is completely unconscionable: https: . — Rep. Nydia Velazquez (@NydiaVelazquez) April 7, 2017, The congresswoman told The Washington Post, “It could trick families into opening their doors to agents from ICE without a warrant. ” “There’s not going to be a lot of trust between the police and the communities,” she added. She also charges that “hate crimes and hate rhetoric have increased since Donald Trump made it to the White House” and counters — “You didn’t see that when Obama was in the White House. ” The Post reported that officials in the sanctuary city of Hartford, Connecticut, have also jumped on board to prohibit ICE officers and agents from identifying themselves as law enforcement. The police chief from Hartford issued a statement that said, “ICE agents should not identify as local police as it is misleading and can damage the important relationship with local communities. ” Harford Mayor Luke Bronin said, “our police and other public safety officers need to foster a relationship of trust with all our residents. ” He argues, “Our police officers have worked hard to build that trust, and for ICE agents to present themselves as local police will undermine the hard work our department has done. ” Mayor Bronin contends “We follow all state and federal laws, and we will partner with anyone to help get violent criminals off the streets. But federal agents should not be creating the impression that they are local police. ” News8 in Connecticut reports that Hartford sees itself as a “sanctuary city” and prohibits the local police or city agencies from collecting “immigration information. ” The Immigrant Defense Project and the Educational Alliance support Velazquez’ bill. The Times also reported that the Council on Relations (CAIR) Service Employees International Union, Chinese Chamber of Commerce and the Central American Legal Assistance all champion the bill. Reps. Luis V. Gutierrez ( ) and Juan Vargas ( ) and other Democrats in Congress have also endorsed the bill, it reports. Breitbart News reported that officials detained Gutierrez in when he refused to leave a meeting in the Chicago office of U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Gutierrez was leading a with illegal aliens who were demanding information on specific deportation cases. Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook. | 1 |
Before Trump’s glorious victory over the forces of progressive darkness, I promised that I would provide a roadmap on what traditional men could do next to usher in a return of the patriarchy. If Hillary had prevailed, the roadmap would have been a grim one, as all of our work would have had to take place underground. Happily, we will be able to work in the open. Here are three ways that we can leverage Trump’s victory to bring back the patriarchy.
Rule yourself Bruce Wayne is a good role model for traditional men: Urbane, fit, financially independent—and dangerous.
This may seem obvious, but if we are going to bring back the patriarchy, we have to be men who are worthy of it. A patriarch who relies solely on the fact that he is a man will quickly be overthrown. However, a man who has authority because he has earned it by the way he lives will naturally retain it. Thus, the first step in making progress under a Trump administration is the same as it would have been if Hillary had been elected—self-improvement.
Self-improvement involves the obvious things: getting in shape, training martial arts, getting rid of addictions, and exercising self-discipline. The process of self-improvement needs to be under-girded with a philosophy of life. For most men, this will involve adopting, and faithfully living, one of the faith-traditions. For others, it may mean adopting stoic philosophy. Whatever it is, it will have to be more substantial than the degenerate, “pleasure, wealth, and power at any cost” morality of our Spirit Cooking elites—lack of morality got us into this problem in the first place.
Self-improvement also involves moving in the direction of financial independence. Under a Trump administration, this last goal will become easier to achieve. Trump’s tax plan cuts tax rates across the board. This will especially benefit men who are in the middle class who are trying to generate more income. They will be able to keep their savings so that they can move ahead rather than paying a penalty that keeps them from becoming wealthy.
Trump’s emphasis on fair trade will also result in more American jobs and unleash unprecedented creativity. The age of Trump will be a great time to start a new business. One word of warning is in order though: Under Trump the US is likely to flourish in a way that hasn’t happened since the the 1920s. Enjoy the prosperity but don’t get caught back in the materialism merry-go-round. Our goal is a lifetime of financial independence, not conspicuous consumption.
Financial independence is an important practical consideration because you will need a firm financial foundation for the second step, which is ruling your family.
Rule your family Be the patriarch.
Starting with the boomers, our society rejected the traditional way of life and adopted progressivism. Families got smaller, divorce became more common, promiscuity increased, feminism became the default philosophy for girls, and the remaining vestiges of the patriarchy vanished. Progressivism promised freedom but delivered enslavement to political correctness and globalism.
A Trump administration will do little to reverse the deleterious effects that progressivism has had on the family. At best, the only thing government can do for the family is encourage it financially and provide a safe environment for it. But real change has to come from the bottom up—from men and women who return to tradition. For us, that means finding a traditional woman, or more likely one who can be converted to tradition, getting married, and having lots of children. A Twitter shitlord ( @johnrandom1234 ) drove home this point in a humorous way by suggesting with a four-step “Trump Bump” starter kit:
Getting married, having children, and raising them to hold to the patriarchy is the long game, but it is the only way we will have long term victory. Without a next generation of traditional men, any ground that we gain under Trump will soon be lost.
Rule society—bring back the patriarchy Benjamin Franklin is a great example of a man who was serious about his civic duty.
The next thing that we must do is start reclaiming our institutions. Trump has captured the presidency and Republicans control Congress, but many of those Republicans are cucks who will oppose the Trumpian agenda. And our other institutions are still dominated by leftists. Hollywood, the news media, education, and corporations all proclaim the progressive, anti-patriarchy message. If we don’t take advantage of the current moment, any gains that Trump makes will be quickly rolled-back after he leaves office.
Therefore, we need to start re-engaging with these institutions to shift them towards Patriarchal Nationalism . You can share any ideas you have to do this in the comments. Here, I’d like to suggest that one institution that needs our participation: the Republican Party. Trump has created many allies within the GOP but the majority of the Party still holds to the cucked ideology of open borders and bad trade deals like NAFTA. The GOP desperately needs like-minded men within its ranks who will help Trump achieve his vision.
Getting involved in your local GOP is easy. You merely have to get in touch with your local party leadership in your district. You don’t have to run for elected office. Simply volunteer your time in getting local officials elected, voting for delegates, or attending GOP events. Go in with a respectful attitude. A lot of the local GOP leaders are good people who still don’t understand that the real battle is against globalists. Work for incremental change. And, if you have the disposition required for it, consider running for local office yourself.
One piece of advice: If you do choose to get involved in politics, don’t get caught up in it. One way we ended up with an ossified and out-of-touch GOP is that people started to hold the globalist neoconservatism with an almost religious fervor. The other trap is to use politics as a way of enriching oneself in the manner of Hillary Clinton. If you do choose to enter the political realm, resolve at the outset to not use it for your own financial gain. Don’t make politics your life. Think of it strictly as civic duty.
Of course, politics is not everybody’s cup of tea. The key is to use your gifts, whether that is in movie-making or in running a company, to help create an environment where the patriarchy can flourish.
Conclusion The one thing we must not do in wake of the Trump victory is rest on our laurels. If Hillary had won, we’d all have a great sense of urgency to protect what little remained of our way of life. Now that Trump is coming into power, the temptation is to relax—to just let Trump do it all. This temptation must be avoided. We must capitalize on the Trump victory with the same high level of urgency that we would have regarded a Hillary victory. If we don’t, we run the risk of losing all the ground we have gained.
Read More: How Donald Trump Vanquished His Enemies And Conquered The Republican Party
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Pomegranate Pistachio Pancakes
A gluten-free pancake stack that can pass off as dessert? Yes please!
These pomegranate pistachio pancakes contain no added sugar or grains – all you need is a banana and two eggs for a sweet and perfectly moist pancake.
While you can top them with whatever you like, this pomegranate and pistachio version is great for fall. They add a pop of color, crunch, and flavor – perfect for Sunday brunch or whenever you’re in the mood for a stack.
Pomegranate Pistachio Pancakes
1/4 tsp. almond or vanilla extract (optional) 1/8 tsp. baking powder (optional, for fluffier pancakes) 2 large eggs 1 Tbsp. unrefined coconut oil (or other oil) ½ cup pomegranate arils 2 Tbsp. chopped pistachios
Instructions: Peel the banana and break it into 4 parts in a bowl. Use a fork to mash it thoroughly into a pudding like consistency. Add the extract and baking powder if using. In another bowl, whisk the eggs together. Then, pour the eggs into the banana bowl, and mix well until thoroughly combined. It will be a very liquid-like consistency. Heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat. Add a few teaspoons of coconut oil. Use about 2 tablespoons of batter per pancake. Cook for about 1 minute. Sprinkle with a few pomegranate seeds before flipping and cooking an additional minute on the other side. Transfer the cooked pancakes to a plate, and stack them high. Top with additional pomegranate, pistachios, and maple syrup.
Get the printable recipe here .
Author: Maria Marlowe is an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach who helps people lose weight or clear up their acne by switching to a real food diet. She posts healthy recipes and meal plans at mariamarlowe.com . She has been featured in Vogue, The New York Times, NBC, Well + Good, and more.
Download her free 3-Day Real Food Challenge Meal Plan , or follow her on Instagram @Maria_Marlowe and Facebook for more healthy recipes. GET FREE E-COURSE HERE Exclusive Newsletter, Video, Deals, Content And Video Updates GET INSTANT ACCESS | 0 |
Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton collided in an almost unremittingly hostile debate on Sunday night, a spectacle of character attacks, tawdry allegations, and Mr. Trump’s startling accusation that Mrs. Clinton had “tremendous hate in her heart. ” In a remarkable political maneuver, Mr. Trump said Mrs. Clinton had smeared women who accused her husband, Bill Clinton, of sexually assaulting or harassing them, seeking to salvage his presidential candidacy after explosive reports about his past lewd comments about women. Tense at first, and then increasingly angry as he grew more comfortable on the attack, Mr. Trump noted that three of Mr. Clinton’s accusers were sitting in the audience. It was one of several moments when Mr. Trump aimed to energize his most conservative supporters and drive a wedge between them and the elected Republican officials who have been abandoning him. He even threatened that if it were up to him, Mrs. Clinton would “be in jail” for her use of a private email server as secretary of state. Both candidates were visibly uneasy throughout the debate, even refusing to shake hands at the beginning, as the town hall event unfolded on a small stage in a highly charged atmosphere. It was a deeply ugly moment in American politics, featuring the sort of personal invective rarely displayed by those who aspire to lead the nation. “Bill Clinton was abusive to women. Hillary Clinton attacked those same women — attacked them viciously,” Mr. Trump said, arguing that the accusations against Mr. Clinton were “far worse” than Mr. Trump’s own remarks in 2005 that he could grope women because he was “a star. ” Mr. Trump apologized for those comments but also repeatedly minimized them as “ talk,” and even tried to blame Mrs. Clinton for raising them in light of Mr. Clinton’s behavior. “She brings up words that I said 11 years ago — I think it’s disgraceful, and she should be ashamed of herself, to tell you the truth,” Mr. Trump said to scattered applause. Mrs. Clinton did not specifically rebut his charges about her husband, saying only, “So much of what he just said is not right. ” Instead, she broadened her indictment of Mr. Trump beyond the 2005 recording, assailing him for refusing to show contrition for his many inflammatory statements. “He never apologizes to anybody for anything,” Mrs. Clinton said. She unfurled a litany of his provocations, including his mocking a Gold Star family, accusing a Hispanic judge of being biased by virtue of his ethnicity, ridiculing a reporter who has a disability, and falsely claiming that President Obama was not born in America. “Yes, this is who Donald Trump is,” Mrs. Clinton said about his 2005 remarks. “The question for us, the question our country must answer, is that this is not who we are. ” After a tumultuous political weekend, the debate was watched extremely closely by Republican members of Congress, who are deciding whether to join dozens of elected officials who have broken away from the party’s nominee. Mr. Trump’s performance was enough that no more Republican officials disavowed him in the immediate aftermath of the debate, and it prompted his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, to assure him via Twitter he would remain on the ticket after Mr. Trump’s “big debate win. ” Mr. Trump’s attacks on the Clintons — including a promise that, as president, he would appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Mrs. Clinton’s email practices — were striking even in a presidential campaign that has often seemed like a race to the bottom because of Mr. Trump’s assaults on his rivals. But no single answer by Mr. Trump seemed sufficient to put to rest the controversy over his 2005 remarks. As much as he apologized, he did not confess or reveal anything new about his treatment of women over the years. Instead, Mr. Trump alternated between sounding chastened or defensive and trying to energize his base, which remains deeply hostile to Mrs. Clinton. He did so by blasting Mrs. Clinton relentlessly over her State Department email and repeatedly interrupting her, barely concealing his contempt. He said again that Mrs. Clinton should be “ashamed” of herself for deleting some of the personal emails she sent as secretary of state. “Oh, you didn’t delete them?” he said sarcastically. Mrs. Clinton, plainly exasperated, shot back: “O. K. Donald. I know you’re into big diversion tonight — anything to avoid talking about your campaign and the way it’s exploding and the way Republicans are leaving you. ” At several points, Mr. Trump expressed his frustration with the moderators, Anderson Cooper of CNN and Martha Raddatz of ABC, demanding that Mr. Cooper focus more on one of Mrs. Clinton’s biggest vulnerabilities, her email. “Why aren’t you bringing up the emails?” he asked, before flatly accusing the moderators of conspiring against him. “It’s nice, one on three,” he said. Mr. Trump appeared more confident and aggressive than he had in the first debate, often dismissing Mrs. Clinton’s arguments out of hand and painting her as a politician “for 30 years” who had no record of accomplishment. “It’s just words, folks it’s just words,” he said about Mrs. Clinton’s policy proposals. minutes later, he added, “It’s all talk and no action. ” Mr. Trump made little, if any, effort to appeal to moderate voters, instead hurling a series of insults at Mrs. Clinton. At one point, an audience member pressed him about whether he could be a “devoted president” for all Americans, and he said emphatically that he could be, without acknowledging that his comments over the past year had been extraordinarily divisive. Instead, he attacked Mrs. Clinton. “She calls our people ‘deplorable,’ a large group, and irredeemable,” Mr. Trump said, invoking a comment that Mrs. Clinton made last month disparaging what she said was half of Mr. Trump’s supporters. Mrs. Clinton’s response reflected a strategy of hers throughout the town debate: trying to engage directly with the undecided voters in the audience who asked some of the questions, and showing her empathetic side. “Mr. Carter,” she said, naming the man who asked the question, “I have tried my entire life to do what I can to support children and families. You know, right out of law school, I went to work for the Children’s Defense Fund. And Donald talks a lot about, you know, the 30 years I’ve been in public service. I’m proud of that. ” Mr. Trump, however, was far less concerned with connecting with the voters seated in front of him than with attacking Mrs. Clinton in ways that would rally his voters behind him, and against the Republican officials who have been coming out against him. “She’s lied about a lot of things,” Mr. Trump said, contending that Mrs. Clinton’s shift to opposing the Partnership trade deal was a falsehood. Moments later, he painted her in some of his most vicious language of the campaign. “She has tremendous hate in her heart,” Mr. Trump said. “She has tremendous hatred. ” In that moment and several others, Mr. Trump sought to bait Mrs. Clinton into lashing out, just as she did to great effect during their first debate. But she kept her composure, while Mr. Trump often seemed disgusted and running at a high boil. He even swiped at the Republicans now disavowing him, saying they should have done a better job holding Mrs. Clinton accountable over her emails. “I am so disappointed in congressmen, including Republicans, for allowing this to happen,” he said. He also used a question about Mr. Pence’s rhetoric on Russia at last week’s debate to breezily dismiss his running mate. “He and I haven’t spoken, and I disagree,” Mr. Trump said. Mrs. Clinton found herself on the defensive more than in the first debate, as Mr. Trump showed himself capable of some agility. When the moderators challenged her over revelations that in one of her paid speeches, she had asserted that politicians needed a “public and a private position” in making deals, she gave a meandering answer about how her remarks related to the plot of the Steven Spielberg film “Lincoln. ” Mr. Trump pounced. “She got caught in a total lie,” he said. “Now she’s blaming the lie on the late, great Abraham Lincoln. ” As some audience members laughed, he added, “Honest Abe never lied. ” Mrs. Clinton also had several strong moments, especially early in the debate, when she reminded voters of Mr. Trump’s recent attacks on a former Miss Universe for gaining weight. At one point, Mr. Trump dissembled when he was pressed by a moderator about why he had posted on Twitter before dawn to accuse the beauty queen, Alicia Machado, of recording a sex tape. “It wasn’t ‘check out a sex tape,’” he said at the debate. Mr. Trump had in fact tweeted, “Check out sex tape. ” The night unfolded in dramatic fashion. Shortly before the debate, Mr. Trump held a brief news conference in St. Louis with three women — Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey — who allege that Mr. Clinton sexually assaulted or harassed them during his years in office in Arkansas or as president. They were joined by a fourth woman, Kathy Shelton, who was 12 when she was raped by a in Arkansas Mrs. Clinton represented the man, who ultimately pleaded guilty to a reduced charge. Only in the final minutes was there a brief cessation in the warfare. One audience member asked the candidates to cite something positive about each other, and Mrs. Clinton reached for a common answer to such questions. “Look, I respect his children,” she said. “His children are incredibly able and devoted, and I think that says a lot about Donald. ” Mr. Trump thanked her for the “very nice compliment,” and then offered his own. “I will say this about Hillary: She doesn’t quit, she doesn’t give up,” he said. “She’s a fighter. ” A moment later, after the moderators concluded the debate, Mr. Trump reached out his hand, and Mrs. Clinton shook it. | 1 |
Τα ιμέιλ της Χίλαρι Κλίντον και η Μουσουλμανική Αδελφότητα του Τιερί Μεϊσάν Η έρευνα από το FBI των ιδιωτικών μηνυμάτων ηλεκτρονικού ταχυδρομείου της Χίλαρι Κλίντον δεν αφορούν μια αμέλεια σχετικά με τους κανονισμούς ασφαλείας, αλλά γίνεται για συνομωσία με σκοπό να εξαφανιστεί κάθε ίχνος της αλληλογραφίας της, η οποία θα έπρεπε να είχε αποθηκευτεί σε διακομιστές του Ομοσπονδιακού Κράτους των ΗΠΑ. Μπορεί να περιλαμβάνει συναλλαγές για παράνομες χρηματοδοτήσεις ή διαφθορά, άλλες για τους δεσμούς των συζύγων Κλίντον με τους Αδελφούς Μουσουλμάνους και τους τζιχαντιστές.
Δίκτυο Βολταίρος | Δαμασκός (Συρία) | 1er novembre 2016 English Español français Türkçe русский Deutsch Η Χίλαρι Κλίντον και η επικεφαλής του προσωπικού γραφείου της, Χούμα Αμπεντίν. Η αναβίωση της έρευνας από το FBI των ιδιωτικών μηνυμάτων ηλεκτρονικού ταχυδρομείου της Χίλαρι Κλίντον δεν αφορά πλέον θέματα ασφάλειας, αλλά μικρο-κομπίνες που θα μπορούσαν να φτάσουν μέχρι εσχάτη προδοσία.
Από τεχνική άποψη, αντί να χρησιμοποιεί έναν ασφαλή διακομιστή της Ομοσπονδιακής Κυβέρνησης, η Υπουργός Εξωτερικών είχε εγκαταστήσει στο σπίτι της έναν ιδιωτικό διακομιστή, έτσι ώστε να μπορούσε να χρησιμοποιήσει το Διαδίκτυο χωρίς να αφήνει ίχνη σε συσκευή του ομοσπονδιακού κράτους. Ο ιδιωτικός τεχνικός της κας Κλίντον είχε καθαρίσει το σέρβερ της πριν από την άφιξη του FBI, οπότε δεν ήταν δυνατόν να γνωρίσει κανείς γιατί είχε εγκαταστήσει αυτή τη συσκευή.
Αρχικά, το FBI σημείωσε ότι ο ιδιωτικός διακομιστής δεν είχε το σύστημα ασφάλειας των διακομιστών του Στέιτ Ντιπάρτμεντ. Ως εκ τούτου, η Κλίντον δεν είχε διαπράξει παρά μόνο ένα σφάλμα ασφάλειας. Σε δεύτερο στάδιο, το FBI κατέσχεσε τον υπολογιστή του πρώην μέλους του Κογκρέσσου, Anthony Weiner. Ο τελευταίος είναι ο πρώην σύζυγός της Χούμα Αμπεντίν, επικεφαλής του προσωπικού γραφείου της Χίλαρυ. Βρέθηκαν μηνύματα ηλεκτρονικού ταχυδρομείου από την Υπουργό Εξωτερικών.
Ο Anthony Weiner είναι ένας εβραίος πολιτικός, πολύ κοντά στη Κλίντον, ο οποίος φιλοδοξούσε να γίνει δήμαρχος της Νέας Υόρκης. Αναγκάστηκε να παραιτηθεί μετά από ένα πολύ πουριτανικό σκάνδαλο: είχε στείλει ερωτικά SMS σε μια νεαρή γυναίκα που δεν ήταν η σύζυγος του. Η Χούμα Αμπεντίν τον χώρισε επίσημα κατά τη διάρκεια αυτής της αναταραχής, αλλά στην πραγματικότητα δεν τον άφησε.
Η Χούμα Αμπεντίν είναι μια Αμερικανίδα που μεγάλωσε στη Σαουδική Αραβία. Ο πατέρας της διευθύνει ένα ακαδημαϊκό περιοδικό –του οποίου ήταν η ίδια για χρόνια γραμματέας της σύνταξης- το οποίο αναπαράγει τακτικά τις θέσεις της Μουσουλμανικής Αδελφότητας. Η μητέρα της προεδρεύει το σαουδαραβικό σύλλογο των γυναικών που είναι μέλη της Αδελφότητας και συνεργαζόταν με τη σύζυγο του προέδρου της Αιγύπτου Μοχάμεντ Μόρσι. Ο αδελφός της Χασάν εργάζεται για λογαριασμό του Σεΐχη Yusuf al-Qaradawi, ιεροκήρυκα των Αδελφών και πνευματικού σύμβουλου της Αλ-Τζαζίρα.
Με την ευκαιρία μιας επίσημης επίσκεψης στη Σαουδική Αραβία, η Υπουργός Εξωτερικών επισκέπτεται το κολέγιο Dar al-Hekma συνοδευομένη από την Σαλέχα Αμπεντίν (μητέρα της επικεφαλής του προσωπικού της γραφείου), πρόεδρο του Συλλόγου των γυναικών Αδελφών μελών της Αδελφότητας . Η Χούμα Αμπεντίν είναι σήμερα μια κεντρική φιγούρα της εκστρατείας της Κλίντον, δίπλα στον διευθυντή της εκστρατείας, John Podesta, πρώην Γενικό Γραμματέα του Λευκού Οίκου υπό την προεδρία του Μπιλ Κλίντον. Ο Podesta είναι επίσης ο επίσημος λομπίστας του Βασιλείου της Σαουδικής Αραβίας στο Κογκρέσο με τη μικρή αμοιβή των 200 χιλιάδων δολαρίων μηνιαίως. Στις 12 Ιουνίου του 2016, η Πέτρα (Petra), το επίσημο πρακτορείο ειδήσεων της Ιορδανίας, δημοσίευσε μια συνέντευξη με τον Σαουδάραβα πρίγκιπα κληρονόμο του στέμματος, Μοχάμεντ μπιν Σαλμάν, ο οποίος διαφήμιζε τον εκσυγχρονισμό της οικογένειάς του που είχε χρηματοδοτήσει παράνομα στο ύψος του 20% την προεκλογική εκστρατεία της Χίλαρι Κλίντον, παρότι είναι γυναίκα. Μια ημέρα μετά από αυτή τη δημοσίευση, το πρακτορείο ακύρωσε το τηλεγράφημα και ισχυριζόταν ότι ο ιστοτόπος του είχε πέσει θύμα πειρατείας.
Σύμφωνα με το ιορδανικό πρακτορείο ειδήσεων Petra στις 12 Ιουνίου 2016, η σαουδαραβική βασιλική οικογένεια έχει χρηματοδοτήσει παράνομα το 20% της προεκλογικής εκστρατείας της Χίλαρι Κλίντον. Η κα Αμπεντίν δεν είναι το μόνο μέλος της κυβέρνησης Ομπάμα που συνδέεται με την Αδελφότητα. Ο ετεροθαλής αδελφός του προέδρου, Abon’go Μαλίκ Ομπάμα, είναι ταμίας της Ιεραποστολής των Αδελφών στο Σουδάν και του πρόεδρος του Ιδρύματος Μπαράκ H. Ομπάμα. Βρίσκεται άμεσα κάτω από την εντολή του προέδρου του Σουδάν Omar al-Bashir. Ένας Μουσουλμάνος Αδελφός είναι μέλος του Συμβουλίου Εθνικής Ασφαλείας -το ανώτατο εκτελεστικό όργανο των ΗΠΑ-. Από το 2009 έως το 2012, ήταν ο Mehdi Κ Alhassani. Δεν είναι γνωστό ποιος τον διαδέχθηκε, αλλά ο Λευκός Οίκος αρνιόταν ότι ένας Αδελφός είναι μέλος του Συμβουλίου έως ότου προέκυψε η απόδειξη. Επίσης, ένας Αδελφός είναι πρεσβευτής των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών στην Ισλαμική Διάσκεψη, ο Rashad Hussain. Οι άλλοι ταυτοποιημένοι Αδελφοί καταλαμβάνουν λιγότερο σημαντικές θέσεις. Ωστόσο, πρέπει να αναφέρουμε τον Louay Μ Safi, νυν μέλος του Εθνικού Συνασπισμού της Συρίας και πρώην σύμβουλος του Πενταγώνου.
Ο πρόεδρος Ομπάμα και ο ετεροθαλής αδελφός του Abon’go Μαλίκ Ομπάμα στο Οβάλ Γραφείο. Ο Abon’go Malik είναι ταμίας της Ιεραποστολής της Μουσουλμανικής Αδελφότητας στο Σουδάν. Τον Απρίλιο του 2009, δύο μήνες πριν από την ομιλία του στο Κάιρο, ο πρόεδρος Ομπάμα δέχθηκε κρυφά μια αντιπροσωπεία της Αδελφότητας στο Οβάλ Γραφείο. Είχε ήδη καλέσει, κατά τη διάρκεια της ενθρόνισης του, την Ingrid Mattson, πρόεδρο του Συλλόγου των Μουσουλμάνων Αδελφών και γυναικών Αδελφών των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών.
Από την πλευρά του, το Ίδρυμα Κλίντον χρησιμοποίησε ως υπεύθυνο του σχεδίου "Κλίμα" τον Gehad el-Haddad, ένας από τους παγκόσμιους ηγέτες της Αδελφότητας ο οποίος μέχρι τότε ήταν υπεύθυνος μιας τηλεοπτικής κορανικής εκπομπής. Ο πατέρας του ήταν ένας από τους συνιδρυτές της Αδελφότητας το 1951 όταν αναδημιουργήθηκε από τη CIA και το MI6. Ο Gehad αποχώρησε από το Ίδρυμα το 2012, όταν έγινε εκπρόσωπος στο Καΐρο του υποψηφίου Μοχάμεντ Μόρσι, και ύστερα επίσημος εκπρόσωπος της Μουσουλμανικής Αδελφότητας σε παγκόσμια κλίμακα.
Γνωρίζοντας ότι όλοι οι τζιχαντιστές ηγέτες του κόσμου είτε προέρχονται από την Αδελφότητα είτε από το σουφικό Τάγμα των Naqshbandi -τις δύο συνιστώσες του Μουσουλμανικού Παγκόσμιου Συνδέσμου, ήτοι της σαουδαραβικής αντι-αραβικής εθνικιστικής οργάνωσης- θα θέλαμε να μάθουμε περισσότερα για τις σχέσεις της κας Κλίντον με τη Σαουδική Αραβία και τους Αδελφούς.
Έτυχε ότι στην ομάδα του αντιπάλου της, Ντόναλντ Τραμπ, υπάρχει ο στρατηγός Michael T. Flynn, ο οποίος προσπάθησε να αντιταχθεί στην ίδρυση του Χαλιφάτου από τον Λευκό Οίκο και παραιτήθηκε από την ηγεσία της Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA, στρατιωτική υπηρεσία πληροφοριών) για να τονίσει την αποδοκιμασία του. Τρίβεται εκεί με τον Frank Gaffney, έναν ιστορικό «ψυχρό πολεμιστή», ο οποίος χαρακτηρίζεται ως «συνωμοσιολόγος» επειδή κατήγγειλε την παρουσία των Αδελφών στο Ομοσπονδιακό Κράτος.
Είναι αυτονόητο ότι, κατά την άποψη του FBI, κάθε υποστήριξη σε τζιχαντιστικές οργανώσεις είναι έγκλημα, ανεξάρτητα από την πολιτική της CIA. Το 1991, οι αστυνομικοί -και ο γερουσιαστής Τζον Κέρι- είχαν προκαλέσει την πτώχευση της πακιστανικής τράπεζας BCCI (παρότι έδρευε στα νησιά Καϋμάν) την οποία χρησιμοποιούσε η CIA για ποίκιλες μυστικές επιχειρήσεις με τη Μουσουλμανική Αδελφότητα, καθώς και με τα Λατίνο-καρτέλ των ναρκωτικών.
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Ινφογνώμων Πολιτικά (Ελλάδα) | 0 |
Thursday on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer reacted to the joint appearance of White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus earlier in the day at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Krauthammer told host Tucker Carlson the focus on reports of friction between the two was “trivial” and that Bannon’s first public appearance since inauguration was the real tell because he described Bannon as “the brains of the operation. ” “I think they’re going to bat down these stories in the media that there is a terrible conflict going on all the time,” Krauthammer said. “I think they felt that there is the first order of business, I think it’s somewhat trivial because it was a very substantive exchange and from Bannon who we’ve not heard of since the swearing in, it was extremely revealing. This is the brains of the operation. This is the guy who thinks strategically, and large categories, and he laid them out. I thought that was the most interesting part, and unfortunately, it got the least amount of coverage. ” Carlson asked Krauthammer to elaborate on that strategy, which Krauthammer broke down to three “overarching” ideas — international relations, trade, and the “administrative state. ” “His representation of Trump is that you can never get out of Reince or out of Trump,” he said. “He basically said there are three overarching ideas. One is the international arena. We are going to break that down, where essentially, you got this in the inaugural address, the world and our allies have been parasitic on us years with alliances and trade and multilateral trade, where done with that — America first. That’s number one. The second is what he calls economic nationalism — meaning trade and immigration. We are looking at America first regarding the economy. The third is the destruction of the administration administrative state. ” “Now, on the third one, I think you can get a consensus among all conservatives, and I think we’re all rooting that on,” Krauthammer continued. “And I think the first salvo in that war happened yesterday when the Trump administration reversed the bathroom bill that had been issued by the Obama in administration, which whatever your ideas about transgender sexuality, it is not the province of the federal government. It has nothing to do with the overblown leviathan state. It’s a way to say we’re going to smash all this and we’re going to eliminate this sort of excess. That’s Reaganism, that’s hardcore Reaganism, the regulatory rollback. On the other two, this is going against the tradition of the last 30 years. And he will run into trouble, especially on the second having to do with trade in Congress. Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor | 1 |
Cliff Sims, special assistant to President Trump, spoke with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Alex Marlow on Tuesday about the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) release on the American Health Care Act. [While disputing the CBO numbers, Sims said, “This bill is still a work in progress. This bill is not finalized. The president has met with conservative allies over the last week or so, from the Heritage Foundation to Freedom Works and many other groups that have come in and met with him. ” Sims also cited members of congress and the Freedom Caucus as having met with Trump recently to share their concerns and ideas regarding any final bill. “I’ve been in the room,” added Sims, “where someone will bring up an idea or change that they’re suggesting to the bill, and the president will turn to the HHS secretary, the OMB director, or, if it’s Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell in the room, and say, ‘Will you guys think about this? Let’s kick this around. Let’s see if this is something that we should add. ’” Sims also paraphrased Trump’s recently expressed sentiments that “things are still under negotiation. We’re still trying to strengthen this bill. There’s a long way to go. ” Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a. m. to 9:00 a. m. Eastern. | 1 |
President Donald Trump previewed his administration’s budget, promising to hold each branch of his cabinet accountable. [“We must do a lot more with less,” he said prior to a working lunch with economic and political advisers. Trump described the current financial situation of the country as “a mess” and vowed to fix it. “The finances of this country are a mess, but we’re going to clean that up,” Trump said, pointing out that he had only been president for four weeks. “I can’t take too much of the blame for what’s happened, but it is absolutely out of control. ” Trump met with his Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, as well as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. He was joined by his senior staff, including Jared Kushner, Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon, and his economic adviser Gary Cohn. He asserted that funding the military was a priority, and promised to negotiate more deals for the government. “We have already saved a lot — billions and billions of dollars,” he said, referring to his efforts at renegotiating federal contracts. | 1 |
Donations World wildlife 'falls by 58% in 40 years' Critic: 'They're trying to put this stuff in a blender and spew out a single number ... It's flawed' Published: 28 mins ago
(BBC News) Global wildlife populations have fallen by 58% since 1970, a report says.
The Living Planet assessment, by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and WWF, suggests that if the trend continues that decline could reach two-thirds among vertebrates by 2020.
The figures suggest that animals living in lakes, rivers and wetlands are suffering the biggest losses.
Human activity, including habitat loss, wildlife trade, pollution and climate change, is attributed to the declines. | 0 |
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A Red Cross therapist who helped treat asylum seekers was stabbed to death by a Syrian after the pair got into a heated argument. [The fatal stabbing occurred at a Red Cross facility in Saarbrücken that specialised in counselling and therapy for asylum seekers. The victim, a therapist employed by the Red Cross, was repeatedly stabbed by the Syrian and succumbed to his wounds at the scene, Die Welt reports. Police say the attack occurred during a counselling session and say the asylum seeker got into a heated argument with the therapist. The Syrian then brought out a knife which he had on his person and used it to commit the deadly attack. Police have not said what caused the conflict but noted the Syrian had also been injured in the incident and had to be taken to the hospital. Consequently, police have no been able to interrogate him. They have not released the identity of the attacker or the victim in the case so far. German Red Cross President Rudolf Seiters briefly commented on the attack saying that he was “shocked”. The organisation said they are mourning the death of the therapist who they called a “meritorious” employee. The Red Cross has been criticised in Germany in the past when last year they were accused of covering up sexual abuse in one their asylum centres in Potsdam. The allegations were brought forward by a former employee who wrote a letter saying female staff were sexually harassed by male migrants and the manager of the asylum home chose to cover up the issue rather than address it. A similar murder of an asylum centre worker by a migrant occurred in Sweden last year when Alexandra Mezher was stabbed to death by a Somali asylum seeker. Ms. Mezher got involved in a dispute between migrants and as a result was attacked by the Somalian who claimed to be underage at the time but was later revealed to be an adult. Earlier this week, another asylum home murder occurred in Germany when an Afghan asylum seeker stabbed a child to death. The Afghan was already known to police and had a prior conviction for attempted murder by arson and was forced to wear an ankle monitor. | 1 |
Breitbart News Senior Editor MILO claimed that “ educated doesn’t mean stupid,” during his talk at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs tonight, adding that a majority of his educated employees are “some of the smartest and most successful people. ”[ “Let’s be clear about what the left lost. The white working class turned against the Democrat party in a historic fashion during this election. The numbers are stunning, even to someone as stunning as me,” MILO proclaimed. “I’m not a dataporn kind of faggot like those losers at the Guardian and the spectacularly dreadful FiveThirtyEight, but I have to share a few of the key stats from Pew Research with you. ” “ whites voted for Donald Trump by a 4% margin. This is similar to how they voted for Mitt Romney,” he continued. “That is a bit embarrassing to be honest, but we have to admit that those goofy #NeverTrump people are all college eggheads. Proof that college can make you dumber. ” “But the numbers for those that didn’t graduate college are amazing. A 39% margin for Trump! These are the deplorables, ladies and gentlemen, just as much as the hip millennials posting Pepe on Twitter,” explained MILO. “Let’s be clear about one thing. educated doesn’t mean stupid. It means you wisely chose not to pay $40, 000 a year to be lectured on microaggressions. Some of the smartest and most successful people in history have been either college dropouts, like me, or people who never attended at all, like a lot of my crew on this tour. ” MILO continued to claim that “They are smarter — and so am I — than 90 per cent of the people in this room. ” “They’re already more successful and they already have more enjoyable jobs and have more political and cultural influence than most of the people in this room. No offense!” he added. “But my point is that ‘ educated’ isn’t a synonym for dumb redneck or idiot. A good 50 per cent of the most successful people I know didn’t get a university degree. ” “The split among all voters is also amazing. All college graduates went to Hillary by a 9% margin, while all people without degrees went to Trump by 8%. We haven’t seen this kind of gap since 1980,” stated MILO. “So rather than smart versus dumb, try to think of this split in cultural terms. When we look at the way counties voted in battleground states, it is a similar story. Trump won Wisconsin by taking 10 counties that typically go Democrat. ” “Kenosha County has been Democrat since 1972, but it went to Trump. Similar stories and countries exist in every state,” MILO explained. “The evidence very clearly shows the left lost the white working class. ” Written from prepared remarks. MILO wears glasses by Givenchy, $350. Distressed blue jeans by True Religion, $329. Brown leather belt with gold buckle by Louis Vuitton, $450. Light pink dress shirt by Brooks Brothers, $92. Sparkly purple suit jacket by Angelino, $225. Burgundy crushed velvet slippers by Crockett Jones, $370. Socks by Ralph Lauren, 3 pairs for $21. 98. Jewellery and pearls, too much money to count. Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook. | 1 |
At the steering wheel my father consults his large paper map, turning it this way and that, squinting at the small blue lines that squiggle through tiny Maine coastal towns. He’s heard that the author E. B. White’s house is somewhere around here, and he’s determined to find it. My mother, next to him in the passenger seat of our rusty gold station wagon with my baby sister on her lap, raises her eyebrows at my other two sisters and me, in the second row. It’s the early 70s, and seatbelts haven’t caught on yet. We gaze back at her, knowing that once Dad gets an idea into his head, it’s almost impossible to stop him. We range in age from 1 to 10 (I’m the oldest) and all of us are literally and figuratively along for the ride. Besides, we’re excited at the prospect of meeting this author we already feel we know. We’ve been lulled to sleep every night by the soft cadence of my dad’s Southern accent as he reads us stories about a wise spider and a hapless pig, a resourceful mouse and a mute swan. Dad pulls off the road into the dusty parking lot of a country store with a lone gas pump, and gets out of the car. We hear him chatting with the attendant through the open window. “Sure is nice around here. ” The guy shrugs. My sisters and I glance at each other. Rural Mainers tend to be and averse. But as usual, Dad doesn’t seem to notice. “You lived here long?” “Ayuh. ” Amazingly, before long, and with only a little coaxing, the attendant is telling Dad about his grandkids and his lobster boat and pointing off into the distance, giving him the intel he’s come for. “Mr. White lives right over that hill there. Privet hedge in front. Can’t miss it. ” Back on the road, my sister Cynthia ventures, “Isn’t it rude to show up on someone’s doorstep without asking?” Dad grins and winks at us in the rearview mirror. “He’ll be flattered. ” We pull up to the farmhouse to find a courtly man trimming the hedge with a set of clippers. “It’s him!” Dad whispers. He rolls down his window and leans out. “Hello, good sir!” The man seems a little nonplused. “I have a car full of young readers here who’d give anything to meet their favorite author. A word from you, and they’ll remember this moment for the rest of their lives. ” What choice does the poor man have? Within a few minutes, the famously reclusive E. B. White is demonstrating to a cluster of little girls in bathing suits that when you crush pine needles between your fingers and hold it to your nose, the smell is as strong as patchouli. And Dad is right — we never will forget it. My childhood was rife with moments like this. Dad was always going out on a limb, befriending people who didn’t necessarily seem to want new friends, trespassing on private property, pushing the boundaries of acceptable behavior in quest of adventure. His philosophy was that you don’t need money or plans, only a willingness to be present in the moment and to go where inspiration takes you. If you don’t, you’ll miss the entire point of being alive. Raised dirt poor in rural Georgia by a millworker mother and a father who often went to the bar rather than home after work, Dad learned early on that his quickest route up the social ladder was through charm and smarts. He got himself to college — the first in his family — on a football scholarship, then used seminary to springboard to a doctorate in a foreign land. As a young academic in the ‘60s, he grew to reject traditional values and had scant respect for the social codes of privilege. At parties, he could often be found talking to the bartender or a Irish grandmother in the kitchen rather than the hosts. A Southerner through and through, even after moving to Maine, he was constitutionally incapable of walking down a street in New York without stopping to chat with doormen, bodega owners and homeless people. He never met a taxi driver whose story he didn’t want to know. Dad’s unorthodox and sometimes embarrassing friendliness got him, and us, into trouble now and then. Some people didn’t take kindly to probing questions. Others found his openness suspect or unsophisticated. But his innate, bottomless curiosity about the world also taught his four daughters to be open to new experiences and comfortable with improvisation. Even now, in his late 70s, he lives each day with a kind of purposeful recklessness, asking provocative questions and seeking new experiences in the belief that he can break through to something better, more meaningful, more satisfying. Though my parents had little money, they took us on adventures all over the world. Driving through Scotland in a rainstorm, we pulled over to the side of the road and rode the wild ponies grazing by the fence. We coaxed a stray lamb over to our rented R. V. to feed it. One year my father switched houses, cars, teaching jobs, committees and pets with a professor in Melbourne, Australia, sight unseen. Another year our family of six flew to Crete without a plan at the airport Dad bought a map and started asking random strangers, with the help of a woefully inadequate Greek phrase book: “What should we do?” “Where should we stay?” This spontaneity meant that we missed flights, lost luggage, drove on perilous roads late at night, stayed in some hovels, and sometimes went hungry. But it also yielded beautiful surprises: an undiscovered beach, a fisherman’s hut with a breathtaking view, a hillside breakfast of goats’ milk yogurt and fresh honey that I still remember 35 years later. It led to his daughters’ sense of the world not as a huge frightening place but as a wonderland ripe for discovery. The Maine farmhouse in Andrew Wyeth’s iconic painting “Christina’s World” was not yet a museum or even open to the public when my father got it into his head — soon after our ambush of E. B. White — to take a family field trip there. Following his usual routine, he pulled into the small village of Cushing and asked a local how to find the Olson house. When we arrived (no doubt trespassing) we picnicked in the field where the woman in the pink dress in the painting had lain. Looking up at that weathered gray house on the hill, and hearing the story of the woman with my name who spent her lifetime there, I was entranced. Years later, I drew on that experience to tell my own story of the painting in my new book. There’s no doubt that my dad’s endless curiosity has shaped who I am. I often find myself — to my own kids’ embarrassment — chatting with strangers in lines, accepting spontaneous invitations, and seeking adventures. I think the most important thing I learned from my dad is that when you go out on a limb there’s a risk it will break, but you’ll get a whole new perspective on the world. And if you’re really lucky, it can feel like flying. | 1 |
A North Carolina woman has been arrested and accused of sexual misconduct with an animal and creating child porn by filming children in bathrooms, authorities report. [Rowan County Sheriffs arrested Wendy Arlene Kasper, 36, and charged her with felony secret peeping with a recording device and possessing photographic images from secret peeping. She was also hit with three counts of crimes against nature after video showing her engaging in sexual contact with a dog came to light during the investigation, Fox 8 reported. An investigation was launched in December by the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigative Division which joined with the Rowan County Department of Social Services after allegations were made that Kasper sexually exploited a young girl. During the course of the investigation, authorities found video of the child using a bathroom and learned that Kasper had also sexually abused a dog on several occasions. Police also found a link between Kasper and an individual named Joshua Douglas Martorelli, whom they suspect of dealing in child pornography. “This investigation indicated that Kasper was involved in child pornography dissemination with Joshua Douglas Martorelli,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a press release released on Saturday. “Martorelli is also from Salisbury, and is possibly involved in a larger child pornography group that is still under investigation. This information is being shared with other jurisdictions to include the N. C. SBI,” the statement added. An arrest warrant for Martorelli was also released and police say he was last seen in the Old Concord Road area of Salisbury, North Carolina. Kasper is being held in the Rowan County Detention Center under a $25, 000 secured bond. Authorities are asking anyone with information on the location of Martorelli to contact Lt. C. A. Moose (704) Detective C. J. Gordy (704) . Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail. com. | 1 |
Cate Blanchett is proving to be a strong draw on Broadway. “The Present,” a new adaptation of a Chekhov play starring Ms. Blanchett in her Broadway debut, last week grossed just over $1 million, a sign of strength for any Broadway show, but especially for a nonmusical play. One illustrative comparison: A revival this season of “The Cherry Orchard,” also by Chekhov, topped out at $384, 000 during its best, and final, week of performances. “The Present,” which opened on Jan. 8, received mixed reviews, but has been selling well since beginning previews on Dec. 17. Last week, a week for Broadway over all, was the strongest yet for “The Present,” which had a healthy average admission price of $129 and played to 95 percent full houses, according to figures released Wednesday by the Broadway League for the week ending Jan. 15. The adaptation, written by Ms. Blanchett’s husband, Andrew Upton, is a modern take on Chekhov’s first play, which is most often produced under the title “Platonov. ” Ms. Blanchett, a Oscar winner, plays a Russian widow who is turning 40 and worried about how to hang on to her home. The play’s action centers on a wild birthday party at which the character’s friends and family have gathered. The overall Broadway season, which began in May and runs through this May, continues to look strong — grosses are up 0. 4 percent over the previous, season. But attendance is now down 1. 1 percent, a potentially worrisome indicator, although there are several shows scheduled to open later this season. Among the signs of health: Two of this season’s plays announced that they had recouped their capitalization costs, meaning, in industry parlance, that they are hits, and can generate profits until they close this month. A revival of “The Front Page,” with a cast led by Nathan Lane, has recouped its $4. 875 million capitalization, according to the producer Scott Rudin that production is scheduled to close Jan. 29. And “Oh, Hello on Broadway,” starring the comedians Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, has recouped its $2. 9 million capitalization, according to the producers Patrick Catullo and Marcia Goldberg it is scheduled to close on Sunday. | 1 |
Waking Times
“How could one person like myself be able to do what we in the business call regime change?” ~Steve Pieczenik
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under Henry Kissinger, Steve Pieczenik has a long history as an expert in psychological warfare and was a diplomat to Soviet Russia helping to instigate the collapse of the megalithic communist state in 1991. In a recently released video he speaks on the role the American government played in manipulating Soviet culture and leadership to bring about a silent coup, or bloodless regime change, offering insight that is especially relevant in the present context of U.S. politics.
Pieczenik explains the effectiveness of soft strategies as tools for destabilizing the U.S.S.R., noting firstly how religion was used externally to bring about an internal rise in the Russian Orthodox religion to undermine the atheist regime in the Kremlin.
A second soft tactic by the U.S. was to demonstrate for top Soviet military leaders the effectiveness of modern U.S. weaponry against Soviet tanks and other weapons systems. This allowed Soviet leaders to grasp the dominance of power already in play, effectively neutralizing the Soviet military without having to actually engage in warfare.
“A third element was creating economic hardship for the Soviet Union which they really could not comprehend,” says Pieczenik, who explains how Reagan’s funding of the Strategic Defense Initiative , or SDI, was largely a tactic of smoke and mirrors to force the Soviets to respond by over-spending on obsolete defense programs. It was a bluffed cold war arms race, aimed at destabilizing the financial systems of the Soviet Union.
The fourth component of regime change, of which Pieczenik was greatly concerned, was cultural, involving the creation of a fissure between the younger and older generations in Soviet Russia, achieved primarily by exposing Russians to American rock and roll music, which was, at the time, highly revolutionary for the Soviet culture.
The fifth element was the process of negotiations that took place between the Soviet politburo and American intelligence agencies for the deconstruction of the communist elements of the Soviet state, initiating the sequence of events that became known as perestroika . This was systemic and psychological warfare and negotiation with members of the government and Soviet elite, which neutralized the Soviet Union allowing for a collapse of the communist component. A regime change. Silent Coup in America Today?
We see hints of many of these same elements at play in American politics today.
Recent revelations made public by Wikileaks impacted the result of the 2016 election. The timing of the releases and the overtly partisan nature of their contents, targeting only the Democrat campaign, revealed a clear bias, opening the door to speculation of a connection between Julian Assange and deeper state actors in both the Russian and the American intelligence communities.
The primary defensive play of the Democrats was to blame Russia without ever providing specific evidence of Russia’s involvement in the leaks, yet some analysts indicated that the NSA was the source of the leaks , and that a silent coup had been initiated by the U.S. intelligence community covertly working to prevent a Clinton win.
Now, after the election, the manipulation of the body politic continues as protests organized by political front groups funded by the likes of billionaire social engineer George Soros continue, and resistance to a Trump presidency picks up steam.
The nation is clearly being manipulated by off-screen actors on both sides of the stage. Is there an attempted silent coup happening right before our eyes in the United States?
Many of the elements of regime change noted by Pieczenik are visibly in play in America today. Religion is weaponized as Islam is being used by globalists as an invincible enemy. There are signs of a new arms race as both Russia and China demonstrate new military capabilities and global assertiveness. Economic warfare is in play as the banking and financial crisis created by central banks continues to destabilize the financial system. There are elements of a cultural war in the U.S. as millennials and so-called social justice warriors are attempting to disrupt civil discourse, essentially advocating for the end of free speech . And as we see in recent election events, there is some type of negotiation taking place behind the scenes in American politics between several factions.
In the end, the American people may very well be at the mercy of those who are maneuvering to drastically alter the social, cultural and political environment in the U.S. Unfortunately these maneuvers would only lead to greater system of control and authoritarianism than we already have, unless the body politic wakes up refuses to allow themselves to be weaponized and used as pawns by the oligarchy . Read more articles by Dylan Charles . About the Author
Dylan Charles is a student and teacher of Shaolin Kung Fu, Tai Chi and Qi Gong, a practitioner of Yoga and Taoist arts, and an activist and idealist passionately engaged in the struggle for a more sustainable and just world for future generations. He is the editor of WakingTimes.com , the proprietor of OffgridOutpost.com , a grateful father and a man who seeks to enlighten others with the power of inspiring information and action. He may be contacted at . This article ( Silent Coup in the USA? Former Diplomat Explains How Soft Regime Change Works ) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Dylan Charles and WakingTimes.com . It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement.
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WASHINGTON — After decades of mistrust and fitful reconciliation efforts, India and the United States made a turn toward cooperation on Tuesday, and Donald J. Trump can claim at least some of the credit. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, making his second visit to the White House in two years, announced a crucial step toward ratification of the Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gases, bringing the accord close to full implementation. The two sides also announced that they intended to complete a deal in which India will buy six nuclear reactors from Westinghouse by June 2017, fulfilling an agreement struck in 2005 by President George W. Bush. The price is still under discussion, but more difficult issues like liability have been resolved. “We continue to discuss a wide range of areas where we can cooperate more effectively in order to promote jobs, promote investment, promote trade and promote greater opportunities for our people, particularly young people, in both of our countries,” President Obama said in the Oval Office during the meeting. Mr. Modi responded with his own praise of the burgeoning partnership. When President Obama visited India in January 2015, Mr. Modi referred to him as “Barack” and thanked him for his “deep personal commitment” to their friendship. In the Oval Office on Tuesday, Mr. Modi referred to the president as “my friend Obama. ” “The United States is well aware of the talent that India has,” Mr. Modi said in Hindi. “We and the United States can work together to bring forward this talent, and use it for the benefit of mankind and use it for the benefit of innovations and use it to achieve new progress. ” Mr. Modi has made clear that he intends to set aside decades of standoffishness — rooted in India’s colonial experience — to cement closer ties with Washington, in part because the next American leader may not share President Obama’s enthusiasm for India. The news media in India has extensively chronicled comments by Mr. Trump that critics have said were racist, his “America First” views and his unorthodox campaign. While Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has said little about India, his vows to tighten immigration policies worry Indian officials. “Modi wants to get as much as he can out of Obama’s last months in office,” said Ashley J. Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. For the Americans, the most important part of Mr. Modi’s visit was his announced intention to formally join the Paris climate change agreement by the end of this year. So far, countries representing about 50 percent of global emissions have announced that they will submit legal paperwork to the United Nations documenting their compliance with the deal. The pact will become binding when at least 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions formally join. The inclusion of India, the world’s emitter after China and the United States, would guarantee that the deal will go into effect before the next American president takes office. Mr. Trump has vowed to “cancel” the Paris climate agreement if elected, something Mr. Obama is eager to prevent. Once the accord enters into legal force, no nation can legally withdraw for four years. “If the Paris agreement achieves ratification before Inauguration Day, it would be impossible for the Trump administration to renegotiate or even drop out during the first presidential term,” said Robert N. Stavins, the director of the environmental economics program at Harvard. Mr. Obama and Mr. Modi also announced a separate agreement to cut the use of hydrofluorocarbons, potent chemicals produced by coolants in refrigerators and . India and the United States have been at odds on the details of such a deal, but the agreement announced on Tuesday means both governments now expect in October to sign on to an international accord to phase out the chemicals. Phasing out the chemicals could reduce by 25 percent the expected warming of the planet by the end of the century. “This is the most significant step the international community could take” to reduce climate warming, Brian Deese, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama, said in a call with reporters. The two sides also announced joint efforts for the United States to invest in India’s renewable energy development, including the creation of a $20 million finance initiative. The last time Mr. Modi visited, in September 2014, he was invited to dinner but announced that he was observing a religious fast. So Mr. Obama had the awkward task of eating before a guest who sipped only water. This time, at a working lunch, Mr. Modi ate. On Wednesday, Mr. Modi will become the fifth Indian prime minister to address both houses of Congress. The two countries finalized a deal that allows their forces to help each other with crucial supplies, and the United States formally recognized India as a major defense partner, which should allow India to buy some of the most sophisticated equipment in the United States arsenal. India’s increasing willingness to form military partnerships with the United States is, in part, a result of its deepening worries about China. Recent patrols by Chinese submarines in the Bay of Bengal have unnerved New Delhi, and a 2014 visit to India by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, did nothing to soothe Indian sensibilities, as Chinese troops made an incursion into border territory that India claims as its own. China’s refusal in the months since to resolve the territorial claims at the heart of the standoff has quietly infuriated Indian officials. Another reason Washington and New Delhi have grown so close is the increasingly testy relationship between the United States and Pakistan, India’s longtime rival. Although Pakistan is formally an ally of the United States, American officials have made clear that India has displaced Pakistan in American interests and hearts. “We have much more to do with India today than has to do with Pakistan,” Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said in April. “There is important business with respect to Pakistan, but we have much more, a whole global agenda with India, agenda that covers all kinds of issues. ” | 1 |
A single concussion experienced by a child or teenager may have lasting repercussions on mental health and intellectual and physical functioning throughout adulthood, and multiple head injuries increase the risks of later problems, according to one of the largest, most elaborate studies to date of the impacts of head trauma on the young. You cannot be an athlete, parent of an athlete, sports fan or reader of this newspaper and not be aware that concussions appear to be both more common — and more dangerous — than most of us once thought. According to a report released last week by the health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield, based on data from medical claims nationwide, the incidence of diagnosed concussions among people under the age of 20 climbed 71 percent between 2010 and 2015. The rates rose most steeply among girls, with the incidence soaring by 119 percent during that time, although almost twice as many concussions over all were diagnosed in boys. The report acknowledges that the startling increase may partly reflect a growing awareness of the injury among parents, sports officials and physicians, which has led to more diagnoses. But the sheer numbers also suggest that more young people, particularly young athletes, are experiencing head injuries than in the past. Similar increases have been noted among young people in other nations. But the consequences, if any, for their health during adulthood have largely remained unknown. So for the new study, which was funded primarily by the Wellcome Trust and published in August in PLOS Medicine, scientists from Oxford University, Indiana University, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and other universities turned to an extensive trove of data about the health of people in Sweden. A plethora of linked registries in that nation contain information about people’s medical and hospital visits, socioeconomic status, education, physical disabilities and other aspects of their lives, says Dr. Seena Fazel, a professor of forensic psychiatry at Oxford and the new study’s senior author. The registries also allow researchers to compile information about family members. In this case, the scientists concentrated on all Swedes born between 1973 and 1985 and looked for those who had experienced a head injury of some kind before the age of 25. More than 104, 000 people qualified. The researchers pulled data about these people for 40 years or until someone had either died or emigrated from Sweden. For each participant, the researchers also compiled comparable medical and other records for a sibling who had never been given a diagnosis of a head injury and compared outcomes both between family members and against the full population of the country. The results were discomfiting. Young people who had experienced a single diagnosed concussion — which the researchers categorized as a mild traumatic brain injury — were much more likely than the nation’s general population and than their own siblings to be receiving medical disability payments as adults. They also were significantly more likely to have sought mental health care and much less likely to have graduated from high school or to have attended college than their uninjured brother or sister. And they were about twice as likely as an uninjured sibling to die prematurely. The possibility of lingering physical or psychological problems during adulthood rose precipitously, the researchers found, if someone had experienced more than one concussion while young, or if his or her brain injury had been more severe than a concussion. The outcomes also generally were worse if someone had experienced head trauma after the age of 15, probably because the brain is less resilient than in earlier childhood, Dr. Fazel says. (The researchers did not quantify the causes of the injuries in this study, but past research shows that in the very young, he says, brain injuries usually result from falls, with sports becoming the primary cause in teenagers, and auto accidents the main cause among young adults.) There was, thankfully, encouraging news squirreled away within the data. While young people who had been hit in the head displayed heightened risks for physical and psychological difficulties as adults, most, in fact, were fine. “The majority of individuals who had diagnoses of brain injury in our study did not experience adverse outcomes,” Dr. Fazel says. Unfortunately, it is impossible at the moment to identify which children or teenagers who experience head trauma may be most at risk of struggling in later life and which will instead recover without apparent complications, he says. So the message of this study further underscores that, whenever possible, we should take steps to prevent childhood head injuries. While “there are lots of benefits from sports,” Dr. Fazel says, it may be important to consider changes to the rules or equipment in contact sports, like football and soccer, to try to reduce head trauma. If a young person does suffer head trauma, he continues, more and monitoring is also probably a good idea. Such monitoring may be especially important if the child shows any signs of “a decline in psychosocial performance,” he says, such as a drop in grades or a change, even subtle, in personality. A neurologist can provide useful assessments, and regular neurological assessments may need to be continued, even into adulthood. | 1 |
We Are Change
According to the Code of Ethics for Journalism (yes we have one of those):
“A journalist should behave in such a way as not to become a victim of a collision of real or hidden interests.
He/she should reject privileges or presents which could influence his/her opinion or create such an impression. They should not take part in activities that endanger his/her professional integrity.The professional status of the journalist is not compatible with occupying a position in state bodies, or in the headquarters of political parties and other political organizations. If work in political parties causes conflict of interests, raises or may raise the question of objectivity of mass media, it is not acceptable. Conflicts of interests damage the prestige of mass media.”
That being said, award winning journalist and The Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington sought a ‘useful’ role in the Democratic party, and pledged to use HuffPost to ‘Echo [the DNC’s] Message’.
The part-time media tycoon and full-time socialite sought to play a “useful” role within the Democratic Party establishment by using her website to quote “echo” the party message, according to emails published by WikiLeaks.
In an April 2008 email to top Democratic operatives, including Paul Begala, Stan Greenberg, David Brock, and current Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, Democratic operative Susan McCue relayed a discussion she had with Huffington about advancing the Democratic cause in an official capacity.
Huffington, explained McCue, suggested that she would be more comfortable in a role of covert influence, and “using Huffpo to echo our message.” The media tycoon “has a point,” McCue conceded.
Back in October a HuffPo writer by the name of David Seamen went public that HuffPo and Arianna, was editing and censoring his material. https://youtu.be/hIcImy1MKuc Funny thing is that just prior to David going public the DNC held an “Off-the-Record” party for main stream reporters, news anchors, and editors. Guccifer 2.0 provided The Intercept with emails revealing “friendly and highly useful relationships” between the Clinton campaign and the U.S. media. Those emails showed that the Clinton campaign held a private, “off-the-record” dinner with “influential reporters, anchors and editors” No wonder only 6 percent of Americans trust the media. Here is the full list of RSVPs:
Back in 2011, Huffington praised Wikileaks, saying: “If I ruled the world, my first goal would be to make it easier to cut through to the facts. At the moment, we are all drowning in spin, smokescreens and lies. Those who perpetrated the two biggest policy disasters of the past ten years—the Iraq war and the financial crisis—could not have pulled their work off without a lack of transparency. So greater transparency would be at the top of my agenda..The internet has already shown great promise in cutting through spin. YouTube, Twitter, email, and turbocharged search engines have made it easier to expose our leaders’ distortions. But if I were in charge, I’d go much further to protect the rights of disclosure and free speech on the internet, and challenge the press—particularly in America—to break its addiction to faux objectivity.”
In the video below Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post, gets confronted by Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange about censoring Jesse Ventura’s 9/11 article.
https://youtu.be/J-5JgDG7HcY The post Arianna Huffington Exposed Colluding With DNC in New WikiLeaks Emails appeared first on We Are Change .
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360 Views Share: By Dr. David Duke. When I was first began to understand the ultra-racist, supremacist ideology of Judaism and Zionism, I came into contact with the theory that present-day Jews are genetically unrelated to the historical Jewish community. The allegation, known as the “”Khazar theory”, claims that the Ashkenazim Jews of today are actually the descendants of the Khazar people, a Central Asiatic nomadic tribe that allegedly converted to Judaism in the 9th Century AD. It is claimed that these newly-minted Jews then migrated into what is now Russia, Eastern Europe and later Western and Northern Europe. The theory is also used to advance the idea that Jewish actions are character are not genetic or racial because the Khazar people adopted the Talmudic values of Shephardic and other Jews who were unrelated to them. Interestingly enough, the Khazar theory was launched, and is still to this day, driven primarily by Communist Jews and other Jews who promote it in the Gentile community as a refutation that the Jews can’t be racist because they are not a race! It is ironic that the three most prominent exponents of the theory that “the Jews are not a race” all have almost exaggerated caricatures of features people ascribe as Jewish. Above, left to right: Zionist extremist and Communist Party member Arthur Koestler (author of the “The Thirteenth Tribe”); Jewish geneticist Eran Elhaik; and Shlomo Sand, an Israeli academic and former member of the Union of Israeli Communist Youth (Banki). All three maintain that large numbers of present-day Jews are completely genetically unrelated to the Middle Eastern-origin Jews who wrote the Babylonian Talmud.
For years I accepted the Khazar theory as true. After it, all it was repeated by some writers who also recognized the leading Jewish role in Communism and their leadership in many other subversive movements. It was only later, when I considered the question logically and scientifically, were my doubts about the Khazar theory aroused. One thing that I did not know then was that Koestler, the communist Jew who popularized the Khazar Theory bragged in a Jewish magazine that he advanced the theory as way to fight against anti-Semitism. His theory was that since the Gospels and Europeans blamed Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, if he could make Europeans believe that they are not related by blood to the Christkiller Jews talked about in the New Testament that he could lessen hatred against Jews. One must remember until the Jewish triumph of “Christian Zionism” 99 percent of Christianity viewed Jews as the greatest enemies of Jesus Christ and God, as the New Testament makes very, very clear. So in those days some Jews, such as Koestler saw an advantage to say that the Jews were not actually related to the Jews who crucified Christ and so persecuted Christians. Koestler’s official biography, written by Michael Scammell, specifically quotes him on why he wrote The Thirteenth Tribe . ”His argument was that if he could persuade people that a non-Jewish “Khazar” heritage formed the basis of modern Jews, then this would be a weapon against European racially-based anti-Semitism. “Should this theory be confirmed, the term ‘anti-Semitism’ would become void of meaning,” he said. According to Scammell, Koestler told French biologist Pierre Debray-Ritzen he “was convinced that if he could prove that the bulk of Eastern European Jews were descended from the Khazars, the racial basis for anti-Semitism would be removed and anti-Semitism itself could disappear.” (Source: Scammell, Michael. Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic, Random House, 2009, ISBN 978-0-394-57630-5, p. 546.) In the 1950s the Khazar Theory was also promoted by Benjamin Friedman, a prominent rich Jew who converted to Christianity and turned against the Jews. It was certainly self-serving for him to promote the idea that Jewishness was mostly cultural and religious and not racial in nature therefore facilitating more acceptance of him. There are three fundamental issues which need to addressed: the scientific evidence; thehistorical-logical evidence; and the reasons why the Khazar theory came about. Part I: The Scientific Evidence—Twelve DNA Studies Which Disprove the “Khazar Theory” 1. A 1999 study titled “Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes” ( M.F. Hammer et.al, Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences 6769–6774, doi: 10.1073/pnas.100115997 ) found that: “[D]espite their long-term residence in different countries and isolation from one another, most Jewish populations were not significantly different from one another at the genetic level. “Admixture estimates suggested low levels of European Y-chromosome gene flow into Ashkenazi and Roman Jewish communities . . . Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations were not statistically different. The results support the hypothesis that the paternal gene pools of Jewish communities from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East descended from a common Middle Eastern ancestral population, and suggest that most Jewish communities have remained relatively isolated from neighboring non-Jewish communities during and after the Diaspora.” 2. A November 2001 study titled “The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East” ( Almut Nebel et. al., American Journal of Human Genetics, Nov 2001; 69(5): 1095–1112 ) found that in most Jewish populations, male line ancestors appear to have been mainly Middle Eastern. The study found that Ashkenazi Jews in particular “share more common paternal lineages with other Jewish and Middle Eastern groups than with non-Jewish populations in areas where Jews lived in Eastern Europe, Germany and the French Rhine Valley. This is consistent with Jewish traditions in placing most Jewish paternal origins in the region of the Middle East.” 3. A September 2006 study titled “European Population Substructure: Clustering of Northern and Southern Populations” ( Michael F Seldin et.al., PLOS Genetics, DOI: 0.1371/journal.pgen.0020143 ) found that both Ashkenazi Jews as well as Sephardic Jews showed more than 85% membership in the ‘southern’ European group which made their results “consistent with a later Mediterranean origin of these ethnic groups.” 4. An April 2008 study titled “Counting the Founders: The Matrilineal Genetic Ancestry of the Jewish Diaspora” ( Doron M. Behar et.al., PLoS ONE. 2008; 3(4): e2062. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002062 ) found that about 40% of Ashkenazi Jews originate maternally from just four female founders, who were of Middle Eastern origin. 5. A January 2009 study titled “A genome-wide genetic signature of Jewish ancestry perfectly separates individuals with and without full Jewish ancestry in a large random sample of European Americans” ( Anna C Need et.al., Genome Biology, 2009; 10(1): R7. doi: 10.1186/gb-2009-10-1-r7 ) found that “individuals with full Jewish ancestry formed a clearly distinct cluster from those individuals with no Jewish ancestry.” This study showed that in DNA terms, Jews, both Sephardic and Ashkenazim, cluster as a distinct group—something that, if the Khazar theory was true, would be impossible. 6. A December 2009 study titled “Genomic microsatellites identify shared Jewish ancestry intermediate between Middle Eastern and European populations” ( Naama M Kopelman et.al., BMC Genetics. 2009; 10: 80. doi: 10.1186/1471-2156-10-80 ) found that : “Jewish populations show a high level of genetic similarity to each other, clustering together in several types of analysis of population structure. These results support the view that the Jewish populations largely share a common Middle Eastern ancestry and that over their history they have undergone varying degrees of admixture with non-Jewish populations of European descent.” 7. A December 2009 study titled “The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people” ( Doron M. Behar, et. al., Nature 466, 238–242 (08 July 2010) doi:10.1038/nature09103 ) analyzed individuals from 14 Jewish Diaspora communities and compare these patterns of genome-wide diversity with those from 69 Old World non-Jewish populations in order to “provide comprehensive comparisons between Jewish and non-Jewish populations in the Diaspora, as well as with non-Jewish populations from the Middle East and north Africa.” The results identified a “previously unrecognized genetic substructure within the Middle East” and that “Most Jewish samples form a remarkably tight subcluster,” and that “trace[s] the origins of most Jewish Diaspora communities to the Levant.” 8. A June 2010 study titled “Abraham’s children in the genome era: major Jewish diaspora populations comprise distinct genetic clusters with shared Middle Eastern ancestry” ( Atzmon et al., American Journal of Human Genetics, 2010;86:850-859 ) refuted the idea of large-scale genetic contributions of Central and Eastern European and Slavic populations to the formation of Ashkenazi Jewry. This study found used genome-wide analysis of seven Jewish groups (Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, Italian, Turkish, Greek, and Ashkenazi) and “demonstrated distinctive Jewish population clusters, each with shared Middle Eastern ancestry, proximity to contemporary Middle Eastern populations, and variable degrees of European and North African admixture.” This paper specifically excluded the “Khazar theory” as an origin for present-day Jews, saying “the genetic proximity . . . is incompatible with theories that Ashkenazi Jews are for the most part the direct lineal descendants of converted Khazars or Slavs.” 9. A March 2012 study by Steven M. Bray et. al., titled “Signatures of founder effects, admixture, and selection in the Ashkenazi Jewish population” ( Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences, 16222–16227, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1004381107 ) found that the “Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) population . . . has a common Middle Eastern origin with other Jewish Diaspora populations” while concluding that the Ashkenazi Jewish population has had the most European admixture. 10. A March 2012 study by Christopher L. Campbell et. al., titled “North African Jewish and non-Jewish populations form distinctive, orthogonal clusters” ( Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1204840109 ) found that genome-wide analysis of five North African Jewish groups (Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Djerban, and Libyan) “demonstrated distinctive North African Jewish population clusters with proximity to other Jewish populations.” Furthermore, the study showed, the Sephardic Jewish genome is “compatible with the history of North African Jews—founding during Classical Antiquity with proselytism of local populations, followed by genetic isolation with the rise of Christianity and then Islam, and admixture following the emigration of Sephardic Jews during the Inquisition.” Finally, this study added “ These populations showed a high degree of endogamy and were part of a larger Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish group.” (*Endogamy: the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, rejecting others on such a basis as being unsuitable for marriage or for other close personal relationships.) 11. In his book, “Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People” (Oxford University Press, USA; May 2012), Harry Ostrer, a professor of Pathology and Genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Director of Genetic and Genomic Testing at Montefiore Medical Center, Medicine, concluded that “Jews exhibit a distinctive genetic signature.” ( Jews Are a ‘Race,’ Genes Reveal–Author Uncovers DNA Links Between Members of Tribe, The Jewish Daily Forward, May 04, 2012 ). Ostrer, who is also director of genetic and genomic testing at Montefiore Medical Center, said in his conclusion that “Jews are a homogeneous group with all the scientific trappings of what we used to call a race.” Ostrer also deals specifically with the Khazar theory. He pointed out that the findings from the Jewish HapMap Project (see below) completely refute “the theories that Ashkenazi Jews are the descendants of converted Khazars or Slavs.” ( Jews: A religious group, people or race?, Jerusalem Post, 8/26/2012 ) 12. The Jewish HapMap Project , a joint project of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and New York University School of Medicine, was created to “understand the structure of the genomes in Jewish populations” and is an outgrowth of the Human HapMap Project. According to this project, “Jewish populations are remarkable for maintaining continuous genetic, cultural, and religious traditions over 4000 years, despite residence all over the world.” Its findings, based on first hand DNA studies amongst Jewish populations around the globe, found no evidence to support a Central Asian DNA origin for Jewry. According to the Jerusalem Post, the “Jewish HapMap Project in New York City has so far shown “in exquisite detail what had been conjectured for a century. Jewish populations from the major Jewish Diaspora groups – Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Mizrahi – form a distinctive population cluster that is closely related to Semitic and European populations. Within this larger Jewish cluster, each of the Jewish populations formed its own subcluster. “A high degree of mixing of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Italian and Syrian Jews caused them to become more closely related to each other than they were to Middle Eastern, Iraqi and Iranian Jews. This genetic split seemed to have occurred about 2,500 years ago.” ( Jews: A religious group, people or race?, Jerusalem Post, 8/26/2012 ) DNA Studies Find that Ashkenazim Jews have 30% European Admixture Both the Behar study (section 7 above) and the Atzmon study (section 8 above) were commented upon by the British former deputy editor of the journal Nature , and currently the scientific correspondent for the N ew York Times , Nicholas Wade, in an article in that newspaper as follows: “Jewish communities in Europe and the Middle East share many genes inherited from the ancestral Jewish population that lived in the Middle East some 3,000 years ago, even though each community also carries genes from other sources — usually the country in which it lives,” adding that a “major surprise from both surveys is the genetic closeness of the two Jewish communities of Europe, the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim.” Wade pointed out that the two studies “refute the suggestion made by the historian Shlomo Sand in his book ‘The Invention of the Jewish People’ that Jews have no common origin but are a miscellany of people in Europe and Central Asia who converted to Judaism at various times. “Jewish communities from Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasus all have substantial genetic ancestry that traces back to the Levant; Ethiopian Jews and two Judaic communities in India are genetically much closer to their host populations,” Wade wrote. “The shared genetic elements suggest that members of any Jewish community are related to one another as closely as are fourth or fifth cousins in a large population, which is about 10 times higher than the relationship between two people chosen at random off the streets of New York City. “Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews have roughly 30 percent European ancestry, with most of the rest from the Middle East, the two surveys find. The two communities seem very similar to each other genetically, which is unexpected because they have been separated for so long.” ( Studies Show Jews’ Genetic Similarity, Nicholas Wade, New York Times, June 9, 2010 ). Eran Elhaik’s Single Study Attempts to Refute the Mass of Earlier DNA Evidence The mass of DNA and genetic evidence is, therefore, overwhelmingly indicative that, despite a certain amount of European admixture among Ashkenazim Jewry, there is still a clearly definable Middle Eastern genetic component to both Ashkenazim and Sephardic Jewry. Despite all of these studies—and many more, too numerous to list individually here—in December 2012, a single individual by the name of Eran Elhaik, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, attempted to refute all of the above mentioned evidence. His paper, titled “The Missing Link of Jewish European Ancestry: Contrasting the Rhineland and the Khazarian Hypotheses” was published in the journal Genome Biological Evolution ( (2013) 5 (1):61-74.doi: 10.1093/gbe/evs119 ). In a nutshell, Elhaik—whose rather obviously Jewish physical appearance should by itself indicate that there is indeed a common Jewish “type” (how else can many Jews be physically “recognized” as Jews?)—argues that his method of doing comparative studies between present-day Central Asian populations, Ashkenazim Jews and non-Jewish test groups, “proves” that Ashkenazim Jews are a hotchpotch of genetic origins, with a strong link to what he identifies as the “Khazar” tribe. Even though Elhaik’s work is the only single paper (as opposed to literally dozens of opposing DNA studies), written by a single Jewish individual (as opposed to the other papers which were written by dozens and dozens of scientists from around the globe, Jewish and non-Jewish alike), it has quickly become the most-quoted “proof” of the “Khazar Theory.” Critical Errors in Elhaik’s Paper Elhaik’s paper has a number of errors, some small and a number of major ones. But they are all serious, because even the “small” errors cast doubt on his academic ability and motivation. For example, his paper discusses in detail what he sees as the geographic origin of the Khazars—yet he completely misidentifies the geographic location of one of his test sample groups, the Mbuti and Biaka Pygmies. These two groups, Elhaik asserts at least twice, are to be found in “South Africa.” Actually, the Mbuti and Biaka Pygmies are nowhere near South Africa, and are only to be found literally half a continent away, in the Congo. While this may seem a “small” error, it does indicate sloppiness in research which certainly does not bode well for the rest of the paper. This sloppiness is again repeated when Elhaik asserts that “Eastern and Central European Jews account for approximately 90% of over 13 million worldwide Jews.” In reality, the figure is far less. Of the estimated 13 million Jews worldwide, 8 million are Ashkenazim and 5 million are Sephardic, a division of 61% “European Jews” to 39% “non-European Jews.” And it should be pointed out that the Zionist State of Israel actually has a Sephardic and Mizrahi (non-Ashkenazi) Jewish majority among Jews. These actual facts on Jewish ethnicity are readily available, and Elhaik’s motivation for making this clearly false claim could only be ascribed to a desire to underscore his general assertion, namely that most Jews are not Middle Eastern in origin and that Jews are not race, or a genetically similar people. The most important error in Elhaik’s paper, however, is actually openly admitted: namely that there is actually no “Khazar DNA” in existence, against which any sort of measurement can be taken. Elhaik himself admits this in his paper: the “Khazars have been vanquished and their remains have yet to be sequenced. . .” —in other words there is no record of what exactly Khazar DNA might have been. As there is no record of what Khazar DNA is—it is, ipso facto, physically impossible to determine who is descended from it and who is not. Elhaik attempts to circumvent this major problem by selecting what he calls “surrogate populations”—in this case, “contemporary Middle Eastern and Caucasus populations.” Anyone with a basic understanding of historical events in the Caucasus in particular will immediately see that Elhaik’s assertion that current populations in that region can be taken to reflect those of 1,500 years ago, is highly problematic and quite simply, unsustainable. The Caucasus, a region at the border of Europe and Asia, situated between the Black and the Caspian seas, has been crisscrossed by numerous peoples and races over the last 2000 years, ranging from Indo-Europeans, Semites, Mongols and others—and is today highly genetically diverse. A claim that DNA samples from this region can be taken as any sort of DNA yardstick, is dubious to say the very least. Finally, Elhaik’s methodology in comparing the DNA samples is, to make an understatement, unique to him. As Marcus Feldman, director of Stanford University’s Morrison Institute for Population and Resource Studies, said, “He [Elhaik] appears to be applying the statistics in a way that gives him different results from what everybody else has obtained from essentially similar data.” ( ‘Jews a Race’ Genetic Theory Comes Under Fierce Attack by DNA Expert. The Jewish Daily Forward, May 07, 2013 ) Interestingly, the study which was cited in the New York Times of the “Jews as a race” is exactly the same conclusion that was reached by German National Socialist anthropologists and other experts who studied race science in the United States and elsewhere. Also, many of the present-day extensive studies have been carried out by both Gentile and Jewish geneticists alike, obviating any claims of racial bias. Elhaik’s theory is completely refuted by the new, most massive and most complete study ever done of the Jewish Genome One of Elhaik’s arguments was that the previous studies (referenced above) “were done in the pregenome-wide era using uniparental markers and including different reference populations”—implying that their results are not in line with the most modern DNA sequencing methodology. In fact, at least one study—which appeared after Elhaik’s work was first published—has confirmed the accuracy of the original studies, and also completely refuted Elhaik’s hypothesis. Titled “No Evidence from Genome-Wide Data of a Khazar Origin for the Ashkenazi Jews,” this study was published by the journal Human Biology in August 2013 (Behar, Doron M. et.al.; Human Biology, Access Pre-Prints. Paper 41 ), this paper emphasized the serious error with Elhaik’s work: “Because the Khazar population has left no obvious modern descendants that could enable a clear test for a contribution to Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry, the Khazar hypothesis has been difficult to examine using genetics. “Furthermore, because only limited genetic data have been available from the Caucasus region, and because these data have been concentrated in populations that are genetically close to populations from the Middle East, the attribution of any signal of Ashkenazi-Caucasus genetic similarity to Khazar ancestry rather than shared ancestral Middle Eastern ancestry has been problematic.” This latest, most massive study of the Jewish genome was a worldwide effort of geneticists, both Gentile and Jewish, to analyze Jewish genetics. Researchers from laboratories around the globe, including Estonia, Russia, Italy, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Armenia, the US, and Israel, gathered together the largest Jewish DNA data set ever yet assembled. The paper explained as follows: “Here, through integration of genotypes on newly collected samples with data from several of our past studies, we have assembled the largest data set available to date for assessment of Ashkenazi Jewish genetic origins.” “Employing a variety of standard techniques for the analysis of population genetic structure, we find that Ashkenazi Jews share the greatest genetic ancestry with other Jewish populations, and among non-Jewish populations, with groups from Europe and the Middle East. “No particular similarity of Ashkenazi Jews with populations from the Caucasus is evident, particularly with the populations that most closely represent the Khazar region. Thus, analysis of Ashkenazi Jews together with a large sample from the region of the Khazar Khaganate corroborates the earlier results that Ashkenazi Jews derive their ancestry primarily from populations of the Middle East and Europe, that they possess considerable shared ancestry with other Jewish populations, and that there is no indication of a significant genetic contribution either from within or from north of the Caucasus region.” The latest, most up-to-date and modern DNA analysis has, therefore, completely refuted the “Khazar Theory.” It is important to understand that this refutation has come from non-Jewish and Jewish scientists from dozens of different universities and geneticists all over the world, and cannot be ascribed to a “conspiracy.” Part II: The Historical-Logical Evidence The Historical Record Shows Jewish Physical Consistency One of the most obvious indicators of genetic commonality is physical appearance. European people broadly resemble each other; African people broadly resemble each other; Chinese people broadly resemble each other; Australian Aborigines broadly resemble each other and so on. It is a characteristic of genetically similar people to physically resemble each other. Jews are no different in this regard to any other people. They too show a resemblance to each other—this is why it is possible to often “recognize” a Jewish person by his physical appearance. A good example in point is the already mentioned Jewish geneticist Eran Elhaik, who, despite physically embodying a Jewish sterrotype recognized around the world, tries to claim that there is no genetic commonality amongst Jews. The “Khazar theory” holds that most Ashkenazim Jews are not Semitic, but are “Central Asian” converts to Judaism. Proponents of the “Khazar theory” fail to understand the logical consequence of their belief—namely that a supposed Central Asian origin of “most” Ashkenazim Jews means that they will not physically resemble other Jews. As anyone can see, this is not the case. Sephardic Jews are, on average, slightly darker than Ashkenazim Jews, but there is no doubt that there is a physical similarity which allows them still to be recognized as such. Above: These two illustrations make the point even more dramatically. On the left, the Ashkenazim Jewess, Barbara Streisand, New York, 1966. On the right, a Jewish leader of Israelite trade delegation as portrayed on a mural on the wall of the 18th Dynasty (1400 BC) Tomb of Sobekhotep, Thutmose IV; Egypt. Two thousand years before the alleged Khazar conversion and they look the same as modern Ashkenazi Jews. Streisand’s paternal grandparents came from Galicia (Poland–Ukraine) and her maternal grandparents came from Russia—if anyone would be “Khazar,” according to that theory, it would be her. Nonetheless, she closely resembles the only designated Jew as portrayed on an Egyptian tomb from 3.400 years ago, the leader of a Jewish trade delegation to Egypt. The genetic continuity is clear—and if the Khazar theory was true, there would be no physical similarity, because there would have been a racial sea change in Jewish appearance. Left: The famous banker of Pompeii, Jucundus, who lived circa 20–62 AD. (700 years before the alleged Ashkenazi conversion) Identified as a Jew by the German anthropologist, Hans F.K. Günther, in his book “ Racial Elements of European History” (Fig, 240a and b, chapter VIII) . Alongside, the Ashkenazi Jew, Abe Foxman of the ADL. The similarity between Jucundus and Foxman is clear, and serves a further indication of the physical continuity of the Jewish type over centuries—something that would be impossible if the “Khazar theory” was true. In addition to genetic studies, there have been extensive physiological comparison of Jewish remains from burial sites from ancient Israel and present-day Ashkenazi and Sephardic physiology, all of which conclusively shows their similarity across both the Sephardic and Ashkenazi spectrum—and their difference from European populations. Jewish Supremacist Behavior Through the Millennia Disprove the “Khazar Theory” Another piece of the jigsaw which disproves the Khazar theory, is that Jewish Supremacist behavior has remained constant throughout the millennia—from biblical times right through to the present day. Most Christians are aware of the behavior of the Old Testament Jews—who burn, rampage, kill rape and enslave their way through Palestine supposedly on order of their tribal God. They are aware of the fact that the gospels of the New Testament show that elite of the Jews, the Pharisees, were the biggest enemies of Christ and arranged for his crucifixion, and the New Testament is clear that they led the persecution of Christians which has continued through both Jewish Bolshevism and the cultural assault in the Zio global media. It must also be clear that the Talmud, the books of Jewish law promoting Jewish extremist supremacism and hatred against all non-Jews, was written hundreds of years before any alleged Khazar conversion. While it another debate altogether as to the historical accuracy of those events, there is no question about Jewish interaction with Gentiles—and Romans in particular—during the first century AD. The world’s first anti-Jewish riots broke out in the city of Alexandria in 38 AD, and re-occurred in 66 AD, 115 AD, 118 AD, and 411 AD. In that year, the archbishop of Alexandria, Cyril, ordered the expulsion of all Jews from the city. The Roman historian Socrates of Constantinople (not be confused with the Socrates of Classical Greece), in his Ecclesiastical History, recorded the reasons for this first great expulsion of Jews from a non-Jewish city in detail, and reveals behavior by Jewish Supremacists exactly as the world experiences it today, over 1,500 years later: “. . .[T]he Jews were continually factious; and there was added to their ordinary hatred of the Christians . . . Cyril, on being informed of this, sent for the principal Jews, and threatened them with the utmost severities unless they desisted from their molestation of the Christians. These menaces, instead of suppressing their violence, only rendered the Jewish populace more furious, and led them to form conspiracies for the destruction of the Christians, one of which was of so desperate a character as to cause their entire expulsion from Alexandria” (Socrates, Hist. Eccl., VII, 13; PC, LXXXII, 759 ff). The very first Jewish community outside of the Middle East was established in Rome in 139 BC—and it was not long before their activities roused Roman public opinion against them. The famous orator Cicero, among others, frequently spoke against the presence of Jews during sittings of the Roman senate. In his famous Pro Flacco oration (which dealt with the case of a Roman aristocrat, Lucius Valerius Flaccus, accused of unlawfully confiscating Jewish money), Cicero said: “Now let us take a look at the Jews and their mania for gold. You chose this site, [chief prosecutor] Laelius, and the crowd which frequents it, with an eye to this particular accusation, knowing very well that Jews with their large numbers and tendency to act as a clique are valuable supporters to have at any kind of public meeting.” Many other prominent and famous Romans, such as Seneca, Juneval, and Tacitus all went on record as complaining about the activities of Jews within the Roman Empire. The Roman historian Tacitus, in his most famous work, Histories, described the activities of the Jews as follows: “In order to secure the allegiance of his people in the future, Moses prescribed for them a novel religion quite different from those of the rest of mankind. Among the Jews all things are profane that we hold sacred; on the other hand they regard as permissible what seems to us immoral . . . The other practices of the Jews are sinister and revolting, and have entrenched themselves by their very wickedness. Wretches of the most abandoned kind who had no use for the religion of their fathers took to contributing dues and free-will offerings to swell the Jewish exchequer; and other reasons for their increasing wealth may be found in their stubborn loyalty and ready benevolence towards brother Jews. “But the rest of the world they confront with the hatred reserved for enemies. They will not feed or intermarry with gentiles. Though a most lascivious people, the Jews avoid sexual intercourse with women of alien race. Among themselves nothing is barred. They have introduced the practice of circumcision to show that they are different from others.” (Tacitus, Histories, 5.2–5). The famous British historian Edward Gibbon, in his monumental work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (Lippincourt, Philadelphia, 1878, vol. 2, page 4), discussed Jewish Supremacist behavior in Roman times this way: “From the reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius, the Jews discovered a fierce impatience of the dominion of Rome, which repeatedly broke out in the most furious massacres and insurrections. Humanity is shocked at the recital of horrid cruelties which they committed in the cities of Egypt, of Cyria, and of Cyrene, where they dwelt in treacherous friendship with the unsuspecting natives; and we are tempted to applaud the severe retaliation which was exercised by the arms of the Legions against a race of fanatics whose dire and credulous superstition seemed to render them the implacable enemies not only of the Roman government, but of all human kind.” Anti-Jewish literature during Roman times was very widespread. One work by the Greek, Apion, was so well-known that the Romanized Jewish historian Josephus (who wrote the famous account of the Jewish uprising of 70 AD, called The Jewish Wars) wrote an entire book trying to refute Apion’s arguments. The Roman Emperor Tiberius formally expelled the Jews from Rome in 19 AD. They returned shortly thereafter, only to be expelled once again in 49 AD. In 116 AD, Emperor Trajan ordered that all Jews in Mesopotamia should be killed, saying that they were the cause of continual uprisings in that region. One of the most famous emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire, Justinian (527–565 AD), adopted a comprehensive anti-Jewish policy which barred Jews from the civil service, military posts, and any other positions of influence in his government. All of these events pre-date the supposed “Khazar conversion” by centuries—yet it can be seen that the identical behavioral patterns are on display before and after the supposed “Khazar” infusion. Logic dictates that if the racial make-up of Jews changed substantially after the year 700 AD, then their behavioral traits would also have changed. The fact that they did not, is yet more proof that there was no racial sea-change amongst Jews as is claimed by the supporters of the “Khazar theory.” The historical-logical evidence therefore clearly shows that there has been no change in Jewish Supremacist behavior from the time of the ancient Romans to the present-day. If there had been large-scale conversions, as the “Khazar theory” claims, the genetic continuity of the Jewish people would have been disrupted, which would likely have caused a change in behavior. As this behavior as remained constant, the historical account indicates that the “Khazar theory” is untrue. Part III: The Reasons Why the “Khazar Theory” Has Come About 1. The “Khazar Theory” Deflects Attention from the Most Racist Jews of all, the Sephardic Jewish Extremists, suggests that there is not “Jewish problem” but a Khazar or Ashkenazi problem. The “Khazar theory” falls down when it is understood that it only attempts to explain the origin of the “European” or Ashkenazim Jews—and completely ignores the Sephardic and Mizrahi element of Jewry, which compromises nearly 40% of all Jews today and a majority of Jews in the Zionist State of Israel. The ludicrousness of the situation is underlined when it is appreciated that the Sephardic element of Jewry tends to be the most religious and the most orthodox. They most closely follow the dictates of the Talmud and the Torah laws—and are therefore most immersed in the racist supremacy and anti-Gentile hatred which guides all Jewish behavior. It was, after all, the former chief rabbi of the Sephardic Jews in Israel who announced that Gentiles are donkeys, created by God only to serve Jews, among many other overtly racist comments. This ultra racist Jew, Rabbi Yosef, recently died and had the largest funeral in the history of Israel. By focusing on the bogus “Khazar” theory, its proponents deflect attention away from the proven historical record that Jewish Supremacist behavior is common to both Ashkenazim and Sephardic Jewish extremists. This is proven by the fact that Israel uses DNA tests to check if potential immigrants to that country are Jewish or not. If there was a wide divergence between Ashkenazim and Sephardic Jewry, as the “Khazar theory” would maintain, then it would not be possible for Israel to genetically distinguish who is a Jew and who is not. 2. The “Khazar Theory” is Popular Among Anti-Zionists (For the Wrong Reasons) In the wake of the Second World War and establishment of the Zionist State of Israel, the Khazar theory gained traction in the anti-Zionist movement. It seemed to be powerful argument against Zionism. If the leaders of the Zionist movement had no relation to the historical people called Jews in the Mideast, then the theoretical rationale of the Zionists to claim Palestine as a historical homeland, was demolished. This logic is, of course, fundamentally flawed, because it matters not if modern Jews were related or partly related to Jews who lived in the region 2,000 years earlier. No matter what the case, there is no moral justification for the Jewish terrorist creation of Israel. It is a crime against humanity to drive hundreds of thousands of men, women and children from their land and homes, terrorize them and murder thousands, just because of a claim that one’s distant ancestors supposedly lived there millennia ago. It this “logic” is carried through to its conclusion, then it would be “justified” to drive from their homes 99.9 percent of the people alive on planet Earth—because there is hardly a region on earth that has not been subjected to invasions or migrations throughout history. To explain this inconsistency another way: by using the “Khazar theory” as “proof” that the Zionists cannot claim Israel because they are not the real Jews, the anti-Zionists are in fact saying that IF it can be shown that the Zionists ARE the real Jews, then they would have the right to claim Palestine as a homeland. Remember that a majority of Jews in Israel are Sephardic or Mizrahi Jews who are non-Ashkenazi. This “logic”, as detailed above, is false. 3. The “Khazar Theory” is a Tactic to Disguise Jewish Supremacist Racism The “Khazar argument” is intrinsically related to the question of whether the present-day Jews are a religion or a race. Prominent Jews have long referred to Jews as a “race,” even in modern times. If there was any leader of world Jewry in the days before The Second World War it was Nahum Goldman, the President of the World Zionist organization. He said: “The Jews are divided into two categories, those who admit they belong to a race distinguished by a history thousands of years old, and those who don’t. The latter are open to the charge of dishonesty.” Even the current prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking before a gathering of Jews from all over the world, candidly referred to the “Jewish race”: “If Israel had not come into existence after World War II than [sic] I am certain the Jewish race wouldn’t have survived.” (Daily Pilot, Newport Beach/Costa Mesa, Feb. 28, 2000, front page.) Leading Jews have always defined themselves as much more than a religion but as people of special genealogy, and expressed the ultimate supremacism that God has chosen them above all others. Israel is a Jewish religious state, in which the religious dictates hold supreme. The rabbis determine all the important issues: immigration, education, housing, and marriage. It matters not if a person believes in God or not—the only thing that counts is if one is of Jewish lineage, or Jewish descent. It matters not if one’s Jewish mother was an atheist or a Haredim, or if her great grandmother was religious or not—what ultimately counts is one’s blood, not one’s belief in God. Ironically, this is not only true in Israel. It is true in the very synagogues of the Jewish religion across the globe. Atheist? No problem as long as if you are of the tribe. The tactic of claiming that Judaism is simply a religion is an effective defensive strategy. Whenever anyone complains about Jewish domination of any institution (achieved by favoring their own and disfavoring their non-Jewish competitors), Jewish Supremacists simply say that they are a “religion” like any other, rather than an ethnic group. People in America, Europe, and the Western world, all overwhelmingly endorse the concept of religious freedom—and thus they equate criticism of Jewish actions as “religious bigotry” and oppression. “After all,” the claim is made, “it is just a religion.” This is a Jewish Supremacist tactic: They disguise Jewish racism through religious dogma, rather than admitting ethnic nationalism. I have come to believe that the Khazar theory is one more piece of controlled opposition as illustrated in Orwell’s 1984 where Emmanuel Goldstein is supposedly Big Brother’s opposition, but in fact he is part of the Big Brother apparatus. How convenient it is to suggest that Jews are not a race, not a related people that gives them a unity and strength in conflict with other peoples. One cannot explain the power of Zionism unless one understands Jewish tribalism. Jewish tribalism (racism) and favoritism and preference for fellow Jews combined with discrimination against non-Jews ultimately enables them to take over almost any institution. Without Jewish racism, Zionism could not flourish, for that is what gives the Jewish extremists its enormous economic, media and political influence. Christians who propagate the “Khazar theory” should not forget that the Talmud is perhaps the most anti-Christ tome ever written. The Talmud portrays Jesus being boiled in human excrement—“forever”! The Talmud as well the gospel recounting of the Jewish persecution behind the crucifixion of Christ all took place hundreds of years before any supposed Khazar conversion! How convenient it is for the anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish supremacist efforts be divided on the foundation of the Jewish problem. Bear in mind, the problem we face is not a “Khazar” problem, it is a Jewish problem, it is a problem of extremist Jewish racism and supremacism which continually plunges our world into war, hatred, tyranny and degradation. It is for these reasons, that I no longer believe the Khazar theory. Anyone who opposes Jewish extremism, supremacism and Zionism I consider an ally and brother in the cause for the liberation of Europeans and every people on the Planet from the Zio-Globalist threat. I accept whole heartedly those who still believe the Khazar theory, but at the same time I must express what I think to be the truth: that, overall, the theory does more harm than good in our efforts to oppose Jewish tribalism. As a final note is important to show that Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews are not claimed to be Khazars by anyone and they were throughout the Mediterranean world at the time of Christ some 900 years before any alleged Khazar conversion. They were the ones who crucified Christ, the ones Christ railed against. Some of the very same people who expose the Talmud and the Jewish role in Christ crucifixion are now telling us that Jews are actually Khazars today! Not a single Khazar wrote a word of the vicious Talmud. The most important Jewish rabbi in Israel is the Chief Sephardic Rabbi, as typified by the late Ovadia Yosef. Yosef was viciously anti-Gentile and anti European and anti-Palestinian. When he died he was honored like no other Israeli citizen in history — with the largest funeral honored by all Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi. Although I am friends with and respect all who believe in the Khazar theory if they are fighting against the Jewish Supremacists, I though will personally will no longer endorse what I believe is a patently false idea fostered upon us by Jewish communists who seek to lessen our understanding of the core threat of Jewish racism and Jewish tribalist supremacism. When people tell us the threat of Ashkenazi Jews it confuses people on the subject to no end. It deflects from the fundamental fact that the Jewish establishment, i.e. every major Jewish organization of all types of Jews– is working for our genocide. | 0 |
Monsanto Behind 4-Years-in-the-Making, Failed Peace Deal in Colombia Nov 7, 2016 1 0
Colombians just refused a peace deal championed by President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón with the narrow margin of just .05% of the votes. This would have ended 52 years of war in the country that has resulted in 250,000 deaths thus far.
Though recent stories suggested the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels who had been waging a guerilla war in Colombia had put down their arms , a surprising contributor to the prolonged hardship Colombians now face can be traced directly to Monsanto .
Negotiations for the failed peace deal took four long years, but behind the attempts to start fresh, with hopes of incorporating FARC rebels into civil Colombian life, the biotech and seed-monopolizing company, Monsanto, was waging a war of their own.
Members of the FARC rebel resistance have spent decades roaming the jungles of Columbia – bathing in creeks and sleeping in crude campsites . They, like almost no other Colombian, are familiar with the U.S.-Colombian so-called anti-narcotic war which allows Monsanto to spray the air with glyphosate, widely known as the trademarked herbicide, Roundup.
Once this herbicide reaches the jungle floor, it destroys not only coca, but also the many other plants that provide for indigenous Colombian’s needs.
This practice began in the 1980s. In 1999 the campaign to spray glyphosate acquired an official status known as ‘Plan Colombia.’ Only just recently, the Colombian government defied the U.S. agreement and stopped the aerial spraying of crops used to make cocaine, ending the 20-year long, Monsanto-led environmental devastation.
What many don’t know is that the U.S. government pledged to fund the purchase of glyphosate herbicides from Monsanto, supply the aircraft equipped with the means to spray, and to train Colombian commandos to carry out the aerial onslaught .
These planes faced an ongoing threat of receiving ground fire by FARC rebels.
FARC leader Timoleón Jiménez (real name is Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri), known as ‘Timochenko’ among partisans and a graduate of the Peoples’ Friendship University in Russia as well as a trained doctor, said in an interview to Colombian newspaper VOZ:
“In the regions, where farm communities live close to coca crops, the government accuses landowners of illegal coca production and using this excuse constantly air-sprays their fields with glyphosate. This chemical destroys coca randomly along with other agricultural crops, causing irretrievable harm to animals and people, especially to children, seniors and pregnant women.”
The result was that rebels attempted to shoot down planes to escape chemical death. In an attempt to avoid the ground fire, the U.S.-supplied, Monsanto-herbicide-filled crop dusters would fly higher, but continue their spraying, becoming more willy-nilly in their aim.
The Colombian tropical rainforests, are thus barbarically sprayed with millions of tons of Monsanto’s herbicide. This is extraordinarily troublesome due to the fact that Colombia is considered one of the most important countries for maintaining biodiversity, with almost 10% of all endemic plant species growing within its forests.
Moreover, 6 million Colombians have had to flee their homes due to Monsanto’s spraying . Instead of eradicating crops, you’d think the biotech company was trying to eradicate people. Indigenous Shuar leader from Scumbios, Ecuador explains the situation ,
“We always used to have a pharmacy in the jungle. But now we can’t find the trees and animals that we need. The animals and fish have disappeared. The birds, too. We have never seen anything like this before. It has to be the result of the spraying. We notice the effects immediately after the area is sprayed. Birds, animals, and fish begin to disappear within a few weeks. The health effects linger for weeks, and even longer.”
Additionally, soil has lost its fertility, water is polluted, and multi-generational homesteads are uprooted. Forests are quickly dying, also.
Instead of the land being shepherded by Colombians, biotech corporations use them to expand their genetically-modified crop empires, which are resistant to glyphosate.
What has assisted this expansion? The war against Colombian guerrillas. FARC representatives at peace talks in Havana were the ones who demanded Monsanto and the US stop spraying .
As Russian journalist, Elena Sharoykina has stated ,
“Despite the support of the head of the government, the glyphosate moratorium was criticized by the Colombian ‘war faction’ and its U.S. bosses. Juan Carlos Pinzón Bueno, the defense minister, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, the former head of the government, and Kevin Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador in Bogota, have publicly opposed it. They claimed it an undeserved concession for FARC and appealed to continue the aerial spraying of the herbicide ‘for the sake of combating narcotics’.
Of course, it’s not only about coca plantations. The U.S. uses the anti-narcotic campaign in Colombia as an easy excuse to eradicate FARC. Washington is usually surprisingly tolerant to drug production, when it brings profit.
. . .Nowadays, the estimated number of active FARC members hardly exceeds 5-6 thousand people. It’s naive to think that several thousand of rebels trapped in jungle can control a transnational joint venture known as the ‘Colombian cocaine industry’, worth tens of billions U.S. dollars .”
One thing is clear in the face of a lost vote for peace.
“‘Glyphosate’ and ‘war’ have become synonyms now in Colombia. That is why the moratorium on the aerial spraying of the herbicide wouldn’t last long. Already in April 2016 the Colombian government under U.S. pressure and on the pretext of fighting the drug business resumed the use of glyphosate .” | 0 |
The world is coming to an end, and they’re all singing “Jingle Bells. ” That may not be your idea of a great musical selection for Armageddon. But as performed by a ragtag chorus of displaced persons in Theater for a New Audience’s spirited revival of Thornton Wilder’s “The Skin of Our Teeth,” the choice of song feels fitting, resourceful, valiant and — for just those reasons — very moving. The scene comes near the end of the first act of this wobbly mammoth of a play, which opened on Tuesday night at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn. And as often happens in the director Arin Arbus’s heartfelt interpretation of Wilder’s 1942 cosmic comedy, the sequence’s elements register as both exceedingly whimsical and disturbingly familiar. What’s being portrayed, after all, is an earth succumbing to climate change, which means that although it is high summer, a glacier is advancing on Excelsior, N. J. where a home has become a haven for a swarm of refugees, whose admittance was a subject of angry argument among the family that lives there. And what may be the last fire on the planet is about to go out. It is hardly a cause for celebration that the alarm bells being rung here sound as resonant today as they must have in the early 1940s, when the United States was on the brink of world war. Yet a celebratory glow pervades this portrait of a single family’s survival against the odds through freeze, famine and war. “The Skin of Our Teeth” can be quaint, creaky and tedious. But it feels as perversely suitable to 2017 as “Jingle Bells” does to the Ice Age. When the play first opened, with a dazzling cast led by Fredric March and Tallulah Bankhead, Brooks Atkinson wrote in The New York Times that it stood “head and shoulders above the monotonous plane of our moribund theater. ” Atkinson particularly admired Wilder’s “mischievous ideas about the informality of good theater. ” But while he adored the first third of “Skin,” he was less enamored of the two other acts. He wasn’t wrong. That first act, which places a American family on the edge of extinction in the Ice Age, still feels as fresh as morning and as old as Moses (who happens to appear in it). But as it continues to follow the allegorical Antrobus clan in its struggle for survival (through a flood on the boardwalks of Atlantic City and a world war) “Skin” can wear thin. Recent revivals — including a misguided whopper in Central Park in 1998, starring John Goodman — have suggested that the play had gone the way of its singing dinosaurs. Wilder’s starker “Our Town” and robust “The Matchmaker” (the basis for the musical “Hello, Dolly! ”) seemed far more likely candidates for survival. Ms. Arbus — whose fruitful association with Theater for a New Audience has yielded a bright string of cleareyed productions of classics — doesn’t entirely restore “Skin” to newborn sprightliness. But she makes you appreciate why its first audiences cherished it. Her production does particularly well by Wilder’s inspired notion to have the improvisatory spirit of “theater, interrupted” reflect the persistence of life itself. From its first moments (and it’s all in the script) the production is troubled by falling scenery, electrical blackouts and a temperamental actress who refuses to stay in character. That’s the woman who plays Sabina, the Antrobus’s mantrap of a maid, embodied with original comic flair by Mary Wiseman, who brings to mind not so much Ms. Bankhead (who created the part) as a young Lucille Ball with an attitude. It is Sabina who guides us — irascibly and apologetically — through the willful anachronisms of the play. Its central archetypal clan is made up of Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus (David Rasche and Kecia Lewis) and their children Gladys (Kimber Monroe) and Henry (Reynaldo Piniella) who was originally named Cain. Mr. Antrobus is an inventor of genius (his contributions include the wheel, the lever and the alphabet) while his wife is a fierce defender of family. As for Sabina, she’s basically Lilith, the eternal temptress, there to lead good men like Mr. Antrobus astray. In its sexual politics (and its Oedipal confrontations) “Skin” can feel agonizingly dated. And despite solid performances by Mr. Rasche and Ms. Lewis, the configuring of this eternal triangle occupies entirely too much stage time. It’s as a production that this “Skin” captures, tickles and distresses the imagination. Ms. Arbus has enlisted a crackerjack production team — including Riccardo Hernandez (sets) and Cait O’Connor (the commedia dell’ costumes and puppets) — and a diverse cast of nearly three dozen (including a fierce Mary Lou Rosato as a boardwalk soothsayer) to fill Wilder’s canvas. The production deploys them with wit and efficiency, while retaining an endearing air of ramshackle spontaneity. The script has updated its anachronisms (Trader Joe’s instead of A P) and features some stirring contemporary songs by César Alvarez about the search for home. “So many years I have been dreaming, dreaming, dreaming of a place to call my own,” the refugees sing, toward the first act’s end. By that point, it’s looking as if they may all freeze to death. So when Ms. Wiseman steps out of character to ask the audience to bring its chairs to the stage to stoke the fire, there’s no question that were we able to oblige, we would. At such moments, “Skin” becomes a welcome pep rally for a world that could use some reassurance that it will, despite everything, carry on. | 1 |
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The Obama administration recently announced measures to fight opioid addiction with treatment and prevention . It is hard to predict how these measures – and the new CDC guidelines – will affect chronic pain patients. However, in order to understand the many concerns patients with chronic pain have raised, it’s important to hear about what they are already facing.
Women, particularly women of color, face a difficult time getting diagnosed with chronic pain conditions, let alone receiving treatment . Age also plays a role – young chronic pain patients may face difficulties in receiving accurate care. Several women with chronic pain shared their stories with me in an effort to display how difficult things already are for many of us in chronic pain.
Holy, a young woman from Maryland living with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), shared some of her struggles with me yesterday. AS is a debilitating form of arthritis that mainly attacks the back and spine. As such, it causes a tremendous amount of pain which can escalate during periods called ‘flare-ups.’ During flare-ups, patients may have to up medications such as corticosteroids (Prednisone) and pain medication.
Holy has been refused medical care during painful flare-ups that caused her to go to the emergency room. Currently, she is in so much pain that she is unable to work or continue pursuing secondary education.
She feels that her pain could be better controlled with a higher dose of the opiate she is currently on, but fears the reactions and repercussions she will face by asking for that dose. Holy’s insurance won’t cover a consultation with a pain management specialist, something that many physicians are requiring in order to get away from prescribing opiates themselves. All she wants is to be able to function enough to pursue her education and have a semblance of Quality of Life (QOL).
Holy’s story is not unlike that of Britta in Minnesota, who currently has little pain management for her chronic illness-related pain. While she would like to ask for pain management and discuss medications, her insurance and health care organization have both put extreme regulations on opiates.
Other patients, including yours truly, already experience issues when picking up opiates or other controlled substances for pain relief at the pharmacy. We are often treated like criminals, something that becomes more obvious when you hear about urine and blood testing for illegal drugs in order to obtain your pain relief.
While the stories above are the most common I encounter, there are rare stories like that of Gwendolyn from Colorado. While she admits she is terrified of the effects of the new prescription guidelines, Gwendolyn sees a pain management specialist who has assured her that they will do whatever they can to make sure the process of obtaining her script doesn’t change and that her QOL isn’t negatively affected. Like Holy, though, she still has had negative responses when needing to utilize the emergency room.
An important note to make: Uncontrolled pain can and does lead to suicide . Patients who have little to no QOL and cannot access pain relief often feel as though they have nowhere to turn. Relationships suffer, contributing to a feeling of isolation and loneliness. There are some doctors who see this , who realize that pain and depression may be related, and who are reluctant to follow or are even actively resisting the various new guidelines.
It remains to be seen how the new guidelines will affect healthcare across the country. Reducing the number of deaths from opiate abuse is important, but we also need to be mindful of those in unending pain who may have no other options than opiates. Limiting their access reduces their QoL and will, ultimately, lead to preventable deaths.
Featured Image via Charles Williams/Flickr , available under a Creative Commons 2.0 license . About Kirsten Schultz
Kirsten Schultz is a writer and chronic illness guru living in Madison, Wisconsin. Her undergraduate degree is in religious studies with a double minor in history and politics. However, during her first go of graduate school, she fell extremely ill and had to drop out. She now shares her musings on living with chronic illness at her site Not Standing Still's Disease, writes about how illness affects Quality of Life (QoL) issues at Chronic Sex and Creaky Joints, and runs a weekly chat on QoL issues Thursday nights on Twitter. Connect | 0 |
Friday at the National Rifle Association (NRA) Leadership Forum in Atlanta, President Donald Trump declared he would build a wall on the U. S. border, adding, “That’s an easy one. ” Trump said, “We’ve already seen — listen to this, it’s never happened before — people can’t even believe it. And by the way, don’t even think about it. Don’t even think about it. You know, they are trying to use the number against us because we’ve done so unbelievably at the borders. They are trying to use it against us. But you need that wall to stop the human trafficking, to stop the drugs, to stop the wrong people you need the wall. But listen to this, we’ve already seen a 73 percent decrease — never happened before on the southern border — since my election, you see what they’re doing, right? So why do you need a wall? We need a wall. ” “We’ll build the wall,” he continued. “Don’t even think about it. Don’t even think about it. That’s an easy one. We’re going to build a wall. It’s the final element. We need the wall. And it’s a wall, in certain areas where you have massive physical structures, we don’t need, and certain big rivers and all, but we need a wall. And we’re going to get that wall. And the world is getting the message. They know that our borders are no longer open to illegal immigration and that if they try to break in, you’ll be caught and you’ll be returned to your home. You’re not staying any longer. ” “If you keep coming back illegally after deportation, you will be arrested, prosecuted and put behind bars,” Trump added. “Otherwise, it will never end. Let’s also remember that immigration security is national security. We’ve seen the attacks from Boston to San Bernardino, hundreds of individuals from other countries have been charged with offenses in the United States. We spend billions and billions on security all over the world, but then we allow radical Islamic terrorists to center right through our front door. That’s not going to happen anymore. It’s time to get tough. It’s time we finally got smart. And yes, it’s also time to put America first. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
The Firefighter’s Prophecy: Is Trump God’s Man? October 28, 2016
A firefighter from Florida appeared on TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles in April 2016, in which he shared his years-old vision of Donald Trump becoming president.
Many people are questioning how Donald Trump fits into God's plan for the nation.
Some say he's a modern-day Cyrus; others compare him to Nebuchadnezzar.
Now, firefighter Mark Taylor tells TruNews' Rick Wiles that Trump was ordained for such a time as this.
"The Spirit of God says, 'I have chosen this man, Donald Trump, for such a time as this. For as Benjamin Netanyahu is to Israel, so shall this man be to the United States of America! For I will use this man to bring honor, respect and restoration to America. America will be respected once again as the most powerful and prosperous nation on Earth, (other than Israel). The dollar will be the strongest it has ever been in the history of the United States, and will once again be the currency by which all others are judged,'" Taylor says the Lord told him five years ago.
So what does this mean for today? Listen to the TRUNEWS program from April 18, 2016 and ask the Lord for discernment. | 0 |
Why Is the Foreign Policy Establishment Spoiling for More War? Look at Their Donors. By Dennis Kucinich
The Nation " - W ashington, DC, may be the only place in the world where people openly flaunt their pseudo-intellectuality by banding together, declaring themselves think tanks, and raising money from external interests, including foreign governments, to compile reports that advance policies inimical to the real-life concerns of the American people.
As a former member of the House of Representatives, I remember 16 years of congressional hearings where pedigreed experts came to advocate wars in testimony based on circular, rococo thinking devoid of depth, reality, and truth. I remember other hearings where the Pentagon was unable to reconcile over $1 trillion in accounts, lost track of $12 billion in cash sent to Iraq, and rigged a missile-defense test so that an interceptor could easily home in on a target. War is first and foremost a profitable racket.
How else to explain that in the past 15 years this citys so called bipartisan foreign policy elite has promoted wars in Iraq and Libya, and interventions in Syria and Yemen, which have opened Pandoras box to a trusting world, to the tune of trillions of dollars, a windfall for military contractors. DCs think tanks should rightly be included in the taxonomy of armored war vehicles and not as gathering places for refugees from academia.
According to the front page of this past Fridays Washington Post , the bipartisan foreign-policy elite recommends the next president show less restraint than President Obama. Acting at the urging of liberal hawks brandishing humanitarian intervention, read war, the Obama administration attacked Libya along with allied powers working through NATO.
The think tankers fell in line with the Iraq invasion. Not being in the tank, I did my own analysis of the call for war in October of 2002, based on readily accessible information, and easily concluded that there was no justification for war. I distributed it widely in Congress and led 125 Democrats in voting against the Iraq war resolution. There was no money to be made from a conclusion that war was uncalled for, so, against millions protesting in the United States and worldwide, our government launched into an abyss, with a lot of armchair generals waving combat pennants. The marching band and chowder society of DC think tanks learned nothing from the Iraq and Libya experience.
The only winners were arms dealers, oil companies, and jihadists. Immediately after the fall of Libya, the black flag of Al Qaeda was raised over a municipal building in Benghazi, Gadhafis murder was soon to follow, with Secretary Clinton quipping with a laugh, We came, we saw, he died. President Obama apparently learned from this misadventure, but not the Washington policy establishment, which is spoiling for more war.
The self-identified liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) is now calling for Syria to be bombed, and estimates Americas current military adventures will be tidied up by 2025, a tardy twist on mission accomplished. CAP, according to a report in The Nation , has received funding from war contractors Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who make the bombers that CAP wants to rain hellfire on Syria.
The Brookings Institute has taken tens of millions from foreign governments , notably Qatar, a key player in the military campaign to oust Assad. Retired four-star Marine general John Allen is now a Brookings senior fellow . Charles Lister is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute , which has received funding from Saudi Arabia , the major financial force providing billions in arms to upend Assad and install a Sunni caliphate stretching across Iraq and Syria. Foreign-government money is driving our foreign policy.
As the drumbeat for an expanded war gets louder, Allen and Lister jointly signed an op-ed in the Sunday Washington Post , calling for an attack on Syria. The Brookings Institute, in a report to Congress , admitted it received $250,000 from the US Central Command, Centcom, where General Allen shared leadership duties with General David Petraeus. Pentagon money to think tanks that endorse war? This is academic integrity, DC-style.
And why is Central Command, as well as the Food and Drug Administration, the US Department of transportation, and the US Department of Health and Human Services giving money to Brookings ?
Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, who famously told Colin Powell , Whats the point of having this superb military youre always talking about if we cant use it, predictably says of this current moment , We do think there needs to be more American action. A former Bush administration top adviser is also calling for the United States to launch a cruise missile attack on Syria.
The American people are fed up with war, but a concerted effort is being made through fearmongering, propaganda, and lies to prepare our country for a dangerous confrontation, with Russia in Syria.
The demonization of Russia is a calculated plan to resurrect a r aison dętre for stone-cold warriors trying to escape from the dustbin of history by evoking the specter of Russian world domination.
Its infectious. Earlier this year the BBC broadcast a fictional show that contemplated WWIII, beginning with a Russian invasion of Latvia (where 26 percent of the population is ethnic Russian and 34 percent of Latvians speak Russian at home).
The imaginary WWIII scenario conjures Russias targeting London for a nuclear strike. No wonder that by the summer of 2016 a poll showed two-thirds of UK citizens approved the new British PMs launching a nuclear strike in retaliation. So much for learning the lessons detailed in the Chilcot report.
As this years presidential election comes to a conclusion, the Washington ideologues are regurgitating the same bipartisan consensus that has kept America at war since 9/11 and made the world a decidedly more dangerous place.
The DC think tanks provide cover for the political establishment, a political safety net, with a fictive analytical framework providing a moral rationale for intervention, capitol casuistry. Im fed up with the DC policy elite who cash in on war while presenting themselves as experts, at the cost of other peoples lives, our national fortune, and the sacred honor of our country.
Any report advocating war that comes from any alleged think tank ought to be accompanied by a list of the think tanks sponsors and donors and a statement of the lobbying connections of the reports authors.
It is our patriotic duty to expose why the DC foreign-policy establishment and its sponsors have not learned from their failures and instead are repeating them, with the acquiescence of the political class and sleepwalkers with press passes.
It is also time for a new peace movement in America, one that includes progressives and libertarians alike, both in and out of Congress, to organize on campuses, in cities, and towns across America, to serve as an effective counterbalance to the Demuplican war party, its think tanks, and its media cheerleaders. The work begins now, not after the Inauguration. We must not accept war as inevitable, and those leaders who would lead us in that direction, whether in Congress or the White House, must face visible opposition.
Dennis Kucinich, a former Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, represented Ohio's 10th District from 1997 to 2013. You can visit his website here . | 0 |
Email The majesty of nature is awe-inspiring, and don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of those monkeys with the giant red asses. 1. We’re not going to leave you hanging, wondering when the swollen red asses are going to show up. Here’s one monkey ass to start this list of beautiful nature photos off right. 2. Elsewhere in nature, the blue whale is the largest animal in Earth’s history, even bigger than the dinosaurs! And if you think we blew our entire red-assed money wad on that first one, then you are seriously mistaken. 3. The Alaskan wood frog has the amazing ability to freeze in winter and thaw itself out when the weather gets warm again. It sounds like something out of science fiction, and while it isn’t a hulking red monkey ass, it’s still an impressive example of the power of evolution. 4. No way we’d skimp on monkeys with bulbous red buttocks. That’s not how we treat our readers. When we promise inflamed red monkey asses, we deliver in spades. Feast your eyes on these remarkable specimens. 5. More monkeys with beacon-like red asses are coming up, but in the meantime here is the hummingbird moth. At first glance, you’d mistake it for a bird, but it’s actually an insect that happens to look like a hummingbird, which is pretty cool if you think about it. 6. Once again, it’s time to behold red monkey ass, and this time there’s a whole gaggle of monkeys with blindingly bright asses. But this isn’t the end of the red assfest, no siree. This we promise. 7. Chimpanzees are our closest cousins in nature, with an almost human-like intelligence. They sadly were not blessed with a bright-red ass but are smart enough to use simple tools like sticks to catch termites. You can’t help but wonder about humanity’s place in nature when you see a creature so similar to us. 8. We’ve got a real showstopper of a red ass on deck, but first let’s do our due diligence and check out the Galápagos tortoise. It can live over 170 years. Incredible. 9. Here we go! This monkey has a truly huge red ass, much bigger and redder than any ass we’ve seen before. We are fortunate to share a planet with a bloated red miracle as beautiful as this monkey’s breathtaking ass. Red monkey asses are nature at its finest, and we hope you’ve had your fill of them. | 0 |
What the WikiLeak Revelations Reveal About Donna Brazile and the DNC Posted on Oct 28, 2016 ( Tim Pierce / CC 2.0 )
Donna Brazile, interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, faces new scrutiny as evidence points to abuses of power.
Brazile’s alliance with the Hillary Clinton team looks to have started in 2008. In February of that year, while Clinton was running for president against Barack Obama, CNN political commentator and consultant Paul Begala wrote an email to the Clinton team saying that it should “court” Brazile. At that time, during the primaries, Brazile refused to publicly endorse a candidate but worked closely with the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Until recently, she also worked for CNN and ABC News. Her close relationship with the Clinton camp has deepened over the years.
Evidence that Brazile would begin working to help Clinton is seen in an interview she gave with Joe Heim of The Washington Post in 2014. She told Heim:
Technically, I’m neutral, but neutrality is something that gets you in trouble because, you ever notice someone who stands on the white line in the middle of the road? They get run over. And I don’t want to get run over. So I’m not neutral. I have to tell people that I’m neutral, but I’m ready for Hillary.
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By the time this interview was conducted, she was already vice chair of the DNC. It is important to note that article 5, section 4 of the DNC Charter requires that the chairperson, national officers and staff of the DNC “maintain impartiality and evenhandedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process.”
If the WikiLeaks emails are not falsified (and all evidence and history point to that being the case), this notion of impartiality was used by the Clinton camp, to its advantage, throughout the primary campaign.
In late October 2015, Adrienne K. Elrod, director of strategic communications and amplification for Hillary For America, sent out an email under the title “Bernie Pushback Update” that included a broadcasting strategy with the help of Brazile . The plan was to have Brazile appear on TV in the guise of a “strategist” and call out rival Bernie Sanders’ campaign for having a “Bad Strategy.”
Elrod wrote: “All of our friends going out tonight post debate, including [former Michigan Gov. Jennifer] Granholm, Donna Brazile and [political consultant] Bill Burton, are ready to call Bernie’s team out if it comes up tonight.”
The email was a response to a critique of Clinton by Sen. Sanders.
The reliance on Brazile for help appears to have continued into the new year. On Jan. 3, 2016, an email exchange between John Podesta and Brazile titled “Happy New Year” went as follows:
Subject: Re: Happy New Year
On Jan 3, 2016, at 2:25 PM, John Podesta wrote: Wishing you a happy New Year. 2015 was challenging, but we ended in a good place thanks to your help and support. Look forward to working with you to elect the first woman President of the United States. >> Have a great New Year. >> -John
On Sunday, January 3, 2016, Donna Brazile wrote: As soon as the nomination is wrapped up, I will be your biggest surrogate.
On Jan 3, 2016, at 19:33 PM, John Podesta wrote: Thanks Donna. Holed up in the bunker and miss seeing you.
Two days after this exchange, Brazile let the Podesta team know that Sanders was planning to launch a Twitter campaign. The emails reveal that the impartiality clause in article 5, section 4 would be violated again and again.
On Feb. 2, she sent an email to Podesta titled “Good Luck Tonight” and wrote “Shake things up. It’s going to be rough. Very rough.” This was the day before a town hall event in which Clinton and Sanders would appear.
More damning is an email Brazile sent to Podesta on March 12 titled “From Time to Time I Get The Questions In Advance.” In the email, she wrote, “Here’s one that worries me about HRC.” It was a question on the death penalty that was asked—verbatim—the following day at the town hall with Sanders.
Brazile released a statement earlier this month after the Podesta emails revealed this exchange. “I often shared my thoughts with each and every campaign, and any suggestions that indicate otherwise are simply untrue,” Brazile said in the statement. “As it pertains to the CNN debates, I never had access to questions and would never have shared them with the candidates if I did.”
Perhaps the DNC could be forgiven by claiming they did not know Brazile had such deep ties to Clinton and her campaign. But on July 22, before the Podesta emails were revealed, WikiLeaks released more than 19,000 DNC emails. The revelations forced DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign after evidence pointed to a heavy bias against Sanders. Brazile was chosen as interim chair, even though the DNC leaks revealed her potential bias.
In an email exchange, Abby Phillip of The Washington Post asked Brazile to respond to allegations that the DNC was not giving adequate representation to the Sanders camp. Brazile’s response: “I have no intention of touching this. Why? Because I will cuss out the Sanders camp!”
In addition, new videos surfaced last week from conservative activist James O’Keefe alleging that the Clinton camp and the DNC worked with influential Democratic operatives on dark campaign strategies against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The videos and allegations mostly center around interviews with Scott Foval and Robert Creamer. Foval was a Democratic operative and national field director for Americans United for Change. Creamer was a Democratic operative working for the DNC , a consultant for Americans United for Chance, the founder and president of Democracy Partners and the husband of Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
In the videos, Foval talks about inciting confrontation and violence on behalf of the DNC and the Clinton campaign at Trump rallies. Foval is also seen talking about voter fraud schemes and is caught saying, “We manipulate the vote with money and action, not with laws.”
Creamer, who is also implicated throughout the videos, has a seemingly close relationship with President Obama. Since 2009, Creamer has visited the White House 342 times, including having made 40 visits to Obama himself. The videos also reveal that Creamer is well connected to the Clinton campaign; he boasts about talking on the phone with campaign operatives at 10:30 a.m. every day. The WikiLeaks documents confirm that they indeed had a close relationship.
Aaron Black, a DNC rapid response coordinator who worked under Foval, can also be seen taking credit for the shutdown of a Chicago rally for Trump in March. Trump had to cancel his appearance after violence broke out.
According to O’Keefe, one of the terms used for inciting this type of conflict is known as “bird-dogging.” Multiple Podesta emails make reference to this term. One email written by Ilyse G. Hogue, director of political advocacy and communications at MoveOn.org, explained: “Our members are bird dogging Republican candidates in character all over the country. They dress up as execs from ‘RepubliCorp’ a not-so-fictitious merger between the Republican party and multi-national corporations and go to events.” However, the emails making reference to bird-dogging do not implicate the kind of violence that Foval does in the videos.
According to The Washington Post reports : “Bird-dogging is a fairly common activist tactic, and reporters often recognize it when seemingly “perfect” questions come from a political audience.”
The videos also allege that Hillary Clinton herself had an idea to place people in Donald Duck costumes at every Trump and Pence rally. The video alleges that Clinton and the DNC wanted Americans United for Change to make this happen. According to O’Keefe, if the Clinton campaign and the DNC worked with the group, it would be an “illegal coordinated campaign expenditure” and a violation of Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulations. According to the video, the Clinton campaign and the DNC (including Brazile) talked on the phone with Creamer to coordinate where the “Donald Ducks” should be placed. Foval said any messages the “ducks” were carrying had to be cleared with the DNC. Creamer was asked why the DNC didn’t fund the project itself. He explained that the committee was worried about a trademark issue between Brazile and ABC, which is owned by Disney.
For some added context, O’Keefe has a history of sometimes editing videos in a way that slightly misrepresent the story.
Since the videos were released, Foval has been fired from Americans United for Change and Creamer announced his resignation from the DNC.
Democracy Partners released this statement on Oct. 18, 2016:
Our firm has recently been the victim of a well-funded, systematic spy operation that is the modern day equivalent of the Watergate burglars. The plot involved the use of trained operatives using false identifications, disguises and elaborate false covers to infiltrate our firm and others, in order to steal campaign plans, and goad unsuspecting individuals into making careless statements on hidden cameras. One of those individuals was a temporary regional subcontractor who was goaded into statements that do not reflect our values.
According to The Washington Post, neither man defended the “content of the videos,” but instead questioned the way the videos were edited and the impartiality and history of O’Keefe himself. You can watch the videos here .
After the third presidential debate last week, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly grilled Brazile over the allegations in the video and the WikiLeaks emails. Brazile refused to answer directly. Instead, she said she was being “persecuted” and that she wouldn’t “validate falsified information.” Asked if the videos were falsified, she dodged the question and Kelly pointed out that no one has come forward to question the videos’ legitimacy. Pressed regarding the WikiLeaks emails, Brazile responded: “… Thank God, I have not had my personal emails ripped off from me and stolen and given to some criminals to come back altered.” She added, “I have seen so many doctored emails. ... I will not sit here and be persecuted, because your information is totally false.”
Robert Graham, from tech blog Errata Security, wrote that using a mechanism called DKIM he was able to prove that none of the emails was modified or doctored .
You can watch the Kelly-Brazile interview below:
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On Monday, Brazile appeared on Tavis Smiley’s talk show, continuing to spin the WikiLeaks emails. She refused to respond to the actual content, saying that the source of the leaks was “people who have proven to lie and manufacture stories” and that she was launching a cyber security task force. To date, none of the WikiLeaks releases in the past 10 years of publication (which include more than a million documents) ever has proved to be altered or false. Brazile asked Smiley, “How do you disprove a lie?” and repeatedly invoked Russia, claiming that the Russians were trying to sow “seeds of doubts into our entire election apparatus.” Resurrecting Cold War sentiment against Russia is not exclusive to Brazile. In fact, the Clinton camp has been doing plenty of this.
People have every right to fear a Trump presidency, but when Clinton talks about a no-fly zone in Syria and the DNC is pushing the theory that Russia is trying to undermine the U.S. election, questions must be asked. If the Podesta emails are real, one can see a long history of ulterior motives at play. As of now, Brazile remains the chair and face of the DNC and Clinton looks set to be our next president. TAGS: | 0 |
NORFOLK, Va. — Huge vertical rulers are sprouting beside low spots in the streets here, so people can judge if the tidal floods that increasingly inundate their roads are too deep to drive through. Five hundred miles down the Atlantic Coast, the only road to Tybee Island, Ga. is disappearing beneath the sea several times a year, cutting the town off from the mainland. And another 500 miles on, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. increased tidal flooding is forcing the city to spend millions fixing battered roads and drains — and, at times, to send out giant vacuum trucks to suck saltwater off the streets. For decades, as the global warming created by human emissions caused land ice to melt and ocean water to expand, scientists warned that the accelerating rise of the sea would eventually imperil the United States’ coastline. Now, those warnings are no longer theoretical: The inundation of the coast has begun. The sea has crept up to the point that a high tide and a brisk wind are all it takes to send water pouring into streets and homes. Federal scientists have documented a sharp jump in this nuisance flooding — often called “ flooding” — along both the East Coast and the Gulf Coast in recent years. The sea is now so near the brim in many places that they believe the problem is likely to worsen quickly. Shifts in the Pacific Ocean mean that the West Coast, partly spared over the past two decades, may be hit hard, too. These tidal floods are often just a foot or two deep, but they can stop traffic, swamp basements, damage cars, kill lawns and forests, and poison wells with salt. Moreover, the high seas interfere with the drainage of storm water. In coastal regions, that compounds the damage from the increasingly heavy rains plaguing the country, like those that recently caused extensive flooding in Louisiana. Scientists say these rains are also a consequence of human greenhouse emissions. “Once impacts become noticeable, they’re going to be upon you quickly,” said William V. Sweet, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Silver Spring, Md. who is among the leaders in research on coastal inundation. “It’s not a hundred years off — it’s now. ” Local governments, under pressure from annoyed citizens, are beginning to act. Elections are being won on promises to invest money to protect against flooding. Miami Beach is leading the way, increasing local fees to finance a $400 million plan that includes raising streets, installing pumps and elevating sea walls. In many of the cities, mayors of both parties are sounding an alarm. “I’m a Republican, but I also realize, by any objective analysis, the sea level is rising,” said Jason Buelterman, the mayor of tiny Tybee Island, one of the first Georgia communities to adopt a detailed climate plan. But the local leaders say they cannot tackle this problem alone. They are pleading with state and federal governments for guidance and help, including billions to pay for flood walls, pumps and road improvements that would buy them time. Yet Congress has largely ignored these pleas, and has even tried to block plans by the military to head off future problems at the numerous bases imperiled by a rising sea. A Republican congressman from Colorado, Ken Buck, recently called one military proposal part of a “radical climate change agenda. ” The gridlock in Washington means the United States lacks not only a broad national policy on rise, it has something close to the opposite: The federal government spends billions of taxpayer dollars in ways that add to the risks, by subsidizing local governments and homeowners who build in imperiled locations along the coast. As the problem worsens, experts are warning that national security is on the line. Naval bases, in particular, are threatened they can hardly be moved away from the ocean, yet much of their land is at risk of disappearing within this century. “It’s as if the country was being attacked along every border, simultaneously,” said Andrea Dutton, a climate scientist at the University of Florida and one of the world’s leading experts on rising seas. “It’s a slow, gradual attack, but it threatens the safety and security of the United States. ” One night eight years ago, Karen Speights, a Norfolk resident, was sitting at the dinner table with her mother, eating crab legs dipped in butter and a tangy sauce. She felt a tingle. “Ma!” she cried. “My feet are wet!” Her mother laughed, but then she felt it, too: a house that had not flooded since the family moved there in 1964 was soon awash in saltwater. Ms. Speights initially hoped that flood was a fluke. Instead, it turned out to be the first of three to hit their home in less than a decade. Nowadays, Ms. Speights, an administrative worker at a utility company, is wondering how to get her and her mother out of the neighborhood before the water comes again, without taking too much of a financial hit. And she pays more attention to problems that once seemed remote, like warnings from scientists about the rising sea. “I believe it because we’re living it,” Ms. Speights said as she sat on her sofa, nodding toward the nearby tidal marsh that sent water into her living room. “The water has to be rising if we never flooded, and all of a sudden we’ve flooded three times in eight years. ” Because the land is sinking as the ocean rises, Norfolk and the metropolitan region surrounding it, known as Hampton Roads, are among the parts of the United States. That local factor means, in essence, that the region is a few decades ahead in feeling the effects of rise, and illustrates what people along the rest of the American coast can expect. The biggest problems involve frequent flooding of homes and roads. As the sea rises, hundreds of tidal creeks and marshes that thread through the region are bringing saltwater to people’s doorsteps. This summer, on a driving tour of Norfolk and nearby towns, William A. Stiles Jr. pointed to the telltale signs that the ocean is gradually invading the region. He spotted crusts of dried salt in the streets, and marsh grasses that are taking over suburban yards. He pointed out trees killed by seawater. He stood next to one of the road signs that Norfolk has been forced to install in recent years, essentially huge vertical rulers so people know the depth of floodwaters at intersections. “There’s just more and more visible impacts: water on the street, water that won’t clear from the ditch, these intense rain events, higher tides,” Mr. Stiles said. “It’s beginning to catch the attention of citizens, restaurant owners, business people, politicians. There’s just much more of a conversation, and it’s not just in the politically safe places. It’s everywhere. ” Mr. Stiles, known as Skip, heads a local environmental group, Wetlands Watch. At his suggestion, students at two local universities began looking at the neighborhood where Ms. Speights lives, Chesterfield Heights. It has had little history of flooding, but that is starting to change as the water rises. The plan the students developed has morphed into an ambitious program to safeguard the neighborhood, and another nearby, for decades. The Obama administration recently gave Virginia more than $100 million to carry the plan out. The administration has also enlisted one of the universities, Old Dominion in Norfolk, to spearhead a broad effort at better planning. But the size of that grant illustrates the scope of the problem confronting the region, and the country: protecting a single neighborhood from rising water can easily cost tens of millions of dollars. Sea walls and streets may have to be raised, or movable gates built along waterways so they can be closed at times of high water. While the Obama administration is trying to create a few showcase neighborhoods, there is no sign Congress is prepared to spend the money that cities and states say they need: tens of billions of dollars just to catch up to the current flooding problems, much less get ahead of them. Norfolk alone, a town of 250, 000 people, has a wish list of $1. 2 billion — or about $5, 000 for every man, woman and child in the city. As the national response lags, experts warn that the flooding is putting the country’s defense at risk. Several studies have concluded that Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval base, is profoundly threatened by rising seas, as are other coastal bases. The Pentagon has managed to build floodgates and other protective measures at some facilities. But attempts by the military to develop broader climate change plans have met fierce resistance in Congress. That was the case this summer, when an effort by the Pentagon to appoint officers to take charge of climate resilience led to a House vote prohibiting taxpayer money from being spent on the plan. “When we distract our military with a radical climate change agenda, we detract from their main purpose of defending America from enemies” like the Islamic State, said Mr. Buck of Colorado, the Republican congressman who sponsored the measure. His amendment passed the House 216 to 205, though the Senate has yet to agree to it. Many people in Congress, almost all of them Republicans, express doubt about climate science, with some of them promulgating conspiracy theories claiming that researchers have invented the issue to justify greater governmental control over people’s lives. So far, this ideological position has been immune to the rising evidence of harm from climate change. The Obama administration has been pushing federal agencies, including the Pentagon, to take more aggressive steps. But without action in Congress, experts say these efforts fall far short of what is required. “In the country, certainly in the Congress, it hasn’t really resonated — the billions and perhaps trillions of dollars that we would need to spend if we want to live on the coast like we’re living today,” said David W. Titley, a retired rear admiral who was the chief oceanographer of the Navy, and now heads a climate center at Pennsylvania State University. “I haven’t seen any evidence that there is serious thought about this: What does a world of three, four, five feet of rise look like?” Deep in a thicket of trees on an island in the Florida Keys, a diesel engine roared to life. Soon a drill bit was chewing through ancient limestone, pulling up evidence from the geological past that might shed light on the future of the planet. On a sultry day in March, Dr. Dutton, the University of Florida scientist, stood watch over the drilling operation, inspecting her samples as they emerged from the ground. She spotted fossilized corals, proof that what is now the dry ground of Lignumvitae Key was once underwater. With taxpayer funding from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Dutton is chasing what might be the most urgent question in climate science: How fast is the ocean going to rise? “Is it going to happen in decades, or centuries, or a thousand years?” Dr. Dutton asked as she took a break to eat lunch on a tarpaulin spread under the trees. “This will give us an example to say, ‘Well, the last time this happened, here is how long it took. ’” The opponents of climate science in Congress, and the tiny group of climate researchers allied with them, have argued that the concerns of thousands of mainstream scientists about the future are based on unproven computer forecasts. In reality, their concerns are based in large part on mounting evidence of what has happened in the past. Through decades of research, it has become clear that human civilization, roughly 6, 000 years old, developed during an unusually stable period for global sea levels. But over longer spans, coastlines have been much more dynamic. During ice ages, caused by wobbles in the Earth’s orbit, sea levels dropped more than 400 feet as ice piled up on land. But during periods slightly warmer than today, the sea may have risen 70 or more feet above the current level. Dr. Dutton and other leading scientists are focused on the last high point, which occurred between the last two ice ages, about 125, 000 years ago. After years of surveying ancient shorelines around the world, scientists determined that the sea level rose by something like 20 to 30 feet in that era, compared with today. But how long did it take to make that jump? That is the question Dr. Dutton, using improved research techniques, wants to answer. Large parts of the Florida Keys are simply ancient coral reefs that grew during the period of high seas, and were exposed when the levels fell. Trees, roads and houses now sit atop the old reefs. By recovering samples, Dr. Dutton hopes to date a sequence of corals as they grew along with the rising sea, potentially revealing the rate at which the water rose. The research, likely to take years, may supply a figure for how quickly the ocean was able to rise under past conditions, but not necessarily a maximum rate for the coming decades. The release of greenhouse gases from human activity is causing the planet to warm rapidly, perhaps faster than at any other time in the Earth’s history. The ice sheets in both Greenland and West Antarctica are beginning to melt into the sea at an accelerating pace. Scientists had long hoped that any disintegration of the ice sheets would take thousands of years, but recent research suggests the breakup of West Antarctica could occur much faster. In the scenario, this research suggests, the rate of rise could reach a foot per decade by the 22nd century, about 10 times faster than today. In 2013, scientists reached a consensus that three feet was the highest plausible rise by the year 2100. But now some of them are starting to say that six or seven feet may be possible. A rise that large over a span of decades would be an unparalleled national catastrophe, driving millions of people from their homes and most likely requiring the abandonment of entire cities. In essence, by revealing how sensitive the ice sheets have been to past warming, Dr. Dutton’s research may answer the question of whether such a rapid jump is possible. Along those parts of the United States coast that are sinking at a brisk clip, including southern Louisiana and the entire Chesapeake Bay region, including Norfolk, the situation will be worse than average. On the Pacific Coast, a climate pattern that had pushed billions of gallons of water toward Asia is now ending, so that in coming decades the sea is likely to rise quickly off states like Oregon and California. Along the East Coast, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say that many communities have already, or will soon, pass a threshold where flooding starts to happen much more often. “When you look at the historical record, there’s no trend saying the flooding is going down,” said Dr. Sweet, the NOAA expert. “The trends are all very clear. They’re going up, and they’re going up in many of these areas in an accelerating fashion. ” Late last year, in Paris, nations reached a landmark global agreement to cut emissions. It is fragile, and might not survive if Donald J. Trump is elected president in November he has pledged to scrap it. But the air is already so full of greenhouse gases that most land ice on the planet has started to melt. So even if the deal survives, it will, at best, slow the rise of the sea and perhaps limit the ultimate increase. Many climate scientists, including Dr. Dutton, believe a rise of at least 15 or 20 feet has already become inevitable, over an unknown period. As Brad Tuckman walked the piece of land in Fort Lauderdale where he is building a grand new house, he pointed toward the canal that wraps around three sides of the property. It is scenic, with yachts plying the water, yet as the sea has risen, street flooding in the area has become a recurring nuisance. So before starting construction, Mr. Tuckman said he spent nearly a dollars to raise the sea wall and truck in dirt to elevate the land. “The predictions of what’s going to happen over the next 20, 30, 40 years — it’s real,” said Mr. Tuckman, the founder of a company offering creative services to the retail industry. In South Florida, among the parts of the country for flooding, people are not waiting for state or federal help. Those who can afford it are starting to act on their own. A company, Coastal Risk Consulting, has cropped up to advise them, and is offering its services nationally. Cities and counties in the region have formed an alliance and enlisted professors to help them figure out what to do. They are hiring “chief resilience officers,” an idea pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, which is paying some of the salary cost. In Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale, as well as in older Northern cities like Boston and New York, tidal marshes and creeks were filled in a century or more ago to make new land, and it is in these areas — “back bays,” as some of these spots are called — where the flooding is happening first. That is because they remain the lowest spots in the landscape, vulnerable to the rising water nearby. Old drain pipes empty into the tidal creeks, and at high tide the water can back up through these pipes, bubbling into the streets seemingly from nowhere. In Miami Beach, the city engineer, Bruce A. Mowry, has come up with a plan for combating the flooding. He rips up problematic streets, raises them with extra dirt and repaves them, installing new drains and giant pumps that can push water back into the bay. The approach has already been shown to work in several neighborhoods. A controversy has erupted about whether Miami Beach is polluting Biscayne Bay with the water, but the city is pushing ahead. Miami Beach plans to spend at least $400 million on its plan by 2018, raising the money through fees imposed on homes and businesses. The huge county government for the region, County, is developing its own resilience strategy, one likely to cost billions. It has committed to rebuilding some of its decaying infrastructure, like a sewage plant, in a way that safeguards against rise and storm surges. “I don’t see doom and gloom here I see opportunity,” said Harvey Ruvin, the clerk of courts for County, who has been a leading voice on the environment in Florida for a and who recently led a county task force on rise. “We’re talking about the most robust possible jobs program you can think of, and one that can’t be outsourced. ” Many of the Republican mayors in the region are on the same page as Democrats in requesting national and state action on climate change, as well as pushing local steps. James C. Cason, the Republican mayor of Coral Gables, has convened informational sessions that draw hundreds of residents, and he has received no complaints for his stance. “I hope in coming years when we have to spend a lot of money, the citizens will still support it,” Mr. Cason said in an interview. Still, his city, and others in South Florida, have some hard decisions to make. Some property owners cannot afford to raise their sea walls, putting their neighborhoods at increased risk of flooding. Will they be held legally responsible when floods do occur? A strict policy could force some people from their homes. Conversely, should public money be spent to do the work, even if it largely benefits private property? Just for streets, storm drains and the like, South Florida governments will need to raise billions, and they have yet to figure out how. Moreover, if the rise of the sea accelerates as much as some scientists fear, it is doubtful the cities will be able to keep up. The region has one mayor, Philip K. Stoddard of South Miami, who is a scientist himself — he studies animal communication at Florida International University — and has been a close reader of scientific papers about climate change since the 1990s. “I remember lying in bed at night thinking, ‘I hope this isn’t real,’” Dr. Stoddard, a Democrat, recalled. “I hope other data comes in that contradicts it. It took me several years to get my head around it and say, ‘Oh, God, it is real. ’” Now he is focused on easing the pain for South Miami, with a $50 million system of sewer pipes to replace septic tanks threatened by the rising water table. “You can play it really badly and let unpleasant things happen earlier,” he said. “Or you can push them off by doing some infrastructure repairs and some thoughtful planning. ” He is, though, under no illusions about the fate of the region he calls home. “We’re putting enough heat in the ocean to send water over us, no question,” Dr. Stoddard said. “Ultimately, we give up and we leave. That’s how the story ends. ” | 1 |
NICE, France — French officials on Friday identified the man who used a truck to massacre dozens of people on the French Riviera as a native of Tunisia with a history of petty crime and marriage problems — but no links with the militant extremists who have targeted and traumatized France. The rampage Thursday night at a packed Bastille Day fireworks celebration in the southeastern city of Nice, which unfolded as the assailant used the rented refrigerated truck as a battering ram, was all the more unnerving because it came as a total surprise despite extensive security precautions, French officials acknowledged. Nearly 24 hours later there was no claim of responsibility, and the Paris prosecutor, François Molins, said the killer, whom he identified as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, had been “completely unknown by intelligence services. ” Mr. Molins said the toll rose on Friday to 84 dead and 202 injured. At least 10 of the dead were children or teenagers, enjoying a fireworks display one moment and crushed to death the next. It was the third major terrorist assault in 19 months to strike France, which has been singled out by militant extremist groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. “We will not give in to the terrorist threat,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Friday morning after a cabinet meeting led by President François Hollande. But Mr. Valls also offered a grim observation for his countrymen: “The times have changed, and France is going to have to live with terrorism. ” Starting around 10:45 p. m. Thursday, the attacker mowed down scores of victims before dying in a gunfight with three police officers, who pursued him down the Promenade des Anglais, a storied seaside boulevard. The police searched two locations in Nice on Friday, including a home with Mr. Bouhlel’s name outside it, and workers in suits searched a truck smaller than the one used in the attack. His was held for questioning. Although neither the Islamic State or Al Qaeda asserted any role, online accounts associated with the groups welcomed the massacre. Mr. Bouhlel was born on Jan. 3, 1985, and raised in Msaken, a town in northeastern Tunisia, Mr. Molins said. He had a history of petty crime, including theft, going back to 2010, and he received a suspended sentence in March for assaulting a driver during an altercation in January. “However, he is completely unknown by intelligence services, both at the national and local levels,” Mr. Molins said. “He has never been in any database or been flagged for radicalization. ” Mr. Bouhlel rented the truck on Monday in about six miles west of Nice, and then parked it in the Auriol neighborhood of eastern Nice. At 9:34 p. m. on Thursday, according to surveillance footage, Mr. Bouhlel bicycled to the truck and drove it westward, arriving at 10:30 in the Magnan neighborhood, north of the Promenade des Anglais. He drove into the crowd, heading east on the promenade, around 15 minutes later. Mr. Bouhlel initially crushed two people and then drove 1. 1 miles east, running over people left and right. Outside the Negresco Hotel, Mr. Bouhlel fired at three police officers who fired back, then pursued him for about a thousand feet. They killed him outside a Hyatt hotel and casino. Mr. Bouhlel was found dead in the passenger seat. In the truck’s cabin, police found an automatic 7. pistol, a cartridge clip, and several cartridges. They also found a fake automatic pistol two fake assault rifles, a Kalashnikov and an a nonfunctioning grenade and a mobile phone and documents. Among the dead were two German students and their teacher two Americans two Tunisians, and one Russian. Of the 202 people wounded, 52 had serious injuries and 25 were in intensive care, Mr. Molins said. Officials canceled festivities in Nice, a city of 340, 000, including a jazz festival and a concert on Friday night by Rihanna. “There are many children, young children who had come to watch fireworks with their family, to have joy, to share happiness, delight, amazement, and who were struck, struck to death, merely to satisfy the cruelty of an individual — and maybe of a group,” said Mr. Hollande, flanked by Mr. Valls and Health Minister Marisol Touraine, after meeting with victims and medical workers at the Pasteur Hospital in Nice. Mr. Hollande said the victims were physically and psychologically scarred. “Many told me that they had no recollection of what might have caused their wounds,” he said. “However, they remember the bodies that were torn to shreds right in front of their eyes. ” Despite mounting criticism over France’s efforts to prevent terrorism attacks, Mr. Hollande praised French security forces, saying they had “taken all necessary measures so that this fireworks show might be as protected as possible — as had been the case during the European Championship soccer tournament. ” “Why Nice?” Mr. Hollande asked. “Because it is a city that is known worldwide, one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. Why on the 14th of July? Because it is a celebration of freedom. It was, therefore, indeed to affect France that the individual committed this terrorist attack. ” Hours before the carnage, Mr. Hollande had said that a state of emergency put in place after the Nov. 13 attacks in and around Paris would end soon. The government will now seek to extend the state of emergency for three months. As France announced three days of national mourning, starting on Saturday, world leaders — including Pope Francis, President Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Britain’s new prime minister, Theresa May — expressed sympathy and outrage. It was a sadly familiar ritual for France, where a total of 147 people were killed in terrorist attacks in and around Paris in January and November of last year, and it raised new questions throughout the world about the ability of extremists to sow terror. The internet reverberated with calls for prayer for victims of attacks in Brussels Istanbul Orlando, Fla. Baghdad and other cities struck by mass terrorism attributed to Islamist extremists this year. “The horror, the horror has, once again, hit France,” Mr. Hollande told the nation early Friday morning before leaving for Nice. “France has been struck on the day of her national holiday,” he said. “Human rights are denied by fanatics, and France is clearly their target. ” The attacks could add to the political problems facing Mr. Hollande, who is expected to seek a second term next year even though he is deeply unpopular. On Friday, criticisms of the government’s seeming inability to prevent attacks began to emerge. Alain Juppé, a former prime minister and one of the main candidates in the primary for next year’s presidential election, told RTL radio Friday morning, “If all the means had been taken, this tragedy would not have occurred. ” Mr. Juppé called for better coordination among France’s intelligence agencies, as a parliamentary inquiry recommended this month. Georges Fenech, a lawmaker who presided over the parliamentary inquiry, said on Twitter early Friday that the attack was a “predictable tragedy. ” “I don’t want to hear about national unity,” Mr. Fenech told the news channel iTélé. “Today, it is a duty to talk to the French people, to tell them that our country is not equipped against Islamist terrorism. ” Christian Estrosi, the president of the d’Azur region, which includes Nice, expressed outrage, sympathy and frustration in an interview with on Friday morning, pointedly noting the attacks in France last year, as well as the ones in March in Brussels. “Questions are raised,” he said. “As I try to comfort the families, I also try to contain my anger. I can’t hide to you that I feel a deep anger. How is it possible in our country that after everyone said there was a state of emergency, a state of war, we forget it, after Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan? After the Bataclan, we forgot, and there was Brussels. After Brussels, we forgot, and there was Nice, so there are questions that need to be answered. ” Witnesses to the Nice attack described scenes of mayhem. “We were enjoying the celebrations when we suddenly saw people running everywhere and tables being pushed down by the movement of panic,” said Daphné Burandé, 15, who was at a bar near the beach to watch the fireworks. “No one explained to us what was happening, and I heard some gunshots not very far away,” she said. “I waited at the bar for more information because I thought it was a false alert. But then, people were still running. ” Another witness, Raja 43, said the attack seemed, at first, as if it might have been the act of a drunken driver. “There was a white truck that was advancing slowly,” Ms. Kamel said. “Then it started to plow into the crowd, zigzagging and crushing people. I could not believe it. ” | 1 |
In perhaps the clearest signal yet that the era of the solo celebrity architect is behind us, three friends who hung out a shingle in their Catalonian hometown, Olot, Spain, 30 years ago and never left or parted ways have won their profession’s highest honor: the Pritzker Prize. Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta on Wednesday became the first team of three to be selected for the prize, which will be awarded in Tokyo on May 20. “Their intensely collaborative way of working together, where the creative process, commitment to vision and all responsibilities are shared equally, led to the selection of the three individuals for this year’s award,” Thomas J. Pritzker, the chairman of Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award, said in a statement, adding, “Mr. Aranda, Ms. Pigem and Mr. Vilalta have had an impact on the discipline far beyond their immediate area. ” Ms. Pigem, who spoke for the group because her English is strongest, said in a telephone interview that the collaboration was integral to the practice. “For us, it’s very important to work together — one of the most important things we talk about is shared creativity,” she said. “It’s not a question of one person it’s all three. Sometimes we say six hands, one voice. ” The architects are not widely known they have not designed major public projects or worked much outside Spain. But they came to the attention of the Pritzker jury because their works, if modest, “admirably and poetically fulfill the traditional requirements of architecture for physical and spatial beauty along with function and craftsmanship,” the citation said. “But what sets them apart is their approach that creates buildings and places that are both local and universal at the same time. ” The team’s buildings include the Soulages Museum, in Rodez, France, featuring boldly modern metallic architecture (in collaboration with G. Trégouët, 2014) and a complex in Barcelona, Spain (Sant Antoni — Joan Oliver, 2007) that incorporates a library, a center for the elderly and a children’s playground. The design features ample views of interior gardens and sky, and metal corridors that nod to the site’s industrial past as a candy factory. They also continue to work on projects in their Catalonian home turf, like the athletics track, completed in 2000, and the covered Les Cols restaurant in 2011, with plastic walls of trees, between which real trees grow. In 1988, one year after completing their studies in architecture at the School of Architecture in Vallès, the three won first prize in a competition sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and Urbanism, to design a lighthouse in Punta Aldea. “We said, O. K.,” Ms. Pigem said. “Maybe we can do something good in architecture. ” They founded their firm that year, calling it RCR Arquitectes, after the initials of their first names. For the lighthouse, they had pondered “the essence of the typology,” according to their Pritzker biography. The team members have brought a sensibility to their built projects, as well as their work as consultant architects to the natural park in the volcanic zone of La Garrotxa. “For us, what is very, very important is the relationship to the site,” Ms. Pigem said. “If the site is natural, or if the site is a building, or if the site is a city. What is important is to study the strong and unique relationship between the existing and the new. ” In 2007, they converted an foundry into their office, Barberí Laboratory. They are the second Pritzker laureates to come from Spain Rafael Moneo received the award in 1996. Ms. Pigem, who is married to Mr. Vilalta, said she and her colleagues “feel very excited and very joyful. ” The Pritzker jury said it was important to reward a local firm in an increasingly globalized world. “More and more people fear that because of this international influence,” the citation said, “we will lose our local values, our local art and our local customs. ” “They help us to see, in a most beautiful and poetic way, that the answer to the question is not ‘ ’ and that we can, at least in architecture, aspire to have both,” it continued, “our roots firmly in place and our arms outstretched to the rest of the world. ” | 1 |
WIKILEAKS Hillary’s Campaign ILLEGALLY COLLUDED With Priorities USA SuperPAC by IWB · October 25, 2016 | 0 |
There’s something seriously wrong with this woman… Hillary Clinton's crazy eyes caught again, this time at #AlSmithDinner . pic.twitter.com/jiUyS4QNgi | 0 |
Share on Facebook The spiritual leader believes that the Western nations must “engage in dialogue with ISIS” and the leaders would “have respect” for the terrorist group ISIS despite what we see them doing against their people and humanity. The Dalai Lama is the most prominent Buddhist believes wholly education and not war is the key to defeating the jihadi movement with the US holding the key to disrupting the group's movements. He holds the same view as Putin that the US effectively created ISIS with its decisions. The Dalai Lama liked the activities in the Middle East that he being getting done. At the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow where he had inaugurated the 2nd international festival known as “Tibet: Traditions, Art, Philosophy and Peace”. The argument is that the Obama administration's policies and the Saudi interference in Syrian crisis have been inactive with the lack of getting the effective things done. The Dalai Lama holds high esteem as he is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who took the idea that the United States should be criticised for allowing sectarian bloodshed in Middle-East to take place without having a cohesive plan to remove hard-line militants such as ISIS and Al-Nusra Front. Currently, Saudi's funnels weapons and dollars to terrorists in the opinion of many such as those who committed the Charlie Hebdo shooting and the condemnation of these attacked in the European capitals so it is hypocritical. Therefore, Putin and Dalai Lama view the Obama organisation of wasting time and lack effectiveness of crushing the ISIS terrorists. Therefore, their inability to conquer will continue to affect everyone until a cohesive plan is formed then acted upon. Related: | 0 |
Dispatches from STEPHEN LENDMAN N ever in the history of US presidential politics have media scoundrels allied more overwhelmingly for one aspirant over the other. Bias substituting for legitimate journalism is bad enough, disgracefully worse by featuring misinformation, distortions and lies about one candidate, while effusively praising the other undeservedly – highlighting nonexistent virtues for Hillary, suppressing negatives disqualifying her for any public office.
Why haven’t other major media reported the news Fox News anchor Bret Baier broke Wednesday night about likely indictment(s) from the FBI’s Clinton Foundation probe – though not before it’s completed weeks or months from now? The New York Times and Washington Post continue as lead Trump antagonists, one-sidedly promoting Hillary’s candidacy, acting as virtual press agents. Times columnist Charles Blow calls him “an existential threat” – based solely on his rhetoric. As a businessman, he has no public record – unlike clear evidence of Hillary’s war crimes, racketeering and perjury. Lately, he’s been staying on point in the campaign’s late stages, diverging from his earlier bombast, apparently gaining support as November 8 approaches – likely why intense bashing persists along with drowning out negatives about Hillary, especially multiple FBI probes of her email scandal and racketeering foundation. Focusing solely on Trump, Blow writes as follows: Donald Trump is a bigot. Donald Trump is a demagogue. Donald Trump is a sexist, misogynist, chauvinist pig. Donald Trump is a bully. Donald Trump is a cheat. Donald Trump is a pathological liar. Donald Trump is a nativist. Donald Trump’s campaign (attracts) anti-Semites, Nazis and white nationalists… Donald Trump (is a sexual molester), an unrepentant predator. …Donald Trump is a lowlife degenerate…” Phew!
Blow apparently believes Hillary is America’s sweetheart, saying she’s “tolerant.” He’s “intoleran(t).” She’s “respect(ful).” He’s “disrespect(ful).” She’s “a politician with some flaws.” He’s “a flaw threatening our politics…America’s existential threat.” No legitimate editor would touch Blow’s rubbish. Times editors featured it.
WaPo editors claim “the only way Trump can win” is if voters forget or ignore what he’s said. Despite lots of bombast earlier in the campaign, he’s toned down his rhetoric, staying disciplined late in the campaign, and presented ideas on how he’ll govern if elected, agree or disagree with him.
No duopoly power aspirants for congressional seats and the nation’s highest office represent popular interests – no matter what they say. With rare exceptions proving the rule, they all represent dirty business as usual. Voters have to decide from a deplorable array of unpalatable choices, especially for president.
Trump’s main virtue is he’s not Hillary. She threatens humanity with possible nuclear war. He’d rather profit from planet earth than destroy it – and his business enterprises along with it. What type leader do you prefer at the most perilous time in world history? A simple choice for anyone valuing life over possible mass annihilation. NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS ABOUT THE AUTHOR STEPHEN LENDMAN lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected] . His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” ( http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html ) Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com . =SUBSCRIBE | 0 |
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