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Former President Barack Obama plans to speak at a forum in Berlin with Chancellor Angela Merkel to share their ideas about global responsibility in an increasingly planet. [The topic of discussion will be ”Being Involved in Democracy: Taking on Responsibility Locally and Globally” at a forum sponsored by the German Protestant Kirchentag and the Obama Foundation to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. “The churches form a global civil society network of over two billion Christians. Together, as people of faith, we live from the firm hope for a better world,” said Heinrich a theology professor who is helping coordinate the conference. The event will take place at the Brandenburg Gate, not far from Obama’s first major international speech in Europe as he campaigned for president in 2008. During that speech, Obama noted that “the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. ” “I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen — a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world,” he said as he opened his speech. | 1 |
$23 FBI Given Go-Ahead to Begin Review of Latest Batch of Emails in Clinton Case as Political Feuds Roil Posted on Oct 30, 2016 Out of line? FBI Director James Comey restarted the public controversy over Hillary Clinton’s emails and is now under fire from Democrats and other detractors. (FBI)
Here’s the least surprising news of the day: FBI Director James Comey’s decision to announce his agency’s renewed investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s emails has sparked a highly politicized battle in various sectors of the U.S. government, with just over a week to go before the Nov. 8 presidential election.
As of Sunday, the intelligence agency obtained a warrant to begin sifting through some 650,000 emails stored on a computer shared by embattled former Congressman Anthony Weiner and his estranged wife, Clinton aide Huma Abedin, to determine whether any of them were sent to or from Clinton’s private server or contained classified material. According to The Wall Street Journal, the FBI, which had first learned of the newly discovered emails in early October, had already been dealing with internal tensions before this latest development occurred:
The new investigative effort, disclosed by FBI Director James Comey on Friday, shows a bureau at times in sharp internal disagreement over matters related to the Clintons, and how to handle those matters fairly and carefully in the middle of a national election campaign. Even as the probe of Mrs. Clinton’s email use wound down in July, internal disagreements within the bureau and the Justice Department surrounding the Clintons’ family philanthropy heated up, according to people familiar with the matter.
Comey’s move was framed instantly by mainstream outlets as a “bombshell” after the story broke on Friday, and predictably, Clinton’s camp questioned the timing and the hype it caused while calling for more details, and GOP nominee Donald Trump swiftly seized upon it as further evidence of his rival’s corruption.
On Sunday, outgoing Nevada Sen. Harry Reid echoed a former Bush White House ethics lawyer, Richard W. Painter, who in a New York Times op-ed published Sunday suggested Comey may have violated the Hatch Act and stated that he had filed a formal complaint through government channels:
The F.B.I.’s job is to investigate, not to influence the outcome of an election.
Such acts could also be prohibited under the Hatch Act, which bars the use of an official position to influence an election. That is why the F.B.I. presumably would keep those aspects of an investigation confidential until after the election. The usual penalty for a violation is termination of federal employment.
That is why, on Saturday, I filed a complaint against the F.B.I. with the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates Hatch Act violations, and with the Office of Government Ethics. I spent much of my career working on government and lawyers’ ethics, including as the chief White House ethics lawyer for George W. Bush. I never thought that the F.B.I. could be dragged into a political circus surrounding one of its investigations. Until this week.
(For the sake of full disclosure, in this election I have supported Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Hillary Clinton for president, in that order.)
Painter added that considerations of intent are immaterial when it comes to Hatch Act violations; rather, emphasis is on the outcome, on whether it is clear that the official in question could sway the election.
Sen. Reid had this to say about Comey and the Hatch Act:
“Your actions in recent months have demonstrated a disturbing double standard for the treatment of sensitive information, with what appears to be clear intent to aid one political party over another,” the letter says. “I am writing to inform you that my office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act.”
The act bars government officials from using their authority to influence elections.
Reid also accused Comey of shielding Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump from scrutiny over his connections to Russia, saying “it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination” between Trump and his advisers and the Russian government.
Although FBI investigators have eight full days to scrutinize the contents of Weiner and Abedin’s laptop, it is likely to take weeks before they conclude their review. | 0 |
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There is the guy who can leaf Trump to the whitehouse , imagine the shock . Everything he says is true and isnt it strnge how the Swiss fund all the wars and get away with it including Hitler . If Trump was ever after someone to trust he would be 1st choice and he knows his way around . Imagine how much money theu have ripped off . That justice dept is as crooked as can be . Trump was right about Hillary and ISIS . So much for the Liberty party who has been higjacked by the looks of it . And where is the army ?? I think its what oath ?? All these people who did nothing are guilty of complicity in terror by their own laws . Truth should be rewarded not punished or you end up like the world is now as corrupt as can be , Notice Drudge wont even show this . | 0 |
"Ms Peterson please participate in the voting process of Cuba or China.Thanks"-The Electoral College | 0 |
With New York City’s subway trains jammed to capacity and more people than ever pouring into neighborhoods outside Manhattan, Mayor Bill de Blasio is embarking on an ambitious and expensive plan to create a fleet of ferryboats that would crisscross the surrounding waterways and connect all five boroughs. At a cost of more than $325 million, Mr. de Blasio’s expansion of ferry service would be one of the biggest bets any city in the world has made on boats as vehicles for mass transit. The mayor predicts that the ferries would carry 4. 5 million passengers a year, about twice as many riders as San Francisco’s ferry system handles. Mr. de Blasio has promised New Yorkers that ferries will start running on three new routes, serving South Brooklyn, and Astoria and the Rockaways in Queens, by the end of June 2017, four months before he would stand for . Additional routes to the Lower East Side of Manhattan and to Soundview in the Bronx will be added in 2018. “Our aim is to make this thing as big as possible,” said Alicia Glen, the city’s deputy mayor for housing and economic development. “No guts, no glory. ” Simply put, city officials believe that if New York is to continue thriving, it must have a robust transportation network and that ferries can play a critical role, just as they do in many waterfront cities around the globe. “We’re still living with the footprint of an transit map that didn’t contemplate the kind of job growth we’re seeing along the waterfront,” Ms. Glen said. The administration, she said, is trying to create a transportation network for “the new New York. ” The city has already spent $6 million on four commuter boats in 2016 and could own more than 30 in a few years. Mr. de Blasio also plans to spend at least $85 million to create 13 additional landings for the ferries and a home port for them at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. But the mayor has raised the stakes in ways few other places have by pledging that a ferry ride would cost the same as subway fare, $2. 75. That is a departure from San Francisco Sydney, Australia and other cities where extensive systems have long operated. They tend to charge more to ride ferries than buses or trains, and their ferry fares are based on the length of the trip. The plan fits with the liberal agenda of Mr. de Blasio, who has championed “transit equity” for all New Yorkers. To fulfill the mayor’s promise, the city will have to contribute a substantial operating subsidy, a commitment that several of his predecessors were unwilling to make. Mr. de Blasio’s former rival for the mayor’s job, Christine C. Quinn, applauded his embrace of ferries as a form of mass transit. “There’s a little bit of a whimsical, historic notion of ferries they seem to be a lot more fun than other modes of transportation,” said Ms. Quinn, the former City Council speaker. “You don’t want ferries to just be the fun, fancy transport of people with money. ” Of course, New York’s waters were once clogged with ferries. In the early 1900s, when there were few bridges and no car tunnels, as many as 147 boats carried people across the Hudson and East Rivers. The only vestige of that era is the Staten Island Ferry, nine hulking boats that make regularly scheduled crossings of New York Harbor. For routes from Brooklyn and Queens, city officials have largely relied on private companies operating their own ferries to deliver workers to Manhattan every weekday. City officials have been leaning on Hornblower Cruises and Events, the San company they chose in March to operate the service, to order the boats it will need. Hornblower, which runs cruises to the Statue of Liberty, has settled on a design for boats and is negotiating with a few boatyards around the country to build 18 of them, at a cost of nearly $4 million each. “One of the challenges is to stand up a new fleet,” said Terry MacRae, Hornblower’s chief executive. “But it’s better than bringing a bunch of widows and orphans together,” he said, alluding to the alternative of rounding up a group of used boats. Cameron Clark, who is overseeing the start of the ferry service for Hornblower, said the boats were designed by Incat Crowther, an Australian company, to be and spacious. The first of them are scheduled to be completed early next year, he said. “They will have all the stuff,” Mr. Clark said, including and power outlets for laptop computers. Maria the president of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said Hornblower was chosen primarily for its experience in starting ferry services around the country, as well as on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. The company, however, has limited experience with helping commuters get to and from work every day, though city officials said that did not weigh heavily against it. The city’s choice of Hornblower stirred some controversy, including warnings from another ferry operator, New York Water Taxi, that it would go out of business after losing its bid for the city’s contract. Billybey Ferry, a part of the New New York Waterway, has been operating the subsidized East River Ferry service for the city since 2011. That service will be integrated into the citywide system after this year and will be operated by Hornblower at a reduced fare equal to a MetroCard swipe, city officials said. Paul Goodman, the chief executive of Billybey, said his company was “disappointed to lose the bid. ” But, he added, “We’re still big believers in the expansion of ferry service and we hope that it’s a success. ” Mr. de Blasio announced that the home port for the expanded service would be a pier in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. But that pier is so dilapidated that it may not be rebuilt before 2018, Ms. Glen said. If the service starts next summer, as scheduled, the home port is likely to be in New Jersey at first, Ms. Glen said. The city’s ferry system, however, will not serve New Jersey. “Homeporting is a terrific benefit of the system,” Ms. Glen said, adding that it would create jobs in Brooklyn and save on fuel costs. “If that takes another nine months, that’s not the priority. ” Hornblower will need nine boats to cover the three new routes, none of which it has now. Mike Anderson, former chief executive of Washington State Ferries, which runs a large fleet of ferries in the Seattle area, said that to have that many boats built would normally take a few years. But Hornblower hopes to cut that schedule to one year by using three or more shipyards, including two on the Gulf Coast, Mr. Clark said. “That’s a bit of a heavy lift,” said Mr. Anderson, an executive with KPFF Consulting Engineers who consulted with New York City on its plan. “Everything has to go right and they need to get started pretty soon. ” City officials have made provisions for delays in the production of new boats, allowing Hornblower to charter additional boats to get the service started. The city estimates that it will cost about $70 million to have 18 ferries built. Once they are done, the city plans to buy them from Hornblower, which will operate them for six years, with a possibility of renewing the contract for an additional five years. Ms. Glen said the city was employing “good, smart economics” in deciding to own the boats. “If, for some reason, Hornblower doesn’t perform,” she said, the city would either find another operator or run the system itself, as it does for the Staten Island Ferry. And, she added, “even if the service weren’t to be that successful, the city will have hard assets” that it could sell to recoup some of its investment. Before the service begins, Ms. hopes to find one or more sponsors for it similar to the Citi Bike program. But, she added, it would be premature to call the ferries Citi Boats. | 1 |
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For all the mainstream media driven commenters and constitutionally illiterate people who have been badmouthing the Bundys and their stand at the Oregon Malheur Wildlife Reserve, both Bundy brothers, along with five others, have been found not guilty on all charges.
The Associated Press reports :
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A federal jury has found Ammon Bundy and his six co-defendants not guilty on all charges for taking over a federal wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon earlier this year.
…
Led by Bundy, the defendants were part of a group that occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last winter. They were charged with conspiring to impede Interior Department employees from doing their jobs, through force, threat or intimidation.
The defendants said they were engaging in a peaceful protest, pressing their case against federal control of Western lands and the imprisonment of two ranchers convicted of setting fires.
The jury was also deciding whether four of them are guilty of possessing a firearm in a federal facility. Two defendants, Ryan Bundy and Kenneth Medenbach, were charged with theft of government property.
One juror was dismissed during deliberations and an alternate was brought in. The jury was in its fourth day of deliberations when Judge Anna Brown asked them for a verdict.
"A very quick verdict almost always means a verdict for the government," said Medenbach's attorney, Matthew Schindler.
"The level of deliberation that's been undertaken in this case means we have jurors who are very interested in applying the burden of proof and making sure a complicated allegation of conspiracy has actually been proved in this case. It's not as simple as showing that people were at the refuge."
Marcus Mumford, Ammon Bundy's attorney was taken into custody by US Marshals following his repeated claim that his client was free to go. Several people claimed he was tased , while others alleged he was tackled.
John Lamb released a video of emotional reaction to the verdict.
Posted by John Lamb on Thursday, October 27, 2016
Others reacted similarly. | 0 |
BREAKING: Miami Woman BUSTED On Election Fraud — Guess Which Party It Benefited? By Karen Shiebler
We have all heard Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump whining about voter fraud. He has been repeating the idea to his followers, encouraging them to go to the polls to watch out for the “rigged” election .
Naturally, Trump and his minions are warning that the election is being stolen from him. His accusations imply that Democrats are stealing votes from Republicans.
Election officials in all of the key states, many of whom are Republicans themselves, have assured the candidate that the election is not in fact rigged.
Now, however, we have some actual proof of voter fraud.
The Miami Herald reports that a 74 year old Florida woman has been arrested in Miami Dade county, after witnesses noted that she was marking ballots. The woman, Gladys Coego, was a temporary worker hired by the county elections office. She was supposed to be opening ballots that had been mailed in to the office.
Her job was to simply check for any paper tears. Instead, in violation of the law, she looked for ballots that had not been marked for the mayoral vote. On those ballots, she marked the name of Republican candidate Raquel Regalado.
At least one coworker saw her marking those ballots before turning them in, and reported her actions to supervisors.
A supervisor then observed her using a pen that she’d snuck into the office to mark the ballots. Having been caught by the boss, Coego admitted what she had done. No reason was given, and there are no known ties between Coego and the Regalado campaign.
Ms. Coego turned herself in to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. It is expected that she will be charged with two counts of felony for illegally marking other people’s ballots.
There are only two counts because only two of the ballots were definitely changed by Ms. Coego. Authorities do think, though, that more ballots were affected, based on what her coworkers observed.
So why did this older lady run the risk of changing the marks on official ballots?
Why, because she really wanted the Republican candidate for mayor to win, that’s why. Although she herself is registered without a party affiliation, the votes that she changed were in favor of the Republican Regalado.
So. It still looks like the Trump campaign is dead wrong when it claims there is “widespread” voter fraud going on. And it looks like they’re wrong about which side is cheating, too.
I swear. You can’t make this stuff up.
Featired image via YouTube Screengrab .
About Karen Shiebler
Karen is a retired elementary school teacher with many years of progressive activism behind her. She is the proud mother of three young adults who were all arrested with Occupy Wall Street. To see what she writes about in her spare time, check out her blog at "Empty Nest, Full Life" Connect | 0 |
Osteoporosis (yes, magnesium is more important than calcium for bone health!) Diabetes Kidney Stones “Similarly, patients with diagnoses of depression, epilepsy, diabetes mellitus, tremor, Parkinsonism, arrhythmias, circulatory disturbances (stroke, cardiac infarction, arteriosclerosis), hypertension, migraine, cluster headache, cramps, neuro-vegetative disorders, abdominal pain, osteoporosis, asthma, stress dependent disorders, tinnitus, ataxia, confusion, preeclampsia, weakness, might also be consequences of the magnesium deficiency syndrome.” – Journal of the American College of Nutrition Amazingly, the article referenced above even mentions neuro-vegetative disorders as a possible result of magnesium deficiency. This would include comas. Stress hormone production requires high levels of magnesium and stressful experiences can immediately lead to complete depletion of magnesium stores; could this be a contributing factor to why we see comas after traumatic accidents/injuries? As I mentioned above, magnesium is an electrolyte responsible for brain signals and conductivity. Without magnesium, people in comas may not be able to come to and resume conductivity. Many people with diabetes also fall into diabetic comas. Diabetes is listed as another possible consequence of magnesium deficiency. Could this be a factor in diabetic comas as well? Something to think about and research further! Cravings Do you crave chocolate? Why, when people are stressed out, do they go for chocolate? Chocolate is one of the highest food sources of magnesium. Magnesium is associated with so many disorders that Dr. Carolyn Dean of the Nutritional Magnesium Association has devoted an entire book to discussing how she has treated thousands of patients for a wide array of diseases, with magnesium as the primary component. Her book, The Magnesium Miracle, is a must-read if you have any of the magnesium deficiency symptoms above, or any health problems in general – as there is likely a magnesium component to everything. Check out 50 Studies Suggest That Magnesium Deficiency Is Killing Us . Why Don’t Doctors Find Magnesium Deficiencies In Tests? Unfortunately, conventional medicine has not woken up to the amount of research that has been done on magnesium deficiency. One of the reasons Western Medicine is so off base with magnesium is how they test it: with blood tests. Blood tests do not yield ANY information about magnesium … why? Because the body controls the levels of blood magnesium very tightly. If the magnesium in the blood drops just a little bit, you’re going to have a heart attack. It’s that sample. So to prevent this, the body will rob all of its cells, tissues, and bones of magnesium in order to keep the blood levels constant. If you do a blood test for magnesium, the cells could be completely empty while your blood levels remain constant. What’s worse is that magnesium is not even in your blood. 99% of the magnesium in the body is stored in the cells that get robbed, while a mere 1% of your body’s total magnesium is in the blood. These tests are a complete waste of time, and they’re not educating doctors to this reality. Keep Evolving Your Consciousness Inspiration and all our best content, straight to your inbox. “A serum test for magnesium is actually worse than ineffective, because a test result that is within normal limits lends a false sense of security about the status of the mineral in the body. It also explains why doctors don’t recognize magnesium deficiency; they assume serum magnesium levels are an accurate measure of all the magnesium in the body.” – Dr. Carolyn Dean, The Magnesium Miracle. Why Are We So Deficient? Here’s the short(ish) version: Number one , we’re being poisoned by our food. Number two , we’re increasingly stressed out. We’re running our engines on high to keep up with life and it’s draining us. Stress hormone production requires high levels of magnesium and stressful experiences lead to depletion of magnesium stores. Number three , we’re eating more sugar than ever. For every molecule of sugar we consume, our bodies use 54 molecules of magnesium to process it. Fourth , low levels in the soil and modern farming techniques deplete stores of magnesium. And lastly, magnesium is depleted by many pharmaceutical drugs and estrogen compounds such as oral contraceptives, antibiotics, cortisone, prednisone, and blood pressure medications (“Drug-induced nutrient depletion handbook,” Pelton, 2001). Diuretics in coffee and tea (caffeine) also raise excretion levels. Oh and by the way – flouride competes for absorption with magnesium! Nowadays, nearly everyone is magnesium deficient – no test needed. Refined/processed foods are stripped of their mineral, vitamin, and fiber content. These are anti-nutrient foods because they actually steal magnesium in order to be metabolized. When consumed, they demand that we supplement with magnesium or we are destined to break down eventually due to severe deficiency. Like I said, sugar is the worst offender. Every single molecule of sugar you consume drags over 50 times the amount of magnesium out of your body. Well, what if you eat a healthy diet? Processed products are not the only foods that are devoid of magnesium. In general, magnesium has been depleted from topsoil, diminishing dietary intake across the board while our need for magnesium has increased, due to the high levels of toxic exposure we come across in our daily lives (air, water, plastics, chemicals, the list goes on!). The soil is depleted of magnesium because of the pesticides that are sprayed on all conventionally grown plants and worldwide pollution that affects even the cleanest fields. Pesticides also kill those beneficial bacteria/fungi that are necessary in order for plants to convert soil nutrients into plant nutrients usable by humans. Are You A Cannabis User? Cannabis has so many positive effects in terms of treating diseases such as epilepsy, cancer, and more (read 1 , 2 , 3 and cureyourowncancer.org ). Trust me, I’ll be the first to tell you I’m all for it – it’s a safe and effective herb with countless therapeutic benefits that the government has been hiding for years. The only way they want you using it is if they’ve patented one of its’ chemical compounds and can sell it to you for a profit. However, we should also look at what happens to our body on a cellular level if we use cannabis on a daily basis. Would you take parasite cleansing herbs every day for the rest of your life, or even every few days? Probably not. You’d take them when you’re sick or during a monthly cleanse, or else you’d develop some side effects from overuse. We need to remember that cannabis is a powerful herbal medicine and should be treated in such a way. It turns out that using marijuana tends to deplete the body’s stores of magnesium, with the result that the person feels more on-edge after coming down from the high. Of course, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t safe in moderation. It means that over time, if used consistently without proper balance via magnesium replenishment, it can and will cause magnesium deficiency. The Best Ways To Get Magnesium
1. Eat magnesium rich foods grown on organic soil.
2. Take ionic magnesium drops. This is my new favorite method, which I’ve learned from The Magnesium Miracle.
3. Apply magnesium oil to your skin! This is the second best way to raise your levels.
4. Soak in epsom salt baths . This will provide not only magnesium, but sulfur for your liver as well.
Additional References (not linked in the article)
Oxford Journals – Magnesium Basics: http://ckj.oxfordjournals.org/content/5/Suppl_1/i3.full
Dr. Carolyn Dean, MD: http://drcarolyndean.com/magnesium_miracle/
The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.
You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.
"If “Survivor” was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and “The Sacred Science” hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group." - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune | 0 |
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The Obama regime’s gingerly kid gloves treatment of white Christian terrorists is a policy that foresaw the acquittal of the Bundy gang.
The gang was able to conduct an armed occupation of the Oregon Wildlife Refuge in full view of the nation because they won their 2014 armed confrontation with the feds at the Bundy ranch in Nevada. Armed federal marshals retreated from the battlefield and no one was arrested until this year when Bundy pere, immune in Nevada, made an unwise visit to Portland.
Charging the terrorists with the narrow and whimpy crime of conspiring to keep refuge workers away from their jobs was difficult to prove because their own boss ordered them to stay away and none tried to go to work.
A federal government determined to fight terrorism could have escorted employees through the terrorist lines with as much firepower as deemed necessary if that was the crime they intended to prevent. But, as in Nevada, law enforcement did not even order the terrorists to drop their guns (Oregon offers an “open carry” invitation) or threaten them with arrest.
Instead, Obama’s DOJ policy was to wait them out, perhaps because white lives really matter. That meant the prosecution could not present evidentiary proof of actual weapon threats and intimidation by the terrorists and dictated their weak charge. The armed terrorist at the off refuge roadblock had to charge an entire platoon of law enforcement officers after his vehicle tried to run them down before they shot and killed him.
The acquittal of the armed occupiers is a consequence of our political culture. As transmitted by the media ( The Oregonian avoided calling it what it was and used neutral labels like “standoff”) that culture has decided that white Christians can’t be terrorists– a designation reserved for blacks and Muslims. So a jury that reflected a statewide and not a Portland constituency evidently kicked out its lone dissenter and then quickly acquitted can be assumed to have acquired this cultural norm.
And we in Oregon suffer from a frightened governor Brown whose response to the verdict was, “The occupation of the Malheur Reserve did not reflect the Oregon way of respectfully working together to resolve differences”
Isn’t that special? | 0 |
3 комментариев 16 поделились Фото: AP
Напомним, Симон Петлюра с декабря 1918 по апрель 1919 года руководил в Киеве так называемой Директорией, а также был командующим войсками. Петлюру изгнала из города Красная армия, а в 1921 году он бежал за границу. Его правление было отмечено разгулом бандитизма и беззаконием. В 1926 году был убит в Париже Самуилом Шварцбурдом, отомстившим за родственников, погибших во время петлюровского погрома. Шварцбурд был оправдан французским судом присяжных.
Своим впечатлением от решения украинских властей с Pravda.Ru поделился президент Российского еврейского конгресса Юрий Каннер.
- Петлюра известен своей жестокостью, он причастен к еврейским погромам, в которых было убито, по разным оценкам, от 50 до 200 тысяч человек. Конечно, это не дело России, но на Украине тоже живут евреи, и им такое едва ли понравится.
- По сути, Петлюра становится мифическим персонажем. Если посмотреть шире, то вновь созданным государствам это свойственно: они сами формируют свою историю. У нас в России тоже ставят спорные памятники, правда, некоторые из них потом убирают. Но вообще это стало очень популярным на постсоветском пространстве.
Конечно, это попытка расколоть общество, и кому-то это очень нужно. Если вы спрашиваете у меня, то я вам отвечу: еврейскую общественность особенно волнует это вытаскивание "старых скелетов".
Мой прадед Давид Каннер, который был раввином, убит при погроме в городе Чернобыле. Тогда много людей - мужчин, в основном раввинов, глав общин и городов, погрузил на баржу и утопили в Припяти. Правда, это не были не петлюровцы, это была вообще какая-то другая банда. Но это не меняет ситуации, потому что пройдет какое-то время, и этим бандитам тоже могут поставить памятник.
- Может быть стоит выступить международным правозащитным организациям со своим мнением?
- Я думаю, что выразить свое мнение по этому поводу нужно. В Москве 1-2 ноября мы проводим первую международную конференцию по противодействию антисемитизму . У нас будет очень много выступающих. Может быть, кто-то этот вопрос и затронет. К нам на конференцию прибудет президент Всемирного еврейского конгресса господин (Рональд) Лаудер, будет и много других известных людей, экспертов, из почти 20-ти государств, а также израильский министр безопасности.
Так что это открытие памятника Петлюре может стать одной из тем обсуждения. Хотя в основном мы будем обсуждать российские проблемы, я думаю, найдутся люди, которые поднимут и смежные вопросы.
Конечно, эта новость нельзя назвать приятной для евреев - выходцев с Украины. Я ведь тоже там родился во времена Советского Союза. Однако я надеюсь, что у инициаторов такого увековечивания памяти Петлюры будет потом время пожалеть о том, что они сейчас делают.
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Who's really to blame for the corrupting influence of money in Washington, DC? November 3, 2016 Walter Williams
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, having a net worth of $81.8 billion, and Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, having a net worth of $70.4 billion, are the nation's two richest men. They are at the top of the Forbes 400 list of America's superrich individuals, people who have net worths of billions of dollars. Many see the rich as a danger. New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote, "It doesn't really matter what ordinary people want. The wealthy call the tune, and the politicians dance." His colleague Paul Krugman wrote, "On paper, we're a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we're more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate." It's sentiments like these that have led me to wish there were a humane way to get rid of the rich. For without having the rich around to be whipping boys and distract our attention, we might be able to concentrate on what's best for the 99.9 percent of the rest of us.
Let's look at the power of the rich. With all the money that Gates, Bezos and other superrich people have, what can they force you or me to do? Can they condemn our houses to create space so that another individual can build an auto dealership or a casino parking lot? Can they force us to pay money into the government-run — and doomed — Obamacare program? Can they force us to bus our children to schools out of our neighborhood in the name of diversity? Can they force us to buy our sugar from a high-cost domestic producer rather than from a low-cost Caribbean producer? The answer to all of these questions is a big fat no.
You say, "Williams, I don't understand." Let me be more explicit. Bill Gates cannot order you to enroll your child in another school in order to promote racial diversity. He has no power to condemn your house to make way for a casino parking lot. Unless our elected public officials grant them the power to rip us off, rich people have little power to force us to do anything. A lowly municipal clerk earning $50,000 a year has far more life-and-death power over us. It is that type of person to whom we must turn for permission to build a house, ply a trade, open a restaurant and do myriad other activities. It's government people, not rich people, who have the power to coerce us and rip us off. They have the power to make our lives miserable if we disobey. This coercive power goes a long way toward explaining legalized political corruption.
Take just one of thousands of examples. The Fanjuls are among the biggest sugar cane growers, and they co-own the world's largest refining company, American Sugar Refining, which markets its product under the brand names Domino, C&H, Redpath, Tate & Lyle and Florida Crystals. During the 2014 election cycle, Florida Crystals contributed more than $860,000 to candidates and political spending groups. It spent more than $1 million lobbying Congress, the U.S. departments of Agriculture and Commerce, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Here's my question to you: Do you think it forked over all that money to help our elected representatives uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution? Nonsense. The Fanjuls and other sugar producers want Congress to use tariffs to keep foreign-produced sugar out of our country so they can reap the financial benefits from being able to charge Americans two to three times the world price of sugar.
So here's the ultimate question: If some rich people can line the pockets of politicians to do their bidding at the expense of the rest of us, who's to blame? I think it's we, the people, who are to blame for not using our votes to run such politicians out of town — and that's most of them. But that might be deceitful of us, for we also ask politicians to enable us to live at the expense of others. | 0 |
A library in Sweden’s capital is refusing to stock Kurdish economist Tino Sanandaji’s “sincere and analysis” of the country’s immigration policy because the book ‘supports racism’. [An examination into the results of mass migration to Sweden over recent decades, ‘Mass Challenge’ was topping Sweden’s book charts within days of its release earlier this month. Sanandaji’s analysis of the nation’s importation of people from the third world, the resulting social problems and the effects on Sweden’s economy, is based on facts sourced from Statistics Sweden, the National Crime Prevention Council, the National Board of Health and other mainstream and respected agencies. But local media reports that Swedes who are wanting to borrow a copy of the book from their local library are running into difficulties, with librarians rejecting Mass Challenge for political reasons. Nina Sundberg at Stockholm’s Ekero library, which is refusing to stock Sanandaji’s new book, argues that libraries should only purchase books which are politically correct. “Library collections should be characterized by diversity and pluralism. The goal is to not buy books that support racism, persecution, gender stereotypes or anything else that’s contrary to human rights” wrote the librarian, explaining the facility’s motivation in rejecting Mass Challenge. Ekero library regular Maria Halkiewicz, who had wanted to borrow the book, condemned the decision. “It’s strikingly obvious that this is censorship” she told Nyheteridag. On Saturday, Malmö University lecturer Martin Kroon noted the apparent absence of Mass Challenge from Sweden’s libraries in an article which asks whether politically motivated ‘censorship’ of certain titles is a problem across the country. Sanandaji has sounded the alarm on the “quite disastrous” effects of mass migration in Sweden for a number of years. Warning that Swedes will become a minority in their own country without a serious cut to the number of migrants it accepts, he said in 2015: “This is an irreversible social experiment that no wealthy state has ever attempted. There are almost no ideas or visions over how this can be solved. “You can’t combine open borders with a welfare state. If you offer generous benefits, and anyone can come and use these benefits, a very large number of people will try to do that. It’s just mathematically impossible for a small country like Sweden to fund that. ” | 1 |
The Czech Republic is not prepared to accept any more than the 12 migrants it has already taken under the quota scheme set up by the European Union (EU) even if that means facing sanctions, the nation’s interior minister has said. [“Ongoing security checks show that the country can no longer accept anyone else” said Milan Chovanec, noting that the Czech Republic has so far received 12 of the 1, 600 migrants it has been ordered to take in under the terms of the EU quota deal. Vetting refugees is “complicated” the minister explained, adding that migrants “have not even been willing to remain in place [in Greek and Italian camps, while security checks take place”. “We check thoroughly and in detail during the process, which takes between several weeks and more than two months. “But these people [that the Czech Republic have been told to take in as refugees] were not prepared to remain in place while being vetted. Because of that, we haven’t given them security clearance. ” Confirming that the country “has no further plans to adopt more migrants” Mr Chovanec raised the issue of repeated threats from Brussels to punish states which are refusing to go along with the EU’s agenda to push migrants from the third world on unwilling countries. “The Czech Republic does not plan to adopt more migrants” he said, acknowledging that this stance is likely to result in Brussels imposing sanctions against the country, “perhaps in the range of several million Euros”. “It is then up to the government to assess if it’s worth paying the penalty or not. In my opinion — yes. You cannot let people here without running all the checks. ” The Czech minister’s position is likely to come as a blow to Brussels, as last week the EU told Hungary and Poland they face legal action if their populist governments continue to resist orders to take in migrants from the third world. Warsaw and Budapest have strongly opposed the scheme, which seeks to move 160, 000 people from Italy and Greece into other EU nations. Fewer than 20, 000 people have been resettled so far even though the programme is due to end in September this year. “If Member States do not increase their relocations soon, the Commission will not hesitate to make use of its powers … for those which have not complied,” the bloc’s executive arm said in a statement. Italy, along with Germany, Sweden, Austria, and France have been vocal in demanding the EU cut subsidies to Hungary and Poland for their refusal to welcome migrants. But Reuters reported that, worried about rising Euroskepticism, officials in Brussels are split on whether to open legal proceedings against Hungary and Poland. | 1 |
Itália organiza primeira conferência internacional sobre OVNIS 27.10.2016 A Primeira Convenção Internacional de Ovnilogia e Vida Extraterrestre irá decorrer nos dias 29 e 30 de Outubro e reunirá investigadores de quatro nações estrangeiras no Cosmo Hotel Palace em Cinisello Balsamo, estando a logística a cabo da associação cultural Contatto Massivo. Flávio Gonçalves O município de Cinisello Balsamo prepara-se para um fim-de-semana fora do vulgar, esta pitoresca localidade na Lombardia encontra-se a meros 10 quilómetros do centro de Milão e nos dias 29 e 30 do corrente mês servirá de palco para uma dezena de oradores que dedicam o seu tempo à pesquisa do fenómeno dos Objectos Voadores Não Identificados (OVNI), atraindo centenas, ou até milhares, de curiosos e invulgares turistas a Itália. Entre os oradores encontram-se os italianos Giorgio Bongiovanni, Roberto Pinotti, Piergiorgio Caria e Alfredo Lissoni, aos quais se irão juntar os mexicanos Jaime Maussan, Carlos Clemente e Fernando Correa, o chileno Rodolfo Bravo Garrido, o estadunidense Stephen Basset e ainda o brasileiro Ademar Jevaerd, membro da redacção da popular revista "UFO", editada no Brasil e distribuída também em Portugal. | 0 |
Legendary Green Bay Packers football coach Vince Lombardi taught his players not only about football but lessons about life. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence,” he once instructed his team. [Legendary college basketball coaches Mike Krzyzewski of Duke and Roy Williams of North Carolina teach their players about basketball and offer life lessons too — like on correct bathroom usage. The two voiced their disdain for the state of North Carolina’s law that requires people use the bathroom that corresponds to their biological gender in government buildings and universities. The law reads, “Public agencies [and local boards of education] shall require every multiple occupancy bathroom or changing facility to be designated for and only used by persons based on their biological sex. ” As a result of the Tar Heel state’s legislation, the NCAA pulled the University of North Carolina as a venue for the popular March Madness tournament for 2017. Coach Williams explained to USA Today his contempt for the law and the state’s unwillingness to repeal it, saying, “I’m very sad, very disappointed about the whole thing, which apparently is something that’s really, really hard to change. ” Coach K preached his words of wisdom on March Bathroom Madness while criticizing his home state and complimenting NCAA replacement venue, Greenville, South Carolina. “They have the right to host it whether our state is smart enough to have it,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a contest of one against another. “It would be nice if our state got as smart and also would host not just basketball tournaments but concerts and other NCAA events. But maybe we’ll get there in the next century, I don’t know. We’ll see. “Look, it’s a stupid thing. That’s my political statement. If I was president or governor I’d get rid of it. And I’d back up my promises. As unusual as that might be. Anyway, I don’t want to get too political. ” South Carolina knows well the ramifications of the NCAA’s political agenda. For fourteen years the home state of Fort Sumpter, where soldiers fired the first shots of the Civil War, were denied hosting the premier NCAA basketball tournament for flying the Confederate flag on the capitol grounds. In July 2015 Nicky Halley ordered the flag removed. | 1 |
Remy Porter Remy escaped the enterprise world and now works as a consultant. Editor-in-Chief for TDWTF.
Brandon ’s company had a lot of work to do, and not enough staff to do it, so they hired on some freelancers. They were careful about it, and felt like they’d hired some good people. One developer, in particular, was the kind of developer who not only understands the low-level Windows API, but actually knows how to use some of the undocumented corners of it to get things done.
Most of the module was pretty good, but when Brandon double checked on the method for escaping disallowed characters from a URL, he found some problems.
The function went character by character through the string, which was bad enough, but when it wanted to know if a certain character needed to be escaped or not, it called this function: bool NeedEscape ( wchar_t c ) { switch ( c ) { case L'0': case L'1': case L'2': case L'3': case L'4': case L'5': case L'6': case L'7': case L'8': case L'9': case L'a': case L'b': case L'c': case L'd': case L'e': case L'f': case L'g': case L'h': case L'i': case L'j': case L'k': case L'l': case L'm': case L'n': case L'o': case L'p': case L'q': case L'r': case L's': case L't': case L'u': case L'v': case L'w': case L'x': case L'y': case L'z': case L'A': case L'B': case L'C': case L'D': case L'E': case L'F': case L'G': case L'H': case L'I': case L'J': case L'K': case L'L': case L'M': case L'N': case L'O': case L'P': case L'Q': case L'R': case L'S': case L'T': case L'U': case L'V': case L'W': case L'X': case L'Y': case L'Z': case L'-': case L'.': case L'_': case L'~': return false; default: return true; break; } }
While this freelancer may have been an expert on the undocumented Windows APIs, they didn’t quite know their way around the documented ones . [Advertisement] Otter allows you to easily create and configure 1,000's of servers, all while maintaining ease-of-use, and granular visibility down to a single server. Find out more and download today! | 0 |
WikiLeaks Emails Uncover John Podesta’s Sick & Twisted ‘Spirit Dinners’ “Mix fresh breast milk with fresh sperm, drink” WTF!?! November 3, 2016 26 SHARES In a WikiLeaks email , Tony Podesta (John Podesta’s brother) is invited to a “Spirit Cooking” dinner at Marina’s house. Marina Abramovic first sends Tony the following email:
Dear Tony,
I am so looking forward to the Spirit Cooking dinner at my place. Do you think you will be able to let me know if your brother is joining?
All my love, Marina The email is then forwarded by Tony to John Podesta. Are you in NYC Thursday July 9 Marina wants you to come to dinner Mary? Mary is Mary Podesta, John Podesta’s wife. Looking up more information on Marina Abramovic, you find a graphical book she created called ‘Spirit Cooking’ . ( Archived link ) Warning: This starts to get really weird and continues to get weirder. We’ll take a closer look at this book next but first let’s watch a video on what ‘Spirit Cooking’ is: Yes, that is Marina Abramovic in the video with the blood paint. If you don’t feel like watching the video here are a few screens: No words… Now let’s take a closer look at this book:
What sick & twisted stuff are these people into?!? Mix breast milk and sperm and drink? The f–k?!? Do you like this article? LIKE to MAGA! | 0 |
Короткая ссылка 27 октября 2016, 01:44 В 22:21 мск 16 октября поезд «Сапсан» № 778 из Москвы в Санкт-Петербург по техническим причинам был задержан на станции Мстинский Мост в Новгородской области. Около 500 находившихся в нём пассажиров прибудут в пункт назначения в опозданием в три часа, сообщают в РЖД.
«К месту остановки состава выслан вспомогательный локомотив и резервный высокоскоростной поезд «Сапсан». Опоздание поезда составит ориентировочно два с половиной — три часа. Для развозки пассажиров к местам жительства (порядка 500 человек) будут предоставлены три автобуса», — говорится в сообщении , опубликованном на сайте Октябрьской железной дороги.
Кроме того, позже по техническим причинам в Новгородской был остановлен ещё один «Сапсан», в Петербург он прибудет с опозданием в 30 минут. Подписывайтесь на наш Telegram , чтобы быть в курсе самых важных новостей. Для этого достаточно иметь Telegram на любом устройстве, пройти по ссылке и нажать кнопку Join. | 0 |
WASHINGTON — Representative Mike Pompeo was once pointedly asked why his committee’s inquiry into the 2012 attacks on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, had dragged on longer than the Watergate investigation. He did not flinch. “This is worse, in some ways,” he said, during an appearance on “Meet the Press” in late 2015. A sharp, pugnacious Kansas congressman and former Army tank officer with degrees from West Point and Harvard, Mr. Pompeo was often an unyielding critic of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — accusing her of orchestrating a of the Benghazi attacks. On Friday, Donald J. Trump, who defeated Mrs. Clinton after a bitter campaign, selected Mr. Pompeo to run the Central Intelligence Agency. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Pompeo would become one of the most overtly partisan figures to take over the C. I. A. — a spy agency that, at least publicly, is supposed to operate above politics and avoid a direct role in policy making. At the same time, the C. I. A. has been central to America’s secret wars waged in the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, giving the agency a shadow role in the counterterrorism policy of the past two presidents. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Mr. Pompeo (pronounced ) has used his platform to denounce efforts in recent years to rein in some of the most polarizing counterterrorism programs of the . 11 era. He has advocated a return to the bulk collection of Americans’ domestic calling records — which Congress restricted though legislation last year — and he has denounced President Obama’s decision in 2009 to close C. I. A. prisons and also to require government interrogators to strictly adhere to the rules of the Army Field Manual. After a visit to the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in 2013, he told a congressional committee that a hunger strike by detainees was a “political stunt. ” On Friday, some lawmakers — even Democrats — complimented Mr. Pompeo’s work ethic and grasp of policy details. Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, praised Mr. Pompeo as “bright and . ” “While we have had our share of strong differences — principally on the politicization of the tragedy in Benghazi — I know that he is someone who is willing to listen and engage, both key qualities in a C. I. A. director,” Mr. Schiff said. It appears that Mr. Pompeo’s role in the Benghazi inquiry was a significant factor in Mr. Trump’s decision to select him to lead the C. I. A. Some members of the ’s transition team viewed a competing candidate for the position, former Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan, as “soft” on Benghazi because Mr. Rogers, as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, oversaw a report that they believed was not tough enough on Mrs. Clinton. By contrast, Mr. Pompeo’s relentless questioning of Mrs. Clinton during her October 2015 appearance before the House Select Committee on Benghazi raised his profile in Republican circles. When the committee concluded its work this year, Mr. Pompeo’s position on Mrs. Clinton’s role was an outlier even from most of his Republican colleagues. The select committee found no new evidence of wrongdoing by the Obama administration or Mrs. Clinton, but Mr. Pompeo and another Republican member of the committee, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, said they were convinced that there had been a . When the committee released its findings in June, Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Jordan filed a addendum that said the attacks showed the State Department was “seemingly more concerned with politics and Secretary Clinton’s legacy than with protecting its people in Benghazi. ” The chairman of the select committee, Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina, did not put his name on the addendum. After graduating first in his class at West Point, Mr. Pompeo served as an armored Cavalry officer and was deployed in Germany during the final years of the Cold War. After leaving the Army, he attended Harvard Law School and was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He arrived in Congress in 2011, after a sometimes bitter campaign against Raj Goyle, a Democratic state representative. During the campaign, one of Mr. Pompeo’s aides promoted an article on Twitter that referred to Mr. Goyle, an as a “Turban Topper. ” In an interview Friday, Mr. Goyle said that Mr. Pompeo personally apologized to him for the incident, but that the campaign staff member was never fired. “As we are entering an era where relations with Muslim and minority communities in America are extremely sensitive, his record and his approach should be scrutinized during the confirmation hearing,” Mr. Goyle said. Mr. Pompeo has close ties to Charles G. and David H. Koch, the billionaire conservatives who are among the most significant activists in financing Republican candidates nationwide. Their company, Koch Industries, and its employees have contributed $357, 000 to Mr. Pompeo since 2009. He has common cause with many senior Republican lawmakers on a range of issues, including a distaste for the agreement the United States and five world powers struck with Iran in 2015 to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions. In an this summer on the Fox News website, Mr. Pompeo wrote that the United States should “walk away from this deal. ” Indeed, some members of the transition team pushed for Mr. Pompeo because they believe that picking an incumbent lawmaker would help foster better relations between Congress and the intelligence agencies. Representative Devin Nunes, Republican of California and now the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement Friday that Mr. Pompeo “will undoubtedly develop a close working relationship with Congress in his new post. ” But some Senate Democrats indicated that Mr. Pompeo could face a difficult confirmation hearing, citing some of his past comments, particularly his praise for the C. I. A. ’s former detention and interrogation program. That program “was ineffective, it was brutal and it stands in direct violation of American values,” Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, said in a statement. “We can never return to that dark time. ” Ms. Feinstein, a member of the Intelligence Committee, led an investigation into the C. I. A. ’s program that produced a voluminous report — most of which remains classified. In her statement, she said she planned “to speak with Congressman Pompeo about this issue during his confirmation process. ” | 1 |
The soaring spires, the sloping shores, the straitjacket of the street grid — many things give form to the great metropolis. The skyline may be our most recognizable feature, despite how unrecognizable it can often be. Its transformation has been nothing less than astonishing over the past decade. Even when it seems as if there were nowhere left to go, the city, with its manifold appetites, could not be contained. Thanks to new concrete technologies, we have witnessed an eruption of very slender, very tall (some might say very crass) buildings. But for every heroic skyscraper, there are more than a few more humble, ventures — a salt shed, a library, a residential hyperbolic paraboloid (see No. 10, above). Today, apart from the Empire State or Chrysler Building, there are few icons of the skyline. The buildings outlined above, however, may someday be worthy of appearing in a Times Square souvenir snow globe. These are the projects that have captured the imagination of more than a dozen shapers and observers of the city consulted by The New York Times for their perspective on the new standouts. You may not recognize these silhouettes, but in time, you will. 1. 432 PARK AVENUE Manhattan, 2016 Rafael Viñoly Architects Though it is the tallest apartment tower in New York City, at 1, 396 feet, the building was originally laid out with only 125 apartments, ranging in price from $7. 2 million to $88 million. “This building is all about seeing forever. As for its design, it has this pure elegance, something that’s simple and won’t go out of style. It’s the sort of building — it’s not popular with everyone, but it represents what the real estate demand was at a moment in time. The demand right now is for high in the sky, for ‘see everywhere.’ Many people don’t like it because they see it as an eyesore, because you can see it from everywhere. On the other hand, that’s what people thought of the Eiffel Tower. ” Elizabeth F. Stribling, Founder, Stribling Associates real estate brokerage 2. TIMES SQUARE PLAZAS Manhattan, Snohetta Closing off a section of Broadway in 2009 has been a boon for the area: Travel times improved on Seventh Avenue by 4 percent even as pedestrian counts have grown as high as 480, 000 a day from 320, 000 a decade earlier. “Taking out the five Broadway blocks and pedestrianizing them flew in the face of all the thinking: Traffic would back up to Albany, and so on, which didn’t happen. And it immediately filled with pedestrians. So you can design streets where the space is shared. Times Square’s not exactly my favorite place in the world, but it spawned the city’s plaza program. That is where you can have a real impact on the social capital of a city. If you look at Astor Place, where all sorts of things are going on, creating plazas and widening sidewalks, it’s transformative. There’s so much potential all across the city, and it’s good for the local economies, too. ” David J. Burney, Former commissioner of design and construction Pratt architecture professor 3. THE SPRING STREET SALT SHED Manhattan, 2015 Dattner Architects and WXY Architecture Urban Design Resembling a salt crystal, the Spring Street shed houses 5, 000 tons of salt for use during snowstorms. It is part of the city’s Design and Construction Excellence program, which has seeded more than 100 projects since 2005. “The salt shed is a totally unexpected thing for a very municipal, prosaic, function, like the infrastructure for salting the roads in winter. It is a thing it draws attention to itself when you’re flying by in a taxicab. It’s got a good location on the West Side, it’s unusual and it makes you wonder, ‘What is that?’ It has a toughness to it architecturally that’s right. It’s interesting to have that level of care and value and investment into something municipal and often overlooked. It’s just salt storage. But why not?” James Corner, Landscape architect and founding partner, Field Operations 4. QUEENS LIBRARY AT HUNTERS POINT Queens, 2017 Steven Holl Architects The branch in Hunters Point follows six new or expanded libraries that have opened in the borough since 2000, part of a plan to create hubs for the diverse, digital needs of a Queens. “At a moment when most additions to the skyline of New York City seemingly need to scream ‘bigger, better, best,’ there is one that is just quietly and powerfully beautiful. From the vantage point of the East River, the new public library designed by Steven Holl sits squatly amid a backdrop of tall residential towers on the Long Island City waterfront. But its strong geometry — a concrete cube with purposefully placed cutouts — establishes it as a dominant structure and the organizer of the buildings around it. Through its unusual openings, it expresses the quintessential experience of a library: the mysteries and reveals one encounters when searching the stacks for a book and finding not only it but an unexpected relative. ” Gina Pollara, President, Municipal Art Society 5. 1 WORLD TRADE CENTER Manhattan, 2014 Skidmore, Owings Merrill Its profile is not the only big thing about 1 World Trade Center. The construction of the 2. tower also had the largest budget of any modern building: $3. 8 billion. “One World Trade Center has had such an impact. The architecture is really wonderful, and then there’s the symbolism of the rebuilding. Downtown is back, the city is back and the country is back. It’s an icon again, and one that’s visible again, from so many parts of the city. Whenever you see it, it reminds us of our rebirth, and the recovery and revitalization of Lower Manhattan. This building has such a presence, with the plaza and its tapering sides. It has a majesty. It’s big without being massive. ” Bill Rudin, Chief executive, Rudin Management chairman, Association for a Better New York 6. CHELSEA MODERN Manhattan, 2009 Audrey Matlock Architect The rippling facade of the apartment building is meant to evoke the artistic energy of the neighborhood — and helped win design honors from the New York State chapter of the American Institute of Architects. “Because of the rising consciousness of architecture as a cultural artifact, and a goad to sales, the quality of everyday architecture is getting better in New York. In particular, some small midblock apartment buildings that used to just be generic redbrick monstrosities are now getting designed with some character. Chelsea Modern is just a very solid piece of architecture that exceeds the ordinary. It’s an interesting facade that pushes and pulls you. It’s assertive without being aggressive, well controlled and disciplined — a standout background building, the kind we should see more of in New York, and are. And I think the parenthesis of this is that practitioners like Audrey’s firm are finally making it. ” Michael Sorkin, Critic and designer 7. VIA VERDE The Bronx, 2012 Grimshaw, and Dattner Architects Via Verde has been praised for housing New Yorkers across a range of incomes, with 151 rentals available from $730 to $1, 090 a month when it opened in 2012, as well as 71 available for less than $200, 000. “In Europe, there’s a lot of good architects involved in public housing, and there isn’t so much of a disconnect between design and affordable housing that you see in New York and the U. S. Via Verde is a good example of design contributing to making housing more special. Design shouldn’t just be limited to the brackets. I liked the diversity of housing types here, from the sections at the neighborhood scale that steps up into this tower. With the facade, there was a lot of research, too, into durability, so you could maybe spend a little more knowing it would last. ” Amale Andraos, Dean, Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture WORKac 8. WYTHE HOTEL Brooklyn, 2012 Morris Adjmi Architects The hotel has also become a cultural hub. It goes well beyond lobby art to promoting residency programs with new pieces for each room, as well as hosting openings and film screenings. “If you get off the subway at Bedford, it can almost feel like Stockholm or Paris because of the tourists. This hotel is an entry point for a lot of folks, even those coming from Manhattan. Reclaimed wood and exposed bricks may be played out, but the designers got it just right. As far as a beacon, you could do far worse. It’s not fake, either, but an exemplar of adaptive reuse. Most people who are visiting the Wythe, they have no use for an old barrel factory. You’re not displacing people, but you do have this very waterfront area that is very recognizably Williamsburg. Here they maintained the old brick facade and the beautiful old wood beams, but by and large, the entire building is very new. It’s elevated to a place that doesn’t just feel like Brooklyn pastiche. When you’re working with beautiful, heavy, honest materials, I’d wager to say this building will stand the test of time. ” Kelsey Keith, Editor in chief, Curbed 9. BARCLAYS CENTER Brooklyn, 2012 SHoP Architects The home of the Nets and Islanders was built across the street from Robert Moses’ unrealized Dodgers stadium, though the arena was almost unrealized, too, after years of lawsuits over the use of eminent domain. “Barclays Center has become one of the most important new public spaces and landmarks in the city, part of a larger narrative of the transformation of Downtown Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Cultural District. Despite all the criticism about Atlantic Yards and the history of the development, the Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue crossroads is an important part of the city’s future and growth. Part of that is a network of public spaces that connect people, transit and multiple uses. ” Justin Garrett Moore, Executive director, Public Design Commission 10. VIA 57 WEST Manhattan, 2016 Bjarke Ingels Group The building may resemble an pyramid, but the architects prefer to describe it as a hyperbolic paraboloid. The shape developed from taking a typical apartment block and stretching out the northwestern corner to increase views of the Hudson River. “Many of the new towers currently going up are those pencil shapes. The Bjarke Ingels project on the West Side is especially interesting because it is beginning to show that when there’s collaboration between architects, designers, developers and the city, you can start to do different things. This mashing of the conventional skyscraper and a typical courtyard building generated this rather unique shape that’s standing out in the skyline rather nicely. And it includes affordable units, as well, which is obviously important. The lesson would be to start experimenting on all levels. Our city is so interesting because of the diversity of its people and opinions, and you want to see that reflected in the built environment. ” David van der Leer, Executive director, Van Alen Institute 11. NEW YORK BY GEHRY Manhattan, 2011 Gehry Partners This luxury tower may be an unusual symbol of Lower Manhattan’s rebirth, but with roughly $200 million in . 11 bond financing, the edifice is a reminder of the many ways the area has been reshaped since 2001. “I have no claims for aesthetic competence, but the Gehry building certainly looks nice enough to me as an economist who loves cities. The fact that it’s residential matters a lot. If anything, New York, and particularly downtown New York, has a mismatch between its residential needs and an abundance of commercial space. New York is at its healthiest when it is profoundly mixed use, when it is residential and commercial and recreational all at once. I like the fact that the apartments aren’t just apartments for billionaires. They’re not particularly cheap — it’s still New York — but it’s rental. They’re midsized, a lot are under 1, 000 square feet. The fact that it has a school on the bottom floors is nice as well. Edward Glaeser, Author of “Triumph of the City” Harvard economics professor 12. THE NEW MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART Manhattan, 2007 Sanaa Exquisite execution with simple materials is one of the chief attributes of Japanese design, which helps explain how Sanaa turned some offset boxes of aluminum mesh into a beloved museum. And all for a mere $50 million (the new Whitney Museum of American Art cost almost nine times that). “The jagged skyline of the building, surrounded mostly by brownstones and tenements, really creates a stunning contrast that so speaks to what it is. In that neighborhood, I think it creates a real beacon of what’s new. The first band of it does still line up with the building to the north, a totally brilliant way to be a part of that neighborhood and still be totally different. And the storefront is a direct continuation, too. Instead of a gentle weave into the city, it still connects, but in a very different way. It’s very simple and detailed and not at all gaudy. ” David Rockwell, Founder, Rockwell Group | 1 |
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, awaiting the outcome of a presidential election that will determine its future, returns to the bench this week to face a volatile docket studded with timely cases on race, religion and immigration. The justices have been shorthanded since Justice Antonin Scalia died in February, and say they are determined to avoid deadlocks. That will require resolve and creativity. “This term promises to be the most unpredictable one in many, many years,” said Neal K. Katyal, a former acting United States solicitor general in the Obama administration now with Hogan Lovells. There is no case yet on the docket that rivals the blockbusters of recent terms addressing health care, abortion or marriage. But such cases are rare, whether there are eight justices or nine. “This term’s cases are not snoozers,” said Elizabeth B. Wydra, the president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, a liberal group. “This term features important cases about racial bias in the criminal justice system, voting rights and redistricting, immigration and detention, and accountability for big banks that engaged in racially discriminatory mortgage lending practices. ” There are, moreover, major cases on the horizon, including ones on whether a transgender boy may use the boys’ restroom in a Virginia high school and on whether a Colorado baker may refuse to serve a couple. “If either of these cases is taken, it will almost immediately become the highest profile case on the court’s docket,” said Steven Shapiro, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. There is also the possibility that a dispute over the outcome of the presidential election could end up at the Supreme Court, as it did in 2000 in Bush v. Gore. “That is the doomsday scenario in some respects of having an court,” said Carter G. Phillips, a lawyer with Sidley Austin. A deadlocked Supreme Court would leave in place the lower court ruling and oust the justices from their role as the final arbiters of federal law. Race figures in many of the new term’s most important cases, including two to be heard in October, and that seems to be part of a new trend. “The court hasn’t had a lot of cases recently dealing with race in the criminal justice system,” said Jeffrey L. Fisher, a law professor at Stanford. In June, a dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor brought a new perspective to the issue. Citing James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time” and Coates’s “Between the World and Me,” she insisted that the brutal history and contemporary reality of racism in the United States must play a role in the court’s analysis. That dissent may prove influential, said Justin Driver, a law professor at the University of Chicago. “One item to keep an eye on this term,” he said, “is the extent to which the Black Lives Matters movement makes its presence felt on the court’s docket. ” On Wednesday, the court will hear arguments in Buck v. Davis, No. . It arose from an extraordinary assertion by an expert witness in the death penalty trial of Duane Buck, who was convicted of the 1995 murders of a former girlfriend and one of her friends while her young children watched. The expert, presented by the defense, said that black men are more likely to present a risk of future danger. The justices will decide whether Mr. Buck, who is black, may challenge his death sentence based on the ineffectiveness of the trial lawyer who presented that testimony. “The Buck case raises questions that could not be more relevant to ongoing conversations sparked by police shootings about implicit bias and stereotyping of men as violent and dangerous,” Ms. Wydra said. “The Roberts court, and particularly the chief justice himself, has often been reluctant to acknowledge the reality of systemic racism in this country, but the egregious facts of the Buck case make it impossible to avoid. ” On Oct. 11, the court will consider another biased statement, this one ascribed to a juror during deliberations in a sexual assault trial. “I think he did it because he’s Mexican, and Mexican men take whatever they want,” the juror said of the defendant, according to a sworn statement from a second juror. The question in the case, Peña Rodriguez v. Colorado, No. is how to balance the interest in keeping jury deliberations secret against the importance of ridding the criminal justice system of racial and ethnic bias. Race also figures in cases on redistricting, fair housing and malicious prosecution. On Thursday, the court agreed to decide another charged case, Lee v. Tam, No. which asks whether the government may deny federal protection to a trademark said to disparage . The case will probably effectively decide a separate one concerning the Washington Redskins football team. The court will also decide, in Moore v. Texas, No. whether Texas may use an idiosyncratic standard in deciding who must be spared execution because of intellectual disability. The state relies in part on what one judge there called the “Lennie standard,” which exempts defendants who resemble Lennie Small, the dim, hulking farmhand in John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men. ” At some point this term, the court will hear a significant religion case, Trinity Lutheran Church v. Pauley, No. . It poses the question of whether states must provide aid to churches in at least some circumstances even if their state constitution forbids such assistance. The court agreed to hear the case on Jan. 15, about a month before Justice Scalia died. Other cases granted that day were argued and decided by the end of the last term in June. In the ordinary course, the religion case would have been scheduled for argument in the last term or in October, and certainly not later than November. But the case has yet to be scheduled. “The most logical inference,” said Paul D. Clement, a former solicitor general in the Bush administration now with Kirkland Ellis, “is that this is a case where the court is going to take its time scheduling this in the hopes that they will have nine justices to decide the case in the end because this is a case that could be closely divided. ” The case started when officials in Missouri rejected an application from a Lutheran church for a grant to use recycled tires to resurface a playground. The Missouri Constitution bars spending public money “in aid of any church,” and the State Supreme Court has called for “a very high wall between church and state. ” The church argues that the State Constitution violates equal protection principles and the First Amendment’s guarantee of free exercise of religion. The court has three immigration cases on its docket, involving detentions, deportations and how children born abroad to an American parent may obtain citizenship. The court has already granted a stay in Gloucester County School Board v. G. G. No. temporarily barring Gavin Grimm, a transgender boy, from using the boys’ bathroom in a Virginia high school. The justices are scheduled to decide whether to hear the case on Oct. 14, and the stay suggests that they may be ready to enter the national debate over transgender rights. Later this term, in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, No. the justices will decide whether to take up a baker’s contention that he should not be compelled to create a cake for a wedding. Mr. Clement, at a briefing at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative group, said the justices will most likely be cautious in granting contentious cases until they are back at full strength. “The court seems to be reluctant,” he said, “to add cases to their docket that they think in advance may well divide them 4 to 4. ” But the court may feel it has to try to resolve a dispute arising from the presidential election. “Would they take the case?” Mr. Phillips mused at the same briefing, referring to one along the lines of Bush v. Gore. “My guess is they might. Whether they would ultimately decide anything, who knows?” | 1 |
geoengineeringwatch.org
Global climate engineering programs are mathematically the single greatest assault against nature ever launched by the human race. Incredibly, the majority of global populations still remain oblivious to the ongoing blatant climate engineering atrocities occurring overhead day after day. This willful blindness of the masses is largely due to the total betrayal of the truth by the vast majority of the science community and all of mainstream media , both of whom are heavily invested in covering up the crimes of their paymasters. How badly damaged is our once thriving biosphere? We are past the point of no return in regard to the once thriving planet we have known. Below is a quote from a powerful and moving recent article by Dr. Glen Barry which accurately outlines the reality we collectively face.
Miraculous nature is being murdered. Everywhere we look inequitable over-consumption is devastating the natural ecosystems that sustain a living Earth. Together we yield to ecological truth – personally embracing a global ecology ethic, and demanding others do so as well – or we all needlessly die at each others’ throats as the global ecological system collapses and being ends.
A primary sign of biosphere collapse is clearly evident by the rapidly imploding cryosphere. Arctic sea ice continues to advance further into record low levels . Though official agencies like NASA will never admit to the ongoing climate engineering crimes, they are beginning to acknowledge that the excessive cloud cover over the Arctic in recent years (solar radiation management) is exacerbating the overall warming , not mitigating it. Other studies also confirm the overall planetary warming is being fueled by "contrails" (which are in reality solar radiation management sprayed particulate trails ). The 30 second video below fully illustrates the shocking loss of Arctic sea ice.
Not only is the Arctic sea ice at a record low level, but now the ice on the opposite end of the Earth, Antarctica, is also rapidly retreating to record low levels as well. This is a fact that the US corporate media is not covering. The 2 minute video below elaborates on the rapidly accelerating loss of Antarctic sea ice.
Antarctic sea ice extent has been the last vestige of denial for those who still desperately cling to the "global warming is a hoax" fossil fuel industry false narrative. To dogmatically cling to this false narrative is also to toe the line for the power structure, big oil, and the climate engineers . The poles are not the only part of the cryosphere that is imploding, the Himalayan glaciers are disappearing at blinding speed. The 8 minute video below is a recent update from the Himalayas.
Our planet is already free-falling into a runaway warming scenario , global climate engineering is further fueling this scenario. The graph below illustrates the rapid increase of warmer days being recorded on our planet.
Global climate engineering programs not only worsening the overall warming of the biosphere, but also destroying the ozone layer , derailing the hydrological cycle , and contaminating the entire planet due to the highly toxic heavy metal and chemical fallout .
Where do we go from here? How can we stand against the power structure that currently controls the fate of the world in which we live? The single greatest leap we could collectively make in the right direction is by fully exposing the climate engineering issue to the masses. If we can expose the geoengineering assault, populations around the globe would unite in a common cause. If we can expose it, we can stop it. Those, that are still clinging to the insanely false "global warming is a hoax" narrative, are doing great harm to credibility of the overall anti-geoengineering community, and thus to the cause itself. The planet is accelerating into total meltdown. Climate engineering is making an already horrific anthropogenic warming scenario far worse overall. Those who truly claim to be committed to the fight to stop climate engineering have an obligation to objectively examine frontline facts and film footage . Sadly, even some major "independent" news sites are pushing the "global warming is a hoax" false narrative . Pushing this patently false narrative is exactly what climate engineering/industrial complex wants, and is extremely harmful to the cause of exposing and halting the ongoing weather warfare assault. Why? If we are to have any chance of stopping the climate engineering insanity, if we are to have any chance of convincing the climate science community to start telling the truth about the climate engineering assault, the anti-climate engineering community must stand on frontline facts and not on ridiculously false ideological dogma. Investigate, and make your voice heard , time is not on our side.
May be freely reprinted, so long as the text is unaltered, all hyperlinks are left intact, and credit for the article is prominently given to geoengineeringwatch.org and the article’s author with a hyperlink back to the original story. 6 Responses to Climate Engineering And Cryosphere Collapse jim stewart October 27, 2016 at 4:18 pm
"Sadly, even some major 'independent' news sites are pushing the 'global warming is a hoax' false narrative." Indeed, shame on Infowars, considering they should know better. But then, so much hyperbolic & elipitical rhetoric is geared to sell to what folks wish to believe, rather than what truthseekers pursue to be savvy and shrewd. | 0 |
CONCORD, N. H. — New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat, has unseated Senator Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, in one of the most competitive and closely watched races of this election cycle. The race was called Wednesday afternoon. The race cost about $120 million, an extraordinary sum for such a small state. The main challenge for both was to keep their bases happy while appealing to the state’s large number of independents. This forced both candidates to emphasize bipartisanship and to try to keep politics out of major issues, like the state’s crushing opioid epidemic. Ms. Ayotte, 48, a former prosecutor, has been a rising star in Washington, where she allied herself with conservative causes, like defunding Planned Parenthood and opposing a confirmation vote on a Supreme Court nominee. She sought to present a more moderate face at home. But her delicate dance around Donald J. Trump’s candidacy drew considerable negative attention. After saying she “absolutely” saw him as a role model, she said she would not vote for him. Ms. Hassan, 58, a former State Senate majority leader who helped pass marriage, allied herself with the Democrats’ biggest stars, including President and Michelle Obama, as they flooded the state for Hillary Clinton. But Ms. Hassan has broken with her party on other occasions, saying, for example, that the federal government needed better screening of Syrian refugees before she would allow them in New Hampshire. | 1 |
Lupita Nyong’o calls her “badass. ” Ava DuVernay says, “She’s a big part of my creative process. ” The ballerina Misty Copeland has her to thank, in part, for the ads that made her a household name, not to mention her namesake Barbie doll. And Raoul Peck, the director of the bold documentary “I Am Not Your Negro,” says that he couldn’t have made his film, a current awards season contender, without her. Unknown to those outside Hollywood, the lawyer Nina L. Shaw is a secret weapon, a power player adept at striking deals that cultivate freedom of voice, especially for black members of the creative class whose mission it is to be artist and advocate. “When I started making films, she was the first person I called,” said Ms. DuVernay, the director. “Not just for legal advice — she’s really a bit of a consigliere in all things. ” and enough to navigate the industry, Ms. Shaw is also someone “who really has power behind her punch,” Ms. DuVernay said. Ms. DuVernay made waves by hiring only female directors for her television series, “Queen Sugar. ” Lately, Ms. Shaw, 62, has also been outspoken about the inequities in her own field, giving speeches that pointedly ask artists to demand more diversity among the teams that write their contracts. “You can’t just ask it of the people who hired you, you have to ask it of the people who represent you,” she said. “Why aren’t there more women here? What’s the plan for there to be more women here? I think that’s a fair question. ” Despite strides in broadening onscreen and production roles in the wake of #OscarsSoWhite and other movements, the business side of Hollywood — in particular the talent agencies — remains “overwhelmingly white and disproportionately male,” according to a study released in February by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at U. C. L. A. A flip through many of the entertainment industry’s lists of power lawyers yields approximately the same results. Bert Fields, the longtime Hollywood lawyer, applauded an emphasis on diversity in hiring: “Sure as hell, there’s more to be done,” he said. But, he added: “When it comes to selecting who I want to be my lawyer, I want the best lawyer for the price. I don’t want to think about diversity in selecting who’s going to represent me at a trial, or negotiate my contract. ” Ms. Shaw saw an obligation to do things differently. In her over 35 years as an entertainment lawyer, she was often the only woman or person of color in a meeting like many of her contemporaries, she has stories of male colleagues who asked her to fetch coffee or hang coats. Early on, she said, “I actually felt things were going to change. I thought there would be lots of women in law firms and lots of women in agencies. And I’ve come to realize that that’s not the case, and if it’s going to happen, I’m going to have to be a big part of the change. ” Now, as one of the few women of color leading the legal side of show business, Ms. Shaw has become a beacon. A founding partner at the firm Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano — where about half the lawyers are women — her roster of clients includes Ms. Nyong’o, James Earl Jones, Laurence Fishburne, John Legend and the writer Coates. Projects with a social justice mission, which don’t necessarily produce as many billable hours, stir her. “I want to have been part of the work in this industry that makes society better,” she said. “I want to have left some kind of legacy here. ” Even through the country’s current political upheaval, she said, representation in entertainment still matters, “because ultimately the audience matters, and the audience is an inclusive, diverse audience. ” Ms. Nyong’o shares that attitude. Suddenly in need of representation after her debut in “12 Years a Slave,” she met with several lawyers before choosing Ms. Shaw. “Her being and being at the top of her game and having that cultural perspective on top of the smarts that it takes was very important to me,” Ms. Nyong’o said. With a multicultural upbringing and perspective, she added, “I needed a team that appreciated that — did not just see it but deeply understood it. ” Those teams and projects aren’t always an easy sell. At a panel at the Albertine cultural festival this month, Ms. Shaw spoke about the studio and network programs meant to foster diversity in hiring, calling them out for their limitations — a taboo subject in Hollywood. The programs, which are expanding, “are heartfelt,” Ms. Shaw said in a separate interview, and worthwhile for grooming young talent. But, she added, they’re “meaningless in the sense of, if you really want to hire people of color, there are a multitude of experienced people of color who you can hire. ” Asked why she had decided to discuss issues that might cost her industry relationships, Ms. Shaw said she was too grown to worry about the repercussions. “You get older, and you just reach a point where you say, ‘I don’t care, I am who I am, what I have is what I have,’” she said, adding: “So many people don’t have control over their destiny in a way that I do, don’t own their own businesses, don’t have their own clients. I owe it to them to speak freely. ” Her steadfastness is practically . In an interview in her Santa Monica, Calif. office, Ms. Shaw showed off a photo of her Mary Catlett Hardy and George Evans Hardy, who studied at Oberlin College and became prominent citizens of Charlottesville, Va. where Ms. Shaw visited them often. They were assertive and she said, and a big influence on her, particularly her a descendant of slaves. (Ms. Shaw, who has the graciousness of a Southerner and the moxie of a New Yorker, started a scholarship at her undergraduate alma mater, Barnard College, in her ’s name.) Ms. Shaw’s background also gave her a deep affinity for the arts: A child of Harlem and the Bronx, she grew up going to Broadway shows and spending hours at the Met Museum. It gave her, Ms. DuVernay said, an uncommon appreciation for the artistic side of Hollywood Ms. Shaw is part of a small group of people Ms. DuVernay invites to critique working cuts of her films. Ms. Nyong’o, too, has embraced her in her inner circle — last year, Ms. Shaw joined her on a trip across Kenya, visiting Ms. Nyong’o’s ancestral home. Mr. Peck, the director of “I Am Not Your Negro,” based on the writings of James Baldwin, found her to be supportive of even his most ideas. “Particularly at that level of professionalism and experience,” he said, “people tend to be not reachable or cynical or not listening, because they have seen it all. And that is not Nina. ” It was she who helped secure Samuel L. Jackson as the narrator for his film, although Mr. Jackson has never been her client. (She knew his manager and agent, she said.) Sharp and elegant, Ms. Shaw also has a reputation as a tough negotiator, skilled in getting equitable deals for her female and minority clients, pressing the other side to explain why her clients won’t get fair pay. At the Albertine panel, she quoted Shirley Chisholm: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair. ” | 1 |
Home | World | Brexit Lost: Scuppered By May and High Court Brexit Lost: Scuppered By May and High Court By Mr. Charrington 03/11/2016 11:48:44
LONDON – England – The High Court decision today to deny the EU Referendum result is a sign that we are not living in a democracy or a sovereign country.
Today is a very sad day for democracy within the UK, and Theresa May a Remain supporter is instrumental in denying the will of the British people to leave the EU.
Dithering and Delaying Tactics
Through numerous delaying tactics , and the installation of key government posts of Remain campaign MPs, the Brexit referendum was thwarted.
If the government had repealed the 1972 European Communities Act immediately the EU referendum result would be well on the way to materialising.
The total nonchalance and denial of the EU referendum result is firmly on Theresa May’s head and her appointment of Hammond as Chancellor of the Exchequer was a further sign that May was not serious about the EU referendum result.
Injustice
The High Court ruling today which is intrusive and false, as well as being undemocratic is a further signal that we are currently not living in a sovereign nation and it is totally controlled by Brussels.
During the EU Referendum, MPs had their say , MPs campaigned, and when it came to vote in the referendum, they voted. Therefore, parliament has already had a say in the EU referendum, and by going to the High Court, these traitors have sought to annul a democratic vote which was held on June 23 2016.
This ruling is a shameful reminder that Britain has lost all sovereign status to the EU entity, it is a sad day for democracy, for the will of the people and ultimately for the country.
17.5 Million People Will Vote on Election Day
In these circumstances, we must as a people show our displeasure at being circumvented by not voting during the next election for any MP or party who is EU centric.
This is not over. | 0 |
President Donald Trump released his 2018 budget proposal on Thursday revealing that the U. S. Department of State funding could be cut by 31 percent, sparking outrage among mostly Democrats, who say the cuts could put the country at risk. [Wendy Sherman, under secretary of state for political affairs in the Obama administration, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Thursday that Trump’s proposal to cut the State Department’s budget by a third would have “implications” for fighting terrorism and epidemics like Ebola. ” But Rep. Louie Gohmert ( ) said on Thursday at the Conversations with Conservatives Press Conference on Capitol Hill that, given the agency’s priorities during the Obama administration, the cuts might fall short. Gohmert said the cuts — first reported as 28 percent but later clarified by the State Department as totaling 31 percent — “might not be enough. ” Gohmert cited the Obama administration’s priority at State of promoting homosexual rights around the world, including encouraging nation states to change their laws regarding homosexuality and marriage. On Jan. 11, the rights publication the Washington Blade published a story entitled, “10 ways Obama promoted LGBT rights abroad. ” Those moves by the Obama administration’s State Department included: Mark Toner, acting spokesman at State, clarified on Thursday the proposed percentage of cuts at State. “There’s a little bit of confusion about that, so let me try to clarify it,” Toner said. “The FY 2018 budget requests 25. 6 billion in base funding for the Department of State and USAID, and that’s a 10. 1 billion or 28 percent reduction from the FY 2017 continuing resolution level. ” “So that’s a 28 percent reduction without the overseas contingency operations funding,” Toner said. “So the budget also requests, obviously, 12 billion as overseas contingency operations funding for a total request of 37. 6 billion, which represents an overall reduction of 17. 3 billion. ” “That’s 31 percent from the annualized — or from the CR level, which is base and OCO funds,” Toner said. “So just to simplify it, the two variations there — the 28 percent is the amount of reduction without OCO, which is the overseas contingency operations funding. ” “The 31 percent number or figure is with that overseas contingency operations funding,” Toner said. The Los Angeles Times suggested in its reporting on Thursday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was not concerned with the budget cuts, rather than characterizing his remarks as compatible with President Trump’s assessment that the Department has been overfunded in the past. “But the head of the department, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, seemed unconcerned Thursday,” the Times reported. “The level of spending that the State Department has been undertaking in the past — and particularly in this past year — is simply not sustainable,” Tillerson said at a brief news conference in Tokyo, the first stop on a tour of Asia. “Tillerson, for most of his career a top executive at Exxon Mobil, said he expected more aid from other countries would help to cover the shortfall as the U. S. recedes, and he said he was ‘confident’ the State Department would continue to fulfill its mission,” the Times reported. “We are going to be undertaking a very comprehensive examination of how programs are executed, a very comprehensive examination of how we are structured, and I’m confident that with the input of the men and women of the State Department, we are going to construct a way forward that allows us to be much more effective, much more efficient and be able to do a lot with fewer dollars,” Tillerson said. “We understand the challenge,” Tillerson said. “I take the challenge that the president has given us on willingly and with great expectation that with everyone in the State Department’s assistance, we’re going to deliver a much better result for the American people in the future. ” | 1 |
We may be in the clear when it comes to heat domes, but it’s still really hot. More than half of the country has had temperatures in the 90s in the last week, prompting many people to find relief in the cool, crisp breeze of an . But in the next few years, the way work could change. Last month, representatives from nearly 200 countries worked on a new environment agreement to regulate the use of HFCs, or hydrofluorocarbons. These chemical compounds are responsible for keeping you cool on hot summer days, in and refrigerators. And even though you might not have heard of them, environmentalists, government officials and scientists say an agreement to limit HFCs represents a significant step in the fight to stave off the worst effects of global warming. That’s because like other greenhouse gases, HFCs contribute to global warming. But mostly, they’re not coming from your though poses other environmental problems. So we’re here to answer some questions you might have about HFCs, and this new treaty. It’s complicated. HFCs represent a small portion of total greenhouse gas emissions, but they trap thousands of times as much heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Good news: If your is working properly, it won’t release HFCs into the atmosphere. Some HFCs are released during the manufacturing process, if your or refrigerator has a leak, or when you throw a unit away, possibly causing some molecules to escape, especially if it’s disposed of improperly (Here’s some guidance on proper disposal). The United States has also put regulations in place to phase out the use of HFCs in other areas like aerosols and building foam. Not quite. presents other problems: As of 2009, nearly 90 percent of American homes have which account for about 6 percent of all the country’s residential energy use. All that releases about 100 million tons of carbon dioxide each year. According to historians and others, the widespread availability of has allowed for more development in the hotter parts of the country — the South and the Southwest — where use is the highest in the country. And once developers could rely on heating and cooling technologies, they often built less homes, which means that you have to use more or heating to get to the temperature you want. Representatives from the same countries who negotiated the Paris agreement met in Vienna to discuss a plan for phasing out HFCs. Any deal reached in these talks would be an amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which phased out CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) only a few years after scientists published results showing the harm those chemicals were doing to the ozone layer. The United States, which already has some regulations in place to limit HFCs, wants to begin phasing out production and use in 2019 in developed countries, and in 2021 in developing countries, though some developing countries, like India, would prefer a longer — beginning in 15 years. These restrictions, they say, would place an unfair economic burden on their citizens, especially as use is expected to skyrocket there in the next few decades. However, the Environmental Protection Agency said that because another chemical compound, HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) are still commonly used in the developing world, it would be better if they skipped ahead to the more replacements, rather than setting up a whole economy based on HFCs and then making the switch. HCFCs are not currently widely used in the United States and production and import here were largely halted last year. No, although some experts say that there may be a time in the future when the climate in some places will be so hot that won’t be able to maintain comfortable temperatures. And several companies are already working on cooling replacements for HFCs. For instance, Honeywell, which makes your dehumidifier but also plane engines, has already invested close to a billion dollars in developing and patenting an HFC substitute, which is already used by some manufacturers. According to Ken Gayer, a vice president at Honeywell, these new molecules, known as HFOs (hydrofluoroolefins) break down in a matter of days, so there’s less time for them to trap heat in the atmosphere. HFOs are as good at cooling your home and are more energy efficient, Mr. Gayer said, but they are more expensive and complicated to produce. Honeywell started working on the HFOs in the 1990s, after scientists knew that HFCs were contributing to global warming, he said, adding that HFCs were always meant to be a transitional chemical, and not meant for use. | 1 |
Iran Deal Tests Trump’s Independence November 18, 2016
An early test of whether President Trump will bow to Israel’s political clout may come over the Iran nuclear agreement which Prime Minister Netanyahu wants killed, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar describes.
By Paul R. Pillar
Among the foreign policy issues on which Donald Trump took a simple anti-Obama, or anti-Clinton, stance during the campaign but about which he had not seemed to have devoted much thought, one of the most prominent and important is the agreement that restricts Iran’s nuclear program, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA.
When the new president does get a chance to give the subject more attention, he will see that opposition to the agreement is primarily a matter of old political baggage. If he does not want to be burdened with such baggage and desires instead to set his own course, he will build on the agreement rather than succumb to the pressures of those who would like to kill it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations in 2012, drawing his own “red line” on how far he will let Iran go in refining nuclear fuel.
The baggage has had two parts. One has been the effort by President Obama’s political opposition to deny him any major achievements — applicable to the JCPOA in that it has been one of the President’s most significant foreign policy achievements. Even viewed through a crass partisan political lens, this motivation will get more out of date with each day that goes by after Mr. Obama leaves office.
The other part has been opposition of the Netanyahu government in Israel, with all the usual implications of how that government’s postures affect U.S. politics and how the Iran issue has thus been treated as if it were an Israel issue. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition has been motivated by the objectives of keeping a regional rival to Israel isolated forever, portraying Iran as the root of all problems in the Middle East, distracting attention from problems that involve Israel and its policies, and keeping U.S. diplomacy and cooperative measures in the Middle East confined to Israel or channels approved by Israel.
This opposition was maintained even though the agreement that has precluded an Iranian nuclear weapon is very much in the interests of Israel’s security, as testified to by the large majority of senior Israeli security officials and former officials who have been free to discuss the topic.
A Success
The JCPOA is a success. It has been fully working for well over a year. It has blocked all possible avenues to an Iranian nuclear weapon. Iran has been complying with its extensive obligations under the agreement, as certified by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Those opponents who have stretched to accuse Iran of violations have been doing exactly that: stretching. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani celebrates the completion of an interim deal on Iran’s nuclear program on Nov. 24, 2013, by kissing the head of the daughter of an assassinated Iranian nuclear engineer. (Iranian government photo)
Regarding recent accusations regarding Iranian production of heavy water, for example, the agreement does not prohibit Iran from ever exceeding a specified limit of 130 metric tons. Instead, the JCPOA requires Iran to make any excess available for export — which is exactly what Iran has done.
For the new U.S. administration to withdraw from the JCPOA — either explicitly by declaring so, or through sanctions policies that would violate the agreement — would clearly be a big mistake. To begin with, any such unilateral move by the United States would run up against the fact that this agreement involves not only Iran and the United States but also five other parties, including major Western allies as well as Russia and China.
The European allies have made quite clear that they are committed to the agreement. U.S. abrogation would not only involve problems with them but also would upset any early efforts by President Trump to develop more cooperative relations with Russia.
A U.S. withdrawal could lead Iran to react in either of two ways, each of which would be disadvantageous to U.S. interests. If the Iranians judged the U.S. part of the economic and sanctions provisions of the JCPOA to be too large to overlook, they would declare — as they would be entitled to — that the entire agreement was null and void. This would mean Iran would be freed from all the nuclear limitations in the agreement.
The Iranians could spin as many centrifuges, stockpile as much highly enriched uranium, and build as many plutonium-producing reactors as they want. (And forget the notion of negotiating a “better deal” — that was never a possibility with an agreement that was laboriously negotiated and that was barely politically acceptable in Iran.)
A Boon for U.S. Rivals
Alternatively, the Iranians might say that it considered the agreement still to be in force with all the parties other than the United States. This would mean the Europeans getting business deals such as large sales of commercial airliners rather than American companies like Boeing getting the business, and it would mean Russia and China getting both commercial deals and diplomatic influence that the United States would not be getting. This would be a situation that Donald Trump himself said during the campaign was unacceptable. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking to the AIPAC conference in Washington D.C. on March 21, 2016. (Photo credit: AIPAC)
Withdrawal from the JCPOA would have additional, farther-reaching negative implications for President Trump. It would re-open an old issue that had been resolved through diplomacy, create a new crisis, and consume much high-level time and attention that otherwise could be devoted to countless other foreign policy problems, including ones centered in the Middle East.
Withdrawal also would weaken the credibility of anything else the new U.S. president wants to do that involves, like the JCPOA, executive action rather than a treaty. Much of what Mr. Trump has talked about regarding trade and other matters falls into this category.
Not least important, backing away from the JCPOA would kill opportunities to build on the agreement by doing diplomatic business with Iran on many important issues where Iran is unavoidably a major player. An excellent guide to those opportunities is a just-released report titled Maximizing the Opening with Iran: How President Trump Can Secure American Interests in the Middle East , prepared by the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and signed by 76 national security experts and scholars (including myself). The report states, “If diplomacy could be successful in resolving the most volatile and complex point of tension between the U.S. and Iran – the nuclear dispute – President Trump should also employ diplomacy to peacefully resolve or manage the remaining differences between Washington and Tehran.”
It’s not just bilateral issues and remaining differences in the U.S.-Iranian relationship that are at stake. It is the ability of the United States to address effectively many other problems important to it. In the words of the NIAC report, “Iran has substantial latent power – population size and potential for wealth generation – and thus it is bound to be a leading power in the greater Middle East. Washington cannot change this. Nor can Washington stabilize the Middle East without Iran’s involvement. Iran will be part of the regional solution – or there won’t be a solution.”
The report includes many specific recommendations regarding problems ranging from warfare in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan to energy and security in the Persian Gulf.
The JCPOA is important not just because of the technical details of what goes on inside Iranian nuclear facilities, although the nuclear nonproliferation objectives that the accord has advanced are indeed very important. It is important also as a step away from the self-hamstringing American habit of not fully using available diplomatic tools to pursue U.S. interests, because of a distaste for dealing with regimes we don’t happen to like. Making America great on the world stage requires getting rid of that habit.
Paul R. Pillar, in his 28 years at the Central Intelligence Agency, rose to be one of the agency’s top analysts. He is author most recently of Why America Misunderstands the World . (This article first appeared as a blog post at The National Interest’s Web site. Reprinted with author’s permission.) | 0 |
PEARL RIVER DELTA, China — As Wong stands on the deck of the traditional Chinese wooden junk he is building in Shenwan, a cluster of fish ponds and factories in the Pearl River Delta of southern China, he shouts to be heard over the shriek of metalwork from steel ships that are being worked on nearby. “It’s like a piece of art,” said Mr. Wong, a bronzed with stony hands and a quick grin, describing what he loves about the boats with the batwing sails that he so rarely gets to build. A native of the delta region, Mr. Wong in 1982 swam for two hours from nearby Zhuhai, on China’s mainland, to what was then the Portuguese colony of Macau to escape China’s strict Communist government. Once there he set up an early incarnation of Yi Hap Shipyard, a builder of wooden junks, which symbolize the delta and the maritime culture that drove China’s early growth. “Not many people are wooden junks anymore,” Mr. Wong said. “I wish more people would. ” Within the next few months, the junk, the Dai Cheung Po — also known as the Aqua Luna II — will unfurl its sails above its high stern and low bow and join its smaller sister, the Cheung Po Tsai, or the Aqua Luna I, already in Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong, to offer parties and dinners. It is one of a few of these traditional ships with sails being made by one of the last remaining junk builders in China. “The building tradition is more or less moribund,” said Stephen Davies, a former director of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum. Yet the style remains traditional, “insofar as they are still doing what Grandpa did, and before him,” he said. The new junk is made of Southeast Asian ironwood and teak and cost about $1. 3 million to build. It was commissioned by a restaurant group in Hong Kong, which lies about 50 miles east of Shenwan on the edge of the delta where the river’s silty water turns ocean blue. Also in Hong Kong is the Dukling, a classic, junk that dates from 1955. It sank once and was recently refurbished. Since June, its owners have offered tours of Hong Kong’s waters, reflecting how junks today are used mostly for tourism and private parties. They are three of only a handful of junks that remain in the delta, replaced long ago by stouter wooden fishing vessels without sails, speedboats and huge container ships. The pirate Cheung Po Tsai, or Cheung Po “the Kid,” who crisscrossed the delta pillaging and later joined the Qing dynasty imperial navy, sailed a ship that looked similar to his namesakes, though its sails may have been a yellow woven bamboo, not red. The red color is largely a flourish, Mr. Davies said. The life of the delta is partly interlaced because of junks, which were once numerous with their fanlike silhouettes, trading down into Southeast Asia and up the coast of China. The junk — the word’s origins are murky, with Chinese, Malay and Portuguese cited as influences — may have assumed its iconic, curved hull and sails about 1, 000 years ago, during the Song dynasty, though written records are scarce. Captivated by the junk’s beauty, David Yeo, the founder and owner of Aqua Restaurant Group, commissioned a Hong Kong master boat builder, Au Wai, to conceptualize and direct the construction of the Aqua Lunas and to work with Mr. Wong in Shenwan. The first was launched in 2006, and unlike junks of the past, both are and their sails are decorative. “He has made more commercial junk boats than anyone else in Hong Kong. He is a master of a true art form,” Mr. Yeo said in an email. “An art form that is sadly dying out in Hong Kong today. ” Mr. Au’s life reflects the sweep of delta geography. He is unsure where he was born but knows his father was from Guangdong Province in China, through which the Pearl River runs. Known as Ah Sin — the honorific and name translate as Dear Magician, for his talent — Mr. Au, 85, grew up poor in Hong Kong. In his boatyard on Hong Kong Island, in the eastern district of Shau Kei Wan, he points to photographs of wooden ships of all kinds that he has built since being apprenticed to an uncle at the age of 13: simple “ ” motorboats and corporate junks that carry some design elements of the traditional junk but without sails. Beyond the wood shavings, the harbor glitters in the sun. Fishing boats draw up outside to deliver their catch to the Shau Kei Wan wholesale fish market. “I was very naughty as a boy, and no one could control me,” Mr. Au said in Cantonese, the local language. Barely a teenager, he sold fish on the streets. “I did what I wanted. So my family said, ‘You should look for a special skill,’” he said. “An uncle was the owner of a shipyard and also a member of the ship association. ” His son, Au Sai Kit, works with him, but because his son has no children, the family tradition will probably end there. Hardly anyone in Hong Kong is willing to do manual labor, the elder Mr. Au said, so he has to look to places like Shenwan, where he and his son travel regularly to confer with Mr. Wong and his team of workers. Building a luxury junk is a labor of love, Mr. Au said. “We take the wood piece by piece, fit them together in a curve, measure each piece and cut it,” he said. Copper nails are used to hammer the hull together. No other metal or artificial materials are used. It takes about a year to build a traditional junk, Mr. Wong said. Once junks were made from camphor wood and pine from Fujian Province, said Mr. Davies, the former museum director. “They were simple to build. That was the genius of the hull design,” he said. But they had flaws. “The hull is only joined together by nails, so you can’t have one high sail. You need rigging,” he said. “They had to keep adding sails to make the junk sail in a straight line. ” The idea of a Chinese junk has been romanticized, Mr. Davies said. “Junks were brutally hard work. The grunt work — it took 14 members of crew to work the sails. It was pure sweat,” he said. But Mr. Davies concedes that the traditional Chinese junk remains iconic. “That sweep down to the bow, the fan in profile, with the masts that create this beautiful arc along the top. The fully battened, standing rigging. There is just a beautiful harmony in looking at it,” he said. | 1 |
Report: Saxophone Still An Okay Vehicle For Self-Expression While declaring that the musical instrument was by no means ideally suited to the task, a report released by the National Endowment for the Arts Thursday concluded that the saxophone nevertheless remains a fairly decent vehicle for expressing one’s ... 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. 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. Most Hotly Contested Down-Ballot Measures Of 2016 As Americans head to the polls, they will be presented with a number of issues to vote on besides choosing their representatives. The Onion gives voters an advance look at which measures will be included on the ballots in which states. New Heavy-Duty Voting Machine Allows Americans To Take Out Frustration On It Before Casting Ballot WASHINGTON—Saying the circumstances of this year’s presidential race made the upgrade necessary, election commissions throughout the country were reportedly working to install new heavy-duty voting machines this week that will allow Americans to physically take out their frustrations on the devices before casting their votes. New Report Finds Voters Have No Idea How Outraged They Supposed To Be About Anything Anymore WASHINGTON—Saying that at this point, they were just taking their best guesses at how they should react to each new scandal that emerged about the presidential nominees, voters across the country admitted Monday they had no clue how outraged they are supposed to be about anything anymore. Anthony Weiner Sends Apology Sext To Entire Clinton Campaign BROOKLYN, NY—In response to the FBI’s announcement that its investigation of him had produced new evidence that could pertain to its probe of the Democratic presidential nominee, Anthony Weiner reportedly sent an apology sext early Monday morning to the entire Hillary Clinton campaign. Nation Too Terrified To Look At What Trump’s Recent Rise In Polls Attributed To WASHINGTON—Claiming it felt queasy just thinking about what the cause could be, the nation’s populace said Monday it was too terrified to look at what Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s recent rise in the polls was attributed to. Anthropologists Discover Isolated Tribe Of Joyful Americans Living In Remote Village Untouched By 2016 Election WALDPORT, OR—A team of anthropologists announced Friday it had discovered an isolated tribe of blissful Americans who have never been exposed to the current presidential campaign or its candidates, noting that the newly identified population lives contentedly in a remote village completely untouched by the 2016 race. | 0 |
by Yves Smith
Yves here. This Real News Network interview with Lawrence Wilkerson , not surprisingly, is pretty sobering. The rush transcript didn’t have apostrophes, so I added them as best I could, but there are sure to be some spots I missed.
SHARMINI PERIES, TRNN: Welcome to the Real News Network. I’m Sharmini Peries coming to you from Baltimore.
The Obama administration is currently considering a proposal to send more arms to CIA backed anti Assad forces in Syria. According to the Washington Post, Obama has not made a decision yet and could leave it up to whoever wins the election in November. This of course raises questions of what would a President Hillary Clinton or President Donald Trump do in Syria? This has also been the topic at the presidential debates, recently.
Joining us to discuss the Clinton’s and Trump’s approach as to foreign policy is Larry Wilkerson. Larry is a retired United States army soldier and former Chief of Staff to the United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. He’s also just published an article in National Interest, written together with Gordon Adams about this topic. Larry thank you so much for joining us today.
LARRY WILKERSON: Thanks for having me Sharmini.
PERIES: So Larry in your recent piece titled No Hillary Clinton’s Foreign Policy Judgment Isn’t As Good As Everyone Says, you argued that a case for Clinton as a better foreign policy president on the basis on knowledge and experience. Now factoring all of this in, what’s going on in Washington in terms of how they should behave or what foreign policy actions or military actions need to be taking place in Syria. How do you think Hillary Clinton would act?
WILKERSON: I’m very concerned about it. I can tell you that right up front. Her posture with regard to Syria in general when she was secretary of state and some of the remarks shes made during the campaign, lead me to believe that she’ll be very bellicose with regard to Syria. I hope I’m wrong. I hope a better judgement prevails. But as I said in the National Interest article, I,’m not all that convinced of it. That’s based primarily on her track record with regard to Libya which is now a disaster, and it’s my understanding that she was one of the if not the principle advocates of action in Libya when President Obama somewhat reluctantly decided to do it, following NATO into that country. And she was also an advocate of the war in Iraq and regime change there. So in those two instances, her judgement was flawed, seriously flawed you could argue, and based on her rhetoric with regards towards Syria, I certainly don’t want to see that kind of judgement continued in that regard.
PERIES: And in the recent debate, she was advocating a no fly zone over Syria. What does that mean and what implications will it have in terms of geopolitical allegiances at this time?
WILKERSON: We’re not dealing with a Libyan air force or an Iraqi air force or indeed a Syrian air force. What we’re dealing with here is Russian air forces perhaps even as you and I were discussing eventually Chinese air forces, so they’re not there now I don’t think, and the Syrian air forces. So if we go in to establish a no fly zone and were serious about it, the first airplane that penetrates that zone is all important because youve just about got to shoot it down. If it’s a Russian airplane, youre in trouble because youve now performed an act of war against Russia and Syria. What that means, well just have to wait and see but I don’t think itll mean anything good for either side, or ultimately for Syria.
So we’re talking about if we lay down something like a no fly zone and say this is it as of midnight on such and such a time, no aircraft can fly through here. And suddenly 5 minutes later even, a Russian aircraft flies though, we have two choices. We shoot it down and risk war with Russia and that has all kinds of ramifications that are outside Syria as well as in Syria. Or we back off our claim and look like ineffectual boobs. I don’t think either of those outcomes is conducive to US national security interests so I don’t think we should go there in the first place.
PERIES: Larry recently I did an interview with former CIA analyst, Ray McGovern and he said that President Putin in Russia, sees the next few months before potential Clinton presidency as a window of opportunity for consolidating Russia’s position in the Ukraine and in Syria. Now many world leaders are predicting that a Clinton, as you have just done, will likely to escalate the situation particularly in Syria that this is an area that President Obama has been restrained with. Do you think that Ray is correct, that Putin consolidating his power and will Hillary Clinton in her assessment, go ahead on with Putin?
WILKERSON: I’m concerned about it, as I said before because of her previous actions and because of some of the people she has advising her that look a lot like the people who were advising George W. Bush in his first administration from 2001-2005 of which I was a rather intimate member. So I am concerned about it. I hope that once she is in the Oval Office and if she indeed shes elected and she gets all the briefings and is brought up to speed and so forth. And she gets the council of her military leaders, she will be more circumspect and be more rational let us say than she is sometimes compelled to be on the political circuit and on the campaign trail. That’s my hope. But as I said, based on her track record, I have some concern. Perhaps not as much as Ray but I still have some concern.
PERIES: Now there’s been a number of other defense analyst in recent years who argue that the president has relatively little room to maneuver because the intelligence community, the Defense Department and the State Department are the ones that really policy strategy. To what extent is that correct, science youve been at the center of all of this?
WILKERSON: Defense Department does have an enormous amount of influence on the national security decision making process. There’s no question about that. As do other nefarious influences like Lockheed-Martin, Halliburton and all the usual suspects weve heard about who influence congressional decision making and ultimately influence where the money goes and so forth. I think probably in this particular instance though with regard to Syria, what I’m hearing is the military and particularly the joint chiefs of staff are reluctant to enter this trade with potential for starting a shooting war with Russia.
So I hope that what I’m hearing is correct and that they will act as a break on anything precipitant military action that secretary, then President Clinton or President Trump for that matter, would be willing or want to order.
Let me just say that Trump has been all over the sheet of music if you will on this. But the remarks I have heard that resonate with me are those that would keep us out of these small wars on the periphery of empire if you will. They cost a fortune in blood and treasure and don’t really promise to and rarely do solve anything. They certainly don’t bring peace to instable regions and regions in conflict that Syria is today. They just make things worse.
PERIES: Then finally Larry, when Hillary Clinton became the Secretary of State and then there was this very public pronouncement of resetting relations with Russia, what went wrong? Why are we where we are now where shes accusing the Russians of hacking into emails and as you know there’s controversy over what she actually said in the debate in terms of the Russian involvement in all of this. Why is she escalating this and what went wrong with resetting the relations with Russia?
WILKERSON: What went wrong with resetting the relationship was us. The US of A. We have wasted no opportunity to make Mr. Putin more powerful politically in his own country. As soon as he figured out that sticking his fingers in Washingtons eyes was a winning political formula, you could guarantee you were going to get more fingers in our eyes. More so than that, geopolitically and geostrategically, that is to say in the heart of Russia’s near abroad we have been making moves from Ukraine to Georgia. And we have been making moves that anyone including myself, being the ruler of a country first erstwhile great power and seeing it happen would be responding to and responding to with the elements of national power which I have that can compensate for weakness that I have too.
By that I mean Id be responding with everything from cyber warfare to little green men, to whatever I had that was competent and powerful in my arsenal that I felt like I could win with against the United States and ultimately against NATO. That’s precisely what Putin has been doing. You could almost sit down and map it. Every time we make a mistake they capitalize on that mistake. I don’t just mean mistakes as in execution or mistakes in being in somewhere where we shouldnt be at in a particular time. I mean policy mistakes. The policy mistake most glaringly pushing ourselves into Russia’s near abroad and NATO along with us with ballistic missile defense, with exercises and so forth.
If I were Putin I wouldve responded the same way. I think that Id have been just as smart as he has and Id capitalize on my streets against weaknesses and I wouldve gained the political capital that hes gained in the course of this time. It’s not all totally our fault but a whole lot of it is.
PERIES: So if we are collecting our thoughts here, Larry Russian, Chinese now, possibly Iranian collaboration over Syria are serious times.
WILKERSON: And Russia exercising for the first time since the death of Anwar Sadat with the Egyptians. Russia selling major armaments to the Egyptians for the first time since I think about that same time period. The world is changing. Power is shifting and the United States needs not to be fearful of such changes but it needs to be a lot smarter of how it plays those changes to its own benefits.
One of the things it needs to be most hard about is fear of deployments of its own military forces to get engaged in things like weve been engaged in for the past 20 years. Things like Afghanistan, things like Iraq, things like Syria and so forth. We really have no capability to influence these conflicts, these basically civil wars and so forth. Trying to do so from the opening as we did in Afghanistan with Mujahideen for example by having the CIA essentially arm everybody that we can find that looks like he might be a freedom fighter, only to discover months or maybe half a year or so later that they’re anything but freedom fighters.
Indeed, they’re using some of the weapons that we sold them on our troops or on our own formations is just not the answer. It simply doesn’t work clandestinely or openly to the support elements in these conflicts that we know basically don’t have a hares breath chance of winning. The mistake in Syria has been as I said all along. That is our attempt to get rid of Bashar al-Assad. We need to face up to that mistake. We need to be more receptive to his remaining in power and some guys. The best we can probably get at the negotiating table is that maybe hell be gone sometime in the unspecified future.
But we need to understand that sometimes we have to give a little too, especially if we want to stop the bloodshed in Syria which is reaching proportions where everyone in the world ought to be appalled at.
PERIES: Alright Larry. I look forward to your report next week as things really escalate and intensify over Syria. Thank you for joining us.
WILKERSON: Well lets hope that no one else decides to throw in their lot with the forces in Syria. China and Russia are quite enough, thank you very much.
PERIES: Indeed. I thank you again and thank you for joining us on the Real News Network. 0 0 0 0 0 0 | 0 |
'Hungover' now recognised as a school of philosophy 12-11-16
THE wisdom and insight that comes with a hangover is to be taught as part of philosophy courses.
‘Hangoverism’ will be approached as an over-arching discipline, taking in elements from existentialism’s view that life is meaningless, all the way back to Socrates’ allegory of not being able to face leaving a cave and going outside.
Philosophy professor Nikki Hollis said: “Many students will be able to relate to the teachings of Jeffrey Barnard and his theory that reality is just a construct that needs ignoring on a Saturday morning.
“Now leave me the fuck alone. I went mental on Chardonnay last night. My head feels like it’s in a tumble dryer.”
Meanwhile, academic journals have begun printing hangoverism essays, including The Morality of Bacon Sandwiches and Vomiting and Nothingness .
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Newsbusters October 27, 2016
On Wednesday’s Morning Joe , co-host Joe Scarborough once again was forced to actually tell the truth about the liberal bias in media coverage throughout this entire election.
Scarborough, a former Florida Republican congressman, began the discussion stating that:
“[A]s a Republican there’s a natural reaction to press bias and it has been so overwhelming even if it is has been earned. The media has taken sides. They’ve aggressively taken sides and they’ve admitted that we’re aggressively taking sides and I think you get some Republicans that see that every four years. It’s so funny. They do that every four years. Every four years it’s like the end of the world if a Republican gets elected president because they’re all racist. It’s the boy that cried wolf.”
In a sense, what was articulated is that the mass media’s historic liberal bias against conservatives is reflected in every election so much so that in this one, their usual partisan attacks against Trump’s controversial personality are not as effective. Also, Scarborough stated the fact shared by many conservatives that there is an overwhelming and aggressive agenda by the press to defend liberals.
Furthermore, in conversation with frequent panelist Mike Barnicle, Scarborough added: “Also, it’s such a confounding election where we go back and forth on what it’s about, Mike Barnicle said all along that it’s about Hillary Clinton. People say ‘I’m going to vote for Hillary Clinton as a protest against…’ and then after sitting on that for a couple of weeks that thought for a couple weeks they go ‘eh…maybe not.’”
In a way, they were all trying to explain how Trump is still almost tied to Clinton in a number of battleground state polls, despite the disproportionate amount of negative coverage. Later on in response to co-host Willie Geist’s remarks about the race being almost over, Scarborough proved his earlier point about the media’s disconnect:
“I got to say, Willie. Everybody that is saying it’s over and you’re a fool if you’re suggesting that the American people may have the final say at the voting booth are the same people that were saying in August, September, October, November, December, January, February that there was no way in a million years that Donald Trump would ever win the Republican nomination. Stating it just as emphatically as they’re stating now that we need to avert our eyes, this race is over. “
Here are the excerpts from the October 26th discussion on Morning Joe :
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
10/26/2016
6:07:14-6:08:04 AM
JOE SCARBOROUGH: People in the press won’t like to hear there also is – as a Republican there’s a natural reaction to press bias and it has been so overwhelming even if it is has been earned. The media has taken sides. They’ve aggressively taken sides and they’ve admitted that we’re aggressively taking sides and I think you get some Republicans that see that every four years. It’s so funny. They do that every four years. Every four years it’s like the end of the world if a Republican gets elected president because they’re all racist. It’s the boy that cried wolf. Also, it’s such a confounding election where we go back and forth on what it’s about, Mike Barnicle said all along that it’s about Hillary Clinton. People say ‘I’m going to vote for Hillary Clinton as a protest against…’ and then after sitting on that for a couple of weeks that thought for a couple weeks they go ‘eh…maybe not.’
(….)
6:18:25 – 6:19:01 AM
SCARBOROUGH: I got to say, Willie. Everybody that is saying it’s over and you’re a fool if you’re suggesting that the American people may have the final say at the voting booth are the same people that were saying in August, September, October, November, December, January, February that there was no way in a million years that Donald Trump would ever win the Republican nomination. Stating it just as emphatically as they’re stating now that we need to avert our eyes, this race is over. 8:20 | 0 |
Alien Contact.NASA will never disclose UFOs, but THEY ARE HERE! # alina_dragomir 6
Recently a high ranking official from NASA declared that they will never disclose alien life,so we have to stop asking questions like: Do the Alien Exist? because NASA will never tell us something related to extraterrestrials.Never!
But do we really need someone to tell us what to believe?
More and more people are demanding UFO Disclosure,But are we really prepared for such event? What is the implication of that?
What if They are already here among us? Tags | 0 |
RENDEL, Haiti — There is a plague on this town. Even before the winds and rain toppled nearly everything standing, cholera was already here. It came down from the mountains, washing into the lives of the thousands who once lived above the river. Now the only sign of life is in a makeshift clinic dealing with hundreds of suspected cholera cases, a small concrete building where just a few nurses contend with the swarms of patients arriving every hour. There is only one public official left. The mayor was struck by cholera and left on foot to seek treatment hours away. One deputy died of the disease last week. Another fled, like so many others, to escape the ruin visited on the town of Rendel by Hurricane Matthew and its aftermath. “Ninety percent of our village is gone,” said Eric Valcourt, a priest in the Roman Catholic parish that runs the clinic and a school that now serves as a shelter for those too sick or poor to leave. “Many left by foot to escape the disease and devastation. The rest died from cholera or the hurricane. ” A week has passed since the hurricane tore through this remote stretch of Haiti’s southern peninsula, leaving an apocalyptic landscape of treeless countryside, disarticulated homes and a land robbed of its natural riches. But for many, the torment has only started. Cholera, the disease at the heart of Haiti’s last disaster, is being spread again by this one. About 10, 000 people have died and hundreds of thousands have been sickened since cholera first appeared in late 2010. Scientists say it was brought to Haiti by United Nations peacekeepers stationed at a base that leaked waste into a river. After years of deflecting blame, the United Nations this summer acknowledged “its own involvement” in the suffering Haiti has experienced from the disease. Now, cholera is stalking the areas gutted by the hurricane, a long peninsula of coastal towns and mountain villages where clean water was already hard to find, long before the storm. Here in the remote town of Rendel, a grueling trek to the nearest paved road, the disease has spread to every crevice of this valley and the hills above. “We are all at risk,” said the last official in Rendel, Pierre Cenel, the magistrate. A father raced down the hill to the clinic with his young daughter draped over his back, clutching her legs, his face fixed in fear. “She must have cholera,” the magistrate said. “He is running to save her life. ” Cholera was creeping through the mountains even before the hurricane, claiming the lives of untold numbers as its pushed toward town. First came the sick, who trudged down to Rendel, desperate for medical care. Then, when the floods came, cholera was carried down by the water itself, which swept up fecal matter dumped on the hillsides, contaminating the river and other drinking supplies. Inexperience did the rest. Water unboiled or unchlorinated and poor hygiene meant the infections spread rapidly. The town of Rendel and its surroundings, which once sheltered 25, 000 people, are the epicenter of a potential disaster. Thousands have left on foot, forging a river that bends so often that it requires nine crossings along the way. The things they carry are all they have left: split bags of clothes and small livestock. They carry disease, too, destined for towns connected to the rest of the country by road. One family braced for a river crossing, the youngest daughter in a purple dress with a pink sweater, clutching a live chicken in her arms. “I don’t know what we will do, but we can’t live here,” said her father, Donald Augustin, 37, balancing a black suitcase on top of his head. “The people are dying of cholera. ” Those who remain bear witness to the slow release of misery. Heroic nurses care for patients splayed on the floor like rag dolls, some resting atop the improvised stretchers they arrived on. Patients vomit and defecate on the floor or into small yellow buckets, too sick to leave their stifling confines. The waste is emptied into an hole on the hill just behind the clinic, awaiting the next rainfall to overflow once again. The smell of bile and excrement stings the nostrils. Patients come and go to escape the stench and the oppressive heat, while relatives risk disease to tend to their loved ones. Many refuse to come to the clinic at all, fearful of being blamed for the outbreak. Sick people midway through their recoveries are shown the door to make way for new patients. A single lantern is the only light for the nurses to work by during grueling shifts. A lowing child is rocked on her mother’s lap as an IV drip pumps fluids into her tiny arm. A young husband feeds his pregnant wife hot porridge, blowing over each spoonful as patients writhe beside and beneath them. A father kisses the ear of his son to soften the taste of saline solution. “I spent the night here with her but the bed is too small for both of us so I slept outside and checked on her every hour,” said Jean Romit Cadet, 22, the young husband, handing the spoon to his wife and urging her to eat. “If I get sick, I get sick. I’m responsible for her. ” One morning this week, a rush of patients poured into the clinic, some carried on stretchers. A nurse tried to register each patient but lost track in the chaos, unable to take down everyone’s details. A young girl entered the clinic and told the head nurse she was suffering from diarrhea. “For how many days?” the nurse asked. “Three,” the girl replied. “Why are you only coming now?” the nurse demanded. “We need to hook you up to an IV. ” The girl refused. “I’m not vomiting,” she yelled over her shoulder as she left the clinic. The nurse turned to the crowd in the entrance of the clinic, a porch robbed of its roof by the storm. In its place hung a sagging blue tarp. “This is the problem,” she told the crowd of patients, parents holding sick children and others laid out on the floor, their eyes lolling back into their heads. “She doesn’t want to use the IV because she isn’t vomiting. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have cholera. ” Another nurse approached and whispered that they were running out of needles for the IVs, which dangled like translucent vines from the rafters of the clinic. The nurse disappeared into a back room. A patient seated on a bench near the entrance erupted from his seat and vomited over the edge of the porch, onto ground where people walk to and from the back of the building. A mother and father tried to their son rehydration salts, sending the boy into fits. The child tried to bite the hand of an aide holding his arms. A nurse approached and asked the family if they had symptoms. The mother, Osila Cominan, said it was her third day with diarrhea, but quickly added that she was not vomiting and did not need treatment. “You should be on an IV, too,” the nurse said, before rushing to another patient vomiting on the floor. In the town, citizens had set up a roadside cleaning station, a simple affair with a tank of chlorinated water that was sprayed onto the shoes and hands of those fleeing. With all the departures, the fear of carrying cholera to bigger cities was a real one. The town itself was hollowed out. Those still here stood on what remained of front porches, mired in a state of shock, hoping the people would return. The stasis was interrupted every so often by another patient heading to the clinic, staggering down the rocky paths or carried aloft by family. A few concrete homes provide the only reminder of the town that was. Lesser houses have been stacked into piles along with the trees and branches scattered by the storm. “When you look around you, it’s like the end of the world,” said Joseph Kenso, 33. “Look around you. The disaster speaks for itself. ” One of the only buildings left is the clinic, a structure that formerly served as a center for prenatal care. The original cholera care center was destroyed in the hurricane. It had opened only a week before the storm, to treat people streaming in from the outbreak in the mountains above. In the center of town, wearing just one Mr. Cenel, the magistrate, smiled ruefully at the town’s misfortune and his own, estimating that hundreds have died between the hurricane and the disease. But his math is like that of many: a reflection of the emotional toll, not an exact one. “After a hurricane, if you don’t see someone for a few days, they are usually dead,” he said. Sixty percent of the town has now fled, he said. “No! I disagree,” said a man standing in the magistrate’s front yard. “It’s at least 85 percent of the population gone. ” Another man standing nearby said the people would return once they could rid the area of cholera. He was sure of it. “They might,” said the magistrate, whose mother and father are among those who left. “They might. ” But how do you combat cholera in a place where people get their water from the river or surrounding springs, where disinfectant is a luxury? One woman leaving the clinic with soiled sheets was stopped by a nurse, who asked her to drop them in a pile of clothing to be burned that night. The woman hesitated, throwing her hand over her eyes as she addressed the nurse. “I can’t,” she said. “This is all I have left. ” The toll from cholera is unknowable. Most of the departed never make it to the clinic and get buried without any record. “We don’t know how many have died in the surrounding community,” said another nurse, Marie Marguerite Bernadin, 42. “But we know most of the deaths occur outside of here. ” If the cases are caught early enough, the nurses explained, treatment is as simple as rehydration. “They don’t come on time because for some of them it’s an embarrassment and they tried to hide the sick,” explained Alicia Hyppolite, 32, a nurse in the clinic. “And people don’t listen when you tell them things. ” About an hour and a half north is the village of Delibarain, a hamlet near the mountain river that feeds the springs of Rendel. Before the hurricane, residents and officials said there were several deaths from cholera, or what they believed to be cholera, since there were no labs on hand to confirm the disease. The first ones that residents and local leaders can remember were the members of the Vital family, five of whom died from the disease. The dead were buried in graves without wrapping them in plastic, wearing gloves or taking the precautionary measures applied to bodies. Soon, even more people were infected. The rainy season spread the disease farther. “They just placed them in the earth,” said Thomas Cyril, 47, who lives in the village and knew the family. Prostrate on the floor were his brother, Faniel Cyril, and his cousin, Alicia Delcy, both of whom were showing symptoms of cholera. Faniel, barely conscious, reached out to grab the hand of Mrs. Delcy from time to time. Frightened of what was happening in their village, the pair had come down the mountain on Sunday to seek treatment. It was bad in Rendel, he granted, but up the mountain it was worse. “Now the people are really dying,” Mr. Cyril said. | 1 |
New Parenting Trend Involves Just Handing Children Bulleted List Of Things To Accomplish By 30 NEW YORK—Saying the popular new practice appears to be growing in popularity particularly in coastal states and within more affluent suburbs, several family experts confirmed Friday that the latest parenting trend involves just handing children a bulleted list of things they need to accomplish by the age of 30. Family Thought Grandfather Might Enjoy Watching Worst Little League Game Imaginable BOWLING GREEN, KY—Saying it would be a great opportunity for some sunshine and fresh air, members of the Ostby family reportedly came to the conclusion Friday that their grandfather, Earl Ostby, might enjoy going outside and watching the worst Little League baseball game imaginable. Michael Phelps’ Fiancée Gives Birth To Healthy 6-Pound Tadpole TEMPE, AZ—Saying that he is “so overjoyed, excited, and thankful,” 18-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps announced Sunday that his fiancée has given birth to a healthy 6-pound tadpole. | 0 |
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AN ELDERLY member of a local Waterford community rose bright and early this morning to ensure he was able to bulk purchase nuts ahead of this evening’s trick or treating deluge.
71-year-old Maurice O’Boyle had been concerned that his local Super Valu may run out of nuts as other people, similarly evil, would seek to buy all the supplies of the non-sweets in a bid to frustrate and annoy young children.
“That’s what the fuckers get for ringing the doorbell, I love seeing all the hope and joy draining out of their faces, you can’t beat it,” a chirpy O’Boyle explained.
The pensioner first started the practice of being an old fuck who kids learn to hate as far back as 1985, but is not alone in his desire to ruin the evening for excitable youngsters.
“In some cases nuts and apples actually outsell sweets and chocolate,” explained local Super Valu manager Dave Tierney, “we tend to up the price of nuts by 400% during this period, but the older and more curmudgeonly the person is, the less they care about how much it costs them to really piss off trick or treaters,” Tierney shared.
O’Boyle has been placed on a local ‘annoying old fucker’ watchlist by local children, but as records have yet to be digitised and circulated online many children will still call to his door expecting a chomp bar or something, only to be disappointed.
Gardaí have warned local old fucks not to ask children for a ‘trick’ instead of a treat as this resulted in children stabbing and murdering as many as 40 adults last year. | 0 |
Wednesday 9 November 2016 by Davywavy and H Martians invade, humanity too embarrassed to take them to our leader
A Martian invasion of Planet Earth was delayed this morning when alien demands to be taken to the leader of the free world were just met with shifty looks and embarrassed silence.
“It was really weird,” admitted Martian invasion fleet captain Zy-Mon Williams.
“Normally when we invade a planet, the usual procedure is to park the saucers over the largest and most prosperous-looking nation, beam down, point the blaster at some local and say ‘Take me to your leader’.
“But this time, for some reason, it’s not working.
“All the humans we’ve collared so far just seem to look shifty or embarrassed, saying things like ‘my word, is that the time,’ and then run away.
“Also none of them will look us directly in the eye, they just stare at their feet, whereas normally people always stare at us on account of us being green and stuff.”
But Williams was optimistic. “Pretty soon we’ll find whoever runs this place,” he declared, “and then Earth is doomed! Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!”
On hearing this, humanity nodded as if it wasn’t really surprised. Get the best NewsThump stories in your mailbox every Friday, for FREE! There are currently | 0 |
Inside The Mind Of An FBI Informant; Terri Linnell Admits Role As Gov’t Snitch by IWB · October 27, 2016 Tweet
FBI informant Terri “Momma Bear” Linnell tells why she became an informant, and what she told the FBI during the Bundy occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns Oregon earlier this year, in her first-ever interview. The occupation of the refuge ended with the death of rancher Robert “LaVoy” Finicum and the arrests of dozens of other protestors.
Only much of what she said was a lie and interviewer Bobby Powell, Publisher of The Truth Is Viral news program, knew it. Eye-witness testimony from three separate individuals dispute Linnell’s account of events during the raid of a campground in Maryland during Operation American Spring by more than 40 agents from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, Maryland State Police, and the Secret Service.
The witnesses all say Linnell was escorted away from the campground by the Secret Service while her friends and fellow campers were on their knees with automatic assault rifles pointed at their heads for hours.
There is also evidence to indicate, including a slip of Linnell’s own tongue, that she has been an informant for the FBI, and possibly even a paid agent, since the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2010. | 0 |
Democrat Sen. Al Franken said, “We should look at that” when asked during a Tuesday CBS This Morning interview if Senior Adviser to the President Jared Kushner’s security clearance should be revoked. [“This is a pretty bad breach,” added Franken. “These guys, this, the Administration, they’re not acting like people who have nothing to hide,” he claimed in the interview. He said they have a special prosecutor and House and Senate intelligence committees looking into the matter. “We have to see where the facts lead us, of course,” said Franken, who agreed when the host said, “But we don’t know yet?” Franken said that Kushner didn’t disclose some of his contacts with Russians during the initial process of obtaining White House security clearance. The senator claimed that this is “against the law. ” Last Friday the Washington Post reported the claim of Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that Kushner sought a secret communications channel between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin. The Post report stated that U. S. officials reviewed intercepted communications from December 1 or 2 at Trump Tower and that those communications included an offer from Kushner to Kislyak to set up a secret communications channel between the transition team and the Kremlin. The report also cited unnamed officials that said the U. S. was not surveilling the meeting or those involved. The report added that Russia sometimes feeds false information “as a way of sowing misinformation and confusion among U. S. analysts. ” In a Tuesday morning interview with Fox News, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway cited weekend comments from Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and National Security Advisor Gen. H. R. McMaster in which each expressed a lack of concern about the issue and, Conway stated, “backchannels like this are the regular course of business. ” Recently the Department of Justice appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana | 1 |
Weeks after a new North Carolina law put transgender bathroom access at the heart of the nation’s culture wars, a federal appeals court in Richmond, Va. ruled on Tuesday in favor of a transgender student who was born female and wishes to use the boys’ restroom at his rural Virginia high school. Advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people note that the ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit applies to North Carolina, where the controversial law approved last month limits transgender people to bathrooms in government buildings, including public schools, that correspond with the gender listed on their birth certificates. As a result of the ruling, those advocates say, that portion of the North Carolina law that applies to public schools now clearly violates Title IX — the federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in schools. “Our expectation is that the North Carolina schools reverse course immediately, as in tomorrow,” Sarah Warbelow, the legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, an L. G. B. T. rights group, said Tuesday night. The ruling in favor of Gavin Grimm, a junior at Gloucester High School in southeastern Virginia, does not immediately grant him the right to use the boys’ restrooms rather, it directs a lower court that had ruled against him to Mr. Grimm’s request for a preliminary injunction to be able to use those restrooms. But it is the first time that a federal appellate court has ruled that Title IX protects the rights of such students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity. The ruling also comes as some school districts and state governments around the country are grappling with the question of whether transgender people should be allowed to go to the public facilities that correspond with their gender identity, or whether, as many conservatives believe, such access would infringe on the privacy rights of others. Boycotts and protests have followed the passage of the North Carolina law, but Gov. Pat McCrory has essentially stood by it. On Tuesday, Joshua Block, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the case on Mr. Grimm’s behalf, argued that such state and local legislation violated federal law. “With this decision, we hope that schools and legislators will finally get the message that excluding transgender kids from the restrooms is unlawful sex discrimination,” he said in a statement. The North Carolina law has prompted the Obama administration to consider whether the state would be ineligible for billions of dollars in federal funding for schools, housing and highways. Mr. McCrory, a Republican who is seeking in November, and other supporters of the law have played down suggestions that the Obama administration would rescind those billions. Mr. McCrory’s Democratic opponent, Roy Cooper, the state’s attorney general, has said in the past that the law may put the federal funding at risk and has refused to defend the state in a lawsuit challenging it. In a statement Tuesday, Mr. McCrory said he strongly disagreed with President Obama and Mr. Cooper’s objective “to force our high schools to allow boys in girls’ restrooms, locker rooms or shower facilities,” but would evaluate the effect of Tuesday’s ruling on North Carolina law and policy. The A. C. L. U. brought the case on behalf of Mr. Grimm, who was born female but identifies as a male, in June, seeking a preliminary injunction so that Mr. Grimm could use the boys’ restrooms at his school. The school administration initially allowed him to do so, but the local school board later approved a policy that barred him from the boys’ restrooms according to court documents, the policy also “required students with ‘gender identity issues’ to use an alternative private facility” to go to the bathroom. Judge Robert G. Doumar of Federal District Court ruled against Mr. Grimm in September, dismissing his claim that the school board had violated Title IX, although the judge did allow his case to go forward under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The ruling by a panel on Tuesday reversed the lower court’s dismissal of the Title IX claim, stating that the District Court “did not accord appropriate deference” to regulations issued by the Department of Education. The department’s current guidelines dictate that schools “generally must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity. ” Roger Gannam, a lawyer with the conservative Liberty Counsel, which filed an amicus brief in the case on behalf of the defendant, the Gloucester County School Board, said Tuesday that the court had engaged in “blatant judicial legislation. ” “It’s very disappointing, and it’s frightening, in a sense,” he said. Mr. Block of the A. C. L. U. in a phone interview, said he was confident that the District Court would rule in Mr. Grimm’s favor and allow him to use the restroom. And he noted that the five states covered by the Fourth Circuit — Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia and South Carolina — must now follow the federal Department of Education’s interpretation of Title IX on this issue. The Obama administration has been aggressive in its efforts to ensure that transgender students can use the bathrooms in public schools that correspond with their gender identities. Some federal agencies have threatened to rescind funding to pressure some municipal governments in California and Illinois to change their policies and allow transgender students to do so. In June, the Justice Department filed a “statement of interest” in Mr. Grimm’s case. “We are pleased with the Fourth Circuit’s decision, which agreed with the position that the United States advocated in its brief,” the Justice Department said in a statement Tuesday night. In an email, a clerk for the Gloucester school system said the superintendent, Walter Clemons, “has no comment at this time. ” In a statement released through the A. C. L. U. Mr. Grimm said: “I feel so relieved and vindicated by the court’s ruling. Today’s decision gives me hope that my fight will help other kids avoid discriminatory treatment at school. ” | 1 |
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A New York band member called out Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival over its contract that demands foreign musicians follow U. S. immigration law. The festival is scheduled to run from March in Austin. [Felix Walworth, a drummer from Brooklyn, New Told Slant, dragged the SXSW festival into the middle of the national immigration debate when he tweeted to his approximately 6, 000 followers he is canceling the band’s appearance at the upcoming festival. The band’s Facebook page describes itself as a “bedroom punk band from New York, the music of Felix Walworth. ” Walworth’s complaint revolves around a provision in the festival’s participation contract that states the organization will contact U. S. immigration authorities if international artists violate the conditions of their immigration visas that prohibit working in the U. S. After looking through this contract sent to me by sxsw I have decided to cancel Told Slant’s performance at the festival pic. twitter. — Told Slant (@Felixixix666) March 2, 2017, According to Walworth, the agreement states, “International Artists entering the country through the Visa Waiver Program (VWP,) B visa, or any visa may not perform at any public, or SXSW Music Festival DAY OR NIGHT shows … ” The photo of the alleged contract wording cuts off at this point. He claims the contract states that artists violating this provision of the agreement will be removed from their “official showcase,” and possibly replaced. It further claims SXSW will cancel the artist’s hotels booked through their housing service and cancel their credentials. Most notably, the agreement allegedly states SXSW “will notify the appropriate U. S. immigration authorities of the above actions. ” Shortly after his initial tweet, Walworth added, “Can our first step toward coalition as artists with radical politics be to cancel all our official showcases at sxsw? I’m serious just do it. ” Can our first step toward coalition as artists with radical politics be to cancel all our official showcases at sxsw? I’m serious just do it, — Told Slant (@Felixixix666) March 2, 2017, SXSW officials responded in a statement published by Austin360. com that the wording in the contract has been in place for many years and is not a response to the current status of immigration issues that followed the election of President Donald Trump. “In the era, it looks different than how it was intended, and how it was received in the past,” SXSW managing director Roland Swenson told the local music news outlet. “But we’ve come out strongly against the travel ban, and we’ve really been going the extra mile to make sure these bands don’t get screwed over when they enter the country. ” “Most South by Southwest acts are able to perform here on the condition that they’re not getting paid and they’re not doing any other shows than ours, “Swenson explained. “That keeps them from having to go through getting a work visa and all that, which is time consuming and expensive. ” He said the wording in the agreement is an attempt to warn international performers what could possibly happen to them if they violate the rules surrounding their visas. “We have never reported international showcasing artists to immigration authorities,” SXSW officials stated in the press release. The statement continues: We were sorry to learn that one of our invited performers chose to cancel his performance at this year’s SXSW Music Festival due to a misunderstanding of our policies regarding international artists. We understand that given the current political climate surrounding immigration, the language that was published seems strong. Violating U. S. immigration law has always carried potentially severe consequences, and we would be remiss not to warn our participating acts of the likely repercussions. Language governing SXSW’s ability to protect a showcase has been in the artist Performance Agreement for many years. It is, and always was intended to be, a safeguard to provide SXSW with a means to respond to an act that does something truly egregious, such as disobeying our rules about pyrotechnics on stage, starting a brawl in a club, or causing serious safety issues. The organization provided Austin360. com with the text of the contract sections in question. The SXSW Performance Agreement states: If SXSW determines, in its sole discretion, that Artist or its representatives have acted in ways that adversely affect the viability of Artist’s official SXSW showcase, the following actions are available to SXSW: Artist will be removed from their official SXSW showcase and, at SXSW’s sole option, replaced. Any hotels booked via SXSW Housing will be canceled. Artist’s credentials will be canceled. SXSW will notify the appropriate U. S. immigration authorities of the above actions. Officials continued, saying, “We hope never to be put in the position to act on this. Indeed, we spend a great deal of time communicating with international artists concerning numerous issues, including how to avoid issues at U. S. ports of entry. ” In what officials described as an informational addition to the agreement made many years ago, SXSW added the following language to the agreement: 1. 4. Foreign Artists entering the country through the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) B visa or any visa may not perform at any public or unofficial shows, DAY OR NIGHT, in Austin from March 2017. Accepting and performing at unofficial events (including unofficial events aside from SXSW Music dates during their visit to the United States) may result in immediate deportation, revoked passport and denied entry by US Customs Border Patrol at US ports of entry. For more information, please visit these pages: 1. 4. 1. (B Visa ESTA) ””>””>”ltr” lang=”en”>the managing director of sxsw accused me of pasting together two parts of the contract to make it sound worse than it is. Here’s a video: pic. twitter. — Told Slant (@Felixixix666) March 2, 2017, Swenson later updated his initial statement and said the language is in two different places in the agreement, but “those two sections did appear in sequence on SXSW’s invitation letter. ” 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. | 1 |
FBI Cops Out on Pressing Charges Against Hillary November 07, 2016 FBI Cops Out on Pressing Charges Against Hillary
Democrat Hillary Clinton heads into the final day of a tight White House race against Republican Donald Trump on Monday with new momentum after the FBI said no criminal charges were forthcoming in an investigation of her email practices. Both Clinton and Trump will spend the day racing across a handful of battleground states that could swing Tuesday's election, which polls show is close but tilting toward Clinton. FBI Director James Comey again sent shockwaves through the race by telling Congress on Sunday that investigators had worked around the clock to complete a review of newly discovered emails and found no reason to change their July finding that Clinton was not guilty of criminal wrongdoing in her use of a private email server while secretary of state. It was uncertain whether the announcement came in time to change voters' minds or undo any damage from days of Republican attacks on Clinton as corrupt. Tens of millions of Americans had cast early votes in the 10 days since Comey first told Congress of the newly discovered emails.
"Nothing's going to change between today and tomorrow to help [Clinton] win back" undecided voters," Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Trump, who has not said whether he will respect the results of Tuesday's election, questioned the thoroughness of the FBI review and said the issue would not go away.
Clinton did not mention the FBI finding during her last two campaign events on Sunday.
"That's behind us now," campaign manager Robby Mook told CNN on Monday.
On Monday, Trump will hit five battleground states - Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Michigan - and close with a late-night rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Article by Doc Burkhart , Vice-President, General Manager and co-host of TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles Got a news tip? Email us at Help support the ministry of TRUNEWS with your one-time or monthly gift of financial support. DONATE NOW ! DOWNLOAD THE TRUNEWS MOBILE APP! CLICK HERE! | 0 |
LOS ANGELES — Sequel fatigue does not fully explain it. Nor does an overload of event movies. A spate of terrible films? Yes, but that’s not entirely the explanation, either. In a summer when studios suffered more misfires than ever, many of them supersized, Hollywood is scratching for answers, and some longtime movie executives are pointing toward a nuanced shift in consumer behavior. For the first time since moviegoing became a staple of American life, an underappreciated revenue engine — ticket buyers who still trek to theaters more for the experience than for the movie itself — may finally be conking out. “We’re in a situation where, if people don’t get excited about a specific movie and plan in advance to go to it, you may end up with literally no one,” said Adam Fogelson, the former chairman of Universal Pictures who now runs STX Entertainment’s film unit. When movies do not seem worth the hassle, and there seem to be many more of those, there is less of a cushion for studios. Is it because the number of people just wandering in is dwindling? Theater owners and some analysts dismiss that idea, saying studios are refusing to look inward for explanations for a cavalcade of summer disappointments, including “The BFG,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” “The Nice Guys,” “Ghostbusters,” “The Legend of Tarzan,” “Independence Day: Resurgence,” “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,” “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” “Warcraft,” “Ice Age: Collision Course,” “Hands of Stone,” “Star Trek: Beyond” and “Now You See Me 2. ” “ ” cost and Paramount Pictures at least $150 million to make and market, but was savaged by critics and took in only $11. 2 million during its first weekend in theaters. That’s the Hollywood equivalent of “literally no one. ” (An art house example: Despite starring Matthew McConaughey and Naomi Watts, “The Sea of Trees” last month collected a total of $2, 894 over its first two weeks in two theaters.) Sequelitis and an overload of event movies have been blamed for much of the carnage. But sequels have sputtered before. The collapse of “Happy Feet Two” and the “Chronicles of Narnia” series led to similar anxiety a few years ago. “We think the issue is less that audiences are tired of sequels, and more that there are now so many sequels that they are cannibalizing each other,” Doug Creutz, an analyst at Cowen and Company, wrote in a report on Thursday. Nor is it just that the summer offerings were particularly awful. “The data suggests differently,” Mr. Cruetz wrote, noting that the summer’s 29 widely released movies had an average score of 57. 7 percent positive on the site Rotten Tomatoes, the highest in 16 years. The lack of clear answers has led to — “Could This Be the Year Movies Stopped Mattering?” asked a Wired headline last month — and studio theorizing about factors, like a decline in patrons who decide what film to see while standing in line. Most people would never consider arriving at a theater without a specific movie in mind. Astoundingly, though, more than a quarter of all ticket buyers still decide what film to see only after showing up, according to PostTrak, an audience polling service owned by comScore. Theaters offer supporting anecdotal evidence. “Our members say the most common questions their ticket sellers get are ‘What’s good?’ and ‘What’s playing next? ’” said Patrick Corcoran, vice president of the National Association of Theater Owners. Still, while data is scarce, PostTrak does show an erosion. In summer 2014, about 32 percent of people made their decision while in line at a theater. In 2015, the number was about 28 percent. PostTrak discontinued research on this audience segment in March, leaving studios to guess at what happened over the 2016 summer season, which started on May 6 and ends on Monday. If the crowd is dwindling, the reasons include the comparative ease of other forms of entertainment (HBO Go, Netflix) the increasing cost of moviegoing (now $17. 25 per adult at the ArcLight chain’s Hollywood location, before upcharges) and the movie business itself, which has aggressively pushed one kind of event movie (lumbering, sequels) at the expense of variety. The increasing popularity of online ticketing and reserved seating may also be playing a role. At Fandango, “there has been a shift from purchase to advanced purchase,” according to Harry Medved, a company spokesman. Last week, AMC Entertainment, the No. 1 theater chain in North America, said that all nine of its locations in New York City would soon offer reserved seating. “In the olden, olden days, people went to see whatever was playing, but people today, flooded with niche entertainment programming, don’t want to spend money on a movie they are only in seeing,” said the film historian Jeanine Basinger, whose books include “The Star Machine. ” When hauling the family to the theater seems worth it, the upside can still be enormous, Ms. Basinger noted. “Finding Dory” and “Captain America: Civil War,” both from Disney, were the top draws of the summer, collecting a combined $891 million at North American theaters, according to comScore. Third place went to Universal’s “Secret Life of Pets,” which took in $360 million a sequel is already in the works. On a smaller scale, STX Entertainment hit the jackpot with its modestly budgeted “Bad Moms,” which passed $100 million over the weekend, and Sony similarly succeeded with “Sausage Party,” which has taken in about $90 million. Warner Bros. powered “Lights Out,” a horror movie made for $5 million, to $66 million in ticket sales. Over all, the handful of blockbuster hits made up for the misses — at least for theater owners, who will collect roughly $4. 49 billion at the summer box office, on par with 2015, according to comScore. (Last summer was one week longer.) Attendance is expected to total 513 million, a 3. 5 percent decline. For the year, theaters have generated about $8. 11 billion in ticket revenue, a 5 percent increase attendance is up about 1. 2 percent. But the misfires have added up for studios, most of which have been spending more on individual films as they search for global hits. Warner Bros. Sony, Universal, 20th Century Fox and Paramount all had diminished or nonexistent profits in the most recent quarter. Disney was the exception, with a huge $766 million in profit, a 62 percent increase from the same quarter a year earlier. But even Disney has struggled recently. Its last three releases have been duds: “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” “The BFG” and “Pete’s Dragon. ” And, over the Labor Day weekend, a fourth, “The Light Between Oceans” is expected to sell a disappointing $6. 3 million. “We didn’t see a lot of middle ground this season,” Dave Hollis, Disney’s executive vice president for theatrical distribution, said on Sunday. “There are probably multiple reasons why, starting with the fact that people are making their selections much more carefully. ” | 1 |
Friday on CNN’s “Situation Room,” CNN political director David Chalian said President Donald Trump’s recent foreign policy maneuvers mean he is “going mainstream” and Washington “establishment. ” Chalian said, “I don’t know if we’re seeing a Trump doctrine take shape. Certainly, Donald Trump is not portraying it as such. It’s a little bit more of these disparate and discrete incidents that have happened, whether the Syria attack or this bomb. In fact, you just said it was a tactical move that the theater commander was able to make, not necessarily the large — part of a strategic framework here, and I think — the only thing that I could sort of ascertain in observing what Donald Trump is doing right now is that he’s going mainstream — a little establishment, which is totally against the brand that he ran on. ” “But he — I think it shows the power — and when I say establishment, I don’t mean just Republican establishment — Democrat — the Washington establishment — and it shows the power and the stranglehold that the establishment has,” he continued. “I know he tried to bust it up during the campaign and saying that he was going to be the irritant and destroy it, but when you don’t have ideological moorings — you’re not moored, that’s guided, then I think you’re susceptible to the power of the establishment and I think that’s what we see playing out right now with Donald Trump. ” CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash added, “He said the world has changed, and it hasn’t. I mean, things change every day in the world, but the — but the overall sort of zeitgeist of where these hot spots are is where they were when he took office, so it wasn’t that. It was him, and it is him, and — and to your point, David, it’s that he’s not a dogmatic guy. He never was. If he was a dogmatic guy, then he would have run for the Democratic nomination because he would still be and for health care system but he’s not. He switched, you know, did a complete 180 on those issues and so it’s not surprising that he is willing to — to use his words, be flexible when it comes to a whole host of issues, as he’s learning a really, really hard, really new job that people who are even ideological and get the job tend to realize, you know, I need to switch a little bit. ” Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN | 1 |
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Pittsburgh City Council rewrote a proposed rule change that included a $500 penalty for members who talk publicly about closed-door meetings, but the new stipulation still could violate free-speech rights, an open meetings law expert said.
Council President Bruce Kraus on Tuesday introduced legislation that revises rules governing council’s operation that were last amended in 2011. Kraus of the South Side sponsored the bill with three other members.
Council last week was prepared to introduce a version of the rules that contained a gag order and fine for members found to be in violation of attorney-client privilege by speaking publicly about private meetings known as executive sessions. Kraus said council tweaked the legislation to censure members found to be in violation of attorney-client privilege for talking publicly about private meetings with city attorneys. The rule does not define attorney-client privilege but keeps the $500 penalty.
The previous version empowered the council president with doling out punishment to members. Kraus said that was changed to require a unanimous vote of council. | 0 |
President Donald Trump is open to the idea of breaking up giant Wall Street banks, separating consumer lending and investment banking, according to Bloomberg News. [“I’m looking at that right now,” Trump said. “There’s some people that want to go back to the old system, right? So we’re going to look at that. ” The stock markets dipped briefly in response to Trump’s comment but returned to normal levels. Dow turns positive again following drop after President Trump said he’s ”looking at” breaking up big banks https: . pic. twitter. — CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) May 1, 2017, Trump made his remarks in an interview with Bloomberg News reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. He was asked about his campaign suggestion that he would implement a version of the law that was passed in 1933. The law required consumer lending and investments to be separate, but it was repealed in 1999 under former president Bill Clinton. The idea was included in the Republican party platform and endorsed by manager Paul Manafort in July 2016. “We believe the years have passed legislation that has been favorable to the big banks, which is why you see all the Wall Street money going to her,” he said. “We are supporting the small banks and Main Street. ” Earlier today, Vice President Mike Pence and Donald Trump met with a group of community bankers at the White House. Trump vowed to get rid of onerous regulations like that hurt small banks. | 1 |
It felt like a watershed moment for a scattered and civil rights movement. Inside Black Lives Matter, the national revulsion over videos of police officers shooting to death black men in Minnesota and Louisiana was undeniable proof that the group’s message of outrage and demands for justice had finally broken through. Even the white governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, in a pained public concession, embraced the movement’s central argument. “Would this have happened if those passengers — the driver and the passengers — were white?” he asked. “I don’t think it would’ve. ” Then, in an instant, everything changed. Black Lives Matter now faces perhaps the biggest crisis in its short history: It is both scrambling to distance itself from an sniper in Dallas who set out to murder white police officers and trying to rebut a chorus of detractors who blame the movement for inspiring his deadly attack. “What I saw in Dallas was devastating to our work,” said Jedidiah Brown, a Chicago pastor who has emerged as an outspoken Black Lives Matter activist over the past year. The moment he learned of the attack on the police, he said, he immediately sensed that any emerging national consensus would “tear down the middle. ” “The thing I vividly remember thinking was, this is going to show exactly how divided this conversation is,” he said. For those who have harbored doubts or animosity toward Black Lives Matter — among them police unions and conservative leaders — the Dallas attacks are a cudgel that, fairly or not, they are eager to swing. In Texas, several state officials, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, lashed out at the group, directly linking its tone and tactics to the killings. Mr. Patrick acknowledged that the demonstration in Dallas on Thursday night had been peaceful until the gunman struck, but he accused the movement of creating the conditions for what happened. “I do blame former Black Lives Matter protests,” he said. “This has to stop,” Mr. Patrick said, adding of the police officers, “These are real people. ” State Representative Bill Zedler, a Republican, was equally blunt in his assessment of the group’s influence on the gunman, Micah Johnson. “Clearly the rhetoric of Black Lives Matters encouraged the sniper that shot Dallas police officers,” he wrote on Twitter. But a bigger problem for Black Lives Matter, supported by many liberals, is that Mr. Johnson’s actions could jeopardize the movement’s appeal to a broader group of Americans who have gradually become more sympathetic to its cause after years of highly publicized police shootings. In the days before the Dallas massacre, Aesha Rasheed, 39, an activist in New Orleans, felt that at long last, white and black America were watching the same images with the same horror: two Louisiana police officers tackling and then shooting Alton Sterling, 37, at range the slumped, body of Philando Castile, 32, after a Minnesota police officer shot him through a car window, with his girlfriend and her daughter sitting inches away. “It seemed like a national consciousness was sinking in,” Ms. Rasheed said. After the massacre in Dallas, she said, “it turned on a dime. ” She now worries that the episodes involving black men may be overshadowed and overlooked. “Does this get ignored?” she asked. “Do five officers take center stage?” Black Lives Matter usually spurns central planning and management. But in a sign of alarm over the volatile situation, leaders of several organizations associated with the movement put out formal statements that repeatedly described the Dallas attacker as a lone gunman, unconnected to the group’s cause. “There are some who would use these events to stifle a movement for change and quicken the demise of a vibrant discourse on the human rights of Black Americans,” read a statement from the Black Lives Matter Network. “We should reject all of this. ” The police have said Mr. Johnson — a military veteran who told the authorities that he had hunted down white police officers as retribution for their abuses — had no direct links to any protest group. But in recounting Mr. Johnson’s final hours, Chief David O. Brown of the Dallas Police Department mentioned the movement by name. “The suspect said he was upset about Black Lives Matter,” he said. The wider world may now expect or even demand a period of reflection and restraint from the members of Black Lives Matter. But public, nonviolent confrontation, rather than private conciliation, is central to the group’s mission: shouting at police officers, for example, or staging elaborate “ ” that evoke death at the hands of law enforcement. This style has at times rankled even the movement’s allies: A Black Lives Matter protester interrupted Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont during a Seattle campaign rally in August and seized control of his microphone, inflaming his aides and some of his supporters. “Excuse me!” Mr. Sanders cried. That combative approach is deliberate. The group is premised, activists said, on a rejection of what they see as a dominant mainstream culture that has marginalized the value of lives for decades. Black Lives Matter was born, as a phrase and a rallying cry, after the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Florida shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed . By the time demonstrators took to the streets of Ferguson, Mo. a year later to protest the killing of Michael Brown, another unarmed it was the motto and name of a decentralized collection of activists. Today, at least 37 groups operate under the movement’s name, and tens of thousands of supporters identify with its cause. In interviews on Friday, activists scoffed at calls to recalibrate their message or their strategy, or to temporarily pause protests out of respect for the dead police officers in Texas. By Friday night, protesters had returned to the streets in multiple cities, swarming the Williamsburg Bridge in New York shutting down a major highway in Atlanta and marching through downtown Phoenix, where officers used pepper spray and beanbag guns to keep the demonstrators from taking over Interstate 10. In each city, the protesters were trailed by the police, as they were in Dallas. But it was clear that the national conversation had changed. On social media, Black Lives Matter activists watched with dismay on Thursday night as a squall of outrage and mourning over the shootings of Mr. Sterling and Mr. Castile was suddenly overwhelmed by a furious outcry over the shooting of Dallas police officers and messages of rage directed at activists and protesters. The hashtag #blacklivesmatter was joined by #bluelivesmatter, a rival reference to police officers. “This rhetoric has to stop. It’s sickening,” wrote one Twitter user using the hashtag. “We will not forget or forgive,” wrote another. Sitting in his bed after midnight with an iPhone, DeRay Mckesson, 30, a Black Lives Matter activist, watched the rapid change in tone. “It suddenly became about blame,” he said. “People wanted to link it to the protesters no matter what. ” Undeterred, several activists rebuffed the view of the carnage in Dallas as a potential setback to their cause. Ja’Mal Green, another activist, said the killings were, in their own grisly way, a powerful call. “It’s not a setback at all,” Mr. Green said. “That’s showing the people of this country that black people are getting to a boiling point. We are tired of watching police kill our brothers and sisters. We are tired of being tired. ” He insisted that he was not encouraging violence. But he said there “comes a time when black people will snap. ” He added: “It only takes a couple to get past that boiling point. You saw that in Dallas. ” As conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh assailed Black Lives Matter as “a terrorist group committing hate crimes,” activists like Wendi ’Neal saw echoes of repeated attempts throughout American history, including efforts by the federal government, to discredit civil rights groups and leaders. “It’s just made up,” she said of those who held Black Lives Matter responsible in any way for the Dallas attack. “It’s not true. ” “I can’t think of any of the justice or liberation organizations that I know,” Ms. ’Neal said, “that have an investment in shooting cops. ” | 1 |
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SGT Report – FBI Director James Comey has caved to the pressure of public opinion, new email evidence from Wikileaks, and from his own outraged employees at the FBI, and he has re-opened the CRIMINAL investigation of Hilary Clinton. With less than two weeks until the election it would seem that Hilary is more likely to enter a prison cell than the Oval office. SF Source SGTreport.com Oct. 2016 Share this: | 0 |
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When Judith Gait met “Father X,” it was a lopsided grief that drew them together. He had lost his only chance at fatherhood through an abortion years ago. Gait is a married mother of five, and long-term American resident in Britain. Her support of the pro-life movement is driven by “thankfulness and praise” for life and her Christian faith.
Witnessing abortion’s heavy toll on the living and dead, Gait began to make the paintings almost no one else seemed to be doing. Subtle and working entirely with symbolism, these simple artworks avoid screaming about abortion. Rather, they mourn in color, symbol and tone with single shoes, broken cord, dead flowers and other lonely and broken things. “Troubadours Sailing Hibiscus Seas”painting by Judith Gait, commentary by Father X
When a friend first visited Gait’s studio, he was struck by her abortion paintings. Confessing years of torment after his partner aborted his child, he wrote: “I realize your work comes from a place of great love, for it attempts to give defenseless life the dignity and protection it never knew in our throw away culture.”
Gait invited him to pray with her for his lost child. It happened to be the anniversary of the death of his baby, five years to the day. Father X remembers every detail.
Their conversation grew into a joint effort, culminating in a book, “ Troubadours Sailing Hibiscus Seas: Meditations on Post Abortion Trauma .” Father X wanted to remain anonymous, as a place-setter for millions of unconsidered fathers in the acts of abortion. He wrote poetic and powerful statements for each of Gait’s 30 paintings in this book, which have also been shown together in art exhibits.
Time and neglect does not necessarily heal the wounds of abortion, Gait claims. Rather, “the past refocuses into a sharper image and the pain through an iterative process of silence, guilt and remorse has not abated.” You can see that in the words of Father X, which run the gamut of human emotions. “On Abortion: Shoe, Pot and Crosses”from “Troubadours Sailing Hibiscus Seas”
“Jonah of Nineveh” features an upended, single rose with red cords and funereal foliage. Flowers are “already in the birth position, head down and waiting to be born.” Torn and shroud-like ribbons hang across the painting. Spirals represent a child’s DNA helix and the “veil of the Temple which has just been so rudely shaken down to its foundation.” Father X makes an analogy between Jonah fleeing “parental responsibility” and eventual redemption – then veers off to his own personal engulfment in almost a stream of consciousness: “It was her wedding dress, my sea green empress, this blue lagoon princess she slipped into her own heart of darkness on that day she decided to abort and when time really stopped in our lives. She was full of fear. …”
In some of these works, hammers incongruently hang with flowers. They are bloody or blackened, some submerged underwater or hanging from a noose. Father X interprets these tools as decision markers, to either build or tear down. In “Hammer of Decision,” it belongs to Thor, the war god “infested with his one eyed wisdom of intrigue and destruction.” Wagner, the Olympics, “sperm races,” Thomas Moore and Valkyries are all inducted into this choice by the author. Either the Carpenter’s “hammer of wisdom” or Thor’s “tool of chaos” will be chosen by expectant parents. “Hammer, Suspended”
“ Troubadours ” runs from elegant poetry to sentiment over babies and an ad hoc theology. Striving to extend lives of children lost to abortion, the authors create a fantasy universe of possibilities. This includes moonlighting for angels, celestial games, “interstellar wind-jammers” and a “baby steamer sailing on children’s seas,” among other delightful prospects. Lost and murdered infants in these tales pine for love or for a family in their Limbos.
Father X occasionally speculates on spiritual issues outside the Bible or the treatment of abortion in other religions. Running from nursery rhymes and quotes to historical characters, these are not theological statements, but a type of literary yearning that seeks an answer to abortion.
In Gait’s “Pink Rose” and “Stardust,” we see empty fields, withered plants and other tokens. Father X takes off from here on fanciful trips for the lost children. He places them in a cosmic waiting rooms or dancing in circles, which is reflected in the painting. Children are disfigured, or missing eyes or arms and singing in “low mournful tones” so as not to disturb their parents. Music is “intense, equivalent to the sound created by Hildegard von Bingen (a 12th-century nun and composer). “Troubadours Sailing Hibiscus Seas”painting by Judith Gait, commentary by Father X
References to Mary as a mother are common, as well as other scriptural allusions. “All babies jump for Jesus” in the womb (or in “its sack of nibbling yoke”) writes Father X. Elizabeth’s child John “leapt for joy, just as his ancestor David did before the ark of the covenant,” he continues.
Gait addresses the human embryo, finding Biblical, ethical or emotional arguments for its worth at all stages. Her “Abbey Target Beginning” has a crosshair target, which is interpreted spiritually: “The first target blastula conflates the first cellular divisions with the laver bread – the bread on fire with the Holy Spirit the same stage of development as the child in Mary’s womb when she arrived at her cousin Elizabeth’s house.”
Post-abort guilt isn’t rationalized or downplayed, but emotionally reacted to in art and word. Father X describes bats as whirling about “in circles at the pitiful sound the [aborted] children make” because they are tuned to such distressing signals. This contrasts with many parents who are “still stone deaf” to such mournful sounds. At another point, Father-X imputes the collective white noise of guilt to attacks of tinnitus, a roar of unwanted thoughts. “Troubadours Sailing Hibiscus Seas”painting by Judith Gait, commentary by Father X
Father X elaborates on what Gait hints in her paintings: the injustice and evil of abortion. He cites a world built on slavery before Christ’s advent, and the works of such men as William Wilberforce and John Brown in furthering Christ’s gospel of justice and peace. All this is contrasted to abortion throughout.
Ruminating on Gait’s “Palms of our Lord,” Father X claims “the face of the baby is in the midst of the ruins of the abortion. “Palms” is murky, with a single, red hand print. “To look at the after birth of an abortion is to read the Tarot of Ruins,” he continues.
“Suicide” advances this dark theme, where Gait and Father X criticize the death industry and it’s euphemistically named “clinics.” He takes a few swings at the girl gangs of the glass ceilings: “… a caricature of a woman who made a mistake, who got herself in trouble, who has had an abortion and afterwards committed suicide in her heart.”
But all isn’t baleful and sad here. In “Cloud Children,” Father X muses on paper dolls in Gait’s paintings with this lovely thought: “Where children go … is a mystery. … Some say they take their daytime rest in Christ’s tomb in Jerusalem, and like him when their time is come they will ascend into heaven before a quire of angels and assembled Star Ships.”
“ Troubadours Sailing Hibiscus Seas ” is a work of meditation, grief counseling, poetry, social commentary and visual art. Father X may not reveal his identity here, but the reader comes to know intimate details about relationships and emotions surrounding the death of his only child. Gait and Father X describe their efforts as a “silent prayer of witness for all the ghost families, those Phantoms of Sorrows, who will never laugh or cry together as a family, because of an abortion.” They hope that prying open the tightly locked matter of abortion will help to heal those who have had abortions or are victimized in some way.
Judith Gait is a graduate of California College of Arts and Crafts and received a Masters at Oxford’s Ruskin School of Fine Drawing. Her work is in public and private collections in America and abroad. She is an American citizen, residing in Britain. Father X is an addictions counselor and writer in Great Britain, who prefers to remain anonymous.
“Troubadours Sailing Hibiscus Seas:Meditations on Post Abortion Trauma” is a coffee-table size, 103-page paper book, with 33 color-illustrations and related commentary. You can purchase it at Amazon U.S. | 0 |
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter What does it mean to be a leader? This is a question I have been asking myself repeatedly over the past few weeks. The 2016 presidential election is but a few weeks away and I am left feeling confused, disgusted, and outright angry at what has been demonstrated as leadership. If I am honest, I feel embarrassed to be a citizen of a country that is most certainly causing many eyes to roll and jokes to be made. We are better than this. As I continue to grow, fall down, pick myself back up, and evolve as a leader, I am constantly exploring what the word means to me and how I can embody that meaning from a grounded and heart-centered place. I come back time and time again to the same process — a process that is not weighted or influenced by that which is outside of me, but rather by that which lives deep inside of me. It’s about self-inquiry, self-reflection, self-accountability, and self-responsibility. It’s a process that asks me to drop to my knees, to stretch, to get uncomfortable, to ask more of myself. It’s a process that in times like these, we uncompromisingly appoint ourselves to undergo because we have no choice but to stand firmly in our own leadership. Whether you are a butcher, baker, or a candlestick maker — you are a leader. And the world needs as many honest, honourable, and integrity-filled leaders as it can get right now. Here are my six strategies for stepping firmly into your own embodied leadership. I invite you to get comfy with a notebook, pen, and cup of warm tea and walk yourself through this process step-by-step. 1. Identify Your Value System What matters most to you? Where do you feel unwilling to compromise? Your integrity? Loyalty? Ambition? Transparency? Your values are the foundational parts of yourself that guide your behaviours, choices, and actions. When these are in alignment and you are living your values, you feel at peace inside of yourself. You are operating not from your head or your gut, but from your heart. You are discerning in your decisions and steadfast in your commitments. Not only does it feel good inside of yourself, it is overwhelmingly obvious to the outside world that you’ve got something groovy going on. 2. Acknowledge and Understand What Makes You, You I hope this step doesn’t scare you, because this one takes a little bit of work, as it is an ongoing unfolding process. Although many of us know parts of ourselves, we also have blind spots. Part of stepping into your leadership is to see and understand all of yourself: the good, the bad, and the ugly. For me, the most helpful resource I have found is the Enneagram . This highly evolved personality typing system helps you to better understand your strengths, your stressors, your fears, your areas for growth, and your opportunities to develop. Using this system, you can become clearer on who you are, while learning how other people operate in the world. This information can be unbelievably helpful when learning how to be mindful and aware as a leader. As an Enneagram Type 2, the Healer, I am well-versed in knowing that my superpower is my ability to be compassionate, empathetic, and helpful, but I also lose my power and can become insecure when I do not feel needed. This does not make me weak or invaluable as a leader, but rather pushes me to rise up and push my edges whenever I experience this feeling so that I can meet my own boundless potential. 3. Cultivate a Network of Mentors Want to know something crazy? You don’t know everything and you can’t do it all on your own. I know how disappointing this may sound, but let me tell you something: It’s a damn godsend! Not needing to know it all or have all of the answers gives you space to be vulnerable, approachable, real, and ever-changing. A network of mentors helps you to not feel alone when you are up against the wall and aren’t quite sure how to navigate your next steps. Over the past few years I have worked hard to create my network of mentors. Currently, my network consists of one spiritual mentor and two professional mentors. Oh, and I also have a therapist. That’s right, I have four older, wiser, more evolved humans in my life that I can regularly call upon when in need. And they aren’t my friends. I don’t call them to gab, or simply catch up. I call them when I need to get in deep and unpack some serious personal, professional, or spiritual shit. This wolf pack is a group of individuals who have been around the sun once or twice and take their role as a mentor seriously. If you are feeling lost or misguided in your leadership, I greatly encourage you to reach out to people who inspire you and are living and leading lives that you admire. Don’t be shy. Don’t hold back. Be willing to pay a bit of money for it. Be willing to be rejected. But most of all, be willing to ask. 4. Act from Authenticity A few months back I wrote an article about my 5 Tips on Being Genuine . It almost makes me laugh to think that we need to be reminded to be authentic in our actions. However, the truth is that we have become used to cropping our lives into a series of photographs, 140 characters, or neat blog entries and Facebook posts. We have become buttoned up, edited, and the image of perfection. So, let me show you my leadership by revealing some of my imperfections. I often have no idea what I’m doing. I felt sad for almost all of last week and I couldn’t totally put my finger on why or what to do other than get lots of sleep, exercise, and eat well. I have lots of little blonde hairs on my upper lip that I pluck when I remember. Sometimes I watch TV on my computer in bed. Other times I eat peanut butter toast and scrambled eggs for dinner when I feel too wiped out to cook. I’ve been called bossy. My boyfriend and I fight. I can get anxious when work is slow. Your Inbox Will Never Be The Same Inspiration and all our best content, straight to your inbox. Writing these words, I can feel my own power grow. I’m not hiding anything. I’m not putting on a face or trying to be put together; I’m just being human. And whenever I read or watch someone else show me their messiness, I feel their power and their leadership. Being human is sexy. Show the world what you’re working with. 5. Constantly Work on Your Communication Skills Let me repeat this one: CONSTANTLY WORK ON YOUR COMMUNICATION SKILLS. Communication is a basic life skill and your ability to communicate largely determines your happiness. When you communicate effectively, you make and keep friends. You are valued at work. Your family respects and trusts you. Your needs get met. When you communicate effectively, people listen and hear you, and you learn how to listen to and hear other people. This is when magic happens. Strong, compassionate communication is something that is learned; you’re not born with it. If you are looking for resources on how to better communicate, I highly recommend the books Messages: The Communication Skills Book by Matthew McKay, Martha Davis, and Patrick Fanning and Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg. Additionally, be open to uncovering the underlying reasons of why you react or feel triggered (another blog post coming soon on that) by certain types of communication as well as receiving feedback from others on ways that you communicate well and areas for growth. 6. Commit Yourself to Lifelong Learning Whether you are a CEO at a company, a full-time parent, a caretaker, just starting out your career, or saving the world, you are a leader. And any truly great leader is always learning. Leaders are strengthening their strengths, finding opportunity in their obstacles, and discovering new ways to be the best versions of themselves. Whether it is a book, workshop, therapy session, class, or travel experience, commit yourself to a lifelong learning process and you will forever feel empowered in your leadership. We are currently witnessing a national crisis, where the proposed future leaders of our country are being caught in webs of lies, immoral behaviours, cruel words, disrespectful communication, and dishonourable action. I know it’s easy to sit here, pointing fingers and placing blame. Instead, I am asking you to rise up and embrace your own, unique, and powerful leadership so that we can all come together, one by one, and stand up for what we believe in. Truth. Peace. Integrity. Compassion. Equality. Loyalty. Honesty. And Love. If you are doing it right, you will feel like you are revealing too much.
The Sacred Science follows eight people from around the world, with varying physical and psychological illnesses, as they embark on a one-month healing journey into the heart of the Amazon jungle.
You can watch this documentary film FREE for 10 days by clicking here.
"If “Survivor” was actually real and had stakes worth caring about, it would be what happens here, and “The Sacred Science” hopefully is merely one in a long line of exciting endeavors from this group." - Billy Okeefe, McClatchy Tribune | 0 |
On the Friday edition of Breitbart News Daily, broadcast live on SiriusXM Patriot Channel 125 from 6AM to 9AM Eastern, Breitbart Alex Marlow will continue our discussion of the first 100 days of the Trump administration. [Breitbart Rome bureau chief Dr. Thomas Williams will join us to discuss Good Friday and the increased persecution of Christians throughout the world. Breitbart national security editor Frances Martel will discuss a socialist mob’s assault on a Venezuelan archbishop while he was celebrating mass during Holy Week. Breitbart Pentagon correspondent Kristina Wong will discuss the U. S. military dropping the “Mother of All Bombs” on Afghanistan on Thursday. Autry Pruitt, board member of FairTax. org, will discuss the upcoming Tax Day rallies planned across the U. S. next week. James Swanson, author of Manhunt: The Chase for Lincoln’s Killer, will discuss the anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination at Ford Theatre on April 14, 1865. We’ll also hear from legendary major league pitching ace and Breitbart radio host Curt Schilling. Live from London, Rome, and Jerusalem, Breitbart correspondents will provide updates on the latest international news. Breitbart News Daily is the first live, conservative radio enterprise to air seven days a week. SiriusXM Vice President for news and talk Dave Gorab called the show “the conservative news show of record. ” Follow Breitbart News on Twitter for live updates during the show. Listeners may call into the show at: . | 1 |
A truck driver barreled into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin on Monday night, killing at least 12 people and injuring scores more. The police believed it to be an attack, but the identity of any attackers and their motives were not immediately clear. It was the most recent deadly episode to shake Europe in the last two years. Many recent attacks have been linked to jihadists, and some to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. (The majority of terror attacks have been outside of Europe, primarily in Iraq and Syria.) While there have been several attacks in Germany, none have been . France and Belgium have each seen violence on city streets and in nightclubs and busy transit hubs. In Britain, the most recent act of deadly political violence was by an extremist. Here are some of the deadly attacks in Europe since 2015. The Attack on Charlie Hebdo Masked gunmen linked to Al Qaeda attacked the Paris offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo at the beginning of January 2015, killing 12 people, including the top editor, prominent cartoonists and police officers. The attackers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, were killed by the police two days later northeast of Paris. Hostages at a Kosher Market in Paris Two days after the attack on Charlie Hebdo, an attacker and his companion took hostages at a Kosher supermarket in Paris. They killed four people before the police stormed the building. The attacker, Amedy Coulibaly, was killed, and the second fled and has not been found. Mr. Coulibaly told French news media he “synchronized” the attack with the one on Charlie Hebdo. Terror and Mayhem Unleashed in Paris A team of Islamic State attackers rampaged through Paris in November 2015, killing at least 130 people and injuring hundreds more in a coordinated wave of explosions and gun violence that targeted busy sidewalks, bustling cafes and a packed concert hall. It was the worst terror attack in Europe in 11 years. Explosions in Brussels Bombs tore through an airport terminal and a subway station in Brussels in March 2016, killing at least 31 people and injuring scores more. The attackers were believed to be linked to the organizers of the Paris attacks, and the blasts in Brussels came a day after one of the people who organized the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, was arrested there. British Lawmaker Opposed to ‘Brexit’ Is Gunned Down Jo Cox, a member of the British Parliament who advocated for Syrian refugees and campaigned against a British exit from the European Union, was assassinated in June 2016, days before the ‘Brexit’ referendum. Thomas Mair, a extremist with a history of Nazi and white supremacist sympathies, was convicted of the killing last month. A Truck Kills Dozens in Nice A truck driver plowed into a crowd of spectators celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice in July 2016, crashing into people for over a mile before police officers killed the driver. The attack killed 84 people and maimed and injured dozens more. The Islamic State claimed responsibility and the attacker was identified as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a Tunisian who immigrated to France in 2005. An Ax Attack on a Train Just days after the attack in Nice, a Afghan refugee attacked passengers on a German train with an ax and a knife in the name of the Islamic State. He fled the train after injuring four people and attacked a fifth person outside the train before he was later killed by the police. A Suicide Bombing in Bavaria Days later, a Syrian asylum seeker blew himself up outside a wine bar in southern Germany, wounding 15 people. The blast happened near a music festival attended by about 2, 000 people. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. Islamic State Attackers Kill a Priest in Church Two young men linked to the Islamic State burst into a church in Normandy during a Mass in July, slit the throat of an priest, killing him, and took the assembled parishioners, including at least one nun, hostage. Police stormed the church and killed both attackers. | 1 |
Home | World | Markets Do Not Want Trump Markets Do Not Want Trump By Nostro 02/11/2016 10:57:45
NEW YORK – USA – If you vote for Trump you vote for a future of serious financial upheaval, poverty, and destitution.
We can see this in the market reaction to the recent Trump revival after Clinton’s FBI charade.
In all certain terms markets across the globe will continue dropping and if you have any equity in your pension plans, you can kiss that goodbye too.
Trump will bring heavy inflation to America, and the globe, where prices of consumer goods will sky rocket. With heavy inflation and low salary growth, there will be less money to pay your mortgage, and many will default on their payments.
Feeding your family will be a hard task, as the supermarkets raise their prices to never before seen levels. How about paying $14 for a loaf of bread or $23 for some rice.
With the equity markets tanking, the dollar (DXY) will fall to 23 in a matter of days rendering it useless to pay off even a portion of America’s vast deficit. China is already dumping their dollar reserves.
Trump will be forced to cut welfare payments to all dependants citing no cash, but having the welfare bill cut will cause mass rioting amongst those who depend on EBT for food.
Medical insurance, which is already skyrocketing in price will increase by over 400% when Trump tries to rearrange the insurance industry. This will mean only the very rich, like Trump, will be able to afford health care and the rest of the populace will be left in the dirt.
Donald Trump is only doing this for his ego, he does not care for the poor. According to Trump the poor should all be mowed down by bulldozers and erased from America. He will only cater for the very rich, not the average American.
Martial Law
With extreme poverty, there will be civil unrest leading to civil war as some states will seek to secede from the union. Trump will engage the military to quash any civil unrest, however this will be a catalyst for even more unrest.
It is for the sake of you and your family that you do not vote for Trump, he will destroy America from the inside out. He will send your sons and daughters to fight in the Middle East when he brings in the military draft.
There is no going back, once you vote that is it. You will deal yourself and your family a death upon death, a misery so great that you will wish you had not been tricked by his lies, and he is a liar, a business man with many tricks to fool others so he can win through trickery.
The Daily Squib has accurately predicted many future events and we stand by our word. This is our seal of approval, as we have already proven many accurate prophesies that have come to light many years before the actual event.
If you want to die, if you want your children dead, if you want your grandchildren dead, then vote for Donald Trump. Share on : | 0 |
At a sweltering refugee camp on the border, dozens of Somalis who had cleared all the final security and medical checks to enter the United States were told to prepare themselves for a flight to a new life. In Pittsburgh, a medical student from Iran finally got back to school after a chaotic journey that left him sleeping on a chair for four days. Inside Terminal 4 at Kennedy International Airport in New York, a boy sprinted across the arrivals hall to embrace a family friend who had finally made it back to the United States after being marooned for a week in his home country, Sudan. With the door open again for travelers and refugees who had been excluded by President Trump’s order on immigration, the race to reach the United States accelerated on Sunday among waves of people fearing the opportunity might be fleeting. The rush inundated some domestic and international airports, reunited loved ones and friends, and prompted another round of criticism from Mr. Trump that national security was being endangered by court orders that blocked his tight border policy from taking effect. Mr. Trump and his aides have suggested that terrorists and others who wish to do harm to the United States could arrive through normal immigration channels and that the administration needs time to tighten its vetting procedures. Those travelers now being admitted to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim nations singled out for a temporary ban by Mr. Trump had already been granted visas after screening. Refugees from those countries and elsewhere who were rushing to reach the United States had likewise already been vetted, even more extensively, in a process that involves dozens of checks and can take more than two years. But it was unclear whether a court order blocking Mr. Trump’s policy from taking effect, issued by a federal judge in Seattle, would remain in place for long, creating a sense of urgency among those trying to reach the United States. The back and forth had sown confusion, anxiety, fear and disbelief, but the court order created “a temporary window that we wish to take advantage of,” said Leonard Doyle, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, an intergovernmental agency that facilitates refugee resettlement. “Our staff are being told to move like crazy. ” Families and immigration advocacy groups were buoyed twice over the weekend — first when the Seattle judge temporarily blocked the executive order, and again when the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco denied the government’s attempt to gain an emergency stay. But a mood of uncertainty persisted after a week in which thousands of travelers bound for the United States were halted in transit and turned away at airports, and courts across the country issued conflicting rulings over whether and how the executive order should be carried out. Mr. Trump reacted angrily on Sunday. In a Twitter post, he seemed to give immigration lawyers and advocates reason to fear that the country may not remain open for long to refugees, or to visa holders from the seven nations — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. “I have instructed Homeland Security to check people coming into our country VERY CAREFULLY. The courts are making the job very difficult!” he wrote. Mr. Doyle said that between Monday and Feb. 17, about 2, 000 refugees would be rebooked on flights to the United States. Those who were expected to leave first had moved out of their apartments or refugee camps, sold their belongings and turned in their food ration cards. In Kenya, dozens of Somalis who had cleared all the final security and medical checks to enter the United States were waiting on Sunday in the refugee camp, where they were told that they might be able to travel in the next few days. But they were no longer sure who — or what — to believe. “I feel completely ruined,” said Ahmed Hassan, a Somali refugee heading for Rhode Island. In the past few weeks, Mr. Hassan was bused out of the camp sent to a transit center in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, several hundred miles away given travel documents told he was about to fly to America told he was not about to fly to America bused back to the camp and then told he might actually fly to America after all. He boarded a bus in Nairobi to return to the camp just hours before the federal judge lifted the travel ban. Mr. Hassan had sold his home and feared that he could be targeted as an American sympathizer by the Islamist and militants known to move in and out of the camps. He had arrived back at the refugee camp on Saturday afternoon, retreated from the crowds shouting questions at him and hid inside a room. On the floor of Terminal 4 at Kennedy Airport, Wael Izzeldin, 6, clutched a green marker as he wrote a welcome sign for his father’s best friend, Dr. Kamal Fadlalla. Dr. Fadlalla is a resident at Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn, and had been on vacation visiting his mother in Sudan, his first time home in three years. When Dr. Fadlalla appeared, the boy went running across the arrivals hall, leapt and wrapped himself around the doctor, crushing the tiny sign. Dr. Fadlalla was ebullient but fatigued. Though he holds a visa for people in specialty professions, he had been turned away at the airport, and spent a week marooned in Sudan. Around him, members of his union, Committee of Interns and Residents, wearing white lab coats, cheered. “I’m glad justice won,” he said, adding that he was happy to return to his family and patients. “I need to get back to my work. ” Across the country on Sunday, the nongovernmental agencies that place refugees into homes and help them find jobs were gearing up to resettle as many as possible, while recovering from the whiplash of last week. Before Friday, their work had begun to trickle off, as they could resettle only refugees who were already in transit when the president’s order was signed. They had been preparing for their activities to come to a halt for four months in accordance with the order. Leslie Aizenman, of Jewish Family and Children’s Services, a resettlement agency in Pittsburgh, had already put back on the market an apartment prepared for a family from Homs, Syria, who had been scheduled to arrive in the United States on Tuesday. The State Department canceled their trip last week, and Ms. Aizenman was unsure when it would be rescheduled. Her staff had already returned the backpacks filled with school supplies and stuffed animals they had prepared for the family’s son and daughter. They had also told another Syrian family in Pittsburgh, who had volunteered to make a warm meal to welcome their new neighbors, not to bother. Because of the change, Ms. Aizenman said that refugee family may have to live briefly in temporary housing, and settle for a restaurant meal rather than something homemade. “We had stopped the process, but no matter what, we’ll accommodate them when they get here,” she said. An interim ruling on whether the executive order may be enforced is likely to come quickly from the appeals court. But the ultimate decision on whether the order is lawful will take much longer, and is likely to come from the Supreme Court. That means people seeking to travel or settle here may be in limbo until the case is finally resolved. Over the weekend, lawyers were telling clients to take advantage of the precarious window. “We are encouraging people to come in as soon as possible,” said Mary McCarthy, executive director of the National Immigrant Justice Center, a organization that provides legal services and advocacy to immigrants. “If you need to be back in this country, you should do it now. ” Ms. McCarthy said her organization had been in regular contact throughout the weekend with a network of roughly 1, 500 lawyers who had volunteered to help travelers pro bono. They were just some of the lawyers stationed in shifts at airports across the country, observing customs officials to ensure that the Seattle judge’s ruling was being carried out. “We are being very vigilant,” she said. | 1 |
Friday, 4 November 2016 There Are Bones Beneath That Meat
A Gulfport Mississippi attorney who said he choked on the bones in Popeyes' fried chicken last year believes a warning label placed on the bones beneath the meat could have prevented all his anxiety, pain and suffering. Now he's suing to get warning labels affixed to all Popeye's chicken bones and monetary compensation for himself.
Attorney Pawl Newton, said he got the idea for the lawsuit when he drove through the drive-thru in Gulfport in November 2015.
According to the lawsuit filed this week, Newton bought one chicken breast. He was given salt and pepper. Newton then drove to his nearby lair and started eating.
"Because Newton's order did not include warning labels on the bones beneath the layers of meat, plaintiff Newton held a chicken breast in his hands and tore off pieces of meat thereof with his canines, eating them until reaching the bones which he then also ate since there were no labels on the bones warning him not to eat them as well," the lawsuit states.
That's when Newton then started to choke on a piece of the chicken bone. The lawsuit said he had to undergo emergency surgery at Memorial Hospital to remove it and some gall from his throat.
Newton is suing Popeyes and the parking lot paving company which facilitated his vehicle entry to the drive-through to pay for all his medical expenses, compensate him for his pain and suffering, and award punitive damages. He also wants all future Popeyes' chicken bones to be labeled 'Not For Human Consumption' so customers will be able to safely eat their chicken again."
"If you choke on your chicken and you have to get the chicken removed from your throat, it's not because Popeyes didn't apply a warning label to the bones," former employee Cory Tokes said. "Maybe you should have sense enough to stop eating when you get to the bones. Nobody eats chicken bones. What a dumbshyster."
Jacque Tokes is equally perplexed about the suit.
"Commonsense tells us about how much to bite and not to put bones in our mouths to keep us from choking on our chicken or we would all be dead already," added Stokes.
A Popeye's press release says that its legal team has initiated legal actions against the Missippi Bar Association for giving Newton a law/liquor license and against Newton's mother's birth control provider. Make Winston Smith's | 0 |
HOUSTON — Venezuela had a plan. It was a tactical approach, designed specifically to take Lionel Messi and the other dangerous Argentine attackers out of the game by applying forward pressure and forcing Argentina to make long, hopeful passes. And it worked for about seven minutes. But in the eighth minute, Messi conjured the kind of technical genius that compels most observers to call him the best soccer player in the world, artfully lifting a perfect pass about 15 yards in to Gonzalo Higuaín. With one striking touch, Higuaín converted it into a goal, the first in Argentina’s victory on Saturday in a Copa América Centenario quarterfinal. In that decisive moment, like so many others experienced by opponents hoping to stop Messi, all of Venezuela’s carefully conceived defensive tactics were laid to waste. “They have that stroke of genius that changes all your schemes,” Venezuela Coach Rafael Dudamel said. “They had an incredible pass from Messi, and they scored. ” Messi has frequently had brilliant strokes like that one, and now it is the United States’ turn to try to find a way to suppress them. The United States earned a spot in Tuesday’s Copa América semifinal here at NRG Stadium by beating Ecuador, but the dubious prize awaiting them is Messi, Argentina’s mesmerizing, dribbling, passing and shooting virtuoso. “This is special,” United States Coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “Absolutely, it’s special to play against these type of players. When you get the opportunity to play against one of the biggest players in the world, you want to raise your game you want to enjoy it. ” The United States has had few chances to play a meaningful game against a star of Messi’s caliber who also played on such a quality team. (FIFA has Argentina ranked No. 1 in the world.) Tuesday’s match will be the rough equivalent of taking on Pelé’s Brazil in 1970 or Ferenc Puskas’s Hungary in 1954 or the team led by that other Argentine soccer genius, Diego Maradona, in 1986. As Klinsmann noted, the United States was seconds from beating Portugal at the 2014 World Cup until Cristiano Ronaldo — who has at times been considered Messi’s equal — provided a gorgeous cross that enabled Portugal to tie the game. Over the years, the United States has faced the likes of England’s Wayne Rooney at the 2010 World Cup, Brazil’s Ronaldinho at the 1999 Confederations Cup and Italy’s Paolo Maldini, one of the best left backs in history, at the 1990 World Cup, as well as Brazil’s duo of Bebeto and Romário and Romania’s Gheorghe Hagi, some of the top players of their era, at the 1994 World Cup. At the 1934 World Cup, the United States lost by to Italy, and one of the goals was scored by Giuseppe Meazza, whom some historians consider the best player Italy has produced. At the 1998 World Cup, Klinsmann scored against the United States toward the end of his prolific career as one of the most dangerous attackers for the world champions West Germany and Germany. But in recent memory, there is nothing that quite resembles Tuesday’s challenge. Two years ago Ronaldo did not enjoy the kind of team support from Portugal that Messi does now with Javier Mascherano, Ángel Di María (when healthy) Sergio Agüero and particularly Higuaín, Argentina’s penetrating No. 9, who scored twice against Venezuela. Spend too much time focusing on either Messi or Higuaín, and the other could act decisively. “We have two strikers who are really exceptional,” Gerardo Martino, Argentina’s coach, said after Saturday’s match. “I cannot repeat it enough I really feel this. People in Argentina have a hard time accepting the quality of soccer players that we have. We have two No. 9s, and we proceed with what we feel is best. ” Martino watched Venezuela hack down Messi several times in the quarterfinal game and said the United States would certainly use every possible means to stop him. “I just hope that every possible way is a legal way,” he said at a news conference Monday. As superb as Messi is, some believe that he will not have achieved his true potential until he wins a major trophy for Argentina, just as he has numerous times for the club team Barcelona. But after tying Gabriel Batistuta’s record of 54 international goals for Argentina on Saturday, Messi said he felt no pressure. “I’m always going to be in there,” Messi said. “I’m very calm. ” In Maradona’s time, Argentina also had strong supporting players like Claudio Caniggia, Jorge Valdano, Jorge Burruchaga and later Batistuta. But like Messi, Maradona was the team’s clear supremo. When the United States beat Argentina, at the 1995 Copa América, Maradona was no longer playing for his country. But Klinsmann had the chance to play against Maradona several times. In the 1990 World Cup, West Germany beat Maradona’s Argentina, in a dismal final in Rome. “You are talking about two wonderful players, the best in the world in their time,” Klinsmann said, referring to Maradona and Messi. “It’s now Messi’s time, and when I had the opportunity to play many games against Maradona, it was Maradona’s time. We all admire these players. But there are also ways to stop them. I am not the type of person who pulls out old stories and tells the players how we did it. That’s not me, but there are ways to play against these wonderful players. ” Klinsmann showed his team video scouting reports of Messi and Argentina and said his players needed to give 10 to 15 percent more in order to achieve an upset Tuesday. But the Argentines are not infallible, he added. They have not won a major tournament in over 20 years, and Messi’s team has come up short twice in the last two years. Germany beat La Albiceleste, as Argentina is known, in the final of the 2014 World Cup, and Chile won in the final of last year’s Copa América. Both times, it took champions to beat Messi and Argentina. “You guys are probably worrying more about Messi than we are,” the United States’ captain, Michael Bradley, told reporters. “Very good player. That’s also probably an understatement. It’s still a soccer game with 11 of their guys against 11 of our guys. ” | 1 |
Many Home Depots once featured several dozen day laborers nearby, but the supply is shriveling as the U. S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) may seek to deport up to 3 million illegal aliens that have criminal records. [Following a presidential executive order, “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements,” issued on January 25, ICE raids across the United States detained 680 high priority individuals for deportation, with about 161 detained in California, according to the Washinton Examiner. But that works out to just o. 07 percent of the 950, 062 aliens with deportation orders on the list as of May 21, 2016. According to updated testimony on May 19 to the Senate Judiciary Committee of testimony by Thomas D. Homan, acting ICE director, removals of illegal aliens dropped by 41 percent, from 409, 849 during the 2012 election year, to 240, 255 during the 2016 election year. Of the 99. 3 percent of interior removals, 92 percent were priority convicted criminals, and 7. 3 percent were threats to national security, public safety, and border security. Holman told Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley ( ) that although there are 3 million illegal immigrants with criminal records in addition to their illegal status, ICE only has detained 11, 006 individuals. When asked by Grassley why there were so few in custody, Homan’s answered: “Individuals on ICE’s docket with final orders of removal are released under conditions designed to ensure their compliance with their immigration obligations. ” With virtually no general purpose interior removals in the last couple of years, the latest Pew Research Center Hispanic Trends survey found that were an estimated 11. 1 million illegal aliens in the U. S. in 2014, down from 12. 2 million in 2007. About 72 percent of illegal aliens are employed, equal to about 5 percent of the entire U. S. workforce. About 33 percent held service jobs such as janitor, child care worker or cook, twice the 17 percent share of U. S. workers 15 percent hold construction jobs, triple the share of U. S. workers who hold that type of employment and 13 percent are employed in manufacturing jobs, compared to 10 percent of U. S. workers. Despite the impression that a high percentage work in agriculture, only 5 percent of illegal aliens are employed in agriculture, versus 2 percent of U. S. workers. | 1 |
Little Known Treasury Committee Gives Us a Look At Market's Most Powerful Players By Lee Adler. Have you ever considered how the US Treasury decides how much debt to sell each month to raise the cash it needs to pay its bills in full? If you are like 99.9% of us, probably not. But for investors and traders, it’s important. | 0 |
WHEN Allie Mangel learned that she was losing some of her vision because of a rare condition called Susac’s Syndrome, the last thing on her mind was figuring out how to make her car lease payments. After her doctor notified the California Department of Motor Vehicles last November that she should not be allowed to drive, and her license was subsequently suspended, leasing a Ford Edge at $347 a month became an unnecessary expense. Or so she thought. Ms. Mangel, 24, a youth programming coordinator in San Diego, discovered that even though she was not legally allowed to drive, she was still legally obligated to make her lease payments. “Ford Credit and the dealer told me that the only way I could get out of the lease was to die or join the military,” Ms. Mangel said. She had learned the hard way what many people may not realize, even though leasing has become an increasingly common and seemingly affordable alternative to buying a car. A car lease agreement is like any other contract. And unless specific reasons are stated in the agreement allowing the lessee to end the lease, the signer must make the payments, whether one can drive or not. After her diagnosis, Ms. Mangel was in the hospital for three weeks and out of work for a total of five, and running short of money. “I was a mess,” Ms. Mangel recalled. “I was going through all these things and Ford would not budge. I was in tears and didn’t know what to do. ” Ms. Mangel had signed a lease agreement spelling out the terms of the contract, and ending the lease early without penalty was not covered. The rules are the rules, according to Margaret Mellott, a spokeswoman for Ford Motor Credit. “All Ford Credit lease agreements state very clearly the obligations when one turns in a car before the end of a lease agreement,” Ms. Mellott said. “I’m not aware of any exceptions being made. ” Ford Credit and most other vehicle leasing companies do give lessees options for breaking the contract. But the terms can be severe. Ms. Mangel could have returned the vehicle to the dealer, and then paid the difference between the amount owed on her payments and the value of the car if sold at auction. In her case, that would have been an unbearable burden: about $15, 000. Or she could have tried to sell her lease to a third party through a company. But with membership and lease transfer fees, that would have also cost her more than she could afford. “A friend tried to do that,’’ she said, “and he received no interest after it being listed for weeks. ” Some lessors may demand payment of all the remaining payments, plus penalties. If the lessee decides simply to walk away from the lease and have the vehicle repossessed, the person’s credit rating will suffer. Leasing a vehicle, of course, is not the same as purchasing one. Rather, it’s more akin to renting an apartment as with any rental, one never actually owns the property. Under a vehicle lease, the lessee agrees to make payments for a fixed number of years. Those payments equal the difference between the value of the car when first leased and its predicted residual wholesale value at the end of the lease, plus interest. Because the entire value of the car is not being financed, the payments are less on a monthly basis than they would be if the vehicle were purchased over the same period. That is a main reason that leasing is so popular: It lets consumers drive cars that are more expensive than those they might be able to afford to buy. When the vehicle is returned at the end of the lease, the only additional costs are those incurred if the vehicle was driven more than the maximum mileage, any amount due for damage beyond normal wear and tear, and any fees. The lessee may also decide to purchase the vehicle, for that contracted residual value. One reason car leases tend to be so inflexible is that the deal is a contract: The dealer signs the lease with the customer, and then assigns the contract to a leasing company. Leases can be voided if the original agreement was made under untruthful conditions — if the lessee is a minor, for example, or does not possess a valid driver’s license. In those cases, the leasing company would not want to be part of a fraudulent contract. “This is not as rare as one would think — people do fraudulent deals all the time,” said Randall McCathren, managing director of the Association of Consumer Vehicle Lessors, a trade group. In addition, if the lease terms or the vehicle was misrepresented, the lessee can try to void the lease under each state’s laws on unfair and deceptive acts and practices, Mr. McCathren said. But in a legally struck deal, even death will not necessarily free one from a lease obligation. Typically, the dead person’s estate becomes liable for the obligation, although some car finance companies will make exceptions. Still, it never hurts to try to seek concessions. “It absolutely pays to contact the leaseholder and try to work out some consideration,” Mr. McCathren said. He noted that leasing companies will typically defer payments if a lessee is in the hospital for a limited period of time. Only one action will guarantee that someone is able to break any company’s vehicle lease. Under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a person who has enlisted in the armed services and is to be assigned to a location outside the continental United States for more than six months can terminate a vehicle lease without penalty. But for those who are not joining the military, the best bet for getting out of a vehicle lease is to try to sell it to a third party. Companies like Leasetrader. com and Swapalease. com act as brokers, and for a fee will try to match lease sellers and buyers. But the manufacturers of some vehicles, including Land Rovers leased through Land Rover Financial Group, and Volvos leased through Volvo Car Financial Services, do not allow transfer of leases. Swapalease maintains a list of vehicle manufacturers’ leasing policies on its website. Some leasing companies, including Ford Motor Credit and Financial Services, will allow a lease obligation to be forgiven upon the death of the lessee. Under Mercedes’s Customer Bereavement Program, when the company learns of the death of a lessee, it sends a condolence letter to the family, as well as a leather journal and pen to help it manage the estate’s obligations. If the Mercedes lease account is current, the family can choose to return the vehicle within 10 days and owe nothing further. If the family decides to keep leasing the vehicle and the new lessee meets credit criteria, no transfer fee is charged. Ford Motor Credit’s Peace of Mind program allows the family of a deceased lessee, with a death certificate, to return the vehicle within 60 days of the death, and the lease obligation will be excused. Notifying the company of the death also prevents any company collection activity over the next several weeks. Ms. Mangel, as things turned out, was more fortunate than she had expected. Her vision stabilized a few months after she lost her license, and she was able to drive again. In the interim, her father covered the lease payments. But the terms and conditions of her lease made her realize that while the payments may be lower, leasing a vehicle can be more onerous than buying one. “I don’t want to lease again, ever,” Ms. Mangel said. | 1 |
By Wayne Allen Root – Review Journal
The election is Tuesday. So it’s time to make my final case for Donald J. Trump. My case is pretty simple — it’s Trump or it’s the end of America.
I was raised as a middle-class kid in the greatest country in world history. A country built around mobility, opportunity and economic freedom. A country that allowed this son of a butcher to become a successful business owner, media personality, best-selling author and TV star and producer. Only in America.
I was taught by my wonderful, patriotic, true red, white and blue, salt-of-the-earth, American parents that certain specific things made America great. Here they are:
Faith in God, prayer, love of country, family, a belief in American exceptionalism, capitalism, Judeo-Christian values, the Constitution, limited government, personal responsibility, economic freedom, the military and police.
Well don’t look now. But everything from that list above … everything we believe in … everything that made America great … has been under full-scale assault for eight long years — from multiple directions. And Hillary is here to finish the job. She already publicly stated she wants to be Obama’s third term.
The truth is we either send a strong message heard around the world and elect Trump, or the America we know and love is gone. Forever.
Because if Trump doesn’t win, no other Republican will ever be elected president again. President Hillary Clinton will make sure of that. Hillary will open the borders like never before to let in millions of illegal aliens who have no love for anything that made America great.
Foreigners come here not out of a love for America, but for a love of the cradle-to-grave welfare state that America has become. Eighty percent of them (or higher) will vote Democrat forever more to keep the welfare checks coming. That’s Hillary’s plan.
Don’t believe me? See California. No Republican will ever again be elected to statewide office. This was the exact formula that destroyed California. Open the borders, let in millions of foreigners, make them dependent on government welfare checks and then train them to vote Democrat to keep the handouts coming.
It worked!
That was the experiment. Now Democrats are onto Plan B — to turn the rest of America into California.
Hillary will open the borders and tie the hands of border agents in order to flood the country with millions of new illegals. Hillary will legalize the 12 million to 15 million or so already here — and give them the right to vote.
Hillary will also enthusiastically import millions of Muslim refugees who have no love for America, capitalism, the Constitution, or certainly Judeo-Christian values. Some will become terrorists, almost all will require cradle-to-grave welfare.
Then it’s over for America.
So vote. Drag your friends to the polls. Make phone calls to your entire address book. Leave no stone unturned.
Think of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Think of open borders.
Think of your children’s and grandchildren’s future.
Then vote for Trump like it’s … Trump, or the end of America.
Because it is.
Wayne Allyn Root is a best-selling author and host of “WAR Now: The Wayne Allyn Root Show” 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily at 790 Talk Now. His R-J columns run Wednesdays and Sundays.
For once in our lifetime, we the people have an opportunity to elect a President who was NOT chosen by Multinational Corporations, Big Banks, DC Elites, and the Globalist Lapdog Mainstream Media.
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Memos prepared by legal counsel for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign reveal how the campaign developed workarounds so it could coordinate with a network of pro-Clinton super political action committees or Super PACs. The memos were explicitly developed to ensure regulators at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) would not detect any signs of unethical practices.
While the workarounds may not necessarily be illegal as a result of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, they clearly undermine campaign finance law, and for those concerned about the influence of money in politics, the policies developed show how candidates can easily game the system.
The documents, produced by Marc Elias of Perkins Coie LLP, were attached to emails from the Clinton campaign, which were published by WikiLeaks. They were drafted on April 1, 2015, before Clinton officially launched her presidential campaign.
Perkins Coie recommended , “Secretary Clinton and her agents to make a hard solicitation for $5,000,” when discussing any Super PAC with prospective donors. Super PACs and their personnel would be free to “follow up with the donor—that day or at any other time of their choosing – to ask for additional funds, without any participation by Secretary Clinton or her agents.”
The campaign also asked for a procedure that would permit Clinton and anyone working for her to “discuss Super PACs with prospective donors without making a solicitation for money.” But the law firm the campaign hired advised against this approach and noted there was a “legally prescribed way for the Secretary and her agents to attend Super PAC fundraising events.”
In this “alternative approach,” Clinton and “her agents” could appear at fundraising events and openly discuss the “political objectives” of the Super PAC. Clinton and anyone representing the campaign would be “featured speakers” or “special guests.” They would not directly solicit contributions for the Super PAC. They would not publicize fundraising events.
“To avoid any risk that the statement made by the Secretary or her agents would be construed as a solicitation, a notice should be prominently displayed at the entrance to the event or a card placed on every table,” Elias advised.
The developed disclaimer read:
Solicitations by federal candidates and officeholders are limited by federal law. Any federal candidates or officeholders speaking tonight will not be soliciting donations, or will be soliciting only donations of up to $5000 from individuals and multi-candidate political committees. They will not be soliciting donations of any amount from corporations, labor organizations, foreign nationals, federal contractors, or national banks.
In a separate memo, “ Super PACs ,” Elias contended the mere fact that a disclaimer was displayed made it possible for Clinton to “make a general request for funds without reference to any dollar amount or source.”
“While the Secretary does not have to repeat this disclaimer in one-on-one conversations with event guests, the Secretary may not encourage them to disregard the notice nor may the Secretary ever ask for contributions in excess of the applicable limit or from prohibited sources.”
This way, if a donor who attended a fundraising event donated far more than $5,000, the act could not be directly connected to the remarks of Clinton, even though that fundraising event may have played a critical role in that donor’s decision to support Clinton substantially.
Despite the historical nature of meetings between potential donors and presidential candidates, Elias maintained the campaign could avoid scrutiny by insisting contributions were not expected as a “condition” or “appropriate response” to the “opportunity to meet with the Secretary or her agents for this political discussion.”
It would be made clear there was no “expectation whatsoever by the Secretary or her agents that the donor make a contribution of any amount to the PAC” or that the meeting was a “fundraising meeting organized to support the fundraising objectives of the PAC.”
Through this arrangement, influential and wealthy people, with or without ties to corporations, might engage in the same actions that they would if Clinton directly solicited contributions at these fundraisers or meetings. The culture of electoral politics would lead such individuals to recognize these interactions as a means to convince them to make contributions. They know the sensitivity around making certain a candidate they support does not draw attention from regulators. But because Clinton did not say words, which explicitly represent a request for funds, this is supposed to be considered acceptable.
In the “Super PACs” memo, Elias contended Clinton and “her agents” will inevitably “find themselves talking to prospective donors about Super PACs. The conversation might be initiated by the Secretary or her agents. Or, more likely, it might be initiated by the prospective donor.”
“Common questions include, ‘Secretary, the Super PAC has asked for my support. Should I contribute?” or ‘I want to give a million dollars to support your campaign—to which organization should I write my check?’” Elias outlines. “There will be hundreds of variants. In these types of interactions, it is not reasonable to expect the Secretary or her agents to make snap-determinations about whether their statements of political support for a Super PAC amount to a solicitation or direction of funds in the context of the particular conversation.”
“Accordingly, our strong recommendation is that the Secretary and her agents make a hard ask for $5,000 or less for the Super PAC in any conversation with a donor in which the Super PAC is discussed,” Elias adds.
The memo further indicated, “The Secretary and her agents should not tell donors that someone from the PAC will be following up with them and should not ask donors to take a call from PAC personnel. Nonetheless, it is permissible for the Secretary and her agents to provide donors with contact information of a PAC representative, so that the donors can execute the $5,000 contribution or learn more information about the PAC if they choose to do so.”
Or, if the donor contacted the PAC representative, the PAC would now be able to solicit much more than a $5,000 contribution, even though that donor may have never contacted the PAC if they had not been introduced to Clinton.
The law firm additionally advised, “The Secretary and her agents may suggest particular donors to Super PAC personnel. Specifically, the Secretary and her agents may provide the names, contact information, and donor history (if any) of potential donors.”
“A Super PAC soliciting funds outside of federal limits should not tell the donor that the Secretary or her agents provided the PAC with the donor’s name and contact information,” according to the memo.
“To reduce the risk of impermissible coordination, it would be prudent for the Super PAC to place a firewall between its fundraising personnel and its ‘creative’ personnel (e.g. those involved in the creation, production, or distribution of communications and in the strategic discussions informing such communications),” Elias recommended. “And, likewise, the campaign ought to designate a handful of fundraising staff and consultants to liaise with the Super PAC’s fundraising personnel.”
“Beyond this small handful of fundraising staff, there is no need for the Secretary or her agents to interact with Super PAC personnel except for when they are appearing as ‘special guests’ at a Super PAC event.”
It is all a rather elaborate scheme to ensure millions of dollars can be funneled into the coffers of a presidential campaign without having to be inhibited by campaign finance law supposedly in force to provide some regulation of the influence of money.
Perkins Coie explicitly set out to develop guidelines that would make it possible for individuals to wear “two hats,” as in raise money and also serve the campaign in some manner. However, Elias cautioned , “We may decide that some of our fundraising agents are too risky—either because we don’t trust them to follow these guidelines or because we do not think it is credible that they are raising in a capacity other than as a campaign agent—and tell Priorities that they cannot use them to raise.”
As previously reported by the Wall Street Journal, Elias sent a memo on interactions with the Clinton Super PAC, Priorities USA, on April 21, 2015. The memo was attached to an email published by WikiLeaks. It instructed the campaign to make sure the Clinton campaign never explicitly asked Priorities USA to raise “soft money,” which the Sunlight Foundation describes as “cash contributed to a party, candidate, or outside group without being subject to limits.”
The campaign could say, “Donor A works in financial services and has been a long-time contributor. I think she’d be willing to do six figures for Priorities,” but it could not say, “I want you to call Donor A and ask for $250,000.”
Priorities USA has raised over $175 million, according to the Sunlight Foundation, which is more than any Super PAC in history.
The Clinton campaign has faced criticism for its coordination with David Brock’s Correct the Record Super PAC. Brock believes the Super PAC can legally coordinate with the campaign because all the content it produces is posted for free online and exempt from the FEC’s ban on “coordinated communications.”
Sunlight Foundation points out, “Its whole apparently legal existence depends on it not making independent expenditures, because it openly coordinates with the Clinton campaign, which is otherwise forbidden for a super PAC.” Nonetheless, there has been no action by the FEC to shut down this coordination.
The FEC, according to the Washington Post, has yet to “open an investigation into alleged illegal super PAC coordination, closing 29 such complaints,” since 2010. Nevertheless, the campaign was concerned it may engage in activity that could spur an investigation if they were not careful and had Perkins Coie help them avoid any potential scandals.
The New York Times reported , “Democrats have built the largest and best-coordinated apparatus of outside groups operating in the 2016 presidential campaign,” and raised funds at a 2-to-1 rate when compared to Donald Trump.
“There’s no question that we need to make Washington work much better than it does today,” Clinton said in June. “And that means, in particular, getting unaccountable money out of our politics.” She added, “That’s why I’m so passionate about this issue, and I will fight hard to end the stranglehold that the wealthy and special interests have on so much of our government.”
Clinton has openly supported overturning the Citizens United decision. However, she has accepted countless amounts of “unaccountable money” in the 2016 presidential election, and her campaign has pioneered new methods for circumventing regulations against super PAC coordination in order to bring more money into her campaign.
The post How Clinton Campaign Gamed Super PAC Regulations appeared first on Shadowproof .
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Paul Craig Roberts – The election was set up to be stolen from Trump. That was the purpose of the polls rigged by overweighting Hillary supporters in the samples. After weeks of hearing poll results that Hillary was in the lead, the public would discount a theft claim. Electronic voting makes elections easy to steal, and I have posted explanations by election fraud experts of how it is done.
Clearly the Oligarchy does not want Donald Trump in the White House as they are unsure that they could control him, and Hillary is their agent.
With the reopening of the FBI investigation of Hillary and related scandals exploding all around her, election theft is not only more risky but also less likely to serve the Oligarchy’s own interests.
Image as well as money is part of Oligarchic power. The image of America takes a big hit if the American people elect a president who is currently under felony investigation.
Moreover, a President Hillary would be under investigation for years. With so much spotlight on her, she would not be able to serve the Oligarchy’s interests. She would be worthless to them, and, indeed, investigations that unearthed various connections between Hillary and oligarchs could damage the oligarchs.
In other words, for the Oligarchy Hillary has moved from an asset to a liability.
A Hillary presidency could put our country into chaos. I doubt the oligarchs are sufficiently stupid to think that once she is sworn in, Hillary can fire FBI Director Comey and shut down the investigation. The last president that tried that was Richard Nixon, and look where that got him.
Moreover, the Republicans in the House and Senate would not stand for it. House Committee on oversight and Government Reform chairman Jason Chaffetz has already declared Hillary to be “a target-rich environment. Even before we get to day one, we’ve got two years worth of material already lined up.” House Speaker Paul Ryan said investigation will follow the evidence.
If you were an oligarch, would you want your agent under this kind of scrutiny? If you were Hillary, would you want to be under this kind of pressure?
What happens if the FBI recommends the indictment of the president? Even insouciant Americans would see the cover-up if the attorney general refused to prosecute the case. Americans would lose all confidence in the government. Chaos would rule. Chaos can be revolutionary, and that is not good for oligarchs.
Moreover, if reports can be believed, salacious scandals appear to be waiting their time on stage. For example, last May Fox News reported:
“Former President Bill Clinton was a much more frequent flyer on a registered sex offender’s infamous jet than previously reported, with flight logs showing the former president taking at least 26 trips aboard the “Lolita Express” — even apparently ditching his Secret Service detail for at least five of the flights, according to records obtained by FoxNews.com. “Clinton’s presence aboard Jeffrey Epstein’s Boeing 727 on 11 occasions has been reported, but flight logs show the number is more than double that, and trips between 2001 and 2003 included extended junkets around the world with Epstein and fellow passengers identified on manifests by their initials or first names, including “Tatiana.” The tricked-out jet earned its Nabakov-inspired nickname because it was reportedly outfitted with a bed where passengers had group sex with young girls.”
Fox News reports that Epstein served time in prison for “solicitation and procurement of minors for prostitution. He allegedly had a team of traffickers who procured girls as young as 12 to service his friends on ‘Orgy Island,’ an estate on Epstein’s 72-acre island, called Little St. James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.” http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/05/13/flight-logs-show-bill-clinton-flew-on-sex-offenders-jet-much-more-than-previously-known.html
Some Internet sites, the credibility of which is unknown to me, have linked Hillary to these flights. http://truepundit.com/breaking-bombshell-nypd-blows-whistle-on-new-hillary-emails-money-laundering-sex-crimes-with-children-child-exploitation-pay-to-play-perjury/
This kind of behavior seems reckless even for Bill and Hillary, who are accustomed to getting away with everything. Nevertheless, if you are an oligarch already worried about the reopened Hillary email case and additional FBI investigations, such as the one into the Clinton Foundation, and concerned about what else might emerge from the 650,000 emails on former US Rep. Weiner’s computer and the NYPD pedophile investigation, putting Hillary in the Oval Office doesn’t look like a good decision.
At this point, I would think that the Oligarchy would prefer to steal the election for Trump, instead of from him, rather than allow insouciant Americans to destroy America’s reputation by choosing a person under felony investigations for president of the United States.
Being the “exceptional nation” takes on new meaning when there is a criminal at the helm. SF Source Paul Craig Roberts | 0 |
Israel. | 0 |
A newly released video from Center for Medical Progress (CMP) shows the Planned Parenthood executive who became known for her comment, “I want a Lamborghini,” as payment for fetal tissue, haggling over the price of aborted baby body parts.[ The video depicts the first meeting between CMP journalists posing as biomedical company buyers of fetal tissue and Dr. Mary Gatter, the president of Planned Parenthood for America’s (PPFA) Medical Directors’ Council. Gatter is introduced to the buyers by Dr. Deborah Nucatola, PPFA’s Senior Director of Medical Services, who also appeared in a CMP undercover video eating lunch and drinking wine, as she allegedly discussed how to harvest fetal organs and body parts so as to maximize their transfer to biomedical researchers. In the current video, Gatter is introduced as the Medical Director of Planned Parenthood’s Pasadena, California, affiliate, and haggles with the undercover journalists over the price “per specimen” of fetal body parts. The undercover CMP journalist also discusses how the biomedical buyer will come into the Planned Parenthood clinic to handle the transfer of the fetal specimen. “We may have to make sure that your staff who are on site are credentialed, privileges, whatever, background checks and all that stuff,” Gatter says on the video, adding: “You know, you have to pay a little money for the use of the space. ” They then discuss the issue of “compensation,” with the undercover journalists suggesting “per specimen” payment and Gatter asking, “Per specimen? Like $75 a specimen?” When the journalist says, “What we’ve been quoting is $50 per specimen,” Gatter counters that “$50 is on the low end. $50 was like 12 years ago. ” The undercover journalist explains that they like to pay “per specimen” because “that way we’re not paying for material we can’t use. ” “But you would show up to do this?” Gatter asks. “You would send somebody?” The undercover journalist agrees, “Oh exactly, we would send a tech. Yeah, we would send a tech in. ” After mentioning a “lovely tech” named Heather from the biomedical firm Novogenix who worked at the Planned Parenthood Los Angeles clinic, Gatter eventually ends the conversation by saying, “Yeah, I’d be willing — give me a call. ” Earlier in the video, Gatter asks, “What kind of volume do you need, and what gestational ages?” The undercover journalist answers that “most of the requests are 16 weeks and above. ” Federal law permits reimbursement for specified costs in a fetal organ or tissue donation, but prohibits the purchase and sale of the organs and tissues themselves (42 U. S. C. ). “The fact that [biomedical companies] Novogenix, StemExpress, and Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) stationed their own workers inside Planned Parenthood abortion clinics to perform the harvesting, packaging, and transport of aborted baby body parts demonstrates that Planned Parenthood had no reimbursable costs under the law,” says CMP project lead David Daleiden. “The sums that Planned Parenthood charged these businesses for baby parts are criminal trafficking and profiteering in fetal body parts. ” Gatter was previously the medical director of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, before taking the same position at the chain’s Pasadena affiliate. Later, she was elected president of PPFA’s Medical Directors’ Council. While still at her post in the Los Angeles affiliate, Gatter oversaw its partnership with Novogenix Laboratories, LLC, a local fetal organ and tissue harvesting company. “I did it in LA, I’m committed to it, I think it’s a great idea,” says Gatter to the undercover journalists posing as the buyers. The final report of the House Select Panel on Infant Lives addresses the pricing of fetal tissue: On April 20, 2016, the Panel held a hearing on The Pricing of Fetal Tissue. During the hearing, the Panel examined documents revealing that abortion clinics and Tissue Procurement Businesses (TPBs) may have violated federal law by the payments they collected from the sale of fetal tissue. At the core of the Panel’s investigation is a federal statute, 42 U. S. C. § which prohibits the transfer of any human fetal tissue for valuable consideration. The statute states that reasonable costs include transportation, implantation, processing, preservation, quality control, and storage — none of which it appears the abortion clinics did. Documents also show that payments made by the customer to the procurement business appear to exceed the costs incurred on the procurement business by a factor of 300 to 400 percent. As CMP notes, contracts and invoices show that biomedical companies Novogenix, StemExpress, and ABR “all made monthly payments to Planned Parenthood based on the number of resalable fetal specimens the wholesalers’ workers could harvest inside the abortion clinics. ” “Planned Parenthood told Congressional investigators it kept no contemporaneous records of actual costs for reimbursement under the law,” adds CMP, continuing: The Novogenix contract promises Planned Parenthood Los Angeles $45 “per donated specimen. ” Planned Parenthood Los Angeles does over 15, 000 abortions every year, but has never publicly admitted how much money they received total under their contract with Novogenix. In December 2016, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Select Investigative Panel both referred Planned Parenthood Los Angeles and Novogenix to the FBI and U. S. Department of Justice for further investigation and criminal prosecution. “The U. S. Department of Justice should take heed of the congressional investigations’ criminal referrals and prosecute Planned Parenthood to the full extent of the law,” urges Daleiden, “and taxpayers must stop being forced to subsidize Planned Parenthood’s criminal abortion empire. ” | 1 |
President Donald Trump signed three executive actions this morning, killing the partnership, instituting a federal hiring freeze, and restoring the Mexico City policy, which bans federal funds from being used to fund abortions. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time … a great thing for the American worker,” Trump said after signing the order killing former President Obama’s signature trade effort. Trump senior advisors stood and watched Trump sign the executive orders as senior advisor Reince Priebus announced each order as it was signed. Trump specified that the hiring freeze for federal workers would not apply to the military. Big Government, Donald Trump, executive orders | 1 |
[MORE] by Gaius Publius
Summary first: We have been at war in Syria over pipelines since 1949. This is just the next mad phase.
I’m not sure most Americans have figured out what’s happening in Syria, because so much of what we hear is confusing to us, and really, we know so little of the context for it. Is it an insurgency against a brutal ruler? Is it a group of insurgencies struggling for power in a nearly failed state? Is it a proxy war expressing the territorial and ideological interests of the U.S., Russia, Turkey and Iran?
Or something else?
According to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. it is something else — a war between competing national interests to build, or not build, a pipeline to the Mediterranean so natural gas can be exported to Europe. Inconveniently for Syria, that nation lies along an obvious pipeline route.
Which makes it another war between interests for money — something not very hard to understand at all.
Here’s Kennedy’s argument via EcoWatch. This is a long piece, well worth a full read, but I’ll try to present just the relevant sections here.
The Historical Context: Decades of CIA-Sponsored Coups and Counter-Coups in Syria
Kennedy’s introductory section contains an excellent examination of the history of U.S. involvement in Syria starting in the 1950s with the Cold War machinations of the Eisenhower-appointed Dulles brothers, John Foster Dulles, the Secretary of State, and Allen Dulles, the head of the CIA. Together, they effectively ruled U.S. foreign policy.
Kennedy writes (my emphasis): Syria: Another Pipeline War
… America’s unsavory record of violent interventions in Syria—obscure to the American people yet well known to Syrians—sowed fertile ground for the violent Islamic Jihadism that now complicates any effective response by our government to address the challenge of ISIS. So long as the American public and policymakers are unaware of this past, further interventions are likely to only compound the crisis. Moreover, our enemies delight in our ignorance.
… [W]e need to look at history from the Syrians’ perspective and particularly the seeds of the current conflict. Long before our 2003 occupation of Iraq triggered the Sunni uprising that has now morphed into the Islamic State, the CIA had nurtured violent Jihadism as a Cold War weapon and freighted U.S./Syrian relationships with toxic baggage.
During the 1950′s, President Eisenhower and the Dulles brothers rebuffed Soviet treaty proposals to leave the Middle East a cold war neutral zone and let Arabs rule Arabia. Instead, they mounted a clandestine war against Arab Nationalism—which CIA Director Allan [sic] Dulles equated with communism—particularly when Arab self-rule threatened oil concessions. They pumped secret American military aid to tyrants in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon favoring puppets with conservative Jihadist ideologies which they regarded as a reliable antidote to Soviet Marxism. At a White House meeting between the CIA’s Director of Plans, Frank Wisner, and Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, in September of 1957, Eisenhower advised the agency, “We should do everything possible to stress the ‘holy war’ aspect.”
The CIA began its active meddling in Syria in 1949—barely a year after the agency’s creation. Syrian patriots had declared war on the Nazis, expelled their Vichy French colonial rulers and crafted a fragile secularist democracy based on the American model. But in March of 1949, Syria’s democratically elected president, Shukri-al-Kuwaiti, hesitated to approve the Trans Arabian Pipeline, an American project intended to connect the oil fields of Saudi Arabia to the ports of Lebanon via Syria. In his book, Legacy of Ashes, CIA historian Tim Weiner recounts that in retaliation, the CIA engineered a coup, replacing al-Kuwaiti with the CIA’s handpicked dictator, a convicted swindler named Husni al-Za’im. Al-Za’im barely had time to dissolve parliament and approve the American pipeline before his countrymen deposed him, 14 weeks into his regime. Kennedy then details the history of coups and counter-coups in and against Syria, and concludes this section with this: Thanks in large part to Allan Dulles and the CIA, whose foreign policy intrigues were often directly at odds with the stated policies of our nation, the idealistic path outlined in the Atlantic Charter was the road not taken. In 1957, my grandfather, Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, sat on a secret committee charged with investigating CIA’s clandestine mischief in the Mid-East. The so called “Bruce Lovett Report,” to which he was a signatory, described CIA coup plots in Jordan, Syria, Iran, Iraq and Egypt, all common knowledge on the Arab street, but virtually unknown to the American people who believed, at face value, their government’s denials.
The report blamed the CIA for the rampant anti-Americanism that was then mysteriously taking root “in the many countries in the world today.”… A parade of Iranian and Syrian dictators, including Bashar al-Assad and his father, have invoked the history of the CIA’s bloody coups as a pretext for their authoritarian rule, repressive tactics and their need for a strong Russian alliance. These stories are therefore well known to the people of Syria and Iran who naturally interpret talk of U.S. intervention in the context of that history.
While the compliant American press parrots the narrative that our military support for the Syrian insurgency is purely humanitarian, many Syrians see the present crisis as just another proxy war over pipelines and geopolitics. Before rushing deeper into the conflagration, it would be wise for us to consider the abundant facts supporting that perspective. So much for our supposed interest in “humanitarian” intervention in Syria. From a Syrian point of view, it has never been thus. It has been about pipelines since 1949, and they understand that, even if we don’t.
The Current Conflagration
Kennedy then turns to the present, or the near-present. Refer to the map above as you read: A Pipeline War
In [the Syrians'] view, our war against Bashar Assad did not begin with the peaceful civil protests of the Arab Spring in 2011. Instead it began in 2000 when Qatar proposed to construct a $10 billion, 1,500km pipeline through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Turkey.
Qatar shares with Iran, the South Pars/North Dome gas field, the world’s richest natural gas repository. The international trade embargo, until recently, prohibited Iran from selling gas abroad and ensured that Qatar’s gas could only reach European markets if it is liquefied and shipped by sea, a route that restricts volume and dramatically raises costs.
The EU, which gets 30 percent of its gas from Russia, was equally hungry for the pipeline which would have given its members cheap energy and relief from Vladimir Putin’s stifling economic and political leverage. Turkey, Russia’s second largest gas customer, was particularly anxious to end its reliance on its ancient rival and to position itself as the lucrative transect hub for Asian fuels to EU markets. The Qatari pipeline would have benefited Saudi Arabia’s conservative Sunni Monarchy by giving them a foothold in Shia dominated Syria.
The Saudi’s geopolitical goal is to contain the economic and political power of the Kingdom’s principal rival, Iran, a Shiite state, and close ally of Bashar Assad. The Saudi monarchy viewed the U.S. sponsored Shia takeover in Iraq as a demotion to its regional power and was already engaged in a proxy war against Tehran in Yemen, highlighted by the Saudi genocide against the Iranian backed Houthi tribe. Which puts the Qatari pipeline squarely opposite to Russia’s national interest — natural gas (methane) sales to Europe. Of course, the Russians, who sell 70 percent of their gas exports to Europe, viewed the Qatar/Turkey pipeline as an existential threat. In Putin’s view, the Qatar pipeline is a NATO plot to change the status quo, deprive Russia of its only foothold in the Middle East, strangle the Russian economy and end Russian leverage in the European energy market. In 2009, Assad announced that he would refuse to sign the agreement to allow the pipeline to run through Syria “to protect the interests of our Russian ally.” That was likely the last straw vis-à-vis the U.S. Which brings us to another pipeline, the so-called “Islamic Pipeline” (see map above):“Assad further enraged the Gulf’s Sunni monarchs by endorsing a Russian approved “Islamic pipeline” running from Iran’s side of the gas field through Syria and to the ports of Lebanon. The Islamic pipeline would make Shia Iran instead of Sunni Qatar, the principal supplier to the European energy market and dramatically increase Tehran’s influence in the Mid-East and the world. Israel also was understandably determined to derail the Islamic pipeline which would enrich Iran and Syria and presumably strengthen their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas. Another, competing pipeline which would run through Syrian territory, but this time carrying Iranian gas instead of Qatari gas. Thus the demonizing of Assad as evil in the mold of Saddam Hussein, instead of just a run-of-the-mill Middle East autocrat, as bad as some but better than others. Kennedy includes a good section on the history of the al-Assad family’s rule of Syria, including this information from top reporters Sy Hersh and Robert Parry: According to Hersh, “He certainly wasn’t beheading people every Wednesday like the Saudis do in Mecca.” Another veteran journalist, Bob Parry, echoes that assessment. “No one in the region has clean hands but in the realms of torture, mass killings, civil liberties and supporting terrorism, Assad is much better than the Saudis.” In September 2013, the Sunni states involved in the Qatar-Turkey pipeline were so determined to remove Syrian opposition to the pipeline that they offered, via John Kerry, to carry the whole cost of an U.S. invasion to topple al-Assad. Kerry reiterated the offer to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL27): “With respect to Arab countries offering to bear the costs of [an American invasion] to topple Assad, the answer is profoundly Yes, they have. The offer is on the table.” Obama’s response: Despite pressure from Republicans, Barrack Obama balked at hiring out young Americans to die as mercenaries for a pipeline conglomerate. Obama wisely ignored Republican clamoring to put ground troops in Syria or to funnel more funding to “moderate insurgents.” But by late 2011, Republican pressure and our Sunni allies had pushed the American government into the fray. The rest is a history of provocation and over-reaction — a great deal of both — and chaos and death in Syria. Kennedy provides much detail here, at one point adding: [Syria's] moderates are fleeing a war that is not their war. They simply want to escape being crushed between the anvil of Assad’s Russian backed tyranny and the vicious Jihadi Sunni hammer that we had a hand in wielding in a global battle over competing pipelines. You can’t blame the Syrian people for not widely embracing a blueprint for their nation minted in either Washington or Moscow. The super powers have left no options for an idealistic future that moderate Syrians might consider fighting for. And no one wants to die for a pipeline. I’ll leave it there, but again, do read the entire piece if you want to truly understand what’s going on in Syria, and what is about to go on.
Bottom Line
Bottom line, it’s as Kennedy said: “No one wants to die for a pipeline”… but many do and will.
I’ll offer three thoughts. One, if we weren’t so determined to be deeply dependent on fossil fuels, this would be their war, not ours. Two, we are deeply dependent on fossil fuels because of the political machinations of the oil companies, their CEOs, and the banks and hedge funds who fund them, all of whom pay our government officials — via campaign contributions and the revolving door — to prolong that dependence. We’re here because the holders of big oil money want us here.
And three, keep all this in mind during the term of the next president. It will help you make sense of the phony warrior-cum-humanitarian arguments we’re almost certain to be subjected to.
We have been at war in Syria over pipelines since 1949. This is just the next mad phase. • Replies: Never underestimate the Israeli factor. , @Mr. Anon Economic determinst arguments are always trotted out to explain these geo-political events. While they are not irrelevant, they do not necessarily explain everything. Remember back in 2002-2003, when a lot of people were pushing the idea that the war in Afghanistan was over a proposed pipeline. Well, the war isn't over, and there is still no pipeline. A country riven by civil war and crazy head-chopping-off-jihadists sounds like a lousy place to build a pipeline that could easily be sabotaged. Why not just build it via a different route? Through Turkey? Through Jordan and Israel? Through Saudi Arabia? "According to Robert F. Kennedy Jr " And that is supposed to be an authoritative source? I haven't noticed that the third-generation Kennedys are very bright or adept at much of anything. , @RonaldB It's nuts to say our usage of fossil fuels is optional and due only to the foot-dragging sponsored by the oil companies. The fact is, fossil fuel, including natural gas, is the most efficient, and throwing billions of dollars of government subsidies at "clean energy alternatives" will not do anything except increase the national debt. Having said that, the US is easily independent of political ramifications of Middle Eastern oil. North America produces more oil than Saudia Arabia, natural gas and coal are plentiful, and approving the keystone pipeline would make domestically-produced fossil energy even more available. So, even the worst scenario, a Middle Eastern effective boycott, would not have strategic implications, but would at most increase the price of oil and gas moderately. If the report is true, that Obama resisted the pressure from Republicans to invade Syria, I have a new-found respect for Obama and continue to hope that Trump considers himself completely separate from the Republican establishment. Also, the US can be supportive of Israel vis a vis UN and EU boycotts and one-sided resolutions, but does not need to ally itself with Israel foreign policy. Israel has its own, legitimate interests, which may not coincide with the US. Israel should go its own way, without the collaboration of the CIA. Israel has direct security interests as a neighbor of a hostile Syria and Iran, but it is up to Israel, and not the US, to best protect Israel's vital security. , | 0 |
At the beginning of every month, subscription streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and HBO Now add a new batch of movies and TV shows to their libraries. Some of those movies and TV shows are bad. Some are good. Below is a list of the good, broken down by service. Everything mentioned is available to stream starting today, Sept. 1, unless otherwise indicated. To receive this information in your email inbox every month, subscribe to Watching, a newsletter that sifts through the overwhelming number of movies and TV shows, directs you to the best ones and tells you where you can watch them. For examples of what those newsletters look like, head on over here. Jaws: Come on now, it’s “Jaws. ” Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made: (Sept. 16) Over the course of seven years in the 1980s, three Mississippi kids filmed a remake of “Raiders of the Lost Ark. ” Every shot, every scene — except for one. This light documentary tells the story of the film, the friends who made it and how they regrouped decades later to shoot the film’s explosive airplane fight. Zootopia (Sept. 20): One of the year’s biggest hits, this Disney animated film layers a light mystery on top of a world in which predators and prey live side by side. Some have seen it as a fairly obvious message movie, but all can agree that it has one of filmed entertainment’s greatest D. M. V. scenes. (A small category, to be sure.) Also recommended: “Man on Wire,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Top Gun,” “The Imitation Game” (Sept. 28). Recent TV recommendations: “Galavant,” Seasons (Sept. 7) “Supergirl,” Season 1 (Sept. 10) “The Walking Dead,” Season 6 (Sept. 15) “Luther,” Season 4 (Sept. 17) “Penny Dreadful,” Season 3 (Sept. 17) “Call the Midwife,” Season 5 (Sept. 19) “Longmire,” Season 5 (Sept. 23) “Portlandia,” Season 6 (Sept. 24). The Others: Nicole Kidman stars as a mother caring for her two kids on the lonely British isle of Jersey while her husband is off fighting in World War II. The family members suspect their house might be haunted. “The Others” will appeal to those who like Gothic horror, ghost stories and horror films that don’t overly rely on cheap jump scares. The Talented Mr. Ripley: These actors in their youth — Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Cate Blanchett. Beautiful clothes, beautiful Italian locales. Set in the 1950s. Murder. A sophisticated thriller for adults. Roman Holiday: Audrey Hepburn in her youth. Beautiful clothes, beautiful Roman locales. Filmed in the 1950s. No murder. A sophisticated romantic drama. Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (Sept 3): O. K. look, I’m not going to tell you this is a good movie. But if you are a completist and have seen the previous films in this series (including “Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones” a. k. a. “Paranormal Activity: Latino Edition”) just get it over with and watch this one already. The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years (Sept. 17): I’ve not seen this documentary yet, but it’s directed by Ron Howard. I like the Beatles, maybe you like the Beatles. So, let’s watch. Sicario (Sept. 23): Starring Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro and Emily Blunt, this is a grim thriller about the drug war along the United border. The film is less action packed than it is moody, tense and visually striking (Listen to this track from the score for a taste of the film’s feel.) Also recommended: “1984,” “American Psycho,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” “Eight Men Out,” “The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” “Get Shorty,” “Heaven’s Gate,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “Leaving Las Vegas,” “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” “Red Dawn,” “The Secret of N. I. M. H. ” Of note — On Sept. 18, the following CW shows will be leaving Hulu: “The 100,” “Arrow,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Containment,” “Crazy ” “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” “The Flash,” “iZombie,” “Jane the Virgin,” “The Originals,” “Reign,” “Supernatural,” “The Vampire Diaries. ” Man on Wire: When the elfin French tightrope walker Philippe Petit strung a wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974 and strolled back and forth, it was a feat both inspirational and . But, as portrayed in this 2008 film, getting to that point was like planning and orchestrating a great heist. A genuinely exciting documentary. The Witch (Sept. 17): In Massachusetts, a family exiled from a local community tries to make a go of it on the edge of a forest. But misery befalls them. Is a witch to blame? (Probably. The movie’s called “The Witch. ”) One of the best horror movies of the year, this should nonetheless be watched only if you’re patient and adventurous. It’s slow and everyone speaks in English, so unless you have the subtitles on, you’ll miss a third of what is being said. It’s a film full of more dread than frights. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (Sept. 19): A beautiful documentary about an octogenarian chef making some of the best sushi in the world in a three star Michelin restaurant located in a Tokyo subway station. David Gelb, creator of Netflix’s “Chef’s Table,” directed this film, which sometimes feels like a prequel to that series — both are full of classical music and cinematography. Also recommended: “1984,” “Apollo 13,” “Bronson,” “Caddyshack,” “Eight Men Out,” “Full Metal Jacket,” “Good Will Hunting,” “Heaven’s Gate,” “Interview With a Vampire,” “Roman Holiday,” “The Secret of N. I. M. H.,” “Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension” (Sept. 3) “Sicario” (Sept. 23). Ghost World: Is this the most underrated comic book movie? (Next to “The Rocketeer” or “Dredd? ”) Based on the cartoonist Daniel Clowes’s 1990s alternative comics, “Ghost World” stars a young Scarlett Johansson and a ”American Beauty” Thora Birch as two acerbic teenagers who spend the summer after high school graduation floating around town and mocking everything around them. Steve Buscemi plays the older man who, also feeling like an outcast, becomes their friend. Children of Men: This dark thriller imagines a future in which humanity has lost the ability to bear children. As one of the few stable nations left on the planet, Britain has enacted strict laws and is flooded with refugees. Theo (Clive Owen) comes across what may be the first pregnant woman in almost 20 years and must transport her to safety. Like they did in “Gravity,” (though sans ) the director Alfonso Cuarón and the cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki construct a handful of tense sequences. The Revenant (Sept. 17) and Steve Jobs (Sept. 24): These movies came out less than a year ago and one of them won a few Academy Awards. You know about them and you know whether or not you want to see them. Both are HBO premieres, so they’ll begin streaming on HBO GO and HBO Now on their respective Saturday nights. Also recommended: “300,” “Michael Clayton,” “Rushmore,” “The Great Muppet Caper,” “The English Patient” (Sept. 2). Sign up for the Watching newsletter to get expert film and TV recommendations like this straight to your inbox. | 1 |
Secondary verification by google.com DKIM key Fwd: 2016 thoughts From:[email protected] To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Date: 2014-04-15 17:16 Subject: Fwd: 2016 thoughts Forwarded message From: Eric Schmidt <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 1:56 PM Subject: 2016 thoughts To: Cheryl Mills <[email protected]> Cheryl, I have put together my thoughts on the campaign ideas and I have scheduled some meetings in the next few weeks for veterans of the campaign to tell me how to make these ideas better. This is simply a draft but do let me know if this is a helpful process for you all. Thanks !! Eric Notes for a 2016 Democratic Campaign Eric Schmidt April 2014 DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT Here are some comments and observations based on what we saw in the 2012 campaign. If we get started soon, we will be in a very strong position to execute well for 2016. 1. Size, Structure and Timing Lets assume a total budget of about $1.5Billion, with more than 5000 paid employees and million(s) of volunteers. The entire startup ceases operation four days after November 8, 2016. The structure includes a Chairman or Chairwoman who is the external face of the campaign and a President who is the executive in charge of objectives, measurements, systems and building and managing the organization. Every day matters as our end date does not change. An official campaign right after midterm elections and a preparatory team assembled now is best. 2. Location The campaign headquarters will have about a thousand people, mostly young and hardworking and enthusiastic. Its important to have a very large hiring pool (such as Chicago or NYC) from which to choose enthusiastic, smart and low paid permanent employees. DC is a poor choice as its full of distractions and interruptions. Moving the location from DC elsewhere guarantees visitors have taken the time to travel and to help. The key is a large population of talented people who are dying to work for you. Any outer borough of NYC, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston are all good examples of a large, blue state city to base in. Employees will relocate to participate in the campaign, and will find low cost temporary housing or live with campaign supporters on a donated basis. This worked well in Chicago and can work elsewhere. The computers will be in the cloud and most likely on Amazon Web services (AWS). All the campaign needs are portable computers, tablets and smart phones along with credit card readers. 3. The pieces of a Campaign a) The Field Its important to have strong field leadership, with autonomy and empowerment. Operations talent needs to build the offices, set up the systems, hire the people, and administer what is about 5000 people. Initial modeling will show heavy hiring in the key battleground states. There is plenty of time to set these functions up and build the human systems. The field is about organizing people, voter contact, and get out the vote programs. For organizing tools, build a simple way to link people and activities as a workflow and let the field manage the system, all cloud based. Build a simple organizing tool with a functioning back-end. Avoid deep integration as the benefits are not worth it. Build on the cloud. Organizing is really about sharing and linking people, and this tool would measure and track all of it. There are many other crucial early investments needed in the field: determining the precise list of battleground states, doing early polling to confirm initial biases, and maintaining and extending voter protection programs at the state level. b) The Voter Key is the development of a single record for a voter that aggregates all that is known about them. In 2016 smart phones will be used to identify, meet, and update profiles on the voter. A dynamic volunteer can easily speak with a voter and, with their email or other digital handle, get the voter videos and other answers to areas they care about ("the benefits of ACA to you" etc.) The scenario includes a volunteer on a walk list, encountering a potential voter, updating the records real time and deepening contact with the voter and the information we have to offer. c) Digital A large group of campaign employees will use digital marketing methods to connect to voters, to offer information, to use social networks to spread good news, and to raise money. Partners like Blue State Digital will do much of the fund raising. A key point is to convert BSD and other partners to pure cloud service offerings to handle the expected crush and load. d) Media (paid), (earned) and (social), and polling New tools should be developed to measure reach and impact of paid, earned and social media. The impact of press coverage should be measurable in reach and impact, and TV effectiveness measured by attention and other surveys. Build tools that measure the rate and spread of stories and rumors, and model how it works and who has the biggest impact. Tools can tell us about the origin of stories and the impact of any venue, person or theme. Connect polling into this in some way. Find a way to do polling online and not on phones. e) Analytics and data science and modeling, polling and resource optimization tools For each voter, a score is computed ranking probability of the right vote. Analytics can model demographics, social factors and many other attributes of the needed voters. Modeling will tell us what who we need to turn out and why, and studies of effectiveness will let us know what approaches work well. Machine intelligence across the data should identify the most important factors for turnout, and preference. It should be possible to link the voter records in Van with upcoming databases from companies like Comcast and others for media measurement purposes. The analytics tools can be built in house or partnered with a set of vendors. f) Core engineering, voter database and contact with voters online The database of voters (NGP Van) is a fine starting point for voter records and is maintained by the vendor (and needs to be converted to the cloud). The code developed for 2012 (Narwahl etc.) is unlikely to be used, and replaced by a model where the vendor data is kept in the Van database and intermediate databases are arranged with additional information for a voter. Quite a bit of software is to be developed to match digital identities with the actual voter file with high confidence. The key unit of the campaign is a "voter", and each and every record is viewable and updatable by volunteers in search of more accurate information. In the case where we can't identify the specific human, we can still have a partial digital voter id, for a person or "probable-person" with attributes that we can identify and use to target. As they respond we can eventually match to a registered voter in the main file. This digital key is eventually matched to a real person. The Rules Its important that all the player in the campaign work at cost and there be no special interests in the financing structure. This means that all vendors work at cost and there is a separate auditing function to ensure no one is profiting unfairly from the campaign. All investments and conflicts of interest would have to be publicly disclosed. The rules of the audit should include caps on individual salaries and no investor profits from the campaign function. (For example, this rule would apply to me.) The KEY things a) early build of an integrated development team and recognition that this is an entire system that has to be managed as such b) decisions to exclusively use cloud solutions for scalability, and choice of vendors and any software from 2012 that will be reused. c) the role of the smart phone in the hands of a volunteer. The smart phone manages the process, updates the database, informs the citizen, and allows fundraising and recruitment of volunteers (on android and iphone). d) early and continued focus of qualifying fundraising dollars to build the field, and build all the tools. Outside money will be plentiful and perfect for TV use. A smart media mix tool tells all we need to know about media placement, TV versus other media and digital media. Preview is disabled for emails bigger than 10KB. e-Highlighter | 0 |
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WATCH: CNN Host Stuns Media, Says Clinton’s Team Thinks “She’s Nuts!”
“And giving money to the charity wouldn’t be enough. Bill and Hillary would have to get rich. So they did,” he wrote. “And all it took was brokering with the former president and acting Secretary of State.”
In other words, quid pro quo, i.e., the practice of making donations in exchange for favors. Band’s clients graciously parted with their money because they expected Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to fulfill their wishes — just like she had done with other donors countless times in the past .
And all the while, both Bill and Hillary Clinton pretended the Clinton Foundation was about helping people. What they forgot to mention was that their primary goal was to help themselves.
Please share this story on Facebook and Twitter and let us know what you think about the bombshell revelations in this Clinton Foundation memo! What do you think about the Clintons profiting from their charity? Scroll down to comment below! Advertisement Popular Right Now | 0 |
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Last July, the Palestinian Authority took the unexpected, although belated step of seeking Arab backing in suing Britain over the Balfour Declaration. That "declaration" was the first ever explicit commitment made by Britain, and the West in general, to establish a Jewish homeland atop an existing Palestinian homeland.
It is too early to tell whether the Arab League would heed the Palestinian call , or if the PA would even follow through, especially considering that the latter has the habit of making too many proclamations backed by little or no action.
However, it seems that the next year will witness a significant tug of war regarding the Balfour Declaration, the 100 th anniversary of which will be commemorated on November 02, 2017.
But who is Balfour, what is the Balfour Declaration and why does all of this matters today?
Britain’s Foreign Secretary from late 1916, Arthur James Balfour, had pledged Palestine to another people. That promise was made on November 02, 1917 on behalf of the British government in the form of a letter sent to the leader of the Jewish community in Britain, Walter Rothschild.
At the time, Britain was not even in control of Palestine, which was still part of the Ottoman Empire. Either way, Palestine was never Balfour’s to so casually transfer to anyone else. His letter read:
"His Majesty’s government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
He concluded, "I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation."
Balfour was hardly acting on his own. True, the Declaration bears his name, yet, in reality, he was a loyal agent of an Empire with massive geopolitical designs, not only concerning Palestine alone, but with Palestine as part of a larger Arab landscape.
Only a year earlier, another sinister document was introduced, albeit secretly. It was endorsed by another top British diplomat, Mark Sykes and, on behalf of France, by François Georges-Picot. The Russians were informed of the agreement, as they too had received a piece of the Ottoman cake.
The document indicated that, once the Ottomans were soundly defeated, their territories, including Palestine, would be split among the prospective victorious parties.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement , also known as the "Asia Minor Agreement", was signed in secret one hundred years ago, two years into World War I. It signified the brutal nature of colonial powers that rarely associated land and resources with people who lived upon or owned them.
The centerpiece of the agreement was a map that was marked with straight lines by a China graph pencil. The map largely determined the fate of the Arabs, dividing them in accordance with various haphazard assumptions of tribal and sectarian lines.
The improvised map consisted not only of lines but also colors , along with language that attested to the fact that the two countries viewed the Arab region purely on materialistic terms, without paying the slightest attention to the possible repercussions of slicing up entire civilizations with a multifarious history of cooperation and conflict.
The Sykes-Picot negotiations were completed in March 1916 and, although official, was secretly signed on May 19, 1916.
WWI concluded on November 11, 1918, after which the division of the Ottoman Empire began in earnest.
British and French mandates were extended over divided Arab entities, while Palestine was granted to the Zionist movement a year later, when Balfour conveyed the British government’s promise, sealing the fate of Palestinians to a life of perpetual war and turmoil.
Rarely was British-Western hypocrisy and complete disregard for the national aspiration of any other nation on full display as in the case of Palestine. Beginning with the first wave of Zionist Jewish migration to Palestine in 1882, European countries helped facilitate the movement of illegal settlers and resources, where the establishment of many colonies, large and small, was afoot.
So when Balfour sent his letter to Rothschild, the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine was very much plausible.
Still, many supercilious promises were being made to the Arabs during the Great War years, as the Arab leadership sided with the British in their war against the Ottoman Empire. Arabs were promised instant independence, including that of the Palestinians.
When the intentions of the British and their rapport with the Zionists became too apparent, Palestinians rebelled , marking a rebellion that has never ceased 99 years later, and highlighting the horrific consequences of British colonialism and the eventual complete Zionist takeover of Palestine which is still felt after all of these years.
Paltry attempts to pacify Palestinian anger were to no avail, especially after the League of Nations Council in July 1922 approved the terms of the British Mandate over Palestine – which was originally granted to Britain in April 1920 – without consulting the Palestinians at all. In fact, Palestinians would disappear from the British and international radar, only to reappear as negligible rioters, troublemakers, and obstacles to the joint British-Zionist colonial concoctions.
Despite occasional assurances to the contrary, the British intention of ensuring the establishment of an exclusively Jewish state in Palestine was becoming clearer with time. The Balfour Declaration was not merely an aberration, but had, indeed, set the stage for the full-scale ethnic cleansing that followed, three decades later.
In fact, that history remains in constant replay: the Zionists claimed Palestine and renamed it "Israel"; the British continue to support them, although never ceasing to pay lip-service to the Arabs; and the Palestinian people remain a nation that is geographically fragmented between refugee camps, in the Diaspora, militarily occupied, or treated as second class citizens in a country upon which their ancestors dwelt since time immemorial.
While Balfour cannot be blamed for all the misfortunates that have befallen Palestinians since he communicated his brief, but infamous letter, the notion that his "promise" embodied – that of complete disregard of the aspirations and rights of the Palestinian Arab people – that very letter is handed from one generation of British diplomats to the next, in the same way that Palestinian resistance to colonialism has and continues to spread across generations.
That injustice continues, thus the perpetuation of the conflict. What the British, the early Zionists, the Americans and subsequent Israeli governments failed to understand, and continue to ignore at their own peril, is that there can be no peace without justice and equality in Palestine; and that Palestinians will continue to resist, as long as the reasons that inspired their rebellion nearly a century ago, remain in place.
Ramzy Baroud ( www.ramzybaroud.net ) is a media consultant, an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of PalestineChronicle.com . His latest book is My Father was A Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (Pluto Press). Read more by Ramzy Baroud | 0 |
November 8, 2016 Calif. Proposition Requires Permit to Buy Bullets
California residents will be voting tomorrow on a measure that would require individuals to purchase a permit to but bullets and for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to regulate the purchases.
The measure, Proposition 63, would require individuals to pay up to $50 for an ammunition purchase authorization permit in order to buy ammunition.
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It has been a year dominated by populist rage, embodied in Bernie Sanders’s calls for a political revolution and Donald J. Trump’s angry assertions that the United States, and its workers, are losing badly in the global economy. In an economic policy speech on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton gave this message: I alone am the candidate who knows how to turn those underlying frustrations into actual policies that might make things better. She offered herself as someone who would not merely vent voters’ anger, but respond to that anger by pulling the levers of the federal bureaucracy and creating legislation that can be scored by the Congressional Budget Office and just maybe pass a Senate committee. “It’s not easy to change Washington, or how corporations behave,” Mrs. Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said before exuberant supporters in Raleigh, N. C. a day after a speech blasting Mr. Trump’s business record, ethics and policy positions. “It takes more than stern words or a flashy slogan. It takes a plan, and it takes experience and the ability to work with both parties to get results. ” Unlike her primary opponent, Mr. Sanders, she did not promise to provide free college tuition or to break up major banks she instead said she would make sure students could graduate without a debt hangover, and clamp down on banks in ways that would probably lead them to shrink. Unlike her Republican opponent, Mr. Trump, she did not propose ripping up trade deals and risking trade wars with the likes of China and Mexico. But she did say her administration would use the tax code to punish companies that outsource jobs. Notably, she also did not proclaim the greatness of the economy and pledge continuity. That was a contrast with two other candidates who ran to succeed a president from their party amid a strong economy, Al Gore in 2000 and George H. W. Bush in 1988. This carefully speech suggests she seeks to run not by boasting of what has gone right in the economy under President Obama, but as a fixer who can more successfully deal with the things that are still broken. The Obama administration has stressed that job growth has been strong for the last several years and that the unemployment rate is now down to 4. 7 percent. But in her speech, Mrs. Clinton emphasized the divergence between worker productivity and wages, the tendency of companies to view employee compensation as a cost to be minimized. And she spoke of the struggles of the unemployed, people who can find only work, and those who are out of the labor force entirely. In effect, Mrs. Clinton acknowledged the underlying economic discontent that has fueled the rise of Mr. Sanders and Mr. Trump, while presenting herself as the person best qualified to address it. “The bottom line is that too many leaders in business and government have lost sight of our shared responsibility to each other and to our nation,” she said. “They let Wall Street take big risks with unregulated financial activities, they skew our tax code toward the wealthy, they failed to enforce our trade rules, they undermined workers’ rights. ” Mrs. Clinton thus emphasized policies that have potential for deal making even in a polarized Congress, or that could be executed through administrative action. In the first category, she mentioned investment in public infrastructure, funding investments in the nation’s future with a mix of public and private resources. Business interests and many elected Republicans support ideas in this vein, at least in theory. She also mentioned immigration reform as a tool for economic improvement, another idea that businesspeople and many Republicans support. (Recall that an immigration bill created in part by Marco Rubio, who in a slightly different universe might be Mrs. Clinton’s opponent, was one vote in the House of Representatives away from becoming law not long ago.) In the category of administrative action, Mrs. Clinton was vague but clear about her intention to use the machinery of government to nudge things in workers’ favor. She said she would “continue to crack down on wage theft” and abuse of overtime rules, suggesting that she would, if anything, seek to expand Obama administration rules to make more workers eligible for pay and use government authority to fight employers that try to shortchange employees. The policy steps she described had mostly been put forward by her campaign already, so it is hard to describe the speech as a step toward the left, in hopes of corralling Sanders voters, or to the center, in hopes of broadening her appeal to the general electorate. Rather, the speech framed her place in the race as being the candidate who understands the populist discontent but will react to it with practicality. That carries risks, too. After all, President Obama has spent his entire second term following the same basic strategy of looking for lanes for bipartisan cooperation on things like infrastructure spending and immigration overhaul, while using the federal bureaucracy to try to tilt the playing field toward workers within the confines of current law. As the election advances, Mrs. Clinton will be vulnerable to the charge that she is promising to do the same things as Mr. Obama has, but with the hope of getting better results for American workers. Politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose. Mrs. Clinton’s message on Wednesday was that she will campaign and govern with a plan, drawn up by experts, incorporating the full range of potential legislative and administrative tools available to the next president. | 1 |
CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta tweeted a false report that said President Donald Trump did not visit with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise ( ) in the hospital after Wednesday’s shooting, fueling fake news allegations. [After reports confirmed the news that President Trump had visited Scalise at MedStar Washington Hospital Center on Wednesday evening, Acosta tweeted the exact opposite per a White official, “WH official on hospital visit: “President Trump did not meet with Scalise and did not go into the room where Scalise is being treated. ” Acosta quickly deleted his original Tweet but not before it was captured by several Twitter users many of them accusing the CNN reporter of spreading fake news. Fake news @CNN reporter, @Acosta tweets a complete lie @POTUS that gets almost 1200 more RT’s than the correction. #ScaliseShooting pic. twitter. — No One 🇺🇸 (@tweettruth2me) June 15, 2017, Jim Acosta. CNN you people are truely FAKENEWS first you tweet President Trump did not go to see Rep Sclease and then you re make a tweet, — michelle (@mibashful) June 16, 2017, CNN should fire you for reporting fake news. A regular person gets fired if they mess up at the level that you did. — Ross Johansen (@rossjohansen) June 15, 2017, CNN and Jim Acosta are Very Fake News! 👎🏻 — Paula Ikerd (@IkerdPaula) June 16, 2017, The never ending joke known as @CNN … #FakeNews #KneepadJournalism #AcostaStooge pic. twitter. — James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) June 15, 2017, Acosta tweeted a White House Press Corps email, where he says he based his original tweet on. Here’s a screen grab of the TV pool report that incorrectly stated that POTUS did not see Scalise at the hospital. WH later said POTUS did. pic. twitter. — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 15, 2017, But social media users were, again, quick to point out that Acosta had originally based his report on word from a White House official and not a TV pool report. Stop making excuses! You had wrong info. Delete the original tweet and stop trying to justify the error! This is why I don’t follow you. — Jen Smith (@JenSmith230) June 15, 2017, Your original tweet said ”WH official”. It didn’t reference WH pool. But once caught out, oh, well, it’s the pool’s fault. pic. twitter. — Jeff Dobbs (@jeffdobbs) June 15, 2017, The entire episode dredged up memories of a February exchange between Acosta and Trump that saw the president changing his previous description of CNN from “fake news” to “very fake news. ” “Real news, Mr. President, real news,” Acosta replied. Indeed, President Trump did visit at his hospital bedside, after he and three others were shot Wednesday morning practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game. Scalise’s Capitol Hill Police officer detail shot the attacker James T. Hodgkinson, who later died of his injuries. The congressman, who has undergone three surgeries, remains in critical condition. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @JeromeEHudson | 1 |
An Austrian integration expert has advised the government that public employees should be banned from wearing Islamic headscarves in the workplace. [Integration expert and government consultant Heinz Fassmann made the proposal to the government this week. According to Fassmann, it is important for the government, which provides services to all, not to be shown to promote any religion and that the state should be “above all religions,” reports Die Presse. If such a ban is not enforced, Fassmann claims, “you run the risk of importing certain religious conflicts into the civil service” and cited the religious conflicts within the Islamic world between Sunni and Shia practitioners. Fassmann added he does not believe headscarves should be banned in all public places saying, “there is freedom, everyone can dress as he likes,” but affirmed it was needed within the scope of public service. “When asked whether teachers in public schools should be allowed to wear a headscarf, I would clearly say: No,” he said. Fassmann, when questioned about the wearing of Christian crosses in classrooms, said he didn’t have a problem with them as Christian tradition had been “historically grown” in Austria so presents no issue. The Islamic religious community in Austria (IGGiÖ) has expressed shock and anger over the issue releasing a statement that said, “The state as an employer should stick to the legislation. ” Carla Amina Baghajati, media spokesman for the IGGiÖ, said she was angered that “something so comes from an integration expert. ” Austria has been in the process of trying to ban the niqab and burka since the summer of 2016 when Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz attempted to push through integration legislation. The legislation was blocked by the Socialist party of Austria (SPÖ) and other factions in the Austrian parliament. While many agree on the ban of the veil, the hijab, which leaves the face uncovered, has not been the subject of debate until now. The only Islamic garment to be banned by certain Austrian and German towns has been the swimming garment, known popularly as the burkini, on hygiene grounds. In France, by contrast, the wearing of any religious items by public servants is not allowed, whether it is a Christian cross or the Islamic headscarf, and the covering is banned completely in public settings. Some 30 French coastal towns also attempted to ban the burkini from public beaches in the summer of 2016, leading to an uproar by some who called it a slight against freedom of expression through the French public overwhelmingly approve of the ban. The ban was later suspended by France’s highest administrative court. | 1 |
Hillary supporters can stop panicking. The “reopening of the FBI’s email investigation” story blasted out by every hungry reporter and desperate Republican has already completely fallen apart. It took less than two hours.
The initial headlines were as grim as they were overblown. Shortly before an official announcement, NBC News leaked the news that the FBI would be looking into newly discovered emails related to the previous Clinton investigation. NBC News: FBI re-opening investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server
— Jesse Rodriguez (@JesseRodriguez) October 28, 2016
This was important because despite Republicans hanging every last one of their hopes on Hillary being indicted before the election, the FBI investigation found zero evidence of criminal wrongdoing. A new investigation made all those dashed hopes come rushing back. They. Freaked. Out.
Especially Trump.
— Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) October 28, 2016
However, even as Trump took a meaningless victory lap, the story itself was falling apart. The bombshell turned out to be a dud.
Over on MSNBC, veteran reporter Pete Williams did what almost no other reporter bothered to – he got to the bottom of it. NBC’s Pete Williams: Sr. officials say—During separate investigation “a device” led to add’l emails–not from Clinton https://t.co/QmmNoxXhOx
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) October 28, 2016
All the “big” things turned out to not exist. No, there is no evidence to suggest these new emails were covered up. No, they haven’t found anything incriminating. No, this isn’t a “reopening” of the case – it was never closed to the begin with and this is a small update not a gamechanger. And perhaps most importantly these emails did not even come from Hillary Clinton .
Bigger than Watergate? Hardly.
Like Wikileaks before it, this non-scandal will be used on the right to give the appearance that Hillary Clinton is “corrupt” without providing any concrete proof beyond it. There is no big story here, but the conservative movement will use it as a pretext to continue harassing Clinton and her campaign with baseless accusations. FBI Director James Comey may have scored a few political points with his Republican colleagues, but his investigation will likely yield zero fresh controversies.
This is the maddening world we live in. A sham built on a sham built on a sham. It’s shams all the way down.
Featured image via Alex Wong/Getty Images Share this Article! | 0 |
Posted on October 30, 2016 by DCG | 1 Comment
On October 14th I told you about how the Seattle Schools were organizing a “Black Lives Matter” Day in an effort to close the achievement gap between black and white students.
Apparently the students at Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way (south of Seattle) thought that would be a great idea as well. Turns out the event didn’t go as planned. You will follow the program…
From MyNorthwest.com : As the Federal Way controversy over a high school Black Lives Matter event continues, one person is not around school to see how tensions are being addressed.
“I feel very unsafe going back to that school,” said Ellie Mae Haine, further saying she feels like she is in danger at Todd Beamer High School. “As it stands right now I don’t feel safe going to that school,” she said. “There’s no possible way I could go back right now.”
Ellie is a 14-years-old freshman at Todd Beamer High School.
One week ago, a student was arrested after allegedly fighting, and then assaulting an on-campus police officer. A Black Lives Matter event was organized the following week — kids were encouraged to wear black . It was organized by students. But Haine did not want to participate.
“We were all pressured into wearing black because it seemed that most of the teachers agreed with this movement ,” Ellie said. “And we couldn’t’ decide whether we should participate or not. And I just went for it and didn’t participate.
“When it comes down to it, I don’t think it should have anything to do with race. I just thought it was someone who didn’t have enough discipline or respect for authority.”
Tensions between students who supported the Black Lives Matter event and those who did not participate erupted in the days since the initial arrest. It led to a school board meeting, where Ellie spoke, saying: “I still don’t understand why we were told to wear black to show support for this girl who has assaulted police officers more than just last week.” Todd Beamer High School Principal Joni Hall
The next day, Ellie returned to school.
“The day after the school board meeting, I came to school,” she said. “Everything went well until lunch. We were standing in the hallway outside of the cafeteria – I was with about 15 friends.”
“The girl who had been arrested and who assaulted the cop, she came up to me and started yelling profanities in my face and seemed really angry,” Ellie said. “ Before I had any time to explain myself, a mob of 50-60 angry students came yelling my name. Most of them I didn’t know. My friends pushed me behind them because they saw that this wasn’t good.”
Teachers came and were pushing back the crowd of students. Ellie found a police officer in the lunch room nearby. He escorted her outside the building. Her mom came to pick her up and the officer advised that the freshman stay away from school for a couple of days until things calmed down .
Ellie and her mom met with school officials and some of the high school’s Black Lives Matter students. She said that one of the Black Lives Matter students said he didn’t like how things had turned out. He offered to escort her from class to class and defend her if need be.
DCG | 0 |
WASHINGTON — Nearly three weeks after Election Day, Hillary Clinton’s campaign said on Saturday that it would participate in a recount process in Wisconsin incited by a candidate and would join any potential recounts in two other closely contested states, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The Clinton campaign held out little hope of success in any of the three states, and said it had seen no “actionable evidence” of vote hacking that might taint the results or otherwise provide new grounds for challenging Donald J. Trump’s victory. But it suggested it was going along with the recount effort to assure supporters that it was doing everything possible to verify that hacking by Russia or other irregularities had not affected the results. In a post on Medium, Marc Elias, the Clinton team’s general counsel, said the campaign would take part in the Wisconsin recount being set off by Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, and would also participate if Ms. Stein made good on her plans to seek recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Mrs. Clinton lost those three states by a total of little more than 100, 000 votes, sealing her Electoral College defeat by Mr. Trump. The Clinton campaign had assailed Mr. Trump during the election for refusing to say he would abide by the results if he lost. On Saturday, Mr. Trump responded to the campaign’s decision to join the recount with a statement calling the effort “ridiculous” and “a scam by the Green Party. ” He suggested that most of the money raised would not be spent on the recount. “The results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused, which is exactly what Jill Stein is doing,” Mr. Trump said. In Wisconsin, Mr. Trump leads by 22, 177 votes. In Michigan, he has a lead of 10, 704 votes, and in Pennsylvania, his advantage is 70, 638 votes. Mr. Elias suggested in his essay that the Clinton campaign was joining the recount effort with little expectation that it would change the result. But many of the campaign’s supporters, picking up on its frequent complaints of Russian interference in the election, have enthusiastically backed Ms. Stein’s efforts, putting pressure on the Clinton team to show that it is exploring all options. Mr. Elias used his essay to describe an intensive effort by the campaign to look for signs of Russian hacking activity or other irregularities in the vote count. Ms. Stein filed for a recount in Wisconsin on Friday afternoon, about an hour before the deadline. She has raised more than $5 million for the effort, which will now turn to Michigan and Pennsylvania, where there are deadlines in the coming week. In his post, Mr. Elias sounded less enthusiastic than the recount’s many supporters. “Because we had not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology,” he wrote, “we had not planned to exercise this option ourselves. ” He added, “Now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides. ” If Ms. Stein pursues additional recounts, “we will take the same approach in those states as well,” he wrote. But he noted that the “number of votes separating Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the closest of these states — Michigan — well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount. ” The Clinton campaign will not contribute financially to the effort, which has been funded by small contributions. But it will pay to have its own lawyers present at the recount, campaign officials said. The Obama administration issued a statement to The New York Times on Friday in response to questions about intelligence findings related to Russian interference in the election. In the statement, it said it had concluded that the election was free of interference. The administration issued a second statement on Saturday saying that “the federal government did not observe any increased level of malicious cyberactivity aimed at disrupting our electoral process on Election Day. ” Mrs. Clinton conceded the race to Mr. Trump early on Nov. 9, when it became clear that he would have a large margin of victory in the Electoral College. But as her lead in the popular vote has grown — it now exceeds two million votes — her base has increasingly pressured her to challenge the results. That has been fueled in part by how aggressively the Clinton campaign spread the word of Russian involvement in the theft of emails from the Democratic National Committee and from the personal account of John D. Podesta, the campaign’s chairman. The campaign also charged that the Russians were behind fake news about Mrs. Clinton’s health, among other stories — a claim supported to some extent by recent studies. Some critics saw those accusations as an effort to shift the discussion from mistakes the Clinton campaign had made in taking on Mr. Trump. Mr. Elias’s post offered a revealing look at how much time and energy the campaign had spent in the past two weeks looking for evidence of Russian hacking or other irregularities, and how it had tried to keep those efforts secret. “Since the day after the election, we have had lawyers and data scientists and analysts combing over the results to spot anomalies that would suggest a hacked result,” Mr. Elias wrote. “Most of those discussions have remained private, while at least one has unfortunately been the subject of leaks,” he wrote, a reference to conversations between Mr. Podesta and a group of experts that included J. Alex Halderman, a computer scientist with deep experience in the vulnerabilities of voting systems. Mr. Halderman recently put his own post on Medium, describing his suspicions and the case for recounts. But even he doubted that the election result would change. | 1 |
WASHINGTON — As Congress returned from a recess on Tuesday, Senate Democrats again stymied a $1. 1 billion plan to fight the Zika virus, demanding that Republicans drop an effort to block Planned Parenthood from receiving money to combat the disease. Democrats, who had essentially blocked the same legislation in late June, had enough votes Tuesday to prevent Congress from moving emergency funding public health experts say is desperately needed as they prepare for the possibility that Zika will spread to other states along the gulf coast. The vote was 52 to 46, and Republicans needed 60 votes to advance the bill. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican majority leader, said that although efforts to fight the virus had produced encouraging results, the problem was far from over. “It’s hard to explain why, despite their own calls for funding, Democrats would block plans to keep women and babies safe from Zika,” Mr. McConnell said before the vote. Because of the standoff, lawmakers say they expect to address the funding issue by the end of the month as part of a stopgap spending measure. That legislation would be intended to keep the government funded because it seems increasingly likely that Congress will not pass its annual spending bills by then. But that may not be soon enough, some health experts say. Calls for additional funding gained urgency last week when Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced that his agency has used almost all of the $222 million it was allocated to fight the virus. He warned that some plans, such as a mosquito control program in Puerto Rico, would have to be axed without more money soon. Florida, in particular, has been burning through funds quickly, undertaking the costly work of spraying and otherwise controlling the mosquito population, and health experts worry that another cluster of cases elsewhere might cost more money than they have. The package was supposed to resolve the differences between a bipartisan Senate plan and a less House version. The bill would exclude Planned Parenthood from the list of providers that get new funding for contraception to combat spread of the virus, which can be sexually transmitted. Democrats regard any restriction on Planned Parenthood as setting a dangerous example, and they have shown they are willing to risk looking as if they are blocking funding for a public health crisis to prevent that precedent. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said Republicans had sabotaged efforts to address Zika by including the restrictions on Planned Parenthood. “Now with this Zika virus frightening women all over America, they want to cut it off?” Mr. Reid said before the vote. Such questions awaited lawmakers on both sides as they returned to their districts this summer, vexing those from Florida and other Southern states. NARAL America, a prominent abortion rights group, released an ad Tuesday slamming Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who is running for over the Planned Parenthood provisions in the bill. As of late August, there were more than 16, 800 Zika cases in the United States, including Puerto Rico, which had the most. Health experts were tracking more than 1, 500 pregnant women who had been infected with Zika, and at least 17 babies have been born with severe birth defects. The potential remains for many more cases before peak mosquito season ends in November. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, said in a briefing last week that the administration was still holding out hope that a bipartisan agreement could be struck, particularly given the growing number of cases in Florida and Puerto Rico. Florida announced seven new Zika cases Tuesday, bringing the total number of homegrown cases in Florida to 56, according to the state Department of Health. Six of the cases surfaced in an area in Miami Beach where the infection is circulating, the department said, and one elsewhere in County. “We need a bipartisan agreement,” Ms. Burwell said. “I believe that is possible and I think that can be done. ” Ms. Burwell emphasized the urgency of the situation, saying that the administration had been focused on juggling funding rather than conducting the research necessary to better understand Zika and its effects, such as the number of children who would be left deaf by the virus. She pointed out that Congress had allocated funding for other health emergencies, such as the Ebola and the H1N1 flu viruses. “This is an emergency,” she said. “We did not know. It was not planned for. It is a national issue. For other kinds of emergencies we do it. ” | 1 |
Home › POLITICS › 2006 AUDIO EMERGES OF HILLARY CLINTON PROPOSING RIGGING PALESTINE ELECTION 2006 AUDIO EMERGES OF HILLARY CLINTON PROPOSING RIGGING PALESTINE ELECTION 1 SHARES
[10/28/16] On September 5, 2006, Eli Chomsky was an editor and staff writer for the Jewish Press, and Hillary Clinton was running for a shoo-in re-election as a U.S. senator. Her trip making the rounds of editorial boards brought her to Brooklyn to meet the editorial board of the Jewish Press.
The tape was never released and has only been heard by the small handful of Jewish Press staffers in the room. According to Chomsky, his old-school audiocassette is the only existent copy and no one has heard it since 2006, until today when he played it for the Observer.
The tape is 45 minutes and contains much that is no longer relevant, such as analysis of the re-election battle that Sen. Joe Lieberman was then facing in Connecticut. But a seemingly throwaway remark about elections in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority has taken on new relevance amid persistent accusations in the presidential campaign by Clinton’s Republican opponent Donald Trump that the current election is “rigged.”
Speaking to the Jewish Press about the January 25, 2006, election for the second Palestinian Legislative Council (the legislature of the Palestinian National Authority), Clinton weighed in about the result, which was a resounding victory for Hamas (74 seats) over the U.S.-preferred Fatah (45 seats).
“I do not think we should have pushed for an election in the Palestinian territories. I think that was a big mistake,” said Sen. Clinton. “And if we were going to push for an election, then we should have made sure that we did something to determine who was going to win.” Post navigation | 0 |
EU states agree caps on wholesale roaming charges
26 October 2016 , by Julia Fioretti - Brussels (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-telecoms-roaming-idUSKCN12Q1HV
EU states agreed a preliminary compromise on Wednesday on lowering the caps for how much mobile telecoms operators can charge each other to keep their customers connected while abroad, easing concerns that a flagship EU policy to end retail roaming fees could backfire. | 0 |
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Sam Sifton emails readers of Cooking five days a week to talk about food and suggest recipes. That email also appears here. To receive it in your inbox, register here. Good morning. I have a column in The Times Magazine today about a recipe for roasted potato hash that I’ve been messing around with for years now. It makes a superlative bed for eggs and an excellent side dish for steak. You could eat it with a mess of sautéed greens and be happy without the animal protein. You should make it entirely your own. Perhaps you could make it for lunch? And then for dinner tonight, you could try the recipe for braised chicken legs that I learned from the teachings of the California chef Cal Peternell, and sop up the sauce with Julia Moskin’s recipe for grilled garlic bread. On Monday night, you might go meatless and Balkan, mixing up David Tanis’s recipe for a Greek tomato salad and adding some crumbled feta if you like to make it really sing. Or you could go Brazilian in honor of the Olympic Games, with 10 recipes from that nation’s larder. For sure on Tuesday you could give Martha Rose Shulman’s recipe for shrimp with spicy greens a try. Serve it with Kim Severson’s can’ rice and then settle in to see what the Olympics have to offer. (You’re not, like, in Rio, are you? If you are, or just want to imagine that you are, Florence Fabricant has a fine guide to the city’s best restaurant options.) Wednesday night could be good for a steak seared in a pan and served with a platter of sautéed summer squash with red pepper and onion, along with leftover rice or a baguette and butter. Then on Thursday night just order a pizza and make Melissa’s recipe for eggplant with lamb, tomato and pine nuts while or after you eat it, in advance of serving a really incredible dish — one that benefits from overnight resting — on Friday night, as we head into the weekend. Thus fortified, you can wake up on Saturday morning, head to the market and return home to make jam. Go look around on Cooking to discover other things to cook this week. (This recipe for pork chops puttanesca, for instance.) And, if you like, tell us about what you make. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, where we use and applaud the hashtag #NYTCooking. If you run into problems along the way, don’t hesitate to ask for help: cookingcare@nytimes. com. Or if you have a particular question about food or cooking, kitchens or life in and around them, submit it to foodeditor@nytimes. com. I’ll be collecting the best of them to answer in a forthcoming “Hey, Mr. Food Editor” column for Men’s Style. Now, see if you can’t find an actual print copy of The Times today. In it we have a beautiful special section devoted to an excerpt from Colson Whitehead’s new novel, “The Underground Railroad. ” Or, if you want to stay online only, try this fascinating account of life as a paramedic in the border town of Laredo, Tex. in California Sunday. Watch the trailer for “Little Men. ” Read Tessa Hadley’s new short story, “Dido’s Lament,” in The New Yorker. And watch Melissa cook the “impossible meat” that you may have been hearing about, on Facebook. See you tomorrow. | 1 |
Email For Republican politicians like Ohio Governor John Kasich who refused to get behind Donald J. Trump…it turns out Trump was right…he didn’t need you. In spite of the massive media force who came out against him, and the ‘never Trumpers’ from his own party who worked very hard to defeat him, if Obama was running against Donald J. Trump today, Trump would have beaten him…
It’s easy to glance at Tuesday’s popular vote — which, with 92 percent of all precincts reporting, shows Hillary Clinton with six million fewer votes than Barack Obama won in 2012 – and reach the conclusion that Clinton lost the White House because she failed to turn out the Democratic base. But the truth is much more complicated. While she underperformed relative to Obama’s 2012 totals in several Midwestern states — Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, and Wisconsin — Clinton ran virtually even with Obama in the battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Nevada, and New Hampshire. What’s more, she far surpassed Obama’s 2012 vote total in Florida, the country’s biggest swing state. Yet somehow, while Obama carried Florida, Clinton lost it. Which brings us to an important question: Was Donald Trump just good enough to beat a bad Democratic opponent on Tuesday, or does he deserve far more credit? Could he, for instance, have competed with the vaunted Obama machine? The answer, somewhat shockingly, is yes.
A review of vote totals in the past two elections reveals that Trump 2016 would have defeated Obama 2012 in the electoral college. (Disclaimer: This obviously is an apples-to-oranges exercise because no two elections are the same, nor are any two electorates. Still, unlike debating whether the 2016 Cubs would defeat the 1927 Yankees, this is not an entirely abstract argument; a comparison of their respective performances in the country’s most competitive states shows Trump edging Obama in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup.) The math might seem impossible. After all, Obama won nearly 66 million votes in 2012; Trump is currently at 59.5 million and should finish around 60 million, which will actually be one million fewer votes than Mitt Romney won. How, then, could Trump have topped Obama in the electoral college? The answer: Republican turnout lagged in certain parts of the country but shot through the roof in the nation’s most critical battleground states. Let’s look at them individually, in descending order by population, and do the electoral-vote math. The 2016 totals aren’t yet final because not all precincts have reported.
FLORIDA — 29 EVs — 98 percent reporting
Obama 2012: 4,235,270
Clinton 2016: 4,485,745 TRENDING ON 100% Fed Up | 0 |
Trump should take the lead aand prempt the attack that is sure to come on guns , 17 SHOT IN CHACAGO THE TIGHTEST GUN LAWS IN THE COUNTRY . HOW COULDTHIS HAPPEN ?? ASK CROOKED HILLARY AND THE GUN RUNNING CAMP , CAUGHT RED HANDED SUPPLYING GUNS TO GANGS IN MEXICO . 20 YRS NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN FACT ITS WORSE THANKS TO CROOKED HILLARY . THINK OF THE IRONY HERE ISTHE OPEATION GUN RUNNER CREW TELLING YOU YOU CAN HAVE GUNS . I MEAN TO SAY HYPOCRISY OF THE HIGHEST ORDER. | 0 |
Media Roll Out Welcome Mat for ‘Humanitarian’ War in Syria Media Roll Out Welcome Mat for ‘Humanitarian’ War in Syria By 0 49 Hillary Clinton told Goldman Sachs that a no-fly zone is “going to kill a lot of Syrians.” (cc photo: Gage Skidmore)
As she marches toward the US presidency, Hillary Clinton has stepped up her promotion of the idea that a no-fly zone in Syria could “save lives” and “hasten the end of the conflict” that has devastated that country since 2011.
It has now been revealed, of course, that Clinton hasn’t always expressed the same optimism about the no-fly zone in private. The Intercept (10/10/16 ) reported on Clinton’s recently leaked remarks in a closed-door speech to Goldman Sachs in 2013:
To have a no-fly zone you have to take out all of the air defense, many of which are located in populated areas. So our missiles, even if they are standoff missiles so we’re not putting our pilots at risk—you’re going to kill a lot of Syrians.
Other relevant characters, such as US Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Joseph Dunford ( Daily Caller , 9/26/16 ), have warned that a no-fly zone in Syria would simply intensify the conflict—which presumably isn’t the best way to hasten its end.
Luckily for those who prefer to rally around illogic, however, plenty of media have already rolled out the welcome mat for peddlers of the “humanitarian” vision of increased Western military interference in Syria. The New York Times ‘ Nicholas Kristof ( 10/6/16 ) argues against “Obama’s paralysis” and for “more robust strategies advocated by Hillary Clinton.”
The New York Times ’ self-appointed savior of women , Nicholas Kristof ( 10/6/16 ), invoked the plight of a young Syrian girl in Aleppo to conclude that Obama’s alleged “paralysis” on Syria “has been linked to the loss of perhaps half a million lives” in the country, as well as to “the rise of extremist groups like the Islamic State,” among other unpleasant outcomes. We have no “excuse,” we’re told, for “failing to respond to mass atrocities.”
Never mind that the rise of ISIS has much to do with that mass atrocity known as the US invasion of Iraq, thanks to which many young Iraqi girls and other human beings have suffered rape, mutilation and death. It’s convenient for certain industries, at least, when US weapons are deemed the solution for problems US weapons helped to create in the first place.
Furthermore, plenty of US weapons continue to flow to countries known for arming and funding ISIS and similar outfits—an arrangement unlikely to be rectified by a no-fly zone targeting the Syrian government and the Russians.
USA Today ( 10/8/16 ), meanwhile, ran an opinion piece by an American doctor who worked briefly at a now-destroyed hospital in Aleppo, arguing that the US “should lead the way in establishing real no-fly zones, either under United Nations auspices or with the British and the French”—because “otherwise, our inaction will continue to be an embarrassment and stand as an example of our spineless irresponsibility.”
But considering that there has already been plenty of US action in Syria—including the mistaken “pulverization” of whole families with children—it would seem we’ve already exhibited a fair amount of lethal irresponsibility.
Beyond the opinion pages, media figures are pushing the “humanitarian” approach with varying degrees of subtlety. Meet the Press host Chuck Todd ( 10/16/16 ) recently pressed Vice President Joe Biden on the lack of a no-fly zone over Aleppo, suggesting that the Obama administration will “look back and wonder what if? What if? What if? What if?”
Of course, no campaign for saving lives with bombs would be complete without everyone’s favorite examples of feel-good destruction from the former Yugoslavia. The Washington Post ( 9/9/16 ) hosted an opinion by Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first ambassador to the UN, Muhamed Sacirbey, straightforwardly headlined: “Western Military Intervention Saved Lives in Bosnia. It Can Work in Syria, Too.”
Sacirbey warns that “Syria’s largest city is on the brink of starvation. Bombed from the skies and besieged on the ground, Aleppo’s 2 million residents may soon be exterminated.” Gone, apparently, are the days of factchecking, when someone at the Post might have alerted the author to the reality that the vast majority of Aleppo’s residents live in government-controlled areas and are thus not under attack by said government.
Comparing Aleppo to besieged Sarajevo, Sacirbey determines that Sarajevans ultimately “escaped many of the horrors now awaiting Aleppo’s residents… because NATO opted (albeit belatedly and, too often, inadequately) to uphold its responsibility to protect Bosnian civilians.”
After lauding Bosnia’s no-fly zone, Sacirbey pulls this prediction out of a hat: “Limited military intervention in Syria would save civilian lives, perhaps as many as 200 a week.”
In their indispensable essay for Monthly Review ( 10/07 ), “The Dismantling of Yugoslavia: A Study in In humanitarian Intervention (and a Western Liberal-Left Intellectual and Moral Collapse),” Edward S. Herman and David Peterson make it unavoidably clear that the West’s business in Bosnia had nothing to do with saving lives—and much to do with the contrary.
The Bill Clinton administration, they note, actively sabotaged agreements to end the war at an earlier date, while “helping arm the Bosnian Muslims and Croatians and helping bring thousands of Mujahedin to fight in Bosnia.” America’s support in this case for jihadists—a secret alliance also discussed by scholar Tariq Ali ( Guardian , 9/9/06 )—further complicates the assumption that the US is somehow capable of fixing the current jihad problem.
In predictable fashion, US media led the charge to the Bosnian intervention ( Extra! , 10-11/92 ), dutifully painting the Serbs as demonic aggressors, parroting inflated Bosnian casualty estimates and otherwise behaving as the official PR arm of the establishment.
A similar performance was repeated shortly thereafter with Kosovo, where minimal regard was given to actual facts on the ground and the specter of Serbian-waged genocide was instead hysterically invoked. Noam Chomsky ( Monthly Review , 9/08 ) cited various reports, including from the British government, that the US-backed Kosovo Liberation Army was actually responsible for more killings than the Serbs in the run-up to NATO’s bombing campaign—a project that naturally also managed to kill several thousand people.
While Yugoslavia has now been fully dismantled, the myth of Western humanitarian intervention there has emerged unscathed; in his recent dispatch on Syria, Kristof brought up Kosovo as an example of how “the military toolbox has saved lives.”
To be sure, “saving lives” is a much nobler goal than, say, endowing NATO with a new lease on life or clearing the way for total neoliberal assault —two outcomes of the West’s Yugoslav ventures. Hence the utility, as Herman and Peterson write, of the “edifice of lies that serves and protects the Western interventions in the former Yugoslavia—and which laid the ideological foundations for the US role in Iraq and for future so-called humanitarian interventions.”
In Syria’s brutal war, meanwhile, humanitarian motives will presumably be utilized as a veneer for pursuing more fundamental goals, like neutralizing resistance to US/Israeli regional designs and promoting that profitable sort of chaos that produces massive arms sales.
And just as those in the West who failed to leap onto the bandwagon in Yugoslavia were denounced as “ apologists for genocide ” and the like, opponents of increased Western military action in Syria will be increasingly assailed as pro-Assad fanatics with Syrian blood on their hands.
One strong candidate for fanatic-hood is Greg Shupak, who in a recent Jacobin magazine dispatch ( 10/20/16 ) dared to argue that a no-fly zone “would actually represent an escalation of war that is guaranteed to harm civilians in the name of protecting them.” Emphasizing that opposition to said zone is not meant in any way “to minimize or rationalize the torture, mass killings or severe sieges enacted by the Syrian state and its allies,” Shupak continues: “The imminent question, however, is not, ‘Is the Syrian government good?’; it’s ‘Should America drop more bombs on Syria?’”
Because, at the end of the day, humanitarian war just isn’t humanly possible. | 0 |
Breitbart London’s James Delingpole has slammed the National Trust for jumping on the political correctness bandwagon by holding a festival highlighting some of its properties’ connections to historical LGBT figures. [The festival is part of a series of events marking fifty years since the passing of legislation partially decriminalising homosexuality in the UK, dubbed the ‘Prejudice and Pride’ season. But, in a segment for the BBC’s Daily Politics, Delingpole took aim the National Trust for stepping beyond its mandate in promoting such politicised events. <! [CDATA[_informq. push([’embed’]) ]]>, The National Trust owns and preserves many of Britain’s notable historical properties and great houses a role which Delingpole lauded — he often took his children to visit their properties when they were young, he said. But, he continued, “I gave up on the National Trust when it gave up on its day job. “Instead of preserving our heritage it started dabbling in politics. It came out against fox hunting and started campaigning against global warming — it jumped on the political correctness bandwagon. “Britain, as we’re well aware, has a fine and glorious tradition of stately homos. The Trust’s greatest director James was a delightfully bitchy queen. But so what?” Delingpole asked. “What exactly does sexuality have to do with heritage? Aren’t there already enough charities out there, treating us like primary school children, telling us what to think about the politically correct matters of the moment?” The National Trust, Delingpole argued “is the guardian of our history, not some trendy social justice warrior”. He concluded: “Maybe if enough of us resign our memberships, it might take the hint. ” The BBC invited a National Trust spokesman to debate Delingpole on the program, but no spokesman was offered. However, fellow guest Nus Ghani, the Conservative MP for Wealden countered “It’s important that these properties show the history of who lived there, whether they’re lesbian, gay, or transgender. I think it’s also important that the National Trust shows the stories of people that lived there that were oppressed [sic] and also the heroes as well. Suggesting that Delingpole had a racist agenda, she added: “Also it’s important that people of all backgrounds visit these properties, and I worry that’s going to upset you, when we all turn up and we don’t all look like you. ” Delingpole shot back “that’s exactly what I would expect a member of the modern Tory party to say. ” | 1 |
Just before the New Year, surveillance cameras captured photographs of Real Housewives of Atlanta‘s Kenya Moore standing outside with a gun as three suspects fled from her home. [Moore posted a surveillance image which appears to show the three suspects nonchalantly walking up her driveway toward her home. She followed up with another post containing two photos. One of the photos shows her standing outside with a gun and the second shows the suspects fleeing the scene. Moore wrote the following caption for the photos: I have a right to feel safe in my home and to protect myself. I don’t care if I’m on TV. What if 3 strangers banged on your front door … 2 of them being grown men wearing dark clothing knowing they could only get to you by jumping fences or trespassing onto other properties and mine? There are home invasions, robberies, rapist … What if your children or loved ones were threatened this way? Anyone who is bold enough to commit a crime, endanger themselves and others needs to be punished. According to the Atlanta Moore said the three suspects arrived in a white car and “the female was recording on her phone. ” Moore stressed, “It is never ok to violate anyone this way. It is not funny. Men showing up at your door is an immediate threat. Things could have ended badly and all 3 will be criminally prosecuted. ” AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart. com. | 1 |
FBI Releases Files on Bill Clinton's Cash for Pardons Scandal November 1, 2016 Daniel Greenfield
The FBI has an early present for Hillary Clinton. It's the files from the time her husband decided to pardon a wanted fugitive in exchange for cash. That fugitive was a fellow by the name of Marc Rich. His prosecutor? James Comey.
The FBI unexpectedly released 129 pages of documents related to an investigation closed without charges in 2005 into President Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich, who had been married to a wealthy Democratic donor.
The unusual timing of the release was the result of a Freedom of Information Act request that had been completed and was posted under standard FBI practice, according to a law enforcement official who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. But the Clinton campaign immediately questioned the timing of the release.
Well of course it did. It's never especially wise to pick fights with people who have a lot of dirt on you.
The investigation stemmed from one of several pardons Clinton made on the last day of his presidency in 2001, that of financier and international fugitive Marc Rich, whose ex-wife Denise had given to the Democratic National Committee and the entity that would later become the Clinton Foundation.
And there's a surprise guest.
While the files may seem dated, they invoke figures beyond the Clintons who went on to play key roles in official Washington -- including Comey.
He served as prosecutor in charge of a legal case against Rich from 1987 to 1993. As the U.S. attorney in Manhattan in 2002, Comey took over a criminal investigation of Clinton’s pardons. “I was stunned” at the Rich pardon, Comey wrote in a letter to lawmakers in 2008.
Clinton's people are fuming, but it was a standard FIOA request and there's nothing big here. It's just one of those things the Clintons should have gone to jail for. But didn't. Another of those. | 0 |
NRI Muslim returns to India from US, says intolerance is over now Posted on Tweet (Image via knowyourmeme.com)
An Indian Muslim, who has been residing in the United States for the past one year, has finally decided to return home after the results of the US presidential election were announced.
Javed Ayub, a 30-year-old software developer, who had left for the US last year after getting a job offer during the dark days of intolerance in India ahead of Bihar election, had come to the realization yesterday that normalcy had finally been restored in India and hence there was no reason for him to live in a foreign land anymore. He immediately mailed his resignation letter to his boss and uploaded his resume on Naukri.com.
Speaking to our correspondent, Mr. Ayub said, “I realized yesterday that my country needed me, but I was unsure as to whether the election results triggered the thought or I was really missing my homeland. Later when I was watching a movie…”
“Swades?” we inquired.
“Hmm, so while watching the movie, I could hear my heart pleading to me, “Ye jo des hai tera, swades hai tera, tujhe hai pukaaraaaa…”
“Is it actually possible?”
“Don’t know about yours but my heart definitely can sing.”
“But why did you leave India in the first place?”
“Well, let’s be honest, things were not that great last year.”
“But nothing has changed since then. People still fight over issues they are not remotely concerned about in reality.”
“That happens only on the internet. Do the same people fight in real world? No.”
“But can you really live peacefully amid sanghis and bhakts?”
“Arrey, no no, we never classified anyone. When there are 1.25 billion people living together, there will be difference of opinions, but we need to resolve our differences amicably, because at the end of the day, we are one big family.”
“Anyway, that was a good decision. So, whom did you support in the US election?”
“Hillary Clinton.”
“Was it because of Trump’s anti-Muslim statements or was there any other reason behind it?”
“No, no other reason. He is a racist and that’s why I did not support him. If I had a voter Id card, I would’ve voted against him,” his eyes darted towards a poster of Madonna on the wall in his living room as we concluded the interview. | 0 |
Three African American Hillary Supporters Attempt To Murder Trump Supporter In Broad Daylight, Steal Car Afterwards November 9, 2016 40 SHARES Blacks beat white man, steal car, dragging his body. Fbook vid caption: "They Caught A Trump Already" @prisonplanet @Cernovich @JaredWyand pic.twitter.com/yWSX7QdQGH
— Sculder Mully 2016 (@MiddleOfMayhem) November 10, 2016 Do you like this article? LIKE to MAGA! | 0 |
BALTIMORE — Nearly two years after the death of a black man in police custody led to violent riots here, the Justice Department and city leaders announced on Thursday a agreement to impose greater oversight and training on a police force found to have routinely harassed minorities. Negotiators have been rushing for weeks to complete the deal before the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald J. Trump and the expected confirmation of his attorney general pick, Senator Jeff Sessions. Both men are seen as hostile to police oversight agreements like the one put in place on Thursday, with Mr. Trump denouncing what he called the “war on police” during his presidential campaign. Justice Department negotiators are moving quickly to complete a second investigation in Chicago, which has also been wracked by violence and tension between the police and residents. The findings of that investigation could come as early as Friday. Announcing the Baltimore deal at City Hall, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said she was confident that the reforms mandated by the deal would take hold even if the Trump administration were to take steps to try to undo it. “This agreement is binding and it will live on,” said Ms. Lynch, flanked by Mayor Catherine Pugh, Police Commissioner Kevin Davis, Vanita Gupta, the head of the civil rights division at the Justice Department, and others. Mr. Davis said the pact provides “a path forward” that he said will benefit both his officers and the city’s residents and that it should serve as a model for thousands of other police departments in tackling tensions. Baltimore came under Justice Department scrutiny after an man, Freddie Gray, 25, died of a spinal cord injury he received while in police custody in 2015 as he was being transported in a department van. The death led to widespread protests — Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, called in the National Guard to quell riots — and appeals for federal intervention. In the ensuing political fallout, the Democratic mayor, Stephanie dismissed the police chief and six officers were charged in Mr. Gray’s death none were convicted. The episode roiled racial tensions nationwide amid a string of other deaths of black men in police confrontations nationwide, from Ferguson, Mo. to Staten Island. The Justice Department filed a consent decree in federal court on Thursday just minutes before announcing the deal. A judge must approve it before the city and the Police Department begin putting in place more than a dozen changes, including improved training and technology, community oversight, and greater transparency in dealings between the police and the public. Once that is done, the crucial first step will almost surely fall to the Trump administration: working with the city to recommend an outside, independent monitor to determine whether Baltimore is adequately taking steps to address what a blistering Justice Department report in August found was systemic racial bias in its policing. Ms. Pugh, a Democrat who has been in office 33 days, recounted hectic, 1:30 a. m. phone calls with negotiators in the weeks leading up to the agreement. She called the results “a great day” for Baltimore. She made clear what she considered the most important element: “training, training, training, training. ” The agreement requires officers to go through 80 hours of training in practices like community policing and proper tactics for stops, searches and arrests. Another measure will require improved safety technology and video cameras inside police vans like the one used to transport Mr. Gray when he died. The Justice Department’s report on city policing last year found that officers routinely stopped large numbers of people in poor, black neighborhoods for dubious reasons, and arrested residents merely for speaking out in ways police officers deemed disrespectful. In Baltimore, a city that is 63 percent black, the report found that 91 percent of those arrested on discretionary offenses like “failure to obey” or “trespassing” were . Blacks made up 60 percent of Baltimore’s drivers but accounted for 82 percent of traffic stops. Of the 410 pedestrians who were stopped at least 10 times in the five and a half years of data reviewed, 95 percent were black. The findings also painted a picture of a police culture deeply dismissive of sexual assault victims and hostile toward prostitutes and transgender people. The decree’s requirements are intended to prohibit unlawful stops and arrests, and to prevent discriminatory policing and excessive force. Representative Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, called the agreement “a chance to trust” between residents and the police after a painful few years. DeRay Mckesson, a voice in the Black Lives Matter movement who lives in Baltimore, said he was impressed by the decree’s wide range. “It is the first consent decree that I have seen that addresses the Police Department’s internal affairs division,” Mr. Mckesson said by text message, “and goes further to ensure that officers are not targeting poor citizens or citizens in historically ‘ ’ areas and addresses the response to citizens in crisis or with mental health challenges. ” Provisions of the decree prohibit the police from stopping people based solely on where they are, or how they respond to the presence of a police officer. The Supreme Court has ruled that officers can stop a person who flees from them in neighborhoods. “This starts to push back on that line and says, ‘Look, we’re really reinforcing that people have a right to avoid contact with the police and the place they live shouldn’t be an important factor in how much Fourth Amendment protection they get,’” said David Jaros, an associate professor of law at the University of Baltimore. “But at the same time,” Mr. Jaros added, “it’s ambiguous as to what its reach is,” and whether it limits police actions further than existing law does. Tessa the president of Baltimore’s branch of the N. A. A. C. P. said she was heartened to see that the Police Department had already implemented reforms — like testing body cameras and changing aspects of prisoner transport — and hoped the consent decree would bring more. But Tawanda Jones, the sister of Tyrone West, who died in 2013 after a struggle with the police, said the rush to finish the deal and the coming handover of power in Washington had eroded her faith that the decree would bring about meaningful change in Baltimore. “What does a piece of paper mean? It means nothing,” Ms. Jones said. “It’s not a training issue it’s a system that is broke. It’s a system that doesn’t hold people accountable. ” | 1 |
His name is King Leopold II of Belgium and the living incarnation of evil killed over 10 million innocent people in what is now called the Democratic Republic of Congo. Of the Europeans who scrambled for control of Africa at the end of the 19th century, Belgium’s King Leopold II left arguably the largest and most horrid legacy of all. — BBC
Via AnonHQ
Reign Of Terror To fulfill his dream to establish Belgium as an imperial power, Leopold led the first European efforts to develop the Congo River basin, founded his own private colony – the Congo Free State – in 1885 with the pretext to improve the lives of the native inhabitants, only to annex it as the Belgian Congo in 1908.
Under the reign of terror instituted by Leopold, as many as 10 million Africans lost their lives to one man’s greed, exploitation and brutality that Africa and the world must not forget. Presenting himself as a philanthropist eager to open the heart of Africa to Christian missionaries, Western capitalists, and Western civilization, Leopold embarked on an ultimately successful effort to make a vast fortune from his new possession by committing widespread atrocities against his colonial subjects.
He “bought” the Congo and enslaved its people, turning the entire country into his own personal slave plantation. He disguised his business transactions as “philanthropic” and “scientific” efforts under the banner of the International African Society. He used their enslaved labor to extract Congolese resources and services. His reign was enforced through work camps, body mutilations, executions, torture, and his private army. — Films For Action
The photo above shows a man named Nsala Wala with his daughter’s hand and foot. Alice Harris, working as a missionary in the Congo, took the photo in May 1904, after he had come into her mission at Baringa with a small package containing the severed body parts.
Leopold never set foot in “his” Congo — for all the 23 years — but his “rubber terror” and barbarity knew no bounds. Since the Congo economy was largely operated by forced labour, the effects were devastating. 10 million Congolese were either murdered or worked to death by Leopold’s private army. Women were starved and systematically raped, worker’s hands were cut off and hundreds and thousands of indigenous people endured kidnapping, looting and village burnings. Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold’s Ghost, writes:
“Some were beaten or whipped to death for failing to meet the rigid production quotas for ivory and rubber harvests, imposed by Leopold’s agents. Some were worked to death, forced to labor in slave like conditions as porters, rubber gatherers or miners for little or no pay. Some died of the diseases introduced to (and spread throughout) the Congo by Europeans. And still others died from the increasingly frequent famines that swept the Congo basin as Leopold’s army rampaged through the countryside, appropriating food and crops for its own use while destroying villages and fields.
“Hostage-taking and the grisly severing of hands (from corpses or from living human beings) were part of the government’s deliberate policy — a means of terrorizing others into submission. As the “rubber terror” spread through the Congolese rain forest, entire villages were wiped out: Hundreds of dead bodies were dumped in rivers and lakes, while baskets of severed hands were routinely presented to white officers as evidence of how many people had been killed.”
The Curious Case of World Ignorance Ever wondered why the world and the media don’t remember Leopold and why his name doesn’t produce fear, hatred, and sorrow? Leopold ensured that his crimes would never make it into the history books. Shortly after the turnover of the colony, Hochschild writes, the furnaces near Leopold’s palace burned for eight days, turning most of the Congo state records to ash and smoke.
Is there a hidden agenda to not talk about genocides in Africa perpetrated by European capitalist monarchs? There’s a Wikipedia page called “Genocides in History” but the Congolese Genocide isn’t included in the list despite the fact that attempting to eliminate a portion of the population is enough to qualify as genocide under the UN convention. Wonder why?
He’s part of a long history of colonialism, imperialism, slavery and genocide in Africa that would clash with the social construction of the white supremacist narrative in our schools. It doesn’t fit neatly into a capitalist curriculum. Stories which support the white supremacist narrative about the sub-humanness of people in Africa are allowed to be entered into the records of history. The white guy who turned the Congo into his own personal part-plantation, part-concentration camp, part-Christian ministry and killed 10 to 15 million Congolese people in the process doesn’t make the cut. — Liam O’Ceallaigh
| 0 |
Hey, London! You love American football? Well, great news, we’re sending you the Browns! Don’t worry, you’ll be getting the Jaguars and the Rams, too. The N. F. L. announced on Tuesday the teams that will be heading to London next season for a record four games. The matchups are, well, not great. In Weeks 3 and 4, Wembley Stadium, the spiritual home of soccer, will get and . In Weeks 7 and 8, Twickenham, rugby’s iconic stadium, will get and . Fans in Britain have shown little discernment over the N. F. L. fare served up to them over the years, generally selling out every game in no time. Perhaps that explains why the league isn’t bothering to send over Tom Brady or Dak Prescott next season. This lineup will test even the most enthusiastic Briton’s patience. The Jaguars have become a virtual home team for London, and they will play a game there for the fifth consecutive season. That may be in part because they have not had a winning record since 2007. At they are staggering to another disastrous year. The Jaguars have been rumored to be the team most likely to move to London if the N. F. L. decides to put a franchise there. Their opponents, the Ravens, at least have a winning record. But after losing to the Patriots on Monday night, the Ravens are uncertain for a playoff spot. Next fall is a long way away, but right now this quarterback matchup would be Blake Bortles vs. Joe Flacco. Perhaps the most unpredictable game on the London schedule is . After a run of mediocrity, the Dolphins have sprung to life this year at although the playoffs are by no means secured. The Saints, expected by many to bounce back this year, are a sad . There is no telling what these teams will be like come September. The Cardinals have been one of the season’s biggest disappointments, slipping from Super Bowl contenders to afterthoughts. Carson Palmer will be 37 next season, so it is hard to see a huge improvement. But at least they are not the Rams: in their new home, Los Angeles, having just fired their coach, Jeff Fisher. And, of course, the Browns. On pace to be the second team in N. F. L. history, they are perhaps the worst advertisement possible for the American game. The Vikings, their opponent, are but two games behind the Lions — the Lions! — and looking at a season as well. The N. F. L. points out that after the coming season, 26 of its teams will have played in London since the games began in 2007. That does include the Patriots, twice, including a game in 2012, a year after they were in the Super Bowl. This year’s schedule included the Redskins, coming off a playoff season, and the Giants, a strong possibility for this year’s playoffs. The teams that have not played in London include some of the league’s most popular: the Seahawks, the Packers and the Eagles. The Panthers, the Texans and the Titans have also not made the trip. The N. F. L. must deal with television networks, who prefer that the good teams play at good hours, not early in the morning on United States time. And popular teams that pack their stadiums are reluctant to give up home games. Teams with less devoted fan bases are happy to do so because they make more money selling tickets in London. With eight slots to fill next season, the league has not rolled out its best, to say the least. At some point, football, because it is football, will lose its sheen for fans in Britain. They may start demanding better matchups, or even a team of their own. Until then, we may not see much meaningful football in London. | 1 |
Somali Muslim Refugee Makes History In U.S. Election Nov 11, 2016 1 0
Ilhan Omar has made history this November by becoming the first Somali-American lawmaker in U.S. history. Ilhan is a former refugee from Somalia, is Muslim and is a mother of three. Ilhan Omar has made history in the U.S.
Ilhan won House District 60B in southeast Minneapolis with 80% of the vote.
Ilhan, who is 34 and a Minnesota resident said: “This really was a victory for that 8-year-old in that refugee camp. This was a victory for the young woman being forced into child marriage. This was a victory for every person that’s been told they have limits on their dreams.”
“I think I bring the voice of young people. I think I bring the voice of women in the East African community. I bring the voice of Muslims. I bring the voice of young mothers looking for opportunities.”
She is the youngest of seven children who fled from the Somali civil war and spent four years in a Kenyan refugee camp. In 1995 she and her family arrived in the U.S. and Ilhan spoke only Somali. Shortly after, her English improved and she began translating for her grandfather at local political events. Ilhan Omar gives hope to her supporters.
Omar’s husband also spoke and began to describe his wife as a strong, Muslim woman:
“For those men — wooo! — let me tell you something. When you see a strong, African, Muslim woman, don’t be afraid, no, you know what, appreciate that. That’s the model, that’s the new 2016, going into 2017.”
Ilhan’s focus will be on renewable energy, sustainability, justice and the common good for all people.
Also making history on Election Day was Stockton, CA Michael Tubbs, who is 26 and is Stockton’s first black mayor. Michael Tubbs became Stockton, CA’s first black mayor.
“We have a great opportunity to show the nation, ‘How do you reinvent yourself?’ I’m tired of talking about where we’ve been. I’m more interested in talking about where we’re going. We have to mature as a community and start demanding solutions.”
While the Presidential Election has many outraged, perhaps we can look at the positive that has come from this election as well as intend for more positive results to come from all elected leaders. What we need now more than ever is unity and focus towards building a better world. This must begin now and it must include us all. Share this good news with everyone you know!
Lance Schuttler graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Health Science and practices health coaching through his website Orgonlight Health . You can follow the Orgonlight Health facebook page or visit the website for more information on how to receive health coaching for yourself, a family member or a friend as well as view other inspiring articles. | 0 |
Illinois Senator Draws Fire for Racially Charged Attack on Opponent’s Family Alexandra Jaffe and Traci G. Lee, NBC News, October 28, 2016
Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk is again under fire for making racially-charged comments, this time for questioning the military service of his Democratic opponent’s family.
During Thursday night’s debate between Kirk and challenger Rep. Tammy Duckworth, Duckworth spoke about her desire to be in the Senate as a voice of reason and referenced her family’s history of service, saying, “My family has served this nation in uniform, going back to the Revolution. I’m a daughter of the American Revolution. I’ve bled for this nation. But I still want to be there in the Senate when the drums of war sound. Because people are quick to sound the drums of war, and I want to be there to say this is what it costs, this is what you’re asking us to do. . . . Families like mine are the ones that bleed first.”
Kirk responded: “I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.” Tammy Duckworth is a vet who lost both legs in Iraq. Her family has served since the Revolutionary War. And yet… pic.twitter.com/DHd3kWrUsN
— Anthony Breznican (@Breznican) October 28, 2016
Though Duckworth, who was born in Thailand to a Thai mother of Chinese descent and an American father, did not respond on the stage, she tweeted a photo after the debate of herself with her parents–her father displaying medals of service on his coat. “My mom is an immigrant and my dad and his family have served this nation in uniform since the Revolution,” Duckworth wrote.
Duckworth’s late father, Franklin, served in World War II and has “traced his lineage back to an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution,” according to a 2012 Mother Jones profile on Duckworth’s run for Congress.
{snip}
On Friday, Kirk tried to tamp down the backlash and tweeted “sincere apologies to an American hero.”
It’s not the first time the Illinois senator has courted controversy with racially-charged comments–he previously said President Obama was “acting like the drug dealer in chief” for the administration’s cash payment to Iran in exchange for the release of American prisoners, and talked about fostering opportunities for African-American entrepreneurs so “that the black community is not the one we drive faster through.”
{snip} | 0 |
The Daily Caller
Republican nominee Donald Trump is tied with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in Michigan, according to a Strategic National Poll.
The Michigan statewide poll revealed Trump is now dead even with Clinton, in a state that has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988.
Clinton enjoyed as much as a 13-point advantage over Trump in Michigan just two weeks ago.
“Trump is over performing in key segments of the electorate especially in rural areas and Macomb County while Clinton is failing to get the numbers she needs out of the city of Detroit,” John Yob, CEO of Strategic National , who conducted the poll, reported. | 0 |
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